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 Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 12:13 am
 Slipping through the vines and bushes was easy after a lifetimes practice of doing so. Well, a "lifetime," which for the cub meant most of a month. Still, the jungle was all she had ever known, and while still quite timid, Ruka was becoming gradually more and more at ease with her surroundings. That ease helped when she was alone, though that didn't happen too often as she preferred the company of her sisters. Right now, however, she'd lost them and was running through the forest by her lonesome looking for something to do. All in all, the little cublet wasn't too worried about her sisters--they could take care of themselves.
Of the things she was worried about, however, the birds took the largest priority. Their calls rung through the forest as usual, ringing in her ears and causing her to shiver. no mater how "used" she may have been to them, they still inspired sheer terror in her heart. Why birds? Ruka wasn't totally certain, but she had clues that she didn't share with anyone else. Momentarily distracted from watching her step, the cub found herself tripping over a vine half arched out of the forest floor and tumbling down the side of a short, sheer drop at the top of a hill--like a miniature cliff in the forest floor.
Whatever the structure may have been called, the roll downhill hurt and dirtied her normally pristine fur. Ruka whimpered a little as she lay there for a moment, eyes closed as the heat of the sunlight on her back told her that she was out of the cover of the plants. ... and there were birds above her. The fear of her surroundings came rushing back and Ruka curled up on her aching limbs to whimper a little more, and shiver in terror.
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 10:45 am
(Sorry, I've written a novel)  Sepoko didn't want to go. Mother told him that they had to. She'd grown to hate this place, she said. It confined her, imprisoned her, and it reminded her of him. But it was the only home Sepoko had ever known, and he hated the uncharacteristically bitter tones with which his mother spoke of his father.
But Sepoko supposed that nothing he'd come to know would ever be the same again. His family was divided--no father to encourage him, no older brother to order him. It was just him and his mother with her quiet intensity. He loved his mother, but she perplexed him. She didn't show her emotions much. It wasn't like his father, who wore his heart on his figurative sleeve, or his brother, who was nothing but open hostility. But Ajabu had insisted on going off with their father, so Sepoko stayed with mother.
They'd be heading off soon, leaving this den situated in a rock face which they had once called home. Sepoko eyed the painted rock walls and the floors decorated with grass and flowers, then made his way to the mouth of the cave. Mother had gone out for a quick hunt before they set off, leaving Sepoko to himself. He didn't like being alone like this, sitting in the dark, so he decided he might as well get some sunshine.
But as he reached the mouth of the cave, something fell just before his face. The juvenile squealed and scrambled back into the den briefly, stumbling over his bad leg, retreating from whatever thing had come to attack him. He cowered there in the dark a few moments before he heard a soft, pathetic whimpering. He wasn't entirely certain he wanted to risk going back out, but on the other hand it sounded like someone might need some help. And so, for the sake of the wellbeing of all those who surrounded him, Sepoko sucked up his terror and emerged from the hole in the rock wall.
And there he saw a little girl cub, just as terrified as he. What exactly she was terrified of, he couldn't be sure, but he felt a sudden and overwhelming wave of sympathy for her. So, he cleared his throat and murmured, "Hullo? Miss?"
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 11:15 am
Something had spoken to her! Ruka jumped a little, in place--it was more of a twitch of muscles, really--and held herself a little tighter. As the shadow that she could, somehow, feel did not move away, the little girl slowly moved one paw from over one of her eyes. Her brilliant green gaze held him for a moment, then rolled a little to try and see above her without really moving her head. "Are they still there?" She asked softly, much more inclined to be comfortable with another lion than had he been... well, a bird, defiantly.
She thought that this was a lion, at least--certainly he resembled her mother and siblings in a structural sort of way, but she had never seen a male of her species before. Or, for that matter, any lion not of her family, if one didn't count goddesses. For the moment it didn't truly matter what he was, so long as he lacked feathers and a beak.
