[Kitty]

"Don't you think we've gone a bit too far, Ria?"
"No, no! I want to keep exploring!"
"We really should head back..." Dimitri lifted his chin, pointing his nose to the sky. The clouds were strewn with pinks and oranges as the sun set behind the hills. An evening chill had set in a good half hour back, forcing the two Likuta siblings to fluff out their fur like giant puff balls. His sister was much smaller than he was, so she really was just a tiny ball of air-headed fur. "It's almost dark. The others will wonder where we are."
"Just a bit longer, Dimmie!" Aria called as she bounded ahead of him, arched as she bounced along the soft soil. Dimitri let a sigh out of his mouth and dashed forward in order to keep up with his silly sister.
"Oh! Look! Dimmie!" she said suddenly as she crouched just in front of him. Her head seemed to disappear in to the ground like an ostrich. Aria's tail flopped back and forth like a fish pulled from  water, a sign that something has excited her. He slid up along side her to see her glancing down a large hole.
It didn't go straight down, but instead at a steady decline. Dimitri shook his head, knowing full well what his sister was thinking.
"No, Ria. We're not exploring that. Let's just head home- Ria!"
Aria had shot forward in that instance, her tiny paws bringing up dirt as she ran. Her steps were bouncy and full of excitement, and within a few seconds, she'd melted in to the darkness of the tunnel. Panic started twisting Dimitri's insides and before he knew it, he'd taken off after her.

Aria {1} Dimitri {1}

[Kitty]

No, not that one. Definitely not that one. Or this one. Or that. Oh! Maybe that one...I can't decide!
"Hey sis, what'cha up to?"
Aël jumped nearly three feet in the air, scattering shiny little stones and pebbles everywhere. Hitting the ground, she slipped on those same scattered rocks, falling forward and slamming her jaw in to the ground - very ungracefully. A laugh trickled from behind her and she jumped up, spinning around sharply - again knocking rocks everywhere with her long tail. More laughter ensued.
"Oh shut up Des. What do you want?"
Desrei stopped laughing, but that annoying grin didn't fade, and you could easily hear the amusement in his voice as he spoke. "Just wondering what you were doin'?"
"Nothing. Go away." Aël grunted as she began gathering the many things she'd managed to throw everywhere within only a few seconds. Of course, like all annoying older brothers, Desrei didn't budge. Aël tried to ignore him as he watched her curiously, but his burning stare was too much to handle. She turned as she pawed a stone in to a separate pile. "Go find food or something."
"No." he responded, and then plopped his rear down. Aël rolled her eyes.
"Whatever."
"What?"
"You're so annoying, you know."
"I know."
"Ugh."
Desrei opened his mouth to no doubt respond with some sly comment, but some light pattering sound suddenly registered with the two Likuta. Like something had told them to, they both sat up on their hind legs, head bent slightly, bodies unmoving. The pattering grew louder and louder until a shape was visible through the darkness in the tunnel. Colour slowly developed and soon they could see the red spots on white fur. She shape was familiar. Aël glanced at her brother and then back at the creature who was - she just relized - bounding straight for them at full speed.
The creature had obviously just come from the light above and had not yet had the chance for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, as they had not seen Aël and her brother sitting there. It was only in the last few feet that it noticed, slamming hard on the breaks and wheeling backwards in a panicked attempt at stopping themselves. Aël leaped backwards out of the creature's way, as did Desrei.
Let's just say rocks and mud flew everywhere, spattering the siblings and the strange creature. It rolled to a stop just by Aël's paws and lay unmoving for the longest time. Finally it's head popped up, dirt piled atop it's head - and then a high, female voice spoke.
"That...was...SO...MUCH...FUN!" she said, leaping to her feet and shaking her head vigorously.
"Uhm...hello?" Aël said slowly. The female Likuta bobbed her head, turning to look at the new voice. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"WOAH!" she said. "I've never seen you before!"

Aël {1} Desrei {1}

Aria {2}

[Kitty]

