#it's Sliuk/Ciph fluff! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

keydekyie · 7 months

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Ever the Pragmatist

Sliuk needs to take a walk to clear her head, but company finds her.

(a character study exploring the dynamics between Sliuk, her littlest brother, and her friend Ciph. Takes place several years after The Grounded Sphinx and ~one year before Sliuk’s coming-of-age.)

2320 words. No Content warnings.

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“Where are you going?”

The words brought Sliuk to a halt, just inside the boundary of the forest. She didn’t turn to look, just pinned her ears and slumped. And she’d been so hoping no one would notice her slipping away.

“Nowhere interesting, I promise,” she said, and in truth she didn’t know. She just wanted to be anywhere else.

“Can I come?”

“No.” Sliuk waited for either argument or begrudging acceptance, one or the other, but neither came. “Go back to Mama. She’s got work for you.”

“But where are you going?”

“I just… I just needed to take a walk, that’s all.”

“Well… I need one too!” At that, the sound of scampering footsteps brought Ruyak into view beside her. He stopped there, looking up at her with a defiant pout.

Sliuk grumbled, “Go take your own walk, then.”

“I’m not allowed to walk alone anymore.”

“Since when did that stop you?”

Ruyak smirked at her. He already looked disheveled enough with his gangly legs and mussed hair, but with his missing baby teeth his smile was extremely crooked. What a sight.

“Fine,” Sliuk huffed, trying not to smile back, “but you’d better keep up or I’ll leave you behind for the drakes to eat.”

She stepped into the cool shade of the summer forest, and her feet found a path through the underbrush downhill. Perhaps she’d find the stream and walk to the valley? The stagscrown flowers would be blooming now, and the insects buzzing amongst them.

Ruyak’s footsteps trundled along after her, but he said nothing as they walked, and the soft sounds of the forest finally began to soothe Sliuk’s frayed nerves. The sighing of the trees, the singing of the birds, the creaking of the pines. But Ruyak’s silence was a little strange. He was usually so full of questions or random observations that it took all of Sliuk’s patience not to stuff a bush in his mouth to shut him up. Despite the welcome quiet, it wasn’t long before she found herself worrying about him.

She paused, turning to look back. “Does Mama know you’re walking with me?”

“No. She was still mad. I didn’t want to ask her.”

“She’ll be even madder when she finds out you’re gone.”

Ruyak stopped and frowned worriedly at that, as though he hadn’t thought that far ahead, then he set his ears and popped his chin up. “I don’t care. She probably won’t even notice.”

“She’s probably already noticed.”

Ruyak’s confidence faltered again, but he shook his head and stepped around Sliuk to walk ahead. “Whatever.”

“If you say so,” Sliuk muttered.

They walked in silence for a time, and soon came to a clearing where the stream ran through the grass in a babbling torrent. Ruyak bounded forward and splashed his hands in the water with a grin.

“Is it cold?” Sliuk asked.

“Yeah!”

“Perfect.” Sliuk lunged into the water, splashing Ruyak with an icy wave. He squealed and splashed her back in a rapid flurry of smacks, then jumped out of the creek to the bank on the other side.

He made a big show of shaking off and looking very wet and indignant. Sliuk watched him, smirking. When he paused, glancing her way, she nimbly darted to the side in time to dodge his sneak-attack. A splash-fight commenced that was so raucous it soon ceased mattering who was winning as they were both soaked.

After a lengthy feud, a truce was finally struck, and the two of them sat down in a patch of warm sunlight to dry off, laughing and gasping for breath. Sliuk ruffled Ruyak’s wet hair and he batted her hand away with a giggle.

Suddenly Ruyak blurted, “Papa told Mama that they were too soft on you, and that’s why you don’t listen anymore.”

Sliuk scoffed. “Is that what you think?”

“I don’t know.” Ruyak sobered then, looking up at the trees and watching the light play in the leaves. “Do you think they’re too soft on me, too?”

“No. I wish they’d be softer.”

“But maybe that’s why I’m bad.”

“Bad? What makes you think you’re bad?”

“I don’t listen.”

Sliuk scowled. If Ruyak had a problem, it wasn’t that he didn’t listen, though there were times he seemed to have selective hearing. What got him in trouble most often was his habit of listening readily to whoever happened to be speaking at any given time. He could be persuaded to do anything with a word, especially if that word happened to come out of one of his brothers’ mouths. That didn’t mean he wasn’t punished soundly for his misbehavior, just that the mischief he was punished for was usually not of his design.

