Noctisardor Bypass Are you sure she's a chick? And not a guy? Or like, part guy part shark?

So Spook and Pheiros had gone on their adventure and returned at this point. He'd retrieved a few treasures (and stashed them) but at this point he was trying to figure out a few other things -- namely, if there was any way to make his father and brother come back quicker. Arbiter had been quiet about it, but it didn't take a fool to figure out their absence was bugging her.

But what could he do? Spook wasn't sure. There had to be something. He looked up at the overcast sky, then down again. He was heading towards the northern borders. He sort of had a couple of thoughts that might help, but he wanted to check things out and plan a bit to make sure. Not to mention, @Brouhaha was probably gonna show up if he was gonna do it right now. He had a couple of decisions to make about exactly what things he needed to bring anyway. So you know, very exciting wandering about.

It looked like the clouds were thinking about making trouble, but despite their brooding aspect the youngest of the Dokuga bitches was heading out to make some trouble of her own. She'd stopped by briefly to take a peep at the excavation project that she'd embarked on over the last few months, but hadn't stayed underground much longer than it took to give it a quick nose over. Unbeknownst to her as she emerged into the weak sunshine she did still have a telltale smear of loamy earth featured prominently on her face however.

Brou gave her pelt a quick, impatient shake to settle it and then stepped out briskly. If the weather was indeed gonna Do Stuff she wanted to make sure she got some more-exciting stuff of her own in before it really got going and like as not drove her back indoors, knowing her luck. She started wandering northward, putting the darkest of the clouds mostly at her tail, and then pricked up her ears in interest as her twitching black nose caught wind of a scent she hadn't spotted a fresh trail of in at least a few days. Spook—huh. And since it had been a bit since she'd set eyes on him, and the trail was pretty recent, and she was nosily curious what he was about up northward here on their new turf, Brou started off after him. It only took a little while for the boy to appear up ahead. —Aha. Target acquired.

Oh hey there, bro! she chirped, casting a suspicious eye over his dawdling black and white form as she slid up beside him, not too close but not too far. She didn't see any of his precious little weird treasures clutched between his jaws, but didn't discount the possibility that there still might be something worth examining more closely for herself concealed somewhere and held herself close enough to readily pounce, just in case. What're yooooou up to today? she cooed, hoping he'd hand her some sort of adventure hook. She was bored and tired of staying put and behaving, and surely if Spook was meandering all the way up here he must be thinking of something that'd be worth her horning in on. Or at least more entertaining than sitting around at home keeping on stewing in her own boredom. Seen any big bad murderers about? Hahaha.

I think I have used the maximum numbers of words today. I am running out of brain. XD

Oh great, and of course his sister had to appear out of nowhere. At least right now what he was up to wasn't anything she could outright interfere in. He had to be careful in that aspect. She'd just mess things up... Like she always did. His response, for once, was more sharp than it otherwise might have been. I'm trying to figure out if we can find Dad and Pike, duh. Did you even notice? It was too weird. Things felt strange without them. They needed to be back home! Murderers were supposed to go after you, not them. Seriously, it wasn't time to joke around! They totally needed to figure out how to get their dad and brother back. Not that he had a single clue where to start. Chances were their mom would rather they stay close now anyway. Argh! He wish the stars could talk -- not that the skies ever seemed to clear, nor was it night right now, but maybe they could somehow carry a message for him. It was a dream. Unlikely to ever happen.

Brainage is overrated, all know this

Brou rolled her eyes as hard as she could. Ugh. Brothers. Why did anyone ever have to spawn such horrible little hellions and inflict them on the world, seriously. Of course I've noticed, she snipped back with impatience. Such a stupid question hardly even merited an answer. And whaddaya mean if? Dad can take care of himself, sheesh. And his biggest problem right now is probably detaching Pike's teeth from his own pelt, so it's not like our brother's gonna get lost while he's out with 'im either.

She half-turned her head and gave her other brother a squinty-eyed look. And besides which, since all these murderers are apparently after me it's not like they're in any real danger anyway, riiiight? Sheesh. You're practically turning into Mom these days, you worrywart. What're you gonna do to help even if you find 'em, anyway, huh? Was Spook deluding himself into thinking he was some kind of superhero? That would actually have been pretty funny, given how much of a coward he'd always been at heart, even if he did seem like he might have outgrown some of that nonsense by now. Not that she meant to encourage this if it meant he was starting to learn to really stand up to his sister, of all people. Nope: she'd keep jumping to shut down any notion he mighta had that she wasn't at least his equal in every way and almost certainly his better in quite a lot of them. She doubted he really meant to engage in any heroics but if he by some miraculous chance did Brou wanted to be sure she'd be there so she could hog all the credit.

