[private] i feel it in my bones

[Kagerus]

In the trickling seconds between crouch and pounce, something flickers in the depths of the lion's eyes. The shift gives further pause to Panthera's intent, causing her focus to drift as she considered the implications of the seemingly feral cat's possible sentience. Knowing that she hadn't much time before her feline instincts took over once more, the leopard blinked once, sending a message and hoping it would find its destination.

Kag, remember how Svedka's been gone? I think I --

But the rest of her telepathic thought is cut off as that sparkle dies from the lion's eyes, forcing Panthera's hand; she leapt, forgetting her place in the equine world, absorbed utterly in the chaos for blood.

He throws his weight back as the she-cat grapples for him, raising his forepaws to swipe viciously towards her face; their sharp edges rend through her pelt easily, leaving five rivers of blood coursing down the short length of her neck. A yowl tore from her gaping mouth, gurgling and distorting as he dodged her grip, leaving her teeth to clack together on thin air.

When his own skin gives away like water however, the cat's lips part in a gruesome grin of pleasure. His own scream of pain lends her the strength to continue despite her own wounds; a vicious balance between the predators that seemed to promise a bloody end. Whence they return to the earth, the lion moves immediately to fill the space left between them; but his eyes flash, and his throat clicks, and something is not right.

Faintly, as if from a nearly immeasurable distance:

DO NOT HARM HIM. Panthera, get the fuck out of there.

Snarling and mewling at this unprecedented development, the leopard narrowly dodges the lion's scrambling attempt on her jugular, another yowl echoing down the mountainside. Her paws flex for purchase against the thin dirt below, sending her in a great leap away from the lion; she doesn't send a single glance back, heart beating in her throat as she realizes how much damage she could have done.

panthera

@[Svedka]