Black form slid down the savanna like a greased oil slick; marked by white accents, it was easy to tell once one got near enough that it was a leopard, whose green eyes remained very focused on the small rodent in front of it.With one simple pounce, the rodent was limp in his mouth, and the leopard was very much pleased to have gotten this meal for the day.
He bent down, very sure that the rodent was dead by the sheer weight and pressure of his sharp canines. He set it down, starting to chew through the skin and into the moist, moist flesh. This would just be a snack; he usually didn't like rodents, but rodents ensured that he would let no food scraps go to waste... That and it had just happened to be sitting nearby his tree. No rodent could get near his lazing tree without starting a hungry belly's roar!
It was midday, it seemed, and the females of the dark brown lion's had gone off to hunt some small prey. That was all the time they had and were given, anyways. The male was very eager to return home, so even he did not care to eat something as grand as a large waterbuck right now. Sure, an antelope could also have done it, but those had a possibility of being too fast for his girls. They still needed to hone their skills and be taught lessons on how to work together, after all. It seemed like they were adept enough, but were still a mixture of oddities.Korofi-uzulu possessed the size, bulk, and simple strong muscles to hunt. Naheed was clever, lithe, and knew when to take off in silence to strike down a prey from the concealing grasses. Jazua'Dania was... Well, she usually got her prey, but he had no idea how she did it. She was the most abrasive of all of them, the least intelligent, and of course, the least... well, everything.
He was confident that his commanding nature would have her know her place soon enough, even if she would be reduced to that of a kajira.
He laughed. There were few ways to not listen to him, and most of those involved his wrath and infliction.
With these thoughts in mind, the large lion strode on over the grasses, spotting a rather big black shape near his surroundings. When he looked closer, he realized it was a male leopard. He sighed. Not another one of these.
"I hope your leopard brethren don't purposely go around to get in the way of dominant male lions. You should know your place as being far lower in the food chain."
He looked once more, and found the rat the leopard was feasting on between the leopard's mouth, and made a face.
"It seems I am not mistaken. You are eating the smallest lifeform of these grasses."
The black leopard looked up, his meal disturbed by a rather large, intimidating, and scolding brown lion. The rat's flesh was rather good this time, but even that did not say much. He took a few more bites out of the rat before responding to the presence in front of him.
"There's also beetles and crickets?" he answered thoughtfully, not that he had any business with the lion.
"Catch what you need."
How dare the insolent black beast of a leopard talk back to him! He frowned, lashing his tail angrily back and forth.
"You are a fool to respond in such a way. I am Akram'raja of the Ukuucha'Wafalme, and you are a mere leopard out in the plains. I pity that you were born as a leopard. There are an astonishing number of you, which means an immeasurable number of dead-weight organisms in this world."
He threw his mane back and raised his chest higher than where it had been before, setting one paw forward... Then, he moved his other paw quickly forward and slapped the rodent away with a powerful swipe of his paw!
"A disgusting sight."
Ears swiveled back out of surprise and reflex for a compromising situation. The black leopard showed his teeth, the possibility of a threat very near to him. Ideally, the lion was all show and no roar. However, he very much did not want to deal with a lion right now...
He was big for a leopard - that was for sure, but this lion was also big for his kind. It leveled things out between the two of them, which meant that the lion before him was obviously going to be way bigger.
With a hidden snarl, the leopard said, "I'm not looking to fight."
He had gotten enough of those in his struggle during youth already.
The fool, though not looking to fight, was in a position that meant a threat to Akram'raja. As well, the stupid leopard was snarling. Of all things! The leopard looked more formidable than any other leopards he had seen around the plains - especially that grey, clueless one.
But he did not like this stance, nor did he like the fact that the leopard did not shy away or cower in fear.
So Akram'raja growled audibly, a teething smile curling on his lips.
"The last thing a foolish leopard like you would want to do is show yourself in that manner to disrespect a lion. Especially me."
Great. Now the lion was copying his own stance, except in a more intense manner. He wondered whether to do the same or raise his position. But if he raised it, he would very much be vulnerable, and would have been killed in a flash. So he stayed. This leopard was no coward and knew what he had to do to survive. Survival was at the forefront of his mind since birth.
"I mean no disrespect, lion," he said through anxious gritted teeth, "But if your paw is going to get so near my face..."
Akram'raja had had enough; he moved one of his paws like a snake striking its prey, unsheathing his claws in the one fluid motion it took to travel to the leopard.
"Of course you don't mean it!" he roared, teeth exposing viciously.
If the leopard had changed his stance, rendered himself completely vulnerable, then... Then he would have been showing his humility. But he did not. So Akram'raja had to take action, his anger elicited quite quickly by the potential threat the leopard was displaying to him.
The lion struck! The lion who called himself Akram'raja struck, and the leopard was surprised but moved nimbly away. He was good at that - moving quickly as well as striking down things with power. These skills were essential since birth, and so he was adept at moving like perfection through the jungles and terrain - no matter what landscape the savanna threw at him.
As soon as he jumped to another spot, the leopard knew that he could not confront this lion. Perhaps another lion, but this one had proved to be too quickly incited and angered, and too large. He could see the power underlying the muscles, and so chose to dart away.
And in another second, the black form of the leopard had vanished.
"Coward leopards," the lion spat on the ground.
Akram'raja moved, feeling that no rogues or creatures of the savanna were particularly formidable at all. That leopard had been as large as some of the scrawny lions he had seen, perhaps even bigger. But none could match his own brawn and brute force. He had inherited and trained well.
His females had a great blessing by having him.
