Chief and Token Part 1

Vumbi rped by =NinjaCheetah
Fumo rped by *GypsyCrest19

Fumo looked around where he had stopped, searching to see if there was any trouble. Seeing, and hearing nothing he continued his normal route back to camp after spending the night out. As he neared closer to camp, he spotted one of the few trees that was providing a nice shady spot from the sun that was beating down. He padded over, intent on just resting there for a bit. It had been awhile since he had, and figured, why not? He balanced on his haunches, as he lazily pulled himself up onto a low hanging branch. He settled himself on the branch, getting comfortable on the branch as he always did.

Vumbi opened his one eye as he heard rustling below him. He looked down, and saw another cheetah in the branch below him. He growled in annoyance. This cheetah had just woken him up from the most decent dream he had had in moons. Annoyed, he slunk silently down the tree, and climbed onto the one the other cheetah was on.

"Shouldn't you be on patrol?" He growled, noticing the cheetah as one of the sentries.

Fumo lazily opened one eye to look up to see who was talking. Once he saw it was Vumbi, he quickly sat up, catching himself before he fell off the low hanging branch. He steadied himself, and grinned sheepishly at the higher ranked cheetah. "H..Hey Vumbi. I was just getting off of Patrol actually." He said, nervous of possibly getting caught in his half-truth. "It's been quiet on the boarders, and I was tired. I'm sorry if I had woken you up." He said, getting ready to jump down in case he was ordered either back on patrol or to camp.

Vumbi studied Fumo for a few moments. "Fine," He grunted. "You may rest a while, but once it's sunset, I want you back on the Crowded Water border."

Fumo sighed in relief, masking it as a yawn. His notched ear twitched as he nodded to him. "No worries. No Crowded Water cheetah's will even get by me. I have a Sentry reputation to uphold." He smirked at Vumbi before settling himself back onto the branch. "So. Mind if I ask why you were up in this here tree?" He asked.

Vumbi rolled his eye. "I was asleep."

Fumo gave a shaky laugh. "Well... I was just starting too myself, actually."

Vumbi wasn't impressed. "You shouldn't be so tired after just a morning patrol. You need to work to build up your endurance." It wasn't a suggestion.

"I also had night patrol." He said this without missing a beat. He was silently proud of himself for being able to say it the way he had.

Vumbi glared at the sentry, annoyed that he couldn't counter that. Eventually, he turned around. Obviously he wouldn't be sleeping in the same tree with this annoying cheetah now. "Okay fine." He growled. "You've woken me up, so I'm leaving now. Bye."

"Why leave? If we both wanna sleep, shouldn't stop you from doing so." Fumo pointed out. "And if you were here first, I should be the one to leave anyways." He got to his paws, and jumped down to the ground. "I could probably find another anyways. Hence, we are called 'Crooked Tree'."

Vumbi stared down at him. "You've woken me up now," He growled, "And once I'm awake there is no point trying to get back asleep, because I won't until I do something." He jumped down awkwardly.

Fumo sighed. "Well, now I can't sleep either." He muttered, flicking his tail. "How about a small patrol then? Something that you can do to fall asleep, and something for me to remember that my paws should be tired." He suggested with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Fine," Vumbi grunted, and began to stalk off. "We'll patrol the Crowded Water border now then instead of just you later. Make sure you do a good job"

Fumo huffed, before giving Vumbi a hidden look of annoyance behind his back, before following. "I do my job to a perfect T. Like I would mess up any boarder patrol." Fumo said before grumbling under his breath. "Not like I need to be told how to do my patrols..."

"Well show me then." Vumbi growled. "You must have a tyro for a reason, so show me why."

Fumo scowled as he past Vumbi, leading the way. And as he always did, he had his hidden mark glowing so as to check on any sounds that weren't related to the prey, him, and Vumbi. It also gave him something to concentrate on other then ways to put frogs or something with quills in Vumbi's nest.

Vumbi could sense Fumo's annoyance, but didn't care. There was too much happiness in the world anyway.
He paused to grab a flower in his jaws, which he would give to Nyoka later if he could find her, before following behind Fumo.

