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 Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 6:40 pm
 Let the punishment fit the crime, Txuratan had been told. As far as he was concerned, it did. His crime had been accidental rather than intentional, and no one was physically or emotionally damaged. Likewise, his punishment demanded of him no great physical or emotional toll. If anything, it was more an exercise in tedium. For knocking over a pot of ceremonial paint, Txur had been set to the task of grinding seeds to make the pigment anew.
He would probably not be allowed to help in the mixing of the paint, because that would be fun and not much like punishment. Instead, he had the seemingly interminable task of simply grinding pale green seeds to make pale green paint. Unfortunately, the pot he'd broken had been a medium-sized one, and that required lots and lots of finely-ground seeds. They were to be practically powdery, he was told. It was a lot of hard work, and after two days of it his shoulders were very sore indeed.
He was also bored, and wished someone would happen by and be willing to keep him company for a while. He wasn't forbidden to speak to people while he worked, after all, and it might make the chore go faster.
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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:58 am
"Haha, you got into troubleeeeee~"
Mokri came bounding along to see her brother, well aware he'd been at the gruelling task for a couple of days now. He was probably tired, and the naive young lioness had thought he might like some company! She grinned widely, wriggling her butt in the air to indicate her playful nature as she pranced around the area her brother was working in, pausing opposite him.
"How about a game? C'mon Txur, lets play a game, that'll cheer you up!"
Darting forwards she tapped him on the nose with a paw, careful to avoid knocking over the paint in the process, before rushing away, giggling gleefully the whole way. "TAG!" she proudly proclaimed, tail swinging in happiness, "You're it!"
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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 8:18 am
Txur was torn between being grateful that his desire had been granted and groaning because it was Mokri. He loved his sister, but her opening words weren't exactly heartening. He wrinkled his nose at her and made a face which showed his tongue and most of his teeth. He even crossed his eyes.
"Hey, Mokri," he greeted her. He wasn't going to respond to her obvious observation that he was in trouble. Except, maybe, to say, "Gloating isn't attractive in sisters, you know."
Most of the sting was taken out of his words by the grin he wore while he spoke them. As far as he could tell, there was nothing his siblings or father could do to make him truly angry, and he had never been able to stay mad at any of them, particularly not for something small like teasing him. He didn't mind being teased, as long as it came from family, who he knew loved him deep down.
"I can't play, Mokri. I'm being punished, remember?" He shook his head and kept at his work.
Mokri, apparently, didn't care about that as she darted in to tag him on the nose and declare him It. Well, that was something he simply couldn't allow to pass without retaliation. In his mind he made an abortive attempt to figure out how much his punishment would be extended if he abandoned it now to play with his sister, but no sooner had he started than he left off. It was more important that he catch and tag Mokri. For someone his age, it was a moral imperative.
"Not for long!" he exclaimed with a mock-growl as he leaped over his workspace and after his sister.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:16 pm
Mokri flashed a bright smile at her brother, alert and ready for when she assumed he'd dive at her - he'd try to catch her off-guard. That was what everyone did when playing tag, but she wasn't going to fall for it - she was better than that! She'd beat them all!
Her expression clearly dropped, ears drooping as Txur refused to play. Was he just saying it so she'd let her guard down? She wasn't sure he was, so she took a single bound forwards - she was still far enough ahead to get a decent headstart should he dive at her - wriggled her bum once more. "C'mon, don't be a spoil sport! Play tag, its fun! Fun fun fun!" she giggled, rolling over once to her left, trying to...illustrate the fun.
Suddenly he dived at her, and Mokri gave a gleeful squeal as she raced off into the vegetation, bounding over the twings and vines without mjuch trouble. Living in such vegetation meant she was very much used to it, and had quick reaction times for things such as jumping over obstacles and avoiding sharp stones. "You can't catch me, nanananananana~"
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:25 am
"That's what you think!" Txur exclaimed, racing after his pale-furred sister. "But I'll get you!"
He scampered over the roots of the gigantic trees, regretting that he was too small yet to simply leap over them. Mokri was better at that than he was in spite of his efforts to learn everything about the pride and its lands. He knew the lands well enough, but the specifics sometimes slipped his mind. Things like sharp stones, for instance. These he stumbled over gracelessly, muttering pained expletives which would have gotten him in heaps of trouble.
