The Flooding of Kingwa Valley

[KanuTGL]

The rain never seemed to cease. It had been falling for days, maybe even weeks, on end, without even a hint of holding up. The cold water kept soaking everything and everyone... The animals living in this, by mountains, well protected valley had lost count on the days the rains had been over them. Every time you thought the light drizzle was going to stop, another cloudburst washed down on them and there was barely a dry place left anywhere in the entire valley.

A lonely figure was pawing along the edge of a newly formed lake, looking for any type of food... She had not eaten in two days, and she was getting hungry. The figure was a canine, so much could be told only by the sillhouette, but wether it was a jackal or a fox was hard to tell. Her fur was a dirty orange that, even in the rain, stood out against the huge pool's dark shores. Her features were overall slender, almost lanky, and she had large ears, similar to the jackal, and a long snout, like a fox. But this lady was neither of them. For she was a wolf, the only African wolf there was; the rare Ethiopian wolf.

After a long walk and fruitless attempts at finding a nest of her prey, she finally sat down beneath a tree. Not that it sheltered very much, but it was better than sitting out in the rain. Dhakiya, as was her name, sighed as she looked out over what had once been a green and prosperous land. Now this stupid monsoon, or whatever it could be, had ruined everything. Several new lakes had appeared over the last few days, and a lot of the old river shoreline had simply been washed away, leaving dark muddy scars in the earth and fallen trees behind it. The river was growing broader, and wilder, by the day... This worried the wolf under the tree. What if it ended up flooding the entire valley? It had already done so with several parts... Dhakiya looked to the Eastern part of the valley, where her pack once had lived. Where were they now? Only the Gods knew... It was so ironic, Dhak had always liked being on her own, but now when the others were all gone, loneliness had never felt so... lonely. Her violet eyes then gazed towards the grey sky. And never had the day been so dark. It could only be just past noon, still it felt like dusk, and she hadn't seen the sun since... When had she seen the sun last? It was all so depressing... The wolf sighed and lay down to rest her head on her front paws. What would be her fate? The fate of everyone living here? Dhakiya yawned and decided, however, that was something to be worried over later, she wanted a rest now...

[Kirsui]

Not too far away from that tree under which Dhakiya was keeping shelter, the wet grass swayed rapidly as something raced through it. First, a lizard appeared from the grass, running for it's life. The lizard stopped on a stony part on the ground, whihc perhaps had been a cliff. Now it had turned into riverbank because of the flood.

The grass kept swaying and suddenly a golden fur ball pounced on the lizard. It appeared to be a small fennec fox, who apparently had very odd sleeping habits. It was more daytime now, even though one could not see the sun, and it was unusual to see a fennec awake during the day...

Though, that little fennec, Isha... She acted like she had always been awake on daytime. Isha got a hold of the lizard's tail, only to realize the lizard itself had ran away after leaving it's tail behind.
Plus, there was something else too that Isha should have realized sooner. Now it was too late.

The stony ground was slippery and the fennec lost her balance, falling straight into the flooding river. She gasped in a shock as she kicked herself into surface. She felt like she was drowning, she had always felt like that after her whole pack had drowned into their Den tunnels a few weeks ago, when the massive rains had begun.
"HELP!"
Isha felt how the flowing water took a hold of her small body, carrying her away from the shore.
"HEEELP!"
She tried to swim back towards the shore, but the flow was too strong for her. She fell underwater, then came back to surface, coughing up water. The cold water was taking her strength quickly...
"Someone... Help me!"

[Sarafina]

Kye had been laying under a tree. She wasnt getting wet but little rain drops fell here and there. Kye wondered why it kept raining so much. The river had been to full to do anything. It was even ahrd to drink out of it. But half of them never even drank from the river anyways. Speaking about the river. Kye turned her head towards the river. She heard someone calling for help.

Kye being herself, got up and ran to the river. She saw Isha. "HOLD ON!!!" She ran over to a tree.She grabbed a branch and pulled it off. She dragged it over and put some of it in the water. " Grab on!" she stuck it in far enough so that she could grab a hold of it. She stood there with the branch in her mouth. he had been infront of where she was coming, She hoped she would trap her and she would have to hold on.

Kye was soaked. Her ears were dropping a little bit. And for being a fennec fox, they shouldnt really do that. Kye had been standing in mud. She had to keep moving her feet. She kept sinking into the mud by the riverbank.

[Judas]

The rain was pouring down, in amounts never in the history of the savanna had the rains been this great, nor as powerful, the animals themselves knew what this meant, life yes, but it also showed deaths many faces. From the greatest elephant to the smallest ant no one could escape the water and its deadly rivers.

