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 Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:18 pm
Having skirted the Pridelands last, and having been further north before that, Kimanda decided it was time to head south. He wasn't sure why he want to go south; maybe it was simply because hadn't been down there in quite a while. Months. Years? Ki lost track of time after a while; time was rather insignificant to a traveler. There was no one waiting for him in some homeland; there were no cubs to take care of; there was no friend who needed the cheetah to take a detour. He didn't mind, usually. Though, as of late, he thought he might like to change that.
However, on the road wasn't really the time to think about that. He left the Pridelands' outskirts gods-knew-when. He had covered quite a lot of ground and he was pretty sure the sun hadn't set and risen more than...okay, he had lost track entirely. Oops. At least he had remembered to feed himself on the journey. Sure, his kills weren't impressive by any means, but he wasn't hungry by any means. The brown cheetah licked his lips, slowing down to a walk. It was nearing dusk. The lions would be really active soon. Kimanda's ears flickered and he looked around. He better not be on someone's lands, especially not during hunting hours. His mother always use to warn him about that (she really just warned him against lions in general, but that was nonsense), but this wasn't a theory he planned to put to the test. So Ki planted his haunched and looked around. He could ask someone. He frowned. Where was everyone?
Well, someone was bound to come along sometime.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:45 pm
Yeah, he probably shouldn't be out on hunting hours. Especially when he was a brown, spotless cheetah, with a dark mane. See, he looked alot like a wildabeast right now, at dusk when things were getting dark. A skinny, small, malnourished wildabeast but.. not to small to make a good meal.
Unlike her siblings, Ata'Jasisi was not a blinding blue, a through the grass, rather hard to see. Needless to say, she was a rather good hunter, if she put her mind to it. But see, earlier she'd rather idiotically lost a -limp- gazelle. So right now, she was determind to catch something, if only not to disgrace the pride, as she wasn't too hungry. But the pride was small at the moment. They'd.. They'd need good hunters.
Right now, though, she was dangerously close to the cheetah, who'd been unfortunate enough to sit near tallish grass, which was perfect for Ata. She could get really close. She waited till he looked the other way, then dashed and ran. However, now without grass in her face to confuse her, she realised this was a cheetah, and sheathed her claws emmediately but-- she was already airborne. So unless Kimanda moved out of the way, he'd find himself in a rather confusing roll.
"Aaah! "
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:14 pm
Hmm. What was that? Kimanda glanced over, peering at the tall grass. The cheetah frowned. Was something moving? He froze, tipping his head to the side. His ear flickered. Hm. Well, there was nothing else. Maybe it was a bird or a prairie dog. The brown cheetah shook himself and glanced around, just about to settle when a flash of movement caught his attention.
"What- YYEEEEEH!"
As fast as he was, Ki couldn't get out of the way fast enough. He was only on his feet when the lioness collided into him at full force. The cheetah yelped as he was tackled to the ground, lanky limbs flailing. In a full force panic, Kimanda tried to roll to his stomach and get his paws underneath him. When that failed, he settled for flailing and thrashing, yowling all the while. Finally, finally, he struggled free. He leapt sideways and wheeled around to face his attacker.
"What did you do that for!?
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:27 pm
At first, she'd found she'd landed ontop of the creature, but as it wiggled, Ata seemed to realised it was time to get off, but she tried to do it to quickly and..
holy face-plant, batman!
"Ow. " She snorted, not bothering to get up for a while. For a moment, she just remained with her nose in the dirt, ears against her skull. However, soon enough, the lioness sat up and shook out her fur. "Daamn that was not fun. " She rubbed her nose in annoyance. Come to think of it, this was probably her second face-plant today. Nice.
She perked an ear at the cheetah, who seemed frustrated. Well, not like he couldn't complain. But Ata was never one to admit defeat. "Not my fault you looked tasty. " She turned her head, sticking her tongue out rather childishly.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:35 pm
Kimanda blinked. Did she just call him tasty? The cheetah blinked again, eyes widening a bit. Lions didn't eat cheetahs! What was wrong with this one!? "Excuse me?" he asked, incredulous. His ears flickered forward and back. He wasn't sure if he should consider this lioness a thread or not. She did pounce on him, she did call him tasty, but she also let him go. He took a few more steps back just to safe and planted his haunches back in the dirt. This time though, he was ready to spring away if the need arose.
"So," Kimanda said, still not quite sure just what to make of this strange situation. "Do you normally attack unaggressive cheetahs? Or is it just me?" He couldn't help but flash her a saucy grin.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:40 pm
"Course not! "
She snorted, ears against her skull. "Its just they don't usually look so much like. easy to catch wildabeast. Or walk around these parts at dusk. " She flicked her tail, curling it around her paws. "ANYWHO. I noticed. If I hadn't, you wouldn't be sitting down right now because.. Well, your behind would hurt too bad. " She grinned meekly, flexing her claws against the ground a bit, as if to show she'd sheathed them not to actually cut the cheetah.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:50 pm
Kimanda gave her a funny look when she mentioned his haunches and her claws. That would not have been pleasant...at all. Especially for one who liked to travel as much as he did. The bay cheetah swatted his tail and flattened his ears a bit. "I would have gotten myself out of the way enough,' he snorted, much like a young male who had been denied something quite rudely. Now, normally, Ata probably wouldn't offend Kimanda, but this was the second time in recent memory he'd been mistaken for something other than a cheetah, and something unhealthy at that.
