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Post by Lyonize on Jul 27, 2010 0:44:10 GMT
Maji followed Karensha as she dragged the carcass away but turned to take another look at the lioness with the scars and cuts. She lifted her head towards the carcass as if longing for something to eat but unsure if she should. The cubs head turned back and forth from Karensha to the lioness. Finally, Maji ran over to Karensha and grabbed her tail with his mouth and began tugging. When he knew he had gotten her attention, Maji let go and looked back at the lioness. He didn't want to let her go hungry like he had.
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Post by dakota on Jul 28, 2010 10:43:04 GMT
Karensha was puffing slightly from the weight of the carcess, she had thought the cheetah might have at least help her, seeing she made the point that it was food for all of them, but he just stood there silently, almost guarding the lioness.
Swallowing saliva quickly, she readjusted her teeth, so as to not make her jaw ache and was about to give an extra pull through the last lot of bushes when she could feel something grabbing at her tail. Frustrated karensha stopped and dropped her meal to the ground and turned her neck and head to see what had happened, only to find Maji staring at her and then looking back at the other two standing motionless.
"What Maji ?"
Staring at the cub and the look on his face, she finally realised that he wanted the others to follow them as well, but wasn't sure what to do about it.The snow leopard turned to Jabari with a straight face, and then let her eyes flick to the female and back again to him.
"You going to stand there all night or you going to bring your friend along back to where we were all camped before ? hmm....., I didn't go to all the trouble of getting fresh meat,just to let it spoil... it's for all of us to share, and by lookng at her, she needs some meat back on her bones."
Leaning down to the cub she nuzzled his cheek slowly.
" don't worry, she wont go hungry, the cheetah will be along shortly with her, you'll see. Now how about you keep using your strong muscles and lets get this back, then once I've eaten we can tuck you in for the night."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jabari didn't speak, he stood there watching the bedraggled lioness, he could see the tiredness in the way she tried to hold her body, saw the way she tried to move her blue fur down to cover her facial expressions, and a stirring of anger broke over him at who had tried to break her spirit and body.
Slowly he moved a few steps, still making sure he kept a reasonable space between them and paused.Keeping his voice gentle in case he scared her.
" You need to eat and nourish your body, you can't keep going like you are, I think you know that..... so, ladies first ?"
Jabari stepped back as if to let her pass
"You wont come to any harm while I am here , please come and join us ."
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Post by blaqknoise on Jul 28, 2010 19:36:19 GMT
"Or you could say that I look for a place where I actually am welcome to stay. Your kind has not been friendly to me, Basilisk. To be honest, you're the first lion for quite a while that I can speak with quite normally."
"That seems quite odd to me. I wouldn't have thought that being only half lion would be such a problem."
Basilisk then heard is stomach growl
"Hmm, perhaps I should have eaten something before coming back here. You hungry too, or are you good for now?"
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Post by Kirsui on Jul 28, 2010 20:01:12 GMT
"That seems quite odd to me. I wouldn't have thought that being only half lion would be such a problem."
Sera shrugged.
"Half breed is a half breed... It seems most lions like to think themselves above all others - no offence intended - and me having parts of lesser blood in me seems to annoy them for some reason."
The cheelion flicked her ears when Basilisk mentioned eating. She hadn't been hungry earlier today, but now that food was brought up she found herself slightly hungry. And so she found herself lifting her head from her paws and grinning faintly.
"I could use a bite of something, to be honest", she said.
"Shall we go out to see if there's some food available?"
" You need to eat and nourish your body, you can't keep going like you are, I think you know that..... so, ladies first ?"
The white lioness stared at the cheetah when he retreated slightly as if to allow her to pass. After a moment of staring she averted her gaze and nodded. The cheetah was right, she needed food and the leopard had offered them some...
She sighed and began walking slowly to where the snow leopard had gone with the food. While she walked she began to realize how tired she was. Every step she took was more difficult to take than the other, and only the thought of fresh meat kept her on her feet and walking.
