I'm looking for the light }{ Ilyich and Kuna

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I wanna hold it to me
I wanna catch the glow
I think I'm getting higher
Then I fall below

Emerald eyes watched the moon, my mind on a million stars above. Each glistening speck was a prayer of mine sent to Dio, ignored and thrown aside. My baboon had left me that day that Alec had--I hadn't had anymore dreams. They all spoke the wisdom he gave, and I could only nod and pretend that I had seen it to. I think Ahlam knew my secret, but she was the daughter of our God so I would expect such to be true.

It wasn't His fault--it was mind. That day that Alec left had driven me away, forcing me to only pretend that my mission still mattered to me. But priorities had altered--I needed to forget everything that made me think of that male. And the whole peace leader deal was certainly a memory we shared together. It mustn't be allowed to stay. Often I considered running off to escape it all, but that only made me think of Alec more. He had run off under the pressure.

And so I stood with that thought. I wouldn't leave, but no one said I couldn't walk my own way in the cover of the night. As a cub Alia had been the mother I'd never had. But I was an adult now--I need not ask for permission. With a defiant flick of my tail, I slithered from where the gathering slept, eyes and ears open and alert. I needed to breath, and I just couldn't do that in this congested world of saints.

A demon has no place among angels.

It seemed I only walked for minutes, but in truth, an hour had passed. Close to five miles lay between me and the rest of the group. I made to turn around and head back, but decided there was no harm in resting my eyes hear in the sheltered pine forest. If I dozed off and day broke before I woke, then let the precious peace leaders fret.

They could talk to their almighty Dio. He answers them.

[I L Y I C H]

"Agh!"

I'd been stumbling around in this area for what seemed like ages, and I still hadn't figured out which direction I'd come from. Mama was going to be so mad... I'd only meant to go find something to do as she slept, I'd had half a mind to go play with the new man. Paradox, but he'd been off somewhere. So in a fit of adventure I'd tumbled straight out of camp through a clump of foliage and trotted out into the world.

In retrospect It'd been a horrible idea.

Now here I was trippin' over roots and shoving my small body through tall grass. I was the size of a Shiba dog at the moment, not much higher then a human's knees. It would seem all of this grass was bigger then me. I wouldn't put it too far out there to say It was doing this on purpose. Pouting now, I tumbled head over heels my paw caught painfully on a root that had been hiding inside the grass.

Snubbing my nose against the ground I couldn't stop the squeal of pain that spouted from me. I was still a puppy after all, and even if Id gone out on my own for adventure now I was whimpering and hurting and trembling all over. The other times I'd snuck out of camp Id had an adult to follow. An adult that would find me eventually and shove me behind them to safety. I'd never hurt myself on an adventure before. No one wanted to face Mama's wrath.

But now here I was hopping to keep my sprained paw from the ground, yipping in some said attempt to call my mother, and trembling out of pure terror. My entire body shook and I found I could no longer walk because of it. Dropping my butt down I tucked my tail and trembled. Left front paw held carefully off the ground, I looked around myself in fear.

What would I do if a cat snuck up and tried to eat me? Daddy wasn't here to save me. I didn't want a cat to die because it was hungry, or daddy killed it but I didn't want to die either. No child has any real concept of death, and right now I just thought of the word 'die' as a simile to the word 'sleep'. I would never wake up from that though.[/blockquote][/size]

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Are you the Promised One?
Are you the light I prayed for?

Startled, I clambered to my paws in a flash of golden fury. It had only been seconds since I first collapsed to rest my eyes, and now this squeal of pain. It wasn't fury or fear that set in, but concern. Maybe I still had a little bit of Dio's mission in me afterall.

Stumbling forward, my eyes having to readjust when I thrust myself into the dark grass cover, I caught the odd scent of the caller. There was nothing familiar about this aroma, and that set me off uneasily. But still, I was determined to do my job, to save those who needed saving. But what if I couldn't? What if the danger was too big? No, there was only one scent here, so no opponent to fight off. Was the being falling over a cliff? What if it was too big to drag back to solid ground? But no, there was no cliff nearby. What could possibly be the danger?

