YEAR ONE -- PG
[title] Year One
[author] kissontheneck [a.k.a. fieryrogue]
[pairing] Cookleta
[beta] I didn't ask her to do srs!beta on it, but rajkumari905 read through it and responded, in a nutshell, with, "ASLDKFJDLKJF." So there you are.
[rating] PG (LOL, I guess?)
[word count] 3181
[summary] Two words: Homo erectus.
[disclaimer] Surely, I have nothing to do with either of these fine young men, no matter how much I wish I did.
[warnings] I am not a paleontologist or anthropologist. Pre-historical accuracy be damned. I mean, it's cavemen, people. CAVEMEN.
[author's notes] This is insanity. I mean, I don't even know how to describe it at all. This is for my au_bingo card, fulfilling (hopefully) Historical: Prehistoric. Seriously, prehistoric. IDEK. Also, because I have such difficulty referring to Archie as a man, I repeatedly refer to him as a boy in this. Just know that he's not twelve, okay? He's at least like, seventeen or something. If that sort of thing even matters in prehistoric times.
I FEEL THIS PICTURE IS APPROPRIATE.
YEAR ONE
On the outskirts of the village there is a small, lonely cave. It's something of an unpleasant cutout in the rockface, a place where there isn't the best of protection from the elements, which explains why no other member of Kuk's clan had claimed it before he had. There is hardly sleeping space for one of Kuk's kind inside, but this is to his preference anyway; Kuk is unlike his fellow clansmen. He is a solitary being who takes care of himself for the most part. He's relatively unsociable and rarely seeks out any sort of interaction with those in the village unless it is absolutely necessary. The males have little to do with him and the females have even less to do with him.
It's okay. He's not very fond of the females anyway.
The day the boy appears, Kuk is merely tending to his fire. He could very well have been off in the brush, tailing a squirrel or rabbit, and if that had been the case, he'd have missed the boy entirely. Well, he'd have found the boy's mangled body splayed out at his cave entrance, actually, which would have been unfortunate. Kuk did not like dealing with the dead and it'd have taken weeks for the blood to fully wash away in the rain and cease attracting animals.
Instead, Kuk is adding some branches to his fire, probing it until the flames flicked higher and higher. A muffled sound startles him into straightening his body and peering around him, holding himself stock still. The sound comes again, this time sounding more distinctly like a human. Kuk rises to his feet and carefully moves in the direction of the shout, grabbing for the trusty spear that rested against his cave opening. Kuk tip-toes along the rockface, holding the spear in front of himself protectively, the gentle breeze of the late afternoon slipping across his face. It becomes quiet again, but not for long.
Kuk jumps in surprise as the boy dashes in front of him, narrowly missing the pointy end of the spear. The distraction delays Kuk briefly before the boy's pursuer -- a large, golden-colored cat with enormous shining teeth -- leaps in front of him, causing Kuk to automatically press himself tightly against the craggy stone wall. The cat, seemingly oblivious to Kuk or his weapon, stalks across the flat earth, moving swiftly towards the boy who is now cowering on the ground just outside the circle of the fire, having fallen in his desperation to escape. Blood pulses through Kuk's body and he throws the spear in instinct towards the beast, piercing it deeply in the neck.
The cat rears up, its huge paws clawing at the air as it falls back to the earth, flailing wildly. The boy scrambles to escape the tumbling beast, glancing back several times as he pushes himself to his feet. Kuk approaches the supine animal and stares it down as if he could will it to die before grabbing the end of his spear, pulls it roughly from the cat's neck and then plunges it in again, assuring a more expedient death. As he does so, he mades a dreadful growl at the creature, and the boy hides himself just inside the mouth of Kuk's cave in response.
Kuk kicks the cat's body over, and when finally satisfied that it is not going to miraculously jump back to life, he looks up at the boy and narrows his brow. As Kuk moves towards him, the boy shrinks further down along the rough wall, trembling in fear. Kuk stops short of him, inspecting his visitor closely. The boy looks different than the people of his tribe, with darker hair and smoother skin. No hair grew upon his face yet, but it seemed the lad was otherwise closer to manhood than Kuk has initially assessed. Also unlike the other males Kuk is accustomed to, he is slender rather than broad at the shoulders and his ribs are easily seen through his skin. Kuk stares at the shaking young man another second before reaching out towards him, causing the latter to jerk back.
