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It was early morning, and Aibisho long been up, seen the sunrise and now sat staring at the direction her knew the horizon to be. The view was obstructed by trees, a jungle, the likes of which he had never seen before. In fact, Aibisho had never seen a jungle before at all. They had travelled long and hard, he and Dhoof, and it was only now that Aibisho felt that they were out of reach of their mother - but he still wanted to get to the other side of that jungle. She would never find them there.

"I wonder what's on the other side," he said softly, clicking his tongue as he tried to imagine what would be hidden on the other side of a jungle. Probably just another long expanse of nothing, although he almost wanted to say he tasted salt in the air. A curious thing, and he had no explination for it. He supposed he'd figure it out once he got there.

"Dhoof, you up?" he called back to his brother, where he had left him in slumber hours before. He hadn't gone far at all, but sometimes it was nice to just have some time to think. They needed to get somewhere soon.


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It was a known fact that Dhoof never got up early anymore. He used to, when the two young males were still living with their family, get up early all of the time, long before his sisters would. Dhoof would do it simply to evade further tormenting from his siblings. If he was asleep, and they were awake... there were a bunch of things that they could do to him and he'd have no power to stop them. But, now that he believed they were safely away from their families, he relaxed, and let himself sleep in past dawn. It was as if all of his worries had been swept away with their abandonment of the family, and maybe they really had been.

"Mrrr... no," he replied sleepily from his makeshift bed. The black lion had somehow managed to wedge himself between two huge roots at the base of a tree. He was curled up slightly, legs kicking up into the air, tail flopped over one root while his head rested on the other one. It looked rather comical, but Dhoof liked to simply consider it comfortable. He really was an odd young lion, when one got down to the bare bones of it. At least he was a sane lion, though, and was gradually overcoming the effects of living with abusive siblings, and an equally abusive mother. Baala had cared somewhat, but she still would never openly go against Kiuma or their daughters.

"I don't wanner go," he said lazily, because he knew that was likely one of the first things his brother was going to say. They were always travelling, always fleeing from the place where their mothers had raised them. Dhoof wanted it to end. He wanted to settle down some place and live happily ever after... he wanted to stop running.


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"We have to go," Aibisho said with a slight sigh, a roll of his eyes he was sure his half-awake brother wouldn't even see. He pushed himself to his feet and strolled over to where he lay wedged between he roots, using his tail to bat at Dhoof's nose. "Just a little further, Dhoof, and then we can stop running away. I just want to get on the other side of this jungle, and that's all." He glanced up to it again as he spoke, his curiosity burning ever brighter as he stared at the masses of trees that stretched so far onward.

"She'll never find us on the other side of this, I'm sure she won't, it's good protection," he said in a supportive manner. He just knew he was right, he had to be.


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He sneezed ungracefully when his brother's tail bat at his nose, his nose crinkling cutely as his paw came up to swat his brother's tail away. "Lemme be," he whined softly, definitely not willing to get up at this point. But, his brother was demanding his attention, and eventually Dhoof let one eye creak open. "One the other side of /that/?" He said this incredulously, gesturing with his tail to the jungle... the rather large jungle, one that Dhoof suspected would take a long time to get through. "You want me to walk through /that/?"

He shook his head, both eyes now fixed on his brother. "Of course she'd never find us through that... because no one would be stupid enough to go through that place. C'mon, Ai, let's go /around/ it. It'll be just as effective as going through it... except longer." He was admittedly unsure that his brother was right at this point... but Ai had never failed him. Ai had been the best thing to happen to him, actually.


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"Yes, that," he said with an irritated glance down at his brother. Aibisho had little patience, and though he adored his brother and wouldn't be seperated from him for the world, he often acted too impatient with him. He figured, by now, Dhoof was used to it.

"Walk around it, Dhoof? What in the world kind of sense does that make?" he said with a snort, flopping down beside his brother as he stared into the depths of the jungle. "Who knows how long this stretches on, it could take as three or four times as long to walk around it when we could simply just.. go through." He cast a glance at his brother, quirking a brow, "unless you're scared, of course."


