Part 1 - Let the journey begin... [Finished]

[Kirsui]

"You are coming with us aren't you, I mean meri and me can do it, but, I think you need some exercise, so you can come too . ok ?"

Rondea chuckled lightly.
"Of course I will come with you", he replied.
He gazed around. They weren't all that far from the waterhole, but he knew they were far enough that if anyone returned there they wouldn't see them.

"Lead the way, Sanura", Meri told her friend. "I'll follow right behind you."
Rondea nodded in agreement at the tiger cub. Let the two have a small adventure, he'd make sure they'd be safe.

[Deleted]

Sanura grinned at Meri and Rondea, before turning and walking slowly towards the path she could see that would lead them back around to the waterhole, hopefully where the others were all waiting.
Stopping suddenly, she stood and waited till Meri was beside her, and not trailing behind, this way she could tell her if there were any tree roots or other things that she needed to step over or duck her white fluffy head from.

The tiger cub looked sideways at her.
" if we walk together like this Meri, then I can tell you if you have to jump over anything, should work good, and Rondea is behind us, and seeing he's huge, he can frighten things out of our way as well.... ok lets go ."

With a small grin on her face Sanura, raised her voice a little, turning slightly to face meri so she could hear.
"There's a stick in front of you Meri, keep going but give a small jump forward."
Keeping her gaze on her friend, sanuras grin turned into a giggle.
"You did really good, see you didn't trip or anything, you can do this Meri."

Turning her head back she looked up at Rondea, hoping he wouldn't give away her secret, but he wasn't even watching her, well that worked, I'll have to try it again

[Dakota]

Karensha held onto her breath as long as possible before she kicked her way to the top and burst through the surface. With water spraying up in the air, then landing all around her leaving ripples in their wake, the snow leopard paddled slowly to the side of the waterhole,and used her claws to lever herself up the small bank and onto level ground.

Standing there for a moment she held her face with eyes closed, to the sun, letting it warm her then moved a few paces and shook her body vigorously, removing the last remains of water still clinging to her white body and lilac fur.
Undecided about what she should do, Karensha looked back over her shoulder and could still see Sefu and Kigeni lying down resting, but no sign of Rondea with the cubs.

Sighing to herself, she turned and started to make her way back around the waterhole, her back still felt a little sore from her fall, and as she moved she could feel a slight ripple of pain filter down her spine, shrugging it off karensha gracefully kept moving, once they were all together, the decision needed to be made what they were going to do.. stay where they were, or move forward for a new adventure.

[mahewarac]

Kigeni looked up just in time to see Kerensha dip under the water.

"Damn cat..." She whispered, growling. "I went to all the trouble of saving her so she could commit suicide?"

After a while, though, she came back out, soaking wet. The point of that was....? The hyena thought, streching her front legs and paws. Getting up, she drank some more water. Her fur drooped in her face, covering her eyes. Growling, she swept it back. "Crap is me."

"You seem to be taking the fact they're gone pretty well, Kerensha. You used to be obsessed with those cubs. What gives?"

[Dakota]

Karensha was walking back along the edge of the waterhole, letting her paws slap against the shallow water, with her head down watching the ripples on the water dance up and down, at last bringing a smile to her face.

"Crap is me."
The snow leopards head snapped up fast as the words reached her ears, of all things to be there standing in front of her was the hyena,and with another smug look on her face by the looks.
Karensha paused, and gave a sweep of Kigeni's body with her lilac eyes and then their gazes met again.
" well yes Kigeni.. I would have to agree with you there."

About to move past her, she was blocked as the hyena it seemed hadn't finished their little chat.
"You seem to be taking the fact they're gone pretty well, Kerensha. You used to be obsessed with those cubs. What gives?"

Taking a breath the snow leopard stepped closer and smiled at her.
" Im surprised that you want to know, you.. who profess to not giving a toss about anyone, so why start with me. You don't like me, never have, I'm sure you were lying here watching me in the water hoping something would be in there as well, that just left a blood pattern floating on top of the water."

Karensha laughed softly at the look on Kigeni's face.
" my,my.. your expression gives you away...again. Oh.. two things for you also.
One - I can see thecubs over the other side of the waterhole, two - you should have a quick dip in the water and maybe you wouldn't have to call yourself crap all the time.

Moving back Karensha made to walk past her, but stopped and tapped the hyena on the nose.
"You better stop getting ahead of yourself about things, it might be you who gets lost soon,"
Dropping her paw, she moved onto where the lion sefu was once again it seemed..sleeping.

[mahewarac]

" Im surprised that you want to know, you.. who profess to not giving a toss about anyone, so why start with me. You don't like me, never have, I'm sure you were lying here watching me in the water hoping something would be in there as well, that just left a blood pattern floating on top of the water."

"What?" Kigeni asked, almost speechless. That was...random. "I'm just a hyena, not a serial killer. God, why are you so grizzly?"