The African rivers, as thick with crocs as a termite hive with termites, many animals have met their fate in these treacherous waters; gazelle, zebra, leopard, and lion it doesn't matter who are since the water makes no one a difference.

"Mommy!!" a voice rang through the grey moist savanna air, "Mommy come on!!" the frantic voice of a cub broke the silence of the dark savanna, a little meerkat cub was standing on the top of a muddy slope looking down on a female meerkat balancing on a log, out in rageing river. The female took a leap of faith and dug her paws firmly into the muddy wall, trying with all her might to climb the mud slop but as soon as she moved a paw the mud wall was giving in bit by bit.

"Mother take my paw!!!" the meerkat cub yelled terrified at the female strecting his small paw down to hers wanting to help her up, the meerkat, threw a glance down below her. At the thundering waters of the river before she turned back to the her cub. Her face was weary and nearly devoid of strength and it was clear she was giving up.

"I love you, Valerian.." the meerkat muttered in silence before she let the wall beneath her fade, and she plunged into the dark raging river and disappeared into it's grasp of death. "NO!!" the meerkat cub yelled frantically untop of it's small lungs.

Left in shock staring into the water where his mother had fallen, the young cub utterd gentle sobs frowning still staring into the still raging river before a the crash of a lighting throws him voilently out of his grief.

"Mother!" the starled voice of a male meerkat calls through the darkness of a makeshift rock shelter, which is briefly lit by the flash of a soundless lighting outside. The meerkat who is sitting on a thin bed of leaves, leans his face into his hands in aguish causeing the strands of his unkempt blond hair to fall over his paws.

"It was just a nightmare!" whisperes the meerkat to himself, as if he tries to give himself some moral support. Looking up from his hands, the small mongoose creature trail his gaze to the entrance of the makeshift cave and his eyes falls upon the endless downpour going on outside.

When will this rain end? That was a question Valerian had come to habit of asking himself for the past months. It is highly unusual for a meerkat to be alone like this; without his mob anywhere in sight, unless he's been exiled ofcourse. But this pale colored meerkat was far from exiled, he had lost his mob to the masses of water.

It took them completely by suprise, the meerkats had buildt a dirt barrier around their burrow, in hopes of keeping the ever riseing water from flooding it. And with pups barely a month of age moveing was out of question, but during the night, the mud-dam broke down to the pressure of water flooding the burrow. Those caught deepest down in the burrow got trapped as the water clogged all the exits.

Those outside where swept away to fates unknown, or they drowned, Valerian had guard post that night. The lead female had placed a sentry to guard the mud-dam around the burrow incase it should burst. The guard job wasn't something Valerian was used too, he was the familiy's aspireing shaman, but he was also a storyteller.

But with every expanding water all meerkats had to apply jobs some where in truth too young to do. But not even Valerian could prepare for the flood that was soon to come, and when it did, all he could was claw himself to a lowlying tree branch. He could hear the panicked screeches and cries of the trapped meerkats deep in the burrow.

Valerian sighed softly to himself as his green eyes trailed to the darkness of the stone cave, the events of that faithful night still pained him. The notion of being helpless is according to Valerian a feeling that is almost worse than sorrow.

With a deep sigh the male crawled to his feet, and scurried out of the small cave and out into the savannah that now was a mixure of down-beaten grass and mud.

[Lorien]

The rain continued. It was unrelenting, and it was cruel. A dark figure walked solemnely through the savannah, the shadows of clouds making the land a dark shadow itself. Puddles splashed around the figure's paws as she walked, almost ready to give up. Kiala looked around silently, the water dropping from above making it hard to actually see. She had seen so much death around her in the past weeks. If she hadn't been a loner already, she most certainly would have now. She rarely ever saw any groups of animals...only lone survivers of the rains and floods. Eyes drifting to the lakes that were beginning to grow, she wondered how long she herself would be able to survive. Food was extremely scarce now...and finding it was even harder, though hunting in the darkness was easier for her with her dark grey coat. Not to mention the prey couldn't get much traction in the mud.

Kiala continued to trudge through the mud and downpour, her fur drenched and cold. She decided that she wouldn't find any food today, and her stomach growled in protest. Sighing, she let her head fall as she passed by a small cave, unawares of the meercat the stood outside it. He wouldn't have made a good meal anyhow, if she had seen him.

[KanuTGL]

Dhakiya was stirred in her sleep by some noise, yes, a sound that wasn't drowned in those of the raging river and the steadily pouring rain, and the wolf grunted, not happy to be disturbed, and changed position. Yet, her large sensitive ears wouldn't shut the new sound out, and she felt almost forced to open her eyes, lift her head and see if what was making the racket was visible through the dim light. She squinted against the nearby river and tried to see what was going on. As soon as the word "Help!" could be made out from the cries, the wolf's eyes widened again and she was on her paws. If someone needed help, just lying here doing nothing was unacceptable if one was able to do something; a word of advice Dhakiya was very fond of following.

