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 Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:28 pm
 Beo shook his mane to clear the fall of his bangs from his eyes. It was night, and he was traveling toward the west, looping around the long way to the Kitwana'antara lands. He'd not intended to leave the Pride again after his ill fated Monsoon journey, but the apothecaries had run out of dropseed, and it only grew in the mashlands, the closest ones were just outside of the Pride's borders...they had been harvested clean, and only just replanted this past season.
So the scouts had been sent to range further out, as had a few others, Beo being one of them. Now with a small pack full of the precious herb, he was heading home, though he decided to check one last area he had seen the plant the dropseed grew at the base of during his wanderings. Every little bit counted.
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:52 am
Night time - whether it be dusk or the depths of the evening whenever the moon held it's vigil, it gave leave for certain individuals to act like morons. Granted, there were a variety of creatures who were intelligent and slept during the evening, but for some reason there were those out there who decided that it was the perfect time to make as much noise as possible. In their previous encounter, Hilarion had not been lying when she claimed that certain individuals couldn't sing, now she had proof. With one ear padded down and the other raised (if only to remain alert), the hyena listened to the tone deaf howls nearby. There were very things in the world that she couldn't see humour in, but there was only so much a comedian could take before even they cracked.
Suffice to say that the performance was dire.
Nevertheless, the female had no intention of moving and instead, she merely lowered her ear slightly to limit the sound and closed her eyes. It wasn't ideal, but it was something and the fact that the howls were now muffled meant a great deal. Admittedly, she had placed herself in a slightly vulnerable position as she had elected to sit where she was heavily sheltered from any breezes - with this in mind, she was unable to detect the approaching and now familiar hyena. What a surprise she would get whenever she opened her eyes to catch sight of him, eh!
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:25 am
The sable colored male was to intent on his goal to notice the off tune howling that peppered the savanna, his only thought about the full moon was that it gave him good light to see the plant he was looking for.
With sure steps he trotted over to the soggy edges of the mash and where the red leaf plant that the drop seed grew among the roots of. The trick to gathering it was that you had to dig very carefully at the root bundle, then harvest the delicate seeds without crushing them. It was an involved, time consuming process that took patience and concentration, and out here in the savanna, at night, it could be dangerous, but Beo was willing to risk it.
Dropping down onto his belly, not trusting his bad hind leg, he began to dig very gently, and very carefully, at the first plant.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:36 am
It was quiet and muffled, but she heard it nearby. It was the faint scritching as an individual elected to dig or scuffle about. Whoever it was, they made no attempts to conceal their existence and Hilarion concluded that this was either deliberate... or they were just ridculously stupid. Given her current location and the god awful noise assaulting her ears, she was almost tempted to conclude that the individual in question, was an idiot. Suffice to say, it was this inkling in mind that made the female raise her head and flick her gaze towards the location.
Ears twitching and lips pursed, she peered for a long while into the undergrowth. At an immediate glance there didn't appear to be anything there, but eventually there was a flicker as the moon managed to cast a very faint shadow. Something, or rather someone, was there and they weren't too far away from her either. In fact, one might have been so bold as to assume that they were one of her kind but there was one thing that puzzled her...
Her kind weren't vegetarian and there were no little dens in this area, so why was it digging?
"Oh please tell me you aren't burying evidence of your criminal activities, I hate getting trawled into those types of legal proceedings," she mused, recalling a few memories of her previous pack. Those events had always been incredibly frustrating and they always missed the obvious answer as well!
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:01 pm
Beo stopped in mid-dig, careful to keep the delicate seed pod that was dangling parasitically from the root bundle he was holding in his teeth from detaching and falling into the muck. He knew that voice, how could he forget it. Rolling his eyes and keeping from snorting, which would certainly make him drop the seed, he gently set down that section of the root and caught the pod in his paw.
Cocooning it in some of his own fur from his last shedding, the Secret Keeper placed it among the others in his shoulder pack. Without turning around, he moved onto the next plant, his earth colored voice low, its tone unamused " Once again, you give me to little credit lady."
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 12:10 pm
"Well slap my rear end and call me Sally!" Ili declared as the hyena spoke, instantly recognising the voice as none other than that of the hyena she had bumped into previously. He came from that bizarre pride that seemed to encourage pure selfishness while ensuring their offspring died a violent and potentially young death! It would've been difficult for her to forget that in a hurry, particularly when she had had the opportunity to dwell on the specifics and more importantly, what had been unsaid but otherwise implied.
