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 Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:16 am
 Dugi was as normal a little cub as he could be. he liked mud, he liked his home, he had a mommy and a daddy, and a pride to call home. He liked to eat and play games, and to make friends. He liked to climb trees and to swim and to get dirty (and to get a bath from mommy after) and chase bugs and pull on girls' tails. Yes, all in all he was a normal little boy.
Except for one thing. Every time he hugged someone, his head would swim and his sight would waver for just a moment. In that moment he could still see that person, but instead they were all grown up. All grown, and standing with another person. They always looked very happy together, and it was always a boy and a girl together he saw. They would smile, and nuzzle each other like his mommy and daddy did, and then things would go back to normal.
He didn't quite understand it, but he could guess at what it meant. He didn't tell anyone, but he knew what the cause was. He was like his mommy. She'd told him about her dreams about her mother each morning. He was special, like her. He was a seer. The only thing he COULDN'T see was his own future. No matter how many times he hugged himself the visions never came.
Being so young, he didn't let the visions get in the way of his making friends. He didn't tell anyone about them, and he didn't let them bother him. After all, he wasn't sure just what they meant, even if he thought he knew. He just went right on making friends and having visions and dealing with it. Like today! He'd spotted a little white cub he'd not met yet and was determined to say hi.
"...Hi!"
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Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:12 pm
Theluji was being adventurous today. Oh yes. Very adventerous.
Twigs and bits of leaves had gotten quite stuck in her soft green tail fluff, as always seemed to happen almost as soon as she wandered off anywhere. Her mommy said it was because her tail dragged, but she didn't really notice it. Well, not until mommy was sitting with her and pulling bushes out of it with her teeth. That hurt sometimes, even though mommy was always as gentle as possible no matter how long it took. Just like she was always there when the little cub or one of her siblings stumbled into deeper water than they meant to, or pounced on a bitey bug. Mommy could fix anything.
So it was that the little lioness made sure to keep one ear out for the soft soothing voice as she explored so adventurously out of sight. Just in case. The last stranger she'd met had been nice, mommy had given her a long bath afterward, but the mud had been fun enough to make up for it. Maybe she could play with not-brother boys too. Maybe they weren't so weird, not like the big grown-up ones. They were so huge, and fluffy, and...big! It was very scary. But boys her size were mostly okay...maybe.
And so when the other cub marched right up to her with a greeting, she only sort of glanced around to see if she could see mommy before looking uncertainly back at him. He was...just a tiny bit...bigger... But not that much. And he wasn't that fluffy looking either. So that was okay.
"...hi," she answered a bit shyly, scuffling her paws before remembering the manners mommy taught her. "I'm Theluji." There. She remembered just like she was supposed to. So...now what? Did they go splat in the mud? Was that how this worked exactly?
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:45 pm
Yay! The girl seemed friendly. Dugi liked that. Of course, she was a girl, so normally he would have pulled her tail...but she seemed shy. Momma had told him to be nice to shy people, because they were special. Not special like being a seer, he guessed, but that was okay. He smiled at her and hopped up a tiny bit on his back paws, splatting back down in the mud with a little squishy noise.
"I'm Dugi! You're pretty." She was. She was pale like him! Momma had told him that when he was born his daddy had thought he was white. But he was purple! Not like this girl. She really was pretty, even with mud on her feet and some twigs in her tail. "Hey, you know you got twigs in your tail?" He stepped around her and reached down to tug one out with his teeth. "See? You should hold your tail up from the ground, like this!" He demonstrated, keeping his own tail just off the ground.
A moment later it snared on a bush. "Er. Not like that! Here wait! I can do it right!"
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Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 5:10 pm
Mommy was pretty, Theluji thought to herself, but even mommy told her and her siblings that they were cute or adorable, so maybe that’s what he meant. Dugi looked cute too, she liked his purple color better than the other things she though were cute like the hares or the chipmunks and small not scary at all animals that even she had no trouble pouncing on. Definitely nicer color. But mommy’s manners didn’t tell her what to say now. “. . . Thank you.”
She froze when the Dugi pulled the twig from her tail. Only mommy ever did that, and now she knew why, only mommy was gentle enough to do it. She didn’t move or say anything, but the stinging did hurt. Dugi was trying to help, she knew that so she stayed very quiet and gave him a small smile and nodded at him, biting the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t cry.
