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 Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:21 pm
((note: Some of this takes place in a dream, some of it is simply backstory. The bits with grown Zito are present time. The dream will be italicized.))
Many seasons ago on the savannah, far South, by the sea and it's wonderful smell, a cheetah and his mate laid together on a hot day. The cheetah's mate was called Uthando'Olumnyama, for her love was surely a dark thing upon the cheetah's life. She was like poison, but he couldn't resist her. His name was Indinda, a name he chose for himself. A wanderer. He lived by his name, and never stayed in one place too long. But this spot, only a few miles from the bright, beautiful sea, but safe enough from it should the sea rebel. This was his home, where he hid all his trinkets.
Including, so it seemed, the dark Uthando.
It was on the hot day they laid together that Indinda sealed his fate with Uthando, helping her to bear a litter of cubs. In the time Uthando grew with cubs, Indinda's heart grew less and less fond of her. She showed her true self then, angry and spiteful, hating that she was giving birth to cubs and would have to share Indinda with them.
When they were born, it broke his heart that they were all dead by his eyes. But Uthando simply nudged them all until she retrieved a dark cub so like her mother in color and bade her nurse. One in five cubs was living, and the little miracle made Indinda's heart swell.
"What will we call her?" Uthando asked, looking up from her litter of deaths to the male she deemed responsible. "Little death bringer? Forsaken to be alone? You brought me dead cubs, Indinda. Can you do nothing right?"
Indinda's red eyes strayed to Uthando's dark scowl for a second, before drifting back to the little cub who suckled to live. "Heartbreak. Leaving her will always break my heart." He said, bowing his head and nuzzling the little cub, who mewled weakly.
"And leaving me doesn't?" Uthando demanded, sneering. "What am I to you, just a whore to use and cast aside while you go on your little adventures?"
"Pretty much." Indinda nodded to her, casting his dark eyes on the heaving female. "When you wean my cub, you can go. But if you let her die, or starve, and I come back without my little Zitomoya waiting for me, I will kill you." He growled. "Do you understand me?"
Uthando glared at him, but looked away. She wouldn't let her only cub die, but she would leave. Indinda didn't love her, only lusted, and she could find lust anywhere. She glowered at the little cub suckling, and looked up at Indinda. "I hope she dies."
"If she dies and it's your fault, you will, too." Indinda said simply, rising and walking away from the den.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:22 pm
Zitomoya dragged a zebra home that night, mostly whole. She'd had a few nibbles to sustain her on the way home, but it was there for the most part. She dragged the carcass right to the feet of Mir, and dropped it, then started wandering away. "Tired." was her excuse. And it was true, she was exhausted, but she didn't want to sit there with the group tonight. She cast a dark look at the hyena as she strode past, a warning to keep his mouth shut and stay away from her tonight. She had no need for the hyena or his silliness.
Slumping down onto a cool pile of dirt, grateful for the sun's descent into the horizon and the moon floating lazily above her, she rested her head on her paws and stared ahead blankly for a bit. Her whole body thrummed with the adrenaline from the hunt, but she wanted to sleep. After a little while, when her body had calmed itself, those blank red eyes slid closed, and she fell into a blissful sleep. At first, there were no dreams. Only sweet, rewarding darkness. And then the world around her exploded, and she was a child again.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:23 pm
"Is today the day?"
The cub Zitomoya sat at her mother's paws, tail twitching anxiously as she stared at the horizon. "He said twenty days and it's been... been..." She frowned, looking towards the scratches on the tree nearest her. "It's been twenty whole days and today's almost gone! Is today--"
"Shut up, child." Uthando grunted, glaring at the horizon. The cub was almost weaned, she could leave Indinda and his brat for better things, but she was still stuck here for a month or so yet. "When he comes, he comes." She rolled her eyes and rose, letting the cub sit and wait for the irresponsible father who left every few days for weeks at a time. She had better things to do then wait for Indinda.
