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 Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 2:39 pm
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Cheza’s paws were bloody at this point. The brush had given away to sharp rock, then to harsh sand, and back to grasslands. Every bone in her body ached, but the female could not stop running. She had made that mistake yesterday, shortly after the crazy male lion had tried to capture her. A momentary pause at a stream to take a drink had seemed warranted after an hour or two of fleeing. Cheza had been sure she’d gotten away from the lion, but when she turned around she had seen him, nose to the ground, tracking her scent off in the distance. Since then, she had not stopped moving. Cheza had run through the night, into the morning, and continued up until the late afternoon. The sun was setting behind her as she fled, throwing her shadow up in front of her like a pathway. Only this path seemed to go nowhere.
Cheza wanted to sigh, but her ragged, laboured breathing prevented in. Her lungs burned with effort, and the female wondered if they would give out at some point. Of course this had happened to her. She really wanted to believe that people were inherently good but...things like this just kept happening. Granted, usually it wasn’t nearly as crazy as this situation was, but what difference did it make? Cheza had spent her entire life running from others after trying to trust them. At point did she call it quits? The only memory of her mother was that of her telling a young Cheza to be kind to all. But that had never gotten Cheza anything except cuts and bruises. Maybe she should just stop trying to interact with everyone around her and become a hermit. At this point, it seemed like the safest solution.
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:13 am
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 Dik stretched slowly, curling and flexing toe, before adjusting his position so that his stomach absorbed the majority of the last of the afternoon’s warm rays. A hind leg dangled off of the large branch that the leopard was resting on, swaying in time with a happily twitching tail. This was the life Dik lived for. It had been a crazy week, what with that crazy guy and the robbery and the near-drowning. The leopard deserved a little down time. If he had his way, he’d spent the next few days munching on the zebra he’d killed this morning and sleeping the days away in his tree. No situations of mortal peril, no fights to the death. Just good food and good napping.
Not that Dik didn’t appreciate the chance to help others. He liked it, he really did. It was the reason he kept traveling around, kept searching for those in need of saving. Unfortunately the rogue lands were full of people in need of a hand, and there was never a lot of down time between his escapades. But honestly speaking, he needed a bit of break.
Dik stretched again and rolled over, masterfully staying on the branch. However, his movement had caused his zebra to shift, and the dead prey fell to the ground with a plop. The leopard sat up and peered down at it, scowling. Great. Now he was going to have to get out of the tree, grab the thing, and drag it all the way back up. With an over dramatic sigh, the male rolled over and landed gracefully. He padded over to the zebra and poked it with a claw, considering if he was hungry enough for a light snack before going back up into the tree. |
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 12:21 pm
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 Cheza, absorbed in her thoughts, had begun to lost track of where she was going and lose her awareness of her surroundings. The lioness crashed through the grass and yelped as she suddenly went flying to the dirt. The momentum of her running sent her tumbling, head thwacking painfully on the ground with each roll. When she stopped, Cheza groaned and pressed her ears back and groaned. Great. Her head, still hurting from yesterday, was going to be even worse now. The female blinked her eyes open slowly. What had she tripped over? When her her vision focused, Cheza made out the carcass of a zebra. She raised an eyebrow. What on earth was a dead, mostly uneaten zebra doing in the middle of the...oh…
The lioness’ eyes went wide and she froze, staring fearfully at the leopard standing near the kill. First a crazy lion tries to capture her, and now she had near tackled a leopard at his kill. Did she have the energy to keep running? Now that she wasn’t moving anymore, Cheza found herself completely drained, unable to lift a paw, even with the sudden rush of adrenaline. If this leopard attacked, she would be done for.
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 2:46 pm
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Kaliforneum Ha, I see you got your graphics back.
A sudden rush of movement made Dik look up, and the male swiftly dodged the body that came flying out of nowhere, nearly barreling him over. The stranger, however, did manage to crash into the dead zebra, and Dik watched as the feline went rolling in the earth. He winced slightly at the impact. It must have hurt. Then again, who goes charging off around places without looking where they were going. This idiot lioness had nearly taken him out! So much for his peaceful vacation. Dik snorted and frowned at her, opening his mouth to tell her off. But when he noticed the fearful expression on her face, the leopard stopped and observed.
