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Maji was pleased to see an adult show up to help her look after the cubs. She gave Swaygha a cheerful, friendly smile and cast her eye about the area. "Well, we have one who wants to climb the tree, but the rest are just playing, really." She was used to cubbie tussles, and didn't consider the boys' wrestling to be misbehavior. After all, they might have to fight when they grew up, and this play was the beginning of practice that might just save their lives or the lives of those they loved. And none of them were in earnest, so she couldn't imagine forbidding it.

She raised her gaze alertly when the ruckus began, but her quick eyes soon jerked back downward as she heard snow lumps begin to fall. The cubs! Astonishingly, thus far anyway, everyone had been missed. There were no howls or wails, just sounds of startled babes. She cast the leopard who was helping watch them a glance, then rose to her paws to pace around, just to be sure everyone was well. She paused to nose Jellon and Leitis inquiringly. The little pale brown female looked a little rattled, but had her brother there to help. She smiled approvingly at Jellon, then moved on around the tree, checking that everyone was safe, warm, and happy.



Gwyllt picked himself up from the pile of his brothers playing. Pouncing and biting was not his thing today... climbing was, though! He marched back up to the tree trunk and took a deep breath, leaning his little compact body backwards in preparation for another lunge up onto the rough bark. Just then a loud noise from above made him freeze in place, face jerking upwards towards it. He managed to see the clump of snow plummeting towards him and gave a yowl of protest, flinging himself backwards to avoid getting it smack in the face. He sprawled backwards clumsily and still got splattered, right on his sensitive, warm belly! He gave a baby sound of dismay and discomfort, rolling to his paws swiftly and shaking himself and his hind paws in an effort to get the cold stuff off.

"Wet! Cold! Yuck!" His protests were loud and vehement. He stomped around the base of the tree in a fine ire, tali lashing and small throat vibrating with a growl. He eyed upwards, seeking who had been so unkind as to shake the tree. There! He spotted the bird and clearly had hunting on the mind. With a last growl he applied both front paws of claws to the bark and hooked in firmly. Now he had a reason to climb the tree, and he was bound and determined to manage it. That birds must pay!



Miya smiled at the dark cheetah girl who approached her. She was very bouncy, making Miya wish she could shed her furry blanket and leap about as well. She opened her mouth to say something in return, but was distracted by the pecking bird, and the resulting snow falling through the branches. She gave a little gasp when a pile came close to another cub, but there was a pause, and all seemed well. She turned to the black and green cub with a smile again. "Hi! Aren't you cold?"

The words weren't but a moment out of her mouth when a dribble of snow fell, managing to hit the back of her neck and slide right down her back under the hide. She froze in place, sucked in a sharp gasp, then gave a shriek of shock and astonishment. As a result, she entirely missed the entrance of another cheetah cub, the brother to her new friend. Too upset and shivering to notice him still, she shot across the little enclosure and dove into the embrace of the adult leopard who had come in to watch over them. "C-c-c-c-old!" she chattered pleadingly, trying to burrow further into or under Swaygha.




Viiva was relieved when she was deposited into this play area that it was apparently quite sheltered from the snow. Her paws savored the warmth of the thick layer of needles and various furs that had been tossed in as well. None of the pelts seemed very big, which probably suited the size of those meant to use them, she supposed. She paused just inside the entrance, surveying the activity inside. She gave a soft gasp as snow clumps came raining down, skittering sideways in alarm.

When it seemed that all was well again, she began to move after her sister towards the other cheetah present when whomp, snow seemed to seek out her fellow cheetah and make her life miserable. The resulting shriek made Viiva duck and fold her ears, but the truth was, she felt bad for the other cub. How cold it must be! Feeling the pull of a like soul in the dislike of cold, she found a warm, dry fur and did her best to sink her teeth into it, tugging as hard as she could to pull it towards Miya and Swaygha, intending on offering it as a replacement for the now snow-dribbled one the white cheetah had left behind.

