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 Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:54 am
 The sun was high in the sky, the golden orb shining over the Savannah, bathing the land with an intense heat. Most animals were seeking shade to stay cool but there was at least one animal out. A brown and blue cheetah was crossing the Savannah on her way to the jungle. She had heard of a rumour about a 'ghost cheetah' An all white cheetah with blood red eyes. Of course she didn't believe it was a ghost, she just wanted to go and find out what it was in reality.
The cheetah panted as she crossed the dry hot grasslands, while she knew she could reach the jungle a whole lot sooner if she ran she also knew that she would end up exhausting herself and she'd die in the heat if she exerted herself. So she kept her pace slow, her golden eyes flashing in the sunlight as she observed the area around her for any movement or life.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:21 pm
 A large red bulk was unconscious under the welcoming shady branches of a tree that dared to grow on the outskirts of a the jungle. The lioness paid no mind to the darting and scampering monkeys that ran past her, pulling her tail and throwing things at her, for it was too hot for her to react, or even wake up. However, it was when a large fruit conked her on the head, that she bolted to her side, looking around drowsily for the perpetrator whom was laughing overhead. She growled, and stood, heaving herself up the tree, but though it was small with a labyrinth of twisting branches, it was still too great of a height for her to scale, so at the bottom she stood, growling fiercely at the chattering monkeys.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:35 pm
It took her a good fifteen minutes but Shani finally got within viewing distance of the jungle. With a relieved sigh she sped up her pace just a bit. Once she reached the outskirts of the jungle she had to stop and watch the sight she was presented with. A troupe of monkeys were hassling a lioness. The cheetah continued to watch as the lion got hit in the head with a coconut and then attempted to climb up the tree after them. She couldn't help but laugh at that. "I think the only thing that could follow them up that tree would be a leopard." Smiling amusedly she took a couple steps towards the tree, stopping before she got within throwing range of the monkeys.
"Might as well just leave them be, unless you want them to get more riled up." She stretched and then licked her paw grooming herself before she sat down. She could afford a rest before she went traipsing trough the jungle.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:40 pm
The hair on the back of Moja's neck rose. Here was something terrestrial that she could take her anger out on. That is, if she were that kind of lioness. In the mean time she could hope that this new cheetah would distract the aim from her. "Oh, cheetah? Maybe I lack the proper kind of motivation." She scowled in her direction, but detached her claws from the bark, and sulked back to the point where she could not be attacked. She didn't mimic the cheetah, but she sat, still glaring in her direction unhappily.
What gave her the right to be so carefree? Moja rubbed the sore spot on the top of her head, and glared at the monkeys, who formerly silenced, began again the din from the canopy.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:54 pm
The cheetah looked at the red lion with a mildly amused look, not saying anything just yet. She watched as the lioness backed off from the tree, she didn't look all that happy. But Shani supposed she wouldn't be all that happy if she had gotten hit in the head with a coconut either.
Once she finished washing her paw she sat it back down on the ground and looked over at lioness. Seeing her unhappy look the cheetah cocked her head to the side. "No reason to glare at me, I'm not the one who chucked a coconut at you." She snickered replaying the scene in her head. It was a bit funny. When the monkey's began yelling again Shani sighed. "I hate monkeys. Roar at them or something, get them to shut up" She waved a paw at the tree dismissively. She'd roar at the monkeys but cheetah's couldn't roar.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:31 pm
"Well if you'd been watching for as long as you said you had been, you would have known that tactic to be ineffective." Moja sneered at the cheetah female, then taking note of her own filthy paws, she examined them closer. Dirt, smashed fruit, and ... well, other things thrown at her by the monkeys that she had the misfortune of stepping in. She rubbed it fervently in the grass, and used her rough tongue to remove some, then her teeth for the rest. This process rotated with her feet. She knew it was pointless to get them to be perfect, but the end result was something to live with.
"You.... Who are you?" Moja tilted her head as she groomed one of her back paws, sitting in quite an awkward position, ear flicking now that she was awake in revenge to the insects she'd missed while asleep.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:55 pm
Shani rolled her golden eyes, and here she thought that lions were supposed to be big and tough. This one didn't seem all that tough to her. She watched the lioness groom herself for a moment before she lifted the paw that she hadn't washed earlier, and cleaned it up. She also ran the back of her paw over her face, cleaning it as well. If she was going to groom herself she might as well do it right.
Shani heard the lioness' question but she didn't bother answering until she was done grooming herself. Once she was finished she lifted her head and looked over at the lioness. "Shani, who are you? Other than a lioness the monkeys particularly enjoy tormenting." She chuckled and curled her tail around her haunches as she sat there. Her ears flickered, ignoring the insects but listening for anything that might be sneaking up on them.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:43 pm
Moja sneered at the female's selective hearing. "Moja, for your information." She looked at the female oddly, for she was allowing the assault of the bugs. She shrugged her shoulders, almost as she wrestled to get a hold of her tail, biting at the debris that had been lodged within it. When that too was done, it fell to the ground with a loud thud. "Then Shani, I must go on to ask, what is your purpose this close to the jungle? I seldom see cheetah within such a proximity to its canopy."
