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 Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:43 pm
 A gentle breeze loped along the terrain, sending waves and ripples through the sea of thick savannah grass, creating a gentle raspy song as the dry shoots grated against one another. Overhead, the sun lay cradled in a blanket of clouds, a bright ball of molten gold sending glimmers of light through a patchwork of fluffy white masses. A haze of heat settled over the land, although not overpowering for the midst of summer, but enough to send even the healthiest creatures in search of a little shade or water. It just so happened that through the varying shades of splotched shadows and sunlight loped the lone figure of a canine, apparently looking for a bit of the previously mentioned relief.
A small grimace settled on the maw of the slate-toned brute, deep rose-tinted orbs glancing up at the patches of clouds in distaste, especially as they parted once more to reveal the great daytime star in all its blazing glory. He hissed slightly as he had to drop his eyes away, blinking back the dots of residue the sunlight left behind like a stain on his vision. “You’d think that if the clouds were going to bother being out at all that at least they would hide the sun completely instead of just doing half a lousy job,” he muttered lazily to himself, his words dying on the air without another ear to hear them. He swallowed slightly in the heat, panting softly as he looked eagerly for a bit of shade that wouldn’t vanish in the blink of an eye.
He squinted those rose-tinted orbs at the direction of a scraggly, knotted old tree and let a small smirk of triumph creep over his handsome face at the sight. With a little bit of pride creeping into his lazy lope, he began to head in that direction, greedily seeking the comfort of the little shade those scraggly vegetated branches could offer him on such a horribly heat-drenched summer day.
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:25 pm
She was lucky for her coat, sometimes, but she was also cursed. White fur helped with the heat, but it also did a number of bad things for her. The foremost of these being that she was very easily spotted, day or night, by anything that might have wanted her. Living in the wilderness as she was, there were a lot of things that wanted her--but not for reasons that she was overly happy about. The second was that it was always quite obvious when she was dirty.
Normally the little pup didn't mind being dirty--in fact, some might say that she reveled in it--but there was a point to the uncleanliness that was acceptable, even to her, and she had long since reached the break. There wasn't much she could do about it, however. Any time that she tried to stop these past few days, something bad had happened. Then again, the situation she'd found herself in was fairly poor at all times, so those "bad" things were steadily becoming normal.
It'd all begun with a romp with her brothers. Hide-and-go-seek had been a favorite past time among the siblings, one which Rhemi had little issue with playing at any time. As such, when they'd suggested a game of it after their mother had fallen asleep one night, she'd not passed it up, though her sisters had. They were afraid of the dark, and now she knew that she should probably have been too. Now, she had little choice but to accept the terrors that darkness could bring.
The morning after deciding to play the game, Rhemi had found herself lost. She'd wandered too far into places when she couldn't see and even things that she had been able to make out looked very, very different in the daylight. Even now she wandered, though she'd given up the hope of ever seeing her family again.
The pup's stomach growled at her and she flattened her ears. "Shut up, you," She hissed at it. Dwelling on her hunger got her no where, though all the pup really wanted to do was curl up and cry. She missed the familiar faces she'd grown up with, the warm bodies to sleep with and the full bellies at the end of the day. It was amazing how much you longed for something once you'd lost it when you might not have batted an eye at its presence before. Really, Rhemi didn't even care if she found her family anymore--oh sure, she did miss them--but now she just wanted someone, anyone because the pup was smart enough to realize... she was going to die.
When she spotted the lone male through the haze, she'd started to back off. Her father had never been around to raise any of the pups and therefore males weren't something that any of them had been overly familiar with. She was more afraid of that looming threat of death, however, and so the pup pulled herself together and tried to skirt a half circle around the place where the other wild dog lay.
Was he safe to approach? That was hard to tell. Already there had been many animals that had snapped at her and even attempted to eat her! She'd escaped them all, but only be pure luck and hair's breath. If she approached this one and he was unkind.. what would she do?
In the end, though, there only seemed two options. The first was that she sneak away from here as fast as possible, and the other would be to approach him regardless of the chances and pray for the best. With a deep intake of air, the pup set her stance as boldly as she could and marched herself forward.