Clearly a new strategy was called for, for he was never going to catch up with his more agile, quick-footed sibling. Txur dropped from a full-out run to an energy-conserving lope and went in a different direction, thinking to take a parallel path and head his sister off. It would mean he'd have to run very fast though, because although the path he was thinking of was easier for a cub his age and size, he was lagging behind her now.
He didn't allow thoughts of possible failure to occupy his mind for long. He had been challenged, and he had to meet the challenge by tagging his sister and then escaping before she could tag him back. He was positive that if he could herd her away from the pride and toward the river the advantage would be his. He spent lots of time by the river, and knew the area well. Also, it would lessen his chances of being caught while skivving out of punishment.
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Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:58 am
Mokri cackled a little as she dashed away from her brother, her light feet making easy work of any roots or branches that crossed her path, the lioness merely stepping or leaping over them without much difficulty. Her small shape also made it easy enough to wriggle under roots that would take too much time to climb over. Glancing behind her, she suddenly realized Txur was gone, but she didn't slow down. Instead she sped up, giggling gleefully at the wonderful feeling of the wind flowing through her fur - she was sure he hadn't fallen behind. He was just going to try and surprise her. But she was better, she was cleverer!
...But clearly not clever enough to remember there was a river in the way. With a loud splash and a shriek, Mokri found herself in the cold water.
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Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 6:33 am
Txur heard Mokri laugh and wondered how in the world she had the breath to do that. He was breathing as deeply as he could just to have enough air to run. Wasting it on laughter or speech would have been way beyond him. Trying, he was positive, would have resulted in his speedy expiration from asphyxiation. He could only be privately amazed at his sister's athleticism. She would make quite the huntress someday.
He was still trailing behind her on his parallel path when he heard a splash and a shriek. At that point, all thoughts of fun completely left his head and were replaced with concerns that his sister was drowning or had been injured somehow or a combination. He'd known the river was coming up, and since the river was one of his favorite places he had known at what point their paths should have crossed it. He just hadn't anticipated how quickly Mokri would cover that distance.
"Mokri!" he called, somehow finding the air not only to shout but to put on an extra burst of speed so that he emerged from the foliage at the river bank at a speed which made his surroundings blur in his peripheral vision.
In the early stages of panic, Txur couldn't remember if this was one of the fast-flowing portions of the river or one of its more sedate stretches. He hoped it was the latter, for though he didn't doubt Mokri's ability to keep her head above water when she was expecting to go for a swim, he knew full well that unintentional submersion could be a bit panic-inducing. Himself, Txur was a very good swimmer, but he'd never tried to pull anyone out of the water before. He wondered if he could, and then quickly hoped he wouldn't have to.
"Mokri!" he called again, not seeing her immediately. "Where are you?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 22, 2010 1:35 pm
Spluttering, in her panic Mokri attempted to inhale a lung-ful of air, only to find icy water flooding her mouth. Choking, she managed to fight her way above the choppy waves, coughing out some of the water with a cry of "HELP!" before she was pulled back until again, having had the misfortune of falling into a fast-moving portion of the river.
She surfaced again a little further down, gasping in the air while she could, though it was clear she was struggling. It also didn't help that her blue fur blended extremely well with the water, "Help, Txur!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 26, 2010 6:02 am
He saw his sister's head emerge from the water for a moment and heard her sputtering cry for help, and his pale eyes widened with a hint of terror. Were there any adults around? Probably not. They didn't tend to have much to do with this part of the river because of the strong current which made it more trouble than it was worth. Txur, himself, wasn't sure he would be able to hold his own in that kind of water, but there was no way he was going to leave his sister in it.
"Mother," he breathed, a much-abbreviated prayer to the patron goddess of the Iknimaya. In full, it would have asked her to protect his sister and help him to help her, and maybe also send an adult to help both of them, but he knew she'd understand all that without it having been articulated.
He raced along the riverbank, following his sister's progress as best he could until she surfaced again. Then he took a deep breath, steeling himself against how cold he knew the water would be, and leaped in. He stretched in the air, trying to reach Mokri without having to do too much swimming against the current. Fortunately, the choppy water was working with him in that respect, and even though he fell a little short, he reached her quickly.
Keeping his own head above the water was a constant struggle for Txur, but he was more focused on reaching his sibling. The motions of swimming came naturally to him, but even having reached Mokri, he had to make accommodations so that he could get them both out of the water. He had no idea how to do that.
