[BACKLOG - PRP] Locust Hunting (Orgeluse x Badgemagus)

[Dame NightFury]

Badge knew he should have been napping considering the heat of the noontime sun. Running around and sweating so much really wasn't good for you, but he knew where to find water to keep himself from getting too dehydrated. And besides the locust was being WAY too loud for Badgemagus to nap with all the locust noise it was making. How anyone was able to drown out that sound when trying to bed down for noon, he had no idea, but it kept him up.

And he was going to hunt it down and make it stop. He wouldn't be able to nap today if he didn't. And if the locust didn't go away, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight or nap tomorrow and it would go on and on and on until he was just too exhausted.

Badge jaunted quickly in the direction of where the noise was coming from before stopping and dropping to his belly a good five feet from the bush the locust was apparently making it's home. Slowly he started to move foward toward the bush, wishing his siblings were there to help. It really would have been easier to get the locust by surrounding the bush and playing pounce and squish with them all before napping.

Well, they probably wouldn't have napped afterward unless Mom or Dad or someone told them too. Maybe.

Locust hunting could be very fun and no one wanted to stop having fun to nap after one game finished. You made up another game and another game until it was bedtime.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Actually, Orgeluse had no problems sleeping through locusts doing locust things. They were bugs and beneath her notice. In her opinion, most things were beneath her notice. The fact that she would grow up to be a commoner herself in a pride with an actual hierarchy meant little to the spotted cub. She had a mighty and unshakeable ego.

What she could not sleep through was the sound of her stupid brother hunting down the locusts. Unlike the drone of a locust, Badge's noises were sporadic and unpredictable and generally more likely to disturb Luse's slumber than the bug. He was, however, also less gross than a bug, and now that she was a little awake it was too easy to imagine locusts crawling on her, which made it impossible to sleep.

So she followed Badge, doing her best to sneak, though probably not succeeding any better than her brother had done. When she was close enough she said in a stage whisper, "You know they all have to die, right?"

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

"Rawr!" Badge jumped letting out a baby roar of startlement. It was rather embarrassing considering his attempt to be stealthy. But at least it was a mini roar. Badge knew it could have been so much worse. He could have let out a prey sound of some kind. He was sure that happened to cubs when startled by siblings or other things that were napping when the hunting started.

Badge turned to his sister and gave her a look. He didn't quite know what the look was, considering it didn't know what looks were suppose to convey really, but sometimes the adults gave looks and didn't say a word. Feeling like it was getting it wrong he decided to speak as well. "Luse, I'm trying to be stealthy here! The locust might get away to come back later! That was probably worse for the shrub then for him, his napping patterns and his siblings. He vaguely remembered an adult saying something about locust eating too much plants which led to less prey to eat for them. Or something like that. Locust really weren't good insects to have around.

He relaxed down onto his belly rather than stay in his hunting crouched-belly crawling stance. "Now that you're awake do you want to help me pounce the locust? It will be easier and much more funner with you then by myself. Badge admitted to his sister. He didn't like hunting all that much, though pouncing was very fun to play with his siblings and the other cubs of the pride. It was even fun to play pounce with their parents when they could, but hunting was not his favorite past time. He didn't want to do more than pounce. Of course, if he had to, Badge would pounce and hunt and kill the locust to shut it up.

Princess_Feylin

 

[Princess_Feylin]

Orgeluse screwed up her face in a look that she thought clearly said he was doing a terrible job being stealthy, and her making him roar a little could hardly make things worse. As looks went, it wasn't that eloquent, but at least she looked unimpressed, which she would have counted a success as well. She counted most things she did as successes, even when they blatantly weren't.

"If it went away, would you go to sleep?" she asked with genuine interest. "Or at least quit tromping around? It's naptime you know."

Luse didn't object to the concept of naptime. An adult had once mentioned the idea of beauty sleep, and the thought that sleeping more could make her more beautiful had appealed instantly to the young lioness. Sleeping was so easy. If she could get more beautiful just by doing that she'd be gorgeous by the time she was old enough to marry.

Badge's proposal that she help him pounce the locust was almost too much. She actually gasped in horror, and then she squealed.

"Ew! No! It'll go crunch and squish if I land on it!"

Dame NightFury

 

[Dame NightFury]

Badge sighed at his sister. "I don't know if I could nap after all of this activity but it's more likely that I would than not since it would be nice and quiet ... Well as quiet as it can get when you snore like a wild boar." Badge teased getting back up to his crouch-bellying crawling position. He smiled as he started to move forward again. If the locust wasn't so close, Badgemagus would have "tromped" around his sister as loudly as he could. Badge felt Luse took herself way too seriously as a cub. He liked playing and pouncing and laughing and teasing and being teased.

"Fine. I'll pounce it all by myself. And it will be fun with or without you. And then I'll go to the watering hole and drink some water and take a dip to cool off and maybe I'll shake all that extra water off on you, Luse, for being a pouncer-pooper."

As Badge had slowly gotten closer to the shrub the locust had gone quiet. The little bugger knew predators were near. As if it going silent would save it from a good pouncing. Maybe Badge could scare the insect in Luse's direction. And she's pounce on it accidentally. And they would HAVE to go take a dip in the watering hole to get the "ew" off of her. And then Badge could pounce his sister. Maybe get her to laugh and have what he thought was a good time.

"I'm going to save the shrub all by myself too. I'll be a shrub hero and you will by my shrub squire because you refused to pounce the locust and safe the shrub. Badgemagus the Saver and sister squire ... What was her name again?"

Princess_Feylin