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 Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:16 pm
It had taken Pebble a good while to get used to this "growing up" thing. It seemed like over night that he couldn't hide as well as he used to, nor could he fit into places he had once been able to squeeze his little body in. But with this increased size came increased speed, and suddenly he was able to run a lot further and faster than he had as a pup. That came with its own cost, of course, as it made Pebble more liable to get lost and not be able to find his way home before sundown. He was still a pup in many ways, as Cricket would have told him, but he didn't seem to mind one bit. After all, he was an adventurer!
Today's adventure was one he had enjoyed when he was little. He hunted for food sometimes, but he spent most of his energy "practising" on beetles and bugs. Pebble hadn't quite realized that you had to try the hunting on the real thing before you got any good. It would have also been beneficial to hunt things with a little more meat. He was surviving as a scavenger, which suited him just fine, since it allowed him more practice time. One day he would be a great hunter! Body low to the ground, the wild dog slunk after a brightly coloured beetle, blue eyes watching it's every move. A little closer.... just a little bit...
"What do you plan to do with that?" Ngala'leli had stopped along her walk when she spotted an odd looking rump sticking up in the air. It was a strange sight, like she had turned the corner and stumbled upon an overgrown puppy. Or rather, an idiotic adult. She supposed he must be playing some kind of self-entertaining game. There was no way she would assuming he was practicing at his age. It was just too far-fetched and too...pathetic.
She stared at him expectantly, waiting for an answer that would explain his foolishness. It had better be something good, or she'd put holes in his plans as soon as the words popped out of his mouth. At least, she'd do so mentally. Whether or not she told the poor boy his folly depended on how confrontational she felt and how bad the explanation.
Aaaaand.... pounc-wait hold up! Pebble's head shot up at the sound of the voice, both ears perking instantly. Oooh look, another wild dog, and a female by the looks of it! He hadn't realized he had an audience! How exciting! This was definitely much more interesting than bug hunting. Company talked back to him, whereas bugs just kept flying away in little spurts until they grew tired of his antics and flew away all together. He hoped that this wild dog wouldn't fly away from him. That would be horrible. The beetle was forgotten in favour of staring at this new wild dog, which was a good thing since it had flown away at the sound of Ngala'leli's voice.
"I didn't even hear you coming!" Pebble exclaimed, tail already wagging. "You must be a really good hunting if you walk so quietly. Like a lion." The wild dog had great respect for lions. He had met one with wings once, and he'd never got over the excitement it had brought. One day he would find another winged creature like that, he'd vowed, but so far he had yet to meet another god. One day, perhaps when he remembered again. As he stared at Ngala'leli, he realized that she had asked him a question he had yet to answer. "Oh. What was I doing? What was I doing with what? The beetle? Or the grass? Because I was flattening the grass."
Oh boy. This one really was something, wasn't he? The first time in ages she met another wild dog and he had to be dafter than the lions. She was starting to wonder if her intelligence was an anomaly. It took a lot of self control not to roll her eyes and leave the poor boy be. Because she was sure the conversation was going to be painful in numerous ways.
"The insect," she corrected, "I thought what you were doing with the grass was rather obvious."
She also shook her head, scoffing at his admiration for lions. "I'm certainly more skilled than any lions I've met," she grunted. All of her encounters with lions had been odd ones. From a blind lion who couldn't hunt for himself, a naive lioness who didn't seem to know much about anything, to a lion who simply decided not to do anything. It certainly didn't leave her with the best of impressions.
"Oh," Pebble replied brightly, apparently oblivious to her views on his intelligent. Cricket had dealt with Pebble much the same way, incredibly sarcastic whenever she grew tired of his stupidity. But she was his sister, and thus had to tolerate him. The wild dog had not yet grown used to the idea that not everyone in the world wanted to tolerate him and his exuberant nature. He wouldn't be offended if this other wild dog left. He would be sad, if they didn't have a healthy conversation, but he wouldn't mind. Adults had lots of priorities. He had learned that from his mother.
