Skuld lounged today in the sun, lying belly up for no reason other than to relax. She was quite content here in her new home. She'd become quite adept at catching goats on the rough terrain, and was getting faster and more confident by the day on it. Not to mention... This place had tons of different plants and animals for her to discover. Not that the roguelands hadn't had those things, but it was different here, for some reason. She held in her paw a purple flower. A leopard from the Central House had first gotten her one, and now that she'd been looking for them, she kept finding them. She was quite fond of them, really. They smelled quite nice, too. One paw up to the sun to block it from shining in her eyes, the other had the flower as tightly grasped as a cheetah's paw would allow. (Which, of course, is not very tight.)
The cheetah let out a contented sigh as she passed the time away. Still, she couldn't help but think about her friends and family beyond the pride. She wondered how they were doing.
--
And one said friend was nearby, and planning a sneak attack.
Arriving here had been a long, loong trip. Very long, but he'd done it. It'd been a bit weird to go this far without Loki, especially considering who he was coming to visit, but, for whatever reason, the red male had decided not to come. Perhaps he'd seen a pretty lady and was trying to keep her a secret. Which wouldn't be that surprising. It'd been a bit tough to slip through the territory of the pride unnoticed, too. But since the pride was still small, and Ukuu was a clever boy, he'd managed. Not that he was too afraid of guards, its just.. they might bar him from coming in, and that would be horribly unpleasant.
Another tough thing would be finding Skuld in such an enormous unpredictable place. But he'd managed that too. eventually he'd caught her scent, and.. he'd fount her in a.. very nice position. He smirked, ducking low. This would be good. The brown male planned his moves first, not as easy or used to the terrain as his sister, but he didn't want to stumble and give himself away. Once he had everything planned out, Ukuu launched himself into a quick sprint, jumping next to his best friend's sister and whacking her with his paws, using just enough strength for her to think it could be an attack, but not enough to actually hurt.
"Raarhghg! "
--
Yes, what a peaceful peaceful place.... Until
"GAH!" Skuld couldn't ever say anything meaningful when she was being surprised, but this was certainly a surprise, and she wouldn't realize who it was for a little while. She lept to her feet as quickly as she could and sprinted away, turning around after she was a distance away to face her attacker. She'd have to fend him off--
"Rrrr! Ukuu!" She snarled in frustration, but there was a grin across her muzzle. "What are you doing here!?" She asked, heading back to her friend. "And couldn't you greet me a bit more normally?" She asked jokingly, panting. She knew full well, just as much as he did, that life just wouldn't be interesting that way, but for some reason she liked to act upset about such things. Not too good at hiding it though. "How did you get here?" She asked after a few chuckles, trying to calm herself down from the shock of the "attack."
--
By the time Skuld had turned around, Ukuu was rolling on the floor, laughing his little heart out. "You should have seen your faaa-ace! " He managed between laughing, then finally rolled on to his belly to grin up at her. "Visiting my almost-bestest-buddy, of course! " He said cheerfully, still smiling like an idiot and laughing a bit. That'd been good, and he should do it more often. Its a pity Skuld lived soo far away now! Made that harder.
"Where's the fun in that? " He teased, flicking his tail and raising his head triumphantly. She could not deny that he'd scared the crap out of her, at least. "I got here by walking. Its a very interesting thing to do, you place one paw in front of the other. See, like this. " He demonstrated by taking a few steps towards her. "Awesome, huh? "
--
"Yeah, I'm sure my face was hilarious for you! You know, one day, I'll get you to make the same one just to see what it looks like!" Skuld said, frazzled, as she sat down and curled her tail to meet her front paws. Yes, one day, when Ukuu was least expecting it, she'd be sure to get him, and get him good. She'd have to start plotting it now.
A wry grin spread across her face as he demonstrated his walking skills. "Tell me why I saw that response coming," Skuld said with a chuckle. There was not a soul quite like Ukuu, though her brother Loki came mighty close. "But that's a mighty long walk, what's the catch?" She asked, certain that there wasn't one, that he'd just come up to see her. She leapt at him suddenly in an attempt to gnaw on his ear like they did when they were cubs.
--
"I'd like to see you try, " He smirked, sticking his tongue out at her. Though he quietly took note of this little vow of revenge. Maybe he should be wary! Any time, any day.. Skuld might show up and jump him. ... In the 'I scare you way', not that.. other way. He highly doubted she'd go for the other way. "Maybe you're psychic. " Ukuu said, pretending to be intrigued by this idea.
"Ah, well.. I kinda saw a cool bug. And those are totally up your alley. Then I thought I'd bring it here for you. Then I stepped on it. So I came here to apologize. And Loki says hi. " He said nonchalantly, because he really didn't have a reason to come besides seeing Skuld, which was a good enough reason for him. At the sudden attack, he reared up on his hind paws, placing his front on her shoulders to push her away and raising his head, trying to keep out of reach. "Ha! I'm taller than you now. You can't reach. " He teased. Though Skuld was a bit older than him, being a male had finally started picking up and giving him a height and size advantage. Sweet.
