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 Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:51 pm
 He lurks in the tall grass and waits.
And waits.
And waits.
He sighs. He needs a woman, or that's what he thinks. He needs a girl for just a little while. He's frustrated and alone, and he needs... well, he needs some play. At least, that's what he wants, and Mashaka had never been one to work very hard to distinguish "want" from "need." When Mashaka wanted, he wanted hard, and thereby want felt pretty much the same as need to him. He needed to make the agony of desire to go away, needed to satiate himself.
The sun was beginning to set on the grasslands just north of the Pridelands. Mashaka sat atop a mound in the tall, rustling grass and surveyed the land. It wasn't a very tall mound, but it was enough for such a flat land; atop it, he could see off into the distance for miles. He could see anyone coming.
...he hoped a pretty lady came by.
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:01 pm
Inhaling deeply, Azima took account of what was in the air. Being a canine, her nose could sense even the slightest bit of change. I'm hungry, she thought to herself and proceeded to find a tasty morsel.
Azima trotted softely through the tall grass, careful not to make too much of a sound (which was particularily difficult when the grass was this high). Her nose was drawn up, so she could test the scent around her; tail following behind in an almost horizontal and undecisive position.
What was that? She caught wiff of something unfamiliar. Her ears perked high upon her head and she stopped, unsure of her next move. It wasn't food, she knew, but what was this strange scent? Instead of acting upon her hunger instinct, curiosity took over and she decided to continue at a slow, but steady walk in the direction the smell was coming from.
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Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:43 pm
At first, Mashaka did not notice that anything was astir. Responsibility and attentiveness had never been strong points of his; he'd been poorly raised (though memories of his family were vague and uncertain). He was lazy, to say the least, and the fact that he had survived since adolescence all on his lonesome was astonishing, if not a miracle. Finally, yawning and stretching his neck, he noticed the grass rustling to his right. Startled, whipped about sideways, scrambling in place, to focus his attention on the movement.
Nope, no question about it, whatever it was was coming straight for him. Mashaka stood up abruptly and staggered back a few paces on his mound. The cheetah could pretend to be a tough guy all he wanted, but deep down he really was a coward. He didn't want to deal with any confrontation, not today, not on his own. Especially not with the sun going down. Briefly, he thought of fleeing immediately, but he acknowledged that he'd feel a little embarassed if it was just some kid like last time. Thusly, Mashaka cleared his throat and, in the most confident voice he could muster up, called out, "Hey, who's there?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:09 pm
Body low to the ground, Azima's nose was focused on finding any slight clue to what this creature was. At the sound of a voice, her ears shot up in curiosity. Her amber eyes seemed to glow like a fire, searching for a glimpse.
There it was. She faintly saw powder white tufts of hair seemingly floating in the air. Her senses were tingling with excitement, she had never encountered a creature quite like this before. From what she sensed, it was a male who seemed a bit unnerved, so that drew up her confidence a tiny bit. She also had to be cautious, though, not knowing what he is capable of. Azima couldn't make out the rest of his silhouette because it was broken up in the long grass.
"My name's Azima," she said meekly, not trying to spark any fires. One ear drew back in curiosity; it wasn't back in an agressive state just uncertain. Her tail hung low; not up in confidence, but not between her legs in submission either. "Who're you?" she asked considerably undaunted.
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Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:35 pm
Faintly, Mashaka saw the flicking of something furry in the grass. He held his ground and watched intently, but still ready to flee at any moment; his legs were tense and loaded like springs. It disturbed him that the grass was so high, that whoever this was could draw so close to him and he still couldn't see who it was. Perhaps his vantage point hadn't been so ideal after all...
Then he heard the voice, and relax. Ah! A woman. Now Mashaka was on some more familiar ground. He knew how to deal with women... or at least, he liked to think he did. Smiling and sitting back, he said, "Oh, I am called Mashaka, dear lady. I appologize if I may have semed jumpy, but you startled me. I was not expecting anyone." He shrugged and rolled back his shoulders, grinning like a skull, waiting for the pretty lady to show herself. He wondered what she looked like, if she was cheetah, lion, or leopard. He hoped cheetah... he liked cheetah girls the best.
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Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:08 pm
His voice seemed fair enough, she thought and decided to show a bit of herself. Her stance changed into one more confident; she relaxed and proceeded to move closer so that he'd be able to catch a glimpse. Her head and neck drew high upon her shoulders and her tail stood a tiny bit raised. Her ears settled into a medium, but still curious, position. She almost looked as a pup would, intent to meet their next play mate.
Actually, this had been her first encounter with a cheetah before. She hadn't heard much about them either. In her mind, she played around with the fact that he looked so much.. skinnier than the lions she had so often seen. It was, indeed, a strangly built creature from what her previous encounters had reminded her.
