Pet's name: Loriku
More Than Meets The Eye
I was born independent, thats what my mama says. I have to do everything on my own, I will not do nothing people tell me to do. I refuse to let males show off to me, I am single, just like I wanna be. Also, I can do everything by myself. I don't need a man to protect me. If I can kill a lion, than I can fend for myself. Oh, I may look cute and lovable on the outside, but on the inside, I am fierce.
The sun beats down on this hot African day. Everybody is hot and grumpy, but me, of course. I never get hot or sweaty, I never get cold or chilly, and I never, ever get sick. I despise humans, except one-she is the nicest little girl ever. She lives in a village nearby, and she just adores me. Everyday, I go up to the village and play with her, she is the cutest thing ever! Sometimes, if no one else is around, I even let her ride on my back. Not that I would tell anyone that though.
When I returned from the little girl, I walked through the pack with my head held high. Everybody knew, I was dominate, higher than everybody else. Even my own pa respects me. "Close your mouth sugar, you'll catch flies." I say sweetly to the boy who I am supposed to be mates with, Dominic. Yuck. I am never, ever gonna be seen hugging on him!
He closes his mouth immediately, lowering his head. "Yes ma'am." I nod, walking over to the watering hole and lapping up some water elegantly. Just then, I hear antelope. I go to the front of the pack. "Huntin time!" I call out, racing forward. Everybody comes behind me in their positions. Dominic behind me, my father beside him, my mother behind them next to my aunt, and so on. All of the pups at the back.
After snacking on some antelope, we lay down to rest. If anyone comes to close to me, I snap at them to warn, "Keep away!"
I dozed off for a second, as with everyone else. The pups were still playing though, and none of us noticed some lions prowling nearby. I guess they thought none of us had ears, because suddenly the lionesses charged forward toward the pups. I immediately awoke. Realizing what was happening, I charged at the lionesses, knocking one down. The others were still going at the pups though, one having a pup in her jaw. I attacked that one at the throat. It yowled in pain, letting go of the pup. The lioness swiped at me, catching my shoulder, which immediately started pouring blood. Shaking that off, I jumped into the air and landed on the lionesses back. I heard a snap, and the lioness roared, then fell to the ground. The other lionesses retreated. I knelt down next to the puppy, licking its face. Its breath was slow and raspy. "Its gonna be alright." I told her. "We need a healer over here!" I shouted. One of the healers, Gianna, came rushing over. "Anasha needs help. Pronto."
After my shoulder was bandaged up, I lay down, not letting myself fall asleep. My shoulder was stiff, it was hard to move. I was afraid for the pup, not for myself. Sure, out in the wild, cuts get infected easily, but that pup! I saw the look on its face. She was so helpless, so scared. I turned to Gianna. "She needs to live." I tell her. Gianna sighs. "I am doing the best I can." I nod and turn my head the other direction.
Dominic comes over and lays down next to me, licking my shoulder. I was so tired and worried, and didn't even stop him. I just laid there, staring off into space.
The next day, I was dizzy, and I felt sick. When I was hunting, Domenic approached me and asked, "Are you feeling alright? You don't look so good." I shrugged, focusing on the mission. Suddenly, I got so dizzy, I felt like I was gonna fall over. "Dominic, I am gonna go lay down. I will send mother to hunt with you."
I laid down in the spot I usually do. I do not know what is wrong with me. I slowly doze off, but my sleep is full of nightmares.
When I awake, I feel a little bit better. Seeing it is time to visit the little girl, I get up and stumble to were I usually meet her. She is waiting there, clapping her hands. I smile, but suddenly, I collapse, everything going black.
I wake up in an animal rescue. I sit up straight. Where am I? Where is my pack? My front leg is really stiff, and it stings badly. I try to move it, but it is bandaged up tight. I growl, wanting to get back home. I still feel dizzy though, and I lay down on my back, which I discover makes it feel better.