And then it hit me. The squeal sounded like a wounded puppy.

But how? We weren't near any murder ape homes. How would a puppy have wandered so far from it's murder ape's den? Unless...Dio had warned the group about new canines in the forest. What were they called? Folami. Their mission was the kill my kind--the felines. They were creations of the Murder Apes. I made a decision to turn away and run back to my friends. I spun and lunged in the direction I'd been coming.

It's a puppy!

It hit me how barbaric I was being, and how selfish and disloyal. Dio was still in me, and the promise I made him during that first dream still applied. I would do what I could to help these lands, even at the cost of my own life. I spun again, this time running with determination. It wasn't long before I stumbled across the puppy.

Puppy!?

This dog was as tall as me, and almost as long! I backed up, now in full view of it's dangerous orbs. Nervously, my eyes scanned around it. This was a trap. The Folami must have found out about the Peace Leaders and known we couldn't resist a pained squeal. They were hiding, having covered their scents. But no massive forms appeared. It was just a puppy.

A very large, incrediably muscled puppy.

"Child, what is the matter? My dear, you must hush. There are beings larger than I around here, ones who would be pleased to find such an easy meal." I nearly slapped myself at both my tone, and the chosen words. I'd scare this poor dog to death with such words! And my tone, it didn't mask my distrust very well. Maybe he was too young to catch it. "Where are your parents? I could fetch--" I froze at that, staring at him dumbly. I couldn't fetch his parents. They'd kill me.

But this dog would die without them.

[Kunabee]

Kunabee~
A squeal reached my ears. I crept boldly in the direction of it. It sounded like a young puppy, which made me shiver. Falomi. But no creature deserved to remain in pain. As I approached, I noticed an ocelot talking to the Falomi. Everyone was so huge!
I hunkered down in the grass, a little shy - a FALOMI - but then stood up and coughed. They wouldn't be able to see me unless they looked down, so I walked closer and sat, knowing I was slightly taller sitting than standing.
"I'm a very short feline," I said, "So you'd have to look down, but... what's wrong?" I sounded worried, probably because I was. It pained me to see anyone else hurt, even if they had done wrong to me.

[I L Y I C H]

I almost bit the end of my tongue off responding to her words. Jaws clamped together so tight my teeth strained I stared at the ocelot with rounded eyes. Bigger, meaner things. The shudders wracking my body grew in intensity. "I-Im sorry Miss. That'd 'urt you too" My ears slumped against my skull. I didn't want to get her hurt. Daddy said cats where bad, and that the humans wanted rid of them... but I hadn't seen a human yet, and Id seen Abeni. Abeni was a nice play mate. Abeni wasn't mean, maybe this pretty woman wasn't either.

Licking my dry lips in worry I crouched carefully, whimpering when my hurt paw touched the ground. Mama would be so worried when I got home like this. I hated worrying mama, her heart started to beat so fast. My tail drooped to the ground, though it swiftly snapped back up in horror at the girl's next words. "No-No! You can't fetch Daddy, he'd eat ya! And Mama is sleepin' with bwothes and sissy ba'k home..." My jaw hung open, chin brushing the ground. I didn't want to think of this nice lady getting hurt because she tried to help me.

Sinking my black body closer to the ground I almost screamed again when a second cat slipped into my line of sight. I knew my ocher eyes had to be the size of moons. I was scared of these cats, no mater how small, the folami in camp told such horrible stories about cats. About how vicious and mean they where. Now the spotted paler one seemed nice, and then the darker spotted one talked... she seemed pretty nice too.

I set to staying as still as I could despite the trembling.

"You... your not 'hat short, miss" I was royalty, one of the heirs to the folami thrown, and now my eyes laid glued in absolute terror to the ground. I didn't want to get hurt, that would hurt mama so bad. Even thinking of what she would do made my heart hurt. Poor mama. Answering the darker girl's question I held out my sprained paw, the rolled ankle throbbed insistingly under the fur.

