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 Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:46 pm
Pich'Nkosana:
He was pacing...pacing! What a stupid thing to do when he could be running, hunting, training, skinning, a million useful things to do...and he was pacing. His teeth were lightly clamped on the prickly stem of a very special flower, it was a soft yellow and the edges were bathed in a pretty tropical pink blush, the bud was only slightly open. An african rose, something he would never have cared about, but today he wanted one, he had searched high and low until he found one. It was an apology, because he didn't know how to say the words, didn't know how to soothe her hurt. He didn't even understand how his words had hurt her, but he didn't like it. He didn't like closing his eyes at night to sleep and seeing the soft shimmer of a tear roll across pristine white fur.
Fususi:
Fususi left the den, grateful that all the others, minus her captor, were still asleep. She knew them all by name, now. Baridi was the one that scared her most, with his chilling eyes and even colder smile. His parents were Barafu and Shai, both whom enjoyed skinning their fallen quary, a strange custom, to be sure. And then there was Baridi's sister Shaira. She was... quiet. Fu had barely noticed her. It was an odd quiet and it made her suspect the slightly younger female. Either way, she was uncomfortable with the whole family.
She looked around, taking in the surroundings before her gaze settled on Pich. He was a ways away from her and... pacing. How odd of him. Well, maybe it wasn't odd, but it seemed like it. He didn't strike her as the type to pace.
Unsure of what to do, she stood there, watching him and waiting to be seen. If he didn't want her around, she could easily go... well, back into the den.
She suppressed a shudder.
Pich'Nkosana:
Pich lifted his head and tried not to snap the fragile stem in his mouth, no doubt the thorns would remind him not to do so. His golden eyes rested on Fu's slender figure and he tensed. Why was he nervous? She was just a silly female, and she just needed her feelings repaired otherwise she would be useless that was all...right? Right! With that settled he moved towards her his strides long and filled with purpose.
He stopped infront of her and sat down dropping the rose on her paws. "This is for you..." He trailed off uncertainly feeling himself tense a bit his body felt warmer but he tried to relax himself and ignore the sensations.
Fususi:
Fu blinked as he approached her. There was a ... he had a flower in his mouth. That was definitely not something she had been expecting. And for him to drop it at her feet and declare it was for her... She looked first at the rose, and then to Pich a confused frown on her features. Was this a trick? Some kind of cruel joke, to pretend to be kind to her? She might not have put it past his cousin but... It seemed genuine... So after her hesitation she looked back down at the rose and carefully lifted it to her nose, the stem held carefully in her toes. It smelled wonderful, but she kept her eyes on the flower, rather than the giver.
Pich'Nkosana:
"Maybe it'll help you...feel better..." He finally added softly, grudgingly annoyed that he cared how she felt at all. He didn't though! He didn't care how she felt he just didn't want her all mopey and useless that was all. Still a slow smile was trying to creep onto his muzzle as he saw the delicate way she handled the bloom. He was glad she could at least appreciate it, he didn't know any females who would, his aunt had a more practical view.
Maybe his mother had liked things like flowers and tender words, he could remember his parents together, his brothers playing. Maybe someday soon he would visit them, show them how strong he was, make them proud. He could kill for them, protect them in a way he wouldn't have been able to do if not for his uncle.
Fususi:
Fu looked up at him again, the frown back on her face.
"You're... serious, aren't you?" she asked softly, trying to keep the more neutral expression on her face. Otherwise, she might have... smiled or something like that. It really was a tender, almost sweet gesture on his part.
But she couldn't help but doubt. Why would he want to make her feel better? He'd gotten upset when she had cried the other day, so maybe he was just doing it to keep her from crying again. She did miss her family, but... if she learned to get along with him at least... maybe it wouldn't be so bad...
Her eyes flicked back down to the flower modestly.
Pich'Nkosana:
Her frown made him hesitate, now what was wrong? Didn't she like it? He scowled at her question and had to struggle not to growl.
"Of course I'm serious." His ears fell back and his lips slowly raised.
"If you don't like it just say so and I'll get rid of the damn thing..." He felt himself getting frustrated, what did he have to do to...nothing of course, she could be miserable if she wanted. Couldn't she at least pretend to like it though, he had been so careful in his choice...the rejection made him feel a tiny sting. The sting was irritating and he pushed it away without giving thought to why.
She was just an ingrate that was all, he tried to convince himself and look uncaring at the same time.
Fususi:
"I... It just seems... contrary," Fu explained, her ears lowering defensively as she remained focused on the flower.
"It's very pretty, but you... never mind," she added and brought her paw back down to frown at the flower. It was very pretty and smelled nice and... And she had no where to put it.
