RP [Solo]It's All About Balance

[Enansel]

[[OOC; A collection of stories/snipets of the Hidden Sun Clan Lupaie twins Alpin and Yanga. Might Edit later with a ToC lol.]]

Night Terrors​

Alpin's ears twitched into alertness from where he lay curled up in his bed on the far side of the room next to the door, they turned this way and that and only ceased their movement when he caught the soft sounds coming from the bed across the room. With a soft sigh the young Qaktoro slipped from his bed, dragging his favorite blanket along with him. He quietly padded over to his sister's bed and slipped up into it, pulling her into his arms and purring soothingly as he rubbed his cheek against hers until she calmed. "Bad dream?" He asked softly into the darkness of the room and when she nodded he soothed a hand over her head, stroking behind her ears in a tender manner that he knew would get her to relax.

"Don't leave me." Yanga begged him, not caring what anyone else might think about her need for his comfort. Her brother was her world, her center, her rock. That earned a slight smile from Alpin and he stroked his hand over her ears again. "Not until morning." He promised and the pair lay back down, small enough to be quite capable of fitting on the bed together. Alpin curled his tail around Yanga's tail, adjusting the blankets around them and tucking her smaller frame against his. It had always been this way, ever since they had both made it through their first month healthy as ever, but no one had to know and if he had his way no one ever would. Yanga was his sister, his twin, and he'd dishonor the whole clan with the universe as witness before he ever gave his affections for her up. (They're 7, give em a break.)

[[and more tomorrow... Cause I get to be mean to Yanga...]]

 

[Enansel]

The Encounter (Partially Non-Cannon)​

So far the Baqnor(move from youth) had been treating Yanga well. She had passed the first three tests presented to her with flying colors and she was looking forward to an easy hunt across The Preserve. She settled the kâbo veltin(knife), rope and water flask on her person and when it was time for her head out she did. It took about three hours to pick up on the trail of her chosen prey. Another three almost uneventful hours later and she knew she was getting closer, the tracks and other signs pointing to her getting closer and closer. She began to slow down, pulling her kâbo veltin free and flexing her fingers around the hilt. Her ears stood tall, tail low and swaying slightly in anticipation.

She probably should have gotten nervous the instant she spotted the enormous, strange looking print that suddenly covered the tracks of the feline species she'd been tracking already. It looked almost canine in nature and she couldn't ever remember reading about something /that/ big being in The Preserve. With a shake of her head she passed it off as a fluke and continued onward without seeing any more of the big tracks. Yanga finally got good sign that she was getting even closer, pausing to inspect a freshly clawed tree, and continuing on quietly.

When she finally caught the flash of striped and spotted fur through the dense brush she slowed even more, senses alert, tail down. Creeping along in more or less a crouch in order to fully use the available cover, she got closer and closer. Ten dâya, nine, eight, pause and hold. Seven, six, slow down it's looking around. Five, fou- SNAP! Almost too late she realized her mistake. The female big cat turned and took off, the larger male with her charging Yanga from off to the qaktoro's right and catching her tail in his huge mouth as she attempted to leap away. She screamed and blindly took a swipe at the cat's face, getting him to release her but not without leaving her tail more or less hanging on by a few strips of skin.

Falling over on her backside she took her tail in hand, holding tightly just above where it had been bitten to keep it from bleeding out too badly and scrambling backwards. She didn't get too far before a dark shadow shot over her head, out sizing the male feline by far. Sharp teeth snapped down, easily crushing the skull of the great cat in it's jaws. Darker than the voids among the stars, back lit a brilliant purple with matching eyes, the enormous canine looking creature most absolutely definitely wasn't supposed to be here and yet here it was. She could only stare, open mouthed, as the dâ dâya (roughly 12 feet) tall creature turned on her, blood painting it's muzzle and eyes seeming to stare into her very core. 'Get Up!' Something spoke to her, but not out loud, and she only too hastily obliged, only just barely staggering one way and then the other to avoid the rather regal looking cream, gold and silver colored and blue-grey and white colored canines of smaller size but absolutely same species that had shown up.

She turned around, watching the trio of creatures. They were true predators, bigger than anything she'd ever encountered, and she suddenly felt very small, very insignificant. The cream one, glowing golden beneath it's fur, approached, nose sniffing at her tail and after a long moment the cream and the black flickered and rippled, the bioluminescent light beneath their coats shimmering in mesmerizing patterns. They were talking, she caught on after a short moment, talking about her? Maybe. She gently bit down on her tongue, her ears folding back and her tail forgotten for the long moment it took for the pair of creatures to come to some sort of conclusion. The cream one looked her in the eye, golden glowing eyes reminding Yanga of the sun. 'Go. Now.' More weird words in her head, understandable, familiar yet different from the first. She turned and obliged.

