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 Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 11:18 pm
 A large, brown male licked his lips as he stared at his latest catch. It's wasn't the largest of things -- a fully grown jackal, in fact, but it was lunch. And he was absolutely famished, what with all the heat and lack of water. He would, of course, he most unlucky when he'd gone in search of water earlier that afternoon. After mistreating a bird that made a threat at his fortune (which he was so sure was empty at the time) for the day, he grumbled quietly to himself and took a huge bite out of his meal. After yet another bite he felt his hunger being satisfied, much to his surprise, and he lifted his head in curiosity. Surely he couldn't be getting full after only two bites.
But perhaps his luck was changing.
Out the corner of his eye he spied another figure, slight and a bit smaller than he was. With a quirked brow he took another large bite out of his lunch and turned around, dark pink eyes landing on the distant figure, squinted and suspicious. After his run-in with that bird not too long ago, he wasn't too keen on sharing any one conversation with just anybody, let alone a small meal that he had a hell of a time catching.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:51 am
Sharing a meal was definitely not necessary on the male's part. Mvuatuliva was an excellant hunter, if modest on her own part about it, and was hauling around a Thompson's Gazelle at the moment. She had him by the neck, but he was long enough and large enough that he was being dragged along for the most part. It was more than enough food for herself and she had seen a figure at a distance that had similiar colours to Kimanda, her traveling companion. As she drew nearer, however, she not only scented that it wasn't a cheetah, but saw that it was definitely canine in nature. A wild dog.
Her ears perked and she lifted her head as she stopped a short length away, perhaps ten feet or so. Far enough that she could drop the carcass and run if need be, but close enough that when she did drop the carcass to speak, she was easily heard. The dog appeared to have a kill, but it wasn't much. It might fill her for a short time, but he was much larger. Was it a midday snack or the only kill he'd made for the day?
Tilting her head to one side, her pale blue eyes didn't move from him as she dropped the kill and spoke, "If you're still hungry..." It was an open invitation. She didn't often directly invite someone to share, as she had been told more than once that it was an injury to a male's pride. Females and cubs, surely, she would hunt and bring them food, but males she always offered general invitations. "I'm not going to be able to finish it." Licking her bloody lips, she smiled at him before reaching down to rip open the preybeast, taking a long sliver of fresh, steaming meat from the neck.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:21 am
The male felt a few muscles tighten as she approached and dropper her meal, feeling his stomach churn at the sight of the dead gazelle. It was odd, for a carnivore, to look at meat a bit sickened, but...he wasn't what one would consider normal anyway. And he'd gotten used to that side of himself already. It'd take nothing short of a miracle to make him change his established way of life.
Obi chuckled, though, and shook his head at her offer, inclining his head ever so slightly in thanks. After swallowing what was in his mouth, he said, "I don't eat anything bigger than a jackal." The male finished what was left of his meal and buried the carcass, then approached the female and took a seat a little closer. "It's a philosophy thing I follow, no big deal." Her smile was friendly enough, so his muscles that had tensed only moments ago when she spoke to him were completely relaxed now, and his tail wagged a bit more energetically than usual. "So, what's your name?" he asked, not really thinking that conversing with her during a meal was rude.
Well, he didn't think it was rude anyway.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:28 am
She shrugged when he refused her, not even catching that he was repulsed by the sight of the flesh. Eating her own kill, she watched him out of the corner of her eyes as he buried it and stepped closer. He didn't seem angry or aggressive, so she stayed put, but her ears flicked foward to catch his speaking. She wondered if he didn't eat anything larger than a jackal because of waste, and suddenly felt a tad defensive. Lifting her head, she swallowed and licked her muzzle once again, clearing her mouth to speak not rudely nor all that defensively but as if she were merely stating a fact, "I catch what I can eat, and the rest I give to my traveling companion. Wherever he is."
Grinning lopsidely at that, she hesitated before inquiring, "What is your philosophy?" It was kind to ask, she only hoped he wasn't some nut who would try to impress anything on her. She ate too often and too much to worry about what she was taking down, and it was rare anything was wasted, anyway. Her tail curled around her paws as she pulled another slice of meat from the carcass. It was cooling, not so much as steaming now but still hot.
Ah, her name. It wasn't rude to talk while eating, especially not for Tuli because if she wasn't eating, she was hunting or napping and those were much worse times for conversation. Raising her head once again, her ears perked as she spoke with a soft smile, "Mvuatuliva, but you can call me Tuli." There was an implied sense to her expression and tone, obviously looking for his name as well.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:37 am
"Ah, Tuli. Nice name. I go by Obi, nice to meet you."
He tried to keep anything but a pleasant expression off his face, just so she wouldn't be offended or anything. He shifted a bit when she asked about his philosophy, somehow getting a little vibe that she was a bit affected by what he said about his hunting habits. With a kind smile he obliged, "It's nothing I like to force on anyone, really. Just something I've done since I was a pup. My parents instilled it in me, for some reason, saying that eating anything larger than a jackal would tip life's balance or some mumbo-jumbo."