He wasn’t particularly creative, in that way.

“You’re not bad,” Sliuk told him, “but perhaps it might be good to listen with your heart sometimes, and not just with your ears.”

Ruyak wrinkled his nose. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Sliuk chuckled. “It sure sounded smart, didn’t it?”

“It sounded sappy!” Ruyak smiled at her with that crooked toothy smile, but after a moment it faded and his ears fell. “I wish Mama would stop yelling at you. I think you’re right, anyway, most of the time.”

“Mama just hates being wrong.”

“Yeah…”

A shadow passed over them then, silent as a cloud, and Sliuk looked up to see a set of huge white wings circling down into the clearing.

“Afternoon!” the spotted white sphinx called out as she banked. She came swooping towards Sliuk and beat her wings to make a landing right on Sliuk’s shoulder, buffeting the clearing with gusts of wind.

“Hello there,” Sliuk laughed, leaning to the side in surprise. “What’s brought you down here to mingle with us poor earth-bound creatures, hmm?”

Struggling to balance on her perch without using her claws, Ciph purred, “I thought you might appreciate the soothing light of my presence.”

Ruyak groaned dramatically and threw his head back.

“Oh,” Ciph said with a glare, lashing her tail at him, “I’m sorry, it seems a little turd has clung to you.”

Ruyak bristled in outrage. “I’m not a turd!”

Ciph gasped, drawing herself up with a white paw to her chest. “The turd speaks! Who knew?”

“Don’t tease him,” Sliuk told her. “We’ve had a bad day.”

“Oh? Did Kadu sit on a hot coal or something?”

Sliuk chuckled, but didn’t answer. Instead she leaned over to Ruyak, telling him quietly, “I think it’s time for you to go back, now.”

Ruyak pouted and grumbled in protest. Sliuk reached over and ruffled his hair again with her claws, then started to leave, following the creek with Ciph riding on her back. On the edge of the clearing she glanced back, to see that Ruyak was still sitting in the patch of sunlight.

He looked small and lonely there, ears lowered, still damp from their splash battle. What weight could a mind so young be burdened with to make him look so wretched? Probably he just wanted to play some more.

“Go on,” Sliuk told him, “before Mama or the others notice you’re gone.” And with that, she left him there.

The walk through the forest felt more restful alone with Ciph. The sphinx had more patience for silence than Ruyak did, though it was inevitable she’d start her own questions in due time. She was simply more artful about it.

They came out into an open glade, where an outcropping of flat stones jutted out of the grass in patches. Ciph launched herself from Sliuk’s shoulder, the force shoving Sliuk nearly off her feet, and flew over to one of the sunny rocks, where she immediately lay down and rolled over with her feet in the air.

“Dignified,” Sliuk chuckled.

Ciph ignored her, rolling around and kicking her legs. She made the warm, sunny stones look extremely inviting, so Sliuk wandered over and lay down on an adjacent rock, where the warmth could soak into her damp belly fur.

After a moment Ciph rolled back over to sit up. She shook her wings out and took the time to preen her disheveled feathers, then fixed Sliuk with a significant look.

Sliuk sighed and looked away.

“Sooo,” Ciph urged, “what did the boys do this time?”

“It wasn’t them… well, not directly, anyway. I was arguing with my parents.“

“About what?”

“The same old thing, really…”

“Which is…?”

“It’s just… it’s infuriating to me that my brothers aren’t expected to follow the same rules as I am.”

“What do you mean?”

“All three of them can vanish for a whole day and my father just laughs it off, but if I so much as take an afternoon for myself, it’s all, ‘Where were you Sliuk? What were you up to? What trouble are you getting into?’ And it’s none! The answer is always none!”

“Perhaps it’s the fact you’re going off by yourself that worries them?”

“But Kadu goes off by himself, and I know he gets up to trouble when he does. He’s a fawn-eater, and he leaves our territory to do it, too!”

“A fawn-eater?”

“Eating young animals is forbidden. He does it anyway, though. My parents don’t believe me. He’s coming of age this year, and I don’t think anyone realizes how horrible he is. I’m afraid when he gets his Adinen the girls will be falling all over him, and before you know it he’ll be a father with a territory and he’ll be just like-” Sluik cut herself off, gripping her hair in her claws. “I hate to think of his smug face getting away with it. Drives me mad.”

