[FIN] Telltale signs (Aruná, Xatu, Xefo)

[Annchen]

Udongo was late. Not terribly late perhaps, and they hadn't really agreed on a time when she'd be back, but surely she should be back by now? The dark lioness paced to and fro, worried for no good reason, and annoyed that she was worried in the first place. How long could a hunt take? You either caught something or you didn't and then you headed back, right?

"I'll go meet Udongo," she called to Janja'nafsi, and started walking without waiting for an answer. She didn't want to ask him to come since Udongo was probably just distracted by something or other. She felt silly enough feeling worried, and she wasn't about to humiliate herself by dragging the warrior along.

It was easy enough to follow Udongo's tracks, but enough of a challenge to keep her distracted. Wouldn't it be something if she ended up tracking her sister all the way back to their current temporary den? That would be something to laugh about... Well, she'd just have to see if he met the other lioness on her way back or if she had picked another way home for a change.  

[Annchen]

(This is backdated to before the Bonelands meta)

Xatu hadn't imagined that life would turn out like this. He had always known that he'd have to leave his birth pride when he was old enough to be a threat to the Abaholi. It was the way it was done after all. He knew some males came back, just look at his half-brother Gakere for example, but that wasn't something he could see himself doing. He'd been treated like a lesser being for most of his life, and he didn't think he could ever be strong enough or confident enough to grab power like that.

But now he was in a position where he was expected and encouraged to come back. It felt strange, but he only had to touch the sore spot in his mouth where that tooth used to be to know it was real.

An old grey vulture swooped down to land on his back, said tooth hanging from leather thong around its neck. The vulture was the reason Xatu would be welcomed back bearing news from the outside, but their odd relationship held some benefit for both of them.

"You can't believe our luck," Xefo cackled gleefully, "Some daft lions hunted, got into some kind of argument and then just left their kill lying there. Get moving, I need you to scare away the other scavengers."

His vulture Xefo had a talent for finding food opportunities, even if the birds opinion of "good eats" often differed from Xatu's.

"What kind of kill," he said suspiciously, "And how long has it been out there."

He wasn't above some scavenging, but he'd rather know what he was getting himselt into first.

"It's a freaking wildebeest," the vulture said, flapping his wings like an excited little fledgling, "And they just left it. I don't think they're coming back, but even if they do we should have time to get at least part of it. Finders keepers!"  

[Annchen]

Tracking Udongo was a fairly straightforward task since she was a large lioness and didn't exactly try to hide her tracks. A paw print here, flattened grass and a broken twig there, and of course Aruná also had the familiar scent to follow. At one point her sister's scent got mixed up with hare, and the tracks went around the same area. The hare apparently had a lucky day, and Aruná found the tracks leaving the area after nosing around for a while. She had a hard time again where Udongo had traveled seemingly erratically across harder ground. Ugh... At this rate she'd definitely end up getting back way later than her sister and then feel like a complete fool for worrying in the first place. She walked back and forth, and had nearly decided to stop being silly and return when she saw a vulture circling in the distance. It could be nothing... but.

She headed in the direction of the vulture and about the time it flew downwards and out of her sight she picked up Udongo's scent again. So she had moved this way after all.

 

[Annchen]

Xatu followed the vulture and was surprised to find a recently killed wildebeest without any large predators in sight. It must have been killed by a lion, but the hunter had left the scene for some reason. The scavengers hadn't even had time to move in, and if he didn't count the flies that had started to gather their forces they were completely alone. It didn't feel right, but the young lion was hungry...

His vulture companion had no qualms about the situation and he was already all over the fresh kill. He gave Xatu an impatient glare. What was the boy waiting for? His fangs were better suited to pierce the hard skin.

"Quick," Xefo cawed and pecked at an eye, "Grab the good parts before we get company. Go on, open 'er up!"

Oh well... Xatu looked around one more time before tucking in. He should probably try to get some good parts before more scavengers got to the scene.  

[Annchen]

Aruná had all but forgotten about the vulture. She followed the tracks of Udongo's hunt with her head close to the ground. Her sister had hunted wildebeest, and she could clearly see the point where Udongo had stopped crawling and started the pursuit. The ground was riddled with hoof marks and she had to concentrate to follow Udongo's steps. This was getting exciting, and the scent of wildebeest was still strong. She could feel the faint scent of blood and lions. Lions? She stopped her little game and lifted her nose from the ground. She could see the carcass lying ten leaps ahead of her, and an unfamiliar lion eating from it.

She tilted her head and tried to piece this together. Udongo had killed that wildebeest, she was sure of it. Then why was a scrawny male eating from it? It wouldn't be completely out of the question for Udongo to pick up and feed strays, but in that case... where were Udongo? Could that scoundrel have chased her from her kill?

