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 Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:28 pm
The tan lion stalked his prey soundlessly, his form hidden well in the dried grass. Red eyes never wavered from the view through the grass and his movements were controled, bringing him inch by inch closer. When the moment was right, he burst from the cover with a roar and raced towards a small group of hyenas gathered around a carcass.
They scattered with cries and cackles, circling back around to worry at him as he crouched over the kill. Jaws gaping and fangs bared, he kept them off as he bent to rip of bits of flesh and swallow it down.
Part of him cringed at his behavior, but he also knew that if he didn't eat, he was going to die. Hunting was hard out here in the rogue lands, and pickings were slim. Without help, he missed more prey than he caught... this was his first meal in a week and he only hoped they didn't really try to hassel him for it. They'd eaten most of it anyway, they might just let it go now.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:41 pm
It was the day before last that the pair would make it to their destination. After saying his farewell to Adia the night before, who was no longer following Mwana and him, he was carrying back a full load of food again; two upon his back and another in his maw. He moved boldly and proudly through the grasslands back to where he had left Mwana and their meerkat friend, Fukuaji.
The sounds of cries of laughter and whimper made him scowl a little. It seemed the smell of carrion had attracted hyenas to him yet he saw no vultures above him but they were nearby. Did they not pick up on him or did they find easier food?
He thought.
Did Mwana come on after him? Did the Hyenas get to her? No, she wasn't that stupid. Was it Adia? No... she was likely having her cubs by now. Was it....
"s**t."
With a burst of speed, he quickly made his way over to the swarm of scavengers, the bulk of his kill slowing him down a little but his power was what drove him. Reaching the area he let out a mighty roar in attempts to scare off the pestering scavengers.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:56 pm
Ushukuru snarled as a hyena lept for him, sending it flying with a swat of his paw. It yelped when it landed and the others broke out in cackles of anger. He hissed as he snapped up some more meat, gulping it down greedily. It was great to feel the weight in his belly, but he didn't know how much longer he could keep them off... A cry of anger tore from him as one bit into his back leg and he whirled to smack it off, his claws tearing off its ear.
He jerked up at the sudden loud roar nearby, jerking his head up and staring wide eyed at what looked like... three flying grazers? He stumbled back, nearly falling as his paws tangled in the carcass on the gound. It took him a moment before he realized that it was a lion carrying the dead meat, the hyenas scattering in all directions. They knew better than to try their luck against two adult lions, and beat a hasty retreat.
"T-Trigger?" Ushu gasped out, his ears layed back "What... what are you doing here?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:14 pm
He gave a scoff as he shrugged off the kills upon his back and dropping the one in his maw, looking down at the male. He was right, it was Ushu. After allowing him to remain in 'his territory' he assumed he had left but on the off chance he was around, he came. With a passing glance around, the hyenas were gone. Giving another roar to the vultures as if to say 'There is no food here', he turned back to Ushu.
"I thought you were capable of keeping your own kill and being able to scare of some pesky hyenas," he replied before picking up one of the kills and placing it closer to the other male. The last time he saw him, he was rather thin by his standards. Now he was even worse.
"I suggest you eat it up before they decide to come back. Two lions, four kills, and countless scavengers. I think they'll figure out that they could get something from us and leave one of us starving, or worse, dead," Trigger stretched out his back, shaking out the blood that had seeped into his fur before laying himself down in the clearing, keeping an eye out for the scavengers.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:29 pm
Ushu frowned as he looked over Trigger, making note of how easily he carried three kills. Had he killed them all himself? His spirits sank a little at that thought. He could bearly feed himself, and this guy managed to bring down three at once? What justice was there in that?
He shifted on his paws as Trigger pushed one of the carcasses to him, his comment drawing a huff from the smaller male. "It wasn't my kill..." He managed finally, turning his head to scan the grass around them. "I was chaising off the hyena's to take theirs." Not exactly a princely pursuit, but hell... he wasn't a prince any more, and he'd do what he had to to survive.