One - I can see thecubs over the other side of the waterhole, two - you should have a quick dip in the water and maybe you wouldn't have to call yourself crap all the time.

"....Oh." She mumbled, looking over. "Right." Scratching her ear for a second, she growled. "Well I was a bit to busy pulling you out of holes to look. And Figgy's still gone."

[Dakota]

Standing in front of the dark maned lion, Karensha slowly looked him over. He was lean and athletically looking she surmissed,and there wasn't much fat on him, she would have thought more seeing as he liked to sleep his life away, maybe once he was up and on his own he liked running or exercising.

Cocking her head sideways a little , she moved in even closer and leant forward, making sure she still had a gap between them, so their skin wouldn't touch and stared perplexed at the hooked shaped scar on his left cheek.
Karensha found herself smiling as different scenarios came to mind, as to how he could have got the scar.
maybe he was trying to get a lioness and her mate didn't want to share and he got a left hook to the old muzzle... or.. maybe he was out trying for a kill and sucked some dust up his nose, sneezed, tripped over his own paws and nose dived...hmm ..or

Just as she was getting started and enjoying herself, she felt her own nose start to twitch, as she moved she tried to hold her breath, but all it did was make her eyes water, and she couldnt hold it in any longer and sneezed, her hot breath flowing all over the lion.
Karensha stood there, her eyes wide and slowly moved back paw at a time, looking over her shoulder she could see she was in the middle of Sefu and Kigeni. Stopping suddenly she sighed wondering which one of them was the lesser of the two evils.

[Kirsui]

Meri followed Sanura's instructions carefully as the trio walked on. Her nose was twitching slightly as she sniffed the air, taking in the scents and hoping they would soon become familiar. Her ears were turning as she listened, she could hear Sanura's small paw steps, and Rondea's much heavier ones, as well as the wind rustling the leaves and different birds singing slightly. She imagined how it all looked like, how green the ground was, how a bird could be seen flying from tree to another... She sighed, wishing she could actually see that all.

Rondea didn't pay much attention to how Sanura was instructing Meri to walk. He was watching the area around them, and especially the path the tiger cub was choosing. He walked silently for quite some time, trailing behind the two young ones, but then he frowned slightly as he took notice of where the path was leading.
"Wait, Sanura", the tall lion called to the cub.
"That path is blocked, there are large boulders up ahead on it."

Meri's ears flattened at hearing this and she indistinctly stopped, her ears twitching nervously.
"Do we got to go back...?" she asked quietly.
Rondea chuckled faintly, shaking his head even though he knew the white lioness could not see it.
"No", he replied.
"There is a path around it... But we have to go deeper into the forest in order to circle around the boulders and reach the waterhole."
He looked at Sanura, smiling gently.
"Follow close behind me", he instructed. "I shall walk slow so that you two are able to keep up with me."

Then he walked on to their right, glancing over his shoulder to see if the two young ones were following or not.

[Deleted]

The tiger cub kept walking making sure Meri was right beside her, so she wouldn't trip over anything and hurt herself, when she heard Rondea call out to her. Digging her paws into the leaves that had covered the ground, she pulled herself to a halt and looked over her shoulder.

"Wait, Sanura", that path is blocked, there are large boulders up ahead on it.There is a path around it... But we have to go deeper into the forest in order to circle around the boulders and reach the waterhole, follow close behind me,I shall walk slow so that you two are able to keep up with me."

Giving Meri a slight nudge, Sanura flattened herself against her so the large lion could pass them by to take the lead, and then stepped back onto the trail and took her place.
"Come on Meri, I'm here beside you, lets go or else we will loose him, and remember if I say jump you gotta jump..ok?"

[mahewarac]

Kigeni watched as Kerensha went into some sort of a trance, just staring at Sefu. Pushing her, she tried to wake up the leopard.

"What the heck are you doing?" She snapped, "You look like some kind of creeper staring at him like that." Glancing to the side, she saw the lion with the round scar, and gasping, jumped back.

She remembered when she first joined the Elephant Graveyard pack, just out of her puphood. Shenzi had told her about what happened to them, with the lion king and all. Kigeni never had met Scar, him being killed by the hyenas long before, but Shenzi described him with such detail that she had an almost perfect image of him in her mind. Tan fur, black mane, green eyes, and a noticable scar over his left eye.

The scar she saw now was pretty similar to that, and she got the same shivers she had whenever she saw a scar in that fasion. It was like the lion had come back to haunt her, just for fun, just to torture the new leader of the pack he used to control.

"Shenzi's dead, Scar, leave me alone. I didn't kill you, get it?" She whispered in no direction in particular.

[epppe]

Sefu was glad that he was getting some sleep and wasn't involved with the bickering the other two were doing. He was starting to go into a deep sleep before he noticed that that one of their scents was getting stronger. It was the better smelling of two so it had to be the leopard. The scent was strong enough to tell that Karensha was close and all Sefu wanted was for her to move away.