She came in from his side, slightly behind him, and so it was very possible that Maji hadn't seen her coming. Still, it would have been hard to have missed a cub coloured as she was, no matter how small. "Excuse me, mister," She stated flatly, from a few cautious feet away, "Can i lay here too?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:01 pm
The lithe form of the young rogue wild dog was curled comfortably beneath the tree he had spotted, and although he had only been there for a few minutes, his breathing had already slowed to what one would only associate with the beginning of sleep. The darker tuft of steel blue mane lay haphazardly across his lidded eyes, aiding to keep the sunlight away from his lethargic mind. Bits of sun splashed down across his form, but only in small pieces, and though the scraggly branches were nothing compared to the great boughs of some forest trees of other lands, they were enough to keep a few degrees of heat from reaching his rather tired form.
It was that sudden state of mind, the nearness to sleep, that made his reaction to her words come so late. The tiny voice seeped into his mind, losing most tones and general recognition along the way, so that he only dimly became aware of someone speaking. As it were, it seemed to be just enough to draw the lazy brute from his almost-slumber, and those rose-tinted orbs flashed open groggily upon the sun-lit world. He turned with a grimace of irritation to glance back at the place from which the voice had originated, half expecting some form of greedy glutton that had decided to move in on another wild dog’s hard earned shade. Of course, he never expected to see her.
“Oh,” he said with a bit of surprise, all the features of his previously irritated mask softening immediately. His first reaction was to glance around in search of her parents, and upon seeing no other living soul near them, he began to study her a little more closely. She seemed a little roughed up, certainly dirtier than any parent would let their pup get, and he would bet that she had probably spent the night alone. If she hadn’t slept, she was probably weary beyond reason, and even if she had, by this point she was probably starving from her inability to hunt down her own food. What in the world could have brought her so far from her family? It was obvious she had traveled far, for no family would make their home on the rough terrain of the savannah and there was little shelter for a few miles.
“Of course,” he said quietly as he pushed himself up slowly onto his hindquarters, staring down at her with a fair amount of sympathy mixed with a small touch of worry. True, he might not have been the friendliest of wild dogs sometimes and certainly not when he was miserable from the heat, but even he had a soft spot for pups. He watched her silently for a few moments and then glanced around once more to make sure that she truly was alone, almost as if he couldn’t believe it. Why should he? It wasn’t every day that a pup came wandering up alone.
“Sweetheart, where is your.. family?” he stated, hesitating slightly on saying the last word. He really didn’t want to upset her if she was lost and although it might be unavoidable to find out why she was alone, he still didn’t think he could take watching her cry. She wouldn’t cry would she? He frowned, pushing the thought out of his mind.
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:03 pm
"Gone," She yawned, tongue lolling over her jaw. She didn't cry--it was more that she was too tired than for lack of wanting to cry--but she did give the faintest whimper after the yawn. Sleeping in front of a perfect stranger probably wasn't the best idea, Rhemi considered, not that her body was set to give her much choice about that. Instead she skittered into the shade available and threw herself down on the ground beside him.
The little pup panted and her stomach growled audibly. He wasn't incorrect about her state, in fact he'd already guessed as much as she could have told him. Looking up at him, the pup's strangely bi-coloured eyes seemed confused or skeptical for a few moments. A strange male, in the middle of no where, completely alone with her. There was a voice there telling her that she should be really careful about this situation, it sounded like her mother, but that voice was distant in conjunction with the hunger and exhaustion.
Laying down was a godsend, really, and soon her skeptical expression faded into indifference. Another yawn later those tired eyes drooped shut and the pup passed out onto her paws.
It only took about five minute for her stomach to wake her again, though the act was groggy and cumbersome. Eventually, punctuated with twitches and groans, the pup's eyes opened once more. Again she yawned, gave her aching limbs a stretch, and suddenly startled. Sitting up straight, a slight yelp left Rhemi's maw as she looked about in fright. Seeing herself still sitting under the tree with the male, she relaxed again, though she did not lay down. Now the whining was louder, coming from deep in her throat.
Another glance up towards the face of the male beside her seemed to cement in his original question. "I can't find my mommy..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:26 pm
Maji watched in her in silence as she plopped down on the ground beside him, and simply sat there for those few minutes that she seemed to find peace in her slumber. Of course, the grumbling of her stomach was beyond noticeable, and the simple thought of her being so hungry made his own stomach wrench uncomfortably. Little things such as herself weren’t meant to be out here all alone, and if she kept on like this, there was a good chance she wouldn’t make it through the night. After all, she was a scared, hungry, lonely little cub that hadn’t had anything to eat in probably close to twenty-four hours and there were more than enough carnivorous creatures out there willing to gobble her up in her weakened state. Hell, some of them could probably gobble her up, weakened state or not. Simple fact was that she was too little to be out here by herself.
