Title-- Just Like Old Times
Rating and Warnings-- PG for implied violence and explicit gore. Yay gore!
Species and Characters-- Species = Korat and Kumayaki, the latter of which is copyright tageera and used with her permission. Chars = Redwood & TFD, who is also Kay's.
Summary and Notes-- I owed Kay a shidbit with Redwood and TFD. This is it. XD!


'You could feel it,' an awed voice whispered to the firelight that reflected in wide, avid eyes. 'The very ground shook under their paws, even on the other side of the hill. The 'Bens felt it and they all looked up, and I bet you they thought they'd be prepared, because they formed rings and had all their guards ready to fight. And then the hunters crested the hill--they never even paused, they just kept racing forward in a cloud of dust, and by the time the herd had time to shrill a warning cry, ten hens and bulls lay dead and blood was everywhere. And I saw her, Odicht, I saw her, I saw the sidifir oerri and her hunting partner...'

'What did she look like?'

'She was beautiful...'


"Not often we have an audience. What was that crett, anyways?" The words were barely intelligible, half-snarled around a mouthful of fresh, blood-soaked flesh. Steam wafting up from the hunk of meat set a light, deceptive glaze to a predator's eyes as they glanced over the kill at the other hunter.

A growl answered the first speaker as the Preda Ben's haunch was dislocated and summarily ripped from the body with a few vicious jerks of a powerful neck--then the Korat dropped the leg and grinned a wicked, bloody grin. "Young Kiyi, one of the Original Nine. Pup's probably telling stories already of this hunt," she laughed in a voice more akin to thunder than mortal speech. A once-silver tailblade, now stained crimson, began hacking into the thick meat of the thigh, swiftly joined by immensely strong jaws and thick, demi-blunt teeth. Scarlet fluid spattered everywhere, even far enough to spray over the ravaged corpse and sprinkle a tawny pelt.

"Watch it," the Kumayaki growled, a feral grin on her reddened muzzle as she sank long, dagger-like fangs into the bull's broken neck. The sound of bone sheathing in flesh was a satisfying one, and both hunters grinned through the meat. The Five Deaths raised her head after gulping down a few more mouthfuls, ears flicking. "Gee, think this'll be enough to feed us both?" she asked dryly, keen gaze scanning the slope that looked more like a battlefield than a hunting ground--Preda Ben carcasses littered the earth, marinating in pools of their own blood, slumped awkwardly in death.

"It won't go to waste," Redwood replied matter-of-factly, a vicious grin barely hiding behind her current delicacy--the bull's long shin, which she worried and teased and nipped at until all of the hide and flesh was removed, leaving behind a length of crimson-smeared bone. Ignoring her friend's look of amusement, the red female carefully and precisely cracked the bone in two length-wise and began lapping the marrow from the hollow insides, a dull purr vibrating her furled throat with pleasure at the taste.

"The locals must love when you hunt their lands," TFD laughed, drawing unsheathed claws through the 'Ben's already-mutilated flank. Slowly cooling but still warm blood bubbled up from the new gashes, and the feline licked at the precious fluid.

"There's enough of that on your pelt already." The Korat grinned at the Aya's good-natured scowl and, having finished with the marrow, pitched one half of the broken shin at the cat's head. TFD ducked and sprang to her paws with a full-fledged snarl, which only earned her another smug grin from the burly Korat.

Wolfish ears flattened as her mane began to rise, tufted tail lashing behind her, and TFD sank into a pounce-ready crouch. She watched, perfectly motionless, as Redwood resumed her meal, probably presuming the Anyanan to be too full to actually want to play. How wrong she is, the tawny hunter cackled to herself, settling her extended claws into the rich soil. A muscle in her haunch twitched. She inhaled. Exhaled. Blinked twice. Flicked an ear. Wrinkled her nose. Flared her whiskers.

And then, with an almighty roar to shake the very ground, TFD lunged the short distance separating the Korat Original from herself, jaws gaping and claws slicing through the cool autumn air--

Redwood's own roar answered her, deeper and rougher from the thickly-built beast, as she responded in a split second with her own leap--

And the two hunters crashed mid-air, directly over the carcass, with the force of a falling kûsani tree and a sound like a toppling Quomai. Twin 'oofs' escaped their muzzles and they rolled away, both slightly stunned by the impact. "Ow," TFD muttered, grinning ruefully as she lay on her back, her chest and skull now throbbing from the collision with a much heavier Korat. Redwood chuckled, sprawled on her flank in a puddle of blood and gore, and as gazes met, the two began laughing in earnest.

"Just like old times," TFD grinned, and the Korat nodded. "Aye. Just like old times."