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As the youngest member of this particular hunt party - and the only fireless one at that - Kuchoma felt like she had a lot to prove. Sure, she was from old blood, and she definitely had the size to prove it. But from her litter, she had been the only cub born with no red on her. Even Brassa, who was almost completely white, had some red on her pelt. But not Kuchoma, and the sun was always eager to remind her of that. Her fur soaked up the heat, and at this time of day in the middle of a hunt, there was no respite to be found from it.

She had lagged behind a bit because of it, at the tail end of the group as the trail was found and still a bit behind as they began to follow it. But she knew she had to step it up a bit. She wouldn't be caught falling behind the entire hunt, not when she still felt like she had to somehow prove herself. And she certainly wouldn't be able to do that if she gave in to the heat of the sun on her back and let the rest of the party do all the work.

Still, as yet another dune collapsed on the path they were taking, she couldn't help but feel like something was... Off. Even in winds this strong, this was a bit unusual. Dunes shifted, sure, but to have so many of them just outright collapse wasn't exactly typical for the desert. At least, not in her experience, anyway.

"Is the wind really that strong? Or are the dunes just that unstable today?"

"I don't think that's how that works," Kuchoma replied, shaking her head lightly. She couldn't pretend to know exactly how it worked, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with the winds shifting the sand. And how exactly would they have to shift it to just cause an entire dune to collapse like that? It seemed like it was downright unnatural. And she couldn't shake the feeling that something was distinctly off about the desert today. But it wasn't a feeling she was quite ready to give voice to.

While her gut feelings were usually spot on, she didn't want to risk being wrong about it. How would that look? She had already lagged a bit behind at the very start of this trip. Next she'd start looking like she was afraid of the desert or something. It seemed ridiculous to even think, but she also knew the paranoia wasn't entirely unfounded. What kind of Firekin was hesitant about the desert?

Perhaps it was a good thing the gemsbok came into view then as they crested another dune. The neat single file line made them perfect targets - picking out individuals would be easy like this. But just as Kuchoma had thought that, another dune shifted and collapsed, sending the entire herd scattering. Her gut feeling seemed to intensify, and as she turned back towards the group to finally put voice to it, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye.

Was that... Was that a fin moving through the sand? No, it couldn't have been. Surely she was going crazy. Had she slept enough last night? Probably not. Her paranoia was clearly getting the better of her and she was starting to see things.

Zala glanced at Citlali. "Well...If they were male and female, we could just catch them, not kill them, and hopefully they would 'Breed like rabbits' and voila, hare meals for everyone." The red lioness said with a small grin as she moved.

When the other cried out, Zala's attention were turned towards the gemsbok. Her eyes narrowed as what she thought she saw something disappearing under the sand.

"Oh... I think the sun is really getting to me today..." she said quietly, deciding to sit as her eyes refocused on the area where the fin disappeared under. "I just saw...nah." She shook her head. She didn't know what she saw.

Titaia perked up when the gemsbok were spotted, but everything quickly turned back to confusion as another dune collapsed, their would-be prey scattered and something green peeked out of the sand just long enough for the lioness to be quite sure she saw it. When she looked to the others, she saw the confusion on Kuchoma and saw (but didn't hear) Zala's murmuring..

"What the hell is going on out here today?" she asked aloud, growing impatient. Had she accidentally signed up for an amateur hunting group or was the desert really being this goddamn weird?

Letting out an alarmed sound, Citlali hurried back to everybody else. She was regretting feeling so bold as to move away from the safety of the group, and now something was out there?! "That's a bold thing to say, to keep away from the dunes, when there's dunes all around us!" The gemsbok were forgotten for now, scattered elsewhere across the sands. If nothing came of the alarm call, though, they'd probably regroup somewhere else and they could still hunt them down, right? Unfortunately, that chance wasn't coming yet!



Out of the sand burst something no native-born Firekin would have ever seen before, and then still even some who had joined the pride from outside. To those who knew what one was, it was shaped like a sand tiger shark, only in green with black accent markings and a great black stripe down its back. The beast, too, had one fin too many along its back, and a pair of fins too many. The one thing the beast didn't have, though, were gills, and because of this there was that weak point missing.

As it landed in the nearest dune, the beast gave a roar, and with a flip of its tail, sent sand flying at the party of lions. It wasn't gone, though, bursting forth again from the dune and heading straight for the party.
HP: 240

Roll 1D4 for initiative!
1 - You dive out of the way - Not chancing that!
2 - In a moment of indecision of what to do, you get knocked out of the way
3 - You try to hit the thing, but it brushes past too fast and you miss
4 - With a mighty roar, you attack! Roll 1D10 for damage!

My next post will be after everybody has posted!

Distracted, Menkar didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until Banhishikha cried out a warning. The starry lion spun around quickly, ignoring their prey, and was treated to a sight indeed. His pale eyes widened as a massive shark...at least, it look like a shark...breached from the dunes. It was much larger than any aquatic animal he had seen alive but it definitely had extra appendages.

The cries of surprise from those around him reminded him these lions hadn't seen a fish, let alone a shark before. Fish didn't do well in the desert which pressed the question what was this thing doing here?

"It's a...shark? But they're usually in the ocean. Big fish," he supplied, trying to swipe at the tail as it swished by but it slid into the sand before he could nab it.

With the sand coming straight at her, Banhishikha jumped out of the way. She couldn't risk getting blind, not when they were being attacked. She would try to attack it when it was focused on someone else, for now, she knew it was time move. She couldn't risk getting caught in that mess. She just hoped her warning was good enough.

Of course, with dunes all around it wouldn't be easy to dodge them, but at least they wouldn't get collapsed while ontop! Today just got crazier and crazier as they went!

Things happened fast. One moment the gemsbok had scattered, the next a cry of warning was called, and a giant beast burst from the dunes. Nyimak hardly had time to process what she was seeing...she'd never, in a million years, had seen such a sight.

Unfortunately, she also didn't have time to stop and stare. The creature kicked sand at them. Snarling, the lioness pushed herself away. Not because she didn't want to fight, but because she needed to be able to see what she was attacking! She couldn't do that if she got a face full of sand. It was fast... Could any of them land a hit on it? And how we're they going to stop it if it stayed in the sand?