[PRP] You? Hunt? Hah! (Elea x Mapatano)

[Krysin]

"Mapatano."

The voice was scolding, a little harsh due to her excess irritation with the situation. She had gotten the guarantee from Hisa, Mapatano's bonded bird, that Mapatano would show her a way to hunt that wouldn't strain her impaired leg. Elea had been patient to wait for the dark lion to meet her himself and take her, but it had gotten to the point that she had gone through too many hunting missions that strained her leg, and she was tired of it. She wanted this so-called 'secret' of hunting whilst injured, and so she had roused herself earlier that day to seek out the older lion. When it came to hunting, she was serious, because it was what she had spent her life perfecting. The chase, the grab, the kill... all of this she had nearly mastered when her leg had been injured. Now she was taking baby steps back in attempt to reach her former glory.

She had seen the dark lion from a distant, for though his pelt was of a more natural color, he stood out, especially when laying on a huge rock. With the added elevation, it made Mapatano easy to spot in the distance. Of course, that didn't mean that Elea was any more difficult to see. Her pelt was stark white with lilac markings, and though it was a little dirty from all of the walking around she was doing (for which she was scolded over by Nadra), it was still easily spotted from a distance. Elea was sure that Mapatano had ample time to prepare himself for her arrival. She had made it no mystery that she was headed in his direction.

"If you're open," and by the look on her face it was clear that she suspected he was doing nothing too major this day, "I would like to hunt with you, so you can show me how to make due with my injured leg." Elea wasn't being mean, far from it. It was just that her irritation and impatience showed clearly on her face. She had no specific grudge against Mapatano - her head had cooled a little since her outburst about wanting to chase after Mchawi and Msiba. Yes, the desire was still there, but she was making good use of herself at home. When the time was right, she would give the idea more consideration. For now, she wanted to be able to share this hunting knowledge with Mapatano. She wanted to know.  

[wooga Paes]

Seen her? yes. Pleased? No. Mapatano grumbled as the adolescent approached, and his ears folded back slightly, vanishing into the dark mane. "Perhaps if you ask rather than state. And drop that tone. I have no obligation to teach you anything." He said, dryly. He wasn't exactly in his good graces with Elea, he was rather than angry, fairly disappointed with her.

The dark lion flicked an ear at her, and despite the perhaps snarky comment, his features seemed extremely relaxed, lying on the rock with Hisa perched calmly by his side. still, he was still injured himself, and the way Elea seemed to be talking to him wasn't helping his mood one bit. Hisa shook her head slightly, but said nothing, but she id nod a slight greeting.  

[Krysin]

The look she gave him was flat, and distantly displeased. And here she was doing her best to be civil after their confrontation - she'd throw civility out the window for his attitude, if she did not want to learn from him. Elea was just going to have to play nice. So, for the time being, she gave in, though it was clear that she was only doing it grudgingly. "As you wish," she said in bitter mockery of a servant. "Would you please show me how to hunt in my condition?" There, she said it, and she said it as evenly and as politely as she could manage. It wasn't much, but it was something. She really just wanted to learn, and if Mapatano knew how to hunt with three legs, well... her only option was to learn from him.

Her eyes flicked up to the sky, and there she saw Nadra, circling in to land with her own style of grace next to Elea. The white-backed vulture nodded once in greeting to Hisa, and then to Mapatano. Her own personal goal was to make sure that Elea didn't hurt herself, which she would easily do when she was determined enough to do something. The benefit always seemed to outweigh the risks with Elea. She could even be considered bull-headed sometimes, the white and purple lioness. Nadra sighed softly to herself at the look of impatience on Elea's face.

They were not going to get anywhere fast today.  

[wooga Paes]

"You didn't drop the tone. " He said, glancing at her reproachfully, but, nonetheless, the black lion stood up, sliding off his rock lazily and walking past Elea, flicking out his tail to whack her nose as he passed. This was a signal to follow, though he could have been gentler with the tail.. well, he didn't care.