Before he could do anything, Karensha sneezed right on Sefu's face. He didn't know exactly how to react so he just let out a small groan and began to grind his teeth. He got up and wiped off most of the residue that Karensha left on him before walking over to edge of the waterhole. Taking a deep breathe, he put his head under the water to wash whatever was left on his face. The water seemed to wake him up as he was able to think more clearly. He took his head out of the water, shook the rest of the water of him and turned back to the other two.

Letting out an chuckle laugh, he also pushed his mane back so it wouldn't get in his eyes.
"Are you kids trying to find the most annoying ways to wake me up?"
He looked around at the area now looking to see if anyone else returned.
"So the new guy hasn't returned with the cubs yet, whatever I guess. So are we leaving to the mountains when they do return?"

[Dakota]

"What the heck are you doing,You look like some kind of creeper staring at him like that."
Karensha jumped back totally embarrassed at kigenis words that echoed around where they lay.
"I wasn't doing anything, I was just seeing if he really was asleep, and then I sneezed.. and.. and. And why are you always so grumpy, are all hyenas like you, day in and day out?"

Stepping back a little further, the snow leopard wasn't sure what to do. Watching as the lion rose to his paws and stalked to the water to wash his face, and in seeing what he was doing, it made her face burn even more. Lowering her lashes slightly to cover her lilac eyes, she stood still and waited for him to open his muzzle and rebuke her.... he wouldnt have even known she was staring at his scar, if she hadn't of got dust up her nose and sneezed over him.

Her eyes stayed on Sefu as he turned and walked back to where her and the hyena were placed and she almost gasped when not sarcasm came from him but a laugh.
"Are you kids trying to find the most annoying ways to wake me up?
So the new guy hasn't returned with the cubs yet, whatever I guess. So are we leaving to the mountains when they do return?"

Karensha stood there a moment, following his gaze at their surroundings, she couldn't see Sanura and Meri with Rondea anymore, they seemed to have moved away from the shoreline. Clearing her throat a little, she raised her head and met his eyes.
"Well...I would like to move on, and everyone seemed to want to follow Meri and head in that direction, but I guess until we are all in one spot again, we have to bide our time."

Karensha turned and looked at Kigeni, and then passed onto Sefu.
"What I need to know is, who will come with me and try and find Figgy, it doesn't seem right that we leave without giving him a choice to whether he wants to come with us or stay with his traps in the jungle. Sefu... Kigeni ??"

[mahewarac]

"I wasn't doing anything, I was just seeing if he really was asleep, and then I sneezed.. and.. and. And why are you always so grumpy, are all hyenas like you, day in and day out?"

"Why, yes, ya noticed?" Kigeni scratched her ear. "After being around me this long, why would you question otherwise? And Sefu, I wasn't trying to wake you up. That was the work of this little airhead here." Before Kerensha could rip her head off, she said, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

She turned to face the jungle. "I do wonder where Figgy went. You'd think he'd come back after a while. What did you say to him, Kerensha? I was there for some of it. Why are you guys always so emotional, are all cats like you, day in and day out?"

[magiccat]

Cat's pride was travelling again. They were walking through thick jungle and many cubs were being carried. She wasn't, mainly because she had begged and pleaded. Her mother walked a little way in front of her now, Cat made sure never to lose sight of her tail. However, a cricket jumped in front of her. Cat grinned and got down into a pouncing position. She began copying the cricket, trying to follow it. As she pestered the poor animal, her mother walked on.

"Oh dear, you can go Mr. Cricket. I shouldn't keep my pride waiting" As she turned round she saw they were gone. Cat gazed ahead for a minute, shocked and scared. Slowly another emotion worked it's way into her system. Anger.

"Why didn't they wait for me?!" She started crying as she said this, tears of anger and sadness. As a young cub, she thought they would of noticed and stopped for her. She was sobbing now as she was terrified, how could she survive? She wiped her tears and glared in the direction her mother had gone.

"If they don't want me then fine. I'll just find somebody else!" She turned round and trotted in the opposite direction, toward a place where the jungle wasn't so thick. She wasn't crying anymore, she was thinking up a back story for whoever found her.

She froze as she heard voices and fear clouded her thoughts. She peaked her head through a bush to look. A Hyena, a snow leopard and a lion were together. The lion was sitting by a waterhole. Cat grinned. Hopefully this group would care for her. She pushed through the bus and padded over to the snow leopard. She tapped the snow leopard's front leg with her paw, incase she'd missed her. She stared up at the snow leopard, her instincts told her she was nice.

"Excuse me... Miss Snow lepard ma'am. Can you help me?" She asked, crouching a bit. The Hyena worried her and thoughts ran through her mind. Maybe they were mean. She looked up at the snow leopard, a tiny bit frightened.

(OOC: I know Cat doesn't get seperated from her pride in her history but I wasn't sure how else to introduce her. Any other way would have ended in her heading back to her pride pretty soon because of her age.)

