[PRP] Field Trip! (Ruko, Beo)

[Talencia]

Ruko shifted excitedly, his tailtuft flipping wildly behind him and his front paws shifting back and forth. He had lots of sibs to play with and tell stories to, but he had been missing his dad. Not only that, but the healers told him he had caught the disease. He'd had a fever for a bit, but now just hurt sometimes. It didn't make a lot of sense to the cubbie, but he did know that he liked it when the adults paid attention to him. It just made him feel nice.

So when Beo had offered to take him on a little trip, just he and the hyena, he had been thrilled to pieces. Unfortunately the trip had been delayed twice already. The first arranged day, his joints had hurt so much that he couldn't move, and cried out when someone else moved him. The healers had been sent for, and he'd ended up sleeping most of the day. They had put it off a day or two after that, but then the rain had come. Ruko had spent the day entertaining his siblings in their den with stories while the rain had poured nearly without stopping from sun-up to sun-down. So a few more days had to be put off until the mud dried up and the skies cleared.

But the day was finally here! He was tempted to bounce around to let out his excitement, but he knew that might tire him out quickly, and he wanted all his energy for seeing where Beo would take him. So he merely shifted back and forth, back and forth, eyes fixed on the den entrance.  

[Lorne_Sionn]

Beo shook out his mane as he stepped from his den, amber eyes squinting up at the sun. It looked like it was going to be clear and bright, which meant the little meadow above the dens would be warm. He nodded in satisfaction, it should be perfect for little Ruko.

He'd had wanted to take the cub out for several weeks now, but the weather and Ruko's health had delayed their little outing. However, it looked like the Gods were going to be kind today, and let the cub play, if even for a little while.

The hyena trotted down the slope, to the rows of dens that housed Ruko and his family. He could make out Rian's white fur clear as day, and smiled to see the white lion racing around, playing catch-my-tail with another seeming hearty cub. So far,only Ruko seemed to be sick.

" HEY BEO HERRREEEEEE!" Rian called out as he tumbled down the hill, mock fighting with his playmate.

Beo chuckled, it would seem his arrival had been heralded. Sitting down on his haunches, the Secret Keeper waited for Ruko to come out.

 

[Talencia]

His energetic brother's call made him jump, then squirm with joy. He got up and padded out, a beautiful smile on his face as he looked for the friendly hyena. He high-stepped a bit as he came towards the older creature. "Hello Mister Beo!" he said cheerfully, sweeping his whiskers back in pleasure. "How are you? Is it time? Is it okay for me to go with you now?" His questions tumbled over one another eagerly, evidencing the excitement that his strength could not keep up with. He settled himself directly in front of the hyena and curled his tail around his forepaws.

He looked up at Beo, reflecting on how much smaller the hyena was than his father, but still how much bigger the hyena was than himself. It set his mind to tumbling ideas about size, and heart, and love, and adventure rolling about his head. Such ideas often came to him, jumbling together until he began to tell the story they laid out before him, and then all the pieces would fall together and lay the road for telling to others all the funny or scary or sweet details that his imagination supplied. "I'm ready now," he concluded before his questions had even been answered. There was no denying his eagerness for this outing!  

[Lorne_Sionn]

Beo could not help but smile at Ruko, the youngling was just so full of life. Looking at his shining eyes and laughing smile it was hard to believe he had already been so sick. Not for the first time, the Secret Keeper wished he could take away the physical effects of the disease, and allow the cub to just once run and play like his healthier brother.

The black hyena laid down on his belly, tipping his shoulder so that Ruko could climb on without to much trouble, his tone filled with good humor, " So I see you little imp, and here I thought I was going to have to wait for you. That's what I get for thinking huh?"

He waited until he was sure the cub was not going to fall off and had a good hold on him before he stood carefully, shifting his balance so that Ruko would be stay on. " I thought we could start off with a walk before we got up to the meadow. Was there anything you've always wanted to see, but haven't been able to yet?"

