And the sky began to Darken

[Rudolf]

"Well, Jayden, meet Asaku. Asaku, Jayden" she said with a slight purr. "Either way, Wetpaws will probably be the name that sticks with me..." She suddenly let out a loud yawn, and her face felt red when it had ended. She stood up and shook herself as if trying to get rid of dust, and said "I'd better be going. It's getting pretty late, and I've spent all day hunting." She was trying to get away from the two for a reason she herself couldn't figure out, but it wasn't a complete lie. She had spent all day hunting, which was weird for her (even more so because she had failed to catch anything that day), and it left her slightly tired. She slowly began walking away, into the forest, saying as she passed the two males "Good night, until we meet again." Pandora dissappeared into the forest, travelled for what seemed forever, and made her way to a large cliff dug into a mountain. There was a cave there, one that she used as a den, so she went inside the cave. She laid down on the cold rock, and it didn't take long for her to fall asleep... but the dreams that quickly came to her sleeping mind must've been terrible, because she cried, and sometimes screamed, and it echoed throughout the cave but never woke her from her sleep.

[Masked Lion]

"Wetpaws it is then" he replied, grooming his whiskers with his tongue.Asaku watched as Pandora walked away. "I hope we do meet again" he called after her before looking back towards Jayden. Without the one that brought the two males together, there was a slight awkwardness and Asaku wondered if the other feline would stay or leave. The lion stood slowly and stretched out, extending his claws momentarily before heading back over to the, now, clear water and lapping up the cold liquid. He took a moment to admire the effect the reflected sky made on the water. "So..you live near here, Jayden?" he asked, water still dripping from his chin as he lifted his head and sat back on his haunches, his tail tip waving lazily from side-to-side He wanted to know some information about the area before he settled down.

[Xinn]

_{Jayden just simply watched and listened as the feline, who he now knew as Pandora, made her exit. It seemed that every time he showed up she decided to leave. He sighed and looked over to Asaku, "Well there she goes again. I guess I better just stop trying to get to know her better then eh?" Jayden half-smiled and shook his head in a way of showing that he was giving up. It was obvious that she didn't like his presence and so he was going to leave her be. Asaku went over to the water and so Jayden rolled over onto his side to relax. Jayden was hoping that this might be a start to a good friendship one day, Asaku seemed like the type of cat you'd want by your side. In response to his question, Jayden lifted his head up off of the ground, "I haven't been here long and I don't usually stay in one place, but I've found a certain tree that's perfect for resting. It's not far from here I 'spose. You?" Jayden re-arranged his position so that his back legs were on their sides but his chest lay straight on the ground along with his front legs. His head was up and his ears facing forward as he intently listened to what the lion was to say.}

[Masked Lion]

"Only been here for a short while" he replied, shrugging. "I'm usually traveling on the plains. It's nice here though, I might stick around a bit". Asaku lay down once more, adopting a similar position to the other male. "Then again, I'm hardly built for climbing trees" he said as he shuffled his heavy paws into a comfortable pillow to rest his head. Asaku had to admit, he was entertaining the idea of the two sticking together. They would be a formidable force, with Jayden's stealth and agility and Asaku's power, hunting would be easy. "So..erm..you leopards are solitary animals right?" he asked, trying to be aloof as to not suggest what he was thinking. He knew that leopards and lions traveling together was unheard of and doubted that the other male would want to accompany him anywhere but it was worth a shot. Maybe when he grew more familiar with him, he would ask. Until then, idle chit-chat would have to suffice.

