Zireena and Cyto

The early morning sunlight was bright; too bright, for that matter. Ruka opened her eyes sleepily and blinked a few times, shifting uncomfortably in her new nest before sighing in discomfort. She wouldn't be able to sleep now. Not when she became painfully aware of the large amount of felines in the den that she now had. She had to admit, getting used to the apprentice den was going to... well... take some time.

The tigress pushed herself up and nearly fell as her paws tingled with sleepiness. She grunted and got up, shaking her feet to get rid of the spiky feeling that was lingering. She let out a short sigh and made her way out of the den.

"RUKA!"

Ears flicked back for a moment before she turned to see who had yelled her name, though she knew right away who it was... which both worried her and took her by surprise.

Cyto was standing by her side with a wide grin and fish between his teeth, though all the apprentice did was blink and wait for him to say something. He stood there for a few moments, almost as if he was waiting for something before he sat the fish down. Ruka didn't understand this darker colored feline... or why he felt the need to pester her more than the other felines she was around.

Though... he had taken her out on expeditions before the ear infections had confined her to the nest she had called her own in Ruby and Bird's den.

"You want to go fishing again today?" He asked after a moment, excitedly flicking his tail back and forth before he glanced up ahead. "Or maybe we can go out and play. I could teach you how to swim, or maybe we could work on your rock climbing skills."

If there was one thing Ruka was happy about when it came to Cyto, though, it was the fact that she could always hear what he had to say. He was a loud talker... and for a feline that was near deaf... it was nice to be able to hear at least one empiremate. Though, she had to wonder how he managed to hunt with how loud he was.

She also didn't quite understand why he was talking to her as if he was her mentor... She frowned for a moment before, suddenly, she realized that she was supposed to meet with Zireena as soon as she woke up. The feline looked down at her feet for a moment before looking at Cyto. "Listen, Cyto... I'm supposed to meet up with my... mentor... Z-Zireena." She said awkwardly, not wanting to upset the older feline. "Maybe we can go... rock... climbing... or... something... some other time." The words were nothing more than incoherent mumbles in her mouth, but she figured he'd understand.

"Why haven't you met up with her yet?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "Oh! Oh! You can ask her to show you Glacio's peak and maybe even get to learn more about the territory as a whole." His ears flicked up in excitement. "Maybe I can tag along and give you the full tour!"

Ruka stared at him for a few moments, blinking incoherently before she glanced behind her. That was when she noticed the serval padding out of the gladiator's den. Zireena. Ruka had to admit that she was pretty happy her mother had chosen the serval as her mentor, considering she had met the feline when she had returned from her two year capture...

They had gotten along rather well and Ruka secretly was surprised that they had managed to conduct a normal conversation... Though the serval seemed to be as shy and quiet as her... so that might have been a small part of it.

She wanted to go up to her and meet her formally as her apprentice. She also wanted to ask if it was okay if they could both go into the territory together so that they could get to actually know each other, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She was scared that the first time they had met was a one time kind of connection. She didn't want to make the wrong impression or screw up her training completely. Mortification kept her stuck in the same place beside Cyto for some time, before the feline gently bumped her in the shoulder.

"Go on, ask her!"

She was afraid.

"Come on Ruka, I don't think she'll mind. She'll probably be up for me coming along, too."

She was more than afraid, she was terrified.

"You can do it!"

She also wanted to tell Cyto to stop, but those words weren't coming out either. Finally, the feline slowly made her way towards her mentor, ears flicking back as she glanced behind her. Cyto smiled and nodded encouragingly, though the smaller tigress couldn't help but feel fear claw at her belly. She continued forward slowly, fur standing on end until Zireena turned to face her.

She froze. "H-Hi." She said softly. "I-I was wonder--"

"CAN I COME WITH YOU TWO PLEASE?" Cyto suddenly yelled, causing Zireena to jump -- really high.

Ruka stood up and looked at Cyto with wide eyes. Great, now he was going to ruin their meet up. The easily excitable leopard was going to give Zireena a heart attack and cause Ruka to die of embarrassment... all before they even stepped foot outside of the territory.

"Cyto... I-I think that it might be better to get to know Zireena on my own. We'll go out... rock climbing later. Okay?"

In an instant, the feline's ears dropped back and his eyes went wide. "Bu-but I wanted to go out with you and Zireena. I thought it'd be fun."

Oh gods, this was not happening. Ruka couldn't say no when he looked so hurt by her words. What was she going to do? How was she going to tell Zireena that they had to take him with them? She felt her heart pounding heavily in her chest as she looked back at her mentor and Cyto. This was not going to be easy.

Though, Zireena had a totally different plan. "I don't think you could stay quiet enough during our walk, Cyto." Her voice was clipped and icy as she pushed past the leopard and walked towards the entrance. "Come on, Ruka. You and I will go out into the territory. ALONE."

The tiger took a few quick steps towards her mentor before glancing back at Cyto, who was still sporting the look that made her stomach cringe. "I'll happily learn how to rock climb tomorrow or later today, Cyto. I promise." She said softly, bounding after her mentor.

As she walked after Zireena, though, she couldn't help but feel as if her mentor had dealt with Cyto before...