[PRP] Don't want to share my kill [complete]

[KoopaTroopa18]

Hadiya sighed happily as she licked the blood that was currently on her lips. She had just downed a zebra herself, a feat she was proud of. These days she seemed to be hungry all the time and it was all she could do to go without eating 3 kills in just a day. For some reason she kept running out of energy after the first kill, but still managed to get another to share with her and her mate. Sure, she could probably eat as much fish as she wanted, but she wanted more red, bloody meat rather than the scaly meat that fish had to offer.

She took another large chunk of the downed zebra, only chewing it for a bit before she swallowed it. She couldn't help it, her stomach was crying out for sustanance and she needed to fill that craving. However it was hot outside, though the rainy season wasn't that far away. The sun was a little less harsh than it had been for a while, but she wasn't sure if it would change it's mind.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Muscardini considered the ground before him. He was something of an expert when it came to tracking and reading tracks, able to tell the course of events as easily as his twin sister, Gliri, could tell a tale. This particular disturbance in the dirt told a story that he wasn't sure he ought to share with his sister, however, because it described a hunt. Just the beginning of one, but he could follow it to see the outcome. Either way, the tracks weren't his, and even Gliri would know that if her attention was called to them. Then she would get nervous and panicky and their day out would be ruined.

For her part, Gliri was picking her way through the grass and stepping with care, turning the simple process of walking into a dance. She was no huntress, but it wouldn't have taken a huntress to see that there had been a herd of zebra here recently. She couldn't guess as to the size, but she knew from the hoofprints that it was zebra. She trotted over to Muscar to tell him what she'd observed and receive his praise for reading the tracks correctly.

"That's right," Muscar told his sister, curiosity burning in his mind. "How about a challenge? Do you see these tracks here?"

Gliri followed Muscar's gaze. "They're not yours."

"No, but they do belong to a lone lioness, and so I doubt we'll be in much danger if we follow them. Think of it as an exercise in tracking."

He doubted she'd agree to it, and so was surprised when his skittish twin not only agreed, but followed the hunt with ease. He narrated the events as he read them, trying to teach her to see as he did with limited success. It didn't take long for them to reach the hunt's fatal end.  

[KoopaTroopa18]

Something wasn't right. Hadiya had a feeling that she was no longer alone, though danger didn't seem present. After finishing another bite of her kill she twitched her ears a bit to see if she could hear anything that would indicate the presence of another predator. She couldn't hear anything until she heard soft footsteps. Looking back at the bloody carcass she sighed. Would she have to abandon it?

Licking her mouth to get most of the blood off of it, Hadiya finally picked her head up and looked around, seeing what was in the area. Nothing so far was withing her field of vision, but the scent of one... no two lions made it to her nose. She quickly put herself on guard just in case they wanted to take her kill.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"Um, Muscar?" Gliri whispered to her twin, drawing up short. "I'm pretty sure I see someone up there."

Muscar wasn't surprised. They'd seen the place where the zebra had been brought down, and there was a bit of a trail leading from that place to wherever the huntress had decided to take her kill. Privately, Muscar was impressed that a lone lioness had managed to single out and then kill a zebra all on her own. He had been hunting alone for his entire life and still found it a challenge to bring down large herdbeasts unaided. He had never hunted with a partner or a pride, however, and so he had no way of knowing if it would be significantly easier that way or whether he just hoped it would be easier.

"The lioness we've been following, I expect," Muscar whispered back. "She's probably more scared of us than we are of her."

"Want to bet?" Gliri muttered.

"No. You'd lose and I'd feel guilty. At this distance she knows there are two of us, and unless she's a fantastic warrior, she'll also know that we have her outnumbered. She'll probably be hoping we aren't going to try to chase her off and steal her prey."

Gliri remembered from their shared youth how often that had happened when Muscar was too young to defend them as well as he now could. It had been a pretty terrifying period for her, always wondering if someone bigger and meaner would happen by, and if they might injure Muscar. It wasn't just a sense of self-preservation that made her fear that, but she would admit it was a factor. Even now Gliri doubted she could care for herself without her brother.

"So, should we say something?" Muscar asked.

"Only if you want to." Gliri wouldn't be doing most of the talking. She would probably position herself a bit behind her brother and try to be unobtrusive. That was how she usually dealt with strangers.  

[KoopaTroopa18]

Hadiya was wondering what they were going to do. It looked like they were conversing with each other, but she couldn't tell about what. Her mind started to race. Would they want her kill? Were they just passing through? She sort of wished they would hurry up and move so she could perhaps give a guess as to what they were planning.

Though she was getting distracted again by the scent of the fresh kill. Her mouth watered a bit just at the thought of eating more. She moved her eyes to look at it once again without moving her head. Should she ignore them? That was starting to sound like the better idea...  

[Princess_Feylin]

Gliri was absolutely aware of the other lioness's attention when it came to rest on them once more, and she felt uncomfortable about it. She didn't have a clue what was going through her mind, but she was certain it wasn't warm thoughts of welcome. If that had been the case, she suspected there would have been a greeting issued by this point, and an offer to share in her bounteous kill. The lack of even a greeting when it was undeniable that she'd been seen was telling.

