Fana
Lion
Nura Pride
Thou who wakes the lioness doth never see another day.
Posts: 10
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Post by Fana on Jan 29, 2006 18:49:38 GMT 10
Fana had been on her paws for a good four hours at least, and with dusk slowly setting in, she was growing wary of time and location, for she knew she was no longer near her pride lands, or even in Zimbabwe for that matter. In the heat of the morning she had traveled through the day down to where she was now; South Africa.
Massive, silent paws treaded through the plains she was venturing across, while scents of buffalo, gazelle and wild horses teased her nostrils. The pale lioness panted heavily, not entirely in exhaustion, but also in anticipation of a good hunt. Her ears swiveled this way and that, calculating where the best angle to come from would be.
The uneven vibrations of hooves nearby signaled the buffalo were closer than the gazelle and wild horses, for the latter were too light to have such an effect on the earth, and Fana only smiled inwardly at the thrill she knew of when buffalo were on a stampede. Though they were not in this state at the moment, the muscles lining her hind legs moved under her skin in excitement as she lowered herself, stalking closer.
The lioness did not plan to bring down a buffalo, oh heavens no, for that would be tempting suicide, she knew. Having taught herself how to do this, Fana had also practiced strategies, and from the direction of the wind, the lioness knew that the gazelle were in fact to the right of the buffalo, and one roar on the wind to their right would send the gazelle into a frenzied sprint to the right. Right into her path.
Fana closed her bone-crunching jaws and maneuvered her body through the long grass in absolute silence, her blue-grey eyes streamlined in focus for the action ahead. As Fana turned her head to the left and inhaled the wind, noting it's perfect direction and preparing to roar, she suddenly stopped, and the ebony tip of her tail twitched a moment, her head whipping around to the right again.
Was that what she thought it was? The lioness suddenly lowered her frontal half a great deal, the toned shoulders of her feline form rippling while her ears leveled themselves back on her skull. She took in the strong scent on the wind again, and her heart began to race. Although the scent was far from the ignorant animals grazing ahead of the lioness, Fana recognised the gripping scent of a male anywhere.
A lion was on the prowl nearby. She was sure of it.
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Nakema
Lion
Taki Pride
Don't Get On My Bad Side...
Posts: 8
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Post by Nakema on Jan 31, 2006 3:23:36 GMT 10
Fana's senses served her well, for prowling nearby was Nakema, searching for those that did not belong in his home, and looking for a good meal to keep his strength up as his wounds from fighting the humans a couple weeks ago had yet to heal completely. Although the lions of these lands had regenerative healing capabilities, they were nowhere near that of other fabled creatures, whose wounds would heal in a matter of seconds. Light pink skin could be seen under the male's golden pelt in spots where the human's weapons had done him harm.
As Nakema reached a nearby stream, close to herds of several animals, a stiff breeze brought a new scent to his nostrils. A lioness was somewhere nearby, probably on the same mission that he was. Nakema was yet to encounter many other lions, no matter the gender, in his home, so he was not sure whether she was from his pride or from another.
Keeping the lioness' location marked in the back of his mind, Nakema returned to the hunt, and found himself about a quarter mile away from a good sized herd of water buffalo. Taking a moment to decide whether to make a meal out of one of them, Nakema moved on. He did not wish to waste such a large animal on just himself. Even if there was another predator nearby, there was no way in which two could consume an entire buffalo, plus the scavengers and the carrions circling the grasslands could not consume what would remain of the beast had Nakema attacked.
Instead, the lion sighted a more fitting prey. Fast, lean, and worthy of a kill stood a small group of zebra, grazing close to a nearby waterhole, probably going to it to drink every once in a while. Now there was a challenge. Although he was still a good distance away, Nakema took his time and slowly made his way closer to the animals. Once he had stepped within a few hundred yards of them, the male lion crouched down to conceal himself and picked a target. One of the zebra appeared to have a limp as it walked, probably from past injury. That would be an easy kill. He'd leave that to the lioness if she wanted it. Instead, Nakema chose a mid-sized male approaching the waterhole. Probably a young adult, he would make a fine meal for the lion.
Nakema's muscles began to tense, quivering beneath his fur, longing for him to begin his attack. Nakema's fierce green eyes darted back and forth, looking for anything that might hinder his attack. But nothing seemed out-of-the-ordinary, so Nakema focused on his path of attack and pounced, leaping out of his position and charging the herd of zebra. Large, powerful muscles shook beneath his fur as Nakema sped over the tall grass plains, his large, powerful paws beating the ground beneath them into submission. It was then that the zebra sensed his attack and scattered. But it was a split second too late, for Nakema had already zeroed in and was almost in range to pounce. The zebra scattered in every direction to evade the powerful lion, and his particular choice darted across the water to the other side of the watering hole and began to pick up speed.
Leaping over the watering hole, Nakema continued his hunt, slowly closing the distance between him and his prey. As the zebra made a sharp turn to evade him, Nakema sensed the movement and anticipated it, out-turning his prey and instead of leaping on top of it to pin it, Nakema lowered his head and bashed the animal's ribs with his skull. He heard a satisfying crunch as the zebra was knocked over onto its side, calling out frantically to its herd to rescue it. But it was of no use, for soon Nakema had his powerful jaws clamped around the creature's neck. Nakema squeezed and twisted his head, snapping the zebra's neck instantly, blood trickling from the small puncture wounds he had created. The zebra fell silent, and Nakema began to feed.