“Oh, don’t whine little girl,” he said with a frown, eyebrows furrowed as he stared down at her tiny figure. He hated it when pups whined or cried, and he had seen a few do so for whatever reasons during times when he had stayed with this pack or that one – although, he was continually restless and didn’t get along with groups very well, so he usually never stayed. He preferred the life of a loner to the life one led in a community. He figured he’d always be that way, but he knew that only time would tell where his paws would lead him.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you?” he asked with a little frown, his tail wagging idly behind him. He had been in the area for a little while and had only brought down a gazelle earlier in the morning. As a wild dog’s nature goes, he normally wouldn’t go back to feed from it, but there was enough meat left to feed the pup and he saw no need to be wasteful and hunt something else down, especially when she would probably not need but a little. Likewise, he really didn’t want to leave her alone for too long, and hunting would inevitably separate them – who knows where she would wander off to if left alone.
He sighed as he glanced around, trying to figure out where she had come from. Sadly, he knew there was no way to find her mother again, not after she had been wandering aimlessly all night and probably had no idea from what area she had come. The best he could do was try to feed her for now and hope that her mother came this way sometime today. If not, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but he couldn’t leave her alone, could he?
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Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:02 am
"buuuuuttt..." She whined again, unsure how to take being told not to whine. The only alternative to that which she saw was crying, and that would likely make him even less happy. Really, Rhemi saw no two ways about it so she sniffled in warning. Exhaustion was making it hard for her to really choose what was going on, however, and so along with the sniffling was... well, more whining.
Despite the afternoon heat, the girl shifted very slightly on the ground to rest agaisnt him. She was a social creature at heart, as all canines were, and being apart from others of her kind, even for a night, had been hard on her. Right now, her stomach wanted food, her heart wanted contact, and her muscles wanted sleep. It was all very confusing. "uh-huh," She nodded weakly to the question of hunger.
Normally, Rhemi would have been very reluctant to ask this of a stranger. However, it was obvious that this situation was more than a little out of the "norm" for both of them. She nuzzled his side, resting her head on his paw as she drifted into sleep again. Once more the pup startled awake a moment later and gave a great yawn. "I wanna sleeeep..." Nor was she this whiney. Rhemi almost winced to hear herself, then didn't as that would take too much energy.
Most likely, the girl would apologize later on for "how she'd acted." Right now, she didn't much care so long as it got her results. Those results, of course, would be food and some shut-eye. In fact, she was starting to not care if the hyenas or other predators came, so long as she could bloody well sleep through the act of death! "D'you gots any food?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:01 pm
He frowned as he saw that look in her eyes, knowing instantly what it usually led to. He hated watching pups cry even more than he liked to hear them whine. He almost said something along the lines of ‘alright, whine, but please don’t cry’ until he realized that she had suppressed the urge and simply gone back to whining again. Well, he supposed that if he must, he could deal with that – it was better than actually having her break down right then and there. He wasn’t sure what he could have done for her then. Sure, he could feed her, watch her if she needed to rest, but he had no idea how to console her. He’d probably feel really badly about that then.
“I don’t think you’re going to get any rest until you put something in your belly, sweet heart,” he said, although he had been startled as she leaned against him and nuzzled up to him so suddenly. Sure, he knew the need to be near someone at times, to feel that comfort, he just hadn’t expected her to cuddle up to him so quickly – or at all, for that matter, because he really was dense at predicting such things. He supposed, in a way, he should have realized that the first thing a pup would want was someone to cuddle them and console them and generally just tell them that everything would be alright. While he realized that he had been dense from the get go as to her needs, he knew that there was no way he could tell her anything would be alright.
Sure, he could tell her all he wanted that he didn’t know how to get her back home, and he could wait with her here with the hope that her mother came to find her, but even that guaranteed nothing. He couldn’t get her hopes up and tell her that it would be alright, that she’d get back home to her family, because it just wasn’t likely. However, he could fix the immediate problems she had – such as hunger – and be confident in doing so. “Yes, I have some food, and if you sit here I’ll go get it and bring it back to you, alright?”
He moved her off of him and let her body settle to the ground before he stood, tilting his nose up to the air just to make sure he didn’t smell any predators. “Just wait right here for a few minutes,” he muttered weakly, then began to trot off to the left a ways. He glanced back over his shoulder before he could get too far away to distinguish her from the tree, then continued on quickly until he found the gazelle – it seemed not to have been touched other than his own feeding, which meant the scavengers hadn’t been this way yet. He sighed and gripped it by a back leg, then commenced to drag the rather hefty, tattered form of the creature back to the little pup.
