Backlogged RP from before Yukio joined the Bahari.
Domestic life never had, and never will be Zuberi's style. Most of the purple Justicar's collective were under the fair understanding that what some would deem a normal life would be near impossible to have, and even if you attempted one it would constant of brief visits when you were on shore duty to recharge your batteries before being swapped once again back into the fray.
That was simply how life was for him. With his specialty as the main scout beyond the safety of the pride's protective walls for his Justicar it didn't give him room for much personal luxuries. He would often find himself on seemingly the other side of the world from hearth and home, going weeks without proper social interaction. He ran with the expectation to just lay low, wing it, and report back only if something that would perk interests arose. He accepted it, embraced it, adapted to it.
It had just so happened that on this particular night he had been forced to make a pit stop. With a storm brewing outside and his current destination still being a good half a day's trek away he had effectively shrugged at the idea of confining in his self-imposed time limit.
Cause eh screw it, who didn't need a rest day or two once and a while?
With a unceremonious belly flop Zuberi died in the middle of the ruins of a den. At one point it might have been occupied, but those days had long since past if the sheer amount of dust that sprang up around him was anything to go by.
Letting out a relaxed sigh he splayed out his legs behind him, settling in to get comfortable for a well-deserved nap why the storm pasted over before he set out once more.
Or well was preparing for a nap before a tiny sneeze broke through the slience, shortly followed by a squeak of horror.
Jumping to his feet Zuberi spun around, his focus intently locked onto the direction from where the sound had come from. Though it didn't particularly sound like it came from any major threat, there were surprises hidden in small packages as he learned!
Prowling forward Zuberi's claws began to slip out in preparation to strike as he peered cautiously over the rock separating him between whatever creature had made the noise. He was quickly stopped dead in his tracks by a rock pelting him upside the forehead.
"You stop right there or..or there's more where that came from! I got rocks for days here!" A hoarse voice shouted out from the shadows, followed by a weak attempt at a hiss.
....Well he had heard of big surprises coming from small packages but he even he had a hard time believing what he was seeing. It was almost laughable, had anyone else had told them that they had gotten accosted and pelted with rocks by what was the scrawniest little runt of a cub he had ever seen he'd be hard pressed not to call bullshit out on them right then and there.
And yet here he was, living the dream.
Cocking an eyebrow he slowly lifted a paw to dust off the bits and pieces of dust and debris left as clear impact mark in his fur. "Good aim." He commented dryly.
Lowering himself onto his belly slowly Zuberi eyed the cub defensively still raised onto her hind-legs, ready to pelt him with whatever nearby object she could get her little paws on. "Hey, hey it's okay. Look I'm not going to hurt you." He reassured with a half smile.
With a scowl the dingy cub shifted further backwards into the safety of the shadows, trying to put as much distance between herself and Zuberi. "Tch. That's what all mean bad guys say before they trick you."
Well, she had a fair point there. He had to give her snaps for not being stupid enough to go running into the arms of the first person who offered her honeyed words. "Alright, alright. You can keep the rock if you want, I'll understand." He clicked his tongue. "Can I ask you a few questions though, little mighty amazon?" He inquired.
With a purse of her lips tightly together the cub appeared in thought for a moment before she slowly nodded her head.
With a breath of relief his shoulders slumped slightly. Good, it would be a lot easier to simply ask her rather than trying to force any information out of her. "Let's start off with something easy, ya? What's your name?"
"I..." Now that certainly had posed an interesting little dilemma for the cub. No one had ever asked her what her name was! Truthfully she wasn't even certain if she even had a proper name, it wasn't something her mother was particularly good at remembering.
"I dunno." She admitted, her shoulders giving a soft shrug. "My mama sometimes called me Yukio." Course she had also called her other names, and even sometimes she called her other sisters Yukio as well. It was hard to tell if it was more of a general name she had floated around between the cubs to get their attention whenever they needed it, or if it was assigned to a particular one. Either way, she seemed to get called that more often than not.
Seriously? This child didn't even know her own name? He had to wonder if this child was that dense or if her parent was that incompetent.
Well seeing how she was sitting alone in a abandoned cave, filthy, and it looked to be half-starved he would have to guess the latter.
"Well would you mind if I called you Yukio then?"
The tiny cub's shoulders once again shrugged loosely. "I wouldn't mind that. What do I call you though?" She asked her eyes suspiciously scanning over his form.
"Zuberi, you can call me Zuberi." He replied with a smile, pulling his leg out from under him he reached it out to her, earning another yelp from Yukio before she tossed the stone in her paws at him once again.
"Ow." He winced, rubbing the mildly sore spot on his sensitive pads where the rock had managed to nick him.
"WHOA! What are you doing!?" Yukio exclaimed, scrambling to pick up another rock and have it at the ready just in case he came close. Stranger danger! Stranger danger! This was not an alert!
"A pawshake." He calmly replied, once again holding out his paw to her. "It's how people normally greet someone when they first meet them."
"Oh..." She whispered back, her ears pinning closely to her head. Her mother had never explained that custom to her, though granted her mother didn't explain much of anything to her. With a tight frown she slowly scooted herself forward, stopping every scoot forward to double-check to make sure he hadn't moved. With her defensive stone still clinched tightly to her chest she reached forward cautiously with her free paw before finally she quickly double tapped his much larger paws against hers. "H-hi, Zuberi."
With a grin he nodded his head respectively at her, not daring to move his paw from it's spot least he accidentally spooked her once again. "Nice to meet you, Yukio." There was a small pause before he continued pushing forward, hoping to use this new break through to his advantage. "Hey, do you have any idea where you're mother is?"
Just like that the good mood bubbling between them was popped. Grimacing Yukio's shoulders slumped in defeat. "N-no not um exactly." She admitted, her voice shaking with uncertainty. "She said she'll be back though, and-and she always comes back!"
His smile soured in a tightly forced grin. So, this cub's mother was most likely one of two things 1. A supremely shite parent that if he ever had the chance to meet one way or another would be ripping a new hole to stuff her bullshit into or 2. Had abandoned for some reason or another her cub in the wilderness to die.
Both were deplorable. Both seriously made him want to give a solid punch to the face to this lioness.
Sucking in a deep breath he slowly rose himself back to a sit, peering down tenderly at the cowering cub. Whether or not her mother was coming back Zuberi had no intentions of letting her return to such an unfit caretaker if his personality judgments were correct. He would allow the lioness some period of time to make her grand return and explain her actions, if she was actually planning on coming back into the picture.
Either way he needed to start gaining Yukio's trust. If he had to find her a new home then she needed to have the confidence not to flinch at him at any movement.
"Well why we wait for your mother why don't I find us something to eat? I'm sure you could use a good meal at the very least." He offered as he rose to his feet.