[Ander]

The zing and thwap of that particularly pesky blade of grass eluded Payne, right in the thick of excitement. He didn't mean to do such a thing to his sister, by no means - everything was just so thrilling! Payne frolicked in the grass, swatting playfully at blades with his paws as he cavorted through. He really seemed in his element, rolling through the tall plain. Of course, Payne realized gradually, he wasn't supposed to be gamboling about like this. Rikku could come up on him any moment! After all, there wasn't a 'Marco' to be heard...

But then... Wom? Payne's ears shot up as his body followed, and he grinned foolishly. "Bear!" he replied promptly, tails waving. Sister was really smart! They'd call the Womber- erm, Wombears - right to them! It sounded like it would be much more fun than calling 'Marco Polo' - whoever that was.

[Kallile]

Rikku had no idea that a just a short distance away her brother was moving around more blades of grass. Try as she might, she couldn’t jump higher than the grasses again. She huffed—how come daddy’s game dudes could always jump the same height? Was this grass getting taller?

Her ears lurked forward on her head as the sound of ‘bear!’ filled the air. What a smart brother she had! At least she knew that he was going to keep up with the game. They would have those silly little wombears crawling out of their…their….well, whatever it was they lived in, in no time!

“Wom!” She called again, realizing that in her excitement of the reply—she hadn’t payed a bit of attention to where his voice was coming from! Daddy would have scolded her for that if she had been playing a game with him. He was usually distracted enough without covering her tails in the middle of a war zone—he always said with a grin on his face.

Rikku stopped, noticing something that could come in handy. A rarely seen fallen log, half rotted away. And it was a few leaps away. She’d find that brother of hers in no time!

[Ander]

"Bear!" Payne's reply was even louder, overrun as he was with titillation. His paws thumped against the earth as he ran away from his sister - she had sounded really close that time! The Sour rolled to one side, just picturing Rikku bursting out of the foliage beside him. And as he stalked, predatory, to another tuft, he saw his sister leaping out from the rustling grasses across from him! Payne's tails flicked back and forth as he frowned, thinking carefully about this game. Wasn't it just like the times Mom and he had hunted? He was trying not to be found... but this was no good. In this field, he was surrounded: Rikku could be anywhere!

Straightening himself, Payne's eyes narrowed as he looked for somewhere... well, safe. Somewhere he could 'bear!' from, but still keep sis'a from seeing him. Somewhere... His eyes lit up, suddenly, accompanied by a quietly thrilled mew. Somewhere like that big old log, only a leap or two away! Sure it was old, but he could hide inside it, and Rikku would never guess! Payne wiggled happily, bounding closer to the object of his deception.

[Kallile]

There seemed to be rustling all around her! Rikku’s mind and eyes spun all around her as she tried to locate where the rustling was coming from. It was so close! Quickly she leapt to the log—so focused on it that she would be lucky to notice anything else. Tiny, unmanaged claws sunk into the soft back and stuck there fast.

It wasn’t until she tried to make another jump that she noticed this—her whole body thudding against the side of the log. She furrowed her brows, staring angrily at her paws. Wriggling them out, she made her way up the side step by step. When she finally reached the top it looked like she was once part of the tree herself. Bark and decaying tree pulp stuck out from under each paw as if Rikku had uprooted herself. She frowned, flopping on her back and kicking furiously to get the bulk of the debris off.  Once satisfied she sat atop her rotting throne and surveyed the area. All the grass was still. What a sneaky brother! He wasn’t allowed to hold still when she had such a great plan!

“WoooOOooom” She called out playfully, trying to watch every blade of grass for movement. A task, she was finding, that she needed more eyes for.

[Ander]

Payne's tunnel vision was alive and well, centered on the underside of that great big log. Sister would never find him there - Mom would be so proud of him if she were here - and he could watch for Rikku and catch her when she wandered past. It was the perfect plan! There was rustling all about, and the constant sound of it was only making Payne more excited. Sister could be anywhere; even on his tails at this very moment! "Beeeeeear!" He called out, exuberant. He didn't mind being heard, not now that he was going to be perfectly hidden! His voice squeaked with childlike glee, front claws digging into the decaying wood flesh as hind paws churned for purchase. He just had to get to the top and climb inside, and- "Bear! Bea-!"

And dear Payne made the mistake of looking up. His eyes, growing wide, slowly took in the black-and-pink-and-green fuzz identical to his own. Sister wasn't anywhere, or right on his tails after all. She was... right here.

Eeep.

[Kallile]

“Bea-!”

Rikku’s ears flew back on her head and the rest of her body followed as if attached by strings. The midair acrobatics were unexpected—that was apparent by the look on her face. And the move itself…well, it was hard to tell if the young Sour was spinning like she had just done an amazing karate kick or spinning like someone had just yanked a rug out from under her feet.

The latter was the better guess, and she managed to land squarely on her stomach with a loud “Umph!” She blinked—for a moment staring straight at her brother.

And then she grinned.