[Xinn]

_{"You should stick around. It'd be nice having the company every now and then." Jayden tried to splurt out commonly while Asaku talked of staying in the area. Jayden lightly chuckled as Asaku made the remark about not being built for climbing in trees. Jayden almost felt sorry for him at that moment because he couldn't imagine himself not being able to be in a tree. His favorite place to relax was always in a tree, but he was a leopard so that was to be expected.
Jayden looked up to Asaku who was relaxing himself greatly, "Yeah, I guess you could say we're solitary, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the company of others." He fiddled with his paws a bit and his tail continued to flick side to side and his whiskers fidgeted just so. "And lions, they live in prides usually right? Do you have a pride?" Jayden hoped he wasn't, if he was then Jayden had very low luck of ever sticking around with this guy. He was hoping for that one worded answer. Jayden knew he wouldn't ask him any time soon, but he was simply just trying to get to know the lion a bit more, as long as they were on the same pace he was good. Lions were large, powerful, and drew fear into the eyes of enemies, the last thing Jayden wanted was to be an enemy of a lion. That was why he was shooting for the opposite, it could better the both of them.}

[Masked Lion]

Asaku frowned slightly and stared at his paws. "Heh...havn't found one that'll take me yet" he replied "I might take you up on that offer though, Jay". His frown changed to a smile as he looked up at the leopard. "It's hard for a big guy like me to catch anything by myself, a pride works as a team and a team of one..well, it's been tough." The lion yawned again. Laying down had made him aware of how tired he was. He had been trying to hunt all day with no results, instead he had fought off some hyenas for a few scraps of gazelle meat, hardly a snack for the male who had been for days without a proper meal. As in response to the thought of food, his stomach complained loudly, growling and gurgling.

[Rudolf]

((lol, this place is for both canines and felines, and i'm not seeing enough canine, so lets bring one into the story? let possible chaos rule!))

A small fire-red maned wolf wasn't too far away, looking around. Branches from large bushes raked and grabbed at the collar around her neck, slowing her progress down since she had to stopp every few minutes to untangel her collar from the branches. As she untangled the collar for the twentieth time, there was a quick 'crack!' from inside the collar's box, and a short, small shock went down her spine. Now that it was nighttime and all was mostly quiet, she realized that the collar was no longer making the soft beeping noises that it had been for the last few months after her release. Weird. I must've broken it somehow... she thought, and once she was untangled, she continued on her way. She spotted a mouse, and ran after it. She followed it through the bushes, and it ran straight between two felines. Focused on pursuing the mouse, she didn't see the two felines and ran right into the lion with the mask. She bounced off of him, and landed on the ground in front of him, her belly up, her head on the ground, and her tail still in his paws. She smiled apologetically, and whined softly "Hehheh.... sorry, big guy....."

[Xinn]

_{Right as Jayden was about to respond to Asaku and bring up the idea of a team effort, some random mutt chasing a mouse came running into the picture and rammed right into Asaku. Jayden leapt to his feet and leapt towards Asaku ready to help him in any way possible. Jayden had never seen such a canine before, it had long legs and a collar around its neck. He hadn't seen a collar since he was a cub. It made him flash back to his past for a moment. He quickly snapped out of it and snarled standing next to Asaku with his tail in the air and his ears laying against his head. He was ready to stand by Asaku and show Asaku that he wouldn't be making a mistake to have him by his side.}

[Rudolf]

"Hey! Other big guy!...." she yelped, and rolled over onto her paws. "Be a little less scary please... it was only an accident..." she whined, and put her ears against her head and her tail in between her legs in fear. These two felines were like giants compared to her juvenile wolf self. As she took a few steps back, she looked at the two felines with pleading eyes, as if begging for forgiveness. She didn't want to tick them off any more than she already had, so she rolled back onto her back with her beely in the air, showing a sign of surrender and that the other two felines were the bosses here. "Come on, just please, don't eat me! Or if you're not going to eat me, don't hurt me!" She closed her eyes and braced herself, as if she expected an attack while she was still vulnerable and on the ground.