"Hurts" I whimpered pulling it back out of touching range and tucking it to my small (by folami standered) chest.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

It was clear this small terror was not the typical expectation of a Folami. I'd hurt that even the pups lived off the screams of dying cats. But this dog wished to avoid pain on my part. Maybe he wasn't part of the initial pack. Perhaps his parents were true followers of Skoll. The Peace Leaders had been told by Dio that there was a new god in town, one just for the Folami. Perhaps the white beast had a few followers already.

But that idea died as the young fella' spoke of his father eating me. So, this dog was just kind on his own. Or maybe his mother followed Skoll? I found it hard to believe that such a large breed could be forced into anything, even the females, so that idea didn't settle well. The bloke that had created this poor dog was cold, so the mother had to be too.

Another came forward before I could react or respond to the puppies words. This polite little spawn of killers. Spinning, I stopped myself before I let a hiss out. My instincts had spoken to either defend myself from the approaching Folami, or defend this dog with my own life if it were not a Folami retrieving its young. To my relief, it wasn't a Folami, or even a dangerous feline. Most cats were bigger than me.

I had about twenty centermeters on this cat, but I knew that didn't mean a thing. Rabbits could beat tigers if the rabbit has brains and the tiger only has bronze. I dipped my head, greeting this new cat with a gentle smile. The pup said she wasn't that short, and I tended to agree. This cat was the size of your typical housecat, so it wasn't uncommon for us to see this size around here.

When the dog explained that his paw hurt, it brought me back to the imediate dillema. "I'm sure your father would not eat me if I used your name." I offered that hopefully. "If I approached saying that 'your young puppy, your name, needs help' he couldn't react any other way but to follow." I was just throwing around ideas, but even as I said that one, my eyes were looking for splint material. It hit me then where we were.

Right near the Murder Ape community.

"Murder Apes! They have material to help, and pain-thingies to eat. I could sneak in a housedog's door and snatch some for you. The splints can't be too hard to apply, and I know the pain-thingies just need some water to wash 'em down." It never crossed my mind that there were more than one type of pill. I'd have to trust in Dio to pick the right one.

Nor did I think for a second that this dog may not have a clue what a Murder Ape was.

OOC//: Up to you whether or not Mahal knows what a Murder Ape is through Abeni or something.

[Kunabee]

Kunabee~
Poor baby. He was so little. Purring, I rubbed against him, trying to comfort him.
"We'll figure something out," I promised, and right after I said that the ocelot gave some ideas. My ears flicked straight and my eyes lit up.
"Or... or I can try and get the attention of a hu- ...er, Murder Ape! I'd be mistaken for a regular house cat, I could run them over here, and they can patch ya up on their own. They'd have a lot better idea about it, right?" I wondered.
"And I mean, when I was a house cat - considered one, and everything, I mean I look an awfully lot like one - I saw there was a lot of different pills. They'd know which one would work." I hesitated, but decided to leave off the chance that they may not like strays and I could get hurt.
Better me then either of them, and there was less danger, too. But I had to keep that there was danger, couldn't forget last time. Then again, there was danger in everything. I was making friends with a Falomi, and I know I'd go to trust him, and everything.
I mean, the ocelot was nice. And the pup said that I wasn't that short - I didn't feel as short, anymore, I was so used to being short... Suddenly it hit me that we should exchange each other's names, but I was worried about not seeing the Falomi again. And next time I did he'd probably be a bloodthirsty killer. Maybe I'd wait. Just a little while longer...
No. Waiting never does good. Names were important. I didn't quite understand, but they were names. They said something. And I'd have to have hope. Believe in the best. I always did, didn't I?
"I'm Kunabee, by the way," I said, "But both of you can call me Kuna."

[I L Y I C H]

I listened tentatively. The second the word murder ape came up I stiffened. That's what the cats called humans, right? Mama said I should never go near humans until Im big. She said they'd take me away and their training was much crueler then the packs. My trembling started again at double the force. I sputtered out an almost unintelligible "No!" Calming just a bit as the little brown kitty rubbed up against me I bit my tongue and let out a low whine.

