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 Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:12 pm
Stalking away from the pride after having suffered through yet another pointless confrontation with Jinichongo --during which he sat in silence, staring blankly at her until he could almost see the flames of rage dancing in her eyes-- the first thing that Sakata wants to do is... kill something. Preferably something delicious.
So his frustrated wanderings take him towards the herd he'd been scouting for the past few days. Male lions aren't among the best hunters, true, but Sakata's patience and dedication to the task will not go unrewarded. There are a few likely prospects within this herd of springbok; a couple of foals born out of season, an injured buck, and an older female who lags behind. Any of these would provide a good meal for himself and a few cubs.
As he settles into the vantage point he's been watching from over the past while, he notices that another herd has moved into the area - a larger herd, of kudu. A quick glance behind him is enough to tell him that those antelopes are too large for him to take down safely alone, so his attention returns to the smaller springbok.
The area he's chosen is perfect for a hunt - river on one side, dense acacia on the other. The prey will be forced to flee in one direction, making it easier for him to pull down a straggler. And with the larger herd safely behind him, he won't have to worry about any interference.
Sakata hunkers down in the small hollow he's chosen for his hiding place and waits for his quarry to draw near.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 3:40 am
It was calm, peaceful even. Takatifu had not been anywhere near the two leaders as they'd had their fight; she'd walked a good way aways from the main pride group in an attempt find a bit of a silence and solitude. Granted, she was a rather social lioness, that very much enjoyed others' company, but at times, she felt the need to slip away in an attempt to rest and listen to the spirits' will calmly.
Something had been tugging at her since the moment she'd woken up at that day. A nagging feeling, something that told her that things were just not right. Something was off, and she couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what it was. It had been that nagging feeling, like a worm, biting at the edge of her thoughts in the back of her mind that made her seek out the solitude. The Pure lay herself on a flat rock, bordered by a few bushes, hidden mostly from view as she sought out the horizon. And that's when it came.
The vision was short but intense. There was blood everywhere, the trampling of hooves, the distant laughter of a cruel individual whom had managed it's purpose and... the tattered, torn, dead body of the warleader a fight that had been set up in his opponent's favour. Takatifu's eyes flashed back into reality, her body jolting to it's feet, the movement based on pure instinct.
A set up.
It was a set up.
She didn't know why, and she didn't know who, but she did have her suspicions on the answers to those questions. That, however, would have to wait. First, she had to, needed to find Sakata. Despite usually being such a calm individual, the Pure rushed her way back to main pride and was horrified to learn that the Warleader had left on a hunt. Thanking the member whom had given her the information, she turned around and left once more, in the direction she'd been told Sakata had left. She could only hope she could make it in time; as if to spur her on, flashed of the previous vision filled her mind's eye and the lioness ran with force towards the hunting grounds.
It was only when she saw the herds that she slowed herself down, "Sakata!" she called out, "Sakata?" the beasts looked up at her, restless, and the lioness flattened her ears back; she didn't even usually hunt. Her body was lithe and her visions visited her at the strangest times. The pride had often times told her not to risk herself in any given situation and to simply stay back and do her job (at the time as an Augur, and now as a Pure). Her life was too valuable to be lost in such a meaningless way, for she was spirit born and a valuable asset to the pride, specially now.
Yet here she was, tossing that all flying out of the window, risking her life, for she knew she'd run straight into danger.
It was just that... there had been so much blood. Even now, she could see the vision overlapping what she was seeing and the ground was blood soaked. What she didn't know now, was if that blood was his, hers, of both of theirs, "SAKATA!"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 6:20 am
The first sound to reach Sakata's ears is not Takatifu's voice, nor her cries of warning. It is the restless hooves of the herd of kudu, stumbling upon the hard-packed dirt. Something has upset them - a crocodile in the river, perhaps?
But then their unease spreads, and the small herd of springbok that he's been watching for the past few days is spooked. Unable to help himself, the Warleader snarls quietly in frustration. They are still too far away for him to reach, too far for a successful hunt. And the anxious kudu are driving them further away.
He heaves a sigh and re-settles, determined to wait for the right opportunity... and then he hears it.
"SAKATA!"
Suddenly, the kudu bolt. The stampede begins, inevitable and terrible. Fortunately for the dark lion, they appear to be moving away from his position. He hastens to a small rise, to see if he can find the source of that familiar voice, and then he sees it - Takatifu, over there near the herd. Confused for a moment, he does nothing but stand in plain view.
What is she doing here? This area isn't safe, especially not with the large herds on the move. She should know better than to put herself at risk like this... and then, as the herd nears her position, something odd happens. They stop, suddenly calming. And then it starts again, the restless hooves scratching at the earth, until the nervousness spills over into a second stampede.