"Hello, Mashaka," a bit of a grin brightened her muzzle. "Sorry for startling you," she blew a chuckled breath through her nose. She decided not to tell him that she was looking for a bite to eat, even though there was no reason for her to leave that out. Instead, she continued to ask him about his wanderings. "Where you headed?" she asked in a sweet and thoughtful tone as though she could be of service.
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 10:49 am
Licking his lips in anticipation, Mashaka watched as the girl raised herself confidently out of the grass and...
Oh crap. It was a dog. Just some dog. Well, this was certainly a disappointment. Mashaka's expression changed rapidly from shock to a disappointed scowl and then back to his usual confident smirk. He hoped direly that she had missed the first two, he hated the idea of getting into a fight with a dog. "Headed?" he asked, falteringly, trying to ease himself back into the conversation. "Why, I'm not headed anywhere. These lands are my home."
Idiot! a voice snapped in the back of his head. Don't tell her where you live! He chose to ignore this voice.
"No need to appologize, incidentally. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Azima," he lied. He tried to keep up appearances as best he could in order to avoid confrontation. Deep down inside, from this point on, he just couldn't wait for the dog to leave.
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:52 pm
An eyebrow rose in an almost confused state. Azima had an eye for observation, she was always one to notice key changes in another's stature; she had to have learnt these important changes in order to survive on her own. This cheetah seemed unsettled in the presence of her and that utterly confused the wild dog. Was he nervous, bored, pretentious? She didn't exactly know, but there was definitely an odd feeling present.
She cocked her head to one side, as a puppy would at a unfamiliar sound, and continued to watch the feline. His colors differed from any that she had previously seen; he seemed to yield a dark garnet colored coat that made him blend with the darkness that the sunset was creating.
She took a breath before continuing the conversation, "Nice to meet you too," her tail fell to its usual angle. Quickly glancing around, Azima decided to add a bit more, "I don't think I've ever been to this particular spot, I tend to move around a lot." An ear swiveled to the left at the blades of grass being teased by a slight breeze.
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:50 pm
Mashaka frowned as Azima quirked her eyebrow. She was onto him. Yeah, she was onto him. No getting around it now. He sighed and slumped a little, dropping his head and letting the tension out. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm just... it's just... it's just that... um... you're not what I was expecting." Then quickly ammended, "No offense." He bit his bottom lip ever so slightly. No, that hadn't come out right at all.
It wasn't that he had any particular problem with the wild dog. She hadn't done anything to him, and it wasn't like she was a kid (god, he hated kids...). It was just that he knew that weirdness would be lingering all over the rest of the visit like stink on a warthog. He didn't want to deal with it.
He shrugged when she told him she'd never been here before. He waved a paw vaguely at the wide open spaces. "Well... this is it, pretty much. Not that impressive." He glanced around awkwardly. This was not going well.
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Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 8:09 pm
A chuckled half-smile came over Azima and a smile formed around her muzzle. She found this whole situation humorous, especially that it was causing the cheetah to stumble over his words. She cocked her head again, to the other side, "None taken," she nodded toward his statement of no offense. "No need to be sorry, either," she added, hoping to comfort the feline. She wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, but she was amused by his reaction to her presence.
Azima took a long glance around, surveying the land that he called home. It seemed quite impressive to her, but then again, she had never come across it before. "It's nice," she said after a while of observing the area. She looked back to Mashaka and her eyes gleamed golden in the sunset. Her tail flicked left as a horse would stamp a hoof.
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Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:00 pm
Mashaka frowned deeply. The more at ease Azima seemed, the more uncomfortable Mashaka felt. He didn't know what to do with her. He really didn't. He'd never had to deal with a dog before on personable terms. Oh, he'd fought with a couple hyenas over a scrap of meat before (and wound up fleeing before they could rip off his skinny legs), but never before had he actually talked to a dog. Bah, they were all the same to him. Dogs. Mangy, scavenging brutes, the lot of them. Granted, this lady seemed fine enough.
Mashaka was just waiting for her to turn on him.
He smiled tentatively. "Well, I guess it is nice enough looking. It's pretty... the grass... the space... a little tree here and there. Pretty. Um, but there's not a lot to eat..." He muttered, and trailed off. And not too much for girls, he added, in the back of his head. He wondered, idly, if perhaps this dog female had seen some girls... but decided not to ask.
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Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2006 7:55 pm
She thought for a short time, wondering if she should mention the fact that she had been looking for food. Nah, she decided to keep that statement hidden. Azima didn't really know what to do at that point, there didn't seem to be anything else to note on. She flicked her tail this way and that and took another quick glance about before taking a seat on the semi-hard ground. Promptly, she wondered if Mashaka was going to mind if the canine took a break in his territory. Did cheetahs even have territories? Azima didn't know, but from her past lion experiences, she assumed.
