Outro aviso de fofura: Lu oncinha!
Luciano let out a plaintive meow to every creature in the forest willing to listen. Deep down, he longed for his cries to reach his father’s ears, hoping he would come to rescue him. He had tried to cross the river in human form and had nearly been swallowed by the waters. He managed to escape, but not without a cost: his body was no longer the same. He felt disoriented by the sharp sensitivity in his ears and nose, and on top of that, he was smaller and covered in fur!
Still, a familiar scent pierced through the whirlwind of sensations. Following it, he hoped to find the path that would lead him back to his father.
Afonso searched tirelessly through the forest for any trace of Luciano.
He had summoned all his men to look for his son, hoping that this would increase their chances of finding him. The boy had been missing for two days, which was already alarming enough. Afonso refused to rest, his nerves on edge. His finger stayed on the trigger, ready to fire should he run into those two troublesome blondes he suspected were involved, given the recent conflicts.
Then he heard a rustling coming from the right.
He aimed into the trees, waiting for the figure to reveal itself. What emerged was a tiny creature with black fur, purring like a kitten, it hopped happily toward him. Afonso lowered his weapon with a frustrated sigh, stepping aside from the little jaguar cub that had tried to nip at his leg. It was best to leave the area as quickly as possible; its mother had to be nearby.
So he continued his search, and the cub kept following him.
No matter how much Afonso walked, the little cub kept following him. Everytime he stopped, it would bite his lower leg and wrap his little paws around him.
"Hey! Hey! Little kitty, stop," Afonso said quietly, always looking around for a ferocious feline mother ready to pounce on him. "I can't play with you. Go home to your mama."
Afonso pulled the cub from his legs, who started roaring and whinning in protest.
Afonso started running. He had no time for this, his son was either lost or captured and he had to find him.
He stopped running and looked around, the cub nowhere in sight. Now he could focus on his search, thought he felt a little bad about the baby kitten. He hoped his mother had found him.
As Afonso started searching the trail again, he heard a loud shriek. To his dismay, he saw the cub running towards him, whining non stop umtil it reached him and started biting his leg again, now more angrily. It almost sounded like it was crying.
"Why do you keep following me?" Afonso kneeled and the cub went straight into his arms, wrapping his paws around his neck and crying on his chest. "Hey... are ok, pequenino? Don't cry."
Afonso caught the cub and started rubbing his soft fur as it kept roaring and crying. Slowly, the cub calmed down but refused to let go of Afonso's chest, his nails grabbing his shirt tightly, his brown eyes staring at him.
"Fine, fine. You can come with me," he said, much to the cub's delight.
Afonso spent the following hours searching for Luciano, holding the cub on one hand and his pistol on the other. At sunset, he returned to the camp by the coast, the cub now sleeping soundly against his chest.
He sat down by the fire and rubbed his tired eyes.
"Luciano... where are you?" Afonso whispered.
Suddenly, the weight and feel of the cub in his arms changed and he looked down to find a sleeping human toddler in it's place.
The boy opened his eyes and wrapped his little arms tightly around Afonso's neck.
"Papai, you ran away from me!" he cried out, burying his face on Afonso's chest. "I was looking for you! Don't run away again, ok?"