[Private] Initial Rivals

[SnowyCheetah]

Snowy grew even more confused as Tanga spoke. We don't drink. I've heard of the word but I don't believe I've ever done that. All I know is that it has something to do woth thirst. When my group got thirsty, we ate snow. I don't think there was even anything to "drink."

Snowy looked puzzledly at Tanga as he sat dripping wet. His mane fur hung down and little drops of water fell from it, landing on the ground and disappearing as they soaked in. It was a fascinating sight to Snowy, who leaned forward, watching Tanga's gray toes closely as water dripped down them and soaked into the ground.

[AustralianChaos]

"You don't...?" Tanga was about to ask how Snowy quenched his thirst when he was distracted by the mention of a foreign word. "Snow?" he repeated, as confused as Snowy had been moments ago. "I've never heard of a creature called 'snow' before...and I've never heard of a creature that satisfied thirst instead of hunger when you ate it. Is that where you get your name from, then?"

The idea seemed completely ridiculous to Tanga, and he had no idea how far off the truth he was as he noticed Snowy staring at his soaked form, apparantly curious as to how the water had changed his appearance. He sat back, feeling slightly self-conscious as he let Snowy look him over. "Yeah, this is what happens when the water gets into your fur. It cools you down really well, but it can get heavy," he explained, feeling extremely wierd talking about water this way. He was tempted to shake himself off as he started feeling the extra weight of all the water in his fur, but held back, deciding that Snowy probably would not like that.

[SnowyCheetah]

Snowy smiled a little bit. Not a creature, a substance. White powder that falls from the sky and accumulates on the ground, or wherever it falls. When one eats it their thirst is quenched. It's also very cold, as is everything where I used to live - hence my thick fur, which helped to keep me warm. Snowy reached out and brushed a paw against Tanga's wet foreleg. Turning his paw over, he stared intently as the water formed droplets and made his pads wet, darkening their already dark gray color a little and dripping between his toes, pooling in the webbed skin. What is this for, beside cooling? Snowy said, dumping the water onto the ground and watching it disappear like magic as the dirt soaked it in.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga's expression became thoughtful as he tried to picture Snowy's description of snow in his mind. He struggled for a few moments, then gave up as Snowy asked more about water.

"As I said before, it's main purpose is for drinking and quenching your thirst...much like your snow," he replied, dipping his head down and taking a few mouthfuls for added emphasis. "It's also good for cleaning your fur out...particularly if you're extremely dirty. Trust me, trying to clean sand out of your fur with only your tongue is not pleasant...I've tried." he managed a smile at that. "It also helps with hunting, because food to hunt can usually be found near water, since every creature must drink at some point. Oh, and for some reason, it falls from the sky in little drops when it rains, much like your snow does."

"Aside from those...I guess you can use your imagination to come up with uses for it, really," he said, dropping back into though, using the brief moment of silence to walk a short distance away, shaking the excess water off of his fur without splashing Snowy.

When he came back. he noticed that Snowy was sitting at the edge of the water, but seemed hesitant about actually going in. "If you want to drink or just jump in, go right ahead...it's not dangerous in any way. You probably need to cool off, anyway."

Tanga struggled to imagine what it was like having such a thick coat of fur in such a hot climate. The only way he could relate to that was with his mane, but the rest of his body was usually able to compensate for it. He frowned in sympathy as he realised that Snowy was probably going to have a rather hard time adjusting to the new climate he found himself in.

[SnowyCheetah]

Snowy listened carefully and, hearing that water was safe, leapt in with a splash. He smiled as he felt the cool liquid around him and against his webbed toes. He scooped some up and threw it experimentally with the help of his webs, and drank some as Tanga had done. It took a bit of learning, but he soon learned to lap it up with his tongue rather than take bites as he'd do with snow. He splashed it onto himself, washing some of the sand out of his fur, then plunged his head in and looked around at the underwater scenery. Trying to breathe while doing so, he panicked as a bunch of it was sucked up his nose. Coughing and sputtering, he whipped his head out of the water and shook it, blowing the water out of his nose and wrinkling his nose as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga watched with fascination as Snowy experimented with the water, cocking his head to the side and smiling as the cheetah seemed to have a good time learning about the nature of liquid.

But when Snowy jerked his head out from under the water, coughing and sputtering, Tanga could not help but laugh. He tried to contain it, but failed miserably...the look on Snowy's face was funny enough, but the fact that Snowy obviously had no idea what had just happened made it even better.

"Sorry," he finally gasped out as he began to calm down. "I'm not used to being with someone who doesn't know about water, so I probably should have mentioned one more thing...don't try and breathe when it covers your nose and muzzle, you'll just choke." He looked at Snowy, trying to figure out just how badly he had choked on the river water. "You okay?" he asked.

[SnowyCheetah]

Spitting out the last of the water from his mouth, Snowy frowned at Tanga briefly for laughing at him. Yeah, I'm fine. Won't do that again. he said, stepping out of the river and shaking, his thick fur splattering water everywhere - a lot more than Tanga's short fur. He smirked as he realized he'd gotten Tanga wet again. So, who's this lion you were talking about? he asked, Is he mean? Bigger than us? Snowy was a little nervous. He'd smelt the markings and wasn't feeling easy about ignoring them.

[AustralianChaos]

"Oh, damn!" Tanga cried as Snowy reminded him of the lion that had appeared to carve out his territory here. He looked around quickly, hoping they had not been overheard, before turning back to Snowy. "I honestly have no idea, I've never seen him before...he'd have to be bigger than me, though, I was always the smallest in my old pride."

He looked back the way they had come, towards the desert. "We probably should go...we've lingered in his territory too long." But he hesitated, unsure. "But I know you hate that desert more than I do...and with your thick fur, you wouldn't last long out there, anyway."

Tanga looked at his paws. "What do you think we should do?" he asked.

[SnowyCheetah]

Snowy looked around and thought hard. They had to get out before they were noticed, but the desert... He opened his muzzle to say something but was interrupted before he could begin as a huge white lion roared and stormed out from the trees and growled fiercely. Who are you, and what are you doing here, outsiders?! he snarled, digging his claws into the ground, ready for a fight. Then he saw the malnourished conditon of the two and let off his guard. Er, you'll have to forgive me for that... he said embarrassedly, looking off into space. His huge white mane blew in the breeze as he sat down and looked Tanga in the eye. Who are you two? he asked again, this time in a much more civil tone.

[AustralianChaos]

As the white lion leapt into view, Tanga backpedalled furiously, but forced Snowy behind him at the same time. Before he could try and explain there presence, though the lion seemed to calm down, and apologised as he asked their names. Tanga was a little put off by the sudden change in demeanour, but after the way Snowy had been behaving, passed it off, everyone seemed to be going through violent mood swings today.

Tanga did not immediately answer, distracted by the sheer size of the lion. Tanga had always been considered a runt by his pride...but this lion had to be one of the biggest Tanga had ever seen. The white coat and mane were strangely mesmerising as well, Tanga having never seen anything like it before.

Tanga shook himself out of his thoughts, and struggled to answer the lion. "We're sorry for intruding...but we've been stranded out in the desert, and my friend here needed some water and shade pretty badly," he managed to say, his voice shaking a little with nerves as he gazed up at the massive lion. If the lion decided to make an issue of their intrusion, Tanga knew he stood no chance. All he was going to be able to do was distract the white lion, and hope that Snowy could get away in time.

But Tanga held onto to the hope that this lion might not want to drive them away. "My name's Tanga," he stated, looking to Snowy. He thought it best not to mention his name, and let the cheetah decide for himself how much or how little he wanted to reveal about himself.