HICCUP

Deep in the jungle, a massive, moss-coated tree had grown crooked under the heavy weight of its own branches, and there the curious child lay, helplessly latched onto a branch. He’d never actually climbed a tree before — he’d never been able to anchor his little claws into the bark and pull himself up — so when he’d seen the opportunity to (in the form of a branch that had grown mostly sideways), he’d moved.

Driven by curiosity, the emboldened child had climbed onto the trunk. The angle had allowed him to practically walk onto it before it turned upward and he needed to crouch down and scoot his way higher. The higher he went though, the steeper — and thinner — the branch grew, and he quickly found himself stuck. He’d only been confident in going FORWARD — now that he was running out of branch, he was too scared to turn around, terrified that he would slip and fall into the muck, some sixteen feet below him.

Frozen by fear, the crimson-colored child hugged his branch a little harder and hiccuped, his eyes scrunched shut and his rimmed ears flattened in his fright.

coded by flea

Nero wasn't a huge fan of swamps, but now that he thought about it, he wasn't a huge fan of anything. There was the typical adolescent angst mixed in with the irritation of not having parents, and by the day he grew more and more jaded. Parents were bad, though, right? Ryuu hadn't needed parents. Bhaskar didn't need parents. None of the others needed parents either, so clearly Nero was just weak minded for even feeling a pang of sadness about being alone. He wished dearly his parents just hadn't died and inconvenienced him so much, because hey, who would he be now if he'd gotten a chance to flourish? All he was now was a dandelion growing in a crack in the sidewalk, a weed that spread and choked.

He sighed. It was hard being so moody, but someone had to do it, yeah? Yeah.

Had the cub not been about to shriek bitterly at the gods, he might not have noticed the trembling boy there. He blinked in confusion, but shit, how was he supposed to help? Kids helped kids because adults never did, so it was up to Nero to save the day.

"Hey, you okay?" he called, knowing the answer would be a resounding no. Still, he had to ask.

image by moogle/code by saph

HICCUP

Seeing as how he had closed his eyes in his panic, the little hairball had completely missed the arrival of another boy. It was only when he called out that the cherry-red child opened his eyes with a surprised hiccup and looked down in his shock. There, on the ground, was a cub not much older than himself. He spotted him first, before he naturally noted the distance between them, making him squeeze the branch tighter. That was one heck of a drop.

Swallowing between a couple of hiccups, he quickly shook his head. “Nn- not really,” he admitted, pressing his bright cheek against the branch and closing his eyes again. The child was too anxious to look for very long. “I’m ss- stuck.” He had no idea how he was going to get down — climbing backwards seemed impossible, and jumping was even scarier than being trapped. Besides, where would he land? In the water that the end of the branch bowed over? No way, no — not happening.

As he hiccuped again, he supposed he was stuck like this forever. He would just have to live like a bird and eat bugs from now on.

coded by flea

Nero squinted up at the cub as he confessed that no, he was not alright in the least. He had assumed as much, but unfortunately that left him with the task of figuring out a way to help get the other boy down. As he had never once climbed a tree in his short life, Nero didn't even know where to begin besides offering himself as a landing pad. He wasn't the biggest or strongest of all the lions in the world, but he would survive a cub being dropped on him, right?

Shit, he really didn't want to find out.

"Uhm, okay, can you.. back up really slowly or something? Like even a little bit?" He needed to know how willing the stranger would be to try, and from there, he would decide whether or not to offer himself as a sacrifice.

image by moogle/code by saph

HICCUP

The boy from below called up, making his mercury-colored eyes crack open slightly. He was easy to find — his white coat stood out on the ugly swamp ground and easily caught his attention. An ear dished in his direction, before quickly snapping back against his head once he’d heard him. He shook his head a little at the question. “I … I don’t think so,” he hiccuped. Even so, he wiggled on his rear limbs, checking how much branch he had to work with. The movement shook the limb he clung to and put a quick end to whatever willingness he’d had. Cringing, he curled his tail around the branch and looked down at the other boy again, a miserable look etched in his features. “Maybe … you can find a grown up?” the little hairball suggested.

coded by flea

Well, how was he supposed to get the boy out of the tree if he didn't even try? And he had the audacity to suggest getting an adult! Nero scowled and contemplated leaving him stranded for the asinine though, but he decided against it. Maybe he could show his fellow child that adults were stupid and pointless, that they didn't need one to get him safely back on the ground.

