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 Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:14 am
Wandering about the edges of a zebra herd, a petite lion cub watched with awe. It was te first time she had stumbled across the equines, and their sheer size was enough to make her shiver. They were so huge! Even bigger than Mama, for that matter. Their odd markings and uniform colors were confusing, leaving her dazed and lost in a maze of stripes. The herd's scouts had spotted her long ago, as she was not the stealthiest creature around, but had labeled her not a thread, and had continued about the business of grazing. Idobo'Intombi was far from insulted by this decision. She had no idea that it was these creatures that she ate when Mama came to gather them for dinner, and she had no idea that she would grow into something herbivores of the savannah feared. For now, she was just little Intombi, wandering about the outskirts of a zebra herd in fascination.
It really was amazing how many species she had come across this past month. First that wild dog and now a whole herd of whatever these things were! It wasn't long ago that she had been certain lions were the only creatures of Africa. She smiled a little, watching a mother zebra nuzzle her foal tenderly. Whatever these long legged things were, they were kindly. That thought comforted her, and she prepared to move out into the herd for investigation.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 9:55 am
(Always post image anyways xD )
The herd was grazing, ike they usually did. Peacfull, untill one of those odd zebra shrieks came from somewhere towards the edge of the mass, opposing to the cub, and the zebras, fast as ever, shot away, trying to keep as together as possible in their panic. But this was hard, as each animal cared more about getting as far away from that shadow that chased a younger, inexperienced zebra as possible. But the chase didn't last long, for the half-colt tripped, almost vanishing into the grass, and the shadow leaped after it.
The young zebra flailed and kicked, but the shadow was over its front side, away from the legs.
She didn't usually go after zebra, they were pretty dangerous to go after, they were less goofy than windabeast. But those herds ha dmoved on, and the only ones aroud were zebras, and she wanted as less time possible out of the jungle as possible. She'd almost gave up finding prey, but to cross the desert again, she'd need some food.
So she held on, a paw o the equine's muzzle, keeping it from thrasing around untill its kicks got weaker, and weaker. Unlike a lion, she didn't tear the neck up, she choked it, and little by little, it was feeling the lack of air. And so, moments later, the kicks stopped altogether, the creature was dead.
The shadow, pulled away a few paces, sitting down, ears perked and mouth agape. If she started to eat now, panting, she'd probably choke, so like anything intelligent, she'd wait a bit. But the world was never safe from theives, wich is why leopards had strong necks and flexible bodies. They were the hunting creatures in the savannah built to bring things so much bigger than themselves up to thesafety of branches. A bit of breath caught, and Karama fixed her teeth on the back of the cheetahs necks, this time, pulling it up, and starting to drag it towards the nearest tree, wich was in the cubs direction.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:15 am
The spark a mere shadow made ignited pure madness in the minds of the zebra, and in an instant they were off. Intombi, who was just about to venture into their ranks for the sake of exploration, let out a fgithened squeek and turned around as fast as her clumsy limbs could allow. That famous feline grace had yet to come to her, and her awkward flee for the safety of the trees only reinforced the point. With a wildly beating heart, the youngster attempted to climb, scraping on the bark. Her eyes were filled with absolute terror; what had made such peaceful creatures do such a thing? Whatever it was, it had to be terrible. This only doubled her fears. Now she was not only trying to remain untrampled, but she was also running from some unseen danger.
Shakey paws were in no way suited to get her up the tree, which wasn't really a lion's specialty to begin with. With a last attempt, she clung to the bark with all her might, but slid down in a thump on the ground below. Turning around quickly, her eyes raced around the savannah to find a ditch to hide in. A mad dash to the den would find her dead for certain, as it was quite a bit away. A shadowy figure comming towards her only strengthened her paranoia, and she was reduced to a trembling ball of brown and pink fur. Whatever it was, it was big. Bigger than the odd herd animals, even. It seemed to drag a good portion of it's body on the ground, but she was positive it could kill her, and maybe have her for breakfast. Shutting her eyes tight, she tried to calm her trembles. "Please don't eat me!" All she could manage was that simple request, which she was certain would be her last words.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:32 am
A small whine caught the leopardess attention.
