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 Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:47 am
 Inia stopped at the top of the dune. The sun was beginning to set, shadows creeping slowly across the sands. Off in the distance, cutting through Ra's fiery ship, was a dark shape. It seemed no bigger than an ant, dark black against the glowing orange sun. Inia guessed that it was some sort of rock, and a big one at that. It was the landmark she and Sahar had been following for the past three days. It was the landmark that would lead them out of the desert.
Though the absence of the sun in the sky darkened the landscape around them, Inia could still see the speckling of bright green ahead. They would be out of the desert and into the forests soon. Briefly, Inia wondered what would happen once she had led Sahar out of the desert. But duty quickly chased the thought away. Both she and Sahar needed food. "Sahar," Inia began, "I should hunt before we continue our journey.". The lioness gestured towards a small cluster of bush and grasses. "Why don't you rest there until I return?" She suggested, already starting to scent the wind for any nearby prey.
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:20 pm
 Sahar was finally getting used to walking across sand, however when Inia suggested she rest the little fox didn't hesitate. For one reason or another, walking across the sand, even at a decent pace, was wearing Sahar out. Perhapes it was because she kept sinking into it? In any case, she was glad to have a little bit of a rest. And food. Oh how much she missed food. Even if it had only been a couple days since she last ate a filling meal, her hunger was growing at a monsterous rate. Inia hunting for her felt like a reward for effort now. She'd find a way to repay the lioness for feeding her, Sahar was sure of it. For now she simply hobbled over to where Inia directed her to stay and laid down.
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:38 pm
Inia waited until Sahar was settled into the bushes before trotting down the dune. Traveling on sand was not easy for those who were unaccustomed to it. She was worried that she had been tiring Sahar out. But the little jackal had been trooping along without so much as a complaint so far. Inia admired her strength. She was going to find the largest gazelle she could and let Sahar eat her heart out.
It felt good, being responsible for someone else. It felt...right. She hadn't even thought about her home since beginning this crazy journey. Inia had been enjoying her time with Sahar, even though the jackal still seemed a little wary of her. She would be sad to see her go once they reached the forest.
The lioness raised her head up into the wind, mouth open slightly to taste the wind. There was very little nearby, but Inia thought she scented some sort of prey. Her head dropped and she padded off towards the direction of the smell.-------- The leopard growled, tail lashing out in fury. It had been ages since he had eaten a proper meal. His growling stomach was masked by the growl coming from her throat. He smelt...prey. It was small, and warm-blooded. The smell of lion was mingled in with it, but the leopard was undeterred. He would fight for the meal if he had to. The feline's claws came out to scratch at the sand underneath his feet. It was time to hunt.
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 1:16 pm
Sahar waited paitently for Inia's return. She knew it might take a while, but she couldn't help but feel anxious. Like someone was watching her. She dismissed it as being exicited to eat, and laid her head on her paws. This lasted a whole three seconds, before she turned on her back and started rolling around in the sand. Why was she so anxious? It was confusing to her. Her ear twitched and she froze her movments as she heard something nearby. She stared for a few second in the direction she believed the sound came from. Nope, It didn't seem like anything was there. She continued rolling around on her backside, playing in the sand.
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 9:04 pm
Inia couldn't help but smile as her tracking led her to a small herd of gazelle. She wouldn't be able to catch the bigger ones on her own; they would be too fast. But she would be able to catch the one hobbling about from bush to bush with a limp. Inia crouched low into the sands, dark brown fur blending in with the shadows. She moved slowly, steadily, creeping closer to the herd. The lioness waited, perfectly still, until her target had it's back turned. Muscles flexed, Inia sprang.
-------------
The leopard licked his chops. His prey was unaware of his presence. In fact, it was currently rolling about in the sound like a foolish little cub. It would be a quick and easy kill.
He climbed the sand dune, sneaking up from behind. He would probably kill the morsel before it even had the chance to scream. Which would be quite a pity. He did enjoy to make his prey suffer every once in a while. Oh well. Next time he would play a bit more. Next time, when his belly wasn't completely devoid of food.
