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 Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:20 pm
It was a fairly nice day and Ekevu was wandering around. Ever since meeting a small wild dog named Haramia he had grown to enjoy looking around and exploring things a bit more. Not -too- much more, granted, but at least he wasn't keeping to his den all the time to hide from the world and the many strange creatures there within.
He was moving slowly, not sure which direction he had come from. Uh oh. What kind of exploring was he, getting his a** lost on his first real adventure from home? Sighing, he did his best not to break into a complete panic, instead pushing his fright to his feet. With a burst of speed, he started to run, looking around and hoping to find something, anything, that might point him in the right direction.
He was done exploring now.
Zaafarani didn't know much of anything except how to explore. She had done it ever since she was a child, and hadn't stopped long enough to settle down since. She didn't have a home to go back to anyway. Everyone who had lived where she had come from were long dead. She wasn't even sure that she missed the pack she had lived in anyway.
She blinked when she spotted another wild dog on the horizen. A male? How interesting. She had met so few dogs out there her own age. She might have met more had she actively sought them out... but it had never been what she would have called a 'high' priority. Little did she know, she and the male already had something in common, for both had met the small girl named Haramia.
Unlike this dog however, her exploring was neither over... nor would it likely ever be. "Hello." She said politely, though she didn't offer much else in terms of a greeting.
Skidding to a halt, the wild dog looked at the other, surprised to have not seen her sooner. Great. He was trying to find a way home and he couldn't even notice another wild dog greeting him? That seemed to indicate to him that he would never get home again, as much as he would like to. He didn't seem to have a knack for being able to spot details.
Like company.
"Hello..." he said faintly, looking around to make sure nothing else was around that he might have missed, "huh.... I... didn't see you coming. Sorry..." why was he apologizing? He hadn't even done anything wrong. Clearing his throat, he sat down, though he was feeling a little parched after the short run.
"What are you doing out here?"
Ani blinked, tilting her head to the side and glancing around. Mostly because he had looked around. At first, she had thought he had seen someone else around her... but it didn't seem to be that way. Maybe he thought she was sneaking up on him? Who knew? She had never been one to actively question others or their motives. A good soldier never asked questions.
"Nothing really..." She admitted to his question. She hadn't been doing much of anything at all. Just walking and wandering around. Like always... not like she had anything better to do. "What about you, what are you doing out here?" She meant to be polite... but she couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at the other wild dog.
He seemed... well, odd. But then, she wasn't exactly the most normal creature out there.
"Oh... well..." he cleared his throat. He had been expecting her to return the question, would be rude not to, but he still found himself unprepared for it. He didn't know if he was supposed to be honest or not. Would she laugh at him if she knew that he was a full grown wild dog who got himself lost trying to explore? He knew every inch of the circumstance and he still thought it was really silly.
She wouldn't think him smart for what had happened, that much he was positive of. But lying was such a dark deed, never coming out right in the end. If he wasn't careful, he could end up getting her mad at him. Then again... she was a stranger.
Did it matter?
Sighing, finding himself at a loss, he decided to try not to think about it so much and just go for the first option that came to mind. "I think I got lost..." he admitted lowly, "I was exploring and now I don't know where I am or how to get back to my home..."
Zaafarani tilted her head to the other side, unsure of how to respond to the other wild dog. She wasn't really so used to dealing with other creatures... and she didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing that he was lost. Really, she had gotten deliberatly lost, so she couldn't speak to that.
"Oh..." She mentioned absently, blinking once or twice, "Well... would you like some helpd with that?" She wasn't sure if she would be able to, because she had absolutly no idea where she was to begin with. Ani had only just arrived in the area... but who knew? She had always been fairly good at tracking things down.
"I might be able to help you." She mentioned, unafraid of the other wild dog. He didn't worry her too much... though of course, that wasn't to say that she wasn't wary. She knew that some creatures could be dangerous if left unchecked, though she prefured to avoid violence. He didn't seem to be interested in harming her either though.
Ekevu found his spirits brightened somewhat at her offer, tail starting to beat against the dirt lightly, as though trying not to get too excited about things. Any help would be most welcome to the silly male at this point, and he was happy to know that she was the kind of creature who would be willing to go out of her way to help him. Though, maybe she wouldn't actually be able to do anything for him. Which was fine, it was the thought that counted.
"That would be wonderful," he said with a sigh, ears flattening against his head for a moment, "I'm not really sure where I came from... but I guess if I walk around I can figure it out... you don't have to help me if there's something you have to be doing." As he spoke, he realized he hadn't even bothered to introduce himself to her. What kind of a guy was he, anyway?
"Oh! My name is Ekevu, it's nice to meet you! And... you are?"
