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 Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:28 pm
 Kizuka had never been so lonely before. Why it was striking her so fiercely now, she had no clue. Maybe it was because she knew what a pack looked like. After seeing those Wild Dogs moving together, she could not help but feel like she was missing out on something. They looked so united, and all of them traveling by night! She had trailed them, but her pace was slower, and now they were far ahead. She would catch up however. She was determined. If ever she felt compelled to risk the dangers of the day, it was now. It seemed worth it, if just to be able to find them again.
And maybe join them.
Sighing, she looked up at the sky. It was purpling with the early morning, and she knew she needed to find a den to hide in. The sun was so bright, it hurt her yellow eyes. Fear replaced her resolve, telling her she had no chance in the daylight. She needed to stop and, unfortunately, they would get further away. She could only hope that they would leave a trail she could follow, despite her poor hunting abilities.
She sat down under a tree, where a root had raised to provide some shelter, and watched the rogue lands before her. Creatures would be coming out soon. It worried her.
"Oh, not AGAIN."
The high-pitched voice of the young dog was barely audible in the slowly quieting sounds of the savanna, preparing for the night. She had simply wandered a little ways off from her mother and siblings to investigate this strange beetle, then returned to find all four gone. Her brother, sisters, even Ma, were gone. This had happened only once before, and even then she'd found her way back to them. But that had been in bright daylight, and it had been easy to eventually spot them. This time, the sun was setting rapidly, the darkness of night was closing down, and strange sounds were coming from the grass around her.
"Olimede! Kuve! Come on, stop playing a trick on me! I know you're out there somewhere!" When no response came, she narrowed her pink eyes and pawed the dust. "Ma? Tumai? Where are you?" /She wouldn't leave me for that long/ she thought. /Still, I might want to get going./ She took off at a quick jog, anxious to find some place of safety before dark.
She eventually managed to spot a pack of others of her kind, out on the horizon. "Hey! Maybe they can protect me! Just until Ma comes back," she added hastily. Admitting she needed help was not a major part of Natali's makeup. She was able to follow behind them for a while, but soon became tired, being only a young pup. "What are they in such a hurry for?" she muttered, slightly annoyed by their speed. She had to stop after a while, and spotting a lone tree, decided that she could use it as shelter for the time being. When she got closer, however, she was surprised to see another creature there, watching the lands. With a startled yelp, Tali quickly scampered to the other side of the tree, making plenty of noise, then turned to watch the other dog suspiciously. She hoped that it wouldn't notice, but the odds were not in her favor.
Kizuka frowned, watching impassively as the puppy wandered closer. She tilted her head as it realized she was there, though that seemed very odd since no one could usually see her, blinking as the pup scampered behind the tree. The black wild dog remained where she was hidden for a long moment, not knowing what she should do. She had been on her own for so long, she didn’t know how to interact with creatures under normal circumstances, assuming it was night and she was comfortable, and they were near her own age. A puppy was an entirely new situation, however, and she was out of her depth.
The sun was still very low on the horizon, long shadows offering their protection for a short while yet. She sighed and stood, moving very slowly, and padded toward the puppy. Her tail was low, but her ears were perked forward expectantly. Sitting, making sure to stay in the shadow of the tree, she decided she would allow this pup to see her by speaking to it directly.
“Are you alright… little thing…?” she asked slowly, her words coming with a great amount of thought and care. She didn’t have a very firm grip on language, outside of her head. She sat down patiently, trying not to do anything too startling.
Natali's eyes widened a little as the other dog came closer to her. It--she, as she now noticed--had a kind look about her, despite the dark pelt. But her movements were slow; Tali wasn't sure why. Did she have a problem or something? One brow cocked up a little, then lowered quickly, not wanting to seem too rude.
"Umm...I guess? Yeah?" She watched as the other dog sat down, yet again very carefully. /Why is she acting like I'm going to dart off at any moment? I'm not a hare or anything./ "I'm just looking for my family, is all. And, just so you know," the next words were softer, trying to be kind, "I'm not going to run off or get scared or anything unless you do something /really/ scary. I've been through plenty worse." Her pale gray-and-pink tail wagged slightly, trying to seem at least partly friendly. "So...what's your name?"
The black wild dog frowned thoughtfully.
