Post by Shomoro on Apr 18, 2008 17:00:59 GMT -5
Involved:
Aya, Male Ethiopian Wolf
Najisi, Male Lion Cub
Forgotten Lands - Towering Rock
It's been a few days, and Najisi, still wary of his host, has been keeping himself at a distance. However, Aya keeps bringing him food and attempting to talk to him, and that bewilders the cub but at the same time he's come to enjoy the attention, in an odd way. It's nice; he doesn't know the word for it but he can /feel/ it easily enough, a strange swelling in his chest that's started to turn to painful anxiety whenever the wolf /isn't/ there. This morning, after almost a week of huddling at the cave entrance, the rogue youth has finally decided to come inside. It's an agonisingly slow process; he creeps on silent, wary feet, his body tucked low to the stone and his ears, accordingly, tucked close to his head.
Aya has been keeping himself close to the cave-- inside or just around it-- unless he sees Roho around. -Then- he hurries to go someplace else, keep the hyena away from his small charge. All this anxiety is -quite- taxing, though, so he's -napping- half the time he's around. This morning, gray and dry, with a breeze blowing in from the plains, the wolf is snoozing towards the back of the cave, rendered in rusty shadows.
Najisi isn't oblivious to the scent of hyena nearby; he's never had a /close/ encounter with one, but he knows the stench of a larger predator. He hides whenever he sees them at a distance, or smells them on the breeze. Right now, however, the hyena's scent isn't fresh enough to cause him much concern. He's more focused on other things--like that shape curled up at the end of the little tunnel-cavern. Just inside, he hesitates; it seems a very long way back there, and he still doesn't trust the narrow walls around him. It seems like an eternity before he starts moving again, but when he does he slinks further in, and beelines for Aya, not making a sound. He's small enough, yet, that stealth comes easily; his paws haven't grown large and heavy enough to give him away.
And Aya doesn't move-- he's lightly a-doze, inhaling and exhaling regularly. He's made a number of attempts in the past days to coax Najisi closer-- it's a pity he's not conscious to see this, but doubtless -were- he, the boy -wouldn't- be coming closer.
In all likelihood, he wouldn't. There's a certain safety in knowing that Aya is unaware of his approach; it's still rather nerve-wracking to get so close to a creature that has much larger teeth than him, but at the same time he takes a quiet pleasure of being able to inspect the older male without being inspected in turn. His eyes are inscrutable as he looks the wolf over, but he seems to come to a satisfactory conclusion, because he actually scootches in a little before sinking down onto his stomach. His fur is a bit dusty, but it's clean now; he'd groomed it off by himself several days ago, and while he didn't do the best job in the world, he at least doesn't reek of blood and stale water anymore.
The soft scrrf of fur on the stone, dusty floor of the cave stirs him a little-- one eye opens a slit, and then closes again-- though no before he catches a dim glimpse of who's nearby. He deliberately tries to keep his breathing slow and even, his posture loose.
Aya's eye gleams at him; it's only for an instant, but it's enough. Najisi jerks back at once, his fur bristling, and stares rather intensely at him. But he doesn't run--that, at least, is a good thing.
Oh dear. He can almost feel the air humming with Najisi's nervous energy. He concentrates -very- hard on staying still, but now of course it's difficult and he -wants- to twitch.
Najisi is still staring, and his lips are quivering into a nervous snarl, but still he does not run. In fact, after several moments have passed in tense silence, he leans in again. His whiskers fan as he nudges Aya's foreleg /so/ cautiously, snuffling at it a little noisily.
Little wet nose bumps against his leg and Aya has to resist the urge to twitch, to move-- it seems too uncertain just yet though, even now, to try that. As it is, one ear flicks a little, but that's all-- aside from that he's as limp as a ragdoll.