It took a good while, considerably longer than it had taken to get there, simply because of the weight of the deer-like creature. Sure, it was easier than if it had been a fresh, untouched kill, but Maji really wasn’t one to put a lot of effort into something and that meant dragging it even a little ways was more than a pain in his opinion. Of course, there was always that overlaying factor that she could starve to death without this, and that was probably the only reason that he even bothered. Once he had finally made his way back to her, he let go of the leg and flopped immediately onto his rump. “Here, go ahead and eat so that you can get some rest, sweetheart.”
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Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 6:06 pm
Rhemi's nose gave a visible twitch. The second time, her snout lifted with it almost comically. The third time her eyes popped open from where she'd been dozing once more on the ground beneath the tree, no longer caring if she would be eating. A second later, the pup had found some previously unknown reservoir of energy and dashed forward upon it to sink her nose straight into the maggot filled belly of the carcass. Not that predators particularly minded larvae in their food, as there was little avoiding it. Actually, the entire thing was rather filling as far as the young pup was concerned. It wasn't long before she was half-buried inside the carcass, the entire front half of her stained a dark rust colour from the coagulated blood.
Not much later, she toddled out of the body, backward, with a distended stomach and sick look on her face. Once more racing, this time to the other side of the tree they were under, there was a distinct retching noise and odor the moment she'd disappeared.
When Rhemi returned, she still looked sick, and a total mess, and wobbled a little. Despite all of this, the female made her way over to her savior to worm her way between his legs and curl up under him, body pressed against his stomach and face turned into the inside of his back leg. A yawn later, the pup fell promptly back to sleep.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:41 pm
Maji had watched the young pup with interest as she rushed forward to gorge herself on the carcass that had already begun to decay and house a variety of insects that fed on dead flesh. As she ate to quickly, and so much, he opened his mouth to tell her to slow down. Of course, he simply shut again because he knew she wouldn’t – the poor thing was starved to death and telling her to not eat so fast or so much would be like telling a bird not to sing. He simply frowned, shaking his head, knowing the inevitable outcome of filling up such a starved belly in the manner she was doing it. Of course, filling it up at all was better than leaving it empty, so she’d get what she wanted to in the end.
He frowned as he watched her little form rush off behind the tree, ears flattening as he heard the inevitable sound of retching carry from where she was. Once she came back out, however, his ears dropped even farther at the sad site she showed. She really was a pitiful thing, even if she had filled her belly up on now. So sick, so tired, and just generally looking more worn out than any little pup should at any time in their lives. He felt sorry for her, which was probably the first mistake, although he hadn’t come to realize it yet, and that feeling would inevitably come back to haunt him in the end.
He furrowed his brows and stared down at her form as she wiggled between his legs, making him nearly tumble forward as she pushed them apart with her now bloated form. He grimaced slightly as her crimson stained fur rubbed up against his own, causing some of the blood to transfer onto his own slate-toned coat. True, he had had blood on him before, but it was obvious that the little one wasn’t going to be waking up anytime soon now that she had food in her belly and he was instead doomed to let the blood dry and cake in his fur. He sighed softly, but didn’t move her – he’d have to get her washed up once she woke up anyway.
He shifted until he could lay down with her between his paws, tucked close to his chest with his head propped across her tiny little back. He lay there like that, letting her sleep, protecting her from an assortment of predators that he was sure would take advantage of her had he not been there. Likewise, thinking about predators made him realize that he couldn’t just leave her here – he would never forgive himself if he left her and she was killed. True, he would have no way of knowing it, but he would live the rest of his life knowing he had left a little pup all on her own. Well, if he had known that today would be the first day of the rest of his life, he probably would have been a little happier about waking up this morning. Of course, if he had known the rest of his life entailed carrying for a stray pup, he probably would have gone in the other direction if he bothered to wake up at all. Sure, after seeing her, he would feel horrible about leaving her – without seeing her, he probably wouldn’t have minded.
He supposed all he could do now was wait for her to wake up and then decide what he should do from there. A bath was in order, of course, and he should probably find out what her name was. Yes, that seemed like a good start.