“Kizuka… you can call me that…” she said. It was what others chose to call her, and she knew it must have been her name at some point. Unfortunately, her splintered past was damaged beyond repair, and she could not remember if it was the name the parents that had died to protect her had given her. It fit well enough, so she never complained. Sighing, she swallowed and forced more words out.
“You have… misplaced your family?” She said looking over her shoulder. Had this pup come from that traveling pack? No, she had been watching them closely. There hadn’t seemed to be young ones with them. Unless they were being carried, and she hadn’t spotted their paws. Shaking her head, she looked back at the little one, “I’m not a scary… dog… I’m just… I want… I don’t want… uhm…” She didn’t know what she was trying to say. She didn’t want the pup to feel uncomfortable, though, she imagined this strange conversation might have been a bit off putting.
“Do you… need help?”
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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:29 pm
 "Kizuka...that's a pretty name." Tali's response was almost as soft as Kizuka's first words to her, as she realized that there was something wrong with her acquaintance. "I'm Natali, but my family calls me Tali." She thought over Kizuka's question. "Not really /misplaced/. More of like, I don't know, they forgot me or something." She watched as the black wild dog shook her head, then seemed to attempt to speak. But it was disjointed, not at all like what Natali had grown up with. She gave a soft giggle. "You're sort of funny. But in a good way."
She took a few steps closer, then sat down. "And I don't think you're scary." /More of like you don't know what to do with me,/ she thought, but didn't voice it. The last question made her think. "No...I don't think I need help. Maybe just letting me share this tree with you would be good." She allowed a small smile to cross her face, her eyes looking up at Kizuka.
“Funny?” She hadn’t meant to be, but maybe it had been. She blinked. She wasn’t used to happy folk. Most of the encounters she had been in were uncomfortable, quiet, and peaceful. Youth, or fun, had never been part of the game. She frowned and shook her head, trying to smile back at the little pup but not finding the right nerves. They were a bit out of practice.
“Yes… the day is coming… I won’t leave the shadow… but you can sit here, if you want…” she looked around again, “maybe your family… will… find you?” She wasn’t too sure, but it seemed like the right thing to say. Comforting? Maybe. She blinked and moved back to her little hole, curling up against the trunk of the tree. It wasn’t the most comfortable, but at least she was safe.
“Do you have… siblings?” She asked. It sounded conversational, though she really was just interested in finding out about this little one’s family unit. Her own had been disrupted when she was too young to remember clearly. It might be nice, an escape from the loneliness, to hear about hers.
The pup flicked one ear as the single word reached it. "Well, yeah. I mean, in my family, we kind of talk a bit...different. Not that it's a bad thing. It's just not what I'm used to." Her eyes rolled up, narrowing as she thought. "I mean, you know I speak all at once? You talk in phrases, or something. It's sort of cool." Her head lowered again as Kizuka tried to do...something. It looked almost like smiling, but not quite. Natali suddenly felt sympathy for the adult; clearly something had happened to her, or she'd been raised differently. That was evident in her next few words. "Thank you," she said.
Then the truth of what she said hit her. "Why won't you leave the shadow? Because you don't want others to see you?" Strangely, a little bit of warmth reached her as Kizuka said that her family might find her. "Yeah! They might, if I stay here. That's probably a good idea. I sure hope you don't mind." She followed the other with her eyes as she went over to a hole, made from an exposed tree root. Then Natali walked over, laying down on the opposite side of the root. "Yes, I have siblings." At that one question, a floodgate opened. "There's four of us. Me, Olimede, Jasiri'kasi, and Kuve'mai. Oli and Kasi are girls too; Kuve's my brother. Kuve likes to play tricks on us; in fact, the other day the three of us were looking at this really cool flower when he growled and leaped over us from behind, squishing the flower. Then we all ganged up on him in a fit of sisterly rage." She giggled. "I don't think he'd ever going to do that again. He'd get in BIG trouble."
“I… can’t be seen,” she said, with conviction, “the shadows protect me. Those who can see me are… are meant to. They need me, or I need them… or I’ve allowed them to see me… like with you.” This was something she truly believed, however baseless the idea was. She didn’t think she sounded absurd, nor did she realize it was nothing more than a fantasy from her damaged mind way back in her puppyhood. Without parents or friends to raise her, she was left to her own reality, and that had been it. She was never harmed in the shadows, and the sun hurt her. It was simple.