Grabbing tightly to the hair at the nape of his companion's neck, Kuk pulls the lad to his feet, yanking him closely to his own body and pushing his nose against the boy's soft cheek. He inhales deeply before moving lower on the boy's body and doing it again. He smells differently than most males of Kuk's clan as well, less like dirt and sweat and more like grass and bark. Grass and bark as the berry-gathering females usually do.
Kuk releases him finally, now turning to the dead animal that still lays sprawled before his fire. He stoops to sweep up the newly sharpened stone that lays just inside the cave entrance and then moves to begin work at dismantling his surprise feast.
~*~
Kuk's new companion has watched him from the shadow of the cave arch as he cuts away large portions of the cat's flesh, skillfully pushing it onto pointed sticks. Kuk ignores the boy the entire time he spends cooking the meat, but never chases him off either. In the time that passes, the sun drifts slowly into the horizon, leaving a dim glow on the earth when Kuk pulls the last skewer from the dying fire. A large, flat rock rests at Kuk's side, now piled with perfectly grilled sabretooth cat meat. He turns to find his companion still staring as intently as he had been hours before. Picking up one of the pieces of meat, he holds it aloft towards the boy and makes a gravely, grunting sound.
The boy stays frozen to the spot. Kuk grumbles in his throat before again jabbing the stick of meat into the air and vocalizing louder than he had before, this time finishing by pointing at his visitor and then indicating the spot on the ground next to him in the same movement. Now the newcomer creeps out of the shadows timidly, carefully positioning himself just out of Kuk's reach next to the firepit. Kuk thrusts the meat towards him avidly and finally the boy takes it with shaking hands.
Kuk snatches up his own portion of food, immediately tearing into it with his teeth. The boy jumps slightly in his spot at the sudden violence and nearly drops his own stick of meat. Kuk pauses mid-chew and looks curiously at the boy. Then with juices trailing from the corners of his mouth and trickling across his scruffy chin, again grunts at him aggressively. The boy's eyes go wide before he too bites into his portion, though not nearly as savagely as his host.
The boy accepts a second meat stick from Kuk, but not a third, and as Kuk tears through several more helpings, the boy takes to watching him again. Finally, Kuk pitches the discarded sticks into what remains of the fire and then gets to his feet. He lumbers off into the direction where he had drug the remaining cat carcass, somewhere a fair distance off into the tall grass just beyond his living space. A few minutes later he returns, bunches of the lush field grass clasped tightly under his arms.
Just outside the cave opening, in a crook where the rock tucks in slightly, Kuk drops the bundles from his hands and spreads the grass evenly across the ground. Again he looks at his young companion, points at him and then the mound of grass and makes something of a commanding sound. Having now learned what this means, the boy scampers to the spot and immediately sits down on it.
They regard one another a moment, then Kuk begins to walk away, scratching at his dirty scalp. He pauses at the entrance to his cave, however, and glances back at the boy, who had settled down now, resting his chin on his hands. Kuk jabs his index finger into his bare chest and mutters, "Kuk."
The boy merely blinks up at him.
~*~
The morning light aggravates Kuk and he attempts to bury his face further into the crook of his arm. It is of little use however, and after several minutes of fighting it he finally sits upright in his rustled pile of field grass and stretches out his arms. His head feels a little foggy and for the time being he has completely forgotten anything that happened in the previous day. He is just adjusting the wrap of his loincloth when he hears a rustling sound outside.
Kuk darts to the cave's opening, vocalizing and clutching the spear which he keeps near him when he's sleeping. He is as startled as his overnight guest when their squinting eyes meet one another's. Confusion traps him momentarily as he takes in the scene before him. The boy has tidied up his grass bed, tucking the pile neatly against the outside wall of the cave. The boy himself is hunched over near the firepit stones and upon seeing Kuk he gets to his feet, cradling a broad, curved leaf between his hands. Kuk watches him skeptically as the boy comes nearer and extends his thin arms out in front of him. He looks up into Kuk's face, his eyes large and round like those of one of the gentler beasts of the field. He nudges his cupped hands forward, making the smallest sound of urging.