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Post by dakota on Jul 29, 2010 10:14:49 GMT
Jabari waited patiently while she made up her mind , he was sure she would follow Karensha, but there was still a possibility she might take fright and bolt.
Not realising he was holding his breath, the cheetah let out a sigh when he saw her nod and start to move slowly off following the cub and snow leopard.
Watching her pointedly, he could see she was dragging her paws, it looked like all her remaining energy was being directed at getting herself to move her body forward. Moving up close behind her, Jabari kept his attention on her in case she fell, he'd be there to prop her up, all he needed from her was to keep moving along, they were so close to where she could finally rest and take some nourishment.
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Post by blaqknoise on Jul 29, 2010 21:13:43 GMT
"Half breed is a half breed... It seems most lions like to think themselves above all others - no offence intended - and me having parts of lesser blood in me seems to annoy them for some reason."
"None taken," Basilisk replied, "'Most' is the key word there, not all lions are like that."
"Shall we go out to see if there's some food available?"
"Yes I think we should."
Basilisk got up and started walking towards the cave entrance.
"You any good at hunting?" He asked looking back at Sera.
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Post by dakota on Jul 30, 2010 10:14:05 GMT
Finally Karensha pushed through the shrubery out into the open to where they had been lying around all day near the waterhole. Pausing the snow leopard looked for a place to lay the carcess as she didn't want it too near where they would sleep, and not to close to the water as well, she was very particular about keeping eating and living sections seperately as she'd seen germs spread quickly through prides all because of lack of common sense.
Dragging the gazelle, she moved over to her right where it looked like it was a path leading away from the waterhole and let it drop from her mouth onto the ground. Standing there she moved her jaw around in a circular motion letting all the muscles relax once more and her pink tongue came out and licked her lips, cleaning and also wetting them in the process.Turning she looked back to see the cub slowly walking, almost catching up with her.
"Maji .. come over here where I can see you."
It was dark from evening and they were also under overhanging branches, even though there was a half moon shining down on them and she could see the light reflecting on the water, but was still easy for little cubs to go missing.
Waiting till he was alongside, she then turned and leaned into the kill. Karensha's tummy gurgled at the same time she bared her teeth, the lips on her mouth pulling back and she ripped into the soft stomach of the dead animal and pulled away a chunk of meat. Moving back a few paces she lay her body down on the ground and tore at it, pulling away smaller pieces and chewing happily, it had beenquite a few days already that she had last tasted such a delicacy.
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Post by Lyonize on Jul 30, 2010 21:29:35 GMT
"You going to stand there all night or you going to bring your friend along back to where we were all camped before ? hmm....., I didn't go to all the trouble of getting fresh meat,just to let it spoil... it's for all of us to share, and by lookng at her, she needs some meat back on her bones."
Maji, was satisfied with Karenshas answer. He turned to the lioness with a smile and then begun to follow Karensha.
" don't worry, she wont go hungry, the cheetah will be along shortly with her, you'll see. Now how about you keep using your strong muscles and lets get this back, then once I've eaten we can tuck you in for the night."
Once again, Karensha called Maji 'strong'. The cub smiled again at the thought of being big and strong like a full grown lion. It was new to him. He held his head up high and tried to push his chest out further, trying to act as strong as Karensha made him feel. Maji didn't realize he had stopped walking for a moment until Karensha called out to him.
"Maji .. come over here where I can see you."
The cub looked up and scampered over to Karensha. It was dark but it wasn't too dificult to see because of the night vision he, as a cat, had. In the dim moonlight, his eyes reflected some light in a greenish color.
While Karensha ate the kill, he waited for the others to come and take part in the meal. He was still full from the fish that Karensha fed him. He couldn't eat meat anyway. Not yet. He was still too young. Maybe in a couple weeks or a month Maji could try eating meat. But for now, he would wander around still within sight of Karensha, looking for something to do.
