|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:01 pm
 How long had she been away from her family now? Her son was surely grown and probably with a litter of his own by now, for how was she to know that a child born from two different species was often infertile? She hadn't seen hide nor hair of any of her siblings or her mother since setting out on the road, though she did have the "pleasure" of meeting her father one day, quite by chance. He didn't stick around, clearly he didn't want her to either. They were related and she was "runty", so she was of no use to him. That was fine.
The female sniffed about some old remains, bones picked clean. It wasn't the charming scent of old meat that had her interest though, it was any lingering trail that she might follow that could lead her to the herd of antelope that had left this poor soul behind. She was usually hungry, a lone adolescent cheetah on her own? Hunting was difficult and a bit far between. Mostly she relied on the kindness of strangers, but thankfully there were plenty kind enough to help a young girl who was clearly down on her luck. She seemed to be particularly out of luck today though, because the trail was days old and there wasn't a hint of another creature in sight that would help her find a meal. The striped girl gave a sigh, flopping down a few feet away from the bones to rest under the sparse shade of a barren tree.
Why did it seem that when it rained, it poured?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:04 pm
 Something was going on. He could smell it. He'd been smelling it for days.
Ana had been acting strangely, sneaking off as often as she could, probably thinking she did not notice. Unfortunately for her, he had, and still something at the edge of his sense told him he was missing something. Needless to say, it was driving him positively insane.
Thus why he was out, moving rocks here and there, trying to sniff out some sort of truth while his daughter was out. His search was proving to be completely fruitless however. He'd seen nor hair nor tail of any sort since he'd started and it was beginning to frustrate him quite horribly. Growling roughly, he aimed a kick at a particularly large boulder he'd been expecting - perhaps too large to be kicked, if the fact it did not budge an inch when hit was any indication.
A howl of rage filled the savanna as the male quickly withdrew his hurt paw, "Mother ******** piece of bloody s**t!!" he cried at the offensive culprit, "I'm going to KILL you!" of course, the words would have made him feel better if the damn rock were kill-able. As it was, he settled for glaring daggers at it, in an attempt to incinerate it, never quite aware of the 'runty' cheetah in the near distance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:05 pm
She had just begun to furrow her .... well, feline-brows (If felines really had brows?) in thought, squinting a little as she tried to sort out what to do next when the yell-- that curse far more colorful than her coat or any coat she'd ever seen --reached her startled ears. She leaped up to all fours, fur standing a bit on end on the back of her neck as she whipped her head around to look in the direction of the yell.
.... Wait, had that.... boulder just spoken?!
Having been the cause of some confusion regarding talking trees herself before, Maisha was curious and eager to investigate. If the thought that anyone able to freely curse that vulgar being dangerous crossed her mind, her curiosity clearly didn't show it. She moved at a light lope towards it, stopping a few feet away from it to stare at it's boring expanse. Actually, it looked rather similar in color to her own base coat, how about that?
"Uhm.... are you alright, boulder?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:06 pm
If he'd expected something, it was quite clearly NOT for the large bolder he was staring at to talk right back at him, "God DAMN!" he yelled as he jumped a good meter back away from it, now glaring at it even more viciously than before. His ears had flattened back against the nape of his neck and into his black pelted mane.
Logic had never been his Uovu's forté, and thus, never did he pause to think that perhaps the boulder was NOT whom had spoken and that there was a rational explanation for this whole ordeal. At least, he didn't pause to think of it at FIRST. After a few seconds of staring at the rock though, his mind told him that it was really weird for the boulder to be asking itself if it was okay, and thus, with one graceful leap, he jumped on top of the large rock to stare at what was on the other side.
If he was expecting to find something, or someone, it certainly was not the face of another cheetah staring back at him. Blinking in mild confusion, he reasonably lost his footing and toppled off from the boulder, face first into the ground, which again, elicited a long string of colorful curses from his mouth, most of them muffled by the ground till he lifted his head to growl, "God ******** DAMN IT! I'm going to push you off the side of that mother ******** cliff as soon as I find a way to do so, you bloody piece of stupid rock!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:32 pm
Maisha looked up calmly, blinking back at Uovu as he stared down at her, and as he fell she calmly stepped back to make sure she was clear of his trajectory as he crashed headlong into the ground, ears perking curiously at the string of curses, and then she tilted her head in puzzlement as she strained to make out the better part of them....... though she did wonder next--
"Nevermind the boulder, are you alright, friend? You seem to be having an even worse day than I am!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:34 pm
The cursing died into growls, grunts, grumbles and murmurs that resonated under Uovu's breath as he pushed himself off the ground and began to dust himself off. His clean up wasn't making him look any better, mostly because his face and part of his front paws were fire scarred and his pelt looked like he'd been crawling through dusty caverns (which he might just have been doing, in search for clues).
He took a moment to try to kill the boulder with a glare before focusing his glare onto the girl, a brow arched in mild curiosity as she spoke to him. He remain silent for a moment as he looked her up and down, and then, "You're bloody small. What the ******** happened to you," he leaned in to sniff her mildly, "Too large to..." he cut himself off and snorted, "Too small to do anything else with."
Despite his words, he did stand up to take a step towards her, his attention fully focused on her now, instead of the rock, which was quie obviously.... a bad thing, given the smirk that seemed to be curling upon his features, "Oh well, you'll do I guess. Beggars can't be choosers, can they, hon?" he opened his mouth to lick his chomps, a clear warning for her to turn tail and run for the hills, never looking back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:35 pm
Maisha's look furrowed again in confusion as he spoke, not seeming to care about the invasion of personal space or the language now that she'd gotten used to the fact that every other word from him seemed to include the word "********" or "bloody". If she intended to answer, though, it was clearly interrupted by him going on.
