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 Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:17 am
Mivu growled softly in concentration, crouching even lower to the ground as he stalked his prey. The lizard slithered one way, then the other, and froze. This was his chance! The cub dug his claws into the ground and pushed off with his hind legs to pounce. His paws were aimed straight towards the patch of grass that the brown and green reptile had stopped.
He missed!
At the last possible section, it skittered away, hiding under a big rock nearby. Mivu's expression changed into a deeper frown, a snarl escaping his lips. Why couldn't it just stay still?!
In anger he leapt at the rock, shoving at it with all his strength, trying to turn it over to finally get at the lizard. His shoulder repeatedly connected with the hard rock; he ignored the pain. And he failed to see that the reptile, frightened out of its mind, fled from its haven the first time Mivu smashed into the boulder.
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:38 am
Not that Mivu was exactly her first choice.
Luckily for her, though, he was busy stalking a lizard. Ekundayo knew better than to try and hunt such a small, quick creature; she wasn't nearly fast enough. By the time she had honed her hunting skills enough to snare a lizard, she'd be much to big for it to be anything but a bite-sized morsel. So Ekundayo simply watched her brother, cringing slightly as he repeatedly bashed his little body up against the boulder in an effort to move it. Hadn't he seen the lizard scurry away? Apparently not, but Ekundayo wasn't going to be the one to tell him.
So she resigned herself to sitting and watching. A few feet away from her older brother, the little white cub watched patiently. He'd figure it out sooner or later... right?
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Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:51 am
Mivu finally stopped hurling himself at the boulder and glared at it rather sourly. Why was it hiding away his potential meal? That wasn't fair. Stupid lizard. Now he wasn't even sure that he wanted the stupid thing. He was sure that the effort needed to find the lizard, catch it, kill it, and then eat it, wasn't worth it.
So he slumped in front of the rock and leaned up against it with his back. It was then that he finally spotted his littlest sister, Dayo. He rolled his eyes and directed his glare at her instead. Like it was her fault for scaring off his meal.
"What're you looking at?" he said grumpily.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:13 am
It was amusing to watch Mivu do war with the rock, smashing his little body against it. as if it would move under his strength. Dayo giggled a little as she watched, but she began to feel bad for her brother. He had no idea that there was no lizard lurking beneath the boulder. Yet, he kept trying.
So, to the littlest of the litter, it was a relief when her big brother surrendered his meal to the boulder. But his dejected look as he slumped down against the stone made Dayo uneasy. She didn't like to see any of her family upset. Ekundayo stood and took a hesitant step towards Mivu, but she was reluctant to offer him any sweet words.
He'd probably just tease her.
"I was just watching you," she responded in a lilting voice, her eyes bright and cheery. "You looked like you were just about to move the boulder. I thought I saw it slide a little that last time you hit it," she encouraged him, wanting to make him feel better about himself. "But," she began, biting her tongue for a moment and debating whether or not she should inform him that he had no reason for trying to move the boulder. "There's no lizard under it. I watched it run away," she finally spit it out. Ekundayo sat back on her little haunches, a guilty look on her face, apologetic -- almost as if she had chased away her brother's prey.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:42 am
Mivu stared at his sister with wide eyes. She knew that the lizard wasn't under the rock anymore, and she didn't say anything to him? She could have saved him some bruises! His shoulder was going to be covered in them by morning and incredibly sore. Mother would probably demand answers.
"Why didn't you say anything 'til now?" he growled, disbelief showing on his face. "I thought siblings were supposed to help each other out, not tell them afterwards that something was wrong."
Mivu felt a bit of guilt for yelling at his little sister. Truth be told, he didn't really hate her. He only teased her because he didn't know how else to treat her. It wasn't like he didn't want to have a good relationship with Dayo. He wanted to be a good friend to her.
And a protector, because she was the youngest, and he was the oldest, and that's just what older brothers did. They protected. So if Dayo was ever in trouble, she could count on Mivu to come and save her.
"Eh, don't worry about it," he mumbled, seeing her guilty/apologetic look on her face. He felt bad for yelling at her anyways. Could he cheer her up, maybe?
"Hey, wanna go swimming?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:35 am
As Mivu's voice rose, Dayo's body shrunk low to the ground. She crouched, her ears laid flat against her skull. She cast her eyes downwards, accepting anything that Mivu said. She had a backbone, she just found it difficult to stand up for herself. The little cub was confident, but she was much too sweet and gentle to come up with any sort of retort. So, instead, she just laid there and took his harsh words.
"I'm sorry, Mivu. I'll explain everything to Mother," Ekundayo hastily offered, hoping that she could salvage their outing together. Perhaps if Mivu knew he wouldn't have to do the explaining, he'd relax a little? At least, that's what the littlest white cub hoped. "I wanted to help you out," Ekundayo began, her voice having shrunk to be as quiet as she was small. "But, I thought that maybe if you just found out for yourself... I just didn't want you to be upset," she insisted.