The small cub was still fascinated by the thought of being a strong, brave king of the jungle like Karensha said. Once again, Maji puffed his chest out and tried to stand tall. This time, he tried to walk a regal looking stride. Lifting his paws well above the ground, he took one step after another, looking down as he did so at his paws as they touched the ground and came back up. He smiled and let out a small giggle as he did so.
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Post by Kirsui on Jul 31, 2010 13:45:06 GMT
"You any good at hunting?"
Sera grinned faintly as she got up from the cave floor and followed Basilisk.
"Mother was a cheetah", she said, clearly enjoying the thought of going for a hunt.
"When I was a cub food was tight, so she taught me to hunt from the day I could walk. I should do fine."
She glanced at Basilisk from her eye corner as the stepped out of the cave.
"And you? Are you any good yourself?"
The white lioness' slow walking speed finally brought her to where the snow leopard was with the cub and the food. She saw the leopard feeding already, and then she noticed the lion cub puffing out his chest and... walking very strangely. A faint smile touched the lioness' lips at the sight of him, but it faded away rather quickly as her attention set upon the food.
She hesitated. Should she just go for it, or wait for the leopard to signal it would be all right for her to eat? For a moment she looked like she would stay putt and wait, but the smell of fresh meat called her so strongly that she decided to just approach. She flattened her ears and held her head low, watching the leopard with her only eye for any sign of disapproval. She crouched down next to the carcass and opened her mouth slightly, but paused her movement before her teeth touched the meat. It looked like she was expecting to be swatted away from the meal, but when nothing happened she sunk her fangs into the carcass and carefully pulled out a piece. She then retreated quite fast and laid down to chew. She kept her head low and ears flattened, as if she was waiting for someone to come and snatch her food away.
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Post by blaqknoise on Jul 31, 2010 21:00:45 GMT
"When I was a cub food was tight, so she taught me to hunt from the day I could walk. I should do fine."
"I was just joking, but it's good to know how much experience you have. Seems you've been at it longer than I have."
"And you? Are you any good yourself?"
"Sure, I'm not amazing at it, but I always manage to get the kill in the end. The stealth part doesn't usually work for me, but I get one of them cornered. It's just a different style of hunting I guess."
He continued to walk with Sera down to the water. There were some good hunting spots near there.
"You can take the lead if you like. I assume you enjoy doing this more than I do."
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Post by dakota on Aug 1, 2010 11:24:31 GMT
Jabari moved up closer to her when she stopped, waiting while she in turn observed the snow leopard and cub, his eyes picking up the fact she kept her ears flattened and head held low.
He wasn't sure if she was going to take any of the proffered food or just turn and run, so the cheetah stationed himself so that he was blocking her way in case she did indeed bolt.
Finally he saw that she had ripped off some meat and had backed away, but she was lying there staring at it, and not doing much else.
Moving forward he himself tore at the carcass, enjoying the feel of juice smothering his teeth and lips and moved back , almost beside but leaving room in case she thought he was hemming her in.
" You can eat up now, I suggest you go slow to give your stomach time to digest the fact it now has food flowing in, or you'll loose the lot, but there's more where that came from if you want."
Jabari then turned his head away to enjoy his own meal, giving the lioness some privacy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karensha lay there swallowing her last piece of meat, she never liked to keep eating till her stomach bulged, she knew when enough was enough, she liked to be able to move fast and sure if she had to, not hindered by overeating.
Licking her paws clean, she turned and watched the cub prancing around, puffing out his chest, she'd be sad to see him go whenever his mother turned up to claim him, she really hadn't expected to have any 'caring tendacies' towards one so small.
Rising to her feet she wandered down to the water and lapped slowly, feeling her mouth rinse clean again and also wet her throat. Moving slightly she let the water flow over her paws and then one by one she made sure they were clean from blood, meat and any other remnants of the kill, it seemed it was a habit from long ago, one no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop herself from doing it, almost ironic if her father could see her now.
