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It would not be wasted, that corpse of hers lying in the dirt.

Forget the fact that Meshindi and himself had already eaten. Forget the fact that Gepeto chose not to tell his companion where he was headed or what he had picked up on. Forget all about that.

He had arrived, stomach gurgling, and was waiting a short distance away from the lioness. He pined for the warmth of blood to slide down his throat once again. Sharing a meal was never quite satisfying enough...he needed more. Growing boys needed more. He kept down wind of both the carcass and its protector, watching for a short while as she ate and then found rest on a rock. Ravens, or whatever birds they were had already begun to infiltrate his next meal. She seemed content watching them do so...

Gepeto was never one to be willingly patient. Hunts were different altogether, and some instances where diligence was a necessity he would allow for his mind to calm. For is body to move methodically along until he got what it was he wanted...but it would come down to choosing between two evils in this instance. Either he would force an interaction between other lion and himself, chasing her off or he would continue to sit things out.

Wait for the coast to be clear.

In the dark from his short distance away a low, frustrated growl did rumble. He was still hungry, and that lioness did not look as if she planned to be leaving any time soon. He needed to act now, particularly because he didn't like being too far from Meshindi for too long. Not that he would admit to that openly.

In a flurry of earth toned fur and quickly pounding paws, Gepeto charged the female and her catch. Sliding to face her, he tucked his neck into his shoulders and let out a roar. He hoped to scare her off indefinitely. "Leave, NOW."

The lioness faltered. She was a strange face separating him from his next meal; nothing more than a threat in the wild. And while he watched her suffer for those few moments, gripping at the soil beneath his feet with talons sharp and at the ready; he could not help but seethe with pride.

He was certain of a victory.

But, without warning, the tides began to turn. That tiny female before him had found courage in a moment that he had sworn was his own. She spoke with a strength that seemed oddly familiar; distantly, perhaps. As if he had used those same words before...she was not intimidating, but meant to be and it was hard to watch without fumbling from laughter.

She was so young, he concluded. So very naive. To be on her own, so brightly colored and so stubbornly set; it surprised him. She surprised him. Gepeto absorbed her growing frame with unwavering eyes, shoulders rising and falling as one step after another brought him closer to her. Did she think she stood a chance against him? "You better hope your feet move faster than your mouth, lioness." He spat back, although with the firmness that had been there before lacking. Now, so it seemed, the lion was humoring her.

Whatever Gypsy business she spoke of went above his head, for now. All he had heard was King. And he wasn't at all interested in that title. "I'll give you a head start."

When nearly upon her, Gepeto expelled a heavy snort that would have blown her finer hairs to the side. There was a ferocity in his gaze, a honest to goodness threat to her livelihood that nearly convinced him to lash out just as he had said...

But it seemed to do nothing to the lioness except more firmly plant her paws onto the ground.

What was she waiting for? "GO." He dared to inch closer, towering over her bright frame before slinking to her side and stepping around her. "Or were you looking to die today?" He couldn't stop the stumbling that followed, his attempts to be a blood lusting lion squashed by his confusion.

Fortunately by the time he came to face her again, his features had re-hardened; a look of expectation wrinkling his maw.