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The grey lioness was chowing down on a downed zebra savagely. The past several days had been frustratingly fruitless hunting for Ieiunium and she was taking out her anger on her meal. Not to mention that it tasted divine after such an enforced fast.

Those who had met her under other circumstances might be surprised at the appearance of the savage hunter instead of the gentle, caring lioness. And those who had met her in the uncomfortable situation otherwise known as a pride would probably be shocked entirely. Iei reasoned that she should probably try to overcome her shyness around large groups of people, but that (as with most thoughts unrelated to survival) was a much lower priority at this moment.

She was no longer so hungry that filling her stomach blotted out all other thoughts, and the lioness' thoughts turned towards the hunt she had just finished. The zebra had been separated from its herd, lost and lamed. The perfect prey, with no family to help defend itself. In fact, there was a noticeable lack of life in this part of the savannah. Few creatures to hunt, and nearly as few to eat them. She wondered why.

Iei continued her meal, now eating more slowly and delicately, as well as taking the time to start cleaning parts of her fur of excess blood. No reason to be a glutton now that she'd taken the edge off her hunger.

Thank all the gods there were that she was no longer wholly focused on hunger. Otherwise she would surely have been too distracted to notice the odd feeling at the back of her neck that usually meant someone was behind her.

As much as she hated having to pause a meal when she was so hungry...some things had to be dealt with immediately. Iei whirled around, zebra blood dripping from her jaws and foreclaws. Her eyes were narrowed as she scanned around, looking for whatever was watching her.

She couldn't hear anything unusual, but there was something in the movement of the grasses that the lioness doubted was due to the wind. Ieiunium snarled wordlessly in the spy's general direction, a silent warning to go away.

Oh great, now the grasses stopped moving. Iei snarled to herself as she contemplated the situation. Some creature was watching her and instead of fleeing when she staked her claim, they had instead settled down to wait.

She was not in the mood to deal with this. She wanted to eat her meal uninterrupted, not have to play some sort of waiting game with a stalker.

"Leave," she hissed at the now-still grasses.

The lioness mentally raised an eyebrow as her stalker revealed himself that simply. With fur like that, she was surprised she hadn't noticed his hiding spot sooner. She was interested, however, to hear that he claimed this land as his territory. What was it with males and ownership anyway? Whatever, he seemed to be solo, else he would have said "our" instead of "my". Which meant that he had no backup out there.

Of course, she didn't either. Which put this into an interesting context.

"So it's your fault there's next to nothing living here?" she asked harshly. Yes, a lion had to eat, but that was no excuse for depleting the prey to a point where the range was virtually deserted.

Oh and he'd asked her a pair of questions. Should she answer? Eh, might as well. After all, once she left this area, no one ever said she had to come back.

"My name is Ieiunium. I'm here because here is where I am." There. Let him make of that what he would.

Well, she wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. What was it anyway, with males and talking about reproductive organs? Probably something about self-consciousness and asserting themselves. Whatever it was, she was glad that females generally had more sense. But she should probably focus on what he was saying. Now was not the time to lose track of the conversation.

But still, to chase off all the herds because he'd lost the territory? That was utterly ridiculous. The sensible thing, at least in Iei's book, was to team up with a friend or two and take back the range from the lone invader. Not that she was going to suggest that to Shakeat - he might get the idea she was offering to help defend it and that was precisely what the grey lioness was not going to do.

The point of sharing her kill, however, now that she wasn't sure she wanted to concede. Iei could see that the red lion didn't look particularly healthy, she supposed he'd been having a hard time since taking this place and really, what was the point of living here if he couldn't kill anything to eat? But she certainly didn't want to be seen as paying a fee for the use of the range.

"I think you're a pretty piss poor hunter, asking me to share mine with you," she retorted. Honestly, had he no pride?

"No," she answered firmly. What was it with males, that they seemed to think a lioness existed only to feed and pamper them? She wasn't doing his work for him, not at all! The last time she'd shared her kill with someone was with her own cubs, by the gods!

Iei also resented that this single lion, alone, laid claim to this entire territory, called it his land. If he could really be said to be in possession, it must've been because anyone with sense and skill preferred a more plentiful area. She didn't care to be told what to do, and had no patience for lazy fools.

Honestly, what was it with this lion? Iei supposed he must be pretty desperate, as any other sensible creature would have given up by now. It was her kill. She wasn't sharing. He laid some sort of tentative claim on these lands which she refused to acknowledge. And now he insisted that she leave this place with her kill since she wouldn't share.

Truly, his maturity seemed about the same level as her own cubs. Which was pathetic in a grown lion and nothing at all to be proud of.

"I'm sorry, I thought I was dealing with an adult lion," the grey lioness replied sarcastically. "It seems that I was mistaken and you're nothing but an oversized cub, dependant on others to hunt his meals for him, childishly territorial even though he cannot possibly hope to hold what he claims and rude beyond all understanding or forgiveness." Her tone became sharper as she spoke and her dark tail whipped angrily behind her.

"Why don't you go sit in time out while I finish my meal?" she offered him, treating him like the child he acted as. Then, almost surprised by her own daring, the lioness turned back to her dinner.