[Masked Lion]

After his initial shock at being hit in the chest by the young maned wolf that now lay at his paws, the lion chuckled. "Hmm..now that you mention it, I am hungry" he said, a menacing grin on his face, he was joking of course. He tapped the back of Jayden's leg with his tail, a silent message of reassurance. The wolf couldn't possibly be a threat to them, especially not in her current position. Asaku was flattered, and slightly surprised by Jayden's actions. No one had ever moved to help him in any way before, perhaps he had made a friend. As for the canine, he had seen wolves before, but never one like this. Her pelt was a deep red and she had a dark mane round her neck and shoulders and something the lion had never seen before, before the canine could respond to his menacing appearance, his face relaxed to normal as he sniffed the strange object. "What is this?" he asked, the question directed at no one in particular. It seemed unnatural and the large feline was curious.

[Rudolf]

The canine opened her eyes slowly and winced, thinking that any second there would be teeth in her neck. But when she saw him sniffing her collar and showing no interest in harming her, she sighed with relief. "Oh, that? Something my human gave me. I don't know what it is, but it used to chirp like a bird was inside it. If that was the case, the bird must've died because it hasn't been chirping." The wolf slowly rolled over onto her paws and stood up. She shook the dust from her furr, and began to examine the two felines closely. "Wow! You two are a strange bunch! You guys look different than other felines. You guys magic or something?" she said in a childish voice, seemingly serious about the 'magic'. "Most felines I knew were smaller than me and didn't have any markings like yours! They were also fat. Very fat."
((she's talking about housecats. and sorry if i post too much or too often - i'm a VERY active roleplayer during holidays and weekends!))

[Xinn]

_{Jayden calmed down as soon as Asaku reassured him there was nothing to be worried about. The long-legged wolf was sure talkative, it said more then what Jayden and Asaku had said to each other this whole time. But Jayden didn't think it was a big deal he was just happy to see that Asaku liked having someone on his side. He took a deep breath and moved over to the side. He had just proven himself trustworthy to the lion and now this dog was here. It was wearing something around its neck that reminded Jayden of his past. It was a bit different from the one he remembered but he could at least inform what the ring meant. "It's a collar. A sign of being owned by one of them. The humans." He looked to his paws and had somewhat of a flashback. He sighed and shook his head, having to snap himself out of it again.}

[Rudolf]

"YEAH! Yeah, that's what he called it!" she said with an excited yip. "You're pretty smart for a wildcat, Spotted-big-guy. But this one doesn't really show ownership. That nice Human doesn't own me anymore, we haven't seen each other for months. This is more of a sign of family or past friendship, I'd say." She wagged her tail happily and almost seemed to bounce up and down - but then, her stomach growled. "Aw crud... Stupid mouse made me hungry... You guys got any food to share?" She tilted her head to the side as she asked this, but she doubted two felines she just met would share any food they had. Her tail continued to wag, and it got faster and faster as if she had loads of caffine rushing through her blood and wagging her tail was the only way to get rid of the unneeded hyperactivity.

[Masked Lion]

Asaku could hardly keep up with the hyper canine's unending chatter. "Woah, family? friendship? with a human?" the lion stared at the wolf, a look of half-amusement and half-disbelief on his face. The only experience the lion had had of humans was dodging hunters and having truckloads of excited tourists gape and flash bright lights at him. The thought of any animal, apart from dogs maybe, being friends with humans was a sick joke to the lion. Asaku then noticed Jayden was acting slightly strange as he looked at the collar and the male wondered if this strange human device held some meaning to the leopard. He would ask him another time, when there wasn't a loudmouth whelp talking their ears off.

[Rudolf]

"Well, yeah. I guess it isn't a surprise to hear you talk like that as if it's impossible. You may be a giant, but you're still just a kitty-cat" she said, and smiled. She tucked her tail between her legs to show she was sorry if this offended him. "Anyway, my name's Firah. It's nice to meet someone that will listen to me talk out here. No one seems to like me. Must be the collar." She sat down and used her hind leg to scratch at the collar, barely moving it from where it was on her neck. She didn't seem happy with the collar's prescence with all the bushes around, but she still kept it on. Then again, it didn't seem possible to take off. It pressed her fluffy furr so tight against her neck, you could barely tell if she could even breathe. The statement about the collar was also ironic, as her non-stop talking seemed to bother all felines and canines more than her strange acessory.