. . . . . Nuru felt no convictions chasing the animal that had intruded their territory. That was, until he saw the spotted pelt that had so desperately tried to flee the scene once they had caught sight of her. It was one of his kind. Where was she running off to? Did this idiotic leopard realize she was dangerously close to their faction? Where the whole entire pride was currently residing? Obviously not. Nuru tried his best, scrambling as fast as his short legs could carry him, to keep up with the two swift lionesses. Splash! One by one, members of his pride had stalked towards the scene, growling and fur bristled. The intruder was surrounded. Praise the moon and stars, he was sure he was going to die of exhaustion if they had to run any further. Nuru's body was heaving from chase, shoving himself into the circle to examine the cat. Her ears were flat, eye-lids peeled back to reveal a terrified individual. Served her right. Then again, Nevaeh did mention she felt no ill-will in this leopard. Nuru's lips curled back with a hiss.
. . . . . “STAND DOWN!” Akinyi ordered, causing Nuru to flick his tail in annoyance. Who was she to tell him what to do? "What is your name and business here." She asked the leopard. The spotted female opened her mouth to speak, but instead of answering, she bolted. Her paws pushing off the back of the bobcat, Lourdes, causing the bobcat to fall on her face from the weight. Everyone scrambled in a confused frenzy after the leopard, Lourdes cursing madly from the sudden attack and almost outran the whole pride after her (minus the three fastest females of course). So many things were happening at once, it was hard to recall everything that happened. Nevaeh got caught in a root of a tree, yowling that the leopard must be stopped, Seryn stopping to help. The rest of the pride scattered in different directions in attempt to circle around and catch her that way. However, Nuru pursued forward, past his best friend and trailed behind Akinyi. By the time they reached the leopard's scent, a very angry Betyr had cornered her hiding in the lowly brush of ferns inside the faction.
. . . . . "Come out now, young Leopard. You're hurt and weakened from running, and will not last much longer against an alerted Pride. State your name and your intentions in our lands, so that we may hopefully put away our teeth and claws shortly." Nuru was delighted to witness such a rare event. The satisfaction of finding the intruder and catching her, seeing Betyr show an actual emotion... It was quite an eventful day, he almost felt better from being ridiculed earlier. Without a lick of caution, he approached the ferns where Betyr was crouching in wait for the leopard to come out.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
. . . . . Vale already knew that the pride didn't like Nuru all that much. It was just sort of strange to hear it come out of Nina. So she only offered because she was afraid... That was more expected... For a moment, he thought she actually wanted to be leader. Then again, he kinda wished that really was the reason. He was proud of her for speaking up. "Well, if you don't actually want to be leader, you can always drop out of the competition." He suggested, a slow blink to show his understanding. When he mentioned the whole sacrifice thing of being a denmaid and how it was an honor, she appeared hurt and stared at him for a moment before saying a word. What could be going on in her head? "The sacrifices I make are ones I was forced have to made. This wasn't what I wanted to do in a pride. Be the lowest of the low and treated like dirt by nearly the whole pride. I was taken into this pride and the only thing I am allowed to do is be a den maid." Vale was almost insulted at her comment. Lowest of the low? Treated like dirt? Being a denmaid should feel like an honor. Denmaids are the most important cats in the whole pride besides the leader itself. They had to care for the young future of the pride, protect the faction from nightly invasions, they did the hard work to make sure the pride could still function! Then again, not all cats were made to be a denmaid. It was a large sacrifice to make, and if one wasn't willing, of course they'd be upset. He did make the choice after all. However, he didn't know Nina wanted to be something else.
. . . . . There was a moment where Vale and Nina looked at each other with shocked faces, as if they both didn't expect for Nina to talk like that. "I'm sorry, this isn't a topic I like to talk about much." she apologized, turning away and padding towards the pond. She didn't say anything, like if she wanted to be left alone or not, so he followed. Nina took a moment to lap at the water, so he waited patiently, plopping himself down on his rump beside her. He didn't say anything though. He wanted for both of them to enjoy the silence. However, it didn't last long. A spotted pelt flashed behind them, towards Betyr whom was peacefully napping. Vale immediately stood up, claws unsheathed at the sudden movement. The leopard certainly moved too fast to be Nuru and he was the only golden leopard in the pride. An intruder. The leopard took a leap off the lion's side, but didn't jump up as high as she wanted to, crashing to the ground and running towards the ferns. Betyr let out a mighty roar, chasing the leopard around the faction until she tried to hide. He cornered her, commanding that she show herself while Nuru and Akinyi made an appearance. They were panting, as if they were chasing the intruder for moons. Vale scolded himself for not guarding the faction like he was supposed to and bounded to Akinyi. "What is this madness?" He snarled, taking in the scent of the leopard in hiding.