But Zitomoya waited, tail flicking, staring at the darkening horizon. When she saw the familiar hat that betrayed her father's strong figure, she rose on her paws and ran. "DADDY! Daddy! You're home!" She ran headlong into the older male, headbutting his legs and stumbling back. She tumbled, and shook her head, then hopped up. "What'd you bring me? Did you bring me anything?"
"Course I did." Indinda grinned brightly at his little girl, red eyes shining as they walked to the den. "Brought you a special gift."
"And stories, did you bring me any stories?" She lit up, looking over. "Did you meet any monsters?"
Indinda laughed, nodding. "Aye, I did. But we'll safe that for when we're home. We're not yet in our land, and here--"
"There be monsters!" Zito giggled, running ahead. "Beat'cha back!"
"Oh no you won't!" laughed the adult, chasing after her. Indinda let her win by a longshot.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:24 pm
Zito twitched in her sleep, rolling over and curling in on herself. The dream changed then, a darker sky filling her mind's eye, rain going for days and days... That cruel mother, Uthando, mocking Indinda. She winced in her sleep, shaking already, for she knew the outcome of this stormy night.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:26 pm
"He's not coming back, you know." Uthando said, peering out at the rain beyond their little cave. "Not tonight. Maybe not for weeks. Maybe not ever."
"Shut up." Zitomoya hissed at her mother, sitting at the mouth of the cave, tail flicking in irritation. It was the twenty fifth day; Indinda was five days late. But it'd been raining almost non-stop. Uthando mentioned something about a flood, but she doubted a flood would come. And even if it did, her daddy would come and rescue her and leave stupid Uthando to drown.
"Maybe it's raining where he is and he died. What'll you do then, little death bringer? You'll be all alone with no one to spoil you."
"Shut up, I said!" Zitomoya snarled, rounding on her. "Just shut up! He'll come home! He always comes home!"
"It's been five days, you little wretch." Uthando hissed, rising onto her paws and looming over the cub. "He is dead or worse. And you are all alone, because as soon as this rain stops, I'm leaving. You can hunt for yourself now."
Zitomoya glared at her, eyes dark. "Why wait." She growled, backing towards the edge of the cave. "It's only a little water." She let her tail get wet, and flicked it at Uthando, who hissed irritably. "Big ol' p***y cat afraid of a little water?" She did it again, bearing her teeth.
Uthando snarled, swiping at the cub's face. The shock that came with the pain made Zitomoya stop, staring at her. Tears welled up in the cub's eyes, but she shook them away. "I'm going to find him." She whispered, eyes dark.
"And if he comes back, before I'm back, and he sees that you let me leave, he'll kill you." She glared at Uthando. "And I hope he isn't merciful." She grabbed the necklace in her jaws that her father had given her, of a great big Monster Tooth, and shrugged it on. Then, facing the sheets of rain that fell like heavy rocks onto the ground, Zitomoya strode out into the abyss to find her father in the Land of Monsters.
When the rain stopped, and Indinda did return home, it was to an empty den. Uthando and Zitomoya were both gone. He left the den in search of his litte cub, but in vain; she was gone. Long gone, by now.
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Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2009 3:27 pm
Zitomoya's eyes snapped open, and she stared ahead of her, panting harshly. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her eyes watered. She shook her head hard, rising unsteadily, and reached a paw up to her neck, feeling for something that wasn't there. She wandered back to the group, grunting at Mir. "I'll be back." She didn't know if he was awake, or if he cared. She turned and ran, then.
She ran even as the sun rose, and ran still as the sun set. When she finally stopped, it was nowhere near her home. Still far too far north. She paused at a dying acacia tree, and started digging in between its roots. It had to be here. She remembered dropping it here when she was hunting as an adolescent. To keep it safe; she'd get it when she had found something.
But she forgot about it. Forgot about it, about her father, about Uthando. Forgot about her home. She remembered now, though, and nosed the necklace out of it's hole. The giant Monster Tooth was dingy and coated with dirt from years of being buried, and the beads were dark with dried mud. Still, she nosed the necklace on, and began the trek to the group. She'd tell them her intent to leave soon.
Not yet, but soon.
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