|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:46 pm
"Our current den isn't. My pack doesn't have a set territory. We are a nomadic pack." It wasn't for everyone. He, of course, was just comfortable with having a pack to be with. He had traveled most of his young life, and now that he was older he just wanted to feel like he belonged. The Hamaji pack gave him that. Something that had started small had grown into something much larger.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:52 pm
"Nomadic... that's moving from place to place, right?" she asked, glancing over at him. That was what she was doing now. She'd never heard of packs that moved from place to place, but when she really thought about it, she guessed she could understand it. If one dog could do it on her own, why not a whole pack? It still seemed a bit unusual, but do-able.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:17 pm
Haveo nodded to the female. The longest they had stayed was for Ujuzi's pups to be born and raised to a suitable age. But now they were free to move and explore and all the other sort. One of the pups had already left the pack, eager to do her own adventures. With 11 pups it didn't suprise him that something like this would happen. "It's a little odd but the company is good and...having a family is worth it."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:26 pm
Kweu looked off again, mulling over his words. Family being worth it... She really didn't understand what the word family meant. When she was young, she had thought what she had, "relatives" was what a family was, no matter how they treated one another. And that wasn't something she thought worth anything. Butthe way he said it made it sound... good and happy and...
"Could you... explain what a family is to me? I'm not quite sure I know what it is..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:32 pm
Indigo eyes blinked at the female. Of course, he shouldn't be too surprised. For sometime he himself didn't know what a family was. Abandoned by his birth mother, raised by hyenas...it was...different. At least he didn't reek of hyena anymore. "A family...are those who care for you. Love you. People who enjoy seeing you happy...people who want you alive and in their life. They don't have to be blood related to you. That's only the technical meaning but not the full one." He nodded to himself. The Hamaji was his home. He didn't think he could go back to life before belonging to this family.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:38 pm
Realization dawned in Kweu's eyes. So that's what a family was.
"I've never had one of those. My... blood mother was taken in a raid by another pack. When she returned and bore me, a single pup with colors unseen in any of my brothers or sisters or mother or father, they said I was fathered by one of the other pack's dogs, that I was bad. They..." she paused there, looking tired and bitter. "They were not kind and enjoyed my misery and confusion. And they never let me forget where I 'came' from."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:46 pm
Haveo glanced at her, before turning back. They were close, close enough that if trouble came it would be easy to call for help. He shifted the weight on his back before looking to the sky. The sun was no longer at its pinacle. For that he was thankful. Her life...it was...Different. But also similar to his. But not too much. "I...I don't know my mother or father, or if I have any siblings either. Whether they're alive or dead. I was...abandoned. Left alone to die, the only reason I'm here is because a mourning hyena mother decided to take me in on my own. The Hyena pack belittled me because I wasn't one of them, I wasn't killed because she had a high ranking. I left them when I was a pup. I wanted to know...what my own kind was like. I'm a wild dog, not a hyena. At least I finally don't reek of one." He chuckled. He hated those days, but he knew leaving his foster mother had hurt her. It was for HIS best. Not hers. He was thankful though. He did indeed want to live.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:57 pm
Kweu nodded slowly.
"It's hard, not having anyone to protect you. I... I wasn't strong when I was young. I was smaller than them all, so I couldn't leave, not until I was nearly an adult in my own right," she sighed, but smiled a little. She was glad to know she wasn't the only one who had suffered from a "family". It was a selfish gladness, but it was more the fact that she didn't seem so alone that made her feel better. And this dawning opened a part of her that she had closed off, her sense. She knew that Motu was just a figment of her own mind, but now she let herself fully realize it. She knew she had known other packs couldn't have been like hers, she just never wanted to admit it. Things were going to be different, and she allowed that small smile to grow, if just a little.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:06 pm
Haveo nodded back. He remembered the night he left them. The pack was sleeping, all of them tired from a hunt. They worked hard for a kill, there were new babies to feed. The only thing he did was wake up his 'Mother' tell him he was leaving, that he loved her, that he was so thankful to her, but that he had to go. It was a sad goodbye, more for her than for him. But they both knew that once he was no longer out of her rank's protection, the pack would kill him. He noticed her small smile, and felt his own grow. He was glad, that he could help someone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:08 pm
Kweu let the silence stretch between them. It wasn't uncomfortable, just... everyday quiet. But it was okay. There wasn't much left to say without changing the subject and nothing really came to mind. She just kept walking beside him, her paws softly striking the hard ground. The heat had started to seep back into her fur, no longer ignored, and an itch began to tick behind one ear.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:17 pm
Haveo paused, looking to her. In front of them was a small den. It was home for now but it would most likely turn into a home for someone else once they left. He was home. Haveo moved closer, dragging the kill with him, laying it down in front of them. He moved back to the female, touching noses with her. "Whatever fears you have now, forget about them. Don't worry about them. I'm on your side, and they trust me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 6:23 pm
When Haveo had finished his reassurance, Kweu nudged his nose to the side with her own and smiled.
"When I was big enough to fend for myself, I stopped being really afraid of things smaller than lions. But your words are a comfort, thank you," she replied as she turned her attention to the den. It was kinda small, but looked... cozy. She wondered what his pack members would be like.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
