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 Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 11:58 am
 Private
Weather: Cloudless skies, heat hitting the 90s in the shade
Location: Quite a distance from the pridelands. The pair are beside a rocky outcropping.
Only a few days prior, their little trope was directed by their 'leader' that this was the desired destination. And you know what? Aleka went with it. Her brain was fried and she was starved and at that time the female was desperate for solace.
But now they were here. And all of them noticed the strange behavior of the pride's members. The sickening signs of illness spreading through the pride. But the final straw was when she spied upon the news of death within the ranks. The details were sketchy to her, but any news of death certainly weren't a good sign.
As customary, when greeted with these bad news the female developed a temper. Deciding to pin this bad decision on their 'leader'. Aleka was kind enough to treat him as an equal. But he's made a mistake in her eyes and justice needed to be served.
The hyena was embarrassed to admit it to herself, but she's wanted to find an excuse to lash out on Makani ever since she and To'hla split up. Always suspecting an 'unnatural' fixation To'hla had towards their leader. She felt used... as if To'hla's motives were to get Makani jealous during their brief and explosive relationship.
Stalking through the brush with purpose, the female scoped out the general area for Makani. Heart pounding in her chest as adrenaline pulsed through her veins.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 12:56 pm
 Makani lay along a rocky out cropping, his leaf spun eyes gazing out at the Pride in the distance. They narrowed as they watched the lions tend the sick. For now it seemed to be felling the elderly and the young. The hyena had over heard the vultures this morning talking. Apparently already one cub had fallen ill and died.
Interesting, and unfortunate...for the lions...for he and his, it was a well deserved turn of events. It would take some maneuvering, and some very careful planing on his part, and some cooperation on theirs...
His thoughts stopped there, To'hla. Makani had not seen the grey male this morning. He'd been missing from the warm pile they usually spent sleeping the night time hours away in. His ghosting shadow had not been at his side, and it worried at him like a thorn in his paw.
Granted, To'hla often would wander away for hours at a time, and this could just be another one of those times. He hoped so, for as much as the other male's biting humor could make a honey badger seem like pleasant company, Makani found he missed him.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:53 pm
'Ah! There he is...' The female grinned broadly once she sized upon Makani's location. Aleka didn't try to conceal her presence and found it mildly difficult to keep herself under control. The adrenaline high causing her to twitch occasionally. "Makani!" She barked, figuring that their far distance from the pridelands meant she was finally allowed to speak in a tone preferable to her. "I'm not sure about you, but I've had my full of the tainted meat in these lands." She stated bluntly, proudly stomping right up and in front of the lounging male.
"I would suggest we'd head elsewhere, but who knows where that might lead us with you giving direction." Her cruel words practically dripping with venom, having kept her contempt for him under wraps for far too long. It was intoxicating to 'call him out' as it were. The female using the excuse that equals are always brutally honest with each other. It means that they care... or something.
Whatever excuse she could find to dip into her guilty pleasure of degrading a male. Always so conscious of the shifts of power in their group. Aleka hated letting Makani act as leader. "Unless you'd prefer if we befall the same fate as those sickly lions and line up as a handsome trio of corpses?"
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:30 pm
Makani flicked an ear to the side at the grating sound of her voice, his eyes not leaving the movement of the pride in the distant. He let her finish her tirade as he finished his counting.
There were at least a pawful ill that he could see on this side of the rise, and that pawful had a nice juicy haunch of kill laying to the side of them. All the other healthy lions were very concerned about the not healthy ones, and ignoring the perfectly good meat.
Again..interesting...
When the squawking noise ceased to the side of him, singling that Aleka had finished her pupish bout of ill temper, he graced her with acknowledging her presence by turning his cold gaze on her.
" Finished?" He asked mildly, " Or is there anything else you'd like to get off your chest? Like perhaps blaming me for the rather warm weather we've been having, or the fact that To'hla found your company about as appealing as that of a carcass?
He didn't add the fact that he thought that at least with a carcass, there were uses for.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:01 pm
Aleka was used to his pompous attitude. One would need quite an ego to be leader, doubly so for hyena. So when the male finally spat back at her in response, the female was already mentally prepared for the worst. And frankly, she was unimpressed by his response. Utterly bypassing her points to make trivial comments?
The female's lips remained coiled into a devilish smile, laughing at his expense. "Oh come now, rather than insulting me with points that have little to do with what I just said... how about you agree with me so we can leave these foul lands?" She paused briefly to grin toothily, her wild smile never softening. The hyena pondered just how much prodding would get him to lash out. It had been awhile since she took on something her own size or larger, due to the dry spell. Prey was harder to come by and only made her more antsy. Pent up energy needed to go somewhere.
"Unless you have about as much bad taste in meats as your taste in other areas." Her head tilted as she lifted a shoulder in an absent shrug. "But if you think To'hal is interested in corpses, it might make sense why you have a death wish. Don't assume I want in on your group suicide scheme." She followed up with a mock sigh, as if bored by the very notion.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:41 pm
The male snorted, dismissing her easily, she hadn't been worth his time, she was never worth his time. " You are very short sighted Aleka. It is why there is no point in agreeing with you."
He stood up and shook himself. He was going to need to get a little closer to where the lions it seemed were gathering their sick, maybe the wash where the water drained down from the monsoons. It was dry as a bone, but it just might run close enough for him to scout out their best means to approach and steal the fresh meat.