Kuk squints into the bent leaf and finds it filled with familiar berries, along with some which are not so familiar. He eyes the boy again, hesitating. The boy repeats his hand movement and dips his face forward as if nudging the offering in his companion's direction. Finally, Kuk reaches for one of the familiar berries and presses it between his lips. The juice squirts easily across his tongue, and it is the sweetest fruit he has tasted in all his life. The boy smiles brightly.
They stand there, the two of them, sharing the fruit until the last berry is scooped up by Kuk at his partner's insistence. Another grin lights up the boy's face and he rushes back over to the firepit, deposits the leaf amongst the cooled ashes of the previous night's fire and then picks up something else from alongside the nearby stones. He comes back to Kuk's side, hands cupped mysteriously over the item before finally breaking his fingers apart in revelation. Kuk's brow narrows in complete confusion; the boy seems to be holding nothing more than a tangle of vine.
The boy picks at the mess, freeing from under all the looping vine what is clearly a tooth of the sabretooth cat. He has tightly wrapped the base of the tooth with the vine and created a large loop with the remaining length. He dangles it in front of him, offering it to Kuk.
Kuk is unsure what it is his young friend wants him to do, so he stares stupidly between the dark-haired boy and his strange gift. The tooth swings gently back and forth for a moment before the boy takes ahold of the large loop of vine, pushes himself up on his toes and moves his hands towards Kuk's head. Kuk, who is very protective of his large cranium due to many encounters with animals attempting to bite it, dodges out of the boy's reach instinctively. The boy frowns, makes a sound at him and then taps him lightly on the temple as he ducks his own head downward. Kuk finally understands and does the same, and the boy lets the looped vine drop around the elder's neck. The shining white tooth bounces softly against Kuk's firm chest and Kuk fingers it a moment in examination.
"Da'vi."
Kuk looks up at the sound his companion has made.
"Da'vi," the young man repeats. He is now pointing at his own chest, just as Kuk had done the night before.
"Da'vi," Kuk repeats carefully and lets the cat's tooth slip from his fingers.
~*~
Kuk spends his morning sharpening the ends of several large sticks and stacking them into a haphazard pile at his side. When Da'vi approaches him he watches Kuk intently in his work. After several minutes pass, Kuk takes up a fresh stick and his sharpened rock and hands the latter to Da'vi, whose eyes go wide as the weight of it sinks into his grasp. Kuk makes a chopping motion at one end of the stick, his fingers held rigidly together and at an angle. Da'vi fondles the rock in his hand and then attempts to do as Kuk has demonstrated. Instead the rock slips from his fingers and clatters noisily to the ground.
Kuk grunts and picks the rock up, pressing it into Da'vi's small hand a second time. Again he demonstrates what he wants Da'vi to do, and this time Da'vi manages to hack at the stick a little, though he mangles it more than sharpens it. Unfortunately, Kuk does not know the meaning of the word patience and he grabs the rock from Da'vi in frustration. Da'vi's face falls and he pushes back on his haunches, wrapping his long arms around his knees. He watches Kuk resume his work before he gets up and goes to lie on his grass mound.
Once all the gathered sticks have been sharpened, Kuk loads them up in his arms and carries them to the cave. He barely notices Da'vi when he passes him, and proceeds to stack the sticks in a small corner. Once he drops the last stick on top, he retreats further into the cave and slumps down into his bed of matted grass and animal furs. He doesn't really intend to fall asleep, but that is precisely what happens.
It's cool, damp air that slips along Kuk's exposed back and wakes him. The sound of hard rain ricochets along the rockface, pounding out a hypnotic rhythm. Kuk opens his eyes and deeply inhales the moist air about him. His brain echoes the beats of the falling rain and a second later he bolts upright, peering frantically around him. Scrambling to his feet, he rushes to the cave mouth and looks to Da'vi's bed. It's worse than he thought: The boy is nowhere to be found.
