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With the whole family on the hunt for a new source of water, Naiche walked alongside his twin in the shadow of their mother, head slightly bowed better shield his eyes from the unrelenting sun. He kept his eyes skimming the heat hazy horizon for any sign of actual greenery or a source of water. To try to help the ever increasing dryness of his throat, Naiche was exercising how in depth he could get his imagination going with thoughts of the odd mouthwatering treat. It helped a little, but it wouldn't compare to cool, clear water. He'd deal. This wasn't exactly the first time the family had to seek out water after all. They always ended up finding what they needed. The little buck wasn't even thinking about being worried yet.

The switch of his twin's tail against his side drew his attention. Angling his head, Naiche turned an ear to fully face Mirsad. Ooh, a game could be good. At the very least it'd help pass the time until a new spring was found, or an oasis, or perhaps a cave system. The cooler temperatures in caves seemed to collect water, hidden away from the blazing heat. A little crooked grin tugged at his features before he shook himself back to a more neutral expression, to be safe in case Muhjah happened to glance over.

"Let's do," He whispered back, his volume scarcely above that of a breath. Hm! Mirage could be fun and it'd be all the easier to do while crossing open desert. Of course, along a similar vein, there was the game of memory. Suggesting a false shared memory or past joint activity that never actually happened, then keep adding on details and the like until the third party, typically Muhjah in situations such as this, also "remembered". The reveal that everything was in fact a lie was entirely optional. There was the added difficulty of their mother being present. She had the potential to just outright go 'No, that never happened' or 'We did no such thing'. Tricky. Of course, if they could convince Shappa the truth of their 'memories' that'd be all the more impressive.

"Mirage is good. Unless you'd prefer memory." There were other games, but the scorching heat and the nagging thirst drive most of their repertoire from his mind. Naiche made a point to scan the entirety of the watery looking horizon in all directions around them as a show of looking for water, but really mirages. "Get us started," For whatever game it may be. "And I'll talk you up."

[WC: 425]

Mirsad's ears flipped up with excitement at Naiche's mention of memory, a particular favorite of his, but mother always made things tricky. At least with mirage the brothers had the opportunity to back out and say they were wrong all along, it was just a figment of their imagination. Once you started memory, the only good way to end it was by winning. Mirsad chewed his tongue, thick and gummy from the heat, while he considered their options. If they could trick mother as well as Muhjah, Mirsad would make the rest of the journey sustained on satisfaction alone. That thought in mind, he made his decision.

"Ugh," he croaked, raising his voice enough to be heard by the whole family. "I think this walk is even longer than the last time we went looking for water."

Mirsad made a show of picking his hooves up high and peering underneath them, his nose wrinkled with distaste. "At least this time there's no scorpions chasing our tails. Remember last time, Naiche? When we flipped up that rock look for grubs and a whole nest of the nasty, stinging brutes came scuttling out all angry?"

The most important trick to Memory was to draw inspiration from something that really did happen. Naiche and Mirsad had gone digging for grubs during a rest on their last long trek, but there hadn't been hide nor tail of a single scorpion. They'd certainly seen the pinchy bugs before, hard not to when scorpions were one of the few things that could survive out in this heat, but they'd learned not to stick their noses near them when their legs were still of newborn wobbles.

Mirsad forced himself to feign disinterest in Muhjah and mother, even as he noticed ears flicking back in his direction. He wasn't very good at hiding his tells yet, best not to give them any more hints of what they were up to than what couldn't be helped.

Both of Shappa’s ears had swung backwards at this point. The boys had gone from quietly talking to being loud enough for all four of them to hear. Shappa’s face deadpanned as the boys talked about encountering scorpions. Sure, they lived out here but she doubt that any had been where they stopped. Scorpions, while small, could be potentially dangerous, especially if there are a bunch of them. She didn’t recall any such excitement from them at any of their recent stops, suspicious.

Well if that is what they wanted to do to pass the time, so be it. Making up stories wouldn’t hurt anyone. Just as long as they didn’t get too loud. Last thing Shappa needed was attracting attention out here. While it was important to learn survival skills in all kinds of situations, encountering something or someone dangerous with three foals is asking for it. Unknowingly, Shappa had picked up her pace, they needed to quit dawdling and keep going.

“Keep up,” was all she said to the three foals.

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Meanwhile, Muhjah was keeping an eye on her twin brothers. They weren’t all the old yet, but it wasn’t long ago that she fell for everything they tried to pull. She’d been growing more suspicious of them and anything they say but sometimes her brain wasn’t entirely sure. Their tale of encountering scorpions could very well be true. Her mind wasn’t sure though, it was suspicious but at the same time, it was possible that her brothers encountered scorpions. They did live out here.

She kept looking back at them as they spoke, voices raised more so she and mother could hear. As she looked at them, they seemed more interested in talking to each other than mother or herself. Muhjah squinted her eyes at them. Mother started walking faster, telling them to “keep up”. Muhjah didn’t like this, it was too hot to walk faster and now she was having a hard time staying in Shappa’s shadow. The sun burned her backside as she fell behind. She glared at her twin brothers.

“Since when did you find a scorpion nest? I don’t remember them, why do you?” she hissed at the boys. The sun made her ill tempered and she couldn’t wait to reach where ever they were going.

WC: 383 / 1,062