When his tail caught on a bush after he showed her how to keep it up, a small giggle slipped out, but she bit her tongue to try and force it back in. “Don’t pull, it hurts if you try to pull to hard.” Theluji walked around to his tail and the bush and as carefully and gently as mommy did for her, she untangled his fluff from the thorns and twigs of the shrub. “Sometimes, if you pull too hard, it takes some of your tail fluff. That happened to me before and my mommy had to detangle me. It took forever.”
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:39 am
Dugi was good natured enough not to be offended when she laughed at him. He guessed it WAS pretty funny that he'd been trying to show her what to do and then messed up! And he was doubly grateful when she got him unstuck. He really liked his tail and didn't want it to lose any fur or hurt! She was gentle, which was nice, and he tried not to get impatient and just tug himself free.
"So are you new in the swamp, Theluji? I don't think I've seen you around. I'M almost big enough to go out on my naming quest, so I know almost everybody. Almost. Not you though. So you must be new!" He bragged a bit, but still smiled at her. He felt a little like showing off to his new friend, especially because she was a girl. A pretty girl too. Not like his sister. She was nice, but, well, his sister!
"My family lives that way." He nodded over his shoulder. "I have two brothers and a sister! I'm the oldest! What about you--hey look at that!" A large bug had crawled across the ground between them, and instantly his ears went back and he hunched down. He'd hunt it for his new friend, and she'd be sooo impressed!
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Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:33 pm
Theluji smiled, nodded or shook her head in response as she work Dugi's tail free. "There your free." She moved back away from him more than a bit nervous. He said he was almost old enough for his naming quest. That meant he was going to be fluffy. Very fluffy like the big fluffy males that scared her. But he wasn't very fluffy yet. "I'm really not that new. At least I don't think I am. How would you know if your new or not?"
Theluji looked in the direction Dugi nodded in and nodded. Dugi wasn't really THAT scary. She settled down to lay down by the bushes near a puddle of mud, close enough that if he started to fling some, she'd have ammo. "I don't keep track of who the oldest is of my two sisters and my brother. I guess I am. We really don't talk about that."
When Dugi shouted in excitement, Theluji jumped to all fours. And looked around, tilting her head to listen for mommy. When she could the soothing lilt of her voice, Theluji looked for what he wanted her to look at. It was a bug crawling between them. As he hunted it, Theluji hoped it wasn't a bitey-bug. She really didn't know how to deal with them.
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 1:19 pm
"Ha! So there's three girls and one boy? That's the opposite of my family! Momma and Daddy met when Dad was on his naming quest, and Mom came back with him after they had us." He puffed himself up, trying to look brave. "So I'm not scared to leave the pride to find my name! I've already been to the rogue lands!" Okay, so maybe he'd been an infant when he'd been there. And maybe he didn't remember anything about them at all. But that was okay! He was brave!
"You're the oldest too? We gotta stick together then, and set a good example. Like sometimes my brothers tease my sister too much and I tell them not to!" That's what brothers did, right? They protected their younger siblings. Theluji was younger, so he decided he'd help protect her too, if she didn't mind. Of course, that meant protecting her from the big bug! She didn't look too happy to see it.
The big beetle paused and shuffled its wings, and that's when Dugi pounced! Mud splattered out from under him, and there was a loud and somewhat gross crunch as the beetle met its end. "Ha HA! I got it!" He lifted up his paws to see the mess underneath. Oh yes, he'd definitely slain it! "Come see! You want some?" He looked appealingly at her, and smiled. He'd gotten her a gift and kept her safe, what more could a girl ask for?
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:14 pm
"You're really not scared to go on your naming quest?" Theluji suppressed a shiver of fear. "I am. I don't ever want to go. I can be Mommy's Theluji forever. I don't need to grow up." She wasn't only afraid of the rogue lands, but of King Narindima'moyo. He was very big and fluffy. He was the biggest and fluffiest that Theluji ever saw. She didn't want to give him any reason to notice her, never mind talk to her.
No, Theluji would stay with mommy, exploring the swamp like she always did. She'd try her hardest to not be noticed by the big fluffy lions or any of their mates and grown lionesses. She just couldn't imagine being without mommy. So far from her, and her soothing voice. She had nightmares like that and Theluji saw no reason to live them.
Dugi pounced and splashed mud and bug guts everywhere, crunching the thing beneath his paws. That bitey-bug wasn't going to bite anyone today. Or ever again, Theluji thought as she crept closer to it's remains. Theluji smiled back at him. Did she have eat it? Well, he had slain it for her, and Mommy said it was rude not to eat food offered to you. Mommy wouldn't be happy to hear she'd been rude. And she was on an adventure, what kind of adventure would it be if she didn't try the bitey-bug?
