They were rare, these days, but not impossible. The rain kept most of his siblings in the den, but not Riddiq. The rain wasn't torrential by any means. He had left sometime while it was just too humid to breathe, leaving his siblings in the den with his mother with promises to be home before dark that he had ill intentions of keeping. Jakyra had stayed behind because Riddiq asked her to. He enjoyed this time alone, however brief it was. Not far from the den, Riddiq settled beneath a tree as the rain began to fall in earnest, just watching the sky cry for the world around them.
His mind was a million miles away, across hills and rivers and over mountaintops, to the place in his nightmares. Bones surrounded the land, great hulking bones, and teeth snapped and ripped flesh to shreds. Disturbing images for a cub to dream, but Riddiq was already far too used to these violent dreams of his. The gentle fall of the rain pulled him from his terrifying reverie, from that place that made his eyes see nothing but red and his claws ache to attack someone. He had to be better than that for his family. He had no choice.
He couldn't become what his baser instincts demanded of him. It was a battle he wouldn't win in the long run, but he would fight it as much as he could while he had the strength. From the den, it just looked like Riddiq was sitting beneath a tree, staring up at the sky as the rain poured down around him, his golden eyes picking up on the slightest bit of light and making them all the brighter in the dark.
---
Her interest in the daytime was slight; trouble falling at sleep at night had lent to her a deeper understanding of the darkness than most, and she had come to realize that night was by far the more intriguing time. Things happened in the dark, strange things that called to her and commanded her respect. The day was too perfect in every part, and for that, she was grateful. But she much preferred the imperfections of the night.
Still, she did her best to make an effort. Family was family, after all, and much as she enjoyed the loneliness of the night, she knew she had to come up for air every once in a while. She loved her siblings, much as she tended to suppress blatant displays of emotion.
The dreary rain made her heart glad. The poor weather, hiding the sun, that was an imperfection. That was what she wanted, and in the dripping rain, she felt an inkling of the life she felt in the night. She sloshed her way through a puddle as she padded from the den, feeling the water wash across her paws and the rain draw lines in her fur. Not too far off, she could see her brother, sitting under a tree in the downpour. “What you doing?”
---
Riddiq's ears twitched as he heard one of his siblings splash through the puddles of rain and mud, though his eyes were still upward towards the unrelenting sky. He said nothing by way of greeting; Kofie often went hunting for Vaako much like Jakyra hunted for him. They had a unique relationship, she and Vaako, and Riddiq respected it. Vaako was a good brother, better than he on some occassions. He couldn't blame Kofie's preference.
When she spoke, he debated on not answering but decided against it. Answering her question would likely cause her to either leave or settle in quietly, and not answering would make her feel he was angry, no doubt, which was the opposite of the case. He was quite content, as he was sitting beneath that tree, and little could sway Riddiq from this contemplative, content mood.
"Nothing," he said quietly, lowering his golden gaze from the sky to the dark fur of his sister. Kofie was by far the darkest of the litter, her coloration striking him as something odd. He wondered if their father was dark like that. Nonetheless, he fixed his gaze on her quite solidly. "You should be inside. It's raining." He said, as though it weren't obvious from the puddles on the ground.
---
Hm. She knew the conversation could have gone either way, that he could just have easily not answered, and she would have been alright with that too. There was nothing in her that yearned for company, just… the promise of company; as long as she knew that were those around her that cared, that would be around if ever she needed them, it was enough, and she would have been content enough to revel in the rain on her own.
But this was just fine too. She remained standing where she was, a paw half submerged in the puddle, watching her brother. He was a weird one too, Riddiq. Always had her guessing and that, perhaps, was what interested her so about him.
A small smile flickered across her face. “So should you,” she said with a small shrug. It didn’t seem like she was prepared to go anywhere. “I like the rain. It’s…” She wondered how she was going to explain it. “Different.” Kind of like the underdog, compared to sunny weather. She liked that.
---
Riddiq watched Kofie as she spoke, still as a statue except for the way his ears twitched at the slightest sound other than rain falling. He could hear one of his siblings in the den, yelping. Probably it was Jakyra and Vaako wrestling again. He'd seen them a time or two before. Vaako seemed set on training their sisters so they could take care of themselves when the time came. Riddiq saw little point in it: he wouldn't let them fall into danger they had to take care of themselves. Perhaps it would do for them to be self-sufficient, but Riddiq was the oldest. The protector. It was his duty.
"It's cool." He meant that in the literal sense. Darker coats were a burden on the young Riddiq. He didn't mind the heat most days, but on the brutal days of summer, the heat was unbearable. The break in the heat given to them by the cool, gentle rain was a blessing in disguise. "And quiet." Much like an endless night. He enjoyed the night time as much as Kofie had, enjoyed listening to the sound of his sisters and his brother sleeping, and crickets chirping outside their den. Enjoyed the occasional hyena laughing in the distance and the way the wind whistled outside their den.
It was all calming to Riddiq. "How're the others?" He asked, nodding to the den.
---
“Yea,” she tilted her head skyward, blinking back the rain that fell into her bright amber eyes. There was just something inexplicably enjoyable about the damp, and being wet was a small price to pay in exchange for it.
She was tempted then to let the conversation lapse into a brief silence. Riddiq was right. It was quiet in the wetness of the dreary day, save the lilting splatter of rain against the ground and the trees and everything else. It was strange music that the rain gave them, but it was music nonetheless, and there was nothing quite as pleasing to the ear.
“They’re alright,” she glanced back at the den from which she’d emerged. “Dry.” She said wryly. Sometimes, she imagined that she could take the same kinds of burdens on herself as Riddiq did. She didn’t doubt that she could, if she wanted—after all, it didn’t make sense to think that her brother could do something that she couldn’t—but she didn’t suppose she would ever try. That was Riddiq’s thing, and it wasn’t her place to try and take it away from him.
