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 Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 10:51 am
Sepoko's ears flicked slightly as he thought about what Ruka said of her family. Sisters... he had heard of 'sisters' before, but always wondered what it would be like to have one. He snuffed a little to get some dirt out of his nose which had gotten in after being tackled, then he glanced at her and said, "Sisters sound nice... better than brothers." Of course, he felt guilty immediately after saying it. He loved his brother dearly... his brother had every right to treat him the way he did; Ajabu was the firstborn, which meant he outranked Sepoko. He shook his head.
"Wait... buggies?"
He turned his head, startled, just in time to see Ruka gleefully take a beetle into her paws to play with. He cringed and recoiled, shuffling just slightly away from his companion. Bugs... disgusting things. They made Sepoko very uncomfortable... not as uncomfortable as birds made Ruka, but he still hated them. He relaxed a bit though when Ruka began to give him reassuring words. He smiled weakly. "I guess... I don't know. Momma likes to wander around a lot. Sometimes I feel like someday she'll just leave me behind and take off somewhere." He looked down then in shame. "I know... that's an awful thing to think."
When Ruka licked the beetle, Sepoko had to bite his tongue to keep himself from gagging, but he nearly bit it off when she confessed to him. He quickly released his tongue. "Never?" he questioned. He blinked and furrowed his brow when she questioned his species. "Yes. I'm a lion. 'Least... I was the last time I checked." He scratched his head. "I don't think something like that changes, though." He was beginning to feel a bit worn out. This Ruka never ceased to surprise him, it seemed.
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Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 5:46 pm
"You don't like buggies?" She asked innocently s the beetle explored her chest and neck. Her sisters didn't really care for them either--especially Ashling--but Ruka had never considered that there would be many others that shared this outlook. It seemed she were wrong, and the little girl frowned. It wasn't hard to distract her from his distaste, however, as his next comments made her totally forget the thing crawling over her.
Her ears flew up at the thought that a mother might just leave her children behind. It was horridly unsettling, and even somewhat confusing--why would a parent do that?! Sepoko's father had done so, of course, but Ruka supposed hers had too otherwise she would have had one, right? Leaving seemed, as far as her mind could ponder, what father's did. The thought that her mother or her Aunt might just leave them all alone as well shook her to the very core, and Ruka couldn't help but notice that this boys mother certainly wasn't around at the moment. "Y-You can't... really think your momma would do that, huh?" She asked softly, ears flat in worry.
"... you could.. you could come with me!" Ruka heard herself offer a moment later, smiling softly. "I always wanted a brother! If your momma leaves you can come home with me cause sisters never leave you!"
The girl nodded at that, drawing on the unnatural amount of faith she'd always had in her family to get a grin on her face. "It'd be fun! One big family.... of lions." A giggle greeted the last words, a paw coming to cover her mouth at her attempt at 'joking'.
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Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 9:29 pm
Sepoko watched the beetle crawl about Ruka's chest, and his nose withered up on his face as he gaged. "Ugh. No," he said. It was the only time he ever got blunt; where bugs were concerned. Gross little things.
His expression softened as Ruka began to seem hurt and bewildered. He didn't understand. Had he said something wrong again? He stared at her in saddened wonder as she questioned him. Then his face went dark, and his eyes narrowed... not at her, but at his memories. "I never thought my father would leave me... but he did," said Sepoko. "And a goddess swore to me she would let no harm befall me, then dropped me from a tree. Now I have this..." Here, he held out his lame hind leg as best as he could to show her. The bone had healed at a slightly odd angle, leaving him with a limp. He let the leg settle back down. "I just don't know who to trust anymore."
But Ruka's invitation made him smile once again, and brought the warmth back to his face. "One big family..." he parroted, savoring the way the words sounded to him. "You know... I always liked the idea of having a really big family... and it might be nice to have sisters..." He sighed happily at the thought. Family was the thing Sepoko valued highest, above all other things.
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 2:05 pm
Ruka smiled with him when he finally did. She didn't understand sadness very well--at least not the sort of sadness this boy seemed to possess. Indeed, there was a nagging feeling in her breast that wanted her to stop it, to stave it off somehow. Ruka removed the bug from her fur and let it wander off on its own. She stood then and moved closer to Sepoko as she giggled and nodded, "One BIG BIG family."
