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 Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:40 pm
Maipe's trouble-making scheme for the day had been sparked entirely by accident. She'd busied herself with harmless antics all morning, attacking her own shadow, building things with the sand; wrestling with her tail, and climbing. The rock formation jutted out of the ground close enough she was allowed to play there, but far enough it felt adventurous.
One side was smooth and hard to climb. Another too pointed with sharp edges that sank into her paw. Two hours and just as many tantrums later, she'd finally mastered the layout enough to scale to the lowest vantage point.
Maipe realized there was a gap she could fit her tiny self into to hide from the view of those below her. About the same time, she discovered there were stray pebbles and stones all over the place.
She waited impatiently for her first victim.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:55 pm
Already, life was rewarding Maipe for the very little patience which she possessed.
For who should come puttering along the sands but the young Huo. Having recently eaten his fill, he had a fat gut and was walking slow. The sands were still quite a mystery to the small cub, and he made a great display of walking on them.
Lift one foot, swing it way wide and then slam it down in the sand. Dirt and dust went everywhere. Huo pounced at it. More sand scattered. He pounced at that. Then, he pinned his ears back and raised a paw and hit at the sand as hard as he could. Unfortunately, the sand didn't make much of a sound and slowed down his paw so much that he felt no gratification after hitting it.
Hm.
Huo resumed walking. Waddle, waddle, waddle.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:13 pm
Others may have been delighted with their luck. Not Maipe. She was so entitled that she couldn't begin to fathom just how entitled she was. Seide's privileged, bratty first born gave no thanks that Huo should cross her path first, only sought ammo bigger than the pebbles she'd lined up.
The task was easier said than done if she were to keep risk of being spotted to a minimum.
Ultimately, she had to settle with what she already had to work with.
Maipe waited until he was close enough, then all at once, she hit the pebbles with her tail. They poured like rain and those that missed their target left small dents in the sand.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:17 pm
Huo did the first thing that any cub would do, he froze. The small cub ducked his head, and still the pebbles hit him! Why wasn't ducking working?
Then, he wailed. It was a loud, screeching sound.
"Mom. Moooooooooom!"
Then he scrambled forwards and fled from the scene as quickly as he could go. His little paws hit the sand and he flopped and flumoxed until at last he was free of the mess. Then he turned, and hissed as loudly as he could at the whole operation.
There was no one there. His grandfather's stories dancing in his hand, Huo marched his way back over to the spot he'd been pelted. However, as he neared, he began to get wary, and slowly tiptoed. His nose went snuffling, determined to sniff out whatever monster might have tried to get him.
He was going to get it and then he'd bring it back as a trophy for his mother. His girly scream was all but forgotten to him in light of this new task.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:31 pm
Forgotten by him, sure, but his sister? No way. She was going to throw up from laughing so hard! Unless her insides exploded first. Something in her chest and along her sides was aching sooo bad, but she didn't regret it for one second.
Maipe'Bado was a perfect specimen for those wanting to adduce evidence in support of their claim all cubs were miniature psychopaths. She stayed huddled against the wall with both front paws pressed to her nose and face, stiffing her cackles -- er, laughs.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted a cluster of stone shards. Did she dare...?
She did.
Maipe slowly, slooowly nudged them toward the edge with her tail.
One...
Two...
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:37 pm
Thunk.
Huo leapt backwards about five inches. His mouth had gone frothy he was so busy hissing and spitting. No sooner had his voice told that rock off than another shadow appeared.
Huo was getting wise to Maipe's tricks. His head shot up, just in time for a third and final shard to come whizzing down. The hiss was no longer panicked, but it had ended with a very manly growl. Someone was up there!
Fur bristling, Huo powered forwards with all four feet. So animated was he, that he almost tripped onto his own nose as he whirled around the rock face, tail whipping, paws shaking sand as they went.
His eyes jerked upwards as he moved around, but he could see no easy way up.
"Mean!" For that was now the perpetrator's title. "You come down here right now!" he shouted upwards at the invisible assailant.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:49 pm
Maipe was just about to fess up when she heard him call out from below. Not her name, not a name at all. Since she couldn't indulge her urge to peek at him, she had to use senses other than sight. Like that of the hearing and common variety.
There was still hope for more entertainment yet!
What was that story grandpa told? Something about evil spirits haunting the rocks.
Maipe drawled in a high, consistent pitch like an owl might (not that she knew what that was). "Huuuooo... Huuuoooo..."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:55 pm
Both of his ears went forwards. The small cub started to lean backwards. All of his weight moved onto his back legs, and he raised up. His front paws were placed on the hard rock.
In his toes, he could feel the vibration of the sound. It was like the earth was reverberating with a voice. The small cub's hair stood utterly on end.
"Lea'e me alone!" Huo had trouble pronouncing his v's, and so it was skipped over like the obsolete consonant that it was.
