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 Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:04 pm
 She waited until her mother was fast asleep before stirring, her eyes wide awake and open ever since she'd heard her father and mother's conversation earlier in the evening. There was an intruder in the land, one who'd actual hurt her mother!
While Kali had been enraged with the idea of any creature laying their paw on her Mother (no matter how un-fun she could be), she knew better than to give away the fact she'd been listening in on their conversation. If she let herself be known now... well, she might not get a chance to ever eavesdrop on a conversation again!
Quickly and quietly, she untangled herself from the limbs and bodies of her siblings, taking a step back to gaze upon her numerous family members. Finally, she decided on who she would take as a partner in her grand adventure.
Leaning down, she nipped at his ear. "Come onnnn, come onnnn!" came the soft whispers, and she pushed him gently on the shoulder with her paw. "Come onnnnn, we have to get going!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:11 pm
Sleep sheds its grip upon his consciousness reluctantly, only after the still-dozing cub has flailed blindly at his attacker. He blinks, bleary-eyed, and offers a half-hearted snarl to his bossy sister. Hmph, she thinks she's so tough and awesome.
"What d'you want," he grumbles, rubbing at his eyes with one paw while holding the other to fend off any other attacks she might make. "Y'didn't hafta bite me, sheesh." And then he glances around, seeing that it's late in the evening now - the sun is so close to the horizon! - and the rest of his siblings are sleeping.
"Yer s'posed to be asleep." Jadi'Aushi huffs accusingly, narrowing his eyes.
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:52 pm
"Shut up!" she hissed in his ear, "You're going to get us caught, Jadi!"
Furrowing her brow, she leaned down and nudged him to move. "Get up, get up, get up! We have to go... help Father!"
Which wasn't a complete falsehood, really, Kali reasoned to herself. She wasn't going to tell her brother what exactly they were doing, in fear that he'd roll over and ignore her, but rather wait until both of them were out of the cave. Then, she would explain to him about the intruder, and how she and he were going to capture and return this intruder to Sakata. Perhaps then he'd see Kali for the small Warrior she truly was!
"Come oooooon, before they wake up!" she whispered again, this time, turning to scamper out of the cavern. If he was coming, he'd catch up, if not, she'd just have to do this on her own!
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 4:56 pm
"Mmph," he mumbles in response to her hiss, stifling the urge to snap out at her. "mmphmrrph."
The combination of her nudging and oddly insistent manner is enough to urge the youth into motion, and he carefully sets about extricating himself from his siblings. "F-father?" Jadi asks quietly, both concerned and confused. How could they help father? What is there that he couldn't handle on his own... well, aside from anything that requires the spirits, or a lot of hard thinking.
He turns away to squint at one of his sisters while he gently pulls his foot from beneath her head. Gentle, gentle... and then, suddenly, Kali is heading out of the cave! All on her own, at night! No nonono, this is not good! Free from his siblings now, the young cub rushes after her, a harsh whisper on his lips. "Kali, stop!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:40 pm
"If we stop, we might miss her!" came the cross hiss in return. Already they'd lost, what, a whole few minutes, with her trying to get him up?! Unacceptable!
She huffed and paused for a moment, waiting for her younger brother to catch up. While he could be annoying in his own right, Jadi was also one of the easiest to cajole into doing what she wanted him to do. Brothers had to be good for something, after all!
She waited until they'd managed to run far enough that they were out of sight from the cave, and then turned to look at him, her bright orange eyes meeting with his red ones.
"We gotta head towards those rocks over there," she explained softly, nodding her head in the direction of the caves, "That's where she's going to be!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:16 am
"Miss her? Miss who!?" the young male grumbles as he catches up to his older sister. At first he's tempted to try to knock some sense into her, to force her to slow down and discuss things calmly before they go back to their den like well-behaved cubs should... but then she's off again, and he growls in quiet frustration.
"This isn't a good idea," he mutters, hunkering down and casting a worried glance back towards the den. His siblings. His mother! She'll be furious if she finds out what Kali'ari is up to, he has to convince his headstrong older sister to go back. "We gotta go back, Kali, s'where we're s'posed to be. And who is she anyways?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:31 am
Drats, she thought to herself, an impatient expression clearly noticeable on her face. He wasn't going to give up that easily on getting an answer, was he? Why couldn't he just follow her without asking so many darn questions!?
