Okavango

[epppe]

Sefu was suprised to see the entire herd start charging his way in a panic, but was happy to see that happen since it made it easier for him to hunt. He just laid there until the herd came close enough for him to just reach out and grab one. Going for one of slower wildebeasts in the back, he lunged out to animal's suprise and caught it around the neck.

Taking the wildebeast to the ground with his teeth still in the neck, he noticed that there was a cheelion chasing after the herd. He figured that she must have been the reason for the herd going into a panic. Biting the neck a bit harder to make sure that his catch was dead, he let go to make sure that the cheelion wasn't going to do anything like attack him for the food.

"I'm not hunting in your territory now am I?" Sefu asked, "not that it should matter since it looked like you weren't going to catch anything."

[blaqknoise]

" Ohhh.. we're playing hide and seek, how cute."

Basilisk hadn't noticed that Karensha had snuck up behind him, so when she whispered in his ear he almost jumped.

"Yes, you could say that. A more extreme version of it, and mixed with a little but of tag. Just keep it down will you?"

He then felt her swipe one of his ears. Basilisk smiled and thought she had finally loosened up.

"By the way, you've been tagged, guess YOU'RE IT."

Basilisk put his face into his paw when he heard Karensha shout. He looked over to where Sera was and saw that their food was beginning to run away. Sera had a bit of cheetah in her though, so Basilisk was sure that she'd still be able to chase something towards him.

[Kirsui]

Sera was running after the herd with her full speed, her eyes glued on her target. It was a wildebeest, slower than the rest and thus an easier catch than the others. It would be easy enough to let the herd pass so that the slow one would stay behind, then guide it to Basilisk.

Unfortunately, she wasn't given the time to go forth with her plan as her target suddenly stumbled and fell. Surprised, the cheelion skidded to a halt and stared at the stranger who had just taken her kill. The herd ran around them and fled, and Sera could only stare when the lion finally noticed her, and seemed to take caution that she wouldn't snatch his prey.

His... It was hers but, once again, a lion had caught it before her.

"I'm not hunting in your territory now am I? Not that it should matter since it looked like you weren't going to catch anything."

Sera's eyes narrowed sharply and she glared murderously at the lion.
"Obviously not" she hissed.
"You're the one who caught my kill. Quite impossible to catch anything when you see your prey fall to the ground."

She glared in annoyance at the lion. What could she do? The lion was bigger than her, they all were bigger than her. She could never take the prey with force from a lion. If she ad been hunting alone, she would have just left, but there was Basilisk and she was supposed to be helping him.

If only the stupid leopard hadn't yelled and scared the herd...

[blaqknoise]

Basilisk continued to sit by the tree, waiting for Sera to chase something over to him. It seemed to be taking a while, so he decided to look around the tree to see what was going on. He saw that Sera was working on chasing a wildebeest over to him, but noticed a new lion there that he hadn't seen before.

"He better not do what I think he is." Basilisk thought to himself.

But sure enough, he did. He jumped at it and killed it, taking the kill from Sera. Basilisk was quickly angered by this, and began to make his way towards them. As he got closer he could see that Sera was also displeased. He walked up beside her and glared at the new lion.

"I believe that was ours" He said in an angry tone.

[epppe]

Sefu saw that another lion joined up with the cheelion to get angry. He didn't feel like getting into much of a fight today but also didn't want to lose his food either. Sitting down between the two and the kill, he didn't show any sign that he was intimidated by the two.

"Yours? I was sure I was the one that killed the prey meaning it's mine." Sefu replied to the lion that just joined, "But since your little girlfriend here scared the rest of the herd away, I guess I could let you both have some food."

He then moved around the dead animal so he wasn't between it and the other two cats.

"So feel free to take some or are both of you just going to attack me and try taking all of it for yourself?"

[dakota]

Jabari lay there watching the snow leopard get up and move off. Acknowledging her glance as to watch over the cub, he liked a female of few words. Feeling restless himself he glanced over at the lioness lying on her side, he could see she wasn't in a deep sleep, but at least she was resting, gaining some strength.

His ears twitched as he heard YOU'RE IT." and then Karensha came walking back over and laid curling up with the cub.
well this could get interesting, something's happened that shouldn't have, wonder why she's not too concerned

The cheetah got to his feet and slowly ambled over to where he had seen the snow leopard come back from, and moved forward to see what was going on. Jabari's nose picked up a new scent of another close by, there wasn't any sounds of fighting, just a few words coming to him on the breeze.

