Zitomoya slumped onto the dirt beneath her, snorting when the dust came up in a cloud around her. She shook her head, waving it away with a lazy paw, and rested her head on her paws. Her head was pounding, but for the life of her, the head pain wouldn't pass. Her vision swam when she stood; it was why she was laying down. The dark cheetah panted lightly in the heat, for the day was in that odd place between cool night and hot, dry day, and she prayed to whatever humble God was listening to deliver her from this wretched headache. Or kill her.

That first one'd be preferred.


"Hey, Zito. You okay?"

Tamaa's eyes were worried beneath their usual shock of blue mane, his stance unusually hesitant where he'd materialized just out of lashing distance. He had this inexplicable feeling that the cheetah didn't really like him much, even if he made a point of not letting on. Everyone got won over by his sparkling personality eventually, right? That's what his da always said.

"I uh. I woke up and saw you taking off." He neglected to mention it had been an irritated kick to the head that'd done the trick; probably she'd just been thrashing about in her sleep, poor thing. "And it might not be safe, y'know, wandering away from the group on your own. Look what happened to..." He fell silent, and scuffed at the ground with a paw. "You know."


She asked for sweet release and they sent her the Hyena. Oh, Gods, you're sooo funny.

Zitomoya covered her eyes with her paws, rumbling a low growl his way. But she knew better; the damn hyena was oblivious to her growling and grousing and lashes, apparently, as he kept right on coming over. Like that'd make her like him any more then she did now. She peered between her paws after a minute or two of growling, and snorted. "I have head pain." She rumbled, covering her eyes again. "It woke me up."

She paused briefly, glancing over at him, and snorted. "I'm capable of taking care of myself, Takaa." No, that wasn't right... "Tamaa." That was the right name. She'd remember it eventually, maybe even get it on the first go one of these days. Today just wasn't one of them. If Zitomoya remembered at all kicking the poor hyena awake, she didn't seem to be sorry about it. In reality, she had been thrashing about, she hadn't even noticed the hyena sleeping by her. Still, she didn't apologize.

"I've been having them a lot, as of late." She sighed, forcing herself up to sit so she could see the hyena. If he was going to make her talk, she could at least sit up for it.


"Tam- That's the one." He grinned encouragingly. "Didn't mean to say you weren't! Dunno, it's like the principle of the thing though. Don't leave a lady unprotected and all that." He wasn't entirely sure if that term could apply to someone like Zito, though she could turn on the charm when she wanted to - but hey! A little flattery couldn't go too far amiss.

The young hyena settled down on the ground as she sat up, taking the opportunity to sneak a few steps closer as well. She seemed ready enough to make this into a proper chat, so he might as well get comfortable. "Gee, that stinks. Thought it might be nightmares or something. S'no fun, waking up whimpering from a dream where you're getting chased by a genet with a grudge and... and huge, slavering jaws and..." Tamaa coughed suddenly, looking down at her. "Not that that's ever happened to me, course. Head pain. Yeah." He coughed again. "You dunno what it's from? The heat's been pretty bad this summer."


"Chivalry never dies, huh." She deadpanned at the hyena, quirking a small smile onto her face despite her little jibe. He had his moments, the hyena. Comic relief, really. It was too serious between her and Mir and that brat, but Tamaa evened things out. She doubted she'd notice if the little bugger had gone missing, but at the same time, it was nice to have him around. Even if it was just to beat on him or insult him. It made her feel better.

Zitomoya's red eyes never left the hyena as he settled, sneaking closer as though she wouldn't notice. She tilted her head, snorting a little. "I don't have nightmares." Not often, anyway. And even if she did, they weren't his business. Nightmares were often, in her case, illogical fears manifesting themselves. If she was truly frightened of something, she needn't be asleep to fear it. She grinned a little at Tamaa's description, laughing quietly when he cut off, and shook her head. "No. The heat's bad this summer, but it's no worse then when I was younger." She said, shaking her head. "This pain, it's..." She frowned.

"It's hardly pain, but at the same time it...almost makes me want to cry. And it's constant. Wake or sleep, it's there, building in my head like some great mammoth." She shook her head, wincing a little. "I wish it would just go away." Was that so hard? Even now, the pounding made her vision swim a little and for a brief second, she saw double Tamaas before shaking her head to clear it.


Maybe he noticed the sarcasm, maybe not. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Tamaa. He let himself puff up his chest just a little, going back to his default mile-wide grin. "That's me. Tamaa the spittin' image of honor an' all that at your service. And nah, I guess you wouldn't." It was hard to imagine Zito running in terror from much of anything, really.