Even that movement, as slight as it is, makes Najisi flinch away. But the pause is not as long this time, nor quite as nervous, and soon that cold nose is back--it touches Aya's cheek this time, and /that/ must take quite a bit of nerves with those jaws so close to him. He remains on edge, but his nose continues to brush over the planes of the wolf's face, up above his eye and even, daringly, touching his muzzle for a second. Aya has whiskers like his, but shorter. This time, when he pulls back, it's not out of fright. He's still wary, yes, but no longer as frightened.
His black lips twitch up into a smile and at last he moves, opening first one eye, and then the other, to peer at the cub. "Hullo bug," like he's just woken up. He's trying hard to keep his teeth from showing too much, and while they still do it's very obviously a smile, red tongue lolling out between them.
Najisi's ears thingy back when those eyes open, but he doesn't flee, or even get up. If anything, he presses himself down a little further, as if to make himself look less threatening. "Aya," he almost whispers back, and then, "Aya-bug," the new syllable tacked on almost experimentally. He's said both words before, but never together. And slowly, he reciprocates that smile, his own looking decidedly more like Aya's than a truly leonine expression. His tail swishes behind him, thumping slowly against the ground, but it's not an agitated movement--if anything, it, too, seems oddly wolfish. He's seen the canine wag his tail when he's happy, and apparently the boy has picked up on it.
He -wants- to laugh-- Aya has never had anyone want to imitate him before, although he's done plenty of it himself. But Najisi is clearly doing just that-- from the movements of his tail to his expression to, of course, that little amalgam of a word. "Are you going to be a wolf now? Silly thing." Affectionate. "We -ought- to get you back to lions, oughtn't we?" it's the right thing to do, probably, but... it's hard-- he -likes- having a little friend to hunt for! Especially one who's so charming. Like a pet lizard! Except it wants to be aroud him.
"Aya-bug," Najisi repeats happily, not comprehending any of what the wolf is saying. If he did, who knows how he'd react? He might not /want/ to leave Aya for his own kind--from the looks of him, even with a few days' worth of food to fill his belly, the canine is the only one who's shown him any kindness in quite some time. He seems to be settling in well /here/. His tail thumping harder now, even though it looks rather silly on a lion, he leans in suddenly to nose at Aya's leg again. He stops just short, though, looking uncertain again.
It -does- look silly-- but he doesn't mind. "What, bug?" lifting one paw uncertainly, himself before stretching his neck out to try to nudge gently at Najisi's forehead. "Aya-bug," he adds, and grins-- careful still, which looks odd on -him-, not that the cub can tlel, likely.
/Most/ of those words he recognises, which is thrilling. Regardless, Najisi keeps still as that big paw lifts, and he flinches when Aya's nose presses to his forehead. But the wolf doesn't bite him--he has the odd, unaccustomed feeling he can trust the other not to, which is almost disquieting in and of itself. So after a little pause, he leans into it, his ears slicked back. "Mwana?" he says suddenly, repeating a word that Aya may not remember. "Miye?"
"Najisi-bug," Aya croons it at him, terribly gentle. Gives the other's head a careful lick-- the top of the head is a very difficult place to reach on one's own. "Good boy," he goes on, helpful-- nonsense to him, hose words. "You're -Najisi-bug-. Oh I -ought- to return you, huh?" he -so -doen't want to though...
If his words are gibberish to Aya, Aya's words are gibberish to the lion cub. Still, he seems to enjoy just listening to the tone of them, the way they flow through his ears and fur. This time, when the wolf licks him, it feels pleasant instead of like some horrible, dangerous thing. "Mwana. Miye," he repeats, obviously expecting /some/ sort of answer. His tail is swishing, still, continuing its not-quite wag. "Ndiyo, Aya-bug?" Aw. He's learning how to string words together in his own crazy moon-language.
"Mwana," Aya repeats it back at him hesitantly. "Ndiyo." HOpefully those are good things-- the child does't -seem- too upset... So hopefully they're all right. "Najisi-bug." Licking again, straightening up a little so he can do it properly, his tongue washing over the top of Najisi's headand into his ears.