"I don't need handouts, Trigger. You made that kill, and you have a pregnant female. You need it more than I do." The picked over carcass he'd fought for wasn't a large meal, but it would be enough till he caught something else. It hurt his pride to think that the older male might see him as weak or helpless. After all, that's why he'd started trying to feed himself again, coming out of the stupor of his shame. He hadn't wanted to look poorly the next time he met up with the big red male. So much for that.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:50 pm
"So you stole another's kill? Well, you are nothing but a scavenger if that happened. You are suppose to be a hunter, Ushu. You are hunter aren't you?" he questioned the male's role in this world's food chain. Was he a prey. Was he a scavenger. Or was he a hunter.
"It is not a hand out, it is... something I left here and having no intention of taking it with me because I forgot I had left it here," A complex way of saying it was a gift. But one could mistaken it, if a scavenger, more food to scavenge. Ushu needed food, he needed to eat. It seemed like he was on his last leg, especially if it drove him to scavenger from the lowest of the low...
"I give you credit for actually fighting off a pack of hyena for their kill. Either you are extremely stupid as I am or very confident in your abilities as a lion to get your food," he scoffed and looked down to the kill he had offered him. Once again taking its leg for himself.
"It was partially mine, so don't complain."
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:05 pm
Ushu bristled at the questions, his tail flicking. "Food's been... scarce. I do what I have to. I'd have thought you understood that."
He eyed the kill as Trigger tore a leg from it. Eating all that would keep him fed for days, replenishing what he'd lost from lack of food. Still...
"I don't like taking handouts..." He said softly, feeling the feather in his mane twitch as he raised his head. "I was one of the best hunters in the... well, back where I came from. I used to always catch more than I needed, and it left me with plenty to share. I'm not used to how wary the prey is here, but I'll get used to it and then I'll hunt like I used to."
He brushed his paw against the dirt as he stood stiffly, unable to decide what to do.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:28 pm
"We are closer to the mountains now. Some climb it, others avoid it. You just got to find what you need to catch and catch it. You have to survive, how you do it is up to you. But remember that it affects how others look at you," he spoke. Wow, a wise comment. It seems his wise moments were always around others and not his friend, Ahali. He looked at him and sighed, trying to relax a little.
"It doesn't mean you have to like it. You are hungry, you will eat. Food is right here so I do not see why you can't just eat it like you are now with this stolen meal," he replied, eating the leg as if a snack if anything else. Three of these were enough to fill him some times, others may not. But this food was not for him. He had killed these three and went off to kill more for himself. Ate it and started the trip back. These kills were for Mwana.
"You may have been the best hunter on this planet, you may have been the king or a prince or their plaything for all I care, out here, you are nothing but a rogue. Mwana, the female I travel with, was the Princess of the Mistweavers. I was a slave. Out here, we are rogues, we hold no ranks to their prides now," he sighed and tried to befriend him. He. . . pitied him.
"If you stick around, I could keep giving you hand outs if you intend to keep starving and scavenging like this or are you really going to really become the hunter you used to be and start hunting again?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:44 pm
Ushu sighed as he listened to the older lion talk, his tail twitching in irritation. Geez... Trigger made it sound like he was some kind of helpless hanger-on, begging for scraps. It grated at his pride.
"Fine, I'll eat it this time... but don't think I need you to keep hunting for me!" He planted a paw on the carcass Trigger had given him and dug his claws into it. "I will get better, and I won't need your hand-outs. I don't care how long it takes, I'm not taking food from you any more."
He shifted, pulling the dead animal over closer to him, bending to rip off a big piece of it. "I'm not some... weakling." He grumbled as he chewed and swallowed. It was lucky for him that he didn't sense Trigger's pity of him. He wouldn't have been able to stand it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:51 pm
Sheng smiled to himself as he looked at the male. He had such strength and potential to be a great male. He just had to understand that he had to buck up and do what was necessary to survive. If he didn't eat much now, he would have no energy to continue on and eventually die. He made a note to check up on this male after he meets with Ahali and Afu.
"That is what you say now. Tell me that again when you are on the ground starving the next time I find you with three kills again," perhaps provoking him to encourage was not the smartest idea there was, but it was his preferred method. He smirked and moved over toward the male, looking down at him.
"You are not a weakling, I can see that. You are just struggling to get your bearings. New lands, new prey, and new competitions," he leaned down and licked him, to encourage him some.
"I'm sorta glad I found you, too. I needed to talk to you about something," he spoke.