His ears perked a little when she mentioned a companion...yet he saw none. Obi was a bit curious, of course, in case he was holding a conversation with a basketcase cheetah with an imaginary friend she imagined up out of loneliness. "Companion..?" Obi inquired with a slight tilt of his head.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:44 am
"Thank you." The cheetah smiled. She enjoyed being complimented, which she was finding out by being around other creatures more often. At least, other creatures she wasn't attempting to or succeeding in devouring. "Obi. I like it, is it short for anything?" She hoped it wasn't. She liked short names, which is why she often preferred Tuli to her full name.
She listened to his philosophy with a politely interested expression. It wasn't feigned, but she wasn't overly excited like some cub either. She listened and thought it over in her own mind before shrugging, "I hunt so much as it is that I couldn't imagine hunting smaller game." Hunting gazelle all the time to feed her unsatiable metabolism was enough, she couldn't imagine hunting things half their size. She'd have to hunt twice as much! Oh no, that would be no good. There'd never be time for anything else. "But it's definitely an interesting thought."
Mumbo-jumbo had definitely been an entertaining word to be dropped there, but she didn't mention it. Merely mulled over his ideals for a few moments longer before her thoughts were interrupted by his one word inquiry. She'd have laughed if she'd known he worried she was a basketcase, but as it was she merely replied truthfully, "Kimanda. Just a friend. He's a cheetah, as well, and coloured somewhat as you are. We met and decided to travel together. We seperated a little while ago to hunt or, in his case I'm sure, nap." She smiled fondly at the idea. He could also be practicing his dancing, but he didn't know she knew so Tuli didn't voice it outloud either. Just incase Obi met the cheetah one day.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:57 am
"Nope," he replied with a broad smile. "Just Obi. It's supposed to mean something though." He was proud of his name; it was short, simple, and seemed to fit him somehow. Obi kept the meaning from slipping from his tongue, just to play at her curiosity a little bit. If she asked, he'd be happy to answer, but at the moment she didn't have to know what his name meant. It was something kept between him and his own family, but they were long gone now, living where he thought he would go nowhere. Of course, this thought was brought about only recently because he didn't want to admit that he was homesick.
"And yeah, my parents were...interesting, to say the least." Obi chuckled at his comment, sure that his parents would think it an utter understatement. They were definitely a strange bunch, his family.
He listened intently when she replied to his question, inwardly relieved to know that she wasn't mental in any way. So she was traveling with another cheetah. "At least you're not alone," he said when Tuli had finished. "It's lonely, all this open space, when you've got no one to talk to."
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:21 am
Of course she would ask! First, though, she would let him know her own so that the conversation could roll easier, "My full name means 'quiet rain', in so many words. Each part has many meanings, but that was my mother's intent." She laughed, "Not sure why. I was no quiet cub." Really, she was, but she didn't remember herself as being so. She remembered always being hungry, but that was all, "What does Obi mean?" Her blue eyes stared at him evenly, intent on finding the meaning whether he gave it up easily or not.
She hesitated, remembering her own family, before she gave a soft smile and shrugged, "My family was... normal. Did you have any siblings?"
Tuli was far from mental. She was practically as normal someone could get, despite her insistent need to eat. As he spoke, her face took on an expression of concern, "You don't travel with anyone?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:38 am
Obi laughed alongside her when she commented on what she was like in her cubhood, and with a kind smile he replied, "It means 'heart', according to my mother. She said she and my dad named me so because I was the quietest of my siblings, even though I was the oldest." His smile, which had started off as a rather pleasant one, slowly became solemn as he continued thinking of his family. "Gave them, um...a little less to worry about."
Obi went silent for a moment, trying to push back his thoughts about family. It was just a bit too sad for him, but he was over it soon, and he recomposed himself quickly.
"I have four other siblings, one brother and three sisters. They were all pretty interesting...or, out of the ordinary is a better way to describe them." Obi offered a chuckle to keep the atmosphere from getting tense. "And no, I travel alone. I was the first to leave my home, and I don't think I'll be going back." He paused. "It was just too.....empty, if you know what I mean..."
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:02 am
Her tail flicked gently as she realised she'd touched a sore subject for the wild dog. Her blue eyes softening as her smile faded to a gentle grin. She felt somewhat awkward, but it was of no fault of his. She was uncomfortable with the fact that she had brought something up so callously with someone she didn't know well enough. It was like talking about religion, you just didn't go into that by jumping in with both feet. It was touchy, and family among rogues was the same way. They came from different places and you never knew someone's story. She was getting an idea about Obi's, or at least a general enough one to know that perhaps the conversation could benefit from a slight change in topic.
First, however, his statements had to be responded to so she didn't sound rude. Inclining her head, she chuckled as well at the idea of his siblings being extraordinary, but it was his next sentences that she responded to. After all, she knew that sort of feeling quite well. "I had a brother, and my mother had had a litter before my own, but I never even met them. We traveled from the day I could walk," She shrugged, "I've no real home to get back to, and no idea where my family is."
