Kiongozi'anana's shoulders slumped as he padded away from another hunt. Not for the first time, he wondered why the Great Lion had chosen to place him in the one class where he had to do what he was worst at. He just...he just didn't know how to hunt, and it felt like he was forever getting in everyone else's way. He could even fight better than he could hunt, although that...really wasn't saying much. The small, lean, scar-littered male sighed and shook out his mane, too caught up in his thoughts to notice the lioness following him.
Outwardly, Apatheia showed little more expression than she usually did. Inwardly, she was fuming. The group's hunt had nearly been blown more than once by this scrawny little excuse for a male, and she had had it up to here with it. Her rank here was much the same as it had been back in the Kunanda, and she was going to impart some of her hunting skills to this male if she had to shove them down his throat! She stormed after him for a few minutes before she realized he hadn't even seen her. Insult added to injury, her irritation went up a few notches.
"You. Stop there," she snapped, making no effort to hide the demand in her voice.
"What the--" Kio's entire body stiffened, and the startled male pivoted to face the lioness. Where the hell had she come from? She was another hunter, yes, but...okay, so she'd been following him. Why had she been following him? Something about her posture made the hair along his spine fluff a bit as his tail tucked beneath his body. Was he in trouble? Had he done something wrong on this hunt? "Y-yes, what is it?" he managed to get out, ears slicked back and eyes darting as though looking for possible escape routes.
Despite herself, a low growl began before Apatheia abruptly cut it off. "Stop cringing," she instructed. "Obedience is commendable, cowardice is not. But that is not why I am here." Stepping closer, her eyes narrowed a fraction as she looked him up and down. "Your performance in the hunt is beyond appalling. How is it you have survived like that? Were you never taught, or was your mother as poor at hunting as you are?" Harsh words, but there was little mercy in her tone. He needed the truth, needed the questions if he was to ever improve at all.
Kio flinched at the words, although he couldn't say they were entirely unexpected...nor were they unfair. He knew he was terrible at hunting, and was honestly surprised he hadn't had a fellow hunter corner him in anger before now. Not...that he was cornered, really, but he had a feeling running from this lioness would be a bad idea. She didn't look like the sort to just let it drop, and they were both hunters--he would have to face her again sooner or later. "How did I survive? I ate what hunters didn't want anymore," he said quietly, staring at the ground as though it might open up to allow him to escape from this conversation. "I was on my own since my mane began to grow in. My mother had little patience for cubs...I think my brother and I were lucky she waited until we would stand a chance."
Apatheia simply stared at him, an unreadable expression on her face. Finally, one brow rose. "Not much of a chance if you can't hunt. She might as well have left you both to die." Terrible. Simply terrible. Even if the males in her birth pride had not been particularly prized, they were valuable enough for the continuation of the pride and rarely just...discarded. In fact, they had been rather pampered--the only responsibilities a Parastar had were to hunt and to aid the females in producing (and rearing) cubs. To simply throw males away was wasteful. Wasteful, and stupid. Giving herself a mental shake, she looked back to the undersized, wiry male. "Is your brother any better at hunting than you are, at least?"
"I know," Kio replied miserably. Another flinch, this time more pronounced than the last...and for a different reason. His brother...they had managed together, somehow, even had a few successful hunts before one of them had gone so terribly wrong and left Kio alone. Alone to fight, to scavenge, to nearly starve before a kindly cub-raiser from a harsh pride had taken pity on him. "He...was, a little. We did okay for a little while...but there was an accident." He glanced away, shifting from paw to paw. "He didn't make it."
"I see." A frown from Apatheia this time, just barely creasing her muzzle. This male had his reasons for being such an abysmal hunter, it seemed. However, there was no reason for him to continue being one. "I will teach you to hunt," she stated abruptly, moving away from the subject of Kio's brother altogether. "You will find me, or I you, on days when we are not to hunt officially. You will learn, and you will apply what you learn to those hunts."
"Alri--wait, what?" Kio stared at the female for a long moment. The dressing-down he had expected...an offer of help, however, had been the furthest thing from his mind. It was not, however, something he could easily turn down now that it was an option. He was a hunter, and he needed to know how to hunt in order to be an effective one--it was the kind of simple logic even a cub could follow. "I...alright. When would you like to meet...tomorrow?"
Apatheia nodded. "Tomorrow." And without another word, she turned to stalk off. While her anger had cooled, there was still a certain indignation to be found in the scrawny little male's story. Well, he might not have had a proper female role model before, but he'd sure as the Godde--Great Lion have one now.
