HICCUP

Every sunrise found the young boy a little bigger than the one before it. He was growing — growing taller, growing heavier. Growing stronger. And yet … he was STILL quite the hairball. He was little, and was stuck doing little stuff, like chewing on sticks and pouncing on beetles. What he wanted to do was climb trees and chase prey — real prey, not dumb bugs. He wanted to feel big.

And today was going to be it. Today was going to be the day that he pushed himself and did something cool. He was done with the bugs — instead of the familiar dung beetle, he had found a new creature to stalk: a bright, pinkish, feathery thing. A many bright, pinkish, feathery things, actually. The boy recognized them as some kind of bird. It would be one heck of a challenge, but one he was ready to take on.

There were more than a few dozen of them, and several of them were on the smaller side — fledglings. Maybe ... he would try to pounce on one of those— you know, to warm himself up before he went after the bigger birds.

Hidden in the reeds that lined the bank, the boy swallowed a little nervously while his ears cupped back on his head, suddenly feeling anxious over the feat ahead of him. Perhaps he wasn’t ready after all …

coded by flea

faevyre.Last time, Faevyre had just watched the flamingoes. This time, she comes to see if she can hunt them.

Truthfully, they don't look like very good meals -- their necks are thin and their legs stiff-looking, but she's curious to see how much of their body bulk is plumage and how much is meat. With such a huge population, if they can serve as a good source of food, she figures it's worth trying.

The mauve lioness slinks down the slope. Her body trails low to the ground. Each step is slow, creeping, as she moves toward the sheltering reeds where she'll be able to launch a more surprising assault. The tension in her form eases briefly when she reaches them, eyes peering between the sturdy stalks to find which ones are the closest to the shore.

She starts to shift, seeking to close in on the closest ones ever-so-quietly. And it's then, watching where she needs to go, that she sees a squat brown, almost reddish body. Faevyre freezes, blinks with surprise. It's... oh, it's a cub! A round little cub, peering at the flamingoes with their ears tucked back.

With her own body pressed against the damp ground, she looks between the little cub and what he seems to have his eyes on -- the fledglings. As much as she admires the endeavor, she can't help but trail her gaze up to the wicked-looking beaks on the adults clustered nearby. Faevyre doesn't want to find out what those will do to a little one his size.

And so she ever-so-softly rustles the grass beside her with her tail -- enough to make a little bit of a crinkly noise, but not enough to catch the flamingo's attention and clue them in to anything unusual. She hopes that in the cub's hesitation, she'll catch their attention, and prevent them from making a big mistake. Though, it's entirely possible that the subtle noise won't work to do that, either.

HICCUP

No— no! He could do this. He could—

A quiet hiccup interrupted him. The sound had him cringing in the reeds, his expression pinched in his worry as he flattened his ears, trying to make himself smaller should his prey overheard. Amazingly, they seemed not to notice him or his hiccuping.

Another hiccup followed a relieved sigh. He relaxed a little — or started to. Before he could come down from his fright, something rustled in the nearby weeds and grabbed his attention. Quickly, the boy’s head snapped around and with his ears dished forward, he hiccuped as he searched the brush with widened silver eyes.

He was thinking of all the terrible things it could be when his startled gaze managed to penetrate the weeds, peering beyond them and onto the face of another lion. The child didn’t recognize her, but he seemed soothed by her presence all the same. She could’ve been a hyena, or a giant lizard. Thankfully, she was one of his own.

Still hiccuping every few breaths, the crimson-colored youth slipped through the weeds as quietly as he could, inching his way closer. “Are you hunting those things too?” he whispered once he was but a few feet from her.

coded by flea

faevyre.A tiny sound pops from the little one. Faevyre's ear flicks at it, watching as the cub's body twitches at the noise. She tilts her head a little, mane swaying away from her features.

It comes again. Yep, that's coming from the cub. They're... Oh, they're hiccups. She watches, a small smile creeping onto her features. The rustling startles him, catches his attention and swings his eyes around to her. The startled look that lands upon her eases away with some form of relief, likely as he realizes she isn't a predator -- the cub's alone right now, but at least he's got his senses on the alert. That's a relief.