"Hey! Hello? Where are you?" she cried in the rain and galloped towards the river. She soon found a small fennec fox standing somewhat up the bank, holding a long stick into the water. Dhak raised an eyebrow, then saw something, or maybe it was rather someone, else coming down, in the water, and it was this one that was the scource of the shouts for help. It took the wolf three leaps to be at the first fox's side. But now was no time for questions and answers, now was time for acting! So, without thinking the slightest bit about the risk, Dhak dived in. "Wohoo!"

The water was freezing cold and dark, treacherous with invisible rocks and various sharp objects floating about, but Dhakiya wouldn't care for now, she had more important things to focus on than her chances of survival... The wolf blinked a few times to get muddy water out of her eyes and glanced about her, looking for the bright furball that cried for help, while helplessly following the river's rushing course. Dhakiya found that the one she had jumped in to save was right ahead of her and she swam to her rescue. The wolf grabbed a fluffy tail not-so-carefully between her teeth and tried to shout "I've gotcha! Don't be afraid!", but it came out rather muffled through all the fur. Dhak then tried to turn back to the bank and get out of the water, but it didn't go well. After a few fruitless tries, she realized that maybe jumping straight into a flooded, gushing river maybe hadn't been the best of her ideas.

So now what? She made a few frenetic efforts to think of something, but nothing good came. The cold hand of panic felt very near, and they had already drifted several hundred meters. Then suddenly a dark protuding shape revealed itself near the river bank, and Dhakiya remembered thinking "Now or never!" before jerking herself and the little critter she had in her mouth against the shape, which turned out to be a fallen tree, and clinging to it for all that she was worth. The immense power of the rushing water still held them in a steady grip, and Dhakiya somehow knew, even though she had almost been knocked senseless by the collision with the wood, that if no one came to help them, soon, it'd all be over.

[Kirsui]

Isha tried to keep herself on the surface as a small creature appeared to the riverbank. She could barely realized behind her panic that it was another fennec fox, trying to give her a stick to grab on.
Useless, the flow of the water carried Isha away from the stick and the panic inside her grew larger. She shut her eyes, preparing for the end that was so similar to what had happened to the rest of her pack...

Until someone grabbed her tail.

Isha's eyes shot open as she turned to look who it was. She saw another canine, a bigger one. Ethiopian wolf. The small fenne could have burst into tears of relief that someone was helping her, but a tiny voice in her mind reminded that she wasn't safe yet. The flow was strong, and it seemed to take a strong hold of this ethiopian wolf too.

Isha felt the huge crash when they hit the fallen tree. It almost knocked her out, but the small fennec forced herself to take a hold of the tree. Her small claws were slipping, and they certainly weren't as sharp as those of a lion or lioness... But she had to hold on, it was a battle for her life.

From her eyecorner, Isha glanced at the one trying to save her. The wolf was still holding her tail, keeping Isha from being carried away by the water.
"I try to shout!" Isha spoke to the other canine over the noise of flowing water. She fennec closed her eyes, taking a deep breath...
"HELP US!"

[Judas]

Valerian was still scurrying through the wet and dark grass, his paws treading against the thick wet mud which was what that had become of the soil. But suddenly he could hear a frantic yell call through the howl of the wind, instinctivly he rose to his backlegs to look over the straws of grass.

The roaring sound of the river up ahead, and the howl of the winds made locating the sounds rather difficult, and the rains made sure that all scents got washed away.

The meerkat still had his eyesight, but the darkness made things obscure, but after having gazed around him for atleast 3 minutes the young meerkat noticed a couple of dark shapes somewhere a head of him.

Judging from the earshattering sounds, the shapes seemed to be somewhere in the river! Valerian didn't know any creature stupid enough to wander recklessly into a river, not when the river was capable of bringing down an elephant and also when it was infested with those few crocs big and old enough to withstand the river torrents.

While he was hurrying towards the ever decreasing river-bank, a thought hit him, maybe someone had fallen into the river! That ofcourse could explain the yelling, Valerian realised that there wasn't much he could do, but if there where injuries perhaps he would beable to heal them.

Even in this washed away world, medisin was always there in some small way. Valerian was only consern with when all the healing plants where gone, and the ponds that had appeard would be infested with creatures of dieases, then this valley would be no place to live.

[Lorien]

Kiala walked on, the pouring rain continuing to beat down upon her. Suddenly, she heard a voice muffled by the rain, and then a scurrying sound in the grass not far away. Her ears perked up as well as her head, and she tried to see what was the cause of the commotion through the rain. Had she heard a cry for help?

