This is an SRP between my Shari and Lume Flanco.
Lume had half expected his mother and sister to come running after him. But they hadn’t. They were letting Lume go. The male snorted in contempt, staring down at the ground underneath the ledge he was traveling along. Fine. If they didn’t want him around anymore, then so be it. He wouldn’t be around.
Not that it was really their fault. Lume was just having a hard time admitting the truth: he didn’t really feel like part of the family. Sure, he and Rio would always have dancing. Pinta had sort of been left out by that account. And Lume was even a better dancer than his mother. They both knew it, but had never said it out loud.
But there were other things that weren’t being said. Rio did love her family, and it broke her heart when Lume’s and Pinta’s siblings went off to start their own lives. But there was comfort in the knowledge that their family would grow. Rio and Pinta could each have children of their own, start new families and raise kids and all of that. but Lume would never have that. Sure, he had played big brother when Pinta and her siblings were born. And he had absolutely loved it. He loved tussling on the ground with the cubs, teaching them everything he knew, watching them grow up and become adults. Deep down, Lume knew that he wanted cubs of his own.
But he didn’t get to have that kind of life. He was a hybrid, a mix of two species. His physique had gotten the best of both worlds, the strength of his leopard mother and the dexterity of his mysterious cheetah father. But it had come with the price of infertility. His mother had gravely informed him of his condition one day, about the same time she had given him “the talk.” And sure it made him a little...careless about certain things, but he was getting over his wilder tendencies. And having already interacted with one litter of cubs, he was left feeling empty, without purpose. He was angry at the world for making him who he was, angry at his family for not even acknowledging the privilege they had. He was just angry.
And he had taken it out on the two people who would support him no matter what, if he just came clean.
Lume sighed. He had really made a mess of the situation. What on earth did he plan on doing out in the savannah on his own? He was a family guy. He would get lonely out here real fast, and only more frustrated and angry. There was a reason that, no matter how many times he ran off to let loose the anger that kept building up inside of him, he always went back to his family. He should go back and apologize.
Only, he wasn’t going to be going anywhere. Shari was going to make sure of that.
The wild dog stepped out from the shadows, a snarl written across her face. Dried blood caked her head and face, stinging cuts and claws marks still raw and red. The leotah had gotten the best of her, and no one, no one, made of a fool of her and got away with it. Before, they had been squabbling over a silly piece of meat. Now, it was a matter of honour, a matter of life and death. “Well, look who I found.” Shari growled, making her presence known.
Lume scoffed and rolled his eyes. He really was in no mood for this right now. “Come on, puppy. Don’t you know when you’re beat? I’m kinda of in a hurry here. People to talk to, places, to be.” The leotah turned his back, headed in the direction his family was likely still waiting for him.
The wild dog snarled and lunged, teeth snapping shut on thin air where Lume’s tail had been. The male had jumped out of the way, hearing the canine’s assault and having the quicker reflexes to dodge just in time.
Lume whirled back around and scowled. “Seriously? Beat it. We’re not doing this. We’re both scratched up. Just call it a tie or something. I don’t do rematches.”
Shari stamped her foot. “Forget it. You’re not going anywhere until I put you in your place.”
“Fine then.” The male laughed bitterly. “You want to lose again? I can make that happen.” Faster than Shari could react, Lume had struck, sending the wild dog to the ground. The leotah grabbed her by the neck and shook, much like he had in their previous encounter.
Shari’s aching head wailed in protest. She snapped out blindly with her teeth, gripping hard when she finally came into contact with fur. Having no purchase underneath her feet, she had no choice but to bite down as hard as she could and roll.
Lume hissed as his neck was suddenly ripped downwards. Rather than have his skin ripped off, the leotah followed the direction he was being pulled in, landing on the earth in a puff of dust.
The wild dog pounced on top of her opponent, grabbing for the neck once again. She was going to rip it open and watch as this cocky feline choked on his own words, and his own blood. She ignored the leotah’s claws pulling at her flesh and trying to push her off. She could handle a few more injuries if it meant beating this annoying, stuck up hybrid. She planted her paws and pulled backwards, hoping a large chunk of throat and artery would come with it. But instead, Shari found her back paws suddenly dropping down the ledge they had been fighting along. Now, the grip on Lume’s throat was more about hauling herself back up onto solid ground. The wild dog pulled and scrabbled along the dirt with her paws, but she continued to fall.
Lume pushed himself along the dirt with his paws, not wanting his throat to be ripped open. But the ground underneath his shoulders had turned to air, and then he was tumbling with the wild dog down a slope of dirt and debris. He felt a sharp jolt in his shoulder, felt a twisting a back paw, and then his head cracked sharply against something far too solid. The leotah was surprised at how little it hurt, however. Instead, it just felt warm and almost like liquid. And he felt so light, like he was floating….maybe he could fly back to his family….and then he really was flying, soaring through the night sky on flame-coloured butterfly wings.
Shari picked herself back up, every bone in her body aching sharply. She looked over to where Lume lay, his head against a fairly large rock, a small puddle of blood pooling out of his head wound. She was disappointed to see that he was still breathing. But there was no way he would survive for much longer, no with an injury like that. And the scent of so much blood was no doubt going to attract scavengers. Shari didn’t want to be around in case they decided to try and make an easy meal of her as well. And in her condition, she was forced to admit that it wouldn’t be hard.
The canine spat on the leotah’s body before quickly limping back into the safe cover of night.
Word Count: 1237