Kuk loses no time moving further out into the open and searching up and down the perimeter of his homestead. No creature human or otherwise can be seen for acres; the rain is too heavy for any living thing in its right mind to be wandering about. Kuk stands frozen in the dumping rain as he again sweeps his gaze along the horizon. With water cascading coldly down his back, Kuk steps off into the grass. The soil beneath his feet is soft with moisture, but he hardly notices; he sniffs the air deeply and then heads swiftly off towards the wooded land beyond.
Once amongst the trees, it's more difficult to see. But if his companion has been smart he's taken shelter somewhere in the wood, assuming he hasn't been eaten by a mountain lion already. Kuk slips repeatedly on the forest floor, but fails to be undeterred. As he moves along he takes in every tree, glancing high up into them as he passes each one. While staring desperately up into the canopy, his left foot escapes from underneath him and he tumbles to the ground, splashing into a thick puddle of mud.
Kuk calls out angrily as he struggles to get himself upright again, flicking mud from out of his eyes. Something at his feet distracts him suddenly; a large, broad leaf that curves naturally through its middle is stuck to his ankle. He reaches to peel it from his skin and hesitates as he turns it over. Then looking around himself he sees several squashed berries littering the area. His pulse quickens as he looks desperately around the surrounding brush. A stick cracks behind one of the bushes and not a second passes before Kuk is lumbering through it, swinging his arms wildly to clear a path. His heart comes up in his throat once he reaches the other side. Propped up against the base of a large tree is Da'vi, his lanky arms wrapping his body in the fetal position on the ground. He's thoroughly soaked and there are scratches along his cheek and shoulder. Water rushes in rivulets along the boy's cheek, dripping fluidly from his colorless lips. Kuk shivers violently at the sight.
Stepping forward, he crouches near his companion's weakened body. Forcing his face against Da'vi's, Kuk breathes in deeply; he smells of rain and grass and bark. He is still alive.
"Da'vi," Kuk says weakly, nudging his shoulder.
The boy's head lolls weakly against his chest.
~*~
The harpooning rain rinses most of the mud from their bodies as Kuk carries Da'vi back to the cave. His large forehead is furrowed in determination, and he clutches Da'vi's small body closely to his, his wet fingers digging into the boy's flesh. He is seemingly ignorant of the harsh weather now, despite the clumps of soggy hair hanging in his eyes. He heads straight into the cave and lays the boy gently onto his bed.
Kuk sits there on his knees a moment, looking Da'vi up and down. The next moment he's tugging at the boy's saturated loincloth and removing it from his body, dropping it aimlessly beside him. He pushes Da'vi onto his back and then reaches for one of the animal furs piled in the corner. Pressing the fur along Da'vi's body, Kuk attempts to dry him as much as possible. He then tosses this fur to the side as well before pulling a larger, furrier skin over Da'vi's supine form. He tucks it carefully around his patient's body, and as he does so Da'vi's eyes flutter open, instantly gazing up at his caretaker.
"Kuk," Da'vi says quietly, straining to speak. "Kuk."
Kuk merely blinks at him, frowning.
"Kuk," Da'vi says again. He extracts an arm from underneath the pelt blanket and points to the spot next to him in the matted grass bed. "Kuk."
Kuk obeys and stretches his body out alongside Da'vi's. It's a tight fit; he is practically touching his partner's body from head to toe.
Da'vi gazes into Kuk's eyes a moment before reaching the short distance between their chests and prodding at the giant cat's tooth that still hangs around Kuk's neck. Kuk glances down briefly at the touch and then back into the boy's face. He understands; his own fingers reach out and trace the scratches along Da'vi's jaw.
Neither of them moves for the longest time, and the still pounding rain drowns out all other sounds in the cave. Da'vi licks his pinking lips and then pushes his forehead into Kuk's shoulder, nuzzling his nose against the latter's chest. His hand moves slowly across the soft pelt and grabs the edge of it firmly. With some effort he tugs it upwards and then drags it carefully across Kuk's body as well.