No time to think about it, she thought to herself. With her graceful speed despite the puddles and mud, Kiala raced toward where she had heard the cry. Her ears twitched as the raging river crashed into hearing and her eyes darted around it. Before now, she had avoided this waterway like the plague, but now was not a time for fears. If someone was truly in there, it wouldn't be long until they were wisked away to their death.

Finally, she saw the two figures at the log. What is going on! she thought to herself. First the rains, and then two canines that she rarely saw...together! With a nod of determination, more for herself than anything, she raced over toward the log and the river who's roars of death filled her ears. Those claws of theirs were nothing for holding on...she would have to use her feline abilities to try and help them out.

"I'm going to pull you out!" she attempted shouting above the noise of the rapidly flowing water. Placing a paw upon the log, she pushed on it to see if it was secure. Lucky for her, it didn't budge. Climbing all the way onto it, she walked out into the water, claws extended, body shaking a bit in fear. What had she gotten herself into? she thought as the water splashed up onto her legs, threatening taking her down with it.

First of all...something had to be done about the little one. Finally reaching the two, she leaned in and took the fennec by the nape of her neck and quickly walked back down the log to the safety of the bank on the other side. She set the fox down gently and tried giving a reassuring smile before heading back for the wolf. This was going to be a lot tougher.

She got back ontop the log and made her way back to the wolf. She knew that if she didn't do something fast, the female would lose grip and perish in the rapids. She knew she could probably pull her out as well, but it would prove very difficult, especially with the water splashing all around making the tree itself slippery despite her claws.

With a heavy breath, she sunk her claws as far into the bark as she could and reacher her head down for the ethiopian wolfess. Taking her too by the nape as she had done minutes before with the fennec fox, she pulled as hard as she could, straining her shoulder muscles, trying to drag the wolf onto the log. Finally she had the female out of the water, but just as she did, the mud around the trees base began to slide into the river itself, causing the tree to lose its grip with the bank. She let go of the wolf, eyes widened as she felt the log start to quake. If they didn't act fast, the tree, along with themselves, would be carried in the river's swift flow and probably not get another chance at placing their feet on land again.

Kiala looked to the wolf, who seemed dazed from the knock with the tree and tried to get her to her feet. "We have to hurry!" Without hesitation, she quickly turned about just as the base of the tree fell into the water completely. With a a few steps and a giant leap of faith, Kiala landed half in the water and half out. Scrambling, she was able to pull herself back up with the help of the roots of the fallen tree. Her body a muddy mess now, she quickly turned back to see, and pray, that the wolf came out unscathed as well.

[Deleted]

(OOC: I am going to start roleplaying when i have created my hyena character.. so.. tomorrow. just to let ya'll know. ;D )

[This Land]

A Lion was walking through the rain, he lifted a eyebrow and looked at the clouds.
Isnt rain great
he chuckled to himself, smiling wideley. His ears perked up when he heard shouting.
Not again he mumbled to himself.
Baraz Wiped the gouge by the side of his eye that was poring out blood, and started to walk towards where all the sound was.
After a while, he got to the top of a small hill and looked down. A few animals he had never encountered before and a lion a thing that he had seen enough of for one day.

He walked down and stood by a Lioness, caked in mud.
"looks like you had some action, soon it will be 2 aye?" he smiled

Baraz Jumped and slid down the muddy bank and stopped at the waters edge, which was fastly crumbling by the fast waters.
Baraz stared at this animal he never seen before, on this big fallen down tree and for a moment he was tranced by what this creature was, he soon snapped out of it.
"Comon, weird animal duuude, if you dont make it, ill try and help" he winked and smiled

[KanuTGL]

Dhakiya felt like her world was spinning, and the things in her field of vision kept changing between going blurry and sharp. She felt dizzy and for a moment didn't even remember where she was, her desperate, wet and cold body clinging to the log for all it was worth. However, it all soon came back to her when a small piece of wood flew by and hit her cheek, leaving a small scratch. The wolf shook her head slightly and suddenly felt that her mouth was empty, the little fox she had saved was no longer there! Dhakiya gasped, getting a mouthful of muddy water as a result, and looked around for the little fuzzball. Then she noticed the other creature on top of the fallen tree, a lioness maybe? Dhak was sure that she had put the little fox to safety though, and for a moment felt relieved.

That feeling was gone as quick as it had come, however, because the mass of wood beneath them was moving!

"We have to hurry!" cried the lioness through the din.

Yes, they sure did. The wolfess's eyes widened in fear and she did her best to climb up the slippery log, but she was still dazed by the collision earlier and her strength felt like it abandoning her... Dhakiya made a desperate effort to get up, but the cold water was dragging her down, and this caused her to only get about halfway up. Was this the end? No! It couldn't be, it wouldn't be!

