[SRP] Who is Hunting Who? (Mot'e x Livius)

[Puhterodactyl]

A silver lioness trotted through a humid jungle. She hadn't the faintest of where she was headed, but she hoped it was exciting! A smile was on her face, and the sunlight rippled over her spotted back. Mot'e tossed her forelock out of her eyes as she ducked under a low-hanging branch. She wasn't aware if this was anyone's territory, and if she was trespassing, she hoped they wouldn't mind- or at least that she could get out fast enough. Her grey paws seemed to float her over thick roots and puddles left from heavy rains.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Another fleet-footed creature was twisting her way between trees and trunks. This one was of a slighter and lighter frame, however. Livius, a dark blue cheetah, was on a hunt. It was her mistake of following her prey into such dense vegetation. It was not her home-field advantage, but she was hungry, and she was driven. Her dark sapphire eyes darted about, taking any change of light or flicker of movement in the corner of her eyes as her quarry. This led her to following a most erratic pattern of locomotion, and she was walking in a very roundabout way.  

[Puhterodactyl]

It was this oddity that caught Mot'e's attention. Her ears tilted at this cheetah that looked like it'd eaten fruit fallen and fermented on the ground. However, it also struck Mot'e as odd that a cheetah would even eat fruit. But she was curious, and regardless of consequences or danger, she decided to follow the cheetah, not saying a word and keeping a distance so she could take a more direct path whereas her guide twisted and turned before her. With her ears pricked forward and her amethyst eyes bright, Mot'e was on a hunt of her own.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Livius was fairly focused on her hunt and otherwise ignoring her surroundings. But a flash of silver caught her attention. Could it be her prey? She set off in a lope and tried to track it down, but the silver seemed to float away. With grit and determination she put on her game face and kicked it up a notch. The cheetah ran, her lean body snaking through the jungle as she slowly gained ground on the object. But when she got closer… She was more than surprised. It was not her small prey item or lunch or dinner. It looked like… A lion!  

[Puhterodactyl]

Mot'e was quite confused when the cheetah took to chasing her, but she played along, still not wanting to be discovered so she could continue her view of the hunt. But now she was the hunted! She was in no way faster than a cheetah in a flat-out run, but she had some distance as an advantage between the two of them, and the terrain was less than perfect conditions for the cheetah to run in. So Mot'e wove between trees and vines that reached the floor in an escape. It made her feel giddy to be chased for some reason. So this is what her prey must feel like! Well… Not this exactly. They were probably much more afraid for their lives than she was presently for her own, but for the lioness, it was just as thrilling to be the hunted rather than the hunter.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Livius' face was wrinkled with determination and the grey lion began to grow in size.
"Hey!"
She called out in their direction, slightly beginning to tire and starting to pant, Livius gave it another burst of speed until she was at the lion's heels. She reached out a foreleg and used the technique of a kill. She swiped at its back legs and tried to knock it off balance.
"Stop!"  

[Puhterodactyl]

Mot'e wasn't expecting an attack. It was a rather unpleasant surprise and the lioness was tripped from behind, and stumbled until she tripped again on some roots in front of her. Her heart was now pounding in her ears, louder than she'd ever heard it before. Or maybe that was because of the rather large knock on her head she'd gotten when she crashed down to the earth.
"Ooowww. Why'd you do that? OOOWWW."
Still on the ground, Mot'e rubbed her head with a paw. As time wore on, she grew more pained. Glaring up at her attacker, she frowned with disapproval.
"I'm not for eating, you know."  

[Puhterodactyl]

Livius returned the grimace to her fallen 'prey'.
"Why were you following me? I'm not for eating either, you savage. You creep!"
The cheetah was still tense, even after her mad dash. Her tail twisted like a mad snake and she smacked the lion with her paw.
"Huh? What do you have to say for yourself?!"
She was pretty nervous about having been pursued. While for Mot'e it was a thrill, it just gave Livius the shivers. It was perverted and unnatural for felines to hunt each other. She'd heard of a pride of lions that were cannibals, and that just sounded barbaric and ritualistic. Plain ol' bad energy. Even if they didn't eat leopards or cheetahs, etc., they were still sick. Maybe it was a disease from eating feline flesh. Maybe this lioness was one of them! But then why would she have been after Livius?  

[Puhterodactyl]

Mot'e was of no affiliation at the time, but she couldn't defend herself to Livius' wandering thoughts. Or her paw-swipe. It hurt her pride just as much as her face, and she snarled before gathering her feet underneath her.
"Don't you dare!"
The lioness advanced on the cheetah, towering over her and the lion's bulk it seemed was twice the size of Livius'. Though she had no real ill-will for the other in this stand off, she wasn't really the most forgiving. Mot'e was much more of an 'eye-for-an-eye' kind of lioness, not one to 'turn the other cheek'. She smacked the cheetah in return- and maybe a little bit harder…  

[Puhterodactyl]

Livius flinched at the swipe, but maybe it was a little bit deserved. Or maybe not. She glared and growled.
"Why were you following me!? Were you hunting me!?!"
Her tone was full of accusation and so were her eyes. They narrowed and her lip curled back to reveal sharp canines. Though she was small, her fur rustled on end and the scruff around her neck made her seem larger. Livius wanted an answer- and she would get one.  

[Puhterodactyl]

"Hunting you? What kind of lioness do you think I am?"
Mot'e glared at the cheetah.
"That's a bold accusation, there. And maybe I'm just so upset that I will hunt you." She took a step forward with all the menacing she could muster. Throwing her head back, she looked down on the cheetah. "But if you must know, I was simply curious. It's not everyday a cheetah wanders into the jungle. It's not a very prudent decision, if you ask me." Of course this wasn't really Mot'e's territory, either, but she would play as though she had the advantage.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Livius huffed indignantly. "Well you were following me, that's for certain, and that's strange." She gave the lioness a sideways glance. She could tell they were both uncomfortable now, i the situation, and her ears were pinned back against her head.
Standing up as straight as she could to make herself look as big as possible, she used the same technique of looking down her nose.
"Maybe you should go now, lioness. I don't think this is a wise decision for you either."  

[Puhterodactyl]

Mot'e was temporarily taken aback. "A cheetah, advice me? Ha!" she scoffed and with real height, she glowered at Livius.
"Why don't you run along with those skinny legs back to the open plain where you belong."
She took a step towards her and dug her claws into the loose soil beneath her toes. "Scoot scoot."

Livius was about to speak, when a loud crash happened near their stand-off. It was her prey! Her eyes widened and the lioness was forgotten in the pursuit of a meal. The frightened beast seemed to realize its mistake and struggled all the more, but the cheetah was hot on its heels.  

[Puhterodactyl]

Mot'e was just as surprised as Livius when the grazer bounded by, and when her company left, she didn't quite know what to think. She tilted her head and furrowed her brows. She wasn't upset, no, not in the least bit, but confused. She took a step in their direction but then stopped. That was what had gotten her into a kind of trouble in the first place, and the sassy attitude of the cheetah left her bored now. Mot'e puffed a sigh and turned to leave, or at least to keep moving away from the cheetah.

Livius caught up to her quarry as it tripped and snapped an ankle. The poor thing cried out in pain and anguish as though it could feel its life end, too. Livius fell onto it in an instant and ended its suffering. Her maw bloody and clamped tight onto the throat, she breathed a sigh of relief. That had ended much better than she'd expected.

The end.