"What am I supposed to do with it, though?" she mumbled to herself, not really meaning for her words to be audible, though they were.
Pich'Nkosana:
"It's not contrary at all, I just...nevermind." He growled out softly, he wasn't going to apologize to her, she was just a silly female, she probably cried all the time, so why should he feel guilty, no he shouldn't, not one bit.
"I don't know you...you could put it in the den, where you sleep...or..." wear it, he wanted to say, but he knew it would sound like an order. "or throw it away for all I care...it's yours now." He huffed.
Fususi:
"I don't want to throw it away... I'd like to keep it with me, I just..." Fu scrunched up her face and sighed slumping a bit. She hated admitting when she didn't know how to do something and it was even worse admiting it to Pich. Pride was the issue, and her main vice.
"I don't know how," she finally gave in, glancing up for a brief moment before looking back down with an annoyed expression. Oh how she hated not knowing something.
Pich'Nkosana:
"Oh..." He tried not to smile and glanced away from her. "Well why didn't you just say so. I'll find some good vines or something so you can wear it around your neck...for as long as it lasts anyway..." He added trying not to sound too enthused. It was just a flower after all, a bit...sentimental...maybe too sentimental some might say.
Fususi:
''Cause I don't like not knowing things," Fu mumbled under her breath, but shrugged. She liked the idea, of it being a necklace. Pich was right, it probably wouldn't last long, but it was pretty and she'd rather wear it than leave it in the den. Why she wanted his gift, she wasn't sure. Maybe it had made him seem more.. warm.
Either way, she nodded to his suggestion and took the rose carefully in her mouth and looked to the older cheetah, basically telling him to lead on.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 11:37 pm
Pich'Nkosana:
"Well I'm sure thats only because their so much you don't know..." He smirked softly before chuckling and moving to lead the way, he was sure they could find some tender long grasses to weave into a suitable holder. Maybe not long enough for a necklace but something for her wrist perhaps? Well she would have to make do with whatever mother nature decided to provide them with. Besides the silly flower would just die in time anyway, it didn't need to be elaborate.
He moved along gracefully his long legs eating up the ground with his casual pace. He looked around and guided her towards some tall grasses growing at the root of a tree. "This will do the trick I think..." He pulled the grass into his mouth and sliced it away with his claws.
Fususi:
Fu narrowed her eyes at Pich's mean comment, but... Well, she could write it of as him just poking fun at her. Much as she disliked that, he was being nice overall, she she wouldn't say anything about it.
She stopped when he did and sat down somewhat beside him, carefully taking the flower from her jaws.
"Do you know how to make it a necklace?" she asked, watching him get the grass. She sort of did, though she wasn't good at it at all. When she tried to make necklaces or bracelets, they always fell off.
Pich'Nkosana:
"Yeah...my aunt showed me, as a practical skill, if you can weave something tight you can carry back furs and bones and meat from a long distance..." He sat down carefully and placed the long blades of grass down. "Put your paw here..." He gestured for her to hold down the blades and bent down pulling and batting with his paw. He paused every few moments to tug the grass tighter, but he was careful not to tug so tight that the grass tore or split.
He continued the labor in silence until he finished and knotted the end with his teeth. "I don't know if it's long enough for a necklace..." He murmured and glanced at her neck. She looked so graceful, the pure snow white lines of her figure made him loose his train of thought for a moment.
Fususi:
"Another cheetah I met taught me... kinda. Only to make the loop, not a weave," Fu said idly as she put her paw where he said. His aunt's ideas seemed sensible, to be honest. And the majority of the furs WERE from preybeasts. Maybe they weren't so bad after all... Except Pich's cousin. There was just something very wrong with him.
She watched him weave the grass together, trying to remember the movements so that maybe she could recreate them in the future. In almost no time, he was done and muttering about the size of the band he had made.
He looked up at her and she waited to hear the verdict, but all she received was silence. She blinked at him in confusion and tilted her head a bit to one side.
"Pich?" she asked without thinking. After saying it, she remembered how he had told her knowing his name didn't matter because she was to refer to him as "master" until he gave her leave otherwise. But she didn't correct herself, she didn't want to call anyone that word.
Pich'Nkosana:
"Your neck's too thick..." He tried to make it sound like an insult annoyed at himself for admiring any part of her. Still it wasn't that her neck was thick, it was actually quite slender...long..prett-hmph, the grass was just too short. "You can wear it as a bracelet..." He finally muttered and moved closer to take the flower from her.
