Roleplay-8th of January

Cactus squeals in triumph. Taking advantage of Cloud's confusion, he gets back to his senses and runs away from the "predator".

Conker, also using the confusion to his advantage, breaks cover and bursts out of the bushes.

Running as fast as she could with her beloved by her side, Valmarie headed in the direction of Aliya and skidded in the sand as she found her hobbling away from the foraging party with a younger male at her side. Confused and worried she sank down on the sand and tried to appear submissive. Just because John had missed her and accepted her back I didn’t mean the other members of the Jumaa would even though they were generally kind in nature.
She’s have to wait until someone scent marked her back into the group…but whom with the dominant female in such distress?

Cloud squealed, lashing out in hopes of catching Akita. His efforts were in vain though. Quickly, he sprung to his feet, darting after her.

Cactus and Conker gathered together, ready to run if the "Predator" came too close. Both pups were learning that safety in numbers would help them get away from a real predator.

Focused on ensuring the ailing Aliya's safety as he helps to escort her back to the burrow, Ninja doesn't notice Velmarie has made an astonishing return.

Bored of hiding in the vegetation, Ninji makes a break for it, running past Cloud while giving him the raspberries. Catch me if ya can, but good luck 'cause I excel at running! hee hee ha ha!

Noticing the change in the game, Cactus and Conker shifted away from Akita, the new "Predator".

The suspense of just standing there was too much for Conker. Losing his nerve, the pup ran around, trying to keep sight of the "coyote"(I don't think coyotes live in the Kalahari...).

Without Conker, there was no point for Cactus in standing around. He darted after his brother. It would be best if the two stayed together.

ooc: You are correct, Meerkats912, coyotes aren't indigenous to the Kalahari, but other K-9 species, like jackals and foxes are. Black backed jackals are one of the meerkats' most feared and commonly encountered predators.

Seeing that Akita is now the "predator", Ninji darts in the opposite direction of her and vanishes into a patch of vegetation, hoping to confuse her.

[OOC: The initial plan was to have the other pups ask what a coyote was. Would it be possible for her to know what it was from a story she heard? From her previous mob? If not, I'll fix the post.]

Ooc: That's a good idea.

Cactus's eyes fill with confusion at Akita's words, but he doesn't say anything. He is hiding in a nearby bolt hole, and remains there to not give himself away.

Conker could not hold his tongue. He bounds up to Akita. "What's a coyote? I've never heard of it." He questions.

ooc: Sure, why not. It'll make things a bit more interesting. =)

Ninji inquisitively tilts her head to the right at the word "Coyote". Having never heard such a strange word before in her entire life, she's curious to know what it means and trots out from the vegetation over to Akita who seems to know about coyotes. She inquires with a chirp, "Hey Akita, what's a kyotee?" The pronounciation was a bit off but she was close.

ooc- Trying to revive this and finish our plot.

ic- Linda, though wishing to be by her mate's side and help Aliya, had stayed behind with the foraging party to watch over her pups. She is unaware that might have been the last time the two would meet...

Duke had also been in debate. He would stand by his mate's side through any situation and indeed it were his pups that were in danger, but could he risk leaving the mob without either dominants present? None the less, he followed Aliya.

ooc: Lets say Ninja and Aliya made it to the burrow.

Meanwhile, Ninja is standing guard near Aliya, alertly scanning the sky and the vegetation on the periphery of burrow grounds for danger. They may be located a mere couple feet from the entrance but just a momentary lapse in concentration is sufficient for a predator to claim the life of any of the individuals in an instant, so he isn't taking any chances. Little does he know he's about to be dealt the biggest catastrophe of his life.

ooc: I was thinking of having Ninji go missing, too. I'm formulating a plot of what should happen to her after becoming seperated from the mob.

ooc: I'd post but I have no idea what's going on... Not here, or in any of the other mobs...

ooc: Aliya had began experiencing intense false labor pains, so a few individuals volunteered to escort her back to the burrow while the rest of the mob are foraging, and the pups are playing a game called "Predator" where one of the pups acts as a predator and pursues the others to tag them as the predator. As for the other mobs, I dunno what's going on ^^; I've lost track of the goings-on in the other mobs.

ooc- In which case, I guess I should share a little info on the separation. It will involve a predator.

ic- Linda begins to forage around the group, starting to become hungry again. Her plan to ask Ninja if they could have another litter was momentarily ended by the emergency with Aliya. No big deal. Given the luck they've had, maybe it was a sign.

Tyson is curiously exploring around the group. He didn't want to play right now. He was too enthralled in his surroundings.

Duke helps Aliya inside and nervously joins her underground, confident Ninja can keep watch. He won't allow the Midnights to claim more of the mob's members.

Ponda is following his father around, sniffing the ground as he did so. He doesn't know exactly what's going on, but he can tell that something seems to be wrong with Aliya, and it makes him nervous. He glances at the horizon. He's worried about whether his mother will come back or not...

Comet is near Petal.

Suri is worried too and glances around, hoping that Aliya will be ok...

Now that Aliya is safely below ground, Ninja can concentrate on keeping a vigilant watch for predators. He's determined not to permit any carnivore to sneak past him and infiltrate the burrow. He's prepared to defend Aliya with his life if necessary.

Ninji has lost interest in the "Predator Tag" game and is pawing at a Devil's Thorn Flower for a different source of entertainment.

ooc: Ninja had gone back to the burrow with Aliya and her other helpers.

Ooc: Ok... I'll say Ponda is following Linda instead. ^^'

Funny... My phone autocorrects Ponda to Linda xD

ooc- Hmm, interesting. :p

ic- Tyson begins to feel hungry and walks over to his mother, begging for milk.

Linda notices Tyson's whines but refuses to provide him milk. She's been trying to wean them and expose them more and more to solid food. She instead drops a grub in front of him.

Tyson looks at the grub momentarily and seeing this will be all he gets, tries to eat it.

Ninji takes a bite of one of the Devil's Thorn Flower petals, her face contorting at the bitter taste. Yuck! This tastes awful! She spits the pieces out of her mouth. Guess that's not edible, it must not be due to it's disgusting taste. Gradually, Ninji is learning what is and what is not edible to meerkats.

Ponda gazes up at Linda. Although he is not biologically her son, his mother isn't exactly nice to him... So he's begun to see her as a mother of sorts and has begun to follow her around a bit. He watches her attempt to wean her pups and nods to himself... Maybe he can help too... He finds a skink... He bites its head off so it's dead and gives it to Ninji... Chirping to her before running back over to Linda.

Aliya soon lays herself down once inside a chamber. She grits her teeth as another wave of pain shoots throughout her body. She bites her lower lip to keep herself from crying out.

Root frowns as he watches Aliya. He wished he could soothe her pain, make it stop... There was nothing he could do..

Petal nuzzles Comet.

John frowns. Hopefully his lady would be reaccepted back... For now, Aliya wasn't able to do so. But he's confident she would allow Velmaire back into the mob once she's feeling better.

ooc- When should the separation occur?

ic- Linda takes notice of Ponda's actions and smiles. With his mother gone and himself the older half-brother of her pups, it would make logical sense for her to grow to caring for him as her adopted son as well.

Duke churrs comfortably to Aliya. He wants to calm her down.