Ruairí,
Cub of Prideless
Played by Mara
For a boy, hyper and anxious to explore, nap-time is a dreaded thing. It takes so very little to wake him, and with a squinted eye the boy notices his father still sleeping - drooling and snoring - and Ruairi carefully extracts himself from his father’s limbs. Once free, the little crow tumbles from the little den they share and into the faint morning light.

The birds above are only just stirring, and they chatter endlessly about the cub that talks back to them, and they laugh when he tries to clamber up a tree to where they sit. With all the ferocity of a house cat, Ru hisses at them, and his striped ears flop back against his head. They’re mean, and they’re not like the birds at home. These ones are small and chatter and talk far too quickly for Ru to keep up with everything. A flock of them lift up from the trees and Ru follows, eyes on the sky rather than the path he’s being led down.

What stops the boy is the sudden, heavy rumble of thunder overhead. The birds scream, laugh, and then fly so high Ruairi can’t hear them anymore. The jungle’s trees cover the sky for the most part, and he had failed to notice how dark and gloomy the day had started out. The noise makes Ru cower down, tail curling around his body. He’s heard thunder before - yelled at it to stop from the safety of his father’s thick mane - but it makes him realise that he’s alone in the dark jungle. And he has no idea how to turn around and go home. Not that it stops him from trying - Ru picks himself up and creeps into the foliage, using the big, heavy leaves as cover from the thunder.

"Ku!" The little crow chirps, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth in that distinctive, childish noise. "Kuuuu, foy zi yeru?!"

@Mowgli