But this time, it is headed right for him.
Trapped in the same corridor that he'd set up to corral the springbok, Sakata stares at Takatifu with a combination of confusion and betrayal. So that is why she came out here.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:19 am
She couldn't see him, and for a moment, Takatifu feared she'd gotten there too late. Her movements became panicked, restless, as she snapped her head left and right in an attempt to find the warleader. She shouldn't have cared this much, really, but all the Pure could think of was how she was going to loss another one, another soul she actually cared for, another soul that was close to hers, even if he wasn't related to her.
She was going to lose him before his time. It was not his time. It had not been her brother's time either, when he'd left to join the spirits; it was too much, too soon, and honestly, there was no rational logic behind her thoughts, but that didn't seem to matter at the time.
The herds were becoming more and more restless, and then the first stampede broke out and the Pure screamed because she was too late and she was in trouble and there was nothing she could do to help either of them. She reeled back from the herds in panicked stepped, her eyes wide with fear , realising too late, that it was her fault the animals were panicking. It was then that her eyes caught sight of Sakata, rising from his hiding position; for a moment, the chaos seemed to diminish and the animals calmed down. The stampede had stropped.
Her eyes caught his, but before she could breathe out a sigh of relief, the animals were startled again, running away from her and towards the warleader. Anger flashed in the Pure's eyes for a second, she has been so close! "NOOOOO!" the call only serves to panic the beasts towards him even faster though.
Takatifu was unsure what had startled the beasts this time; it hadn't been her. Her eyes swept momentarily across the grass, a growl rising into her chest, making her look almost out of character. Another vision flashed before her eyes then. There was an exit; a small path, hidden amongst the thick acacia, barely visible unless one knew where to look. Before the image even began to dissolve, the lioness sprang forward, bolting her way towards the warleader. While her body was lithe and not extremely powerful (which made hunting a horribly difficult task for her), Tifu boasted of great speed when she set her mind to it.
She was able to worm her way around the startled beasts overtaking them before they reached the warleader. She saw the betrayal and the hurt in his eyes, but she had no time to explain, "I know a way out, follow me," there was a pleading tone to her voice, begging him to trust her, "Please," she stressed as a final note before bolting down the natural corridor.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:55 am
Caught as he is, stunned by the betrayal he never expected, Sakata's mind is both reeling with the situation... and racing to find a solution. The river! ...no. He'd be no match for a crocodile or a hippo in their own territory, and with the herds nearby they're sure to be waiting. The acacias? Too dense, too thorny. If they are thick enough to provide a barrier against the springbok they'd certainly hem him in!
But what then? Maybe if he runs at the herd, roaring, maybe he can spook them away? It'll be suicide if it didn't work, but better that than trampled while he flees like a coward.
Sakata is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't even notice Tifu's approach until she is almost upon him. Startled, he almost lashes out with a snarl, only managing to restrain himself at the last second. "YOU," he growls, lunging forward before... wait. Why would she put herself in their path? He stops just as suddenly, paws planted firmly, and then (after a glance at the rapidly approaching herd) he wheels about to follow the Pure.
As narrow as the corridor is, the thorny branches reach out to claw at his sides. But he can fit, if only just barely, and he manages to get into the safety of the acacias before the herd rushes past.
When the immediate urgency of the escape passes, he slows down. Eyes narrowed, jaw clenched, head lowered, the Warleader presents a particularly grim visage as he stalks along the narrow pathway, thin rivulets of blood glistening on his fur where the thorns have dug more deeply.
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:24 am
The path was narrow indeed. Despite her lithe body, Takatifu was having trouble passing through and there were moments that had her previous vision not indicated her which way to go, they would have been trapped. She remain silent during the whole excursion and it was only when she finally emerged into the open that the lioness breathed out a sigh of relief.
Her body collapsed then, the adrenaline that had been pushing her forward having drained away; she was simply spent. Her sides rose and fell harshly as she tried to catch her breath from the races she'd performed, first to the pride, then to find Sakata and lastly her attempt at overtaking the herd. It was a lot of physical strain for a lioness that usually spent her days calmly walking or laying down, really, and it showed. Lifting her head from the ground, she examined her body, licking at the scratches and scrapes she'd gotten from the acacia's thorns before her eyes sought out Sakata's, "It was a set up," she breathed out to him, "I was out in the fields, and I..." she seemed disturbed for a moment, "There was so much blood," blood, on it's own was not something she was unaccustomed to, honestly, what with the pride's customs. However, blood spilled before it's time and with no purpose seemed like a different concept altogether, "If the stampede hadn't killed you, someone else would have during the next challenge, for you would have been hurt in the chaos from the herds. Someone planned it."