Ears swivveled foreard and she looked around, but she was looking too high. But then, she remembered Tatu, the little lion, and searched the ground. Yes, it was a cub. Her tail swished and she pulled the dead zebra along, comming closer. Had it been this the creature with poor attmepts to get up the tree?
The hold was released, causing the zebra's head to fall limply on the ground. "Why would I eat you if I had something much better tasting? " The leopardess licked blood off her chops, crouching for a better eye level with the cub, but its eyes were closed. Her orange ones looked it over, it was in much better condition than Tatu had been, probably had a mother.
A long tail swished, settling next to a white tipped hind paw. "It is foolish for a cub to wander away from its mother. " Well, she'd left her cub with his father, but that was safe enough. But there was a quiet anxiesty in her mind as she remembered how her son liked to wander off aswell. She just wanted to finish the hunt here and head back tomorrow in the late afternoon, when the sun wouldn't kill her with her dark pelt.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:03 am
the soft thud of zebra head and a far gentler voice than that of some monster's prompted Intombi's left eye to open lightly. She peered at the creature before her, and quickly relized it's size was far less than she had first thought. The part of its body she had assumed it was dragging was now obviously zebra carcass, and the rest was no bigger than Mama. What was it, though? It looked a bit like a lion, but its tail... What was it? "Oh." She opened her other eye sheepishly, pushing up to a sitting position. "I guess that makes sense..." She looked at her feet, shuffling around some dust. She had just been being childish again, she thought with a sad flick of her tail. Her mood recovered quickly, however, her eyes brightening. "Mama doesn't mind me wandering. She's out and about all day, so my bother and I just... explore." She smiled up at the creature, as if explaining something obvious. The thing that wasn't so obvious, though, was how this feline came to look like she did. Curiosity taking the best of her, Intombi couldn't help it.
"You're a funny lookin' lion. What's wrong with your tail?" She cocked her head to the side, pointing at it with her paw. It was an innocent enough question, and Intombi had yet to learn the laws of common curtosity. She had also never seen a leopard before, and the lack of tail tuft and odd body build was highly confusing. The last thing on her mind was manners.
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 11:34 am
"Very unresponsible. " She snorted. "Do you not know about hyenas? As far as I know, their not particularly fond of your kind. " As far as she knew, most hyenas seemed to loathe lions. They'd probably have a bucketload of fun with a cub. "Unlike I, they would eat you. " She wasn't usually this blunt, was she? Well, maybe she was just annoyed with the idea of another cub around, she wa susually like this when she first met them, odly enough.
"Nothing is wrong with my tail. " She blinked and sat up. She was, like any leopard, pretty smal to a grown lion, but towards this cub, she was pretty big. "and I'm not a lion. They can't climb. " Well, save for Tatu. "If I couldn't climb, I'd be dead. I'm a leopard. "
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Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 5:43 pm
"Hyenas? What pray tell is that?" Intombi quickly imagined a bird, a giant bird, that would scoop down from the sky and gobble her up. It wasn't a very nice image, and she couldn't help but look up at the sky, making sure that none of these hyena creatures were out and about the clouds. The tail comment, however, had a heavier affect than the possibility of meat eating birds. Was there something wrong with her own tail? She stared at it for a moment, thinking over the few lions she had met in her short life. They all had little tufts like hers... Were they all just odd? No, that couldn't be. Even odder was that this creature said she wasn't a lion at all. She looked a bit like one, though! Well, maybe. What was a leopard?
"Hey wait a minute, I can climb trees..." She got a defensive look about her features. "I just couldn't before because... because I was scared!" She looked the leopard stubbornly square in the eyes, her tail flicking about her wildly. "And what's a leopard, anyway? You look like a lion to me. ... Sorta, at least. And why would you be dead? You're big like Mama; only little cubs like me get eaten..." She looked a bit uneasy, and scooted her rump a little closer to the adult, glancing about her with a slight hint of paranoia. What if one of those hyenas flew out of the sky right then and there? That would just be too much for her to handle.