---
He watched Kofie briefly before looking away, watching the rain as it fell around them. He wondered if she saw what he did, in the way each droplet fell, all uniform but different at the same time. He smiled a little as he thought. It comforted him to think that his sisters didn't think the way he did, in details and infinite descriptions. Not in the broad picture, but the leaves of a tree, the claw marks in a den's walls. He could appreciate the finer details, but the whole picture was often confounding to Riddiq.
"Lucky them," he said, returning her dry tone with one of her own. Riddiq glanced towards the den again, listening now for the familiar scuffle of Jakyra and Vaako, and the scold of their mother. It was all common, and something Riddiq took comfort in. Nothing would change, there. Vaako would antagonize, Jak would bite, and Gintare would glare at them both for being stupid. The circle of siblings, some would say. They were lucky to not have the burden of being eldest, but Riddiq would wish it on no cub.
"Too nice not to enjoy, though." He said of the rain, looking around. The Savannah was empty; most of its inhabitants taking shelter in dens, trees, and the like. Just waiting out the rain instead of enjoying it as they did. Stupid creatures.
---
“That’s what they think,” Kofie answered with a small nod, listening too for the sounds of her siblings roughhousing in the den. Then the nod shifted, and shook her head lightly, a small, amused smile passing across her dark face. “Silly of them, though.” And truly, it was. It made her sad, sometimes, when she realized that most of the world lived in ignorance of the beauty that surrounded them. They passed over the things that really mattered, the things that were harder to find and buried deeper maybe than the more obvious appeals of shallower pleasures, and in doing so, she knew they were sleepwalking their way through life. There was so much potential in absolutely everything, and rarely was it ever realized. It was a shame. Such a shame.
“Yea,” she agreed. “You hear it, don’t you? The music, in the rain?” It wasn’t just bad weather to her; it never was. It was music, of course, and it was life. It was a way to wash all the blood from the earth, and a shower for her. There were infinite possibilities, if only she cared to explore them.
---
"Yeah." He agreed, nodding a little. It was ridiculous of them. Riddiq loved the sound of rain, like he enjoyed the sound of the wind, and the sound of quiet. He didn't know how everyone else could just ignore the sounds around them. Even if it was just making him aware of a slumbering lion nearby, or a hare scurrying by, he could always hear it and knew. It was a way to be prepared, and it was a way to relax.
His ears perked at Kofie's question. So she could hear it, too. "Yeah." He repeated, nodding as he glanced over. "It's quiet, but there." There was infinite things waiting in the quiet, rain was just one of them, and he enjoyed it. It surprised him that Kofie could hear it, though. He thought it was another thing of his. A weird trait he shared with no one.
---
She noticed the glance, and shrugged, that same amused smile crossing her face. “You’re not the only weird one in this family, brother,” she informed him. There was laughter in her voice. Much as she had always known that Riddiq was a strange one, she was glad to find that they did, indeed, have things in common. It didn’t exactly surprise her, but she hadn’t been expecting it entirely. She was never quite sure of anything when it came to her eldest brother, other than the fact that he was Riddiq, and there were certain expectations that came with being him.
She shifted, finally, from where she had been standing, lifting her foot out of the puddle and settling herself somewhere less flooded.
---
"Obviously," came the dry snort of a reply. He doubted little was normal in their family unit, but he felt out of all of them, he was the oddest. It wasn't a sort of contest, mind, but for some reason he knew he didn't quite fit in as he was. A cub could only do so much, but Riddiq felt capable of doing much more than he could in this body. A shudder rippled down his spine as he shook rain from his coat. He wondered if he'd be this way forever, or settle into a new skin when he grew up. Either way, it was a comfort to know he didn't think in a completely different way. He watched Kofie settle, and smirked a little.
"Getting wet?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow in good humor. It was rare for Riddiq to joke so openly, but perhaps he should have. He didn't want his sisters growing up thinking him a bore. He protected them, and he loved them, but in his protection he often preferred them to stay behind and wait while he took care of things. He thought better when he didn't have someone hanging over his shoulder; even now, while Riddiq might have been capable of picking out two or three predators around, he wasn't focusing as sharply as he ought to. The rain chased most things awake, but even so...
---
“Drenched,” she laughed, glancing down at her paws. It was harder to tell with her dark coat, but she was wetter than she would have expected. At the sight of Riddiq shaking the water from his fur, she felt the urge to do the same pass through her, but she suppressed it, and rose from her new spot and scooted over next to him, leaning against him in the hope that she would slime his newly-shaken coat with water.
He was a serious one, but there was always time for a bit of fun and games, and weather was rainy was this was as good a time as any in Kofie’s book.
---
"Me, too." He snorted a little, glancing over at his sister. He lifted an eyebrow as Kofie sidled up next to him, effectively smudging him with water. He smirked a little, and lifted a paw, kicking water at her that was slowly building up around them. So there. He looked up at the sky, noticing that it was getting darker, and shook his head.
"You should go inside." He would probably follow, but his concern was for Kofie, not himself. Riddiq could handle the rain, but he didn't want Kofie getting sick. Or, by extension, getting everyone else sick, too.
---
She tried, in vain, to dodge the splash of water that flew at her. At least it was difficult for her to get any wetter than she already was. “I’ll be okay,” she said. “But if you insist.” She might as well listen to him; she knew what he was like, and that he likely wouldn’t let her get away with staying outside if he had made up his mind that it was time for her to go in. It would be a shame to miss the rain, but she had enjoyed it long enough that she would survive without it.
Rising, she turned and trotted back toward the den. Perhaps mother would stride on over and scold her for staying out in the rain, for getting drenched. But that was okay. That was just a cub’s life.
/fin.