Now that she had managed to somewhat explain what had happened to him, the Pure went back to looking over her body. A small childish pout coming across her maw when she lifted her paw to her head and noticed she'd lost her headband and part of her jewellery inside the acacia path, "Ahhhh, crap..." she mumbled, her paw lowered back down and she let out a sigh, "Stupid trees..." even such small swear words seemed out of character with the lioness' usually calm, placid nature, but in all honesty, she couldn't be blamed for them.
She'd have to get new thinga-magigs-whatchamacallits, because she was NOT going back into the acacias again, that was for sure. Shifting her position, she looked back up at Sakata, "I tried to get there before the stampede happened. I was so scared I was late."
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:37 am
He listens in silence, absorbing her words, judging them and finding them to ring true. A set-up. It makes perfect sense, really, and he was foolish enough to make it easy for the perpetrator. The methodical way with which he'd stalked that her of springbok, the ambush that he'd laid for them... someone must have been watching, and brought the herd of kudu near for just this purpose.
A small growl of frustration escapes him then, and he shakes his head-- the growl is then followed by a strange chiming noise, a quiet tinkling. When Tifu looks back up at Sakata, she'll notice something... odd. Dangling from his maw are her lost adornments, held carefully despite his grim and forbidding expression.
He steps forward and sets the tangled jewelry at her feet, placing them carefully on the ground with the sort of awkwardness that betrays his complete lack of familiarity with such delicate items. And then, ignoring his own scrapes and scratches, Sakata lowers his head to groom some of the more difficult-to-reach wounds upon Takatifu's back.
"You should not have put yourself in danger," he rumbles quietly, but his selfish pleasure and relief can be heard beneath the admonishment, "Did you see who it was?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:03 am
The jingling caught her ear then and she noticed that she'd completely disregarded the fact he'd been holding onto her jewellery. In her defense, she was utterly exhausted and the fear that she'd previously felt had drained out of her, leaving her sluggish and languid. It was only natural that she'd miss some horribly obvious things that she wouldn't have on a normal basis, "My head-piece!" the words were alright with childish pleasure as slipped her paw int it and held it up for inspection; it wasn't broken, "I though I was going to have to nag at someone to get another one," slipping it awkwardly on her head (which was a difficult task due to lack of thumbs), the Pure turned to see Sakata lowering his head to tend to her wounds.
She was about to tell him that there was no need, and that honestly, he was more roughed up due to the fact he was bigger. However, no more than a few seconds had passed and Takatifu decided to hold her tongue, for no other reason than the fact it rather felt nice to have him tending to her, "You would have died," she told him, "I couldn't let it happen again," she'd done nothing the first time, out of fear her own vision had been wrong. This time though... she had felt compelled to do something about it, "It's not your time, and it's not fair others are questioning that," she wrinkled her nose, "That's... that's..." she seemed to be unable to find the word she was looking for, "Cheating," she said finally, aware that it sounded childish, but it was true. That's what they were doing; they were trying to cheat him out of his place before his time and that was horribly unfair.
It was probably due to the fact that she had never been opposed to physical contact that she felt comfortable with the whole situation (after all, she'd greeted two rogues not long back by grooming and nuzzling one of them). The Pure raised her head then to inspect his body, noticing that he really was more roughed up than she was. Then, without so much as an ounce of hesitation, she leaned in to groom the few scrapes that she could reach without having to move. She paused momentarily as he asked her the question, "No, not really... there was no who and no why, and any hint that it might've held was lost to me because I had to race off to find you," any other time, she would have sat down to see if she could figure out any secrets within the vision, but she couldn't recall it perfectly anymore, "But the why is obvious, I think, and the who..." her eyes became sad then, "Could have been anyone, but only a select few would benefit."
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:14 am
Any other lion would have glowed with pride at seeing her made so happy over something he'd done for her - Sakata merely flicked one ear. Keeping his thoughts and feelings in check was a habit so deeply-ingrained as to be almost impossible to break. Inwardly, however, he was smug and pleased that she was happy.
He continues in his silent ministrations while she explains her actions, clearing the wounds of debris and pressing the saliva-matted fur down over the wounds to create a natural bandage. None of these should scar, shallow as they are, and Sakata finds that the idea of any scars on the Pure's pelt is something... wrong. Just wrong. So his own lack of recent experience with this form of familiarity and closeness is disregarded - until she reaches up to groom him.
The flinching of his skin is instinctive, impossible to stop. He almost pulls away, side-stepping to evade her tongue, but with an obvious effort (marked by a pause in his cleaning of her wounds) he holds himself still.
"I do enjoy disappointing others," Sakata grins, sharp teeth flashing, "it will be good to see who is most disappointed upon my return."