=========
[author] kissontheneck [a.k.a. fieryrogue]
[pairing] Cookleta
[beta] I didn't ask her to do srs!beta on it, but rajkumari905 read through it and responded, in a nutshell, with, "ASLDKFJDLKJF." So there you are.
[rating] PG (LOL, I guess?)
[word count] 3181
[summary] Two words: Homo erectus.
[disclaimer] Surely, I have nothing to do with either of these fine young men, no matter how much I wish I did.
[warnings] I am not a paleontologist or anthropologist. Pre-historical accuracy be damned. I mean, it's cavemen, people. CAVEMEN.
[author's notes] This is insanity. I mean, I don't even know how to describe it at all. This is for my au_bingo card, fulfilling (hopefully) Historical: Prehistoric. Seriously, prehistoric. IDEK. Also, because I have such difficulty referring to Archie as a man, I repeatedly refer to him as a boy in this. Just know that he's not twelve, okay? He's at least like, seventeen or something. If that sort of thing even matters in prehistoric times.
I FEEL THIS PICTURE IS APPROPRIATE.
YEAR ONE
On the outskirts of the village there is a small, lonely cave. It's something of an unpleasant cutout in the rockface, a place where there isn't the best of protection from the elements, which explains why no other member of Kuk's clan had claimed it before he had. There is hardly sleeping space for one of Kuk's kind inside, but this is to his preference anyway; Kuk is unlike his fellow clansmen. He is a solitary being who takes care of himself for the most part. He's relatively unsociable and rarely seeks out any sort of interaction with those in the village unless it is absolutely necessary. The males have little to do with him and the females have even less to do with him.
It's okay. He's not very fond of the females anyway.
The day the boy appears, Kuk is merely tending to his fire. He could very well have been off in the brush, tailing a squirrel or rabbit, and if that had been the case, he'd have missed the boy entirely. Well, he'd have found the boy's mangled body splayed out at his cave entrance, actually, which would have been unfortunate. Kuk did not like dealing with the dead and it'd have taken weeks for the blood to fully wash away in the rain and cease attracting animals.
Instead, Kuk is adding some branches to his fire, probing it until the flames flicked higher and higher. A muffled sound startles him into straightening his body and peering around him, holding himself stock still. The sound comes again, this time sounding more distinctly like a human. Kuk rises to his feet and carefully moves in the direction of the shout, grabbing for the trusty spear that rested against his cave opening. Kuk tip-toes along the rockface, holding the spear in front of himself protectively, the gentle breeze of the late afternoon slipping across his face. It becomes quiet again, but not for long.
Kuk jumps in surprise as the boy dashes in front of him, narrowly missing the pointy end of the spear. The distraction delays Kuk briefly before the boy's pursuer -- a large, golden-colored cat with enormous shining teeth -- leaps in front of him, causing Kuk to automatically press himself tightly against the craggy stone wall. The cat, seemingly oblivious to Kuk or his weapon, stalks across the flat earth, moving swiftly towards the boy who is now cowering on the ground just outside the circle of the fire, having fallen in his desperation to escape. Blood pulses through Kuk's body and he throws the spear in instinct towards the beast, piercing it deeply in the neck.
The cat rears up, its huge paws clawing at the air as it falls back to the earth, flailing wildly. The boy scrambles to escape the tumbling beast, glancing back several times as he pushes himself to his feet. Kuk approaches the supine animal and stares it down as if he could will it to die before grabbing the end of his spear, pulls it roughly from the cat's neck and then plunges it in again, assuring a more expedient death. As he does so, he mades a dreadful growl at the creature, and the boy hides himself just inside the mouth of Kuk's cave in response.
Kuk kicks the cat's body over, and when finally satisfied that it is not going to miraculously jump back to life, he looks up at the boy and narrows his brow. As Kuk moves towards him, the boy shrinks further down along the rough wall, trembling in fear. Kuk stops short of him, inspecting his visitor closely. The boy looks different than the people of his tribe, with darker hair and smoother skin. No hair grew upon his face yet, but it seemed the lad was otherwise closer to manhood than Kuk has initially assessed. Also unlike the other males Kuk is accustomed to, he is slender rather than broad at the shoulders and his ribs are easily seen through his skin. Kuk stares at the shaking young man another second before reaching out towards him, causing the latter to jerk back.