Her eyes smiled with better affect than her muzzle as she listened to the puppy tell her about her family. She couldn’t remember if there had been more puppies in her own family, though she knew for certain that she had no parents any more. If they were out there, she would never recognize them.
“Sounds like he did… but that’s nice, having a family. People who follow with you, and keep you from feeling… lonely…” she knew that word, because someone had told her it was what she was dealing with. Odd, to admit to it in this round about way. She was alone, and she was tired of it, but there was really nothing she could do but hope that night pack would allow her to not only find them, but join them. “I hope they come for you… your parents? You said… your mom, but what about your dad?”
"Whoa...." Natali was left speechless. Being the imaginative sort, compelled to believe in things that may not be reality, this was very cool. "That's awesome! Are you like a goddess or something? Or a special spirit of the shadows? That's cool!" A big smile crossed the pup's face at this newest discovery. Perhaps that was why speech was so difficult; Kizuka may not have needed to use it before!
Then her grin shrank as she listened to the rest of the words from her friend. "Yeah...I guess that's true. I mean, normally I don't think of it that way. I just take it for granted. Maybe that's how people without a family feel...how you feel." She averted her eyes, looking towards the ground. She only dimly heard the rest of the question, but picked up on two words: 'your dad.' "My...my dad?" she asked. "Well, I--I don't really know him. I've tried asking my Ma a few times about him, but she always pretends that she has to go do something. I don't know why. I haven't ever met him, or seen him, or anything. I don't really even know his name." Her ears flopped to the sides, her previous excitement gone. "I wish I could meet him, but right now I can't go off on my own, at least not on a journey to find him. I wouldn't even know what to look for."
“No… I’m not special in any way,” Kizuka said truthfully, though she sighed as though she wished it weren’t true. To be a spirit would be good: she didn’t want to be the only mortal cursed by the light. She had hope now that there were others like her, who moved together, but she had been so long on her own, she had never thought of herself as anything but an outcast. Sighing, she shook her head again and her ears twitched, “the shadows have just… trusted me, is all. I suppose… I am more like a shadow than a dog, but nothing divine.”
Repositioning herself so that she could at least look in the direction of the pup, even though the root separated them, she blinked and listened. It seemed each family had their own bumps. Hers had been ruined in her childhood, while this one seemed to be lacking in a father. It was just the way it was, she supposed. She sighed and turned her head, spotting a Wild Dog in the distance. She had light blue fur, though it was the pink eyes that seemed to stick out in the morning light.
“Is that your… mother? Over there?”
"Oh..." Tali was slightly disappointed by Kizuka's reply. She'd thought it would be cool to be able to know a goddess. "Well, I guess that's all right. Plus, with that black coat, you don't have to worry about anything trying to hurt you, if you stay in the shadows." She thought some more, before turning back to Kizuka. "Well, I still think that you're a spirit. The spirit of the shadows. You're special." She smiled a little bit, before having her attention diverted by the other's voice. She turned her head to see two bright pink eyes, twin orbs of light in the lightening world. A jolt of excitement ran through her and she blinked. She didn't need to see the pale blue coat, the white splotches on her chest and leg, the characteristic mark below her left eye. All she needed were those eyes; she'd know them anywhere. "Yes! That's her!" She leaped up and scampered across the plain, hurrying to her mother. The pink end of her tail twitched happily, even as she ran. "Ma! You found me!"
Kizuka almost smiled back when the pup called her special. She had never really been complimented before, even if it was a strange one. She appreciated it more than she knew how to express, and she looked down at the ground. Tail wagging listlessly from side to side, hardly looking excited, she was happy that the puppy was not lost from her family forever. She was a sweet one, and it would have been a shame for her to be too long away from those that loved her the most.
She watched as the puppy ran toward her mother, nodding slowly. She knew they would be reunited, and was glad to have played some small part in it. At least the pup hadn’t been wandering around, or scared. Though, she knew that she probably had very little to do with either, and that the pup would have found a way to deal with being lost on her own. Sighing, the black wild dog lowered her head to the ground and watched the family greet to lost puppy, and did not look away until they were gone into the growing light.
Then she closed her eyes, as she had to during the day, and waited once more for the darkness to return.
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