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:48 am
The female either didn't notice the way he flinched at her contact, or didn't care. Probably the former, really, "I don't know, " she murmured under her breath, still mildly perturbed at the situation. With her strange personality, all she wanted to do right now was walk over to whomever the perpetrator had been, stomp her paw on the ground and shout something akin to 'Bad boy/girl! BAD! Shame on you!'. As things stood though, if they'd tried to do this, they could try something else... couldn't they?
When she looked up, he was grinning though, which caught her by surprise. The Pure blinked in mild confusion but his smile was contagious and she soon enough found herself grinning back at him, "It's good that you're safe though," this said, she pushed herself back to her feet and then lowered the front of her body down to a stretch in an attempt to relieve her aching muscles, "Might not be the best idea to show up at the same time though," she lowered her ears then, "If some of them figure out I came here, they'll scold me," plus there was also the possibility that they would get upset she had put her safety before the warleader's, whom wasn't the most well liked lion in the pride.
Though really, Takatifu had never understood why. Even before she'd come to know him, she'd always considered him to be a worthy lion; he did his job, didn't he?
Straightening back up, she shook herself off from whatever dust and leaves that might still have clung to her pelt, "I'll be fine, really. I just need to rest. You should tend to your wounds though; they're deeper than mine,"
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Posted: Wed Mar 18, 2009 11:09 am
"I will go hunt. Kill something, bring it to the Minders," he grunts, shrugging carelessly. "That will explain my wounds, my absence. You, however. You need to have an answer for the 'how' they will ask."
Sakata isn't nearly as bothered by the situation as Tifu evidently is - but then the only thing unusual about this particular attempt is how dangerously close it came to success. He's been far too careless, that much is clear. Mistakes like this could cost him more than a few scrapes upon his sides. And if the Pure is going to keep running out to save him... it could cost the pride something worth far more. His grin matures into a fond smile, which then evolves into a stern frown.
"You should be more careful," Sakata chides, shaking his head, "but thank you for saving my life."
Bright eyes watch while she stretches and shakes, and the Warleader realizes, suddenly, that she's not the child he keeps treating her as. She was an Augur before becoming Pure, and a well-respected one at that. But her carefree attitude and childish antics do a spectacular job of hiding her maturity. Has she had many suitors, he finds himself wondering. Who wouldn't want to become closer to the Pure, before she is offered?
"I... I'll be fine," his voice is a little distracted, startled as he is by this sudden revelation, "I'll take care of them after I hunt. It'll give me something to show off to the cubs when I bring a treat to the Minders."
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:59 am
The Pure instantly noticed that she hadn't thought ahead much at all. When she'd seen the vision, she'd rushed forth without giving the consequences a second's thought. Now, they both looked slightly beat up, and mostly in the same way. That aside, she had no idea how she was going to explain these injuries, since she didn't hunt.
The childish humour was gone from her features, making her actually look her age as she raised a paw and rubbed at her temple, "I'm not a think-it-through type, it seems..." lowering her paw, she gave an experimental hop in place to double check all her legs were fine and then turned to offer him a smile, "It was my pleasure, Sakata. Don't be leaving this realm before it's your time," then she turned towards where she knew the pride lay in rest in the distance, "I'll just say I tripped and took a nasty fall. They won't argue that; most of them don't really think I'm particularly bright anyhow. It would be plausible that I had a vision while walking, causing me to trip and fall," she was talking mostly to herself, but sharing the idea with Sakata, as if to check how it sounded.
Had he actually asked, he might have been surprised to find out that no one was courting her. Either because they though her childish, or perhaps because despite being the Pure, or an augur back in the day, they didn't think her to be particularly bright. Then again, that was her own fault, for she referred to live with a smile on her face and rarely if ever, offered her opinion on things unless directly asked. Specially now, when she was having so many doubts about the Queen and those bellow her; talking and offering her opinions was not a good idea.
In an ironic twist, Takatifu was smart enough to play dumb most of the time, "I'll see you later then," she limp-hoped off towards the pride but paused for a moment to look back at him, "Take care," and with that, she continue on her way.
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Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:57 am
In response to all her words, all her thoughts that spilled forth... he nods. Just one nod, for his blank facade is already slipping back into place. And as he watches her leave Sakata's face betrays none of the thoughts running through his mind - or even that he HAS thoughts, for that matter.
It's funny, he muses as he stalks towards another likely hunting ground, how similar they are in a way. Both underestimated by the pride. Both thought to be simple-minded. And yet, both held in high esteem. If has his way, however, there is one similarity they will never share - he will not allow her to suffer the same mis-directed attempts to shorten her life that he has been experiencing for a few seasons now.
"Take care," Sakata echoes quietly to her distant form.--fin--
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