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 Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:12 pm
Diallo's ears and gaze only flickered on occasion as he concentrated on his task. When Lilah moved from the carcass to watch the birds, he stopped entirely and looked over his shoulder at her. As long as she wasn't ready to leave, he would continue to gorge for all he was worth. He didn't bother to pause as Axis came closer, still concentrating. Finally, the bone snapped with an audible crack! He backed off the carcass, moving to set the bone near Lilah before returning. He went to work on the smaller bone that Axis had already managed to loosen, pulling it off the carcass and dropping it down to the dirt. With his nose, he nudged it towards the young pup. He gave a small n** before finding the space to stick his head into the breast where he wanted to, finally finsihing his gorging before taking off a rib for himself and backing away. Diallo flopped into the sand, tail waving a bit, with the rib between his forepaws and his teeth already around it. Truly, he was satisfied.
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Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 9:38 am
Prodding the rib with a cautious paw, Lilah nodded her thanks. That would make for a nice snack later on. The male hyenas seemed close to finishing their meal. Diallo was even relaxing with his own bone. Lilah's ears twitched nervously. She was content for now, but hopefully once the cub finished eating they could be off. Finding the giant antelope first had been a stroke of luck. Lazing around beside the free meal all day would be a foolish move. She shifted her weight uneasily, beginning to grow impatient.
The domineering instinct to swat the cub and Diallo to get them moving was strong, but Lilah didn't feel as if she had the right to strike some loner's cub. Let it stay here and fend for itself, if it chose. Diallo, on the other hand... well, she wasn't against smacking those who deserved it, but Diallo was clever enough to fend for himself. Probably just being kind to the cub, to wait around. And he had gotten her that rib. Taking up the present in her jaws, Lilah rose slowly to her feet and began walking off through the scrub. She would find an isolated spot and have herself a good gnaw. Crunch, crunch, crunch. She smiled around the bone in her teeth. Let the others follow her if they would. Lilah was full. She would leave the carcass to the birds and the other scavengers.
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:54 am
Axis stared at the rib for a moment, then looked up at Diallo with brief, but very abject puppy worship. Then Lilah started walking off and he snatched the rib up and trotted after her. She led, he followed... it was clan instinct and survival instinct. Not to mention it was nice after a fashion to have others to talk to besides himself. In fact his other self was being rather more quiet now than it had been in a long time. Well... mostly quiet.
Can I gnaw on the bone, at least?
I guess... but only the bone. I'm keeping ahold of the legs and if you so much as make a twitch like you're going to try and do something else I'm taking the mouth back.
Even talking?
Especially talking.
...Ah well, it's more fun than you've let me have in a while, I guess I'll have to settle...
You know that pouty voice only makes me want to change my mind about it...
Silence. Ah. So nice. <3
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Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:12 pm
He watched Lilah move off, glancing over a bit as the younger pup moved after her as well. With a small snort through his nose that sent sand particles scattering, Diallo picked up his prize and followed them. He chewed as he walked, not exactly content enough to wait until he was seated once more at Lilah's side to restart his after dinner snack.
Once re-seated, Diallo adjusted the bone into a better position for chewing. He paused once to press his nose into Lilah's side before returning to his bone. He would move after her if she left, but he wasn't in any hurry to get but so far away.
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Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:32 am
Lilah bulled her way through the scrub, finally finding a nice concealed spot. A tiny bit tight for three hyenas, but nicely hidden by the tall plants all around. The two males trooped obediently after her. Lilah sighed. It was almost as if she were a queen, leading others around, and that made her feel strange. Oh, well. Diallo's noseprint left a slightly tacky patch of blood on her fur, but she ignored it. It would scrape off once it dried.
Nice of him to have brought bones. Lilah chewed hers thoughtfully as she watched the others. Though she had her reservations about the little two-faced cub, she had to admit he was behaving nicely. Quite nicely, in fact. Her thoughts turned to her own self. Crippled in body and warped in mind. Hmf. Warped in mind indeed. Well, as long as the cub did no harm, she supposed she could tolerate that. And not question him too closely about his ... voices. No sense stirring things up that were best left un-stirred.
