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 Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:32 am
 
It was the very definition of a nice day outside. The sun was bright and shining early in the morning, a calm breeze swept languidly through the pridelands, and wispy white clouds floated lightly across the sky. Birds sang and the gentle lowing of healthy bison drifted across the savannah grasses. Everything was at peace.
Up bright and early and as happy as the sun, Musabari sat, peering studiously at the little figures he had clawed into the dirt. They were rather poorly constructed images of Xs and Os, with the former representing lions and the latter representing preybeasts. Shaky arrows marked the specific hunting strategy he was studying, as well as all the possible ways it could go wrong. The dirt immediately before the golden cub had been transformed into a battle plan of sorts, and anyone passing by would have wondered what exactly was going on.
But not Musabari. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he was not about to rest until he had learned the entire thing by heart. After all, this was what he could be doing someday, and... well, why not master it early? He would be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else, and while that wasn't... exactly his primary motivator, it was certainly pleasing to think that he would go out on his first hunt more confident than some of the others.
"Muuuuuuu, where aaaare youuu?" Also up with the sun was Zikamil. He was considerably smaller than his first-born brother, but what he lacked in size, he made up for in energy. He was a little firecracker, Zikamil, rarely able to sit still and always on the prowl for something fun to do. Of course, his definition of "fun" varied from day to day, and even from hour to hour, so it was a rare occurrence when little Kam wasn't thoroughly amused. This, however, promised to be one of those moments.
Having padded to the den mouth, he had peered out to spot his oldest brother, studiously drawing pictures into the sand. Zikamil himself had very few qualms about doodling, but what he saw were not doodles, but some seemingly very serious, very official diagrams detailing who knew what. And he was displeased. The little cub frowned mightily, turning back toward the den. He eyed his siblings one by one, trying to decide who to pick as a partner in crime at this particular moment. Well, any of them would do, really, and most days it seemed as if any one of them would be miles more fun that Musabari.
So why... did he spend so much time with his golden brother? Zikamil couldn't quite answer.
"Maral! Hey, Maral!" He said suddenly, loudly and with a tone that seemed to demand attention rather than request it. He had been one of those youngsters that seemed destined for leadership, and being around Musabari, who constantly needed pushing and prodding when it came to having fun, had only lent strength to his already-dominant nature. "You wanna go on an adventure?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:47 am
 It was bright outside. Maral could not help but notice that as soon as he woke. The fact that it was bright told the pale-furred cub many things. First, it told him that he'd slept in, because if the sun was already that brilliant as it shone, it must have been shining for a while. The fact that he'd slept in meant that he'd be lucky if there was breakfast to be had, though he wasn't actually hungry, so he'd be all right if there wasn't. The sun's brightness also told him that it was a beautiful day, at least right now, and that he was wasting his time by lying around inside the den thinking about these things. There were other things he could be doing.
"Maral! Hey, Maral! You wanna go on an adventure?"
That would be Zikamil, Maral decided as he rose to his feet and went through a brief but thorough stretching process. He didn't really like to have his name shouted across any distance - and he considered anything above the usual speaking volume to be shouting - but he was actually a little relieved that his brother obviously come up with something to do for the day, which meant that as long as Maral went along with it, he, too, would have something to do.
Still, he was cautious. Zikamil's adventures could get a cub into trouble, and frequently did, though not often Zikamil. He padded toward the front of the den, blinking and ducking his head to shade his purple eyes from the increasing light. When he was close enough to his brother that he wouldn't have to raise his voice to be heard Maral answered him:
"Maybe. What sort of adventure did you have in mind?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 8:55 am
Zikamil beamed as his brother padded over. It was certainly true that his adventures seemed to have a knack for getting everybody but himself into trouble. Maybe it was just because he had that million dollar smile. Maybe he was just lucky. Or, more likely, maybe he just managed to spot trouble coming sooner than some of his buddies.
