[PRP] Quite the Chase

[Light Atago]

Skuld's mind was conflicted- half of her was extremely at ease, following her own path… And the other half was not so sure she had made the right choice. Only time could tell which side was right, but the cheetah just simply had to act. She had been raised in the roguelands, meeting all sorts of new faces every day. Sure, meals were a bit harder to come by, but you traded variety for comfort, and her previous monotony was not something the cheetah cared for any longer. And it was with that thought in mind that Skuld decided to take to the roguelands once more- to learn all she could, as well as to meet others. (Sometimes, they had the best lessons to teach.)

But, as she had thought, meals were once again more difficult to come by, especially for a cheetah. She had made some good kills, but not in the past day or two, and hunger was a particularly strong driver for her at the moment. She set out across the lands at a good pace, eyes, ears, and nose all sharp for some realistic prey.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Mez was coming back from a rather interesting encounter with a Firekin lioness. He'd heard of the pride before but had never been there, and he had found out why it would be a good idea to never go back. It seemed they didn't take too kindly to hybrids, nor those that were blue. He had really run out of luck the moment he'd stepped onto the sand there. Still, he wasn't one to get down and stay down. He was back to his old self in no time, humming happily as he wandered through the rouge lands on his way back home.

He had been traveling for a few days and hadn't had much to eat outside of a few meerkats. The scent of a large herd has pulled him off his normal path, and he was trying to figure out where it was, when he spotted a cheetah making her way in his direction. He grinned as she got closer and waved.

"Hello!" he called out, always one to greet any he passed by. Perhaps she'd want to stop and help him find this herd...then they could hunt together and maybe bring down a large prey beast and split it! Oh, that would be wonderful.

Light Atago

 

[Light Atago]

Skuld had just started to catch wind of a herd when her eyes caught someone approaching her. To put it simply, she had never seen anyone quite like him before. Seemed friendly enough, but she was curious to know what he was… She had put together that he was a hybrid, but of what? In fact… She couldn't really wait to investigate him herself, he was quite the interesting specimen!

"Hello!" the dark cheetah called back, picking up her stalk into a lope to close the distance between them quicker. Her stomach was pretty empty, and her own thoughts had wandered to similar thoughts. A smaller cheetah like her could only bring down so much meat- but with two of them, that would go much more smoothly. As she got closer, she realized that- she bet the pair of them could take a wildebeest and gorge themselves! Even if they only cooperated for one hunt, she would be set for a few days.

But first, introductions. "My name's Skuld, yours?" she asked with a small dip of her muzzle. She decided, based on her growling stomach, to be direct. "I was just on the lookout for a herd, I think I caught a whiff of one here- want to work together and mooch a meal out of them?" She asked, a spark of excitement in her eye. Hunts, to her, were always fun- she got to show off her speed to anything and anyone around.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

As the cheetah approached and slowed down, Mez lowered his paw and put a grin on his face. He knew he could come off as intimidating based on his appearance alone, but his body language hopefully spoke volumes louder than his large teeth and odd mane. He really was a friendly guy with a big heart, always willing to help someone out.

"Mezlijin," he returned with a little bow of his own. "But Mez will do just fine." As Skuld spoke he lifted his head and hand to laugh. "Oh wow...you know, I thought I could smell a herd around here somewhere, too! Great minds think alike," he said with a wink. "I'm not too fast, but I've been known to take down some pretty big prey in my day...I'd say we have a pretty good chance of making a nice kill.'

Cheetahs were incredibly fast, and if Skuld went to flush out and separate one of the herd members, Mez could easily pounce and drag it to the ground. "I'm very interested in helping out! We just need to find the herd..."

Light Atago

 

[Light Atago]

Skuld smiled a toothy cheetah grin- she rather liked this guy! He had a good attitude, as she had hoped, despite his more gruff appearance. "Nice to meet you Mez, and I'd say that I agree!" she said to his comment about the pair of them making a kill- seemed more than likely to her. They both had different strengths, between the two of them they had most of their bases covered.

"Let's head off this way," she suggested, giving her head a jerk in a certain direction. "I think there's a termite mound over there that we can use to get an overlook of the land, and formulate a plan from there," she suggested as she started to head that way. "I'm sorry for being so straightforward there," she said earnestly, feeling like it needed to be said. "I'm not usually so blunt about things," she added, hoping Mez would not think her too rude. Perhaps he could put together that she had not eaten for a day or two, so predictably that was what was on her mind.

SilverLutz

 

[SilverLutz]

As Skuld picked a direction to head off to, Mez nodded and turned his paws in the direction they were going to head in. "That's a good idea," he said thoughtfully as he trotted alongside the cheetah. While he looked to be bigger than Skuld, in reality he was probably about as tall as her. His mane and fluffy fur made him appear much larger than he was, but under it all he was more leopard than lion.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Mez added as they headed off in search of higher ground to get a good look around them. "When it comes to food, being blunt is just fine. I haven't had much luck hunting the past few days so a nice, beefy antelope or wildebeest would really hit the spot."

He licked his lips just thinking about it, a far-off look on his face. "Ah...I haven't had one in ages. Wildebeest, I mean. I've been traveling so much I really haven't come across many herds. Usually it's just little rodents, small game, carrion. I've beaten off buzzards bigger than me," he said with a laugh. "Finding someone to hunt with is a great stroke of luck."

Light Atago

 

[Light Atago]

His description was making the cheetah's mouth water- the very idea of a juicy wildebeest was excellent… Her stomach growled, apparently with the thought. As they walked, she listened to Mez. "I'm glad you feel that way," she said sheepishly. She was indeed grateful that the male didn't take her for rude, as others might have. (Herself included) "And I'm pretty lucky too! We'll both benefit from this."

As she walked, she could feel that they were moving uphill- she could see the crest of the hill coming closer and closer, and her nose was the first to tell her they were headed in the right direction. She started to grin, excitement building in her. She crouched down slightly as they started to approach the crest- remaining undetected as long as possible, if they could. Her ears dipped down as she approached, trying to keep herself to the ground as she got a look at the herd before them. A fair size- not the biggest she had ever seen, but certainly not the smallest either. Some 50 or so animals to pick from, certainly someone would be weak enough to be caught. "What do you think?" she whispered to Mez.

silverlutz

 

[SilverLutz]

Mez let Skuld lead the way, following suit and crouching as they reached the top of the hill. He kept himself low and crouched, his belly brushing the dirt as they surveyed the herd.

"Looks like dinner," he said with a grin, keeping his voice low. "Let's see...who looks like they're offering to assist us?" He let his eyes scan the herd, looking for any young or old or obviously injured creatures. There was one very large male with a broken horn that seemed to be in charge, and on the far side of the herd a bunch of calves were fooling around.

"Ah...they might wander far enough from the adults," he murmured. "Or perhaps there...that's an old looking one."

He nodded, pointing with his nose towards the other side, closer to the male with the bad horn. "See there, she seems to be a bit blind..."

Light Atago