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 Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:33 pm
Between Angamizi (Felyn) and Chapua (Safaia)
Finished It had been a long night, and that was probably an understatement. He had probably underestimated just how much responsibility it was to watch over such a wounded creature. He had spent the whole night fretting over every little noise out in the darkness - some that amounted to nothing, a few that had turned out to be small scavengers drawn by the scent of blood. Thankfully there had been no larger beasts, for though he was sure he could have defended her, he would have likely been wounded in any fight, and where would that leave him to care for her?
He had probably never been so glad to see a sunrise, never so pleased at the smell of morning as the shadows of night ran back to the depths from which they came. He had had little sleep, and though exhausted, knew that his day would yet be long. He had a duty, and even if his reasons for performing it were a little strange, he would do it without question or falter.
The morning was growing late and the female had yet to wake, though he honestly didn't blame her. As exhausted as she was, her body probably needed as much rest as it could get. He lay near, head held high, body alert though he was relaxed to a degree. He knew soon she would wake and likely need a meal of some sort, and he hoped, for her sake, that it was soon. The longer it was, the more tired he was likely to become, and thus less likely to be able to perform to the best of his ability.Her dreams were filled with pain, confusion, pressure of being pushed into the ground. It was still fuzzy, but the movements still made her muscles twitch at times, her body remembering what her mind did not. Her body rested throughout the night, but her mind was far from restful. She stirred, her eyes feeling much heavier than she could ever remember. Struggling to open then, she lifted up her good right limb to rub at them a bit, willing the aches inside her head to leave her. She didn't feel like getting up, but knew that she needed to at least stretch or her muscles would grow too stiff to manage. A yawn escaped her mouth as she peeked around herself. "Oh!" Well, her mind had conveniently let her forget momentarily the stranger that had helped her out. With the warm morning light it was easier to see what he looked like, as well as the savannah that surrounded them. Slowly, bits and pieces of the previous day were weaving together, letting her remember everything of that event. She bowed her head, a bit shameful, keeping her body still and her eyes low. "Um...Morning." If it was even morning still. His eyes shifted from where they had been watching the savannah as he heard the yawn escape her maw. His ears flickered, though he said nothing, not truly wanting to surprise her. He knew she had been attacked, that much was obvious, but she had not been in any shape to talk about exactly what had happened. He didn't want to surprise her though, and if she had been sleeping as restfully as her movements seemed to have suggested, speaking to her before she was fully awake could have been a frightening thing for her.
When she finally noticed him, he offered her a bit of a nod, and a weak smile as a greeting. He couldn't appear happy, not with the way she looked, so broken still. Still, he could offer her as hopeful of a face as he could manage. He saw the bow of her head, though, and the way she lowered her eyes. Pride was a terrible thing sometimes, but if he mentioned it, he figured she would probably only feel worse for what had come to pass. "Morning," he simply said, shifting so that he could sit up and talk to her in a more proper manner. "How do you feel?" it was a general question, and, well, an important one.Chapua gingerly tested out her limbs, trying to see just how they were doing. Her left limb was very stiff, and it still hurt, but it was very apparent that it wasn't broken. Her right limb was fine, the muscles a little stiff from all the activity. Her side had a huge gash in it, and it startled her. How was it so big, yet it didn't hurt as much as it should? Her mind must still be blocking out the shock, but she knew it was going to hurt as soon as she really moved. Her back right foot was a bit twisted, but would heal. "I feel as stiff as a carcass," she said, snorting into the ground. It took another moment, but she couldn't help but give off a light giggle. "Very bruised but alive." Alive, mainly because he dared to help her. She might not had survived without him. The water in her system helped her out, but now she needed something to eat. That was a frightening idea. She couldn't hunt, not with blood on her side and two injured legs. But she wasn't going to ask him too, either. He had done more than he needed to already. She was thankful for that, but that didn't mean he had to stay next to her. Even....even if it meant a lot to the dark cheetah. He smiled weakly at the small giggle that escaped her maw, though he felt that the situation was far too somber to be laughed about - at least on his end. He had no doubt she found some wicked humor in the fact that she had nearly faced death and lived. Laughing, even with her, seemed like it would be a bad idea. "I've seen some carcasses that have been in better condition," he said, that weak smile remaining, the words as close to a joke and as light as he was likely going to allow it to get. They had gotten through the hard parts, she did deserve a little light in the darkness now.
"You should probably try to move around as much as you can, as much as you can stand at least. Just don't over do it." He pushed himself up, stretching out his own muscles from where he had been sitting on guard for the last few hours, unmoved. "You don't want your muscles to cramp and lock up, it'll only hurt worse later, just mind that wound." He nodded to her side, though didn't let his eyes linger long - he wasn't sure she'd want him calling attention to her problems. He knew, too, that there were some issues with at least one of her legs, which meant too much movement was out of the question. It was still best to do as much as she could.
