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 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:43 pm
 Each day they grew closer to his parents old stomping grounds, but Tendaji was still a long way from home. And what if they'd moved? His mother and father had left the safety and stability of a pride behind back when him and Izin and Kamau were still adolescents. And his other siblings, the ones who had stayed behind... what had become of them? Were they all right, did they still live in the confines of the Bhanu'Ecchumati? A pride of bullies. He thought it had made him tough; it had not.
Back when he left, he never thought he'd come to miss the Bhanu'Eccumati. But out in the rogue lands, away from his brothers and mother and papa Abrafo and half sibs - even Safi! - all the rest of his family... he realized he had never been alone once in his whole long life. Sure, when he was out adventuring with Izin and Kamau they had split now and then so that they could approach ladies on their own, but it had never been for long. And he'd been alone for a few days when he'd set off the last time to find to mate, but it wasn't very long before he'd run into her, the one he had learned to call Master.
And now? Now it was just him and Tujil-dasu. She stayed beside him most of the time, but somehow her presence only served to underscore the absence of his family. Of a mate. Other felines. A wild dog! He'd never spent so long with one before - or any time, for that matter - and it was... strange. Everything about her was different, off somehow. Wrong shape, wrong smell, wrong sound.
So why was it that every time she left his side he worried she wouldn't return?
The loneliness is driving me mad..."Hey green butt!" Tujil-dasu called, playfully bumping her shoulder against Tendaji's. "You better stop making that frowny face before it gets stuck an' you make the sun go away."Tendaji blinked. "That doesn't even make any sense."
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Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:06 pm
 With the light reflecting off her pale coat, and a full day ahead of her, Cari languidly moved through the landscape. Long, thin legs encased in violet stockings carried her further and further away from the territory of her grandparents. Even though her visit had been brief, it was enough to satisfy them. After all, she was grown, and this wasn't the first time she had left their side. Her father hadn't even stayed to see her off before making his own way in the world. Cari ran. Like a greyhound in flight, she revealed in the sensation of the wind running over her like water. The landscape became a blur around her. Running made her feel fresh. Pure. Loved, and needed. Her paws became powerful as they tore at the Earth, claws tearing into the dirt like flesh. She was unrivaled in her speed and ferocity, that much had been clear the moment she had taken to hunting for her family. Of course, she hadn't been expecting to run across anyone. Cari's run had carried her into the general vacinity of the strangest couple she had seen yet. A white wild dog, and a green leopard. Her heart ached. Something about his pelt tore into her. It can't be.... There was no joy in the way he walked. No exuberance he had displayed in her youth, and yet...It was his eyes that gave him away. A shock wave of strange emotions ran through her. Cari slowed, kicking up a spray of dirt and dust with her, all the while slowly making her way towards the pair. "...Uncle Tendaji?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:33 pm
Tujil-dasu was the first one to notice the leotah's approach and nudged Tendaji once more, this time to alter his direction ever so slightly and keep herself between him and the approaching leotah. There was no reason to suspect the leotah of harm, and certainly Tendaji was larger and stronger than her at this point, but still... he was hers to protect, wasn't he?
Tendaji grunted as Tujil-dasu bumped into him and turned to growl a warning, but his eyes were immediately drawn to the white and purple blur that approached them so rapidly. No. It couldn't be.
"Cari?" he whispered, voice tight with emotion. It was her, it was his beloved niece, his favorite... but look at her, all grown! With the grace and poise of a cheetah and his brother's white and...
How. How could he have been gone so long, how could he have missed her childhood and adolescence! How long had he stayed the leopon's captive? He had not thought it had been so long, but Cari's grown form spoke otherwise. He stayed where he was, feet rooted to the ground, torn between running the few steps it would take to get to her and throwing himself down to apologize for being gone so very, very long.
Cari? This is Cari? A niece...
"Hello there!" Tujil-dasu said a notch too loudly and brightly, trying to fill the distance between Tendaji and Cari with ~joy~. "It sure is nice to meet you, 'specially since your uncle kept on mentioning you but never told me a thing about you. I'm Tujil-dasu, by the way. And that's your uncle, you've already met him. I like to call him green butt because he won't let me call him leopard boy anymore."
