[ORP] An Invitation to Dinner (Over)

[Meepfur]

Ukulambile rolled her eyes at the downers of the group. "Like I said, if the vulture was right, we're nowhere near them yet, and I'm not talking any louder than you are anyway, Thandiwe, so why should I be quieter?" she huffed. The Umzingeli wasn't generally one to be easily offended, but she didn't like that a younger lioness of equal rank to herself was taking it upon herself to reprimand her. It was enough to keep her from commenting on the prospect of Kwa in favor of retorting. "And everybody knows hooves hurt, duh. We're all Zalwa, yeah?"

"Pretty sure I've been Zalwa longer than most of you," she added in a grumble. "Except for Umama Nenkani, of course." Uku dipped her head in deference to the much older lioness, whose children - half-siblings to her own - had grown up alongside hers in the same 'batch' as it were.

With the Busisa among them chiming in, however, she was distracted somewhat from her annoyance, and raised her head and swiveled her ears forward. "I...think so, maybe?" Uku scrunched her forehead and stood considering for a few moments, until she realized Disin intended to investigate. Fantastic! This could be even more exciting than gemsbok! She bounded after the scarred lioness. "C'mon, c'mon! Let's go see!"

DavyJnah

Ecavi

Puhterodactyl

 

[belloblossom]

Mazuri gave a happy purr of surprise when Mokosh rubbed against her, just moments after Mazuri had wondered after her. She curled her tail around her pride sister's and walked closer to her, ears perked towards the others as she listened contentedly to the conversations of the others above.

Then, suddenly, one of the new lionesses that had joined from the Jahy paused and inquired after whether anyone heard what she had. Mazuri stopped walking then, ears and eyes straining up ahead to pick up anything. She may have heard something faint, but it could have also been the sound of her heart pounding. Had her new pride sister found something? Was it the gemsbok or something else entirely? Maybe it really was a giraffe!

"We should follow her." She told Mokosh, unwinding her tail from her friend's. "Everyone ought to stick together, for the safety of the group." She was pleased to see that some of her other pride sisters were already following the scarred lioness. Mazuri just hoped that they were following her to a prey beast of one kind or another, rather than some form of danger.

It'll be fine. She thought as she, too, followed Disin. So long as we all stick together, we'll be fine.

Anderleit

Puhterodactyl

 

[SilverLutz]

"We have a few," Udaka corrected, nodding in the direction of Yimvelo. There were quite a few that had been on the hippo hunt and she was glad that they were here even though she knew one successful hunt didn't mean every other would be.

The chatter in the group quickly bounced around from subject to subject which Udaka tried to keep up with. First about giraffes, then the new Abaholi proving themselves by being the ones to hunt the massive creature, then a few little snippets of being careful and the reminder that none of them were unseasoned in hunting. Udaka fell silent, never really one to make waves or speak up over others, but she did agree it didn't hurt to always be reminded that treading carefully was key to any hunt. Even she had been careful during the hunt when she had gotten injured and it hadn't even been to a prey animal like the hippo she had helped bring down. Things could go very wrong in the blink of an eye.

She found herself following the group as they detoured off a bit. She glanced in the direction they'd been heading in but let it be for now. The gemsbok certainly would stay put without a threat to chase them off so they could afford a few minutes of walking in a different direction. She herself hadn't heard anything but she wasn't about to doubt the others. Everything out here warranted an investigation.

Glancing to her blind side, she found herself moving beside one of the Umama, Nenkani. She was an older lioness with more progressive views which Udaka found herself rather fond of - it was hard for a joining rogue to completely agree with all of the traditions the Bonelands had - and she tossed her head a bit to let her tuft hang over her injured eye.

"Hopefully this won't be too much of a detour," she said to the older lioness.

Ecavi

Meepfur

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

Kokulzawa was about to comment when another of the lionesses heard a roar. She wasn't sure she had heard it herself but when the group seemed to have made the decision to detour the deep brown lioness picked up her pasws and followed. She nestled herself next to her sister, pressing her shoulder to her younger sibling. It was easy to remember that they were vulnerable out here in the rogue lands, though they were quite a large group of experienced hunters, they still lacked some of the heft a male brought to a pride. She was always cautious. She head always protected her own little part of the pride, her own family, their mother had been unable so it was her job.

When out on hunts like this though, it was her job to protect them all, still she always went instinctively towards her family members. She hoped what ever was calling would not be dangerous. Flickering her ears in to a flattened position she glanced around at the thought knit group. She wanted to voice that perhaps they should move closer together but there were no little cubs here, only adult lionesses. She really had to stop worrying so much.  