Grabbing tightly to the hair at the nape of his companion's neck, Kuk pulls the lad to his feet, yanking him closely to his own body and pushing his nose against the boy's soft cheek. He inhales deeply before moving lower on the boy's body and doing it again. He smells differently than most males of Kuk's clan as well, less like dirt and sweat and more like grass and bark. Grass and bark as the berry-gathering females usually do.
Kuk releases him finally, now turning to the dead animal that still lays sprawled before his fire. He stoops to sweep up the newly sharpened stone that lays just inside the cave entrance and then moves to begin work at dismantling his surprise feast.
~*~
Kuk's new companion has watched him from the shadow of the cave arch as he cuts away large portions of the cat's flesh, skillfully pushing it onto pointed sticks. Kuk ignores the boy the entire time he spends cooking the meat, but never chases him off either. In the time that passes, the sun drifts slowly into the horizon, leaving a dim glow on the earth when Kuk pulls the last skewer from the dying fire. A large, flat rock rests at Kuk's side, now piled with perfectly grilled sabretooth cat meat. He turns to find his companion still staring as intently as he had been hours before. Picking up one of the pieces of meat, he holds it aloft towards the boy and makes a gravely, grunting sound.
The boy stays frozen to the spot. Kuk grumbles in his throat before again jabbing the stick of meat into the air and vocalizing louder than he had before, this time finishing by pointing at his visitor and then indicating the spot on the ground next to him in the same movement. Now the newcomer creeps out of the shadows timidly, carefully positioning himself just out of Kuk's reach next to the firepit. Kuk thrusts the meat towards him avidly and finally the boy takes it with shaking hands.
Kuk snatches up his own portion of food, immediately tearing into it with his teeth. The boy jumps slightly in his spot at the sudden violence and nearly drops his own stick of meat. Kuk pauses mid-chew and looks curiously at the boy. Then with juices trailing from the corners of his mouth and trickling across his scruffy chin, again grunts at him aggressively. The boy's eyes go wide before he too bites into his portion, though not nearly as savagely as his host.
The boy accepts a second meat stick from Kuk, but not a third, and as Kuk tears through several more helpings, the boy takes to watching him again. Finally, Kuk pitches the discarded sticks into what remains of the fire and then gets to his feet. He lumbers off into the direction where he had drug the remaining cat carcass, somewhere a fair distance off into the tall grass just beyond his living space. A few minutes later he returns, bunches of the lush field grass clasped tightly under his arms.
Just outside the cave opening, in a crook where the rock tucks in slightly, Kuk drops the bundles from his hands and spreads the grass evenly across the ground. Again he looks at his young companion, points at him and then the mound of grass and makes something of a commanding sound. Having now learned what this means, the boy scampers to the spot and immediately sits down on it.
They regard one another a moment, then Kuk begins to walk away, scratching at his dirty scalp. He pauses at the entrance to his cave, however, and glances back at the boy, who had settled down now, resting his chin on his hands. Kuk jabs his index finger into his bare chest and mutters, "Kuk."
The boy merely blinks up at him.
~*~
The morning light aggravates Kuk and he attempts to bury his face further into the crook of his arm. It is of little use however, and after several minutes of fighting it he finally sits upright in his rustled pile of field grass and stretches out his arms. His head feels a little foggy and for the time being he has completely forgotten anything that happened in the previous day. He is just adjusting the wrap of his loincloth when he hears a rustling sound outside.
Kuk darts to the cave's opening, vocalizing and clutching the spear which he keeps near him when he's sleeping. He is as startled as his overnight guest when their squinting eyes meet one another's. Confusion traps him momentarily as he takes in the scene before him. The boy has tidied up his grass bed, tucking the pile neatly against the outside wall of the cave. The boy himself is hunched over near the firepit stones and upon seeing Kuk he gets to his feet, cradling a broad, curved leaf between his hands. Kuk watches him skeptically as the boy comes nearer and extends his thin arms out in front of him. He looks up into Kuk's face, his eyes large and round like those of one of the gentler beasts of the field. He nudges his cupped hands forward, making the smallest sound of urging.
