Private RP - (AmyMarie + Thegunner18)

[TheGunner18]

Much to Nishati's relief, nothing had tried to attack them yet. They were very exposed out here in the middle of the open plains, but it wasn't like he could avoid it. He could only hope that a heavy dose of luck was on their side. If the poachers came back then there was nothing Nishati or any of them could do other than run for their lives.

It seemed like everyone was picking up on the fact that Nishati seemed quite agitated; they were trying to do all of this as swiftly as possible - or at least, Katania and Jayma were anyway - and although his worries may have seemed arbitrary at this point, every second was going to count. He began scanning the horizon for any sort of signs telling him were to go. Nothing. He wasn't exactly a skilled hunter or anything, so he wasn't great at finding tracks in the ground. Jayma, on the other hand...

"Jayma, can you see any tracks which show the direction the humans might have gone?" Jayma was a lioness and had hunting experience, so it was only logical to ask her about this.

Katania's ears immediately perked up after hearing this and she swivelled around on her paws to face Nishati. She didn't look pleased. "What?! We aren't going to follow them!" Katania was horrified at even the thought of following and her expression matched that perfectly.

"You're right. We aren't following them. That'd be suicide." Nishati glanced quickly to the left and right and then back to Katania. "If we find any tracks then we're going to go in completely the opposite direction."

"Good...It's nice to know that you're not as much of an idiot as Khari is..." Katania threw a quick unimpressed stare in Khari's direction before reverting her attention to simply staring at the reflections in the water.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Jayma immediately started looking around. Surely tracks were left. At hearing Katania's response and reaction, she would of chuckled, but it seemed far too early to conjure up any form of laughter. She bumped into Khari, who was still drinking. He looked up at Katania for he had just managed to hear her.
"Watch where your going Jayma...and shut up Katania! I'm no idiot". Grumpily, he began to walk off, Jayma sighed heavily.
"Don't go too far". She received a grunt in response. Rolling her eyes, she continued looking.

Meanwhile, Tamra was sitting by the water, staring into space. Every once in a while she'd glance up at Nishati, she knew he wasn't happy. Neither was she...Tamra somewhat understood what had happened, and she knew her mother was coming back, but none of the five had really taken it in properly. The cub was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Jayma shout. She had found something. Tamra bounded over, and Jayma managed a small smile.

Jayma motioned down to a few unusual looking pawprints next to some long dragging printed ones. Of course, she had no idea what those ones were, they were tire tracks in reality. "They look like those weird things they travel inside, but the pawprints they make are going in that direction so...I guess we're heading that way". She turned around and looked at the dense jungle that the adults told them to never go in without them. "Oh god...", she thought to herself.

(OOC: I think Khari is going to cause them some trouble in my next post lol. Dunno how)

[TheGunner18]

Nishati gave Jayma a look of surprise after she found the tracks with such an ease that he could have easily thought she had some sort of supernatural ability. He may have been surprised, but he was impressed and very happy about it nonetheless; they wouldn't be running into any trouble involving those evil humans anytime soon. Or so he hoped anyway. What that did mean though was that they'd have to travel the opposite direction. In that direction lay in wait a jungle. A jungle that Nishati - nor anyone else for that matter - knew nothing about.

As a cub he had always wondered what would be lurking in there. Of course, at that age he didn't think that anything dangerous could be in there. He was oblivious to anything like it because he felt so safe with the pride. There must have been a reason why he was never allowed to go in there, though...Nishati figured that he'd find out very, very soon.

"Nice work, Jayma." Nishati gave her a quick nod in acknowledgement of ability and then proceeded to take a look around at everyone else. "Well, it looks like we know where we're headed." He glanced over his shoulder at the dense jungle for a brief moment. "The jungle."

"But...I thought we were told never to go there." Katania took a few steps away from the edge of the water and took a long, hard look at their destination. It was really quite far away, actually. The only reason any of them could see it was because the green leaves stood out so well. She looked back up to Nishati, waiting for an answer.

"What we were told then doesn't matter now. It's our best chance."

Katania sighed quietly. She didn't want to go there, but...if they didn't then were else were they going to go? As long as it was safe then she'd be fine with it. The young lioness broke her gaze away from Nishati and turned it to Khari. What the heck was his problem? Why couldn't he just stay here and not put himself at risk? "Khari, what the hell are you doing all the way over there?" Katania shouted out to him.

((OOC: sorry for not posting yesterday. I went to get my haircut then my brother came down from Peterborough, so didn't really spend any time on my laptop.))

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Jayma's lips curled into a smile. She knew all those weeks spent tracking with her father payed off. Her father. Her smile was quickly washed off her face, was he safe? Her father, Rysha, was a rouge and not part of the pride, although, he was welcome. He visited almost every 3 full moons. Jayma wondered if the humans had reached him, but didn't linger on that thought for a while at hearing Katania shout.

