The cheetah’s words still seemed to echo in her mind, reverberating against her logic and sense as though it were bombarding an entry. She had been in so many holes, jumped through so many loops down imaginary paths she imagined she could take. One led home and the other kept her here. She had decided before him that she would stay only for a little while but her indecisiveness had returned. She was unsure of that now and was even afraid to stay for a little while because she might end up staying forever. But if she left, she knew she’d never come back. It was a dilemma she faced and still was searching for the answer.
However there was an answer she felt could solve it if she gave into it. It was the idea that she could help her sisters. Really help them. Well, at least in a small way.
Odile herself liked to help people, to really help them. She didn’t care if they were predator or prey beast. She liked to do it, felt inadequate or infuriated when she couldn’t or was refused. In that sense, Odile was stubborn. While sweet, she would insist on helping someone until she was physically thrown from the site. A word of refusal was never enough to scare her away. True, though, she helped others with injuries. She did not help mental states of mind or with their relationships. She dealt with the physical. In all other matters she was useless. After all, she was a waterbuck and a waterbuck was made to eat grass, run, mate, and die. She was just able to add a little spice to the water.
Since leaving the male waterbuck on his lonesome, the weird and strange buck who lingered in her mind for some reason, she had come to this jungle-like place where the air was moist and heavy making her feel as though she were dripping with sweat. She didn’t really like it and wondered why she continued forward when she so wanted to turn back.
Oiorpata knew then why she was here. Maybe that one thing she wanted to do was the only thing holding her here. And that after she did it, all would be well again, her mind would be clear, and she could make a decision. It was comforting that she had found this. But it also made her excited as though she just wanted to go out and get it done already. She had no idea what sort of thing that was putting her in for just that it was going to happen and she was glad of it.
Slowly she realized that in her excitement, she had failed to take in her surroundings and something was very nearby. She wasn’t sure if it was equal or prey but better to discover than to be attacked and put off guard. Her mother had built into her a sense of distrust for everything and everyone she did not understand. But her sense of curiosity and her competitiveness had always made her one to seek out trouble before it found her. Slowly and low on her paws, she crept swiftly to find a female waterbuck as passive as can be. But in hunter mode, she in no way calmed down but prepared to leap.
Odile had always been incredibly trusting, even as a fawn. She never thought that something so evil could prey upon her. Once when she was little, she had been chased away from the herd by a wild dog, its teeth bared and snarling as it ran. She had been petrified and wanted just to stand still and poke her head in the ground as she had seen large ostriches do. But she ran because that was what the herd had told her to do. And so she ran. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could still see the herd moving, running fast. And she wanted to turn to them. But if she turned, he would catch up. He would surely catch her. Well, soon enough, though he ran lightly and swift after her, his impact was still enough on the ground that his foot was able to be caught. He was yanked back, his eyes wide as though they could pop out of his head, and then his body snapped back to return to his foot and he crumbled there, leaving her alive out of pure luck. But she had never been hunted or chased after that and saw it as though she were incredibly blessed.
She turned to look at the lioness approach, a smile of complacency on her face. Odile barely even thought that the other might pounce at her. But she watched the lioness leap, claws extended and maw wide. Smoothly, she side-stepped away from the leap and smiled kindly. “Watch yourself. You almost hurt me.”
Oreo snarled, mildly upset that she had lost her prey for the moment. She thought it a wonderful, cunning jump and was sad not to see the success of it. However, the confident tone of the other threw her off guard. Where did this one get off being all cocky. She was a prey beast and prey beasts were meant to fall at the hands of a lioness such as herself. “What makes you think that wasn’t my goal?” she stated, giving an attitude of her own.