Kuk squints into the bent leaf and finds it filled with familiar berries, along with some which are not so familiar. He eyes the boy again, hesitating. The boy repeats his hand movement and dips his face forward as if nudging the offering in his companion's direction. Finally, Kuk reaches for one of the familiar berries and presses it between his lips. The juice squirts easily across his tongue, and it is the sweetest fruit he has tasted in all his life. The boy smiles brightly.
They stand there, the two of them, sharing the fruit until the last berry is scooped up by Kuk at his partner's insistence. Another grin lights up the boy's face and he rushes back over to the firepit, deposits the leaf amongst the cooled ashes of the previous night's fire and then picks up something else from alongside the nearby stones. He comes back to Kuk's side, hands cupped mysteriously over the item before finally breaking his fingers apart in revelation. Kuk's brow narrows in complete confusion; the boy seems to be holding nothing more than a tangle of vine.
The boy picks at the mess, freeing from under all the looping vine what is clearly a tooth of the sabretooth cat. He has tightly wrapped the base of the tooth with the vine and created a large loop with the remaining length. He dangles it in front of him, offering it to Kuk.
Kuk is unsure what it is his young friend wants him to do, so he stares stupidly between the dark-haired boy and his strange gift. The tooth swings gently back and forth for a moment before the boy takes ahold of the large loop of vine, pushes himself up on his toes and moves his hands towards Kuk's head. Kuk, who is very protective of his large cranium due to many encounters with animals attempting to bite it, dodges out of the boy's reach instinctively. The boy frowns, makes a sound at him and then taps him lightly on the temple as he ducks his own head downward. Kuk finally understands and does the same, and the boy lets the looped vine drop around the elder's neck. The shining white tooth bounces softly against Kuk's firm chest and Kuk fingers it a moment in examination.
"Da'vi."
Kuk looks up at the sound his companion has made.
"Da'vi," the young man repeats. He is now pointing at his own chest, just as Kuk had done the night before.
"Da'vi," Kuk repeats carefully and lets the cat's tooth slip from his fingers.
~*~
Kuk spends his morning sharpening the ends of several large sticks and stacking them into a haphazard pile at his side. When Da'vi approaches him he watches Kuk intently in his work. After several minutes pass, Kuk takes up a fresh stick and his sharpened rock and hands the latter to Da'vi, whose eyes go wide as the weight of it sinks into his grasp. Kuk makes a chopping motion at one end of the stick, his fingers held rigidly together and at an angle. Da'vi fondles the rock in his hand and then attempts to do as Kuk has demonstrated. Instead the rock slips from his fingers and clatters noisily to the ground.
Kuk grunts and picks the rock up, pressing it into Da'vi's small hand a second time. Again he demonstrates what he wants Da'vi to do, and this time Da'vi manages to hack at the stick a little, though he mangles it more than sharpens it. Unfortunately, Kuk does not know the meaning of the word patience and he grabs the rock from Da'vi in frustration. Da'vi's face falls and he pushes back on his haunches, wrapping his long arms around his knees. He watches Kuk resume his work before he gets up and goes to lie on his grass mound.
Once all the gathered sticks have been sharpened, Kuk loads them up in his arms and carries them to the cave. He barely notices Da'vi when he passes him, and proceeds to stack the sticks in a small corner. Once he drops the last stick on top, he retreats further into the cave and slumps down into his bed of matted grass and animal furs. He doesn't really intend to fall asleep, but that is precisely what happens.
It's cool, damp air that slips along Kuk's exposed back and wakes him. The sound of hard rain ricochets along the rockface, pounding out a hypnotic rhythm. Kuk opens his eyes and deeply inhales the moist air about him. His brain echoes the beats of the falling rain and a second later he bolts upright, peering frantically around him. Scrambling to his feet, he rushes to the cave mouth and looks to Da'vi's bed. It's worse than he thought: The boy is nowhere to be found.
