[PRP] But, my good brother... (Zamba and Pur) - FIN

[Princess_Feylin]

Pur'Jed sighed. Then she got up, walked in a small circle, and sat down where she had been moments before. She sighed again. She hated rainy days. It was no good to go outside because she'd just get wet and muddy and upset Maua. Not to mention she, personally, hated to be wet and muddy. It was one of many things she and her mother agreed on. But still...she was so bored.

The young lioness crept toward the back of the cave where her brother was, hoping that he might have come up with something interesting to do. Even if she couldn't participate in his activity, maybe she could watch him. Watching a person do something interesting was almost as good as doing something interesting for oneself. After all, that's what the plays the pride was renowned for were all about. Watching others do interesting things.

"Zamba," she began upon seeing him. "It's raining. What are we going to do?"

She hoped that by opening like this it would prompt him to think of a suitably interesting activity. Hopefully one which would not take them out into the rain. She also managed to include herself in whatever future plans he might come up with by using the word "we." Pur was very proud of herself for coming up with all of this on her own, and mostly without conscious thought.  

[JetAlmeara]

Zamba cracked an eye open as his sister came over - and spoke to him "Sleep?" He suggested hopefully though he doubted that would be the answer she was hoping for, but he'd been trying to sleep for an hour or so now and the irritating pitter patter of rain outside wasn't helping any. Now that Pur had declared her boredom Zamba was pretty certain that his dreams for a relaxing afternoon and a nice long nap was just that...a dream.

Sighing he dragged himself up so that he was sitting and regarded his sister "We could wrestle?" He continued equally hopefully - though none of his sisters ever wanted to do that. Girls were boring.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"I tried that," Pur complained. It was a challenge to keep the whining tone out of her voice. But, really! Anyone would think of sleeping, and if she could sleep, she certainly would have. "The stupid rain kept me awake. I hate rain."

It wasn't often that Pur spoke with so much childish vehemence, but she really did hate rain and she couldn't think of any better way to express it. Not in the grown up terms she'd been mimicking for as long as she could remember anyway. None of them really seemed strong enough to convey the depths of her loathing for wet weather. Everything turned grey and muddy and all you could hear was the sound of raindrops hitting things. And it smelled funny and wet lions smelled even worse.

The offer to wrestle, however, did not tempt her in the slightest. Pur could see no practical application for wrestling in her future. She wouldn't be hunting because she was a noble and she wouldn't be fighting because she was a lady. Besides, she'd lose.

"I'd only lose," she pointed out truthfully. She hated losing, but she didn't justify her protest that way. "It wouldn't be any sort of a challenge for you."

She thought about it some more, watching the white tip of her brother's tail. His markings were more like their mother's, she decided. Really, the only trait they had in common was their shared golden nose. She was proud of the gold on her nose and forepaws, and sometimes wished that she had specks of gold at her ears like Zamba. She thought it would make her look more elegant.

"Maybe we could act out one of the scenes from that play we saw the other night? The one about the lion who wouldn't grow up." She'd liked that play. It looked like it would have been fun to perform in. Particularly the part where it was somehow engineered that some of the actors flew. She wouldn't mind 'flying' like that sometime.  

[JetAlmeara]

Zamba couldn't really argue with the whole rain bit - it had kept him awake too and he couldn't say he was entirely fond being wet and muddy either, plus it ruined - absolutely ruined the footing for play fights. Made things entirely too slippery and unpredictable!

Speaking of wrestling Zamba was not all that surprised when Pur refused his offer - none of his sister ever wanted to play his games, at least none of his sisters that stuck around long enough during the day for him to ask. Besides she was right - she really wouldn't be much of a challenge "Truth" He told her with a smug look - Zamba was proud of his fighting prowess - or what he perceived as his fighting prowess.