"Mokri, grab onto me," he shouted, accidentally gulping down a mouthful of water as he did it. "We need to swim toward the shore!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:30 am
She was pulled under the water again, and her lungs felt like they were going to burst. She surfaced again just in time to gasp down lungfuls of air, a considerable amount of water also making it's way down her throat. There was a large splash to her left, and she was about to cry out in fear before she was pulled under, and forced to clamp her mouth shut once again.
Suddenly she felt another shape beside her, and a quick glance showed her purple fur - it had to be her brother. Why had he jumped in too!? The water was too strong! She vaguely heard a shout, something about grabbing and swimming to shore. With a whimper, her head broke the water once more, the juvenile choking out some water before firmly attaching her maw around the scruff of her brother's neck, biting hard, not wanting the grip to become loose.
"Hurry!"
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Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:08 am
"Ai!" Txur cried when he felt his sister's teeth digging into the scruff of his neck. He had only vague memories of being carried around that way as a cub, but even so he was positive it had not hurt like this. He didn't put up much more of a protest than that, for even saying that much had gotten him an unwanted mouthful of chilly river water.
He tried to remember what he had been taught about swimming in a strong current, other than the very basic (and already broken) principle that one simply shouldn't do it. Too late for that, so what was next? Don't bother fighting the current, because that was a fight no one could win. Go with it, and cut diagonally across it. Grab onto anything possible. Try not to get splattered against rocks.
All of it seemed like sound advice, but his young limbs were already tiring from their work of trying to pull both himself and his sister through the water. There was really no other option but to keep paddling, however, and so Txur continued with his efforts, attempting to steer toward one bank or the other. It didn't really matter for the moment which bank it was, as long as they got out of the river.
"That shore!" he said, picking the closer one. "Help get there!"
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Posted: Sun Aug 08, 2010 9:16 am
Mokri didn't hear her brother's cry, didn't for once think her bite could be strong enough to hurt. All she wanted was to get out of the water and get warm and cuddle up to her father. She heard another shout - closer shore? Forcing her eyes open, Mokri gave a cry through Txur's purple fur as the cold water splashed into her eyes, irritating them and making them sore, which in turn made it hard to keep them open. But she could see where he meant, see where they were heading.
Kicking her legs weakly, not having the strength to kick any harder, Mokri attempted to help her brother in carrying the pair towards the closest shore.
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Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 7:50 am
It seemed to take an age for the pair to work their way to solid ground, but eventually Txur's exhausted paddling - aided my his sister's efforts - brought them to the shore. It was a relief to feel mud under his paws, rather than fast-moving water. He half-swam, half-crawled onto shore, weighted down by his sister more than he had ever been in the water.
"Land," he announced.
When he turned his pale gaze to his surroundings, Txur saw that there was still a bit of a steep, muddy slope to climb up, but that could wait until they'd gathered their wits and their strength some. Speaking just for himself, Txur was exhausted and would have been perfectly fine just lying down in the mud and napping. He didn't think his paler sister would feel the same, though.
"Well, that was an adventure, wasn't it?" Txur asked, grinning. He was pretty thoroughly shaken by the thought that he might have lost his sister, but he was more concerned about his sister. It had not occurred to him that he might have been in any danger. "How are you doing?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 5:46 am
Mokri prised her eyes open at the mention of land, quickly detaching her maw from her brother's neck and scrambling off to the side, and trying to make her way up the shore. Collapsing as she finally found her feet on solid ground, Mokri's chest rose and fell with deep breaths as she shook slightly, partially from the fright she'd had and partially from the icy cold water.
Adventure!? Mokri gave a weak growl, enough to make Txur aware that she thought anything but, still shivering as she curled herself up into a ball to try and warm herself up. She didn't respond to his concerned question.
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Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 6:40 am
Txur wasn't sure whether he should be worried or not. Well, he would worry anyway, but he wasn't sure how to interpret a growl. In the ordinary way of things, a growl was a sign of anger or aggression, or possibly frustration. He supposed it could also be indicative of fear, given the circumstances, but he didn't see how growling at the river would help anything.
"Is that an 'I'm okay but tired' growl?" Txur asked, "Or should I be more worried?"
He made his way to where his sister had curled up and flopped down next to her, ignoring the mud. He was already wet and dirty. What difference would a little mud make? He spent a lot of time getting in mild trouble for being wet or dirty anyway, thanks to his penchant for swimming. He wasn't any warmer than his sister, but perhaps he was more used to it than she.
"Either way, I'm glad we're both okay. Don't mind me if I just sleep for the next year or so." So saying, he closed his eyes and prepared to nap, his adrenaline gone now that the crisis had passed and with it all energy.
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