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Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:49 am
"Prey?" The leopardess chuckled, lowering to eye level again. "Cub, to them, you're prey. To them, I'm prey. Even your mother could be a target." She swished her tail. She didn't know if hyenas really ate lions and leopards, but she knew they killed them, oh yes, that she knew. She knew lions did too. But by now she knew that her fathe rhad been unfortunate to run into a bad band of them.
"Lions don't climb. Not well, anyways. " She rolled her orange eyes. "And even if you can, we don't climb ithem for fun. We climb them to live." She got up, getting a grip on the zebra again and resuming dragging it, though she stopped at tge trunk of the tree, leaving it there, and going back to the cub. The dead zebra could spare a few moments. "I'm a leopard. Its an unfortunate resemblance. Leopards and lions are quite different." She looked down at the brown-and pink creature. This wasn't a good explanation. "I can show you."
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Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:59 pm
A nervous look sprung up in the young cubs eyes, her head darting from side to side. These hyenas the leopord spoke of must be huge, and they must be awful. She shivered a little, the very idea cooling her to the core. What if one of these nasty things got Mama out on the hunts? Or what if they got her brother? What if they got her? She looked down at the ground, unsure of how to react. There was only one thing on her mind at the moment, and that was the natural reflex to hide from danger. Looking up at the female with a trembling lip, she took a few steps forward. "Will... you protect me? For now? While Mama's out?"
Her mood changed slightly, however, at the climbing comment. She really did think she could climb, even though all she could do was ungravefully claw her way up to a low branch on an old tree. "I can climb!" She looked up, her jaw agape in shock. "At least... a little bit." Her stature moved back to it's submissive, scared mold. She watched as the adult went back to the business of dragging her prize, and plopped her rump down helplessly on the ground, wrapping her tail around her for comfort. "How are we different?" She wished the female would stick around a bit longer. With this new knowledge of hyenas, she didn't want to be alone for very long.
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Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 6:38 pm
"They stick more around the graveyard area. If one does show up, they can't climb. I could take you up to a branch. ' Karama wouldn't leave a cub to the mercy of a hyena, or anything else, no matter how much she wasn't the cuddly sort.
She tried forcing herself to be patient; Usiku wasn't energetic, something she liked about her son is that he was calm and reasoned, but this cub seemed to just be shooting things out. "Lions depend on their strenght and size, and many depend on group effort. Leopards are solitary, and we don't have strenght on our side. We use agility. " She wasn't sure if the cub knew the difference betwee agility and speed, but maybe she would. "Everything has their strenght and weakness. Lions are strong, leopards climb, " She was so tempted to add smart, but a cub like this would probably start saying she was smart over and over. "Cheetahs are fast, and it goes on like that. I climb and take my food up into the trees, so no thieves can steal it."
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:06 am
Comforted by the leopardess's words, intombi relaxted her posture greatly. She even managed to muster up a smile, despite the fear for these giant beasts she had just been told of. "Thanks bunchs. I don't wanna get eaten or anything." The huper little cub shuffled her feet for a few moments, trying to remain as calm as possible. She was just so full of energy, she couldn't help it! Maybe she needed to go for a run later today, that might help. Then she'd actually be able to sleep at some point. Her short attention span was some how able to follow everything the older female said about the differences, and to her surprise, it interested her. There had to be some way to meet these 'cheetahs' that were mentioned. They were different from lions, too, and different was interesting. "Why would anyone steal what you hunted? That's just rude." She glared at her paws, as if they were the offending theives. It amazed the naive cub that anything would be so cruel as to rob some creature of their hard earned meal. That just wasn't right!
