[PRP] Sibling Rivalry (Zeki x Chizoba)

[MoonRazor]

Well. Once again, Yezekael was up, bright and early. His violet eyes had opened with the coming of the dawn, and he was feeling antsy. He had made the mistake of falling asleep too soon the night before, and now found himself trapped against the back of den with his siblings littered around him in sleep. He would have tried to step around them, but there was still a certain clumsiness in his little legs, and he had little doubt that he would have ended up tripping over all of them and getting into trouble.

So he sat where he was, stuck between his sleeping siblings and wondering how he might maneuver his way past them, tail twitching anxiously. At least, he reasoned, he wasn't stuck somewhere else, somewhere less... desirable. He was perfectly fine with being here, but the solitude of being the only one awake had begun to gnaw at him.

Impulsively, he reached out a paw to poke lightly at the nearest sibling in sight. "Hey, Chizoba," he whispered, poking again. "You awake?"  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Hmngph?" Was Chizoba's eloquent response. "Whatchya need?" He peeled one sleepy eye open abd lazily swatted his brother for waking him so early, but once he was awake, he was awake. At least until after a meal when he took a nap.. This surely was not the first time this had happened.

Chizoba always wore himself out during the day and therefore slept as long and as deep as he could. He played hard, and slept just as hard. "You being a scaredy cat again?" He yawned and then grinned good naturedly.  

[MoonRazor]

Yezekael frowned mightily at the suggestion, and swatted back at his brother. "M'not a scaredy cat!" He said indignantly, drawing himself up to his full height as if that would prove himself right. He was a rather large cub, so perhaps it would have worked on any other cub. He wasn't so sure how effective it would be with his brother, who was probably used to it by now, but it was worth a shot anyway.

"I was jus' bored." He said, by way of explanation. There were times when he felt he was the earliest riser in the family, and when he compared himself to Chizoba, that certainly seemed to make sense. "An' watching to sleep wasn't no fun. You're bein' a fatty." He added gravely, as if indulging in a little sleep was deplorable behavior.

"And, and," he added, as he suddenly realized that Chizoba's moving would clear a path for him to break out of the cozy den. "You were in my way." He smiled triumphantly. Clearly, that justified everything.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba was totally nonplussed at Zeki's size. "I am not a fatty! I just go to bed later then you! 'Cause I'm still goin' strong while you're heading to bed like a girl!" Chizoba was definitely awake now. He stood up, still directly in Zeki's way and then pounced.

"I'll show you 'in your way'!" He exclaimed as he wrestled with his brother and started gnawing on his ear in punishment. How dare he call him a fatty?! He was probably one of the most active of the siblings! Chimvi was lazy and poor Mahlah was always sick with something or other. Zeki should call them fatties instead. Not that Mahlah at least would deserve it.  

[MoonRazor]

The speckled cub stuck his tongue out in response, flattening his ears against his head. "Tha's on'y cause you don't do nufink during the day," he informed his brother solemnly. "If'n you were bein' proper an' unfatty-like you would have to go to bed earlier." Like Zeki, was the implication. Clearly, anything Zeki did was right and proper and the perfect model of cub behavior, and anything else was... well, not.

"HEY!" His eyes widened as Chizoba latched onto his ear, and with a half growl, and turned and batted at the darker cub, teeny cub claws out and everything. Well that would teach him not to pounce on people who were completely undeserving!  

[ShinyObsessed]

"Oh whatever, you never see me doin' anything durin' the day 'cause I'm busy running all over the place!" Chizoba growled playfully back and gnawed on his ear harder, but yelped just a bit as Zeki's kitten claws got a sensitive spot. "Ow."

He brought his own claws out and wrestled mostly playfully. He didn't try to hurt his brother but chewing on his ears was a totally necessary punishment. Chizoba gave one a yank. "And I stick by the fact you are a girl for going to bed so early."  

[MoonRazor]

"Yea, right," Zeki retorted, scoffing as he rolled his eyes at his brother's absolutely preposterous statement. "I jus' sawed you sleepin' yesterday!" Which, of course, was damning evidence that Zeki was right. Sleeping was for the weak and the fat - which had to mean that Chizoba was both. That Zeki himself slept sometimes didn't seem to occur to the little cub as he reach to swat at his brother's ears in retaliation.

"I'm not a girl! I goes to sleep after them," he huffed. That and he didn't have the right girl parts to be a girl - like big eyes and small paws and no hair. Or very little, anyway, and nothing at all like his own impressive hair tuft.  

