[Jauhar] snazzy title here [Ujiri/Ika]

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

A long drawn out yawn came from the young boy as he lay draped over his mother's mount's tail. Matlal was busy staring at him with a "why me!?" expression but Ujiri clearly didn't care. He had once again stripped of any pants that either of his mothers tried to put him in and was wearing a skirt that had been intended for his sister, Ika. Sprawling out he flopped over and stared dramatically upward. "Grrr.... I wanna go play!" The child huffed. He'd previously gotten in trouble for running off and causing a ruckus.

With a sigh he turned his head and stared in the direction that his mothers had disappeared to. Any second now they would come out and tell him he could go free.  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

In the tree above her brother, Ika watched his dramatic display with a faint smirk. Feeling a little too proud of herself, she carefully picked her way down the tree to it's lowest branch. Height wise she wasn't that far off the ground now; just a little lower than her mother, Ariya's, head. Still, it was higher than he was, and when she stretched out on her stomach along the branch, one arm crossed so she could lay her head on it while the other dangled, she was out of pinching range.

"What'ja do, get caught?"

Naturally she wasn't supposed to be climbing without her mothers or elder siblings around. It was 'unsafe', but that never stopped her. She just smiled, nodded her head, made empty promises and as soon as they disappeared so did she.

At least she was smart enough to stop her tom foolery before they came back. Most of the time she didn't get caught; and in those moments, Ika gloated.  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

The moment he heard his sister's voice he rolled his eyes. "Shut up Ika" Ujiri wasn't as sneaky as her but then again it didn't really fit his personality. Moving so that he was sitting up and now off the snaptrotter's tail he lifted his head and looked in the direction his twin was. "I wasn't doin nothin anyways. Not my fault the girl tripped in the mud." She shoulda been tougher if you asked him. Freaking out over a little bit of dirt wasn't much of a badass thing to do. Since e came from a family of badasses well.. he tended to judge others along those lines. Not that that had anything to do with why he was in trouble. He vaguely recalled something about bad bugs and magic and not being allowed to go off alone.

"Mom catches you in the tree and you'll be grounded too." Ujiri smirked a little as he thought about yelling for their mothers just so see Ika rush to get down. Although he could just call for Subira or Eurig, they would take care of it too.  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

Her dark curls framed large, inquisitive eyes as Ika looked down at Ujiri; in both the metaphorical and literal senses. He looked pretty miserable down there, all by himself, and being the good sister she was she'd come to help out.

On her terms, of course.

"Sure didn't seem like it. Seemed like you shoved her, or that's what she said, anyway." That girl had been a wuss, like a lot of the other shifters they 'played' with, and sometimes they needed a good shove. Of course she supported Ujiri's decision, but it wasn't as if Ika was going to own up to it. Pushing his buttons was just too much fun.

"If mom catches me." She said proudly. Ika sat up a little on her branch, supporting herself by clutching it between her thighs. That if was always the most part. The thrill of risk pushed her to go further, and do stupider things just to avoid it. Eurig once said that she was just like their mama, Ujana, but with an alkidike's smarts. He hadn't said it with a smile though; so she guessed it wasn't a compliment, but she took it as one anyway.

"What'cha gonna do? Rat me out?"  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

"Yeah? Well seemed to me she was saying something she shouldn't have." Ujiri shrugged. Not his fault if she couldn't move out of his way when he was walking by. Also not his fault the mud puddle jumped out in front of her. What was his fault was the intentional bump he'd given her. Not that he'd admit it out loud.

"If I do that then you'll just get down and say I was lying." Which he could see his mothers believing. So he opted to leave the subject be.

Instead he got to his feet and dusted off his skirt. "Just saying.. you get caught, you get grounded. Don't forget Subira likes the trees too." Not as much as some shifter kids did but their older sister did climb a lot for training.  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

"Yep!" Ika cracked a big grin, sitting back and proud on her branch. She was good at making them believe her; all she had to do was bat her eyes, and smile. Well, most of the time. Sometimes it was so fake they could see straight through her, but Ika was working on that.

