cheater cheater firefly eater

Tyrian dropped to his belly in the long grass, his eyes fixed on the telltale flicker of yellow light hovering over a nearby cattail. He needed a veritable butt ton of fireflies if he was going to win. And he really wanted to win.

His rump rose as he prepared to pounce and wiggled from side to side as he shifted his weight from paw to paw just like Zahir had showed him. 3...2...1gogogogo!

Tyrian pounced on the lightning bug with both front paws. He stamped it to the ground and then eagerly flipped his paws over to inspect the damage.

There was nothing there. Not even a hint of guts between his toes. Damn bug.

Tyrian rolled his eyes over to Zahir and then eyed her up and down. His face scrunched up in a sly look she knew all too well so Zahir flattened her ears at him and stared back. Her expression very clearly said ‘NO.’ and to emphasis her point her tail lashed from side to side irritably.

”Zahir....” he said in a singsong voice.

She narrowed her eyes at him. ”No. I’m not playing.”

”Pleaaase...”

Silence as she looked pointedly elsewhere.

”PleeEEEEEaaaase...pleasepleaseplease...” He crept closer, rested his chin on her shoulder and looked up at her with soft, sad eyes. ”I’m asking nicely and everything! One bug...”

Zahir pursued her lips and then looked down at him. She held up one paw. ”One catch.”

With a whoop Tyrian took off and did a victory lap around the clearing. As he got back to Zahir, he and his companion both noticed a cloud of fireflies rising off the grasses nearby and pounced after them.