"Small world," she observed and shook her head, one ear flopping to one side as she continued to watch the hyena's outline from the sidelines. Whatever he was digging up seemed to be of great interest to him, she was no herbalist, but she could at least recognise that the outline was that of a plant. Unsurprisingly, her eyebrows lifted and she clucked her tongue slowly. "Ah, too much tainted meat then? Wouldn't really blame you for going vegetarian for a while," she mused.
"Though I would have gone for a bulkier fruit myself."
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:04 pm
Gritting his teeth, he began on the next plant. Harvesting was slow. Each root bundle gave one, perhaps two, useable pods per. It would be just his damn luck he would have to run into the rancorous female when he had delicate and important work to do.
" My diet is hardly your concern Lady," he practically spit the last word out, in a highly unusual display of ill manners for him, " and I am very well aware of how small the world is in this particular instance."
This plant had a firm grip on the marshy ground with its roots, and he had to use the claws on his left paw to move the clinging soil around to expose them, " Is there something you wanted, or where you just standing there to gather what passes for your wit to find another way to be judgmental and mightier then thou with me and mine? or perhaps you ran out of material for the punch lines of what you deem comedy and need more fodder at the expense of others. If that is the case, their are plenty of fools over the next ridge. I suggest you observe them and leave me to my work."
The whole of it was said in a voice barely above a whisper, and not facing her, he couldn't spare the concentration from his task.
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:19 pm
Clearly he was an individual who didn't appreciate humour overly much, more importantly, he seemed to have developed a bit of a temper. Alternatively, he could have always had this temper and had never had the opportunity to express it. In some ways, one could have argued that Hilarion was providing a valuable service to him, if he didn't snap at her then he'd crack at something else and then what? No more tainted meat for him to nibble on, he'd have to hunt like the rest of the rogues out here. His easy life would be ruined.
Fortunately, his temper was disregarded by the female in much the same way as water would wash off a duck's back. She'd heard and been subjected to far worse, his sarcastic drawl and attempts at wit were lacking in considerable depth. Well, either that or he just sucked at timing and didn't make the impact he might have wished for. With this in mind, the female was able to simply lift a brow at his remarks and slowly but surely, released a sigh and clucked her tongue in disappointment.
"Oh how rude," she cooed and tilted her head to the side. "I'll have you know I was here long before you were," she pointed out, lifting a paw and directing it towards him. "For all you know, I could have claimed this piece of turf as my own and you're technically intruding on me," she continued. It was at this point that she released another sigh and rolled onto her back, her head lolling over the side of the rock. "Why should I move when this is my land? Should be the other way round, don'tcha think?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 1:46 pm
Deciding he had just about enough of the annoying wench, he slipped the seed he'd been after off the root, once more took care to wrap it safely and store it, then switched to the second carry case on his other side and pulled out two freshly hunted and killed pouch rats he'd been saving for his own dinner and breakfast.
Striding up to her, he dumped them unceremoniously onto her belly, " That should pay for my trespass on your land Lady, and for the disturbance of your landscaping. Of which I have need to dig up a pawful of more ground. I will be sure to reground the shoots which I have churned up, as they are very valuable, though I doubt you realize this."
The pouch rats were fat and fresh, showing that whatever he was now, the male had been a well trained hunter before, for the creatures went to ground well and to find their nests and dig them out after you'd closed up their escape holes was no easy feet for a couple of hyenas, much less a single one.
" Now if there is nothing else. I have work to do, and am short on time."
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 12:49 pm
"You really don't like me, do you?" Illi observed, tilting her head backwards as she continued to watch Beo. He was a determined sort and wouldn't be distracted from his work, but she had also noted that she could push his buttons in the most ridiculous fashion. He was an easy target and had he been in her former pack, would have been the butt of many jokes - that being said, if he had been in her former pack he might have responded in a very different way. Hell, he might even have been able to lighten up.
"Clearly the stress of this job of yours does nothing for your nerves," she continued, lifting up one of his pouch rats. She regarded it for a few moments and then systematically tossed it back over her head to land by his paws. The second soon followed and she lifted both brows as she proceeded further with her observations. While she was tempted to keep the meals just to get on his nerves a little more, she'd already eaten and she was not one for wasted food.
"I've already eaten and given you're probably eating diseased meat ninety percent of the time, it'd be healthy for you to have some decent food," she pointed out. It was at this point that she shook her head, released a sigh and finally rolled back over onto her stomach. Resting her chin on her forepaws, she pursed her lips and waited for a few moments before speaking once more.