[Kirsui]

"-- if I say jump you gotta jump..ok?"

The young white lioness giggled slightly at Sanura's words and then nodded with a wide grin. She was glad that Sanura was there with her, bringing some light to the darkness she was forced to see every passing moment. She didn't know if the tiger did this all intentionally... But no matter what way it was in reality, Meri promised herself she would thank the tiger properly when the time was right.

Right now the main thing was to get back to the group, and so without hesitation Meri followed Sanura's instructions as they travelled behind Rondea.

The large male walked slow, knowing that the two younger ones would not be able to keep up with his long strides had he walked with normal speed. He kept scenting the air, flicking his ears as he listened and letting his gaze scan over the area in front. He knew he was on the right path, but even still the scent of the group was getting fainter after each step taken. The path would go slightly further out from the waterhole before returning there...

Rondea chuckled, glancing over his shoulder at Sanura and Meri.
"Only a bit further..."
He muttered this to himself, not explaining it any further to either of the cubs.

[Dakota]

Karensha swung her glance away from the lion and back onto Kigeni in a hurry when she heard her words.

"And Sefu, I wasn't trying to wake you up. That was the work of this little airhead here...I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

Letting a small smirk appear on her muzzle, the snow leopard took a few paces towards the hyena stopping in front of her. Bringing up a paw she tapped it gently on Kigeni's nose.
"You know.. I think I'm beginning to get used to you and your scintillating little comments, that seem to come from nowhere..you are.....hmm...amusing."

Following Kigenis gaze towards the jungle, Karensha felt a pang of sorrow, it was her words that had made Figgy go storming off in a huff, she had honestly thought he would have been back by now. Pulling her gaze away from the greenery, she didn't really know what to answer the question of,What did you say to him, Karensha?
"I ...just think maybe Figgy has been so used to being on his own and doing what he wants, maybe he doesn't want or need anothers opinion, and particularly mine, and .. maybe I'm not good enough for him."

Breaking off the snow leopard looked with sad eyes towards the jungle once more and letting a sigh escape her muzzle, mumbled quietly.
" He's caring and funny and handsome, in his own special way, how could you not like him."
Stopping herself from saying anything more, karenhsa blushed softly and started to turn away to Sefu, who was standing very quietly near by when she smelt a new scent. With her nose sniffing the air karenshas ear twitched. About to turn she was taken aback when a lion cub strolled towards her tapping her front paw.
"Excuse me... Miss Snow lepard ma'am. Can you help me?"

Karensha bent her head down and shook her lilac fur away from her face, while giving the cub a look over. She wasn't hurt nor malnourished, which meant others were in the area, something she really didn't want to worry about. now it seemed was the time to get a move on.

"Can I help you. I don't think so, you really need to turn around and trot back to where your parents are. We aren't staying here much longer, actually we were about to go look for some friends, so.... how about you shimmy on little one."

[epppe]

"You know.. I think I'm beginning to get used to you and your scintillating little comments, that seem to come from nowhere..you are.....hmm...amusing."

Hearing this brought a smile to Sefu's face, glad to see that these two can get along. It was all good until Karensha brought up Figgy again. To him, she thought of Figgy to highly and herself lower than what she actually is. All the things that she said about Figgy were the opposite of what he thought of him, an arrogant delusional glutton. Sefu didn't want to upset the leapord even more so just kept silent, thinking if he were to ever find some that he would become this irrational.

Snapping himself out of his thoughts, he looked over at Karensha only to find another cub found it's way to the group. What caught Sefu off guard was that Karensha rejected to help the cub. In his mind, she was too caring of others and would pretty much help anyone.

"Come on kid," Sefu said, moving closer to Karensha, "Maybe she doesn't know where her parents are, I'm sure Figgy can last awhile out there but the cub is easy prey to anything. Shouldn't you at least make sure she makes it safely to her parents."
Lifting his head, he began to scratch under his chin.
"And if we can't find 'em, I guess it would just be more company for the other two."

[Dakota]

Karensha stood there staring at the cub waiting for a reaction, she had never been this callous towards a young one before and had even surprised herself at what had come out of her mouth. From the corner of her eye, she saw the look on Sefu's face, she couldn't win, one moment they almost belittled her for being too soft and over protective of others, and now she was trying to change to be what they thought she should be and she got knocked back as well.

Tilting her head slightly, the snow leopard let her fur slide forward and hide the expressions on her face, as the dark maned lion had now come to stand beside her.
"Maybe she doesn't know where her parents are, I'm sure Figgy can last awhile out there but the cub is easy prey to anything. Shouldn't you at least make sure she makes it safely to her parents."

Biting on her lip to stop it quavering, karensha kept the lilac fur over her face and nodded her head in reply. Reaching down , she grabbed the cubs neck skin gently in her mouth, lifting her off the ground and placing her on Sefu's back.
"There you go, you can ride with Uncle Sefu.. no problems."