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:55 pm
Through the long hot day she slept. The sun bloodied and pooled upon the horizon, the golden fires swept across the land, and darkness fell before the stars awoke to cast some meager light upon the land. It was only when the Moon had appeared, slim and silver, did the young pup stretch herself in the embrace of her newfound savior. A yawn ripped at her maw, tongue stretching pink into the pale half-light of a starry night and tiny teeth winking pearly white. Bleary eyes opened slowly, at first refusing to focus. She closed them once more, stretching again, and turned her head to nuzzle her way back into the warmth of the fur around her. "Momma?" She asked, not quite remembering the terror of the past two days.
"I had a bad a dream," Rhemi continued, words slow and pausing with the sleep that still settled upon her. In the distance hyena's laughed and a herd bellowed. Somewhere, a cat's scream echoed with the rustle of wind through the tall Savannah grasses. Those were usual noises, yes, but usually they were muffled by the sounds of her family's breathing as it echoed about the den. Tonight there was only one breath and the throb of the heart pressed close to her ear. And the smell was different, her tired mind noted.
There was something familiar about this, but it was a terrifying kind of familiar. "Momma?" She asked again, louder this time as she began to wake up more fully. Her dual eyes rose to half-open, then further open when she realized that the canine beside her wasn't related to her. Suddenly the memories came rushing back in along with a pain in her throat from lack of water. Her stomach was still waring between queasy and starving, and her fur itched from being clogged with coagulated blood. Rhemi sniffled a little and once more ducked her face into the male's chest.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:05 pm
Maji had fallen into a half-slumber sometime after sunset, although it was not altogether deep or very peaceful considering the worry that had wormed itself deep into his gut. He didn’t want to fall into a deep sleep out here in the open like this – but that was not because he was worried for his own safety. No, it was because of the little beauty curled up so delicately between his forepaws, unknowingly seeking him out to protect her while she slept. He had realized sometime after she fell asleep, while he lay there thinking to himself and not even daring to breathe too hard lest he wake her, that he had already vowed to himself to protect her. He would, under any circumstance, protect the little girl that had come wandering out of the middle of nowhere so lost and almost broken.
His eyes opened slowly, slightly unfocused and certainly a little hazy as his half-asleep mind tried to reason out what exactly it was that had woken him in the first place. It took only a few moments for his mind to piece together the recollected sound of a voice and he frowned at the darkness around him. He could make out that pale form beneath him, and he could hear the uncertainty in her voice that bordered on fear. As she said ‘momma’ once more, he felt the rock growing in his throat and that overwhelming wave of sympathy washing over his body. What could he do to calm her little heart when he was nothing but a longer unused to dealing with suffering children?
“I’m.. sorry,” he whispered, squinting his eyes as he felt that sensation of sadness curling like some beast against his heart, eating away at it with every little sniff she gave. He had to be able to do something more than just care for her or just watch over her. He frowned, gritting his teeth and glancing up towards the moon in despair, as if that pale, ghostly face would give him the answer he needed. He knew that she would have to stay with him, that he would have to care for her – she simply couldn’t survive this harsh world alone at such a young age. But could he be a family to her? His only hope for her happiness is that her pain would soon fade, that he could replace her family and become some form of an alternative. Gods, but he did wish that she would stop that sniffling, it made his heart ache.
“Do you feel any better?” he asked, simply because he had nothing else to say. He had been worrying over just how she felt when she fell asleep, and he had worried even more once dark fell. If she needed something, it would be harder to get for her now, although he would damn well try if it was really important to her. He knew, however, that what she needed more than anything at the moment was for someone to be here and comfort her and he would do that, even if he thought he was incapable of doing it to any real degree. He just.. wasn’t used to it. Simple as that.
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Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:31 pm
"No." her voice was muffled by Maji's fur, and the girl burrowed herself further against him. She wasn't ungrateful, a fact made obvious by the dirty paw that came up to wipe at her eyes rather than letting herself cry. That seemed to bother him, judging from the way he tensed uncomfortably. Beyond that, she'd never been much of a "girly" cry baby, and it bothered her. So, instead, the young wild dog reburied her face until she could breath without each exhale shuddering. It was a hard effort, but one worth it.
Eventually, probably a good time later, the girl shifted; she stretched muscles gone unused for awhile and turned her head to drape over one of his legs. Looking out into the darkness drew no clues or comfort, and so she turned once more to the larger dog beside her. "What's your name?" She asked softly.
"I'm Rhemi..." Though it was unasked, she thought it might be rude not to volunteer the information. "a-at least that's what m-momma.. c-called... me.." She sniffled a few more times, then stifled herself again. After a small whine she shook her head. "I lost her.
