[PRP] Wait..You're Not My Brother

[Lisirra]

Even though his parents said it was okay, Camdyn'Annot still felt strange being outside the den. It was comfy there. Out here, with the sun and the endless expanse of sand, Camdyn felt...very little indeed. Even though the vultures were supposedly gone, the young boy still watched the skies warily for any sign of a dark birdlike shape. Being outside made him antsy.

That's why he almost always traveled with one or more of his siblings. They usually hung out together; Mom only allowed them out of her sight if they were together, and only because she had to watch over the other kids, too. That was her job. And Camdyn always followed Mom's rules.

Except today. He had...sorta...lost sight of his two brothers and sister. And though there were adult Dawnwalker lions milling about, he really didn't know any of them, and he stood very still, his blue eyes frantically going from face to face. None of them were familiar; they didn't even look at him.

The cub didn't know what to do. Mom and Dad hadn't told him what to do; so he just stood still and waited as if some instruction would come to him.  

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori was busy doing what he was best at. Hiding. Mostly because he knew the very second he showed his face, his mother and father would find him and make him do... uhg... work. Hunting... or scouting... or patrolling... or something stupid like that. He was busy treasure hunting... or at least doing what he assumed could be called that. He still couldn't read the ancient symbols that would point him in the right direction, but he was getting there.

More and more he wished that his friend Sepoko was with him from back in his traveling days... Sepoko had been smart, and probably would have been able to help him figure out how to read the map. But Sepoko wasn't there... and Ilori, though clever, wouldn't call himself ancient-stone-reading smart. So mostly he hid from his parents, who would make him do something 'productive' and he had to hide from his brother... who would try and trick him out of his 'mission'.

He sighed and sat back, after digging yet another hole in the ground. "Man... this sucks... I'm never going to find any treausure this way..." he nestled up in the hole, hiding from the heat, "I need a new plan..."  

[Lisirra]

Camdyn's sky blue eyes alighted on a diminutive form. Since he had never seen another young member of the pride, he assumed it was one of his siblings. Relieved, the cub skipped over to him. Just when he was about to open his mouth, Camdyn realized with a start: This was definitely not someone related to him.

Embarrassed at his mistake, and now more confused than ever, the unassuming Camdyn stuttered some mishmash combination of a greeting, a question, and an apology, unable to get any sort of meaning across and saying "um" quite frequently.  

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori had already been muttering to himself as he tried again to decifer his rock... when he heard someone else behind him, doing something similar... except with a lot more ums, but sounding a whole lot more confused, which he confessed to himself would be a little bit tricky, all things considered, seeing as he himself had absolutly no idea what he was doing.

He turned around slowly, lifting an eyebrow... until he saw that it was only a cub. Probably one of Mo's. They did look sorta similar... so it wouldn't have suprised him. So he just smiled, letting his frustrations slip away. He could always do it again later... in a few weeks... or ten. Whatever. "Hey, you alright there buddy?" He asked, being as friendly as he could to the younger cub.  

[Lisirra]

Of course there would be other young lions in the pride. Camdyn felt silly for thinking that he and his littermates were the only ones. It was strange, though, to speak to someone he didn't see everyday. It took the cub a moment to collect his thoughts and make his mouth move the way he wanted.

"Um, hi," he said sheepishly. "Sorry, I kinda thought that..you were one of my brothers. Guess not though." He laughed a bit to cover his embarrassment, and then remembered his manners. "I'm Camdyn. It's nice to meet you. I haven't met any other cubs around here. Do you have any brothers? I have two. And a sister. They're...around."

Camdyn was at once his mother and his father: shy and verbose at the same time, and full of friendliness. Once his initial unease at meeting someone not related to him passed, he began to feel quite independent and excited at talking with someone new.  

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori grinned back, liking the cub already, "Well then, hello Camdyn. I'm Ilori... sorry you mistook me for one of your brothers. I'm kinda orange though... some lions might mistake me for being sand." He grinned at his own joke, "And yeah, I have two brothers and a sister also. My older brother and sister... well, I've never actually met them, they live far away. Then there's my twin brother, Nanuka, but he's dark black... doesn't like the sun, you know?"

He stood up, shaking sand out of his fur from all the digging he had been doing, "I think I'm a bit bigger than you and your brothers though. Want some help finding him?" If someone tried to stop him and make him do something... it was a perfect excuse to say that he was helping a smaller lost cub. Perfect.  

[Lisirra]

Camdyn smiled openly at his new friend, suddenly feeling optimistic. The cub rubbed a grain of sand out of his eye before responding with a little chuckle. "Sand? Oh, I get that too. My brothers and sisters have a lot of green though, so they have more trouble being mistaken for palm trees." He laughed at his joke. "I like the sun. But sometimes it hurts my eyes. Kinda like sand. But I like sand too!" The upbeat cub dug his claws into the sand to make his point. Boy, did sand feel fun!

At Ilori's next words, Camdyn stepped back a bit, looked over the other boy, and finally nodded. "Yep. You are bigger'n me and Siki and Banda. Dunno why I didn't think of that before."

Camdyn's blue childlike eyes lit up. "You would do that, you would help me look for them? Oh, that would be super nice of you. I'm not supposed ta go out alone, ya know?"

Then a thought occurred to the small Dawnwalker. "Maybe they're all playing hide and seek and I'm supposed to be finding them..."
 

