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 Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:31 pm
Masuko had parted from the very strange brown hyena feeling mildly concerned. If he had been able to live under their nose for so long without anyone knowing, what else could be living in the graveyard? It felt like almost anything...
She knew from the older hyenas that there had once been a lion pride that claimed a chunk of the graveyard for themselves. The proud hyena could never imagine sharing these lands with a lion pride and not going on a rampage against them. It was something that would never happen again, not while she was still alive.
She had continued to walk while thinking about this troubling fact of the past, and didn't realize that she had walked past the boundaries for the pack. The rogue lands....she narrowed her eyes as she looked out at the horizon, seeing a zebra herd on the move. Probably off to find some water, unreachable as far as she was concerned. She sighed, her tail swaying behind her impatiently. She was ready to move once more against the Pridelands, but she needed to show patience. Bring back the strength of the pack before playing her paw.
"First, though, I need to feed an army to control them," she mumbled to herself.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:39 pm
 The red hyena moved cautiously through the land. Here it didn't seem to be part of anyone's territory, but she had been deceived into thinking a place was empty before, and had deeply regretted the assumption later. Now she was careful, moving slowly and though she longed to clean her fur, she didn't dare, for fear of revealing the deep and bright reds concealed beneath the dust and dirt. She loved her coloration, but it made her stick out in any environment. A soft murmur caught her ear and the hyena looked up to see another of her species. A grey female, if she was any judge, who had just said something aloud. Given the volume though, Marion supposed she hadn't intended for anyone else to hear. Or known anyone else was about. Should she speak up? Or should she keep watching? The red and brown hyena opted for caution over friendliness.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:45 pm
Masuko's violet eyes watched the zebra herd for a while longer, but they disappeared into the horizon line. The frustrated female shook her head. "The herds are moving too fast. Damn it!" Her head shot around, but she was looking to the sky if it showed any hint of a storm. It didn't look bad, but that didn't mean one wasn't coming. As much as she loved home, the graveyard was not a pleasant place to be in the rain. It was hard to find a way to stay dry, unless one got creative.
She turned to leave, but her nose twitched. What was that smell? It was a stranger, but it was mingled with something else. Her body tensed up as she looked around carefully, moving her eyes slowly as she tried to see just what that smell was from. Her eyes narrowed when she thought she saw what it was. Another...hyena? A filthy one by the look of it.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:49 pm
Spotted! She saw it as the other hyena turned and focused in her direction. Admittedly, there wasn't much to hide behind here. Marion straightened herself and looked back proudly at the hyena who'd been talking to herself.
What an odd habit, that. You'd alert anyone nearby to your location! She'd never had the habit herself, and experience had taught her better than to start.
"Done talking to yourself?" she asked dryly.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 7:59 pm
Masuko narrowed her eyes. Well, a cheeky little thing. Sometimes she liked them like that; it meant that they had more intelligence than that dumb male she had just left.
"It organizes my thoughts," the female said back with a sneer. She had certainly spoken her mind, but Masuko was more keen on seeing where her paws went. They were just outside of her lands, and the alpha would change her tune once the dirty reddish hyena shifted into them.
"What are you doing, so close to the graveyard? Do you have business here?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:05 pm
The red hyena smiled inwardly. Struck a nerve, eh? Good. It wasn't any fun for her at all if she met someone whose life was sunshine and rainbows. There wasn't anything that made her more likely to attack in this whole world.
So the other female was defending her habit. So any addict would do. Though she wasn't sure if talking aloud to yourself counted as an addiction. It was a concept that would require further thought and thus would have to wait.
Especially in light of the question she'd just been asked. Graveyard? What in all the names of the gods was a graveyard? It was a word she'd never encountered before in her travels.
"I'm a traveler. I go from one place to another." She considered adding on to that statement, but closed her mouth on the words. No need to babble.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:12 pm
Masuko narrowed her eyes again. Suspicious...why would someone just happen to stumble across the graveyard? She couldn't help herself, too many unfortunate things had happened recently, and she was on guard.
"Strange for you to just find this area, even more so since you are a hyena. With the way you are acting, you must not know of our mission." Her tail flicked as she clawed into the ground before her, rage filling her as she thought about the lions in the Pridelands. It was almost like a conditioned reaction, and she needed to stop letting it fill her up with so much contempt.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:14 pm
Marion's eyes narrowed as well. What was this about a mission and hyenas? She knew nothing of this area, was not from anywhere near this place originally. And the other's aggression was odd...as it didn't seem directed towards the red hyena, for once in this encounter. Strange.
"Then perhaps you should tell me, instead of just referring to things of which I clearly know nothing," she retorted sharply.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:19 pm
Masuko sniffed. "The elephant graveyard has been under hyena territory for some time now. We protect ourselves against the needless aggression against lions, and remind them who the superior ones are on the savanna."
It never sounded that appealing unless Masuko knew that the fellow hyena also hated lions. Otherwise it sounded needlessly aggressive, but she didn't care. She needed strength, or those that would help feed the strength of the pack by hunting or bearing pups. Either one worked for her, but this one seemed like a handful.
Thankfully, she didn't care if she liked all of her underlings. They just needed to listen when given a direct order.
"We live for the most part undisturbed, unless some pathetic Pridelands lion decides to seek foolish glory on one of us."
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:23 pm
Elephant...graveyard? There was that word again, thought Marion still wasn't sure what it meant. She knew elephants. And she knew elephants and hyenas didn't live together. So...any elephants in this place must be dead. Okay, she could live with that. Not to mention that she was interested to hear this area was controlled by hyenas. That was something the red female had seldom seen on her travels.
She didn't care, one way or the other, about lions. She didn't like them, but she didn't hate them, and certainly not to the same degree as the grey female.
"I've rarely seen hyena packs in my travels," Marion replied cautiously. If this place was as good as the other seemed to think it, perhaps it was finally time to stop wandering. But, she was still a bit leery of the stranger.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:27 pm
As the stranger was not jumping into Masukos arms (figuratively), the alpha female assumed she was not an avid lion hater. Fine, that could be her opinion. At least she was not a lion lover...Masuko would have been tempted to try to kill her on the spot if anything like that had come from her mouth. Masuko did not tolerate what she considered blasphemy.
"You see wary. Fine. You may enter my pack lands if you so wish, to educate yourself on the ways of a hyena pack. In three days time I will ask you if you wish to join. If not...I will escort you out." She paused, letting that word settle in the air.
"Do we have a deal?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:29 pm
Marion blinked in surprise. She hadn't exactly expected an open (though strict) invitation. Nor that this grey female would have the power to issue such a thing. The stranger had said "my pack," implying that she ruled here. Well, the red hyena was a bit concerned about the severity of her purported pack leader's hatred of lions, but she would have the three days to see, to learn, to choose.
After long interminable seconds rolled by, the brown and red hyena nodded. "Deal. I'm Marion," she offered, the first truly cordial move she'd made since encountering the grey hyena.
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:34 pm
Good, she agreed. Masuko would have chased her away if she had said no. It was an attempt to get a new member, but not as vicious as past alphas may have been.
"Masuko, alpha. Follow me, I will show you a place to sleep before you wander around the graveyard," she said as she turned and walked off. She knew that the other would follow - why wouldn't she? She seemed curious enough, and Masuko could certainly give her the education on what it took to life in a graveyard.
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