a compilation post by Baby Panda and Rhosynn
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. . . . . Kanta sees Nuru flick his tail as a gesture for her to follow him, but interrupted by a Snow Leopard, who she looks at in suprise. She does an awkward sprint towards them, as if she was limping at the same time. The young female burst out, shouting at the rest of them for acting so aggressive and judgmental towards her. Kanta doesn't blame them for being judgmental, but the sheer aggressiveness was a bit too far. The Snow Leopard stops shouting and continues that akward limp walk away from them, in a different direction to where she came from. Everyone is suddenly silent as the moment settles into everyones head before they continue. Nuru starts walking again, having stopped when the leopard came, and Kanta follows him. Betyr, the lion who found her, was behind her as he flicked his ear.
. . . . . Nuru led the two towards the caves, where the pride's dens resided. Nuru hadn't said a word while he did. Opposing the whole thing every step of the way. How could Nevaeh trust a cat like her so easily? He unknowingly bristled at the thought. However, he was going to hold his tongue. There was no way he'd tell Nevaeh what he thought. The whole pride was already questioning her decisions, there was no point in adding to that. Nuru paused in front of one of the cave dens, glancing back at the female behind him. "This is where we sleep." He finally spoke. "We all share dens, and split them accordingly. You can have this one..." He pointed his nose at one of the smaller dens. "I suppose." His eyes flashed, pupils narrowing at her. Betyr had been silent for the most part, watching him carefully. Nuru would have preferred to show her around alone, not needing a big, burly baby-sitter to stare down his back. He wasn't going to murder her, good grief. Perhaps if he seemed more friendly, he could convince Beytr to leave him be... "Actually... No one else shares a den with me. You can sleep in mine. Unless you kick in your sleep." His den had more space than the one he suggested before. He liked that space, and didn't want to share it with the stranger. But it wasn't too bad of an idea since he could keep an eye on her that way. To make sure she was worthy of trust... "Is that okay with you?" Nuru paused, his tail waving impatiently.
. . . . . Kanta notices a bit of a cliff-face ahead of them as trees seemed to appear on the hill out of nowhere because of the foliage blocking most of her view. When they got closer, she notices his fur slightly bristle. "Uh?" she said softly, like she was talking to herself. They continued until they were in front of a few caves. The male glanced back at her and Kanta retracted an inch before steppind forward to get a closer look. She then remembers how nobody actually trusts her, and that her curiousity of everything could be a bit suspicious in a few cat's eyes. Kanta steps back slightly and looks at her paws. She listens to Nuru speaking and he points to a small little cave and Kanta's face 'lightens' up slightly. "Ok!" Kanta says happily, before Nuru changed his mind and asked if she wants to share a den with him. "Is that okay with you?" Nuru pauses as his tail waves. "As a matter of fact, I don't kick in my sleep. Well, I don't actually know because I can't see myself when asleep." Kanta replies, starting to feel awkward being sandwiched by two males she doesn't even know, one that got annoyed for being woken up and the other being humiliated by her and maybe wanting revenge. She glances back at the silent lion before turning back to look at Nuru. "If you insist." Kanta says, wavering on those words slightly showing her unsurity of replying that way.
Betyr remained silent, and watchful, throughout the brief journey returning back the Pride’s home center, and then heading up towards the bulk of the sleeping dens to show Kanta her new place of rest. It wasn’t that he was against talking, but that he was a generally quiet cat. And of course given the circumstances ranging from the reasons for his flash of anger, disgruntlement, and general confusion; being quiet was the right thing to do, in his minds’ eye. He did note, however, despite Nuru having a shockingly open, if not attempting to be friendly, personality shining as he spoke with Kanta, he did not quite believe his generosity. The young male leopard was a good cat, Betyr truly believed, but it certainly made him question him with his changing attitude and temperament to accommodate Kanta, and perhaps to even prove himself to the white lion. In response, he stayed silent for the most part during your conversations, watching both politely, but carefully. Until Betyr finally spoke up, and softly rumbled an addition to end of Kanta’s agreement to share a den with Nuru, “Seryn and I, are there, that next den over from Nuru’s, and now yours. It is too cramped to share more, to be honest, but if you have need me later I won’t be far.” He offered, lightly.