[magiccat]

Cat looked between the lion and the snow leopard as each of them spoke.

"-Other two" Cat froze. Inside she was grinning, outside she tried to keep a confused look on her face. At least they were ok with cubs. She panicked a little as the snow leopard placed her on Sefu's back. Find her parents? Were they kidding? She didn't want to go back to the pride that had left her behind. She wracked her brains for a reason not to go. Her creative mind just couldn't find a reason.

"I..." She started slowly. She stopped and thought to herself for a second before continuing.

"I mean, whilst I'd love to go back to my mother and pride. I don't think they'd want me back" She said to Sefu. She bit her lip to think for a minute before continuing.

"See...they abandoned me" She said softly, she stared at the ground. She had settled on the truth at last. Cat wasn't exactly the smartest of cubs and didn't even think for a moment that they hadn't meant to walk on. Although she rarely smiled, her face had never looked this sad. It hurt to think her mother hated her. Maybe she wanted a nice boy cub who could fight and not a daughter with her head in the clouds.

[mahewarac]

"You know.. I think I'm beginning to get used to you and your scintillating little comments, that seem to come from nowhere..you are.....hmm...amusing."

"I have your approval? Why thank you, Kerensha, my life is complete." She looked back at the jungle and scratched her ear. "If Figgy won't come back, that's not our problem."

She turned around to see a rather unpleasant surprise.

"Aren't we up to out eyes in cubs? Do we really need to take this one in?" She glanced down at it. "No offense."

"Maybe she doesn't know where her parents are, I'm sure Figgy can last awhile out there but the cub is easy prey to anything. Shouldn't you at least make sure she makes it safely to her parents."

"If anyone listens to what I say in this, how are we going to feed ourselves, much less a growing cub? Ker, I'm gonna call you Ker now, Kerensha is kinda a long name...anyway..." She took a breath, "Figgy was the one who got most of our food, but he's gone now. I know Ker has to be a saint all the time, but it wont be being a saint if we starve it."

After the cub told it's sob story, Kigeni knew it was a done deal. No cat was gonna resist the "parents abandoned me" tale. She used it herself once or twice as a pup to con them out of their kill. Shaking her head, she walked back to the waterhole.

"Whatever. Don't mind me. I'm just the little hyena with an attitude problem."

[cheezeegriff]

(OC: sorry about this rather useless post, guys. I only put it here so that you know that Figgy's still out there).
"You know, this isn't like being seperated from my clan," Figgy said to nobody in particular. Well, as it would appear to anyone outside his head. He was talking to Jerry, the voice that only he could hear, and which he sometimes suspected was a fly that flew into his ear once, and got stuck there.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

"Well... I dunno."
He gave a tug at the vine, giving the tripping rope some tension, before tying it off around a thick broken branch which he had crammed into the jungle floor.
"It was kinda liborating when I left my clan. I went out into the jungle and found my place in the world."

YOU MEAN, SLEEPING ALL DAY AND NIGHT, EXCEPT WHEN YOU'RE HUNTING?

"Yeah exactly: master hunter of the jungle,"
he said, then twonged the trip wire. After a satisfied nod he waddled on, to check the other traps he had set since he had left the group.
"They didn't exactly see me that way, of course - didn't seem to be thankful at all that I fed them. But I would have kept doing it for... for..."

FOR KARENSHA'S LOVE. AWW.

"Stop it."
Figgy glared up at his left ear, as much as that was possible anyway. Then he sighed.
"But I suppose you're right. What was a few gazelles and zebras for her? Well... at least at the beginning. I mean... the first day was great! But then as time went on, things slowly got worse. By day two she was yelling at me for yelling at people, and for trying to make a proper hunter out of Meri! I mean... can't I yell at who I please? I am an adult-"

IN SOME RESPECTS.

"-what? And it was kinda fun yelling at a hyena for once. Are they all that little? I'd never seen one that close before..."
He shrugged.
"And I was only trying to help Meri... Anyway. If that's what relationships are about, I don't think I want anything to do with them."
Figgy sighed, and stared at the canopy for a long while, keeping his ears open to the sound of traps springing.

THAT'S NOT QUITE WHAT RELATIONSHIPS ARE ABOUT, FIGGY.

"What are they about then?"

LOVING SOMEONE SO MUCH YOU'RE WILLING TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THEM.

Figgy pondered this for a while, chewing on a stick he picked up from the forest floor.
"What, you mean like... not hunting with traps anymore?"

IF THAT'S BETTER FOR THEM, YES. HOWEVER, AS THAT'S PROBABLY YOUR ONLY STRATEGY FOR GETTING FOOD, I WOULD SAY YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T.

"Well that's a relief,"
Figgy said, and closed his eyes for a nap.

[Deleted]

Sanura laughed back at her friend Meri when she heard her giggle, she was making her happy and thats all that mattered for now
Turning back to face the big lion that was in front of them. the tiger cub did a couple of little jumps trying to see around him, as she wasn't sure where he was going, but she couldn't see the waterhole any more.