"Yeah, well, she's not here, is she?" She wasn't quite sure where the older girl was, but Ika was confident that Subira couldn't see her now. Mostly confident. Ika flicked her eyes to the side, subtly looking for a sign, but when she didn't see one Ika stubbornly kept her eyes on her brother. He was just trying to mess with her, and it wasn't working! "It's just us, and Matlal."

Ika reached her hands up around his face, and tucked some curls back around her ears. "So...you gonna hang out here all day, or do you want to go see something really cool?" She was well aware that her brother was being punished; she also really didn't care.  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

Ujiri rolled his eyes at his sister. Sometimes he hated how easily she could get the rest of the family to dote on her. Though he had to admit she was getting really good at it. He simply lacked the finesse to do it.

"She'll get you one day." He warned. Though he wasn't even sure if Subira would. Nor if heir older sister would care as much as their mothers did.

Once she asked him if he wanted to go see something he looked around to check for signs of their mothers. When there was none, and none of the other siblings, he looked back at Ika and grinned. "You know it." Making sure his skirt was in place he looked expectantly at his twin. "Where we going?"  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

"Maybe, or maybe she's getting old and slow." Ika swung one leg over the side of the branch, and kicked her legs out. She stretched for a moment, swaying just enough to give her muscles a breath before pushing her butt off the edge. For a moment there was that sweet feeling of free falling; the one that occasionally took her breath before she inevitably hit the ground.

She landed with a roll, and bounced back up on her feet, just like she'd been taught by the shifter kids. They'd taught her a long time ago that if she just landed on her feet that her legs might break, so Ika had listened real close after that.

"It's by the river. Mitza found it yesterday, so she might already be there, but if we're fast enough we can beat 'er." Because, as she'd come to find out, the snotty little shifter often brought her hoard of siblings with her, and whatever special thing they found was eventually destroyed. It was enough to make her pull her hair out sometimes.

"Think we should bring Matlal? I bet he could scare them off if we want him too."  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

He really hoped their big sister caught Ika one day just to prove her wrong. Ujiri sighed and seemed to flail for a moment as boredom was setting in. Still, as his twin mentioned going by the river he perked up. "Lets go." The young boy walked over to his sister before glancing back at the snaptrotter he'd been using as a pillow before. "Hmn, yeah. C'mon boy." Ujiri motioned for the beast to follow and after a small hesitation he seemed to.

With that taken care of he looked at Ika. "Lead on Ika." He was content to let her be the ring leader for now. Mostly because he really was curious about this thing...  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

There it was! She knew if she prodded him enough Ujiri would come with her, regardless of the trouble he was in. Of course, if they were caught, Ika would likely be in some hot water herself, but the thing is she didn't plan to get caught.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?" She was adamant about this; even as she started to strut her way back into the woods, Ika would occasionally look back for his answer. If either of their mothers, or their siblings, even, found out about this they could get in some serious trouble! The little hybrid picked her way across the well worn path, occasionally passing by a few brambles to point out little fungus pods and snails. It made her wonder if anyone had ever studied them, or even knew what the big fat ones were called. "Hey, Ujiri; if someone asked you if you were a sister or not, what would you say?"

The little one stopped at the edge of the road, pulling back a few branches and motioning for her brother to lead the way. It wouldn't be long before they reached the river, but it was definitely off the main road.  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

Ujiri nodded his head with a bored expression. "Who am I gonna tell Ika?" If he did tell someone then they would know he'd snuck off after being punished. Which would get him into more trouble. Not something he was really into.

As his sister moved the things out of the way and motioned for him to lead the way now he eyed her a little but stepped on through. Her question about being called a sister made him look at her oddly. "That's silly. I'm a brother." He might like to wear the skirts, because they were easier to move in, but he was clearly a boy. There was a huge difference between him and his twin. Then he thought about it a little more. Their mom was an Alkidike and usually the term sister was used in regards to them.