. . . . . Nuru was pleasantly surprised at the female's reply. To be honest, he didn't care if she kicked or not, he wouldn't be sleeping if she was in there. Perhaps he would pretend, but he'd rather watch her and make sure she wasn't some demon in disguise or sneaking off to tell other prides her juicy information on them. "Alright then. Challenge accepted. But I'll kick you back if you do." He mused. Would she trust him? It seemed that Beytr did not, since he offered her an escape in case Nuru was being Nuru. If she was anything like Nuru, then that'd be a definite no. So he'd showed her the dens... Now what? Nuru's eyes flickered back to Beytr's. "Our job is done. If it's okay with you, I'll just show her around the territory. After all, she's a part of us now, right? We'll be back around feeding time." He could never read the pale lion's face, but he assumed that he doubted Nuru, but would let him go anyway. The lion nodded, gracefully trotting back to the camp center, probably to catch up the nap he was interupted from. "Is there anything you'd like to see first?" Nuru questioned, not wanting to lead her to something she'd already seen before...
Betyr reluctantly nodded to Nuru's gesture to show her around the terrirtory. There job was done, as Nevaeh had only asked for them to help return her the camp and show her a den to take (or in Nuru's case, offer to share). He didn't quite agree however that she was completly a part of the Pride as of yet, acceptance was merely the first step, and the next - would be proving her worth and her place, to be worthy of such acceptance. He turned, graceful despite his considerably hefty frame, trotted back to the camp's center. Seryn greeted him there, the panting from the chase eased with a couple laps of water, the remainder still dripped from the tips of her whiskers as she meowed, jokingly, "Well... That was, bracing?" Betyr snorted, twitching his ears, as he responded, "Yes, it was..." Betyr paused, as he briefly watched out of the corner of his eye as Nuru and Kanta headed out the tunnel together, before looking back to the cheetah in front of him. Humm. He changed the subject; "Did you get your scouting done for the evening hunt?" "Oh, um... Yes I did. All the herd's were in their proper places for this time of season, granted..." "Granted what?" "The wildebeast seemed riled up. I never got a chance to see why, after trying to get a drink before heading out and then that 'Kanta'." "Humm. Shall we go see?" "Sure." Betyr nodded for Seryn to lead the way, her gait bouncy and uneven with her whip-lash thin tail darting from side to side, and trotted behind. In a way, even if Nuru tried something with Kanta that the Lion was prone to doubt, even as hot-tempered as he was, he wasn't that stupid, to disgrace Nevaeh's decision, no matter how odd it was; Betyr would be out on the territory, if need-be. So much for a good mid-day nap...
. . . . . The question stumped Kanta. What is there to see? What has she seen? "Uh, I don't know... Is there a water source apart from that river nearby?" Kanta asks. She looks up at the canopy to see the monkeys from before. Kanta gives a hint of a smile before looking down at Nuru again, also noticing the disappearence of Betyr. Kanta follows Nuru as he shows her to the watering hole, noticing cats staring at her with mistrust and hate. She lowers her head while walking past in worry. Kanta looks at the water and sees her reflection, revealing how worried she is to herself. She turns back to Nuru, still following him. "Thank you for offering to show me around. Is there something your pride needs me to do tomorrow?" Kanta asks with slight enthusiasm.
. . . . . Nuru analyzed her whenever possible, but only when she wasn't looking at him of course. He searched for the slightest twitch, hinting that she'd change her mind and run away. Better yet, he tested it out by leading her to the watering hole first where a lot of cats sat around when they were on break. She looked nervous, and kept her head down, but she didn't run. Nuru hid his frustration by taking a few laps from the water, his ear folding back to listen to her question. "Thank you for offering to show me around. Is there something your pride needs me to do tomorrow?" The question tickled him. She was asking him? He almost felt like he was leader already. "Well, maybe you could join the hunting party? You're frustratingly fast, after all." He lifted his head and his muzzle curled in amusement. Kanta's attention was shifting from him to the cats around them. Worry still plastered on her face. He sighed. Perhaps it wasn't so wise to bring her here in the first place. She's just trying to fit in, right? Nuru shouldered past her. "Follow me." He commanded with exasperation. He was going to take her to the savannah once again where the pride wouldn't oogle her the whole time. Maybe she would open up more if they did something she enjoyed like hunting or something...