((No apologies XD sorry mine are so short))
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 1:37 pm
Sepoko was briefly perplexed by Ruka's question. His brows furrowed tight. Then he turned his eyes skyward and observed the swarming birds. He sighed. Was that all? He looked back at her and smiled a weak smile--the best he could manage. For some reason, he found smiles difficult to create. "Don't worry," he said. "They never land here. No reason for them to." He gestured with a spotted forepaw to indicate the barren land which surrounded the mouth of the cave.
Then, feeling it would be rude to offer any less, Sepoko slowly, cautiously approached the girl and added. "If it would make you feel any better, you could come inside." He gestured then back to the mouth of the cave... though wondered vaguely, in the back of his mind, if it wasn't his home anymore, if he even had the right to invite others in. But he shrugged it off. He just wanted to help this girl. He wanted to be gracious.
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Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 10:22 pm
Ruka's ears perked up, brilliant green eyes peaking over the orange fluff of her coat to gaze at the male offering her solace. For a moment she hesitated, the eyes of the birds above seemingly boring into her back. Then, in a bolt of bright orange and white, she dashed inside the cave and braked in the shadow of it. The tiny girl turned about, head low as she touched her nose to the very tip of the shadow cast by the cave's lip and looked out beyond at the birds. "they're so scary," She whispered, "I wish they'd leave me alone...."
After a shiver, her eyes found a new focus on Sepoko, and she tucked her chin in more bashfully. "h-hello... thank you for the help," Ruka whispered in a shy, but sweet sort of tone. The cave she was in smelt like lion, at least she thought it did, and she realized it must be his own den. Maybe even his family's den. What should she do? She couldn't leave, but he was standing there, and she didn't know him but...
Some manners her mother and aunt had tried to kick into her came back. "M-my... my name is Ruka... who are you?"
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 12:21 pm
Sepoko's ears flattened back against his head with uncertainty. He knew he was a wuss--Ajabu had never been shy of pointing this out--but he'd never been afraid of birds before. He glanced out at them warily, and in one moment of sweeping paranoia he wondered if perhaps there was a reason he ought to be afraid of birds that only this girl knew about. He gulped deeply... then shook his head. No, that was silly.
He turned back to her then with his sad little smile and said, "Don't worry. You're safe from the birds in here." This he could say with certainty, for in all the time he'd lived in this den, he'd never once seen a bird in it... except on the one occasion when Ajabu had dragged a wounded bird into the den and strangled it for fun. The little juvenile shuddered just remembering it.
But he smiled again, and blushed, when Ruka thanked him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been thanked for anything. "You... you're quite welcome," he said. He listened carefully to her introduction. Ruka. A lovely name. Sepoko's own manners training entered his mind, and he gasped briefly before hastily bowing and declaring, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Sepoko."
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 11:40 pm
"Sepoko," replied softly, a smile stretching across her golden features. A giggle sounded then, the girl's ill spirits almost completely forgotten in a moment. "Se-POKO!" She giggled a little more and grinned now, "I like that name! Its fun~!"
A squawk from outside sent her skittering away from the mouth of the cave again, her ears flat against her skull in fear. After a moment it seemed safe again and she gave a sheepish giggle as she once more began to rise from her cower. Ruka took a few steps back towards the entrance. "So... Sepoko... do you live here?" The lioness cub sniffed a little, once more tasting the scents of the cave. It was an interesting smell, with even the faintest hint of old blood underneath it all. That didn't make her shiver as blood was something a predator was long familiar with, and Ruka's emerald eyes once more turned up towards him. "My family lives in the jungle, too... we never meet anyone else. ... er... lions that is." Her eyes cut upwards towards the birds again.
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 6:51 am
When Ruka started giggling, Sepoko couldn't help but blush. At first he hung his head, thinking he was being made fun of--something he had grown quite used to at this point. But when Ruka said she liked his name, he blushed even harder and shied up against the wall. He was never quite sure how to take compliments from anyone but his parents. He wasn't used to them. They unnerved him. Besides, he'd come to accept his brother's word as god, and his brother never had anything nice to say about him. "Thanks," he murmured. "At least someone likes it." And here Sepoko spoke for himself as well. He hated his name. It sounded silly, and it meant something scary. He never knew quite what to think of it.
