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 Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 7:31 am
The sun seemed to tear into Jua's skin as he trotted from tree to tree. He hated sunny days like this, even thought he was named after the sun.
There was no wind, and the sticky feeling of sleeping in the sun, no matter how nice it was to sleep, just never appealed to Jua, and so he preferred sticking to the shade of treelines and bushes when he was away from his den.
He was glad to get out, however. The nice summery day was good for him, and he loved to explore the most out of all of his siblings. Though it made him sad for the fact that he had to be separated from his twin for the day.
Curling up around the base of a willow tree, Jua closed his eyes, keeping a smile on his face.
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:40 pm
 Tumai was feeling restless. Her pups had grown and wandered off and she, though she felt terrible about it, had not gone to find them. They were gone now, somewhere, doing their own things and living their own lives. But they had been so young! She couldn't remember why she hadn't searched for them. She couldn't remember their names.
Hating her head, and all that it was incapable of doing, she spent her days wandering, sad, searching for faces she couldn't remember. Her footfalls were heavy with her sorrow, though she did her best to smile when the occasional concerned soul would ask her if she needed help.
Walking slowly, no direction to guide her, no clues to lead her to the family she could only vaguely remember loving so dearly, Tumai looked up to see a tree that looked about as sad as she felt. She was drawn to it, moving listlessly, and stopped short when she spotted a puppy curled at its base.
"Oh!" she cried, her heart leaping into her throat. Was it one of them? Had she found one?
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 7:46 pm
The stillness of the air felt nice, and the gentle tickling of the tall grass only fueled Jua's dreams. He dreamt of his friends, his family, all together in a large field. They played and stayed together, not wanting to leave the comfort of each other.
"Mm...." his small eyes peeked open at the sound of someone else. He thought he would be left alone here, although the company might be nice. He found that he met many other dogs by just sleeping in the daytime.
Slowly focusing his blurry eyes, Jua noticed it was an adult. It smelled kind of like his mother, so it must be a girl. All he could see was a large smudge of grey. Yawning and blinking to awaken himself, Jua sat up a bit, leaning against the tree behind him.
"Hm?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 1:02 pm
Tumai looked at the pup, her happiness not fading too quickly. She didn't recognize his face, but maybe... maybe she had just forgotten. But... he didn't stir in her the kind of memory she had thought one of her own blood would. His scent was not familiar, even in a sense memory kind of way. Her ears lowered slowly, and she bowed her head.
"Oh... I-I'm sorry," she said, her voice cracking.
She sat down, feeling defeated. It felt like an eternity since she had lost them, and the reality of never finding them was weighing evilly on her. She felt like she was at her wit's end, hanging by a string. She did her best to put on a brave, happy face, but it was tiring her out, physically and emotionally.
"I didn't mean to wake you..."
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Posted: Mon Jun 15, 2009 9:34 pm
Yawning one last time, Jua's world became a little more focused. So it was an adult. But why was she apologizing?
"Eh?" Oh yes, something about sleep. It seemed that that was all that Jua did these days. His siblings were always out, doing other things, his mother was always wandering, and his father....well, Jua took after his father.
"Are you alone, too?" He had noticed how sad she looked. It was something he always noticed. He never liked it when others were sad. Although, she was alone in a different sense of the word, he could tell that much from looking at her.
"You can stay with me, if you want." Jua scooted himself closer, acting younger than he actually was. He found that the sweet 'puppy' side of him helped others feel more comfortable.
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:21 am
She looked a bit stung by the question, but she smiled sadly and nodded slowly. Drawing a breath, she tried not to think about her answer too much.
"I am," she said quietly, meaning more than she said. He was just a young thing. She shouldn't weigh him down with her sorrows. Besides, she knew she had to stop dwelling. The longer she thought about it, the sadder she grew, and the more her chest hurt. She needed to change the subject, in conversation and in her thoughts.
Tumai felt a strange pull in her heart at his offer. It was painful, because she missed her puppies even more, but it was so sweet she couldn't help but smile, even as her eyes glistened with the threat of tears.
"I'd like that, for a little while," she said, sitting with him, "where is your family right now? You look a bit young to be alone."
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:47 pm
Nodding his head slightly, Jua flicked his small tail to the side. He didn't mind that his solitude would be spent with her, even though he had wandered off to be alone.
"My family's not too far." he nuzzled himself closer to the larger dog, resting his head on her paws. "I just wanted to sit out here for awhile, to be away from the hecticness of it." Jua twirled his paw in the grass, watching it as the blades of grass wrapped around it.
"It can get lonely there, especially when I only really get along with my twin." he looked up at her, wanting to fill her up with the story of his life and his thoughts. "We're always together." he glanced down for a bit, missing his brother's presence. "Except for today. He didn't want to play with me today."
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Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:30 pm
She sighed in relief. At least this little one wasn't on his own completely. Smiling as he moved closer to her, she felt her chest ache soften just a bit, though she was still thinking of her puppies. It was sweet that he seemed to pick up on her sadness, and wanted to help her. Even in such a small way as sitting with her.
"I can understand that," she said with a nod, looking down at him as he put his head on her paws, "sometimes family can get a bit overwhelming. I mean. Uh. in a good way. And sometimes bad." She frowned, looking away. Her puppies had always made her anxious. She was never at peace when they were with her, always worried for them or trying to deal with them all at once. What if her mind had let her lose them because it was just tired of dealing with them?