Of course..she would want to play players - it seemed that was the favorite pass time for more of the cubs in the pack. Zamba didn't really see the appeal - sure maybe it was fun to pretend to be something you weren't but it didn't really teach you any skills that you could use in the future. None the less he supposed it would be better then listening to Pur complain about the rain or watching her pace about the den. "I suppose" He told her after a few moments "What part do you want to play?"
 

[Princess_Feylin]

Pur wasn't bothered by her brother's smug agreement that she'd present no challenge. As far as useful skills for nobles went, Pur was positive that the ability to wrestle and fight was very low on the list of necessary skills for a lady. Otherwise their mother would have mentioned it at some point. From what she'd observed with Zamba, learning to fight took a great deal of time and practice, and if it was something she was supposed to learn, she should have started earlier. Since their mother never neglected her offspring's education, fighting clearly wasn't something Pur was meant to learn to do. That's what servants and brothers were for.

Trying to make up for the fact that Zamba had even fewer suitable playmates than she did, Pur said, "I don't really have a preference. But if we did the scene where the siblings are held captive, I could pretend to be Windy watching the bad guy fighting with you and tell you what he's doing, so maybe it would be a little like a real fight for you?"

It seemed like a good idea to her. She'd get to be Windy, who had been her favorite character in the play, being the most mature and ladylike of the siblings and also the one the main character was so enchanted with. That was good. And then Zamba could have one of his fights, but she wouldn't have to participate physically. Of course, he might not see it that way. Zamba didn't tend to appreciate playing pretend the way Pur did. Pur supposed it was because he was a boy.  

[JetAlmeara]

By the gods he was going to look like an absolute fool - fighting an invisible opponent! At least it was raining today and no one was likely to walk by and see him - till he cast a quick look outside the den just to make sure. Nope still pouring rain...and not a lion in sight.

Looks like he was going to have to go through with this or listen to start complaining again - which might be worse then playing with her a bit. Maybe she'd get tired and take a nap afterwards, that would be nice. "I suppose..." She allowed reluctantly, though he was pretty sure that he wasn't going to have any fun at all! "Where should I start?" He asked glancing about the cave. It didn't really look anything like the area they'd done the play in but he supposed they could pretend that too.
 

[Princess_Feylin]

"What're you looking for?" Pur asked, noticing how he glanced outside. "It's raining. Like it has been all morning. It's very boring and wet and grey."

It really wasn't fair that there were no other cubs for her to play with except her siblings. At least she had her siblings. Sometimes she resented them because they took her parents' attention away from her, but then she thought of days like this, where she might have died of boredom without them.

At her brother's words a grin split Pur's face. She would have something to do now! Their sister Raziela Liron might have been more creative when it came to games, but this was a good game. Obviously it was, or else Zamba wouldn't have agreed to play, right?

"Oh! How about over there, like you're just swooping in to save the day." She gestured to a slightly raised section in the den. She half-trotted several paces to stand in a new spot. "And we can say that Hookclaw is standing over here."

"Windy's tied up here," she said, scampering to the place she'd decided was her spot, where she crouched in approximation of being tied up. "Hookclaw is just now explaining how he's going to use Windy and her siblings as bait for Napretep."  

[JetAlmeara]

"Nothing" He answered her although it didn't really seem that she really cared about getting his answer as she was already launching into a a description of what was going to happen. Glancing at the raised up portion of the den Zamba wondered if he ought to confess to Pur that he hadn't really paid much attention to the play at all and was completely lost - but he was far to proud to do such a thing and he vaguely remembered the fight scenes. Well really the fight scenes were the only one's he ever paid much attention to,even though they were clearly faked. He could wing it he supposed, it couldn't be that hard.

Besides...who could complain about being the one who got to save the day? Scampering up to his assigned spot Zamba crouched down in a stalking position and crept forward as though listening to the plans of Hookclaw. He glanced at 'Windy' and made a motion for her to be silent as he slunk towards the enemy. But of course silent stalking was sort of dull and he supposed a real hero wouldn't just silent pounce on their enemy there had to be some sort of warning right? Something heroic! He didn't think it mattered all that much if they followed the exact play I mean they could make their own right? Pur hadn't really specified and he hoped she wouldn't be mad as he drew himself up in a 'heroic' pose and spoke in a demanding voice to the pretend Hookclaw "Release her at once Hookclaw! Your dastardly plans have been foiled!"  

