Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better Apr 21, 2020 14:51:03 GMT Cheetah likes this

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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 14:51:03 GMT

(ooc: Set a couple of days after the festival ends, at night. Closed to @kijana and @dogo.)

The territory was strange to her. She was at least vaguely aware that she had passed in to Thorn territory, but she wasn't actively looking for trouble. As long as she could keep up the cute and innocent 'lost pup' act, she was sure that no one would pay her much mind as she padded along. Besides... she was there for a reason. She and Dogo hadn't really been meeting up with one another that much recently. Their family had suggested they work on their solo tactics a bit. While that was all well and good, Kijana felt the need to check in with her brother. He was one of mom's favorites, after all. It made sense to her that, if she could find him, she see how he had been holding up in that area.

She'd caught his scent a couple of days prior, but hadn't chosen to follow it. The scent had gone stale since then, so she'd originally been a bit lost as she wondered where to look. The only reason Kijana had thought to look for him in Paris was talk from some local animals living on the outskirts. Some had said something about a strange looking dog. Since Kijana wasn't an idiot, she assumed that must have been her brother. She and he could pass for dogs if one wasn't up to snuff on local African wildlife, after all.

She padded along the cobblestone ground and kept her ears perked. Any sound that happened to fill the air could have been Dogo passing through the area or, she reasoned, but there was a specific signal their mother had taught them. If he could see her, Kijana felt certain she'd hear a series of yips that came one after another after another. Even if he didn't sound the cry, she could do so herself to let him know she was there. Honestly? She was considering doing that as she rounded a corner and headed toward an alleyway.

Her gaze shifted to the left, then to the right again. No immediate signs. Well, she figured it was as good a time as any. Her tail started to wag a bit and, before long, she was hopping up and down.

"Yip, yip, yip, yip!"

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better May 8, 2020 22:01:45 GMT

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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2020 22:01:45 GMT

He could get used to this kind of life, Dogo figured.

It was true that he probably shouldn't be out this far from home. And he certainly shouldn't have been staying this far out, all on his own; but really, what jackal pup could resist opportunity when it came calling? He'd originally only intended to slip away from the Outlands for the day, poke around, and come on back home that night, but... somewhere along the way, Dogo had got rather sidetracked.

Because man, were these humans ever gullible.

All it took was a few words, the good old wide-eyed stare, and a little tail wag, and so many of them fell for him in a heartbeat. Pretending to be sweet had never been so easy; or so profitable, the silly creatures would practically roll over for him, give him whatever he asked for... and it was ever so, so easy to turn that into letting him take far more than they'd possibly ever intended to part with. Some of them even seemed perfectly willing to fall for his tricks more than once, which Dogo couldn't quite believe... but also wasn't about to object.

He was living like a king, practically, and while the young pup was aware that he really should get back to Mom, let her know exactly what sweet pickings he'd found here...

Dogo also wasn't altogether keen on the idea of sharing his good fortune with his siblings.

Nothing against his brothers and sisters, of course. Mom always said that when you invited one jackal, you invited them all, and Dogo was always more than happy to play the role of the initial invitee... but technically no-one had invited him here, he was just carving his own little niche in the city. And besides... not to sound full of himself, but he simply was the best of the family at what he did.

His siblings just... didn't have that same knack that he had. Sure, they could look cute too - though Dogo fancied he was a little way ahead of them even there - but they didn't have the same head for the task. He'd seen some of them, back home, just taking anything they could lay paws on with no regard for sneakiness; and Dogo had a private feeling that, were they to follow him here, they wouldn't make anything like the good impression on the people here that he had. Too many pups, all playing the same trick in the same place, would just get all of them kicked out. Even here.

Which was why it was at least a little unwelcome to hear the familiar yip of another pup calling for him.

Not about to abandon the large hunk of meat, still on the bone, that he'd stolen from an unsuspecting vendor's cart earlier that day, and had been chowing down on contentedly ever since, Dogo hefted the whole thing in his jaws. Of course, there was no way he wasn't going to respond to the call, even if it meant he was ultimately going to have to share his prize; and just a few moments later saw Dogo rounding a nearby corner to find his sister.

Kijana was probably Dogo's closest sibling, both in age and in ability. Out of all their family, the two of them showed the most promise, according to Mom, which meant she often put them through the same training together, with specific purpose. In fact, Dogo knew from experience that he and Kijana made a good team when they worked together; and as far as siblings went he had a lot worse ones than her.

As such, it wasn't even any effort to conjure a friendly welcome as he hopped closer.

"Oh hey, Kijana!"

If his words were a little muffled by the laden bone still clasped between his jaws, they weren't unintelligible... which was good, since he had no intention of putting his prize down where she might decide to try and relieve him of it.

"Did Mom send you to check on me? I'm doing great, I've been fooling the people here so good!"

He didn't even try to not sound proud of his accomplishment. Even if it was as easy as anything, well... Kijana didn't need to know that part.

Last Edit: May 8, 2020 22:01:59 GMT by Deleted

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better Aug 16, 2020 21:35:42 GMT

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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2020 21:35:42 GMT

There he was. She knew that sooner or later she would have found him, and the signal had done just the trick. When Dogo came out to see her, telling her of his accomplishments, she did feel the mildest pang of jealousy go through her. So that was what he'd been up to! It certainly seemed like he had learned the tactics of their kind well if he had been able to con the people living in Paris as easily as he claimed.

Did Kijana let the jealousy shine through, though? Not a chance. She put on her best jackal smile and let her tail beat back and forth. She loved her brother. Truly, she did. This was just the time when she needed to perfect the art of not letting frustration shine through.

Mom would have been so proud.

"Actually," Kijana said, padding a couple steps closer, "I came on my own accord. Couldn't just sit by and wonder how my favorite brother was doing." A little flattery went along way, she thought. Now was Kijana's time to hype up what she had been up to as well. She'd been a little bit of here, there, and everywhere. Paris, though, still was foreign territory to her. Dogo would have the upper paw if they both tried to compete there.

Compete... the thought did give her an idea. It was one she'd touch on soon enough, but not just yet. Her own exploits came first.

"As for me, I've been nicking things from travelers in the forest a ways from here," Kijana said. "You wouldn't believe how easily distracted travelers are. All I had to do was weasel my way into a storytelling session." She hadn't actually gotten that much from that particular exploit, but what Dogo didn't know wouldn't hurt him. It wasn't long before she was looking at him with her fluffy head tilted to the side, though.

"Too bad mom can't see how well we've been doing out here, huh." Kijana was still convinced Reirei was biding her time and waiting for the perfect opportunity to get at one army or another. She wouldn't dare question it beyond that. The thought did give her a lead in to her competition thought, should Dogo pursue it.

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Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better Mar 5, 2021 0:12:32 GMT

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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2021 0:12:32 GMT

"I appreciate the sweet talk, sis; but it's still not gonna get you anything off this bone."

Maybe he shouldn't have been calling attention to the thing, which would still take him a while to eat through it all yet - and which he had no intention whatsoever of sharing, not even with Kijana - but Dogo had figured that the matter would come up sooner or later, and he didn't want his sister getting any ideas. Besides, it was a giant ham bone almost as big as his head that was hanging out of his jaws, so Dogo was pretty certain that there was no way she hadn't already noticed it.

He kinda wished she'd go away - in the nicest possible way, of course - and let him eat in peace.

Somehow, maybe in part due to this line of thought, Dogo's pretend to be sweet act took a severe dip at times when he was just around his siblings. Perhaps because they were all wise to each others' game anyway, so there was no point to the act; or perhaps because, even as good as he was at it, disguising his true feelings all the time was still a little too much for such a young pup, and Dogo welcomed the chance to just be a bit rude when there was no-one around but his sister.

As such, he distinctly scoffed at her boasts.

"Yeah, too bad. But wow, distracted travellers? That must have been a real big achievement for you, huh." He layered the sarcasm on thickly. Candy from a baby, much?

Not that he'd been having much more difficult of a time of it - that was the jackal way, after all, to let others put in all the work - but Dogo at least fancied that he'd had more need than Kijana had to put Mom's teachings into practice: and that, in his mind, made his success all the better than hers. Case in point: one gigantic ham bone.

And what did Kijana have to show for her own efforts?

Yeah, that was what he thought.

"Now, here in the city, you really have to use your wits! You know, like I've been doing." He was well entitled to his own bit of boasting, Dogo figured. A mischievous glint danced through his blue eyes. "I bet you couldn't do half as well as I've done here: not if you're determined to just go for the easiest pickings like that."

Could this, possibly, end badly? Well... maybe. Dogo couldn't deny that, even if he was the sharpest and quickest learner of all his siblings, according to Mom, the fact remained that Kijana was a very close second place. She was bright and smart, too, and almost certain to take his words as a challenge, and then...

Well. As much as he loved his sister - and he did, he really did - Dogo would have no qualms about thoroughly showing her up if that did become the case.

((ooc: Do it, Kijana. Use your jackal tricks on your brother. See if you can get him to let go of that ham bone xP))