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 Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:10 am
Sen patiently followed, stepping obediently over everything directed. She listened and responded far better to her pushover brother than either of her parents, even if she was likely to find out later they were better hunters. "Alright!"
Looking determined as ever, the cub bounded infront of her brother and began. Every little thing they came across, she declared, "Over!" Even the smallest of rocks or a patch of particularly high grass.
Hey, she was a cub. They were big to her.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:32 am
Ai couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the things he was told to go over some of the time, but in the cases of some of the things, he felt it was a good precaution for her size, and she'd grow out of it anyways.
In fact, she was responding quite well to everything he was instructing her t'do, which he gave full approval of. In fact, it made him feel like a good teacher on so many levels.
He followed her lead obediently, remaining practically silent as she started leading them off ahead, every now and then peeking his head up to see how far -out- they were actually going.
"Alright, we need to turn here to get back to our original spot.." he advised, allowing her to take the necessary measures of his suggestion. Oh, how much he swelled in pride at his little baby sister.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:46 am
Suddenly not such a good little listener, Sen came to a stop. By the next second she was pouting. At her brother. Because she didn't want to go back. "But, Ai," the cub whined. "We're not THAT far! Mom never lets me go anywhere!"
But her dear older brother, her role model, who was much cooler than their mother, would definiately allow her to bend the rules?
Right?
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:55 am
He was such a pushover. Perhaps it was because he so loved is younger siblings and wanted them to like him too... or perhaps that it was a weakness he'd never known he had.
Ai attempted to remain strong against the face that was being made at him.... but it was so. cute. So he gave in.
"Alright, but we're not going to go so far that -I- get lost, alright?" he warned, giving her his best 'serious face' which, for Ai, wasn't exactly that serious to begin with. In fact, it was laughable. However, he didn't know that exactly.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:08 am
He might not have, but Sen did. Not only was she laughing at his face, but his words, too. Even a young lioness like her who had it drilled in her head she could fly if she just tried hard enough, was very much aware of how easy Ai was. A pushover for a brother. The best kind.
Luckily, her giggles could've been brushed off as a delightful noise prompted only by getting her way. Off they went! Moving faster now (but not forgetting her 'over!'s), Sen hurried through the grass, which got noticablely taller as they went along. Eventually, the cub was invisible, save for the fact the grass infront of her was being pushed down as she walked.
"Ai, can you get a zebra? I wanna see!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:21 am
Ai followed along after her, still following her lead on what to avoid, though he'd long given up on wanting to 'stalk' through the grass before, thus was up and above it, walking rather normally at a saunter behind Sen.
However, he couldn't help but pause when she suddenly asked about his ability to catch anything... or rather if he could catch a Zebra, his mind reeling in horror. He -probably- could, he told himself, but he wasn't really up for that task right then.
It was only then he looked up and realized just how -close- those herdbeasts he'd been watching in the distance were becoming, quickly ducking back into the grass upon this realization.
"Perhaps I could..." he replied, keeping his voice from displaying his inner concern, "but it's hard to hunt when you're not exactly hungry..." he explained. It wasn't really a LIE....
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:32 am
Sen stared up at him with curious eyes, and if one looked close enough, just a hiiiint of suspicion. "What do you mean? We've hardly eaten at all today." As if on que, her tiny stomach made a protesting rumble.
Poor, poor Ai.
"Come on, Ai! I won't tell Mom you tried it alone!" Maybe that was the problem? But Ai was all grown up! Mom was such a worrier.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:35 am
Ai's ears flattened back a bit at the sound his sister's stomach made. He'd forgotten how often smaller beings needed to eat than he did. If he'd admitted it, he would have said he hadn't really -eaten- in about 3 days.....
"It's not that..." Ai said, sighing a bit. How did one explain that they were more concerned about themselves than their mother was to someone so young... he'd have to look into that. "It's just.... errrr...." He tried to seek out a good way around it in his mind, before he sighed a bit, his shoulders slouching like a great weight had just been settled upon him.
"Let's see what we've got up ahead first, then I'll catch one for ya, alright?" he offered, sealing his own doom. Oh, how much he hated hunting... but he had to do it SOMETIME... right?
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:53 am
"Okay!" The cub had been settled for that whole three minutes, but now she burst into action again, jumping up (literally) and taking off before her paws had barely all hit the ground again. She was going to track something and Ai would take it down! What a team!
No zebra, but the mash of brown, black and white up ahead was a sign that antelope were in plentiful supply. The cub skidded to a stop and crouched down.
