[FIN] Hello brother (N'Seka, Yezekael)

[Annchen]

N'Seka was having a go at exploring outside his home den. Not too far away of course, since that would most likely lead to his mommy taking him by the scruff and carrying him back. His short stubby legs couldn't get him very far yet, and luckily he was not hard to amuse since everything he encountered was new and exciting. A crumpled up leaf that was dry as bone was currently holding his attention. It looked weird and made noises when he poked it with his small paw. N'Seka poked it and jumped back a little as it rustled. He approached it again, creeping forward on his belly, and then repeated the poke and dance.  

[MoonRazor]

Yezekael was half asleep in a nap with a contented smile pasted across his face when the intermittent crackles of paw poking dry leaf came wafting into the den. At first, the juve had classified it as an anomaly, a passing disturbance on the wind, and had allowed himself to drift back into that dreamy state of mid-consciousness when again, the crackle had sounded. His ears twitched, catching and holding the curious sound for a moment, before relaxing again.

Ksshhht! One violet eye popped open to survey the den. Where was that blasted noise coming from? The speckled cub rolled onto his belly, and then slowly, he rose to his feet. Around him, sleeping bodies littered the den, and he carefully picked his way over and across his resting siblings before ducking out into the bright sunshine. And there, not ten steps away, he spotted the source of the crackling as he caught sight of the dried leaf just in time to see N'Seka poke at it again with a lace-patterned white paw.

It had been a big adjustment for them all, adopting the five younger boys into the family, but one that Zeki had promptly embraced, with no ill will or malice toward the younger cubs whatsoever. If anything, he had been eager to have some more siblings to play with, some brothers to mentor - though Zeki would be the first to admit that he had little experience to impart to any of them. Still, that sunny disposition of his had all but dictated that he welcome them with open arms and teach them how to play like real boys.

" 'Seka," he called out to the dark cub as a smile spread across his face. "What you doing?"  

[Annchen]

With all his senses focused on the strange thing he had found, N'Seka didn't hear Yezekael exit the den. The result of his brother's sudden call, just as the dark cub was about to poke the leaf again was spectacular. N'Seka tried to jump backwards and turn at the same time, resulting in him losing all sense of balance and toppling over. Being close to the ground he didn't have to fall very far, but it was still very surprising. All paws suddenly up instead of down! But it was sort of fun. He started giggling as soon as he had decided nothing hurt.

"Yez... Yezk... Yezal!" he said between giggles, still having some trouble pronouncing names, "'m poking this."

He tried to reach the leaf while still being sprawled on his back, but without much luck. It was just outside his reach.

"I think it's alive," he said in a lower voice. It was moving and making noises after all. Never mind the fact that it only did those things after he gave it a good poke.  

[MoonRazor]

Zeki laughed as the dark cub toppled over, suddenly reminded of his own younger days. He had always been a big boy, but back then, when his paws had been a little too big and his body a little too pudgy... well, not much had changed since then, but he had grown into those feet a little, and had somehow developed a sense of bodily coordination, but before that, there had been many a time when Zeki had tripped over his own paws in his excitement.

"What d'you mean, it's alive?" He gasped, eyes widening in mock horror as he pretended to duck out of the way of whatever attack the leaf-monster might mount next. "Are you sure it's not just... pretending?" He dropped down with his belly hanging close to the ground, and army-crawled his way over to the crunchy leaf. Half-rising, the speckled cub inspected it carefully, pink nose twitching and everything, prepared to leap to safety at the first sign of danger.

"I mean, it looks a'right to me... Course, that's just until... it... ATTACKS!!!" He grabbed the leaf in his mouth, spun, and flung it dramatically toward his upside-down brother.  

[Annchen]

N'Seka followed Yezekael's every movement with baited breath. His brother was so cool, and brave, and... Eeeeek! It was really attacking! Seka squealed in horror and delight as the leaf jumped him. He batted his paws wildly and somehow managed to catch the leaf in his mouth (more out of accident than any real skill). The brittle material crumbled in his mouth and he rolled to his feet, coughing and spitting to try to get the odd taste out of his mouth.

"Did I get it," he asked excitedly, eyes wide, "It was grosssss! Did I kill it?!"  

[MoonRazor]

((XDD AND it's working again! -cheeeer-))

“GET IT, GET IT, GET IT!” Zeki fairly bellowed as the leaf sailed toward N’Seka and the younger cub squealed in response. He snapped to attention, ready to spring into action at any time as he watched his brother writhe about in a tangle of flailing paws and – amazingly – manage to snatch up the leaf and promptly disintegrate the monster. A bright grin flashed across his face as he leapt to the dark cub’s side to help the new hero to his feet.

“Well, WOW, ‘Seka, y’really got it!” He exclaimed, nudging his brother and shooting him a glance that said he was filled with admiration for what N’Seka had done. “That’s my little brother, that’s him!” He declared, announcing the cub’s victory to a host of lions that weren’t actually present. Well. They were there in Zeki’s mind – his little bro deserved all the support in the world after pulling a stunt like that. “Hey, you a hero now, little brother, y’know that?” He added, beaming.  

[Annchen]

N'Seka spat once more with feeling to get the last dry crumbs out, and then beamed up at his older brother. He was all riled up from the fight and the shouting and incredibly proud that "Yezal" thought he was a hero. He had defeated the... whatsit. Thingy... Monster... He had done it! He couldn't help bouncing on all four feet. With all this energy he had to move or risk exploding!