"Only a little." Theluji dipped a claw into the mess. "I don't want to ruin my appetite and have Mommy go hunting for us for nothing." Theluji stuck her tongue out to lick the goo from her claw, slowly. She tried not to make a face, but the bitey-bug had been biting things that didn't taste really that good.
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:02 pm
"It won't be so bad! 'Sides, who knows! You might take like two steps out of the pride, and know your name! Then you'd be able to come right back AND be an adult." Being an adult would be lots of fun he thought. He'd be tall and strong and fast and no one could boss him around! "I might stay out though, I dunno. Have an adventure!"
He watched in slight awe as she dipped a claw into the mess and then into her mouth. "Ah...aha! You really ate it!" He did a little turn--girls thought bugs were icky, so he thought, and wouldn't eat nasty things...but she had! That was so cool! "You're awesome!" Unthinking, he slid up beside her and draped a paw over her back. She slipped in close, in a half hug at most...but it was enough.
The vision seized Dugi suddenly, and he let go of Theluji immediately and took a few confused steps away. But that wasn't right. He NEVER saw himself in visions. But this time, well, Theluji'd been there, and him too. It was the same as all the rest.
He blushed fiercely, suddenly shy, and peeked at her. Catching her eye, he squeaked and looked away again.
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:32 pm
"But we're on an adventure right now." Theluji said, smacking her lips and shaking her head all in attempt to get the bad after taste out of her mouth. Her eyes were closed, but she felt Dugi half hug and froze. And then he tensed.
Theluji opened her eyes and looked at his suddenly shy features. She moved away from him slightly and bit her lip. She tried to look anywhere but at him.
"I need some grass," Theluji muttered. She moved to the bushes and ate the weeds growing there to rid herself of the bitey-bug's taste and general ickiness. She snuck glances at Dugi as she ate the grass.
Finally, she asked almost at a whisper, scared that she'd done something to make him that way. "Are you okay?" He'd seemed okay with her trying the bitey-bug, in fact he was excited enough to hug her. Maybe she smelt bad. Theluji tried to subtly to smell herself as she continued to eat the grass.
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:07 am
Dugi kept on being shy for a long moment. He'd never known one of his visions to not come true (then again, most of the people he'd seen were still youths so he hadn't seen any come true either) and that meant that she was...and he was...He had to do this right then, because if he didn't, he got the feeling something very bad would happen. He'd be WRONG for one...
He didn't pay but little attention when Theluji was getting the bad taste from her mouth. He was too busy trying to think up how to tell her. Her voice when she asked startled him, and he looked like he might be thinking of running away for a moment.
"Uhm, well...I'm okay. You see...My mother and I, we get these...visions." Yeah, she was totally gonna think he was crazy. "I can't control them, they happen when I hug people...I wasn't thinking when I put my paw around you. And I had a vision...about you."
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 10:05 pm
Finally, the taste of bitey-bug was gone. Theluji really didn't like bitey-bugs. They had no redeeming traits at all; they bit and they tasted bad. If they had at least tasted good, Theluji would have understood the need to bite, defense. But really, what good were they?
Theluji tilted her head at Dugi's explanation. "Visions? Like Daydreams? How do you control daydreams? Oh! Oooh. You're a see-er?" Theluji canted her head to listen for mommy's soothing voice as she tried to remember she'd heard mommy having that one time. "Is that what mommy called it?" She muttered, frowning.
"About me?!" Surprised widened her eyes. Her future was with mommy, so Theluji had no interest in the future or visions of it. She'd be with mommy and that was that. "I don't need to know, Dugi. It'll ruin the adventure of tomorrow."
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 5:47 am
Dugi was NEVER shy. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why his face felt so warm or why his paws felt sweaty or why he felt the need to blurt out random things, especially about the vision. True, he'd wanted to know his own future since he'd realized he could do it, but now that he knew...It was just so sudden!
She didn't think he was weird for having visions, that was good. Oh he wanted to tell her, why didn't she want to hear? He nodded and mumbled some excuse about needing to run home.
Just before he left the clearing though, he sighed and stopped short. "...IsawusasmatesinthefutureI'msorryItoldyoubutIthinkit'simportantand...Ihavetogo! I...Iloveyou!" His pale fur flushed with his embarrassment, he took off at a run. Ugh! Telling her hadn't helped after all!
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Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:01 pm
"What?!" Theluji frowned as she watched Dugi race away. He saw our future? He loved her? Boys were weird. She needed to talk to mommy.
THE END
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