Moving back once she was clean, her eyes followed the cub as he still moved around lifting his paws high off the ground, his stance made her smile. Moving back to drier ground she could feel herself relax finally, then with her body stretching, Karensha lowered herself to the ground and rolled gracefully onto her back, her paws tucked down, her eyes staring up at the night sky.
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Post by Lyonize on Aug 1, 2010 19:43:17 GMT
The little cub walked about in his impression of a regal, strong lion while Karensha ate her meal. After a few minutes, Maji noticed that Karensha had gotten up and walked to the water to wash her paws. Maji walked toward her and followed her as she laid down on her back. The cub stood there and noticed she was looking up at the stars. He decided to join her. When he got down on his belly next to her, he rolled over a bit but was met by an unpleasant feel of a rock poking his back. Immediately, Maji got up and tried to find a more suitable place to lye down. When he looked back up at Karensha, he knew exactly the best place to lie down without the discomfort of rocks and dirt.
With a small leap, Maji wiggled himself up, trying to get on Karenshas chest. He used his hind paws to push himself off her arm and finally made it up on top of her. There, he laid down on his back to look up at the stars with her. It was warmer there than on the ground. Maji yawned and then something else caught his attention. It was the prevalent sound of Karenshas heartbeat. The sound was calming and made Maji more tired than he already was. Turning to his side, Maji put his ear to Karenshas ribcage so he could hear the sound better. The more he laid there, the more sleepy the cub got.
With the prevalent sound of Karenshas heartbeat that was his lullaby and the rise and fall of her chest that was his cradle, the cub fell asleep exhausted. He had not had a sleep as peaceful as this in a long time. Not even a stampede of elephants could wake him up.
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Post by Kirsui on Aug 3, 2010 12:39:21 GMT
"You can eat up now, I suggest you go slow to give your stomach time to digest the fact it now has food flowing in, or you'll loose the lot, but there's more where that came from if you want."
The white lioness was startled when the cheetah spoke to her, and she flattened her ears even more if possible when she turned to look at him with slightly widened eyes. It took a moment before his words actually registered with her, for at first she had thought he said she should not be eating. It was too late to signal to the cheetah that she had understood though, for he had already turned away and was concentrating on his own food.
She glanced at the snow leopard, but she was watching the sky and didn't notice her. The cub had wandered off to the leopard and was resting against the white cat. The lioness smiled faintly at the sight of him resting so peacefully, and then she finally turned her attention to her food. She did as the cheetah had suggested and took small bites, chewing them well before swallowing and taking another bite. She finished her meal slowly, and though it was tempting to go get some more she was afraid it would be too much and her stomach wouldn't be able to take it.
The white lioness licked her paws and lips clean, then turned her gaze at the water. Her ears perked up slightly as a thought came to her. She glanced at the cheetah, but he still wasn't looking at her, and the leopard was still watching the sky...
Quietly, she rose to her feet and walked to the water. She paused right at the water's edge, and carefully touched the water with one paw. It was cool, but it wasn't too cold. With a faint smile she walked into the water, and kept walking until only her head was above the surface. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of water around her. She still for a moment, before pulling herself completely underwater.
She remained there as long as she could, until the need for fresh air demanded she would surface. When she did, she walked a bit towards the shore and sat down in the water, and began to rub her fur clean of all the dust and dirt that had clung to it. She spent several minutes doing this, before she attacked her long hair and removed all the tangles and twigs out of it. When she was satisfied, she walked deeper into the water again and went underwater for a second time.
This time, when she surfaced, she was completely clean. Her hair was blue and her fur shining white once again. She walked to the shore and out of the water, shook her fur to get rid of the extra water, then laid down on the soft grass. A content smile came to her lips, and she rolled on her side, her good eye upwards so that she would still be able to see.
"You can take the lead if you like. I assume you enjoy doing this more than I do."
