Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Uhh..." Amari shook his fur and straightened his posture, turning his head to gaze about them, rocks, rocks and more rocks. Well this certainly wasn't going to be the most interesting walk he had ever been on. He gave a wry grin and pointed out the direction with an outstretched paw. "How about that way?" He indicated the direction that would take them just to the right of the rocks that the cheetah was hiding.

He sneezed once, ridding his nostrils of the irritating dust and then shaking his head he plodded off at a slow gait, paws padding softly against the ground and tail swinging behind him.

Feeling a pang of alarm overtake her body, Taraju's pale eyes widened; shrinking against the rock pile, she held her breath and listened. The low, gruff voices had ceased, to be replaced by a gentle padding of feet... but in what direction? From where? Towards or away from her? There was no clear way to tell.

Her gaze, as rapid as her running, darted from place to place-- if those lions caught a glimpse of her, who knew what they'd do? She knew all too well that she was scrawny, vulnerable, lost in this eternal grassland... and on top of that... an odd sight, as her clan used to tell her.

As she often did, Taraju silently cursed the spotches of bright, unerasable teal paint on her fur. As if she weren't strange enough already, a dark umber cheetah... those horrible markings made her stand out like a sore thumb. But, it certainly hadn't been her decision to have them there in the first place.

Little did the cub know that as she crouched there, worrying and thinking, two dark shadows had fallen upon the top of the rock pile...

As Amari stated this he backed up a few steps, eyed widening, body slightly crouching. "Aye, I did no say yer were goin' ter." He hissed, suddenly all his suspicion back. "Jus' feel like I do be being watched.." He trailed off, slowly forcing himself to untense. "I do be well aware yer no goin' ter attack me.."

He tried to ignore the fact that Asikari seemed to have tensed up once again, forcing down the desire to shake the other lion. He had to remember that not all lions were like himself, there was always going to be others that were wary and nervous.

"Who would be watching us?" He asked curiously, head tilted to one side as he glanced at the other juvenile. "There can't be anyone for miles around." He wrinkled his snout and sighed. "Anyway even if someone was watching us they're probably nothing that could harm or scare a lion." A small grin tugged at his maw.

At that very moment the hidden cheetah made a sound, it was relatively small but easily distinguishable in the otherwsie peaceful surroundings. Amari's eyes widened, his front paws slipping forwards as he was startled, his torso falling forwards until it hit the ground, a dusty cloud rising up from the effort, his chin making contact with the floor.

"Ouch!" He mumbled, pulling himself up onto his paws and shaking the dust from his fur before whirling around to face the attacker. What could it be?

It all happened so quickly that she had no time to think, no time to escape. Out of the blue, the tail had disappeared... and in its stead, a large rust-colored object plummeted from the sky. With a yelp of surprise, the little cheetah sprang backwards, her eyes tearing up from the clouds of dry dust.

Warning signals erupted in her head... Taraju crouched low to the ground tensely, dark fur bristling. Narrowing her icy eyes, the cub nonetheless could not hide the faint trembling of her legs...

She had finally, unexpectedly, come face-to-face with the two youths. One of them had fallen into the rock pile with an oof, and now turned to see her; the other ambled slowly forwards. Flattening her ears, Taraju stared shakily up at them...

They are so... -big-. Nothing of my size could possibly take them on... I could hope to outrun them, but--

Taraju swallowed, determined not to show any sign of fear. Although the thought of escaping with her speed seemed favorable... at the moment, her legs were stubbornly rooted to the ground.

They stood over her, expressions unreadable on their rugged faces, shadows cast entirely over the small cheetah. The one that had fallen was a brilliant shade of rust, with a cocky tilt to his head; his companion's hues were more subtle, his face impassive. Both of them appeared powerful to Taraju, and she backed a couple steps, intimidated.

As the smoky lion let out a low growl, mumbling something thick in lions' accent, Taraju crouched once more to the ground... her jaws clenched, the little cheetah snarled warningly:

"D-don't lay a paw on me! I... I'm not big, but... I'm capable of defending myself!"

Oh, if only her small voice didn't shake so much, if her words were actually true!

A cheetah? His growling cut off and he let himself untense, nodding slowly. "Aye, he do be right yer know? We do no mean annee 'arm." He took a step back, a big believer in personal space, and plopped down, tail flicking slowly back and forth. His eyes were traveling around the female's spotty fur, lingering on each teal swirl.

He glanced to Amari a moment, head tilting. He did not mind other animals, just lions, and definetly ment the poor thing now harm. He wondered why she was so little though.

Hearing voices, Binti froze, and padded silently off in their direction, her curiosity piqued. This area used to be so...empty. she thought wistfully, although she had to admit, Essi hadn't been too bad--and neither were 'kali and Shujaa, if she were honest. Keeping low to the ground, Binti watched the two young lions interact with the cheetah cub, hoping that they weren't going to harm the youngster in any way. It was one thing to mouth off, another to pick on something that much smaller than oneself. Almost offhandedly, she noticed that this cub, also, possessed odd, swirling markings, although the smallish cheetah's were in vibrant, almost unnatural colors. They made for a striking combination, although Binti was glad for her own muted green ones, as, she reasoned, it would be a lot harder to blend into one's surroundings with markings like those!

As she listened to them speak for a minute, her tension eased, although she remained hidden from view, recognizing the rude lion who had irritated her by the water hole.

When Binti veered off in another direction, Shujaa stared after Us'kali for a moment before trotting after Binti--they could catch up to the elder lioness later, he figured. It didn't take long for him to notice the low sound of voices, not too far away. Picking up on the juvenile's need for silence, Shujaa crept forward carefully, not wanting to give his newfound companion any reason to become annoyed with him. He paused a few feet behind Binti, just off of her right hind leg, and lay down on his belly, following her gaze to see what, exactly, had caught her attention.

((don't feel that y'all need to interact with Binti, I just HAD to post something ^^; *was getting withdrawalllllll~*))