"Am I really," he asked, grinning even wider. "Yezal, Yezal, have you ever killed a whatsit-thingy? Do they all taste funny? This one was yucky!"  

[MoonRazor]

"Sure y'are," the tan cub said emphatically, nodding and watching while the last remnants of the leaf floated to the floor, lonely reminders of what had been a mighty monster but moments ago. "You killed it good, little brother." He bounced enthusiastically alongside the dark cub, sharing in the glee that had infiltrated the area. There was nothing like a good game of eat-the-monster to get everybody riled up and raring to go.

"WELL," Zeki paused to ruminate on the question. "I did once, but not nearly as well as you did. See, I kinda stepped on one an' flattened it, instead of chewing it all to pieces. Actually, for all I know, the monster jus' jumped up again after a while and went on terrorizing the world. Yours isn't gonna do that anymore." He pawed at some of the pieces of leaf that littered the ground around them.

"I dunno for sure, but, I think they all taste kinda funny. Must be the taste of... evil."  

[Annchen]

N'Seka kept bouncing excitedly in place, riled up by the hunt and the praise from his big brother. He'd killed a Monster! And not any old monster, an Evil Monster! He wiped his tongue with one paw. The taste of evil... He shuddered, but it was a nice kind of chill that went down his back. It was awesome and a bit scary all at the same time, and he wanted to do it all over again!

"I'm going to be a monster killer when I grow up," he announced proudly, "An' I'm going to be just as big as you! We can be monster killers together!"  

[MoonRazor]

"You do that," Zeki said with an emphatic nod, pointing to the remains that lay about them. "Jus' take a good, long look at those. Tha's what we're gonna see a lot of when we grow up."

It wasn't as though he was purposely trying to infuse into his brother's mind fantastical ideas of grandiose and heroism that would never come to pass; a little imagination here and there never hurt anyone, and in a home as full of bleak and dreary news as theirs, there needed to be some kind of far-off goal, some fictional mission that could take them away for hours at a time.

Chasing inanimate monsters seemed as good a dream as any, and if cubs were allowed to play tag games like cops-and-robbers, then they sure could play this.  

[Annchen]

"Yeaaaaaah," N'Seka roared (as best he could) and then proceeded to growl at the remains of the monster-leaf, "We'll be a monster hunter team and hunt monsters and scare girls and NEVER clean the mud off!"

He had got the impression that getting muddy was a good thing if you were a boy, and at the same time it seemed absolutely aggravating to nannies and mothers. It had to be good if it was worth getting upset about! He wondered how mom would feel about monster fighting, but he hoped she'd be proud over his career choice.

"What now? What now?" he squeaked excitedly and bounced up and down in an odd victory song-and-dance with words he made up on the spot. "We've killed the monster dead! We've killed it good! And... and... gonna step in mud."  

[MoonRazor]

"Yeahhhh!" Zeki nodded his head vigorously in agreement. That sounded, for all intents and purposes, like a pretty damn good plan indeed. He couldn't picture a more heroic occupation than Monster Hunter. Maybe they could even come up with spiffy new titles for each other? They could be the superheroes of the entire pride.

Now, that sounded like a good deal.

"Yeaaaaahhhh!" He agreed again as N'Seka sang. Now that they had killed the monster, they definitely deserved a good romp in the mud. "Over there!" He added, spying a small puddle nearby. "YARRRRRRGHHHH" He grabbed his younger brother and hurled them both at the mud, with the full intention of getting the both of them so soaked that nobody would be able to recognize either.  

[Annchen]

N'Seka was not prepared for this next turn of event, even if he had invited it... sort of. After an initial squeal of surprise he started laughing and spluttering, because it was hard to laugh while rolling in mud. It got everywhere, including into his mouth when it was open. And if there was a way to laugh with his mouth closed he hadn't discovered it yet.

"Mud tastes weird," he remarked as he had caught his breath after all the laughing. He rolled over on his back and stuck all four legs straight up. "We're brown now. Like those brown cubs. Is my hair brown too?"

He didn't elaborate more than that, and it wasn't entirely clear exactly who he meant with 'those brown cubs'. Brown was a common enough colour in the pride after all.  

[MoonRazor]

Zeki grinned, his white teeth standing in stark contrast to the mud that darkened his face. There was nothing like getting really dirty and muddy. Their mother most likely wouldn't thank them for their antics, but that was what being a boy was all about. They had to be icky and gross - it was practically a birthright.. Otherwise, what was the fun in being one?

Glancing over at N'Seka and laughed and shook his head. "Not yet, it's not." With a scoop of his paw, he gathered up some mud and dumped it at his little brother, intent on making N'Seka as brown as possible. It was easier with the littler cub, with less of him to dirtify.

They would be a mess to clean up by the time they were done, and neither mother nor their siblings would likely thank them for tracking mud all over the den, but that was just the way it was, and should be.  

[Annchen]

N'Seka spluttered and giggled as Zeki improved his new muddy coat. This was so awesome! His brother's light coat was transformed and he could only imagine how his formerly white head fur looked. He inspected his paws and could barely see the white socks. They were transformed into awesomely camouflaged monster hunters. They wouldn't know what hit them... And speaking of that...

"Let's go cuddle Litahti," he cried and bounced up and down in the mud puddle, he was starting to get a bit tired but not too tired for a bit of sister-baiting to round off this perfect day, "She'll be soooooo mad!"

He looked expectantly at his older brother, hoping that his spur of the moment idea would win his approval.