Fido yawned, it was nighttime. They'd had a good meal earlier today, after chasing off a cheetah. It seemed cheetah were a good fountain of food for the three. hunting wasn't so bad itself, they were three hyenas, and if they got their timing right, they could catch food on their own.
Still, chasing off other hunters was effective, and common in the savanna, as she'd been figuring out. Lions steal, hyenas steal, sometimes leopards steal... really, Cheetah were usually on the losing team in that aspect. So they always wolfed down kills as quickly as they could.
They could sometimes draw vultures or jackals away, she supposed. But vultures were annoying and they pecked hard. She'd learned that first-hand. But her little time of musing was soon done as she heard someone approach, she blinked, shifting slightly as Tibuka seemed to step out of the woodworks. It was dark, she'd missed his approach.
Hadshe come to boot her from her comfy-spot under the tree? "Oh! Oh, I'll move! " She said quickly, scurrying a few feet away then sitting down, tail tucked. Tibuka didn't say anything, but took her spot. After sitting in silence a few minutes, she got restless. "Where's grape-puff? " Tibuka glanced at her quizzically.
".. Leith. " She said, but immediately bit back the impatience as his brows furrowed.
"Out. Walking, or something. Said he'll be back in a few days. " He shrugged, he didn't quite mind. Leith had made it clear he didn't feel like being just a lackey. So, though Tibuka still tried to make it clear he was "boss", he allowed the purple male some liberty.
"Ah, " She grumbled. She didn't get to.. go away for.. for a day because he'd like.. chase her down or something. Because he was boss. "Ah. " She said, deciding best than to just shut up. "How we gonna hunt? " She asked, trying her best to just sound casual.
He didn't look at her, deciding she didn't really need much attention. "Doesn't take three to chase off cheetah. Or leopards. Besides, its a few days. " It was silly to expect to eat every day; he'd gone a week without a real meal before. In fact, it was likely he'd only been eating as much as he had lately because he was hunting with three.
Fido grumbled, she hated going days without food. She'd been a pet dog, and though the scraps thrown at her weren't always great, it was still eating, and it was every day. "Fine. " She muttered, then regretted it. She technically had to agree anyway, Tibuka made it clear she never had a say in any matter. He eyes her, but didn't do anything, and she was relieved for that.
"Tell me about the two-legs. " He said, and it surprised her somewhat. She blinked at him. Why did he want to know anything? "Whatcha wanna know? " She asked, eying him a bit. He was in a funny mood right now. "How do they hunt? " He shrugged. Tibuka wasn't really interested, he was bored. When he was bored, he wanted her to talk. And if she said anything stupid, cool, more stuff to do.
She blinked, thinking a bit. "They have these.. sticks, see. " She got up, shuffling around on the floor till she found a branch. "Only they're straighter. And rounder. and lots harder. " She explained, as well as she could. "They got some weird thing on the other end, too. Thats where the two leggers hold it, with their funny front paws. " He stared at her, and she realized she should get to the point.
"Anyway, they get this stick and they point it at something, and then there's a really loud bang. Like.. really loud. " She continued, as Tibuka began to seem a little impatient with her explanation. "I dunno exactly what happens then. But once they pointed it at some lion that killed one of the cows and it.. yelled then dropped dead. " She shrugged.
"I ran over and there was like.. this little hole in its head. And it was bleedin' a lot. " She blinked. "They did it on another lion, tho', and there was a hole in its hind leg instead, and that lion didn't drop dead. It hung around a while, but looked like it was in lotsa pain. then they did it again and it died. "
Now Tibuka seemed somewhat fascinated. Sticks that.. killed? Just like that? "What are these sticks called? " He tilted his head, and she seemed a bit uneasy at his interest. "Um.. well, me an' the other dogs don't speak two-leg, we just understand a few words. We think they're called.. Um.. goons, or something like that. " She bliked, goon? That wasn't right.
"We weren't sure though, so we just called them death-sticks. " Tibuka raised a brow. Death-stick certainly sounded better than.. goons. "so, they hunted with these death-sticks? "
She blinked. "Well.. kinda. They didn't really hunt much, y'know? They raised cows. They're kinda like wildebeest. But fatter. More like buffallo, but smaller! " She nodded, that sounded right. "And they like.. ate those. And they also milked them. They squeezed the milk into buckets then.. drank it 'er something. " She shrugged.
Tibuka was staring now, and she wondered what exactly he was thinking about. "the grown-ups drink milk? " He wrinkled his nose slightly. "Yup! and they like.. planted these weird stuff! And ate that too. Some was kinda like grass but not the same. Like leaves, but growin' outta the floor. " Two-leggers were very strange things.
"They also.. sometimes went away. Then brought back these funny.. bag things. that had food in them. " Tibuka tilted his head. That made no sense at all. "How about their pups? " She blinked slightly, having to think. "Well, they're.. weird. They're shorter. And skinny, and sound more high pitched. And they grow up really really slow. I never seen one from pup to adult! " That was how slow.
She'd only once seen a baby. "They're newborns are.. kinda.. tiny. And weak and pathetic, can't even wiggle aorund on the floor or something. So they wrap them up in some funny skin-things and carry them around. Looks like they're so weak and pathetic they gotta be real careful to. And they're loud and whine a lot. " Seh couldn't help getting a little carried away. It was nice to talk to Tibuka without him being.. snippy or aggressive.
He nodded absently. Ugh, he couldn't imagine being stuck with pups for very long. Especially because he was a male, as such, disinclined to the whole daddy-thing. He'd been a father, once, but when he looked at it now, he was somewhat.. amazed at how easy it was. Leaving the graveyard no longer hurt, leaving Kailasa and the boys didn't make his heart ache. They'd be fine, they thought he was dead, anyway.
They remained quiet for a few moments now, before Fido finally piped up. "Ah.. wanna know anything else? " She asked carefully, careful to not say anything to get him started. "No, " He shrugged. He wasn't bored anymore, and got to his feet.
"Come on, " Without saying anything else, Tibuka started to walk off. He wasn't sure what he'd do now, but being active at night was nothing unusual, and he was far from tired.
