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 Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:24 am
Mana had never been much inclined to befriend his food, or even talk to it other than while he was engaged in the process of killing it. And then it wasn't so much that he was talking to it as swearing at it if it was being difficult to kill or muttering under his breath what he would like it to do so that he could kill it more easily. As for fish...he was not particularly adept at catching them anyway, so even if they could talk, he would probably be too proud of himself for simply catching one to be bothered holding a conversation with the thing.
Aiko's relation of her encounter with a fishing wild dog tied in well with his own line of thought and he half-listened. He'd found that if he did that, his mind could be persuaded to conjure images to go with whatever he was hearing. He had seen a few wild dogs in his life, though not as many as one might think, and so in his mind he pictured one of the ones he had seen. Imagining Aiko was easy enough.
"The bones had gotten crushed?" Mana asked. "He must have been a very poor fisher indeed. Even I can manage to avoid crushing the fish."
He had almost relaxed to the point where he thought he might be able to sleep. He doubted his dreams would be easy, but if he could force himself to consider the ridiculous fishing dog rather than lions or the Mizimu he would at least be able to get to sleep. Sleep interrupted by bad dreams was better than no sleep at all. He couldn't help wondering how long it would take until his terror of being hunted down and dragged back would fade.
"Thank you, Aiko. I should not keep you any later. It has been...entertaining."
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Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2010 6:50 pm
Aiko nodded at Mana's question about the fishbones being crushed. "Yes, they were. He attacked them like they were hares that swam in the water, and when he bit them the little bones got all broken inside." But it had still been nice of him to share. Nice of him to offer to get her dinner.
He'd been much nicer than the cheetah she'd seen earlier that night, what a horrible and rude boy that had been. Him she never cared to see, or even think about, again. Except she was thinking now. Drat it.
"He was making a mess of it too," she giggled, "There was so much mud on his fur I didn't realize some of the splotches were actually meant to be there. I thought he was white and just really, really muddy. But he was spotchy...and really really muddy."
She smiled hopefully at him, wondering if this story had helped since he hadn't tensed this time. Instead, he'd relaxed. Which was very much a good thing as far as she was concerned.
"Ah, I see. Well, if you ever want me again, you know how to find me," she told him softly, leaning forward to nudge his fiery shoulder with her head before turning and padding out of his den. She knew a dismissal when she heard one, if he'd wanted her to stay the night with him he would have said as much.
"Goodnight, Mana," Aiko purred before, with a flick of her tail, vanishing back into the darkness beyond his den.
FIN
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