Ruka questioned him, and Sepoko hunched even further, slightly wounded. "Um... I used to live here," he said very quietly. "I, um... my parents... broke up. And, um... my dad left with my brother. And now my mom's leaving with me... 'cause she hates it here. Said she never really wanted to go to the jungle in the first place, never would've stayed if it weren't... for... my dad..." He trailed off sadly here. He hated when his mother spoke of his father this way, for he loved both his parents dearly. He glanced back at Ruka then, briefly, while still managing to avoid eye contact, and said. "I've met a handful of others, but it's mostly been me and my family. I... I don't really like meeting others." He dropped his head again like a heavy weight he just couldn't hold up for long.
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Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 12:00 am
Ruka wasn't certain what he meant about his parents 'breaking' up. She frowned a little at the strange term, momentarily distracted from her fear of the birds by this perplexing puzzle. The concept of a 'dad' also wasn't something she was too familiar with. Indeed, that a male lion would be anywhere near his cubs or have anything to do with raising them raised even more questions. Curiosity nibbled and bit on her as he continued to speak, looking so hurt all the while. Greater her concern grew and the female took a step forward, ears back and worried with her head held slightly lower than her shoulders.
At his last sentance she stopped. The questions that had been ready to pop on her tongue burst as had her bubble of temporary joyfullness at meeting a nice new lion friend. "I-I'm sorry," She whispered sorry, "I didn't mean t-to..." A hot emotion swam through her young form that she didn't have a name for yet, but it was bothersome and almost sad, but not quite. Moreso it make her uncomfortable and her tail tucked down as she backed away from him again.
The birds, remembered once more as she looked towards the entrance of the cave, and indeed stepped onto the dividing line between daylight and shade, continue to call their brackish cries of woe-tide and Ruka felt torn. To stay and put this other out of his... not quite a home, or to go and be under those horrid penetrating eyes again?
A moment of indecision passed, but then the lioness cub turned full and meant to head off into the sun. Impulsivly, before she slipped back into the place that made her quake with fear, the girl looked over her shoulder to him and said softly, "I don't have a dad either."
The tones weren't accusatory, but neither were they a statement. Later in life, she might realize that she was trying to comfort him. In this moment, however, the girl only knew that she'd said it, and slunk off in terror to face her fears.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 2:52 pm
For a moment, Sepoko was occupied only by his grief, wrapped up in it like a coccoon, huddled up against the wall. Tears gathered up and tainted his pale silver eyes, grew heavy and splattered on the cave floor. A life started off at the bottom that now knew only bleakness. The pain, the loss, was impossible to comprehend. It was worse than loss to death--a pain which he had yet to know. But he knew losing someone to death could not be this bad, because though his father and brother still lived, they were not with him--chose not to be with him... and this he could not understand.
By the time he uncoiled and resurfaced from his well of self pity, Ruka had already begun her retreat. He gasped and turned, watching her go, frantically swabbing the wetness from his eyes with his spotted forepaws. Just as he heard her confession--and here he'd thought he was the only one in the world so utterly fatherless--she was off. He bounded up to the mouth of the cave and cried out, "WAIT!!!" And prayed that she would at least pause, if not turn and regard him again with those consoling green eyes... but that was ultimately up to her, not to the gods he prayed to.
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Posted: Fri May 18, 2007 5:58 pm
Their beady eyes crawled over her bad like dreams. She wished she had the comfort of a beetle or a lady bug, but nothing buzzing or crawling or squirming about seemed much interested in her here. Perhaps it was the birds--birds ate bugs, after all. The thought made her shiver, her orange fur standing slightly on end as she did. Evil things.
The call behind her got her to pause, however, and she slowly peeked at the male who was suddenly paying attention to her again. She glanced back up at the birds, then back towards him in silence. Eventually her ears rose a little more and her eyebrows turned her expression hopeful. "h-huh?"
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 12:34 pm
Sepoko saw Ruka plugging on despite her fear, and for a moment he thought that she had no intent to stop. He hung his head in shame for driving off a good person with his rudeness... and he hadn't even been trying to be rude. Ajabu was right, he was pitiful.
