Woe upon everyone in Olayinka's path. The female was heavy with cubs and after her less then fun meeting with the Goddess of Gravity, she was all but ready to kill. Her focus was on one male and she was going after him like a speeding pregnant angry train. A rather horrifying image that hardly did her justice. That first male had to be the source! She'd completely forgotten that she'd been with two males and that show off was sure to blame!
The sun had just started to fade over the horizion as she prowled up panting, head low. The trip had been tring. She couldn't quite remember when she'd met the one who loaded her with the brats and wasn't even sure how to find him. Slowing down she found a waterhole, hissing and snarling at the smaller animals before claiming it and stepping into it and drinking at the same time, trying to keep a good eye out.
Konje needed more practice. After staying with his newest friend, making sure nothing that wnt bump in the night went after her, he wanted to become even better at being there for other animals. Practice being a hero, that's what he needed. The past couple of days, he had been eager to flesh out his skills, going around asking any animal he found if they needed some kind of help with something. Unfortunately, most of them either ran in terror because there was a leopard in front of them, or declined the invitation to have him help them out. Didn't they know he wasn't trying to pull anything funny? He just... wanted to help someone.
He didn't know what to do.
Very few tims had he managed to find someone who was actually in need of help. Now, though, he felt like he would finally get the practice he so longed for. There was something on the air. A foulness that could not be ignored. Heading towards the water hole, he soon found the source of the disturbance. It was not what he had expected.
"Olayinka?" He hummed, moving slowly toards the other. Yup, it was her. He'd remember that pale fur anywhere. But... she'd put on a good deal of weight. Didnt' she know she was supposed to keep up with her training? He might have mentioned it, but the dakrness that hung in the air seemed to warn him that teasing her at that moment would get his throat ripped out.
Her ears twitched when she heard her name and her red eyes turned to the intruder fast. She was tense her tail flickering back and forth in annoyance. She looked ready to strike until she registered the spotted leopard with the cheetah face mask. She seemed to relax, at least enough to sound semi-friendly. "Spots?" She questioned wading out of the water toward him.
Her movements were still cautious. As much as she hated the stupid things in her belly, instict demanded that she protect them and so far she'd done a good job of it. She tried to get a vibe of his intentions but from what she knew about him thus far she doubted he posed any real threat. "What are you doing here? Have you seen any other leopards?"
"Yup!" He hummed, "it's me. Nice to see you remember me... kinda. How come you're so pudgy?" Oh boy, he hadn't meant to let that one slip out so quickly. He coughed just after speaking, hoping to cover up what he had said as he sat himself down not so far from her. "Sorry," he almost whispered.
He let his tail twitch, smiling.
"I've seen plenty of them! It's been fun. I was just coming here to do a little bit of swimming for more training. I don't want to let my legs grow soft with all the sitting around I've been doing lately! What about you. What are you doing here?"
The comment hit the spot and the female automatically went defensive. "I am not pudgy!" She snapped baring her long slinder fangs, "That stupid leopard got me pregnant and when I find him I'm going to rip him a new one! As soon as soon as I find his feeloading a**." She responded answering both his questions with one rant. "Plenty? Good. I'm looking some guy named Shikamana or something."
Konnje closed his eyes, afraid she might whack him one for calling her fat. Thankfully, she seemed more interested in ranting about why she was tubby, rather than ripping him apart for mentioning it. Pregnant? That made a lot more sense than what he would have been able to come up with. No one really had that much food out in the rogue lands, did they? How could you hunt when you're fat? "I'm sorry!" He yelped again, "I didn't know! Wow, pregnant! That means you have little babies inside of you, right? That's so cool!" She didn't seem as pleased about it as he was, though, the male shutting himself up before he made her all the angrier.
Were all preggos so snippy?
"Shikamana... I don't think I know anyone with that name, sorry. I think I can help you keep an eye out for him if you want to, though! What does he look like? If I see him, I'll let him know you're looking for him." He didn't sound like a very nice leopard- just leaving her after making her pregnant! Who would do that?
This apology seemed to finally peirce the female's brain and she sat back on her haunches, licking her shoulder to cover up wounded pride. She gave him a sharp look. "Cool? It is not cool. I don't have anywway of feeding these brats. As it is its made hunting a challenge let alone dragging anything up trees." She gave a tree a banefull look and settled down.
It was clear she was disappointed. She was hoping *someone* might know him. "He's black... got purple markings. Almost a cresent moon shape coming from one of his eyes. His tail was stripped... twice I think." She grumbled and laid out against the ground to rest. "I'm tired of looking for his a**. I've been all over the freakin savanah."
"Maybe he movs around a lot," Konje offered faintly, "some leopards like to move around all over the place..." or maybe he didn't want to be found. Was it possible he knew what he had done and didn't want to be a part of the cub's lives? He frowned at the thought of it, finding it too unreal to be true. Who wouldn't want to raise cubs?
Well, his father for one.
"And if you need help with hunting and dragging things up into trees, I could do it! I've never had to hunt for two people before- that would certainly be a challenge! I think I would do a very good job of it, too, because you already know that I'm a master hunter! It'll be easy to catch more food or me. I don't have anything weighing me down." Hopefully she wouldn't take that one the wrong way.