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He wasn't fazed by Aibisho's irritated look and tone of voice. It rarely effected him, since he knew that his brother loved him more then anything else on the earth. Any irritation Aibisho felt for him now would dissapate in a matter of minutes, so long as Dhoof complied to Aibisho's wants. What choice did he really have? Go with his brother, or go alone. Those were his choices, and it was always clear which one he would go with. His brother he would always remain loyal to.

"It will be safer, and sure it will be longer, but there won't be creatures we've never seen before that could kill us. C'mon, Aibisho, I just don't want us to get hurt or poisoned, even." But at the hint towards Dhoof being actually scared managed to quickly change the young lion's mind. He was up and onto his feet in a matter of seconds, shaking his head to will the sleep away from his mind and body. "I'm not scared. What would ever give you that idea? I'm just being cautious for the both of us."


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"Whose to say that there aren't predators we've never seen before lurking in the lands we'd have to pass through to go around?" he asked with a quirk of his brow, calmly battling his brother's advice. "I'm sure you're just being cautious," he put a great emphasis on the word, "but I don't think there's anything in there big enough to harm a lion."

He smirked to himself and stood up, glancing towards the jungle again. Sure, there might be some odd creatures in there, but he didn't think it was particularly dangerous. Besides, if they went around, it would give their mother more time to find them.


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"But those kind of predators around the jungle would likely be those we're more familiar with than what is in the jungle." For once Dhoof's advice was sound, but then again, Dhoof always agreed with his brother. So, even if his advice was well and good, if his brother didn't want to take it, Dhoof wouldn't take it either. "I am being cautious," he replied, trying with plenty of effort to banish the thought that Dhoof was scared of the jungle. "It's the little things that can be dangerous, too. Our sisters were little, and they still harmed us."

He sighed softly, knowing that he was getting no where with his brother. Aibisho always won out in the end, and soon enough Dhoof would be trudging through the jungle and feeling rather unpleasant about all of it. "So... if we're going, we should probably go now, shouldn't we?" He asked his brother this casually, already giving in to his brother's will.


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"They harmed us because mom would have been angry if we fought back," he said with a bit of a sneer, his mood quickly turning dark as always when the mention of their sisters or mother was brought up. "If it anything big and bad pops out, or little and bad eve, I'll protect you, okay?" he said, throwing a glance over his shoulder at his brother. He knew that Dhoof was right, but he would rather face all the enemies the jungle could throw at them than face his mother now.

He pushed himself to his feet with a pleased nod, turning to face the jungle. "Yeah, we should. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll reach the other side before nightfall."


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"Sometimes I think we should have fought back, instead of cower like we did. Maybe things would have been different if I put up some resistance." He grimaced at the sight of his brother's sneer, and he should've known better than to mention their family. Aibisho didn't necessarily enjoy conversation about them, and Dhoof honestly didn't either. But, he could avoid getting moody after talking about them. He might get a little sad and lonely, but that was it. "Okay," he said softly with a sweet and slightly relieved smile on his face. He admitted to himself that having his brother around with him made him feel increasingly safer.

"I hope so... I don't want to be stuck in there in the dark, when even weirder creatures come out." He grimaced, barely managing to surpress a shudder. To hide his discomfort, he began to head towards the jungle, going slow enough so his brother could catch up and take the lead.


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"If we had fought back, it would have just made mother angry," he said irritably. He didn't want to talk about it, and he made shrugged his shoulders at the end as a way of ending the conversation.

"Well, then we had better walk fast then," he said with a slight smirk, pushing the thoughts of his mother and sisters to the back of his mind. He turned to glance over his shoulder once more, just in case a bright red female came over the horizon to stop them. Feeling safe with her no where in site, he leaped to catch up to his brother, and like he wanted, took the lead. "We'll find a home soon, Dhoof," he said with a nod. He was sure of it.