Moja knew there must be a good reason for it, and she was just bored enough that she may want to play along with whatever this cheetah had up her 'sleeve'.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:08 pm
"Hmmm," Shani didn't comment any further than that, not sure if she particularly like this female. She seemed a little...well Shani wasn't sure exactly what the term was but she wasn't sure if she liked it. Her grooming being done she sat, listening to the jungle and scenting the air. She couldn't catch the smell of another cheetah and knew she probably had to go deeper into the jungle to pick up any sort of trail.
Catching her question the cheetah glanced over at the lioness. She was quiet a moment before she answered. "I'm looking for something. A snake told me about some sort of ghost cheetah hiding in the jungle. All white with blood red eyes. I came to see what this 'ghost cheetah' really is." She didn't think the cheetah was really a ghost, he probably had some kind of marking's that the snake just couldn't see.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:22 pm
Moja directed her stare to the outskirts of the looming jungle. Snakes weren't always reliable sources of information....However .... This did sound like an interesting waste of time for her, and the shade would be an escape from the savannah. She shook her large head, and stood, then shaking everything from her torso to tail, Moja again looked from Shani to the jungle.
"Well then, let us go." She grinned, having made herself the new travel companion of the strange cheetah, who would no doubt dislike this fact, but she would have to get used to it. Moja was also slightly interested to see another cheetah, especially if it was one of the undead.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:29 pm
Shani watched as the lioness gazed into the jungle and she quickly caught on to what was about to happen. She opened her maw to object but she was cut off by Moja inviting herself to come along. The cheetah snapped her maw shut and closed her eyes. After a moment she sighed and opened them, a smile on her maw now. She had gotten an idea.
"Fine, you want to come along? I don't mind....just as long as you can keep up." Smirking she began to walk into the jungle and then suddenly she took off, sprinting into the jungle. She kept to the most clear path but she still had to do a lot of weaving, which also meant that she couldn't get up to full speed but even so she was faster than a lion.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:36 pm
Moja gasped in bewilderment, and frowned. She growled, jumping to her feet and running after her. After touching the edge of the forest, she deployed her claws, but slowed to a lope, as long as she could keep Shani in her sight, she knew that even cheetahs couldn't run at their top speeds forever. She would over take her sooner rather than later, but for the time being, Moja would let her become exhausted, and managed in her romp to take in some of the jungle scenery.
With only a few steps, the jungle grew thicker and thicker. Slowing to avoid a low-hanging branch, Moja wove around. Shani was smaller now, but still in her sights, but this was bound to end poorly if she continued. "Shani!" She yelled, with a hint of a roar on her voice to make sure her call was not stifled. Grimacing, Moja picked up speed to stop her companion so they could gain a bearing of where they were headed.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:49 pm
Shani didn't have to look behind her to know that Moja was chasing after her. She didn't seem like the type of lioness who just gave up. Which, unfortunately, was what Shani had been hoping for. So, Shani continued to run barely avoiding trees. Eventually though she did have to slow down, she was getting tired and was panting harder. She could hear Moja calling her name and with a groan she slowed to a walk, her mouth open as she panted.
Twisting her head around she looked behind her, blinking confused when she didn't see the red lioness. Shani didn't think she had ran that far ahead of her. "Hmmmm" She waited a second and then shrugged walking on, she figured that Moja would find her eventually. If not the cheetah would most likely go and find her on her way out of the jungle. She wasn't mean enough to leave a lioness lost in the jungle.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:02 pm
Shani was closer than Moja thought, upon turning a corner in the forest, came face-to-face with the brown and blue head. Moja took a step back, and eyed the cheetah. "And where are you headed, Shani?" Moja wasn't reprimanding with her tone, but she wanted to know if it was a wild goose-chase that she had been led on, or if it was towards the ghost cheetah hiding within the jungle. Her tail flicked in agitation, as a bug bounced off her snout. Everything seemed bigger in the untamed jungle.
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Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:31 pm
Shani took several steps back out of surprise when the lionesses face appeared in front of her. She rolled her eyes once she got over her shook and looked off into the jungle. "Into the jungle obviously." She stretched her rump in the air for a moment before she straightened out. She really wasn't used to adventuring with a partner, she didn't do well with partners. Looking back towards the lionesses she chuckled as the bug bounced off Moja's snout. "You don't really seem like the jungle type...Maybe you should follow the path back out and onto the Savannah." Laughing she turned and headed deeper into the jungle to look for the trail of the cheetah she heard rumours about.
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