Ekundayo was the smallest, and the youngest, of their litter. She needed Mivu's protection. She loathed going out and about without her biggest brother there for safety and reassurance. He put her mind at ease -- but, sometimes his words were a bit harsh and mean. She knew that he only teased her because he was her big brother, but oftentimes, Ekundayo wondered what their relationship would be like if Mivu was just nice. Maybe he just doesn't know how to be nice, Ekundayo thought to herself, gazing up at her brother with big, round, apologetic eyes.
Her expression brightened considerably when Mivu relaxed, and instructed her not to worry about it. Then, she was made even more cheery by the prospect of swimming. "Swimming -- yeah!" She agreed, leaping on her brother's suggestion excitedly. Her body lifted itself from the ground, the entire length shivering with excitement. Her little tail twitched back and forth, and she focused all her attention on her brother, waiting to follow him away.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:07 am
Mivu shrugged off her offer of explaining everything to Mother. He'd do it; he was oldest and therefore more responsible anyway.
"I'll tell Mom, don't worry about that either." He struggled to make his voice sound reassuring and kind, but he pretty much failed at that.
He tried to not think about the image of Dayo slunk low to the ground, before, when he had snapped at her. Instead he focused his mind on where the closest watering hole was to the den. He could only think of one place, and it was actually a small stream that trickled nearby (once he overheard Mother talking about it, and found out that it was the same stream that ran by Grandmother's house!).
With a proud smirk, he stood and cocked his head towards Dayo in a beckoning gesture. He led the way over to the stream and dipped a paw in first. It was pretty warm, which was perfect. He backed up to take a running leap and shouted out at his sister before jumping in:
"I bet I can do a bigger splash than you!"
And, indeed, his splash was very large, as he held his paws all together under his body with his eyes squinted shut.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:15 am
"Are you sure you want to tell her? I can, if you don't want to," Dayo offered, her voice sweet and kind. She just wanted Mivu to be happy with her, so she'd do just about anything to please him, even taking the blame for his bruised shoulder. Her brother wouldn't even have a bruised shoulder if she had said something to him in the first place, so she felt pretty awful.
But Mivu beckoned for her to follow, and Ekundayo could not refuse. Her paws touched the ground lightly as she sprang into an easy gait, her eyes focused on her brother ahead of her. He led them to a nearby stream, one Ekundayo had never been to before. "Did Mother tell you about this place?" She asked, thinking that she remembered overhearing their mother mentioned the stream close by. But, she couldn't be sure.
Her brother's challenge elicited a grin from the little white girl, her eyes bright and cheery once more. She couldn't make a bigger splash than he could -- he was bigger than her! So, obviously, he'd win the splash contest. But! She could still try!
Once Mivu was in the water and out of the way, Ekundayo backed her little body up a few paces. Wriggling her bum, she pounced into a run, and got a good start that way. She leapt over the bank, and curling her paws underneath her, *SPLASHED!* into the water with a white, frothy spray. She surfaced giggling, water dripping from her ears and into her eyes. "How did I do?" she asked Mivu eagerly, curious to know whether she had even come close to making as big a splash as he had.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:21 pm
Mivu surfaced just in time to see Dayo back up a few paces in order to get a running jump, just like he did. He didn't mind the copycat; it was the most practical way of jumping and making a big splash, of course. Before she jumped in, he yelled to answer her question:
"Yeah, Mom mentioned it before. She said that it leads right to Grandmother's den! But don't tell her, 'cause I wasn't supposed to hear her say that," he admitted with a playful grin.
He swam backwards a bit to move even more out of the way, and could therefore judge her splash. No one could beat him, though. He was the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, the oldest. The champion of everything.
"It was pretty good," he said not unkindly, shaking his head to get the water out of his eyes and face. Her splash had been pretty good, though. It had reached him from his floating spot with a good force of water behind it.
"Wanna do it again, or play water tag or somethin'?" he suggested.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:33 pm
The water was warm, but not SO warm that it wasn't refreshing underneath the even-warmer sun. Ekundayo was glad that Mivu had overheard their mother, and she decided to ignore the fact that they weren't supposed to know about the stream. That meant, most likely, that they weren't supposed to be here -- and she didn't want to leave! he enjoyed spending time and playing with her brother.
Dayo was ecstatic when Mivu scored her jump as "pretty good"! Pretty good was better than a teasing comment, which was what she had expected. Dayo knew, and had no problem admitting, that she was the smallest, the weakest, the slowest, and the youngest. She was the champion of being little!
Dayo copied her big brother once more, shaking her head to rid her face of any stubbornly dripping water droplets. She had to be able to see clearly in order to reach out and lightly tap Mivu on his shoulder with one of her paws.
"Tag!" she cried out with a playful giggle, swimming away from her oldest brother as fast as she could. Water tag sounded like a good idea!
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:07 pm
Nope, they weren't supposed to be here without a supervising parent, but he didn't really care. The stream was too shallow enough for drowning, and the current wasn't strong enough to carry either of them downstream. And, if Dayo did get carried away (which was probable; she was so tiny), he would rescue her in an instant.
Duh.
Mivu didn't have time to swim away or try to dodge the sudden tag aimed his way; it was a good thing she tapped his good shoulder and not his bruised one.
