Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sitirika stretched, a big, luxurious feline stretch, and padded out of the bush he'd decided to sleep under (he wasn't your average leopard, and slept on the ground in plain sight and under things, like bushes or rocks, as often as he slept on branches) and toward a little watering hole just a few metres away, in plain sight of Mchanga'Alfajiri. Well... it was little compared to others he'd seen. It was wide enough for a few of him to stand nose to tail in the water, and deep enough for it to come up to around his shoulders. Not that he'd gone for a swim or anything to test that depth. Oh, no. He didn't appreciate being wet.

Which was probably why his fur was so casually scruffy. Sure, the white on him was actually white, as he kept it so by grooming himself, but he didn't have the shine to him that animals who bathed regularly did. Not that he cared one whit about that, anyway. He had no interest in his looks; by no means was this cat afflicted with vanity. He was too laid back to want to preen himself to perfection each day, when he was just going to be dirty again by the next. What was the point? Life was too short for all that fuss and nonsense.

He crouched by the water and took a long drink, and then he stretched again, another nice and long one, rolling his shoulders with it. As he sat back and gazed up at the sun, he wondered if today would be the day he ventured into the jungle again to prove the dense trees didn't affect him, or whether today would be the day he started travelling once more. Or if he'd just stay around here, like he had for a while now. It was hard to leave such a nice little place, where there were seldom any others. He liked the quiet... and the lack of bothersome company.

Had he just successfully managed to jinx himself? He cast an unimpressed sidelong glance at the female as she came up next to him, and mentally cursed. As soon as he thought that this place was blissfully free of other inhabitants, someone else showed up. Typical. And just why was she standing directly beside him? The watering hole was bloody big enough for her to keep her damned distance and have a drink at the same time. What was with people these days? Did the term 'personal space' not enter their minds before they acted in such ridiculous ways?

Oh, and now she wanted to talk. Lovely. But unfortunately, he didn't. Getting to hs feet and then moving pointedly away from her, he sat down again a few feet away. He took the time to get himself comfortable, curling his tail neatly around his left hind leg, and he yawned yet again. Only after this did he deign to look at her, his dark gold eyes passing over her briefly before he turned them away again without even a slight glimmer of interest. "Hello," he replied, and from the curtness of his voice and the way he was letting his interest travel other places - like the herd of antelope he could see in the distance - it was obvious he wasn't wanting a conversation. He just hoped she got the message he wasn't your regular kind of chatterbox. It took so much more effort to tell someone to leave him alone if they weren't smart enough to figure it out for themselves.

He kept his eyes fixed on the herd of antelope in the distance, debating whether or not he should go and hunt now or later. He wasn't really hungry now, though that never stopped a leopard making a kill and stashing it in a tree, and on top of that, he was feeling lazy. Which wasn't unusual for him, especially just after waking from a catnap. But the disadvantage was that the herd could move away before he got up the energy to go for a real hunt. Ah, such dilemmas he was faced with. He had almost entirely put Alfajiri out of his mind until she spoke up.

Glancig over at her out of the corner of his eye, he smirked slightly. "Then you're out of luck. You're on the opposite side of the jungle you need to be on." He flicked his tail and watched as the herd moved slightly, making his muscles tense for a few moments before they settled to graze again, at which point he relaxed. He had a few more minutes to wake up before he had to make a move after them. And he hoped those few minutes would be ones of peace and solitude.

Sitirika had to stifle the urge to make a swipe at her. He was still in an even fouler mood than he ever usually was since the fish god decided to stop by for a chat, and this female was testing his very last vestiges of patience. If he were to manage to grab a decent meal now, he would have to stalk the herd, or find another. All thanks to the female who couldn't mind her own damned business. How he managed to keep a calm expression then, he didn't know. But he pushed himself to his feet, fully intending to go and catch that meal rather than stay with Alfajiri.

