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 Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:56 pm
The sun’s early rays just barely caressed the earth, warmly the land gently. It was possibly the best wake-up call ever, at least for the majority of animals. But Dazz’le had been up for hours already. Why sleep away the day? After all, today could very well be the best day ever so why even try to waste any of it? In this case, it was all about hunting. Or it should have been. The wild dog’s tail wagged madly behind him as he tracked a scent of… something.
He didn’t know what it was, but that hardly mattered. It was something! And it was there! And he didn’t know what it was! His golden eyes sparkled with delight as the scent became stronger, eventually leading him to a nearby watering hole. He tilted his head to one side and padded alongside the glittering waves for a while, intensely curious about the whole thing. Oh, of course he knew what water was! He wasn’t stupid! It was just… well, there was something new out there.
But that could wait! It wasn’t like it would be any less new later, right? Whistling excitedly, the wild dog threw himself into the water and paddled around. Nothing was spared. The water went everywhere, soaking the bank for a good several feet, especially since the wild dog’s idea of ‘swimming’ involved flailing around in the water and getting the droplets as far away as possible. In fact, that was exactly what he tried to do, especially when he realized how much fun it could be to try and snap the droplets out of the air.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:13 am
 Malimau rolled in the grass. She had risen early but fallen asleep in the high grass of the field near the watering hole as she couldn't find Hasani. She wondered where that boy had wandered off to. She laughed quietly internally, he wasn't a pup anymore, she knew she shouldn't worry about him, but the mother in her couldn't help it. She rolled onto her back and let the sun warm her belly. She thought about her boys and she momentarily let her mind wander to Azu. Why had he left? No reason, he didn't say anything, he didn't try to find her when they went looking for him, he had just been gone. Had she done something wrong? Her thoughts were plagued by these worries.
Her mental reverie was broken by the nearby sound of splashing. She thought maybe it was just some animal swimming but when the splashing continued she began to worry. What if some poor creature was caught on something in the water? She rolled to her feet and went sprinting through the grass towards the watering hole. It was mere moments before she broke through the grass and saw the dark, soaking wet male leeping through the water playfully. She attempted to skid to a hault but her paws slipped in the muddy banks and she went toppling into the water herself with a yelp. She dragged herself to her feet and avoided the splashing as best she could, standing in the shallows of the watering hole. "You seem to be enjoying yourself." she said, wondering why on earth this male was leaping around making such a racket.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:33 am
Dazz’le’s first thought on hearing another voice was something along the lines of, ‘Ohboy! Someone else to play with!’ But, his vaguely mature side took over quickly, reminding him that he was an adult now and that meant, presumably, actually talking. But, hey! What was the point of being an adult if that didn’t mean staying up past your bedtime, eating whatever you wanted, and playing whenever you can? He yipped a greeting over to the female wild dog and immediately paddled over towards the shallows. His flailing efforts at swimming doubled when he saw she had fallen over.
“Oh! Are you alright? Sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was in the area,” he said, pulling himself out into the shallows so he could shake himself off. “I thought I was alone out here,” he admitted. His grin could have been called sheepish, only sheep didn’t have sharp canine teeth like a wild dog. But doggish didn’t quite cover it.
“Anyway, it was a nice swim. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a chance to just swim and have fun. Always something out there…” he put his head to one side and scratched one ear slightly, dimly aware that something was missing. Oh right! Introductions. The dark wild dog shook his head slightly, amused at his own excitedness over meeting someone new. “Sorry, I should have introduced myself a while back. I’m Dazz’le. Please, don’t laugh at the name. I’ve heard all the jokes.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 12:48 am
Malimau watched the dark one interestedly. In a lot of ways he reminded her of Hasani and Hasani reminded her a lot of Azu. . . they both had that boyish flare for fun. She became aware that she was slipping back into the sadness that sometimes seemed to swallow her whole. Snap out of it Mali, you're not ancient, you're not alone and you need to quit feeling sorry for yourself! she thought, scolding herself. She did her best to ignore the pang of sadness when he grinned sheepishly, it was so similar to the way Azu had grinned at her when she first met him that her heart ached momentarily.
She caught herself and pushed the thoughts out of her mind. "Yeah, I'm fine, just slipped in a little mud. I was sleeping in the grass and the splashing made me think somebody was drowning or couldn't swim and had fallen in." she did her best to smile at him, acutely aware that her sadness was showing through. His name made her smile, genuinely smile. She hoped he was as 'dazzling' as his name was but chose not to say it out-loud as he claimed he had already heard it.
"Well, Dazz'le, my name is Malimau but mostly everyone calls me Mali. And I had no intention of laughing at your name, I think it is a genuinely wonderful name. If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing out here on a day like to day all alone?" She didn't know what else to say but she was trying to distract herself from the sadness that was beginning to creep in again.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 1:00 am
Hm. She seemed sad about something, which naturally made Dazz’le feel awkward. No one liked it when a stranger was distressed, mostly because it made them wonder what they were supposed to do. In Dazz’le’s case, he decided to try and make the lovely lady laugh. “Course, I got off rather lightly with my name. I mean, my twin brother is named Sparkhel. If we’d had another sister, I’m sure she would’ve been named Glittah.” Far from being annoyed over his name, Dazz seemed delighted by it and actually barked a laugh. “One day, I’ll have to actually ask my mother what she was thinking when she named us, if only to solve my own curiosity.”