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Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:39 pm
Cari edged closer to the pair, painfully aware of the barrior the wild dog was creating between the two felines. It was obvious that she had a stake in his life now, but was it productive? Or even positive? She wouldn't stand for this creature hurting her long-lost Uncle in any way, shape, or form.
Just looking at him had her violet eyes misting. She could remember a day filled with happiness that he had told her a story of the butterfly that would carry her away. It wasn't long after that he had left. At the time, Tendaji had claimed that he was too large for the butterfly to carry away, but for a while, she had believed. Why else would he have left her? Left them? Didn't he love his family anymore?
Cari was shocked out of her memories by the dog's voice. It grated on her frayed nerves, but for the moment, she allowed it. "Um, yes....Hello." She stood up straighter, displaying a willowy frame, filled with her mother's grace, but littered with scars and muscle. "I'm Tendaji's niece....that is, his half-brother's daughter." She shook her head, and walked closer to her Uncle. This chatter was pointless. "What happened to you? Everyone else assumed you'd found a mate and left, but I knew better. I looked everywhere for you."
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:59 am
Even Tujil-dasu knew when she wasn't wanted. Grinning, she backed away from the pair. Neither Tendaji nor Cari's body language spoke of danger, and Cari smelled, well... right. There was neither fear no anger, certainly no hint of madness. No hint of a cornered or desperate animal. Which was well enough, for the scars and muscles warned Tujil-dasu that Cari wouldn't go down easy in a fight. Which was good; it was clear enough that Cari cared for her uncle. She would make a good ally until the leopon that had so injured Tendaji could be found and disposed of.Tendaji barely noticed Tujil-dasu stepping back, but unconsciously he took a step closer to Cari. He could feel his heart breaking - how much pain had he caused her, being away so long? There was no explanation nor excuse good enough for why he hadn't gone home and told them where he was, what had happened. It didn't matter how firmly the leopon held his mind, how blinded he'd been by infatuation and fear of losing his first love. No excuse.
But she had asked a question. He had to answer. "I... I did find a mate, Cari, but I would have returned, I didn't mean to be gone so long, it's just..."
It's just that she'd been too injured to move or be left on her own and all the while he hunted, she whispered sweet lies. It's just that when he finally decided to leave she had hurt him, hurt him badly. Threatened to kill his niece. And she? She had always been the stronger one, even when injured. He was just the slave.
But how to tell that to Cari. It was his own fault for leaving, there was no excuse for his behavior. He looked away. "... she's gone now. I'm... back. I won't leave again. I'm sorry," he added, turning to look her in the eye. He braced himself for any blow she chose to deliver; he had done wrong and he deserved it.
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 7:45 pm
This wasn't happening the way she'd dreamed of. In her dreams, her Uncle was as vibrant as he always was; sometimes laughing off her worries, sometimes holding her, but never this...thoughtful. And she was younger, so much younger, and far more emotional. She couldn't even bring herself to cry, even though she desperately wanted to.
When he spoke of a mate, her eyes instantly darted to the retreating wild dog. Was she...? Cari slowly turned back to her Uncle, transfixed by his expression. The look in his eyes. There was more that he wasn't telling her, but for now, that didn't matter. She had him back. The young leotah took a step forward, then another, until she was virtually face to face with him.
"...I hate her. She stole you away from me, and for what? For this?" Slowly, she leaned forward to press her forehead against his, finally allowing her tears to shed. "I don't want your apology. I want...you. I missed you."
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:02 pm
What could he say? That he hated her too? He hated himself. He’d stayed with his mistress because she had threatened to hurt Cari if he left – but in the end he’d hurt his beloved Cari with his absence, in the end his mistress remained out there. Knowing all about Cari because he had told her. And he couldn’t even protect or save her, he was no fighter.
And now his beloved Cari was crying, she wasn’t even accepting his apology. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close so that she couldn’t see him crying too. “I won’t leave you,” he said gruffly, “I promise.”
