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PART TWO

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An took a deep breath, and pressed her paws together. She had a lot of things to cover! "Jackals excel in eating what we don't eat! It's pretty much what they do." Her tail shifted, and she motioned to the little puppies. "They'll pick bones clean and keep rotting food away from your den! They can eat things even we lions can't. It's pretty awesome, actually." Well. Not that she was particularly eager for the ability to eat rotten things.

"And...uh-" She stumbled, thinking of a proper way to answer her sister, Bahati's question. "They're about as den-broken as a little brother!" Ah, yes. Brilliant marketing skills, An. She hopped down from the rock and addressed the rather large group before her. "And, they can find water too. Their sense of smell is pretty keen. They might not be able to help you dig it up- but I bet you can train them to lead you to it! They can talk too, and their mom is pretty fast... so I guess they'll be too! Remember, these are Motoujamii jackals. That's pretty much the best kind of jackal." If she did say so herself.

And then- she was love mauled by grandma! If her face could turn red, it most certainly would have as the older lioness licked her on the top of her head right in the middle of her brilliant show. She flushed and pressed her paws to her cheeks, unable to repel the onslaught. When the old woman had pulled away, she smiled brightly and rubbed the top of her head. "Hehe...thanks! I mean...er. On with the demonstration-"

She watched as Kinja returned back to the crowd, and then took a few final questions. A border fight? "Um....well, they're only puppies you know. And besides, what firekin needs a jackal to fight for them on the borders? No. I don't think a jackal could hold their own, per say- but I totally bet you could attack a rogue, and they'd go alert the guards. Or if worst comes to worse, they'll assist you the best they could. Preta helped me once before!"

But, she wouldn't put any bets on a jackal really being combat worthy. They were only slightly bigger then a cub, after all!

Her eyes fell onto Shula, and her ears flattened. "Shula!" A mischievous grin crossed her face. "Unfortunately, I'm just here to make sure they get proper homes! If you want a puppy, you'll have to impress them."

She rubbed her paw against her chest. "Although, being my sister is pretty impressive, I think." And probably just a bit tiring!

"But, that applies to everyone. If you want to adopt a puppy, now is your chance. Everyone will get a spot to make their case to the little guys, and then we'll let them chose who they believe will take the best care of them. Or who is the coolest." She explains, and then hops back on the rock.

"Alright! Let's get rolling then...!"

[See what I did thar?]

Impress the puppies eh?
Well Yensid did sort of want one as a companion and an extra nose for water was always useful. First he had best tell the pups why they should want him as a companion and then, then he would amaze them!

"Hello there pups, any of you have names? I would give my pup a feirce incredible name! I'd protect you too from anything and everything, even if was bigger then both of us put together! I'm a border guard you know, night shift the most exciting time of day! You'd get to explore all over and share the night with me, sound fun? Plus I could teach you to do this!"

Now was his time to shine to show off an impressive trick!
He crouched low and sprang!
Sadly he flopped onto his side with a thud and grunted...
"uhhh just a sec..."
He stood again, crouched low, this time he leapt and did a perfect backflip landing with a grin.
"Tada!"

About as den-broken as a little brother?

Bahati's ears flopped back a bit as she tried to extract some logic from that strange statement (it sort of depended how little this 'little brother' was, because as far as she recalled, none of them were very den-broken at first...). Despite the logic fail, however, her attention was swiftly snatched by the puppies, and her question didn't seem to matter all that much any more, after all... whom cared if they were den broken when they were just this cute?

She watched a couple of cubs perform before stepping forward, looking rather serious as she stood before the pups. Then, suddenly, she rolled forward and attempted to stand on her head; the position was awkward, what with the fact the lioness kicked and flailed her hind legs and tail in an attempt to remain balanced. Not only that, but she probably lasted just about long enough to proclaim a croaked "TA DA!" before falling over, getting a mouthful of sand for her efforts, which she proceeded to cough out.

"... I'll have to practice that. I'm sure I'll get better over time," she commented before rubbing the back of her head awkwardly and letting some other cub try out a stunt.

For a moment, Iirte wondered if she really wanted one of these pups. But An had certainly perfected her sales pitch, and she was sold fairly quickly. Having another mouth to feed may not have been the easiest, but if the pup could at least manage to survive on the harsh borders... She could certainly use the company.