Stopping behind a bush he could see who was there and what was happening without them noticing him. Sera, Basilisk and another lion were debating about who the kill belonged to going back and forth amongst each other. Pushing the small branch aside Jabari stepped through and stopped.

"Need any help here at all ?"

[Kirsui]

The white lioness lifted her head when she heard yet another creature move, and saw how the cheetah left. She flattened her ears momentarily and glanced at the leopard. She wasn't feeling very comfortable when left alone with the spotted cat, especially so since Jabari had seemed so nice when she first had met him.

Deciding she would be better staying where she was, the lioness laid her head on her paws and stared at the direction where the cheetah had disappeared, hoping that he might come back soon.

---

"Yours? I was sure I was the one that killed the prey meaning it's mine. But since your little girlfriend here scared the rest of the herd away, I guess I could let you both have some food."

"You know what", Sera said with an annoyed tone. "Forget it. Dunno about my friend here, but I aint touching that."

"Need any help here at all ?"

Sera glanced at Jabari when he appeared there, but when she spoke she didn't directly answer Jabari's question.
"You might want to tell the idiot of a snow leopard that next time she creeps around while a hunt is on, she might wanna keep that pretty mouth of hers shut or I'll make sure she aint opening it again."

Without another word, the cheelion turned around and marched away from the two lions and the cheetah. Oh the lion's offer might have been very polite, but his attitude was what ticked her off. She couldn't stand him, she couldn't stand the way he spoke to her. He was such a typical lion, lazy as hell and thinking he was above everything and that he was such a good person when offering his catch to those he just stole his food from.

Sera didn't know how long she walked, but when she finally came to a halt she couldn't see or hear the others any more. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly in an attempt to calm down. When she opened her eyes, she was looking for a spot to rest in, and spotted a fallen tree. The cheelion first pounced on the trunk, then balanced herself with her tail as she walked towards a comfortable looking spot near the top of the tree. Branches were everywhere, and they still had leaves on them, giving her a perfect cover from prying eyes while she would rest.

[blaqknoise]

"But since your little girlfriend here scared the rest of the herd away, I guess I could let you both have some food."

"You take our kill and then act as if we're lucky to get any at all, no thanks, I'll pass" Basilisk said, still angry.

"Need any help here at all ?"

Basilisk didn't say anything, he didn't need to anyway since Sera answered his question. He Looked back once more at the new lion and then walked off. When he turned around he noticed that Sera was gone.

"I wonder where she went," Basilisk thought to himself, "Maybe she went back to the cave."

As Basilisk walked back he thought about what he should do for food. The heard had been scared off, and there was no way he was going to take some from the new lion. Basilisk stopped and sat down so he could think about how he could get some food, or if he was going to go hungry for the night. After a little while he remembered that Karensha had been dragging around a carcass before.

"No, there has to be another way to get something to eat"

After thinking about it for a little while longer he realized at if he wanted to eat tonight, his only option would be to ask Karensha for some.

"Karensha is going to love this." He said with a deep sigh.

He continued to walk and eventually made it over to Karensha, who was laying on the ground with the cub.

"I can't believe I have to do this" He said almost silently to himself.

"Do you have anything left over from that carcass?" He asked her. His ears lowered and he tried no to make eye contact with her. He still couldn't believe he was asking her for food.

[dakota]

Jabari stood there not letting any expression cross his face, he wasn't going to step in, but he was there in case it turned into a fight, a fight he would make sure was fair if it happened.
Before he could say anything further, the cheelion had a tirade against the one who was standing over the kill and stomped off with her tail with a black tuft swinging around in the air.

Looking back at Basilisk, Jabari shrugged his shoulders and left him to whatever, no doubt he could sort out whether he was going to go hungry or not, turning he made his way back the way he had come and stopped as he came out of the bushes.
Looking first at Karensha ,whose purple tuft fur was slightly covering the cub who was curled up pressed against her offering him safety, then his glance turned onto the lioness.
Her head was lying supported on her front paws, she looked relaxed and as though she was sleeping, but he was sure all her senses were on full alert.

Moving past the snow leopard and cub he went back to his original spot, not too far away from the lioness but close enough he could hear if anything was wrong. Dropping down he then rolled on his side so he could see both the females at just a tilt of his head and let his body relax.Blinking quickly he opened his mouth and spoke before he had realised his intentions.
" You will be safe here, I wont let anything hurt you, they will have to get through me first, now sleep little one."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Karensha lay there, listening to Maji sleep, his heart rising and falling pressing against her chest, she was going to miss him when his mother came calling and wanted him back, he was something she had never come across before, the only innocent thing she could remember in such a long time.