A human approaches me and pricks me with a needle. I yelp and swipe at him. He grabs my paw with his rubber glove. "I don't think so." He waves a finger at me. I scowl. He is treating me like such a baby! I little tiny thought swims around in my head. You are a baby. All he did was stick a needle into you, and you cry! What happened to the brave girl who kills lions and protects her pack? You need to be her!I get mad. I shake the man off of me and dart of the examination table. I skid down the waxed halls, trying to get my claws to dig in so I don't slip. What is this? I skid around a corner and toward the exit. Now I have a whole parade of people chasing me. I laugh and run towards the fence. It is low enough for me to jump. I quickly discard the thought of whatever is on the top. I take a step back, take a running leap, and soar through the air. I am just about to make it when-I hit the top. ZZZT! The electric fence buzzes as I smash into it. I cry out in pain, falling to the ground. I hit it hard, landing on my feet. One foot caves in, and I hear a snap. I fall to the ground. One person in the crowd yells, "Well don't just stand there, do something!" A woman races forward, the person who said that. She kneels down, taking my head in her arms. "Go get a stretcher!" She tells the guy closest to her. He nods, turns around, and rushes back inside. I whimper. My leg feels like it is on fire! "Its gonna be alright." She tells me, sticking a needle into my side. Soon, the pain subsides and I fall into a deep sleep.
I awake with a large bruise on my eye and deep pain in my foot. It has plaster rapped around it. I am in a cage, hooked up to a bunch of tubes. I hate them. I try to bit them in half, but it wont snap. I growl and put my good paw up against the bars. When they don't move, I slam my head against the bars, over and over. "Hey hey hey! Calm down!" The lady walks up to me. She tries to rub behind my ear, but I growl and snap at her. She laughs and sits down on the floor in front of me, protected by the bars. "A month or so ago," She starts. "We had another African wild dog in. He was the sweetest thing. He had lost his leg from a battle with a lion, and he was already missing a leg. We put thousands of dollars in to make robotic legs for him. I fell in love with him. One day though, he was fully healthy, we couldn't take car of him anymore. He couldn't go back to the wild, he needed to be taken care of by humans. So, we put him in the zoo." Her voice cracked and a tear ran down her cheek. I started feeling bad for her. "I saw his face when I left him. It broke my heart in two." She looked back at me. "You are nothing like him, are you? You are independent, fierce, and you don't trust anyone, do you?" I tilted my head, not understanding her at all, her tone confusing. She laughs at my confusion. No matter how tough I try to act, she makes me smiled a tiny bit. She tries to rub behind my ear again. I snap back into attack mode and snap at her hand, growling. Her hand snaps back. "Fine. Be that way." She jokes. She gets up and walks away. I get sad, but soon she returns with a huge, raw steak. "Ya want it?" She asked. I stood up on my hand legs and barked. "Well, you have to let me pet you first." I lowered my ears, I could tell she wanted something from me first. I crouched down low to the ground, showing submission. She laughed. "I just want to pet you, you silly dog." She reached toward my ears and I jumped backwards. "No steak then." She held it farther from me. I suddenly understood. I pushed my head forward a bit, just close enough for her to reach it. As I her hands touched it, I winced, lowering my head. "Uh-uh." She said. "Let me pet you." I growled, then lowered my head again. She reached out and rubbed me behind the ears.
Now I limp, and they say I can't go back home because I would be ridiculed. Of course, the humans didn't say that, the animals that understood the humans told me what they said. My family wouldn't ridicule me though, would they? I shook my head. No. No they wouldn't. I slammed my head against the cage. "I." Slam. "Want." Slam."To." Slam."Go." Slam. "Home." Slam slam slam. The old hyena next to me chuckled. "You ain't gonna get your way by hurtin yourself young'in." I rolled my eyes. Old annoying grandma. Just to spite her, I slammed it three more times before I got to dizzy.
My infection is better, and my leg is pretty much healed. The only times I am not healthy looking is when I walk. I limp. That girl, who I now know is Shannon, is still socializing me. I will be sent to a zoo afterwards, with others my kind. Anyways, each day I am fed a steak if I let different people do different things to me-pet me, rub me behind the ear, and now I am learning to heal and sit and walk like a normal house dog. How typical. I have always despised that lazy animal, a shame to our dog ancestors. Yuck.
The day has come when we say good bye and I am shipped off to the zoo. I am not as emotional as Shannon, she is a mess. Her mascara is running, as with her nose, and her nose is red from all the wiping, as with her eyes. She is just one red, puffy mess. I remain calm and collected, but I am sad. I like Shannon. At least I get to be with others of my kind though.