"Psst Meri, I can't see where Rondea is going, his butt is way too big for me to see past him"

Leaning her head down closer, Sanura's face brushed against the dark blue fur, that was flying around the white lioness face.
"Meri we are going further away from the waterhole and into the jungle, what do we do? should we stop and hide and hope Karensha or someone finds us, or do we keep following...him ?"

[Dakota]

Turning away from the cub balanced on the lions back, Karensha faced the hyena once again.

"I'm gonna call you Ker now, Kerensha is kinda a long name...anyway .Figgy was the one who got most of our food, but he's gone now. "

The snow leopard looked Kigeni over, trying not to smirk at the tone in her voice.
"So.. you want to call me Ker now that we seem to be on friendlier terms.. thats interesting except you aren't saying my name correctly anyway, maybe I'll just call you Kogoni and then we can be even."
Karensha quickly turned her head with her tuft fur flying wildly around her face, as she heard the cubs sniffles reach her.
"I'm sorry little one, of course you can stay with us... for now. I'm sure you will be missed soon enough, and your family will be on the look out for you."

Moving her head slightly, her eyes made contact with the lions, and then dropped once more her gaze settling back on that scar of his. Realising what she was doing, Karensha blushed slightly and brought here eyes back up level.
" Kigeni is right Sefu, Figgy was bringing us all our food, and before that the others who were with Sanura, meri and myself brought us all fresh meat. It seems that Figgy was alot cleverer that we gave him credit for, we look for our food out in the open, he traps food from in the jungle."

Stepping back, Karensha paused slightly before asking her final question of them.
"I'm going to look for Figgy before we carry on into the mountains once Rondea,Meri and Sanura reach us from the other side of the waterhole. Who wants to stay here and wait for them, and does anyone want to come with me ?"

[epppe]

Sefu couldn't help but feel irritated with the cub on his back. To him, it was like having a leech on his back, but was starting to get used to it since he's had something on his back most of the time. He just kept silent since complaining about it would just be wasted energy and the other two wouldn't want to take care of the cub.

"I'm going to look for Figgy before we carry on into the mountains once Rondea,Meri and Sanura reach us from the other side of the waterhole. Who wants to stay here and wait for them, and does anyone want to come with me ?"

"I'll go with ya. While we're out there, we can look for the cub's parents."
He turned over to the where Kigeni was at.
"You don't mind waiting here for the others do you Kogoni? Plus, I don't think you would want to carry this kid if she falls into another one of Tubby's traps."
Focusing on the jungle where Karensha was looking at before, Sefu wondered how far Figgy went into it.
"We better hurry or else we'll never find him."

[magiccat]

Cat bit her lip as she thought it over. She could go with Sefu and this snow leopard, or stay here with the Hyena that didn't seem to like the world or anybody in it. Yet if she went into deeper jungle, she would probably encounter her parents, that would be bad. She could work on the Hyena...tell it a story or two. Oh, who was she trying to kid?! There was no way she could help this animal. She'd never really seen a Hyena before though ,only heard of them, it intruiged her a bit and she wanted to know more. But now it looked like she was going with Sefu and the snow leopard. She just smiled and nodded as Sefu finished saying he was coming with the snow leopard.

"Oh by the way, my name is Cat. C-a-t, Cat" She said to them, at least now they had a name for her.

(OOC: Gah! I should shoot this post where it stands for how short it is!)

[Kirsui]

((OOC: I was going to reply here yesterday, but got distracted before I had even started. Anyway, here the post finally is. XD))


Meri kept scenting the air while she followed Sanura's instructions to walk on, and a small frown begun to form on her face, deepening after each step they took. The familiar scents that had floated around the waterhole area were becoming fainter as new scents that the young white lioness had never smelled before showed up. Each of her steps became hesitant, and the realization that she would no longer be able to find her way around by scent alone struck her.

"Meriwe are going further away from the waterhole -- do we keep following...him ?"

Meri's ears flattened as she begun to take another step forward, but changed her mind in the middle of the movement and placed her lifted front paw next to the other one.
"I... I don't know...?"
She tried to speak as quietly as possible so that only Sanura would hear her, but without seeing eyes she could not tell if Rondea heard her or not.
"I..." she begun hesitantly, scenting the air while her tail flicked behind her nervously.
"Something is........ wrong..."

---

Rondea's ears twitched. He had heard Sanura's words to Meri, and he more sensed than heard or saw that at least one of them had stopped following him. And so, when Meri hesitantly answered the tiger...

"Something is........ wrong..."

Rondea chuckled and turned around to face the two young ones. He had a pleasant grin on his face, even though Meri would not see it.
"You do not trust me...?"
He chuckled again and shook his head before taking a step closer to the cubs. Meri was startled and took a step backwards when she heard him approaching, but Rondea wasn't worried. The white one could not run away with blind eyes.
"You are more clever than I thought.. Or perhaps it was instinct?"
He shrugged.
"It does not matter any more though... Not now that I finally have what I have sought for ages at my reach..."