"Mama said I should never let them see me, and its not that bad." I proved this by pressing the injured paw to the ground, fighting against the urge to cross my eyes and yell. I wouldn't be taken from mama, or my siblings or daddy. I wouldn't hurt my Mama so much because I wanted to go exploring. Oh I was a stupid puppy, I was a bad stupid puppy. Slumping I set my chin on the ground and covered my nose with my paws.

"Hello Kuna" Mama had taught me to be a polite young man, and the response was automatic. But it was warm too, Kuna was trying to help me, and so was the other spotted woman who was being so nice despite the qualms she seemed to have when she first appeared. I peered at them both from over my puppy huge black paws. "My name is Mahal." I murmured, ocher eyes wide still with fright and pain.

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I took in the feline's suggestion, but shook my head. Before I could object, Mahal did for me. So Dio was right in his telling not to bring a puppy to a Murder Ape. I didn't yet pay attention to the names, too busy examining the youngster's attempt to say it wasn't bad. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. "It hurts, and you need help. Dio--" I looked quickly to the other cat, unsure if she knew of the god or not. I decided it wasn't worth the risk. "My friend, Diospher, knew a couple Folami once. Puppies born in the pack are hidden from humans so as not to be taken, like you said." I turned, calculating where the Murder Ape dens were. Once I got my bearings, I started off in the direction of the dens. Before I got too far, I looked over my shoulder. "I'm Bhuvana, but you can call me Bhu. I'll be back." This was my mission. I needed to get Dio's love back.

I needed to get my light.

Dio, I beg Your forgiveness as I have fallen short of Your grace. I ask for You to walk with me here as I trudge forward to help this dog. I do this for Mahal, but I also do it for the felines. Mahal needs to see that felines are not evil creatures, and that it should be his mission to preach the Good Word in the pack. Your Word. Skoll's Word. Please give me prosperity on this mission.

The homes came into my vision, a small square with a light near the roof. It blazed through the trees and I followed it until I could see the full form. I didn't dare step into the open without assessing which house to go to. It was then I saw my Baboon, his image faint above a milky colored house with a brick chimney raising from the top. I hoped it was a true sign of Dio, and not my imagination playing. Slowly, I approached it. The yard was fenced with chainlinked wire, a garden around the inner edges. It all looked so familiar.

My breed was made for climbing, so I scaled the fence without any effort, stalking towards the backdoor. It was weird, even the scent of this place brought back hazy memories. As I slithered inside, it came to me why I reconized it. This was my old home. On the walls were pictures of my Murder Apes, and even a large center picture of me. On another wall was another large picture of a small Murder Ape cub. I smiled, knowing my kind people had had a child, thus lessening their undeniable pain they surely felt at my leaving. Some guilt left.

I thanked Dio for sending me here, for I knew the arrangement quite well. The bathroom was right down the left hall, so I followed it and tiptoed past my former master's bedroom. I thanked Dio that they had changed the door handle on the bathroom closet to one I could easy lift up and hang on to open it. I did so and scanned through the different containers. The Murder Apes had given me pain medicine before--it had had a red label. Only one had a red label here so I prayed to Dio that it hadn't changed in the past year and some odd months since I lived here.

I scanned through the closet some more but found nothing to use as a splint. The pills were what were important, though. We could make a splint with materials in the woods. These pills were only to be found in a Murder Ape home. I grabbed it with my mouth and turned to dash silently out. I was stopped as I saw in the doorway a small creature--a housecat. It mewed once and for the first time I realized how different I was from it. Housecats and wildcats had a different language from one another. I pondered this for a moment before the kitten mewed again, this time louder and more agitated. I looked past it and heard my former master grumble and then shuffle from his bed. Panicing, I shoved past the cat and dashed for the door. The Murder Ape stepped from the room and faced me. I watched in the dark as his frustrated expression shifted to one of surprise. I didn't wait for him to reconize me--I just dove between his legs, down the hall, and skidded out the door. Driven by adreneline, I scaled the fence and disapeared in the woods.