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:04 pm
He sighed as she denied feeling any better and simply curled one paw around her tiny little body tightly. He was slowly steeling himself against those tears, although it was a slow process. They tugged at his heart still, making him feel even sorrier for the little thing, but he was quickly learning that he could suppress that feeling. He knew he’d have to do that until she got over being lost, got over not ever seeing her family again, and got over now only having a hopeless rogue as a makeshift father. That thought made him frown, his head tilting slightly – he wasn’t sure ‘father’ was the correct term to use for this situation. He’d never really had that sort of responsibility before. True, he was gaining that and more with taking her in, but it still sounded slightly odd to refer to himself as any form of a father figure. He was so used to it simply being he and himself, a lonely wanderer with no real goal in life. The magnitude of the situation was only just beginning to sink in.
“Rhemi is a very pretty name,” he said quietly as she spoke, fuchsia orbs turning down to look at her for a moment, “your mom picked a very good one for you.” He knew that it was hard for her to talk about her mother, but maybe if he tried to be nice it would make it a little better. At least he was managing to say things in calming, gentle tones – enough to quell most pups. Although, as previously mentioned, he had little experience at all with this – he was making it up as he went along more or less. “My name is Majiya’Mvua,” he said with a weak little laugh. It was only just now that he realized how much of a mouthful that was, probably most especially for such a little pup such as Rhemi. “You can just call me Maji, though.”
“I know that you did sweet heart,” he said as she mentioned losing her mother, his eyes straining as he glanced up and out at the darkness currently swallowing the lands. There would be no hope in finding her in this and by morning the gap between them would only be lengthened. There really was no hope of getting Rhemi back to her mother. “I wish that I could find her for you,” he whispered, a sympathetic and almost pained undertone to his voice, “but I don’t think that I can. I’m sorry.” His throat clenched as he said those words, looking back down at her slowly, “but I promise I won’t leave you as long as you need me, sweet heart.” He just hoped beyond hope that he was capable of keeping such a promise.
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:30 pm
"You can't," Rhemi replied in a soft voice. She didn't like to admit it, but it was the truth and the girl didn't feel like hiding from it. Instead she gave a sigh. "She's gone, they're gone.. they've been gone for awhile now." Another sigh heaved through her dirty chest. There wasn't much sense in quibbling over it, was there? She was old enough, and wordly enough now, to understand that. So, she finally wriggled away enough to sit up and began to bath her own chest. It was hard and caked and crispy of with blood, but she tried not to wince. Or stop cleaning. Her mother never let her get this dirty, no matter what.
"Thank you Maji," She said softly after awhile, voice coming small from the darkness. In the moonlight he could probably make out the ghost shape of the pup beside him, resolutely cleaning herself. "I... it.. it was scary... alone. ... can i stay with you for awhile?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 6:21 pm
Maji had to admire the spunk of the little girl. She knew that there was no hope in finding her family without him even having to explain it to her and thus, she immediately began to pick up the pieces of her shattered self and put them back together. He figured that if she could experience this, know that there was nothing to be done, and still be able to go on and get through life then she would never be brought down by anything. He thought, perhaps, that there was no obstacle the pretty little thing wouldn’t be able to overcome in life. He had to admire her – if he had been separated from his family, as dysfunctional as it was even, he would not have been able to go on. Even with someone looking out for her, this was going to be hard, but he had no doubts that she would succumb to the pressure. He had faith in the pale little flower.
“You’re very welcome, beautiful,” he said quietly, watching her in silence as she began to clean herself. He sighed softly, knowing that was something that parents were supposed to do – she wouldn’t be able to clean her entire body alone, after all. He reached out to scoop her towards him instead, beginning to work on her blood-soaked frame instead. It didn’t bother him much, really, he had had to clean grosser things off of himself before – and she really wasn’t that big to start with.
“Of course, Rhemi, I wouldn’t leave you here to save my life,” he said between licks of her form, ears drooped slightly as he worked away at her tangled and encrusted fur. He leaned back, staring at her for a moment with those fuchsia orbs, his tail lashing slowly behind him. “You should try to rest, sweetheart.” He smiled as kindly as he could before he began working on her once more. It was the truth, though. He didn’t know this area well and he would much prefer to be somewhere he was a little more familiar with so that he didn’t worry so much. That, and he thought he should find a watering hole so that he could clean her up just a little bit better – saliva didn’t clean everything. “We’ll have to get going in the morning,” he said again, smiling at her as he leaned down to lick clean a bit of her maw.
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