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 Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:43 am
 Safimoto:
It was night as Safi was making her way back home. She'd been gone for three nights now, tonight would be the fourth, but she was almost home, would make it before sunrise. The things she wanted to do... When she got back, she was going to tell her papa what the seer had told her, she was going to tackle Gremio for sure. She wasn't entirely sure what she would say to Gremio, but she was definitely going to tackle him.
The journey had been a long one, though, and as she came to a tree, she paused beside it for a short rest. A thin cloud passed over the moon, sending shadows over the land.
 Baridi'vijicho:
"Did the seer tell you good news, cousin? You should have come to me, I could have told you your future," a chilling voice broke out from the branches above the cheeton female and a small leotah male jumped down, landing just a leap away from her.
Baridi hadn't changed too much since he had left his family den. There were several more scars marring the paleness of his coat and his gray ruff flopped over the scar that ran over his right eye. He wore some sort of pelt around him, but one couldn't tell what it was in the darkness. He had seen this female in a vision when he was younger, knew her to be the granddaughter of a red lion who had called his aunt and uncle daughter and son, who had forgotten his father. Baridi's aunt Kweupe called this female niece, so logically that made her his cousin.
Safimoto:
Safi jumped at the voice and stared at the male that landed near her. He looked younger than she was and yet something about him terrified her.
"C-Cousin? I don't know who you are," she replied, standing and backing away a few paces. It was his eyes. They gleamed in the sparse moonlight and there was something wicked in them.
Baridi'vijicho:
Baridi made himself look shocked, placing a paw to his chest.
"Why, cousin, I'm hurt. I'm your dear cousin Baridi. My father is your aunt Kweupe's lost little brother," he replied, his lips pulling back from his teeth in a small grin as he circled closer to her. Oh, he could smell her fear rising, it was intoxicating. How had he gone so long without this feeling?
Oh, wait, he hadn't. Just the other day he had found a younger leopard drinking at a stream. He had enjoyed digging his claws into the other male, breaking limbs, listening to cries, screams, begging for freedom, mercy, death. Until he had gotten bored and rolled him into a river where he could watch the crocodiles tear the male apart.
His eyes fluttered a bit at the memory.
"Now, where was I? Oh, oh yes. Dear, dear Safi, I'm so very hurt you didn't come to me. What did you ask of this seer that you couldn't ask family? I'm a seer after all, I could See anything you wish if you just ask," he purred, the face he wore one of perfect innocence.
Safimoto:
Safi still looked uncertain, still backed up a couple more paces, but she felt she should indulge him, at least enough for her to possibly get away. How far was she from home? Probably not too far from the territory at least, though it would be a ways to the dens. If she got in trouble with this male, would someone be nearby to come to her aid?
"I... I asked if I could have cubs, if my body would allow it," she replied slowly, taking another step back.
Baridi'vijicho:
Baridi's eyes widened for a moment and his ears flicked back, a grin making its way onto his maw.
"Oh, Safi, I could answer that question easily," he replied and the moon was engulfed by another cloud, leaving them in almost total darkness. A wicked chuckle vibrated out of his throat as his tail lashed behind him.
"You can't, because I'm going to see to it that your father's line ends with you," he growled and lunged.
Safimoto:
Safi gasped when her "cousin" lunged at her and she did the only thing she felt she could.
Turned and ran in the direction of home.
Baridi'vijicho:
Missed! Damn her eyes, she was fast. Oh the pleasure he would feel breaking those lithe legs of hers. He took off after her, trying hard to gain.
"No use running Safi! I know how this ends! You'll lie broken at my paws when I'm done with you!" he cried after her, laughing maniacally. The chase! It was exhilarating, his blood flowed so fast, it filled his ears. But he needed more. More! He needed to hear her scream, to see her cry, to feel her soft fur, to feel bones break beneath his paws, to watch flesh split from his claws. He needed to paint his paws with her blood.
"Run home and I'll come after the half-godlings!"
Safimoto:
Safi ran as hard as she could, trying to get home, to help.
But then the b*****d threatened the cubs. Taban's cubs, the ones she had come to love almost as her own.
She couldn't let him get near them.
She changed direction, running in a circle so that she was running at him instead. Gremio had been right. When the time came to it, she would fight, too.
"I won't let you near them!" she screamed, her voice carrying across the grasses as she lunged at him.
Baridi'vijicho:
Finally!
Baridi followed her, rising up as she lunged at him, swiping his clawed paw out to smack her across the face. He didn't claw her, not yet. He would beat her down first.
Safimoto:
Safi fell when he struck her, but she was quickly jumping back, her ears back, lips pulled away from her teeth in a snarl. She saw a haze of red at the edges of her vision but thought little of it. All she could think of was how she needed to keep this mad creature away from the cubs.
She lunged again, only this time it was a feint, and when he dodged it, she attacked, scraping her claws against his left leg. She caught most of the pelt he wore up by his shoulder, but she still dug deep furrows into the rest of his leg, jumping back when he rounded on her, trying to catch her with his teeth.
Baridi'vijicho:
He had been so sure. So confidant. She was weak, like her father, she was no warrior, hadn't been taught how to kill, not like he had. So when she attacked him again, he dodged.
It had been a trick!
Her claws dragged across his flesh and Baridi let out a bellow of leopard rage, rounding on her to sink his teeth into her elegant, tender neck, only to snap at nothing.
"You'll pay tenfold for that, you little b***h! And when I'm done with you, I'll leave your body for your father to find and then I'm going to skin your precious half-breeds alive!" he raged at her, a wild light in his insane eyes.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:22 pm
 Gremio:
It had been his turn to rest... Taban had taken up the watch while Gremio retired to the cool darkness of the cave to sleep. His respite hadn't lasted long, unfortunately. That morning, Aila had roused him with a gentle shake to his paw. She had a lingering knot in the pit of her stomach, a worry that something was coming.