Her eyelashes lifted slightlyas she heard paws scuffed lightly on the ground and watched as the Cheetah passed her and headed towards where she had just come from.
'why on earth does he want to see what Basilisk and the cheelion are doing, he better be careful or he might see something he shouldn't.
Grinning to her self, her attention turned towards the blue tufted female lying still, Karensha could sense that she wasn't sleeping, her body was to taut to pass for that, but while Jabari wasn't here she would watch over her as well.

Staring at the water watching the ripples, she heard and smelt the cheetah come back and lay down, seems he was between her and the lioness doing a little night watching. Not moving she just blinked and stared at the scene before her eyes, could she let it lull her to sleep, for once without nightmares waking her up startled and in a sweat.
Hearing more feet coming her way, Karensha lifted her head and looked up only to find Basilisk standing before her not making eye contact.

"Do you have anything left over from that carcass?"

Trying not to smirk she stared at him
' so he's hungry is he, his own fault for being an ass'

" Do I have anything left over you say.?.. hmm let me think.. I'm not really sure you know...and If I did I WOULD certainly let you have your fill because afterall it wasn't you that walked off making sure we knew you didn't want to share your cave with us cause you got a better offer, and it wasn't you either who walked past while myself an the cub dragged the carcass up from the water and back to over there."

Karensha kept staring at him, but again he wasn't very forthcoming, she almost expected him to shuffle his paws like an adolescent would, who was in trouble. Finally not being able to put up with him any more she decided to put him out of his misery, he must be hungry if he had come to her almost begging.
"Will you stop with the pathetic look, what's left is over there past the lioness... help yourself to whatever you want..oh.... watch with the little bones, I'd hate for you to choke and I have to punch my fist down your throat to clear it... only one of us might enjoy that little party trick."

Dismissing him Karensha let her head drop back to the ground and returned to looking back at the reflections cast over the waterhole.

[blaqknoise]

"...because afterall it wasn't you that walked off making sure we knew you didn't want to share your cave with us cause you got a better offer, and it wasn't you either who walked past while myself an the cub dragged the carcass up from the water and back to over there."

"What are you talking about?" Basilisk asked, "I did ofter to take you and the cub back with me to my cave, but you declined and wanted to stay here. And I was headed in the opposite direction, not walking past you, so I didn't help you drag it."

"oh.... watch with the little bones, I'd hate for you to choke and I have to punch my fist down your throat to clear it... only one of us might enjoy that little party trick."

"Well at least I know that you're willing to come to my rescue if I need it" He said winking at her.

Basilisk walked over to where Karensha said the carcass was. He ripped off two pieces for him and for Sera, just in case she was back at the cave already.

"I guess I owe you now, come find me if you need a favour."

Basilisk didn't want to leave with her being to much of a sourpuss, so he walked back over.

I almost forgot," Basilisk said, "Tag back, looks like your it again."

He continued on his way back to the cave with the meat he had taken. Once he arrived he looked inside and saw that Sera wasn't there. He walked to the spot where she had been laying before they left and dropped one piece there in case she decided to come back.

"I hope I didn't bring two pieces for nothing" He thought to himself as he sat down.

[dakota]

As she lay there watching the water, she thought he would turn and walk away, but instead he held his ground and his voice cut through the silence of the night.

"What are you talking about,I did ofter to take you and the cub back with me to my cave, but you declined and wanted to stay here."

Karensha turned her head and met his eyes, frowning slightly.
"I think your enthusiastic reply to me was,
'if you really don't have any place to go, I guess you two could come with me.... if you want.'
Now that was full of .. yes I really want to share with you, wasn't it."

Lying her head back down she ignored him pretending he wasn't there hoping he would just go away, seems he hadn't got the hint when he spoke some more.
"I guess I owe you now, come find me if you need a favour."
Hearing that from him made her lips start to twitch, she was glad he couldn't see her face as she wasn't about to give him any leeway, he was a bit full of himself already.

I almost forgot, Tag back, looks like your it again."

As he finally walked away, the snow leopard couldn't hold it in any longer and found while trying to keep her mouth shut so she wouldn't laugh it made her release small snorts instead.

[Kirsui]

Sera stared at the leaves with a blank expression. She couldn't see anything that was happening outside her hiding spot, where ever she looked she only saw leaves. The knowledge that she was completely hidden gave her at least some comfort, but it didn't make up for the storm of emotions inside her.