Then again, it was hard to imagine her wanting to cry, either. Even after that awful day of the attack, she hadn't shed a tear. Pillar of strength, that was Zito. "...Huh." Lost for words for once, he frowned, brow furrowing. He was all too far from any kind of expert on this sort of stuff, but there had to be something. "You got anything on your mind recently? I mean, besides the usual fight for survival around here."


Zito was a pillar of strength to Tamaa, perhaps, but to herself, she couldn't be weaker. Brought to almost crying by a head pain of all the silly things? While they might starve or be hunted down or killed out here, she complained of a headache. It was enough to make her curl in on herself, but she didn't.

Always with the public appearances, this one. At least when it came to those she knew. Everyone else could go take a long run off a short rock. She snorted a little at Tamaa, amused by the 'huh'. Really threw him for a loop, that. Maybe she oughta be more emotional more often; it was good for laughs, if nothing else.

"Hardly." She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Not much thinking involved with hunting." Sure, others might make it into some kind of sick, twisted game, but to Zito, it was simple. See animal, run after animal, tackle animal, kill animal, eat animal. "Or in much else we do out here." She grumbled a little. It'd been weeks since she had to be clever, she gave that up after their little attack. There was no need; Mir knew her games, surely, and Tamaa was too dumb to fall for them. And that girl... Feh. She wasn't worth Zito's spit, much less her wit.

"It only started recently." She shook her head, reaching up with a paw and scratching behind her ear. "It's building and building but it won't just... explode." She was sure that would happen. The pain would build and build until boom, the levy broke and whatever it was, whatever that damned pain was, it would ooze out of her. She just wished it'd give already.


It's building and building but it won't just... explode. He had a sudden image of Zito-brains all over the ground, and grinned weakly. "Maybe that's a good thing." He wanted more than anything to move closer, give what comfort his scrawny little hyena body could - but Tamaa had just enough common sense to know that might not be the best of ideas. Poor girl.

Wait, hold on. Step away for a minute. This was him, him and Zito. Zito confiding in him? It was true what his da always said, about how with a little friendliness you could rule the savannah. Tamaa gave himself a mental slap on the back, suddenly conscious that the grin on his face was maybe now a little inappropriate for their conversation material. He wiped it off quickly, going for concern. "Haven't you told the others? Maybe you should take a rest from hunting and stuff for a while. If it, well, exploded right when you were in the midst of a herd of wildebeast... A kick in the head'd be one way to get rid of it, I guess."


"It's driving me crazy, is what it is." She scowled a little, scratching at her head again like she could scratch it away. She'd tried, she knew it wouldn't work that way, but instinct told her to just keep scratching. She lowered her paw to the ground after a minute, snorting.

"A kick in the head would do more then get rid of a head pain, Tam." Zito snorted at him, shaking her head. Daft hyena. "Besides, who'll hunt if not me. I don't trust that scrawny little minx to bring enough food for all of us. She'll have me starve, she will." Zitomoya didn't care much for Mir's little brat. She snorted.

"Besides, s'the only time I get away from you lot." She smirked, reaching over to cuff the hyena on the head in a... almost fond and not homicidal manner. Wasn't that sweet of her! Maybe she was going loony in the head space.


"Aww, Kijani's not like that!" he protested, shocked at the very idea. She couldn't mean it, not really. "She's my friend, she's nice! And she-!" He cut off. He couldn't tell Zito that Kijani was ready to trust him with her plans. "She's my friend," he repeated stubbornly. Nobody said anything bad about his friends. "And I could hunt, if I needed to. Maybe. Sort of."

He yipped at the cuff, but in a teasing way, going so far as a not-quite swipe at her ear in return. "You miss your pack sometimes?" the hyena ventured. He didn't know what he'd do if he got abandoned by his mates like that. Zito hadn't been too big on the details of why they left, at least not in his hearing, but still! Any reason they had wasn't good enough, in Tamaa's eyes.


Zitomoya just snorted at him and his protecting. Kijani was like that, at least to her, and if the silly hyena wanted to defend the little vulture, who was she to correct him? He blindly followed them into Hell, why not follow that little brat farther? "She's hardly nice." She retorted, glowering. She'd seen the extent of Kijani's niceties; she didn't trust that little cub as far as she could fling her. And being of a smaller build then the lioness who was surely growing and growing all the time, she couldn't fling her very far. "I don't trust that you could hunt enough for Mir, the brat, myself, and you. In a group, perhaps, but not by yourself." Hyenas weren't exactly the best at hunting, were they? Not better then a lion, or certainly a cheetah.