Kuk loses no time moving further out into the open and searching up and down the perimeter of his homestead. No creature human or otherwise can be seen for acres; the rain is too heavy for any living thing in its right mind to be wandering about. Kuk stands frozen in the dumping rain as he again sweeps his gaze along the horizon. With water cascading coldly down his back, Kuk steps off into the grass. The soil beneath his feet is soft with moisture, but he hardly notices; he sniffs the air deeply and then heads swiftly off towards the wooded land beyond.
Once amongst the trees, it's more difficult to see. But if his companion has been smart he's taken shelter somewhere in the wood, assuming he hasn't been eaten by a mountain lion already. Kuk slips repeatedly on the forest floor, but fails to be undeterred. As he moves along he takes in every tree, glancing high up into them as he passes each one. While staring desperately up into the canopy, his left foot escapes from underneath him and he tumbles to the ground, splashing into a thick puddle of mud.
Kuk calls out angrily as he struggles to get himself upright again, flicking mud from out of his eyes. Something at his feet distracts him suddenly; a large, broad leaf that curves naturally through its middle is stuck to his ankle. He reaches to peel it from his skin and hesitates as he turns it over. Then looking around himself he sees several squashed berries littering the area. His pulse quickens as he looks desperately around the surrounding brush. A stick cracks behind one of the bushes and not a second passes before Kuk is lumbering through it, swinging his arms wildly to clear a path. His heart comes up in his throat once he reaches the other side. Propped up against the base of a large tree is Da'vi, his lanky arms wrapping his body in the fetal position on the ground. He's thoroughly soaked and there are scratches along his cheek and shoulder. Water rushes in rivulets along the boy's cheek, dripping fluidly from his colorless lips. Kuk shivers violently at the sight.
Stepping forward, he crouches near his companion's weakened body. Forcing his face against Da'vi's, Kuk breathes in deeply; he smells of rain and grass and bark. He is still alive.
"Da'vi," Kuk says weakly, nudging his shoulder.
The boy's head lolls weakly against his chest.
~*~
The harpooning rain rinses most of the mud from their bodies as Kuk carries Da'vi back to the cave. His large forehead is furrowed in determination, and he clutches Da'vi's small body closely to his, his wet fingers digging into the boy's flesh. He is seemingly ignorant of the harsh weather now, despite the clumps of soggy hair hanging in his eyes. He heads straight into the cave and lays the boy gently onto his bed.
Kuk sits there on his knees a moment, looking Da'vi up and down. The next moment he's tugging at the boy's saturated loincloth and removing it from his body, dropping it aimlessly beside him. He pushes Da'vi onto his back and then reaches for one of the animal furs piled in the corner. Pressing the fur along Da'vi's body, Kuk attempts to dry him as much as possible. He then tosses this fur to the side as well before pulling a larger, furrier skin over Da'vi's supine form. He tucks it carefully around his patient's body, and as he does so Da'vi's eyes flutter open, instantly gazing up at his caretaker.
"Kuk," Da'vi says quietly, straining to speak. "Kuk."
Kuk merely blinks at him, frowning.
"Kuk," Da'vi says again. He extracts an arm from underneath the pelt blanket and points to the spot next to him in the matted grass bed. "Kuk."
Kuk obeys and stretches his body out alongside Da'vi's. It's a tight fit; he is practically touching his partner's body from head to toe.
Da'vi gazes into Kuk's eyes a moment before reaching the short distance between their chests and prodding at the giant cat's tooth that still hangs around Kuk's neck. Kuk glances down briefly at the touch and then back into the boy's face. He understands; his own fingers reach out and trace the scratches along Da'vi's jaw.
Neither of them moves for the longest time, and the still pounding rain drowns out all other sounds in the cave. Da'vi licks his pinking lips and then pushes his forehead into Kuk's shoulder, nuzzling his nose against the latter's chest. His hand moves slowly across the soft pelt and grabs the edge of it firmly. With some effort he tugs it upwards and then drags it carefully across Kuk's body as well.
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