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 Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 11:09 am
Zuri was older now, no longer such a small, foolish cub that had gotten in trouble in the swamps. She was sleeker, losing the baby fat and becoming fit, a compact, lithe juvenile. The splattering of black over her back camouflaged her, her white underbelly she kept meticulously clean.
She woke early, curled up with her siblings in the part of the swamp their parents had birthed them in, stretching as she rose. Her green eyes wandered out over the swamp, feeling the comfortable coolness of the early morning before dawn, adrenaline starting to pump through her frame as she took in deep breaths of the scent-laded air.
Their parents left them alone more often now. Zuri knew from following her father that they were trying to join a pride. Why they did not join with them, she wasn't sure. Perhaps it would occur later, when they were adults? Already at least one of their siblings had gone, sent to live with a half-aunt in the desert. Zuri saw that this is what happened when one was too noisy. Unzu and Akinyi loved them very much, but they were not very caring or lenient parents.
She shook her head, looking back at her siblings. She nudged Haji's head with one delicate white foot, smirking at him. Zuri wanted to do something, and Haji was going to be her partner in crime. At least he would be if she could get him to wake up.
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:52 am
 The sky was bright, but darkened underneath the canopy of trees hanging over the muddy grounds. Pebbles floated indefinitely over the soft and moist land while branches relaxed within the earth. The air was cool, emphasized by the wetness of the air. Though it was day, the light was almost gone, giving off a rather eerie atmosphere. However, down beneath everything, splashing through the mud, was the black and tan juvenile...
He laughed playfully, unaware of the dimming light. His eyes were closed, not noticing the mud that was getting all over him, wrapping him into an eventual cocoon...
"Haji! Haji!" he heard some yelling, turning his head around; he had to squint.
It was dark. Who was yelling? It sounded like... His father? Mother?
It couldn't be, they had gone off again on their odd intervals of wandering and escape from their litter. They were mad because Haji had been shouting at someone... But he couldn't quite remember who it was, but didn't care.
Suddenly, the noise grew louder and he could hear his name ringing in his ears. He did not know who was calling him, but he had his own troubles. He was sinking! The mud was pulling him in, and he clawed ferociously at the air before it could engulf him, and--
"AH!" Haji yelped as the feeling of Zuri's foot became very tangible, and he rolled over from his original position.
He blinked rapidly, body feeling awfully groggy yet sweaty and tired from his dream. It seemed so real... But that was how most dreams went. He breathed a sigh, throwing a frown at Zuri while trying to gain composure. It seemed early... And his other siblings were still sleeping, too. As usual, mother and father were gone.
"Whadyu wan, Zuri?" he said in a morning slur, squeezing his eyes closed and then open to adjust to the air.
He gave a yawn, indicating that he'd probably still like to continue sleeping if he had the choice - if Zuri just simply poked at his head for fun. That would have been fine, as long as he got to continue his sleep for another hour or so...
"You're only one up," he said obviously, trying to point out how ridiculous it was that she would try to wake another up instead of sleeping like the sane rest were.
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:13 am
The young lioness looked around brightly, glancing back as she heard her brother stirring and ignoring his petulant tones, flicking her ears forward, green eyes alight. "Mother and Dad are up," she answered, arching one eyebrow, lifting her head and stepping over her brother, flicking her white-tipped tail.
"And now you are too," she extended her claws, kneading the dry earth upon which they slept; a rare place in the swamp, and carefully guarded by the family, her tone pointed. "If we wait too much longer it'll be difficult to hunt and too hot to explore." Now she hoped she wasn't sounding petulant, glancing over at their sleeping siblings and rolling her eyes.
"Let them sleep. They'll regret it when they have to wait for Mom and Dad to get home to eat. I'm going to hunt," she raised an eyebrow at him, stepping towards the high grasses that edged one corner of their resting place. "And if you help me catch something, you can have half~"
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:26 am
Well, if Zuri wasn't bright and chipper this morning... A low, soft groan rose in his chest as Haji heard Zuri's tone imply that after she woke him up, she expected him to remain that way.
"Uhg, okay Zuri," he reluctantly replied, "So where did they go?"
He looked around, vision still blurred and fuzzy from the daze. His mouth still held a line of frown, as he wouldn't normally be very enthusiastic about waking up suddenly at the earliest hour possible.
"Wait, they went to hunt?" he asked, surprised at Zuri's suggestion - what kind of things did she think?!
He blinked rapidly out of confusion, surprise, and anxiety - Zuri was stepping out of their clearing and through the grasses! He couldn't just let her do that, of course. She'd just get lost or eaten, especially with the impulsive nature she seemed to exhibit.
"Hey... Hey Zuri!" he whispered as loudly as he could, hoping that he wouldn't wake anyone else up to see this, "You can't hunt! Mom won't like it, Zuri! If you don't get eaten, you'll get sent away or something!"
His rush to move brought him right alongside Zuri, and then he hopped over to position himself in her way. Hopefully she would have some sense.
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Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:46 pm
Zuri was growing more impatient with Haji's dragging pace by the passing moment, feeling well enough to go off on her own and hunt if her lazy brother wanted to sleep in with their siblings. She didn't bother answering him as she cut through the grass, heading out towards the islets where the herds roamed. The young lioness was indeed an impulsive creature, with less good sense than she gave herself credit for.
Still, she'd managed to get the desired reaction out of Haji, luring him to chase after her, and rolled her eyes expressively, stopping in her tracks as he moved to block her path, but not before she'd come to stand nearly nose to nose with her heterochromia-eyed brother, wrinkling her nose at him.
"If they were going to send me away, they would have done it ages ago! I went out a few mornings ago and no one caught me. Besides, do you always do what Mom and Dad say?" she sniffed, jerking up her chin, shouldering into him to try and get past.
"If you're too chicken to come, I get it..." Zuri teased him pointedly, glancing over her shoulder at him and flicking her tail.
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Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 2:15 pm
"Zuri!" Haji kept repeating, frown growing wider on his face as his sister continued her ignorance.
It was a good thing that being a male, he was at least able to blockade Zuri to stop her in her tracks - at least, for the short moment it lasted. He was rather surprised that she moved herself forward to position right in front of his face, so that he anxiously contracted. Maybe... he had made Zuri come to her senses?
His ears lowered when apparently he did not, while Zuri spoke harshly at him. Haji let himself be pushed away easily yet unexpectedly, and stared after Zuri's form that he was unable to calm.
Her question stung a little, but not so much because he did have ample respect for his parents regardless of their sporadic departures. He took a moment to consider it - did their mom and dad even know better? He wondered. Sometimes he felt like he and his siblings were the result of an accident. Oh, well.
"Z-Zuri!" he called, dashing after his sister's tail, "Okay, I'll ah... cover you this time. And help you with your hunt, because it'd take you hours to do it."
He sped up, moving right in front of Zuri to lead the way, bringing his attentive mode on to look for any prey that might have been in the vicinity.
"Hmm... I think I hear something, do you?" he asked - it wasn't hard to pick up something in this area, as the moist place was home to many critters, "Maybe it's a marsh rabbit."
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