The lioness cub settled down beside him and rubbed her head under his chin a little, cuddling up to him in an attempt to soothe him. To others it might seem like a random act, but to the little girl it seemed to make perfect sense. "Its not good what that Goddess did to you... er .. whatever a goddess is, but ... you should trust everything." The girls eyes seemed a little sad somehow, looking up at him, but her smile was warm and expression accepting, "Mama said that trust is the thing we need most. Without trust... we can't ever be with anyone. So... you just have to trust everything around you and you'll never be alone?"
The logic was simple and skewed, as a child's logic was wont to be. Yet, out of the mouths of babes so often came the purest truths.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 1:07 pm
Sepoko found himself relieved, not just to see Ruka remove and put away the bug, but also to see her smile with him. And he grinned, and it was his first true smile in a long, long time. He thought he'd like very much for Ruka to be his family. She seemed to be everything he always thought a sister should be like... cheerful and caring, virtually the opposite of what brothers, in his experience, were.
But the things Ruka said were curious and unusual to him. Trust everyone? How could he do that? How could he, when he'd been hurt so bad by so many before? He'd yet to meet anyone who he felt really deserved his trust...
Though he wanted to trust his mama. And he wanted to trust Ruka very badly. He sighed and smiled weakly at her, then nodded. "You know... for you... I'll try. I'll try to trust." He hoped that his attempt at trust would please her, and the prospect of no longer being lonely was rather enticing to him. He rolled back over onto his back and stared up at the cave ceiling, "I know mama's coming home." He murmured to himself. He said it once again just to reassure himself, "I know mama's coming home."
And right on cue...
"Sepoko!" a smooth, silky voice called from just outside the cave. "Sepoko! Are you here, dear? If you want dinner, you're going to have to come out!"
Sepoko perked up with a gasp, and rolled quickly up into a sitting position. "Mama!?" he cried. He then scrambled towards the mouth of the cave as quickly as he could, dragging his lame leg behind him.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:25 pm
Ruka continued to grin at him at his willingness to try a new path. He seemed to be very kind indeed--or at least, that was what she had decided and it would be hard to get her to believe otherwise. Her joy was obvious at his proclamation and she'd been ready to pounce on him again when the voice sounded outside.
A soft 'meep'/mewl came from cub as she hopped up to her feet and a step backward at the voice. As much as she preached trust, she startled easily. Curiosity had always been her downfall, however, and watching Sepoko run so happily to the entrance peaked it beautifully. The orange cub followed more slowly after her newfound friend, ears half risen in wary, but hopeful, curiosity as she reached the mouth of the cave.
As always, Ruka's eyes went first to the branches above them where only a handful of birds still resided. A lioness about had scared some of them off, however, and Ruka admitted to feeling somewhat safer with an adult in the area.
That done, the female gave her attention to the newcomer. She wasn't certain she would be well received, but she had to get out of the cave somehow in the end, either way. Still, manners remembered, the girl paused at the entrance to wait for the pair to finish their familial greetings.
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Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 12:32 pm
Sepoko stumbled to a stop just outside the mouth of the cave and mustered up one of his shaky, bashful little smiles. "Mom!" he cried, "You're home!"
Lefika smiled fondly on her child, with the faintest glitter of amusement in her silver eyes. "Well, don't sound so surprised," the lioness admonished her son sarcastically, then ruffled his little scrap of a mane with her paw. She then turned her attention back to the kill she had made just long enough to push it towards her son with her nose. "You eat first, dear. You probably need it more than I do," she said. She frowned a little bit at the little hog she had caught and snorted. "Sorry, warthog again, I know... they smell atrocious... but..."
But Sepoko shook his head rapidly and practically drooled over the kill. His eyes glittered. "No no no!" he said rapidly. "This is great! Anything you bring home to eat is great!" That said, the timid little lion juve dug eagerly into his meal, ripping off strips of meat and gobbling them up messily. Feeding was the only time when the young lion became truely unreserved.
And rather than admonish him for his eating habits, Lefika merely smiled once again, that fond smile which she showed only for her youngest son. "You are such a good boy," she commented wistfully. Then, looking up, she spied the little girl cub by the cave, just noticing her now. The fond smile dropped from Lefika's face, and her countenance returned to it's usual blank, unreadable state, with just a twinge of curiosity. "Who is this?" she questioned, asking no one in particular, just anticipating an answer.