Ciph was quiet for a moment, considering, then she asked, “Is it worse to eat fawns or humans?”

“Fawns,” Sliuk grumbled.

“Wow, I’m surprised to hear you say that.”

“Why?” Sliuk looked at her, cocking an eyebrow. “I thought you hated humans?”

“I do, but you’ve always hated the idea of eating them.”

“Humans aren’t a resource, they don’t matter. But the deer are relied on by others. Fawns need to have a chance to grow and mature. An adult deer can reproduce, and it’s a bigger meal.”

“Ever the pragmatist.” Ciph grimaced. “What if you were starved, and you had to choose one or the other? Would you rather eat a human or a fawn?”

Sliuk sighed, shaking her head. “I’m not in the mood for this, Ciph.”

“Fair enough. Anyway, try not to worry so much about what Kadu does or doesn’t get away with. He’ll have his comeuppance, one day. He can’t hide behind your father forever.”

Sliuk frowned off into the distance. “Maybe.”

With a casual flick of her tail, Ciph got to her feet and sauntered closer. “Anyone with half a brain could see you’re the smartest and most responsible of your siblings. Your parents just can’t see past Kadu’s handsome face.”

Sliuk threw her a disparaging smirk. “You think Kadu’s face is handsome, do you?”

Undeterred, Ciph put her front paws up on Sliuk’s arm. “Objectively, sure. But not in a particularly compelling way. He’s like… a nice symmetrical pinecone.”

Sliuk snorted.

“Not hard to look at, you know,” Ciph went on, “but I’d rather have nothing to do with him.” Ciph tilted her head and stretched her back gracefully, leaning heavily on Sliuk’s arm and gazing into her eyes.

Sliuk found herself transfixed, watching the slit pupils in Ciph’s blue eyes dilate. With a flustered grunt, she cleared her throat and leaned back to break eye contact. Ciph just laughed, and the sound made Sliuk’s chest flutter.

“Anyway,” Sliuk grumbled, turning away in an attempt to hide the heat on her face. “Enough about all that. How’s your day been?”

“Simply lovely,” Ciph purred. “I’ve eaten two martens, a few beps, and a book about a man transformed into a sable by a vengeful spirit.”

Sliuk wrinkled her nose. “You ate a book?”

“Well, I read it. Then I shredded it and rolled around in it a while, and I may have eaten a little bit of it then. You know they make the pages out of skin, sometimes?”

“Why do you shred the books you read?”

“Oh, why shouldn’t I?” Ciph suddenly rolled over sideways into Sliuk’s chest with a thump. “They’re nice to roll around on.”

“What if someone else wanted to read them?”

“I don’t know anyone else worth giving them to. None of you can read, and the sphinxes I know don’t think the books I like are any good. They prefer truthful books.”

“The books you like aren’t truthful?”

Ciph went still, then with a laugh like a ringing bell she began to roll herself around between Sliuk’s arms like something on a spit. “Does a story about a man being turned into a sable sound truthful to you?”

“I… well I don’t know!” Sliuk fidgeted in embarrassment. “Maybe magic can do things I’ve never seen before.”

“It was fiction, my dear. I like the books that tell stories, but most of the true stories are awfully depressing.” Ciph continued wiggling around on her back, pushing herself against Sliuk’s arms and rubbing her head in her fur. “Books are best when they are about the obscure and strange and fantastic, I think.”

"I suppose I wouldn't know."

Ciph brightened then, sitting up and craning her neck back to look into Sliuk’s eyes. “I’ll read you one aloud, sometime.”

Sliuk blinked at her, and the summer sun was hot on her back, and the stone under her belly was warm, and the breeze brought to her the smell of flowers and earth and growing things, and in that moment no problem felt particularly unsolvable. None of the worries that seemed at times to live in Sliuk’s head as denizens were troubling her. Perhaps it would all work out.

“I’d like that.” Sliuk smiled.

#it's Sliuk/Ciph fluff!#a little #at this point in their relationship Ciph is like an affectionate feral cat #constantly coming over and rubbing on your legs and purring and being very cute and silly #but if you so much as reach to pet her she hisses and swats at you in outrage #writing #grace makes art #tmatb #the grounded sphinx #ciph #sliuk #ruyak

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