Fumo glanced back at Vumbi, having heard him pick the flower. "Who's that for?" He asked, curious. After all, he hadn't known Vumbi to pick flowers for just himself. Or to pick up any flowers.

"None of your business." Vumbi snapped, dropping the flower as he did so. Annoyed and embarrassed, he carried on walking without it, stomping on it grumpily as he walked over it. "Hurry up." He growled as he pasted Fumo.

He scowled and took point again, his ears twitching at every sound. After a few moments, Fumo couldn't take the tension between them. "Theres a field of wild flower up ahead. Just so you know."

"Why would I care?" Vumbi grumbled. "What do you expect me to do with them? Frolic around like a cub?"

"Was just trying to help. You picked that flower for a reason right?" Fumo asked as he continued walking. "And if you had picked that for someone, then you could pick a better one. That had been a dandilion. A weed. Wild Flowers are better to be used as gifts." He explained, remembering a long time ago his sister had explained the same thing to him. "And you're due to act like a cub anyways. After all, it's better to act young then to act older, and stubborn beyond your years all the time. My mother used to say that. And I still take her advice to this day." He shrugged, his tail twitching at the remembrance of his mother's words.

"I'm not stubborn." Vumbi snapped. "I never used to be anyway. At least I'm not acting like a constant cub."

"You are too stubborn." Fumo countered. "Your to stubborn to have a little fun every now and then. And everyone has been a cub at some point or another."

"I never said I was a cub." Vumbi suddenly shot his paw put, pushing Fumo's paws out in front of him and making him topple over. "There. That's what cubs do. Is that better for you? Are you happy now?" He stormed ahead.

Fumo grunted once he hit the ground, and glared up at Vumbi. "Close. Next time, laugh." He snapped back, getting back to his paws. "Then you might get close to being one." He muttered under his breath as he shook out his pelt. He stood still then, ears perked as he looked around.

"I'll try to remember that." Vumbi muttered sarcastically. But then he noticed that Fumo had stopped, and he paused to look at him. " What?"

"A stampede... East of here." Fumo replied, looking off in the direction where he was hearing the thundering of hooves from a herd. "Are there any hunt's today?" He asked Vumbi.

"Probably." Vumbi grunted. "They hunt everyday, so today shouldn't be different."

"That would be a waste on our food, to hunt everyday, you know that right?" Fumo questioned, before shaking his head with a sigh. "I'll let you know if they change direction." He muttered as he started walking again.

"They hardly catch anything anyway, so not really." Vumbi snarled in response. "I know what I'm doing. I'm not a idiot. We need to stock up for winter. Is that acceptable for you? And who cares about some stupid stampede. It's not affect us, so why bother even mentioning it?"

Fumo rolled his eyes. "A stampede can cause many problems, and cause destruction." He snapped back. "I'm letting you know, cause they can turn direction at any...." He trailed off as the sound of the stampede was beginning to sound closer. "Like that." He muttered, turning and seeing a herd of zebra and antelope heading in their direction. "And this is when we run." With that said, Fumo began running in the opposite direction of the herd.

Vumbi stared after Fumo as he ran, stubbornly still patrolling the border. He knew it was probably best to run as well in case the herd did actually get closer, but then he would be agreeing with Fumo. He could never out run a stampede, he was much to slow, but if the herd didn't actually come, he could be smug about it later to Fumo.
Determined not to be proved wrong, he continued to pad along the border, not looking back.

Fumo stopped when he noticed he was being followed, and scowled to see him still patrolling, and ran back. "Don't you see them? They coming straight towards us." He hissed, as the sounds got closer.

"That's why we live in Crooked Tree Fumo." Vumbi growled. "Because we can climb if there is any danger. Now you can be a coward or stay here. Your choice."

Fumo's eyes widened, before they narrowed. "Is it cowardly to run, when the chances of survival are slim?" He said, deadly calm. "And if you haven't noticed, we aren't even close to a tree!"

"But were're walking towards a clump of trees." Vumbi replied cooly. "We should be there, by the time they come here. IF they come here."

Fumo growled, his fur stiffened from just how far out of the tree's they were. "Fine, don't complain to me then if you find yourself squished under their hooves." He grumbled, his ears twitching madly as he kept to tracking their movements. Which were still headed in their direction.