--
"Aw man, my poor cool bug!" Skuld said, playing along. "I can't believe how clumsy you are, Ukuu." She couldn't help but wonder, though, if he had seen any really cool bugs along the way here. He'd have mentioned any real ones, she supposed. "I saw a pretty green one the other day, it was weird, but a nice color..."
Skuld had expected some form of retaliation, but not being stood on. Her front two paws quickly returned to the earth as she was pushed away by him. Stupid boys and their getting-to-be-taller, she thought to herself. Fine then, I'll use my shortness to an advantage. She moved as swiftly as she could once she had things planned out. Skuld dipped down lower, ducked between his front two paws and came up near one of his sides, hoping to knock him off balance.
What she hadn't thought out was that if he should come off balance, he'd topple over on her.
--
"I know! I'm so sorry. I'll be more careful next time, I promise. I'll drown it, too. So then I won't break it before I bring it over! " He nodded, putting on a perfect act of that little kid determined to do something awesome some day. "Green, huh? " He pondered on what green bugs he'd seen before. Yes, green bugs were cool.. oh god, was Skuld and her weird little obsessions rubbing off on him?
Just as he was pondering that, Ukuu found himself under attack again, but in a more unexpected way. He huffed, flopping over.. and on Skuld. After a few moments of confusion, he discovered exactly where he was and smirked, moving to position himself better and pin his friend down. "Smooth. Skuld, you're getting better at this. " He said, more than just a little mirth tinting his voice.
--
Success!! Skuld thought triumphantly to herself as she felt Ukuu begin to lose his balance. She couldn't help but smirk to herself at the thought of pinning him! Victory was imminent, she just knew it. She let out a triumphant "Ha ha!" Before he toppled right onto her.
Quite disgruntled, tail flicking back and forth wildly, she realized her plan had failed. Failed epically, now that he'd officially pinned her down. "Aren't I just? I'm soooo close to being a pro, I swear," she said reluctantly, with well placed hints of sarcasm. She wondered if she could even chew on his paw from here... But seeing as it was placed pretty squarely beyond where her head could reach, she seriously doubted it. "See, Ukuu, none of this would have happened if you'd have been more cautious with that bug," she said with a smirk.
--
He smirked, ha. Just like Skuld to call victory too soon! "I know. You catch up on things really quickly. " Ukuu purred, flicking his tail. "Is that supposed to discourage me from being careless with bugs? I mean.. I don't really mind our current situation. " He mused.
"You're soft and squishy. I'm pretty comfy! "
--
Skuld's tail continued to flick wildly. "Well, I had intended that, but I suppose I figured you would mind squishing me. My mistake, though, I should know what you'd think." She said with a smirk. She really didn't want to admit defeat, but... well, who was defeated and who was victorious was all too clear.
"I see what you're doing!" She said suddenly. "You're trying to show me what happened to that cool bug, aren't you?" Skuld said in mock-accusation. "Well, I'll have you know I'm cooler than any bug, Ukuu." She said determinedly.
--
He chuckled. "How long have you known me? " Riigh. He'd mind squishing her. Like that would happen. Well, unless he actually ended up hurting Skuld, then he minded. But he was quite sure this wasn't the case. "I don't know, Skuld. " Ukuu said cautiously, eying her. "I mean.. Some bugs are purple, you know. That's pretty hard to top. " He said, raising a paw to his chin to ponder this a bit. Hmm, hmm. Skuld or a purple bug? "Blue ones are pretty cool tooo... " A bit more pondering.
"Fine, you're cooler than a bug. I'll give you that. But the competition was pretty close. "
--
"Yeah, so I'm not some crazy color, but my tail's kinda like a firefly's butt, it's yellow, and... Well, ok, it's not glowy, but it could be considered glowy, don't you think? That's gotta top blue and purple by a bit." she argued in her own defense. She stopped lashing her tail, a sign of resignation to having been pinned. "Well, you know Ukuu, I can't give you a tour of the place if you're sitting on me, you know that, right?" Skuld said, making a small effort to roll him off.
--
"Well, thats true. " He said, weighing on this new addition. Almost glowy tail. Hmm... She did have a really cool tail. He even looked back at it, just in time to see it stop lashing. Ah ha! Victory. "Yeah, I'll call that glowy. " He relented. "Fine, you top bugs by a bit more now. " He smirked, then paused to listen to her speaking again. "I don't know. I mean. Sure, I want a tour but.. it was a long trip. " Ukuu argued. "I think I'll just take a nap! " He announced, promptly relaxing on top of Skuld and creating a dead weight.