They're more than all right, from the way Najisi's face lights up. His smile is an odd one, given that his tongue rolls out the way Aya's does. "Mwana," he says a second time, and though his ears tilt back when the other licks his head, he doesn't move. After a minute, in fact, he eases a bit closer. He's a bit wary, still, but it's clear that he doesn't want to be.
"Mwana," Aya mimics back, and licks Najisi's head again before pulling his own back to look over his handiwork. Very nice! "-Much- cleaner now," he decides, and rolls onto his side, inviting.
His fur does look cleaner. It's terribly mussed now, though. Najisi doesn't seem to mind, although he does look bewildered when Aya shifts onto his side. His ears stay folded, but he eases in a little closer, his nostrils working.
Aya does his best to look as inviting as possible, and as harmless-- not sure how well he's doing it though. The other eases closer and he gives Najisi a hopeful smile, ears flipping forward.
He's beginning to recognise those smiles for what they are more easily--friendly expressions, rather than threats. So Najisi slides further a little more, and raises his head a little, beginning to sniff gingerly at the wolf's muzzle.
Aya stretches his neck out a little, to bump his nose very slowly and gently against the cub's. "You're -very- good." Solemn. "I think perhaps I ought oto take oyu to proper lions though or we could have trouble down the road. I wouldn't want you to be -lonely-."
He's put his nose close before, of course, but this is much different. Aya is awake this time, and if he chose to he could just open his mouth and nip the cub's face off. Acutely aware of this, Najisi pulls back a little, but it's too late; the wolf's nose bumps against his, and he goes still. The only thing that happens, however, is that the older male starts talking to him again. "Aya-bug," he puts in unhelpfully. Certainly he doesn't /seem/ lonely right now.
Najisi freezes for a moment when Aya's nose touches him-- oh -dear-. But -then- he's ok, and he gets a few more licks for his trouble. "I'm cleaning your ears now, bug," he informs, and tries to do just that, trying to be gentle.
Aya is quite possibly the only one who's ever groomed him before, from the look on Najisi's face--which is one of bemused pleasure. He falls silent again as the wolf grooms his ears, which isn't unusual, but after a little while he moves to lower his head, resting it tentatively against one of Aya's forelegs.
"There you go." Poor thing. He just wanted someone to be nice to him. When Najisi slowly relaxes against him, Aya licks a little harder for amoment-- the little thing has been cleaning himself -somewhat-, but he's still rather dusty, not surprising given the weather.
Najisi's ears perk forward when the other talks again, and his tail brushes slowly across the floor. His small body has slumped a bit; the steady brush of that tongue is soothing, no matter if this grooming isn't being administered by one of his own kind. He's probably more comfortable with Aya than he would be with some lioness, anyway.
"I -should- go andtake you back. I'll find some lions sometime soon," Aya decides, and rests his chin gently on Najisi's skinny back. His tongue keeps sliding out now and again, but much more slowly now.
The only response is a yawn, something that Najisi has never done in his presence before. It requires some degree of relaxation, after all--and the boy does seem /quite/ relaxed at the moment, his blue eyes slipping shut after his mouth has closed. Maybe he's about to take a nap; that would certainly show how far he's come to trust Aya since they met.
It actually startles him, that opening of the mouth-- he thinks for a moment that Najisi is about to bite him, but of course he's not-- the rest of his body language is terribly relaxed. He looks like a nice,calm, well-fed-ish little thing. "Good bug. We'll go and get some snacks later."
'Snack' isn't a word he knows, so it gets no response--even if he /had/ been aware of the meaning, however, maybe he still wouldn't have moved. His stomach has been pretty full for the last few days, and he's not even thinking about food right now. Najisi shifts, and eventually lists until his thin body is pressed to Aya's side. By that point, he's already asleep; his breathing has gotten heavier, and his eyes don't open again.