"Come on. " Hisa had already taken to flight and now hovered slightly over him, having to flap her wings more than she liked to fly this slow. Usually, when her bonded just walked she'd perch on him, but the injuries didn't allow her to do this.

He led the way to the hunting grounds, and once atop the hill that overlooked them, sat down. "It really just involves a bit of strategy. " He said cooly, as Hisa landed beside him.  

[Krysin]

"I like to think of it as the watering hole being half full," she replied calmly to the fact that she hadn't dropped the tone. She had asked, and that was good enough if taking in an optimistic light. Of course, she expected that Mapatano wasn't a very optimistic person, at least not in a way that showed. Ah, he would just have to deal with it. Elea wasn't going to ask again, because that would be too much to demand from her again. She wasn't in a terribly compromising mood for the time being, Mapatano had rubbed her the wrong way once (as she had done to him as well), and that impression of him would take a little while longer to disappear or be replaced.

Her eyes widened in surprise when Mapatano whacked her nose with his tail, and though it didn't hurt, it still had a little more force then was necessary. She glared daggers at him behind his back, and was sorely tempted to walk away now before she suffer through any more of his 'abuse'. As it was, though, she was trying to conjure up some sort of revenge, but given his current condition, she was considering putting revenge off for a little while. Elea could tell that he was still hurting, at least it looked like he still had to be in some form of pain. So, he was saved from undoubtedly some kind of crueller revenge because she was pitying him slightly, real slightly.

"I know when to follow," she replied moodily, and walked beside him. She refused to walk behind him, to be led like some silly wild dog. She would walk next to him as an equal, despite her younger age and temperment.

She felt the slight distortion of wind as Nadra took off into the air, and she glanced up to reassure herself that Nadra was close by. The vulture was almost companionably close to Hisa, though on account of her larger size, she kept a safe distant, to prevent any accidents.

"What sort of strategy?" Elea had taken a seat next to him, and apparently had dropped her attitude in favor of being more serious. When it came to hunting, she got down to business, and did not play around. Once again Nadra landed besie her bonded, folding her dark-tipped wings into her side and making herself comfortable.  

[wooga Paes]

"You'll see. " He said dryly, then ganced at Nadra. "We'll need you. Follow Hisa, pay attention to what she does. " He wasn't sure how Nadra would react to being given an order by a lion that wasn't her bonded, but Mapatano didn't give her another word before beginning to make his way down the hill, and soon enough got into a more stealthy pose, crouching to the ground as much as he disliked bending his leg and creeping through the grass. Still, he stopped an odd distance away, rather far even for a healthy hunter to begin the game.

When Mapatano stopped, Hisa took off the floor, and soon enough the red kite was circling in the sky, waiting for Nadra. Mapatano watching Hisa, tilting his head a bit.

"Pay attention. " He said in a low tone to Elea, tohugh he didn't look away from Hisa.  

[Krysin]

Nadra nodded her head once, saying that she understood, and she seemed unruffled by being ordered by Mapatano. She had always been the more level-headed out of the pair, she thought with her mind, while Elea thought with her heart. Most of the time it helped them to find some sort of healthy balance in complicated situations. At times, though, Elea's bull-headness would not allow Nadra's words of advice to register, but that was rare. One of the few occassions when Elea didn't listen was when it came to hunting with her injured leg. Hunting was Elea's domain, and she stubbornly refused to listen to Nadra's advice. Nadra dealt with it well enough.

Elea silently followed Mapatano, her movements quiet despite being hindered by a useless leg. Her ears pressed flat againhst the back of her head, and her body sunk low against the ground. It was uncomfortable to move like this, but that discomfort did not register onto her facial features. Without commenting on how far away they were from the prey, she stopped, keeping so low that her belly scraped against the dirt. That was partially the reason why her coat was never the pristine white it was destined to be.

"I'm watching," she replied, her voice just as low, her tone flat because she couldn't be bothered to put any further effort into talking while she was hunting.

Nadra had taken off with Hisa, and she circled in larger, more lazy loops around Hisa. The vulture was doing her best to keep a safe distance, but yet be close enough to hear what it was that Hisa needed to tell her.  