The striped little one begins crawling over to her, bringing his little bucket of hiccups with him. Faevyre creeps softly forward as well to meet him halfway, keeping her head and body low and at his level. Ears cup forward to draw in his question.

"Yeah, I was plannin' on it," she whispers back. Her gaze trawls over to the band of flamingoes. "You should be careful, though -- you see those big beak things on the big flamingoes faces? They might hit you with that if you go for their babies, that might hurt." Her lips purse thoughtfully.

He's young. At this age, they're better off rolling around with rocks and sticks and chasing their parents' tails, exactly for the reason she'd mentioned. The little one could easily get mired in the shallows. "The water is tricky, too. It's got mud under it. You could get stuck." She seeks to turn her head back to watch the child, seeking to gauge their reaction.

HICCUP

Oh, so she really was hunting the pink, fluffy things! Good. Maybe they could team up then. Not because he was SCARED — not at all! It was just smarter to work together. And … safer, too.

He didn’t really realize how much safer it was for him until the lioness pointed out the beaks his prey wielded. The child turned his head around to peek through the reeds, his attention successfully pointed in the direction of the birds. He gazed at them, quietly blinking as he considered her warning. They … did look a little sharp, and as he was struck by the mental image of being pecked to death, he hiccuped and pressed lower into the brush, ears instinctively falling back. His body language stood in contrast to his words, which ... would’ve sounded a good deal braver if he hadn’t stuttered them out, nervously proclaiming, “They- they don’t look ss- so scary.”

But there was more than just tall, angry birds to worry about: there was also the water in which they frolicked. The child looked down at the huntress’ comment and lifted his paw from the soft bank they stood on. It wasn’t terribly squishy where they were, yet a little slime clung to his still soft, rosy pads, the sight of which made him flick his paw to shake it off. His mind went back to the picture of him being chased by the birds — only this time, they weren’t exactly chasing him. This time, he imagined himself stuck in the mud, being stomped deeper and deeper into the slime by a bunch of webbed feet. It made him hiccup just thinking about it.

Reluctant to outright admit that he was frightened, the child swallowed through a parched mouth and muttered instead, “They’re probably not that tasty anyway … ”

coded by flea

faevyre.Faevyre can practically watch the little one's realization set in as he processes her words. She feels a pang of sympathy as his excitement seems to fade into reluctance -- and, she assumes, fear. While she hadn't meant to scare the young cub, it's a good lesson to learn, and one that she's here and willing to teach.

She smiles softly, reassuringly. "You don't have to be scared," she ventures, considering each word, "Just careful." She sidles a little closer, seeking to bring her head near the cub's to peer toward the flamingoes with him. Her voice is gentle, patient.

"We have to respect every creature's power." She raises her own slightly-muddied paw, sliding her claws from it to show. "Us lions, we have claws--" She pauses to pull her lip up over her fangs, showing them slightly as she looks at him. "--'n' ou' t'ee'f." Lip lowers, then she looks back out to the flamingoes. "We use 'em to hunt and protect ourselves. Most creatures have some way to protect themselves, too. Just gotta be careful!"

She watches the flamingoes, lips pursed. She's not even sure if she can catch one herself -- the muck might slow her down too much before she can get to one of the fledglings. Faevyre is hungry, but this lonely little cub has captured her attention far more than the minor ache in her stomach.

HICCUP

“You don’t have to be scared,” she reassured him, to which the boy immediately squeaked back in a panic, “I’m not scared!” He was, of course, but quickly argued otherwise, as children usually did. He didn’t want her to think that he was a baby!

Hiccuping, he settled down once he’d had his microscopic outburst, and looked to her paw as she kindly educated him on respecting the power of other creatures. Slowly, his flattened ears cupped forward on his striped head, proof that he was listening to her and absorbing her wisdom. He looked away for a moment to glance at his lifted paw, unsheathing his tiny claws when she mentioned them and revealed her own. His claws were puny by comparison and it didn’t feel like he would ever be as big as she was. It all seemed so far away.