Out of breath, I stopped for a minute before jogging back to the dog and cat. Throwing down the pill bottle, I slumped to the ground and laid my head on my front paws. "Pain thingies." I took in a breath. "There was nothing for a splint, but I think we can easily make one from natural materials." I dropped it at that, breathing as if I had just run a marathon.

It was weird for me, this feeling. I missed my Murder Apes.

OOC//: Sorry, I was bored and alone so I wanted a little adventure for Bhuvana. Hope yall don't mind. If you do, let me know and I will gladly change it

[Kunabee]

Kunabee~

I stared after the ocelot, quietly hoping for her. Bhuvana. Bhu. I wondered what it meant, or if it was just nonsense like my name. Talking about humans - murder apes - made me feel homesick. I smiled to myself, remembering how odd my language always sounds - I took a long time to figure out how to speak to the house cats, and then had to relearn the natural large-feline language. I shook my head, the smile disappearing as I stared worriedly after her.
"I'm sure she'll be okay and be back in no time!" I told Mahal, smiling a little at him and praying I didn't give away that I wasn't sure. Murder apes could be ruthless. But humans could be nice. It was a scary dual nature. I wondered why.
And then Bhuvana was back. I rubbed against her, purring. "You're a genius," I told her, "And I think all we need is sticks and something to tie them together with for a splint." I smiled, more honestly this time. I think I found friends.
I rolled it over in my mind. Having Bhu as a friend wasn't so weird - it was the fact that I considered Mahal one. But he was, wasn't he?
Slowly I came to realize what Bhu and I were doing. By showing him kindness, he would grow to know felines are good and bad. That knowledge would spread. We were just barely beginning, barely planting the seeds, of change. Wouldn't it be grand if felines, Falomi, and humans could get along!

WOOC; I like it (:

EDIT: If you see the last edit is by me, Bhuvana, don't be concerned. There was a coding error in your post so I just went and fixed it.

[I L Y I C H]

Mahal--
I stared after Bhuvana, ocher eyes wide. Going into the human dens was a bad idea. They took you away, they did. Mama said so. They'd never let you back. They'd put you in a cage and torture you until they had made you cruel and twisted. Whimpering softly, I stood back up, balancing on three legs. My head swung around when the smaller Kunabee spoke, and I blinked at her.

Yes, I was probably worried for nothing. But I was still worried.

But it didn't mater because the woman was back, dropping her gift and then her head. Frowning severely, I limped up to her collapsing at her side and pressing my nose against her shoulder. "Than-you, Ms Bhuvana" My eyes slit, turning to stare at the Iriomote, at happy little nice Kuna. "Thank you too Kuna" I should get up and sniff at the bottle, break it open and lap up some of the pain thingies, but my leg hurt and Bhu was warm.

I would move in a minute. Or later. I didn't really care right now. Mama must be worried though, she got so scared when I vanished on her...

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

I let the tiny bundle lean up against me--though his size was actually not much different than my own. But he was young, thus guiding my maternal instinct forward. Oh how I would love to have children. That though dampened my mood, knowing Alec had been the closest thing to a mate I'd ever come to. And he'd left me. Children weren't worth the interaction with males.

This decided, I curled my head around to view the canine with sad, but reasurring eyes. My instincts pushed me towards needing human assistance, but I knew that would only bring temporary relief. Once healed, this boy would want his family back, and the Murder Apes would not permit that. Also, if he continued on the course he was on now, he would be a fine allie to the felines. But the Murder Apes would kick that kindness out of him. There wouldn't be a twitch of softness--parents naturally were at least a little kinder towards their offspring, thus making warm hearted kin a tad more likely--the odds were still low, but still there.