How dare the stranger take down her kill like that and claim he had done all the hard work to catch it? How dare he offer them their own prey as his own after stealing it from them?

And how dare the idiot of a leopard to ruin their hunt so that when the stranger appeared it would be impossible to catch anything else?

Sera's light purple eyes narrowed into slits and she released a faint growl. Without herself noticing it, she extended her claws and dug them deep into the tree trunk. She should have never come to these strangers when she heard them discuss earlier. She would have been saved from a lot of trouble, such as getting yelled at by the leopard, having her hunt ruined and getting her prey stolen in front of her nose.

Sera snorted and fell back into silence. No, the last bit would have happened anyway. She didn't really even remember when the last time was she had eaten her own prey without someone coming to take it from her.

She sighed, wondering what to do now. She knew that if she returned to the group, she would completely loose her patience with the leopard. The cheetah was all right, and so was Basilisk, but the rest... She shook her head and closed her eyes, finally loosening her tight grip from the tree. She really thought she would be better off alone rather than with a group that constantly got on her nerves.

---

The white lioness stared at the water in silence, until she heard footsteps. When she turned her gaze and saw a male lion with white dreadlocks, she tensed and just stared at him. She only faintly heard what the two discussed of because her full attention was on the lion.

"You will be safe here, I wont let anything hurt you, they will have to get through me first, now sleep little one."

The lioness was startled when she heard the cheetah's voice, but it was enough to snap her out of staring at the lion. She turned her widened eyes at the cheetah, failing to remember when he had returned. She blinked a couple of times, then turned to look at where the male lion had been standing, only to realize that he had gone while she had been looking at the cheetah. She visibly relaxed, and returned her head on her paws.

[blaqknoise]

Basilisk lay down and took a bite out of the chunk of meat he had taken for himself. He was glad that he finally had some food, but wished he had gotten it himself instead of having to ask Karensha for some. There was still no sign of Sera, and Basilisk started to wonder where she had gone and if she was planning on coming back, but he decided not to worry about it. If she came back, then fine. If she didn't, then he wasn't going to go out looking for her. Odds are if she chose not to, then she had a reason for it.
His mind started to wander as he continued eating, going back to the group by the water. He remembered that there was a new lioness there that he hadn't seen before. He figured he would end up seeing her tomorrow anyway.
He look over to the piece of meat he had left for Sera, and was tempted to eat it. But if she came back then she would still be hungry and Basilisk would have to go ask Karensha for food again, and he didn't feel that it was worth it. He decided to leave it and would get rid of it in the morning if she didn't end up coming back.

[epppe]

When everyone left, Sefu just shrugged and took some food from his kill. He didn't know that there were others here, but was curious to see if there were more. The lion ate his food, grabbed the dead animal and hid it in a bush so other animals wouldn't find it. Instead of going out to find the rest of the group though, Sefu decided that it was too late for him to look and found a spot to fall asleep. He closed his eyes wondering if it would be smart or not to go looking for a group with two members that act like that.

[dakota]

Karensha lay there as the morning sun rise touched her face, then she could feel the warmth move down and spread over her body. Stretching slowly as to not wake the cub, the snow leopard uncurled her body and pushed herself back along the ground and then rose to her feet. Moving her head she looked to see who was also nearby,but only seeing the Cheetah and the lioness, she guessed Basilisk and the female must be back to sharing the cave together. Flicking the purple fur off her face she turned, staring down at Maji for a moment and then moved away towards the water.

Slowly stepping in she carried on till water was up to her chest, and then dived under and paddled as far as she could with the remaining breath she was holding. With her eyes open under the water, she could see fish darting around, along with rocks, stones and various other debris littering the bottom. Pushing herself up she broke the surface, taking a gulp of fresh air at the same time and quickly looked around... she was still alone.

Paddling over to the opposite side from where the others now lay, she unsheathed her claws and pulled herself up over a small log and onto a large flat rock. Shaking herself vigorously, she then used a paw to push her wet flattened fur of her face, and lay down with her head resting on her front paws, and watched the cub.

[Kirsui]

The white lioness' nose twitched. Something was tickling her nose and disturbing her sleep. She flattened her ears for a moment, then weakly attempted to lift a paw to swat the source of tickling away, but failed due to the fact that she was still asleep. She let out a quiet groan of annoyance when the tickling just became worse, then snorted and finally lifted her head rapidly and rubbed her nose with her paw. She blinked, then realized it had been the grass that had tickled her nose, and though she would have gladly fallen back to sleep it seemed she was already too awake to do that.