"Comon, weird animal duuude, if you dont make it, I'll try and help."

What? The wolf glanced towards the river bank and saw another blurry fellow, looked like a lion, about. "Well, now I sure feel reassured..." she thought and kept clinging to the tree, which had now almost loosened up from its hold by the bank and would soon be completely in the water; in a second the stream would grab hold of it. Now or never. With a growl and a using her final ounce of strength, Dhakiya pulled herself out of the river and onto the log, galopped along it as long as she could, then leaped for all she was worth into the air, hoping she'd end up on the beach somewhere.

And she did, actually, but she missed the muddy bank and instead tackled down the lion who'd spoken just before. With a loud thud they both hit the ground, in a mess of paws and tails. And there Dhakiya stayed, not feeling like moving to give the lion some space to breathe at all. She wanted some air herself...

[Sarafina]

Kye was sure that she would ave gotten the other fennec fox. But when the others came she just kind of backed away, She didntwant to be in the way. She thought she was doing a good thing. But not good enough. She sat bhind a tree and watched the rest of them get out. She thought about her old family. She wish they never left. Oh wel..she has to get over it. They were gone and she was alone now. She started singing a song that her mother used to sing to her while she went to sleep. "Come stop your crying it will be alright. ' She layed down. The water from the laves were dripping onto her fur. She was now soaked. She was so cold. She didnt have anyone to talk to. She didn even know anyone. She thought she wouldmake friends with that other Fennec Fox. But she had other plans. Kye got up and walked along. She hoped someone would talk to her. But that was very unlikely. She tried to find some shelter somewhere. As of right now, she had no place to live.

[This Land]

Baraz Smiled as The Animal regained stregth and went up the log, and as it jumped he cheered.
"Thats the way" he shouted with a smile
But as the animal missed and fell towards him...
"No wait, wrong way......WRONG WAAA"
before he knew it he was embedded into the soft mud.
He started chuckling at the situation. he stuck up his paw and patted the Animal that was on top of him
"Thats good, you are fine" he said with his voice muffled, being Squashed by this Thing.
"Nice Landing, shame the ground doesn't supply air" he chuckled.

[Judas]

When the meerkat arrived, he found to his relife that the two shapes that had been out on the log, where safely back on dry land, or not so much dry land. Valerian stopped for a while before walking towards them, he was hesistant mostly because of the large number of predators gatherd at the scene. The lions caused him the most consern, and also the strange red-coated, and rather large jackal-like creature, he had never seen anything like it before.

But he was afterall an aspireing shaman, which included taking care of injured and sick colony members. In this hour it seemed the meerkat's knowledge would be put to helping not other meerkats, but other animals. Swallowing the lump of nevrousness that had formed in throat the meerkat advanced forward, towards the group. Few steps at the time, occationally halting to see what their reaction would be if they saw him.

"Anybody indjured?" the meerkat asked with a slight tremble to his voice, as he rose to his back legs, his messy dirt-blond hair coverd part of his face. "I heard the screams, so I rushed here to see what the comotion was about.." said Valerian darting his gaze from the large male lion, to the jackal thing, and over to the fennec fox. "I am.. was a healer or shaman of my colony..." the male said as he fell to silence.

[Kirsui]

Isha was both surprised and relieved to see the lioness appear to the river. When the lioness got the fennec away from the log, and after the ethiopian wolf had pounced on dry land - or well, that other lion - Isha burst into tears.
"Thank you!"
Isha shouted this with the tears of happyness flowing down her already wet cheeks. She pounced on the ethiopian wolf, hugging the bigger canine as hard as she could - which was not very tight, considering how small and exhausted the fennec was.
"That was sooo brave!"

The fennec let go and dropped herself down, turning her eyes now at the lioness.
"And thank you too!"
Isha smiled widely and pounced on Kiala's neck, giving the lioness a hug too.
"I was so sure we'd be dead..."

Isha giggled slightly as she let go of the lioness. She dropped down to the ground, her fluffy tail wagging as she whiped her hair away from her face.
"I'm Isha, by the way" she introduced herself.
"And it is very nice to meet you all!"
The fennec grinned, noticing then the meerkat, who asking if anyone was injured.
"I'm not" she said, shrugging slightly. "I don't know about others, though."
She walked closer to the meerkat, examining him curiously. She hadn't seen these creatures in a long time, and it was surely to notice that they still were about the same size as Isha herself.