"Hey, that's not fair!" he retorted, swimming after her as fast as he could. He caught up to her in no time and tapped her on the back--a bit harder than she had to him. "Tag!" he shouted triumphantly, turning to go back the other way.
That was when he spotted the handful of wildebeest drinking from the water a good bit north from them; the lion cubs' scent hadn't reached the beasts yet.
"Woah, Dayo, look," Mivu whispered, lowering his voice and stopping his splashing to look as well. He had never been so close to a live one before; all the animals that their parents brought home were already dead. He wondered if he could catch one, even if he was a cub still.
It couldn't be that hard, could it? He was big. But he didn't think he'd risk it. Dayo was there, and he had to watch out for her. Maybe he could try next time, though. When no one was looking and when no one would tell on him if he did.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:19 pm
She knew better than to have tagged his bruised shoulder. Ekundayo hadn't wanted to hurt her big brother, simply instigate a game of tag. She paddled away from Mivu as fast as she could, and almost succeeded in reaching the shore before he could tag her back.
Ekundayo tried her hardest to be quicker than Mivu, but he caught up with her in no time at all and tagged her back. She turned, ready to tag him back before he could manage to swim much farther away -- but Dayo missed him as she swiped out with one paw.
Mivu was clearly distracted by something, Ekundayo could tell that much as her brother stopped swimming away from her, his eyes focused intently on something near the shore. "Mivu?" She called out, paddling towards her big brother. She felt uncomfortable, especially since he had just stopped so suddenly. Was he okay?
But he whispered to her, and Dayo was put at ease. Her gaze moved to where his was, and her eyes went wide. "Mivu, we should go, they could get scared and stampede," Ekundayo said hurriedly. She knew that there must have been a reason their mother hadn't wanted them to come to this stream!
"Mivu, please," Ekundayo pleaded with her big brother, but he seemed very interested in watching the herd drink their fill. She hadn't ever seen such a big beast up close before. The only animals she had seen had been dead ones their parents had brought home -- and Ekundayo didn't have any qualms with keeping it that way.
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:53 pm
Mivu waved his paw at Dayo to try and hush her. The wind was changing; if it moved the wrong way, their scents could throw the wildebeest into a stampede, just as she suggested.
"Shhh!" he said, his voice barely audible. They were almost done drinking, and probably going to start moving soon. One of them--Mivu guessed he was the leader because of the size of his horns--lifted his head and sniffed the air. The cub thought the animal was listening, too.
The guess was right.
Suddenly, Mivu saw the wildebeest coming straight towards them. Hooves were hitting the stream's banks, clacking on rocks before making big splashes with their running feet. The cub yelled and quickly swam to the side and hid behind a rock on the shore of the stream. He couldn't see Dayo.
"Dayo!" he shouted, trying to look through the water and the wildebeest for her. "Dayo!"
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:15 pm
Ekundayo should have known better than to whine plaintively at her brother with such a large herd of massive beats within such a short distance. But, the young cub hadn't really considered that the herd might stampede. Well. Not at first, she hadn't.
Mivu hissed at her to be quiet, and so she did. Ekundayo zipped her mouth shut, all but holding her breath to prevent any sounds from reaching the wildebeats' ears. But Dayo's worst fears were confirmed within a few moments. The herd began to run -- towards her and Mivu.
"Mivu!" Dayo cried out, suddenly alone in the middle of the stream. The pounding hooves sent waves towards Ekundayo, splashing the little cub in the face. She sputtrered and tried to run to shore, but with water in her eyes, it was hard to see exactly where she was going. She struggled, in a panic, to wipe her eyes and face off.
Mivu wasn't there beside her! "Mivuuu!" She cried out again, her voice barely audible over the braying and rampaging herd of animals. Then, she thought she heard something. Mivu? Oh, was he safe? Ekundayo looked around, her little head turning every which way. She remained still, frozen in place as the wildebeats thundered by her.
Ekundayo did her best to avoid the heavy footfalls of the massive beasts, but she was just about sure she'd be squished and left dead in the middle of the stream.
So THIS was why Mother hadn't wanted them here!
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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:20 pm
Mivu searched the waters frantically for his sister. Time seemed to slow down as the wildebeest continued to run through the waters; he could hear her screaming his name. And he couldn't see her. It was all a blur of browns and blacks--
There!
He spotted her!
She was frozen, trying to make herself small in the shallow water, as the animals thundered all around her.
He pushed himself off the rock he had used as a cover with a loud roar, as loud as he could muster. Maybe it would confuse the wildebeest and they would go sideways, away from Dayo, instead of straight. His paws and legs kicked out to reach her, dodging hoof and kicking legs. His shoulders (both of them) were nudged and smacked into, but he gritted his teeth and kept swimming. In no time at all (thanks to his long, powerful strokes) he grabbed her and turned her around, putting himself behind, and shielded her with his body.
After a moment, all was silent.
The last wildebeest had jumped over them and sped off after the others, almost left behind. Mivu could smell its fear. But he could smell Dayo's more strongly, and he instinctively tightened his grip around her, not moving, not saying anything. Just breathing loudly.
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