Dimitri's paws moved as quickly as they could, churning up dirt and stones as he went, just like his sister had done. His little heart pounded - What if something big and scary was in there? What if there was something dangerous, like a real straight-down drop in to pointed sticks-- he shivered mid-bound just thinking of his sister's body, mangled and bloody. Or there could be a cave-in, get her trapped inside. They lived on fish and surely there were no rivers or ponds inside that tunnel.
His sight grew worse and worse as he ran, the tunnel going deeper and deeper in to the ground. How far had his sister gone? Was she still running ahead of him? Or had something stopped her? It was only then that he heard voices, and one - thankfully - was Aria! He pushed forward until he was only ten feet away. He slowed as another voice sounded, and then a third. A male and female.
Trotting forward slowly, shapes faded in to view. One he distinctly recognized as his sister, her form puffed out and messy. The other two, though shaped like him and his sister, were unfamiliar in both colour and face. He approached the three slowly until they finally noticed him. Aria jumped in excitement and started gushing.
"Ohmygoodness!! Dimmie! Look! I found these two! And a lot of rocks, and dirt. You know, dirt tastes yucky. Don't try to eat it. Oh! And all these pretty rocks too! And colours, and walls! Oh right I knew there were walls. Oh! These two! Look Dimmie! They're new! I don't know them-"
"Okay, okay Ria. Calm down." with that, she sat down instantly and stared happily at him, mouth shut. Dimitri turned to the other two.
"Erm, hi." he said lamely.
"Hey...who are you?" The male responded.
"Ah...I'm Dimitri, just call me Dim." he said. The two creatures looked quite confused and somewhat uncomfortable at their very sudden arrival. He flicked his tail in his sister's direction. "That's Aria-"
"Call me Ria!" she interrupted quite suddenly. Desrei waved a paw to silence her and she turned to a stone by her toes and began batting it around like a child.
"Sorry for the intrusion...do you live here, by any chance?"

Aria {3} Dimitri {2}

Aël {2} Desrei {2}

[Kitty]

"Ah, yes we do. The den's just a bit farther in..." Desrei responded. "Don't worry, you aren't bugging us. We're just not used to... visitors. I'm Desrei - or Des - and that's my sister Aël, though it's easier to just call her Ai."
"Des, Ai. Nice to meet you." Dimitri said politely, dipping his head. "Well, since you live here, maybe you could put my sister's mind at ease. Do you know what's at the end of this tunnel?"
Aria's head shoot up and her paws stop moving. She was listening intently.
"We..." Desrei paused, glancing at his sister, who took a step forward. He didn't really know how to explain this next part, but usually his sister was best at it anyway.
"We rarely leave this tunnel, and if we do it's out the way you came. Our den is all we need and there's a pond just around the bend with tones of fish in it. The farther down you go, the more it smells of humans...so we generally stay away from the end of this tunnel."
"Humans..." Aria mumbled absentmindedly, it seemed. She glanced at Dimitri and he shook his head. Desrei was a bit confused at this, but didn't question it. A moment later, Aria seemed to snap back to herself again, bouncing around the area and looking at everything she possibly could.
"So," Dimitri started "Why do you guys live here? Is it only you two?"
"Our mother brought us here when we were tiny, but she died soon after." Dimitri looked sad at this and Aël jumped, shaking her paws in front of her face. "No, no, no. We don't really remember it, so it doesn't bother us! Anyway, yes. It's just us two."
"Humans?" Aria's voice echoed from a bit farther down the tunnel. Dimitri seemed to snap to attention, jumping to his feet.
"Ria! Come back! Don't go any farther!"
"I wanna see the end of the tunnel though!" she called. Aël could tell that Aria was walking farther and farther as she spoke. She sighed, shaking her head. Before she knew it, though, Dimitri had taken off after his sister. Aël glanced at Desrei, who's wide eyes met hers in worry. Neither Likuta knew what was down there, and, for some reason, they felt attached to these two. They didn't want to see them get hurt. So, like the good old friends that they weren't, they dashed off after the two siblings.

Aria {4} Dimitri {3}

Aël {3} Desrei {3}

[Kitty]

Aria bounced along the darkened tunnels, paws sliding out around her every once in a while as the ground became soggier. She'd heard that girl...what was her name? Ai? Well, she'd heard her talking about some sort of pond up ahead. It sounded quite interesting to her.
She took a few more leaps and then she was standing in front of a small pool of water. The surface looked black from the lack of light. Anything could be in it. Aria stood there for a moment, debating her options. She knew if she waited too long, her brother would catch up. She could already hear him coming after her, his echoed voice barely catching her attention. If she jumped in, something dangerous could be in there. But the two other Likuta had said something about fishing in this pond. So she guessed it was safe. Her mind made up, she leaped in.
An audible splashed sounded all around the tunnel's cavern-like space and then silence as the water settled. Aria slipped below the surface, and in realizing just how deep the water was, she started downwards. It was only when something brushed her nose did she realize what she was doing. Shark-like, she snapped out with her paws and grabbed the small fish in her pads, biting down hard and killing the thing. It's bitter-sweetness filled her mouth and she wriggled happily in place. She swished her tail back and forth starting her ascent to the surface. She could just hear the sound of the bells attached to the tip of her tail as she moved and she swam happily, listening to their high sound.
"-ria!" a voice caught her attention as her head split the surface. She shook her ears dry of water and listened again. Her brother called again. "Aria! Come here! Please!"
"I caught a fish, Dimmie!" she said happily, floating on her back. "Come eat it with me!"
"Aria! Get out of there, there could be something dangerous!"
"Actually," the Ai person said suddenly, "That water's safe. She's okay in there."
Aria could hear two sets of paws splash in to the water and start stroking through the water towards her. It was Ai's brother...Des...Des.......Des. She'd just go with Des - who reached her first. He dipped under the water, disappearing for a few moments before bursting through the water behind her. Aria giggled and then took a bit of the fish she'd caught. Ai reached her second and snatched the fish from her, taking a bite and handing it back. Aria pouted at that.
"C'mon Dimmie! Join us!"
There was a long pause, and then finally "Okay, fine."
A moment later he was beside her, taking the fish from her grasp and swimming away.

