Topic: A little less conversation (Open) (Read 131 times)
Josiah Junior Member King of the lions. Mated to optional name member is offline
It's not easy being King
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A little less conversation (Open) « Thread Started on Apr 9, 2008, 11:34am »
The heat of the summer sun had certainly done a number on the grassy plains. The wet season was still a ways off and already the threat of a plains fire was steadily growing stronger. Give it a few more weeks and the tall grass would be nothing but kindling. This was not a comforting thought, especially to a guy who already enough on his mind as it was.
A faint puff of wind stirred the tips of the grassy forest, rustling softly as the rough yellow-brown blades swayed to and fro as if tickled by an invisible hand. Even though it was nothing but solid grassland for miles in any direction it was near impossible to spot anything that wasn't standing stock still on all four legs. There were a number of gnarled trees scattered about at random, as if some half-blind giant had tried its hand at landscaping and just plunked the trees down at random with no design pattern in mind. This didn't seem to bother an adolescent male giraffe that was busily nibbling on the almost-too-tall-to-reach branches of one of the trees. Being out in plain sight with no cover whatsoever was always a really bad move on any creatures part but this thingyy young bull figured he had it covered. After all, he was taller than most animals around and as far as natural predators were concerned all he had to worry about were lions and he hadn't seen or smelt one all day. Why allow good food to go to waste just because every other four-legged mammal was too afraid to stick their noses out in the plains. It just meant more food for him.
With the young giraffe's height he could easily see anything that would be considered a threat long before it had a chance to get close to pounce on him. The trees were empty, he was hungry and he thought himself practically untouchable. At first he had been wary, nibbling a few branches and then staring out for a few minutes to check for any threats but after a few hours that got old and he just busied himself with the task of eating without a care in the world. Pity no one told the young buck that in the grassy plains, a lion could be standing right beside you and you wouldn't see it. Maybe someone had warned him once but he had forgotten that cardinal rule. This lapse of judgment was to work against him sooner than he thought.
Josiah's chin brushed the ground as he slowly crept forward. Usually it was hard for him to hide his bulk from view but in his territory that the great creator had crafted solely for the lions, he wasn't even a smudge on the giraffe's radar. His thick mane blended in with the tall grass that tickled his body as he crouched full out on his stomach, inching forward without a sound. The grass barely stirred as he lifted his head ever so slightly to get a bearing on the giraffe's hindquarters. It wasn't fully matured but it could still pack a kick that could shatter his jaw if he wasn't careful. But the big guy knew how to handle these things. It took careful planning, precise timing and a hell of a lot of brute strength, all of which he had and fully intended to use right then. It had been too long since the last time he had hunted on his own and he was looking for a challenge. Well, he had certainly found it.
Maybe it was instinct or maybe it was a fluke but the gluttonous giraffe suddenly swung its head around and stared at the spot where Josiah was hunkered down, a good six leaps from the tree. Josiah didn't so much as breathe as the giraffe sniffed the air and turned its triangular head this way and that, trying to see something it could barely make out. The tension wrapped around the lion's spine like a flaming hot steel coil but he did not move. The wind was in his favor and he knew he just had to be patient. Just a little longer.
With a snort the giraffe went back to eating, figuring that it was probably just the wind that had startled him. He didn't see the hulking figure that sprung out of the grass until it close enough for him to see the gleaming amber of lion's eyes. The giraffe snorted in alarm and kicked instinctively as he bolted but Josiah skidded under the massive flying hooves and swung out a heavy paw that hooked one of the giraffe's hind ankles. The move did nothing more than unsteady the giraffe for a moment but the moment was all he needed. Like a rabbit Josiah hunkered down on his back legs and lept straight up so that his claws found the fleshy flank he was aiming for. Half-hanging off of the giraffe, Josiah used gravity to his advantage and became a dead weight that was too much for the giraffe to handle on those long spindly legs of his. With a grunt the adolescent teetered and tipped over like a toppled ladder. It landed like scattered deck of cards and Josiah's had his mouth clamped under the giraffe's chin and twisted its head to the side before it could breathe. All he had to do now was wait until it suffocated and then it was dinner time.
Or so it would be if Josiah's ears perked forward as he sensed something that didn't sit right with him. His angry growl was gurgled and muffled as he kept his grip on the giraffe's throat as it tried to free itself but could not reach the lion king with its ungainly legs.
Savannah Akura Junior Member Gold leopardess Mated to Optional name member is offline
...Beautiful Disaster...
