Total Wordcount: 5702 (includes the part written before SocNoc)
Percentage: 2.9%
Not a very auspicious start - but it is cold and I am tired and not really able to concentrate. I think it will be time for an early night and a good book, actually. Spent a bit of time researching sifakas, and discovered that there is a facebook page dedicated to one of them. Also, I'm developing the characters a bit, instead of jumping straight into the main plot.
I've changed the character's names. Katta seems pretty blah for a ringtailed lemur (Lemur katta) so she is now Karazana - the Malagasy word for "Kindness" and Ysabeth has been renamed "Aurelia" which is latin for "golden". Initially Ysabeth was called "Isabelle" but I decided to change that, least someone think I actually enjoyed "Twilight". Abnyhow, the maki twins still call her "Fotsy" which is Malagasy for "white", like her fur.
Extract:
“I betcha can't jump across to the roof of that hut from this hut,” little sister challenged. The three lemur kits were perched atop one of the dwellings. Karazana and Reniko were weaving baskets, and watching them from a distance.
Aurelia stared at the ringtail, her blue eyes holding scorn. “I betcha I can,” she declared.
“No,” little brother interjected, “don't try Fotsy, it's too far.”
“Fotsy's not my name,” she snapped, cuffing him in the shoulder. “My name is Aurelia. It's the name my real mama gave me.”
“Aurelia's a silly name,” little sister snapped. “It's a name for a princess, not a scruffy little kitling who can't even walk.”
“At least I've got a name,” Aurelia replied.
Little sister's fur bristled. The twins rather resented that Aurelia had been born with her name, yet they did not have theirs yet, and would not, unless they survived another moon. She lunged at Aurelia. The two lemurs rolled together in a ball of white and grey.
“No, stop,” little brother cautioned. “You'll fall!” He ran back and forth across the rooftop. “Reniko,” he called, “Karazana! They're fighting.”
Both female lemurs sprang to their feet, surging forward to stop the fight. They were too slow. The tussling two slid to the edge of the hut. Little sister grasped the edge at the last minute, stopping herself from falling, but Aurelia slipped over the edge.
“Vonjeo!” Karazana cried, leaping forward in an effort to catch the tumbling kit. Aurelia had slid feet first, and she rose her arms as though they were wings. Her scrawny tail plumed out behind her. Her feet hit dirt first, knees bending to take most of the impact and propelled herself up again. Leaping through the air, she bounced once more, and then sprang straight into Karazana.
“I'm not a walker,” she declared. “I'm a bouncer!”
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