"Oh... yes, I'm Zaafarani." Ani said, not wanting to be rude. She often was, though not on purpose... perhaps she should be practising the correct social interactions with other creatures? She really had no idea. "You can call me Ani if you like... everyone does." Or at least, every creature she had encountered seemed to prefure calling her that.
"And no... I don't mind helping at all." She said with a shrug. Really, helping another creature was not a bad thing to do... and she wasn't doing anything anyway, "Really I don't... have a home, so I suppose it's the least I can do to help you find yours. Do you have... a pack or a family waiting for you?"
In her experience, most wild dogs seemed to have packs or families of some kind or other waiting for them. But then, she didn't exactly have a whole lot of experience. She really needed to work on meeting other creatures so she would have more to talk about. But at least Ekevu was cheerful. Normally, she depressed the other creatures she met.
Though she wasn't entirely sure why.
Smiling, he shook his head, "no, I think I like Zaafarani," he said, "if you don't mind." He wasn't big on nicknames. Maybe because his name didn't really lend itself to any he had taken much interest in others calling him.
"No," admitted the male after a moment to think about it, "I don't have anyone waiting for me. I only recently left my family to strike out on my own, you know?" Maybe she didn't. He didn't know what kinds of families others came from. After all, one of the wild dogs he had met couldn't even remember her family at all. For her it was like never having one. Maybe not everyone came from massive homes like he had, desperate for some time alone and to make a name for himself above his brothers and sisters. Was it abnormal to want to not be one of the crowd?
He smiled, watching her for a moment. She seemed nice. More placid than the others he had come across. "Come on, Zaafarani," he offered, "maybe if we walk around a bit I'll see something. I mean... unless you have another idea."
"Oh... alright." It had been a long time since she had heard anyone else say her full name. How odd... but she couldn't say she disliked the idea of someone using her real name. However bizar it was. Only her old masters, the lead soldiers, had called her by her full name.
"Ah no... I left my family when I was a child." Ani told him, not knowing what it was like to recently leave her family. She hadn't just left her family. She had left behind everyone she had ever known. It wasn't a choice she regretted. She likely would have died along side them if she had chosen to remain. No. She would have rather avoided that.
"We could check and see if you left any tracks, perhaps?" Ani suggested, glancing around, "How long have you been out and about...? We could check by the direction of the sun if you haven't been out too long."
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 4:22 pm
"I see," he hummed, "I don't think I could have left mine when I was young... they never would have let me." He smiled lightly, not sure what else to say on the matter. Maybe leaving young meant it was something she would rather not talk about.
"Oh, that's a great idea!" laughed Ekevu, almost jealous that he hadn't managed to come up with it himself. He was supposed to be the smart one in the family- all his brothers and sisters had told him so. Even his parents had suggested that he was a bright one. Yet here he was, lost and unable to find his way home. He hadn't even thought to come up with something as simple as looking for tracks to re-trace his steps.
If he was the smart on in his family, they were all in a lot of trouble.
"I'm not sure. A couple of hours," he mused, "not very long, really. But long enough to get lost," he added with a chuckle. He moved back the way he had come, looking around for prints in the ground. If the dirt was soft enough, then that would make things a hell of a lot easier.
"I see... I suppose you could say that my family didn't have a choice." Ani admitted, though she went no further than that. If he has asked, she likely would have answered, but Ani was no more eager to share her life's story than any other creature out there. She didn't see her past as being particularily painful... merely... nessesary.
Zaafarani merely nodded, looking up while Ekevu looked down, "Then... alright... where was the sun when you started walking?" She calculated in her head where it would have been a few hours before. She had been alone she long, she had become used to the idea of using the sun to guide her way... and make sure she wasn't constantly walking in circles. She prefured to be in new places, not old ones.
She had never really considered herself to be all that smart. Really, she was just practical... otherwise, she'd be dead and not all that smart. Neither really appealed to her, "You keep looking for your tracks... I'll try and figure out from the sky..."
"Oh... I see," replied the male with a thoughtful frown. He couldn't really understand why it would be something that they had no choice over, but he wasn't going to pry. He had only just met her, after all. There was no need to rush into finding out everything about one another when they might not even see each other again. There was no saying that they would be friends.
Looking around, Ekevu frowned, not sure where the sun was. Was that something he was supposed to keep in mind all the time? Where the sun was? "I... don't know," he said softly, feeling his tail retreat between his legs from his shame.
"Okay," he said, still sniffing around for his tracks, nose only just above the ground. They might be difficult to spot, and he had already proven to himself that noticing details wasn't his forte. Still, he did manage to find his trail after only a couple of minutes had passed. "Hey! I think this was the way I was coming from," he chuckled looking up to see if the trail went very far. Maybe further down it would have been cleaned away by the wind. The prints weren't deep.