Aya, Male Ethiopian Wolf
Najisi, Male Lion Cub
Forgotten Lands - Towering Rock
It's been a few days, and Najisi, still wary of his host, has been keeping himself at a distance. However, Aya keeps bringing him food and attempting to talk to him, and that bewilders the cub but at the same time he's come to enjoy the attention, in an odd way. It's nice; he doesn't know the word for it but he can /feel/ it easily enough, a strange swelling in his chest that's started to turn to painful anxiety whenever the wolf /isn't/ there. This morning, after almost a week of huddling at the cave entrance, the rogue youth has finally decided to come inside. It's an agonisingly slow process; he creeps on silent, wary feet, his body tucked low to the stone and his ears, accordingly, tucked close to his head.
Aya has been keeping himself close to the cave-- inside or just around it-- unless he sees Roho around. -Then- he hurries to go someplace else, keep the hyena away from his small charge. All this anxiety is -quite- taxing, though, so he's -napping- half the time he's around. This morning, gray and dry, with a breeze blowing in from the plains, the wolf is snoozing towards the back of the cave, rendered in rusty shadows.
Najisi isn't oblivious to the scent of hyena nearby; he's never had a /close/ encounter with one, but he knows the stench of a larger predator. He hides whenever he sees them at a distance, or smells them on the breeze. Right now, however, the hyena's scent isn't fresh enough to cause him much concern. He's more focused on other things--like that shape curled up at the end of the little tunnel-cavern. Just inside, he hesitates; it seems a very long way back there, and he still doesn't trust the narrow walls around him. It seems like an eternity before he starts moving again, but when he does he slinks further in, and beelines for Aya, not making a sound. He's small enough, yet, that stealth comes easily; his paws haven't grown large and heavy enough to give him away.
And Aya doesn't move-- he's lightly a-doze, inhaling and exhaling regularly. He's made a number of attempts in the past days to coax Najisi closer-- it's a pity he's not conscious to see this, but doubtless -were- he, the boy -wouldn't- be coming closer.
In all likelihood, he wouldn't. There's a certain safety in knowing that Aya is unaware of his approach; it's still rather nerve-wracking to get so close to a creature that has much larger teeth than him, but at the same time he takes a quiet pleasure of being able to inspect the older male without being inspected in turn. His eyes are inscrutable as he looks the wolf over, but he seems to come to a satisfactory conclusion, because he actually scootches in a little before sinking down onto his stomach. His fur is a bit dusty, but it's clean now; he'd groomed it off by himself several days ago, and while he didn't do the best job in the world, he at least doesn't reek of blood and stale water anymore.
The soft scrrf of fur on the stone, dusty floor of the cave stirs him a little-- one eye opens a slit, and then closes again-- though no before he catches a dim glimpse of who's nearby. He deliberately tries to keep his breathing slow and even, his posture loose.
Aya's eye gleams at him; it's only for an instant, but it's enough. Najisi jerks back at once, his fur bristling, and stares rather intensely at him. But he doesn't run--that, at least, is a good thing.
Oh dear. He can almost feel the air humming with Najisi's nervous energy. He concentrates -very- hard on staying still, but now of course it's difficult and he -wants- to twitch.
Najisi is still staring, and his lips are quivering into a nervous snarl, but still he does not run. In fact, after several moments have passed in tense silence, he leans in again. His whiskers fan as he nudges Aya's foreleg /so/ cautiously, snuffling at it a little noisily.
Little wet nose bumps against his leg and Aya has to resist the urge to twitch, to move-- it seems too uncertain just yet though, even now, to try that. As it is, one ear flicks a little, but that's all-- aside from that he's as limp as a ragdoll.