"Well... I guess the grass thing was pretty obvious, wasn't it?" Was it obvious? If she said it was, it probably was. Pebble wouldn't have known. "I was chasing it. If you can catch them you can get a pretty good look at them. Otherwise they just keep flying away and you never get to see how pretty their wings are." He gave a sage nod, as though that explained everything. Of course, the topic of lions caused him to grin excitedly. "You've met lions? I like lions. Well... most of them. They're very nice creatures and..." He paused as though searching for a word. "Sensible."
"You were going to...look at it?" she questioned, as if confirming his claim. How very odd. How very wasteful. But...considering his first answer she wasn't surprised. She was glad it hadn't been something far stupider, actually. She didn't say anything else on the subject, finding talking of insects and how pretty their wings were very dull. But she did continue about lions, if a bit stuffily.
"Yes, I've met lions," she replied with a shrug, not sharing his like for them. She didn't dislike them though. "They aren't that great from what I've seen...lazy, crippled often, and naive. But I guess that's their luxury, being top of the food chain and what have you."
"Mhmm. There are only so many hours in a day, and you have to use them while you can. The earth has many pretty things to be appreciated!" He had learned that one from his mother as well. Some might have considered her to be very unoriginal when she was naming her pups, seeing as they were all named after things that she had seen once they were born. Mud, Stick, Cricket, Pebble, and Puddle. Pebble hadn't thought of his mother as being unoriginal, but rather, that she was admiring the natural world around her. There were many pretty pebbles, weren't there?
Pebble tilted his head when she said she had met lions, recognizing that she did not share his enthusiasm for them. "I've never met any of those kinds of lions. The ones I've met have been kind and curious. One even helped me find a giraffe!" It was a pity he hadn't seen it eat a star. He still wanted to watch that. "I even met a lion with wings once."
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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:52 pm
Leli simply did not have the artistic mind to appreciate that sort of thing fully. Sure, she was grateful of life's wonders and all that stuff, but it just wasn't something she could form a proper opinion on, for once. So she let him chatter on it as much as he liked, but did not get involved. She didn't like commenting in ignorance.
"How very helpful of them," she said with raised eyebrows. She supposed a lion could get off his large furry bum every once and a while. But she was hardly impressed. And as for the winged lion...well, seeing as much of what this male said seemed idiotic she decided he must have been imagining things. Leli had never met a god herself.
It was starting to become clear that Leli didn't appreciate his excitement, but Pebble attributed that to confusion rather than disinterest. After all, that was why he didn't get excited about things. Why would it be different for anyone else? "Have you ever met a lion with wings before?" He asked, grinning widely, "I met one when she brought her friend down on the ground. She was very nice, but kind of… hmmm…" What would Cricket have called her? "Cool? I think. Like she didn't really have time to talk to pups."
"Not too many creatures want to talk to pups," he added, a look on his face that might have been close to "thoughtful." "Have you ever got that feeling? When you were younger, of course, not now." Everybody took adults seriously! He was sure of that one. He always took his mother seriously.
"No, I haven't met one myself," she commented, amazed at her own patience. But somehow she didn't believe his stupidity was his fault...it was probably a mental condition or hereditary. She wasn't going to argue with him over the winged lion's existence. It surely wasn't healthy for him.
"Well, it's because pups tend to ask very silly questions," she said logically. She was sure even she did it when she was young. Though mother had always answered her, even if it wasn't the way she wanted. "Adults are very busy and sometimes it's very hard to explain things to a child...because they are so young."
She hadn't seen one? Aaaw, that was kind of sad. "I wish I coulda shown you to her. She was very pretty." Pebble felt bad that Leli hadn't been around the day he and his sister had met the goddess. He disregarded the fact that he hadn't known the other wild dog back then, since that was irreverent. His brain wasn't exactly the best at separating past and present, and so all of his current friends and acquaintances were mashed in with the past ones into one jumbled mess. Still, it was a wonder he remembered everything. Memory wasn’t one of his strong points.