Ani just shrugged, not caring one way or the other. She had always been rather stoic about things like past histories, and hitting a nerve with her was... a difficult thing to do. Though no creature had ever been very cruel to her. Ani was glad for that. Resorting to things like rudeness and violence seemed so... crude. She would have none of it.
"Alright..." She said thoughtfully, clearly neither irritated nor bothered by his answer. If he hadn't been intending to get lost in the first place, it was unlikely that he would have kept track of the sun, "Do you know if it was in front of you, or behind you? Were you sheilding your eyes at all?" Perhaps he would be able to remember that.
She glanced over when she heard him speak, "Ah... good." She mentioned offhand, coming over to his side and sniffing at the trail, "Do you think you can follow your scent and the trail back for a ways?" Of course, she intended to help him if she could. It was very much like tracking down something to eat. Except with a location at the end this time.
He was glad she hadn't found him a moron by not knowing about the sun, though he still kept his tails between his legs. Maybe he really wasn't meant to be out on his own, if he couldn't even manage finding his way back on his own. Had he been fooling himself this whole time? No, that was silly. One mistake wasn't supposed to be enough to make someone give up their whole new way of life! In reality, he knew he would be fine. Messing up every now and again only meant trying harder so it didn't happen again.
"It was behind me," he offered after a moment, "I don't remember having to deal with it getting in my eyes at all." There, at least he had managed to give her some information. Now he wasn't feeling like a complete failure anymore. Things were looking up.
Didn't take much to make him content.
"I think so," he said lightly, "you've done so much already! You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I don't want to take up any more of your time... I'm sure there are better things you could be doing rather than helping out a silly wild dog like me."
"Ah... good, then we're following he right tracks." Ani nodded, looking at the groiund which led to where the sun should have been. At least she was sure now that they would be going the right way. She wasn't used to failure or making mistakes. Mostly because she had made most of them when she had started out on her own.
Back then, she had made a lot of stupid mistakes that could have easily gotten her killed. Now she just counted herself as being lucky.
"Ah... you're not silly. Getting lost. It happens." She said with a shrug. Everyone made a mistake sometimes. It was to be expected, especially if he had only been on his own recently, "And I... well, I don't mind. I... have... nothing else to do." Really, she never did, "But if you'd like to go the rest of the way alone, I'll understand."
"Good!" he laughed, pleased that they he now knew which way he had come. Knowing that he had actually managed to find his own tracks wasn't exactly anything to shrug off, either. It delighted him to know that he had at least recovered some footing in his own mind.
"Yeah...I guess you're right," he knew she was. How many animals didn't get lost EVER? Surely it happened to everyone at least once, even if that one time was never admitted or mentioned again. "Thanks! I feel better about it with you here to help me. You're nice, Zaafarani."
Hearing her say she was willing to come along made him feel better- he hadn't really wanted to go alone at all. There was a high probability of him getting his a** completely lost on the way back, even with a trail. "No, it's fine!" he hummed, "I would love to have the company... I don't trust myself to follow the trail on my own."
Ani nodded, glad that he seemed so pleased to have found his way home. Though why it would matter if there was no one was beyond her. She didn't see the point of being anywhere at all if there was no one to keep your there. Still, she wasn't one to judge. If he wanted a place to call home, that was his choice.
"Nice?" Had she ever been called nice before? "Thank you... I diddn't... well, I've never thought of myself as... nice." She admitted, walking forward and following the tracks with him.
"I'm glad you don't mind the company... being alone... can be... lonely." Repetative, she supposed, but it made sense to her. She should know. She had been on her own almost her entire life, and for a pack creature, that wasn't always the best thing, "I'd be happy to walk back with you." And though her face didn't show it, she was.
"Really? Seems like you would," he commented absently, thinking nothing of it. He liked nice animals and he didn't normally get personalities wrong. Not that he would ever know if he got them wrong... the male wasn't really one to meet others a second time, so how could he know what they were really like? He still felt the lion he had met was a blood-thirsty killed, even though in reality he was a pillow.
"Thank you! I really appreciate it. Let me know if there's anything I can do to pay you back." with that, he started walking back, keeping a keen eye out for anything that might prove they were on the right trail.
Once they got a good ways back, things started to look familiar to the wild dog, a smile spreading over his muzzle. "I know this place!" he laughed, looking at her, "thank you for all your help! But I think I can make it back from here!" He started to move forward, happy that he would actually see his den again.
"Well... thank you." Ani said, mulling over the idea of being nice for a little while longer. Maybe she was that? Nice? She hoped so. It was better to be nice and liked than disliked and chased away. Yes... being nice. That was a good step forward. "Yes... thank you for calling me nice." She would have to remember that.
"But no... I don't think I need anything." Ani admitted, shrugging, "I usually just do things myself... it's not a big deal. I didn't mind helping." She shrugged, "But I'll remember if I ever need help with something..."
"It was very nice meeting you."
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