Welcome to Ayomide!

[Melpomene]

It was a beautiful sunrise. The air was crisp and fresh, teeming with life. The clouds reminiscent of Esi, the Chike god. All was beautiful and as peaceful as possible.

Dull orange paws hit the ground as Melpomene, the drama queen jaguar, did an army crawl across the forest floor. It was a very important business for Mel, who normally only hunted at night, was hunting. It was a very silent army crawl: Not like the crawls found in the actual human army. She had her eye on one target: The wild pig trotting along the forest floor. The pig looked so juicy.... so tender.... so delicious. And it was going to be all hers in a manner of heartbeats...

Crawling carefully, Melpomene followed after the pig like a domestic dog after a domestic cat. The pig was completely oblivious: She was in her own little world, looking for roots to eat. Little did she know, she was about to meet her maker: If pigs had gods, that is.

After doing army crawl for a manner of tiger lengths, Melpomene pounced in a mighty leap. She managed to sink her claws into the pigs side. The pig squealed with pain, but then Mel grabbed onto the neck of the pig with her mighty, fearsome jaws. She held on like it was the last pig in Ayomide, until, after a manner of time, the pig was dead.

This was all working out too great. Ripping open the skin, Melpomene feasted away at the succulent, juicy pork. Nothing could bother her now: Not even another cat.

[Spirit]

Spirit had no reason to be in the neutral hunting grounds and he hoped he would not be bothered over it. He liked to know what was going on, even if it was from the loners or any other tribe (though he made a point to stay clear of the Xiang lands if he was alone). There was little use in risking his hide but he could keep out of sight if he was careful. So he watched Mel with curiousity from a tree branch.

He hated climbing and he rarely did it, but he had at last gotten comfortable in the tree. However, he could not seem to get perfectly balance as he moved slightly to watch. His claws scraped at the bark and some of it fell from the tree in a shower of brown. He cringed, hoping that the female cat would not notice. He regained his stance and sat silently, large eyes watching intently.

He had yet to actually speak to a loner but he was curious and it was tempting. The last thing he wanted to do, however, was make her angry or scare her... or cause any negative first meetings. So, with a rather obvious leap, he got down from the tree and approached her. 'Do you mind sharing?' He asked carefully.

[Melpomene]

Melpomene was just getting to the good part. The ribs. Juicy, tender ribs. They tasted especially good, even though wild pork was usually her favorite food, this one was especially delicious. It was almost like a pig sent from Emeka, spirit of good luck. She followed Chike tribe religion, despite her not actually living in the tribe. So what if she wanted to go at it alone? Earthly cats always went at it alone, there were no tribes on the mainland of earth. The only social earth cats were lions, and even they changed leaders constantly, depending on who's stronger.

That was when she heard it

“Do you mind sharing?”

Now, normally, if this was a helpless loner lion, she would give maybe a leg. However, she could smell and recognize him: He was Duke of Chike, Spirit.

How dare he! Doesn’t he know how loners live? Everyday is a struggle for them, with no tribe to support them. Its all about her, in Melpomenes’ world. She didn’t want to start a fight, but she didn’t want to share either. Might as well scare him off right on the spot.

“How dare you!” she roared. “You, your support by your tribe. You have plenty of food your tribe works hard to catch for you! Do you honestly think a lowly rouge would share with a mighty leader?” she breathed heavily, and then growled, picking up her catch in her fearsome jaws.

[Spirit]

Spirit sat on his haunches several feet away and cocked his head. 'I would only seek to repay you in the future twice as much as you gave,' he explained cooly, his voice remaining level. He had no reason to grow angry with her, she was right. But he did believe that every deed came back twice and he would not simply take from her without giving. Oh no, he would have to repay her in some way.

'I had no intention of insulting you,' he added calmly. 'I was only hoping to perhaps have a bight or two before I go on my way. I have yet to have breakfast.'

He was not threatened by her even a little bit. It was not that he felt he was unbeatable or that he was stronger. He simply did not quickly anger and so even his expression was laid back. He felt it was important to remaind that way unless provoked violently otherwise a fight would be pointless.