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Most unfortunately for his brother, along came Usufii, as if on cue. Noyana wasn't far behind, though Usu was in some trouble too. His ears were folded flat against his head as Noyana continued. "And Usu, if you EVER go falling into a live termite mound again, I swear, I won't come fetch you out!" The words didn't come out of the lioness' mouth out of hate, but she'd been worried about him. And now she knew he'd be itchy for a while, she didn't know what to do for him but hope he wouldn't do it again. To make things worse... she herself was starting to itch. Termites were cool and all, but going into a sea of them just... was not fun, no matter how you slice it. The poor boy... curiosity had just gotten the best of him, that was all.

"Yes mom," Usu muttered, his eyes darting to his brother, who was no doubt getting into trouble, and who would most definitely give him quite a hassle just for being itchy. Under the yellow fur, the juvenile blushed in embarrassment. Curiosity made the cat itchy. Usufii came to a stop and plopped into the dust, and promptly started to itch at the termite bites. Noyana shook her head, but didn't say a word before turning to her mate.

"Oh, Mat, what a day. Doesn't look like you're having too much of a better time of it," Noyana said as she approached her mate and turned her emerald gaze to her other son, Valse. "Don't make your dad mad or we'll dump you into the termite mound." While she wouldn't do that to her sons, and she would have saved Usu if he did it a second time... She'd hope the threat would be enough to straighten Valse out, Mat looked... pissed.

Noyana had grown used to Mat's rougher treatment of her sons. A while ago she might have deemed it cruel and given her mate an earful, but she'd noticed that Mat's treatment seemed to be the ultimate punishment that worked that didn't kill the boys. Noy might not have been able to bring herself to do it, but she was alright with it. She gave Mat a nuzzle and a return lick. "I told him that it was a live mound, there were LOTS of termites inside, but noo, of course the child knows better than the parent. Then he cried for me to fetch him, I'll be itching for a few days," Noyana predicted with a glare, not too rough, directed at Usu, who completely missed it and was too focused on his brother. Noy rolled her eyes and redirected her attention to Mat, at which point she couldn't help but chuckle. "Nice pun," she said, directing her gaze to her other son for a moment. "I'm sorry he's been gnawing on you, we ought to call him termite, maybe..."

"Oh shut up," Usufii said, irritated. Usu had never had so many termites on him in his whole life, not all of it combined! He switched from spot to spot, trying to kill off as many termites as quickly as possible. "I fell into a termite mound, a live one, ok?" He really felt like everyone was rubbing it in, whether they really were or not. He just sat glaring at anyone and anything as he switched from spot to spot, being as normal as he could whenever he could. "How about you, why'd you get a boot this time?" Usu asked with a slight hint of mocking in his tone.

"Oh yes, I hate to hear stories like that from parents that tried to save their cubs..." Noyana said, going along with it and shaking her head in mock-sadness. "But alas, their paws start to get eaten alive and they can't possibly save their children... Such a tragedy, almost happened to me." She said with as pitiful of an expression as she could pull on on her muzzle, turning the sad gaze to her sons.

Usufii gulped audibly at his parents words, glancing from Valse to his dad, to his mom. He was obviously worried, what if the mound he'd been in was one of those! What if he actually did run into another mound like that, and his mom wasn't around.

Still, he tried to keep some of his pride. "Y... Yeah, I'd squish them all too!" He said, seconding his brother's words, though his own voice was a little more shaky. He had been scared when he fell in today... and he had thought that that had been scary! Usu looked back to his brother. "Yeah, that's what we'd do!" he tried to pull as much strength into his voice as he could, trying to fool his parents.

Noyana knew from the start of his story that it was all fake, though she really liked if the boys would believe that those scars were termites rather than... What they had really been from. She remembered the lurking fear, hopefully it would be a fear that her cubs would never need to know. Noyana purred and gave Mat a nuzzle and a lick at his heroic words, and she was sure he saw her tail flick excitedly at what he whispered. She whispered back, "You know, I think I got them all over..." pulled back and gave her mate a wink.

Usufii was horrified by his father's scars! He'd never known what they were from, but the juve was gullible enough to buy what his father said. "...I, I didn't know, dad," he said with a horrified look up to his father. However, he couldn't help but roll his eyes at the mushy-parent crap. He always left whenever they got all lovey, but seeing Valse flail about when he wasn't the one who had just been doused with termites was enough to make him stick around.

Noyana suddenly turned her attention to Valse. "Oh yes, I'll get them off of you, keep flailing, just don't whack me!" She was quickly at her son's side and started to poke at spots that were typically ticklish on a lion. "Mat, I don't think I can squish them quickly enough, I need backup!" Tickling was perfect, it was like torture, only socially acceptable.

Usufii was gullible, but not that gullible. But now he had a choice to weigh off, he'd undoubtedly be tickled to flailing eventually, but could he resist the chance to gang up on Valse?

No, he decided he couldn't help it. Besides, how bad could it be? He quickly leapt in and started tickling Valse, but it would not be for long.

Noy allowed him to be in on the fun for a bit, but... She couldn't let him get away, she knew he'd make a run for it as soon as he suspected something. Usu was entirely focused on tickling, and when she thought poor Valse had had "all of his termites squished..."

Noyana quickly stopped, put a paw to Usu's chest, flipped him over and pinned him in one swift move, it was how she caught rabbits anymore, she was quite good at the move. "You guys, we must save Usu now! I fear his blood is being sucked out as he tries so desperately to save his brother! He was the one who fell into the termite mound today, after all!" She was sure Valse would be all over it.

Noy thought she was victorious, but...
She quickly found herself pinned to the ground just as her son had been by the brownish-red paw that belonged to her mate. "Hey now, that's not fair Mat" she managed to get out before he started to tickle her too. Noy was... insanely ticklish in her spots, which unfortunately for her, Mat knew all of those spots. She removed her paw from Usu in an attempt to free herself, but she knew it was probably no use. Noy may have been strong, but Mat was still stronger. Oh, the pain of it all! She started to find it hard to breath between all of the laughing.

Usufii, too, suffered under tickling, not what he'd wanted. Between giggles, he managed to say "I've been betrayed!" but the sound was warped from all of the laughing, it would be hard to discern exactly what he'd said.







"All's fair when it comes to your mate, love. I am the strongest here so it is fair."

Mat fell ontop of his mate, pinning her down before grabbing hold of her ear. A soft purr escaped his throat before he slid his paw up her side before getting to his feet, releasing her ear. It was fun while it lasted but if they kept this up any longer, it seemed the three of them may have wet themselves, and he would not have that. The chocolate male looked at his sons and then to his mate. It seemed that they had to move on with the day in the Outlands.

"Alright, time for you two to head back to the nursey mound for your naps. I gotta clean your mother of her termites because she was so careless of where she sat and where she went. Then again, that would also be your fault, wouldn't it, Usufii?"

Valse sighed and rolled onto his feet. It seemed that the little moments they had as a family was always interrupted because of the pride. Looking up into the sky, it was about the time that the cubs fell asleep. Yawning softly, he turned to his brother.

"I guess... ladies first," he smiled, the comment had an obvious direction.