Sera laughed slightly while still gazing at the surroundings.
"Perhaps", she said.
"I love the chase more than anything. Perhaps it's the cheetah blood in me doing that."
She shrugged.
"I could always chase one to you though. It would be more likely to catch something that way."
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Post by dakota on Aug 4, 2010 10:55:18 GMT
As Jabari ate he watched from the corner of his eye how the lioness kept hesitating before and while she ate her food, but he was glad to see she finally had fresh meat in her tummy and was relaxing a little bit he could see from her posture.
Pulling his gaze away when he saw her move, Jabari kept his eyes downward chewing on his last piece of meat and then licking the blood and flesh from his mouth, catching any remains. Lifting up an eyebrow he again moved slightly so he could see what she was going to do, he couldn't forceably stop her from leaving, but maybe a few carefully chosen words might help change her mind.
Surprise made him clamp his jaw shut rapidly, making him wince when he pierced the side of his tongue, Jabari watched as she slowly made her way to the waters edge, tested the warmth and then kept on walking till she was submerged. Just about to push to his paws and race into the water after her, he stilled himself as he saw the water ripple and her head pushed back up into the night air and then she made her way to shallower water.
Keeping his head low, he kept watch over her, almost smiling when he saw her start to look after her appearance, that was a good thing he thought, first steps first even though they were small ones, just meant she still had some spirit locked away inside that bruised and battered body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Karensha lay there staring at the sky, she realised today was a good day in her life, she almost thought she could say she enjoyed it. Feeling Maji lean on her, she didn't move, seemed he was curling into her for warmth, but then he jumped up and landed on her chest. Not sure what to do, she lay still for the cub waiting to see what else he would do and then he amazed her by curling up over her heart and snuggling in.
Moving her head a little along the ground, her lilac fur swirling around as well, she thought she could finally hear some noise coming from the cub. Lifting her neck, her eyes widened as they fell on Maji, she should hear his little snores, but what she saw was even more precious, here curled up on her chest was the epitome of innocence, something she hadn't seen in a very long time.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Karensha bit down on her lower lip, forcing back emotions, she wasn't meant to feel like this, she never had before why was she starting now. Letting a small sigh escape thru her lips she remained in the position letting the cub go into deep sleep.
After a little while she bought up one paw resting it gently against Maji's side so he couldn't slip and Karensha slowly moved rolling to her left side, all the while supporting the cub. Lying there she waited thinking she might have disturbed his sleep but he just carried on as he had been.
Looking around she could see the blue tufted lioness had been in the water, which was exactly what she wanted to do, but she wasn't to keen on leaving Maji by himself. Giving a small cough she caught the cheetahs eye, conveying for him to look after the cub for her, and then she hesitantly rose to her paws, giving Maji one last look and walked down to the water and let the coolness wash over her skin, cleaning and refreshing. Not dithering she rose and turned back, shaking all she could from her body and moved back to Maji, laying beside him and using her paws she pulled him in and against her chest , while folding her front paws around him protecting, she let her purple lashes come down to rest on the top of her cheeks, and her breathing slowed.
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Post by blaqknoise on Aug 4, 2010 20:21:15 GMT
"I could always chase one to you though. It would be more likely to catch something that way."
"Alright, sounds good. There's a good hunting spot not too far from here. It's just past the water where we were before."
It didn't take long before they arrived there. He saw a new lioness that he didn't see earlier, along with Karensha, the cub and the cheetah. He was pretty hungry and didn't feel like talking to any of them at the moment. He walked through without saying anything, but he couldn't help but tap Karensha in the face with his tail as he walked by. With all the stuff that had happened today, it should be expected of him to do something like that.
"Just a little further this way" He said looking over at Sera.
