EG-A fateful fall, [Open to Njozi]

[Imara]

It was the pounding ringing in her eyes, the constant sound of the dogs footsteps behind her that kept her moving. The sound echoed in her mind urging her past the limits of her small young body, screaming at her that she would die if she stopped. But she didn't stop, not until the last of the sound left her ears and her legs could no longer carry her. She couldn't breath right, her chest felt like it was on fire and so she struggled to stay up. Staggering slowly forward Tchala fighting exhaustion as all the adrenaline left her little body. And then it happened- she miss stepped. Suddenly the world itself was a blur flying past her, and she could do nothing to stop it. Tchala had fallen off the edge of a steep slope and was now rolling down deeper into the darkness. Head swimming in a blur, she couldn't even look up everything was sore and tired, all her strength lost. With the final effort to roll unto her side, Tchala passed out not knowing if she would live to see tomorrow....

When the sun rose the next day it shined over the elephant graveyard, casting long shadows over the horizon. For the cub most of the day passed without notice till it became noon and the demands of her little body forced her awake. Her stomach grumbled begging to be filled after last night's run for her life. Tchala barely could open her eyes though, her body was sore and she groaned in protest as she began to get up on all four paws again. Everything ached... but soon enough that became her last worry, she knew her bed last night was lumpy now she knew why. Tchala had slept on a pile of bones, and that immediately frightened the young cub "MOTHER!!" she cried as she rushed tumbling down from the bone pile unto the hard rock floor. Looking around for her mother immediately but then she remembered.... she was alone in the world now. There was no mother to call out to.

[Kita]

The dull hyena stomped through the dusty elephant graveyard, little clouds of dust rising around her paws at each step. A faded sense of anger gripped Riza's mind...but for whatever reason, her brain had fuzzed out the reason for her annoyance. Nonetheless, the hyena hung onto the feeling, not quite sure why she felt it, but she was still more than happy to go go sulking around for no reason.

The adult continued her march through the area, having also long-forgotten just where in the area she'd been headed to. Ah, well, it didn't matter. Without as much as a side thought, Riza turned around the corner of a small skull.

"MOTHER!

A young voice called out into the slight mist that coated the area. Immediately, the hyena flopped to the ground and covered her eyes with her paws. No. No. No. She could not be seen by the source of the voice, no matter what. That was what had been drilled into her for the past months of the Njozi's existance in the Elephant Graveyard. Under no circumstances where they to ever alert an outsider to their presence. Above all else, this was the rule that Riza knew she could follow.

Keep hidden, stay low, stay silent, and wear a bone-mask.
Uh-oh. A slight twinge of panic skirted the edges of the hyena's mind, barely reminding her of the last hour's events--when she'd flung off her mask for one reason or another. Again, the exact cause never surfaced in her mind, but Riza was certain that it must've been a legitimate reason.

Still, though, she was missing a mask and breaking the rules of Njozi. What if someone saw her now? What if someone found her here, flattened against the ground? What if another hyena from the clan stumbled upon her, and saw her without the mask?

Unable to shake these thoughts from her mind, Riza stayed frozen against the skull--just waiting for someone else, preferably a hyena, to show up.

[Imara]

The little cub sniffled as she remember... there was no one here for her, and so she tried heading back up the steep slope but as her tried young paws tried they slipped and fell causing her to crash back down unto the ground hard with a small mew of pain. After a moment she picked herself up and tried walking her poor little tummy rumbling from hunger as she went. Tchala had little choice but to try and travel through the graveyard, walking into the slight fog as she looked around noticing all these big dark shapes. Her little voice cracking from thirst and from crying the night earlier "..... is anyone there?".

Half of her hoped there wasn't anyone the other wanted to be reunited with her mother in the sky. Trudging along a slow pace the cub just began to cry again because she missed her mother so much, big tears escaping down her face ".... im all alone now" she whimpered out softly continuing to pad along. Passing Riza's hiding place the little cub had her head hung so down low that she didn't even notice the adult hyena trying but failing at hiding.

Tchala looked worse for wear her entire fur messed up and dirty from her run, even some thorns were still caught in it. Her legs quivered a little with each step but she forced herself on as her belly made small protest to the lack of food. Beautiful grayish blue eyes all puffy from crying the night before and now. She didn't look like she could take on a field mouse in this state.

[Embyr_Somm]

Quite happily, the little hyena wandered through his group's territory. Empty and dreary as it looked, Ouray found it awesome, especially for hiding places.

And he had many of them. With such strong snouts amongst the tribe, one had to be very clever to get past their sense of smell. He had learned too many times before that using the same spot was never an option.

Luckily today, a group hunt was planned, so many of the others would be away, giving him time to seek out and enjoy his stash. Ouray had created a fantastic pile of mice, even scoring a couple ground squirrels over the past couple of days. It would be a wonderful feast indeed.

Curled up and munching on one of the tiny mammals, a sudden terrified cried startled him. He looked around, eyes wide, as it echoed through the graveyard. Ouray didn't recognize the voice, but wasn't about to go on a mission to find out either.

..... is anyone there?

