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 Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:10 am
The male rarely strayed from Hidaya's side now-a-days. He stuck to her as glue - or so the saying went. When he was with her the depression was put at bay for a while, though not completely. There were always those little nagging voices whispering in his ears that he was useless, that he didn't deserve her as a friend.
However, today he had decided to give her a break of his complaining. She was too sweet to say that it bothered her, but deep down he knew she must be feeling annoyed at him. Hell he was annoyed at himself as he listened to his blumbering, pessimistic views.
He was trying to change, but boy was it hard!
So, with the sun newly rising into the blue sky the white cheetah padded softly across the grasslands, his ears flicking nervously. Akia took in a deep, soothing breath and started forward again through the lush grass. He's stopped to watch the sun breach the line of the horizon, and had stood for long moments just watching it slowly rise. Dawn had always been his favourite time of the day. He loved the contrast of colours as night warmed into day, and the stillness of the early morning.
It didn't take him long, however, to spot the pale form of Pekee a short distance away. On such a nice morning, it would be good to meet a new acquaintance and have a nice conversation, perhaps even make a new friend. Of course, the idea that Pekee might not be friendly crossed his mind, but he decided to give the other male the benefit of the doubt in this instance.
Altering his course slightly, he made his way toward Pekee, though he didn't call to the other just yet. He was still some distance away, and shouting wouldn't make a good first impression.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:15 am
Pekee, with his white coat, was often being spotted, though luckily for him most creatures skulked away on seeing his frown. However, that permanent grim expression had faded away. Now his face looked blank, void of emotion as he let his mind wander.
Maybe he should give hunting a go. He could bring something back for Hidaya. Or, maybe he should attempt at finding another route for them to take. This bland place was starting to grate on Pekee's nerves. He had always been nomadic, moving from one place to another and he found himself feeling slightly restless.
He huffed to himself and raised his head , catching sight of the male just in time. He had been unwittingly walking into the path of another and his mind had been elsewhere! Cursing his inability to watch out for danger, the white cheetah paused and squared his nimble legs.
He wasn't an intimidating looking thing. He was scraggly for a cheetah with a less than fierce expression on his face. His hind legs twitched as if they had a life of their own and were willign the body to flee with them.
His eyes darted from side to side. A male solitary cheetah. Where was Hidaya when he needed someone to hide behind!Despite how Pekee wanted to flee from him, Akia seemed oblivious to the other male's concern - or perhaps he just chose to overlook it. He was like that, able to casually see passed all the negativity as he looked forward to whatever goodness he might discover within another. It was perhaps the only reason he could handle Uhaya's less-than-sunny disposition.
Bringing a smile onto his face, he stopped a comfortable distance away from Pekee, now nicely in range to speak with the other male without bellowing his words across the void between them. "Hello, there," he said cheerfully. "Lovely morning, isn't it?" There was not even a hint of meanness or cruelty within Aki, no ounce of anger or hate in his soul. He lived by such mottos as "do unto others as you would have other do unto you", and a "smile goes a long way".
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:28 am
Lovely morning? Pekee twitched an ear and glanced upwards as if he had yet to notice that it was morning let alone a lovely one. Oh yes, the sky was blue, but it was often blue. However, he did agree that morning was lovely. He hated the heat and the cool, freshness that came with the beggining of a day was somethign he took great delight in.
Another change in him, apparently. As he was quite taken with sun rises and sun sets, all thanks to Hidaya, whom he had met on a beautiful dusky evening.
"I guess." He replied, forcing his legs to stop their nervous twitching. There was another, long pause and the white cheetah flicked his whiskers. "Um...who're you?" He might as well make an attempt at some small talk. Conversation had been initiated and seemingly accepted, and so Akia allowed himself to become completely comfortable with their current arrangement. He let his long, lanky body settle down into a sitting position, looking up at the sky briefly. It wasn't quite daytime yet, and the world hung suspended between the light and the shadow. All things were at peace in his world.
"Me?" he replied, his attention being brought back to Pekee as the question was put to him. "I'm Akia. It's nice to meet you." And for him, it was true. Finding someone to talk to was always a pleasure. "And you are...?" Akia just hoped things continued to go well, that Pekee didn't mind getting pulled into further conversation.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:50 am
Pekee hesitated. He did not sit, he was still wary, still unsure. He didn't have trusting issues, at least he didn't used to. However, a few days prior Hidaya and he had met a male who had warned them about the dangers of approaching strangers.
However, this Akia certainly didn't seem dangerous and after a moment the white cheetah relaxed a little and lowered himself onto his haunches.
"I'm Pekee'dunia. But uh, you can call me Pekee." Not the greatest of names in the world but it suited him well. Sometimes he wondered why his parents had named him thus and wondered if they had known he would follow this path.