"You mean like moma Ari?" This time he actually gave it some serious thought. "Well I think the amazons are cool and I want to be like them but.. I'm not sure I would consider myself a sister exactly. That would mean I wouldn't like moma Jana." Since he looked like both his mothers he didn't want to pick one side or the other. "Can't I just be me?"  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

He had a point. It wasn't as if her brother could very well blab to anyone without outing himself, but one couldn't be too cautious. Ika liked to think of herself as careful like that; but then again, she was also a naturally cocky, arrogant little thing, so of course she had her bases covered. What kind of rookie explorer would she be if she didn't?

"You're my brother." She reached out to pinch his skin as he passed, darting just out of the way to avoid any incoming retaliation. Her curls bounced around her head, free and loose as the mistress they served. However, her bouncing was abruptly cut- the terrain started to slope downward at a steeper incline here, and even Ika wasn't dumb enough to skip down that kind of bank.

"Yeah, like mama Ari and Subira." She picked her way down, careful of brambles and upturned roots. At least they could see the river now; it was one of the wider ones that cut through Jauhar, and as such, there was a lot of traffic that usually passed through. Thankfully there weren't any people here; just a few animals stooping closer to the water to get a drink.

"See, that's what I told him, but he kept making me pick one or the other!" Ika huffed. "Remember when I went to town with Eurig a few weeks back? I...may have snuck off, and I came down here. I saw this guy - Ujiri, he was so pale! - and he kept asking me stupid stuff; like whether I was a sister or not."  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

He only glared at her when she pinched him. Normally he'd have retaliated but this time he let it slide because she was showing him something cool. Or at least she had made it seem like it would be cool.

As Ika went on to talk about some pale guy and his questions he stopped and looked at her. "Ika.. Don't talk to strange guys. Might give Eurig a heart spaz." Or Subira. Or their mothers. "Actually, everyone might spaz." Ujiri nodded his head slightly. He might be Ika's brother but he wasn't over protective of her. Not really. She did what she wanted and so did he. As long as no one physically hurt her, he was fine.

"So just how pale are we talking?" Like the shifters in their light skin? He was pretty used to that. Sometimes he even wished his skin shifted colors. Then again, it would be odd to go from tan to yellow. Not that he would complain.  

[Painted Moose]

Heras Box

"Yeah, he wasn't happy at all when he found out." The thing was, whenever she insisted Eurig come see the guy for himself, that jerk hadn't even been where she left him! Eurig had been worried she was sick or something, that she was seeing things, but that pale guy was real! She just KNEW it!

"Like milk! But a little browner; almost like when white paint gets mixed with pink." She made her way to the river bank, then took a left to follow the voracious body of water upstream. They weren't so far from it now that she felt a particular need to speed up, though her legs were long enough to easily outpace the other kids her age. That was one good thing about being bigger than the shifters; when they started picking on her she could just kick 'em and run away.

"He said his dad was from Sauti; ain't that past Tale? Maybe one day we can go there after we visit auntie Pad- there it is! Right over here, come on!" Ika snatched her brothers hand and tugged him forward, bullishly dragging him along before pointing to a rather mundane looking bush. "Isn't it great?!"  

[Heras Box]

Painted Moose

He didn't imagine their older brother would have been too pleased to know that Ika had snuck off somewhere. Ujiri had not done that to any of his siblings yet. Then again, he had to have a really good reason to sneak off somewhere. Like now, he was with Ika to go see whatever it was that she had deemed interesting.

"Milk huh?" Hmn, he couldn't quite imagine someone so pale. Their mother Ujana was tanned, which is where their coloring came from. Ariya was a pale yellow but obviously not like milk. He shook his head. "I don't know, sounds weird." Shifters were pale but they didn't look like milk.

He was still trying to imagine someone being that color when she mentioned Sauti. Ujiri was no good with geography so he lifted his shoulders and gave her an innocent look. "Dunno. Never been there." If he looked at a map he could tell her but off the top of his head, he had nothing. "You want to visit Aunt Pa--AH! Ika!" When she exclaimed that she had found the interesting thing again and grabbed him he half tripped over his own feet. The sudden pace made him huff in annoyance at his sister before looking to what she pointed at.

"Uh... Ika.. that's a plant. We have those by our house." Ujiri looked at her as if she had lost her mind.