Many nights and says had passed indeed since her departure from the family. It was lonely to be out here alone, without a family, she had to admit. But was she ready for this? To venture out alone and with no other? Especially Ereshkigal, who had been by her side the whole time? It was strange...These lands were strange, she had to admit. She would find no suitable land. She passed by many, she thought she perhaps even saw a glimpse of one of her familiar faces in some, but none were for her.
So she trudged on, the little young wild dog. She had her whole life ahead of her. It was just getting started... perhaps things just needed a little push.
The cloudy leopard trudged on through the grasses as well, though his steps were particularly more labored and went on grudgingly. Something followed him - something that bore an eerie resemblance. But why only one? Where were the others? To the leopard, it was a relief that only one of them trailed along. And that it had been Pipo. Perhaps he wouldn't have minded if even it was Tipo, but the almost twins would never be seen together if he had choose.There was simply so much trouble that could have been found between his kids and himself. How odd it is, though, that they were growing up, and yet, they were still his kids. Earlier, he had ushered them to go on and find their own stories, but they all stuck around for whatever reason. It was... unsettling.
Pipo followed along after his father. He was a newly fledged teenager, yet still bound to his father in their motherless family. Tipo was not here because he had wanted to stay back and sleep where everyone else was. It seemed that father was on one of his brooding streaks again, or whatever they were. The lot knew they weren't that welcome between their father and themselves. After all, their mother had abandoned them... But what was one to do with a grumpy father and a mother who literally threw you away? He surely did not know."Hey Goshi," Pipo said, pawing forward quickly to catch up with his bigger father, "Where are we going, sir?"
A wild orange and reddish streak entered the field, laughing through his run. His legs wildly moved about, pawing over whatever obstacle got in their way. And this time, it happened to be a bunch of others."Whoa there!" he called out, "Hey!"
"Watch out!"
The black streaked wild dog female herself heard the commotion running at her. She flinched, pulling back when the orange thing blew past her. When she turned her head to look at where it was going, it seemed to be running towards a leopard couple... Was it a father and his son? Ahh, how the connection brought back fond memories for the canine female.
She strolled over towards the conflict, seeing the collision. She hurried as fast as she could.
"Are you guys alright?" she asked, her motherly instincts kicking in, "I'm Pulika. Let me know if I can do anything! Oh, won't you watch where you're going?"
The next thing Goshi knew on his walk was that something plummet into him. Now, it couldn't have been Pipo, as Pipo had been raised to move on from those years of running around rapidly as a youth. Surely a teenager kid would not exhibit such high energy actions anymore.
It was small, really, and despite his own size, he did not fall over from the collision - however, he did stumble a little, looking back at the golden wild dog that hit him in that same blank manner he usually had.
"What are you on the run for, it's not like you're in a hurry to look for someone, is it?" he inquired, addressing his own concerns, "Distracting me from my own travels."
"But Goshi, you're not going anywhere. You're not leaving us all again!" Pipo piped.
"Not again, I mean. Aren't you the forgetful one?"
He pranced towards the front of his father, standing down to look at the male wild dog intruder and smiled.
"Pipo here. And this is Goshi, my father."
And when the other wild dog showed up, he nodded his head to her. Where did everyone come from, all of a sudden? Of course, he was used to this company, considering their small group of leopard family.
"Ah!" he spoke as he got on his feet - the wild dog male was surprised and miscalculated these past few steps.
He never thought he would have crashed into such a thing! It was unlike any of the other creatures about - this pale leopard just... seemed to be too lethargic and slow to notice. Of course, he must have missed it because of that. Usually, one would run away right when they saw an impact occurring, thus avoiding it.
As he shook himself off, he saw a sort of group congregating together. What was this? Had they all been together? From the introductions, surely not - it was just a coincidental happening.
Although... the other wild dog, Pulika, did look like a combination of the young lad leopard and the older leopard he crashed into - but that was just a fanciful thought.
"Langasaka here," he replied, adding his own name into the mix.
"I'm on my way, chasing the sun over the horizon over there. It's... It's going to get away, I must continue my run to keep up, I hope you will understand. Sorry about that crash."
"You're chasing the sun?" Pulika questioned, looking at the other wild dog sideways.
He was crazy.
But he had his own agenda... That in itself was good, right? What did she herself have to do? Did she have a goal? If he had a goal, he seemed intent on it to the point of not looking at where he was running to, and surely he was quick on his feet and really meant to catch the sun or whatever it was he wanted to do with that.
It was inspirational.
"Still... You're crazy," Pulika affirmed, "One has to stop at some point to realize a more grounded dream. The sun is way up there, too high for you to reach no matter how fast or far you run."
Oh. Well, if the wild dog that crashed into him was chasing the sun, that could have been a different story. Well, it was a different story. Perhaps it was all perfectly acceptable now.
"Alright then," Goshi replied, "The sun? I hope you reach it."
Despite that Pulika said, Goshi didn't really know if Langasaka would achieve whatever it was he wanted to achieve. But he would focus on his own goals, but then realized.
Oh, yeah. He had children back there that were sleeping, waiting around or something for him.
"Oh, right, Pipo," he said, turning to his son, "Well, let's just round everyone and hurry up and go. We must have as quick of paws as this young golden fellow here, chasing the sun. If you all thought like that, maybe we would get there faster."
And with that, he head back to where the rest of his children were.
"But where are we even going?"
It was a little pointless to ask Goshi questions; if he did answer them, his words were never clear, not even for a straightforward question.
The lot had a feeling Goshi wanted to go somewhere, but they didn't really know where. It seemed he had a mission, but perhaps it was a personal one. Well, whatever. Wherever Goshi went, they all would follow, too, to see what adventure would await them...
Well, it seemed like the leopards were departing, and Pulika was stuck here with that crazy wild dog. She snorted; while she had an appreciation for creative ideas like the ones from Ereshkigal, Langasaka's one was just out there. She could not understand, and perhaps she was even returning to her own, conformed self without Ereshkigal's influence.
"Well then, at least there's been no harm. Good day to you, Langasaka," Pulika addressed before wandering off in the opposite direction.
"Thanks guys," he called out, "and thanks miss!"
Langasaka readied his steps, preparing for the next wave of his chase. He was in it for the chase, all for the chase. And he would one day see where this goal would take him!
