ORIGIN

After a couple of hours including rests and some hunting, Usui and Makyna finally reached Cetus. The place was raining heavily as usual and it made the lion feel downright miserable to once again put himself through the experience of hunting in the rain just so that he could get an audience with Aquarian. With a gentle huff, he padded to the middle of the room then turned to Makyna and updated her on what he knew. "I visited Aquarian not too long ago. He said that the tunnel or...a creature he did not name, is responsible for these changes. That this tunnel is alive in its own way and he isn't responsible for Cetus' rain nor the dry spell in Canis. I don't remember much. Too many things have happened since then," he trailed off. The lion's memory was rather fuzzy at the moment. Too much information was lost in the recesses of his mind which ticked like clockwork. Usui swept his eyes across the area. It was hard to find lesser gembounds in the pouring rain. As such, he attempted to use his magic to track those lesser gembounds with a stone, and to keep track of Makyna's location as well. His gem glowed a ghastly black as magic welled up from within. Almost immediately, he could see the faint throbbing glows of three prey in his mind, and Makyna's which glowed a bright blue being so close to him. "There are three lesser gembounds in this area. One to the north, two to the east. We should both go to the east to nab the two lesser gembounds, then you head to the north and I'll scout for more prey. Aquarian is huge, he needs a large stash." He pointed out his plans to her logically and waited to see what she would do.

Side by side she walked with her friend as they traveled to Cetus. Silent they walked as they headed to the land. Makyna's brain wracked over everything that they'd talked about and what possibly could happen. First though they needed to catch prey. With the wet conditions of the marsh that would be difficult and what prey they could find would be small. No matter, they would make due and hopefully Aquarian would be pleased. She stood and waited for the small briefing Usui gave her with ears perked and eyes bright. She nodded her head and after hearing the information about the prey she nodded her head then flicked her tail for the young male to follow her. Hunting was something that she could do, something she enjoyed.

As she stalked away, expecting the younger lion to follow her she gave an outline of her plan. "For the two lessers we'll catch together I have a plan. I'll sneak up to them and scare them towards you, herding them so they don't stray. When they get close enough to you then you can grab them." Two scrawny creatures shouldn't be too much for a male lion to grab. Plus, after they were distracted Makyna could help him by pouncing on the extra. It was flawless and what her instincts told her to do.

It was a long while before she finally saw the two lessers, a couple of small cave deer, searching for grass in the muck. Makyna crouched down and tilted her head to the deer. "Just like the plan, go around that side," She indicated the west where tall stalks of reeds would hide the male. "And I'll go over there." Here she flicked her ears towards the east with slightly less cover but she was sure she could manage. "Flag me with your tail when you're ready, I'll be looking for the signal." With that she gave him a small smile before crawling away towards her stand of small grass with her belly in the muck.

She would have waited for the male's signal like she'd planned but things turned out differently. The lioness accidentally kicked a rock with her rear leg which alerted the deer. They lifted their heads but fortuneately took off to the west. "Usui, THINK FAST!" She roared, trying to alert him that the plan hadn't gone over quite as she'd thought and also roaring to scare the deer even further in his direction. Makyna charged after them but couldn't catch up that quickly, she hoped that Usui was ready for this minor setback.

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Usui plodded along with Makyna as she replied him with her plan. He nodded, agreeing with the golden girl whole-heartedly. When she pointed his way to the reeds, he whispered "Got it,’ and proceeded to walk over. Usui had barely taken two steps when suddenly, Makyna kicked a rock. The two startled deer immediately spotted them and with horribly whiny sounds began to dash off together, away from the location which Makyna had pointed out. "I’LL MAKE A CURVE! DRIVE THEM TO THE LEFT” he roared after the lioness who had begun pursuing the prey from behind. With a growl, Usui flexed his muscles and made a dash towards his left, trusting that Makyna would be able to direct their route towards him. Large paws brushed against the mud and kicked up water in all directions as he went, tail flagging high in anticipation. Barrel chest heaved in and out with his exertion. Lions were meant for bursts of speed, not stamina at top speed, and so the male wisely kept his pace in check. On he went, pale green eyes focused onto the larger deer which was leading the smaller one, certain that he was going to get it. After a moment, he curved to the right and then when he was certain that the deer was within reach, unleashed his full speed with a snarl and hurled his adolescent frame at the larger cave deer, intending to get close to it, then wrap his forepaws around its neck and drag it down using his weight.

He succeeded in accurately gauging the distance. With a ferocious snarl, he wrinkled back his nose and revealed strong pairs of ivories grown and crafted for hunting prey such as this. Claws unsheathed, he hooked his paws onto its neck and curved his body such that his hind legs kicked against the creature's chest while teeth went in for the kill. Usui held onto the prey's jugular mercilessly but kept his eyes glued upon Makyna and the smaller cave deer. What would she do?