“Gotcha!” She squealed, scrambling over the rotting bark like a crab over sand until she regained her normal stance. She had only a short ways to go—each pouncing step made a hollow drumming sound bellow out from inside the log. Leap, leap, leap-almost there!

She pushed her chest to the log, coiled her legs under her in the final pounce, and let her legs and momentum send her flying through the air at her brother. He was caught now!

(( Wrangled Rikku back in from her Spring break--so sorry it took me so long! >< ))

[Ander]

((XD; I'm not going to be the one to scold you. Did she enjoy herself?))

Caught, he truly was. Payne barely had time to utter a mew of protest before he found himself scuttling backwards, trying to get his wits about him to turn, to move-

-to dodge the airborne mass of fluffy fur heading toward him-

-and then, he could only gasp out a "Poomph!" as he broke his sister's flight. Her pounce was really good, he thought, carried off his paws into a thicket of surrounding grass. The small Sour lay there for a moment, watching the sun spin haphazardly in the sky above. It so was not supposed to be doing that. His front paws windmilled a little as he tried to get his bearings, before flopping dazedly onto his side, sporting a clumsy smile and even goofier laughter.

[Kallile]

Rikku was, admittedly, shocked when she actually hit her brother and sent them both tumbling off the log. Contact with the grasslands sent her bouncing off to one side of Payne, blinking madly at the quick series of events. “...I really did it.” She mused for a moment before staggering to her feet with a sharp veer left to try and keep the three Payne’s before her to gather back into just one. “I actually pounced you!”

The laughing mew echoed through the log at their side, Rikku herself danced her paws on….hollow ground?

The kit never would have noticed the hollowed sound beneath her until it was too late. And, in fact, that’s how it happened. The ground beneath Rikku suddenly gave way and in the blink of an eye she was gone from the surface.

“Hey…” She grumbled at no one in particular from underground on her mound of dirt. She blinked, looking around her. Was this a tunnel? It sure seemed to be. What if—her heart skipped a beat. What if this was a wombear tunnel?

She looked up to the sky now even farther about her, looking for any sign of her brother. “Hey!” She called again, trying to grab the jagged edge she had created to the surface with her fall. He little paws fell just short. “Uh oh…”

(( Are you kidding? She helped organize it. X3 Figured this would be a good way to eventually drag dear ole’ dad and loving mommy out of their little happy place. XD ))

[Ander]

Payne didn't rise, his own laughter fleshing out at Rikku's merriment. "You did! It was good!" The arguably more outdoors-y sibling was smiling broadly, playfully batting at his sister with his sideways paws. By this point, the sun had been good enough to settle itself down, and he saw only one of his staggering twin. The Sour's tails thumped rhythmically against the earth as he looked at her proudly.

For a moment. And then he wasn't looking at her at all. "R-Rikku!" Payne shouted in alarm, leaping to his paws so quickly, his head grew light for a moment. His paws scrabbled hard as he leapt to where she had stood, almost slipping into the hole his sis had fallen into. "Sis'a! Are you okay?" The ground he stood on was solid enough - why had she fallen down?  

[Kallile]

Everything in the tunnel was pitch black and sort of frightening. Just like it was every time her daddy’s game character fell somewhere—it was dark, damp looking, and she swore she could hear something in the distance. Except, to her knowledge, she didn’t have any extra lives so she was glad it wasn’t a big fall.  She tried again to grab at the edge her brother was safely perched on and again she missed and landed back on the damp soil.

“I’m okay…” She mused grumpily. Of all the rotten luck!

She stood on her hind feet, just placing her paws on the wall. It felt…like rotting wood. Though the young kit didn’t know where she was, the tree once attached to the fallen trunk had apparently pierced the earth and was now rotting away much more quickly than it’s support. Rikku huffed again.

“How’m I gonna get out? I can’t reach…” She was not at all pleased with the situation. Looking back down the tunnel where it seemed (if possible) to get the darkest, she gave a soft call to the noises she swore she heard. “Wombear?”

[Ander]

The young male yowled something awful, staring down at his sister with lashing tails and wide eyes. "U-uh. Hang on, sis'a..." Payne edged slowly down, his paws pulling dangerously at the loose earth around the tunnel. After a few moments, nothing but his hind legs remained on solid ground, leaving him in a terribly awkward squatting position as he strained to reach his sister.

His short arms fell woefully short, so he brought his claws into play - only to nearly fall into the hole himself when they caught on a stray root. "Whu... Whoa!" Ears flattened to his head, the Sour pulled himself quickly upright - where he lay huddled beside the edge of the tunnel miserably. "I can't reach either, Rikku," Payne admitted sadly. What kind of brother was he if he couldn't help his sister when she needed it? She had to get out. The kit grumbled dourly. He bet that Mom could get her out...

Oh! Well, DUH! "That's it! Wait here, Rikku - be careful! I'm gonna go get Mom an' Dad!" Why hadn't he thought of it sooner? Of COURSE they could get her out!