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 68 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #1 on Apr 20, 2008, 7:32pm »
It had been a hectic morning. She had been in one of those moods today and she hadn't been ablt to get along with anyone back home. Her poor siblings got the worst of it. Tempest still hadn't learned when Savannah would rather be left alone and Savannah had been forcing civility all day. Finally, to prevent another arguement and to keep herself from accidently hurting her sister's feelings with the scathing comments that always seemed to pour out of her mouth without thought, she had left home. As soon as she was out of the house, she was tracking a nice sized antaloupe. She had chased it out past the leopard's territory, through the neutral meadow, and now to the outskirts of the lion's land. The memory of her past encounter with a lion that almost lead to her sisters beheading would have made her turn back if she hadn't been getting closer and closer to her prey.
She continued to close the distance until she saw a familiar mane as its owner viciously attacked a young giraffe. She paused for a second, torn between getting her prize and escaping without another meeting. Savannah shook off her aprehensions and continued after the antaloupe. She would kill it, and then drag it off without another look at the male. She wasn't being reckless, she just had too much pride to turn around and run home with her tail between her legs. In that respect she was completely unlike her older sister. Besides, the lion would probably get a kick out of the younger sister shaking in fear at his prescence like the older one had. She concentrated on her own hunt, but out of the corner of her eye she could see that he had taken the giraffe down. It was impressive, and she couldn't help but slightly envy the lion's size. She would have to hang on the animal's neck for much longer before it finally toppled.
The distance between Savannah and her next meal got smaller and smaller until she was right behind it. The poor animal sensed that there was no way for it to escape the spotted leopard and it was clearly panicing. Normally, the chase would have ended long ago, but Savannah had enjoyed it today. It took her mind off of everything else and let her slip into her predatory state of mind where nothing mattered except for what she was chasing and how she would get it. With one exceptionally hard push of her legs, she lept onto the antaloupe. Her teeth sank into its throat as her claws scratched its hide and she moved off of it to drag it downwards. It made a pitiful sound as it felt the large cat finally begin to end its life. Savannah felt a surge of predatory happiness as she ripped at its throat and the noises stopped. She paused before she began to cart it away to see what the lion was doing now.
Josiah Junior Member King of the lions. Mated to optional name member is offline
It's not easy being King
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 64 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #2 on Apr 21, 2008, 11:57pm »
Josiah's eyes followed the lethal form of the spotted she-cat as she closed in on the doomed antelope. He dropped all of his weight onto his forepaws as he practically sat down on the giraffe's head in order to pin the neck down with the length of his body. The large spotted herbivore let out a guttural bellow as Josiah's teeth worked their way into the sweet spot and as the blood began to flow Josiah uttered a grumble of pleasure. There was nothing like a tough kill to make things satisfying. The feeling of raw power unleashed was intoxicating and he got drunk faster off this than off of any type of man-made alcohol. There was nothing like the kill.
Only when he felt the last breath leave the adolescent giraffe did Josiah release his hold on its neck and took in a much needed breath of air. God that felt good. His tongue worked away at the blood on his muzzle as he gave himself a good shake and stood up to survey his handiwork. Not bad. And after he had helped himself to the finest cuts of meat he'd give the call for the rest of the pride to join in. After all it wasn't every day that giraffe was on the menu and he had to keep his ladies happy. He had dinner covered for the next the day so now he wouldn't have to hear them gripe about always having to do all the work.
Josiah sniffed the gaping wound in the dead animals neck before stepping over the sprawled legs and settling down beside its belly. After seven hundred years of living the life of a fully-fledged carnivore Josiah still couldn't stomach raw greens. Lettuce was practically murder on his digestive track and fruits only made him sick. Nah, he had to get the good stuff the old fashioned way by eating someone else's. It was messy but even he couldn't be picky when it came to these things. Yet he stopped himself just as he as about to dig in. The antelope's death note caught his attention and he sat up in order to see over the grass. He could barely make out Savannah's figure but the twitching of her tail gave away her position. So she had brought it down. Was it worth working up the effort to steal it from her? He had a whole giraffe to himself but he had a number of ladies with big appetites and no one could turn their noses away from dessert. Might as well go over and see if it was worth it.
Josiah let out a long low roar as he rose to his feet and sauntered over to the were-leopard, taking care to come in from the side so that she wouldn't be able to pull any funny business on him without him seeing it. With his face bloodied and his mane all over the place he sure did look like a terror but instead of charging the smaller cat and chasing her off as he would have done, he simply walked on over and stopped a few feet away as he eyed both Savannah and her kill.
"Not bad." He murmured to himself as he studied the scene. However, he wasn't referring to the dead antelope.