Hm? What was he doing? Why, that almost sounded like a pick-up line to him! A variant on the old, ‘now what’s a lad/lady like you doing in a place like this’ style of thing, yeah? But, he didn’t say this out loud, mostly because he was saving it for later. “Mali,” he said carefully, as if tasting the name. Apparently, it passed muster because he repeated it again, “Well, Mali, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Truthfully, I was getting a bit bored out here on my own.”
Again, he scratched in a vague attempt to get rid of the drying mud clinging to his side. Ugh. It would get itchy soon and he didn’t want to deal with all the flaking. “I just came over here because I smelled something interesting. I dunno what it was, but, if I didn’t come over here to check it out, I’d always wonder about it. What are you doing here? I mean, besides making sure that I’m not drowning myself?”
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:27 pm
Mali laughed, he truly had gotten off with the better deal. "Perhaps if I have another daughter I will name her Glittah." She grinned at him, wondering what Hasani thought of his name. "I would bet that your mother was so 'Dazz'le'd by you when you were born she couldn't resist naming her children after that feeling. That would be my best guess, but maybe you should ask her."
She snorted slightly, he hadn't appeared bored when she first saw him! She seemed amused by the way he processed her name. She didn't think it was that bizarre, but hey, whatever. She watched him scratch for the second time. "Well, I was sleeping in the grass. I woke and my son had wandered off so I went looking for him but the warm sun felt so good I feel asleep in the grass. You know, there's a rock a little ways that way that's rough enough it might get that drying mud off pretty quickly. That can't be comfortable." she nodded in the direction of the nearby caves where she lived. Whenever Hasani went swimming he always rubbed all the mud off on those rocks so she was familiar with the conundrum.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:26 pm
Little alarms went off in Dazz’le’s head at the mention of kids. Like many males, he had no interest in getting into a fight with another over a female. Well… ok, maybe some did enjoy that sort of thing, but the average wild dog didn’t. Carefully edging away from topics such as children, Dazz’le went on to say, “I always just assumed she was tired after naming us and decided to go with whatever she was seeing at the moment. I haven’t asked, although I’m sure Sparky wonders more than I do. If I ever have pups, I’ll try to keep up the proud family tradition of embarrassing names. It builds character, amirite?”
Oh, so she had a son? Dazz’le immediately assumed that Mali meant she had a pup running around; she didn’t look much older than him. Then again, if he was allowed to run around… well, it didn’t matter. “I’m sorry that I woke you up. I hope you find your son soon.” And, he inwardly added, he hoped that he himself could be out of the area before Mali’s mate came home from wherever he was and found her talking to a strange male. Naturally, Dazzy assumed he would be seen as quite the competition for any young female’s affection.
Obviously.
“Oh, I’m fine with a little mud. I wouldn’t have jumped into the water if I wasn’t,” he said, ignoring the fact that it really was getting quite itchy.
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 3:56 pm
She smirked, he seemed on edge after she spoke of her son. "Well, Yes, I suppose it does build character." She thought about Hasani and how unhappy he was with her. She frowned slightly but looked up at Dazz'le.
"Well, He often disappears. His father left a year or so ago and I have given up looking for him. Hasani, having grown up now, is a little bit more difficult to convince as an adult than he was as a pup. His father disappeared with his sister and his brother. . . Leaving me with Hasani and Denny. Denny left a while ago to look for his father. . . Hasani stuck by me, it was only a matter of time before he went." Mali looked up at him. "I'm sorry, my mouth seems to have run away from me. You probably didn't need to know that much. Anyway, um, that mud has to be itchy by now. Are you sure? I can show you the way."
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 5:05 pm
O…k. was pretty much all Dazz’le could think as this stranger began telling him her entire love life. It felt more than a little awkward, seeing as they had met all of five seconds ago. Obviously, she was still hurting. A lot. And needed someone to talk to. Like really. And apparently her son wouldn’t or couldn’t listen. Mentally, he reminded himself to talk to his mother just a little bit more often and maybe even get around to asking about his own father.
“It’s… uhh… alright,” he said, trying to sound reassuring. “You’ve been through a lot. I’m sorry about all of that. On behalf of my sex in general, I apologize.” It was meant as a joke, really. Just anything to loosen up the tension that suddenly threatened to take over the entire watering hole. He gave another half-hearted scratch at his shoulder before he realized what he was doing and, once again, he could only look sheepish. “That would be… uhh… appreciated. This mud is stickier than I thought it would be.”
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:11 am
Mali suddenly realized that she had just given this stranger an earful of her life that he probably didn't care to hear. She also realized that he looked incredibly uncomfortable and not just because of the mud. She smiled widely and nodded at him. "Well I thank you for that and I'm sorry I just gave you an earful of my life that you probably didn't care to hear." She lowered her head and took a long draw from the watering hole and turned back towards the grass she had emerged from.
"Come on, it's not a far walk and you can give me an earful of your life back if you would like. I'm a good listener, even if I can't seem to keep my mouth shut about my life." She began into the grass, hoping that she hadn't let her depression completely destroy a possible friendship.
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