"I'm...uh...a nomad." But as far as he was aware all cheetahs were nomads. It was what made them different from lions - those horrible beasts! "But I'm travelling with a friend." He flicked an ear, unsure whether it would be wise to let him know there was another close by. "Pekee..." He rolled the name on his tongue for a few moments. "If we're going to be using nicknames, you can call me Aki, if you like." He let a small smile cross his face. "It's not really shortened all that much, but.. you're welcome to use it if you'd like to. That's what most who meet me call me, anyway."
Aki glanced around, as though expecting this companion of Pekee's to show up just because he looked for her. "That sounds nice. It's certainly much better than travelling by yourself, like I do." Well, he travelled in the sense that he walked around by himself. He didn't quite ever venture too far from this general area. Uhaya was here, and something kept him near her.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:33 am
"Okay." He file the name away and flicked his tail behind him. "Aki it is." He liked meeting people with short names. They were far easier to remember in any case.
"Yeah, I guess." He thought about life before he had met Hidaya. "Before I met her I travelled by myself, been alone since I was small so it was weird having a companion but...she's teaching me things so I suppose it's okay."
Who was he kidding? It was better than just okay being with her. In fact, he was finding it easier and easier to appreciate the little things, such as her friendship and her laughter and walking side by side with someone you could trust.
"But being alone...I think that's the way of a cheetah. All the cheetahs I've met walked alone in any case."The colourful male considered this. It was true most cheetahs did seem to end up leading solitary lives, but he didn't think it should be that way. He much rather preferred the idea of finding someone, or even someones, he could rely on to always be there for him, to travel with them in a small group and to never be by himself. So in the end, he shook his head.
"Maybe it is... but that doesn't mean we all have to. I would rather someone travelled with me." A certain someone, actually. "I know it always made my mother upset to be on her own, and to think me and my brothers would end up leaving one day." Aki shrugged his shoulders slowly. "Even if it's the "way of the cheetah", I think all of them must be lonely at some point if they spend all their time by themselves."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:26 am
He blinked his green eyes and turned his head thoughtfully. "It's our way of life I suppose." He replied after a moment's thought. "We hunt alone, we live alone, opposite of lions in that sense." He curled his lip a little at that. He didn't hate lions but he certainly didn't like them all that much.
"But you're right. Just cos we were built to live alone doesn't make it good. I hate being alone now that I've had companionship. It keeps me from thinking too much." And Pekee's thoughts had never been that positive. In fact, now that he was thinking less, his depression had eased somewhat.
"But I don't think Hidaya will be around forever. I think she'll be getting back to her family at some point." He shrugged, not sure how he felt about that. "But then that's life isn't it. Creatures walk in and out of life all the time."Agreeing, the lanky male nodded his head. Though it was certainly natural for them to live in solitude as they did, that was no reason for them to have to like it - and he didn't. "I've only recently separated from my mother, and my brothers left only a little while before that. I still miss them all. It was hard to adjust to waking up without them there"
He couldn't help but frown slightly at Pekee's less-than-cheerful end comment. "It may be true that others come in and out of our lives all the time, but even when they go, the leave behind something special. Memories of the good times you shared, and the strong bond of friendship that means you're never really far away from each other. You just have to remember, and it's like they're right beside you again." He smiled. "That's how I like to think of it, at least."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:43 am
Pekee listened to him without interruption, glancing up at him when he had finished. His eyes were somewhat bland despite their vivid colour and as usual there was that solemn expression on his face. His whiskers seemed always drooping and his lower jaw seemed loose.
He flicked his tail and looked away. "It just sounds painful." He replied. "Remembering the good times and knowing that you won't have them again. Remembering watching the sun-setting with a friend, only to watch it alone as the darkness comes." He was certainly a moody kind of guy.
"I don't miss my family. Is that weird?" He turned back then, clearly curious. "I don't even think I liked them...not much." That was partly a lie. He was just freaked out by them, weird as it sounded. They all looked the same, all little clones. All the same.
He wanted to be different.
He wanted a purpose.
"Do you think a good purpose in life would be to just be a friend, Aki?" Maybe he could find a friend who didn't have any family ties like himself. He was silent for a moment as he considered his answer. "That's true enough... but who's to say you won't run into them again with the next sunrise? You shouldn't... give up hope... that you'll never make more memories with them again. We can't know what's going to happen in the future, so... I think it's just better to keep hoping, and keep thinking positive. There's a chance that I may never see my brothers again, but I don't let that thought make me sad. I just keep hoping, and waiting. I'm willing to wait forever if I have to."
If anything, the more colourful male looked sad. It seemed he'd found yet another cheetah who hadn't had the warm and secure cubhood he'd experienced with his mother and brothers. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said softly. "I really am. But I'm sure they loved you regardless... if nothing more, you can take that with you. They might have just... not known how to show it."
