| Imaginary Friend; Izo finds a stuffed tiger in the woods and befriends him. | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 23 2018, 05:00 AM (3 Views) | |
| basketkitty | Mar 23 2018, 05:00 AM Post #1 |
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It was a warm Saturday afternoon. No school, so no worries. Maybe a bath before bed, but if he was careful, he might be able to sneak out of it. He would definitely need one tomorrow, though. But for today, he didn't have any time for baths or homework. Thumbing through his giant nature book, Izo pushed himself on his hands as he got to the section he was looking for. At last! It had taken him a good five minutes of page-turning and thumb-licking before he was able to get to this chapter, but it was all worth it in the end. Rubbing his hands excitedly, Izo's eyes tore over the pages, soaking in the pictures of the striped felines, orange and black hidden in deep green. Such magnificent creatures! Such cunning, such strength! Man, he wanted one! But, how? Finished with the chapter now, Izo closed the library book and stood up. He crossed his arms, and paced. What did tigers like to eat? He'd just read the book, so he should remember. It was fish, wasn't it? They also liked other smaller animals, like rabbits and deer, right? But the only thing he would be able to get his hands on easier would be fish. Tuna fish, to be exact. And as long as he had some tuna fish, then the tigers would come, right? Set with this plan, Izo headed into the kitchen and pushed a stool under the cupboard. Climbing up, he pulled out a can of tuna and the loaf of bread. It was a fair amount of work for a six-year old, but if it meant catching a tiger of his very own, then Izo could bear with it. His new tiger better be happy with his offering, however, that was for sure. Eventually left with a (fairly sloppy) tuna sandwich, Izo inwardly patted himself on the back. Though, while he had the bait now, he didn't have the trap or even the right gear for that matter. So, taking the sandwich with him, Izo headed up to his room and rummaged through his closet. Finding a jump-rope he never used and several old shoe strings, he slung them over his shoulder and dug around some more until finally emerging with a safari hat. At last set like a true zoologist, Izo grabbed his bait and started the triumphant trip outside. Along the way, however, he spotted his sister. "I'm going to capture myself a tiger!" he announced, as he walked proudly past the girl. "What's the sandwich for?" she asked, looking up from her book to what the boy was holding. "It's the bait, of course. It's tigers' favourite food," he replied, as if this was common knowledge. His sister sighed with this new-found knowledge and nodded, prompting Izo to continue on his journey through the back door. Walking across the yard, he neared the forest that lay behind his house, and set down his plate for the time being. Making sure to keep an eye on it, in case any tigers or other beats decided to make off with his precious bait, Izo grabbed hold of a tree branch and hauled himself up into the leaves. Once he was perched safely, he unlooped the ropes from his shoulder and started to knot them together. Dropping a noose down to the ground, Izo tossed the other side of his rope over the other side of the tree branch before carefully making his way back down. Setting the sandwich inside the little circle he'd made, Izo grabbed the other end of the rope and ducked inside the small bush beside the tree. Peering through the twigs and leaves, he sat tense and waiting, much like the creatures he was aiming to capture. He bit his lip in anticipation, waiting anxiously for an orange feline to arrive. And then...one did. Izo almost missed it at first. The rustle of leaves seemed like just the wind in the trees: a sound he was all too familiar with on his lonely hikes. But he couldn't have mistaken that slight flash of orange. It was quick, a perfect example of blink-and-you-miss-it. But Izo didn't miss it. His hand tightened around the rope end. When the tiger emerged, he was just as the boy pictured him to be. Well...maybe a little thinner...but the coat was perfect. He was tall, lanky, and moved so stealthily that the grass barely rustled under his paws. His green eyes flashed with excitement at seeing the meal laid before him, and without a moment's notice, he was on the plate. Izo didn't waste a single second. With a hard, sharp pull, the noose tightened around the tiger's back paw, flipping the animal over until he was dangling from the branch. Hastily securing the rope around the base of the bush he was hiding in, Izo scrambled out, brushing forest debris off him as he hurried to meet his new prize. "Hello." Still eating his sandwich, the tiger gently spun, not seeming too upset by his predicament. He smiled to the boy and licked his paw. "Did you make this? There's a bit too much mayo." "Aren't you in no position to be complaining about your food?" Izo asked, setting his hands on his hips. "No, I am," the tiger said, wiggling his whiskers at the boy. "I think I should get at least something nice for all this! I'm Ryouta, by the way." "Eh? Um...I-Izo." A little taken aback, Izo watched the tiger spin the other way now. He actually had not thought much about a name for the creature. He'd