" If you'd bother to see past the end of your own muzzle you'd notice that we've not become ill, while its run through the lions like grass fire. Only their old and young seem to be sick for any long period, and only one cub has died." He jumped down from the rock to land directly in front of her, his mane bristling in annoyance, " Now, dear, sweet, Aklea..what does that tell you? Think..I know you can do it.." his tone as cloying sweet as he stared at her.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:04 pm
Lowering her eyelids to a half lidded stare, the fem's maw pursed in a small 'o', bemused by his dismissive behavior. Because while this fool didn't trust her instincts, Aleka followed them. And thus far, she's been steered in the right direction. With her suspicions between her strange trope mates being the most recent.
It was frustrating not to get anything of worth out of him, however. No fighting? That she could live with. But the fact he didn't see the warning signs she saw clearly only asserted the fact that any equality between the genders was wasted. Male pride only bolstered stupidity. "Just because we haven't caught it yet doesn't mean we wont." This boorish talk acted as a sedative. Aleka's wanton abandon was replaced with responses as dry as Makani's. "If you had any intelligence, you would steer clear of their corpses. But if you want to go taint yourself, leave me out of it. Don't come near me." That final comment stated in utter disgust.
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:32 pm
Makani rolled his eyes at her, she truly was thick headed. How could she have survived this far without a brain between those ears of hers? Sighing, he sat back on his haunches and resisted the urge to take a snap at her.
" Did you, in this little tirade of yours, ever ask if it was the corpses we would be eating? or was that your assumption of our choices? I do think Aleka that was your assumption, because had you bothered to ask, instead of deciding to pick a fight for your own personal reasons, of which you accused me of, you would have received an answer that did not included eating day old dead diseased lion."
He turned his back on her, looking at her over his shoulder, his leaf green eyes glittering, " and don't worry Aleka, I have no problem not coming near you. I only tolerate you because To'hla seemed fond of you at some point."
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:19 pm
Did it really matter what he said to her? Aleka had her own notions of what this male had planned. What else did he intend to do with bodies laying around? Only a moment earlier she was certain the male's eyes were alight with hunger towards the lions. The hyena merely chalked it up as his lack of admitting to heeding her request. Because while he claimed to have no intention of eating the dead lions. It was certainly convenient that the male hadn't bothered to say WHAT he planned instead. Fashion them into a comfortable bedding perhaps?
"Hah... riiiight, if I cared enough to ask why you were staring so intently at their dead, that would border on interest on your thoughts. Which ultimately brought us here to begin with." These flurry of words were a strain on her throat, finding it difficult to speak with this stifling heat and dry mouth. The dry season was tiresome already... these escapades in the savannah weren't worth it. Not with these males. But Makani has heard her speak of other tropes or tribes she would ditch them for if given the chance. "Continue being hard headed Makani, you will lead yourself into death." She smirked bitterly at the male from behind, chuckling to herself. He was only the leader because of her promise to her mother, one she made far before meeting To'hla and him. To give males the benefit of the doubt. It was a shame that it was sullied by the unfortunate card dealt to her. "Well bless me, you've managed to say something right out of all of this."
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Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:10 pm
" Then that puts me ahead of you Aleka, because so far you've managed to say nothing." He flicked his mane out of his eyes, " It was not their dead I was staring at. For one, unlike how you are making it sound, there has been only one death..a cub, second if you were half as perceptive as you are loud, you'd have noticed that there are several large pieces of untouched fresh kill laying on the very edges of the area they've claimed as theirs with no one watching it."
Makani lifted his lip at her, " Thirdly, there is a ravine that runs almost right up to that edge. A ravine that I intend to use to get a better look, and hopefully use to steal that meat from them. With the pride concerned over their sick, they will be less on guard, easier for us to steal from, and if we are very, very clever and patient, easy to pit against each other, and use to our advantage some more."
This time the leader of their little pack did snarl at her, " Now you have a choice, you can shut up and help, or you can leave. Personally I hope you do the latar, but should you decide to remain you will pull your weight, without complaint and if you don't...I don't care how fond of you To'hla is, I'll see you laid out for the vultures. Am I clear?" Or do I have to use fewer, more simple words for you Aleka?
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Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:53 am
During his speech, the female rolled her eyes, because he was better off preaching to the rocks they were stationed beside. She had already said she had no intention of going near the pride or their corpses. If their plan was to head over into taint lands to scrounge for food, she'd rather try her luck elsewhere. It was clear that she and Makani were at the opposite ends of the spectrum. The more he dug in his heels to remain here, only prompted her to resist just as stubbornly. Trying to survive the dry season in comparison to the possibility of getting sick and ending up like the lions?
While he talked Aleka silently mused over the fact that only a cub has died thus far. Which was understandable. The smaller ones would be the first to go, it may take longer for the adults. It had only just begun. Better to be safe than sorry, right? Not to Makani apparently. He was too ready to snatch their meat rather than keep out of a possibly dangerous area.
But his hypothetical questions ended briefly to ask her honestly. Would she go with him? "What do you think?" She said with a smirk, Makani should have known he was digging himself into the ground speaking to her this way. If he noticed the conversation thus far, Aleka shifted her responses to balance with his own. Because the balance of power in relationships with males was ingrained into her head. Makani never grasped that with her, so Aleka lifted to meet his domineering attitude. And despite all of that, she could never get him to fight. ...that was the worst.
"Well, I suppose the next time we meet it'll finally be a fight. Good luck, you'll need it."
Fin
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