[Tamber]

Normally as Zulu looked upon the horizon, he would seevariety, and magnificent colors of the sky. They filled his mind constantly and made him smile. The reds, blues, oranges, purples; all beautiful and mysterious. But the sky would no longer reveal it's naked beauty. The thick grey, infinite clouds blocked the happiness and freedom of the wide open sky above him that e had come to know and love. Color and light were seldom seem nowadays. For whatever reason the rains came so suddenly and endlessly, Zulu did not know why.

But the young king cheetah had been taught something by his mother as a cub. Treat the Earth not as a house, but a home; not as a place to live, but a place to thrive. Zulu vowed to live with this one lesson in mind, and by doin so he came upon many lessons along the way. He rapidly learned to live with the Earth, not just in it.

For this reason Zulu had genuinely enjoyed the flooding. Not that he preffered it to cheerier weather, but he was content with living with it. And he lived it to the fullest. Day after day he taught himself to maneuver on the watery ground surrounding him. He had become graceful with it as he developed a certain paw for mud. And swimming he had become skilled at as well.

Zulu realized he had been closing his eyes the entire time he reflected on the storm. He opened them slowly and looked upon the land. He was thankful he would always see a beauty in it that no one else could see. This raised his spirits. Zulu leaped into the air and slid down the moist, muddy hill he had sat upon. A song rang out in his heart and he closed his eyes as he felt the breese roll past his face. He opened them again to slide around the obstacles in his way. He gained speed and by the time he reached the bottom of the hill he toppled forward from the momentum. He grinned and laughed out. Life was good.

He stood up and felt the thick mud coating him. He shook some off but didn't bother with the rest. the marbled cat started walking along the wet gruond, stepping through puddles and small ponds along the way. As he looked upon the vast valley once more he felt an unrest; one that was always present. Those who hadn't leaned to adapt in this weather were always in trouble and he felt for them. He wished he could teach someone what he had taught himself.

Zulu caught a scent in the damp air. It smelled like a party of, something. They weren't all one species. It was a strange mix of creatures. He turned to the North and walked along as the scent became stronger. Coming to the top of a small slope he saw the party. The rain obstructed his veiw, but he could see his nose was right. They were all different. But he didn't plan to join them. They looked disoriented and he didn't want to get caught up in a crowd. He simply walked down the decline and started to mosy on by them, giving them short glances, but acting rather content with being alone. He hoped since he was now in view, that they wouldn't stop him.

[KanuTGL]

Dhakiya groaned from her spot half upon, half beneath the lion she had just tackled down.

"Nice landing, shame the ground doesn't supply air." he said.

The wolf made an attempt to get up, and it almost worked; she managed to rise to her front paws, back legs were still stuck somehow, and was just about to try and get up fully when a paw slipped on the mud and Dhak fell back, face down, into the dirt. "Very funny..." she grunted through the slippery mud as a reply to the lion. Next thing she knew, someone was hugging her and thanking her devotedly, and the wolf soon figured it was the little fox she had helped saving. Dhakiya couldn't help but smile, and for a single moment didn't regret that she had jumped right into the fangs of death to save her. "No problem." she said cheerily, though that was probably as far from the truth you could come. It had been a real ordeal this entire thing, even though it had barely been minutes since she jumped in. However, right now they were all safe and sound, much thanks to her, and that did make Dhakiya feel very proud of herself.

It took another few seconds before the lion and the wolf separated themselves from each other and the group removed itself from the muddy bank to stand on (less chance of crumbling) ground. Dhakiya was covered in mud from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail, though the pouring rain would soon remedy that. The little fennec fox introduced herself as Isha and the Ethiopian wolf was just about to tell her own name when a small voice reached her ears. She looked over her shoulder and found the figure of a lone meerkat, which in itself was odd. Those critters were rarely seen on their own. Then again, neither were wolves or fennecs. Or lions for that matter. The meerkat asked if anyone was injured, and Dhakiya glanced to look at her own back, as if to check, then looked back at him and replied: "Nope, not what I can see." And he was on his own too, huh? Must be tough... for an animal of his size. Easy prey for so many... Dhakiya then looked at the dark lioness and nodded, smiling. "Thank you, too, we would've been dead without ye."

Next thing that made itself known was another feline; a cheetah of some sort apparently. Though he had some odd spots, this one. But Dhakiya had never seen a king cheetah before, so it was all understandable. "Hiya!" she called out of the blue, not considering that he could've had his own business to mind, or that he could probably eat them all if he wanted to. Or, well, the smaller ones at least. Dhak glanced at the fox and the meerkat. And... hey... hadn't there been another fennec around before?

[This Land]

Baraz Grinned as it got off him. Baraz stood up, he struggled to get up the crumbling bank, but finally made iit with one big jump,

He didnt stand by the group, he stood some distance away, he shook his whole body to get some of the mud off.