[Princess_Feylin]

Pur wasn't sure if she was supposed to voice Hookclaw's part or not. What if what she thought his plans were differed from what Zamba thought they were? It didn't really matter, she supposed, because Zamba-as-Napretep would prevent them from coming to fruition anyway, but she kind of wanted to be sure they were both pretending the same thing. It could lead to some complications or confusion otherwise.

She watched Zamba stalk closer, but then realized that if she were doing so, it would give his position away to their imaginary antagonist. This was harder than she'd thought it would be. It was a relief when Zamba decided to start acting more heroic and struck a pose. That sort of thing always heralded a declaration of intent, and perhaps she could guess what to do from what he said.

Or, perhaps not. He sounded very dramatic, but not very specific, sadly. Pur would just have to make it up as she went along. She frowned and tried to make her voice sound deeper as she spoke for Hookclaw:

"You could never foil my plans for they are the most dastardly of the dastardly plans! And soon I shall take Windy and throw her to the crocodiles! Muahaha." Underneath her fur, Pur was blushing at having to make such a ridiculous display.

As herself, she cried out (softly), "Oh, no! He's coming toward you from the left." She felt like an idiot. This wasn't proving to be as much fun as she'd thought.  

[JetAlmeara]

Zamba was pretty sure he was failing miserably at this whole pretend player thing - and sure he really jut wanted to nap this whole time, or maybe play wrestle but...Pur was his sister being the only brother in the whole lot of girls he did like to make them happy when he could and from the look on Pur's face he was pretty sure she wasn't having any sort of fun at all.

Which left him with two choices really - he could try harder..though he wasn't sure just what else he could do to make this work, or he could just release them both from their misery and stop. Sighing slightly he sat back on his haunches and looked at his sister apologetically "I..think we need lions.." he ventured after a few moments and yes he was sure with a few more friends to play the different part this might actually be a fun game. I mean at least it had a decent story with heroes and rescues and villains and such "To play the bad guys" He continued on to further explain that he didn't think it was a bad game per say and thusly disappoint Pur even more but just that they didn't seem equipped to pull it off properly.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Pur was secretly relieved when Zamba sat back on his haunches and suggested a reason why this game wasn't proving to be much fun. She even liked his reason, since it removed the blame from either of the participants.

"You're right," she agreed readily. "But it's raining, and so we'd have to go outside to find any other cubs to play with."

Except for their other siblings, of course, but if Pur had wanted to play with them, she would have involved them to begin with. Since she hadn't, she hoped Zamba would figure out that she wasn't interested in playing with their siblings, particularly not Nyota, who irritated her endlessly. It was unfair that her sister could break all their mother's rules, and yet still be their father's favorite cub. Pur was convinced that Nyota was Kivuli's favorite.

"Maybe you had the right idea to begin with, and we should just nap and hope that when we wake the rain will have stopped," she said.

Pur walked the few steps back to where she had been at the beginning of this exchange and settled herself into a comfortable position, in which she closed her green eyes and tried not to hear the patter of the rain outside. She was done with playing. It was clear she wasn't much a thinking up games, no matter what Zamba said, or else she would have considered their lack of people before and come up with a game which needed fewer players.  

[JetAlmeara]

Zamba wanted to nap sure - but he didn't want Pur to feel awful either. Damnit, see this was why he wished he had brothers once in a while, brothers wouldn't be so emotional all the time and then they could have just wrestled instead of trying out this complicated game and being disappointed!

Sighing silently he made his way over to Pur and after turning about a few times to find a comfortable spot snuggled up against her so that they could nap together in the elusive hope that it would make her feel better in some way.