"But they should at least try to answer. Do they forget what it's like to be a pup? I'm sure when they were a pup they wanted answers to their questions when they were younger." Pebble was sure Gzifa had had lots of questions when she was little. But alas, Leli was right about adults being to busy. His mother was always busy. "I suppose they're always busy… but if you live with pups wouldn't you get used to answering questions and being busy?"
"Most do try to answer," Leli replied with a shrug. Cubs were often granted some sort of explanation...even if it was just one to hold off more questions. It was the rare adult that ignored a child completely. She didn't think even she'd do it, though her answers would either be too simple or too complicated for any pup's liking.
"That is what defines a good parent, I suppose," she said in reply to his last comment. Not that she would really know. She certainly wasn't a parent. And though she had a mother when she was little, it just hadn't been something she'd been able to pull a lot of information off of.
Pebble looked 'thoughtful' again, as he considered what Leli had said. It took a little while, what with two brain cells and all but it eventually made it through. "My sister always answered my questions. She was very very smart. My mom was an explorer! So she had to go out and explore lots. That was okay though. I think she was a good parent. Was your mom an explorer?" The wild dog was curious about his new friend. He had never really got to interact with other wild dogs, which made him curious about their home life.
"I dunno much about good parents. Everyone seems to have lots of different opinions on it." He had been very sure that living with just a mother and relying on his sister was normal. But he had been told often enough that there should have been an adult male around, and some other family to watch over him when his mother left. Pebble had never thought anything of it until it had been mentioned. Did Leli think about stuff like this?
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Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:10 pm
"Yes...I suppose she was a good mother," Leli answered relatively quickly. While her mother had always been a bit down, she did the best she could. Leli recognized that. That was hardly to be said about her father, who'd she never met. In her mind her a terrible, useless deserter. But, having never met him, she had never had the chance to express some of those bitter feelings.
"Good parenting is subjective," she replied simply, "It depends on what you value, what you find important." She certainly never condemned her mother for being a single parent.
Pebble nodded along as Leli spoke, still smiling. "I wouldn't know how to judge good parenting," he admitted, his smile turning slightly sheepish. Even as an adult, the idea of being a parent was something entirely foreign to him. He would have loved to have pups around to play with, but to actually go about siring them and finding someone to be their mother was another thing entirely. Knowing the mechanics was one thing. Actually going out and trying to do something was much, much harder.
"I was told that dads are supposed to stick around and be good parents, but I never had a dad so I dunno how I would even be one. And I can't be a mum, because... well, Cricket – that's my sister – she just said I can't and that's that. I believe her, 'cause she's always right." Truthfully, Pebble didn't see why he couldn't be the mum if he just collected stray pups. But Cricket had been adamant that he was not mum material, and the wild dog could do nothing but nod.
He wasn't able to judge parenting? She certainly wasn't surprised. She couldn't see him making much of a parent. But then, she couldn't see him actually taking the steps to have pups in the first place. It seemed the world was safe from that sort of situation.
"They should," she agreed, a harsh edge coming to her voice, "but not all choose to do so." She wasn't going to say that she was fatherless as well. It wasn't any of his business and it wasn't something she wished to share.
"Of course you can't be a mom," she rolled her eyes. What an idiot. "Only females can get pregnant. So only females can be mothers," she said firmly.
Pebble's ears flattened a little at the sharpness of her tone, but the rose again when he realized that her unrest was not directed towards him. He couldn't stand it when people got angry at him. It didn't happen often, but it always made him very unhappy. There was nothing warm or fuzzy about being yelled at, and the wild dog didn't like that one bit. Luckily, however, Leli wasn't angry at him, and he was still safe. He gave her a small tail wag as though that would help resolve all of her issues. If she was happy, then he was happy too.
"Well, lotsa people should do things but they don't. 's not very nice though. I mean I didn't mind not having a dad, but Cricket got upset sometimes when people used to ask. Not very fair to the pups if they have to keep answering questions on it." The wild dog had been asked a few questions himself, but the questioner had always taken pity on him when he gave back rather naïve answers. "But moms just have to have the pups, right? Well what if I was to just adopt pups?" He was in the mood for a second opinion.