Aruná was done thinking. She intended to ask some questions, and let him feel her claws if the answers weren't satisfying. Oh, perhaps a bit of claws first. She leapt towards the intruder with a throaty growl.  

[Annchen]

Xatu turned at the growl, and had to duck to avoid a face full of claws. He backpedaled as fast as he could, nearly tripping over his own feet in the progress. This was a bad idea, bad, bad. Eeek! He slipped on the blood stained ground and tried to protect his head with his paws. He must have made a pretty sorry sight.

"Whoa lady," he shouted, "I'm sorry for eating your wildebeest. We thought it was abandoned! It's all yours! Don't kill me!"

Xefo took flight at the first sign of trouble, and circled above as Xatu made a complete fool of himself. Come on... Couldn't the boy at least try to defend himself and their meal? The vulture sighed. He had a lot to learn still. The vulture blamed himself for his lack of attention, but it was a rare treat to eat from a fresh carcass of this size. Delicious... And besides... This lioness had come from another direction than the two he had seen earlier. Part of the hunting party or just another opportunist?

"Hey," he cawed, trying to confuse the lioness long enough for his pathetic lion partner to get away, "Give the poor boy a break. Why would you want his kill?"  

[Annchen]

Aruná managed to land a couple of blows with her front paws, but between the young lion's mane and his own front paws protecting eyes and ears she didn't do any real damage. She backed off with bared teeth, ready to attack once more at the slightest provocation. All the shouting confused her, especially since the lion and the vulture seemed to have different opinions about who had made this kill.

"Where's Udongo," she growled, "I don't know how someone as pathetic as you could chase her from a kill."

Well... Actually... Udongo might have given him part of the kill because he was such a sad looking male, but she highly doubted she would have left the entire animal. Her sister had a heart of gold, but she wasn't stupid. Something was very wrong here, and in absence of an explanation Aruná took her fear and frustration out on the lion in front of her. She hit him once more, but without claws this time.  

[Annchen]

Xefo prided himself with being able to think on his wings. And he realised there must be something more to this than just a lioness taking the opportunity to bully her way to a free meal. He had seen a lion and a lioness leave the kill, but he needed to get through to the lioness before starting to tell her what he had seen.

"Hey, hey, HEY," he called, trying to get her attention and stop the attacks, "Who is Udongo? We found this kill like this."

Xatu just whimpered. His thick fur had prevented Aruná from causing more than a few scratches, but he had never been in a real fight before and wasn't used to violent females. The females in his pride had often scolded him when he was out of line, and he was used to treat females with respect. This was new, and quite frankly - scary.

"S'true," he croaked, trying to back up Xefo, "Found it like this. Killed. Not even opened up yet."  

[Annchen]

The fiery lioness held off her attack and looked from bird to lion and back again. It was obvious who was in charge, but she didn't get why a vulture would boss over a lion. The lion could easily kill it after all. In her pride a vulture getting too close to the lions would have found another purpose.

"You'd make a fine sacrifice," she said sweetly, but with a dangerous smile at the bird, "Udongo is my sister, and she would never leave her kill like this. She looks like me, only darker and without a violent spirit. Did you see anything here besides the wildebeest?"

She flexed her claws, but didn't make any other sign of aggression.  

[Annchen]

"A dark lioness you say," Xefo said warily, sitting tensely on Xatu's back, "Dark as in black? I might have seen her leave when I scouted the area."

He was ready to take wing again at the first sign of trouble, but the lioness seemed to have calmed down somewhat at least. He wasn't sure what the female meant when she said 'violent spirit' and he certainly didn't like her sacrifice comment. To be quite honest he hadn't bothered to memorise what the two lions had looked like. The female was larger and almost completely black if he remembered correctly. The male had been slightly lighter in shade, but still dark. He had been younger than Xatu even, without his full mane.

"You mentioned seeing more than one lion," Xatu said shakily, no longer trying to hide behind his paws, "Remember Xefo? I'm sure you talked about lions and not lion."

He was pretty shaken up, and still huddled in a submissive stance.

Xefo could have rolled his eyes, but didn't. Curse the boy for having no sense of negotiation! It would have made more sense to save that little tidbt for later. He'd have a stern word with his partner when they got out of this mess...  

[Annchen]

"What?" Aruná asked, "Udongo hunted alone. What did you see?"

The vulture was confusing her and making her angry, but it seemed the bird was the only one who might have seen what happened. She wanted it to have seen Udongo, but the bird didn't seem entirely truthful. And since she wasn't skilled in reading entrails she would have to take what she could. The vulture was out of her reach, but it did seem a bit concerned about the lion. She got an idea and bared her teeth with a growl.