"Uhh.... beggars for what?" She asked, backing up a few steps, seeing the look he was giving her and finding it put her senses on high alert. He looked about as hungry as she felt, suddenly, and that was disturbing since there wasn't any prey around. Her mind raced a bit, trying to recall if she'd ever heard of cheetahs eating other cheetahs before. She hadn't..... but then again, she'd also never heard of cheetahs having babies that were neither cheetah nor leopard before. Unfortunately there seemed to be a first time for everything. And in that case, what was she going to do if he -did- intend to try eating her? "Why exactly are you looking at me like that?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:41 pm
"Because, my dear, I just realized how tasty you look. I mean, you're a bit big for what I'm used to, but I can close my eyes and imagine! Nothing wrong with a little bit of imagination! Plus, I'm bored you see, and I'm angry, and frustrated, and you just happen to be the only living, breathing soul I've stumbled upon," he turned his head to stare at the rock and then back at her, "I think you'd make a far better scratching post than that stupid rock anyhow. Far more vocal too. And soft," that said, he pulled his lips back into a snarl and aimed to pounce her, his arms spread.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:42 pm
Oh, well, s**t.
Maisha's eyes widened as he pounced, and with a squeak she darted to the side to just barely avoid his attempted grab, bolting past him towards the boulder. Forget raining and pouring, now it was just coming down in sheets of hail!
Was she fast enough to outrun him? Doubtful, her legs were too short compared to his, given she had never reached full maturity. There was practically nothing to hide behind, except for the boulder, but that would do her no good, obviously. She probably didn't have as much endurance as him, either, for the same reason she couldn't outrun him, so what? All that was left was to try to trick him out of it, or to outsmart him well enough to escape.
"You don't want to do that!!!" She shouted, leaping up onto the boulder and glancing back only briefly to see if he'd follow her. "I'm cursed and can't find my family, if you eat me that'll pass on to you!"
The nature of curses and their contaigousness she did not know, but ever since she'd been hit by that little winged cub's lightning she had been having strange things happen, so even if she hadn't been childish enough to think it at the time she had come to the certain conclusion that she'd clearly been cursed. Maybe he didn't know anything about curses himself, and would believe it. Hell, she didn't even know if he had family that he cared to find, but she had to try something.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:43 pm
His pounce failed, and he skidded to a hault just a tad too late, crashing into a bush in the process. Spitting out a few leaves he'd managed to get a mouthful of, he turned his attention back to the smaller cheetah, "Ready or not," he sang songed as he extracted himself from the damned bush, which was going on his hit list, along with that stupid boulder from before - he'd kill them both AFTER this little bit of fun, "Here I come!"
Once out of the bush, he darted in her direction, arching a brow as she wailed at him, "The hell are you TALKING about, girl? Are you crazy?" he kind of didn't want to eat a crazy chick - ew, what if the crazy passed down onto him? What if she was sick, oh god damnit.
Still, he was not exactly put off 100%, and though his speed was obviously deteriorated as he pondered her words over, he was still giving her chase. Or at least... he had been, till he tripped over a particularly treacherous root and stumbled forward... and then over the cliff he had been threatening to shove the earlier bolder over.
He would have meet his end had there not been several more roots that stuck out through the wall of the cliff, and the cheetah hung onto them for dear life, looking horribly confussed, as if he could not quite understand how the hell he'd managed to get there.
When his mind had finally caught up with him, he groaned, "Ah, come ON that's just not ******** fair! HOW IS THAT FAIR?! THAT ISN'T FAIR, GODDAMNIT!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:44 pm
.... She was beginning to suspect that she didn't really have all that much to be afraid of here. He was....
Wow, he was pretty damned clumsy. She actually started to feel bad for him, wincing as he tripped, but then he was up again. She kept her place on the boulder, thinking that perhaps her best option was to wait until he pounced again and then use that to escape, he'd probably go crashing onto the other side of the big rock in his attempt.
The only problem was he never got that far. The female gave an alarmed yelp as he went over the edge of the cliff, and perhaps just a bit foolishly she leaped from her perch to move to the edge-- wisely not directly where he'd gone over though, a ways down from the spot --to look, dreading what she may find.
"...." Okay, now she could let out a breath, he hadn't fallen to his death, but she was out of danger for the moment. "It's for the best. I can tell you spend a lot of time with someone else. If you eat me, you'll never be able to find her again. You don't want that, do you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 7:45 pm
He took a moment to glare daggers at her, "You don't know anything about me! Bite me," he growled at her, snapping his jaws in the air. However, the movement made the roots he was hanging onto snap just a tad, and he was instantly forced to halt all movement. Instead, he just continued to glare at her, as if he were trying to somehow incinerate her on the spot. Needless to say, this task was proving to be extremely difficult, and quite near impossible.
Finally coming to terms with the fact that a) he was pretty damned ******** b) He had made an utter fool of himself in the process c) he was going to die and d) she was going to walk merrily away from the scene, Uovu did the only thing he could think to do.
He pouted. He also sulked under his breath, turning his gaze away from her, curling his tail around his hind legs. Idly, he wondered how long it'd take for the roots to snap and thus for him to drop to his death. Pausing his sulking, he glared at her, as if to tell her to get the ******** OUT of there so he could die a dignified death, thank you very much. He never paused to think that pouting and sulking while hanging off from a set of roots on the wall of a cliff was hardly dignified.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
