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Calida was purposefully avoiding the crowd this morning. She was as eager as any of her siblings to learn what their father did and how he did it.. but she was interested in exploring her talents as a huntress. Mostly because it was an easy game and bothering her brothers was a lot of fun. So while Umiriti found and introduced himself to the black-and-orange cub, Calida stalked them.

Her main tactic was to stay behind her brother, figuring if she stayed there then she could not be noticed, period. It was surprisingly easy since he had a new friend to focus on. So while he was recruited by Utambaa, the little white cub sneaked closer and closer--

And then suddenly she shrieked as the black-and-orange cub ruined everything by starting off in her direction. She ducked down into the sand, covering her eyes with both paws and hoping they didn't see her. But between her cry and the fact that covering your own eyes doesn't hide you from others, she was caught.

Utambaa noticed the gray cub right away, a grin lighting up his face as he elbowed his new-found friend. When he pointed at her, he got a head shake. "What, not her? Why not pounce her?"

"Mom wants us to expand our circle of friends outside 'brothers and sisters'... But..." He rubbed his chin, thinking a moment, before he took off running. "I know the perfect idea!" He looked around at the other cubs gathered, before his eyes fell on Keezheekoni. As he ran up to her, he gave her a playful swat. "You're it!" He then tore off across the sand. "The orange girl with the black stripe's it!" He had no idea yet what her name was, but that didn't matter for the game. As he ran, he jumped over Keegan, almost crashing into her.

Utambaa's eyes lit up, before he let out a laugh and ran to give Keegan a push. "Com on, Keegan, run! The orange girl's it!" Though the other cub wasn't actually his sister, he saw her as one, since his mother was helping with raising her and her littermates. Shula had been up-front to them about that fact, and that their mother was gone but must always be remembered and honored in the children she'd left behind in the world. As he ran, he ended up tripping right over Umiriti's sister. "Whoops!"

Bakar was in a mood. It was one of the many traits he had inherited from his mother. And much like his mother, it wasn't that Bakar simply was a grouch. He was downright spiteful when he had a tantrum. Self destructive, even.

Unlike his mother, his tantrums usually had the most inconsequential of reasons. Today, it was because he hadn't wanted to eat the meal the hunters provided. With all the hubbub of the sentinels returning and meetings to attend, Armada was far too busy trying to restore her career than to cater to her children's every whim.

So Bakar was left to stew and listen to his stomach growl. With no adults to lend him an ear, he glared daggers at some of the other cubs as they ran by. Not that he wanted to play or anything. He was very sure that he turned up his nose in full view.

But he wasn't the only one watching cubs. Up above in the thermals, Yoan fluttered about, watching the kids toss around and play. He'd always liked kids. They helped him think, and he had a lot on his mind.

Pele was feeling particularly mischievous today. She bounded along the dusty ground and her red eyes fell upon a group of lions similar to her own age. "No way!" She smiled widely and trotted towards the others, until she noticed a familiar ivory masked face. "Oh, Bakar! Hey!" Pele could tell her brother was in a mood, he had been all morning, despite wanting to wind him up, she also had a genuine concern for her siblings when they were feeling ill at ease. "Whats up?" She sped towards him and tried to use him as a buffer, as her legs began to move faster than she'd like. "Woaah." She landed in a heap at his paws.

What a glorious morning it promised to be as Keahi stretched, and yawned, and clawed lightly at the rocky earth beneath his cub-sized paws. Even though he had only just woken up, his brilliant golden eyes were already on the lookout for any sort of mischief he could incite. He'd managed to distance himself from his mother and siblings, having little interest in continuing to mingle with them when there was the opportunity to meet other cubs. His tail flicked to and fro as he considered his options, when something much more interesting came into view; a big black and white lioness wearing armor that glistened in the sun. That, to him, was way more interesting than the game of tag that was taking place.

The little male made a beeline for her, grinning wickedly as he slowed down. He stalked in from the side, before charging and pouncing against one of her forepaws. The petulance of his 'greeting' was unknown to him, and he batted a paw against the brilliant red gem set into her bracer, craning his neck to look up at the spymaster. "Hey, this is real shiny. What's it for?" he skipped right to the point, blatantly curious.

The patch-marked cub let out a huff when he spotted the 'it' cub not running and joining them. Frowning, he went over to her, dropping down to her level. "Why watch, when you can join? You wanna make friends here, right?" He gave her shoulder a slight push with his paw, not so much with force, but enough to nudge her. "You never learn to like others if you don't join 'em!"

Umiriti stopped running when he realized nobody was chasing. He looked over at his new-found friend trying to give the other cub deemed 'it' a pep talk and went over. "Aw, don't wanna be it this time? Okay!" He looked around, then charged over and pounced on Titos. "You're it now!" He began running again. "Orange is out, white mask is it now!"

Utambaa watched Umiriti go, then looked at the orange cub with a grin. "It's your lucky day, you're not it now! Now you just gotta run from that guy!" He gave her another slight shove. "Come on, join the fun! Just one paw in front of the other!"

"Hey, are you okay?" Titos asked the grey girl the other male had tripped over. "I'm Titos by the way." Once he made sure she was okay, he walked over to where Patches (as he'd mentally started calling him for now) talked with one of the female cubs. Apparently she was a little shy. "He's right you know. Watching is not as fun as playing." He smiled encouragingly. Then he realised he had no idea what they were playing anyway and was about to ask, but the white cub saved him the trouble by pouncing on him and pronouncing him 'it'.

"Wha..!" was all he managed to squeak out before he found himself on his back. " 'Oh, I'm gonna get you!' he thought as he quickly got back up and shook the dust off him, before dashing after the other cubs. "I'm coming to get you!" He called after them and laughed happily.