kind of assumed that he'd be the one to name it, but...it already had one. Staying like that for a bit, just watching the large cat eat, Izo eventually sat down by the roots of the tree, not entirely sure what to do. He'd caught his tiger...but if he got it down, wouldn't it just run away? "Um...you're a boy tiger, right? Where'd you come from?" he asked, folding his arms on his knees. "Yup! Why, am I pretty enough to be a girl?" the tiger giggled, fluttering his green eyes at Izo. "Ugh, no! Anyway, I asked you something else, too!" "Hmph, I was getting to it!" Crossing his own paws, the tiger pouted to himself. "I came from the jungle, of course. I do a lot of traveling, ne? From Siberia to Bengal to Bali... I've gone aaalll over the world! But, I'm getting kinda tired, so I might stay here for a bit," he said, letting his arms drop as he smiled. "Woah...that's a lot of places," Izo murmured, looking down at the grass now. Even just going to the other side of town was pretty far away to him, he couldn't imagine traveling across the ocean and through countries! "So...you need a place to stay, huh." "Mm-hm." The two of them falling silent, Izo fretted to himself. He had wanted a pet tiger, because they sounded awesome and cool and a good way to keep him and his family protected...but now that he had one, he wasn't sure what to do. He...he honestly wasn't very good at making friends. He never really had any interest in it, since no one really had any interest in him. But sometimes it was lonely to walk by himself. He wanted someone to show the neat little things he found in the woods, like that small stream and that hole under that stump. A pet had sounded ideal, but his sister had a bad immune system, and he wasn't sure if a cat or a dog would set her off. But no one could be allergic to tigers, right? It was impossible! And so...here he was. "Well...I was gonna skin you and cook you up for dinner. But...I suppose as long as you promise not to eat anyone, I can keep you in my house," Izo finally decided, standing back up. "Ehh? You were gonna eat me?" "Well, what were you gonna do to me, huh? Tigers are man-eaters, after all," Izo pointed out, looking up at the mildly panicking cat. "Well, um." "So, like I said. If you promise not to eat me or my mom or sister, then you can live with me," he said again, nodding to solidify his point. "Will you make me another sandwich?" "As many as you want!" "Then it's a deal!" |
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| basketkitty | Mar 23 2018, 05:00 AM Post #2 |
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"I'm hooome!" Yelling out as he entered the house, Izo headed inside, hand in paw with his new-found friend. "Oh, there you are! I was looking all over for you, your bath is ready," his mom said, her hands set on her hips. "Tsk, look at you, you're filthy! Did you fall down again?" she asked as she knelt in front of her son, licking her thumb to rub dirt off his cheek. "Eugh, no! I'm okay! I was lying in wait and caught a tiger! His name's Ryou!" Izo said, finally directing her attention to the ferocious beast beside him. "Oh, I was wondering where you got that old thing. Looks like it needs a bath, too," she said, standing back up, making to pick up Ryouta. "Eh, wait! You need to let him sniff your hand first, otherwise he might bite!" Izo said, pushing his mother's hand away from the tiger. "Tigers are very territorial, you know. They're loners, so they don't like to be bothered. But Ryou says that he wants to stay here for a while, since he's really tired from traveling all over the world," he explained. "Ah, I see. Well, I'm glad he decided to live with us, then," his mother nodded, and hovered her hand around Ryouta's nose. "A bigger family is a happy family, after all," she smiled, picking Ryou up now. "But, he really does need a bath, and so do you. You can play some more together once you're clean," she said, starting to usher Izo upstairs. "But, but! What if Ryou doesn't like baths?!" "No, he would. Tigers like water," she assured him. "Now, go on. If you're not in the tub by the time I start the washer, then I'm keeping Ryou until you're clean," she said, wagging a finger at the boy, who groaned and fussed the rest of the way upstairs. Once he was inside the bathroom, the woman looked back to the tiger in her arms. "...Ryouta, huh?" She knew it was going to happen eventually, so she wasn't surprised. He always did play alone, so she figured his imagination would evolve at some point. Still...she couldn't help but feel like she ought to try a bit harder to get him to play with other kids more. ...But she was probably just worrying over nothing. Kids were meant to play pretend. It wasn't anything to worry about. "Oh, so that's what he was talking about." Looking over in mild surprise, the mom relaxed at seeing it was just her daughter. "Did he tell you?" "Only that he was going to catch a tiger. I watched him from the back window, though. You know the taller tree that grows over the one Izo likes to play in? There was something in there and it fell down after a while, right around the area Izo was playing in. It doesn't look very beat up, though...wonder how long it was stuck in that tree for," the girl wondered, taking Ryouta in her hands and examining him. He certainly was very