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 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:09 pm
The sky above him was pale; Jua had wandered away from his mother for the day and was out looking for some excitement. The dull colors of the dying grass around him made him stand out even more than usual, something that he enjoyed doing most.
A strange smell entered his nostrils. 'What could it be?' the young pup was new to most things outside his den, so the scent startled him.
If the pup stood out, then Eusi did as well. Her gray coat was easy to spot among the dark and light browns of the grasses around the area. The only thing that looked like her were rocks, and even then, they only matched her coat. Her bright orange eyes glowed out of their dark holes.
In her mouth she carried a small, dead rabbit. It was her lunch for the day, and though it was small in stature, it would have to do. She had just caught it and was looking for a decent place to eat in peace.
The strange smell of dead animals had always interested Jua; he had investigated them quite a bit since he was born, nuzzling the carcases that his mother brought home. Although the scent was disgusting at first, it entranced his senses.
She finally found a good spot: a small area of the dead grass had been cleared away or pushed away. It was comfy. She laid down and ripped a small tear open in her meal and began to eat, spilling blood and the insides onto the dead grass and leaves messily.
The rush from smelling the sudden burst of fresh meat made Jua's nose tingle. He knew it was close, but his lack of tracking skills told him nothing more; he had no idea as to what direction it lay in. He lowered himself, in case the animal that was feasting was not a friendly one, and crept forward into the deep grass.
Eusi's ears flicked upward at the sound of a soft crunching of grass. Dead grass made much more noise than its fresh green part, which helped alert her to someone nearby. For a moment, she stopped eating, and lifted her blood-covered muzzle to sniff at the air. Nothing seemed to jump out at her as danger, so after a moment, she lowered her head again.
The sudden silence caused Jua to pause and hold his breath; he was headed in the right direction. He hated how the dry grass could give away his position, but he didn't care. He just wanted to find the sourse of all the new sensations.
She could smell the young pup coming closer to her and her kill; though she didn't mind so much, Eusi just hoped that his family had taught him manners when approaching another with their meal. If he would suddenly pounce at her, then...things could get interesting.
Not that Eusi would ever harm a cub.
Never, ever, would she do such a barbaric thing.
Crouching lower, Jua peered through the tall grass; he gazed upon the large body of an adult dog. It smelled like his mother, so he assumed it was female. Her dark coat was almost opposite of Jua's, though, like his, it didn't blend in with the grass.
He moved around in the grass, shifting to his right to get a better view of what she had in her paws. From his distance, it appeared to be a pile of red.
She saw something move in the grasses to her right; it was a little cub. Probably the very same one she had smelled earlier. Who seemed to intensely interested in her kill.
"Hungry, pup?" she asked gently. It didn't hurt to be nice to them first. Usually if you were nice to cubs, they were nice back to you.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:30 pm
Jua's eyes widened slightly; he was not used to being spotted by others when he was creeping up on them. His ears flattened nervously, and he crept out from the grass.
"I-I-I'm just a little hungy......" his eyes swirved off to the side, analyzing her kill.
Ah, there he was. Didn't take him too long to come out from hiding, did it?
"Would you like some rabbit, then?" she moved one of her paws off to the side to show him what she had been hiding, her meal.
He was now looking directly at the female; although intimidated, he was not going to shy away from her offer.
"That sounds.....nice.......I've never had rabbit before."
So this was the body of a rabbit. Jua inhaled deeply, imprinting the scent in his mind.
He'd never had rabbit before? What kind of wild dog was he? The poor thing. Her heart went out to him, even if it was such a little, silly thing like never had rabbit before.
"Yes, it is a very good meal. Try some of the chest meat; that's the best part."
She nosed some out of the fur and half-way on the ground, close enough for him to sneak in and grab without being in her personal bubble. Which he seemed to want to stay away from.
Jua stared at the lump of fresh meat blankly, unsure of how to approach it. He opened his mouth slightly, then snapped it shut, reassesing his approach. He leaned in, stretching out on his hind legs, reopening his mouth. Quickly snapping it up, Jua returned to the distance he had previously sat at. He licked and nosed the meat over and over, mesmorized in its features. Why had his mother never shown him such a thing? Maybe it was easier to get larger prey for so many pups, but still.......
Jua knawed on the meat, using his newly developed teeth; the meat was soft, so it wasn't too difficult to eat.
"Mm," Jua gulped down a large portion of what he was given. "Th-thank you." finishing it off, Jua leapt up with newfound courage. "Hey, I've never seen you around here before! Where'd you come from?" he plopped himself down across from the female, wagging his tail excitedly.
He didn't really know how to eat such a meat, did he? Well, he learned soon enough. He gulped it down and then a smile appeared on his face. It was the cutest thing. She smiled softly at him and his newfound eagerness.