"Look, Ai," Sen whispered. "There's a whooole bunch!"
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:03 pm
Ai followed quietly after the excited cub, shaking his head a bit as he did so, but rather content with his position... until she stopped, announcing, quietly, to him that there was a lot of whatever it was.
'Whatever it was' being of the same species as what had trampled him months before. It had been an extremely sobering experience, one he'd tell her about someday, he was sure. Afterall, it was up to him as a big brother to keep Sen from making his mistakes over again.
Settling behind her in the grass, Ai nudged the cub a bit. "Alright.... I don't know where those things'll run, so I suggest you find something solid to hide behind." he warned, not wanting to have put her into a situation where she could have been trampled so soon.
He cautiously peeked up over the grass, checking the wind as discreetly as possible, before nudging his sister's rump with his nose. "Now, let's move over there...." he motioned with a jerk of his head, "as quietly as possible. That's where I'm going to leap out at them from, so it might be the best place for you to hide, since they won't run at you, alright?" he said, barely even speaking, as he started to stalk through the grass, making moves to step over things in such a way Sen could see to avoid them.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:07 pm
Sen silently nodded. Like she was his shadow, she followed Ai's movements down to the last twitch of a toe. Unfortunately, unlike Ai's shadow, Sen had a mind of her own, and that mind was mistified by something as simple as prey beasts.
Her head turned juuust a bit to look at them, and in that short span of time she failed to notice the smallest of rocks. The stone was kicked off the side, making barely any sound at all. But, it was enough.
One of the creatures furry heads poked up from grazing. Soon, many followed, and in a flash they were all running.
Sen squeaked fearfully and darted under her brother.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:15 pm
Ai almost SIGHED out loud, but kept it to an internal state, nudging Sen carefully with his nose next to a larger rock. "Stay here." he ordered, his 'serious face' turning into something a lot more serious. He was serious about not wanting her in danger, for sure.
Then, without a word, he turned on one paw, pressing his back feet against the same rock and using it as a spring board to send him off after his initial target. He almost moved the rock, it wobbling under the pressure he'd put on it, as he struck out and after the skittering beasts.
It was amazing, in Ai's mind, how naturally chasing down the beasts came to him, despite his ravaging fear of hunting. He was actually rather good at it when his ego didn't get in the way.
That was the only problem he had to begin with.
Reaching out with a paw, he swiped it under his closest target, taking it's feet out from under it to tumble onto one side, before leaping onto it, pressing all his weight onto it's body, and his front paws onto it's neck until it stopped struggling underneath him.
Taking a careful check once it stopped moving, he bit into it's throat, clamping tightly to strangle any life it might have had out of it, before leaning back and getting off, pulling the dead animal along with him to settle it in the open.
Panting he stepped back away from it and looked off towards where he'd left Sen. Was she still there, and more importantly, was she in one peice?
"Sen?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:37 pm
Having the attention span of... Well, you could compare it to that of the large, blue beetle she'd taken to following. It amazed her how something that terrified her, a lion, didn't shake a bug enough to make it fly away. These could fly, she knew it, and if she followed it long enough she'd get to see.
As for Ai, he'd be alright without her. He was amazing, after all, and the ground had already stopped shaking, so the prey beasts must have been scared of by him. She'd find him again later. For now? Bug tracking time.
The creature infront of her stopped, and slowly, slooowly, Sen reached out with her paw and nudged it. The wings sprouted open and away it flew.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 8:18 am
When he received no answer, Ai's mind went into a state of panic, causing him to call her name out, as loudly as possible, in every direction around him. Oh god, oh god, what if she'd been hurt or trampled or....?
"SEN?! WHERE ARE YOU?"
His mind went racing, and without a single thought back to the concept of buzzards and the like, he went racing into the grass to track the little white cub, starting with where he'd left her towards where the... subtle.... movement of the grass took him.
It was easy enough for him to catch up with his little sister and when he was close enough to practically step on her, he prodded her back gently with one paw.
".. Geeze! You nearly gave me a heart-attack when you didn't call back to me, Sen!" he stated with the same amount of concern his mother would have held after he and Xu had come back from late-night rompings in the grass.
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:58 pm
Sen had every intention of following her new (and now air-born) friend. At least, she did prior to hearing her brother yell.
"SEN? WHERE ARE YOU?"
Right here, duh. Before she could say that her sibling had already reached her. "I was gonna," she assured him via whine. "I saw a flying bug so I had to follow it. I wanna fly one day, too."
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