A soft rustle in the grass caught her attention. Had they been discovered? Oh. Oh. They had been discovered. Lilah sighed and laid her bone down between her paws, holding against the earth while she stripped a bit of meat from it. That would do for the fool scorpion's dinner. It must have traveled quite fast to catch them up. No matter that she was crippled. Even broken hyena legs were much longer than little bitty bug legs. The scorpion snatched up the scrap. Its blank, evil little eyes shone dully. Then it turned and rushed back into the grass, waving its prize. A fabulous dinner companion indeed.
From the sound of it, more diners were arriving to the distant carcass. Lilah heard soft rustles as broad feet moved. Rrrrrrrip. Flutter. An indignant bird's shriek. Then, a deep houghing roar that made her blood freeze. What on earth was that? The three hyenas were well-hidden, but Lilah suddenly felt terribly exposed.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:39 am
Axis flopped down with the others to gnaw at his rib, tail indicating enthusiasm as he had a go at it for a moment before letting the other him have at it too. He paused his activity when the scorpion appeared, and returned to it after it had scuttled back into the scrub, but his posture remained wary.
Things were quiet for a few minutes, even his other self, as contented crunching sounded from busy hyena mouths. One thing Lilah didn't need to worry about was Axis' other personality; it couldn't use the body without his original self's permission, even when he was asleep, and while he might converse with it he trusted his own self and instincts in a manner that he would never trust the other.
It was when his ears, ever flicking around and listening for signs of danger, picked up the roar that his young muscles bunched up. Body entirely under his control once again, he carefully clutched his rib between his teeth and stood, hackles up. Something even deeper inside than his other self told him on a subconscious level that he might want to be ready to run.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Diallo had nearly forgotten his bone, working on licking out the blood he'd matted into Lilah's fur since he'd noticed it. It seemed more like he was doing it for his own entertainment than for grooming, especially considering that he knew she didn't exactly need his help. Their time together had been long indeed, but Diallo's outright affection for her was becoming more and more apparent.
He merely lifted his nose and snorted at the appearance of the scorpian. It continually bothered Lilah, yet she did have the tendency of feeding it. No wonder the silly thing kept tagging along behind them. Diallo never really understood why Lilah would do such a thing anyways. But, then again, why would Lilah decide to let him and this other little cub tag along behind her?
He was perfectly content to go back to chewing his bone when that sound ripped down his spine and threw the fur along his neck straight up into the air. Diallo swallowed his own noise of surprise, crouching in their cover of brush. His eyes were drawn by the pups' movement, and Diallo reached out instinctively to try and grab the pup around the middle gently. "Don't move," he half-growled, half-whispered at the other. Bolting out of their only cover without knowing where to run could very well be deadly for all of them. He looked over at Lilah expectantly, ignorant of the fact that his one paw over her haunches to better reach Axis didn't exactly give her much room for moving.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:31 am
Lilah frowned at the cub, adding her silent support for Diallo's order. With the silver hyena practically straddling her, she didn't have room to jump up herself. That was fine. Lilah had no intention of moving, anyways. The ... things ... over by the carcass were bigger than her. Stronger. Faster, too, though that wasn't saying much. Lilah considered. The wind had stilled, and she could not sniff out a clue to the beasts' identity. She was too nervous to send her thoughts out questing. She wanted to concentrate on the here-and-now. Besides, it might alert the beasts.
Did she want to see? No, no. If she crept forward through the brush, they might spot her. The sensible thing to do was wait. The antelope would make a much better meal for the strangers than Lilah's own self, which was, she was sure, a touch bitter and stringy. A sudden flash of alarm. How many of the strangers were there? If the biggest ones were hogging the food, there might be some hungry, angry beasts prowling around the perimeter of the kill. That wouldn't be good.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:39 am
Axis shook and blinked at Diallo's quiet order not to move. The two of them were the only protection he had at the moment, he wasn't about leave without them. He settled uneasily back to the ground, legs still gathered under him so he could jump and try to sprint away at a moment's notice if it became necessary. He also continued to hold the rib in his mouth, but had no intention whatsoever of continued gnawing. Even his breathing was deep, slow, and deliberate because of his fear of making any noise that might alert the mysterious dinner party.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:20 pm
Slowly, the male lowered his body back down where he was. It wasn't the most comfortable position, trapped half over Lilah and with his head almost laying on Axis, but it was better than risking being heard or seen with trying to get back to the position he was in. His own rib lay forgotten where he had been laying down, most definitely forgotten. Though laying, his muscles were still tense and his ears pricked straight up and straining. They shouldn't have stayed around this long. It was a stupid mistake, but it was enough to get one or all of them killed depending on what was going on around that carcass.