The lioness was beaten up pretty badly, bloody wounds all over her body. Her paws were raw and bleeding as well, showing that she’d been running quite hard for quite some time. And her eyes...those grey eyes were like stormclouds, so full of anxiety and fear that Dik instantly felt protective. The poor girl was staring at him like he was going to kill her.
“Hey there, miss, you alright?” Dik asked, softening his expression to a concerned smile. He lowered his head and sheathed his claws, which had popped out involuntarily at all the commotion. The leopard wanted to get closer and check to see how bad her wounds were, but he wasn’t sure how the lioness would react. “You took quite a tumble there, running so fast like that.” Just what had she been running from? |
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 7:48 am
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Cheza’s chest heaved, lungs thankful to finally have a rest. The lioness stared at the leopard for a minute, not quite sure what to say. His claws had been put away and the smile on his face reached all the way up into his eyes, eyes that were kind and sweet and just as blue as the sky….
The lioness shook her head, instantly wincing at the action. She probably had a concussion. Cheza looked back up, shuffling a little in embarrassment when she realized the male was patiently waiting for an answer. “I, um, sorry.” She mumbled, eyes turning away. Cheza found herself staring at the zebra by accident. When was the last time she had eaten? She had been hungry before the run in with that lunatic, and after running over 24 hours now, the lioness was confident she could eat a whole elephant. Cheza’s mouth began to water before she realized that the leopard might not take to kindly to her eyeing his meal. The lioness gulped, fear gnawing at her gut just as much as the hunger, and found a different spot to stare at. “I guess I’m just, um, clumsy. I’ll be fine.” She should get up. She should go. But laying down was so much more comfortable. Maybe Cheza could just take a five minute break. Surely she’d put enough distance between herself and that psycho to deserve that.
The Captain Britain YEP. Thank goodness for external memory. |
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Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:47 am
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Dik raised an eyebrow as the lioness practically drooled at the sight of his zebra. Beaten, battered, and starving. Dik certainly had a lot of questions for this girl. He really needed to look at her wounds, and it appeared as if she had some sort of head injury as well. The leopard sank to his stomach, laying down on the ground near the zebra. “Not trying to be rude, miss, but you look a little far from fine. Why don’t you come on over and grab a quick bite, hm?” The male prompted with another smile. “I’ve already eaten, so it’s not like you’re putting me out or anything. Plenty of zebra to go around.” Dik shifted onto his shoulder and hip, a more relaxed position, showing he wasn’t getting up anytime soon. “It seems like you need a break anyways. I’m Rik’hard, but you can call me Dik.” |
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 9:54 am
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She didn’t want to trust. She really, really didn’t. But he seemed so friendly and at ease, and surely it made sense for Cheza to refuel. Just a few quick bites, and she would be on her way. Yes. That was a good plan. The lioness rose up to her legs, shaking with the effort, before limping over to the zebra and collapsing down next to it. The lioness tore into it, nearly moaning at the delicious taste of a meal that wasn’t days old. It was very rare that Cheza was able to enjoy freshly killed prey. The lioness couldn’t believe her luck. Maybe she had died when she tumbled and had moved on to the afterlife. Of course, her throbbing paws and the stinging ache of her wounds told her otherwise.
Cheza had wolfed down an entire thigh before realizing that she hadn’t told Dik her own name. The lioness’ ears heated, swallowing her mouthful of meat thickly. “Sorry. I’m, um, Cheza. Thank you. For the meal.” She looked up at him and smiled before looking away again. “I um, I should be going now.” She didn’t want to. The lioness was still ravenous, and her legs had become painfully sore in the few short minutes that she had been laying down.