They were supposed to be back. Even she's saying that! he huffed, sharply. Mom's supposed to teach us stuff, not have to go look for them. Of all the things that had happened, this seemed to be boosting Spook's willingness to speak up the most, or at least that seemed to be the case with his sister.

I dunno, I'm working that out, but there's gotta be something. You obviously can't think of anything so you're just not going to try! He scowled at her, daring her to think up some plan because she just didn't care, did she? Spook wanted his dad back. And it was okay if his brother showed up too, even if he got bullied by Pike a fair bit too. He wanted Arbiter to pay more attention to him, even if he wasn't as young and helpless as he used to be -- he wanted to show off how he was totally an adult and able to do stuff, but if she was distracted, maybe she just wasn't seeing it...

So they've been delayed some, big deal, said Brou, who really didn't want to think about the potential consequences of Dad actually getting into real trouble. Or Pike either, she supposed, though he (unlike her, naturally) was young and dumb and always getting himself into all sorts of minor trouble; it made a lot of sense that he might have to be rescued from himself by one or another of their poor put-upon parents. In fact Brou would have bet that that was probably exactly what had happened— Pike had gotten them into some dumb problem or another which had distracted Dad and kept him from coming home on time. Simple, right? Nothing to worry about. Except for Mom being mad but, well, Brou figured Dad could handle that a lot better than any pup, too, so.

I'm not the one who thinks I need to go running off after them. Sheesh. How thick do you have to be to not have any idea of what you're even gonna do if you do find them, dumb-dumb? Are you really trying to get me to do all your thinking for you? Pppffffft. Brothers. They thought they were so much more subtle and smart than they in fact, were. You're obviously the one who hasn't learned a thing from Mom. You can't even smell anything of neither one of them here. You're just gonna get yourself lost, and both Mom and Dad mad at you, idiot.

His tone was sharp, Some? Nah, this was way more than some. Tons more. Like what the hell happened to them type of "some," nothing normal. His fur spiked a little rather like a cat -- not quite the whole bottlebrush effect because it wasn't maximum drama, but still... And that's the problem, duh. Why don't you think anything's wrong?! Do you just not care? How could she think so little of them! They were family. We all should be out looking for them! Why don't you care?! It was absolutely outrageous. Did mom know she thought so little of them?

oboy, have another iffy post >.>;; At least THIS one's fairly complete and more than a sentence and actually able to be replied to when convenient, heh. ;P 

Yeah sure Mom'll be thrilled by all of us getting lost out looking for them on top of Dad 'n' Pike being so late, you numbskull. Brou bristled up and down her spine herself as she sneered back at her other brother. She was completely convinced that that was what was going to happen to Spook should he miraculously muster up the courage to truly start thoroughly hunting for their dad. Really, she as the obviously more responsible and mature and smart one here was probably doing him a favor in trying to discourage him! And Mom too, since that was who was going to eventually have to go find him if he did in fact get his fool self lost. Spook really shoulda been the one who'd been forced to keep his butt at home, if anything, if you asked her. Even IF they are somehow in trouble, which you don't know, that still begs the question of what YOU are gonna do about it even if you do somehow manage to find them without being able to hear or smell a thing of where they are, you dunderhead. Brou stepped closer to aim a good hard accusing prod of the paw at her brother, and maybe poke some sense into the brat in the process.

Of course, they had no ability to be able to tell what was actually going on so far away. It was rather unfortunate, really. Or perhaps fortunate because then Spook didn't know the truth -- for now, at least. But right now his sister was irritating the absolute heck out of him! He glowered at her, his words staccato, I don't know but I'll at least think of something. That's better than anything you seem willing to do. Take that! Even if he didn't have a firm plan. Being willing to do something was better than anything Brou seemed to be bringing to the table.

He turned and started to stalk away from her, but in all honesty this was the place he was entirely expecting her to do something. Something totally unproductive, but definitely annoying.

Oboy have another crappy lil placeholder post  <.<;;  Feels like I should tweak/add a bit yet, but will have to do until I actually get to sit down with something with a real keyboard sometime in the next few days, or at least have two hands free for fixing things up via phone. Rar!

Pfuh, and I thought Mom said I was the impulsive one always running off without a plan! Brou tossed her head disdainfully. Brothers. Yeesh. She was certain Pike would have been just as obtuse and annoying were he here— and being unable to conceive of something truly awful happening to him or worse yet Dad, Brou was able to brush off the possibility almost out of hand to keep concentrating on the annoying brother present in the here and now right in front of her. I'm sitting here trying to keep my other brother from being supremely stupid but apparently that doesn't count and gee, it's not working anyway, is it? Hmmph!