"Riiiight," Kimanda said, eyeing the lioness. Well, she didn't seem like she was going to pounce again; she seemed rather sorry, really. That was good enough. "Well, I'm Kimanda," he purred, finally remembering his manners. "It's a pleasure?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:56 pm
"Sure you would. " Ata rolled her eyes, clearly not believing he would hve got the chance. she was a good hunter-- cheetahs didn't possibly accelerate that fast!
However, at his introduction, she didn't complain. "I'm Ata. " Leave out the Jasisi. Wasn't her favorite part of the name. "Nice to eat you. " With a grin, it was obvious that she had made the mix-up on purpouse, if only to bother the cheetah.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:02 pm
Kimanda's ears flattened further. Jeez! She just liked to ruffle his fur, didn't she? That wasn't very nice. At all. The cheetah gave Ata a dirty scowl and flicked his tail. So he didn't like the idea of being lion food, what was wrong with that? As far as he knew, most critters didn't want to be lion food (or cheetah food, but he ignored that). "I'm sure, he grumbled, shaking his head a bit. He just...had to deal with that the way he dealt with Nsundu calling him Kimmy. Uuug. Kimmy. Just ignore what he didn't like, and hopefully Ata would get bored with it.
"Well, I bet my Rhythm is better than yours!" he countered, unable to resist the juvenile urge to tease the female back. It was like primordial flirting, or something. "Wanna see?" His lips curled into a grin. He wasn't that great yet, but he sure was proud of what he could do.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:10 pm
"Well, what a subject change. What does that have to do with the anything? "
She rolled her eyes. But perhaps it was slightly because well.. she wasn't entirely sure what the heck a rythm was, just.. kind-of. "But sure, go ahead. " She shrugged. It couldn't be that terrible. Besides, not like she'd find anything else around here. Perhaps they'd noticed this was a cheetah walking around, not a lion.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:19 pm
Of course he changed the subject! His ego was reaching dangerously low levels, so, as any self-respecting male would do, he got himself out of that situation and found something that could puff him back up. And, seeing as Ata didn't know what Rhythm was, he was most definitely better. He didn't even have to make an idiot of himself trying to out-dance her. Wait. She didn't know what Rhythm was? That was impossible! She must be lying! There was no way she didn't know what Rhythm was, she was a lion, wasn't she? Just like Nsundu!
"You don't know Rhythm? That's impossible! You're a lion!"
He got to his feet and padded closer, no longer threatened by the lioness. This was most peculiar. Could it be his lioness friend had taught him something very special?
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:27 pm
"You probably learned that from someone else. "
She shrugged, one ear perked, the other slighlty flopped to the side. "Not everyone needs ta know everythin'. " Ata wasn't a liar, and normally she wouldn't admit to not know something, but she didn't feel like lying about this.
"BEESIDES. I bet I'm better at lots other stuff than you. " She stuck her tongue out. "I can run for.. longer. " She caught herself before saying faster. It'd be dumb to say that to a cheetah. "SO, you can go ahead with your rhythm stuff. "
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:47 pm
Kimanda shook his head side-to-side. This one was rather...blunt. And competitive. Ki didn't mind a little healthy competition, especially when he could win. "I don't suppose you'd want to make a bet on that, would you?" he asked, smiling coyly. He had stamina; he was a traveler! And Ata didn't know that. She could fall right into his trap. He might not go full speed while he traveled (it was usually a jog or a lazy lope), he certainly covered a fair amount of ground when he put his mind to it. He could beat her, easy. He was in top shape, thank you very much!
He shifted to look Ata in the way. "Unless, of course, you're not up to the challenge," he said, grinning. There was nothing like a good prod to get what he wanted. She had bruised his ego. Now he needed the chance to restore it to its former glory.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:51 pm
"Fine. First to stop loses. "
She grinned, aand turned in the direction where the land seemed flattest. Perhaps, Ata was thinking the same as Ki, though. Since her birth, she'd been a traveler with her family. She'd only recently had to stop as they'd finally found their way back home. Which didn't feel like home. ata had lived for the road, but she wouldn't leave. At least not now.
"Ready? " She aske,d preparing herself for a run.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:10 pm
Kimanda's tail swished and he smirked. He was born ready. Those terms were fine with him. She was an adult; it wouldn't matter if she wandered off for a while. "Go!" he shouted, breaking into an easy lope. He wasn't going to sprint; that would waste all his energy. But if his lope was brisk enough, he could probably put a good distance between himself and Ata. He was naturally faster, after all. Lanky, light, he was just meant to run.
He glanced over his shoulder briefly. "Tired yet?" he called, shifting and facing forward again. There was no way she was going to beat him. He just wouldn't allow it. He just couldn't, especially not after she pounced him. Kimanda surged forward, a smile on his face. Running was the best thing in the world, it was. He never had to be anywhere he didn't want to be.
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