Not so touchy with Tuli. She was sad she didn't see her family anymore, but she wasn't haunted by it. She lived on, but vowed her children would know her better than she had known her mother - no matter how sweet she had been. Incling her head to one side, she edged into new subjects, "Are you heading anywhere particular, or are you just a wandering soul as Kimanda and I are?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:35 am
He was glad she was the one who decided to change the subject, especially since he had no idea how he would've gone about it. His spirits lifted significantly, and he responded with a more cheerful smile. "Nah, I've got nowhere I have to be, really. No place to officially call home." It was simple, and it was the truth, yet his smile tugged itself a bit down into a slight frown. "But I'd like to say that I'm headed somewhere.." And once more he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Obi was definitely one to speak his mind, but he liked pleasant atmospheres, and he wasn't doing this particular one around Tuli any good. "But I'm not, so I go where the wind blows me."
Obi shifted his gaze to the distant horizon, unknowingly in the direction of the jungle. "I think I'll be going that way next.."
And he silenced and turned his attention back to the cheetah. "So you're just wandering?" he asked with genuine curiosity. It wasn't strange, meeting rogues that were just wandering souls, as she rightly put it. "Headed in no particular direction then?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:47 am
Tuli was glad to oblige by changing the topic. She immediate felt the lighter nature in the air and smiled broadly, blue eyes twinkling as she listened to him speak. It wasn't a happy thought, per say, but something she was used to hearing. What rogue had a place to call home? If you did, you were only have a rogue, afterall. One step into a pride or a pack already. She had no real desire to be heading anywhere in particular however, so that was one feeling they didn't share. She just walked and was content to do so.
As he looked towards the horizon, she raised her head from her kill to do the same, nostrils flaring slightly as she scented the air. After a moment, she nodded, "Seems like a good direction to me. It'll be a pretty walk." There was a happy thought for him.
At his questioning, she swallowed the bit of meat she had ripped into her mouth before speaking. It was only polite, after all. "I have never chosen a direction for any reason beyond that a herd of gazelle went in that direction or the sun is at my back so I won't be blinded." She laughed, "But now that I'm traveling with Kimanda, we generally stick close to a pride of lions with whom he is friends. I don't mind, I suppose." Sighing, she glanced at her meal before looking at Obi once again, "Speaking of Kimanda, I should probably get the remains of this to him before I have to fight off vultures." She was only half joking.
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:59 am
Obi's smile broadened at the thought of having a good scenery to walk by instead of the monotonous savanna he was sick and tired of seeing day in and day out. "Good to know," he said, "At least it's something to look forward to today." He looked back in the direction that he'd chosen, then back at Tuli, ears listening to her intently. He laughed when she did, nodding in approval when she joked about the sun, then getting a bit more serious at mention of a lion's pride. "Well, sounds like you've got lots of company." He paused, then smiled again. "Well that's always a good thing, Tuli."
The male nodded once more, when she announce her need for them to part ways now, and he stood up as well. "In that case, I guess I may as well get going too. No use sitting out in the open anyhow. The heat might drive me crazy." He laughed, and bowed a bit, his form of farewell. "It was a great pleasure meeting you, Tuli. I hope we cross paths again someday." His goodbye was said with a wide smile, the encounter having been a pleasant one, though it did bring back old memories. That wasn't really a bad thing though...
As he began to walk away, a funny thought came to him, and before he was too far and out of earshot he called back, "And are you sure he's just a friend? I mean, you never know right?" His parents had been traveling as friends after all, and look where they ended up?
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:28 am
She didn't mention that she was afraid of the pride and hadn't met any of them because she wouldn't venture close enough to such a large group of the big cats. One lion she was okay with meeting. One at a time, never more than that. They terrified her in larger groups. The knowledge that one could catch her off guard as it was, but two could rip her apart before she even knew who attacked first was frightening. That all she kept to herself and instead only nodded with a demure smile that hinted at an unspoken secret. "Yes, it is."
Her tail swayed behind her as she stood for their farewells, the smile ever present as her head nodded once more, "It really was a pleasure, indeed, Obi. I will have to keep an eye out for you, I enjoyed meeting you." Glancing in the direction he had said he would be headed, she chuckled, "Enjoy your scenic route, and don't starve yourself."
Winking, she bent to pick up the kill in her teeth and started to tow it off in the direction she had originally been heading. Kimanda was hungry, no doubt. When she heard Obi speak, she turned to look at him with wide eyes as if it was the most horrific thing she had ever heard. No way! Kimanda was a friend, nothing more, but her mouth was full and they were too far apart to argue over it now. Waving a paw at him as if to say 'you've been driven insane by the sun!', she nearly dropped the carcass before she quickly continued on her way. Only one more glance was cast over her shoulder, trying to convince herself all the way that he was just a friend and she did know and that Obi was just crazy.
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