 She scowled at him, but since his back was turned the effect was sadly spoiled. So she leapt forward to pounce on him and give his handiest ear a reproving bite before she'd let him leave, so there. Odds were pretty long that it'd toothsomely knock any sense into him, but just try and let him say she wasn't taking any action NOW, huh? Then she'd leap back and bestow her most theatrical scowl upon him, so it could be properly seen and appreciated this time.

Yep, there it was. He could hear her coming -- that was the benefit of snow, it wasn't exactly silent. 

It wasn't unusual for him to try to use his own teeth to try to get her to let go -- but that's usually all it was, a quick strike to make him not seem too much of a pushover, even if he was at heart. No, this time he was actually angry at her he was pretty sure she was just being a stupid brat who didn't care about anyone... Was it wrong of an assumption? Maybe. He didn't live in his sister's mind (thankfully).

He flinched right as she struck, but he turned back on her even as she bit onto his ear. He wasn't aiming, but he wanted to knock her off her metaphorical high horse, throwing his not-amazingly-high weight at her. It wasn't the way he'd been taught or anything. It was just the bullied kid finally taking a wild swing when finally pushed over the edge.

quickly inserts lame-o placeholder post, facepalming
I think this post's done now, or done enough. ...RL can go to hell...so long as it stops taking my posts all with it. irritable squint

She was getting—or had long ago gotten—somewhat predictable, here. She landed her chomp but her brother was ready for her, and got in a toothy response of his own. He mostly got fur but as Brou lept back there was a pinch of skin she left behind attached to the black tufts, and a telltale trickle of blood that started to make the tiniest red river down the side of her neck. She scowled even more horribly at Spook than she had planned, to stomp her forefoot angrily as she tried to ignore the stinging of her small wound and conscience both.

You are such a—! she started to say, only to be tumbled off her feet with a sudden squeak of surprise. The teeth she could have guessed Spook might use, but she had not expected the wimpier of her brothers to try bulling her right off her feet. Which meant she hadn't braced herself at all and as a consequence tumbled down into the dirt fairly easily, limbs flailing in the wild but none-too-well directed hope of landing of at least landing another retaliatory blow on her brother on her ignominious way down.

To a certain point he wasn't sure how all of it happened. When things were all out of focus like that, it just happened without much thinking. He didn't want to keep fighting her -- he'd taken his swings and now was done. He just wanted to retreat and be done with it all. So in shoving her away, down, he'd lost a chunk of his own neck fur that had come away in her teeth. It stung, but would more later when he wasn't so hyped up on adrenaline. Everything isn't about you! was all he spat.

Still bristling, he wasn't going to linger much more than that, scampering away before she (hopefully) had time to get to her feet. Sure, Brou could always follow, but she wouldn't get the friendliest reception if she tried.

possibly to be edited/added to a bit more later

Brouhaha flailed her way back up again, fuming to herself and getting in her own way somewhat in her overboiling frustration. How dare he! Hadn't he listened to a single word she'd said?! Why, this was the exact opposite of selfishness, if anything! Here she was trying to keep him from making a stupidly big mistake and make sure all the rest of them knew where one another were and didn't go haring off who-knew-where on wild goose chases so that their family would all be together again once Dad and Pike inevitably did show back up again and come looking for their respective kids/siblings. Right? Right. But her gyrating limbs and terrible positioning were raising enough dirt clouds in the supremely ungraceful process of righting herself that she'd only have gotten a spluttering mouthful of dirt trying to justify all this to her other brother, here, so she held her tongue as she regained her feet and by then it was too late anyway. She stood there steaming for a long moment, her eyes throwing daggers at Spook's hastily retreating backside as she chewed on her words for a bit and sought the perfect comeback.

It didn't come to her, naturally. When did these things ever show up when needed, after all? Stupid brothers! she roared after him, rocking up on her tiptoes with her fur abristle and her face twisted into a disgusted snarl. She could have run after him, sure, but it seemed somewhat pointless, and only likely to get her into possible trouble as well—and not the fun kind, either. ...It didn't take too long after Spook beat a retreat for her fur to droop back down and her face to slump back from quick-sparking anger into mere unhappiness. Her tail nigh dragged itself back into the dust as she in turn turned her back on Spook, stomping a step or two before the heart went out of her and she despondently trailed her way home.