Sanka:
It was humid in the lusher parts of Africa, as Sanka was coming to find out. She wasn't quite ready to embrace the strange climate change. But it was an experience, at least. Sanka was all about experiences lately. Leaving her pride had done a lot for her. She had matured and grown stronger, both physically and mentally. Of course there had been moments at the darkest parts of the night when the lioness had wondered if she had made a mistake in leaving her pride...but the dawn of the next day stifled her doubts and she began again.

This day was the same, and the promise of food spurred her on. The lioness was moving through thick, moss-covered trees, swaying vines and shattered, fallen logs--all very unusual for her, as she was used to the savanna.

Black nose to the air, Sanka was on the trail of a dead vervet monkey. The best kind of monkey was a dead one, she thought. The scent was strong. She was close. Her paws began to carry her weight more swiftly.


Flik:
Hungry, tired, and humiliated, Flik dragged his paws on and on. Fategue had his shoulders slumped and his tail practically dragging along the ground at his paws. The failed hunt followed soon by the deadbeat rogue had taken his strength, spent his reserves, and left him hungry and broody. So when the scent of a corpse touched his nose, Flik was all too eager to follow. Any meat at this point would be welcome. His body wouldn't hold up much longer if things continued as they had.

Damn Viktor. He'd beat his head in if he made it back to the stronghold.

Picking up his pace, Flik soon found himself gulping down thick, humid air alive with mosquitoes and the stench of damp earth. Vines hung by the hundreds, some tangled around one another, others already snapped in half. Why..by the stars in heaven why did everything have to be so difficult?

Sanka:
As the scent of the monkey increased, so did Sanka's pace. Her stomach growled audibly and saliva lined the insides of her muzzle. She hadn't had a decent meal in a good two days and she was beginning to feel the effects.

Well, no matter, she thought--a nice, dead monkey would be in her stomach soon enough. If she was first to arrive at the kill, that is. And now that she thought about it, why had the monkey's carcass been abandoned in the first place? Perhaps it was poisoned? Or perhaps there was something feasting upon it that she couldn't smell?

Despite the endless questions and doubts, the lionesss continued forward until the monkey was in sight. There it was, in a perfect patch of sunlit leaking through the tree-tops...shielded by walls of thick, green vines. Just her luck...

With a sigh of aggitation, Sanka began to delicately climb over and through the vines.

Flik:
Flik, coming from polar oppisate from the female, picked up his pace as well. Hunger and desperation trumped caution and common sense. His paws rolled, stumbled as he ran and tripped through the jungle of vines.

Then- a snap. His paw caved through a too-small hole in the ground , throwing him bum over head. One of his flying feet caught one of the looped vines, catching him just a few feet from the ground. He clawed at the air, hanging by a single foot upside-down. And right below him- the dead monkey. Just out of reach.

Sanka:
The snapping of leaves under paw sent Sanka reeling around, causing her to lose her delicate balance and fall into the mercy of the vines. When she realized what was just up ahead to the right of her--a male lion--she managed to tangle herself even deeper into the vines until she was strung-up off her paws completely.

This was not good.

The lioness's eyes looked at the male, then back at the vervet monkey. It was close, but so far...especially since she was completely tangled up in vines. Then...it dawned on her. Both of the lions were after the same prey. Both were tangled in vines.

Heart slamming in her chest, the lioness began to lean back and forth, using her first idea of an attempt at releasing herself from the vines.
Flik:
Flik dangled, freezing up as he swayed back and forth, the meal just out of reach. He sighed and slowly tipped his head downwards as something else- a large something else- came tripping through the vines and lurching back and forth in the vines ahead of him.

Another lady...

"....I take it... you were desperate as well?"

Sanka:
Sanka narrowed her eyes at the male. His words only made her want to get out of her mess faster.

"No," she snapped, unable to control herself due to her tangled situation. "I was doing just fine until you came along and star--" she inhaled sharply, angry that she she had to swallow her pride to finish her sentence. "Before you startled me," she grunted, pushing herself through the vines with all her strength.

A snapping sound filled her ears, followed by another, and she felt herself become looser. She was close, so close. Just a little more...

Flik:
Flik's ears went up and his shoulders tensed up. What!? His fault!? STARTLED HER!?

"Begging your pardon but YOU got yourself into this mess by trying to take MY find!" He pointed an accusing paw over her way, causing himself to swing violently back and forth with the subtle motions. Kicking his snared foot did little good, and moving around in the vines was only tightening the knots around him.

After a few moments of struggling and a few more snapping sounds, he froze. "...we aren't getting anywhere."


Sanka:
"Your find?!" Sanka echoed, casting him a ghastly look. "I smelled it first! It's my find," she said sharply, fidgeting left and right in hopes that her rotation would losen her body. She paused for breath for a moment, red eyes set on their goal--the monkey, lying perfectly in that patch of sunlight. Her stomach growled.

Sanka looked at the male when she heard his voice once more. She was sure he couldn't be too terrible a character if she had perhaps met him under different circumstances, or even gotten to know him better after their current situation. As it was, she was hungry, and the two were pitted against one another in a battle of physical fitness and maneuvering strategies. Sanka did not like to lose.

"That's what you think," Sanka growled, determination renewed by the male's rather pathetic words. Gathering up every ounce of strength in her body, the lioness pushed and pulled and bit and clawed until a symphony of snapping echoed through the jungle area. The last snap was followed by a series of thuds as Sanka tumbled and rolled on the ground, freed from her natural prison.

Rising to her feet, the lioness shook her fur and stood tall. She sauntered up to the dead monkey, took it in her jaws, and cast a rather haughty smirk back at the still-trapped male. With that, the lioness disappeared into the green, victorious.

Flik:
Flik had half a mind to point out that there was no possible way that either of them could prove that it was they who had scented the corpse first and thus- there was no way to lay claim to the small meal. Before he could, however, there was a series of snaps and finally, the lioness dropping to her freedom.

His mouth fell open, his thrashing brought to an abrupt end.

And...she was leaving.

"Wait! WAIT MISS! You--", and she was gone. Her prize in maw and her bonds broken. "...you're just... you're just leaving me. Ah well...isn't that fun."

If he survived...he was going to kill Viktor.