Once he had stretched the kinks out of his muscles, he turned to look back out at the horizon. Now that she was awake, and probably less afraid, over the initial shock, he knew she needed to eat. Large animals were out of the question - he was too exhausted to hunt them down, and they were too large for her to try to eat. "You should eat. Will you be alright if I leave you here for a while?" Chapua's ears swiveled around to rest flatly on her head. She knew that she needed to stretch around so she wouldn't get too stiff. Perhaps she had never been injured this badly before, but she still knew enough to take care of herself properly. She had just gone beyond the point of taking care of herself. Just for that fact she would let him tell her what she needed to do. He was her lifeline right now, and so she needed to keep him happy so he'd stick around. It wasn't like she could go chase after him or something. "I-" she went quiet for a moment, her ears swiveling forward as she blinked up at him. He was going to get her something to eat? That was unexpected, but something that she knew she desperately needed. "That would be good." She lowered her head a bit, but continued to gaze upwards at him. "I think I'll manage all right by myself." It reminded her of the previous day, and her not wanting to be alone...man, that was mildly embarassing. He knew that she was probably capable of figuring out what she needed to do for herself by now, but he also knew that she was still probably in some form of shock. Even if she could figure it out, what did it hurt for him to tell her, nudge her along? If she got irritated with him trying to walk her along, then he simply assumed that she would tell him. The more she proved to him that she was capable of remembering the simpe basics of caring for herself, though, and the more likely it was that he would stop telling her what she needed to do.
He had been planning to get her something the night before, and it had only been her need for him to stay, the need for his protection, that had kept him from doing so. Her body needed the nourishment of more than just water if she had any hope of recovering properly and there was no way she was going to be able to hunt for herself. "Alright, I won't be long," he said softly, dipping his head to her and offering her a reassuring smile. He still worried that she might be a little afraid to be left alone, but there was little he could do about it. With a last, hesitant glance at her, he slipped off, keen on hurrying up so he could come back - hopefully he could find a small deer or something of the sort.
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:34 pm
Seeing him leave was an odd feeling. She didn't know anything about him, but it felt odd for him to leave. It brought back memories, sure, but she had grown to let those fade away, and it only felt like she had gone through it before, nothing painful. Or else knowing that someone was there while she slept. All she knew was that she was feeling like quite the young female she was a while ago, and she had other things to think about during his absence.
Namely, her gash. Would those create scars? Selfishly she hoped not, but they were deep enough that they probably would. She slowly swayed to her feet, pausing for a long moment to keep her balance. Now was when her open wound started to hurt, and it was all she could do to keep herself calm and walk back to the edge of the water. Dipping her head low, she took a long drink, feeling the cool water slip down her throat and into her empty stomache. It was then she could really see how pitiful she looked.
She stumbled back over to her spot where she slept, careful on keeping her wound clean. She decided that the best way to help pass the time was to give herself a bit of a grooming, even if it was only around her face and forelimbs. Difficult with one injured limb, but she was managing well enough with her right paw. Hopefully she wouldn't look so pitiful when her 'hero' stranger man returned.
It hadn't taken too long to track down a small group of klipspringers, though it was probably a little longer than he would have originally hoped once he had to track it, take one down, and bring it back. Soon enough though, he was carrying an unfortunate doe back to the other unfortunate female awaiting his return. The hunt had taken every bit of energy he had had left, and he counted himself lucky that she woke when she did, otherwise he might not have been able to do this for her.
As he neared the site, the watering hole where he had left Chapua, he wondered to himself how long it was going to take her to get back to full health again. He had no idea, really, when her wounds would heal enough to let her survive on her own and he realized that at some point during the night, he had promised, at least to himself, not to leave her until she didn't need him any longer.
Pushing the thoughts from his head when he finally came back into sight, he brought the small deer forward and placed it at her feet. He hoped she was strong enough to rip away the skin to get to the meat, but if not, well, he supposed a little more help from him wouldn't be out of the question. "I hope that suits you," he said with a small nod towards the deer, sitting himself down upon his haunches comfortably. He had noticed that she'd groomed herself, though didn't comment. The thought made him smile, for it meant she was at least alright enough to think like a female again.
Ugh. Not good enough! She knew that she probably looked a little cleaner, but she was only able to get to her forehalf, as she was too nervous to really lean over her wound and get elsewhere. That was going to take longer to heal, and she wanted to make sure that it did as soon as possible. So she was just going to have to live with being dirty, or bleed more all over herself if she reopened her wound.