Gripping her tail tightly she sprinted until she couldn't and loped from there until she was forced to stop. Panting hard and now out in the open she stopped to suck down some water. The end of her tail she cut free with a whimper, it was a loss anyway. She tore up part of her umatli (kilt) and wrapped the stump of her tail as tightly and securely as she could and doggedly headed for the far side of The Preserve. She was hungry, dehydrated, exhausted, bloody, weak and without evidence of a successful hunt by the time she reached where she needed to be. She just barely managed to keep her head up and her eyes open as she was meet by the wapoin'aka (doctor) and wapoin'as (tenders) waiting there for her. The look in the eyes of her twin's, otherwise impassive, face threatened to cause her to break down in tears. She'd failed. Failed her family, her house, the clan and most importantly her twin.

She didn't remember collapsing into Alpin's arms, but she did remember waking up at one time or another, babbling about what she'd seen and after an extensive search of The Preserve and no evidence of the glowing canines were found it was put up to her being delirious from blood loss and pain. "Do not speak of this again. Please tia âtoma?" Alpin would beg her when she was more lucid, his fear showing through in that quiet and private moment together. Yanga acquiesced, stowing the memory away, changing her story to something slightly more believable. She might be given another chance when her tail healed for there was one test left, that of endurance, and she intended to make up for her failure in The Preserve, determined to prove she was still just as capable as any Qaktoro.

 

[Enansel]

Arrival & Recovery​

"He's adorable!" Yanga murmured, taking the young Qaktoro from Trilia and purring softly as he held the newborn in his arms, stroking a tender finger over the tiny ears and tucking the baqli in close. With an approving look from his mother Yanga turned and went into the house with the much older Tula. "He'll be loved." Yanga murmured softly, heading for where he knew his twin to be so Alpin could get a good look at the newest addition to the family. Trilia nodded "Yes, he will. His name is Haukru." She provided helpfully. Yanga nodded "A strong name." Agreeing with his mother's choice on the name. "Alpin, look! Tilia brought little Haukru home from the clinic!" Yanga joined his brother and showed the much larger qaktoro the tiny cub asleep in his arms. Alpin's ears perked and he easily glanced over Yanga's shoulder and down at the tiny cub. "He's so small." Alpin glanced back at Trilia, who watched from the door way, "Were we that small once?" He asked and she nodded "Yes, the both of you were." Alpin turned his attention back to the little cub. It wasn't too long before an excited Liamau and a more subdued Mauyan both loped into the room and crouched down beside Yanga to fawn over Haukru as well.

Several days later Yanga was brought in and prepared for surgery. It only took about two hours or so before Yanga was moved into a room to recover. He had done it willingly, all for personal reasons, and had spent several weeks after his almost-failed baqnor researching everything about being permanently sterilized. Yanga came home soon thereafter, settled in to rest in his room and sleep off the drugs used to put him under. Alpin quietly padded in soon after, checking the door at least six times before he crouched by the bed and stroked a soothing hand over Yanga's face and ears. Alpin barred his teeth when Yanga's eyes sleepily opened and the bigger qaktoro gave a deep purr and tenderly rubbed his cheek against his twin's cheek. "Sleep." Alpin encouraged softly, standing up in order to leave. "Stay. Yanga spoke up, barely louder than a whisper though. Alpin considered, closed the door, and then slipped up onto the bed and carefully fit himself in around Yanga, soothing a hand over Yanga's head and ears in the manner he knew his twin liked. "We're getting much too big for this." Alpin mused and Yanga gave a soft snort of a laugh. Yes. Yes they were, but Yanga didn't care, falling asleep in his twin's arms.

Days later and Yanga still didn't feel like getting up beyond when Alpin bullied him into it, tender to a point and tired. It wasn't until Trilia brought Haukru in that Yanga roused that particular day. "Yanga?" She asked, stroking Yanga's ears with the end of her tail. "Can you tend to Haukru for me while I take your siblings off to their schooling?" Yanga blinked awake and glanced up at the Tula and the chubby cub in her arms. "Of course." He agreed finally, carefully sitting up and leaning against the wall in order to take Haukru into his arms. Haukru's big eyes stared up at Yanga and those tiny hands stretched towards the much bigger quaktoro's face. Yanga let out an amused rumble and lowered his head into Haukru's touch, tolerating the petting and touching and tugs on his ears. When Haukru inevitably got hungry Yanga was more or less forced to get up, cradling the little cub close. While he obviously didn't have milk, he could dip his finger into some well mushed up and liquefied fruit and let Haukru suckle that off and soothe himself in the process. After a bit of careful suckling Yanga was pleased to see the small cub settle down, tucked against Yanga's warm fur and soothed by the care and attention.

Trilia grinned and left Yanga be when she found him sitting in the kitchen and letting Haukru sleep in his arms. She left him there, not wishing to disturb either of them. Haukru's need for constant care and attention ended up being just the fix for Yanga's post-surgery depression, encouraging the other to get up and move about and consider how someone other than himself felt. Yanga of course happily went about tending to Haukru, finding comfort and joy in teaching and tending the young qaktoro. Trilia of course was amused, had it not been such a bad idea to separate Alpin and Yanga, she was convinced Yanga would have made an amazing Giba'a (Instructor) or Wapoin'a (Tender) or perhaps found work looking after another Punla's baqli in the Falon Ruoka.

((*In short? Babysitting.))