The same voice was much closer now.
"Yes," he said, not thinking about what he was doing, "Me. I'm here. Who are you?" Mimicking the adult's behavior, he was wearing a loose tiny bone mask at the moment, but, unlike them, didn't even suspect that the talker wasn't the same species as him.

[Kita]

Riza smooshed herself against the bones as the cub dragged herself nearer and nearer to her 'hiding' spot. She managed to sneak a peak through her paws, though, once the cub slunk past the danger zone. From the looks of it, though, the lion cub seemed a bit preoccupied, and hadn't even noticed the hyena in her poorly-chosen hiding spot.

"...is anyone there?

The voice called, and the hyena raised her paw hesitantly. While she wasn't stupid enough to go calling out to the thing she'd been trying to avoid, she couldn't resist answering the question. They hyena just couldn't ignore the poor thing, after all. It deserved at least a small response.

Thankfully, another voice drew away what little attention the hyena might have brought upon herself. Right away, she recognized it as belonging to one of the tribe's cubs. From the sound if it, it was that annoying Ouray furball. What was he thinking, talking to this lion cub? Even she was smart enough to know to not talk to it...

[Imara]

Her little ears perked at the voice as she raised her head, it sounded like a small voice... another lion cub? what would a cub be doing here? but she had little choice, it was either follow the voice or starve. Tchala used her minor reserved strength to quickly run to the voice. Her little feet padding away from Riza, though it would be more then obvious where she was heading.

"Im Tchala!" she yelled out again as she rounded the corner.... when she did she didn't expect what she saw, and that of course was the little hyena cub in the skull mask. Tchala skidded to a halt nails digging into stone as she stared up at Ouray. It was obvious the little lion cub was scared as her wide eyes focused on the skull mask.

"A-a-a-a-a-" gulping down her fear as she tried not to scream for a moment, then she looked at him even more.... it was a pup, smaller then her even. Not the first time she ever saw a hyena but it was the first time that it was this close. Looking at him for a moment longer before she noticed the food and her stomach gave an involuntary grumble. At that the little lion cub shrinked back. Probably it was easy for anyone to tell that the lion cub was more then worse for wear, she didn't even growl at him she just stayed back and low with her tail down between her legs. She was nervous, and oh so very hungry.

[Embyr_Somm]

The newcomer introduced herself, their pawsteps picking up speed to join the replier of her calls before they lost track of one another. He heard their feet echoing on the warm stone and dirt walkways. The noise vibrated everywhere, causing some dust to fall from the looser mounds, but the source was coming from one distinct path.

Dropping his food and placing his attention on the latest interest, Ouray turned in the direction of the creature's impending entrance, licking the leftover bits of meat from around his jaws. Ready to return the desperate greeting with his own name, the cub grew excited. Tail perky and wagging, the little hyena was now very curious about who was on the way, expecting a new playmate to round the bend.

"I'm Ou-ray...," he answered, voice trailing off. Tchala wasn't what he had assumed she would be.
"You're a lion!" he yelped, backing away, "You're not supposed to be here! Are you by yourself?!" Luckily, she looked scared, too, but, unluckily, wasn't so frightened that she left immediately.

Guess those masks things really don't work well after all...

[Imara]

"HYENA!" she cried after a moment of shocked pause, running back around the corner in fright. She had definitely been scared, crying softly on the other side, as she muttered almost incoherently "IdontwannadieIdontwannadieIdontwannadieIdontwannadie" the poor little thing shaking as she whimpered.

She had barely heard him speak to her, after her moment of panic she stopped crying for a moment to answer him ".... Im alone..." her small weak voice echoing out slightly. After a moment of silence she peeked her head around the corner, low to the ground. She didn't look like a threat, eyes big and puffy from crying even now she looked like she was on the verge of breaking into tears. Those big silver-blue eyes staring up at Ouray, Tchala didn't know what she was going to do now, she was scared and tired but most of all hungry. Her little tummy giving out a small involuntary growl as she stayed there shaking like a leaf.

[Kita]

As soon as the two began to exchange conversation, Riza decided that it was about time to step in. She had been told that the lions and hyenas were NEVER to speak to one another, and Ouray was clearly breaking this rule--the one that had been drilled into her since the day they had arrived to the graveyard. With Ouray, it was practically from birth. He, out of all hyenas, should know better than to speak to a cub. Cubs had mothers and fathers, and most likely their parents were in close vicinity to the area. This cub was probably from the Pridelands, since that was where cubs seemed to come from. And a Prideland cub in the graveyard was a very bad, bad, idea.

They'd never told Riza why it was a bad, bad idea, and she had never asked. All she knew was that it was important to keep them away at all costs, and now was her time to scare away the cub.

"Tchala---" She called out once she discovered the lion's name. She attempted to make her voice as mysterious and ghostly as possible, and let it fade off into the dry air. "We are not hyenas" She called, slowly rising up from her perch behind a stack of bones. "We are ghosts of this land." She tried, making her voice as convincing and menacing as possible. It didn't quite work, though, and Riza doubted that she'd even caught the cub's attention, much less scared her away.