Safa rolled her eyes with a huff. "Oh please, don't take me as such a fool." She knew full well what had transpired in his past for him to look like that, just as she knew the same thing happened to her and any other lion that happened to fumble into the hands of those humans.

"I meant your collapse. And seizure. Not why you've got glowing eyes, as I'm very well aware of that." Safa was definitely in a foul mood today and this whole fiasco wasn't helping her out one bit. Moodiness lent her bravery where she would've usually been more cautious. "Surprised you're not dead; there's plenty in this valley who would've loved to have taken advantage of you in the 30 seconds you were out."

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"Well, first of all, my seizures are only a side effect from some tests. And secondly, trust me, they have..." But suddenly, the lion grinned suspiciously. "However, I have friends, who make sure no lion would want to threaten me. But, I can still fight my own battles, if your wondering."

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The lion's grin didn't sit well with her and Safa grunted in displeasure, her tail flicking back and forth at full alert. Finally she tossed her head back with another hrumph, starting to turn away from the male without taking her eyes off him. Just in case.

"Friends? Ha! Now that's a thought." A bark of laughter over her shoulder, bittered. Not here in Vipered Valley you didn't. Friends weren't a thing here, and to be frank she missed it. Hell, she missed the pride she had come from, her old pride leader, her sisters and aunts and nieces... Augh, no point in dwelling on that. She'd never get them back and the reality of it was that they'd never take her with what she was now.

"Now, I guess if you're on four paws, I should be on my way."

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"I suppose you should. Oh, and before you go, I'd like to tell you something..." He rose a paw. "Always be alert for an onyx black lion. You'll need it."

Then, he turned, and began walking too. Until...

Click, Clack. Click... Clack...

He /knew/ those sounds. Those were the sounds of...

Clickk... reeee!

Humans!

"WATCH OUT!" SkOrCh suddenly hollered, flipping forwards towards Safa, knocking her out of the way as a large snare type trap was through, coiling itself around SkOrCh instead of Safa.

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Onyx black lion. Well, if there was a single good thing that had come from this meeting, it was that at least. Safa gave one last nod of acknowledgement before turning and starting to stalk off. She needed something to eat. Even a lizard would do at this point; the lioness was growing thin and pickings had been scarce.

In fact, so distracted by hunger that she seemed to have completely overlooked a snare.

She heard the thread of the trap just a hair too late. The lion, however, did not. Next thing she knew she was shoved head over teakettle, stumbling hard into a rocky outcrop with an oomph. She was quick to skitter back to her paws, though. Her pupils were blown to the size of dishes and she was making quick, jerky movements with her head to survey her surroundings.

No humans. Just the trap and the lion now stuck in it. Damn.

"I..." Perhaps still in a bit of shock. She had practically paced in a full circle trying to pinpoint who put the trap down, but they likely weren't even there. It might've been a forgotten trap for all she knew, years old.

"Are you alright?"

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"I'm not really su--" He didn't finish as his groans began to pull in. He rolled to his side, revealing one end of the snare hooked tightly, drawing blood, onto his back. "Oh, wonderful." He scoffed, attempting to yank the snare out, but failing, as more blood was drawn. He rolled on his other side, attempting the same thing, but once again, to no prevail. The sharp wind smacking his face nor did help. He flicked his tail in annoyance for a moment, before looking at the snare and groaning. "Great, now I'm going to bleed to death because of a stupid trap. How could the day go any better?"

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No, no he definitely wasn't alright. There were clear signs of blood as he rolled over and tried to get out of the trap firmly wrapped around him. Squirming definitely didn't look like it was helping; if anything, he was only spreading his injured scent around for everyone else to smell.

"Will you quit that? I think you're making it worse." She approached him, her mouth slightly agape and sending puffs of mist into the air. The panting was from the sudden adrenaline rush, making her paws, tail and eyes glow even brighter.

"Oh please, I didn't realize lions could be such drama queens. You're big and strong, you can probably pull the snare right out of the ground." Or at least, she hoped so.