He crouched, tail keeping his balance, and pounced.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:37 pm
As the small jackal rolled around aimlessly, she posed as exactly what her hunter wanted; a quick meal. That being said, she was rolling around in attempts to calm her anxiety of being watched. However it might just have been her anxiety that saved her, for she was quick to react. Or perhapes she rolled in the right place at the right time, in any which case, the leopard seemed to have missed catching his prey-to-be. As Sahar moved out of the way, caught a glimps of the leapord in the corner of her eye. His coat was much different from that of Inia's, so she again reacted in perfect timing. Once she got a good look of him, Sahar backed up in a hurry. "H...Help!" She screamed as she finally turned around and attempted to run.
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Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 6:29 pm
The gazelles scattered, herd mentality forgotten as the lioness landed in the middle of their group. The lame gazelle tried to follow other members of the herd in their attempt to safety, but Inia was hot on it's trail. Her small paws carried her quickly across the sand, eyes narrowed in concentration. She struck out, swiping at her prey's back legs. In seconds the gazelle was on the ground and Inia was biting its throat, suffocating it.
A small yelp made her drop the gazelle's throat. It had almost sounded like...like...Sahar.
Inia scrambled back up to her feet and took off in the direction she had come from. "Sahar! She cried out, racing back towards Sahar's hiding place.
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The leopard snarled in frustration. The tiny thing was quicker than he had expected. But the leopard quickly recovered, slashing out at Sahar's face. It was moving back quicker than he could move forward. With a deep growl, the leopard sprang again, claws outstretched in front of him.{{OOC: Do you want to take over as the leopard for when Inia gets there to fight him off? I'm just using "darkred" for his RP colour.}}
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:28 pm
Sahar narrowly kept up escaping the leopards grasp. Backwards, fowards, this way and that in attempts to avoid him. He was no lion, nor cheetah. He was a species Sahar hadn't encountered before. A lot of creatures she had seen she hadn't seen before either. Before being before she left her original den in the plains. At this time she supposed all her running around, playing tag with cubs was finally starting to pay off. "Help!" She yelped again as the leopard came closer and closer to pouncing on her. {{OCC: Sure. No problem.}}
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:23 pm
As their meeting place came into view, Inia nearly stopped dead in her tracks from shock. A leopard was attacking Sahar. The lioness' steps faltered, threatening to send her sprawling face-first into the sand. The last leopard she had been encountered...it hadn't ended well. But Sahar needed her help. She couldn't afford to have a panic attach now. Inia regained her footing and raced up the dune, claws out and ready.
She slammed into the leopard's side, catching him in mid-pounce. Inia landed over-top of Sahar, body shielding her from the leopard's advances. Her black-tufted tail lashed out in a threatening manner. She roared at him, trying to make herself look as fierce as possible. Though she may be a lion, Inia was tiny for her species. The leopard was only slightly smaller than she was. He looked gaunt and desperate. Inia hoped that her training and better health would give her an advantage.
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Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:21 pm
Sahar whimpered. Her ears flatened to her head and she tucked her tail under her legs. She was overall terrified; being attacked unexpected like that was something she was desperately always trying to avoid. She perked up at the comfort of having Inia protecting her. Still, she couldn't seemed to stop wimpering, no matter how hard she tried... --------------------------------------- The leopard snarled at the new lioness as he rose from the ground. How dare she get in his way. He was starving, on the brink of death, and yet she prevented him from being able to have even the tinist of snacks. He began circling her, waiting for a suitable opening.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:41 am
Inia snarled back, tail thrashing out behind her like a whip. She rotated her body so he remained in her sight, teeth bared as she was circled. Inia could see the desperation and hunger in the leopard's eyes. This was probably the first hunting opportunity he had in weeks. The lioness could tell that he wasn't just going to go away. Inia was going to have to fight him off.
