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 Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:40 pm
 It was very dark outside.
Kitu couldn't see the moon. It was low in the sky that night, hidden behind the thick leaves of tall trees. Even though he couldn't see it, the cub was sure it was there. He had come to learn that the sun came at one point of the day and turned the grass and trees red, and then the moon came to destroy all light and smother everything with its darkness, save for the soft, pleasant glow it emitted.
Kitu didn't know the true names for the sun and the moon. In fact, he didn't have much of any kind of name for them; just the general feeling and knowledge of the sun and the moon, and that they merely existed.
It had rained early in the evening. Kitu's paws and belly were still wet from water that had dripped in. He was curled up in the center of the den, tail wrapped around his body as if for warmth. He licked his small tongue over his cold nose in an attempt to warm it up. The cub was cold, wet and hungry.
All of these things churned up a strange instinctive question that any cub in the world would ask in his situation.
Where was his mother?
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:05 am
Blood matting her white fur, she crept up to a particular hole in the tree roots and slipped inside, sliding in the mud left from the rain. Shaking herself off, she dropped what was left of the poor rabbit in the center of the floor and retreated to the side to groom herself, pressing the water from her fur and cleaning the blood from it. That there was another living creature in the den didn't seem to register with her, nor did the fact that she had instinctively brought food for her remaining cub. Shai just wasn't a motherly lioness, but it was Kitu's good fortune that some inner sense made her bring him food every so often so he wouldn't completely starve.
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Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:28 pm
The sound of rustling leaves followed by a large, black shadow made Kitu stand up with raised haunches, eyes flashing with a mix of fear and curiosity. He'd only known his mother. He knew no one else. But instinct told him to expect the unexpected, and he always did. After all, the branches that swayed in the wind outside the den sometimes threatened to go inside and grab him. Maybe it was them?
Then Kitu saw blood and white colors, dimmed in saturation by the darkness of night. He immediately recognized his mother and his heart swelled with emotion. An innocent, but uncertain smile flickered on the cub's face and he tripped towards her. Droplets of water sprayed his face as his mother shook, and he recoiled, thinking she had lashed out at him. But the smell of blood and hare meat lured the cub out of his defensive posture.
Pink eyes opening to rest upon the carcass, Kitu's stomach caught up with his head and he fell upon his meal with hungry jaws. Wait, wait, wait, he suddenly told himself. No quick movements. Eat slowly.
Kitu shifted his gaze away from the hare carcass briefly to see what his mother was doing. She was only grooming herself...But how long would it be before she noticed him? Kitu's brows furrowed and he tried to finish his feast quickly.
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:30 pm
The grisly sound of teeth tearing into flesh drew the erratic attention of the bloody lioness and she looked up curiously, leaving off her grooming to focus in the half-light of the den. There was... a cub eating the rabbit she'd brought back with her. She frowned as she stared for a while, as though processing what she saw and deciding what she was going to do about it.
When he'd managed to get most of the rabbit down, Shai rose to her paws and slipped closer, lowering her nose to investigate this strange little creature.
"Rodents in the den... scurrying and sniffing and invading..." She grumbled, a delicate paw reaching to push the cub over, rolling him onto his back as she drew deep breaths, scenting the warm-den smell of him. He smelled familiar, at least... a little like her and a lot like her 'home'. It made her more inclined to just roll his round little body side to side with her paw, her tail gently flicking behind her.
"Rats, bats, mice... soft little crunchy things with sweet red blood. They snap under my fangs like wood under my paw..."
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:19 pm
Kitu's heart stopped. Pink gaze flicking upwards, he watched his mother approach him. His heart was in his throat and his stomach flopped. He suddenly regretted eating that hare. His back arched, hair bristling, but what good was that going to do? The cub had no strength and no sense to defend himself.
With a grunt, the cub rolled over onto his back without protest. White paws quivered with anticipation as Kitu stared into the red eyes of his mother. His mind was flooded with memories, aided by his strange ability to hold onto information, of everything he had been through with his mother in his short life. He remembered ever pain, but also every happiness. What would this turn into? A pained memory, or a happy one? He could only endure and wait. At least he had gotten some food.
Kitu listened to his mother's strange words, unable to comprehend most of them. His body tensed up as he was rolled side to side. The food moved strangely in the cub's stomach and he suddenly found himself irritated by the rolling. But he was confused. Should he swat his mother away, or allow the process to continue until she grew bored?
Swallowing dryly, the cub went with the former. He scrunched himself up into a ball and attempted to wiggle away from his mother. The moment he started, however, he stopped. Something told him that was a bad idea.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 3:29 pm
The squirming brought an instant reaction from Shai, her lips pulling back from her long fangs in a snarl as her paw snapped out to pin him down and black claws pricked through his fur. She hissed softly, though the snarl faded swiftly. It was a warning, mostly, an instant reaction to sharp movements.
"Vermin... disease carriers. Carrion eaters. Filthy piles of stinking offal..." She growled as she leaned closer, her red eyes wide open, a ring of white around them. She raised her paw slowly and reached for his face, extended claws so delicately touching him just by his ear, then pressing down and piercing the flesh... She watched with fascination as she drew her claws down his face, the trails of blood wide enough apart to circle his eye down to his jaw. The smell and sight of blood seemed to sooth her, calming the manic light in her eyes and pulling the tension from her thin body. As a last act, almost lovingly, she leaned in to lick across the marks, cleaning them and his face. It wasn't the worst she could have done, and he'd live only a little worse for wear.
