Roleplay-8th of January

Ninja's heart aches with sympathy seeing the usually kind-hearted and bouyant matriarch in a tremendous amount of pain. She doesn't deserve to endure this misery at all. Why must Fate be so barbaric to the altrustic individuals? He shakes his head angrily before giving Aliya a comforting nuzzle. He hopes she and her unborn litter will be okay...

Seeing her brother offering her a skink, Ninji happily accepts it and began gobbling it down while chirring in delight. Oooh, this is absolutely delicious! Way better than that putrid yellow thing.

ooc: Anytime is good with me Meyerm.

bic: Ponda chrrs happily at Linda and cuddles up against her leg. He's still a bit mentally disabled but has grown very fond of his adoptive family.

Linda starts digging deep. She can smell something good underneath, but it's deep down. She keeps digging, and soon enough almost half of her body is underground. She's fatally oblivious to the martial eagle that has spotted the group and been circling overhead.

ooc- For plot reasons, I don't want Linda to be warned about it.

With her nose to the ground in search of more quarry, Ninji doesn't realize the mob is in grave danger and that her life could be in serious jeopardy if the aerial threat soaring directly above the mob makes visual contact with her.

Tyson looks up into the sky and spots the eagle. Not having yet learned which birds are dangerous and which are not, he chirps, innocently telling the others about the bird he sees as if it's no big deal.

Hearing her brother's vocalization, Ninji averts her eyes from the ground and makes visual contact with him, tilting her head to the right questioningly as she notices his gaze is to the sky. What's he looking at? Her orbs follow the path of his gaze to the gargantuan Martial Eagle circling overhead, her eyes dilating in surprise at how large the creature is. Like her brother, she has not yet learned that this species of bird poses a great threat to her or any other meerkat's life.

Comet, being the loyal meerkat he is, does notice and sets off the alarm... He hides under a bush, not thinking that he can make it to the bolthole in time...

ooc: If that's ok, I'm assuming that Linda just won't hear...

ooc- That was actually my original intent.

ic- Linda is still half submerged in the sand, and does not hear the alarm. The martial eagle dives, heading straight for the mob.

Tyson, upon Ponda's frantic reaction and solidified by the bird's dive for them, realizes this bird is not a harmless creature to gaze upon. He runs as fast as his little pup legs can take him into the same cover Ponda is at under the bush.

witnessing the malicious Martial Eagle rapidly decending towards the mob, a sense of tremendous horror permeates Ninji's chest, her pulse racing. Obviously this gargantuan creature is not innocuous and intends to claim a life if given the chance, so Ninji doesn't hesitate to seek refuge. But overcome with panic, she makes a potentially fatal error. She gallops across open terrain in the opposite direction of the mob's location, risking the prospect of being spotted and killed.

ooc- We can just say the inactive members scattered or found shelter.

ic- Linda still has her head below the sand. Got it! She fully emerges her body from the hole with a scorpion in her mouth. She begins to eat it, but stops when she sees everyone has scattered or taken shelter. She drops the scorpion and looks around juts in time to see the martial eagle diving for her, and it's all over. She's gone, in the grips of the eagle as it flies away with it's catch. All that remains is the chewed up scorpion which starts to crawl away fighting for it's own life, the hole she dug, and a few small drops of blood.

ooc- I was planning for the eagle to drop her for some reason, and then spend the rest of the time prior to arriving at Linklu recovering with an evicted female.

Comet yips in dismay... No... Not Linda... Still above ground, he does manage to see it... He sighs.

Suri made it into the bolthole. She doesn't realize what just happened...

Ponda yips, no! He attempts to follow the bird of prey, refusing to leave her side.

ooc: I need to make a list of meerkats I'll be moving... Comet might be one of them...

Unaware her mother may have just perished at the lethal talons of the Martial Eagle, Ninji continues galloping across open terrain, the distance between herself and the Jumaa rapidly lengthening. She realizes the mob is nowhere to be seen which merely escalates her panic. The Jumaa...w-where did they go? She doesn't see them any where. Her situation is growing more dire by the minute. If she doesn't locate the mob and seek safety in numbers soon, her chances of survival will be very slim.

