Never Smile at a Crocodile

(April 6th. Thread for casual character interactions. Open to everyone. Low-moderate risk, step on a crocodile, you get bitten.)

 Now that the sun had risen, border patrols could get up and running once again. Of course, manical tyrants like Scar and Zira would never let their security measures drop completely (a few who had dared to suggest otherwise had been savaged by hyenas), but for the crocodile float at least, once they had been out of sight of the termite mounds, they hadn't exactly done anything. Mostly, they had just wallowed about in the shallows, desperatley snapping at the odd fish or dik-dik that had come down to drink. On occasion they would try and swim up and down the river, but without the moon to enhance their night vision they never got far without bumping into rocks, swimming into rapids, or angering herds of ill-tempered bull hippos.
 
 Makuu had been glad of the rest, but he was also eager to begin patrolling again. Today, he and a small number of his original float had taken the middle-section of the river near the Prideland's bridge; ensuring that no tresspassers got through, waiting to see what might come down to drink, and covering up any Pridelander footprints from the darkness before Scar or Zira could see them. The rest of the Crocodilian Battallion he had sent to opposite ends of the river; Brutus and Nero, a pair of competent American alligators whom he quite liked, away to the east with some other crocodiles, and Tic-Toc and Bianca to the west, as far away as possible. Tic Toc was not so bad, and was decently competent, but that dreaded noise made Makuu's blood boil. Bianca he did not want to be around for obvious reasons. Those two females should be gone for a while...hopefully.

 There was no real spectacular sunrise that morning. The sky was baby blue, patched with fluffy pink clouds that reflected on the surface of the river water as the crocodile leader's two eyes and nostrils poked up from the circular ripples. Ridged backs cut the surface of the water behind him as the rest of his platoon swam up and down the river, but Makuu, who had had his turn, was resting for the moment. In true crocodile fashion, only his eyes and nose were visible above the water, the rest of his body was hanging suspended in the murky depths. He was not in the crouching pose, from which crocodiles spring on unsuspecitng prey, but in the resting one, floating aimlessly.

 He was facing the dry, dirty riverbank of the Outlands, absently watching a jerboa scuffle among the brown rocks and dirt at the bottom of the slope which lead into the main body of the camp. The Pridelands side of the river was green and lucious, sporting huge reeds and beautiful water lillies. Talk about contrasts.

 Suddenly, there was a small 'chink' from above as a pebble flipped down the hill and smacked the crocodile on the nose. Makuu raised his piercing yellow eyes to the top of the slope as the sound of footsteps coming over the top caught his attention. Someone was coming.

(prays this is right)

Reggie grimaced as he walked along the river side, the sound of small chink and clacks of pebbles that had rolled down the embankment belonged to the large yet wounded mastiff mix of a dog. Ever since the battle with those stupid Akita dogs took place, Reggie's ego was sore as hell but atlest he was alive and that was all that mattered. "Hm?" Reggie turned and bit back a whimper as he put pressure on his hurt leg. He spoted the two bright yellow eyes of the large crocodile and the smug smirk returned to his face. It would do him no good to show weakness, especially in front of a large crocodile like Makuu who could no doubt easily drown him and rip off his hurt leg via his nasty death roll move Reggie had heard about.

"Hello down there stranger!" Reggie called down,

The water rippled as the corners of Makuu's mouth curled up in a devious under-water smile. Blood. He could smell it, mingled with the scent of dog. A day old maybe, but still a wounded animal. He watched the bear-like dog come to the top of the rise. He was huge, and muscular, but that was no deterrent to Makuu, who was these things twice over, and he could now see the extent of the animal's injuries. Technical allies or no technical allies, if he got too close...No, Makuu had already eaten today, and there was a pile of fish lying on the banks next to him that his crocodiles were constantly adding too if he ever got too hungry.

 The crocodile lugged his enormous body up from the water, placing his muscular front half on the dirty banks and leaving his tail and back legs dangling submerged. "Good morning Friend!" Makuu flashed an unsettlingly cool grin back up at the dog, mouth lined with row upon row of razor-teeth. "My, you look like a sight for hungry vultures! What happened to you? Fightin' in that battle yesterday? Why don't you come down here and join me?" he invited, almost sweetly. He swung his head to the side at the pile of fish lying on the sand. "Let us eat together." He leered up at the dog again, narrowing his eyes into slits and smiling challengingly, wanting to see what the brute of a pet would do.

 

"Oooooh got room fer one more at this dinner party?"

Cheezi's tongue lolled out of his mouth as he approached the bank. He'd actually thought the dog was a deformed warthog. He was starving so he'd considered taking a bite. But when it spoke and someone said something about sharing food, Cheezi bounded up towards him to take the opportunity to take a bite. He approached sheepishly. Without Janja he definitely felt a lot weaker. So he tried to play things a little closer to the vest. His ears lowered softly and he offered the pair a grin. "Ah-ha-haha-I mean only if you wanna share. But I'm sooo hungry."

He blinked towards the larger animal next to him. "Shoot, aren't you big," he snapped, "How'd any animal actually get ahold of you in the battle? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahhh, you're fat."

"Well this is some group."

Jasiri felt her muzzle wrinkle slightly as she walked towards the group of animals, dark blue eyes narrowed as she looked from one animal to another. Of course one of Janja’s friends were here. She didn’t know the dog, even if they were on the same side, and Makuu… was Makuu. For the most part, Jasiri simply ignored her fellow animal villain. He had his own business, and she had hers. Neither of the others were what she was disgusted by. No, it was by her fellow hyena.

Sure, Jasiri stayed with the hyenas. Like she would ever be accepted anywhere else. As soon as a Pridelander got whiff of a hyena being on their territory, and any hyena at that, she would be a sure goner. Why chance that? And while some hyenas were bad - mostly Janja and his group - most hyenas were fine, like their leader. But Cheezi? Yeah, right.