Not that his incredible streak of close calls didn't come with consequences. Every time one of Zikamil's escapades brought trouble to anyone, the little cub was consumed by guilt. He had even made a pact: to stick with his adventures, no matter how badly things went down. Of course, this was a rather more... recent decision, so he had yet to have had the chances to keep with it. No matter, maybe they could change that today.
"Well... Okay, it's got different parts," he told his pale brother, choosing his words carefully. "Step one: Stop that." He motioned toward the outdoors with his nose, pointing in Musabari's direction. The golden cub was still hunched over his masterpiece, unaware of the flailing limbs and kicked-up dust that most likely lay in his immediate future. "Step two: ... catch a wildebeest. Step three: eat the wildebeest. And then, uh. Mission accomplished."
Ironically enough, the very diagram that Zikamil and Maral seemed to be on the verge of destroying was exactly what might have lent them some success in Zikamil's mission: impossible. Even as Zikamil began to talk their brother into ruining Musabari's self-study session, the red-headed cub was murmuring to himself, running through the procedure step by step. It had never occurred to him that merely memorizing each stage of the hunt would likely do him no good when it came to putting it into action - especially on that first hunt that he was already dreaming of.
"So, you fan out... and come at them from three directions and chase them toward the one lying in wait... Oh, upwind. Right, cause... otherwise they'd smell you..." He reached to add some squiggled lines, signalling the wind direction. "And then you pick the slowest, weakest one... cause that's the easiest one to catch."
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:03 am
Maral's gaze followed his brother's pointing nose toward the area fully outside the den, where he could make out the figure of one of his many siblings poring over something on the ground. The light being what it was, it was not readily apparent to him which of his siblings it was, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was probably Musabari. Zikamil seemed to have a bit of an obsession with their oldest brother, and probably would resent anything which would divide Musabari's attention between him and, well, anything else. Not that Maral was mature enough to make that particular observation. He was just guessing it was Musabari because Zikamil spent a lot of time with him.
"Sounds like a plan," he said noncommittally. "Tell you what: you take part one, the bit about stopping whatever he's doing, and then the two of you do part two, since he's probably got better ideas about catching wildebeest than either of us. I think I've got part three covered."
It wasn't that Maral was lazy, or even unwilling to participate in Zikamil's schemes - he was a hard lion to resist, Maral's brother. It was more that he couldn't help wondering if that was really all there was to it. He didn't think Zikamil was a slither-outer or anything like that. That wasn't where his reservations came from. Maral simply preferred not to be the center of attention, and it seemed to him that bringing down a wildebeest, even with two of his brothers helping, would rather place him in the public eye. No one would blink twice at a cub eating a wildebeest though.
"What's he doing anyway?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:38 pm
A small frown of concentration furrowed Zikamil's brow as he considered his brother's proposition. It all sounded well and good, but... small as he was, Zikamil doubted that he would be able to bring down a wildebeest all by himself. And even he could already tell that Musabari wouldn't be of much use. Mu was a great learner, and anything their mother said, he would remember, but when it came to activities that required physical exertion... Somehow, Zikamil doubted that his brother's mind and body were that well-connected.
Even Kam wasn't that in tune with himself. What he lacked in brains (and, some could argue, that could be a lot when it came to matters concerning safety and... well, sanity, at times), he made up for with an agile, well-trained body, one that would obey his commands at all times (even if there was the occasional cub's clumsiness involved). He could go where he wanted to, but there were times when he found it more difficult decide where that was.
"He's prolly got the plan," Zikamil agreed with a small nod. "But I don't think he can pull it off." He left the fact that neither could he, alone, unsaid. Maral could fill in that blank on his own. "But I guess let's get step one over with first."
He turned and charged up and out of the den, exploding into the open with a yell and launching himself at his studious brother.
One minute, Musabari was studying in the relative calm of the morning, and the next... Well, the next he had been attacked by a banshee of some sort! He squeaked and turned to meet his attacker. Too late. The furry figure smashed into him and they tumbled into a mess of flailing limbs and tails.