Gremio, fearing the worst, rose and broke towards the boarders. The one time he was resting... originally, he had assumed that Neclord had finally shown his face, perhaps with a small force at his back. He began at the boarder near the coastline and tore down, putting the sea at his back as he scanned the horizonline.
Safi's cry echoed out over the distance, sending a tremer of fear down the veterain's body. Soon fear turned to rage and the caretaker became the warrior.
Baring his teeth, he tore foreward, his claws chewing up the ground as he ran. As he crested a hill, he came upon Safi fighting for her life at the claws of a leopard... a strange leopard.
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Gremio roared in response to the leopard's threat. His body, coiled and ready, launched out full force, throwing a hammer's blow for the leopard's front leg.
Safimoto:
Safi's heart clenched in fear. She didn't really know how she knew, but she knew that if she let him, he would do everything he promised. Not hearing the sound of running feet over the pounding in her ears, she lunged again at the crazed leotah, ready to kill him to protect herself and her family.
Baridi'vijicho:
There! The opening! The little b***h had done just as he hoped she would and he was waiting.
Baridi dodged to the side and swiped a heavy paw at her feet, catching one of them and sending her to the ground with a pained cry. Oh, he wasn't lucky enough to have broken anything, no it was probably just a sprain, but her pain was music to his ears.
But just as she fell, another voice roared out and he rounded towards the sound, just in time to fall back as the paw cracked against his shoulder, feeling something pop within it and sending him rolling.
He didn't stay down for too long, rising as quickly as he could, keeping his weight off the leg Gremio had struck.
"You cheated, cousin!" he snarled, backing away. "YOU CHEATED!"
He knew he couldn't win. He'd made Safi easy prey, but her prince wasn't going down at his paws. The only way he'd be able to take down this lion would be by getting the drop on him, quite literally, no doubt.
"We'll play again, soon, Safi. Tell Aunt Kweupe I said hi," he laughed as he turned tail and ran.
Gremio:
Gremio wouldn't let the leopard get off that easily. He gave chaise, swiping out at the male's ankles until he was at least a few yards away. It wasn't honorable to bite an enemy with his back turned, but he made his point clear enough- he wanted him OUT.
War waged in his eyes, flames surrounding his heart and boiling his blood. The softspoken, mild-manner caretaker had been replaced by the warrior. Muscles rippled in anticipation for battle.
Safimoto:
Safi remained curled up on the ground around her hurt paw. Gremio had come to her rescue, she knew he would if he knew she was in trouble. How he had known, she wasn't sure. Perhaps he was patrolling or hunting and had heard the commotion, or one of the cubs had Seen what was happening. But that really didn't matter, what mattered was that he had come, and he had chased off her attacker.
What had been wrong with him? He must have been one of Wingu's cubs, Kweupe had told them about the little brother everyone had thought dead, who had gone insane. He'd stolen one of her uncle Mafunde's sons, had beaten Aunt Kweupe and threatened to do the same to her cubs. But that didn't sound like this creature. Wingu seemed angry at his brother and sister for being rescued when he wasn't. This Baridi... He didn't even know her and yet the things he said he wanted to do.
She wondered if his father could even stand the creature he had spawned.
Gremio had gone after the hybrid, chasing him away, but he hadn't come back yet. Carefully, she rose into a sitting position, raising her injured paw, her front right, off of the ground. Even doing that hurt, so she set it back down and kept her weight off of it.
"Gremio?"
Baridi'vijicho:
Baridi ran, curling his thick tail around his side, eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on staying head of the lion behind him. He had to get away, had to leave this land of heroes.
Stupid. Stupid-stupid-STUPID!
He should have Seen this, should have known her prince would come along and rescue her. The little b***h, he should have jumped on her when he had the chance, broken her jaw and legs and dragged her away. Of course, he had plenty of other cousins to go after, but it was much easier to attack the females. They were weaker, smaller, just as he was small. He blamed his father for that, he had been small, weak. He'd let that b*****d Pich run him off. Pich had discarded the toy, it was his turn to play!
Well, he'd go find another toy to play with. Yes, another toy.
Gremio:
Gremio watched him go, standing still as a statue, his posture aggressive. To send him on his way, the lion let loose a roar, throwing every ounce of his own outrage and wrath into the sound. It would serve both a warning and a declaration to the rest of the pride that he'd driven off a threat.
He waited until the intruder's form had vanished off the horizonline before turning around and running back. It didn't take him long to return to Safi, his eyes still wild and his body still trembling from the adreniline rush.
Safimoto:
Safi's ears perked forward when Gremio came back into view and she stood, limping towards him. He almost looked like a different lion at the moment and yet he was still Gremio. And he had saved her, had driven off the creature. The roar had frightened her even as it gave her comfort. She hoped that it had been enough warning to her "cousin" not to return.
She sighed a bit when she stopped just close enough that she could touch her nose to his jaw.
"I don't know how you knew, but I'm so glad you did," she said, doing her best to put on a brave face.
Gremio:
Gremio, still seething from the battle, gave Safi a harsh look. His eyes drifted from her face down to her injured paw, hardened, and traveled up again. "Never go out on your own. I was almost too late."
He pushed his shoulder against hers, giving her the support she needed to walk. "Let's get you home."
Safimoto:
Safi's ears flicked back at the harsh look, at his order. She had expected some reactions, should have expected that one, but she hadn't. He was a warrior now, hard, and she had gone off on her own to see someone and had been attacked on the way home. She hadn't been ready, hadn't been trained enough to hold her own against someone like that male.
And now Gremio knew it.
Her head dipped down as she leaned on him, letting him help her back to the dens.
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