Meri frowned deeply, trying to hide the fact that she was slowly becoming scared of the whole situation and change of behaviour from Rondea. It was like he was a completely different person. In fact, he reminded her of... of...

Meri's eyes shot wide open, even though neither of them could see anything. Her mouth opened as she gasped, stumbling a few more steps backwards before she tripped on something and fell flat on her belly to the ground.

Upon seeing the horrified expression on Meri's face, Rondea laughed slightly.
"I am surprised you did not recognize me before, Meri", he said.
"But then again, you could not see me. If you had I am sure you would not have been that keen on following me when Karensha got lost from the group."
He glanced at Sanura momentarily, then back at Meri with a grin.
"Your friend here has no idea... Does she? She has no idea how I know you, or how you know me... Care to tell her before I -"

But Meri would not allow him to finish what he was going to say. She filled her lungs with air before screaming out the only thing she could think of now.
"Sanura, RUN! And get Karensha!"
She knew now who Rondea was, and she regretted trusting him as she had. It was wrong, so completely wrong, because she had trusted the only person she could not and should not trust, because if he had never showed up she would not have been half blind in the first place.

[Deleted]

Sanura heard Meri gasp "Something is........ wrong...".
Planting her paws on the ground, the tiger cub stopped her self and started to move back instead, something was wrong, the lion that had been so nice was now being strange and she was becoming scared, Karensha and Figgy weren't there to help them, there was only her to look after Meri.

"It does not matter any more though... Not now that I finally have what I have sought for ages at my reach..."
Sanura heard his words and looked at him and then at the white lioness.
"Meri whats wrong why are you looking so scared..Meri" Her friend was now backing away and had fallen on her tummy, all the tiger cub knew was that she had to protect her, but she didn't know how.
Moving so she was now standing in front of Meri, Sanura bared her small teeth and started growling as loud as she could.

" Stay away from Meri, you big coward, she's hurt and she can't run away, you are meant to be nice, but..but.. you're nasty ."
Her ears twitched as she heard what he was saying and her eyes widened in surprise.
"Meri, do you know him from somewhere, why does he want to hurt you."

Sanura was now totally confused and just as scared, and a small tear fell from one emerald coloured eye, she didn't know if she should jump at him and try and bite and claw, or should she just stay and cover Meri with as much of her body as she could.
She jumped suddenly when Meri began screaming at her "Sanura, RUN! And get Karensha!", Hesitating the tiger cub didn't want to leave her friend behind, she didn't want to loose her, if anything happened it was going to be all her fault.
"Meri, I wont leave you here alone, I can't".

The screaming at her to go didn't stop, with one last look , Sanura dug her claws in and pulled herself past Meri and with tears streaming down her face mingling with her orange fur, she ran back the way they had just come.
Small branches and leaves hit at her body as he ran, making her gasp. Nearly out of breath the cub slowed her self down and started screaming out karensha's name.
where is she, why hasnt she come to me, why hasn't anyone heard me

"Karensha, Figgy HELP, HELP ME"

[Dakota]

Karensha turned to leave in the direction where she had last seen Figgy run off into the jungle when she paused and turned to Sefu and Kigeni.
" Maybe its better if I go by myself to find Figgy, seeing as it was me that upset him and made him feel incompetant and I'm thinking one on one with me might be less embarrasing for him afterall."
The snow leoaprd lifted her eyes and they dwelt on their new companion, the little cub, and thinking also about Sanura and Meri, it shouldn't have taken them this long to make their way around the rest of the waterhole, something just didn;t seem quite right.

" Sefu, maybe you and Kigeni could wander a little and see if you can pick up Rondea and the cubs scent, they have been missing for too long now.. I'm just not sure whats happening. Tell you what.. you find them, I'll find Figgy and we'll meet back here, .. and then hopefully we'll be on our journey."
Not giving them any time to argue, karensha gave an all encompassing smile and turned and sprinted straight into the greenery, with the leaves and foliage coming down like a curtain behind her blocking her way from their eyes.

On she ran, only slowing down when she saw a vine hanging lopsidely, or a pile of leaves looking out of place, last thing she needed was to be caught in another of Figgys traps, and no one to get her down.
Her ears started to twitch a little as ahead of her she heard noises as if someone was muttering to another. Slowly she moved forward, glancing down so as not to tread on anything that could give her away, she needed the element of surprise, especially if it turned out, it wasn't Figgy ahead of her.
Karensha stopped behind a large leafed plant, and carefully with her paw pushed a leaf to the side, and low and behold there he was..Figgy. just sitting there talking to himself.