 

[Talencia]

He settled himself close to the hyena's spine, forepaws buried in the bright mane of fur. For a moment his eyes glazed as a story idea flitted by about manes, but he was pulled back to reality as the adult rose to his paws and began moving. The question he was asked seemed preposterous, though. "Oh Mister Beo," he exclaimed sincerely, "I can go anywhere already! With my 'magination!" And for him, this was entirely true, though as a cub he was completely unaware that what he imagined something as was not necessarily the same as it would be to experience. Perhaps for now, that was just as well.

"What do you like to go see, Mister Beo?" he asked forthrightly, rubbing the pads of his paws over the bright markings on the hyena's dark shoulders, yet another story idea formulating slowly in his mind. Another one that explained something, in this case how markings came to be. His ears swiveled slowly as he traced the pattern with one small paw, not quite lost in his imaginary world, but lingering between the two. It was hard to really get lost in his pretendings when the world was good place, like today. "Have you ever seen a snake?" he asked then, setting aside his ponderings for the natural childhood pastime of asking questions. "Was it really wriggly? And slimy?"  

[Lorne_Sionn]

Beo chuckled as the cub answered him, a smile curving over his muzzle, " Ah true little one. I'd forgotten you are already quiet the bard." He climbed the easy trail with a gentle gait, the slight limp of his back leg giving it a rolling, rocking motion that was not uncomfortable. He'd had cubs fall asleep on their way home before, so he was used to keeping them upright and steady.

" A snake? Yes I have, when I was still training to be a scout. It was more glidy then wiggly, and it certainly was not slimy at all. It was dry, and oddly soft. It tasted all right too, once I bit the head off it." The hyena looked at him over his shoulder, a grin on his face as he laughed in the way only a hyena could.

 

[Talencia]

The cub grimaced and made squealing noises of disgust. "Ewww!" he declared. "We aren't supposed to eat the heeeeaaaads!" Quick as a blink, he went from squirming child to thoughtful ruminator. "Besides, isn't the head where the who is?" He tapped his own skull with one paw, thinking thoughts he'd never had before. "I mean, isn't that where our thinking is?" He gripped his friend's shoulders gently with his claws extended just enough to put pressure on the hyena's tough hide. "Mister Beo, you ate the who of a snake!" he exclaimed in joyful horror and gleeful dismay, torn between gasping and giggling, for the whole thing sounded so silly. Still, it gave him food for thought. Where did the who of a person go when they died? Did it get eaten?

He again traced the lines along Beo's shoulders. "Have you met every animal that there is?" he asked then, full of questions as always. It was a rare day for him to not ask a question merely to ask it, and meant he was sick indeed if he couldn't summon even an inkling of interest in something he didn't know yet. "I wanna meet an effalunt," he added decidedly. "Are their noses really longer than their legs?"  

[Lorne_Sionn]

Beo laughed, he couldn't help it. Ruko was just to imaginative not to be delighted with him, " I didn't eat the who of a snake little cub, I bit his head off so I could eat the rest of him. You don't eat the heads, they have the poison in them." He chuckled shaking his head as they trotted along.

" Yes, that is where our who is Ruko, there between your ears, and I dare say, you have quit the who up there." Beo was amused and delighted, the day was already turning out to be very entertaining for them both, and the innocent delight in the young cubs voice and laugh was balm for the secret keepers weary soul.

" Every animal? No, not every, but many of them." He nodded when the cub spoke of elephants, " Those I have seen, from a distance, because its not safe to get to close to them. Their noses are longer then their legs, and they have large canines that curl out of their mouths, called tusks."

 

[Talencia]

Wait, what?! Ruko's eyes grew huge as his mind was filled with the image of this massive creature with a weird, tall nose and huge jaws that had two massive wild dogs leaning out, snarling and salivating viciously. His body gave a shiver of revulsion that nearly knocked him right off the hyena's rolling back. What a horrible creature! "I do not want to meet that creature!" he declared fervently. "It sounds like a nightmare come true!" No wonder brave Mister Beo hadn't gotten anywhere close to the thing!

