[LOG] Nice place (Sphele x Falas)

[Puhterodactyl]

A small pebble rolled off the edge of a cliff, and Sphele, peering over the edge, gulped hard. She'd chased a hare in this direction, but it had disappeared. She assumed it'd had some secret den. The wild dog furrowed her brows and wagged her tail back and forth. Hmmm… She trotted along the edge of the cliff, with a wide berth, of course. She'd have to find a way down, maybe there would be better hunting there. The female found a small path and walked- and slipped her way down it with a few barks of surprise on the way. She eventually reached the foot of the cliff and breathed a large sigh of relief.


There seemed to be movement above her den. Falas lie there, just watching small pebbles flit down in front of the entrance to her den. Thoughtful, a little confused, she got to her feet, moving to the opening and peeking outside. Of course, she couldn't see anything directly above her from that angle, making her move further into the open so she could properly look up to see what was going on.

She didn't have to look too up, as it turned out. Just coming to the ground was a wild dog, something of which Falas had little experience with. "Oh!" she hummed, "I was wondering what was walking down that path! I didn't know it would be you. Um... hi? What's up?"


Sphele's head snapped to the voice. "Oh! Uhm! Ah…" She was surprised to say the least about seeing a lioness here. Hopefully there was no pride attached, and from the looks of it, she was in luck. "Hi! I was just following the trail of a hare, but I think it might have disappeared into its den, though." She pulled a face and laughed. "I was just trying to follow, or maybe to some better hunting grounds."

Her tail wagged a little and she smiled, "How's the hunting in this area? Is it good? I'm sorry if it's your territory, I'm not part of a pack, and I'm just passing through, I won't take too much." A friendly sort of grin was on the dog's face when she seemed to remember something. "Oh, I'm Sphele, by the way."  

[Puhterodactyl]

"Oh, well ,that's okay," Falas said lightly enough, keeping her tone welcoming so she didn't send the wrong message, "there are a lot of hares here, so I'm sure you'll be able to find one really soon. It's pretty much an endless buffet of them, actually." Probably why she didn't hunt them all the time, though she could- she liked having a bit of variety in her food, so she let them run around most of the time while she went off to try other things.

Normally, hare was her lazy day meal, or something to hold her over while she was too busy to go hunting for something bigger.

"I'm Falas! The hunting here is excellent, if you like hares. You're welcome to come here any time you want! just don't tell too many others about it." She liked the way the dog's tail swayed. It seemed different, somehow, then when a lion let his or her tail wag around. "Nice to meet you, Sphele."

Just like Pavlov's dog, Sphele's mouth began to water a little at the talk of plentiful hare. It wasn't the biggest or best thing she could catch, but they were like potato chips- she couldn't have just one. Her tail picked up the pace of wagging before she noticed she might seem over enthusiastic and forced it to slow. "Mmm, that sounds great!" She paused for a moment only to raise a leg to scratch behind her ear, all without sitting down. Looking sheepish for a brief moment she then smiled.

"It's very nice to meet you too, Falas. Thanks, too, for your hospitality. If I had a place of my own I'd say you could have all the buffalo or zebra you could catch!" Such things were too large for her to take down on her own unless it was a young one or the infirm, so it was the least she could offer the lioness. Sphele chuckled and winked. "It'll be our little secret, then."

"Ha!" Falas laughed, "you just scratched yourself standing up! I have never seen anyone do that before! Now I have to try it- will you permit me?" Like she was really asking permission. Steadying herself, she raised a leg, scratching herself behind her ear while standing up. It felt no different from sitting down and doing it, but she still enjoyed it a hell of a lot more. Standing up and scratching- who knew?

Fun!

"Buffalo! I would be a mighty lioness if I could take one of those down on my own!" She wasn't even sure she could take a zebra on her own- she was pretty new to the non-fishing variety of hunting, actually. Probably why she liked trying so many different things.

"Great! Then why don't we go look for a hare to catch for you now? I'd love to watch, if you don't mind!" See how a wild dog did it.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Sphele laughed at Falas doing as she did. It was something she'd only seen other dogs do, never a lion. She equated the feline kind as more of self-groomers, licking their paws and washing their faces- after all, they had much sharper claws. "Very good for a beginner! I've seen pups try to do it and they fall- so then they just scratch sitting down." She finished speaking then shook her head, ears flopping against it. It wasn't something she intended for Falas to try next- just a force of habit after scratching.