Numbers and attention played a great deal into their chances for survival, and not having a clue as to what could make that sort of noise rose the risk factor. Diallo was confident that he could clear himself from whatever it was, but that would involve leaving Lilah and the pup - both of which being things he was unwilling to do. All in all, they were stuck, and the sounds arising from the carcass were not of one voice but multiple.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:51 pm
Enough of this. Time to be on their way. Moving was a risk, but so was staying still. With an effort, Lilah slithered out from beneath Diallo. She met his eyes, nodded once, and began to move -- not through the opening in the scrub that had allowed them in, but through the thick mass of vegetation at the rear of their little shelter. Difficult, but she didn't want to double around the easy way. That would put her closer to the feasters. She moved in an awkward half-crouch, squeezing through the prickly brush with her head and tail held low.
Things might have turned ugly then, for despite Lilah's best efforts the brush rustled slightly as she worked her way through it. She heard a soft grunting noise, off on the other side of the patch of scrub. From the edge of the fallen antelope's clearing. Something, or someone, was investigating. Fear tightened Lilah's chest. But swiftly on the heels of the soft, menacing noise came one far louder. A pained, beleaguered bellow. Another. Yowling. Deep, throaty... laughter? The voices were not those of Lilah or her kin, but she could recognize the tones of their speech. Someone had just suffered a painful embarrassment, and several others were taking much nasty amusement from the incident. Lilah thought of her scorpion scuttling off on its mission and grinned hugely.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:59 pm
Axis took the cue and went on a path parallel to Lilah's. He was smaller, and therefore it was much easier for him to get through. He paused on reaching the outer edge, not seeing either Lilah or Diallo yet, and waited. The sounds did not escape him either, and he felt only a marginal amount of relief that their pursuers were distracted for a moment. He wasted no time in following the others once they emerged.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:21 pm
The male kept to the rear of their little group purposefully. He wasn't as large as Lilah, but he wasn't weakened like she was. He crawled after Lilah, tail tucked and ears flat once more. As she made the brush rustle, Diallo froze with his heart held back only by his clamped jaw. His hackles had risen again, eyes wide and muscles tight to jump at whatever happened to come at them. When nothing did come, and indeed it seemed the creatures were preoccupied, Diallo let loose the breath he had been holding. He creeped up closer to Lilah and Axis, breathing a bit heavily simply from his fear.
If they were going to make a run for it, then they should go when the creatures were occupied. It was risky if they stayed put, and risky if they left. Diallo was just glad that he wasn't the one making the decisions.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:47 pm
The cub flitted through the scrub like a shadow. It took Lilah a few moments to catch it up. She was as tense and terrified as Diallo. They could move quietly now, but they had no cover. Safety lay in movement. Hugging the ground, Lilah slunk off, winding her way through the tallest patches of growth. There wasn't much. The sounds of the feasters were distant now. Good. Very good. But where had they come from? Try as she might, Lilah could detect no trace of their odor upon the ground. The animals must have come from the opposite direction.
At least the hyenas weren't heading directly into the creatures' den. Lilah didn't know the area well, and falling upon a nest of those big things wouldn't be pleasant. No, no. That wouldn't do at all. Once the noises had faded entirely, Lilah began at last to relax. Her chewy, springy bone lay forgotten miles behind them, but she was full and safe for the moment. The scorpion hadn't reappeared. A mixed blessing. It had probably been smashed to bits, but its diversion had given the hyenas the cover they needed to get away.
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Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:52 pm
If he hadn't been carrying his rib the whole time, Axis probably would have left it with the other two. As it was he'd pretty much forgotten he had it in the stress of slinking after Lilah and Diallo to get away. Finally though, they seemed to relax, and things seemed safe enough. He allowed himself to relax as well, and issued forth a yawn. It was when the rib hit the ground that he realized he still had it, and he gave it a startled look.
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