"You know, for someone so desperate to bring pups back to help him with his grimey task, you have the most horrendous way of approaching the situation," she remarked in what could only be described as a wistful manner.
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 1:39 pm
That was the last straw that broke the preverabl water buffalo's back, and the normally, quite, shy, and level headed male turned to look at her with an expression that was somewhere between anger and disgust. His gold eyes flashing.
" I would prefer that you stop calling my friends, my companions, and my loved ones, 'tainted' meat. Every single one of them were felines I knew, that I spoke with everyday, that I cared for when the could no longer care for themselves. Especially the cubs, whose lives were so short I was glad they could know only beauty and innocence before their time was done. That 'tainted' meat had personality's, understood how much of a gift each day was, and lived more in the short time they had then you could ever hope for."
He lifted his lip at her, " Other then the royalty, I have the hardest job there is in my Pride, because I remember them...everyone of them, as I do it, I pray to whatever god is listening that they find peace in the next Circle of their Life. Yes, we need more paws to help, paws that can not get ill, but your paws are selfish, cruel, and unkind. I doubt you think past your next joke, or your next meal, and why should it be me that goes about courting a female all wrong, when it could very easily be you who drives one away?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:26 am
"Whether you like it or not your friends are tainted meat," she pointed out coolly. "Particularly when they deliberately bring offspring into the world and deliberately taint it. Do they deliberately cause their plague to spread to others as well? Regardless of whatever way you look at it, they're tainted in both body and mind if they have every intention of killing their own offspring," she remarked. "Let alone adults," she added as an after thought. She knew nothing of the initiation into his pride, but if she had been aware then it would have made her case all the stronger!
"Consequently, I will call them whatever I want," she continued and released a small sigh. "As will the vast majority of the general populace who would be just as, if not more so, disgusted by their behaviour," she added delicately and shook her head. Satisfied with her response to his snarling, she settled back into position and regarded the male for a considerable length of time, her expression otherwise wistful and uneffected by his outburst.
He had many bitter words to say to her, but everyone needed an outlet and if she happened to be the catalyst then so be it. Gods only knew how long he'd been bottling that up and if he took it out on anyone else, he could get himself killed.
"You know if your job was so hard you could simply dispose of the corpses on hyena pack land and led them devour out. The fallen have no identity and therefore the hyenas wouldn't care," she mused. Releasing a small sigh, she examined her paws for a little while and then finally lifted her gaze to fix it on the male once more. "Of course, by the mere tone in your voice, your martyr like duties fit you well... But unfortunately for you, I'll provide no pity or sympathy."
"As to your assumption that I'm selfish, cruel and unkind... Such a remark could be made to any female who wanted to ensure the safety of her offspring," she mused and tilted her head to the side. "If a female was able to give her children up to such a horrendous fate, regardless of the horror it would cause to their mental state, then they wouldn't be a mother at all. Call me whatever you want, but I would lay my life down for any of my pups and protect them from anything," she continued.
"If you consider me wrong for driving a male away because he wants to torture my pups with his horrendous little job, as well as bind them to the laws of such a horrible pride where their freedom is compromised, then so be it."
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 9:44 am
" If you remember, I only made the offer of the pouch rats for the use of this patch of marsh to gather some needed herbs. Nothing more, nothing less. I did not offer anything more to you, nor do I want anything more from you."
Beo turned back to the last red leaf plant, his shoulder's tight as he began the careful process of undoing the root bundle, " As for just tossing the corpses to another pack, I guess it wouldn't matter to you that it would be on of the fastest ways to spread the illness past the borders of our lands. "
He rolled his eyes at her martyr comment, and getting not pity from her, only just managing to keep his comment muttered under his breath, " Oh how shall I ever live without out it..." and continued to free the seed into his paw.
This one he took just as much care to wrap and put into his carry bag, and went back about replanting what he had dug up, being sure that each one of the plants was back firmly, and safely in the ground while the female continued to rattle on behind him.
" Very noble of you lady, and I hope that some day you do get the chance to lay down your life for your pups. Enjoy the rest of your evening, and the singing of your neighbors."
More then happy to shake the mud of this place from his paws, Beo loped off without any more words. He'd have to catch himself another meal, but one hyena could hunt smaller game better then a pack, and with luck he'd be home by sunset tomorrow.
What the rest of the savanna thought about his Pride didn't matter, no one could understand unless they saw it with their own eyes, or felt it with their own heart. They were his friends, his lovers, his family and as long as he understood the rest of Africa could go &*^% itself.
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