Jayma looked up and saw Khari a distance away, standing on a rock that hung over the lake. He was grinning, ignoring the world around him for a moment. Truth be told, he was just acting up, and he stood closer and closer to the edge. It was Jayma's turn to shout this time,
"Khari! Don't be so stupid! You're gonna-". They all saw it coming, the rock gave way and he went into the lake with a huge splash, "Fall". Jayma sighed heavily, "He has to make life difficult...". She rolled her eyes when he re-surfaced, but chuckled when she saw the un-impressed look on his face.

She was just about to pad over to the other side to give him a helping paw out of the lake, when she felt Tamra tap her leg. "What's wrong?", she asked. Tamra's eyes were wide and she motioned ahead with her paws to the river bank.
"J-Jayma...look". The older lioness glanced up and saw bright yellow eyes, all fixed on the swimming Khari. Crocodiles. Jayma gasped and then shouted to Khari,

"Khari! The crocodiles!". The younger male turn his head, still submerged in water, he finally saw the large reptiles. All of them were smirking, lying still, almost waiting for him to panic...

(OOC: It's ok ^.^)

[TheGunner18]

Why did he have to make everything so difficult for everyone else? If anyone knew, then Nishati would have a very hard time believing them because understanding Khari was like trying to talk to a brick wall; completely pointless, a waste of time and impossible to do. Now they had to go and see what the hell he was doing so far away from the group. 'Probably just being his usual mischievous, idiotic self.' Nishati thought to himself as he wandered in the direction of the place he had fallen into the water. How had Khari not seen that coming?

"Hey, Jayma we have to do something abo-"

[quote]"Khari! The crocodiles!"[/quote]

"What are you talking about, Ja-" Nishati froze before he could finish the sentence. In fact, it wasn't just his body that froze. It was his mind, too. Jayma wasn't the only one who could see the crocodiles now. He was supposed to be the makeshift leader here, but he had hit a dead-end in terms of what he could do at the moment. A few seconds passed and eventually his brain sprung into action. "Come on, we've got to do something!"

Nishati didn't dare wait around for the others to follow him and simply bolted on ahead to the edge of the rock-face where Khari had plunged into the water. He took a step forward but almost lived to regret it as more rocks broke off and tumbled down into the water. Surprisingly, this had one unintended, but immensely positive, effect. The rocks actually crashed down on the heads of a few crocodiles, causing some of them to retreat away from Khari.

That wasn't going to actually get Khari out of the water, though. That was a completely different problem. "Jayma, Katania! If you have any ideas on how you could get him out then feel free to tell me! I can distract them!

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Jayma watched in horror, with the sudden rush of help from Nishati, the crocodiles began to move towards her little brother. She grabbed Tamra and placed her up on a higher bit of ground and said to her sternly.
"You are not to go anywhere you here? Stay here". Tamra had barely nodded before Jayma had run off to help Khari out. The younger lion was swimming, in the direction of Jayma this time.

He was cursing under his breath, feeling the rushes in the water where the crocodiles were catching up with him. Jayma looked around, eyes full of distress. She couldn't lose Khari, no matter how much of an idiot he was sometimes. Her eyes fixed on a willow tree, hanging over the lake for a branch low enough for Khari to-

"Khari! See that tree! You can get on the branch!", she shouted. The younger male took only a second to stop to look and felt a crocodiles tail hit his leg. That was enough to kick start him into action. He swam, hard and fast, not fast enough it seemed. Jayma growled and began to swim into the lake herself. "Khari, when you get out of this lake I'll give you what for", she muttered under her breath. As soon as the crocodiles noticed a weaker target such as Jayma, more strayed from Khari.

Tamra, caught up in the drama of it all sat there in shock. Only to hear a sound behind her. She turned, seeing a pair of amber eyes. Startled, she shuffled back a bit and when she blinked, they were gone. "It's just my imagination", she thought. Not daring to move though, she sat still, her attentions were brought back to Jayma herding the crocodiles away from Khari and back up the river bank.

Nishati had distracted most of them as well. As soon as she saw Khari get onto the branch, she reached the river bank, climbing up the muddy walls to where Nishati was, "Give me a helping paw!", she said, seeing the crocodiles snapping at her hind legs. She doubted they'd reach her though, she had managed to get all the way up the bank.

[TheGunner18]

Katania felt helpless watching all of this. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't do anything much to help. If she had gone with Jayma to help try to get Khari out of the water then she'd only be a liability, and Nishati knew what he was doing with the distraction. Plus there was always that chance that she might slip and fall into the water like Khari did...

Katania glanced down to her right and noticed Tamra in a state of shock and bewilderment. It was understandable. Very understandable. The young cub had never experienced anything like this before. In all honesty, though, none of them had; it was new to all of them. It was new, yet they never wanted to experience anything like it ever again.

"Hey, Tamra. Don't worry I'll keep you safe. Just stay close and you'll be fine." Katania stepped over to Tamra and gave her a reassuring lick behind her ears before sitting down next to her.