Tyson had watched in horror as his mother was taken away by the bird. He looks into the horizon, the huge bird still carrying his mother in it's grip. He's in too much shock to do anything.

The muscles in little Ninji's legs are burning intensely, but she ignores the agony and keeps running, determined to locate the mob. Alarmingly, her desperate search is taking her further and further away from the Jumaa mob's location, her situation reaching a crisis point.

ooc: I'm not sure what to post so I'll wait for something to happen that I can reply to. Not sure if anyone is waiting for me or anything, so go on without me. ;D

ooc- Maybe you can have Comet lead the foraging party back home or something since no dominants are present.

ic- Coming to his senses, Tyson whimpers and aimlessly wonders around. He wants his mother!

Unaware of the tragedy that has transpired, Duke remains with Aliya at the burrow. His concern rests with Aliya and their unborn right now.

ooc: We should wait for Night. I'm not gonna post anymore until she posts her characters' reactions as I believe she has Petal and John involved in this predator situation.

ooc: Well, Comet has a paralyzed leg but I might have him do that.

I think that's a good idea. I'll remind her to post when I see her today.

((OOC: Sorry for the hold up.))

Aliya and Root are also unaware of the events that took place at the forging party. Aliya had managed to fall asleep, though twitched from the pain now and again.

Root sighs and rests his head on her shoulder, wishing he could comfort her.

If she had a voice, Petal would be screaming. She was with Comet, only watching as Linda was taken away. She didn't have to have a voice to show how horrified she was, her dark brown eyes showed it, along with her facial expression.

John had managed to lead Velmarie into the safety of some thorn bushes. Focused on her, he fails to notice that Linda had been taken away and had possibly just lost her life.

Comet glances around... The martial eagle is gone. But, that's not all. Linda, Ponda, and Ninji are also all gone... It makes Comet upset, just as it does the others, but he chirps... Without the dominants there is no leadership and without that the remainder of the group will spin into chaos... He slowly begins heading back to the burrow.

Tyson follows Comet's lead, looking around for his mother, sister, and adoptive brother at the same time. To lose three meerkats close to him all at once is traumatizing to the young pup.

Duke is carefully tending to Aliya. Seeing she's asleep, he heads above ground to help Ninja. They're in for bad news. For Ninja especially.

The progress is very slow. Comet realizes this and looks down at the ground. If only he hadn't fallen out of that tree so long ago... The male sighs. He wants the group to make it to the burrow as quickly as possible. He doesn't want to hold them back so peeps... They can go ahead, he'll lag behind, stay under cover for the night if he doesn't make it in time...

Aliya continued to sleep, unaware of the horrible news she would be hearing.

Root stays with Aliya.

Petal looks at Comet in horror. No! She will not loose him! Stubbornly, she stays at his side. She was still shaken from what happened to Linda, but she will not loose the one she had been falling for. Although it pains her to leave her brother...

John follows, frowning at Comet slowing down. And top it off, he lost sight of Velmarie... He also decides to stay behind with Comet and Petal. They'd need a strong member to protect them against the elements.

Ninji has vanished, her paw prints being the only trace of her that remains on Jumaa premises.

Back at the burrow, Ninja senses a presence close by him and glances over to notice Duke has emerged. He chirps, notifying him there's no sign of danger for as far as he can see. He then inquires Duke about Aliya's condition. Is she stable or has her condition deteriorated. He's immensely concerned about her. He's unaware they're in for devestating news once the mob arrive at the burrow.

Duke informs Ninja that Aliya is sleeping at the moment. Duke begins to think deeply. He's clinging desperately to the hope that whatever is happening won't result in the deaths of the pups, Aliya, or worse still, both.

Tyson runs ahead. At this point he's interested only in making sure the bird didn't take his dad too. The foraging patch wasn't a very far distance away, and even on the legs of pups and a paralysis-sticken adult, it's not long before the burrow starts to appear on the horizon.