[PRP]You better not die on me, woman (Zavannah/Kiume) -FIN-

[Caitlyn Hellstorm]

Meta reaction plot here

It have been few days and it seems like Zavannah is getting worse and worse instead of better like she insists that she's getting better and Kiume is beside himself with worry. Only time he is willing to leave her side is to hunt down something quick to eat so he could force Zavannah to eat or bring her water in a leaf bowl. His eyes flickers toward the rest of pridelands from their little spot farthest from everyone, spotting many couples in the same situation as him and his beloved mate.

For some reason, one of Thona's sons Theron have taken a shine toward his mate and have been coming around to check on Zavannah, seeing if she needs anything. It rankled his pride because Theron seems to think that Kiume couldn't provide for his mate and take care of her while she's ill so every encounters he have with Theron is filled with stilted hostility to the point where Kiume is ready to lose his cool and murder another male. Zavannah already made her choice but other male doesn't seem to realize that.

Zavannah have been struggling to keep up with Kiume as he led them away from rest of the pride members because he didn't want to risk getting sick or Zavannah getting more worse than she already are. She squints her eyes against the sun which wasn't bright that day and she murmurs to Kiume that she's tired. She got led toward a small comfortable-looking underground den and she immediately curled up in back of the den in the blissful darkness. She spends all of her time sleeping unless she gets woken up by Kiume to eat or drink or spend few precious moments together.

To her annoyance, she seems to have a suitor in a disguise of the king's son but she was too tired and sick to care about Theron because she knows that Kiume will be able to take care of him and keep him away from her. She yawns as she closes her eyes when Kiume slips out to hunt for something to eat for them both, feeling the chill settling into her bones causing her to shiver alone in the darkness.  

[Caitlyn Hellstorm]

Kiume drags back a medium sized gazelle and on the way, he had to get in several scuffles with some pride members because they were trying to get to the gazelle he was dragging back to the den. "Zavannah?" He calls out as he managed to drag the gazelle, almost fully intact with some chunks ripped out by other pride members but the silence met his inquiry. A bead of worry appears in his chest as he frowns little bit while tossing the gazelle deeper into the den and crawls toward where Zavannah is supposedly sleeping. "Woman, you better not die on me." He growls as he nuzzles and nudges Zavannah to wake up.

"Woman... you need to eat. You can't just sleep all day." Kiume whispers as Zavannah began to stir, to his immense relief and glowers at him groggily. He proceeds in ripping choice pieces off the carcass and placing them in a neat pile so he could feed his mate a piece by piece, keeping one ear pointed in Zavannah's direction to make sure she didn't fall asleep again. "Zavannah.... here.. its from hip." He says as he picks one piece up and places it near his mate's muzzle.

Zavannah contiunes to shiver until she completely falls into the darkness of dreamless slumber, completely dead to the world and she waits for her mate to comes back with the food because her stomach is starting to growl little bit. Staying in a very tight ball position, she contiunes to sleep while listening to the going on outside, knowing that its still chaotic out there but its peaceful and quiet in here. Her ears twitches as she hears the sound of something being dragged and she knows that its Kiume with their dinner but she was too exhausted and worn out to open her eyes. When Kiume commented that she better not die on him, Zavannah was sorely tempted to act like she have died in her sleep but her growling stomach ruined her act and she couldn't help but to react to the nuzzlings and nudgings with soft murmurs.

"So tired..." The female whispers as she struggles to keep her eyes open and she slowly stretches her aching body out, too exhausted to seethe about that cursed hybrid that came onto the pridelands and died in front of Thona. She watches her mate rip chunks off the gazelle with a slight smile on her face before she closes her eyes once again for few moments before she gets jolted awake by Kiume's nudge and voice. "Mm... hip meat..." She takes it and began to chew on it, feeling little bit more stronger now but she's still so lethargic.  

[Caitlyn Hellstorm]

Kiume contiunes to feed his mate slowly by putting the piece near her muzzle but he gradually adds the distance between her muzzle and the piece to force Zavannah to get up and move toward the food if she really wants them. "We should go for a walk after this. I found a small pond near this den and its not tainted at all." He lightly says as he eyes Zavannah whom is wobbling and swaying little bit while struggling to stay up on her paws. After Zavannah indicates that she's done eating, he quickly ate his fill before dragging the remains outside for others to attack and rip apart.

"Do you want to go for that walk, my dear?" He looks at Zavannah whom looks like she's shivering once again and he growls to himself, hating the feeling of being so helpless and not being able to chase off the plague that contiunes to ransack his mate's body. He paces back and forth in the mouth of the den, looking frustrated and growling to himself which caused his mate to become annoyed with him.

Zavannah slowly forced herself to eat the pieces that was placed near her muzzle but with every piece, the distance grew between it and her muzzle which means she had to get up or crawl toward the piece. Her muscles shook and shivered as she struggled to stay in upright position and she grits her teeth while forcing her legs to lock so she won't wobble too much. That fails because she almost fell over few times and she shivers violently while she sways back and forth little bit, knowing that if she steps out, she runs a risk of humiliating herself by collapsing because she doesn't have any energy to keep going. "pond?" She inquires curiously as she licks her muzzle, realizing that she's thirsty.

"I guess so." She says softly as she takes few steps forward to see if she is able to do it, and to her surprise and joy, she were able to reach to the mouth of the den without falling over. Kiume dragged the remains outside and started pacing around, growling to himself which annoyed her because she was the one who is sick and fighting for her own life, not him. She knows he's worried but when he's irritating her with his attitude. "I am not dead yet. So stop pacing around and growling." She snarls at him. "Just take me to that pond." She leans against Kiume and gives him a light lick on cheek.  