"Her." she reiterated, an annoyed tone evident. "The intruder!"
Stomping her paw against the ground, she glared at her brother. This was going to be the tough part, she knew, convincing him to stay. Then, as clear and bright as the sun's first morning ray, the idea struck her.
"Since, you know," she continued, bumping against her younger sibling, "She hurt Mother. Don't you want to make Mother happy, Jadi? She'd certainly favor you over everyone else, if you could bring back the intruder that was making her and Daddy so upset tonight."
She waited in silence for his response. Kali knew Jadi was a Momma's boy, so if offering the opportunity to please Mother in the best of ways wasn't enough.... well, Kali wasn't sure what she was going to do to get him to join her!
"And besides...." she added softly, lowering her head to emphasize her glare, "If you run back home, you'll just prove to all of us how much of a sissyboy you really are."
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:36 am
Off in the distance, the Goddess of Mischief had finally begun to settle down for the evening. She and Tapelo had managed to evade the searches of the Warriors and Scouts sent out to search in the caverns' general vicinity, and both lioness and hare had been successful in their hiding techniques.
It thrilled Tukutu, really, that Jinichongo had apparently made such a fuss over her interaction with the stranger, that so many Warriors, including the War Leader himself, had dropped by to investigate and search for her whereabouts. She felt quite content with herself, having stirred up so much trouble in one lazy afternoon!
Laying her head down on her paws, the goddess rested her head. She was not tired in the least, but downtime was certainly necessary, as her mind spun and wove plans of tricks to come.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:44 am
His impatient and annoyed snarl is perhaps a little louder than it should be, but Jadi is far from caring about what his dear sister thinks of how loud he's being. Still, he does flatten his ears against his skull at the echoes that result from his little outburst, bouncing against the rocks. "I'm not a sissyboy."
Hmph. The rest of her argument is ignored, for now, although he certainly does file away the information about how much Mother would approve of their discovery of the intruder... "Fine," he begins, shouldering against her to emphasize his point, "I'll come along t'keep an eye on you. An' protect you. But we're not going too far!"
If he makes it clear that he was just along to keep Kali out of trouble then he can't get in too much trouble himself, right? And if they do find the intruder... well, then that'd be another story altogether. "Ladies first," Jadi grins, gesturing with one paw.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:03 am
She swatted at him with one paw at the loud outburst. He was going to get them in trouble if he didn't keep quiet!
Resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him in defiance of his "protection" excuse (for Kali was pretty sure that she could pin him down in wrestling anytime she wanted!), she lifted her chin up haughtily and began the journey to the caverns. She didn't need any protection... though it did secretly make her feel better to have someone along for the journey, especially since the night had grown darker, the clouds overhead blocking out the moon's light.
"Not too far," she concurred with his statement, knowing full well that the caves were a good distance away. "Just over to those caverns; that's where Mother said the intruder ran off to!"
It didn't take but a few minutes of walking for Kali to find herself growing increasingly bored. It didn't help that the night was so silent, save for a few crickets chirping in the distance. In fact, it was getting quite... eerie, being out in the night without any other animals grazing or loitering around.
Glancing over to her younger brother, Kali gave him an uneasy grin, and then a playful nudge. "Hey, race you to the caverns! Last one there is a looooser!"
Before she gave him the chance to respond, she took off for the caverns as fast as her little paws could take her. Maybe if they made it into a game, it wouldn't seem as scary?
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:13 am
"Tu, did you hear that?"
The goddess raised her head, glancing over to her companion. She'd thought Tapelo had fallen asleep already, but it was now apparent that he had other things to focus on.
"Hmmm?" She asked, her eyes finally fighting the temptation for sleep. "What is it?"
The small hare's brows furrowed, concern written all over his face.
"I thought I heard something, over there." He whispered quietly, pointing one paw out in the direction the offending noise had come from. "Deeefinitely heard something, yes, yes."
While he knew he wasn't nearly as powerful or as clever as his larger friend, Tapelo was insistent that he would help her out whenever he could, however he could.
"Stay here, Tu, I'm going to check it out!" he ordered, motioning for her to stay back, as he darted out of the cavern's hole and into the night.
