“But I don’t want to be your servant!” The cub pouted, ears flat against his small skull. His brows were furrowed and he looked anything but an ideal little servant. Zhong Zise huffed, attempting to be lady-like as she did so, but didn’t succeed to well. Did this silly cub not understand who she was?!
“You already are my servant.” To be honest, this wasn’t who the purple female really was. If that made sense. She was usually a much kinder, gentler spirit. But the empress, Ting Lan, had recently visited her house and made quite an impression on the little duchess! She wanted to be elegant and cool like the empress, and so was determined to be like her. But she was faltering quickly, and this cub wasn’t helping.
The cub in question was Yujin, the son of one of her house’s messengers. He really had no business putting up to her. His mother was a messenger, and he didn’t even have a father. Still, he stubbornly refused her claim of his servitude. “Am not! I’m nobody’s servant!” His yellow eyes looked up at her, and she could just scowl down at them. The cub was younger than she was, still cute and fluffy, with diminutive features. His colors made him think of fire.
Old Zise would probably go ‘awww!’ and want to cuddle up to him like a teddy bear, but the new, improved Zise wasn’t like this. He was her servant! “Don’t you know who I am?” She demanded, doing her best to look important.
Yujin shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You’re stupid!”
And then the little cub witnesses something strange. The older female seemed surprised, and then… well, kind of hurt. “You’re stupid! I’m duchess! Daughter of you lord!” She cried at him, but seemed to have completely lost the tough attitude. The purple juvenile turned away from the cub and stalked off a few paces, slipping behind some shrubs to sit and brood.
Or Yujin thought she would just brood, but he heard some whimpering. The young cub scowled, and ‘hmphed!’ turning away. Stupid girl, trying to make him her… servant, or something. Just because she was the lord’s daughter didn’t mean anything! Actually, it did, but Yujin was, truthfully, a bit too young to understand hierarchy. If he were a bit older, he probably would never have dared to speak that way.
But one thing Yujin did understand was that it wasn’t very nice to make people cry. So, little by little, he began to feel guilty. Zise was quiet with her whimpering, but he could still hear it. Grudgingly, the cub turned around to look at the shrubs. He could see her purple fur through it. The cub eventually decided to make the trip over, dragging his paws.
He peered around the bush. “Girl? Are you okay?”
“Go away!” Yujin wasn’t one to argue with that, so he stepped back. But it was the purple female who changed her mind. “I mean, wait!” She turned towards him now, and he looked very sad. This, in turn, made the cub feel bad. But he decided it best to stay quiet for now. “I’m… sorry.”
Okay, so Yujin was pretty surprised at the apology. He furrowed his brows, confused. “I’m not a very good duchess! So, I’m sorry.”
And the little cub agreed with that, whatever a duchess was, but he was at least old enough to realize he shouldn’t agree out loud. “No you’re not…” He was also old enough to lie. “You just need practice, that’s all!” He attempted to sound optimistic and friendly.
The girl in front of him seemed to realize he didn’t know what he was talking about, but, fortunately, she also decided it was pointless to fuss. “Well, how will I practice if no one will be my servant?” Ugh, was she trying to throw on the guilt or something? She was really making it hard to soften up to her.
“Why do you even need a servant, anyways?” He scowled, ruffling up his fur. Yujin wasn’t stupid, he wasn’t going to be her servant just because she cried a little!
But it seemed even this duchess girl didn’t quite know. “Well, because… Important people have them, I think.” He may be young, but Yujin was also smart enough to decide this was a very stupid reason.
“Why would important people have servants? Are they too dumb to do things for themselves?” He realized he may have said something stupid, because at first the purple female seemed upset. But then she lightened up and giggled.
Okay, so this cub was pretty cute. Even if he didn’t seem to understand anything that mattered. It was okay, she could teach him! “I’m an important person. And so is my dad. And my mom.” Maybe she should be upset, but at this point she found it kind of funny.
The cub named Yujin seemed a little sheepish now. “Oh. Right.” He seemed to understand the term ‘important’ on it’s own, but didn’t associate it with the proper titles. “I’m sorry I called you stupid.” She blinked, and smiled at this. The cub seemed uncertain, and he went on. “But this doesn’t mean I’ll be your servant!”
That was a pity. She was hoping that with that apology he’d add on a little ‘I will be your servant!’ but it seemed not. Zise figured she would have to settle. “Okay.” She frowned slightly, then forced on another little smile. “But will you be my friend, Yujin?”
The cub seemed taken aback, and she wasn’t sure if it was by her request of because she knew his name. Zise couldn’t quite remember how she had learned the cubs name, perhaps she had seen a sibling call him, or his mother mentioned him. “Um… okay.” She was a little disheartened by his lack of excitement, but let it go. This was good enough for now.”What’s your name, anyways?”
Yujin didn’t really like that she knew his name, but he didn’t know hers. Somehow it seemed weird. Besides, if they were going to be friends, he should know her name! “My name is Zhong Zise. But you can just call me Zise, because my whole family is named Zhong-something!” That was kind of funny, Yujin thought. Everyone had the same name! Maybe it was so they knew who was family. Maybe she had a very big family.
“Okay then, I’ll be your friend, Zise! But I’m not your servant.” He was adamant about that. It would be awful if she started mixing up friendship with servitude! So he looked at his new friend suspiciously, until she nodded and agreed.
“[darkorchid]Ok. Friend, not servant.” She repeated, to make it clear she understood. “So let’s go do things friends do!” Zise declared, standing up from her spot on the floor, then giving Yujin a small shove before heading in a random direction. She only looked back to make sure the cub followed, and, obediently, he did.
Maybe servants and friends weren’t that different.