He peeked back over as she showed him her teeth, then followed her attention through the reeds to gaze at the birds again. “Okay … sooo what are we gonna hunt?” he asked. Somewhere between her teaching and now, without any invitation or discussion, he’d decided that since they were together, surely they must be a team. But what were they supposed to hunt, if not pink birds?

coded by flea

faevyre.She nods sagely as the boy corrects her -- of course, he isn't scared. Faevyre helped raise the nine Bezra cubs for long enough to know that he probably actually is a little frightened, but she's also raised cubs for long enough to know that it's not something that's up for argument.

Faevyre idly notes that his hiccups have continued, worrying idly that there might be something wrong with the child to cause them. They seem to be unalarmed by them, though. She watches him look at his own tiny talons -- noting to herself that they seem to be developing alright, and his motor reflexes seem to be good -- and peering expectantly at him. She smiles as he asks what they'll be hunting, and Faevyre assumes that means she's officially on the in with this cool kid. She hunkers down even further as she considers the question, accepting the skipped invitation of companionship anyway.

"I'll tell you what, let's make a deal," she whispers. "We will do a... tactical retreat on this one, yeah?" She looks back up at the hill behind them. "And we'll go on a little adventure to make you the best hunter yet." Faevyre pauses, thinking. The kid's too young to be hunting something big like this, but she's already brewing up a plan to teach him the skills he'll need to pull it off one day. "I'll show you what you'll be hunting next." She begins to wriggle carefully back, seeking to withdraw from the reeds -- of course pausing as well to see if he'll follow.

HICCUP

Crouched in the reeds, he watched her with a shy glimmer of hope in his silver eyes. That shimmer flashed into an eager shine as she proposed a deal. A giddy smile quickly replaced the concern that had previously wrinkled his young features as he whispered back in his excitement, “Yeah?” Retreat. Okay, that was probably a good idea. But what sounded like a FUN idea was an adventure, and the chance to hunt something his own size. “Yeah?!” he said again between a few more hiccups, that smile brightening. Now grinning, he wiggled on his paws as an outlet for his restless enthusiasm and nodded.

Turning away from the pond and its resident flock, the boy followed after his new mentor and slipped through the reeds. As they thinned, he emerged from the brush and bounced a few paces ahead. “What do I get to hunt?!” he beamed, spinning around on his paws and hopping backwards — trying to keep her in his sight while still moving along.

coded by flea

faevyre.Faevyre's heart has been heavy as of late, burdened by the harrowing weight of the war that seems to froth and boil within the land. But she finds comfort here, in the constant of youth and childhood -- cubs were always so predictable, so joyous and easily-excitable. To Faevyre, it's a reminder of the pervasive good of their kind -- no matter what, children aren't born cold. The world simply hardens them in that way. It's why she loves cubs.

That feeling of comfort washes over her as she watches the cub's knitted brows smooth to a fascinated joy. She nods in confirmation, excitedly scrambling back with him until they're at a good place where they can safely walk upright. Faevyre laughs lightly as they bound forward.

Faevyre formulates her gameplan all the while. She's still figuring it out as she goes, but so far, she knows exactly what's next. As they trod up the hill and crest to its top, she looks around, seeking a target.

"Alright, so," she says, her voice still low and rough in a whisper -- in her experience, cubs buy in more if you whisper, so that it's super top secret exclusive stuff -- "Birds of all kinds are quick. Once they spot you in the grass, they can fly away, and that's it, you've missed 'em." Her face all grows solemn and serious. "So. We've gotta keep practicing your sneaking skills, first of all."

She shortens her strides, enough to let the kid easily keep up with her, while keeping them quick enough so that he doesn't feel like she's slowing down for him. Her gait carries her toward one of the fields' copse of trees. "There are usually blackbirds up here in these big bushes and scraggly ole trees. We're gonna see if you can sneak up on 'em!"