05-22-2018, 04:58 AM
© vixem.
GON FREECS
FRIENDS OR FOES, THEY'RE ALL THE SAME
(note: the words in italics are from his mother's perspective, the rest [in regular text] is from Gon's perspective && mobile so please excuse any mistakes!)Being a mother is hard. There are many different circumstances that can lead to one becoming a mother and what happens afterwards, but in the end, it's all the same - you're stuck taking care of tiny creatures that can't care for themselves. You feed them, nurture them and guide them along the correct path in life. It's an incredibly taxing job that you do purely because these are your little babies, your precious muffins and you love them so dearly. However, there are not always happy endings. Being a mother in such an inhospitable environment calls for extremely difficult decisions to be made. When you've got a litter of four hungry little puppies crying to be fed every day, eventually you'll have to face one of the toughest questions of a mother's life: is leaving one pup behind worth it if the rest have a better chance of survival?
Her pups were sick and starving. She had been giving them almost all of the food she brought back, but still she could see the ribs poking through their coats more each day. There simply wasn't enough prey to feed such a large family on the move. They were coming to six months old now, an important time in their development, which meant they would be even hungrier. If she continued this way none of them would survive, succumbing one by one to the dangerously cold environment. However, if they had one less mouth to feed, her remaining pups would be able to grow stronger. She turned to look at her pups behind her, focusing on the smallest pup. Gon was the runt of the litter and slowing them down, even though he tried his best to keep up. There was talk of a group that had just formed in a valley underneath a nearby mountain. If Gon could make it to them, he would be well taken care of. It was the best thing to do for him and the rest of her pups, she was sure of it.
"Come here, Gon. I've got a special mission for you." She spoke from where she sat on the edge of the hill-top, looking behind her at the tiny pups occupying themselves as they waited to continue their journey. She was going to take them where she had been raised, a place with more prey and fewer carnivores competing for it. That was far away though and she had taken Him as close to the mountain as she could afford to get. Now, she had to send him off and leave the rest up to him. "Listen closely, okay? I want you to go to that large mountain over there. In the valley below it is a group of animals that will take care of you. I want you to run there until you find them, okay? Stay with them and when you're bigger, you can come find us in the spot I've been telling you about." She instructed Gon when he settled beside her. She took a moment to look at the small pup, take in his lovely looks and bouncy personality and oh so generous view of the world, before nudging his backside with her nose to get him moving. As he ran off she sent a silent prayer to whatever was listening that he would be alright. She waited until she could no longer see his bouncing black form travelling through the snow before leaving, not knowing if she would ever see her son again.
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Gon didn't understand why his mother wanted him to leave. He tried not to complain when he was hungry and hid paws hurt. He had even do e his best to cheer up hid siblings when moods are down. So why was she sending him away? He wanted to go with his family to the better place, with trees and prey, not live in a valley with strangers. He couldn't muster any words after his mother finished speaking. Was he being punished? No, he thought to himself, mother always does what's best for us. If she was sending him off to live with these animals, then obviously it was for the better. Besides, she had said this was a special mission just for him! He would live with these valley-dwelling animals until he was big and then he would find his family and show them how much he had grown and how he had followed mom's wishes. Yes, he would do this and them come back and surprise her! With a cheerful spark in his eyes, Gon nodded at his mother and began down the hill towards the mountain. He might not have understood the reasoning behind her decisions, but he trusted his family so he'd do exactly as his mom said.
It took nearly an hour for him to get to the valley that his mother had mentioned. He couldn't see any animals, but recent tracks and the mingled scents of many different creatures told him that there was, indeed, a group living here. He paused at the top of the valley, not sure if he should go any further. He was cold, snow clumping in his fur, and his paws hurt but he didn't want to give off the wrong message by entering their territory. Perhaps if he called out, someone would find him! "Hello! Is anyone there? I'm looking for the group that lives here. I was told this is where I'd find them."
He waited a few minutes but didn't hear any animals approaching him. Maybe they couldn't hear him because he was too far out. Surely they'd understand why he decided to carry on once he reached their camp. He would explain to them how cold and tired he was, how he wanted to make sure he was found and how his mom had sent him here. Yeah! They'd have no problem with him, then. They'd probably welcome him with open hearts and warm food, even! Once he ate he could find a warm place to curl up and sleep. After travelling all day and then running here his paws felt like they were about to fall off, never mind the grogginess that was dragging at his mind. Deciding he better get going, the oddly coloured husky pup continued on into the valley towards the middle, where he hoped the camp would be.
art credit to Allion on DeviantArt