Even that movement, as slight as it is, makes Najisi flinch away. But the pause is not as long this time, nor quite as nervous, and soon that cold nose is back--it touches Aya's cheek this time, and /that/ must take quite a bit of nerves with those jaws so close to him. He remains on edge, but his nose continues to brush over the planes of the wolf's face, up above his eye and even, daringly, touching his muzzle for a second. Aya has whiskers like his, but shorter. This time, when he pulls back, it's not out of fright. He's still wary, yes, but no longer as frightened.
His black lips twitch up into a smile and at last he moves, opening first one eye, and then the other, to peer at the cub. "Hullo bug," like he's just woken up. He's trying hard to keep his teeth from showing too much, and while they still do it's very obviously a smile, red tongue lolling out between them.
Najisi's ears thingy back when those eyes open, but he doesn't flee, or even get up. If anything, he presses himself down a little further, as if to make himself look less threatening. "Aya," he almost whispers back, and then, "Aya-bug," the new syllable tacked on almost experimentally. He's said both words before, but never together. And slowly, he reciprocates that smile, his own looking decidedly more like Aya's than a truly leonine expression. His tail swishes behind him, thumping slowly against the ground, but it's not an agitated movement--if anything, it, too, seems oddly wolfish. He's seen the canine wag his tail when he's happy, and apparently the boy has picked up on it.
He -wants- to laugh-- Aya has never had anyone want to imitate him before, although he's done plenty of it himself. But Najisi is clearly doing just that-- from the movements of his tail to his expression to, of course, that little amalgam of a word. "Are you going to be a wolf now? Silly thing." Affectionate. "We -ought- to get you back to lions, oughtn't we?" it's the right thing to do, probably, but... it's hard-- he -likes- having a little friend to hunt for! Especially one who's so charming. Like a pet lizard! Except it wants to be aroud him.
"Aya-bug," Najisi repeats happily, not comprehending any of what the wolf is saying. If he did, who knows how he'd react? He might not /want/ to leave Aya for his own kind--from the looks of him, even with a few days' worth of food to fill his belly, the canine is the only one who's shown him any kindness in quite some time. He seems to be settling in well /here/. His tail thumping harder now, even though it looks rather silly on a lion, he leans in suddenly to nose at Aya's leg again. He stops just short, though, looking uncertain again.
It -does- look silly-- but he doesn't mind. "What, bug?" lifting one paw uncertainly, himself before stretching his neck out to try to nudge gently at Najisi's forehead. "Aya-bug," he adds, and grins-- careful still, which looks odd on -him-, not that the cub can tlel, likely.
/Most/ of those words he recognises, which is thrilling. Regardless, Najisi keeps still as that big paw lifts, and he flinches when Aya's nose presses to his forehead. But the wolf doesn't bite him--he has the odd, unaccustomed feeling he can trust the other not to, which is almost disquieting in and of itself. So after a little pause, he leans into it, his ears slicked back. "Mwana?" he says suddenly, repeating a word that Aya may not remember. "Miye?"
"Najisi-bug," Aya croons it at him, terribly gentle. Gives the other's head a careful lick-- the top of the head is a very difficult place to reach on one's own. "Good boy," he goes on, helpful-- nonsense to him, hose words. "You're -Najisi-bug-. Oh I -ought- to return you, huh?" he -so -doen't want to though...
If his words are gibberish to Aya, Aya's words are gibberish to the lion cub. Still, he seems to enjoy just listening to the tone of them, the way they flow through his ears and fur. This time, when the wolf licks him, it feels pleasant instead of like some horrible, dangerous thing. "Mwana. Miye," he repeats, obviously expecting /some/ sort of answer. His tail is swishing, still, continuing its not-quite wag. "Ndiyo, Aya-bug?" Aw. He's learning how to string words together in his own crazy moon-language.
"Mwana," Aya repeats it back at him hesitantly. "Ndiyo." HOpefully those are good things-- the child does't -seem- too upset... So hopefully they're all right. "Najisi-bug." Licking again, straightening up a little so he can do it properly, his tongue washing over the top of Najisi's headand into his ears.