. . . . . "Follow me." Nuru said to Kanta as she let out a quiet sigh of relief. At least she would get away from the angry pride members. She felt weird just following him around as soon as he asked, although it felt like he was ordering her to so Kanta stopped for a few seconds to hopefully send the message that he should probably stop, but he wasn't even looking at her. Kanta assumed his ego is starting to kick in, an that she should probably try to take the lead in something. She starts walking beside him. "So, what do you do here Nuru?" Kanta asks, reffering to what Nuru does, and not what the whole pride does. As they keep walking, Kanta notices some long, peach coloured grass from the Savannah. Kanta smiles slightly as she starts to quicken her pace.
. . . . . Nuru's claws flexed a little when Kanta picked up speed to walk side by side with him. It wasn't exactly something he was used to, they were either right behind him or, rare as it was since he liked to be first, in front of him. "So, what do you do here, Nuru?" He thought for a moment. He did a lot of things, a lot of things he felt he should tell her to prove he was important, but it was much more simple just to state his rank. "I'm a warrior. When duty calls, I must serve as my rank first, but occasionally when there is peace... I'll hunt and patrol the border." He replied, but Kanta seemed to be fixed on something else. When the grass started changing from forest floor to savannah's long, whispy grass, Kanta started to speed up. This was clearly her forte, but not Nuru's. It was hard to see over the grass with his shorter, slower legs. "Kanta wait-" He huffed, trotting a little faster now. Perhaps she was in the mood to hunt but Nuru felt uneasy. He wasn't exactly the best without any trees involved... That would mean he would have to chase...
. . . . . Kanta glances back as she hears a muffled "Wait" from Nuru. Hearing this, she starts to slow down so Nuru can catch up. Kanta was in a hunting mood today, wanting to relieve herself of the stress and anxiety of the day, where she can take out her stress on prey. "I'm a warrior. When duty calls, I must serve as my rank first, but occasionally when there is peace... I'll hunt and patrol the border." she hears Nuru say. When peace is occasional? Is this pride a take-land-because-we-can pride or a getting-attacked-by-a-take-land-because-we-can pride? Or is it something entierly different? That, Kanta is unsure of.
. . . . . Nuru's legs burned. Although, he had quite the stanima in a fight, he was in no way prepared for a run. If an enemy fled, he would give chase for a good minute then cease. It wasn't that he was lazy but... He was just so heavy and not even the strongest cat, which was him of course, could carry that much weight running. When Kanta finally slowed down, he padded up next to her, lifting himself a little higher to see over the tall grass. He observed the premises, his eyes scanning the territory for herds of different animals. "I think I have a plan, depending on what kind of animal you want to kill..." He suggested, trying to think of the easiest way to hunt while running as little as possible, but to also satisfy Kanta's needs. "You like running right?" He asked this with a sarcastic tone and flicked his tail with amusement, considering she didn't have a problem running from them so easily. "Perhaps you could single out an animal and herd it towards me so I could pounce on it or something." He lowered himself into the grass again and eyed her, wondering what she thought of the plan.
. . . . . Her eyes narrowed as Nuru made an obvious statement about when Kanta kept running to annoy her before her eyes relaxed when he suggested a plan. "Sounds like a plan" Kanta replies. She scans the animals until her eyes rested upon a young zebra in the centre of a herd of other zebras. An easy target. Kanta lowered herself slightly to let the grass disguise her before slowly creeping forward, trying to get next to the herd before a lioness and a black panter both launched out at two different targets at once, sending the whole herd packing. Instead of making a racket, Kanta decided to watch it all unfold. After a weak attempt to survive by an injured female zebra and a stall from a male zebra because of a bobcat pouncing at him, the hunt was over. She walked back to Nuru. "Some of your pride did our 'job' for us" Kanta told Nuru.