Zito snorted at the not-quite swipe, and paused at the question, frowning. Thrown her for a loop, Tamaa. Bravo. "Why would I." She said finally, jaw clenching a little. They abandoned her to die out here with the lions and the hyena. She cared not what happened to her pack. They abandoned her and deserved what they got for it. She winced a little, rubbing her face with her paws and sinking to lay down. The pressure building behind her eyes was throbbing constantly, now. She couldn't pretend to ignore it there.


He didn't say anything more on the subject, but his eyes were full of stubborn, injured denial. It was hard to get Tamaa miffed, but you didn't go insulting his friends like that. "Maybe I couldn't," he admitted after a moment. "But we'd still manage." And he would've done his best.

"Yeah," he said, not entirely sure what he was agreeing to. Or even if that had been a question. Even he could see that in her eyes that avenue of conversation was closed, so he let it go, sinking down to mirror her position with head flopped on paws. A beetle trundled along the ground in front of his nose, and he watched it with idly, snorting when it got too close. "Sun's almost up," he said finally, just to fill the silence. Their moment of closeness (if you could call it that) had passed, neatly broken by the topic of Kijani.


"Maybe." She muttered simply, face still covered. Maybe he could bring enough food back, but was it worth the risk? And was it worth condemning herself to being stuck with the other two idiots for Gods know how long while Tamaa chased after beetles and warthogs? No, it wasn't. Her moments of freedom, however fleeting, were what kept her sane. Or mostly sane. Depended on who you asked, really...

"Yeah?" She peered through her paws towards the sky, and managed to, in that one single moment, release whatever had been building up in her head. Her whole body froze and then shook violently, tail flicking back and forth, claws digging into her face since that'd been where they laid before, kicking and rolling away from Tamaa. But if she was aware of any of these moves, she didn't seem it. Her eyes were wide and distant, staring at some unforeseen thing. A flash of fire, another flash of light in the sky, dead cheetahs, familiar to her in ways she didn't want to remember. A streak of black and pink fur. A river. Zebras, or so she assumed by the stripes. Rain. So much rain... As quickly as it had come, the visions cleared, and she slumped onto the ground, twitching as her muscles released the last of the adrenaline.

At least her head didn't hurt anymore.


"Zito? Zi!" He jerked up, executing a weird sort of dance where he tried to get close and then wheeled out of range of her spasming limbs. Please oh gods was she exploding? That image of blood and brain-bits kept popping up in his head however he tried to push it away. He'd wanted to be a confidante; he hadn't wanted to witness this. Should he get Mir? Should he stay with Zito? What if she tried to chew off her tongue, or, or...

Or collapsed. In an instant he was by her side. "Hey. Hey. Talk to me, Zi! Can you hear me? Oh gods, and the others aren't-" He licked her face where the claws had dug in, pressing himself close to her slim form and shivering almost as badly as she had been. He thought she was still breathing. Hoped she was still breathing. What would Mir do if she-?


"Get off me."

The command lacked the bite it ought to've had, but given her previous spasming, perhaps it could be forgiven this once. The cheetah shoved at Tamaa weakly, struggling to stand on her own. She still shook, and her legs protested the action of standing, but she couldn't just lay there. Zito shook her head fiercely, eyes clamped shut, and swayed a little before catching herself. "I'm fine." She rasped, growling a little. "Fine." Just fine. She'd seen what was likely the death of her entire coalition, her ...family... But she was fine. They deserved what they had gotten.

"The sun's coming up." She swallowed hard, glancing towards the sky. "We should go back to the others." She shoved Tamaa in the direction of Mir and Kijani, but the malice she'd intended behind that shove wasn't there. She blamed it on being tired. "Go on."


Those were quite possibly the best words Tamaa had ever heard. He leapt away, anticipating the swipe that never came. "You okay? What just- That was- Oh gods, Zi. I mean, maybe better now but later, but. Gods." He shook his head, blue hair settling back down over his face. Honestly, rabid genets had nothing on this. He'd been so helpless.

"I can't just-!" he protested, skipping a few steps forward at the shove, but cut off at the look in her eyes. This wasn't a time for nonsense, and maybe she just needed some time alone. Hell, he could do with a few moments to smooth down the panic. "If you're sure you're okay, I... I guess. I'll... meet you back there, then."

Long ears flattened with worry, he finally left, ducking glances at her over his shoulder every few steps to see if any more exploding would be forthcoming. Mir should know, he really should. But Tamaa was more and more uncertain if he should tell the others about this... whatever it was. He might lose whatever tenuous sort of trust he'd managed to build with Zito if he started meddling in her affairs.

He'd keep his peace for now, and try to sort out his spinning thoughts.