Dearel was baffled. It had been several days since she’d found the collar in the street. There had still been no sign of the mokai it belonged to. She kept the collar with her at all times, just on the off chance she would run into it. Now though, a nagging suspicion had occurred to her and wouldn’t leave her alone. What if the mokai had turned feral? It had gotten rid of it’s collar and took off. It was a sad thought, but Dearel wasn’t going to give up just yet. The mokai could have accidently lost it. One horrible thought had occurred to her that she refused to believe. It had died, for whatever reason, and it’s owner had just thrown its collar away.
With collar safely tucked away, Dearel headed out to do some shopping. The woman despised most shopping. It irritated her; there were levels of irritation depending upon the type of shopping to be done. Clothes and shoes ranked higher than grocery, which in turn was higher than dragon statue shopping. Not that she had superfluous money to do the latter or the space to put them. She gathered up her purse and slung its strap crosswise across her body. Ready to go at last, Dearel headed out to market.
Her paws padded heavily on the ground. She slunk from bit of cover to bit of cover. Purple eyes darted nervously around, and her ears twitched at any little sound. Her master had been cruel to her, so she ran away. She had been planning on going out and joining the feral mokai. She thought anything would be better than staying with him. A couple days on the streets taught her otherwise; the hard way. Her skills at survival were pitiful. Second and third thoughts about running away had definitely crossed her mind. She had come back to pick up her collar, except it wasn’t there!
Where could it have gone? She had searched the whole area thinking it might have gotten pushed to the side out of the way. Now she was looking for it high and low. Another mokai could have taken it, but that was unlikely as all the ones around here had their own collars. She ground her teeth in frustration. Her keen nose suddenly detected a familiar scent. There! Creeping forward she kept all her senses on alert. She did not want to get caught now. The female homed in on her own scent and found herself following a woman. Hanging like a trophy from an object on the woman was her collar. She had to get it back. When the female paused, she leaped forward to grab the collar, but her teeth snapped shut on empty air.
Dearel by chance had moved just as the fighter took her leap. Now the two faced each other. At first she was baffled by the mokai. What did she want? After several minutes, Dearel realized she was staring at the collar on her purse. “Oh! This must belong to you. How did you come to lose it I wonder?” She knelt down and undid the collar. “Won’t you come here and let me put it on? Your owner must be very worried about you.” No amount of coaxing would bring the fighter to her. Dearel drew her eyebrows together as every time she reached out the mokai skittered away. This wasn’t how she expected one to act. Deciding this wasn’t working she stood back up.
“Well you really seem interested in this collar. I know, c’mon I’ve got an idea.” She was already out doing her shopping, a little more wouldn’t hurt. Dearel headed for the nearest meat shop where she got a half pound of hamburger. She smiled to herself as the butcher wrapped up her order. Outside she could see the mokai watching. Thanking the man, she headed out then looked around. Dearel spotted a place to the side that didn’t have much traffic. “Let’s get out of way before we start eh?” She kissed and beckoned the mokai to follow her. Once kneeling and settled she unwrapped the hamburger and pulled off a piece. “Won’t you come have something to eat sweety?”
The female fighter had warily followed the woman as she went into a building, got something, came out and moved to a secluded place. All she wanted was the collar. Why didn’t this woman give it to her? She was about to growl when the smell of meat reached her nose. Her stomach growled. The fighter paced back and forth well out of reach. Now she had her collar AND food. It was nearly unbearable. She paced restlessly back and forth for several minutes. A plop at her feet made her look down. There was a small ball of meat sitting there. She looked quickly toward the woman and saw she was still sitting there smiling.
Keeping her eyes on the human, the fighter lowered her head to pick up the piece. It was delicious! As soon as she’d eaten it and barely started licking her lips, another piece landed a few steps away. With her eyes never leaving her face, she stepped up and ate that one too. More words flowed out her mouth as the fighter just stood there. She stood there as the woman held the piece of hamburger in her hand and tried to coax her closer. Oh was she tempted. The meat tasted so good and the woman sounded nice. Her old owner had sounded nice sometimes too, but then he was cruel. She shook her head and refused to move.
Dearel tilted her head as she watched the fighter. She seemed oddly wary for such a young mokai. Once again she tossed the small piece near the mokai’s feet. “It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to get your collar on again so you don’t lose it.” It took lots of soft talking and most of the meat before the mokai was close enough to touch. Dearel breathed softly so she wouldn’t scare the skittish mokai. Moving very slowly she offered a piece from her hand. To her delight, a warm tongue licked her palm clean. Another piece was offered before she attempted to pet her ear. The mokai froze as she her fingers touched her rugged coat. She gave a quick scratch and offered more meat.
As the mokai relaxed and started to trust her, she smiled. This girl really was sweet. Dearel gave the fighter more scratches and attention. In between the attention she fed her the rest of the meat. The fighter had relaxed and started to actually enjoy the attention when she slipped the collar on. “There you go sweety.” Giving the girl a pat on her head, Dearel rose to her feet. “See ya around.” Her own shopping needed to get finished before she headed home. She had started to walk away when a warm, wet nose nudged her hand. Glancing down she saw the fighter at her side. “You want to come with me? Well, alright if you want.” Together the pair headed down the street.
