Certainly she had been right before in thinking that her parents were not going to be pleased with her story of charging a leopard. Lika had not expected them to not hear it, as the little ones seemed quite excited to hear of her adventure out from the herd. She simply could not deny them the amazing tale of how she came to be stalked by a leopard and thwarted any attempts of it catching her by running straight at it. Though her retelling of the events may have been a bit more fantastical than they really had, the young waterbucks certainly wouldn’t notice and it made the story that much more exciting! However afterwards she found herself under a stricter gaze from her parents, making it much harder to sneak off. Not that this would stop her forever.
It took a few days before Lika was able to sneak away from her parents. They were off grazing again and Lika slowly backed her way around other membrs of her herd, putting them between her and her parents so they would not see her. Once she was far enough away she turned and bounded off, excited for another adventure. She knew the little ones would not say anything, eager as they were for another story of her adventures, and Lika was not going to let them down.
Kerke lay stretched across the ground in the shade of a tree. Half-lidded eyes gazed out at the sky as he slowly drifted in and out of sleep. He was tired out from travels and running, having caught his meal earlier. Ears twitched as he listened to sounds. It was nice and quiet out now, and he had been lucky to avoid any more conflict since that wild dog had attacked him. His tail twitched at the thought, and he winced slightly. It still hurt. As his tail came back to rest on the ground he once more drifted toward sleep.
Lika trotted along, ears perked forward and eyes searching for something exciting to do. There appeared to be a couple different herds in the distance, but she was interested in something else this time. Her previous run in with the leopard had been quite a story so she searched around for any other big cats in the area. Surely they couldn’t be that hard to find, they did tend to be pretty big. Unless they were out hunting, in which case they might be hiding, but she was sure she could find them still!
A tree int he distance caught her attention as she spotted movement. Curious she made her way towards it, ears twitching happily as sh saw the cheetah laying beneath the tree in it’s shadow. Lika made her way around the tree and found that he appeared to be sleeping, however as she bent her head down close to his she saw his eyes were open, but he didn’t seem quite awake. “Hello.”
Just as he started to drift off, blinking sleepily a couple times, something came in to his field of vision. For a moment he thought it some sort of waking dream, a waterbuck head floating in front of him, but then it spoke. “Ahh!” Kerke yowled in surprise and shot up, stumbling backwards a few steps before falling heavily on to his rump. It took him a few waking blinks to realize that not only had a waterbuck actually walked up to him, but it had also put it’s face next to his own and greeted him. How strange. He half wondered if he wasn’t actually dreaming, but the fall on his rear had hurt, so he doubted it. “Well, hello.” Kerke was not sure what else to say, it wasn’t every day that a prey animal walked up and started a conversation with you.
Lika watched in amusement as the resting cheetah suddenly screamed and jumped up, before coming to fall on his rear. She chuckled softly. “That’s a weird way to wake up. Do you normally scream when you wake?” Lika tilted her head to the side, watching the cheetah closely. He had not made any move to attack her yet, and she wondered if he even would.
Kerke quirked a brow at the strange waterbuck. “Not normally, no. But it is not every day that I suddenly wake to a face so close to mine, so naturally your sudden appearance was a bit..startling.”
Like bounced slightly, ears twitching in amusement. “Still pretty funny! I’m surprised you haven’t tried to attack me yet. All the other cats I met usually do.” She asked, with another tilt of her head.
Kerke inched back forward and lay down in the tree’s shade. “Well I don’t normally attack my conversation partners for no reason. Besides, I am not hungry anyways. No reason to attack you.” His gaze shifted from his odd company out past her, wondering where the rest of the herd was. He didn’t normally see waterbucks out on their own. “I do find it a bit odd that you seem to be lacking a herd though, why is that?”
Lika liked this cheetah, he was much nicer than that leopard she had seen before. Not only did he not want to attack her, but he was fine laying there talking to her and spoke as if she were an equal. “Well that’s nice. It would be pretty mean if you attacked everyone you spoke to.” On the question of her herd Lika looked over her shoulder. “I left them for a bit. I like getting away and seeing exciting things. I always bring stories back to the little ones too. They will be pretty jealous when I told them I talked with you!” She exclaimed, twitching her ears happily again. “I’m Lika!”
Kerke nodded. “I see. I’m sure they do enjoy the stories you bring back.” He smiled softly. “It s nice to meet you Lika, I am Kerke.” A yawn nearly interrupted him as he spoke, and Kerke blinked sleepily. “I do apologize. I have been walking for some time and I am tired.”
“Yes, they do!” Linka blinked and nodded. “Alright. You sleep then. I am going to go back to my herd and tell the little ones about my chat with a cheetah!” Lika turned and bounded away from him. “Goodbye, Kerke!”
Kerke couldn’t help but chuckle as the young waterbuck made to leave. “Goodbye, Lika. You be careful out there!” With her gone he lay back down, keen to continue his rest. Such a curious day this had become.
(Word Count: 1099)