Looking back to Kunabee, I considered silently for a moment. "I do hope we can find some strong timber for a splint. With how little rain we have had, the branches are all drying and growing fragile." I talked more to myself than either of my friends. Were they friends? My thoughts shifted to that as it came on through. These two here couldn't be friends--I had just met them. But still, Kunabee and I were working together, as a team unit, risking both our necks to help this pup. I think that could catagorize us as a friendship. A smile pulled forward as I made that declaration in my head. Friends.

"The evergreens!" It came to me suddenly. The evergreen trees held a far greater amount of water than the regular deciduous trees. If a branch was to be strong enough to hold a bone in place, that would only be half the battle. The wood would also need to stay strong, meaning it would have to hold in moisture. It would have to be one of the needly trees. Fortunatly, these lands were infested with the toxic pinetrees. "A pinetree branch would make an excellent splint. And to hold it on..." I trailed off, smile fading. I turned my attention to lay on Kunabee, willing an answer to spring forth from her lips.

[Kunabee]

Kunabee~
I thought. To tie it together... "Some bushes," I said suddenly, "There's some bushes with branches that are flexible. We could use them to tie the splint. I saw some that didn't look too dead on my way to this area.." I purred, proud of both Bhuvana and myself. We made a great team!
Mahal would be better in no time. We were smart. We would get through.
"If you don't mind..." I said, tilting my head at Mahal before turning my attention back to Bhuvana, "I coulld go get some bush-tie things, while you get the branches, since they're in different directions, I think."

[Bhu ♥ Irwin]

Pride for Kunabee sprung forth as she gave a valid answer to my prayer. Thank you, Dio. I nodded my head at her suggestion, eager for something to do. Looking to the young lad that rested against me, apprehension rose about both of us walking away and leaving him. He couldn't run away. He couldn't fight. He'd be vulnerable--as strange a concept as that was when speaking about Folami. I considered the idea of us hiding him, but threw away that consideration. We were both small breeds of cat so moving him without hurting him immensly would be impossible. And we couldn't one go at a time--every second counted in the early stages of bone healing.

I froze for a second. How the heck do I know that!? I looked up to the stars, a smile rising from deep within me. I was being used--and for once, that was a good thing. You can use me whenever you want, Dio. I purred out the thought before chancing a look back at the duo. "There's no time to waste. Mahal, we both have to walk away now. The beginning of the healing in your foot occurs almost immedietly. We need to both act now. Neither of us will go far at the same time, though. You feel threatened by anything, howl like a madman and we will both come shredding over. We don't care if it's a shadow you get spooked by. All that matters is your safety." That purred out, I squirmed from beneath his bulk, careful not to jostle his injured paw, and then trotted in the direction I had come.

It wasn't too far back I had seem some lively pines.

[I L Y I C H]

I watched after them, my tail twitching in kind submission. They may be cats but they were adults, and I gave them my utter trust as all children should. I watched them go with wide ocher eyes, unaware of anything but the pain in my injured paw and the warmth of kindness. I was only a child, and my two momentary caretakers had left me and told me to be quiet and still, and I was nothing if not obedient.

I stayed quiet and still, tail wagging slowly behind my dark body.

But the sudden white blob erupting into my vision startled me enough to induce yelp. But that sound rounded into a howl of recognition. The pretty white muzzle that I'd run full onto more then once. The odd spoken loner who mama didn't like to smell on my fur. "Paragon! Paragon!" The white pelted woman padded awkwardly towards me, her limber never aging yearling body awkward forever.

Her lavender eyes took me in for a second, a swift sweep of minimal contempt. She found contempt in everyone, though and It didn't bother me one bit. I squirmed on the ground in joy. My friend! Anti-social Paragon skulked to me and sat down with a thump. She didn't say anything, just stared off into space before looking down at me with a sad old gaze.

My tail stopped wagging, and I looked up at her with concern. Her eyes grew darker for a moment before lighting up. "Little boy, your mother will chew you up for wandering off" she dropped herself to her belly, black tipped ears tilting towards me her entire attention focused on me. That's how she was, giving her all to the people around her, like she wanted to see something in them she never found. I stuck my tongue out at her and wriggled.