"Y'know, you should reeeally look."
Mafunde glanced over at the other form near her before shaking her head. Really, it was so weird being paired with a cheetah at the moment, but life just threw the worst at you. And really, if she hadn't been such a caring soul she should have just left the damn thing alone.
Jola had the sense to look over, but she wasn't very thrilled by it either. She didn't really like the situation that she was in, but then she never really trusted everyone. There was no reason to, it was always broken later anyway. SHe grunted at the lioness, feeling like she was confined to a prison. Just why was she following her around anyway? Bitterness swpet into the dark cheetah's heart, but she pushed it down best she could. There was nothing that she could do anyway, no way to get out of this new situation of her's.
The lioness was compeltely ignorant of the swirling emotions around her. She only saw the cheetah as something that needed help, since the poor thing could barely take care of herself at the moment as it was. Starved thin, unable to hunt or even run, Mafunde had decided that it would be the best course of action to help her back on her feet. Then what, she had no idea, but at least it filled in her life a little. "Are you hungry yet?"
The sun was beautifully rising, and that meant that there was little chance they wouldn't catch a meal right now. Preybeasts were everywhere, and she was certain that she wouldn't have to try too hard to get them something both to share, and even leave some leftovers for scavengers before they discovered the meal.
The cheetah grunted and rolled over. Mafunde rolled her eyes, "I'll take that as a yes, then." Stubborn, and she had always heard that leopards were far worse in that catergory. Shrugging her shoulders, she bounced off to find something to eat, hoping that the gloomy girl would at least take a moment to even look at the sunrise that greeted them this morning.
Hmph. If the lion thought she was stubborn, she didn't know anything. She had just wanted to be left alone, and if she died from it, then that was fine. It wasn't like she really had a reason to keep on living as it was; not out of pity, but she just didn't see a point. She had no family, no friends, no lover, no children. There was nothing to tie her to this world, and she wasn't interested in trying to make any, either. What was the point? It would all leave her, anyway.
She rolled over, letting her eyes catch the slight light of the sun's rise. It's rays weren't strong enough to hurt the eyes yet, though that time was soon approaching. She still felt a bit of the chill from the night cling to her coat. She urged on the sun's rays to warm up, to beat the chill off of her. When she died, she hoped that it wouldn't be freezing to death. She wasn't a fan of the cold, none whatsoever.
The sound of thumping grew stronger, and she assumed that Mafunde had already come back with food. Ugh, she really didn't want to eat, but she also didn't want to have the stupid lioness shove food down her throat like she was some child unable to chew her own food. When she bothered to look up, it was obvious that it wasn't just her. There was a herd of preybests coming her way, and she didn't have enough time to move. Great, now she was going to get trampled to death. Pity she would have to go out on such an empty stomache.
As soon as theherd got close enough to touch, they seemed to notice her precense and the leader twisted it's body, directing the herd to change course in a sharp right angle, just enough to dodge the cheetah. Mildly confused, Jola only watched as she saw all that food disappear. Food with sharp hooves.
Her heart racing, she watched as the stragglers slowly tapered off, only to see the dark lioness take one of them down right in front of her. It wasn't the best sight to see, as it was difficult for the one lioness to take down a full sized beast, weak or not. Those hooves and horns could be deadly if the wearer knew how to use them.
Exhausted, Mafunde collapsed as soon as she felt the creature die under her bite. Damn things ran too fast, and while she knew she wasn't as fast as a cheetah by a long shot, there really wsn't much else she could do when there was only one of her.
Jola was terrified. Here she was, just minding her own pitiful business, and then the stupid lioness just chases down a herd against her! She didn't know what to say, and as the lioness grew closer, she kept herself quiet. There was nothing to say, really. The power was right there in front of her.
Mafunde, almost too tired to eat now, flopped the creature's carcass next to the cheetah. "Eat, please," she gasped, flopping down to catch a breath. It was so hard hunting on her own, and she hoped that this was going to be the last time she fed someone else that didn't help in the hunt.
Jola only watched the lioness for a moment. She knew that nothing was wrong with the meat, but that still didn't mean she had to trust it. Still...that did smell kind of good, in a gross way. Perhaps she could eat only a little....just enough to suffer through one more day of this hell.
Jola reached over carefully, nibbling at the skin as she slowly teared it open. It was delicious! She had never realized just how little hares would really feed her whenever she had the itch to hunt. She tore into it, and didn't notice the wide smile on the lioness mouth.
Finally, Mafunde thought. There's some serious damage with that girl, and she was going to have quite the battle in fixing herself. Hopefully, hopefully this helped out a little.
"Thank you," Jola whispered when she was done. She moved herself just a bit away from the carcass, relaxing herself into a good grooming session. She watched the lioness out of the corner of her eye, and only saw the tired lioness eat what she could of the meal. It wasn't very polite or clean, but it got the job done. They would need to move soon enough before the scavengers and the vultures came to claim their prize. Jola was in no shape to fight them off, and Mafunde was too exhausted to care. Perhaps the pair of them could try to catch something again tomorrow...if they were still together.
For now, they would need to find a place to spend the night...and if Mafunde could, she would try to get the cheetah to open up a bit. No creature should be that pitiful, even to a stranger.