"Tell me what you know," she growled and slammed down both her paws on top of the young lions front paws, "Tell me what you know or the lion gets it."

Her claws pierced skin and the lion howled. Luckily he didn't seem to be smart enough to fight back.  

[Annchen]

Xatu had never learned how to be a fighter, and in the unfamiliar situation he reverted back into the scared cub he once was. He had never been seriously abused in the pride, but he had naturally been disciplined more often than the cubs that weren't luzisi. And it usually did him no good to try to talk back or escape punishment.

Xefo played with the thought of attacking the female's face while she was distracted, but it would probably be much less painful to give the crazy b***h what she wanted. Xefo didn't seem capable of fighting back, despite being perfectly positioned fo biting her face. They needed to have a long talk later, but first...

"Let him go," he shrieked, "I'll tell you about Udongo. She killed this wildebeest and then a male arrived. Let him go or you'll never learn what happened."

To his great surprise she did, and he didn't have to invent a plan B.

When the female let go Xatu backpedalled as fast as he could, trying to put as much distance as possible between them. The brief pain of his vulture companion nipping his ear snapped him out of it and he stopped, a safe distance away.

"Stop," Xefo hissed, "We don't want her hunting us down."

He debated spinning a wild tale just to spite the violent female, but he didn't fancy being tracked down so instead he told the tale as best he could.

"The male was also dark," he said, trying to remember what the tiny lions had looked like from his high vantage point, "But not as dark as the female, Udongo. More similar to you, but no markings I could see. His mane was a shade lighter than the pelt, but still dark grey. Not a full mane either."

He did not like the way the female was looking at him, so he kept talking to avoid giving her any reason to try to dismember them.

"They talked, or argued," he said, "He hit her. Yes, I remember wondering if she'd flatten him since the male was much scrawnier, but she didn't. They left together, leaving the wildebeest here."

He fluffed up his ruffled feathers and allowed them to smooth out again. That was it, wasn't it?

"He returned to me," Xatu added, "And told me some lions had left a kill, told me to hurry. When I got here I could smell lions, but the kill was untouched. I don't think I could smell more than two of them. Male, female. Probably not a mature male, but he never marked anything here so I don't know."  

[Annchen]

For a split second she thought the lion would bail when she released him, but the bird managed to stop him. What was their deal, really? Who in their right mind would let a bird boss them around? She supposed since he was a young spirit he might have needed guidance, but a bird? She listened without commenting, but with eyes narrowed in suspicion. The vulture might not tell the truth, but she was sure that the lion wasn't capable of lying. His story backed up the story the vulture told, and her own tracking suggested that this was indeed Udongo's kill. It looked as if someone had managed to take her.

She wasn't really surprised that her sister hadn't fought back, she rarely did... Udongo was simply too nice for her own good.

"Right," she said, trying to gather her thoughts, "Sounds... Plausible. But if I don't find two sets of tracks leaving the area you are in trouble. Did you see where she went?"

The area around the kill was trampled by too many feet, and the blood from it made tracking even more difficult. She'd find Udongo's tracks again eventually, but if she knew the general direction it'd be easier. The bird motioned with his head and she nodded. Good.

She looked at the wildebeest. The two thieves had only begun eating when she got here, but the scent of blood didn't make her feel very hungry. It would have fed the three of them well for several days but... She needed to find Udongo. She couldn't do that if she gorged herself on meat.

"Get out of here," she said to the cowering lion and his vulture, "Take what you can carry from the kill."

It was the closest they would get to a 'thank you' from her.  

[Annchen]

Xefo blinked at the last part. She still looked pissed as hell, but not actively murderous. It seemed like a honest offer, and he knew a peace offering when he saw one. Better take it and leave. Quickly.

"What are you waiting for," he hissed in Xatu's ear, "Grab something before she changes her mind."

Xatu was a bit hesitant to approach 'her' kill again, but he did as he was told, and managed to tear off one of the hind legs with a large chunk of meat attached to it. His paws throbbed but he trotted away as quickly as he could. He'd tend to any scratches later. It was surreal... He'd managed to get out of this situation alive and with a large chunk of meat. How the hell they had avoided becoming her chew toys was a mystery, but he wasn't going to complain. He increased his speed another notch, determined to put a lot of distance between them before the violent lioness changed her mind.

"Keep going," Xefo said and took off from his lion's back, "I'll be back soon."

He flew back and landed on the carcass in true vulture fashion watching the lioness cautiously. This was probably not a wise move, but... This for that...

"I remembered one more thing," he said, "The young lion wore something shiny. I don't know what, but it reflected the sun when he walked away."

His sharp beak stripped a piece of meat from the kill, and he was off again, leaving the lioness behind to contemplate this last little piece of information. He didn't know if it would tell her anything or not, and he didn't care.

-end-