[Andranis]

A Kwa... Zola had never seen one. She'd been a cub during Gakere's reign, and was now on her third set of Abaholi. So the chances, she'd noted, had not come up yet to make the males go hunt. She listened to the others talk about it, about the prospect of a kwa, as well as hunting a giraffe, or making the males hunt a giraffe... But there was also advice for hunting prey that many of them already knew by now. After all, some of the lionesses had hunted a hippo.

Zola froze, eyes widening and ears shifting as she turned toward the sound. Her shoulders trembled slightly, before she started following everybody else. She'd just picked up the roaring, and was now curious. What could it be, that was in the distance? Were there strange lions? "What if it's another lion group? Intruders..." She paused, ears folding back as she whispered urgently, "What if it's invaders?"  

[Puhterodactyl]

((this post has audio 2 set tha mood, vids aren't graphic! just turn off autoplay so you don't accidentally see some that are))

Yes, she was sure of it, now. Disin could smell the freshly spilt blood of a giraffe carried on the wind towards them. The breeze shifted back and forth, sometimes stealing the scent away, but sometimes spreading the sound of the fierce roars of a lion* and the answer of leopards.

She glanced behind her, relieved to see the band following her, some, like Uku, more enthusiastically than others. She had hoped the smell of the giraffe would conclude the hunt more easily than finding and hunting the gemsbok; but with the distant din it seemed at least they would probably find an interesting show.

She slowed as they got closer and the roaring more intense. The scent of blood was much heavier on the air, but it was not all from the open carcass of the young giraffe that lay on the dusty earth.

-------------------------------------------------------

A single lion was hunched over his kill– a young giraffe– and his partially white muzzle looked entirely crimson from feeding. But he had been disturbed. A group of leopards faced him, trying to scavenge his hard-won meal.

Sayilmaz sim Sulta had not exactly been thriving since the Jahy Sarlarin disbanded, but he had been making do. Originally, he had been unimpressed with Khombo's offer to also lead the males to a new land– under the condition they were willing to become celibate Ahluke. However, as time passed, he became reacquainted with the importance of belonging to a pride and decided to seek out the Qyrhyeshti who had joined the Ithambo'hlabathi, in case the options for a prospective male to join had improved. Along the way, of course, he had been keeping himself fed.

In the hazy morning that was already oppressively hot, Sayilmaz had taken down a young giraffe on his own through a combination of his power, skill, surprise and the immense motivation felt by one who is truly hungry. More hunting opportunities were available to him as he got closer to the pride, but without help, it was still difficult for a lone hunter. He would have to thank the gods that he downed this giraffe alone.

The lion had barely had the time to open the kill and begin feeding when scavengers found his bounty. He glared at the vultures overhead with his bi-colored eye, as they would surely alert others to the carcass. Jackals loitered on the edge of his vision, but some leopards boldly approached him, feeling confident in their greater numbers. They had been pacing around at a distance, calling gruffly to him to abandon his mighty prize, but he only ate more ravenously. Vultures and jackals managed to grab a few mouthfuls while his eyes were fixed on the leopards. He huffed back and thrashed his tail around because his mouth was otherwise occupied. But, they got closer, and more aggressive.

By the time the hunting party had come upon the scene, the lion and leopards had exchanged blows and some blood, but Sayilmaz was not backing down; he was now standing atop his carcass and using it as high ground to strike at his opponents. Nor was he paying attention to anything beyond him, the dead giraffe and the leopards.  

[belloblossom]

Mazuri's stomach churned when she and the others arrived at the scene that Disin had heard from such a long way away. Moving closer to Mokosh, the fur along her shoulders began to bristle defensively.

"Mo, we can't... We can't get involved in that." She whispered her voice soft and anxious. She pressed herself against the older lioness, seeking comfort from her friend and made a point to stay behind Disin and anyone else. She looked to her pride sisters; no one had said anything about going forward or turning back yet. She just hoped they wouldn't come to blows with the leopards or the lion involved.

Distant memories of the drought and the injuries her pride sisters sustained came back to haunt her. If her pride sisters chose to fight this battle, she would launch herself forward to protect them, but... What is they came home with battle wounds as badly as what they had faced in months past?

Anderleit

 

[oo Ded]

"…huh."

Yithemba's voice was one of intrigue. She had meandered to follow the group with Disin, quickening her pace when the smell of blood grew in the air. Her pace sped even more so when the sound of roars and growls became distinctive. The striped lioness' steps came to a stop far enough to watch the action between the lion and the leopards but she certainly wasn't barreling into the fray.