Tukutu sighed, smiling. Oh, how her friend tried so hard to be protective. It was rather cute, really. Especially when he tried to sound so... commanding. With his tiny voice, it came out more funny than it did serious, most of the time... not that Tukutu would tell him so.
No, she'd let him continue to believe he was a mighty guardian of a goddess, like it seemed he viewed himself as. Tukutu didn't mind, as long as he kept himself out of harm's way.
"You do that," she commented sleepily, returning her head to her paws and closing her eyes.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:25 am
"Those caverns are pretty far away," he mutters under his breath, but Jadi pads along by his sister regardless. His young senses are as alert as possible, over-large ears (he has yet to grow into them) swiveling about to catch the noises that surround them. Things are... a lot creepier at night, he decides.
But Jadi'Aushi shows a brave face to the world, and his sister. He may be the youngest of his siblings, but he's determined that he won't be the slowest or smallest or weakest. While his desire to prove himself isn't quite so... insistent as his older sister, it is no less fervent. Stoic and calm, even if his little heart is beginning to race, he's about to ask a question of his sister when her sudden nudge and challenge shatters the silence. "Huh-- hey!"
He scrambles into motion, paws skittering on the loose rocks, and then he is in full pursuit. "Cheater!" Jadi jeers, then he falls silent and puts all of his energy into catching up to his older sister.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:46 am
She laughed, forcing the fear and uneasiness out of her mind as she focused solely on beating her younger brother to the caverns in their little race. She could hear his paws pounding the ground behind her, and she attempted to exert more energy to keep herself in the lead as best as she could.
It hadn't even dawned on her how close they were nearing the caverns, until a sudden shake in the nearby bush sent her to a screeching halt, her eyes widening in surprise and fear.
Letting out a small yelp, she hunkered down, keeping her body close to the ground as she watched in silence as the bush started to shake more.
"Jadi, stop!" She hissed, only just now realizing how quickly she'd ended their game, "Look! Over there!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:56 am
Small eyes peered out from within the bush, the hare watching the two approaching cubs. Tapelo knew he'd heard sounds in the distance, yep, yep!
Thank goodness it was only a pair of cubs, though, and not another group of Warriors coming to look for him and Tu. Why a pair of cubs were traveling by their lonesome in the middle of the night was beyond Tapelo, but he wasn't going to complain!
Instead, he grabbed hold of the bushes' limbs and as the cubs approached closer, he shook them with all his might. It was clear they noticed the movement and began to panic, so to emphasize his attempt at scaring them, he let out the best boom he had inside of him.
"GOOOO AWAAAAAAAY OR I WILL EEEEEEEAT YOU FOR DINNNNEEEEER!"
Although it was faint, Tapelo's voice was still recognizable from within Tukutu's cavern.
Wait. Eat who for dinner?
Tukutu rose, one eyebrow arched in confusion. The voice sounded like Tapelo... but why in the world would he be threatening to eat anyone for dinner?
Or... could it be that the voice didn't belong to Tapelo, after all?
Shaking her head, the large being slipped out of the cavern and into the shadows of the night, making her way to investigate the midnight commotions.
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:06 am
Hah! He was catching up, even if she did cheat. Just a bit longer, just a little further, and he'll be able to get past his older sister! Just a little more... he pushes himself harder, an excited grin upon his muzzle, and then yelps in response to Kali's hiss.
Startled both by the abrupt end to their race and the shaking in the bush, Jadi skids to a stop... in front of his sister. Between her and the bush. It's hard to tell if he did this on purpose - perhaps he meant to finish in front to 'win' the race, or perhaps he was serious in his declaration of protection. Either way, he's firmly planted between Kali and the shaking bush, and his little claws are bared.
"GOOOO AWAAAAAAAY OR I WILL EEEEEEEAT YOU FOR DINNNNEEEEER!"
He flinches, but resists the urge to turn tail and flee. Not with his sister watching, not after she's called him a sissyboy. Sissy! He'll show her that he's not a sissy! "You go 'way!" the cub snarls, and then does his best to offer a threatening growl. His sharp milk teeth flash in the moonlight, his hackles raise, his tail lashes angrily... and he glares fiercely at the offending bush.
"Don't you know who we are?"
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