[ShinyObsessed]

"You jerk! Everyone sleeps after a meal, even Mommy! Even you!" As he tussled with his brother he let out little growls. There was nothing like a good scuffle in the morning to wake you up. He was a little irritated, but it wasn't the kind of irritation that would require he actually bite his brother hard.

Chizoba rolled them over and pushed off his brother's stomach with his back paws and went bounding out of the cave mouth. "You can't catch me you lazy girl! There was also nothing like a morning chase to get the blood flowing.  

[MoonRazor]

"Nuh uh!" Zeki retorted emphatically, refusing to stand down. At this point, he had made up his mind that everything Chizoba said was a lie, and that his best course of action would be to deny it immediately, regardless of what his brother had actually said. Obviously, saying no enough times would be enough to convince Chizoba that he was wrong.

The speckled cub let a tiny snarl slip from his throat as he batted at his brother again, attempting to dislodge Chizoba and then spring out of reach. A split second later, the darker cub had voluntarily let go and bolted, leaving a momentarily disoriented Zeki to scramble hastily to his feet and after his brother. Challenge accepted!

He bounded out into the sunshine after Chizoba, ears flat against his head as he ran. "Can too!" He declared rather shrilly as he chased after the other cub. "M'catching you right now!"  

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba was anything but a lazy cub. He had played countless games of tag. He climbed trees and he active for at least 70% of his day. He only took naps to fuel him for the rest of the day. He was also as healthy as a horse. This meant that Chizoba was as fit as a little cub could be. He certainly wasn't going to lose easily.

"No you're nooooot!" Chizoba called behind him and went into serpentine patterns to throw the chasing brother off his trail. He'd gotten to know the surrounding area very well by playing tag or hide and seek with anyone and everyone that would give him the time of day.  

[MoonRazor]

"I'm really fast, you know!" Zeki called out loudly from behind as he chased after Chizoba. It wasn't exactly a lie, but the speckled cub knew he wasn't the quickest creature on his feet. His size made that a bit of an impossibility, but what he lacked in speed, he made up for in a reliable, steady lope that could carry him consistently for a good while, and while he wasn't the most agile of creatures, he had a certain tenacity about him that allowed him to bulldoze his way through virtually anything.

So when Chizoba took to zigzagging his way through the clearing, it only took Zeki several turns to realize how futile his efforts were. Best he simply keep an eye on the darker cub, he decided, and alter his straight line to suit his brother's trail.

"Well, mebbe I'm not, but I'm gonna stay on you... I'm watching you, y'know!" He yelled, attempting to put pressure on Chizoba. Sooner or later, he figured, his brother would get tired.  

[ShinyObsessed]

Sure, sooner or later Chizoba would get tired. But it was likely to be later. He played so much tag and other high energy games that he was in the peak shape a cub could be in. "Ooooh I'm soooo scared!" he called back.

He hoped Mom would call them for breakfast before Zeki caught him. He could run for a long time, but Zeki was just an overly determined fellow. Without a second thought Chizoba dashed for his favorite climbing tree and started up it. "Nyah!" he called down tauntingly.  

[MoonRazor]

"You are so scared!!" Zeki yelled back determinedly, flattening his ears against his head and leveling out to put on a little more speed. Chizoba was probably faster than him, but that was okay. Lots of cubs were faster than Zeki, but it wasn't quite enough to get him down. Very few things were, to be honest. Things like the sun hiding, and rain, and lions dying but even then, Zeki would find some way to put a positive spin on things. There was no point in dwelling on the things that were lacking.

"Hey I fink you're cheating!" Zeki called up, almost in a song. Cheat or no cheat, he was glad to be spending some time with his brother, even if they had had a rather heated.. "argument" beforehand.

He wasn't so sure of his climbing abilities, and he had little wish to fall, so he did the only other thing that seemed worthwhile: he sat and waited. Chizoba had to come down at some point! And Zeki thought that he had the patience to wait out his darker brother. After all, and eternity to Zeki would most certainly also be an eternity to Chizoba. As far as the spotted cub knew, time was a shared experience.

So that was it, then. Zeki was going to puppyguard that tree for all he was worth.

/fin?  

[ShinyObsessed]

Chizoba was a happy, healthy, and fun loving cub. But he was not a patient one. He flopped onto a branch and curled his tail for something to do. . . OK bored. "Fiiiine Zeki, you win. I don't wanna be up here all day." Chizoba jumped off the low branch fearlessly. If he was going to be caught, at least he'd do something cool first. "Let's go wake up Mom, I'm hungry."