Moving back to the creature's hind quarters, Nakema took a large chunk of the zebra's thigh and began to savor the taste as fresh blood trickled down his chin and down his throat, the meat tickling his tongue with its sweetness. Nakema continued to feed for a quarter of an hour before his hunger was satisfied. Nakema had not left much for the scavengers to pick from, but it was enough that they would not bother him again that day.
Moving over to the watering hole, Nakema began to drink to quench the thirst of the hunt. The water was cool, despite the hot temperature of the African plains. It probably originated from the high mountain peaks that he could see to the northeast. After a few minutes, Nakema was satisfied once again, and he recalled the position of the lioness and made his way there. He wanted to find out who she was and what she was doing in his homeland if she didn't belong to his pride.
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Fana
Lion
Nura Pride
Thou who wakes the lioness doth never see another day.
Posts: 10
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Post by Fana on Jan 31, 2006 17:47:21 GMT 10
Fana poised herself stock-still as the scent of the lion passed under her nose. Only the bridge of her nose wrinkled, and the occasional twitch of her black-tipped tail like an adder in the long grass, they were the only movements she made as her eyes closed and she listened, furred ears now swiveling with the wind to follow the giveaway silence of a coming kill.
Suddenly the noisy warnings of zebra entered the air in the distance, and the lioness piqued her tentative ears forward, raising her upper half to gaze through the thinner whiskers of grass. The sight that met her made her muscles relapse on tension and her tongue run dry. The alarm in the distance of the zebra kick-started a thundering rampage of heavy hooves; the water buffalo.
Without a second to lose the lioness dove into the tall grass on her left and bolted, her massive paws thumping against the ground as the buffalo closed in on her side, closer and closer. She needed to out-run them on an angle now, and speed was her only friend in this space of adrenaline-pumped time.
Gasping, she just managed to slip around the side of the herd before they all charged past her at a pummeling speed. Hanging her head forward, Fana was breathing deeply, partially shocked at the close call, and partially psyched up for more excitement. The latter got the better of her when a group of about five zebra came hurtling after the buffalo; one carrying a very distinct limp in it's stride.
There was no time to stalk or form strategies now, it was all a matter of grab what you could while you could, for it was clear the lion in the area had already set the animals off into a fear-driven sprint. So grab she did. Flexible tendons stretched under her picturesque body of thick fur, every square inch of her the same dusty white shade as the underside of a gazelle.
A motion in air, she leaped, holding her weight beautifully as her fore paws connected with the frail zebra's shoulders and her back legs came down hard on it's rump. Her tail whipped through the air, keeping her balanced as her ears flattened and her jaws drove fast into the animals jugular. It's limp took a grave toll and it stumbled under the impact of the lioness, tripping and coming down hard in the long grass.
Fana kept her grip in all places, still positioned on it's back as though nothing had phased the lioness or put her off balance at all. As life drained from the striped creature and it's throaty clucks of desperation silenced, she raised herself off it's body and came around to settle on her belly; it's throat still impaled on her canines.
Blood leaked over her pale maw and her blue-grey eyes caught every last twitch in the animal before she finally let it's throat go and opened her jaws to crunch it's shoulder in half. Before her satisfaction was met with this however, she picked up the scent of the lion very close now, and her eyes darted around her, frantically searching for him. Such a moment for the wind to swirl in many different directions.
Finally pin-pointing his exact location, she could see his form coming toward her between the long grass, and what a fine specimen he was. It was his green eyes that held her attention, though with a scan of his healing body, Fana knew he had been in a brawl recently. With what, she did not know, but her immediate reaction to his presence was instinctively to leap up and place her body over her kill, facing him.
A low rumble sounded deep in her throat, but her shoulder blade gave a tell-tale flinch of wanting to turn away, and run. Nevertheless, the lioness held her ground, her ears resting back against her skull in a somewhat submissive manner despite the determination on her face.
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Nakema
Lion
Taki Pride
Don't Get On My Bad Side...
Posts: 8
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Post by Nakema on Feb 11, 2006 11:36:11 GMT 10
Nakema had seen the water buffalo stampede after he attacked the zebra herd, and he hoped that the mysterious lioness hadn't been crushed by them. It would have been such a shame. However, much to his relief, he caught her scent near to another zebra.
She probably went after the injured one, he thought to himself. It was probably the easiest kill of the bunch, but I'm sure that was the last thing on her mind.
As Nakema closed in on the lioness' scent, his ears caught the sound of a low, throaty growl coming from the same direction.
Well, at least she's fiesty, he thought.
Nakema then began moving downwind of the lioness so that his scent wouldn't be nearly as noticeable. This also put him on the other side of the zebra carcass. As Nakema approached, he peeked his head over the top of the animal to look at the lioness from behind. He chuckled in his head and then walked around the front of the animal and spoke to her.
Hello there, he said, fairly amused at the situation.
OOC: Gah...crapola...
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