"Can't... can't breeeeathe..." He wheezed, lying flat on his back with his paws dangling in the air, even as he caught sight of Zikamil picking himself up off the ground with a triumphant grin plastered all over his face. "Kam!" He said shrilly, rolling onto his belly to check on his diagrams... which had, of course, been destroyed. His ears flattened against the back of his head, and he pushed himself up into a sitting position with a huff.
"Look what you done now!"
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 4:52 am
"Probably," Maral agreed. It never failed to amaze him how much planning his brothers - all of them - managed to stuff into their heads. Personally, Maral could watch and think all he wanted, but he was a follower at heart and planning simply was not a skill he could lay claim to. He did follow directions very well, once he'd determined that the person whose directions he was following was worth heeding.
He was about to offer something else, but whatever it was went right out of his head when Kam turned away and flung himself at their brother with all the technique and skill one would expect from a cub on the attack. Maral winced to watch the tangle of bodies which ensued from his brothers' collision. He would not have liked to be on the receiving end of that, nor would he have liked to be part of it.
Still, he had agreed, at least in part, to Kam's proposal for adventure, which meant he couldn't just hang back in the den and pretend to ignorance. He sauntered into the full sunlight, wincing once again as it struck his eyes and blinded him momentarily. He wasn't hugely concerned about Musa's claim that he couldn't breathe - likely that problem would right itself, since Kam didn't seem to be actually sitting on him or otherwise cutting off his airflow.
"Sorry," Maral said, even though it had been Kam that Musa was scolding. "We need your help though."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:51 am
Zikamil grinned, picking himself up off the ground and shaking the dust from his fur. He had now turned a rather more dull shade of brown, thanks to the dirt, and he was rather pleased with how his sneak attack had panned out. Not only had he managed to destroy his brother's handiwork, but he had also managed to dirty himself up quite nicely: two bird with one stone. Beautiful. He spat some loose grains of sand back onto the ground, and sauntered over to Maral, who seemed none the worse for wear, despite everything that had happened in the past several moments.
"Maral's right. We need your help." He said with a decisive nod. What a wonderful way of putting things. Maral had a way with words, Kam decided. He may well come in handy at some point in their adventure. Perhaps he could also talk them out of some trouble.
Musabari frowned, brushing the dirt from his forelock with a paw. "Help with what?" He asked cautiously, eyeing one brother, then the next with suspicion shining in his eyes. He had long since realized that any plan of Zikamil's tended to bode badly for him, and Musabari was exceptionally careful not to throw himself into situations without proper analysis.
"Are you gonna help, Maral?" He added watching his paler brother. Maral seemed a much less likely mastermind of trouble, but... one never knew. Not when Kam was around, anyway.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:56 pm
Maral looked over at Zikamil once to make sure it was all right for him to be the one to tell Musabari what they were going to do. Apparently it was, and so Maral turned back to Musa and began to explain:
"Kam had this idea that we could go hunt down a wildebeest and eat it," he said. There hadn't been a lot to the plan, and so it wasn't really purposefully that he described the plan so succinctly. It was really the only way he could describe it, lacking any of the details more in-depth description would require. He wondered if Kam had any of those in mind, and if he would chime in with them.
"I was going to help, yes," Maral said, although he hadn't really been quite sure he would until Musa asked him. "I mean, wouldn't it be something really special if we managed it? Probably everyone would be very impressed, and we might not have to share unless we wanted to."
He tried to think of something else to say that might convince his oldest brother to participate. The fact that he, himself, wasn't wholly sold on the plan made that a bit of a challenge, but in the end he decided to finish with, "You're always studying hunting and stuff, so probably you'd be really helpful. If you wanted to be. Otherwise we'll just have to go without a plan and see what happens."
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 6:24 am
Oh good. Oh wonderful! Not only had they managed to convince Musabari to join (the fact that the golden cub had yet to agree to come didn't quite occur to Kam) in on their little plan, but Mu had also managed to convince Maral to help out with part two. It was amazing, how things tended to come full circle.