Bunching up his tense shoulder muscles, the male rolled his eyes. "Anyone with a smidgeon of intellect could summise on their own that the way around would be longer than the way through. What do you think I've done, counted strides around the damned place? If you want to know how long the way is, find out for yourself." His tone was clipped, his words short with his irritation. He started walking, in the direction the herd was still lingering in, but more warily now. "Get moving. The more time you waste here wagging your jaw as if I'm interested in a single sound that comes out of it, the longer it will take you."

As Alfa started to follow him, his irritation only increased. Why couldn't this irksome female just realise that he was uninterested in her and go her own way? He'd already given her the direction, and that was enough assistance. She should have moved along a while ago already, instead of wasting both of their time with this pathetic, petty little game. And if she so dared to take it one step further and scare away his food like a petulant little child, gods help her. He didn't know what he would do. His temper seemed frayed beyond repair after meeting the fish god, and she might just suffer for it.

Throwing a glance back over his shoulder, he gifted Mchanga with a sneer that bared his long teeth. "Never set a willing foot in that jungle, never will. Go ask someone else so they can feel like their ears are bleeding from the sound of your voice." He kept moving forward, his eyes narrowed and his head lowered, tail rigid, so the entire length of his spine was almost a perfectly straight line. "Or, better yet, just walk through the damned thing yourself if you really want to know which way's the shortest."

He wanted Alfa gone, away from him him, far away. A certain trick had gotten him his wish when confronted by the arrogant catfish, and it might just work with this retarded female. As he continued walking, he dug his back paws harder into the ground, kicking back with each new step, sending a shower of mud and dust in Alfa's direction each time he did so. He knew most of his kind were vain about their looks and kept themselves in pristine condition; he might just be the only one of them all who didn't care.

With a roll of his dark gold eyes, Sitirika snorted. Did this ridiculous female think she was that far under his skin? Sure, he was snappier than usual today, but that was only because of the lingering irritation that ugly fish face god had left behind him. If he ever saw that fat waste of space and divinity again... His claws flexed just thinking about what he'd do and he was forced to take in a calming breath just to get them to retract. No, once he got over the audacity of that fool, Alfa wouldn't get nearly so much of a rise out of him. It just seemed like it was going to take a while for it to fade. When not faced with individuals like Bahari, Sitirika was a more mellow creature, more likely to walk away in disdain than rise to the bait of trading insults.

"You think you're that special, do you? I'm used to annoying, bratty little girls like you disturbing the peace." He flicked one of his dark ears as a fly landed on it, and it gave him the grounds for a good comparison. "For all the affect you have, you might as well be an insect buzzing around my ear." In fact, he probably would have a higher opinion of said insect. And he'd probably think it to be prettier, as well. But thinking something like that, he couldn't just let it slide, especially when the female in question was someone who obviously valued the immaculateness of her appearance. "Actually, that would be insulting the bug. I shouldn't compare you to something so much prettier."

He had to laugh, though, when the only insult he got for the rain of mud and dust was boar. "Boar? How pathetic. Is that really the best insult you can come up with?" He himself could have thought up quite a few choice ones, if such a thing would have bothered him. Which it wouldn't, since he had never minded dirt and all the other components that came with it, ever since he had been a cub in the jungle, crawling through the thick undergrowth searching for little morsels of food to get him by. But such memories had no place in his mind these days, and so he shoved them firmly aside.

"Listen, you foolish little girl, you're only getting further and further away from the plains in your quest to be a brat." He glanced to her as she came up beside him, his upper lip curling slightly in distaste. "I honestly hadn't thought you were that stupid, but apparently I was wrong." He picked up his pace a bit now, approaching the herd Alfa had scared off before. "If you had any brains in that thick skull of yours, you would turn back now before you end up adding an extra day of travel to your journey."

That said, the male broke into a sprint, the herd fleeing as soon as they saw his approach, but he was already tracking a young gazelle that was a bit younger than adult, but certainly not a newborn any longer. A decent-sized meal for a leopard only a little bit hungry.