Swaygha

Shortly after his arrival it didn't take long for more cubs to show up. The leopard noted the apparent lack of leopard cubs. Plenty of lions and cheetahs romping about now, but not a single leopard. That was a shame, he thought, but he'd watch these cubs diligently no matter what. He returned Maji's greeting with a head nod. It pleased him to hear the cubs were behaving so far. "I'm glad to hear it. Climbing is a perfectly acceptable occupation." He grinned. Leopards were expert climbers, lions... maybe not so much. He settled down where he could watch anyone coming in and keep an eye on the cubs lest they get too rowdy.

A pesky bird started dropping snow upon his charges. Sway gave the bird a serious look, debating scaring it away, when a spunky cub started climbing the tree for it. He remained in his spot, but kept a closer eye on the climbing cub, just in case. Several protests from cubs filled the air as the unlucky ones got splattered with snow. Luckily, he knew discomfort complaints from real danger yells. A small body hit into his side, startling him a moment. Sway looked down in amusement at a cheetah cub trying to burrow into his side. Her back looked slightly wet, so he guessed she'd been a recent victim of the snow. He let her burrow as much as she could then briskly licked her back to dry her off.


Yaroslava

She epped when a green weight landed on her back. Yaro twisted around to bat at her brother's ears. "Tweeked your ear!" Despite the snow falling, this was an interesting place. The heavy lion cubs made her just slightly less inclined for rough housing with them. After a short tussle, she managed to free herself from under her sibling and pop free.

Yaro turned back at the voice with a grin. "Not really. It helps to keep moving." It happened all in an instant. A small scoop of snow fell right where the fur began and the cub was off like a shot. Now that was moving! She gave a laugh and commented to Driscoll, "now she'd make a great racer!" Spotting Viiva and guessing her intentions the dark female came over to help. She sunk her teeth into a corner of the fur with enough room for their brother to come join them. He was a boy after all! "Good idea," she mumbled through her clenched teeth to her sister. Her sister probably felt a closer connection with the white cub than her own dark sister. Even their brother was a light green and white.

Jellon watched with interest as both his brothers both tried to climb the tree. He didn't connect the climbing with bird hunting and was wondering why they were both fighting so hard to get up the tree. He looked up, studying the lower branches. Well, once they got up to those it would be easy, right. They seemed awfully high up to the small cub however.

"What are you doing?" he called, not sure if he should try too. He looked over at his sister to see how she was doing.

He'd simply wait and see how Gwyllt and Fáelán did before trying himself.

Driscoll darted over to his sisters to help them with the fur that they were apparently trying to bring over to another cub. He bit into a free space of the fur and tugged it backing up carefully to make sure he didn't injure himself in the process. Where are we taking this? he asked through gritted teeth. He would have preferred to be hanging out with his father then here, but his father was busy so the next best thing was bonding with his sisters and other cubs.

Driscoll tugs the fur over in the direction his sister was saying and lets go breathing a sigh "that took too much work" he said and bounded off to explore the play area some more, leaving to his sisters to do as they wish on their own.

Jellon watched in wide eyed wonder as Gwyllt scaled the tree and then... uh-oh... The yellow cub stepped away from the trunk in time to avoid getting hit by a falling cub. Luckily there was snow on the ground to break his fall.

"Stupid bird," he agreed amiably, "Good thing you fell in the snow."

He poked his paw into the pile of snow, trying to see if he could find his brother. Soon something else distracted him, however.

"Did you hear that?" he asked, ears turning to try to pinpoint the noise. "What is it?"

He looked around, fairly certain that he knew the direction the sound must have come from, but unable to see anything.

The noise turned out to be a tiny mouse that had wandered into the "playpen". When it poked its head up between two furs and found itself nose to nose with a much larger creature, it let out a squeak and burrowed down again. A wild chase followed, but it was hard to find a mouse under the thick layer of pelts, especially when so many cubs tried to go after it at once. The mouse got away with the scare of its life, but that didn't stop the minors from looking for it... After all the excitement finally died down, most of the young ones were more than ready for a nap, and silence fell under the tree.

Most of them wouldn't remember being carried home to their dens later that night.

((The RP is officially over, but if you want to get a last post in to react to this post that's perfectly okay.))