[FIN] Children (Celo, Lleidr, Vesna)

[mouselet]

Celo's ears twitched and the hyena sighed as he processed what he heard. The sounds of three younglings, whether they were sleeping, eating, or just being around were getting to be rather distinctive. Not that he was objecting to sharing his small underground cave with them - it was good that he'd managed to convince their mother and her...owners...that he should take half of the pups - but it was taking some getting used to.

Children were noisy. And for a hyena that tended to rely on sound first and scent second, he feared that their near-constant noises would diminish his ability to distinguish danger from a distance. Not that that was a fear he'd share with anyone.

The adult opened his eyes and sniffed delicately. The sun wasn't quite down yet, but it seemed whichever children were awake were getting antsy. Apparently he wasn't going to get to sleep any longer today. Sighing, Celo got to his feet and yawned.

"All right, who's awake."

Lleidr was definitely awake. He'd been awake for...forever! Waiting for Dad to get up so that they could go outside and DO stuff. Oh, and pee. The purple pup was nearly dancing with his need to do his business, but Dad said not in the cave, but they weren't allowed to leave the cave without Dad and so Lleidr was not at all adverse to waking his parent up.

"I am! I am! I gotta pee Dad!" the boy whined as he danced around.  

[Excited Apathy]

Lleidr was definitely not the only one figuratively crossing their legs. Vesna shifted rapidly from foot to foot, occasionally jostling into her brother as fidgeting and youthful incoordination combined. It was time to wake up and she had to go and oh hey dad was awake. Ears pricking, she made a happy little sound as she scampered over to him.

"Meeeeee!"  

[mouselet]

The older hyena sighed as he considered the two. It had been such a long time since he'd had to deal with the limitations of a pup's tiny bladder...ah well. Celo climbed to the entrance and poked just enough of his out to listen and smell for danger. Nothing nearby. Good.

"All right," he said at last, hauling himself out of the hole and clearing the way for Lleidr and Vesna. "Come on out."

Boy, it always took Dad forever to declare that things were safe. Just as the young boy had decided that if he had to wait any longer he'd dirty the cave, his father said it was safe.

Lleidr didn't wait for any other invitation. He ran up the steep earthen ramp and bounded for the nearest bush. Ohthankthegodsthatfeltsooooooooogood.  

[Excited Apathy]

Vesna shot through the entrance, scrabbling behind a bush to relieve herself. Call of nature answered, she scampered over to her brother and pounced at him, growling playfully. "Gonna get you!"  

[mouselet]

Celo watched the two cavort. He was kind of amazed by the energy they had. And yet inured to it. Where cubs got their boundless energy from, he had absolutely no idea, but it was clearly an unlimited wellspring from the moment they woke up until the moment they fell asleep.

"Don't go too far," he warned the pair.

Lleidr had barely finished his business when he suddenly found himself nose to the ground, with Vesna on top of him. Really? At least she'd waited for him to finish but seriously? HE'D JUST PEED. WHY WAS SHE ON TOP OF HIM.

Annoyed, he tried to shake her off.  

[Excited Apathy]

Pah, Vesna wasn't going anywhere! At least, not yet she wasn't. She definitely wasn't going to be shaken loose so easily. She grabbed an ear, intending to shake it for all that she was worth. Which...wasn't much, since she was just a pup, but so was her brother. It would be interesting enough.  

[mouselet]

Okay. Play-fighting. That he could deal with. Especially because Vesna and Lleidr were completely focused on each other, which meant all he had to do was make sure there was no serious damage to either one, keep an eye out for any dangerous strangers, and generally not have to get involved.

That was one advantage to having more than one child around. They were perfectly happy to play with each other sometimes.

"Ow! Hey!" the pup cried as his sister bit down on his ear. That hurt. Why was she doing that? Really upset now, Lleidr got to his feet - no easy task with Vesna on top of him - and tried to buck her off like a gazelle.  

[Excited Apathy]

Hahah, she was getting him to react! She was--she was tumbling from his back now, her bite not nearly hard enough to keep her in place. The wind knocked out of her, she decided to just lay right there for a moment while she gathered slightly scrambled wits.  

[mouselet]

Celo sighed to himself as he watched the antics before him. Thus far he had no real reason to stop them. No one was bleeding, no one had gotten seriously injured. It was all good fun. He only hoped that the last pup didn't wake up and join the fun - two was enough to keep track of. But, the lion had insisted he take at least half of the pups and really, Celo couldn't blame him.

He just wished there had been fewer pups to begin with.

Hah! Now she was the one on the ground! Lleidr thought about turning the tables and biting her ear, or taunting her, or doing any number of rude things. But...he'd woken up from his nap mostly to pee. And he wasn't feeling like fighting that much right now.

So the purple and green hyena flopped down on top of his sister. Heavily.

"Night, I'm going back to sleep," he informed her.  

[Excited Apathy]

Coughing and spluttering--her lungs had seemed to forget how they worked for a moment--Vesna tried to lurch to her feet, or at least to dump her brother into the dirt. "Not on me you aren't!" Although...a nap did sound pretty good. Flumping back down, she kept a wary eye on her brother--she wanted to be able to breathe while she napped, after all.  

[mouselet]

It was too late - Lleidr was already asleep, and snoring softly before he hit the ground. The impact did cause him to snort and stir a bit, but even that wasn't enough to wake him.

The adult sighed. "I guess that's it for now," he muttered to himself going over to the sleeping and dozy pups. Gently picking up Lleidr, the hyena dropped the sleeping pup on his back before grabbing Vesna.

One on his back and one in his mouth, Celo headed back into the den. Maybe now he'd be able to get some sleep on his own.

With his luck, the third would be waking up about now.