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 Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:03 am
As the sun rose over the sandy lands, the second oldest of the new Lords of the Firekin set out over the morning world. Makaa liked mornings. He felt closest to the sun at times like this and liked to practice pouncing and centering himself into a state of concentration.
Well, that was it was to an adult. To him, he was just getting quiet time to think about things.
And practice stalking and pouncing, of course, if he ran across anything worth stalking and pouncing.
Jiwe was awake as well, which was unusual, really. The cub was fairly lazy, and had a hard time waking in the early hours of the day. But today he was restless, and had decided to try to get some play time in before the rest of the pride was very active.
He blinked when he saw his brother not far ahead, then grinned. Jiwe was mostly used to playing alone, since his parents got onto him for being so whiney, and a tattle-tale. Either way, he did like being around his family too... "Makaaa!" He shouted, than bounded towards him, playfully batting at his tail as he came up behind him.
Well, looks like alone-time was shot! Makaa turned when his brother batted at his tail and sighed a bit.
"What d'you want, Ji? And what are you even doing up this early? Usually you're the lazy one," the older cub replied, a bit of a smirk on his maw as he sat down, curling his tail around his paws. Makaa was definitely the arrogant one in the litter.
He shrugged as he walked up along his side, smiling at him broadly. Jiwe was generally a happy cub, and loved playing as much as any other young one. "Oh, I dunno... Just felt like gettin' up, I guess." He blinked for a moment, then glared, looking a bit pouty. "I'm NOT lazy, Makaa... I just need plenty of rest. You know, they say that the more you sleep, the more strength you have when you're awake!"
"Then go to bed early," Makaa shot back with a small laugh. Almost immediately afterwards, he bounced up and pounced his brother.
"If you go to bed early, like me," the cub growled as he wrestled with his brother. "Then you can get plenty of sleep and then wake up to watch the sun touch the sands."
"But..." He frowned more, his ears tilting back defensively. "I don't want to go to bed early. That's incredibly dull! The best things happen at nigh- OOF!" He blinked in suprise and yelped as he was pounced on, automaticly curling up with a whimper. "Aaah, Makaa! You're hurting my paw! Hey, hey! You're cheating!" The cub continued to frown and whine, his voice peaking to a higher pitch as he batted meakly at his brother.
"Pah!" Makaa scoffed and slid off his little brother, rolling his eyes.
"Geez, Ji, you're such a wuss. And for your information, I NEVER cheat," he added and began grooming himself, licking one of his paws clean of some sand.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:13 am
"I am not a wuss..." He frowned, slowly pushing himself up. "You're,,, you're just... You just got lucky. I had some sand in my eye, and didn't see you about to pounce me... I would have done fine otherwise, so you DID cheat, ha!" He stuck out his tiny tongue towards him, his eyes going a little cross-eyed as she glared at him.
"Pfft, sure you did," Makaa shot back, rolling his eyes. He then spread one paw out and shrugged before relaxing his shoulders a bit.
"Well, why don't you pounce me? Then I can show you what luck and what's not."
It was not doubt that Makaa was a prideful little cub. He wanted to be the best warrior in all his brothers and sisters and he had a sort of arrogance among his litter-mates. He was certain that he was BORN better than they were at fighting.
The smaller cub seemed to ponder that... then huffed and shook his head. "No, that would not be fair at all! You'd be expecting it, and everyone knows that you can not accomplish a proper pounce if the other person knows you're going to pounce. It would... simply not be fair!"
Makaa thought about this for a minute, and then turned around.
"Okay, then. Take your best shot, whenever. I've no idea when you'll pounce, so I'm not really expecting it. Does that count?" he asked, tracing a fire pattern in the sand. He genuinely wanted Ji to attempt to tackle him, so that he could prove that he was better, so he did his best to be totally unprepared.
Jiwe blinked at him, head tilting slightly while his ears fanned forward. It.. made sense, in a way. If he didn't know exactly when he would pounce, then he wouldn't know if he would do it now, or later! So, being the impatient cub he was, he smirked and crouched down, his rump wiggling gleefully. Then he pounced, large awkward paws seeking to pounce on top of his older brother.
Makaa fell forward when Jiwe pounced him. But when his front went forward, he brought his back end up, hoping to use to momentum to send his brother forward over his head. He wasn't too sure it would work, as he'd never tried it before, but it was worth a shot.
Jiwe blinked when he found himself face first in the dirt. He wasn't sure exactly how it had happened... He was just pouncing his brother, and somehow he had been se-sawed into the air and onto his face. His nose hurt, and was slightly scraped. He pouted and pushed himself up, whimpering. "NO fair!"