"You're welcome," she replied. "I came from that way." She nodded behind her. "I'm just exploring right now; my den is back there, too. What about you?" she teased. "I haven't see you aroun dhere, either."
Jua glanced over her shoulder as she motioned. "Well, I came from over that way." he got up on his hind legs and waved his front legs in the opposite direction briefly. "I live with my momma and my daddy, and my brothers and sisters, and my twin!" wagging his tail, Jua's excitement grew as he told her of his life. "It's nice over there, but I came this way to get away from my twin brother."
Jua puckered his lips out sourly.
Eusi laughed at his little story. "It sounds like you have a big family, then. Do you like living with them all the time?" In a way, she wished she had grown up with such a big family. It seemed like all the wild dogs she had met had much bigger families than she had had. It wasn't fair. But at the same time, she had spent lots of time with her father that otherwise would not have happened.
"Mm, sometimes." Jua shuffled his paws on the ground, keeping his eyes low. "But most of my siblings ignore me. Only Ade is with me most of the time." his eyes glimmered as he thought of how close he and his twin were; he barely knew his other siblings compared to him. "I could just live with Ade forever and be fine." he smiled; his vision of his perfect family consisted of he and his twin and his parents. Jua was not overly fond of his other siblings, and they tended to feel the same because of his attitude towards them. "I guess there really is a unique bond between twins?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:10 pm
"Is Ade your twin then, hm?" She asked, but already knew the answer. It was a wonder how twins managed to be so close through whatever happened in their lives. She knew it was even more special that way. "It's good that you have such a unique bond with your twin," Eusi added. "If I had a twin, I don't think I would ever leave their side. What are you doing out here alone, then?"
"Yeah, Ade's just like me- only opposite." Jua lifted his paw, analyzing it closely. "I wanted to come out here by myself, to explore. And......" his eyes shifted to the side. "I wanted to know what it feels like to be so far away from him." he smirked slyly. "Sometimes, I like seeing him worry about me. But when he worries about me, I worry about him." he looked up at the female. "If you had a twin, do you think they'd be the same as you? Or completely different?" Jua sometimes wondered what it would be like if Ade looked exactly like him. "I prefer having Ade a little different- it makes us feel even more special."
She leaned in close for the secret and smirked with him. "Does it feel any different without him, then?" she asked. And if Eusi had a twin? Well, let's think. She did so for a moment. "I'm not sure what my twin would be like if I had one," she finally said. "I think they would be a little bit different, too. It does make it more special, and it keeps life interesting," she added.
"Without Ade, I just feel.......empty. Like something bad." Jua huddled on the ground, resting his head on his paws. "I think, that if something were to happen to him, I'd know. So I feel kind of safer leaving him, but still......" he clawed at the ground, making little designs. "If you had a twin, well, I don't think they'd be very nice." he laughed, imagining a wild dog filled with hate; the supposed opposite of what he saw before him.
"But still, at the same time, you'd rather be with him so something bad doesn't happen, right?" she finished his sentence for him, smiling kindly. But she laughed when he said the next thing. "Not very nice? Why is that? I don't think they'd be the complete opposite of me, but you never know. Hopefully they wouldn't be. Because that wouldn't be nice at all. But if they were mean, I don't think I could leave them alone for very long. They'd probably get in trouble," she added with a wink.
Jua smiled; her reasoning made him come to a few realizations. "Well, I guess so. But imagining him sitting at home fidgeting is priceless." he laughed. "I think me and Ade are pretty similar, but opposite in a lot of things. Like, we're either the same on certain things or opposite; there's no in between. So we kinda balance each other out." Jua began to wag his tail again. "I think it'd be fun to watch you and your twin if you had one. That would be really funny!" he rolled on his back, rubbing his belly with his paw. The sky above them softened as the day began to turn.
Her paw poked his side in a friendly tickle. "Then you complete each other, in the sibling way. I think that's how my twin and I would act, too." It would be really funny, she had to admit. Just like it would be really funny to see him and his brother Ade interact. Eusi bet their parents had a grand old time watching the two boys and their siblings.
The sun crept below the horizon, and Jua could see its glimmer fade in the corner of his eye. He glanced around nervously; being without Ade at night made him nervous. "I think.....that maybe........I should head back." he began to stutter. "It's getting dark out, and Ade must be worried sick." he glanced around nervously. "I hope I see you again!" taking a leap of faith, he quickly went up to the older female and nuzzled her leg in thanks. "It was really nice talking to you." a large smile spread across his face.
"He must be, if you can feel his worry." But Eusi nodded, and nuzzled his head gently in return. "It was nice talking to you as well, little Jua." She nosed him forward toward his home, and watched as he left. She finished off the rabbit once he was truly gone, and then stood to go on her own way as well.
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