A/N: This is a short little something written about my two creatu. Ruen is a black vogar, and Madon a ginger vogar. They are both male, and their relationship is, at times, almost romantic. If the idea of that might offend you, I ask you kindly to keep an open mind and level temper. I'm not trying to push any values of my own onto you. I hope you enjoy, none the less, this little tale. -Sumner
I was young when I first met Madon. I had recently fled my family and all of the world I had known up to that point in my life. I was seeking something, freedom, of course, but something else as well. Then, I found him. He was naturally a loner, like me, so it came as a surprise to the both of us when we fell in step on the plains, and never really fell out. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning, so perhaps the end will eventually make sense.
It was a cold day in winter that I was hatched. It had been an especially harsh few seasons, and I was one of the few successful births that year. My family consisted of a matriarchal heard, lead by a distant aunt of mine. Are numbers were humble--nineteen in total. From the get-go, I was in a poor position in the heard. I learned at a very young age that my mother had once tried to start her own heard with my father, but it fell through and she returned in shame after my father had been killed by a predator. As her son, I was subjected to unfounded and petty suspicions from the rest. My mother saw too much of my father in me, and separated herself from me emotionally to save herself her own painful memories of him. I fled the first spring that I felt able to fend for myself.
I had only been on my own for a few weeks when I ran into trouble. I had been scavenging on a steady supply of leftovers from a pack of predators I'd been following, but I misjudged how far behind them I was. One morning, I came across a corpse that was fresher than it ought to be, and I realized too late what that meant. Two young males of the pack had stayed behind to do some hunting of their own and earn their place with the adults. They smelled me, and had me backed into the corner of a rock formation before I had a chance to flee. I was prepared for a fight to the death when a bigger vogar leapt from above on the rocks to land on one of the predators and immediately begin to kick and bite and scratch until they fled, tails between their legs.
I beheld the creatu before me. He was panting and growling at the retreating shapes of the predators. I didn't know what to make of him. Was he friend or foe? It was all I could do to freeze in my cowering state when he finally turned to face me. "You're awful little to be on your own out here," he said to me, the growl still evident in his deep voice.I could hardly bring myself to speak.
"Oh, I guess." was all I could muster.
"Come. They'll be back, and next time they won't be alone." He began to scale the rocks back the way he'd jumped earlier.
"W-wait, h-who are you?" I was recovering from the shock of what just happened, and felt I deserved some answers.
"Climb now," was all he growled. I followed hesitantly. I'd never been much of a climber, and heights tended to make me nervous. But, right then, I feared the larger and stronger creatu in front of me and the predators behind me more than a short climb. When I finally clambered to the top, he was laying on his belly, one ear pressed to the rock. "As I thought. They are returning. We don't have much of a head start. Run!" With that, he took off at a sprint. It was all I could do to follow, slow as I was. Every time I thought I had lost sight of him I would spy him waiting for me, ear pressed to the ground like before. Eventually, he stopped running for good, and I was able to catch up to him. "We've lost them. They're turning around." He wasn't even out of breath. I felt like my lungs would burst from my heaving chest.
"I w-wanted to say thank you. You know. For that. I just..." I trailed off, feeling very light-headed suddenly. I lied down on the ground to make my head quit spinning, and he gave what I swear was the ghost of a smile across his lips.
"I know, little one." His voice did not have as much growl as it had before, and I took that as a good sign. "Do you have a name?" He settled on his belly facing me, a look of honest curiosity on his face.
"O-oh, yes, R-ruen. I'm Ruen." I groaned at my own nervous stuttering. He seemed not to mind, and answered.
"Ruen. You have nothing to fear from me here. Relax." It hadn't been an order, when he said "relax," but something in his voice pulled something inside of me, and I felt the tension leaving my body, and my mind clouding in hazy sleepiness. I was suddenly very aware of how tired I was, and how comfortable the little spot of grass I was lying on was. Before I slipped out of consciousness, I was determined to ask a question of my own.
"Who are you?" I nearly whispered.
"I am Madon."
-to be continued