He frowned at the thorns and clawed at the stem until he had managed to shop or peel most of them away, with a deft paw he slid the stem in among the woven grass and pushed the bracelet against her leg. He leaned his head down to tighten it on and add another knot before looking up at her. "Well give it a shake...lets make sure it at least stays on."
Fususi:
Fu frowned, though she did her best to ignore the comment.
She held her paw out for Pich to put the weave around her paw, bending her head a bit as he did so, her ear almost touching his as she watched the task. He told her to shake the paw and she did so, smiling over how it didn't come off like all her loops normally did. She held her paw up and turned it this way and that, focused on the blossom. She let her paw set back down on the ground and her head dipped a bit.
"Thank you," she said, glancing up at the older cheetah. How confusing he was! At times mean and gruff, and then he goes and does something like finding her a rose and making a bracelet for it...
She was most certainly at a loss and a disadvantage.
Pich'Nkosana:
"Yes well...you can be thankful by just taking care of it..." He sat up assured that it wouldn't fall off, it felt good to have done even that small task. He liked things done right.
"You've been sleeping okay?" He looked at her curiously his golden eyes intent, he had this strange urge to protect her. It was strange...and foolish, what did she need protection from after all? Why should he bother protecting her? Didn't those too weak to care for themselves and those they loved deserve to perish?
Fususi:
Fu nodded her head when he told her to take care of it. Oh, she intended to.
And then he asked her if she had been sleeping well.
No, she hadn't been sleeping well. She was used to sleeping with, or at least near, her parents and siblings, of hearing them at night. Being without them and with strangers and... It was too different, too soon to say that she could sleep well.
But could she tell him that?
She did her best to smile a bit and give a small half-nod.
"Yeah, I guess." She lied. She'd never really lied before, but this was one of those times when she didn't want to tell the truth. It would probably only make him mad at her again, for missing her family and being uncomfortable around his.
Pich'Nkosana:
He growled at her softly "Do you think your brave lying to me?" He bared his teeth at her and stood with a huff. "You didn't sleep well, you don't look the way you looked before...you look tired."
He glared at her his golden eyes meeting her pale endless blue ones, he could see there, the sadness. The question was why? Why did he care if she was happy or sad, and because he had no answer he lied to himself, he didn't care. He tensed and frowned quiet for a long moment, he knew he should punish her for lying to him, he should hit her, force her to promise not to lie to him again...but again he was struck by the sensation...he wanted her to promise herself. He didn't want to force things out of her...
Fususi:
Fu's ears drooped and she looked down, unable to meet those angry gold eyes.
"Fine, I didn't sleep well. I'm used to my family being there. It's too different and I can't get to sleep well. I figured lying was better than telling you I can't sleep because I'm afraid to." The words weren't so much snapped, but rather clipped, part angry, part frustrated, and part sad.
Was it so strange that she would miss her family? He and his were alien to her. She woke from every sound, different as it was from her family. The furs beneath her had been nice, but they were foriegn and had taken a fair time to get used to. And it seemed like every time she closed her eyes, she had felt a gaze upon her, keeping her awake until she was too exhausted to remain so.
Pich'Nkosana:
He looked at her and frowned slightly, she was sad, and scared...and stupid! It was stupid to be scared when he had told her he would protect her. She should have been happy for the chance she was being given to learn so much, why was she pining for her family, what made them so special?
"Well...you don't have any reason to be afraid, I told you I would keep you safe didn't I?" He snapped out with a huff.
It bothered him that she didn't trust him, it wasn't as if he had been malicious or hurt her. He was just keeping her...he wanted her around, for a while. "Lying is never better." He finally ground out with a snarl.
Fususi:
Fu flinched a bit. Things were only getting worse.
"I'm not used to it. And I can't believe you expect me to just trust you. I barely even know you," she mumbled, looking down at the flower so that she wouldn't have to look up and rubbing it lightly with her other paw.
"I thought the truth would upset you more," she added with a small shrug. She obviously wasn't a good liar and he didn't seem to like lies much. A note for the future.
Pich'Nkosana:
Her glared at her words, they stung like a fierce bite or a deep scratch, why? Why did words hurt? They were meaningless, he pushed the pain away ruthlessly and growled at her. "Fine." He turned his back to her and moved back towards the den.
"Come on...it's getting late..." His voice was sill tight, tense, angry. Of course she didn't know him, and he didn't know her either, except that she was a pretty faced wicked little liar. Even so the image of her lying all alone, awake, and afraid on an ebony pelt made him worry.
Fususi:
Fu did as she was told, following with her eyes down. He'd been nice and she'd ruined it by trying to pretend that everything was okay. Why did she even care if he was mad at her or not? Because she wanted to try and make the best from this situation, that was it. She didn't want to make matters worse. It had nothing to do with...