Savannah Akura Junior Member Gold leopardess Mated to Optional name member is offline
...Beautiful Disaster...
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 68 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #3 on Apr 22, 2008, 12:22am »
When he walked over his face was covered in blood and Savannah saw why so many people were afraid of him. If she was going to be honest, he looked terrifying. She couldn't say much about that though, her own mouth was drenched in the blood from the anteloupe and her attempts to lick it off weren't doing much good. When he stopped walking towards her and stood still, she stared at him for a second before leaning her head down and sinking her teeth into the carcass. She thought it was slightly funny that he had walked up to her that way. Did he think that she was going to leap at his head like her sister ? No, most likely it was just all those years of habit. She wasn't one who would attack a lion out of the blue. Sure she was rather aggressive, but she wasn't suicidal.
She kept her eyes glued to him as she started to drag the body away. She would do just about anything to avoid another confrontation, especially since this time her sister wasn't here to bail her out with a good distraction. If he wanted to steal the food, she would just have to let him. It killed her to do so, but there weren't any other options. If she didn't hand it over then he would just take it and he might take a few swipes at her in the process. As it was, she was still in danger though he didn't look all that threatening. She wondered if he would let her just take the animal and go or if he would make things difficult. With her luck, it wouldn't be the first option.
Josiah Junior Member King of the lions. Mated to optional name member is offline
It's not easy being King
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 64 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #4 on Apr 27, 2008, 12:55pm »
Josiah eyes Savannah cautiously as he carefully sniffed the wind, turning his head this way and that as he let his lower jaw hang loosely. It was a clear display of power, nothing new. Show off the lower canines, seem all big and bad-ass, and hopefully get what you want without resorting to fighting. Truth be told most of the time Josiah would rather avoid a physical conflict. All male lions and were-lions were like that. Sure it didn't seem like that when one was charging right at you with teeth bared and fur flying but if a lion could get what he wanted without having his fur swiped off he'd do whatever it took to make it so. But for Josiah old habits died hard because a hundred years ago he would have no choice but to growl, and roar, and present himself as some big scary hell cat. The fighting may have come to a standstill for now but he had to keep up appearances for appearance sake. That's all he had to work with. When it came down to it, there was one of him and god knows how many other male cats that would love to tear him to pieces.
"You're one of the Akura's aren't you." Josiah spoke up as he took a step forward for every step Savannah took back. He made no attempt to have a go at her antelope. He just kept the same amount of distance between them as he flick his tail lazily from side to side, brushing away a few pesky flies that kept landing on his sweat darkened flanks.
Savannah Akura Junior Member Gold leopardess Mated to Optional name member is offline
...Beautiful Disaster...
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 68 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #5 on Apr 27, 2008, 10:45pm »
She really dod have knack for getting into trouble, didn't she ? She could already hear Tempest scolding her about not turning on her heel and running for all she was worth, but judging by the way he kept the distance between them the same, she didn't know if he would let her do that. She did know that she didn't want to keep the backing up game going, so she stopped. The open mouth thing was what really messed her up. She became dead focused on not doing anything that would make those jaws close around her. After he did that, she let the anteloupe fall. If he wanted it, she would be damned if she would stand in the way. It annoyed her that she had to be so yielding, but that was the way it was. He was a lion and she was a leopard. Well, not all the time, but currently. He was bigger than her so he got what he wanted.
Hearing his question she nodded. "And you're the King of the Lions," she said before realizing how stupid that was. Of course he was. Who the hell else would he be ? She wasn't really all that worried about her life at the moment. He had had an oppertunity before now to rip her throat out and she had been fine. That didn't mean that he wouldn't now, or that she was in no danger, but she didn't think she was all that high on his priority list. Surely he had better things to worry about than skinning one little leopard. She was a little curious as to how he knew she was an Akura, but she didn't dwell on it.
Josiah Junior Member King of the lions. Mated to optional name member is offline
It's not easy being King
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 64 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #6 on Apr 28, 2008, 1:04pm »
Josiah snorted back a laugh that threatened to crumple his tough demeanor at Savannah's statement. He coughed and lowered his head for a second so that his mane would hide his face from view until he managed to regain his stately composure. What was it with these leopards and awkward situations? First he had one use his skull as landing pad and now here he was with another, out in the middle of nowhere, stating the obvious? Wow, had it really be that long since he had interacted with others that didn't belong to the lion race? For a moment there he could have sworn that he had forgotten how to interact with others.
Oh boy Jose, get a grip.