But then, Ruka stopped, and she turned, and for a moment there was a slight glimmer of hope in Sepoko's sad eyes. He stood there with his head low and his tail between his legs, submissive. "I... I'm sorry!" he called out to her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean... to..." And here he trailed off, because he wasn't sure exactly what it was he didn't mean. He wasn't even quite sure what he'd done to drive her off. He bit his lip a moment, trying to get ahold of himself, then went on. "Please come back! Please? I don't... I don't really want to be... alone... right now." He winced at the very sound of the word 'alone' coming from his lips... because now that his family was torn asunder, 'alone' was a thing he too often felt and had learned to hate... perhaps the only thing in the world that Sepoko truly hated was the idea of 'alone'.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 12:07 pm
Ruka turned at the sound of his voice. She was concentrating to much for sign of the birds about to do something nasty that she actually jumped a little at his voice. Giving a sheepish, scared chuckle the girl's ears rose a little hopefully as she looked back at him. She gave him a smile, then a bird called from above. The female ducked, head immediately turned upward to watch one of the birds fly away.
Her heart was beating so loudly in her chest it was a wonder that no other could hear it. Slowly, trying not to choke on her own pulse, the female crawled back towards him and the safety of the cave. Upon reaching the shadowed entrance she sprang to her feet and bounced inside. Turning at the back, the female tackled him joyfully and rubbed herself upon him in the giddiness of a joyful greeting.
Giggling softly, she rolled away after a moment and finally stopped, laying on her side, a foot or so away. Calming down, the orange lioness smiled softly and tilted her head. "So... what is a 'dad' anyway?"
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 1:35 pm
When Ruka finally stopped and turned, Sepoko felt the little spark of hope inside him grow. It was an unusual feeling, one he wasn't quite able to name at the time, which he wasn't sure he'd ever felt before and certainly hadn't felt in a long time. There even seemed to be a bit of a glow in his usually cold, pale eyes.
He smiled a little at her as she began to crawl her way back to the cave, and he encouraged her on with a beckoning paw and what he hoped was a friendly face (he found that he seemed to have inherited a slight lack of expressiveness from his mother). He stood back then to let her scramble on in, and he opened his mouth to say something encouraging to her, when suddenly she lunged and pinned him to the ground.
Sepoko squeaked, startled, and moved his paws to protect his face. In his experience, if someone tackled you they were trying to beat you up. So imagine his surprise when all Ruka really did was cuddle him. Sepoko blinked a bit, confused, but let it go. He wasn't quite certain how to respond.
But when she asked him what a dad was... that really caught him off guard. He'd never really thought of the idea of having to define a dad... he kind of assumed that everyone had one. For a moment he considered it silently. Then, finally, he told her, "Well... I guess... that a dad is kind of like a mom... except he's a guy, and he does guy things with you, like horse around 'n' stuff... but he still looks out for you and teaches you stuff like a mom does. At least, that's what mine did." He shrugged. "Other dads could be different."
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:53 pm
"A guy?" Ruka's head tilted to the side as she considered this. Sepoko was the first male she'd ever met, of course, and she didn't even have a clue what a male adult lion would look like. The image in her head was, perhaps, a little more feminine than it should have been, but she didn't know that. The female nodded, though, it seemed to make sense that other people would be different--that dad's would be different. Certainly her 'Aunt' was like a second mother, and for all their similarities Barafu and Zuri were two very different people. Slowly Ruka nodded, smiling innocently, "My sisters play with me a lot.. 'horse around'. So do the buggies."
A familiar buzz caught her ear and she turned to look at a little beetle that was in the cave. With a happy coo, the girl gently pulled it to her with one paw so she could play with it. "I'm sorry your dad left." Ruka did look quite honest about that, "But at least you got your momma? She would never leave you." Despite having not met the female in question, there wasn't the slightest bit of uncertainty in Ruka's voice. "That's what mommas do. They stay with their cubs for always!"
her tongue darted out to lick the beetle's back as if cleaning it. It buzzed at her and she giggled. ".... I've never met a boy before." Her emerald eyes raised to him with a smile, "... you... are a lion, arn't you?"
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