Briefly, Sepoko was confused. He picked up his head, string of muscle hanging from his jaws, then looked back and saw Ruka sitting back by the den, waiting politely. Sepoko blushed. He couldn't believe he had forgotten to introduce his friend. With his mouth still full, Sepoko mumured, "Umm... mum... this is my new friend Ruka... met her just a li'l while 'go... while you were out..." He then hastily swallowed his mouthful and awaited his mother's reaction. He'd never really had a friend to introduce to his mother before, and was uncertain of how she'd react.
For a few moments, Lefika just stared silently, as she tended to do. She did not introduce herself, did not bow, said nothing. She merely made a 'hm' noise, then gestured towards the warthog and said, "Well, feel free to help yourself, then." It was the lioness' nature to get straight to the point.
((Sorry, that was looooooooong. xd ))
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Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:12 pm
Ruka stood when she was noticed, tail raised high behind her and wagging in a slow, but happy fashion. The scent of blood caused her mouth to water, and sparked a slight pain in her stomach though she hadn't thought herself hungry. The cub held her ground, however, and offered a grin to the lioness. Despite this, her eyes kept drifting over to the warm body in that helpless, childlike way that spoke of unlearned self control.
"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," She bobbed her head at the woman when Sepoko introduced her. Her eyes had to turn back to Lefika then, for the lioness's stare wasn't one that would be shaken. Ruka's ears never faltered in their perkiness, but the silence made her toes twitch a little in awkwardness.
Then, the spell broke with the offer of dinner and Ruka's grin strengthened itself once more. Without a second thought, the orange cub hopped forward to press up against Sepoko's side as she dipped her muzzle down into the meal with his. Being raised in a large family meant the tiny cub was unused to such strange ideas as 'personal space'. In fact, it would have been odd for her to take a mean without another body pressed up against hers.
A few bites in she liked her maw slightly and looked up at the lioness. "Thank you, ma'am." The tone was as bright and perky as the cub had a tendency to be--when not faced with birds and overly strange situations--and a mother and cub were not a strange situation. "I'm glad you came back for him--he was sad."
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:19 pm
Lefika was impressed with how polite the child was--one of the better children Lefika had met, though she'd always rather preferred the company of youth to the company of her peers. She found children to be far more pure of mind and spirit. So she simply sat back contentedly as her son and his new friend enjoy their meal. She was proud... and perhaps a little relieved... that Sepoko had made such a nice new friend. For some time Lefika had worried that perhaps her son was far too shy and socially awkward to make any real friends... or at least any that wouldn't take advantage of him the way her eldest son did.
But what Ruka said next piqued Lefika's curiosity. Her ears flattened back against her head and she frowned. "Sad?" she questioned. She looked down on her son. She didn't think she really needed to ask why he was sad... she was fairly certain she knew, and she felt sorry that there was nothing she could really do to ammend that for him.
And then abruptly she laughed, quite loudly, and she bent down to her son's level to look him in the eyes that were so alike her own. "Silly boy," she said through a grin, "You ought to know by now that I love you very much. More than anything, even. And I will never leave you." She placed a paw on his little cheek to comfort him and let him know she was really there for him.
Sepoko blushed furiously, embarassed by all the fuss over him. He looked helplessly over at Ruka, when his mother took his face in her paw. He winced a little, startled, then smiled awkwardly at her. "Of course, mama," he said. "I'm sorry." He felt terribly that his mother could see through him so well, and know what he was thinking... but his mother had always been like that. An excellent people reader.
Lefika removed her paw before she made her son feel too awkard in front of his company, then sighed. "You have absolutely no need to appologize, Sepoko," she said firmly, almost an admonishment. Sometimes she grew weary of her son's guilt complex. He had no reason to feel that way. She shook her head, then settled down and began eating herself, feasting sloppily as he son did.
As for Sepoko himself, he took a moment's break from feasting to turn to Ruka and smile. "Thank you for being here with me," he said quietly to her. He was honestly greatful for her support, and felt the desperate need to express it. Her mere presence warmed his heart.
It was wonderful, he thought, to have a real friend for once.
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