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Post by dakota on Aug 5, 2010 0:43:39 GMT
As she lay there with her eyes half closed she could hear pawsteps coming closer, slowly one eye opened staring, just watching as the lion and cheelion moved towards her. First instinct was to cover the cub in case they were up to anything, but a day had passed and all had gone well. Her gaze strayed onto the cheelion, the markings on her skin were very noticeable but the one that stood out to Karensha was the diamond on her forehead, almost as if she was royalty.
"Just a little further this way"
As she heard the words from Basilisk, she felt his tail swipe across her face. Gritting her teeth together she held herself back from retaliating and let him go on his way with the female.
'His time will come.. I'll just wait and watch'
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Post by Kirsui on Aug 5, 2010 20:24:52 GMT
Sera followed Basilisk to the waterhole, and to her surprise she saw the rest of the cats she had met earlier today resting there. She smiled faintly at the cheetah, until her eyes laid upon a stranger. Her steps slowed down slightly when she examined the white lioness. It seemed to her that the lioness wanted to pull away from the others that were present, and had it not been the slight twitching of ear, Sera would have thought she was asleep.
The cheelion was quite sure they would meet again later, but right now she wanted to hunt. As she turned her gaze away from the lioness, she caught the snow leopard staring at her. She lifted an eyebrow in a silent question. What was it in her face that the leopard found so interesting?
"Just a little further this way."
Sera's gaze turned from the leopard the instant she heard Basilisk's words. She nodded and followed the lion, leaving the group behind.
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Post by blaqknoise on Aug 6, 2010 19:09:14 GMT
"Well, here we are." Basilisk said as him and Sera approached the spot that Basilisk usually used for hunting.
"So I guess we'll do what you suggested before. I'll hide near that tree over there, and you can chase one of the gazelle towards me."
Basilisk began to walk over to the tree, and then got down low and waited.
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Post by dakota on Aug 7, 2010 2:04:47 GMT
Karensha lay there, her mind just wouldn't rest about where the cheelion and Basilisk were heading to after hearing that it was only a little bit further ahead.
Releasing a sigh, she unfolded her paws and pushed herself back along the ground, looking again in the cheetah's direction, seeing that he wasn't asleep but watching the white lioness. Standing to her paws she quietly moved, her nose twitching as she followed their scent and then stopping when she saw him ahead crouched down behind a tree.
About to laugh out loud at how he looked, she clamped her lips together, and silently moved over behind him. Leaning in she whispered .
" Ohhh.. we're playing hide and seek, how cute."
Then having a swipe at one of his ears, she stepped back and laughed, moving back to where she had come from, looked over her shoulder one last time.
"By the way, you've been tagged, guess YOU'RE IT."
Settling back down with the cub, she lay on her side, turning her body so anyone that passed had to walk in front of her, not behind where she couldn't see, and gently tucked Maji into the warmth of her chest, bringing her paws back encircling him, and lay there bringing her long lashes down to partly over her eyes.
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Post by Kirsui on Aug 7, 2010 10:59:53 GMT
Sera nodded when Basilisk said he would be waiting by the tree. She herself had already glued her gaze on the small herd of zebras and wildebeests just a little bit ahead, trying to pick an easy target. When her mind was set, she crouched low and began crawling around the herd so that it would be easy for her to separate the target out of the others and guide it to Basilisk.
She hadn't gotten even half way to her destination when a few members of the herd quickly lifted their heads and looked wary. Sera paused, perking her ears up. She was sure she hadn't made any...
"... YOU'RE IT."
The cheelion was very tempted to smack her face with her paw. The words were faint, but they were enough for the herd to panic. Sera cursed, and bolted after the herd, hoping that she'd somehow be able to separate one of them and guide it to Basilisk.
The white lioness' ear twitched and she lazily opened her eyes. She blinked for a while, then rolled from her side to her belly while yawning widely. She had fallen asleep for a short moment it seemed. Though it felt nice to be somewhat safe right now, she didn't want to get too comfortable with these strangers.
She flicked her ears slightly and turned her head in time to see the snow leopard return. She tilted her head in surprise. She hadn't noticed the leopard leave.
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