Then he smiled, and nodded his head. "I do. I try my hardest to be that to everyone I meet. I don't know if I succeed or not... but I guess it's enough for now to just try. I haven't been out on my own for a while, so I'm still learning. But I think it's a very good purpose... so good, in fact, that I might make it one of my purposes."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:53 am
His ears lifted, the only sign that he was feeling a little better about things. "I wish I had been different from them." He admitted them. "From my parents, I mean. We were all white and grey, all white and grey. I sat amongst my siblings and...I just got lost in the sea of grey spots."
He lowered his head again. "I kept asking why. I began to feel miserable. Why had I been born? Why, when I was no different from my siblings?" No, he didn't hate his family. He hated himself. "So I didn't really stick around them much. I tended to wander and then one day I wandered and never went back."
Then he turned back. "I think you're right. Hidaya's trying to get me to see the bright side of things too. But when I look at the sun all I see is the shadow it creates." He paused. "Maybe I should go with her to see her family...or maybe it's not worth pursuing. I don't know what to do. I wish fate would drop me some sort of sign."Akia smiled, understanding. He'd had similar thoughts when he was younger - just in reverse. It was clear to look at his mother that Akia more strongly resembled the father he had never met, and it had upset him when he was younger. "I understand how you feel. My mother is all dark... the only things I have that prove I'm her son are my purple spots and the markings on my leg." He lifted said leg to demonstrate, showing off the green wrapping around his ankle that almost looked like lacing. "Of course, hers are on her back leg, so even then, it wasn't very similar. I would have given just about anything, I think, to look more like her."
He paused a moment, then continued. "But as I got older, I began to realise that it didn't matter what I looked like - whether it was like her or my father. She loved me and accepted me no matter what, like all parents do. It just seems she was more vocal about it than your parents. I'm sure they loved you undonditionally even if you resembled your siblings as well." He smiled again. "And even if you can't believe that... you just have to know that your personality makes you completely and utterly unique from your brothers and sisters. In the end, it doesn't matter what you look like... you're still not the same as they are."
He made a 'hmm' sound in the back of his throat. "I would say.. you should travel with her to see her parents. Something good and unexpected might come out of it. And at the very least... it's an opportunity to make some more valuable memories to take with you when you finally go your separate ways. I don't see the bad in going with her."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:17 am
"You're right I guess." He huffed in amusement. "I guess I was insecure. Actually I probably still am." He raised his head to glance at the other male cheetah. "Looks shouldn't matter and I guess I'll learn that in time. I just need to...to find my way in the world, then maybe I can think about putting a smile on my face."
A smile. The expression was foreign to him, but he wanted it, oh how he wanted it. And he didn't want it to be fake or forced. He wanted it to be genuine, to sparkle in his eyes and warm his heart.
"Then I'll go with her a while longer if she'll put up with me." He took a step back, eased the tension from his shoulders and glanced back the way he had come. "You know, I think you're right."
And he glanced Akia out of the corner of his eye. "Meetings, no matter how fleeting, can leave a lasting effect on a creature. I won't forget our chat, even when you're long gone and I'm lying alone as the sun makes its farewell."
"I used to think of a sunset as another day lost." He lifted his head to a breeze, picked up Hidaya's sent. "Now it marks one more step in my journey."
He turned his head, blinked those vivid green eyes that seemed to have gained some inner sparkle. "I hope when we meet again, you'll see a smile instead of a frown."It was the end of the meeting, he knew that. It was sad to think of it as being over already, but silently, he respected Pekee's wanting to leave. With his ever-present, ceaselessly cheerful smile, Akia nodded his head. "And I won't forget you, Pekee. I'll add you to my hopes, and wait patiently for the day we meet again, like I know we will. And I'll also hope you can keep on trusting hope yourself, so that one day, you can smile when some of your hopes are realised."
He turned his head as well to taste the wind, noticing Pekee noticed something himself, and caught the scent of a female. He assumed this was Hidaya, and nodded. "You should go and be with your friend for however much time you have left together. Oh, and Pekee..." He smiled warmly. "If you ever get truly lonely, you can always find me for company. We're friends now, you and I. And friends always help when they're needed."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:22 am
"I think I would like that." Pekee replied slowly. "Yes, I think I would like to meet you again. I wander and so do you, this world isn't so big. We'll meet again and we'll be happier." He nodded, convinced of it.
"Good luck Akia." And with a swish of his tail, the young, athletic cheetah was off, moving with swift and graceful movements that his kind were so famous for.
And somehow as he moved, his steps felt lighter. His head was held higher, his heart felt floaty. Pekee'dunia felt as if the world wasn't as lonely as he had thought it was.
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