It wasn't what Olayinka wanted to hear and she laid there panting before cleaning her stomach and keeping one eye on him. "I know that." She was one of them. She hadn't held still a day since she'd found out she was carrying.
The leopardess looked up at him a bit of hope glinting behind her hardened eyes. He wasn't the one who'd caused the mess but if he was offering to help... In her position she couldn't really refuse it. She was driven to take care of her cubs. She couldn't just let them die because she was a first time mother and unable to hunt for them. She dug her claws into the ground. "What would you want in return?" She asked suspiciously. "Is the challenge enough when it could take weeks for me to give birth?"
Konje tilted his head to one side, befuddled by her question. What did he want in return? What made her think that he wanted something in return in the first place? Then again, he did want something in return. He wanted the training. The experience. Caring for two leopards instead of just one? Hell, caring for more than two leopards if you counted the unborn babies: that was something that would take a lot of effort and resources! It seemed like just the kind of thing that he would want to do.
So, yeah, he wanted something from her, but he thought he had already mentioned that before.
"Of course the challenge is enough!" he laughed, "it's the only thing that matters! And making sure you can take care of the babies, too. If it takes weeks then that's all the better! Unless you don't want me to help you out... I understand since it's hard to trust strangers..." apparently. He'd learned that trying to help others and having them snub him.
Her fur was starting to lay flat as he smiled at her. In truth trusting strangers was hard for her if she was going to spend more then a day talking to them. If she could just get up and walk away at her will then that was fine. She had no quelms with that but this was different. She hated needing help but he didn't seem the type to rub it in her face either.
Flattening her ears she considered for a moment. As it was she had no clue what to do with them once they were born. Maybe she could ditch them on this guy and run for the hills when they stopped nursing. She liked his attitude at least. "... Alright, Spots. You got yourself a challenge..." She responded standing up again. "I just need a place to hidde out."
"Good!" He hummed, "I'll make sure you won't regret it!" He was blissfully unaware that their acts together the last time they had met was what had her so full of cubs now. Now that she had told him another male was responsible for it he wasn't even thinking that it might have been a mistake for her to blame Shikamana.
Getting up as well, he moved next to her, to offer her support if she needed it. Or, at the very least, he might provide her a bit of shade.
"I have a den! I mean, I found one. No one lives there. You can stay there! I don't think a tree would be the best place to sleep with little babies around, you know? I think this place will be perfect for you!" he moved forward, trying not to go running ahead in his excitement. This was going to be fun.
Right?
He better not make her regret it but beggers couldn't be choosers. Right now he was the only real hope she had for keeping the kids kicking in her belly. She had to be giving birth soon and then she would be free of them.
She looked over to him when he moved near her and bristled ever so slightly but it stopped when he mentioned a den. She hadn't even thought of that. Her cheeks reddened. Some kind of mother she would be not even thinking of a den for them. "Oh do you?" She asked trying to hide her embarassment and trailing next to him. "Don't you need it?"
"Of course not!" He laughed, "I live in the trees! I just noticed that there was a den and it was empty! I don't really need it for me. I tried sleeping in it once but I don't really think it's very effective. You dont' gain anything by sleeping on rock." It was much more skillful to sleep in a tree- you had to make sure that you didn't fall out of them.
Which really sucked when you did.
Bringing her to the den, he smiled, coming to a stop. wiggling, he wondered if she would like it. Both the den and him looking after her. Hopefully it wasn't something she would regret. "If you need anything, just let me know!"
Maybe it was fate that brought her to this leopard. She didn't believe in it as a general rule but at this point she was willing to make an ecception. A single male who happened to have a den and want to help her take care of the cubs? Certainly too good to be true and she was waiting for the catch.
Either way, she at least had a place to rest now. She was tired and it was starting to show. Something about him hit a nerve somewhere and she managed a small smile. "... I haven't made a kill in a few days." She mentions unsure of how it was going to work. She wasn't going ot order him about like a slave. Would he simply bring the food to her every once in a while? Or would she need to tell him.
"Then I'll get something to eat!"
Konje was happy to hunt. That was the biggest part of the whole challenge, wasn't it? Or so he thought. Who knew what having a moody, emotional leopardess around all the time was going to be like. He had no idea what he was getting himself into, the silly goon.
"You stay here!" He said lightly, tail flailing as he turned to leave. "I think I'm going to get something big! So we can both have something to eat. Let me know if you need anything else!" He didn't know he was acting kind of like a servant, he thought he was just being a hero. Didn't they do stuff like this for others all the time? He would only find out with more training.
She gave him a relieved look before finding a cool spot to lay down. She didn't know if she could really deal with someone so energic all the time but he had a good heart. Or at least he seemed to anyway. She gave another small smile as she claimed the den as hers and settled into it with ease. Much more comfortable then being out in the open when trees were no longer an option. "Arlight... Thank you." She responded awkwardly but it was at least senceire.
Maybe she shouldn't dump the cubs on someone so... nice.
"You're welcome!" Konje hummed, leaping away from the den to go find something nice for her. He wasn't sure if she would mind him being gone for a while, but there wasn't a lot he could do about it. After all, it took a while to find a good meal. Especially when he was now considering a good portion to share with someone. Looking back at the den, he frowned.
Would she be alright on her own? He hoped so. Sighing, he wandered off, looking for the perfect meal.