Shannon loads me onto the truck into a cage. She takes off the leash, and closes the door. "Good Bye. I will visit you, I promise." I stare at her, then bark sadly, another way to say goodbye.
The truck drove off, bumping down the road. It is my first time in a van, and I am fascinated. What is this thing? I shrug and lay down, getting excited.
We pull up at the zoo. The driver opens the door to the truck, then opens the cage door. He has a bad smell to him. I growl as he slips a chain around my neck. "Another one of you worthless mutts, I see." He took a puff of his cigarette. I crinkled my nose, trying to get away. He yanks on my chain, pulling me toward a cage. He unhooks the leash and throws me in. I growl at him. He closes the cage and climbs back into his truck, driving off.
Soon, a lady walks over. "Hey everyone! The female African wild dog has arrived!" She quickly opened the cage and sat down. "We already picked out a name. Loriku. That is your name. Now, we have three males. We had to decide which one would be your mate." Mate? I shook my head. No mate! I refuse to.
After talking for awhile, she took out her radio. "Bring the first male dog. Sunbar." Soon another person comes over, holding a chain attached to another dog. I growled. Sunbar winced, scared. I laughed. They let him in the cage, and both humans left. I looked away and started grooming myself, ignoring him. He gulps. "He-hello. I'm Sunbar." I rolled my eyes. "And I care why?" "I was just trying to start conversation." He grumbled. I narrowed my eyes. "Well maybe I don't want to start conversation. Now bug off." He went over to the door of the cage and barked. "Let me out!" He pleaded.
He was replaced by another male, named Lowell. He was fierce like myself, I could tell. I ignored him as well, until he came right over to me and pushed me over. Holding me down, he said, "Be my mate." I growled and flipped him off of me. I smacked him across the face. "Get away from me, creep!" He glared at me. "How dare you hit Lowell the Magnificent?!" He lunged at me, but I dodged. I sashayed away, but he followed, growling. "You wouldn't hit a girl." I teased. "I would if she mocked me!" He yelled, lunging again and hitting me on the shoulder. I swatted him away, but my shoulder started bleeding a little bit. The trainers came rushing in and slipped a chain around Lowell's neck and pulled him back. He growled at them. They dragged him back.
The girl who was first with me left, returning with another male. There was something strange about him, though. He had metal front legs. I tilted my head, staring at him. He glanced at me shyly, then back at the ground. The lady smiled. "This is Jamal." She left, leaving us alone. I cleared my throat, an awkward silence between us. I cleared my throat. "What happened to you?" He looked up at me. "I was born without a leg, but I lost the other in a tussle with a lion." "What about your pack?" I asked. "Abandoned me." Wow, tough life. He suddenly remembered he was supposed to be impressing her. "I had to fend for myself. I had to steal from lions, and was successful many times." "Except that one time." I said slyly. Is she trying to push me into the ground? He thought. He took a breath. "What was your life like?" "Why do you want to know?" I snapped. I can't get too friendly with him. I refuse to have a mate. But he is different than the others. "Because I want to get to know you." He said truthfully. I sighed. "I was the leader of the pack. My parents tried to set me up with this idiot named Dominic, without success. One day, when we were all resting, some lions attacked the young ones. I defended them, so I got this huge gash in my shoulder." I motioned to my scar. "One of the young ones was practically torn apart. She was still alive though." He was staring at me. "And, my shoulder got infected and I ended up in a clinic or whatever it is called. I am fine now, though." "Then why do you limp? You limp on the opposite side you have your scar on. Something else happened." I sighed. "I tried to escape, jump the fence. I hit the top, got shocked, and fell to the ground. Broke my foot." He nodded.
So we talked. I lost my guard, and I actually started liking him a tiny bit. What neither of us noticed was the people were watching us, smiling. "Loriku, I like you. I know the humans want to pair us up, so..." He says, shyly. I take a breath. "You know what? Sure." I nuzzled him.
"Wow." The girl says. "Quick transformation." The girl and her assistant put us in the habitat the other African Wild dogs are in. Sunbar won't meet eyes with me, and Lowell glares. He is jealous of Jamal, I could tell. He was mad at me as well, for beating him of course. "So, this is my new life." I say, smiling happily at Jamal. "And we are going to live it together." He replies.
I'm quiting.
by SilverDust144 » Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:32 am 
and I love the idea! Go for it!
Pet's name: Wisdom