"Yep," He said at the end of Maral's succinct explanation. Kam couldn't have put it better himself. "So we just... catch it. And eat it." He said, both stating the obvious and repeating what his brother had said, but... given the circumstances, there didn't seem to be much else to add. The plan itself was simple enough. How hard could hunting be, anyway? The way Kam saw it, there were three of them and only one wildebeest.
Musabari shifted his gaze from one brother to the other, regarding them with a look that suggested that perhaps the two of them were slightly insane. Which, he was convinced, they were. Had they forgotten that they were still but tiny cubs? They were probably only the size of a wildebeest's head, and the preybeast's body was obviously many times bigger and stronger than its head.
"Well... it'd be special, yea, but... I mean, do you have any idea how hard it is to hunt a wildebeest?" He said, blinking owlishly. Half-turning, he motioned to the dusty ground behind him. "I was just studying it... but now it's gone."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 5:13 am
Maral didn't quite share Kam's optimism about the plan's chance of success, but he wasn't quite as skeptical as Musa. He was somewhere between wanting Kam's plan to work out and being unable to ignore the strong likelihood that it wouldn't. As Musa pointed out, it was probably hard to hunt them. They were pretty big and fast, and didn't they have horns?
"That's why we need you, Musa," Maral said. "You know all the plans, and you can tell us what to do."
Maral would like very much to have someone who even sort of knew what he was doing telling him what to do on this hunt, because even if it was just sort of, it was still more than Maral knew about the matter. He knew he would probably grow up to be a hunter, but he wasn't as serious about training for it as his eldest brother. He assumed he'd have time for that later.
"And it'd probably taste really good," he added, not really sure if that would help. "I didn't get any breakfast, you know."
He also wasn't hungry, but Maral didn't think pointing that out would really be very effective in persuading Musabari to get in on Zikamil's plan. Actually, Maral would have liked to know how he ended up in the position of trying to convince his brother to do this anyway. That was supposed to be Kam's job. It was his plan, after all. He looked toward his purple-eyed sibling in a tacit plea for him to step in and let Maral stop having to explain things.
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Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 7:55 am
"Yea, you can be, like, the playmaker, y'know?" Kam interjected eagerly. It seemed to the purple-eyed cub that being "the one," being the leader, the inspirer, the one that made things happen was the best possible bribe in the world. At the very least, that was the way it was with him, and following that train of logic, it only made sense that everyone else felt the same way.
"In charge and all, see," he added, just to make sure that his brother understood the gravity of his proposition. Oh yes. This once - just this once - Kam was letting Musabari take the lead. The both of them understood how momentous this was. Kam was not used to being a follower, and reveled in the feeling of leading somebody to victory, no matter what that victory entailed.
Musabari peered intently at his two littermates, still half convinced of their insanity. It appeared that neither of them truly understood how difficult it was to complete the task they had proposed. The strategies were not the least of it. What about actually taking down the animal? How was that going to work? The three of them were so small that the golden cub didn't doubt that a wildebeest could easily carry them for miles and miles - possibly even out of the Pridelands, and what then? How would they find their way home?
"But..." He frowned and scuffed at the ground before him. What he had meant to say was that... he didn't want to be the playmaker. He didn't want that responsibility. That was Kam's job, not his. It could even be Maral's job, but it was most definitely not Musabari's. All he wanted to do was sit quietly and study.
But seeing his two brothers' expectant gazes was enough to stop him from expressing that thought. "Well... I mean... I guess I can show you how to do it..." He said reluctantly, beginning to scratch out Xs and Os into the sand. "These are wildebeest," he said, pointing to the Xs. "And these are lions." He pointed to the Os.
"You could have... maybe two lions in the back to trigger the stampede, and then one lion waiting to catch it. But cause we're so small, I think the two in the back would have to catch up to help." He added some arrows into the sketch.