"We don't need any grown-ups," the albino grumbled, stalking towards the tree to see whether or not he could simply climb the thing himself. He had tried once or twice when he was younger, but it wasn't a talent he had honed to perfection or anything. "You just gotta back up, dude. Dig your claws in really hard and slowly back up. I'll meet you there." Considering neither of them wanted to move, it was going to be a painful process, but eventually Nero dug his claws into the bark and began to shimmy upwards.

He just didn't look down.

image by moogle/code by saph

HICCUP

Initially, there was no answer (not anything his flattened ears could catch). The silence prompted the boy to crack open an eye and peek down, where he saw the other child moving. Fear snatched his already racing heart — was he really leaving him?! … oh. No, he was actually coming to the tree — to do what, exactly? Surely he didn’t mean to climb—

Ah, so he was coming up too.

Hiccuping on his branch, thinking of all the reasons why that was a bad idea, the cherry-coated youth clamped his eyes shut again, not knowing what else to do in his frightened state. From someplace behind him, he heard the bright boy’s voice again, instructing him to dig his claws in and back up. Easier said than done — especially when it felt like each and every movement would end with him slipping off the branch.

But there really didn’t seem to be any other way, so despite his anxiety, he was forced to give it a try. “I- I don’t want— hic!— to fall,” he whined a little as he anchored his tiny rear claws into the bark as best as he could, like he’d been told to do. “You are coming up— hic!— right?!” he yelped too, needing that reassurance before he could take the first step back.

And as soon as he had it, he gave it a try, carefully scooting backwards down the branch, one painfully slow step at a time.

coded by flea

The boy asked a good question. Was he coming up? Nero.. wasn't so sure, now that he was digging his claws into the bark and shimmying upwards. The trick was to just not look down, right? That had been this other kid's mistake. Looking down. Nero vowed not to do so even as he came closer, realizing he was now either going to have a butt in his face or be forced to somehow pivot around and go down headfirst. The butt it was, then.

"I gotcha, you're good. I'm right here," he said, reaching out a paw to gently tap his flank. "You're doin' great, almost there." It was a total lie, but he doubted the cub would be glancing over to verify. Hopefully.

image by moogle/code by saph

HICCUP

He could hear the boy approach, his claws scraping the bark as he came to him, like he’d said he would. That made him feel a little better, but what really comforted him was the touch on his flank. The verbal reassurance helped too. “Really?” he hiccuped, keeping his eyes squeezed shut, too scared to look down. “Th- thanks for— hic!— coming up and saving me. I was worried— hic!— that I’d get stuck and have to learn how to be a monkey— hic!” Slowly but surely, with assistance from the other boy, he continued to wriggle his way back — but how much progress was being made, he had no idea. His eyes were still closed. “Are we almost down?” he asked, keeping his tail tucked close to his body. The fact that he had his butt in some poor kid’s face hadn’t slipped his mind.

coded by flea

Really?

Well, no, but Nero himself didn't know how much further they had to go either. He was speaking it into existence or something, right? The boy ignored the hiccups for the moment -- everyone got them, after all -- and continued to try and wriggle his way down the tree without, y'know, dying. "Yeah, yep, almost there. Doin' great. And don't mention it, it's all good. You'd do the same." Maybe. Nero didn't know, but, uh, anyway.

When asked again if they were close, Nero spared a glance over his shoulder. Not one fucking bit.

"Yep! I gotcha. Right here," he said, shifting his paw to gently tap his haunch.

image by moogle/code by saph