Leli didn't notice him flinch and it was probably better that way. Seeing it she might have been scornful. You couldn't be so sensitive to the world...it was foolish. Not that many people didn't continue to do so anyway. She couldn't change the world, but she didn't have to agree with it.
"If you adopt them, than you're an adoptive father...but you still can't be a mother. The mother role is for females. Father is just a term for a male parent," she explained, not hiding the roll of her eyes. She was being surprisingly patient today. He was lucky, she supposed. Sometimes she just didn't stay to put up with it all.
He couldn't help but tilt his head at her words, curiousity getting the better of him. Normally he would try to tone his questions down a little, for the sanity of the person he was talking to. Cricket had always told him that too many stupid questions made people irritable, and that he would do well to remember that. Pebble did try most days, but Leli was so smart and he couldn't help but take advantage of her wealth of knowledge. It was just too tempting.
"But if father is just a term then isn't mother just a term? Why can't they be interchangeable? Liiiike, say I want to stay home and watch the pups and a girl wants to go out and do all the hunting. Couldn't she be the father?"
"Your example isn't valid," she sniffed, "Mothers can go out and hunt and fathers can stay home if they wish. They aren't interchangeable because they are gender-tied. If you can't change your gender, than you can't be the other term. It's illogical."
What a silly idea. Never in her life had she heard anything so far-fetched. Why did he want to be a mother so bad anyway? If you were a GOOD father, which she doubted he would be, it didn't matter what you were called. Despite her bitterness towards her own sire, she felt no such feelings towards the simple parental term.
"Oh. Seems kinda funny to me, but okay." Leli was probably right. It was sort of sad to hear that he couldn't be a mother, but there you go. Some dreams in life just couldn't be achieved. He supposed that even if he got another male to play the role of father that Leli would still say they were both fathers because they were both males, so he didn't voice that one. It might earn him something like one of Cricket's famous knocks on the noggin. Those hurt.
"So... are you a mother?" The question seemed rather unexpected, but to Pebble it followed the same train of thought. If she knew so much about motherhood then she must be a mother! That was how things worked, after all.
Leli snorted indignantly, "A mother? Me? Of course not!" Now that question just topped it all. He just couldn't get any lower than that. She shook her head, almost feeling offended. She didn't know why she felt such a negative connotation towards the idea, but she just...couldn't see herself as one. She couldn't even seem to find a half-decent man, let alone have a litter of puppies.
"How ridiculous!" She snorted, irritation coloring her tone vividly. There was only so much she could take, it seemed.
Pebble's ears flattened at her snort. Whoops. That didn't go as well as planned. He had thought she must be some great mother because she knew so much, but it seemed that her knowledge was just instinctive. Did Cricket have instinctive mothering instincts? He would have to ask her when he saw her next. Now he was curious about those, but he didn't have the courage to ask Leli. She was already angry with him.
"I didn't mean it like an insult, you're just so smart about it I thought you had lots of experience." It sounded more like a question than an apology, but Pebble thought it was sufficient. "You could be a really great mother though, I'm sure of it!" Was that better? He would have to wait and see.
"I'd make a great mother? Ha!" She blew a hard breath out of her nose, her eyes rolling as she wheeled around. It seemed she had decided she was done talking to him. The last thing she needed was compliments from someone who couldn't even think straight. What a waste.
"Knowledge doesn't make motherhood," she clipped, giving him one backwards glance, her eyes dull and cold, "And having a bunch of little ones jumping around is the last thing I need." In a frozen state of grumpiness she began to walk away. Enough charity work for one day.
Oops, apparently that hadn't been the best thing to say either. He really should just stay with Cricket forever. She always knew what to say and she could speak for him. Not to mention she would stick up for him if he needed it. Still, he didn't feel like he had fudged this meeting up too badly with his final comments. Leli hadn't tried to knock some sense into him, after all. Oh but she was leaving now! Alas, he would just have to yell after her.
"Well knowledge is pretty good! I still think you would be happy with pups! "
Now, where was that bug he'd been hunting...
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