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Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 6:13 am
Maral nodded enthusiastically as Kam took over. He was as relieved to have Kam resume his usual persuasive role as he was to have Musa involved. He was also relieved that Kam hadn't balked at his suggestion that Musa be in charge. Musa was sensible, and surely if he was going to help out, things couldn't go too badly awry. At least that was what Maral devoutly hoped.
When Musa gave in and began to scratch in the sand once again Maral moved closer to peer at the markings he made. He didn't quite grasp how Xs and Os could be wildebeest and lions, but he was willing to go with it for now, and hope that comprehension dawned later. He would have much preferred just to be given directions or shown what to do, rather than look at scratchings in sand which meant almost nothing to him. Just the same he nodded as though he understood.
"The two in the back would have to run really fast," Maral observed, thinking he might have some idea of what Musa was describing, though not from the arrows and Os and Xs. He understood the principle behind the plan was all. "And probably have to work pretty hard to single out just one of them once they're all stampeding. Unless you know how to do that?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:44 pm
It was no secret that Kam's kind of "smart" wasn't quite the same as his brother's, and even just sitting there looking at the arrows made the cub feel sleepy. Like Maral, he could barely understand the diagram, and he couldn't quite understand how scratches on the ground would translate into a hunt. The two were completely different!
He frowned, doing his best to concentrate, but the comprehension didn't come to him quite as easily. Even Maral seemed to understand better, and the verbal outline that the lighter brother gave made much more sense. "Well, I can run pretty fast, I think." He said, glancing over at his siblings. At this point, that was about all he could offer.
"Yea, they would." Musabari agreed. It still didn't seem plausible to him. If the two chasing lions had to make their way up to help the actual hunting lion, that would mean the runners had to run as fast as the wildebeest. Somehow the golden cub didn't quite see that happening.
"Uhm..." He stared intently at the diagram, imagining a stampeding herd in its place. All of a sudden, he felt more suicidal than he had a moment earlier. "I don't really know..." He admitted, flattening his ears in distress. Had all his studying been for naught if he didn't even know how to single out a wildebeest??
"Maybe we just have to, uh, go for the slow one?" He doubted that any of them would seem that slow, though.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:07 am
Maral nodded. He wasn't sure which of the three of them was actually the fastest, but it sounded like Kam was volunteering to take that spot, and he was fine with that. It did mean that Maral or Musa would be in the somewhat more dangerous position of running alongside the stampeding animals and trying to separate one from the rest, but maybe that was for the best. Kam wasn't so good at not taking risks.
"So we go for a slow one, but just in case we say Kam can be one of the ones to start the stampede. And...I don't know who should pick the wildebeest. You're the smartest, Musa."
It didn't pain Maral to make that statement. He believed with all his heart that Musa was one of the more intelligent siblings he had, basing his belief on the fact that he rarely understood the things that Musa seemed able to grasp effortlessly. Like the dirt scratchings. He just didn't understand how dirt scratchings were wildebeest and lions. But Musa did. Musa had probably even come up with the idea himself.
"Does that sound all right?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 2:25 pm
((>< I... don't know how this got lost, but I'm so sorry it took forever! I figured it would just be better to finish it than let it drag again, in case something like this happens again))
There Kam sat, grinning like an idiot - and indeed, in matters of safety and rule-following, he was something of a fool. There was nothing that mattered to him more than having fun, and if he lived to tell the tale after a particularly risky adventure, then all the better.
The little lion bobbed in head in agreement with what his paler brother was saying. "Whatever, it sounds all good. We can pull this off, so let's go already!" He said impatiently.
"But... oh... I suppose..." Musabari answered both his brothers with an anxious frown. Something - probably common sense - told him that their little plan would probably fail, but... as long as they didn't get hurt, he supposed it wouldn't be such a big deal. Wildebeest stampeded all the time.
"Well... I guess let's go," he said finally, rising reluctantly to his paws. Yea. This was a bad idea. But what was he to do? They were his brothers, after all, and this was all in good humor.
Or that was the plan, anyway. Knowing those two... he could never really be sure.
/fin
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