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 Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:07 pm
'Damn,' she said, stretching carefully, the branch was thick and solid, but there was a still a danger she would slip whilst loosening her resting muscles. She moved to the trunk of the tree, pushing upwards and resting her paws against it so that she could see onto the next branch. The carcass she'd left up there was only fit for the carrion birds, and so she tugged it down, watching it fall in a clatter of bones, fur falling in a soft, slower shower.
The leopardess wrinkled her nose, scrambling down the tree and then dropping lightly to the ground. She looked about her, flicked a bone from her path and padded off towards where she would find something to kill. A while later and she was surveying a small herd of deer, her dusky coloured body screened behind tall grass. She cast her eyes around, looking to see if there was any competition about before she attacked.
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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:35 pm
Arindam was hungry. This wasn't a new feeling to the Rogue lion, but it was an uncomfortable one. How could he continue travelling if he was hungry? And so, detouring from his haphazard path of Enlightenment, he found himself a small herd of deer. Small, certainly, but enough for a rogue or two to gorge themselves. He stalked the herd as they moved, his dark fur disappearing into the savannah as he crouched. At the position he was in, he could smell... something. Something not-deer. His blue eyes narrowed sharply, and he lifted his head just slightly, sniffing carefully.
Leopard.
Where?
He stalked towards the scent, carefully skirting the deer. As thin as he was from life in the rogue lands, he was still too big to sneak about and not be noticed by someone who was looking. No doubt the leopard would've seen him by now, but since she'd hidden herself in the grass, he didn't see her. "Hello?" He whispered, careful not to scare the deer away. Whoever it was might be useful in taking down a couple of the deer in the herd.
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:51 am
Cirrhilla looked around again, her eyes catching sight of the large brown lion, flicking quickly between him and the horned prey, to see whether he had startled them. She relaxed a little as it seemed that he was a more skilled hunter than she was giving him credit for, despite his size.
Her ears flicked as she caught the sound of his greeting, and she raised herself mere inches so that she would be a flash of dark colour amongst the greens for a moment before settling down again. She would speak to him once he had joined her.
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:42 am
He saw the flash of purple fur, and crawled towards it, keeping an eye on the herd as he crawled, and another on the ground beneath him. It'd do neither of them any good to startle the herd into running; and he wasn't certain he was up to the task of chasing after the damnable herd. When he was close enough, he looked over at the leopard and for a brief minute, he was stunned. She was beautiful. All deep colors and gorgeous accents. He shook that out of his head, though; for all his luck, she'd be mated or something.
"Hello, Miss." He whispered, turning his eyes back to the herd. "How long've you been stalking this herd?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 11:34 am
Her eyes flicked over him as he drew nearer, taking in his appearance properly in a matter of seconds. Nice.. was the verdict, and she offered him a smile in greeting.
'Cirrhila,' she said, giving her name, then turning her head to look at the herd as he had done, weighing up where would be best to strike. She saw a female move to the edge, its quest for food seeming to override its natural instinct to stay on the safety of the herd. Her tail swished, but if he'd been here longer than it was polite for him to get first dibs.
'Only just got here really.' she said, her golden eyes settling on him again.
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 3:07 pm
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Cirrhila." He replied quietly, watching the herd. Distracted though he was, he still took time for pleasantries. "Lovely day, isn't it." He said with only the mildest of sarcasm, an attempt at humor. He looked over, flashing a grin to the leopard.
"Likewise." He'd been there for a while, actually, but it didn't feel like it. He spotted the female, and glanced back to the herd, eyes narrowed. "If you were to go after her, they would run." He said idly, tail flicking back and forth. He glanced over at the female again. She wasn't small, or ill. It'd be a challenge to take down, but not impossible. He looked over at her again, smiling lightly. "Well, ladies first." Such a gentleman. He wasn't starving yet, if they got away he could always survive another night without a meal.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:28 am
'Likewise,' she said, echoing his own word with a grin, her attention flickering between him and the herd. She wanted to make sure the deer she had singled out wasn't go to wander back into the herd before she made her mind up to strike, but he was attractive enough for her attention to be divided.
'Is it? I hadn't really noticed, beyond my stomach complaining and the sun in the sky.' she nodded.
'It's a risk worth taking, the rest are to bunched together to pick another one out.' she slunk forward on her belly, slowly parting the long grass as she moved forwards.
'If you wanted to lend a hand, that would work.' she said quietly over her shoulder.
'I'll chase her towards you.'
If he could cut across the path of its flight it might mean it wouldn't get away.
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:34 am
Arindam grinned over at her, taking his eyes off the herd for a brief second to look at her before looking at the herd again. "Oh, yes. Birds singing, not a cloud in the sky. Really nice day." He smirked a little, eying the single female. She didn't appear to be wandering back, not yet. They'd have to strike soon though, or lose the lot of them.
"You're right." They couldn't take a whole herd, not the two of them. Singling the one out would have to work for now. It wasn't as though it wouldn't be enough to share if the lady was so inclined.
"I'll run that way." He said, nodding to the increasing space between the single female and the herd. "Once they see us, they'll dash. Either she'll run right into me, or run right into you." He looked over, smiling a little. "Sound good to you?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:17 am
Cirrhila laughed as loud as she dare, shaking her head a little;
'You sound almost disappointed, like you wish it were overcast, thick cloud and pouring rain. And that the birds all had sore throats.'
