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 Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:12 am
 Jagazi was an adult female, but that didn't change the fact that she had to listen to her mother. Or should do that at least. Who was she kidding? They were family, and she respected her mother and aunt.
An almost whiny "Can't Pisi do it?" hadn't helped either. Ugh.
So she had hunted. And missed. And hunted. And failed. It was normal, of course. Even the very experienced huntresses of the pride came back without a kill, or needed several attempts to bring one down. Perfectly natural, but oh so annoying. She was too proud to return without being able to fulfil her mother's wish so she washed her face, composed herself and tried again.
Eventually a sickly antelope fell for her claws. Finally! Now she just had to drag the stupid thing back. Oh, and find Jasiri. Jasiri paced near the edge of the prides current resting place. He didn't stop staring at a pile of rocks nearby. A dry and very dead looking bush seemed to grow out of the lifeless stone. Now and then the branches rustled in the wind, but the yellow lion was waiting for another kind of movement. There it was again!
He took a step closer, and the thing disappeared again. He'd seen the entire head this time and he was sure it was a snake. One large enough to swallow a cub. A low growl vibrated in his throat, but he wasn't sure how to handle the threat. A snake that size could injure him too, even if it wasn't poisonous. He was sure he'd seen blood splattered across the white scales and it made him seriously uneasy. "Stubborn mortal," Veri said to herself as she pulled back into the crevice she had occupied since yesterday. It annoyed her that he could trap her like this, but she was unwilling to slither out and see what he'd do. He smelled like anger and fear, and that combination might spell bad news.
Teleportation was one solution to the problem, but she had never attempted it while shapeshifting. Even when she was just disguising herself as a lioness she had a habit of changing back before flying or teleporting. Was it even possible to do two things at once? She was not keen to try and suddenly find herself full size and buried under rocks.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:56 am
Jagazi did not look impressed when she finally located her father, staring at a pile of rocks as if they were a dangerous monster. She dropped the antelope with an annoyed huff. Not even patrolling, or scent marking, or beating something up.
"So this is where you're hiding," she said, "Mom said I should feed you."
She wondered if Igazi knew he'd been here the entire day. That's what some of the other females had said at least. She had no reason to doubt them. So while she had hunted (complete with blood, sweat and tears) he'd walked around out here looking dumb. There better be a good explanation."I'm not..." he started, but didn't complete the sentence, "Thank you."
Jasiri knew better than to upset Igazi, or Jagazi for that matter. Both females had a mind of their own and didn't hesitate to speak their mind. He tore his eyes from the offending pile of rock and managed a weak smile at his daughter. He didn't like the look on her face.
"That's a nice antelope," he tried.Veri flicked her tongue as she heard and felt another lion join the first. Flick. Lioness. Flick. Antelope, dead. Flick. Flick. Annoyed, but neither scared nor really angry. She decided against sticking out more than the tip of her tongue. Hopefully the mortals would get bored and leave on their own. Ah, this was so stupid.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:09 am
"No, it's not a nice antelope," Jagazi spat, "It's an ugly and sickly and stupid antelope, but it's food. What are you doing out here?"
It better be good. Like... Hmmm... No. She couldn't come up with any good reason to mope around out here like this, so he better be able to come up with something.
"You're not running away, are you?" she asked. She still remembered the weird way the previous Umholi had disappeared. One running away, and then the two fighting... Dying. No. He wasn't going to disappear on them, was he? Igazi would kill him, and she'd help.Jasiris eyes folded back a little at the unprovoked yelling. What? What did he say? He didn't even have time to answer her first question before she blurted another.
"No... What?" he said, "Of course not. There's a snake hiding among those rocks."
He motioned towards the pile with his paw. The freshly killed antelope smelled good, but he didn't make any motion to eat it. Not yet. He wondered if the scent of blood would lure the snake out. It was weird, he'd thought he'd felt a vague scent of blood even before Jagazi came here. His mind must be playing tricks on him, or perhaps he was more hungry than he realized.Veri had no trouble hearing the lion getting chewed out, even with the limited hearing her snake form offered. Wow. She liked that girl already. Now, if she could only shame the male into leaving his post so she could scram, that would be great.
"Yes," she said quietly to herself, "Take that antelope and eat it somewhere else now."
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:20 am
A snake? Jagazi stared blankly for a few heartbeats and then laughed out loud. A snake? Jasiri was worried about a widdle snake?
"What? Go get Inyoka'dla and let her eat it," she said, "I can't believe you're worrying about a snake."
The weird looking secretary bird that had followed the rescue party home had apparently decided to stick with the Bonelanders. It already had quite the reputation since it gladly gobbled up trespassing snakes and lizards. The only ones that weren't as happy about the birds antics might be the cubs of the pride, since lizards were fun toys to chase and try to pounce."It's large, Jagazi," Jasiri explained patiently, "It could kill a cub, I'm sure of it. I don't think even the snake eater could handle this one."
That bird gave him the creeps, but he seriously doubted this snake was in her league. From the glimpses he had got it looked too large to swallow, and the signs of blood splatter didn't exactly inspire confidence.Veri would have perked her ears, but her head was smooth and without any protrusions to show emotion. A snake eater? What kind of pride was this? She'd make sure never to go here with her snake. He was large enough, and could take care of himself, but she didn't know what this snake eater was. It might mean trouble. Perhaps she'd have to make a run for it after all. Or... Slither for it.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:31 am
Jagazi didn't look convinced at all. Sure, snakes could be dangerous to cubs, but Inyoka'dla had managed to take down quite scary looking ones. She squinted at the cracks between the rocks but couldn't see any sign of monster-snakes.
"Are you sure it's still there?"The tip of Jasiri's tail flicked.
"I saw it just before you got here," he said, "It poked it's head out between those rocks there.""Right," Jagazi said, still not entirely convinced, but willing to humor her father for now. He looked kind of annoyed. "You know what, you can watch that hole while you eat, and I'll go get the bird, okay?""Fine," Jasiri said, and positioned himself so he wouldn't miss any move from the snake while eating. The scent of blood was nearly overpowering his senses when he slit the antelope open. Strange. He made a mental shrug and tucked in, with frequent pauses to check the dark shadow between the rocks.The snake eater was a bird. Veri wasn't sure if she should be relieved or worried. A bird might have a long pointy beak, and she couldn't crawl back much further into her hiding place. Time to act, perhaps. The lion was distracted, and the lioness would probably take a while yet.
She tensed up, took a deep breath and made her escape as quickly as she could. Hopefully the lion would be too surprised to act, but if he tried to get in her way she wasn't afraid to fight.
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:42 am
Jagazi came back with the secretary bird and a couple of lionesses in tow, but the scene that greeted them was gruesome. There was blood on the ground and Jasiri's pelt was stained red on his leg, his paws and around his maw. The leg stain looked like a large bite wound. But it was too large to be from a snake, right?
"Dad... what?""I'm fine," he said, "I'll be fine. Most of it is antelope blood anyway, and the snake is gone."
More blood than he liked was his own, however. The snake had bit his leg and hissed some kind of snake curse at him. He'd tried his best to stop it from getting near the pride, but he wasn't sure his claws had done any damage on the slick white scales. He'd got a nose bleed, somehow, perhaps the snake had hit him. The snake was gone now, but he had at least made sure it went away from the pride and the cubs.
The snake bite hurt like hell, and he hoped it hadn't been poisonous. He didn't protest as the lioness ushered him back towards the middle of the pride territory. Someone carried the half eaten antelope and the rest of them fussed over him.-fin-
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