“Hm. “
It occurred to Tibuka one day, that his sole daughter wasn’t around anymore. Actually, she hadn’t been for a while. Truly, the hyena barely cared. This little mix-match of a pack he and, he’d grudgingly admit, Jiska ran, had more than enough members to work. Still, he glanced at the mother of said missing offspring, Fido. Tibuka didn’t really have romantic feelings for her. But he supposed in time he had learned to like her. He had probably even begun to like that purple idiot, Leith.
Or maybe Tibuka just really liked being the boss. Still, about that missing pup, he was curious. “Fido, “ He said, loudly enough for the smallish female to lift her head. “Whatever happened to that offspring of ours? “
This made Fido recoil slightly, even though Tibuka didn’t really seem mad about it. Not that there should be anything to be mad about! “I dunno. Left, I s’pose? “ And, though it sounded silly right as she said it, she added. “Why? D’ja miss her? “
Immediately, Tibuka’s cold eyes settled on her, but he didn’t say anything. Just made sure she saw his deadpan expression.
“Yeaaah, guess not. “ Fido offered him a sheepish smile, then glanced away, settling her head on her paws. “I kinda do. “ She mumbled to herself. Fido hadn’t been the warmest mother, but the pup still was her daughter! In a way, she was happy she was gone, though. She could go be happy another way. Despite her very “low” position in this little group, Fido was happy. Most of the wild dogs were nice to her, and Tibuka seemed to be softening up! Besides, she was just that kind of person who liked following.
Tibuka, of course, wasn’t paying enough attention to Fido to really heard her. He was just musing on the population of this little pack. It was somewhat even out. There were more wild dogs, but hyenas did posses the more brute force of the group. Still, he didn’t like the idea of them… reproducing, and then outnumbering his lot by much.
The pack was mostly unified; most wild dogs were friendly and seemed to have good relations with Fido. He and Jiska worked well enough together. But he knew that the wild dogs would always side with Jiska, and the hyenas with him. Which made his ‘part’ of the pack outnumbered. Just like that, he decided to work towards evening out the numbers. So he’d keep his eyes out for rogues. And do some other things too. Might as well.
Didn’t mean he’d start working towards that immediately. Tibuka yawned and rolled over. Sometimes he wondered if he should have stayed in the graveyard, after being attacked by that lion. He’d had a mate, and pups. Missed them sometimes. But now, not really.
Tibuka sighed. He guessed he had just grown cold. Bored, he glanced at Fido. “What kind of things did humans want you for, anyways? ” He closed his eyes as soon as she raised her head. He knew that expression on her face. The ‘oh my gosh is Tibuka sick?’ face. “Fido, just answer the question. I’m bored. ” That was all the explanation he needed, of course.
“Oh! Well, not much, I guess. Just had me around. Liked it if I barked at other hyenas or whatever came and tried to eat their cows. ” She shrugged. “They had some dogs, too. But not wild dogs. I guess we just made them feel protected. ” Inwardly, Fido scowled at the memory of the other dogs they had kept as pets. They had never treated her as an equal! But, she’d still been capable of biting them back if they ever got physical. Wimpy for a hyena, but she was still stronger than those two-leggers scrawny pups.
“Fascinating. ” His sarcasm might be exaggerated, it had been somewhat interesting to hear. Both he and Fido were silent for a moment, and Tibuka glanced around. Two of the wild dogs were napping just over there. Timon and that brown one, Kutu. His dad? Well, the muddy hyena didn’t care. Leith was also nearby.
“Leith, Fido, come on. We’re going for a walk. ” And possibly a snack. Though Leith, as usual, seemed a bit moody as he stood, he still followed as Tibuka walked off. And Fido, typically slow on the uptake, had to scamper to catch up to the two males.
The purple male was quick once out of earshot of the two dogs. “What do you want? “ Tibuka didn’ mind the snippy attitude, because Leith knew his place. And if he ever stepped too far out of line, Tibuka was happy to remind him of hi place.
“I’d just like to inform the two of you, that, should you ever find any hyenas out there, bring them over to join us. ” Tibuka shrugged nonchalantly, it wasn’t a big deal.
Leith nodded, this idea made perfect sense to him. He and Tibuka didn’t think too differently, really. Though Tibuka was definitely more violent. Fido, on the other hand, was lost. “Why? ” She asked, meek, so Tibuka wouldn’t take it as on objection. Fortunately, he didn’t. It pleased Fido that they had been together long enough for him not to get mad at her for anything silly.
“The wild dogs outnumber us and it would be nice if we fixed that little issue. ” He explained coolly. “Should Jiska and I ever get in a… serious fight, the wild dogs would side with him. ” He shrugged. He didn’t really expect him and Jiska to ever be at each other’s throats (again), but it was still good to be safe.
Fido frowned a bit. She liked the wild dogs, never understood Tibuka’s suspicion of them. But she nodded. “Okay. ” Well, maybe she could understand worrying about Jiska. He was just as moody as Tibuka, but less aggressive. She still liked Tibuka more though!
Then again, Fido had never been the brightest crayon in the box.
“Come on, ” Tibuka was speaking again, and immediately, Fido was all ears. “Let’s go get something to eat. ”
No more explanations needed for that one.