She sighed. She wasn't even a good liar to herself. What she wanted, what she NEEDED, was a friend in this. And the two most likely candidates were Pich himself and his cousin Shaira. But it was Pich whom she had to be around most of the time, so it would have been better to at least get along with him. She was too afraid of punishment if she tried to rebel. Running simply wasn't an option.
And yet the way he looked at her sometimes, just stopped and looked... It made her stop, to watch him. He was slightly taller than her own father. She liked how his fur reminded her of lying beneath a tree on a quiet night, the white moonlight falling through the leaves to spot the ground. If she had ever seen snow, she might have likened it to that, but she had only ever heard about it. He was a well-built male and she was old enough to understand the appeal and appreciate the form.
But he was her captor, she the captive. She shouldn't notice, shouldn't appreciate. And he seemed so hot-tempered all the time and scornful of her softer feelings. No, she shouldn't notice.
Pich'Nkosana:
He slipped into the den and moved to lay down on his own lush pile of furs, his prize of course was the young lions pelt, a fair fight and one that had left him limping for near three weeks. Luckily everything had healed proper and he was as fast as ever with a lush new fur to show for his tenacity. He nestled into the warmth and stretched himself with contented grumbling sounds his tail lashing back and forth. Finally comfortable he sprawled himself out and unable to resist let his golden gaze fall back on his pretty charge. Pretty...huh, she wasn't so pretty, not like his Aunt. Well maybe...she did have lovely soft white fur, the markings turned such a rich black not diluted grey, and he found himself wanting to touch and trace the swirls of blue and green that traveled over her lithe form.
He snapped his head away angry with his thoughts, where were such silly ideas coming from? She wasn't admirable for anything expect perhaps her speed...and form...to an extent. He huffed softly and placed his head on his paws.
Fususi:
Fu glanced at Pich when he laid down, pausing for a brief moment, and then walked to the place she had been shown by his uncle that no one claimed as their own. Of the spots, she had chosen a spot where she could keep her back to the wall. The pelt she slept mostly on was a small black one from what she figured was a wild dog or hyena. The fur itself was short and a little more coarse than soft, but softer than a preybeast's coat, and it was against the wall not too far from Pich, but putting her apart from him and his family. An outsider's place.
She curled up upon it, in a somewhat tight ball, her head resting partly on her paws. She sniffed and then nuzzled the rose on her paw a bit before closing her eyes to try and get some sleep.
Pich'Nkosana:
Pich stood slowly, he wasn't even sure what he was doing...but before he could stop himself he had walked over to her. He stood over her quietly for a long moment before sitting close to her his tail lightly resting near hers. He frowned down at her before tossing his head slightly.
"Move over a bit..."
Fususi:
Fu jerked from a state between sleep and awake, her eyes shooting wide when she felt the presence of someone near her. But the fell on dust-and-white fur, and Pich's voice reached her ears. Did she hear him right?
Whether she did or didn't, she scooted over, putting herself partly on the black pelt and partly on a dark brown one that was slightly softer, but she had been uncertain of. She didn't want to lie on one of her own kind or something, after all.
"Why...?" she asked softly, drowsily, still trying to process what he was doing.
Pich'Nkosana:
He settled down behind hr carefully curling his larger frame around hers in a protective way. "You said you couldn't sleep because your not used to being alone and your afraid, well...I'm here, and I won't let anything hurt you..." He tucked himself a bit closer against her and looked at her expectantly.
"So just sleep...you'll be fine..." He muttered still uncertain of what exactly he was doing. Why? That was a damn good question as well, pity he didn't have any answer for it though. He ignored her question and watched her instead, surely she would sleep now?
Fususi:
Fu's eye grew even more wide and gods help her they even teared up, it was such a kind gesture. No, kind was the wrong word, there had to be something more than just that to label the action. She curled closer to him, liking the feel of his warm fur so much more than anything upon the cave floor. She pressed her face into it, closing her eyes to fall back to sleep.
And right as she was falling into the slumber she had needed, a thought struck her, right before she left the waking world.
If he was going to protect her... who was going to protect her from him?
Pich'Nkosana:
Pich gazed down at the female for a long moment watching as she dozed off and finally gave in to sleep. He stared at her and slowly his expression changed to one of confusion. What was happening? Instead of thinking about it he settled his head down and closed his eyes with a soft grunt. Nothing...nothing was happening, he just needed some sleep that was all. Still even as he drifted to sleep he couldn't help but notice how nice and soft and warm she felt curled tight against him. His paw slowly slid over her protectively before he fell deep asleep.
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