Tujil-dasu sat and watched the two of them. She didn’t like that her green-butted friend was in pain but it was… necessary. He had a family here, family mattered. She tried not to think of her own sister – if Ekwueme wasn’t taking proper care of her, then she’d scratch his damn eyes out.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:35 pm
Cari just burrowed her face into his fur and cried. It was all she could do. If she thought about it for too long, her mind would implode. Although her Uncles had never given up her, her own father had told her it would be better to put Tendaji out of her mind. That he wasn’t coming back any time soon, and she shouldn’t worry. But she did, and she was glad she did. Glad that he’d returned. Glad that he was alive.
She pulled back, breaking his contact in a wary way. “Can you really promise that?”
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 3:48 pm
Could he promise that? What if his… his mistress came back and told him that if he didn’t leave with her, she would hurt Cari, would hurt Izin, would hurt everyone he cared about? Would he go with her? Or would he have the strength to say “no” as he had the one time, before she… she laughed and chased and beat him. He was no fighter, she was bigger than him! He started to shake, mind flashing back to the den, to the nights he lay exhausted, too weak to move, and she purred and told him how good he was, how obedient and she dug her claws in his side and he smiled, knowing that if he resisted she’d just hurt him more and and
Hhhhhhh. Deep breaths.
Cari. Izin, Kamau, Mom, Abrafo, Safi. All he wanted was to spend the rest of his life with his family but if she came back, if she, oh gods, if she took Cari, if she hurt his family, if if
Stepping forward silently, Tujil-dasu rested her head against Tendaji’s shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He started to step aside, skin twitching at the contact with another, but sighed and stayed. Tujil-dasu’s touch didn’t… didn’t hurt him, like hugging Cari hadn’t hurt. It was almost comforting, a rock to lean on.
“He should stay with you,” Tujil-dasu said softly. If Tendaji hadn’t been right there, she might have worded it differently. Don’t let him leave or he needs you more than you need him or I found him half dead and covered in his own dried blood.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:15 pm
Without missing a beat, Cari snapped, "Of course he will. I won't allow anything less." At hearing the ferocity in her own voice, the young leotah's face mirrored the surpise she felt inside. Torn and at odds with herself, she stood up, slowly putting distance between the pair and herself before turning to pace. Cari had never been a leisurely feline. She needed to move to think, and under the best of circumstances, she would be running. However, if she ran away now, she wouldn't see her Uncle. Ever.
"I want hi- you to stay with me. Both of you." She spoke to them, but her eyes never left the ground where he paws beat out a steady beat. "I don't want you to leave again, and I'll....I'll be stronger, faster, smarter...whatever it takes to make you feel safe enough to stay here." She paused, thought about looking at them, but sat down instead, showing her back to them. She couldn't help it.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:39 pm
Tujil-dasu thumped her tail on the ground, thinking it over. She both wanted and needed to find the mad leopon who had hurt Tendaji so much so that they could have a little chat, but it wouldn't do to leave Tendaji just yet. He had found family, but was still hurting and the situation was... well, tense. So she'd stay a while, maybe start a few inquiries. See how well this family could protect Tendaji. Cari looked like a decent fighter, but she was just one leotah.
And maybe she wanted to spend a little longer with this green leopard friend of hers. There were still things about him that she didn't know and she relished the opportunity to find them. It would be nice to watch him return to who he'd once been, meet his family, all that nonsense.
"I'll stay," she said firmly. She didn't say she'd stay permanently, but she'd stay for at least a little while. And she'd come back after her "chat" to let Tendaji know he didn't have to worry any more.
Tendaji took a deep breath. He'd wanted so badly to look after Cari - but now she was the one looking after him. All his life he'd wanted to be strong enough to protect his love ones, but in all that time it had never occurred to him that they could look after him.
But he'd never forgive himself if Cari got hurt while protecting him, just as he'd never forgive himself for hurting her so much already. He longed to reach out and touch her, to hold her close and protect her. But for now she'd be the one protecting him - and he fully believed she could do it.
"I'll stay," he said, "and I'll learn how to fight."
He straightened his shoulders, finding a new purpose. He would stay. He would protect his family and redeem himself.
And maybe some day Cari would forgive him.
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