Lennox had managed to wiggle away from the den as night fell. If he had been born during the time of fear, he probably wouldn't manage to escape his mother's side, period, but with the murderer having been caught and brought to justice it seemed many had let out a breath. This breath is just what the starry-eyed cub needed so that he could find himself a nice big leaf to settle under as it rained little droplets from the sky. It was pretty outside, pretty and wet.
"Drip, drip, drip," Lennox mused as he watched little puddles form on the ground, "Drip, drip, drip goes the sound."
Kamen liked the den. It was warm, it was neat, and he didn't need to worry about getting his paws all muddy. He liked being clean, and he liked being warm. What he didn't like were when his brothers decided to move when he was trying to nap, because then he'd have to get settled all over again. And it seemed like tonight wasn't his lucky night, as just when he was getting settled, the lump that was Lennox got up and left.
With a low huff, Kamen got to his paws, circling and trying to find a new spot... Only for curiosity to get the better of him and the urge to see just what Lennox was up to overcame him. Once again, he stood up and carefully followed his older brother, dodging puddles and sticking to the least wet areas he could find.
"What are you doing?"
Lennox turned his head as he heard one of his siblings voices and recognized Kamen quickly. His brother had been using him as a pillow when everyone had finally settled into sleep and he could escape to the outside world. Kamen didn't seem pleased with his disappearing act, at least by the way he sounded when speaking to him, but he'd get over it and go back to sleep eventually, wouldn't he?
"I'm watching the rain," Lennox said, scooting over as far as he could under the leaf providing him shelter, a gesture of beckoning his brother over to join him in the dry area. "It's dry over here."
"Why are you watching the rain now? You can watch it any other time!" Kamen huffed, although he did take Lennox's silent invitation to join him under the leaf. As soon as he was sheltered, he went about cleaning what little mud had managed to get on his toes off, sending his brother a somewhat pouty look out of the corner of his eye. Even if it was "safe" in the pride, he still didn't just want to leave the other alone. Mother would have a fit if she found out!
Lennox blinked at Kamen and his huffing; he must have really upset his brother by getting up and leaving the den. The starry-eyed cub gave his brother a look of guilt at the fact he caused him such an inconvenience. It was true he could watch the rain at any time, especially during the day when it didn't bother anyone, but he felt restless and something called him to come outside and watch as it rained over the pride's lands, and so he did so.
"I dunno," Lennox muttered, looking down at his own muddy little paws. It didn't bother him as much as it bothered Kamen, as mommy would clean them for him if he couldn't get them all clean himself, but he still felt bad. "I couldn't sleep, so I came outside to watch it rain."
His explanation didn't really sound like a good explanation but it was the only one he happened to have. He was sure Kamen sometimes got urges to do things without any real reason to do them; everyone did, didn't they?
Kamen didn't reply to Lennox immediately. Instead, he continued to clean his paws until he was certain all the mud was gone from him, pondering what his elder brother had said the entire time. It was quite some time before he gave any visible indication that he'd even heard Lennox, and even then it was only in one ear tilting ever-so-slightly in his direction. Even once the mud was gone, he continued to inspect his paws for a long while. Finally, he broke the silence.
"If you couldn't sleep, you could've told Mother. You didn't have to come outside, especially when there isn't anyone around to keep you out of trouble!"
He wasn't angry so much as he was frustrated. It seemed like he hadn't gotten a single good night's sleep, not since he was still little and hadn't even been introduced to the pride. And somehow, he'd thought that maybe tonight would be it; only to have Lennox move out from under him and disrupt the rest he'd fallen into.
"I could've," Lennox replied, looking away from Kamen and his obvious displeasure to the actions in which Lennox had taken. He could have told his mom he couldn't sleep, but at the same time he would have woken everyone else up in the process. It wasn't like Kamen had to follow him out here, he hadn't gone far, and he could have used another sibling as a pillow.
"It's night time. You don't get in trouble at night time," Lennox commented, sitting up a little underneath the leaf, the water that had collected on top it running off to the side and falling onto his fur, cleaning a little bit of the mud he had accumulated by laying on the wet ground. "There's no one around to get in trouble with."
Lennox sat back down, plunking his face into the mud just outside the leaf's cover and made a bubble in it, a worm wiggling up out of the mud and doing a little dance for him as if he had called the worm up with his mud-bubble blowing. He smiled at it a little and sniffed it, poking it with a muddy paw and watching it dance more as he spoke to his brother.
"You could have stayed in the den, and pretended that you didn't see anything," He said quietly.
"Just because there's no one around doesn't mean you can't get in trouble!" Kamen said quickly, his eyes following the trail of the water drop that ran along his brother's face. "You could get your paw caught in something, or fall and twist your leg or something."
Kamen's nose wrinkled at the thought, and he shuffled backward when Lennox flopped down. He couldn't even imagine what on earth was so appealing about mud, or the little creepy-crawlies inside of it. Why did it seem like he was the only one who didn't like it at all?
"I could have. But I didn't. Because Mother wouldn't like it if I just left you all alone."
"If you think about bad things happening too often, they will," Lennox muttered, and he gave the worm a lick and than made a face. The worm did not taste how he thought it would have, like bird, instead it simply tasted like dirt. Maybe if he ate it... Nah. He couldn't eat the poor worm. It had no eyes, no ears and no feet in order to run. It was too helpless, and making helpless things into meals was just plain mean. You should always go for something that can potentially get away, at least he felt so.
"But we're not alone, the whole pride's around," He commented, sneezing as some grass that had been in the mud at tickled his nose. The mud sprayed off his muzzle and hit nearby plants, leaving little droplets of mud everywhere, kind of how the rain did.
Lennox lifted his paws up to his face to wipe some of the mud off his muzzle, though he only served to get more mud all over his face. Ah well, it felt good for now and that was all that mattered to him, he could deal with it being itchy or crackling later on, when the time came. Looking over to his brother he gave him a small yawn, "You should not think about all the things that can happen, Kamen. It might overload your brain."
"That isn't how it works, and you know it," Kamen huffed, rolling his eyes at his brother's antics. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only sane one in the entire family - besides his Grandmother and Uncles... He was fairly sure they were pretty well-adjusted.
"But they aren't awake, Lennox. At least they shouldn't be. It's time to go to sleep," he deadpanned, only to squeak and shuffle further back at the projectile sneeze. It was so gross! How could he possibly be related to this... Icky furball!
"I don't think about all the things that could happen, and my brain's just fine! You're the one who should worry a bit more!"
"...Nahhh," Lennox commented, looking back to his brother, the mess of mud and fur about his face making him look as though he was being attacked by the mud itself. He made a face, a small layer of already drying mud cracking as he did so, "I don't like to worry. If you worry too much you get wrinkles like an old person, and you miss the fun things."
His brother was always so worried about everything, and that's why he was sitting in damp earth next to Lennox right now instead of sleeping peacefully like he probably wanted to. At least this is how Lennox saw it. If Kamen would worry just a little less and didn't make everything his business he'd be asleep, and possibly see why the rain was so fascinating, but alas, you can't push a zebra sideways... At least he couldn't anyway.
"Than go to sleep, brother. I'll come sleep when I'm done watching the rain and the worms do their dance," Lennox said dismissively. Kamen may not have liked being awoken by Lennox moving, but Lennox didn't like when anyone tried to dissuade him from the things he wanted to do.