Eyes following the dainty and built curves of his body, Azima pondered how fast this feline could actually move. Is there any prey he couldn't catch? A lot of questions were forming and circling around in her mind, but for the most part, she kept them to herself. A long, heavy sigh was followed by a jaw opening howl; she licked her lips in completion. What was left to say?
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Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2006 10:14 am
The quiet was mildly unsettling. Despite the complete and utter lack of conversation, Mashaka was shocked to see Azima actually settling down to stay. The audacity! What on earth made this dog think that it was okay to just settle down her haunches on Mashaka's turf? Not that the cheetah actually minded terribly much... it was just the principle of the thing. She ought to have asked. Wrinkling his nose in distaste, Mashaka was just about to speak up when the unsettling quiet was broken by something else entirely.
While it may have taken Mashaka a while to notice the approach of Azima, this noise caught his attention straight away. His head snapped about in the direction of the sound, and he dropped down low on his mound to watch. A small cluster of impala came passing through, just a short distance away. There were two adults, females, and one small juvenile. Mashaka set his eyes on the juvenile and, without saying another word to Azima, disappeared into the ocean of grass. He crawled on his belly like a snake, carefully wriggling his way through the brush, trying to get close enough to make a strike. In time, he'd gotten close enough to smell it... he could practically taste it already. He waited for it to get a little bit closer... just a little bit closer... then sprung.
The trio of impala exploded off into different directions, startled. Mashaka broke straight into the middle of the chaos, keeping his focus on the little one. As irresponsible and reckless as Mashaka could often be, it all went away when he was hunting. His focus, his balance, his aim was sure and true, and he was a blur chasing down the young impala. Fate was on the cheetah's side and the young prey animal stumbled just a bit. It was all Mashaka needed. He lunged and fixed his jaws around the animal's throat. It thrashed a bit, and Mashaka thrashed back. He threw it to the ground and soon it fell still. Mashaka laughed triumphantly and collapsed over his kill, protecting it as he caught his breath. "Wow! Wow! Did you see that!?" he cackled. His adrenaline was still rushing from the chase, and his tail flicked restlessly to show it.
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 10:04 am
Just as Mashaka noticed the sound of the impala's small hooves, Azima's nose caught their scent faintly on the wind and, almost systematically, turned her head in the same direction. She would have made an attempt at the prey but before her pupils had time to dilate, the feline seemed to have already jumped upon the idea. Normally, she would have made some sort of sound to startle the herbivores so that the cheetah wouldn't have gotten a chance, but she was almost wanting to see how he would go about catching his prey; she was a very curious dog.
The entire scene had Azima's mind in two directions; she enjoyed very much to watch this hunt but then her instincts drew her to become a scavenger. She knew in her mind that the cheetah's current state (breathless from the chase) and his weak and thin structure (to allow him to have the speed that he does) would be no match for that of a hungry wild dog. She kept her thoughts concealed within her, or that's what she thought when she made her way to the, what seemed, gloating feline.
Her tail hung low and she trotted daintly to where the cheetah lay, prey resting below the angle of his head. Her mouth hung open now, revealing a set of pearly whites and a salvating tongue that fell over those teeth in want of this prey. Infact, before this encounter, she was searching for food and this just reminded and tightened that need. Her thoughts turned sly as he spoke with such enthusiasm. "Yeah, that was impressive," she said calmly. It was, indeed, impressive and she didn't lie there but all she wanted now was a taste of the fresh, unmoving, impala..
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Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 11:14 am
Mashaka's chest was a bit sore from exertion and gasping for breath. Now that the focus of the hunt was done, he once again grew lazy and absent minded. He did not notice Azima's presence until she was practically standing over him, panting hungrily. He barely paid her any mind. He was still far too thrilled from the chase and the catch. "I swear," he declared, "I swear that was the single greatest kill I have made in quite some time. Woooooooo! Ha ha!" He wiped his brow with his paw as he chuckled happily to himself. He couldn't be more proud. Nor more clueless.
Hungrily and greedily, Mashaka shoved his face into his kill. He dug his sharp little teeth into the impala's haunches and tore off a nice long strip of flesh. He slurped and chomped it up greedily, lips smacking and little specks of blood flying everywhere. He licked the fresh red from his deep crimson lips and glanced at Azima, finally. He investigated her with a curious, slightly alarmed eye, then inquired, "Um... are you okay? You look a little... er... distressed. Or something." He stared, still slumped over his prey, though now he felt the impulse to bend down over it, protectively.
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