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 Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 7:35 am
It was a dismal day as far as Zenobia was concerned. It had been several days since her last decent meal. The weather had decided to add its own misery in the form of a drenching rain. She was wet, hungry, and cold as she laid out under a scrubby tree that did nothing to keep the water off.
Even though the waterhole still had plenty of water, almost nothing had come to drink since Zenobia arrived. Her tail twitched in irritation. Perhaps it was time to move on. She couldn't find anything larger than small foxes and all the small game had narrow tunnels. A day had been spent, wasted, as she chased one small varmint after another. Those tunnels made it hard for a lioness to chase and actually catch up.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:02 pm
 Chipo savored the rain. She didn't mind at all how wet she was getting, her fur dripping and soaking her through. Sure, she was a little cold but that wasn't so bad. Usually she was very HOT. This was like heaven. Like swimming without having to worry about drowning or the creatures that swam around in the waters that were bigger than her.
She splashed through little puddles, her forelegs getting completely muddy as she went, tail flicking every so often to spray droplets of water in all directions. Plus it was fun to see the world reveal itself to her through the sheets of rain as she went on. She could only see so far ahead at any one time... of course this meant there was the chance of danger but she'd be able to handle that if it came to it.
As it was the lioness saw a tall, skinny shadow breaking through the haze of rain. As she got closer she found it to be a scraggly tree with a lioness beneath it. She paused a moment, considering before she continued forward. This other lion... she didn't look much of a threat. On the contrary she looked a bit depressed. "Hallo." Chipo called out, shouting to be heard above the pound of the rain on the ground.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:11 pm
Zenobia jerked her head when she thought she heard a voice in the rain. There couldn't be anybody out there could there? She sat up and saw that indeed there was someone. Her tail waved.
"Hi. How are you doing today?" Zenobia looked over the other lioness. Here was maybe somebody who could and would help her. "If you don't mind my asking, do you live around here?" Her hope was the other would either lead her to a good hunting spot or help her hunt.
"Rather wet today isn't it?" She tried to be friendly though she was a bit nervous. Being hungry did that.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:26 pm
"Nope, afraid not." She moved over to sit her rump down beneath the tree. It wasn't much for cover at all... maybe it stopped the rain from stinging too much but she was still getting pretty wet. "A little wet, yeah, I suppose." She couldn't help the smile that grew across her muzzle, and then the laughter that escaped her. "Myself, I'm fine. And you? How are you fairing in this drizzly weather?"
She began to lick a paw futilely. At the very least she could clean the mud off of herself. In between licks she spoke casually. "Though really... what brings you out in... weather like this? Myself, I'm just a wanderer."
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 9:38 pm
"Oh." Well that let out that hope. Zenobia almost succumbed to mopping. It was miserable. She couldn't wait to be rid of it, but it really was better to wait until the rain cleared. After all, she didn't want to get trapped by water somewhere.
Her eyes reluctantly turned back to the red and grey lioness. "Could be better. I was trying to hunt those stupid critters over there," her head jerked in the direction, "but they have these stupid tunnels. I can't catch them by myself. Then this rain just made it worse, so I gave up and came to sit here." She looked cross as a big water drop splashed on her nose.
"Hunger, and I'm a wanderer too." Her interest peeked slightly. "Where you off too?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 1:10 pm
Chipo shook her head, partially to get her water logged fur out of her eyes and partially in response to the other lioness. "No where in particular. I just decided to go this direction this morning and here I am." She set her paw down, ears flicking from time to time to spray drops of water off the tips. She glanced over towards the holes that the other had motioned to, bottom jaw jutting out slightly as she considered what she'd said. Little critters that kept escaping out holes?
"Hm." She stood up and walked out from beneath the tree towards the tunnels, looking down into them as though she might be able to see the prey within. She circled about the hole once, looking up and spotting another not too far away.
"You! ...What's your name? Come over here and look at this." She waited for the other lioness to trot out in the rain before speaking again, having to lean in close to her and half-shout. "These tunnels are all connected. If we filled in all but one of them it'll start filling up with water. They're bound to realize they're getting flooded and make a break for it. We wait here and when they start running out we get them."
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Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 1:23 pm
"Eh I say we picked a pretty miserable direction to go in. I'd be a little happier if the rain let up." She watched as the other lioness headed out into the rain. What miserable weather to be hunting in, but hungry lions couldn't be choosers.
"It's Zenobia." The pale girl rose to her feet and padded out into the rain. She almost winced as she felt the mud squish between her toes. It would take forever to get out. Finally she stood beside her inadvertent companion looking at the holes.
"That sounds good in theory, but.... even with all the holes open and all the rain, it doesn't look like its filling up. With all but one tunnel closed, I doubt it would work any better." Zenobia nibbled on her lip as she worked on the problem.
What they needed was a way to flood the tunnels and keep one escape route open right into their jaws. "We need to close all but two holes off. Then somehow divert a lot of water into one while we wait at the other. I didn't realize they were all interconnected." She felt silly for not having thought of it before.