[wooga Paes]

Mapatano nodded slightly to elea, but he creeped away, and on purpose didn't indicate for any following. He couldn't have her right next to him, she didn't know how this went. Once he was a safe distance away, he looked back up at Hisa, and with her looking back down on him, he flicked his tail a few times, tilting his head this way and that.

Hisa responded by wiggling her wing a few times or by giving a shallow, short lived dive. Once the "conversation" was done, she looked slightly at Nadra. "You'll have to adapt this because of your wings, I'm going to warn you that. " Vulture wings weren't made for what she was about to do. Perhaps a lammergeier, but not a cape.

What she did next was, however, pretty strange. After circling a few more times above a wildebeest, as if planning, the kite dove down, heading straight for it. The kite just kept gaining speed and more speed, then suddenly she was metres away from the wildebeest, her wings flared out and her talons outstretched as if she were catching a hare. Yes, she was attacking. He talons scraped the beasts nose, and it immediately shot off. It was instinctive, preybeast were extremely jump, even when something like a red kite was what was hunting them.

At first it went off the wrong way, but Hisa was fierce, swoopin around towards the side of its face and lashing out, flapping her wings in the most agitated manner possible. Because of the distance, all the poor beast saw was a crazy, large blur, and with the talons sticking at it it mistook the kite for something far more dangerous. After this, the wildebeest was properly guided in Mapatano's direction, and though she still flapped noisily after it, occasionally prodding at its behind, Hisa swerved away as it go closer to Mapatano.

Then the black lion leaped out, slamming into the wildebeest full-force, claws grasping around its neck, his weight used to drag it to the floor. The creature kicked like mad, but once down, it merely took Mapatano moments to regain himself and finish it off, despite having fallen along with it.

Moments later, Hisa perched on a dead wildebeest as Mapatano lay, content beside it. "Your aim was a bit off this time. " He commented. Hisa smirked. "So you're one to speak. "  

[Krysin]

She hated it. She hated being excluded from a hunt because she was to learn and not do the teaching. Every time Elea wasn't involved in a hunt, she felt this way. She knew she belonged out there, chasing down any prey animal manageable. That was her place, not sitting along the sidelines and observing. It was becoming more and more frequent - her leg just wouldn't cooperate at times, and if she forced it too much it would give out on her completely. If Nadra pestered enough, Elea would stay behind, and she'd be grumpy during these periods. No one else knew better then Nadra how much Elea desired to be the best huntress of the pride, and no one else knew better than Nadra how impossible that was.

But, despite the urge to follow Mapatano, she stayed where she was, keeping her eyes upon the scene. Her gaze flicked from one bird to the other, and down to the lion who crept closer and closer. But, she hadn't expected Hisa to dive right at a wildebeest. She hadn't expected the red kite to put herself in that kind of dangerous situation, and in fact she hadn't expected Mapatano to come up with this and be willing to put Hisa in such a situation. But... it seemed to work marvelously. Elea watched, enraptured by the scene of Hisa herding the wildebeest to Mapatano. It seemed so easy, the way Mapatano lunged and dragged it down to the ground and killed it efficiently. The beast put up a struggle, but it had ran too close to Mapatano to avoid death.

It was brilliant, really - not terribly accurate, and definitely not a guarantee of a kill, but brilliant in its own way.

Elea stood up, and made her way over to Mapatano with her limping steps. Once she had made it to the kill, she sat down and consideringly observed Mapatano. She didn't know really what to say, but she figured she had to acknowledge somehow that it was a good idea. "Nadra and I will have to practice a lot, to perfect that," she said, and in those words were the guarantee that Elea was going to try this hunting strategy out.

"I do not think I can dive quite like Hisa - we really will have to adapt it a little." Nadra said this as she landed next to Hisa on the carcass. She preened her feathers idly, gaze ever so often moving to the white lioness and the black lion.

"It definitely isn't accurate, but it does have its highlights," Elea admitted, more to herself than to anyone else.  

