Most of the time he'd be found within the plains, even during the coldest days. Lounging within the pride lands was one of his favorite activities, though he determined leaving the plains was likely a better decision than rotting within the plains forever. Gray body slipped between trees, pressed against the thick bark of wide bases. Everything felt gargantuan comparatively among such vivid foliage. Within the jungle held warmer degrees, less snow slipped through pockets here, but the air remaind tepid, almost burdensome. Each paw step carried him deeper, his gilded undersides appearing more bronze under shadows.

Brilliant orange eyes peered around, seeking a good nap spot within the warmth. Such warmth left waves of lethargy through the youth, despite being so young and full of vigor. Proper sleep among frigid winter nights under the stars left him wanting. Maybe he'd find someone to take a nap with, or maybe someone who wanted to poke some bugs and stuff with a stick.

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS

somehow, the little litter of zeros had ended up with an idyllic childhood, carved out for them by their mother, and nazonal, who looked after them all. despite everything - despite dad vanishing, their home in the hollows crumbling to dust, the spooky dreams that haunted them. there was an intrinsic joy to life in the jungle that could not be stamped out, and beetle was here to stay.

like today - it was warm, sunny, dappled gold light gilding the greenery all around, toning everything with an olive glow. and he had found a particularly good stick. and good sticks needed to be paraded. so he pranced happily through the leaves, weaving this way and that, hardly checking where he was going, fringe across his eyes and his tail waving in the air, carefree, ready to collide with any unexpected strangers who might be accidentally stood in his path-

@Hendrix

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Thump! Flesh against flesh made a hollow sound against one another as the bright ember eyes latched onto a... stick? After a couple blinks he was able to focus on what else was there, something more squishy, soft, and a pale shade of pink. "Oi!" Sputtering he backed away to get a better look at what it was, thinking some giant bug had spawned from the jungle on top of him. Bronzed paws stumbled backwards, nearly tripping on himself, before he was able to look up properly and see a very curiously colored cub with lots of stripes and freckles. "Who're you?" Demanding tone came out of his princely lips, brow furrowing down as if to shame the other boy for running into him when he'd been just as careless as the other. "And where'd you get tha' stick huh?" Sticks were important tools for poking bugs, things that squirmed, flew, and overall were pretty scary critters. Until he got to research them more he wasn't about to touch one with his paw, no way, no how.

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS

she tried not to spend much time out of the mire.

leaving her one source of protection far behind wasn't really her style, and exploring new things didn't appeal to her as much as it might other cubs. but every once in awhile the urge to see what lived beyond it's mud slicked borders struck her like lightning.

she wanted to take advantage of the sunlight while it was out. it was always too fleeting, and the temperatures dropped too quickly for her to be moving anywhere after dark.

it was just her luck that the one day she decided to explore, she would run into others. she watched curiously as the other two cubs interacted, one flinging a stick about and the other glaring at him with a rumpled expression. she hung back, crouching low in the bushes, listening to their conversation.

but she wasn't very skilled at hiding herself just yet.

@Hendrix @Beetle

"oof-!" the collision knocked the wind out of beetle - but not his stick, firmly stuck between his fangs. molten silver eyes wide like precious saucers, startled, both boys stumbled a couple of steps away from eachother, and the other immediately demanded to know who he was. and where he got... his stick?

beetle frowned, gently laying down the stick at his paws, and flicked his eyes around illustratively. "th-th-this.... is a jungle," he began, frowning. "home of sticks." they literally grow on trees. "i c-can help you find one if y-y-you want. we could stick-fight!" he grinned, dropping into a play-bow and picking up his stick, demonstratively waving it around with his head, tail flicking in the air. apparently making friends was easily done when the ice had been broken. "i'm beetle," he tacked on as an afterthought, "i live here. who a-are you?"

- beetle has not noticed psyche yet because he is dumb baby -

@Hendrix @Psyche

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Unknown to the youth there came a lady into the vicinity. Someone he could impress by flexing his muscles and stuff. That's what his dad always did to get their mom to wrestle. Prospective stick hunting was too important for @Psyche's poorly hidden frame to be noticed under embers' vision.

Attention remained against the pink cub with that perfect adventuring stick. Even if the other boy had somewhat of a funny way of talking he didn't really mind, not when he could also have a stick as nice as the one @Beetle carried. Whoever loses has to eat a grub! Excitement grew within the boy as his tail flicked behind him, eyes shining as he moved to peer into the trees around them, looking for a stick that was easy to pick up rather than have to work for it, or maybe he could get Beetle to get one for him. Oh wow you live here? He guessed lions could live here, the trees did look rather nice. I'm Hendrix. I live in the big field not that far from here. Except it was far by cub standards. So you wanna get me a stick? The implication of 'so we can play' lingered within the question.

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS