[centre][h1]The Wuhdige Tribe[/h1][/centre]

Rain drizzled through the great crack in the cave ceiling. Jotokan sat next to some dry sticks, a rock in each hand. With his tongue sticking out his mouth, he made diligent attempts at making the rocks spit on the sticks so they would catch fire. He sat there for a little while.

“Did you pick the right rocks?” came a familiar voice from behind. Jotokan shot a glance over his shoulder to see the familiar thick figure of Selenu. He gave her half-hearted shrug and struck the rocks together again. 

“Maybe not,” the chieftain mumbled and fell backwards onto his blubbery bum with a huff. His wife made a face and sat down next to him, grabbing the rocks out of his hand and giving them a go herself. As they sat there in a silence only broken by the [i]clack-clack[/i] of stone against stone, the chieftain’s eyes shone a ponderous glaze. His wife flicked a look over and smiled wryly. 

“This game’s really got you deep in thought, huh,” she went as one of the stones finally yielded a twinkling speck of spit. It was not enough to light the sticks aflame, but it was encouraging nonetheless. She increased her efforts with more frequent [i]clacks[/i] to the rhythm of Jotokan’s agreeing hum.

“... Yeah… Ain’t seen determination like that since, well…” He stopped and tugged thoughtfully at his whiskers.

“Since yourself in your younger days?” Selenu proposed with a sly grin.

“Kinda, I guess,” the chieftain agreed. “Was something about them eyes - had this fire in ‘em. I was pretty wrong about that boy - the Julus raise ‘em good. Still, I’m not sure how I feel about having them in the Home Cave.”

“You want Eel instead?” Selenu asked with a raised brow. Jotokan looked equally curious, if not a little appalled.

“That’s your brother, you know - your family, who might be living on the beach if he loses.”

Selenu made a momentary scowl that morphed into a frown. “I know that! I know, it’s just… Eel’s never been much. When we were pups, he never played any games with us - he always got big brothers Eole and Elueh to do all the hard work for him. He just got the nice stuff, like eating and sleeping. He really ain’t no true Wuhdige.”

Jotokan made a disapproving frown. “Not everyone gotta be a true Wuhdige, Selly, just… I mean, it’d be nice if everyone was, but that ain’t happening and you know it. True Wuhdige happen once or twice in a lifetime - everyone has some issues.”

Selenu pouted. She then looked up at Jotokan with round, affectionate eyes. “You don’t,” she said quietly and put her head on his shoulder. Jotokan snickered.

“I ain’t as strong as Duh,” he proposed. Selenu snorted a laugh and punched him playfully in the gut.

“He’s your champion! He’s supposed to be stronger, you fish-head!” 

Jotokan chuckled. “A’ight, a’ight, I give up!” The two giggled a bit to one another before another blanket of silence wrapped itself around them. After a minute, Jotokan went: “Champion, huh…”

Selenu looked up with a “hmm?” and Jotokan once more reached for the stone, smacking them against over another over the sticks. “Always was a bit hard for me to think why gramgrampa made such a role. Chieftain’s supposed to be the strongest in the tribe, but thanks to the champ, he never is. Makes you wonder why the champ ain’t chief.”

Selenu cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, watching her husband patiently hammer the stones together as if the seventy-eighth time would be different than the last. “I think they wanted it to be like a family, y’know.”

“Wha’chu mean?” said Jotokan as another speck of spittle sprang from the stones. Selenu shrugged.

“I ain’t no expert, but the chief got a lot of say in things - maybe some people want that power, to get to have a lot of say. The champ keeps the chief safe from those people, y’know.”

Jotokan nodded slowly. Selenu scratched her cheek. “Then, I think, it’s about honesty. Champs are supposed to say when they think the chief’s acting a bit weird, y’know, when nobody else want to say it.”

Again, the chief nodded slowly. “So like a brother, then, y’think.”

Selenu shrugged again. “Yeah, something like that. A brother you gotta build that bond with from the bottom again. Tests both the chief and the champ, y’know. Ain’t easy to accept a stranger as a brother, though nobody here is truly strangers, is they?”

Jotokan hummed as the rocks finally spat enough spittle to sear a dry leaf on one of the sticks. “I’unno, tribe’s getting pretty big nowadays. We spreading out more and more by the year, now.” He huffed. “I hope winter’s gonna be okay for those living outside. Lotta Wuhdige are in Julo’s position. If they have a bad time this year again, well… Might have more Julos knocking.”

Selenu huffed. “Won’t be long before someone challenges the Tokuans, then,” she mumbled. “Ours is the best spot in the cave, after all.”

“Yeah, hoping it won’t come to that,” Jotokan muttered as the rocks finally managed to produce the spittle needed to light the sticks aflame.

“Whey, nice,” Selenu snickered and shuffled a bit closer to blow on the embers while Jotokan added some more sticks and leaves.

“Hey, Selly?”

“Hmm?” the female hummed between blows. Jotokan gave her shoulder a caress and made some popping noises with his lips. 

“How goes the berry picking, by the way?”

Selenu sat back up, the fire now adequately sized for the two of them. The smoke crept upwards and escaped through the crack in the roof. She shrugged and cocked her head to the side. “It went a’ight today. Got some apples, some pears, a couple of raspberries and blueberries. No browncaps, though. Was hard to carry them all, too. Little Agye kept dropping her blueberries in the sand.”

“Did she carry them in her hands all the way?” Jotokan asked with a furrowed brow.

“W-well, how else was she supposed to carry them? With her feet? In her mouth?”

“N-no, no! ‘Course not. Is just… Why didn’t you use a stretcher or something?”

Selenu gave him an appalled look. “Joto, stretchers are for dead people. You really want our food on those?”

Jotokan frowned. “No! Was just thinking, y’know, could maybe carry more food if you had, like, a mini-stretcher or something - y’know, like a… A…” He snapped his fingers as he thought of a good word. “A tray?”

“A tray?” Selenu repeated skeptically. “You mean like a board?”

“Yeah, yeah! Like a flat thingy that you can put other thingies on so you won’t have to keep them in your hands or mouth.”

Selenu leaned her mouth on her fist as she thought. “Y’know, maybe that could work… Get some sticks, bind ‘em with seaweed… Put some berries on it. Poof! A board of berries!”

“Exactly!” the chieftain cheered. Selenu suddenly raised an inquisitive finger. 

“Wait, what if the berries roll off?”

Jotokan’s smile gave way to a flat mouth and he hummed. “Uhm… You could try to make it… Deeper?”

“A deep board?” Selenu said skeptically. “You just said it would be flat!”

“Look, I changed my mind, okay? It would be better deep!” the chieftain proclaimed.

Selenu sighed. “A’ight, a’ight, you stay here and I’ll see what me and the girls can whip up.”

The chieftain nodded approvingly and Selenu set off out of the cave to experiment with containers. Jotokan sat staring into the fires with no heed for time, brooding with a fist in his mouth.

“Pa?” came a voice from the cave mouth and the chieftain turned to see his oldest son Aloo carrying a whole cod. The chieftain blinked. “Oh, hey, Aloo! What’re you doin’ here? You hungry?”

“Y-yeah, pa, ‘course. It’s dark out.” 

The chieftain peeked out. “Oh, huh. Sorry, son, your ol’ pa got a little carried away. Been thinkin’ a bit, ‘s all. Here, come here. Fire your fish.”

Aloo smiled wryly and waddled over. He sat down, impaled his fish on a nearby stick and held it over the fire. They sat in silence for a moment before Jotokan asked, “So, what’ve you been doin’ today, son?”

There was a shrug. “Y’know, the usual. Odue wanted to play catch again, so we played for a while. Then Egee got mad ‘cuz Agyo threw her rock at his head. Odue and I had to break up the fight.”

“Huh… They calm down in the end?”

Aloo shook his head. “Nah, they got pretty angry next round, too, and ruined the rest of the game, kinda why I’m here to eat.”

The chieftain shook his head. “Ain’t good sportsmanship to get so angry over a game. How’s Egee doin’ nowadays, actually?”

Aloo frowned with pursed lips. “He’s worried. He knows his pa’s a wuss and--”

“Son, we don’t say mean things about tribesfolk, a’ight?”

“But he is! He ain’t no true Wuhdige!”

“Ssshhh! Not so loud,” Jotokan cautioned and looked over his shoulder towards the cave mouth. “... Yeah, alright, Eel’s a bit of a… Wuss, but he’s accepted the challenge and he’s gonna take it in a two days. He even chose the challenge himself! If he’s good at one thing, it’s eating!”

Aloo made an unconvinced frown and looked back into the flames. “Egee’s pretty upset, anyway. He doesn’t wanna live on the beach. People apparently get really cold at night out there…”

“Yeah… Can’t imagine what it was like before gramps found stone-spit.” Jotokan poked around in the fires with an evergreen branch, its little pines letting off a burnt incense. Aloo bit into his cod and gnawed on it passively. He looked up at his father multiple times and huffed occasionally until his father blinked down at him with a partial frown. “What?”

“Was just thinking about Egee’s uncles and brothers… What if they got really into the competition and Eel loses? What if they all get real angry?” The young selka bit into the cod’s cheek and chewed with furrowed brows. Jotokan made a face.

“What of it? They’ll calm down like any good Wuhdige would and that’ll be the end of it.”

Aloo shook his head. “No, I-... I don’t think they will… Egee’s already really mad all the time, and I think his brothers aren’t much different. I heard Egii went over to the Julu camp and started lobbing rocks at their roofs.”

“What?!” Jotokan exclaimed and grabbed his son’s shoulders. “What else? What happened then?!”

The young selka wiggled left and right, momentarily stunned by mighty shakes by his father. Eventually, though, he formed the reply: “I-I-I-I dunno! I think he snatched up lil’ Joppo and went to beat her up--!”

Jotokan was already at the cave mouth before Aloo could finish his sentence. Swiftly, he ran over to Duhwah at the beach and explained the news. Then, together with ten hunters and the champion, the chieftain stormed into the woods, the spectacle attracting quite the crowd. It did not help that it already had gotten dark - they searched with primitive torches at first, and when they burned out, they resorted to their eyes. Jotokan, his brother Joku, and his cousin Toko, son of Tokuhe, formed a scouting team of three who surveyed the western reached of the woods, the area closest to the Julu camp.

“... Darn it, I can’t see nothin’ in this dark,” Joku muttered. Toko hummed in agreement.

“Well, neither can I, but if y’all wanna actually find the girl, we gotta--”

There came an unintelligible shout from the north. Toko stopped the other two with an outstretched arm. “Did y’all hear that?”

“Hear what?” went Joku.

“... ieftain!” came a second shout. Toko pointed northwards. “It came from there! Let’s go!”

The three sprinted as fast as their stunted, chubby legs could carry them over stock and stone, under branch and leaf. The autumn moisture had begun to set in, a chill foreshadowing the events transpiring in the approaching clearing. Jotokan and his followers broke the treeline and witnessed six other shadows, all tracing back to six shapes before a great fire. Five of the shapes turned and four of them nodded in greeting.

“There you are, chief,” said Duhwah, his voice tainted by sorrow. Jotokan approached, but Dohn, brother of Duhwah, walked into his path and placed a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head and sucked in a breath. 

“Roughen your mind up, chief. It ain’t pretty.”

The chieftain furrowed his brow and approached the other figures, one of which began to wriggle. “Oi, chief!” came the familiar voice of Egii, followed by a few angry, yet teary breaths. Jotokan looked down at the familiar muscular shape. 

“Egii, what did you do?” the chieftain whispered in shock.

“What I had to do to keep my home,” he muttered regretfully. 

Jotokan blinked and pushed his way past the rest of the crowd.

There, before the bonfire, laid a small selka girl, barely old enough to no longer be considered a pup, her fur crusted with blood and her skin pocked with bruises. She still breathed, but it was faint and weak. The woods parted again and into the clearing came Julo, his wife Okeke, his eldest son Julu’e and his second oldest son, Jugu.

“JOPPO!” Okeke screamed and stormed past the crowd to embrace her daughter with frightened tears. Julo’s eyes grew so fierce one could even see his fury in the dark of the night, and it took three selka to hold him away from the kneeling Egii. 

“Why?! Why, you ugly lump?! Why did you go after my girl?!”

Egii’s hung head barely turned. “... Now you know what happens when you challenge the Elu, you krill.” The tall selka rose up and brushed off the hands of his shocked captors. “Forfeit the game, or more of your kids gonna get a beating.” He pointed at Julu’e, who was much too young to be here. “Next up, it’ll be your boy.” Julo grit his teeth and dragged and struggled against the three selka grasping onto his body.

“Oi! Egii!” Jotokan shouted and thundered over, pointing a finger straight into the face of male of roughly equal height, but of inferior musculature. “This ain’t okay. Not at all. You can’t do this over a game! It’s-... It’s against the rules!”

Egii snickered and glared at the chieftain. “The rules? I didn’t like doing this, but breaking the rules wasn’t why. The Elus belong in the Home Cave and no Julu gonna change that!”

Jotokan snarled. “No… Had you waited two days, a Julu probably couldna changed it… But an Elu just did.”

Egii’s eyes widened and he even recoiled a little. “Chieft-... What did ya say?”

“You heard me right, you dumb rock! ‘Cuz of your darn, dumbass stunt to try to scare away the Julus, you just got your family kicked out of the Home Cave! Go home and tell your family of your stupid, no-Wuhdige ways and pack up your things!” The chieftain folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t want no cheaters and beaters in my cave!”

Egii blinked and stood frozen for a moment. “No…” he suddenly whispered.

“Wha’chu say, stupid?” Jotokan snarled back.

“No! The Home Cave is Elu home! We ain’t leaviiiing!” With that, the giant sent a heavy right hook into Jotokan’s cheek and sent the chieftain smashing into the ground, where he laid for a moment. Duhwah’s eyes stood staring, then turned to Egii in a blood-red rage. The champion, along with the other present selka, all jumped at the assailant, hammering and pummeling the selka until the chieftain recovered his consciousness and yelled, “No! Stop!”

The fight broke up shortly after and the twelve selka formed a hateful circle around the broken body of Egii. Jotokan rose up and entered the circle, looking down at the hardly-breathing body with sympathetic, yet furious eyes. He looked to the others. “Take him to Eel. Tell him the Elus are out of the competition and that they gunna be sent to the old camp of the Julus.” 

The selka nodded and together picked up the male, carrying him into the woods. Julo, Okeke and Julu’e all sat around the limp, beaten body of Joppo. Jotokan approached at squatted down next to them. “She alive still?”

Okeke nodded with teary eyes. “Y-yes,” she cried, “thank Alae.” Jotokan nodded somberly and sniffed. He turned to Julo and Julu’e. 

“Julo. I might’a misjudged your family when we first met. Y’all might be rash, but at least you ain’t bad.” He looked over his shoulders. “The Elus might’a gotten too comfy in the Home Cave… ‘Bout time we switched them out.”

Julo’s rubbed his water eyes. “Chieftain, y’mean…”

“Yeah… Pack your things. Tomorrow, y’all moving into the Home Cave.”

The Julus collectively sniffed and nodded. “Thank you, chief,” Julo said with a shaky voice. “We ain’t gunna disappoint ya.”

[hider=The Serious One]
Selenu approaches Jotokan as he tries to make a fire and they discuss Julo’s determination in the upcoming games. They remark that such determination is part of the true Wuhdige way. They talk about the role of champion, which are basically chieftain bodyguards. During the chat, Selenu reveals that she is less than loyal to Eel and her Elu roots. Together, Selenu and Jotokan brainstorm baskets and trays for carrying mushrooms and berries. 

Later Aloo enters and shittalks Eel for not being true Wuhdige. Jotokan says one should never diss one’s neighbour, but kinda agrees he ain’t too awesome. Aloo drops some knowledge when Joto asks what he’s been doing all day and says the Elu kids are pretty tense about the challenge and are getting pretty aggressive. Finally, he drops that one of Eel’s brothers, Egii, has kidnapped Julo’s daughter Joppo and seeks to beat her up. Joto panics and gathers his boys to head into the woods after them. 

When they arrive, they find Joppo beaten and Egii subdued by the other half of the search team lead by Duhwah. Egii explains that he did it to scare off Julo when he eventually arrives, and Jotty ain’t havin’ none of this shit. He disqualifies the Elu and declares that they move the fuck out of his house. The Julu are given their new home in the Home Cave.
[/hider]

[hider=New Characters]
[b]Egii:[/b] Younger brother of Eel. A tall, powerful selka with an affinity for wrestling.
[b]Joppo:[/b] Daughter of Julo and Okeke, granddaughter of Odende.
[b]Julu’e:[/b] Eldest son of Julo and Okeke.
[b]Dohn:[/b] Younger brother of Duhwah and second strongest in the tribe.
[b]Joku:[/b] Son of Jokuanhe and Julempe and younger brother to Jotokan.
[b]Toko:[/b] Son of Tokuhe.
[/hider]