Aria {5} Dimitri {4}

Aël {4} Desrei {4}

[Kitty]

"Des, we should get to bed soon. It's night time, starting to get past my bed time." Aël yawned as she floated lazily on her back towards her brother and their new friends. Desrei lifted his tail and brought it down hard, splashing water all around him. Aël flailed and spun on to her stomach, sputtering and wiping her face off. "Hey!"
"C'mon sis, stay up a bit later. Have some fun!" Desrei laughed, diving under the water. Aël shook her head and flitted lazily towards Dimitri, who was resting on a rock, eating a fish with his sister. Apparently the two hadn't had any dinner, as Aria had gone running off from their tribe while they were hunting.
"It's amazing," Dimitri said around a mouthful of fish scales and meat, "I mean, the amount of fish. So many."
"Yeah, since it's only my brother and I who hunt in this pond, they're able to thrive. We've tried hunting in other places, but we can usually only get two to three catches. But here...well we can just swing a paw and eat!" she said happily. She happened to turn in time to catch Aria dive from her spot beside Dimitri. A moment later, her head appeared from the darkness. She mumbled something about "catchin' another" but her voice was cut off by a deep, menacing and loud grumble farther down the tunnel. Aël paused, paws shivering in the water. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. The sound was gone.
"What...was that?" Dimitri asked, on his feet again. His own fish was held between his right paw and the rick now. Aël shook her head.
"We're not sure...but it never comes any closer. So don't worry."
"Don't worry??" Dimitri started angrily but the sound of splashing at the far end of the pond caught all of their attention. Aria. Again. She'd gone towards the sound. Of course. Aël understood now how the two had ended up down here, and also wondered how they hadn't found this place before.
Once again, the three of them took off after the air-headed Likuta.

Aria {6} Dimitri {5}

Aël {5} Desrei {5}

[Kitty]

Dimitri let out a frustrated sigh as he swam full speed towards the other end of the tunnel, where is sister was stupidly heading. He could hear their two new friends following him, their paws and tails splashing about as they attempted to keep up. He realized they wouldn't be strong swimmers if this pond was the only place they swam. Aria and Dimitri, along with their tribe, all hunt and swim in the quickly flowing rivers between the small lakes up above. A lot of the time they would have to hunt for a few hours at a time, moving upstream and downstream to catch enough fish for the families to eat. Even the air-headed Aria was a better swimmer than a lot of their tribe.
Dimitri reached the water's edge and pulled himself out of the water, not bothering to shake himself free of the wet stuff before he took off after Aria again. Paw steps followed soon after, signalling the pursuit of the other two. Dimitri didn't stop running until he could see the tip of Aria's tail round the corner, hear the tiny bells jingle as she bounced along. He picked up the pace, completely frustrated with how Aria was acting today. She was worse than usual. She'd almost always be tired by now.
There was a loud skid, the bells furiously going off as Aria's tail seemingly wiped about. Finally a thud, and then silence ensued. Dimitri dashed around the corner and slid to a stop just in time to see it -a drop about three times his height, followed by a bunch of much smaller drops and then finally, an unmoving Aria way down at the bottom of it all. Dimitri danced around the top of the first drop, back and forth, looking for a way down. He kept calling to his sister but she didn't respond. Finally the other two caught up to him.
"Where is she?" Desrei asked as he peered down, squinting. Aël dipped her head, touching Desrei's shoulder and gesturing with her nose.
"All the way at the bottom, on the right there."
"Did she fall all that way, really?"
Dimitri nodded. "She's not moving. I'm worried..."
"Find any way down?" Aël asked, glancing at Dimitri who was bobbing his head up and down as he moved back and forth.
"No. Looks like I'll have to just jump."
"Be careful..." Aël said. Dimitri spun around and started lowering himself over the edge, hanging by his front paws so that his back paws were as close to the ground as possible. Finally, he let go, falling for only a second and landing with a small thud. It surprisingly didn't hurt. Dimitri glanced upwards, sitting up on his back legs.
"It's not that bad." he paused and then glanced behind him at his sister, then back at his two new friends who were peering over the edge at him. "I understand if you want to wait there. Who knows if we'll be able to make it up again."

Aria {7} Dimitri {6}

Aël {6} Desrei {6}