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 Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:51 pm
From where he lounged high above her head, Serithi avoided Yatima's green gaze, concentrating instead on slowly licking the fur on his front legs until it was smooth and gleaming softly it's smoky black sheen. His black eyes were half lidded as he was deep in thought . How you could be distracted from hunting was hard for his mind to fathom. Hunting was everything.
" So distracted by other things, you can't even hunt well enough to feed yourself?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:03 pm
"That seems to be the case," Yatima replied, laughter in her voice. She was a funny one, this cheetah. Instead of playing the game up survival she was playing an instrument with grass blades and twigs! To her, the world wasn't a harsh cold place, but rather a place where music hummed in every plant and every stone. It was her job to find it. Already, it seemed that she had discovered another tune, inspired to her by the noise of the pitter patter of the rain.
And so, she bean to hum. It was a scatter tune, but it was a tune nonetheless. It staggered and wobbled, like a new born, but it soon gathered strength and found its path to follow.
She finished the meal, and, content, rolled herself back onto her back, "Thank you, that was a meal well appreciated. Where did you learn to hunt?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:18 pm
"Survival is not a laughing matter." Serithi Sehulta thought sourly.
Once again, Serithi's thoughts were derailed by this cheetah, as her hummed melody rose and filled the canopy, complimented by the thrumming bass of the falling rain on the fat leaves of the banyan tree. The hunter did not know music, not this kind of music anyway, not the sounds and notes strung together so light and airy. His music was the whisper of the grass he stalked through, the baritone of his heart pounding in his ears in anticipation. Never before had he heard anything quite like this. The huge leopard rested his dark head on his paws, capivated and listening. Quote: "Where did you learn to hunt?"
"I think...", he began slowly, searching himself for the words. " I never learned to hunt, I just know. I've always known. Fish swim, birds fly, and I hunt."
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:09 am
Rolling onto her back and tucking her limbs close to her exposed tummy, Yatima tilted her head at the hunter. It must've been true! Judging by how he carried himself...Walked with such confidence and strength. He had known the spirit of hunting for a while. In fact, he must've embodied the spirit of the hunter! Yatima's eyes wided with shock. She had just been hit in the face with inspiration as if the lioness muse of creativity herself had taken a tree branch and launched it right into her cheek bone!
I'll have to write a song about him, Yatima noted down as a mental reminder.
Then, watching him from her underneath position, she flicked her tail from side to side, "That's truly inspiring, Serithi. I don't think I was blessed with the same touch as yours. Perhaps, though...You could teach me?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:11 am
Serithi looked down from his perch, meeting the cheetah's lime green gaze with a black, evaluating look of his own. His long, whip-like black tail, twitched lightly, as it dangled from the branch.
" I can teach you to feed yourself, take care of yourself. What I cannot do is teach you to be a hunter. A true hunter is not defined by that which he does, but by who he is. I could talk to you for days, about the intimacies, the secret knowledges of the hunter, but it really would make no difference. It would all be in a language you wouldn't understand. You either know or you don't, and the path to knowledge is a trial by fire."
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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:22 pm
An inspired grin broke out on the cheetah's face and she watched the leopard with increasing wonder. It spread out on her face like blossoming flowers on a spring day. It was amazing how he spoke. There was a certain lilt to his voice, a certain way in which his voice lolled like thunder across the flat empty savanna. It vibrated deep within her body and it made the sides of her mouth pull up into a smile of appreciative awe.
"I would enjoy then..." Yatima replied with what she had left of her breath, "Whatever you can offer to help me survive." Pawprints and fireflies, he sure knows how to talk! the pale cheetah thought to herself in admiration. Yes, I'm going to have to make a song out of this one.
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:22 pm
Yatima's growing grin made Serithi uncomfortable and he turned his gaze away, choosing instead to groom one massive shoulder carefully. Her breathless response made him shiver softly with a feeling he was disinclined to examine. Having finished his grooming, he stretched languidly, balancing effortlessly on his branch. He glanced down at her from where he stood.
"Well I suppose we'll see to that tomorrow." he said mildly, quicky followed by a yawn. A stiff, cold breeze ruffled the leaves of the banyan tree, combing through his fur and sending a chill down his surprise. Serithi gave a considering look to his too-thin companion below.
"Are you sure you'll be warm enough down there by yourself?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:52 pm
With promise of hunting lessons in the morning, Yatima was more than ready to go to sleep in hopes of getting the night over with. She was excited for this teaching! Finally, she hoped, she'd be able to catch more than small voles and hares! She'd be able to snatch something more rewarding like baby antelope or even more! How nice would it be to be able to hunt for one's self, feed one's self when one was hungry, and so on. No more hungry nights, she thought happily, no more.
Then a cold breeze drifted across the roots of the tree. Although it didn't move fast enough to snap the grass of the wild lands into a crazy dancing frenzy, it still had the soft power of chilling Yatima to the bone marrow. Curling herself up to the curling arms of the tree's roots, Yatima wasn't happy with having to be cold for another night...Until Serithi asked her a question. It wasn't an offer, but Yatima could almost sense it as if it were. And she would be more comfortable to sleep with another beside her...She hadn't had someone to sleep next to in ages.
"Uh..." Yatima pondered and then another breeze blew across the land. She shivered and tried to make herself as small as possible to catch the least wind. "No...No I'm not sure."
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:29 pm
"What am I doing? ", Serithi thought as he slowly, carefully padded down the thick gnarled trunk of the banyan tree. He cast a wistful glance at his favorite perch. Leopards did not slept on the ground if they could help it. They preferred the more guarded position of altitude. Serithi, especially, hated sleeping on the ground. It reminded him too much of long nights, spent alone, shivering and starving in the lonely desert dunes.
"I'll just have to teach her to climb trees as well....Wait, what?!" His fondness for this cheetah he barely knew caught him by surprise, as did the thought of keeping her around for a while. Serithi did not form attatchments; Serithi was a loner. And yet... maybe he was just tired. A good night's rest would clear his head. Well as good a rest as one could get on the ground, that was.
He settled down next to Yatima, blocking the worst of the wind, and curled his long tail about himself. For a moment, he struggled for something to say.
"Good night." he said lamely, and went to sleep.
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