He walked over to the group. and smiled
"Is everyone ok...Good, yes and im fine, so eeeeevreything, is alllllright yes?" he said Sarcasticly.

"its a bit wet around here isnt it, just how coincidental that when it rains, is seems to make me see things i have never seen before, and i dont just mean Floating logs" he said cheerfull and look at Wolf and fox.

"Baraz By the Way, to anyone who cares" he said and winked.

[Tamber]

As he heard someone call out "hiya!" Zulu flinched. His eyes shut and his teeth snarled in slight frustration, and he paused in his tracks. He then relaxed his face and looked over to the unsual group. What a strange bunch. What was their reason for being together? Lions, meerkats, foxes, wolves...this was almost against nature. But it intrigued Zulu and he unnoticingly raised his eyebrows as he became curious. He liked to be with animals different from him. Kya the bee-eater bird and Akello the Jackal were his best friends.

This got him to thinking about why he enjoyed the company of people different from him. His mind trailed off to his cubhood, when his father and older brother chased him from his clan and family. When his brother died...because of him.

He then interrupted his own thoughts and shook his head to end them. He decided maybe a little company wouldn't be too horrible. And who knows? Maybe Akello or Kya would show up sometime. He walked over towards them, not saying anything at first, and holding his head low. He then spoke up quietly. "Hello, all," he said. "Name's Zulu."

[Judas]

The meerkat was ofcourse relived and happy that most had gotten out of the ordereal more or less unscratched at least physically. The meerkat settles down on his hauches, but still keeps himself in distance of the group, he doesn't feel comfortable among these predators despite their apperant politeness. Valerian gives his fur and hair a shake, getting rid of the water lodge in it, getting soaked makes you cold, and getting sick is not a good thing.

Though a voice throws him out of his curret actions, and the small omnivores gaze return to the group and know it seems a new arrival has come. A cheetah, with strange markings. Valerian can notice the cheetah's apperiantly cheerfull attitude, to the smaller mongoose-like creature it seems that the cheetah likes the rains, maybe even thrives in it. Where everyone else finds death, and destruction.

[Sarafina]

Kye wanted to make sure that the Ferrec was ok. She got up and walked over to her. Well all of them. She waked up slowly making sure she stopped every once in a while. She didnt want anyone attacking her. She saw a tree and she sat underneath it. The party was in front of her. She didnt want to disturb them while they were talking. So she hoped that one of them would just say hi. Or something like that. She saw the Fennec. She looked fine but Kye didnt know if she was. Kye laid there and wiped her eye. Rain had fallen directly in it. Her eye now started to water. Apparently water wasnt the only thing that fell into it.

[Chop Stick]

Rain. Once again, Sabbia would be facing rain. He could never seem to get out of the torential down pour of depression. The canine shook his fur, which didn't help much to be honest, and continued to walk. He needed to find shelter before night fall. His face was strained, and rightly so. He was tired from moving, every other day he was in a new place. His feet were rough from the grounds he had passed, one of them was bleeding after he had stepped on....something. His coat, one which used to be feathery and light, was now damp, and dull, his tail hung low. Slowly he sang to himself...

"I need a sign, to let me know you're here. All of these lines are being crossed over the atmosphere... I need to know, when things are gonna look up... 'Cause I feel us drownin' in a sea spilled from a cup. And there is no place safe, no safe place to put my head...."

He glanced up. The river was before him, rapids flowing to fast for anyone to cross. "I won't give up if you don't give up." His mother told him that, it was his mantra.

But before he could evaluate the river further, he saw, from the corner of his eye, a pack. But not really. There were...two small dogs of some sort, a smaller rat like animal, a lion? A few others, and one standing apart from the group. She looked lonely. Sabbia guessed some had fallen into the river by their mud soaked coats, and relieved talk. Sabbia padded slowly towards the lone one.

"Hi..." He hoped he wouldn't scare her to death...

[Kirsui]

Isha's ears perked up as she heard an unknown voice speak out. She turned her head quickly, her long hair fying straight on her eyes. The fennec whiped the hair out of the way with her paw, only to see a cheetah, who had introduced himself as "Zulu".
"HIIIII!"
The fennec grinned widely and pounced excitedly to the cheetah, stopping near him and looking up with shining eyes.
"Zulu, was it?" she asked, just to make sure she had heard right. "I'm Isha!"
However, the small fennec quickly lost her interest towards the unusually spotted cheetah as she finally noticed the other fennec fox. She wagged her tail with a smile as she trotted over to the other fennec.