They're more than all right, from the way Najisi's face lights up. His smile is an odd one, given that his tongue rolls out the way Aya's does. "Mwana," he says a second time, and though his ears tilt back when the other licks his head, he doesn't move. After a minute, in fact, he eases a bit closer. He's a bit wary, still, but it's clear that he doesn't want to be.
"Mwana," Aya mimics back, and licks Najisi's head again before pulling his own back to look over his handiwork. Very nice! "-Much- cleaner now," he decides, and rolls onto his side, inviting.
His fur does look cleaner. It's terribly mussed now, though. Najisi doesn't seem to mind, although he does look bewildered when Aya shifts onto his side. His ears stay folded, but he eases in a little closer, his nostrils working.
Aya does his best to look as inviting as possible, and as harmless-- not sure how well he's doing it though. The other eases closer and he gives Najisi a hopeful smile, ears flipping forward.
He's beginning to recognise those smiles for what they are more easily--friendly expressions, rather than threats. So Najisi slides further a little more, and raises his head a little, beginning to sniff gingerly at the wolf's muzzle.
Aya stretches his neck out a little, to bump his nose very slowly and gently against the cub's. "You're -very- good." Solemn. "I think perhaps I ought oto take oyu to proper lions though or we could have trouble down the road. I wouldn't want you to be -lonely-."
He's put his nose close before, of course, but this is much different. Aya is awake this time, and if he chose to he could just open his mouth and nip the cub's face off. Acutely aware of this, Najisi pulls back a little, but it's too late; the wolf's nose bumps against his, and he goes still. The only thing that happens, however, is that the older male starts talking to him again. "Aya-bug," he puts in unhelpfully. Certainly he doesn't /seem/ lonely right now.
Najisi freezes for a moment when Aya's nose touches him-- oh -dear-. But -then- he's ok, and he gets a few more licks for his trouble. "I'm cleaning your ears now, bug," he informs, and tries to do just that, trying to be gentle.
Aya is quite possibly the only one who's ever groomed him before, from the look on Najisi's face--which is one of bemused pleasure. He falls silent again as the wolf grooms his ears, which isn't unusual, but after a little while he moves to lower his head, resting it tentatively against one of Aya's forelegs.
"There you go." Poor thing. He just wanted someone to be nice to him. When Najisi slowly relaxes against him, Aya licks a little harder for amoment-- the little thing has been cleaning himself -somewhat-, but he's still rather dusty, not surprising given the weather.
Najisi's ears perk forward when the other talks again, and his tail brushes slowly across the floor. His small body has slumped a bit; the steady brush of that tongue is soothing, no matter if this grooming isn't being administered by one of his own kind. He's probably more comfortable with Aya than he would be with some lioness, anyway.
"I -should- go andtake you back. I'll find some lions sometime soon," Aya decides, and rests his chin gently on Najisi's skinny back. His tongue keeps sliding out now and again, but much more slowly now.
The only response is a yawn, something that Najisi has never done in his presence before. It requires some degree of relaxation, after all--and the boy does seem /quite/ relaxed at the moment, his blue eyes slipping shut after his mouth has closed. Maybe he's about to take a nap; that would certainly show how far he's come to trust Aya since they met.
It actually startles him, that opening of the mouth-- he thinks for a moment that Najisi is about to bite him, but of course he's not-- the rest of his body language is terribly relaxed. He looks like a nice,calm, well-fed-ish little thing. "Good bug. We'll go and get some snacks later."
'Snack' isn't a word he knows, so it gets no response--even if he /had/ been aware of the meaning, however, maybe he still wouldn't have moved. His stomach has been pretty full for the last few days, and he's not even thinking about food right now. Najisi shifts, and eventually lists until his thin body is pressed to Aya's side. By that point, he's already asleep; his breathing has gotten heavier, and his eyes don't open again.