For a long moment, the lioness merely hung back, watching the others try to impress the pups even while she debated on just how she would go about it. She could always tell them that they would certainly survive if she took care of them; she'd survived worse conditions than this desert, after all. But somehow, she didn't imagine the pups would be impressed with promises of survival. Pups were, historically, more interested in things like food and playing.

It was then the lioness had a stroke of brilliance, and she smiled as she stepped forward. She lifted one delicate paw and casually shook it, watching the glint of gold bangles and listening to them clinking together.

"If you choose me, you can play with these anytime you want! And I'll even see about getting you some of your own!"

It was a fool-proof plan. (She hoped.) After all, what puppy could resist something shiny and noisy?

Impress them? Kai wasn't sure what on earth she could do to impress the little balls of floof. Gulping a little, she thought of something that might impress them. She couldn't dance, she couldn't sing, and she was as stiff as a board when it came to comedy. She sat, stretching her short legs out as far as they would go, and wiggled her toes in the small pups faces as she thought, hoping the action would give her some ideas.

Not thinking of anything better, she grabbed some nearby leaves and stuck them in between her toes, turning her little paws in living characters, dancing around the group of small pups.

Man, she was going to make a boring mother.

Kinja smiled at the pups before lowering herself down to lay in the sand so she wasn't such a dominating presence to the pups. "Well, I can't say I will take you to far off places or on any adventures but I can tell you three that with me you'd be very much loved." She tilted her head slightly before putting her head on her front paws in a ver canine esque position. "I have no cubs of my own who need tending to so I can certainly spend all of my time with you should you want it. And old lady like me enjoys the company of others and I wouldn't be too bad of a playmate." She winked at them.

(OOC Edit: That was such an EPIC roll! LOL I roll like I do in WoW.)

Impress them? How was he going to impress them? Fen'wei was small, still small and a bit pudgey, he wasn't as old as the others, he had only gotten this far away from his mom by sneaking away. She'd surely be mad later. How could he impress them? Everyone else was doing tricks and other things, he wasn't even that funny. Fen'wei tapped his paw in the sand and looked to An, the pups, and then in the distance he saw a dark form, someone was lurking. They weren't too close to the borders here, a pride member, and it hit him. "All right, just, wait a sec!" Fen'wei said to An, looking at the puppies he darted off across the sand. Getting closer, he was getting winded a bit, he wasn't used to running like this. Whoever it was, would help him, right? Getting closer he jumped as he ran, calling out, "Hey! Hey wait! I need your help!"

What? Who was that? Fia turned her head, mismatched eyes seeking out the one who was yelling - and hoping that they weren't yelling at her. It sounded like a cub and she'd had enough of them for a while, that was to be sure!

Her heart gave a little twist of discomfort as she realized the cub was indeed calling her and she couldn't very well keep going now, could she? Fia wasn't the perfect daughter nor was she motherly in any way, but she certainly wasn't about to ignore a child in distress.

She came to a halt and turned to meet the other head on. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Fen'wei skid to a halt in the sand, huffing and puffing, how on earth could he impress the tiny pups? Would they even think he was worthy? A flip, some trick, but he would need her help. The eyes that looked at him, he recognized, he saw them on those slates that other lioness painted on, he had seen her there with that other lioness. "I need, your help," he said in between breaths. "There are puppies," his words were broken up by deep breathing, "I need to impress them but, I'm too small, I can't do it by myself, can, can you help me?" he asked, small golden eyes looking up. His white pelt with cream stripes a mark on the sand before her. "Please? I just can't do it by myself, and I don't want to fall, please?"

"Puppies?" She tilted her head, not quite understanding. What was this little one talking about? Had the sun driven him mad, too? She sighed, shaking her head a little in bewilderment. "I'm..." And then he was talking again and her maw hung open a little as she listened.

Ugh, no. Not another cub begging her to do something! Was this going to keep happening? First An and now this little one here. And why couldn't she just say 'no', dammit! Why did she have to fall for those big, pleading eyes. She wanted to say no but she already knew she was going to be saying yes.