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Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:47 pm
Chipo nodded as Zenobia spoke. "I'm Chipo... and they might NOT be all connected. But isn't that usually the way these critter tunnels work? All connected together with as many escapes as they can come up with?" Her tail thumped down in the mud as she continued to think. How would they get more water to siphon into one hole...
"Maybe if we dug a path in the mud, one that's deep enough, to one of these puddles. It can flow into the tunnel. One of us would have to be at each end, though, in case they tried to come out both ways instead of just the most dry." She looked up at the other lioness, a little grin on her face. "You wanna try it?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 3:01 pm
"Nice to meet you Chipo. Thanks for helping hunt. True, but you're right. They usually are. I'd forgotten that in my misery." The white lioness sounded rather sheepish. It was a goof on her part and one she shouldn't make again.
Her stomach picked that moment to gurgle loudly and Zenobia laughed. "Yes! I think you're right. Two tunnels open, two of us. Why don't you start by finding a good puddle or stream and digging a path to it? I'll get started on stuffing all these holes."
She started to kick mud into the hole they were standing at. Quickly she packed it down, then moved onto the next. All through her work the rain continued to pour down. It was good since it helped her this time by making the dirt into soft mud. Zenobia zig-zagged across the area filling in all the holes she found.
Panting from her exercise, she looked toward Chipo. "All ready here!" With Chipo digging the tunnel to one tunnel Zenobia bounded over to the last free one. She crouched down, butt wiggling slightly in anticipation. If everything went well, they'd both get a good meal out of their efforts.
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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:42 am
Chipo gave a return shout as she finished off digging to one of the tunnels. She looked up to see Zenobia crouched in front of the last open one. "I'm going to start the water!" She ran over to the puddle she'd chosen... it was a long gouged out impression and the water ran up just over her ankle at the deepest spot. She dug away the wall of dirt she'd left standing between the water and her tunnel she she wouldn't be digging in splattery mud the whole time and gave a triumphant call as the liquid began rushing down the line. She'd made it as straight as she could so it could travel fast with no complications.
Chipo raced ahead of the line of water, reaching her spot before it began pouring over the lip of the tunnel and rushing down with an audible gush. She crouched just behind where the water poured in, her back to Zenobia. If the other lioness got anything she'd have to find out later.
She stared intently with blue eyes and... waited.
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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:53 pm
This might just work after all. Zenobia twitched her tail trying to contain her excitement. Would the little furry critters fall for it and think they were being flooded? She heard squeaking and her muscles tensed. A moment later a large furry critter emerged and she pounced upon it. Her large teeth crunched into it, killing the creature instantly.
While she had been distracted another one had escaped. Zenobia laid her first catch off to the side and went back to wait for more. Her patience was soon rewarded with another kill. This hadn't turned out too bad after all. One for her and one for Chipo if she hadn't been able to catch anything.
"How did you do?" the pale lioness called before picking up her kills.
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:58 am
"Mf mauh hun." Chipo trotted towards Zenobia, then turned to head towards what shelter the tree could offer once she was sure the other lioness was going to follow. She carried in her mouth just one of the furry little creatures. Reaching the tree she placed it down on the ground, mouth salivating as she turned back and gave a raise of her eyebrows, impressed at the sight of TWO in the other lioness' maw.
"How did you manage to get two of those things? I think five ran out my hole...they don't like getting wet much, do they?" She gave a little snort of laughter at her own comment. Despite the ground being wet Chipo lay down, resting one big paw on the hind legs of her catch. She had to swallow to keep herself from drooling - she couldn't help it, she'd gotten the taste of it in her mouth and it had been delicious.
"You should keep those two for yourself... eat what you catch, and all."
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Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:16 am
Zenobia happily saw that Chipo had a kill of her own. That was great! Seeing the red lioness heading for the tree, she turned to follow. Eating under a slightly rainy tree was much better than eating in the rain; though it really didn't matter when it came down to it so long as they got fed.
Zeno set her two kills down so she could respond, "I had several come out far part. Let me kill one and reset to get another. Besides one would have been for you if you hadn't managed to get anything." She gave a vigorous shake of her white pelt, "hahahahahah, I don't blame them. I don't like getting wet either."
"That idea of yours worked really well. I'm glad you came along." The rain now didn't seem so bad once she had food in front of her. "I'm so hungry I'm going to eat them both." The lioness laughed. Zenobia settled down beside her meal and started in eagerly.
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Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:25 am
Chipo crunched her own catch. "I'm glad I wandered by myself." To be honest this lioness was the first she felt she could almost consider a...friend. It saddened her a little, to think that they would soon part ways as was what seemed the norm for any rogue lions who met along their ways.
The two spoke over their food, sharing stories, giving general chatter and washing their faces and paws after their meals. When the rains began to let up Chipo finally stood, shaking little droplets of water from her fur. "...Hopefully, we'll meet again, Zenobia. But if not, then I hope you'll be well whichever way the sun takes you." She lightly tapped her cheek against the other lioness' before turning and padding away on large paws. She traveled sunwise, turning back to call a final farewell before slipping away over the muddy land.
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