[Caitlyn Hellstorm]

Kiume smirks little bit as he is relieved that his mate still have enough spunk inside her to snap and snarl at him so that means she is definitely recovering. He grins little as Zavannah have shown that she is trusting him more by leaning against him so he could guide her toward the pond while chattering little bit, giving her updates on what's going on in the pridelands since she forced him to go out and keep tabs instead of hovering over her like a worried mother. When he elicits a soft laughter from his mate, he had to stop himself from leaping in joy because any signs of life from his mate means she's winning the battle against the plague inside her.

Zavannah gingerly began to walk as Kiume leads her toward the pond, occasionally having to stop to rest little bit before continuing on because the illness inside her is still there and contiunes to ravage her, stealing all of her energy. She murmurs and laughs at right spots in the conversation as Kiume is updating her on what's happening in the pridelands. She expresses her concern about Lanthao and Nye and got reassured that they are perfectly fine, and is all hidden away like them. She closes her eyes in a brief relief as she got a confirmation from Kiume about her friend and she looks at the pond with a slight smile.

"Thanks..." Zavannah says as she settles down near the pond, lapping at the water thirstily while her eyes remains on Kiume whom is stepping into the water, to cool off. "Don't you da-..." She squawked as Kiume got a mischievous gleam in his eyes and sent a huge splash in her direction, drenching her. "Why you...!!" She snarls as she leaps after her mate in the pond, wrestling with him.  

[Caitlyn Hellstorm]

Kiume grins mischievously as he steps into the cool water, sighing lightly at the coolness wrapping around his legs because the temperature is blisteringly hot for two or three days so any ways to cool off is always welcomed when it comes to him and his mate. He dips his entire body under the water before eyeing his mate whom is crouched in front of the pond, lapping at the water. The grin spreads more as it reaches to his eyes when Zavannah's expression becomes guarded and wary then he suddenly splashed Zavannah.

Zavannah moved pretty quick for a sick leopard and Kiume found himself wrestling with his mate, water splashing all over the place. He allows his mate to pin him down as he growls lightly while pinning his ears back in the show to make it look like its real. His tail whiplashes back and forth while he pretends to try to counter-pin her.

Zavannah wrestles with Kiume happily, feeling like the plague have left her body even if its temporary. She swiftly got him pinned down with no problems but she slowly started to realize that Kiume is just letting her win this wrestling match because she's sick. She sinks her fangs in painfully before jumping back with her ears pinned back in annoyance. "I might be sick but that doesn't mean you have to let me win!" She snaps the words out as she could feel the energy draining out of her and she lays on the edge of the pond, glowering evilly at Kiume.. "I can't believe you are doing this. I am NOT WEAK." She growls as she tries to push herself off the ground but collapses back down, snarling at Kiume when he moved forward with concern dancing through his face. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She screeches as she fights back the tears of frustration.  

[Caitlyn Hellstorm]

Kiume realizes that his acting is blown when he felt the pain shooting through his neck due to Zavannah sinking her fangs in more deeper before the weight let off him. He spins around just in time to see the annoyance in his mate's face and he bites back a biting retort while he sees that the energy is escaping her once again. "But you are getting better, Zavannah. I will be damned if I let you die on me, woman." He growls the words out, looking really pissy because his mate is aiming a evil glare in his direction.

"I am not implying you are weak in general, woman. You are sick and I don't want to overexert your energy." Kiume couldn't help but to snap back but the look of concern flickers through his face when Zavannah tries to get up but falls back down. He began to move toward his mate despite Zavannah's yelling for him to stay away from her and he curls up around Zavannah after dragging her out of water. "I am not leaving you. If you die, woman, I will die too." And that's the closest thing to 'I love you' Zavannah will ever get.

Zavannah contiunes to glower evilly at Kiume as he stubbornly moves toward her despite her screeching at him to stay away from her. She is becoming too weak to pull herself out of the water and it shows because she tried to pull herself out but collapses in exhaustion every few seconds of attempts. She closes her eyes as she feels like she could just slip off into that dreamless slumber again but she struggles little bit when Kiume dragged her out of the water and curls up with her to keep her warm because the shivering have begun once again.

"You can't die...." Zavannah murmurs as she closes her eyes, resting her head under Kiume's head. "Who will terrorize Lantho when we both are dead and Nye needs some help?" She says with a slight grin while she nuzzles his paws. "So if I die, you need to promise me that you will keep going and live for both of us."

Kiume looks down at Zavannah whom began to shiver once again and he shifts his body so he's partially laying on top of her, trying to keep her warm. He begins to groom Zavannah, trying to get as much water as he could out of her fur. He froze as Zavannah began to talk about her death and he cranes his head to look in Zavannah's face. "Stop with that ridiculous talking, Zavannah! You aren't going to die. You are going to live to torment me and other males." He snarls the words out as he starts to become more worried because the shivering became more violent.

"Listen to me, Zavannah. I am going to make you have my cubs, a lot of them and you are going to raise them to be wonderful leopards. We have the entire life ahead of us." Kiume whispers against Zavannah's ear as the shivering began to die down. "So you can't just up and die on me and our future cubs." He nips at her ear as he snuggles into Zavannah's body. "You will be fine... you will be stronger than before..."