[PRP] Adventure in the Dark

[MangoMeow]

"A-are you s-su-sure about this, K-Ko?"

To be honest, he wished that out of all of his siblings, it hadn't been Miniya who had followed him, but he supposed that he couldn't control that. He had, after all, snuck out after everyone had fallen asleep.

As he got older, Kokayi was finding that he was gaining a bit of a, uh, adventurous streak, and with a smirk, he flicked his tail against Mini's nose, causing her to let out a tiny sneeze. "Yes, I'm sure." He wanted to see those mysterious spirits that everyone was talking about, but even mentioning them to his parents had accomplished nothing but very emphatic NO's. (Which he did sort of wonder what their aversion was. His parents were acting weird about the subject.)

So here he was; sneaking out after dark to go find them for himself.

Ears flattening, he threw a narrow look at his sister, "You could have stayed home. I even TOLD you to go back."

His sister bit at the corner of her mouth, uncertainly looking back and forth as if something would jump out and attack them. Don't get her wrong; she had very seriously considered going back home and curling up against her dad's warm, fluffy stomach, but the idea of leaving her brother out here all alone... Yes, he could probably handle himself, but she couldn't be sure about that.

Plus then she'd have to return back in the dark, which was pretty low on her list of things she wanted to do by herself. So she had resigned herself to tagging along in this little adventure. Why were all of her siblings so intent on exploring? Couldn't any of them just sit at home, make some poems or something?

Miniya jumped as a twig snapped nearby, skittering closer to her brother who just sighed and let her cling to him.

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

MangoMeow

So...maybe Ncu was a little bit more...engrossed with the Nganga than she had originally thought. She wanted to meet him in the late hour, without her bothersome brother following him. So, when the moon was low in the sky, and the land was dark, Ncu found herself melding with the shadows, cursing her light hair for practically glowing. She would need to cover it with mud or something if she were to continue to sneak out at odd hours of the evening.

Ihe, hearing the shifting of his sibling, peered his golden eyes open just in time to see the flash of light green leave their family den. Now where was she going?

Quietly, the lighter male shifted to his feet, following his sister, making sure she wouldn't get into trouble. When out of ear-reach of the den, Ihe had accidentally stepped on a twig, causing it to snap, loudly, in the quiet night.

"Ihe?!" Ncu turned around, whispering harshly as her own gold eyes stumbled on her brother. "What are you doing?!" She growled lowly. OF COURSE, he would be following her.

"Making sure you don't get in trouble." A pattering of paws nearby caused him to shh. "Great. Now we BOTH will get in trouble." Ihe was ready to blame his sister for being out so late. He was just the good brother trying to bring his bad sister home.  

[MangoMeow]

He was ready to dismiss the thing that had made her jump, but the whispers got him to freeze in place. What was that? Narrowed blue eyes scanned around them but, not seeing anything immediately, his ears flattened against his head.

Could it be...? He was out here to track down the spirits, but maybe they had found them!

Excitement coursing through him, he lowered himself down and starting stalking towards where he thought he'd heard the sounds coming from. Of course, behind him, his sister was panicking and trying to drag him back by latching her teeth gently onto his tail tuft.

"Wait- Kokayi, what are you doing?" He wasn't seriously going to try and pounce on the scary noise maker, was he?! Oh, she didn't like this one bit.

When it became obvious that he was just going to ignore her pulling, she let go and scampered away to the safety of a nearby bush, diving headfirst into it and leaving her shaking tail sticking out. She could no longer see what he was doing, but she could definitely hear him.

It was quiet at first, before her brother growled and leapt out at whatever-it-was, and Mini covered her face, hoping that he wouldn't get himself killed.

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

MangoMeow

"I don't need your protection!" Ncu growled quietly before being shushed by her brother. Her light eyes narrowed as she followed his stare.

Ihe lowered himself to the ground, stalking forward. He jumped back as the other being leapt from the underbrush, not able to miss the sudden attacker.

Ncu scrambled back as well, but as Ihe struggled to fight his unknown assailant, she got a good look at him. Oh, Ngcono's siblings! The Aguus were lucky to have the Nganga family to have a litter around the same time as they were born. The children had lions their age to play with, although Ncu and Ihe rarely did. (Unless you call the infatuation Ncu had with Ngcono something?)

Her eyes recognized Kokayi, and then Miniya, seeming to cower. "Oh, hey guys. What are you doing out here?"

"GET OFF OF ME." Ihe growled, pushing at the other male.  

[MangoMeow]

At first, he felt nothing but triumph at managing to get the jump on the spirit, but then he started to think about it, and realized that wait, ghosts shouldn't be quite so... young and solid... and living. Actually, would he have been able to pounce on a spirit, or would he have just gone through them? In retrospect, pouncing on one probably wouldn't do much, huh?

And then Kokayi finally recognized the voice of the lion pushing at him to get off. With a disappointed huff, the male slid away from Ihe with a grumpy look. "Ihe?" He glanced up at the other's sister, "... Ncu? What're you guys doing here?" He took a moment to consider that before registering Ncu's question. Puffing out his chest, he responded, "Out hunting for those spirits everyone is talking about."

He paused, and then threw an exasperated look back at Miniya, "Or, well, I am. She's just a tag-along."

Mini's head popped out of the bush as she recognized the female voice, relief evident across her face that it wasn't a ghost, but also trepidation because she was terrible at talking with the other's her age, or with anyone, actually. Still, though, at least they weren't scary in the creepy dead way.

Carefully pulling herself out of the bush, the lioness inched her way shakily closer until she was crouched low beside her brother, giving the two a nod (and Ihe a slightly concerned look), before doing what she always did -- hiding behind her siblings.

KasaiLoki

 

[KasaiLoki]

MangoMeow

Ihe grumbled as he returned to his feet, glaring at Kokayi. How dare he tackle him in the middle of the night! The male huffed, looking cross as the other family members.

Ncu grinned as Kokayi restated her question, and giggled when he had answered. "Have you had any lucky?" She asked, glancing towards Miniya. "I mean you caught Ihe, he's pretty scary so he is like a spirit....right?"

"Hey!" Ihe growled. "You shouldn't be out here. None of us should! Whether it be hunting spirits or not. What were you gonna do if you actually found one, hmm?"

Ncu tilted her head at Ihe's question. "Actually, that is a good question." She nodded. "Mini, we won't bite I promise." The darker female said to the other lioness, giving her a reassuring smile.  

[MangoMeow]

Kokayi huffed and shook his head with a slight pout, "No." Then he paused to throw a sidelong look at Ihe, "And while you have a point, he's more angry scary than ghost scary." Hey, if he was going to be a party pooper, than Kokayi was going to jump on the train of making jabs at him.

He puffed himself up at the next question, "Investigate it!" He ignored the questioning look from Mini beside him, who knew that he must have come up with that on the fly. "Everyone is so jumpy about them, but nothing is really getting done about it. So why not!"

He clucked his tongue, "Besides, we're almost adults, who says we can't?"

Miniya poked her head out from behind her brother, staring warily at the other two adolescents as she debated whether or not they actually would bite, and then turned to look at Ko, "I'm pretty sure mom sai-"

She jumped at the look her brother shot her, opting to stop her sentence where she was and instead turned her gaze back to Ncu and Ihe, "S-so, what are you guys out here for? If you're not supposed to be out here," either, "then what brings you here?"

KasaiLoki