Malvi

"There're only a few pups here in the mornings," she was told over her friend's shoulder. "But in the afternoons a few more are dropped off. You'll want to watch out in particular for a young male called Drvena and his sidekick Muko. They get into all sorts of trouble if you let them."
"Great," Vi muttered as she settled on the ground, surveying the four or five pups that were already there. "This is a few?"
Mfumuko

His certainty vanished when he noticed that there was an unfamiliar female seated where Coocucha usually placed herself to watch over her charges. This one was young and had the most unusually colored coat. Muko was used to pelts of all different colors, but this hyena's coat was a color he couldn't even put a name to. It was sort of a soft brownish grey that was warm, too.
He took a moment to decide what Drvena would do in this situation and decided that his best friend would behave like a gentleman and introduce himself. To do that, though, Muko would have to fight his way through a passel of pups, and he wasn't ready to do that just yet.
Malvi

"All right, I know you lot don't know me. My name's Malvi and I'm in charge today. I'm a hunter, and I have better things to do than memorize all of your names. So for today you're all going to get code names, like you're on spy missions, okay?" And so what if all the names she assigned were based on physical traits? She would remember them and as long as she told the pups what she expected them to answer to, everything would be all right. Unless of course that purple girl started crying, as she looked like she was about to do.
"You're going to be called Weepy," she told the purple pup, who was so startled by this designation that she actually ceased to look miserable. Huh.
Mfumuko

"Dopey," she decided after a moment's contemplation. Muko wrinkled his nose at the outburst of giggling that followed.
"Dopey?" he repeated indignantly. "I am not dopey."
Sure, he knew he wasn't the fastest zebra in the herd, but he was hardly dopey. He was insulted, and in this he seemed to be channeling Drvena somewhat, because his friend would never have stood for such a moniker. "Give me a new name."
Malvi

"Are you, by any chance, Drvena?" she asked. She had somehow thought that she wouldn't have to worry about that pup and his sidekick until the afternoon group came in, but perhaps she had misinterpreted Coocucha's warning. She looked around. "And which one of you ankle biters is Muko?"
The pup didn't look as though he had any adoring fans or followers, but he was one of the oldest pups present and so she was forced to assume that she was dealing with Drvena, who was supposed to be the more troublesome of the pair. Muko, she had been told, was more of a follower.
Mfumuko

"I'm Mfumuko. Drvena's not here today. He's not feeling well."
Secretly he was tickled that she had heard of him and his friend. He was certain it was because of all the good deeds they had done and all the wrongs they had righted. He knew that as a male he couldn't hope to win much in the way of acclaim, but the fact that Coocucha had told her substitute about him and Drvena made him proud.
"If you need any help, I would be happy to assist though." He thought he sounded very dashing and debonair, like Drvena would.
Malvi

"Right," she said, unable to think of anything else to say. "I guess we won't call you Dopey. We'll call you Phew."
As in "phew, there's just the one of them." Not that she had any intention of telling him that. Probably he'd think that she'd said "few" and try to puzzle out how she'd come to settle on that name for him. It would keep him quiet and distracted until she finished, she hoped. After she finished she planned to play a game of Statues with the pups.
Mfumuko

"If we're going to be spies, what will our mission be?" he asked, deciding that he would not make a big thing of his new name. Probably if he did she'd just call him something like Difficult or Ugly or something awful like that. He didn't want to be laughed at again. He didn't like to be laughed at, especially by younger pups.
"I could be helpful, you know," he continued. "I know this area really well and- "
Malvi

There was a poorly veiled threat implicit in her words which seemed to upset some of the younger pups, if not the one she was actually threatening, who she suspected was too dim to realize that he was being threatened. Bah. She didn't like pups. They were simply impossible. Everything made them cry or whine. She would never, ever have them.
"Why don't you be the prey if you know the area so well?" she suggested. "You'll have to be very quiet and not say a single thing until you're told to report. Everyone else, let's divide into groups. Doesn't that sound fun?"
Because it sure didn't to Malvi. She had no idea how she'd keep track of several groups of pups. Bah!
Mfumuko

"Um." He didn't want Malvi to think he was afraid though, and so he swallowed while his ears flattened to his skull. "Okay. Give me five minutes' head start."
Malvi wasn't paying attention. She was already working on dividing the rest of the group into smaller groups and hunting parties. He decided he'd best skedaddle now. Maybe try to find Drvena and let him know that their plans would have to happen some other time because of this disruption. This wasn't going to be much fun at all.