He thought to himself as he coughed again and lifted his head. Okay maybe now he could say something without sounding like an imbecile. Obvious statements aside he didn't know what to say. Hi, how are you and can I eat that? Something told him that wouldn't sound very...regal.
"Actually I could have sworn that I was the Pope." Whoa, wait. The Pope?
Smooth man, smooth.
If he could have he would have smacked his forehead. God that had come out wrong. What the hell man? Why the heck couldn't he say something normal? This was weird. Maybe the giraffe had landed a kick to his skull without him knowing it. Maybe he had a concussion? Yeah, yeah that had to be it.
"Um...," He quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching but aside from the occasional cricket they were completely alone. "You gonna eat that?"
Savannah Akura Junior Member Gold leopardess Mated to Optional name member is offline
...Beautiful Disaster...
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 68 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #7 on Apr 28, 2008, 4:33pm »
She could have sworn that he was trying not to laugh, but when he straightened back up, he was still serious. It was her own fault if he was laughing. If she hadn't been such a moron, he wouldn't have been laughing, if he even was. For all she knew, he really could have been coughing. She was about to awkwardly make a parting comment, but then he went on about being the pope. The look she gave him was odd, even in her leopard form, but she quickly wiped the look from her face. Hopefully, he hadn't caught that. There was a definete awkward pause as she restrained herself from saying something that would tick him off. It wouldn't be good to call him on that and to be truthful, she wasn't sure how he would react. Sure, she had heard the stories about him killing, but none of them said he said things like that.
When he asked her if she was going to eat the anteloupe, her eyes narrowed. "No, I'm going to use it as a chair." The words were out in a biting sarcastic tone before she could stop herself. She was too used to being able to say whatever she wanted and the fact that he wanted what she had killed aggravated her. She had worked for it, she had earned it, and he expected her to just hand it over ? She would have said something to that extent if giving it up wasn't her back up plan.
Josiah Junior Member King of the lions. Mated to optional name member is offline
It's not easy being King
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 64 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #8 on May 4, 2008, 11:00pm »
Josiah blinked and stared at her for a second before it hit him. Leopardess 1, Lion 0. He actually allowed himself to laugh this time and even though it was loud and startling it was easy to decipher from an actual roar. Well at least to lion ears it was.
"Well you never know. Antelope hide fetches a high price on the human markets for furniture. Mind you last time I check the 80's black and white zebra style was making a comeback." Josiah said with a shrug as he lowered his head for a second to sniff the dirt, all the while keeping his eyes on her.
"Well as much as I'm tempted antelope doesn't go with the Den's decor so I think I'm going to have to pass." A tiny grin appeared on his muzzle as he flicked his tail and promptly sat down. He took a moment to glance over his shoulder to make sure that his kill was safe before he turned his attention back to Savannah.
"Now you would be the Savannah sister, correct?" He asked as he causally lifted a paw and did the oddest thing. He began to lick his paw pads and rub his paw over his face. Out of all the things to be doing Josiah was grooming himself. Why? Well a bloodied face was far from professional and he was talking to leopard royalty.
Savannah Akura Junior Member Gold leopardess Mated to Optional name member is offline
...Beautiful Disaster...
Joined: Apr 2008 Posts: 68 Karma: 0
Re: A little less conversation (Open) « Reply #9 on May 4, 2008, 11:23pm »
The last thing she expected was a laugh. This was what everyone was afraid of ? She was still aprehensive, VERY aprehensive, and she wasn't going to drop her respect for his reputation anytime soon, but really, he wasn't the person everyone made him out to be. Well, he didn't seem to be anyway. All she had ever heard was that he was a murderer who would rip your throat out if you looked him in the eye. He was very... intimidating, to say the least, but not really horrific. The blood wasn't very flattering, but other than that, he didn't seem to be what they thought. A reputation like that wasn't easy to get, though, and she knew of the hard facts of some of the things he had done when the clans had really been fighting. Everyone was still on edge from that and it was probably better that everyone thought of him that way just for his safety. It didn't look like he needed any protection, but if it was her, she wouldn't want to take any chances.
"They like everything, their oppinion doesn't matter." Ever since they decided that mullets were socially acceptable, all of Savannah's confidence in their judgement abilities had disappeared. Apparently, they weren't as into them now, but she could only imagine what they would come up with next.
She remained standing as he sat down, but her stance relaxed. Savannah wasn't exactly scared, but she didn't feel like letting her quard down completely. Tempest would already have abandoned the anteloupe and run to the hills, but she wasn't her sister. She had a little more courage than that. 'b "Yep, that's me."[/b]
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