Nishati, meanwhile, wasn't taking notice of anything apart from what was going on right below him. If he lost any focus for even a second then he could be joining Khari in that water. He only had one thing to do and that was to harass those crocodiles. There was no way that he was going to fail to do that.

[quote="AmyMarie"]"Give me a helping paw!"[/quote]

"Here! Come on!" Nishati reacted almost immediately and reached out to her with one of his paws. He had been keeping an eye on Jayma's progress in the water, so he wasn't surprised when she asked for help. Out of the corner of his eye, Nishati saw that the edge of the ground was still wearing away. They had to be quick about this.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Jayma grabbed onto her brother's paw and rambled her way up, her hind paws digging into the soft ground to get a better lift up. When they did get up, the ground underneath them began to wear away and she jumped back with Nishati as the earth tumbled into the lake.
"That was close", she murmured. "Thanks Nishati". Eyes flaring over in Khari's direction, she padded back to her sisters.

Tamra was surprised at this sudden affection from her older sister. Being the two youngest, they usually spent the most time together. It was nice to have her say that though. In response, Tamra nuzzled her sister and relaxed, seeing Khari out of the water and with four paws on dry land. The younger male shook his body to rid of some of the wet and began walking back, almost shamefully to his siblings. He knew he was in for it.

He sat beside Tamra, still damp and not daring to look at Jayma yet. But the oldest lioness was fuming. Mainly because Khari could of been killed, but now she was just as damp as him. "Khari", she just said. Khari lifted his head and replied with,
"What?". In that careless rude tone Jayma hated.
"I'll let Nishati talk to you. He's probably the only one you'll listen to!". Her voice was scournful and it made Tamra wince.

But Khari's response wasn't expected,
"Not the only one". They all knew he meant their mother. Jayma shot him a look and then glanced at her two younger sister, smiling a little.
"You ok you two?". Tamra nodded, not smiling though, she wanted to know what Nishati had to say.

[TheGunner18]

Nishati barely managed to form a smile after pulling Jayma up over the edge and away from the danger of the crocodiles snapping at her paws. In fact, he only just managed to hear what she said. He was so drowned in his own thoughts that he couldn't really make anything out around him. "Just doing my job." He replied nonchalantly, shrugging and gazing up into the sky for a couple of seconds. His mind was clouded. Clouded with questions and more questions but no answers to clear those questions. The day was young, yet Khari had almost died and that put everyone else in danger at the same time. At this rate, they would do well to survive a week.

Sighing, Nishati broke his gaze away from the sky and turned to face the sullen, sombre-looking Khari. They needed to work as a team if they wanted to get to a safer place and live out there lives there, but someone was going to have to make sure that the teamwork actually happened. Begrudgingly, Nishati accepted that he would be the one to try and carry that burden; if being extremely tough on those who endangered them was necessary, then so be it. How long he could keep it up was a different matter.

"Khari, we all know that you hate being pegged back by things. We all know that you love being adventurous and you love exploring, but now is definitely not the time for that." Nishati's voice held a sharper edge towards then end of the sentence and he visibly got angrier. "If your version of fun and games is playing on death's door, then I do not have time for it." Nishati paused for a moment. "Do you know how close you were to killing yourself and Jayma?" He didn't allow Khari to answer the question. "If your misdemeanours carry on causing us trouble, then I'll have absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in leaving you behind. Do you understand me?"

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Khari gave a low growl throughout Nishati's words. Even though he knew he was in the wrong, he wasn't about to let his big brother make him feel guilty and remorseful. However, his words did get through. He may not of cared for his older siblings, but despite Katania being 'harsh' and too cautious at times, he cared about her. If his 'fun' landed them in trouble, he didn't want to see anyone hurt. "Do you understand me?". Khari looked up at his brother, stared at him for a while and nodded.

Jayma sat back, satisfied with Nishati's handling of the situation. For Tamra though, she found it upsetting. She hating seeing her siblings argue and Nishati's words were harsher than they normally were. She understood the concept that Khari's actions could result in danger for them all, but she didn't like Nishati's tone of voice. It was Jayma who broke the silence, not for the first time that day,

"Right. Now that's dealt with...", she stood up and flicked her tail. She turned and looked to the jungle where they were heading. "We better start moving. Before it get's too hot. Midday will be upon us soon", she said to the group, looking up at Nishati. She talked to him specifically, "When the sun is at it's highest, we'll have to rest I suppose. That means resting out in the open...". She trailed off, knowing the dangers to that. Tamra appeared at her side.

"What's wrong with being out on the plains?", she asked, curious as usual. Jayma gave a slight smile, but then a more serious look.
"Well, more things can see us...as long as one of us is on look out, we'll be able to move again in the afternoon. You still thirsty?". Tamra shook her head, Jayma's smile came back,
"Good, I don't want you going near that water". She looked back at the crocodiles who looked increasingly annoyed.