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Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2015 4:02 pm
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Dik watched as the lioness practically ripped the zebra’s leg apart. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure that Cheza was even chewing the meat. It had obviously been a long time since she had last eaten. Distracted by the meat, Dik was confident he could look her over without her noticing. The leopard let his gaze roam over the lioness’ body, taking a catalog of all the injuries. A nasty bite on the back of her neck seemed like it was showing the beginning signs of infection, though it could just be that it looked so much more red against the female’s snowy white fur that seemed to shine in the late afternoon sun. No, it was not the time for that. Dik refocused. The other gashes were obviously claws marks, and based on their wide set, they had come from the paws of a large lion. There was one scratch, running from her face to her neck, too clean and neat to have been done in the heat of a fight. That wound had been inflicted slowly and deliberately. Someone had really wanted to hurt this poor girl.
The leopard’s fur bristled a little when Cheza announced she was getting ready to leave. Dik was going to find whoever had wanted to torture her and make them pay. “No. I think you should stay and rest.” He suggested, a little more forcefully than he had meant to. He exhaled shortly, calming himself. “Cheza, you’re very injured. You shouldn’t be exerting too much energy or you’ll hurt yourself even more.” Dik explained softly. “Come on now, tell me. What happened to you, hm? Why are you running?” |
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Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:31 am
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Cheza clenched her jaw and frowned. She wanted to open up, wanted to tell him about what had happened so badly, but at the same time she so desperately wanted to run. Besides, what could Dik possibly do to help her? Then again, would it really kill her? She did sort of owe him and explanation. He’d been so kind, letting her sit down and eat part of his kill, without being very demanding for answers.
“There was a lion.” She started, ears pressed flat against her skull. Cheza stared down at her bloody paws. “I was, um, tracking what I thought would be a carcass to eat, but the hunter was still there.” The lioness swallowed, beginning to shake a little as the memories replayed in her head. “He attacked me. He...he...he tried to kidnap me and said I would be his forever. But I ran and ran all day and all night but he followed me, and oh gods and he could still be tracking me and I can’t, I have to leave.” The lioness was sobbing now, almost on the verge of hyperventilating. She shot up to her paws and whipped around, but she had no strength left. After only a few steps, the lioness wobbled and collapsed, shoulders shaking as she wept.
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Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 12:45 pm
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Cheza looked away, resting her head on her paws. Could she really risk it? Was she willing to put Dik’s life in danger by staying with him? The female truly wanted to believe that Dik could fight the lion off, but what would happen if he couldn’t? But the sincerity in his eyes, the conviction in his voice had made her feel warm and safe. And Cheza wanted so desperately to be safe. Maybe it would be okay. Just for one night. “Just for one night.” The lioness whispered, leaning into him. She needed to clean out her wounds though, especially her paws. They were covered in dirt, and Cheza didn’t want anything getting infected. But warmed by Dik’s body heat, her eyes suddenly felt so very heavy. Perhaps she could just doze off for a few minutes. Yes, just a quick little nap, the female thought as her eyes began to flutter closed. Within just a minute or two, the female was fast asleep.
The Captain Britain Last from me! Do you want to do the rest of these ones on AIM too? |
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Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 8:17 am
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Dik curled his tail around Cheza, resting his head near hers. Her face had completely relaxed in her sleep, and the male let his eyes wander shamelessly. She really was a beautiful lioness. The setting sun was casting shadows in just the right places, and Dik found himself leaning forward to swipe a quick lick across the flower on Cheza’s cheek. “Sleep well, Cheza.” He murmured, shutting his own eyes. He wouldn’t fall in too deep of a sleep just yet, in case her attacker wasn’t far behind, but rather Dik let his mind begin to wander as he dozed off, content in his company.
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Far off, Romaleos put his nose to the ground once more. He’d gotten the trail mixed up in the water, following it too far downstream. The wench must have gone upstream instead. The lion growled fiercely. He had wasted an entire day’s worth of travel in the wrong direction. It could take another three or four just to catch up with her, depending on how fast she was running. Romaleos snorted. He’d make Cheza pay for wasting his time like this. The lion took off at a steady trot. When he was done with her, she would be begging for the sweet release of death. |
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