"Do you think he took that down by himself? There doesn't seem to be anyone else around." She asked no one in particular as she spoke out to the group. "I guess it's only a young one, but still…" The dark lioness' voice trailed off and she looked over the various creatures gathered around.

"And they certainly don't seem nice, do they," she chuffed, her eyes resting on the leopards. What were they do, she wondered? Yi wondered if the stranger would offer a share of the meal in exchange for helping ward off the pests. Her stomach growled at the thought of it. But they were here to do their own hunting, and Yi had gotten excited for the prospect of taking down a beast of their own.

Her brow raised as she considered the scene, her eyes then turning towards the two Omama of the group, wondering what they would make of this whole thing.
 

[Andranis]

What they came upon was, by far, not quite what Zola had expected. Before them was a brown male lion with white markings, standing by a dead giraffe and warding off leopards. She tilted her head, echoing Yithemba, "Huh..." She looked to her pride sisters, before looking back at the scene. "Should we go help him? It looks like he DID take that down... And we ARE right here..." Zola's tail flicked. "That'd feed a LOT of us for a bit, even with him having eaten off it."  

[Meepfur]

Coming upon a scene like that, the preceding discussion was all but forgotten, wiped from her mind by the drama laid out before them. Ukulambile came to an abrupt halt, but while she didn't move any further forward, she wasn't still by any means. Far from horrified or frightened, she was absolutely delighted, and it showed as she bounced on her paws and lashed her tail. "Ohh, ohh!" she crowed, "Look at that! Do you see that?!"

Well, of course they did, she knew that, but it was just so thrilling! It would have been exciting enough to come upon the male and his impressive kill, but a battle? It was fantastic! And he cut quite an impressive figure, defending his kill from on top of it, batting away those horrible leopards. "Oh, do you think he'll win? He has to win, yeah? He has to!"

Stupid leopards, she'd be very upset if anything serious happened to this mystery male! Not quite upset enough to go charging in to his aid, though. More than anything, she wanted to watch the drama unfold and see if he could really do it.  

[Anderleit]

Mokosh nodded, her agreement with her pride-sister evident in the way she trailed after the younger female. She wasn't sure she had ever seen the lioness currently leading their hunting party away from the gemsbok before, but the distraction certainly sounded promising. And as she'd predicted, it seemingly wasn't taking a lot to convince the huntresses to abandon their original prey in pursuit of something more intriguing.

What they actually found, however, was not the kind of prey Mo had imagined. The hackles along her spine slowly raised, placid blue eyes hardening as she stepped, stiff-legged, closer to Disin. "We can't just leave him to fend for himself, surely. We do that, those scavengers will be after our herds next!" Though the words were meant for Mazuri, the dusty lioness made no effort to keep her opinion from the rest of the party.

She wasn't a warrior, though - and despite her own indignation, she recognized the look in her friend's eyes. Mo's brow furrowed, gaze softening in sympathy for the obviously perturbed lioness. "There's more of us than there are of them. We approach all at once, we might not even have to fight." Leopards - well, what she knew of them - were sneaky critters. Against a proper hunting party of larger, stronger lionesses, surely the smaller felines would lose their nerve!

And if they didn't, well. Mokosh knew how to hunt, not to fight, but she would happily take the chance to vent some spleen on the stubborn scavengers.

everyone

Gonna take a previous suggestion and only quote folks I directly reference, but Mo's words are essentially open to everyone.

belloblossom

puhterodactyl

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

Kokulzawa pullled to a stop beside the other lionesses. A part of her wanted to rush in and help. The fur on her neck rose, it irked her to see any sort of lion being bullied, though it did seem that the male lion could handle himself. The young giraffe, it seemed he had brought it down alone, that was no mean feat.

The dark brown lioness edged her way towards the front of the group and sat quietly. If the male decided that the leopards were not worth his time, he could turn on them. She would defend her pride sisters to her last breath.  

[SilverLutz]

As the group walked Udaka finally caught the snarls and roars floating through the air, the smell of freshly spilled blood hitting her nose as well. Curious, she kept up with the other lionesses as a rather strange sight came into view. A lone male loin stood atop a recently killed young giraffe, leopards to his front and other scavengers circling overhead. From the amount of blood on the lion it was clear he had been the one to bring down the beast, and she had to wonder how exhausted he was to have done that and still be holding his ground. If the leopards had more courage they could have easily chased him off, she was sure, but he was putting on quite the show as if he hadn't been the one to take down such a large bit of prey.

She joined her sisters in watching, not terribly concerned with the outcome at the moment. It was impressive, yes, but he was a random male that held no baring over her. Perhaps if he succeeded on his own with chasing off the leopards she'd consider him a talking point, but for now he had a show to put on.