After her entrance, however, Jasiri was quiet, watching the group as she laid down several feet from them. Cheezi seemed to be just asking for trouble - Makuu ‘s eyes was not matching his tone. Even if they were, Jasiri had had her fill today. No need seeking trouble from a crocodile when she didn’t have to.

And how would the dog react? Jasiri turned her head towards the other animal, tilting her head slightly. She knew that dogs had joined the army, but had never really directly interacted with them. It would be interesting to see how he would react to Cheezi’s insult, just being in a battle from the scent of blood tinging the air. Would he choose to fight, even if he was already injured?

"My, you look like a sight for hungry vultures! What happened to you? Fightin' in that battle yesterday? Why don't you come down here and join me?"

"Yeah, the battle saw my ass kicked by a bunch of stupid Akitas." He snorted at the thought then peered down over the edge as Makuu offered to join him. "Fish?" His noise led him to the small pile but he didn't move from his spot on the bank. That grin on Makuu's face said all he needed to know about him. Reggie's ears flicked as Cheezi approached them and started asking about the food and if they could share. "Have at it." His massive paw lifted off the ground to motion at the pile of fish near the crocodile. "Your tail, or paw, or whatever the fuck you're risking to lose," he snorted.

Shoot, aren't you big."

"How'd any animal actually get ahold of you in the battle? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ahhh, you're fat."

In seconds flat Reggie was nose to nose with the hyena, giving him a death glare, muzzle rippling to show off his teeth.

"Big enough to eat you in one bite. For the fucking record it was a pack of stupid dogs, Akitas if you want the breed." Reggie pulled back and sat on his rump, an annoyed look on his face aimed at Cheezi. "It's muscle , not fat." he grumbled.

 Makuu's giant scaly head remained in his place as the black pupils of his amber eyes darted to one side at the signature approaching cackle of one of Scar's pets; A hyena. Like many inhabitants of the vast wastes of the Outlands, Makuu was none too keen on the seemingly eternal surge of feliforms. On top of being bullies (every villain was), they were snivelling cowards to boot. They thought they could come and go as they pleased for the sole reasoning that they had been beside Scar from the start of his campaign. But, in saying that, had they not failed to kill Simba –cub Simba- when an easy opportunity had been presented to them, and therefore sparked the entire course of the war? Had they been able to do anything right, Scar would have no contesters to his power and would still be governing the Pridelands without argument, and the crocodiles could still be eating to their gizzard’s content.

 Using the practiced patience of an ambush hunter, Makuu waited until Cheezi was inches from his pile of fish, then turned his jaws around and opened them wide, letting out a loud and terrifying hybrid of a hiss and a roar, and bringing them down with a snap. That ought to teach him to smile at crocodiles, so to speak.

 "Smart." Makuu turned his head coolly and smoothly around to the dog, that flattering hooded grin returning to his face. “There must be more brain in there than meets the eye.”

 Without warning, Reggie lunged at Cheezi. Makuu’s eyes opened wide with eager, wicked anticipation, and he flashed his teeth in another smile, hoping for some bloodshed. But to his predatory disappointment, none came.

 While they were confronting each other, the reptile’s eyes swivelled up to the other hyena sitting a little way off. At least this member of the species knew when to keep her distance. Makuu didn’t want to admit it, but he respected female hyenas a hell of a lot more than the male ones; they were intelligent, patient, conniving, and ruthless fighters. But male-driven crocodile society refused him the grace to ever admit so it paid more to reputation to dismiss the whole species as weak. Speaking of which…

 “Gentlemen! Gentlemen!” Makuu threw back his head and smiled widely, crawling forward towards them an inch. “Let’s be civil with one another huh? We wouldn’t want a fight to break out now would we?” He leered and shifted his head from Reggie to Cheezi. “One of you might slip and fall in.” he grinned, flicking his head back at the river. Was that a log or one of the crocodile battalion floating by in the water there? Who could say?

"Smart." Reggie heard the other male say “There must be more brain in there than meets the eye.” Reggie repressed a rumbling growl at the reptile and instead let out a rough snort. His attention was on a hyena, but this time it was a female and slightly smaller then the annoying male in front of him.

“Gentlemen! Gentlemen!”

Reggie stood firm as Makuu moved towards him, the croc's massive body sliding forward.

“Let’s be civil with one another huh? We wouldn’t want a fight to break out now would we?”

"Believe me, I'm more civil back home on the streets," he sneered, taking a seat and watching Makuu as he continued to speak. The massive dog thought to mention being too tired to fight but instead just glanced back at his hurt leg, frowning. He knew that the croc would understand the reason he frowned. “One of you might slip and fall in.”

"I can still swim," he snorted, turning to face back to Makuu. "So, yeah, you're outta luck." He shook his pelt in an attempt to be rid of the fleas creeping about. "Might want to knock some sense into your friend here," he called to the female hyena. After all, if he remembered right the females were the leaders of their clan.

Cheezi grinned awkwardly, ears folding back with a laugh.

"Ehehehehahaha, no-no-no worries pal, we're all on the same side, huh? I was just makin' conversation, hehehehe." His ears flicked upwards as he stared towards Jasiri. His eyes narrowed. If Janja was here, he'd be picking on Jasiri. But Janja WASN'T here. It didn't matter much. Cheezi would always follow Janja's rule even if he wasn't there. However, he for sure felt more comfortable next to Jasiri than he did the croc or Reggie.

"You ain't gettin' no food before me Jasiri! You can forget that!" The male bounced back and forth slightly, head lowering as he stared towards her. "I'm gettin' some a'that fish before you! Ahahahahaha!" His tail batted back and forth, ready to pounce on her if need be.