She twisted, turning to look a him whilst he spoke, getting where he meant that he would run and giving him a short nod in answer.
'Sounds good to me,' she said, smiling, her canines showing for a brief moment.
'Ready when you are then..' she crept forward as far as she dare, her hind paws planted firmly in the ground for the off.
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:49 pm
Arindam grinned over at her, shrugging one shoulder lightly before returning his gaze to the herd. "Oh, yeah. Real downer, I am. Rain and mudslides are my thing." He smirked a little, amused with the light banter. He didn't get to talk like that with many. Only one female had joked with him like that, and he had a feeling he wouldn't see her for a while yet. Mzuka... He shook his head, clearing his thoughts of the blue lioness and her strange Pride.
"Alright." He smiled a little, eying the pride. "Now." He said it quietly, but firmly, and as soon as the word was out of his mouth he was gone like a bat out of heck, heading to the space the female had created between herself and the herd. The herd bolted, but the female was left cut off. Ostracized. Isolated. Trapped.
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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:53 am
'We'll look for a mud hole for you later..' Cirrhila said, then fell quiet, sure she'd caught signs that the herd was getting twitchy. The lone female deer seemed not to have noticed the slight ripple, and so she was pleased when he called out and then dashed forwards, running past her crouched at a speed that belied his size.
She was off virtually at the same moment, circling around and forwards, cutting off their prey's flight path forwards. The deer ran headlong towards Cirrhila, only spotting her when it had almost crashed into her, scrabbling at the ground with its hooves and skidding into a turn, heading - Cirrhila noticed - straight into the path of the lion whose name she still didn't know.
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Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:27 pm
Ah, Arindam, you forgot your manners. Not introducing oneself to a lady, how rude of you.
Preoccupied with the deer, though, he left the rest of the herd to run off, and grinned almost ferally when he saw where the doe was running. He broke into a run, right at her, but he veered to one side and the other. Just in case she decided to go dashing off to the side, as though he wouldn't expect it. Oh, please. He'd been alive and alone too long to not figure out how to cut off such a silly manuever.
Watching Arindam take down the deer was likely to be like a cheetah taking down the same animal. With an uncharacteristic speed and the strength behind it, he ran head-long into the creature, taking it down in one fell tackle. It wasn't enough to kill the poor thing, but it stunned it long enough for Arindam to take a chunk out of it's throat. He straightened up, eying the animal beneath him, and looked up at Cirrhila.
As though nothing at all had happened, he grinned brightly and nodded her over. "Come eat, before vultures start circling." He said with all the good nature one could muster, as though he'd only taken down a cricket or some such thing, and hadn't taken a life. It was the way of the savannah; kill or be killed.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:44 am
Cirrhila slowed down to a trot when it became evident that he was the one to be making the kill. A younger, inexperienced female would likely pout at that, but she understood that teamwork often was the difference between eating and going hungry and so she smiled when he felled it, padding over.
'We make a good team..sir.' she added, with a faint hint of mischief, the emphasis on the sir as she had nothing else to call him yet! She stripped hide from the carcass, and ate, leaving exactly one half of it for him.
She stepped back, cleaning herself whilst she waited for him to eat the remaining.
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:07 am
Arindam glanced up, watching her walk over with a bright grin. It was the thrill of the hunt; the fun in taking down an animal, and not at all about the food that'd soon fill his belly. He inclined his head to her, amused. "That we do, milady." It took a minute for it to dawn on him that she wasn't being proper for the sake of a joke, but he had done a Number One no-no.
"I think I have you at a bit of a disadvantage." He said sheepishly, watching her eat and tilting his head. "I know your name but you have no knowledge of mine." He grinned a little. "Let me amend that, hm? I am Arindam, previously the future Captain of the Guard in my homelands, and now merely a wandering rogue." He bowed as much as he could while sitting, and straightened up, smiling a little.
When she'd had her full, Arindam strode forward and began to eat, eating his fill. He left nothing to waste; that would be disrespectful to the poor creature who now sustained them. When he finished his half, he straightened up and pawed one of the bones free, rolling it closer to him and playing with it absently. "Where do you come from, Cirrhila?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:56 am
'Yes I am.' Cirrhila replied, but with no trace of annoyance. She had imagined he might tell her eventually, and any hints she dropped were mostly about teasing this large lion.
'Pleased to meet you Arindam,' she said, getting to her paws and dipping an elegant bow at him, her eyes radiating her humour, and warmth.
After he to had eaten, and all that was left resembled the remains she'd dumped out of her resting tree this morning, she watched him play with one of the bones like a small cub, and she stifled a grin. Which faded when he asked where she was from, like a small cloud passing over a sunny day.
'Far away...' she answered in an evasive manner, not wanting to delve into her painful past with somebody she may never meet again. Of course it would be nice if she did see him again as he had so far proved to be good company.
'Forgive me.' she added, not wishing to seem rude.
'In most things, my life is an open book. Except for my past, there are painful chapters that take alot to go over.' she forced a brittle smile.
'You were part of a pride then?' she asked, trying to neatly turn the subject towards him.
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