Makaa could only partly believed that had worked. But he didn't let Jiwe know that. He just sat up, brushed a bit of sand from his chest and smirked at his brother.
"That was perfectly fair, Ji. You pounced me and I knocked you off. Plain and simple. So stop complaining."
"I'm NOT complaining! I'm just... saying the truth!" He rubbed his nose with his paw, frowning at his older brother. "You played some.. trick or something. And... the sun was in my eyes! I could have won, otherwise!" He seemed determined to be in denial, and so he growled a little as well... Which was really more amusing and high pitched than imposing.
Makaa rolled his eyes and flopped over onto his side, swishing his tail in the sand.
"Dang, Ji, you do this every time. Can't you just give up and accept that it wasn't the sun or the sand or some dumb trick and accept that you got beat?" he huffed, rubbing a paw against the side of his head. Jeez, his brother was annoying sometimes.
"No!" He huffed, frowning stubbornly. "I won't admit it, cause it's not true! I could beat you easily under the right circumstances..." His tail twitched, watching him for a moment... Then he glanced around and pointed to some rocks. "I bet I could beat you in a race over those rocks and back! Then I'll prove that I'm better after all!"
Makaa sighed and stood up. He knew his strong points were in his strength, he wasn't that great at running, so it was a very good possibility that Jiwe COULD beat him. Of course, he'd do his best.
"Okay, I guess. Whenever you're ready," he said with a shrug.
"Alright!" He grinned and trotted to the space he had deemed as the starting line, then crouched down, his rump wiggling again. "On your mark... get set... GO!" He kicked up a cloud of dust as he lounged into the air, hopping onto the first rock quickly.
Makaa followed his brother, waking to the space and leaping into motion a split second after Jiwe. His paw-pads started to sting dully after the third rock and he was doing his best just to stay neck-and-neck with his brother. And then one paw slipped off the side of one of the rocks and he tumbled off, scraping the side of his left foreleg on a rough edge of the rock before flopping into the sand with an, "Oof!"
Jiwe's eyes were wide and excited... It was possible that he might win! He was so close, almost there... But he paused when he heard his brother cry out, loosing his balance as well. Though he wasn't no where near as troubled by the fall, only caught off balance. He turned quickly and lounged back towards him, landing beside him with a worried frown. "Makaa! You ok?"
Makaa levered himself up and looked at his shoulder, and licked his scrape.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Whatever, you... You would have won, anyways. I'm not good at that kind of stuff," he admitted. At least he was honest, pride had nothing to do with it.
He continued to fret over him, frowning while his ears tilted back in concern. Then he blinked, ears perking as a smirk crossed his maw. "Ah... well! I guess you're right, but it's was probably going to be a tie, I think... We were both the bestests, yeah?" He smiled a bit goofily, tail twitching behind him.
Makaa shrugged and nodded.
"Yeah, in different ways. But I bet you're better at that fast-jumping thing than everyone else is," he replied, pulling himself back up onto the rocks and returns to licking the scrape on his shoulder.
He stared at his brother for a moment, smiling and clearly looking a bit touched. He was apparently more emotional than his brother. "Awww, Makaa!" He bounded closer and ended up pouncing him into the sand, affectionately tugging at his ear with his kitten teeth. "Yeah well, and you're good at the strong stuffs!"
Makaa looked at his brother as if he'd just lost a part of his mind, but pawed playfully at him anyways.
"Yeah, yeah, and remember that! I don't have to cheat to win. And if you stopped whining when you get pinned, then maybe I could teach you some of the things I know," he added, prodding Jiwe's nose with the pad of one paw.
His eyes went a bit cross eyed as he blinked at his nose, and it wiggled a bit. He smiled and continued to gnaw at him, nodding a little. "You think I could beat you for real, if I learned some of your tric-... erm... techniques? It might be good to learn..."
"Well, maybe not beat me, but maybe be better than the others," Makaa replied with a shrug and attempted to heave Jiwe off.
"Come on now, get off," he growled a bit and managed to get his paws under Jiwe and tried to push him off.
He nodded, laughing as he rolled off of him. He remained on the ground for a moment, stretching.. then yawned widely. "Man, all that being the bestest has worn me out... Gonna go take a nap, I think." He purred contently at the thought, claws kneading the sand under him. He batted at his brother for a moment more, then turned to trot away. "I'll pounce you again later, Makaa!"
Makaa sat up and waved one paw at his leaving brother.
"Yeah. Tell father where I am if he asks!" he called back and climbed back up onto the rocks to clear his mind.
"Yeah, yeah." He muttered lazily, almost sounding half asleep already as he walked... Then disapeared around a rock, trotting off to their den to find some shade to collapse in. He'd probably sleep for a couple hours, even though he had just woken up not even an hour before!
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