Taking a moment to compose herself and gather courage, she stepped out from behind her hiding place and moved towards him, pacing slowly. In a soft voice she called to him.
"Figgy.. behind you... its me karensha."
Stopping herself she waited for him to turn and acknowledge her, at first she thought he was going to ignore her as she got no response,and she was about to speak agin, but louder, when he turned and stared at her.
" I've missed you Figgy, I thought I wouldn't but I have found myself thinking about you, your kindness, your happy attitude, trying to see the bright side of everything."
Giving a little sigh, when he stayed still and wasn't answering, she hadn't realised how much she had hurt him it seemed. Karensha moved till she was beside him.

Bringing up a paw, she gently stroked it down his spine, feeling the warmth generating from him, but still he stayed silent. Again she bought her paw down his back but with a slight pressure made sure her claws combed through his fur as well, this time feeling him shudder and knew he was responding to her,
Feeling bolder, Karensha moved from his side till she was now sitting in front of him. Raising her head she lifted her long lashes and met his eyes, Blinking slowly, she smiled gently at the lion, and continued with what she had to say, if when she was done and he still wanted to be alone, well she knew she had done her best.
" I'm sorry if I embarrased you in front of the others, I'm new at all this looking after others, I can't even remember my past, everything now seems to be a trial and error with my actions. But the hyena pointed out to us all, that I have no right to make decisions for Sanura and Meri, we are all in this together, so we all have a say if we are going to be travelling together.. but what I need to know Figgy, is if you will come with us...if you will come and be with me?'

Swallowing quickly Karensha kept her eyes on his and again raised a paw and gently stroked down one side of his face and down his neck, then back up again and lightly passed over his lips. Dropping her paw back to the ground, she then leaned in, licked his cheek slowly and waited to se if she would be leaving alone.

[cheezeegriff]

"So you say trees actually use sunlight to grow? That's intresting. I just thought they grew out of the dir-"

"Figgy.. behind you... its me karensha."

Figgy's heart stopped for a moment, but then he kicked his legs and rolled himself over, lumbering to his feet and standing to attention.
Heavens... Karensha was back. He thought he was over her, but seeing her standing there, stark white against the dark green jungle... every feeling he had felt the first time he saw her came flooding back, only this time with a mixture of trepidation as well.

" I've missed you Figgy, I thought I wouldn't but I have found myself thinking about you, your kindness, your happy attitude, trying to see the bright side of everything."
" I'm sorry if I embarrased you in front of the others, I'm new at all this looking after others, I can't even remember my past, everything now seems to be a trial and error with my actions. But the hyena pointed out to us all, that I have no right to make decisions for Sanura and Meri, we are all in this together, so we all have a say if we are going to be travelling together.. but what I need to know Figgy, is if you will come with us...if you will come and be with me?'

"It like every male's dream... a female that can apologise!"
The words of Uncle Specklecheeks reverberated in his mind, and Karensha stroked his cheek. Figgy still had his claws dug into the ground from when she had stroked his back... it was SO hard to remain logical when she did that. As he looked deep into her lilac eyes, Figgy saw no malice there, but at the same time he was cautious. He had to be, after all - had to make sure this was the genuine article.

"How..." he said, pacing, "How do I know this isn't just because you want me to hunt for you?"

As Karensha's face twisted with thought, thinking about her response, from behind Figgy there came a t***, a whoosh of leaves and a roar like no other he had heard before. It wasn't as deep as Sefu's or Figgy's but it was laced with a rage sharp enough to split tree trunks, and Figgy's ear drums. He winced and stumbled back, then circled the tree to look behind it, only to find a large - and very angry-looking - lioness suspended from one of his tree branches.

Figgy gulped.

"Get me down!"
the lioness growled, thrashing about with her arms and legs, only tightening the knot about her leg. Her upside down face was a mask of rage.

"Uh-oh,"
Figgy said, and stumbled back to Karensha's side.
"I think she'll eat us alive if we let her down... how about on three, we run? Ready? One... two... three!"

[Dakota]

"How do I know this isn't just because you want me to hunt for you?"

Karenshas ears twitched a little at his only words after she had bared her feelings to him. She started to feel angry, wondering if he had listened carefully enough to what she had said. but held her tongue, it seemed he had more to say, when suddenly breaking into their conversation there came something sounding like a muffled scream.

Quickly following behind Figgy, the snow leopard saw what all the noise was about.. alioness had the misfortune of getting caught in one of Figgy's masterful traps, and was now upside down swinging wildly back and forth in the breeze, with a very unpleasant scowl on her face.

"I think she'll eat us alive if we let her down... how about on three, we run? Ready? One... two... three!"

Karensha smiled gently at him,trying not to laugh.
"Figgy, she's not going to eat us.. the two of us together are much stronger than her, she's just a lioness nothing more nothing less, but I think we'd better let her down, I can't stand the noise she's making any longer... Come on we'll undo the vines together."

Giving him a nudge, she started to reach down where vines were intertwined with each other, but stopped to see what he was doing.
"It's ok Figgy, I wont let her touch a hair on your body... she will have to get through me first... trust me on that."