But at her efforts to push him off, he finally gave in, after playing dead a bit. "Fine. " He yawned, standing up and steppig off Skuld.
--
"Yes! Score one for Skuld!" she said when he admitted her tail made her quite a bit cooler than bugs. She twitched it lightly, since it was the topic of the conversation. She let a dorky grin cover her muzzle until he mentioned a nap and relaxed all of his weight. "Bleh!" Skuld said in surprise, if you could call that saying. More like the noise one makes when getting whapped on the back. "Alright, ok, naptime's over" she said in addition to her squriming. The cheetah heaved a sigh of relief after he stepped off, rolling over onto her back again, the same way she was when he found her, only now she was fully aware of his presence, and now without that flower.
She wondered what happened to it for a moment, then promptly moved her thoughts on.
"So, Ukuu, how're things with my family, anything new? And thanks for coming to visit me, by the way, it's a pleasant surprise.... kinda. I didn't appreciate the startling!" She said with a chuckle and a waggle of one of her paws.
--
"Naptime is never over. For what is life, but a dream~? " Ooh, nice and corny. He grinned like an idiot, putting on his best 'starry-eyed' face then laughing. "Every thing's fine. I've been traveling with Loki as usual, but I think he decided not to come because of some girl. Prolly didn't want me whisking her away.. " He trailed off. "Wegotattackedbyafewhyenas, your dad is fine, ran into him a little while ago.. Xippi's okay from what I hear. " He pondered.
"Nothing else to report, ma'am. "
--
Skuld paused at the end of his little poem, looked into his best starry eyes, then burst out laughing herself. "Psh, Ukuu, you're such a dork," she said chuckling. She nodded about her brother, sounded just about typical of him to be all over a girl, rolled her eyes at the idea of Ukuu whisking her away... Why she rolled her eyes, she didn't know, but she did.
"Whoa whoa whoa, getting attacked by hyenas is nothing to just whisk over like that! Gimme the juicy details, what'd you do to the things?" Skuld asked, trying to cover her concern with a bit of lightheartedness. Obviously they got away alright, but still. Craziness! She was glad to hear, though, that her other brother and dad were also ok.
--
He smiled. "You know you love it. " He twitched his tail, stretching out a bit because, with the prospect of a coming tour, he figure dhe'd have to do some hiking. "Well, it was no biggie, really. " He shrugged. He wasn't even usre why he mentioned it. "We had food, then three hyenas popped up to steal it. " Because cheetah were simply very easy targets, he figured. "We screwed with them a little bit and got away. " He paused. "I had to save Loki at one point.. it was awesome, you should have been there. I was totally heroic and stuff. " No, she shouldn't have, because it'd gone the other way around, with Loki saving him. "You'd be all 'oh, Ukuu, you're so amazing and heroic!' "
--
"Wow, sounds like quite the event that I missed!" She said genuinely. "I'm glad you guys got out of it alright." She paused to think about it. She'd be broken if her brother and her best friend got hurt...
"Alright, well, you ready? You can't come here and not get a tour, we'd stay within the lands of the South house, I don't want you to run into guards, since I seriously doubt you checked in." Skuld said, waiting to get a yes or no as to meeting with a guard. She was seriously betting on the latter. She rolled onto her belly, waiting to see if he wanted to chill more or if he was good to go.
--
"It was! " He nodded. But he really didn't want her to have seen him pinned and doomed beneath three hyenas. Still, he quietly hated the fact that he'd gotten no scars out of it. Because, apparently, girls totally liked that stuff. Oh well, he could make do with his adorable boyish charm. "Ahh.. no to the checking in. " He pondered. "I wasn't sure about this place's policy on family visits. For future reference, if I come claiming to be your husband, lost at war, do you think they'd let me in? How about if I chuck a hear-wrenching story into the mix? " Ukuu slapped on a thoughtful face, before nodding.
"Yeah, 'm ready. " He paused. "By the way, I'm sleeping in your den tonight. I'm sure you won't mind! "
--
"Just... be more careful, I guess," she said about the hyenas. "I mean, you're able to handle yourself and all, but... Yeah," she said before quickly changing the topic. She laughed out loud at the idea of his telling stories. "Or I can just talk to the Lady of the South House, tell her you're family or something. I'm sure she'd be willing to grant you some visitation rights?" Skuld didn't honestly know what the best way was to get him to be able to visit without being a member. She'd have to think on that.
"Uh... Yeah, sure? If you really want to, but you're sleeping in the corner." She said. That was another thing the cheetah hadn't thought of, where she was going to put him overnight. She couldn't just leave him outside, she was too much of a softy for that. Yes, there was enough room in her den that he could stay in there without coming into contact with her, that would do. Hopefully. "Alright, and we're off!" She said, rising to her feet.
-- now is a fancy fade off fin 8D --