"Hi" Isha said, tilting her head slightly as she spoke.
"Thanks for trying to save me earlier... eh... Are you ok?"
Isha lifted an eyebrow. It had been a while since she last saw another fennec. Well, in fact, she had not seen any other fennecs than those belonging to her family...
Isha flattened her ears slightly, trying to get the thought of her dead family and friends out of her mind as she waited for the other fennec to reply.

[Tamber]

Zulu flinched a bit as one of the blonde, big-eared foxes approached her and introduced herself. "Hey, Isha," he said to her. She seemed excited to meet him ,for some odd reason. He grinned a bit to her, but was sill a bit unconfortable, not used to being in a large, somewhat mixed group. As the fox raced ove rto the other fennec, Zulu turned and saw some sort of canine approaching the group. He didn't look like he belonged to any particular group...much like Zulu.

[Sarafina]

Kye looked as others came. She sighed and looked up at the sky. She watched the rain fall on her nose. She heard paw steps and looked down. She other feneec fox was standing in front of her. Kye was startled a little and blinked. She realised that she was talking to her.

"Oh.....Ugh....No poblem.. Yeah im fine...Thank...Are you??"

She knew she was fine, but it didnt feel like it. She sighed and looked at the others. She gavvea little half smile and looked back at her.

"Oh...Im Sun of Milikye......Stupid i know...you can call me Kye."

She looked at her and smiled. Her ears up and slightly down.

[KanuTGL]

Dhakiya smiled at the odd cheetah as he approached and introduced himself. "'ello, Zulu. I'm Dhakiya!" She glanced at the male lion, apparently named Baraz, and added "The Ethiopian wolf." It appeared odd to her that he didn't seem to know what she was. It was obvious wasn't it...? Then again, she didn't quite know what Zulu was either, so maybe it was even...

The wolfess stretched a little and made an attempt to shake the remaining mud out of her soaked fur. Some of it came off, but getting the fur dry and warm was something one could only dream of in times like these. Dhakiya sat down near the little meerkat and shook her head again; some annoying drops of water had gotten into her long ears. "So, we all enjoying a nice day in the rain, huh?" she said, with just a hint of sarcasm.

OOC: Short, but I needed something written >.>

[This Land]

Baraz Look over at Dhakiya
"Ethiopian wolf, hmm thats a new thing on me, nice to meet you" he said with a grin

Baraz smiled at Dhakiya's question
"well, im loving it, brings a bit of action to these lands, and this weather is great for animals who are insanely thirsty. All we need now it a bit of thunder and lightning to top it off." he said joking around.

[Kirsui]

Isha tilted her head at Kye.
"Sun of Milikye..." she repeated the other fennec's name with a quiet voice.
"I don't think that's a stupid name."
Isha smiled, glancing at the ohters when she heard Dhakiya mention the word "Ethiopian Wolf". She nodded slightly, recalling how someone sometime had told her about ethiopian wolves.

Isha looked at Kye again.
"I actually once knew a fennec who was called Dash-dot-peek-a-poo-paw, or Dasher for short" she said, giggling slightly. "But that was a long time ago..."
A sigh escaped her muzzle and she glanced at the others again.
"Wanna come along?" she asked the other fennec, already heading towards the others.

Isha sat down near Dhakiya, looking curiously up at everyone. They were so big...
As the other one of the lions, Baraz, spoke about the rain, Isha's ears flattened and her differently coloured eyes focused on the lion.
"I hate rain" she informed simply.
"Or actually, I hate when it rains and I'm stuck into a small tunnel... Or well, the rain isn't really great outside either, but in small tunnel - especially if it's one of those that some dig into sand - it just comes through the ground and makes everything wet - especially if it rains a lot like now. Isn't it odd, by the way? That it rains so much? I heard from someone in my pack that it hasn't rained like this in AGES! Like... That's so odd! And disgusting! I just hate how much it rains, making everything and everyone so wet! I don't even need that much water, and now we got it more than ever!"

From the fennec's expression, it was clear that she could continue talking if no one stopped her.

[Tamber]

"Nice to meet you, Dhakiya," Zulu replied to the wolf. He noticed that the group had started to walk forward slowly, so he decided once and for all, since he didn't have much else to do, to walk with them for a while. He stood up and mozied next to the wolf.

He heard Kye, the fennec fox, say how much she hated the rain. Zulu almost spit at the idea of hating a product of the earth so much. He felt that anything that became of his world would be good in the end, and he always found a way to enjoy it in the mean time, until the sun truly shone through the clouds and showed the world its light, as if to say, "See? I told you everything would be ok." Zulu decided not to mention anything, though. He simply became interested in what the others thought of the rain. He turned to Dhakiya who was walking next to him. "So, Dhakiya," he said just loud enough so she could hear. He was too soft-spoken to speak up much. "Just out of curiosity, what do you think about the rain?"