"Where are they? These puppies? Not far, right?" She did not want a scary adventure today. No sir-ee.

"No, not far, I have to try and impress them to have one as my own, that's what An said, she already has one, others want one too, I want one," his ears fell back as he took a step, and then started at a trotting place, "I want to do something neat, but I can't by myself. You're strong, I've seen you, I've seen you by the slates and on them too. Your bigger and stronger than I am, please? I just want a puppy, someone to be with me." He took more steps, trying to think of other ways to ensure her help, she wouldn't go there and then say no, would she? "If I had a puppy, I'd have to be responsible, show patience, and be careful with where I go and the puppy would go, it'd be a good lesson and friend I think, don't you?" he questioned? They weren't far now, he could see the group all together still. "But I want to do something special, maybe a trick, but I can't jump high enough to do a flip, I don't know if I could land one either..."

An? Oh, she should have guessed An would have had something to do with this. She almost laughed but managed to smother it beneath a sigh. And then he was talking again. A lot of talking! So much so that she struggled to follow. "Alright." She said finally. "Alright, alright. I get the idea. You want this puppy."

A trick? Oh great. What was she going to have to do? Make a foll of herself?

"Alright, kid, let's get on with it before I change my mind. Just tell me what you want me to do and be done with it."

"My name isn't kid! Its Fen'wei," he huffed, ducking his head. Was she mad at him? He wasn't asking her to act like he could wrestle her to the ground all by himself, although that idea was still there...no, stick with the plan, he had to stick with the plan. "Is there a way you can pick me up and like, toss me?" he looked up at her, knowing it would sound strange. "Like, hold me up high and toss me up in a way I'll turn and do a flip, but land? But like, if I look like I'm not going to land right, you catch me?" he made his eyes wide and big, just like he did for his mom when he wanted something. "Please?"

Ugh...right. This was sounding like a bad idea. He wanted her to throw him and hope he didn't break a leg or something? She just imagined his parents right then, looming over her, scary and angry and...but dammit he was using those eyes again and she was pretty sure that nothing much could happen to a cub, even if she didn't catch him and he hit the sand.

Sand was soft!

"Um...sure, ki--uh, I mean, Fen'wei." Why did she end up getting herself into these situations? She'd been minding her own business and now look what had happened. "Let's just get on with it. And if you hurt yourself, I didn't have anything to do with it, right?"

I better not get hurt, is what he thought, but he simply nodded and stood at the edge of the others gathered, puffed out his chest and looked at the puppies. "If you chose me, I will always protect you, and we will be friends always, nothing could tear us away from one another, we could go on adventures, and learn new tricks, like this, only in the future, when he grow we can do it together!" Fen'wei turned to look at the lioness, her name was Fia he thought, or was this the other twin? So confusing. "Alright, ready?" he stood in front of her and braced himself. This had to work, right?

Fia, grimacing a little and casting her eyes about the crowd to find An. She saw her, standing there, and found herself feeling proud of the child who seemed to find adventure and excitement wherever she went.

With a small sigh she mentally berratted herself for being such a pushover and nodded. "Alright. You ready?" And with that she hooked her paws underneath him, lifted him high and then threw him upwards.

She almost didn't want to watch. Almost wanted to close her eyes. But she didn't, knowing that in the next second she might have to catch him.


He nodded and at once he was hoisted up in the air, whirling, as he turned in the air he waved his paws trying to find some balance so he didn't topple over, as he reached to top of the peak of height, his arms were waving wildly and he was all at once falling. His paws were facing downward, but it didn't stop his legs from flailing to make sure he wouldn't hit his fac on the ground. He hit the sand with a thump, a cloud of sanddust going in the air. A shock went through his form and he shook slightly, his teeth gritting together. After it went through his system he posed in front of Fia, arms out wide a grin on his face. "tadaaa?" Fen'wei looked over his shoulder and smiled at Fia, "thank you." Whether or not he got a puppy's attention, he believed he made a friend.

Phew! He'd made it and with no bumps or pain involved! That was the best she could hope for. With one last glance around the gathered faces, a respectful nod towards Kinja, Fia only briefly turned her attention back to Fen'wei.

"No worries."

And with that she was off, her gait hurried now in case she feared being called back by someone else.