[wooga Paes]

Mapatano flickered his ears towards Elea when she came, and waited a bit for a comment. No snarky comment, what a miracle. "Nadra's big. " he nodded slightly. "Larger than Hisa. Even if her dives aren't as well, I can't picture any preybeast standing by if a vulture lands on its face. " He shrugged, then stood up.

"Anyway, there are other ways. Don't know if you ever tried chasing them off a steep slope. In moments like that, they'll break their legs if they run too fast, and chances are they'll be too panicked to see the slope before its too late. you don't even have to get too close. " He nodded slightly.  

[Krysin]

After seeing him hunt successfully and in such a unique way, she decided that he may as well deserve a little more respect from her. It wasn't much, but for the time being it seemed like a lot, because she was still in awe of his and Hisa's teamwork. The moment would pass, and one could not genuinely guess as to how Elea would act around Mapatano then. "I know she could scare a lion or too if she flew at their face," she said with a small smile, and an even smaller chuckle. The mental picture amused her, and even more, she was beginning to see how this might just work. She would just have to apply different hunting strategies, but maybe she could move back up to her former glory. Elea wasn't certain she'd ever make it back to how she had been before the accident, but she was determined to get as close as she could.

"It seems more circumstancial, chasing them off a steep slope. But, it's a good idea, if I can find the right situation for it." She shrugged her shoulder (because it would likely hurt to shrug both), deciding to be nice enough not to completely bash his idea. Her eyes flickered to the carcass, but she herself had no desire to eat it. She hadn't made the kill, and thus she wouldn't touch it. It was far too much like scavanging for her tastes, and Elea had some incredibly strong bias against scavenging. It just wasn't all that honorable.  

[wooga Paes]

Mapatano nodded. He looked down at the carcass and grabbed the beast by its neck, but waited for Hisa and Nadra to get off to actually move it. "This goes back to the pride. " He said, and raising it slightly, began to drag it back towards the mainlands. Ugh, dragging was the worst part.

"Y'know I'd help ya, but.. " Hisa commented, then perched on one of the beasts horns, hardly helping Mapa's situation at all. Sitting around like this is funner. Pull gently so you don't knock me off. " She patted her bonded's head like a grandparent would pat a cub. "Gee, thanks, Hisa. " He grumbles between wildebeest then continued to drag it, but he did drag a little more gently.  

[Krysin]

"Agreed."

She didn't have much say in it to begin with, but she was just voicing the fact that she was pleased that the wildebeest was going to feed the pride. As Mapatano began to drag the carcass, Elea came up to his side, and bowed her head so that her jaws could grip the other side of the beast's neck. Like hell she was going to sit back and let Mapatano do all the work. He had made the kill, and so she thought it was partially her duty to help him bring it back to the pride. She refused to let her leg bother her, and she refused to look at Nadra, for she could feel the vulture's stare upon her. Somehow she just knew that Nadra wasn't going to be happy with Elea using her leg. Well, Nadra would just have to deal with it. Elea wanted to help, and she was going to help.

Nadra, on the other hand, did the pair a favor by not remaining on the carcass with Hisa. She was a little heavier, and so she decided not to add her weight to their burden. Instead she took to the air, making lazy, looping circles above the moving group. She would have walked with themm, but vultures were notorious for being horrible walkers - and beside, it looked funny when they hopped around. They simply did not have the grace of smaller birds when it came to moving on the ground. In the air they were just as graceful, if not more, as any other bird.  

[wooga Paes]

Hisa sighed as Elea came along. She was all for getting on Mapatano's nerves, but not so much Elea's, and swooped off to fly above Nadra, circling around the two slower lions. Damn the slow pace of them! She couldn't fly that sloww...

Mapatano blinked as Elea came up to bpull with him, and let go, only to instead grab a hind leg and lift his head. With less of the wildebeest's body on the ground, it dragged a bit less, thoguh the leg was hardly comfortable to grab on to.

Soon they'd arrive, drop off the carcass and probably wander off. Mapatano glanced at Elea, and eyed her for a moment as she dragged the carcass. Then he smirked.

"You're welcome. "