Loosing interest now, Shaitani left her son on the floor beside the rabbit and went to lay against the back wall, curling up and resting her head on her paws.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 6:07 pm
The strange, yet familiar words filled Kitu's ears, and though he had no concept of their meaning, he knew they were bad.
Stiff pressure came down on him and his eyes widened as the breath left his lungs. His pulse seemed to beat a mile a minute and he knew he had made a grave mistake. Sharp claws pricked his skin and he winced, trying as hard as he could to hold back a cry. A cry would only press his mother on harder. It was Kitu's worse fear to be crushed and suffocated.
There was a tickling sensation on his ear. The cub's eyes grew even wider and he froze. He shifted his gaze into the red, staring eyes of his mother, and fear consumed him.
Then there was pain.
The cub let out a sharp mewl and arched his back in a strange reflex to avoid hurting claws. Blood trailed down his face, tickling his nose and lips and tasting strangely on his tongue. The scent was sick and sweet at the same time and he stifled a gag. The feeling of a gentle tongue cleaning his wounds made it all worse. His body trembled, though he tried to remain limp and lifeless-looking.
Slow footsteps jarred him out of his frightened state, and he realized his mother was moving away.
Finally risking taking a breath, Kitu inhaled slowly and chanced a look to his right. His mother was lying down, looking restful; sleepy, even. Relief flooded the cub and he held back another mewl. His face pulsed hotly. But he knew that the pain wouldn't last.
It never lasted long.
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 11:59 am
The pathetic mewling might have had something to do with Shai's suddenly layed back attitude, as instinct prodded at a mind too chaotic to take much notice. Rolling onto her back, she let her paws dangle on her chest and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, where flakes of Mica dusted it. She could faintly see little sparkles as she tilted her head a little, though the purposeful lack of light kept it from being more than faint.
"Once upon a time..." She spoke to the ceiling, her voice sing song. "Once upon a time, the sky was not blocked by spreading branches and spread leaves. Once, there was no shelter between a small body and the heavens that yawned above. There were things there, at night... things that winked and flashed like fireflies... tall grass would brush my sides and I would look up... up, up into the sky, and the world would spin around me, shaking, vibrating, moving with life..." Memories surfaced, of a time before... before what, the insane lioness didn't know, she just knew that it was not now, or earlier, but farther back. "I feared then... feared the pain and the light and the claws. They were like sweet nectar to a bee, making me drunk and leaving me to bumble around. Red fell like rain from the leaves above and we drank it and frolicked in it. Red was life, was love, was pain and fire and everything perfect... Red is what makes us ourselves."
Perhaps the story was meant to comfort the cub, or perhaps she just relived part of her past, some time that had become jumbled in with the rest of the moments of her life, like so many grains of sand on a beach. Too many to see together, but perhaps one or two could be separated and studied.
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 10:29 pm
Pink eyes wandered slowly over the rock floor and onto the lioness across from him, watching her hesitantly. Her words were soothing, but the strange knot in the cub's stomach never vanished. He didn't want her words to soothe him, yet they did. It was confusing, but Kitu didn't want to question it. He didn't want to question anything. He just wanted the pain in his face to stop and for his mother to be calm again. It seemed for the most part that she was, now. And the cub, try as he might, couldn't shake the feeling of needing to be close to her. But he wouldn't move. Instead, he would stay there, blood dripping from his face slowly. Moving wasn't a good thing. Staying still was good. If he moved, there might be more pain. But he had missed his mama...No, he would stay there.
The cub's eyes began to close at the sound of his mother's words, ears turning to the sides to listen. The strange story created dark, mystical images in his head. "Red," Kitu whispered, like a child testing a new word. His eyes closed and he rested his head on his paws. "Red..."
And the images came to him; vibrant blood pooled at his paws, but no longer seeping from his face. Bright eyes glowing and staring at him from his mother's face, along with so many hairs in her coat. Her claws were bloodied, as was her maw from the hare carcass. She was red.
In a dream-like state, half-asleep from exhaustion from his paranoid insomnia, the cub opened his eyes and turned his head to look at his mother's resting form. He had no true name for her; mom, mama, mother. Those words were simply feelings and ideas associated with the lioness. Kitu had never learned what one should call one's mother. What was she?
"Red..." the cub whispered again, eyes listless with sleepiness.
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Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:48 pm
Shaitani turned her head to watch the cub as he drifted towards sleep, his face seeping blood slowly. She wondered at it, at him, but couldn't grasp the thought long enough to do something about it. Instead, she only watched, something in her tickled and prodded by the word he spoke. She had no concept of 'mother' either... could not have told him that that was what she was to him. Their relationship was a strange one, a dangerous one. They danced on the edge of the abyss together, a wrong move sending them both down into darkness...
But for now, it was enough that she watched him breathe in fascination, drawn to the small creature that shared her little world with her. She'd been so... lonely, before. She hadn't known it, but it was why she traveled so far in the night as she did, as though searching to fill the void inside of her. Drakkul was no more, yet the space he had once occupied was a yawning black hole in her heart, empty and aching. Perhaps that's why she'd hidden this little one, why she held him captive even now. She needed someone to look at her, to see her and be near to her.
Perhaps that was what ensured Kitu's young life, that kept her from ending it as she would any other vermin she might have caught in her jaws...
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