dirty, his fur was matted with dried rainwater and mold, and there were a few twigs and leaves poking through his tummy. "Ah, he's ripped, too... That must be how he fell," she noted, spotting a tear along his back. "I'm going to hand-wash him, he might fall apart if we put him in the washer," she said. "Ah, sure. I'll find the sewing kit, too," the mother nodded, as Erika took the tiger down to the basement to wash in the large basin down there. Though, she wasn't too sure about letting Erika handle something that was moldy, in case she ended up reacting badly to it. But the girl seemed so insistent that she took care of it herself, that she really couldn't bring herself to argue. Erika really loved her baby brother, after all. Several minutes passing by, Erika eventually returned from downstairs, with Ryouta looking quite a bit more fluffy and clean. "I also found some fluff, so we can restuff him," the mother said, motioning for the girl to bring the tiger over. Sitting down together, they very carefully mended the feline, making sure to keep the stitches as tiny, but secure as possible, and that he wasn't over, or under, stuffed beforehand. Soon hearing the bathroom door open upstairs, Erika quickly gathered the rest of the stuffing and the sewing supplies, shoving them away under the coffee table to keep Izo from finding out. They didn't quite know how far his imagination went, but they didn't want to ruin it. Not so quickly, at least. "Izo? Are you dressed?" Lightly knocking on the door, Mom waited for the muffled 'Yes' before opening the door. Going over to her son, she smelled his hair and studied his face, before nodding in satisfaction. "Good job. Now, here you go, fresh and clean," she smiled, pulling her arm out from behind her, to reveal Ryouta as fluffy and soft as if he were brand new. Complete with a blue bow around his neck. "Ryou!" Beaming excitedly, Izo grabbed the tiger, hugging him tightly. "Dinner will be ready in a little while. Make sure to finish your homework so you can play all day tomorrow," she said, ruffling the child's head before slipping out of the room. "What happened, huh? You didn't bite them, did you?" Izo asked, finally letting the feline go. Ryou shook his head. "Of course not! Humans taste gross anyway. Too much clothes," he said. "They fixed me, though. I had a cut on my back from a vicious fight with a dragon! But now it's fixed," he said, turning around to motion to his back. "What? A dragon! Don't lie, dragons aren't real!" Izo glowered, though he was glad to hear that his new friend was healed back up again. "Nuh-uh! They are real! Here, I'll show you, I saw a book in your livingroom," Ryouta said, taking Izo's hand again to march downstairs. There, they found the book Izo had been reading that morning. "You have to open it, though. My paws aren't good with pages," Ryou said, sitting down beside the heavy tome. "When you get to the part, I'll tell you to stop, though, ne?" Nodding, Izo crossed his legs, starting to flip through the large book once more. Though after a couple minutes, Ryou suddenly spoke up, telling him to stop and go back. Flipping back to the page he just skipped, Izo's eyes widened. "Woaah...! You're right, there are dragons! How big are they, though? It says ten feet, how much is ten feet?" he asked, looking to the tiger, who shrugged. "Maybe we have to measure your feet and count ten of them," he suggested, pointing to Izo's. Which the boy agreed was a good idea. So finding a some paper and a pen, they traced Izo's foot, and cut out ten, lining them up in a row. "...Mm, that's not very big," Izo sighed, looking at the row they made. "My feet are small, though. So maybe they mean, like, Mama's feet. She's got the biggest in the house," he said, giving a soft hum. He...supposed it was worth a try, though. This was important information, after all. He just had to know how big these dragons were! They might come and try to invade the house! Plus, he had to know how strong Ryouta was as a guard, right? If he got hurt by something that small, then what good was he? So deciding to risk it, they trooped into the kitchen. "Mama, I need to borrow your feet," he said, matter-of-factly. "My feet? Why? I told you to finish your homework," she said, looking over from where she was cooking. "But I need to know how much ten feet is! Ryou says he fought a dragon and the book says dragons are ten feet big, so I need to know if Ryou got hurt fighting something big or something small!" he whined. "Tsk, ugh, I'm burning it..." Clicking her tongue, his mom groaned in frustration. "That is not your homework, you need to finish that first. Erika is five feet, so two Erikas will be ten, now go do your work," she said, waving him out of the kitchen. "Ehh, two Erikas?" Taking Ryou out of the kitchen now, Izo started for the stairs. "Woah...that is pretty big! Was the one you fought that big?" he asked, gaping up at Ryouta. The tiger grinned and nodded, puffing his chest proudly. "Of course! I killed it, too!" "Awesome! So you can protect the house for me when I'm off at school, right?!" "Yup! As long as you take care of me, I'll happily take care of you!" Ryouta agreed, scooping Izo up into a hug. "You're my new best friend, after all, right?" "Mn, right!" |
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6:41 PM Jul 11