Her ears caught sounds of something, and her red eyes soon noticed that the cheetah had returned, and with something larger than she was expecting. She would have been thankful with just a hare, but a klip? She knew she wasn't going to be able to eat it all, since her stomache seemed to have shrunk, but she would certianly do her best, if mostly for his honor of catching her something.
"Wow," she said softly, shuffling her weight around so she could sit up a little more properly while still laying on her belly. "It's more than I was expecting." She lowered her head to nudge at it, looking for a weaker spot to start her meal. She peered upwards at him, noticing how tired he was. He did more than he had to....she felt her tail twitch at the thought, along with the corner of her mouth. SHe turned her attention back to her meal, working on getting the skin and fur separated so she could get at the meat that would soon fill her stomache.
He really didn't care all that much as to what she looked like. Sure, the little bit of grooming she had done had shown him that beneath her injuries and scruff, she was quite the attractive female, but he for one knew better than to be thinking about things like that when what was important was how she was fairing health-wise. There was little for her to do, though, in her state, and he assumed that one of the few things left to her was grooming and fussing over her appearance and that he would not deny her.
"Well, you're going to have to eat more than just once," he said with a small shrug. He knew that she wasn't likely to eat a lot at once, but her body was going to need a lot of nourishment, so it was going to take more than just one meal. "I figured that if I got you something you could eat from more than just once, it'd mean I wouldn't have to leave you alone as much." He still would have to go out hunting for himself later, but that could be done quickly, especially since he wouldn't have to drag his meal back like hers.
Chapua consumed herself into eating the meal. Not because she was hungry, but it was a way to excuse herself from saying anything back to the cheetah. For some reason, she was having a hard time rememebering his name. He had said it the previous day, hadn't he? So why couldn't she get herself to remember it? It might come after she ate a little bit more, so she was putting all her energy into that.
She lifted her head up after a moment, licking her maw as she let what she had eaten rest inside of her stomache. It wouldn't do to eat too much and lose it all in another moment. She slowly swayed herself up to her paws again, taking a few steps away from the carcass so she wouldn't have it right under her nose. Feeling a bit better, if tired again, she settled herself onto the ground again, her eyes on the gold cheetah. Perhaps the time for a bit of talking would come....when he wasn't so tired. The thought tickled her mind and she couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Thank you for the meal," saying as she bowed her head again. "I'm sure it took a lot out of you though, you look fatigued." Her face sunk a bit. "I am sorry about that."
He watched her carefully as she got up, eyes narrowed on her movements, body a bit tense in case she couldn't support herself. It probably would have just been easier for her to ask him to move the carcass, but then, there still would have likely been blood. He supposed he should stop feeling so over-protective, though. She was a grown female, after all, and she was going to want to do things on her own with out him. He needed to remind himself that just because he felt like he was doing this because he had abandoned his cubs didn't mean he precisely needed to treat her like one.
"I'm a bit tired," he said with a small shrug, stubbornly, though he knew that his weariness had to be plastered openly on his face. He hadn't slept and had gone out to get her a meal. She didn't need to know how little sleep he had gotten, for he surely didn't want her apologizing for that too. "Don't be sorry, though. I did what I had planned to do, and that.. is that." He did, however, lower himself down into more of a laying position, turning his eyes briefly to the savannah before settling his head on his paws. "Though, a small nap would probably do me a lot of good."
Her dark tail twitched behind her as she peered at her caretaker. Well, he did seem tired, but just how tired was he? It seemed silly, since Chapua had just assumed that he had slept for some of the time that she was asleep. The idea of him carrying her, watching over her all night, and then waiting for her to wake up so he could get her something to eat did not pass through her mind.
She shifted around in her position a bit more, making herself appear quite comfortable. "That it would. I'm sure everything will be all right." A stark difference from how she was the evening before. She felt better, if still under a constant pressure of pain, and assumed that they would be fine. Two together looked intimidating, and if she was careful, Chapua would be able to hide her wound to most who could see, and they could merely look like a pair of resting cheetahs in the daytime.
"Maybe this time I can watch over you." The idea seemed silly, but she feltt better actually saying it.
He nodded at her words, fairly sure that things would be perfectly fine as well. Not many would dare to cause trouble to two cheetahs in the daylight, and even if he was asleep and they noticed her injuries, all it would take was a little noise for him to wake up. It was blatantly obvious there was nothing wrong with him by way of injury, not in the slightest. He couldn't help the small smile that cracked his maw, however, as he heard her last words. Glancing at her once last time, he simply shut his eyes and curled lightly in on himself. Maybe she could watch over him, maybe she could.
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