[PRP] A conflict of interest (Jabez, Koka)

[Annchen]

Jabez liked the freedom of being a healthy leopard in a pride full of sick lions. He was healthier and stronger than most of his peers, and more importantly, he could leave whenever he wished. As an apprentice he was supposed to learn a skill, but he found that no one questioned his trips to the rogue lands. He was "hunting" if anyone asked, or possibly "scouting" like his mom. Some days he returned with a kill, sometimes not. The important part was the freedom.

Auntie bird might have something to say about it, but he had developed a skill not to listen when she nagged. Some trips lasted more than a day, and if he kept it up his mother might try to have a talk with him too. Might just be easier to not return one day. Jabez hadn't really planned to leave, but he hadn't disregarded the idea either. It was a possibility. He was a leopard, and he could if he wanted to. But today he was just going to enjoy his freedom. He was quite far from the pride borders, looking for some kind of trouble to get into.  

[Annchen]

The young leopard had never been in a real fight, and never really been attacked. If you asked him he had plenty of fighting experience, but compared to what went down in the roguelands it was all cub play. He wasn't completely oblivious to his surroundings, however, and when a large dark something attacked him he tried his best to get out of the way.

He was sort of successful in getting out of the way, and the two animals didn't collide head on. Jabez stumbled to the ground, but scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could, facing the creature that had attacked him. He had expected it to be a grumpy rhino at the least and was surprised to see a lioness. Wow, she must be really confused if she tried to hunt a leopard. His fluffed up fur started to settle somewhat, but it was obvious that he had been startled.

"Did you think I was a wilderbeest or something," he asked, trying to sound confident but probably coming across as a bit shaky. He didn't think she had attacked him on purpose, so a mistake was the only possible explanation he could see.  

[Annchen]

Jabez wasn't sure how to read the lioness in front of him. He usually didn't bother worrying to much about how other's felt and why they acted like they did. In his pride, there hadn't been a need to think much about those things up to this point. But this lioness didn't act like the lions he was used to, and it made him feel uncertain. It wasn't a feeling he enjoyed at all, since he liked to think he was always on top of things. To hide his insecurity he did what he usually did and talked too much.

"Well," he said, "You should be more careful, you might end up giving someone the wrong impression and get yourself into a fight."

If he'd stopped to think and actually look at the dark lioness, he might have figured out that she was fit, strong and probably able to kick his a**. The situation was uncomfortable, but the leopard still had a false sense of security. He'd never lost a fight to a lion before, and he didn't really think anything bad could happen to him.  

[Annchen]

Yabez was confused. A tiny part of his rain was screaming at him, but he was surprisingly slow to pick up on the Very Bad Signs. When he realised that she was probably not joking around, and that this lioness might actually be trying to pick a fight. Oh s**t. He had not planned to fight anything bigger than a hare today, and while he didn't quite get how outmatched he was, he did understand that it would not be a 'fun' fight. She was a large lioness and older than him.

"Are you sure you want to do this," he said, in a voice that was way to high pitched to sound intimidating. "I don't like to fight with girls."

He cringed inwardly, wondering if he had just made everything worse.

Kolina

If you feel like finishing this... Here's his healed up and scarred version. (As an adult, after this fight...)

 

[Annchen]

Yabez swallowed, but it did nothing to help the dryness of his mouth. When the huge lioness charged, he almost tripped over his own paws in order to get out of her way. For a few (very rapid, very panicked) heartbeats he thought he'd managed to outwit her and dodge the attack. A painful moment later he understood that she'd streaked past him on purpose in order to attack from behind. He scrambled to his feet and desperately tried to run away, but his movements seemed so slow compared to those of the homicidal lioness.

The little leopard hadn't even realized he was bleeding yet.

Kolina

 

[Annchen]

Even over the loud thumping of his heart and his ragged breath he could hear that the lioness was following. He willed his legs to move faster, but it still felt as if he was running too slowly, and he started to wonder why she hadn't caught him yet. A few heartbeats later he understood why. She was carelessly wasting energy by taking the long way around and then rushing at him. Playing with him.

The whites of Jabez eyes were showing, and he was breathing heavily from fear and from running as fast as he could. He threw himself to the side, trying to avoid a head on collision. He could feel her streaking past, and yowled as she stepped on his tail. Getting to his feet again was the hardest thing he'd ever done, but he was too scared to stay still. He needed to get away from her. Perhaps he was just making her little game all the more fun by running around like a panicked rodent, but the leopard wasn't sure she wouldn't try eating him or something if he tried to feign death.

Kolina

 

[Annchen]

Jabez was sure he was going to die, but he wasn't about to go down without a fight. Technically speaking he was down already, but he twisted around and tried to defend himself as best as he could with both teeth and claws. The scent of blood was heavy in the air, and most - if not all of it - was his own. He wasn't sure if he was doing any damage at all, but he couldn't just lie there and take it so he kept clawing and kicking, trying to ignore the pain when his right paw was sliced open by her sharp claws.

He hissed, wondering if she was just planning to shred him to bits or if she'd move in for the kill soon. Those teeth looked awfully large from up close.

Kolina