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Lady Wraith1: It's reviews like this that make me really want to continue this fiction. Q wQ Thank you, hon.
Don't forget about the Tumblr, guys!
I swear there would be more updates if this was a comic...
Now for the next chapter!
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Guan-thwei had left Dez'Mos there, still chuckling to himself about how much his pup had grown and how different they all were.
Nan'ku had always been difficult to handle, the Elder was somewhat sure it had something to do with the mother. Mahnda had been a wonderful and beautiful mate but the fact she had died at birth with the youngest son shown some ill fate for the hunter.
All though he had been taken in by other females, it was not the same as having his own mother, he was always second best compared to their own children, always second for attention...and for care.
Since males had no place with rearing sucklings Guan-thwei had to deal with those facts, but he did make time to see the pups he'd help create. It was a little more meaningful if he knew them, at least to himself. He liked seeing them grow and spar with one another—even sharing stories of his hunts was entertaining. Their energy and playfulness made him feel less old, though only two really made an impact and kept him coming back even if it wasn't mating season.
Dez'Mos, the bright eyed and curious pup that was intent at being different. Using his wits and intelligence instead of brute force to become victorious in a fight. Raised by and even more clever lou-dte kalei by the name of Wir-k'hi, she was as fiery as C'ntlip but just as sweet as S'pke.
Though his step-brother, Nan'ku was smaller—a runt. Living in the shadow of everyone else, normally unseen but still attentive when it came to details of a kill. Placement and order were also a big part of his skins, sort of similar to a human disorder of OCD if you will...always worrying if something was out of state or if something was dirty.
It was cute back then but now it was just getting annoying. The condition was branching out into everything he did, controlling his behavior and dislikes...which was part of the reason Nan'ku hated oomans. Or that was Guan-thwei's explaining of it.
They were gross, misshapen prey but still interesting in their own little peculiar way, because some managed to gain a place among the ranks, albeit that was few and far between. Normally oomans were prey and prey alone, but it had been found that breeding with them lead to an odd combination...
The Elder stopped in his tracks, shaking his head. What was he thinking?
Going on about some strange little dribble, though it was a bit entertaining he was beginning to believe he'd been to hard on Nan'ku. The male was just being himself and shouldn't have been reprimanded for his words, scratching the back of his neck lightly. Tonight was not yet over, the hunt had yet to begin and he'd already snapped at his youngest. Feeling a little downhearted by that, knowing that Nan'ku was just expressing himself—the Elder went to apologize.
All the while Dez'Mos had found himself at a standstill.
The ooman had given up with her search and had headed back to her plot, though she'd taken a strange way back. Instead of staying to the ground she took to the trees and branches once more. So odd and primitive, yet charming...in an ooman way.
Still the male hunter followed her, staying cloaked and as silent as he could be while he picked his way through the rough, dense foliage. This jungle reminded him of the forest that surrounded the area where he and Nan'ku grew up, though it was certainly not as dangerous.
While Iya climbed and clambered through branches in the dark, with her eyes open wide and pupils dilated in the pitch blackness, the hunter followed carefully below. Examining her every move—how she contorted around the branches to keep from falling, the flash of her heat signature against the blue backdrop and the detail she took with staying quiet to keep from being found out. It was all alluringly beautiful...for an ooman of course. If Dez'Mos was hunting her he'd find this extremely odd behavior but as he studied he began to understand her movements.
Soon she came upon an opening in the foliage and for a moment she sat in the high branches. Taking the time to survey the area before letting out a sigh and went to descend the tree's thick limbs.
Surefooted with her steps as she walked past a darken spot in the soil before setting down next to the massive tree that commanding the area with huge, fat roots digging into the deep earth. Iya wiggled in between those roots to pull out a long, half sharpened tree branch. Giving it a once over before picking up a thin rock and began to fiddle with it.
Dez'Mos watched. Contemplating his next course of action, he'd found the ooman's domain nearly two miles from their own camping site. He found it interesting that she'd actually remembered the exact area, he'd have to note this down. Her intelligence seemed more creditable than he'd first been lead to assume.
Softly clicking to himself as he recorded her actions long into the dawn before she herself decided to retire into the confines of her high nest-like bed in the branches of the aforementioned tree.
Believing he'd collected enough data to come up with a validated approach later this day the hunter returned back to his own camp. Still a bit weary from the descent this evening and staying awake all night to follow this ooman, he'd need a few hours to regain energy before he could even think of hunting.