That, of course, set his imagination whirling again. "I bet that's where it's from!" he exclaimed dreamily, relaxing once again against his friend's back. "Some imaginative cub that believed his own dreams ate something his daddy told him not to one night, and then went to sleep and had a terrible nightmare, and when he awoke, the thing from his nightmare leapt out of his eyes and went charging into the world to wreak havoc on all the nearby prides, and the poor cub died of fright." He concluded the grisly tale with the worst ending he could think of, because sometimes he tended to convince himself that what he concocted was true, and one of the nannies had sworn he'd frighten himself to death one day if he kept it up.  

[Lorne_Sionn]

Beo stopped in mid trot and looked over his shoulder at the cub, his amber colored eyes filled with amusement, " You'd better not tell that one to the other cubs little one, or you'll scare them into having nightmares."

He titled his head to the side, his expression curious, " Now, what do you think that cub ate that made such a creature escape from his who?" Beo made a show of thinking about before he, clicked his tongue, " I know what it was...it was a SNAKE who!!"

Laughing, he continued to trot up the hill, wondering what the imp on his back would come up with now. The hyena had to admit, he was enjoying this little outing with Ruko. The cub was a joy, and it was good to see him out of the den, laughing and entertaining them both.

 

[Talencia]

"EEEEK!" squealed the cub at the mention of a snake who. With great relish he plunged his face into the hyena's brightly colored mane, muffling his words and breathing in the dusty warm smell. It was as he leaned there, eyes shut, muzzle buried in Beo's fur, with the sun soaking into the fur on his back, the rocking motion of the hyena's gait, that he realized that even riding could be tiring. Of course, he hadn't exactly been sedately taking a ride either. It was hard sometimes for Ruko to conserve his energies, since they came out so naturally and so quickly. Still, he could recognize the signs of when it was time to slow down, and right now those signs were there. His paws felt heavy and he felt suddenly more inclined to just lay there rather than keep shifting and chattering to his friend.

So he stayed quiet, snuggled up close on Mister Beo's back, letting the motion and surrounding sounds soak in. Sometimes he felt that if he just knew how, he would be able to draw new energy from the world around him, like a flower gaining strength from the sun. He just hadn't learned the trick of it yet. But he would someday, or so he hoped. For now, he settled in to wait for his transportation to arrive at its destination.  

[Lorne_Sionn]

Beo turned to look over his shoulder, and seeing the little cub seem to fade some after the bout of energy, the Secret Keeper picked up his pace a little. Best to get them to the meadow, Beo's Bench as some of the cub's called it, where Ruko could rest and soak up the sun. He could catch them a lite meal as well, but he would be sure it wasn't snake.

Cresting the ridge, he smiled and gently nudged the cub with his nose, " Look Ruko, you can see the whole world from here." He whispered to him, pointing out to the seemingly endless horizon and the rise and fall of the land around them, the trees, the distant jungle, and the pale tan smudge of the desert, so small you had to squint to be sure you saw it, and the rivers that shimmered in the bight light of the sun.

 

[Talencia]

Ruko sat up and blinked his eyes against the brightness of the daylight after the darkness of closed eyes buried in fur. Once the glare wore off, he sucked in a slow, awed breath. The world seemed to stretch on forever, far beyond even his imagination had thus far supplied. His eyes hungrily took in the different climates visible from their perch. He kept his forepaws firmly braced against the hyena's shoulders and stayed stock still, gazing about himself with enchantment. "Why, it's beautiful!" he whispered reverently, "and so big!" He stayed that way for several minutes, just taking it all in.

That wouldn't last, of course. Not with all this exciting new material for his mind to feed upon. Soon enough the awe would be set aside for the more practical and enthused task of asking questions! But for now, in this quiet moment, high above the pride's dens, Ruko experienced a moment he would remember his whole life. A moment when the world was laid at his feet, clean and bright and free for the taking.