A cold feeling settled in the bottom of her stomach. She wasn't sure she would be able to do it. The last time she had fought off a leopard....
No. Sahar needed her. She couldn't let the jackal down now."Stay behind me, Sahar." Inia whispered. The lioness sprang with a mighty roar, barreling towards the leopard at full speed. Leopard were generally faster and more stealthy than lions, but even at her small size she would be stronger. The fight was going to be on her terms. Inia struck out, aiming for the leopard's eyes.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 10:34 am
Sahar obeyed and kept behind Inia until dashed at the leopard. At that she herself, dashed across the sand to a distance she considered safe enough. This way she could still see Inia, but stayed out of her way. -------------------------------------- When he took a blow to the head, the leopard growled and backed up a few steps. He pressed his paw against his face and removed it to find blood on his paw. He hissed and lunged foward at Inia in attempts to knock her over. Though, due to his mangled appearence, one could assume his attack would be like a little cub going up against a strong, burly parent.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:00 pm
Inia watched in earnest as Sahar distanced herself away from the fight. Good. If the leopard tried to dash after her, there would be enough time for Inia to block his path.
Planning had drawn her attention away from the fight for a split second, but that split second was enough. The leopard hit her hard enough to unbalance her, and Inia found herself slipping into the sand. She tumbled to the ground, sand kicking up into the air. Inia composed herself and got ready to scramble to her feet for a counter attack and froze, violet eyes as wide as a frightened gazelle.
In the place of the scraggly, blood-red leopard was a strong male, as black as night with bright yellow markings. Inia's heartbeat skyrocketed and she became paralyzed with fear. Not him. Not Levyathan. Not now. He was gone, long gone. But no matter how many times Inia repeated it in her head, Levyathan stayed there in front of her, cruel eyes laughing down at her. Inia cowered, too frightened to fight back. Illusion or not, Inia was unable to move.
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Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 2:14 pm
The leopard staggered as he re-obtained his balance after hitting the lioness. His stomach growled, reminding him of why he was fighting in the first place. Food, even if it was not big, it would sustain his evergrowing hunger for a while. But this obviously healthy lioness was still preventing him from eating. He looked at her again. It didn't matter anymore, she was frozen with fear; he could easily knock her over and keep her there for a good while. Then he could eat. His mouth started to drool at the thought of food...--------------- Sahar watched as Inia suddenly stopped moving. She looked terrified. But, why? Just a few seconds ago she was roaring and brusting with the fighting spirit, so why'd she freeze? The little fox took a few steps foward. "Inia?" She said. Then the leopard suddenly bolted towards her, "INIA!" The jackal skidded across the sand in a mad rush to reach her friend...
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Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 8:59 am
Inia trembled as Levyathan snickered at her. His yellow eyes were bright with malice, and the lioness could only pray that somehow, someway, he would leave her alone this time.
Her breathing sped up as Levyathan walked away and out of her line of sight. She wanted to get up and look around, to see that he was really gone, but the fear that he would still be there was too great. Her head rested on trembling paws, Inia couldn't do much but sit and hope that she would somehow wake up from this nightmare.
"Inia?" A familiar voice. Inia wondered where she had heard it before. Levyathan had never allowed company. It was only ever just the two of them. Well, the two of them and Inia's..."INIA!" A name snapped her out of her trance. Sahar. She was fighting for Sahar. Her friend was in trouble, and she was lying on the sand trembling at an illusion. Her head whipped around and she saw the leopard bolting towards the jackal. The leopard's coat flickered back and forth from black to red, Inia's mind unable to decide who was really there. The lioness swallowed and made a different decision.
Regardless of who it was after Sahar, she had to fight. Sahar was under her protection. She had made a promise to get her out of the desert, and Inia was going to see to it that she made good on that promise.
With a mighty roar, Inia went after the leopard, her mind finally settling on the deep red fur. She leaped into the air, aiming for the leopard's back, claws ready to sink into his shoulders.
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