"I'e ne'er done anything to you!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:07 pm
If Maipe could control her temper half as well as she kept her laughter under wraps, Seide would have a prodigy in her litter. Alas, she was stuck with this rascal cub and her shenanigans.
"Huuooo..." whined the rock spirit. "You have been very, very mean to your sister."
What other words started with that letter? Uhhh.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:12 pm
The rock continued to vibrate underneath his paws. Huo glared at the rock, glared at it.
"I ha'en't touched her!" he debated angrily. His paws were moving right along the rock now. The vibrations were getting stronger, and he followed them. Huo's back feet pedaled along with him. As he traveled, the voice began to sound different, louder, until at last there was another sound that accompanied the strange, echoing hum of the rock.
And that's when Huo got extremely mad.
"MAIPE!" Had white fur not covered his cheeks, they would have been flushed entirely red as blood rushed towards his head. "YOU ARE THE MEANEST." Huo felt such shame as he had never felt before. She'd heard him scream, hadn't she?
Gasp!
She'd thrown the rocks, too. He lifted off his front paws and slammed them into the rock as hard as he could. It didn't produce the desired earthquake. "MAIPE. I'M GONNA TELL MOM."
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:31 pm
The "rock spirit" wanted to deny it but couldn't find the time between maniacal laughter and wheezing gasps. Tragic she should be denied her brother's florid complexion because he had fur on his face. She might find a way to "fix" that lil' problem one day and leave him bald as a snake.
That'd give him something to really whine to Mom about!
Maipe finally appeared for all to see, grinning all smugly and wide. "You go ahead and tell her, tattle tale. I'll tell e'rybody you screamed like a baaaaby o'er a rock."
Her next fit of laughter was a product of unskilled acting and literally sounded like "ha" on repeat.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:37 pm
Huo tried to hit the rock again. Lips curled back into a snarl, he slammed his shoulder into the rock. Maipe did not come tumbling down for him to tackel. The rock didn't even budge. The pain in his shoulder only made him more angry.
"Maipe, I'm gonna!" His voice was as high as it could get, nearly unintelligible as it was cast towards his older sibling. "I'm gonna--auughhhh." The loud cry of frustration escaped the cub's mouth as he fell over on the sands and rolled with the unfairness of it all.
"I'm not talking to you!"
With his ears pinned, Huo rolled all the way over and stalked a few feet away from the rock. Defiantly, he wiggled his butt at her, and then collapsed into the sand in a heap.
Huo rested his head on his outstretched paws, stared at the sands (evil sands!) and waited, blood boiling, for his sister to get hungry and come back down. He was going to get her big time for this.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:55 pm
For a while, Maipe laughed so hard she was really worried she might die! Like, for real! She'd heard you could die that way from, umm, grandpa probably.
Getting wiggled at by a big, stupid butt stopped her amusement dead in its track and left her with an implacable rage. Oh no. he. did. not. Retaliation would be swift and fierce!
Maipe turned around and wiggled her rear right back at him (whether or not he was looking). Her tail stood straight up and she hummed "nah, nah, nah" to the beat of her taunting jig.
Shunqa might want to reconsider that "good Firekin stock" thing...
Maipe span back around and just about slipped off the edge. "What cha doin', Huuuooo? You gonna sit there and pout? Huh? Can't climb up here and get me, huh? Well?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:01 pm
Well, one of them had good Firekin stock. Huo was proving his worth with both his patience and his utter determina-- what?
"CLOSE YOUR LARGE MOUTH!"
The white cub leapt to his feat. There had to have been a good two inches of air underneath his paws, which was an admirable accomplishment for a young lion in the sand. There was much scrambling as he whirled.
Huo held nothing back as he rushed the rock. It was a sprint for the records, and he leapt, claws clumsily half in and half out as he scrambled along the cliff-side. Almost!
Feeling victory, Huo swiped at the just visible sight of Maipe's nose and toes. Then, gravity got the best of him, and he slid back down, catching his foot, and then rolling the rest of the way.
He spat and sneezed out the mouthful of sand for only a moment before turning his head up to see how much damage he'd done. Then he leapt at the rock again. He didn't get nearly as far up this time.
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Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:13 pm
Uh oh uh oh UH OH.
Maipe looked like she was about to be picked up by a whirlwind. She stood on the tips of her toes and her fur bristled. As her brother climbed she hissed in part-challenge, part-panic. Huo was bigger than her. You could tell from his fat butt.
Maipe's nose suffered a minor scratch that just barely broke the skin. He may as well of gutted her for all the screeching she did.
"IF YOU COME BACK UP HERE, HUO, I'LL -- I'LL MAKE YOU EVEN UGLIER! SO UGLY THE VULTURES WON'T WANT YOU!"
To prove her threats were legitimate, she paced the few steps she could and swiped at the air between them over and over.
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