She eyed Falas as she spoke of hunting. "Well then I'd say you could have all the waterbuck you could catch! The zebra offer still stands as well." Waterbuck were like a cross between buffalo and antelope, at least in the dog's mind. And antelope- Ahh, those were good eats.

As though on cue her tummy growled and at Falas' suggestion she laughed. "I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather do. And sure! But don't make fun of me if I can't find or catch anything." She walked towards what seemed to be a little trail cut through the low-lying scrub. It could have been a hare's trail, and she put her nose to the ground to follow it, and out of subconscious habit, her tail rose behind her over her back.


Falas knew she probably wasn't using the head shaking as more for the tutorial, but she was in the mood to follow so she did the same thing, shaking her head about and letting the hair on her head bounce around almost happily.That wasn't as fun, she found, making her feel a bit dizzy once she was finished doing it. Frowning, she looked at her new friend, brightening once the other agreed to go hunting.

She wanted to see how a wild dog did it! Was it different, like scratching?

"I wouldn't dream of it! I've had days when I couldn't catch a darn thing, so I wouldn't tease you for having the same thing happen. Anyway, I don't think it will. Like I said- this place is brimming with food!" Or, hares, rather. But that was their food, right?

She followed the other, keeping back and silent. Her eyes were good enough to watch the whole thing keenly from a distance, so she didn't get in the way of the other's hunt. If she did fail to catch something, it would more than likely be because of Falas getting in the way if she wasn't careful.


Sphele smiled when her new friend shook her head. It looked like she felt a little dizzy- which is exactly how it made her feel, too. She was happy at Falas' assurances that she'd not be mocked, so she got a bit more serious with her nose so close to the ground.

Typical to hares, the trail was pretty helter-skelter and all over the place. It must have looked pretty funny to her observer to watch Sphele follow the scent in a strange line. But the scent was strong, and probably still fresh. She picked her pace up to a trot, breathing in the scent deeply, and her tail began to wag. It led the pair to a couple of hills, and on the other side, Sphele looked down to see at least three hares nibbling on vegetation. They were downwind, which was quite fortunate, and the hares hadn't noticed the two predators. The dog immediately dismissed the one closest to a bolt hole, and chose the one closest to her as her 'target'. She looked back to Falas, and gestured towards it.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Falas moved forward, keeping quiet as she watched. Though she wanted to see how the wild dog took something down all on her own, she knew she wouldn't stand there like an idiot if things didn't go as planned.

She would be there to attempt to catch one of the little buggers before they got too far away.

Positioning herself aside as carefully as possible, she watched the small collection, her eyes locked on one of them should the wild dog lose sight of her own target. If they shared the same one... well...that probably wouldn't help anyone with anything. Ready, she waited for the attack.  

[Cajanic]

Sphele, her eyes glued to the oblivious creature, nodded the signal and bolted fiestas it, her gait bounding and leaping down the hill. It wasn't her usual style, but given the terrain, it was how she moved. On the level ground, she seemed to flatten out with how long her strides were, and she gave chase to the hare, who tried to make its way to safety. Within a matter of seconds, she was upon it and she swatted at it mid-run, and it was knocked sideways. She turned on her heels and caught the middle of its body in her jaws when she picked it up, wiggling, and tub positioned it under her paws where she but the back of its skull and the movement stopped. The whole thing took less than a minute, and she panted heavily, hoping Falas had had the same luck. Another growl from her stomach prompted her to take a couple of bites from her meal- though she knew it would have been polite to wait for her friend, she was just too hungry and too excited. Her tail wagged quickly, quite satisfied with the taste of her meal and the hunt itself. Maybe she would stick around for a little while. Especially if the buffet was as endless as Falas said it was.

She's almost been too busy watching to hunt herself. When a hare darted her way, she barely had enough time to react to it, only just seeing it before moving in to catch it with her paw and send it sailing a few feet back the way it had come. The force of the blow had been more than enough to stun the animal, giving Falas time to get over to it.

Ending its life was simple with her powerful jaws. Looking up, she smiled, glad her friend had caught something too. "Well, I'll head back to my den now. I hope you come back and hunt here whenever you want to! You can even come back to my den with me. We can eat there without anything coming around to sniff at the blood."

She led the other back, hoping she would get to find out more about wild dogs in general. Such cute animals!

(Fin)