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:29 am
"It happens a bit too often for comfort. " Her tail swished. "See, lions and hyenas are much larger than leopards, and cheetah. Consequently, they're also much stronger. " She shrugged. "If one came along, and wanted my prey, and it wasn't high in the trees with me, I'd have no choice. Either go away or die. " She sighed. It'd happen quite a few times before, wich is why she almost emmediately searched for a good tree. "So we need something else to survive. Cheetah are fast, but their frail. So they need their speed to hnt and to escape. Leopards climb, if prey is under my tree, I can jump down onto them. If it isn't, I can take it up, where lions and hyenas can't reach it. "
She motioned to her catch sitting next to the tree, and got up again, walking over and motioning with her tail for the cub to follow.She stopped next to the dead zebra, turning to see if the cub would come or not.
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Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:29 pm
Intombi was struck quiet by this new bit of information, unsure of how to take it. Her own kind stole from something as regal as this leopardess? A horrible thought crawled into her mind, like a malnourished cub clinging to its last thread of life. What if Mama had stolen from this very female? Wide eyed and disturbed, the little brown cub followed the adult numbly at the gesture, walking up next to the dead zebra She looked at it with almost no interest, the smell of freshly killed meat hardly sparking a hunger. She gulped, looking over at the leopardess with the happiest eyes she could muster in such a suddenly saddened state. "I'm sorry we steal from you..." It just didn't seem right to do such a thing in her mind, especially after meeting one of these leopards. What would make any creature do such a thing?
Trying to lift her spirits, as she really didn't like being in such a slump, Intombi glanced back at the zebra on the ground before them. What had the adult taken her over here for, anyway? Shouldn't she be going up the tree with her prize right now? Flicking her tail lightly, she imagined dragging something so big up he branches of a large tree. She could hardley climb, and the though of trying to pull something along with her was sounding just about impossible. "Are you going to take it up the tree now?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:41 pm
"Its not your fault. " The leopardess shrugged, looking down at the brown and pink cub. "Sometimes, we're just unfortunate to run into the wrong lion. " Karama sighed. She wasn't the best cub pleaser, was she? No wonder Usiku wasn't as.. cublike as most of the cubs she ran into.
She nodded at thecub now, trying to smile and lookmore positive, but really, she wasn't just like that. Grabbing the equine by the back of the neck again, the leopardess sort-of sat at the trunk of the tree, messing with her paws a bit as if preparing to spring. Finally, she forced up onto her hind paws, yanking the dead beast off the ground, chin dipping downward with its weight. She best remind herself not to catch big prey so often.
Getting a good grip on the bark, Karama started to pull herself upward, strong neck craned, teeth biting hard into the neck to keep the creature from simply slipping down. She was fortunate this was a young one, the leopard had forgotten how fat these things were. Because of this,she wasn't as fast as she usually was, but in a few minutes, the leopardess had pulled the striped creature up to some of the higher branches, just out of reach of anything as big as a lion on its hind paws.
Karama wedged the carcass beween two branches corssing eachother, so that it'd not slip, then she went back down easly to the cub, white maw pinkish with a thin layer of blood. Licking her chops to get the blood off, she looked at the cub. "See? "
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Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 6:21 am
For some reason, the cub was comforted by Karama's words, even though they weren't really all that warm. She musted up a smile and seemed to relax some, but quickly lost it as soon as the spotted female went to lug the zebra colt up the tree. Her little jaw opened wide, her eyes looking like they might just pop out. The amount of time it took the leopardess to get up the tree was simpley amazing, and the grace she managed to keep despite dragging a corpse was something to be admired. She wondered if there would be a day where she could do something a sophisticated as that, though deep down she guessed it would never happen. After spending a little while in the leopardesses presence, she could easily agree that they were made differently.
When the adult came back down in one fluid motion, Intombi let out a shrill giggle and smiled wide. "That was amazing! You're really good. Can all of your kind do that?" If that were so, she'd deffinatley have to meet a few more leopards before she died. She wondered briefly if there were any leopards residing in the Pridelands, which was deffinatley on her list of places to go. If not, she'd have to travel a little to see some more. From the sound of it, though, lions were not looked on kindly by this adult's type, and it might prove a little difficult to befriend one.
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