[SRP] Just A Nibble? (Linzie & Tlotlego'Setu)

[ChaosTheories]

Food! For some lions, catching and eating their prey was just another event in their lives, but for Linzie, it was an exciting moment. It wasn't every day she brought down something that was worth more than a mouthful, but that day she had caught a young antelope that must have wandered off from the herd. At first she had felt a bit sorry for the wandering creature, but then hunger overcame any sense of pity and drove her to strike. There had been some doubt whether she could keep up with the leaner creature's lithe speed, but by some twist of fate it had stumbled right into her grasp.

Now Linzie lay contentedly beside what remained of her meal, twitching her tail idly and squinting as she rested in the midday sun. She was rather exposed where she lay on the hard earth, but Linzie was too full to care. Nothing interesting ever happened at this time of day, anyways. It was too hot on the plains for any strenuous activity until the sun started to go down. And that wouldn't be for another couple of hours.

Briefly, she wondered if there were any prides nearby. While she was happy with her solitary life, sometimes it was nice to interact with the local prides to catch up on news. It had been a while since she had done that, so she put the idea aside for later.  

[ChaosTheories]

Setu was not enjoying his trek under the blazing sun. Bare earth, caked dry and cracked, stirred up dust under his paws whenever he took a step. His fur was so full of it that he hardly looked like himself at all. But the only one he could blame for his predicament was himself. He had chosen to go this way, after all. It was a direction picked at random just for the sake to keep his paws moving. Lingering in one spot for long made Setu nervous.

Step, step, step, step. It was so monotonous, Setu felt as if he was wandering in the same exact circle over and over and over. If it hadn't been for the occasional distinctive landmark, like a scraggy patch of trees or an oddly shaped rock, Setu would have believed that he hadn't been making any progress at all. He wasn't even sure how long he had been walking.

In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten, either. He had forgotten about his hunger until the coppery scent of blood drifted in his direction. He paused, immediately intrigued. The earth looked like some kind of scuffle had occurred not too long ago. As he approached, a slight staining of the ground confirmed this. What had happened? The marked continued some ways, so Setu decided to follow them.  

[ChaosTheories]

Another lioness would have been more on guard for her own safety and to keep her dinner away from scavengers. But Linzie was not the brightest flower in the bouquet, so she didn't think twice about it. As she lay and cleaned every inch of her deadly claws, she noticed dust stirring in the distance only once it had gotten rather close. Hmm, she wondered if it was yet another wandering antelope. Perhaps a herdmate looking for their companion. Oh, Linzie didn't want to see that! She had to hunt to live but she didn't want to cause unnecessary stress on the animals that were her prey.

Linzie stood up quickly and grabbed the meal with her sharp teeth and began to drag it away. There was no place to hide it, so maybe she could get far enough away that the oncoming creature wouldn't see her.  

[ChaosTheories]

Setu squinted against the brilliant sun, relying on his nose to follow the scent. A deep gnawing in his belly in response to the blood told him that it had indeed been a very long time since he had eaten. In his birth pride, he would never have gone hungry. Setu had to become a better hunter if he was going to live, he concluded.

The sun glinted off something in the distance. A patch of water? No... it had been... orange. What was orange out here? A gazelle, perhaps. An injured gazelle would explain everything. But as he grew nearer, he saw that it was a lioness, lying contentedly beside her prey. Setu's heart sank. He doubted the female would want anything to do with him. But he was hungry... he had to try.

Just as he decided to keep going, however, the lioness stood up and started to drag the remains away. In response, he quickened his steps. She had probably seen him and planned to escape. But she wouldn't get far with the extra weight... would she?  

[ChaosTheories]

Linzie was quickly getting tired. Even though she had eaten most of the meat, the carcass was still heavy enough to drag the small lioness down. Eventually, she let go of it and sighed. Oh great, the dust cloud was coming closer! There was no way she could escape now! Linzie frantically looked around and saw nothing but arid ground. Wait... arid ground! Yeah, she would just bury the distinctive looking parts and no one would be able to recognize the recently deceased antelope. Perfect!

She unsheathed her claws and dug into the soft earth like an overgrown ratel. With the first few swipes, she had already covered the carcass with dust. Just a few more should do it!  

[ChaosTheories]

"Hey, hey miss! What are you doing?"

Setu broke into a full out run. She was trying to bury it? Why in the world would she do that? This dry earth would be no good for storing food for later, unless she liked it dry and crunchy. As she was digging he finally caught up to her and spoke once it was comfortable to do so. His breaths came hard, the dust coating his mouth and throat.

"What... I'm sorry if I startled you," he managed to wheeze before a coughing fit overcame him.

This was not the best of introductions. If she didn't just swipe him across the face and flee, it would be his lucky day.  

[ChaosTheories]

Digdigdigdig. There! Now it was an unrecognizable pile of sand. Perfect. Linzie sat back to admire her handiwork. She didn't have long, however. She heard Setu's voice for the first time and flattened herself against the ground, startled. That didn't sound like an antelope at all!

And indeed it wasn't. She looked up and blinked at the strange blue lion. He seemed to be having problems breathing.

"A-are you okay? Oh no, something happened to you, didn't it?" Linzie jumped back to her paws and fretted, circling around him. "Hey, I have some food! Why don't you stay here and rest a bit. Um, it's under there." She finished by pointing a claw at the very obvious pile of dirt.  

[ChaosTheories]

Setu's eyes were running and he barely even knew what was happening. Linzie went from clueless to frightened to worried in such a flash, he couldn't tell what she was going to do next. Eventually his rasping cough settled down into an harmless itch and he was able to speak between breaths.

"I'm fine... oh food, I would love some food..." He said with some uncertainty. Setu wasn't completely sure if he should trust the lioness, but she seems genuinely worried for him. Perhaps a desire to watch over others was in her nature? And he did want the food.

He supposed that staying there for a moment wouldn't hurt. After all, they were still out in the open, so if Linzie decided to trick him, he could probably see it coming.

"I'm, I'm Setu," he introduced himself, sitting carefully beside the dirt pile. He didn't want to get too comfortable, yet. "Yes, food and rest would be wonderful, thank you."  

[ChaosTheories]

Linzie beamed at Setu. It didn't take her very long at all to warm up to strangers when they seemed as nice and as harmless as this dusty blue lion! She laughed out loud at how silly she had been. Dragging around antelopes and burying them in sand.

"Nice to meet you, Setu," she said, calming down just enough to speak somewhat normally. When Linzie got going... it was hard to communicate sometimes. So she made the effort to be friendly and to not overwhelm her new companion. "I'm Linzie! Um, why don't you stay here... Eat as much as you want! And I'll find someplace for you to rest."

She was a lioness on a mission now. Linzie put on her most serious face and nodded sternly to Setu, before she turned right around and started on her way, kicking up dust as she went.  

[ChaosTheories]

Tlotlego'Setu chuckled as he watched Linzie stomp away, almost like a cub. But, laughing aside, he was extremely grateful for her kindness. After all, she had no reason to help him. He had nothing to offer her in return, nothing to his name. Perhaps he could offer his company, but he couldn't stay on the dry plains forever. And neither could she.

She was helping him for purely altruistic reasons.

It made him feel a bit more positive about his situation. Not every lion he had met had been so kind. He thought of a particular male, a black lion with fur stained with the colour of old blood. There had been something... wrong about him. And he had not helped Setu's fear of strangers one bit.

He reached out with his paw and started to sweep it off the pile. No matter how hungry he was, he would save some for Linzie when she got back. It was the least he could do.



FIN.

( 1620 words )