Lying in Wait

Bell pepper tastes best when stolen from someone else

Cannoli is usually the first up to the second level for morning pepper.  Pinniped takes her time, if she bothers at all.  She had been begging from the first level, but recently she's done one better.  Cannoli always grabs the pepper, turns around and bolts to the corner of the first floor.  She pauses before leaping from the second level.  Pinni took advantage of that hesitation and grabbed the pepper from Noli before she jumped.

The first time or two this happened, Noli was under the hammock before she realized the pepper was gone.  Confused, she searched for a while before returning to me for another piece.  Or worse, she'd try to wrest the pepper back from Pinni, which was a losing deal.  I think at first Pinni just happened to take advantage of the opportunity.  Later she often sat waiting without any intention to beg.  Why bother waving your nose about when your roommate just hands over the goods?

The last time this happened, Noli managed to hang on to the pepper while jumping to the first floor.  After a brief tug-of-war, she won the pepper and forced Pinni to beg for hers.  Since then, Pinni has not successfully stolen pepper from Noli.

I tried several times to capture the pepper stealing in action, but filming disrupted the routine.  Even so, the unsuccessful footage caught their eagerness and goofiness.  In the first clip, Pinni focused on getting the pepper but missed.  The camera became too much of a distraction in the subsequent attempts.