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori smiled, "Well then, we'll just have to look for smaller palm trees then, won't we? I'd be happy to help you find them." And he would... because again, helping would be just like playing hide and seek. Not work at all. Perfect. Now his mother couldn't call him lazy, because he was being friendly to a lost cub. That, and Camdyn seemed like perfectly nice company.

"Do you know where they sorta-went?" He asked, "And won't worry, you're not alone as long as you have me. I'll protect you from the sun and the sand... and the palm trees I guess." Though somehow he doubted the palm trees would hurt them... but honestly, he was a little more worried about what could be hiding inside those trees. But he would never say that to such a little cub.  

[Lisirra]

Camdyn smiled, relieved and happy to have made such a nice new friend. "Well, usually when the four of us go out to play, we stay by the palm trees, the oasis'n stuff. That's cuz Banda and Siki like to play with the rocks and talk to the trees. I dunno, I can't hear the trees talk like they can. So sometimes me and Gana, my sister, we go do something else. She likes to paint with colors made from plants. I dunno what I like to do, so I just watch. Here, I'll show you where we go sometimes."

The cub started off in the familiar direction, but made sure that Illori would follow him first. It felt strange to be a leader. Camdyn was always following his siblings or his parents. He wasn't sure he liked being out in front.

Now that he had made a friend, Camdyn's friendly curiosity allowed him to overcome his shyness. "Thanks for coming with me. I woulda asked Momma or Daddy but Momma is the nanny so she has to watch the other little kids when their parents are busy. And Daddy has to help the hunters find food for us. Which ones are your parents? Were you born here? I was. Where are your parents from? Muroki says my momma was one of the original Dawnwalkers but she doesn't remember from when she was little. Is your momma one too? Which one is she? I haven't met any of the grown-ups."

The small boy chattered innocently, not feeling any arrogance about his lineage. He barely knew what it meant; he assumed everyone was from the original Dawnwalkers anyway. But that was all he knew about his family, and he was trying to make conversation. Anyone who knew Safiya would instantly recognize Camdyn as her son by his run-on chatter.  

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori couldn't help it, he laughed. The little cub was so full of questions! He was usually the one who asked them when he met new lions... but honestly, this little one was the first lion he had ever met who was actually younger than he was. He was used to hanging around with older cubs, or his parents and their friends. He supposed this was what it was like for them when he talked to them. What fun!

"My brother and I are sort of like that... but we try to play tricks on each other." He smiled, listening to Camdyn's friendly chatter and trailing along beside him, happy to have someone to hang around with for a while. This wasn't even about getting out of work anymore, he was actually enjoying himself.

"My dad is a hunter too, he's big and black with markings like mine. My mom is one of the guardians, she's orange like me... but just orange, and she has a few scars from fighting. I wasn't born here though, when I was little my family traveled around everywhere... we never stopped moving around, and we all made lots of friends wherever we went." Like Sepoko... He didn't say that part out loud, "We came here because my mom's parents... or her grandparents... or something like that, they were all born here before. I don't know where my dad is from... but yeah, my mom is from here." He smiled, perfectly pleasent, "She has a cool necklace that she wears around too... she's pretty easy to spot." He laughed, "And don't worry about me coming with you, I'm happy too. This is way more fun than digging!"  

[Lisirra]

Camdyn's little head bobbed along with the older boy's words, taking it all in. He set a mental reminder about the description of Ilori's parents, in case he were to run into them. He knew so few people in his own pride. That would have to be changed, for sure.

But then he said something odd that caught the boy's attention. "Digging? Like what little rats do? How come you were digging?" This was fascinating, talking to someone outside the family. He pretty much knew everything about his siblings and his parents, so conversations with them were pretty predictable. But new people could be so much more interesting!  

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori blinked, not really offended by being called a rat (it wasn't the first time that had happened, to be sure) but he was a little suprised anyway, "No, not like a rat..." he looked around, then grinned, leaning down and looking at his new friend, "Can you keep a secret?"

Maybe this would be a lot more than a way to get out of some work from his parents. Maybe this was his chance to find someone to help him with his little side-project! Now that could be very interesting indeed. And way more fun than working (and how he hated that) alone.  

[Lisirra]

Camdyn's eyes grew wide. A secret was a very important thing, and to be trusted with one was such a great honor to the young boy. It was especially nice because he had just met Ilori, and already he trusted Camdyn enough to tell him a secret? This was so great.

Camdyn nodded solemnly. Yes, he could most certainly keep a secret. He could be the best secret keeper in the world!  

[demonstration_evil]

Ilori grinned and quickly looked around, to make sure that no one was watching, "A little while ago... the King of our Pride gave me a very special mission." He went into his hole and stoved out the stone tablet, "On this stone is a map. It leads to the great treasure of the Dawn Walkers. I've been looking for treasure!"

Now if that wasn't exciting, he didn't know what was.  

[Lisirra]

"The King?" Camdyn whispered reverently. He knew that lion, yes he did. His mama had come to the desert with him and some other of his friends. But he had never spoken to Muroki, being too afraid of his reverance. But Ilori had, and he had even been given a special mission. And now he was letting Camdyn in on it too! This was wonderful, it really was!

Camdyn was too reserved to bounce around excitedly, but his heart sure was jumping. "That's really so exciting," the boy agreed. "What kind of treasure is it?"

He could only imagine. Shiny gold? Shimmering jewels? He had never seen treasure before, but from the stories he had heard of it, treasure was supposed to be sparkly.