That thought was scary.
But the cub was still being sweet and it helped her keep her mind away from those darker thoughts. "That's sweet. I don't remember my siblings, if I had any, but I've seen other families. It's always nice to have someone you'll never be apart from. Except when he doesn't want to play. But he will again, and that must be nice. I wish I had more company, sometimes. You're lucky. You should take good care of your family."
Because you never knew when you might, quite literally, lose them.
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Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:25 pm
"I don't think anyone should ever be alone." Jua looked up, worried. "You need to always have someone with you, even if you really don't like them." he thought for a moment, his eyes closing a little. "'cause it shows that someone cares and aknowledges your being."
He never liked to talk about things in this way, because, for the most part, it only confused his siblings, let alone himself. But he felt that words were something that everyone needed, as well, to keep them from falling.
Falling into nothing.
"So I think, whenever I'm really mad at one of my siblings, or I find someone I don't like, about how I'd rather have them there with me then not there at all." he paused, looking up at the female, smiling. "Get it?"
Shifting positions, he moved to a more comfortable spot, right in front of the female.
"I'm Jua, by the way."
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Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:47 pm
Tumai nodded slowly at his words, eyes softening to the point of tears. She stared at the ground in front of her, not trusting herself to look at him lest she burst into tears. She hated being this weak, but she couldn't help it. Everything seemed so sad to her, and even the slightest reminder of that sadness pushed her closer to breaking down.
"You're right. It's hard to be alone," she ventured to say, sighing and the drawing a deep, shaky breath.
She smiled at him, finally looking down. She liked his theory on company.
"I do get it. Even arguing with someone is... is interaction. Something worth remembering. And better than being alone. Yes, I can see that. You make a lot of sense, for a little one."
"I'm.... Tumai," she said quietly. She could remember her own name, sure, but then names of her own pups were lost to her. Even that male she had been with, the sweet impressionable male who hadn't known what he was doing, she couldn't remember. It made her sad to think that she would forget this young pup, as well.
Whimpering, she looked away from him, putting her head down on the floor.
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Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:12 pm
Tumai watched him, nodding about how sadness spread. She knew that, and it made her feel bad that she was letting it happen here, but she couldn't muster enough from inside her to feign happiness. Or even just to make her frown a little less obvious, or bring a little more light to her sad pink eyes. But she knew it wasn't fair to project her sorrow on a stranger, and a little pup to boot.
She smiled as he rolled over and played dead, poking his tummy with her nose because it was exposed and she thought it was a good idea.
"You're right, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be sad. You're a very good young boy. Do you hear that very much? I think your family should be proud of how you've been raised and who you're becoming. I've never met a pup as nice as you before."
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Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:35 pm
Jua lurched comically as his insides were squished, and a smile broke out upon his face. He rolled over, wiggling his tail and rear a bit before standing on all four paws. He ran around in a small circle, happy at his accomplishment.
"That's cause I'm always right." he stopped in front of Tumai, squishing his nose up against hers as hard as he could. He smiled and laughed, his mood lifting with each passing moment. "You should have some pups. I think it'd be good for you, so you're not alone, and so you always have excitement in your life." his eyes drifted to the side for a moment, thinking of his own parents. What would they do once he left? Would they forget about him and his siblings and have more pups? Or would they be heartbroken? It was a ways away for the small pup now, but he still worried about the future to come.
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Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:54 am
Tumai watched the young wild dog, laughing and smiling. It was nice to feel some genuine happiness for a moment, even if she knew it would be all too fleeting. That understanding didn't dampen the moment, in any case, and she wagged her tail behind her as she let him play.
"Always right, huh?," she said, holding her nose against his and grinning, "Well that's certainly impressive. Much better than my record, anyway. I'd have to guess that I'm right maybe half of the time. You've got me beat."
She felt her heart sink a bit at his comment. And that was the end of the happiness, though she knew he couldn't be blamed. He didn't know what she had done. She shook her head, trying to keep smiling but her eyes made the expression too sorrowful to be effective in hiding the hurt she felt in her chest.
"I should have pups," she said, not wanting to bog him down with her sad story when he was such an exuberant and loving little guy. He was just trying to help her. She wanted him to know she, at least, appreciated the effort. "It they're like you, I know they'd be happy. Even if they weren't always with me. They'd find others who would love them, and take care of them. Because... who wouldn't want to?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:30 pm
"Mm." Jua sucked his lips in, and they pinched at the side to form a smile. His tail was still wagging, and his eyes were calm. He tried to imagine what the female's pups would look like; he being a pup himself, he just imagined little versions of her running around, toppling over their mother.
His eyes were squeezed shut, still imagining the small gray and white pups running around. He moved around, playing with them in his mind, looking quite foolish. "I don't think anyone could be mean to puppies. We're just too darn cute." His eyes were still closed, and he tromped around on the grass.
Opening his eyes quickly, he turned his head around so he was facing the female. "You're pups would have to be my friends. They have to." His lips were puckered out, as a 'serious' pup would. "Promise!" Lifting his paw in the air, he waited for her to place hers next to it, promising him.
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