The lioness yawned widely, then took the time to look around. The cheetah was resting close by, and so was the cub and...

She blinked. The leopard wasn't with the cub. She quickly scanned the area, then spotted the leopard on the opposite side of the water, looking pretty much like a drowned cat. The leopard was looking at their direction, most likely watching over the cub. The lioness thought it was strange that she would leave the cub alone while he slept though, especially so after seeing how attached the cub was to the leopard.

She yawned again, and decided it was none of her business what the leopard did with the cub, just as long as she would not abandon him. She turned her gaze up at the sky and closed her eyes, letting the morning sun warm her face.

[Lyonize]

The cubs nose twitched and his paw came up to rub it. His fur was beginning to feel warmer. It was a different warmth than when he was next to Karensha. He opened his eyes to the sun beaming down in the cool morning. Rolling over onto his side, the cub arched his back and stretched his paws out. Sighing deeply, he turned back onto his tummy and sat up. With a yawn, Maji blinked his eyes one at a time and then looked around to see what his surroundings were. He had forgotten where he was for a moment.

When Maji remembered Karensha, he looked around for her wondering where she was. Finally, he saw her over on a rock next to the pool of water. With a grin, he bounded over to her and gave her a nuzzle.

[dakota]

~ Posting for Blaq ~

Basilisk yawned, his tongue poking out and wetting his dry lips, and then he warily opened one eye then the next. Lying on his side the first thing he saw was the piece of meat that he had left for Sera still uneaten, but now swarming with flies.
"Blast I should have eaten everything myself and made her go and get some off Karensha, that would have gone down well."

Grinning to himself, the lion flicked his tail around getting rid of some pesky flies that had found their way back into the cave where he had spent the night resting, gave himself a scratch where the sun didn't shine and then pushed himself up on all four paws, again his body stretching to get out the remaining kinks.

Walking to the front of the cave, he stopped by the smelly meat, seemed the heat from the night had spoiled it for any eating. Picking it up with his bared teeth, he walked out and dropped it a short distance away where the smell wouldn't reach him and then turned walking down to the waterhole to quench his thirst.

[Kirsui]

The white lioness' flicked her ears and turned to gaze around. She was certain she had heard something, and the source of the sound was none of the other three felines present. She perked her ears up and listened, and sure enough she could hear footsteps coming closer. Who ever it was seemed to be still far away, but her sensitive hearing picked up the sound and confirmed that the creature was coming closer.

She flattened her ears momentarily as a sign of slight distress, but decided she would stay where she was and see what happened. Soon enough she saw a flicker of black and white, and realized it was the lion with the dreadlocks from the day before. She now completely flattened her ears and flicked her tail nervously while she stared at the lion as he approached the waterhole.

---

Sera chuckled faintly and emerged from the bushes when Basilisk had left the cave and disappeared from her sight. The lion hadn't noticed her, and despite the fact that he had been nice to her, she hadn't felt like talking with him right now. Instead she walked to the piece of meat that Basilisk had deserted. Clearly it had been waiting the whole night, and for a moment Sera wondered if the lion had left it for her.

She shook her head and swatted away the flies, snatching the meat up on her jaws before she left the cave. She was too lazy to hunt right now, and the fact that the stranger had ruined her hunt on the previous day made it impossible for her to concentrate. Plus, she hadn't had much sleep and was tired...

... And she wasn't that disgusted by the thought of eating meat that some would call "spoiled". She had done that several times when there had been nothing else, and usually the carcasses she had scavenged on had been at least a couple of days old. This piece of meat would be no problem.

She returned to the fallen tree she had used as a shelter the previous night. She was surprised how close to the cave the tree actually was. She was also glad she didn't need to carry the meat with her longer. The faster she would eat it, the less likely it would be that someone would steal it from her.

So she hopped on the trunk and crawled into the safe coverage of the leaves before she laid down and began chewing on her breakfast.

[epppe]

Sefu woke up slowly to the sound of someone else wandering around not to far from him. He heard the thing come out of the water before he heard it start shaking water off of itself. This meant that whoever it was had fur and he wouldn't have to worry if it was an alligator or croc. Wanting to go see if it the one of the two from last night, he got up and wandered to where he heard the sound.

He pushed through a bush to see that it was someone new and not one of the others he met already. It was a female leopard, but what Sefu found strange was that a lion cub came up to her like she was it's mother.

"So, there are more people around here and not just a grumpy lion and cheelion." He said walking a bit closer to the leopard and cub, "But I'm guessing that you travel with the two I met last night."