"Mwana alone is a lot for me to handle at times and I don't think cubs will be much more help for me. I don't know how many she is carrying, but I know for a fact I would not be able to keep watch over all of them and provide them for their safety. What would you say if I asked you to help me?" It was a stretched to ask a stranger such a think. Some may think him pathetic but it would also mean that Sheng could spend more time with his family while Ushu hunts for them, or the two of them, or he could leave Mwana for long periods of time to handle other things knowing that she had Ushu for company rather than Fuku. He scoffed to himself and looked at the male.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:01 pm
Ushu gave Trigger a glare as he looked up from the kill, his jaws bloody from the raw meat. He twitched in surpise as Trigger came and licked him, his head lifting as he looked to the older male with a curious expression. Displays of affection like this were... rare, in his experience. His words were a balm to Ushu's pride, smoothing ruffled fur a little. Yeah... everything was just new to him. When it wasn't new, it wouldn't be so bad.
But if guesture was suprising, what Trigger proposed next was... well, shocking. "What?!" He gaped, his jaw dropping before he caught and closed it. "You want me to watch over your mate and cubs? I... I don't know." He was nearly at a loss for words. What do you say to a guy when he asks something like that?
Still... the weight of his loneliness suddenly pressed down on him, reminding him of how very alone he was now, with no future and no past to go back to. At least with Trigger and his mate, he'd have company... and he would be doing some good too, if he could help out.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:06 pm
"Don't answer now, just think about it. I am thinking about it myself if I should let another male close to my mate and my family, but I can't leave her alone with my meerkat and without any help with cubs," he looked out in the direction he had left Mwana hoping that is what is going on now; Fuku getting on her nerves. He was a bit worried about Adia, but it was her pride's tradition to be left alone so that was what he was going to do. As for Mwana, he just had to keep her fed and happy. That was what a mate did right?
"Just eat up, I'll be here for a while longer before I head on back..."
Triggered moved himself over to the kills, pools of blood slowly forming from broken skin. One of them was killed without any cuts to his body. He got the blow to the neck and must have snapped it. The blood would be pooling under the skin by now. Hopefully, Mwana would like that. He turned back to the bone that was left of what he had eaten and picked it up, slowly digging a claw down its flank.
Something to amuse himself for the time as there was nothing else for him to share.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:19 pm
Ushu frowned as he bent to the food Trigger had given him, eating more slowly now as his mind fairly boiled with thoughts and questions.
He so wanted the company... but would Mwana herself accept him? Especially with cubs on the way? Did Trigger really mean his offer, or was this all just some kind of cruel joke? It would give him something to do, other creatures to be with... a purpose to his life, if only for a little while.
"Its a noble pursuit." He said finally, lifting his head from the kill. "Providing for your mate is exactly what you should do. And if you need help, then you need to find that help..."
"I... I would be pleased you help you, Trigger." He said softly, his expression open and honest. "I've been, well, kind of lost for a while now. Having something to do might be just what I need to get back on my paws, if you know what I mean."
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:29 pm
He gave a soft scoff, not of one of irritation, but one of curiosity.
"Come now, is it all that noble, Ushu? Providing for the family is my duty as a male and father and a mate. It is my duty to do all I can protect them and keep them safe. Having you there would mean that they'll have some sort of protection too," he spoke flinging the bone over his shoulder into the grass.
"I appreciate it, but I still have to think about it myself, you know? Don't know if I want such a weak lion who can't even hunt to be protecting my cubs now do I?" he smirked, joking about the weak lion bit. But he was still thinking if he really needs another to help him. Mwana was capable of taking care of himself. But the real reason was that, it was a likely chance that Mwana might grow tired of having them around her all the time and dump them on him, that is where Ushu would come in, to take them off his hands and leave him free again.
Was... he opening up to him now?
"Well... I am glad I was able to help you find your way again. But right now, you have to focus of getting back the weight you lost. And your great hunting skills again," he smirked, poking at him again.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 10:39 pm
Ushu felt a flash of irritation at that poke, giving Trigger a look before he shook out his mane, sighing.
"I won't be weak for long, and I know I can hunt... I think we already established that." His rounded ears flicked as he glanced back at the dark red lion, his paw flexing before he bent to eat a little more meat.
"I -will- prove to you that I'm a strong hunter, Trigger." He grumbled as he ate, feeling his long-empty belly fill and a bit of energy return to him. Things seemed to be taking a turn for the better.
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