Unfortunately, Muscar had already decided that friendliness would be the best way to go about things, and while some of the same thoughts had occurred to him as had occurred to Gliri, he was not as concerned as she was. He was confident in his ability to protect his sister and himself if need be, and also sure that he would not be called upon to do so. After all, he wasn't about to start any sort of confrontation or altercation. He was just going to exchange pleasantries.

"Hello," he called, drawing a little closer so that he wouldn't have to shout to be heard. "I'm Muscardini and this is my sister Gliri."

Behind him, Gliri winced. How they could have come from the same mother and grown up in the same way was beyond her. Clearly when they were in the womb all the bravery had gone into him somehow. Perhaps her creativity made up for it, but her creativity also contributed a great deal to her cowardice, since it allowed her to imagine eve more gruesome, unpleasant things than were likely to happen in a realistic situation. She envied Muscar his courage and his realism sometimes.

"Hello," she added softly.  

[KoopaTroopa18]

Hadiya was surprised to say the least. She thought they would go straight into growling and roaring and trying to scare her. She was stunned for a few seconds. "I... my name is Hadiya." She said, still with a bit of caution. She relaxed a bit, though was still on guard. She couldn't be too sure what they were trying to do.

She stared at them, wondering what they were going to do next. She felt less threatened, but... her stomach grumbled a bit. She was still hungry for her kill.  

[Princess_Feylin]

"It's good to meet you, Hadiya," Muscar replied, taking another few steps closer.

Gliri didn't move. She preferred not to approach strange lionesses, and even though she loved her brother and trusted him implicitly, she did not feel the same way about lions encountered randomly. Who knew what sort of person they might be? So far the best adjective Gliri could come up with for Hadiya was "uncommunicative," but "distracted" would have worked just as well. She didn't think it was such a good idea to interrupt her while she was eating, at any rate.

Muscar shared Gliri's reasoning, actually, but he had already begun the introduction process and couldn't bring himself to leave it at that. It would be rude, and Muscar didn't like to be rude to people. It wasn't really a matter of upbringing, since he and his sister had mostly raised themselves, but more a matter of habit. Growing up mostly alone and taking a long time to come into his growth, Muscardini had learned that the best way to not have to fight was not to be noticed. The second best way was just to be non-offensive.

"Muscar," Gliri said softly, "I don't think she really wishes to be disturbed. We should just keep going."

"Are you sure?" Muscardini asked. If she said Yes, he would do as she wished and they would be on their way.  

[KoopaTroopa18]

Hadiya stared a little bit more at them. She was surprised they weren't clawing at her right now. She felt a bit more comfortable, but in the back of her mind she reminded herself that this might distract her from other things if she were to continue the conversation. Then again, she hadn't met any lions for a while now and even though she wasn't usually a social lionness, talking to the same person every day didn't have much room for conversation.

"It's... good to meet you too. Are you headed anywhere?" Her meal could wait a bit. She kept her eye out for any roaming eyes though whether they be of bird or beast.  

[Princess_Feylin]

Muscar looked over his shoulder at his sister, waiting for her response to his question. It didn't stop him from hearing what Hadiya asked, but until he knew how Gliri was going to go on the matter he could not really proceed with the conversation he and Hadiya were having.

"Please, Muscar. I'd like to go," Gliri said softly.

Her voice was pitched so low that only someone well-used to listening for her quiet tones would have been aware of her speaking. She knew that her brother was one such lion, and so she spoke thus in hopes of avoiding giving offense to the lioness he was speaking to. As it stood, Gliri couldn't quite believe she hadn't taken offense at the way Muscar kept turning away to listen to her.

Muscar gave a very small nod to show that he'd heard his sister and then returned his attention almost fully to Hadiya. His attention never completely left Gliri, but Hadiya did how more of it than she had before. With genuine regret he met her eyes with his blue ones and spoke:

"We are, actually, and we must be going actually. I thought it would be polite for us to make our presence known as we passed by, however, so that you would not get the wrong impression about us."

He wasn't much of a liar, but he didn't consider this a lie. It was something spoken to ease his twin's peace of mind, and thus there could be no harm or wrong in it. He was aware of Gliri relaxing behind him, and that was enough for him.

For her part, Gliri relaxed when she heard Muscar's almost-lie and then more when he began to move away from the grey and white lioness. Gliri walked away with him, pleased to have avoided any sort of violent encounter.  

[KoopaTroopa18]

Hadiya nodded then, understanding that they might now want to sit and chat. Her stomach was growling from the lack of food, and she knew her mate would be worried if she was out too long.

"Well, I guess it was nice meeting you, I'm certainly glad I got to keep my meal." She replied, smiling a bit. "I hope you have a safe journey, wherever you are going." She said nodding, then moving herself around so that she could once again eat her meal, however she never once turned her back to them... just in case...