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"Listen, fine, lioness.." He said, half serious, half teasing. "I've worked with snares before. There no joke, and, obviously, the humans have improved them by a lot. You must remember, these are what they used to capture lions with and take them to the lab."

SkOrCh stopped moving, for he knew the look on Safa's face clearly. "Oh, you worried about me interfearing with other lions? Ha! Well, good thing this /did/ happen, after all, that gives me a chance to bring 'her' on cue." Suddenly, he moved rapidly around for a movement, only spreading the infection slightly, self - conscious of what could happen if he ripped his skin.

He stopped, ears perking up. He grinned back at safa, and raised his paw, 3 claws in the air. "3... 2... 1-" And, suddenly, a low hiss mixed with a growl came from the darkness and fog ahead. "What, are you doing, little lion?" The voice snickered, a large onyx lioness emerged from the fog, eyes planted on Safa.

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Safa let out another snort of irritation, baring her teeth and ears pinned back. "Bud, they used no snare on me. They put three darts in my ass to take me out and drag me there." The sedatives didn't work the time she escaped, probably having grown more immune to it over time and repeated use. She still had the metal syringes hanging from her hindquarters, though the dart feathers had long since fallen out.

"What're you-" This lion was crazy. Downright batty. The lab really screwed with his head, and she was just cut off by the low growl that emerged from the deep of the fog.

"Oh hell no." She turned to the lion, a snarl planted firmly on her face, pulling her teeth back to bare her sharp teeth and the glow from the back of her throat. "Listen, bud, I'm trying to help you out here. I don't know what it is you're doing, but I'm this close to turning tail."

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(( By the way, my smaller friend wants to see this, so lets hold back on the colorful language for now ;) ))

"Oh, I wouldn't mind. However, if you'd like to make me mad..." He turned and looked at the lion. It was as if he had just switched from friendly to deranged within minutes.

"Erilina, please introduce yourself.."

The large lion approached, grinning, tail flicking from one side to the other. "Why, hello fellow lioness. Erilina, Erilina onyx. I'd ask your name, but I'm not exactly sure I care..." Then, Erilina looked at Safa for a few moments. "You know, I think your pelt would look quite wonderful on my shoulders. Hey, SkOrCh, do you think her flesh be'd tasty?"

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(( I'm not sure what you mean by colourful language? Perhaps my threshold is a little higher for it, but so far I don't think I've used any? ))

Was this the lion's mate? Erilina, or whatever it was? If Safa could've flattened her ears any further against her skull, they might as well have merged with her head. This wasn't sitting right with her at all. She knew she should've run much earlier than this and left the lion to his own devices.

Safa snarled when Erilina got up in her face, making direct eye contact. She didn't back down, but she definitely didn't want a fight, either. Lions were fighters, lionesses were hunters. She'd had to fight for her own, sure, but she wasn't exactly hyped to do so.

"And your claws would look absolutely marvelous strung around my neck. But neither of us will be having those things, now will we?"

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(( Oh, I mean cusses. Yes, I do too, however, my friend is VERY young, and only has tolerance for violence. ))

"Oh, I can't garentee (Spelled that wrong xD) that those things will be happening, now can we?" She grinned.

SkOrCh looked at Erilina, sitting down, not a care in the world that happened next. Erilina approached even closer, eyes narrowed into slits, her grin locked now into a snarl. Then, suddenly, she leaped.

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"Hey!" Yeah. She had been stupid. She had stayed when in reality she should've run the second she had the chance. She could hold her own, sure, but she neither wanted to nor had the energy to. It had been a dry spell in hunting and hunger tended to deaden the senses.

So much for the lion, anyway. The second the lioness to a jump at her, Safa was gone.

She bolted as quickly as her four legs could carry her, muscles straining against her skin as she slipped out from just underneath the black lioness and just ripped it right out of there. She skittered around a rocky outcrop, not quite caring where she went as long as it was long away from there. She didn't care for the snakes, almost tumbling right over one and having to leap to clear it before sliding down a shallow slope.

Stones rained down around her and the fog, though dense, was not impossible. Her breath created more, billowing around her face.

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