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It had really been her own fault. Hewa knew this. Climbing up the hill after a storm was just asking for trouble. But she never would have expected the ground to move beneath her paws. And soon, she was trying to scramble for purchase as her feet sunk into the thick mud. And it kept rushing by her, pushing her, pulling her under.

She had been almost out of the way when a tree had gotten loose and was barreling towards her. The adolescent tried to move out of the way but the thick mud slowed her movements and the tree struck her, knocking the breath out of her.

And then, the tree stopped. And the mud stopped. And she was underneath the tree, head and shoulders free but the rest of her covered in mud, limps and leaves. She sucked in breath, short hiccup sounds of the beginnings of a panic. She attempted to wiggle free but could barely move her lower body. "H-Help!" she hollered in a cracked voice once she realize that struggling was just shifting the tree more on her. It wasn't a very large tree, with a think trunk and no more than ten feet tall. But combined with the mud... Hewa bit back tears, attempting to wiggle her toes. "Help!" she called again, not thinking about just who could find her, caution thrown in the wind.

Unknown to the two unpleasant acquaintances, Akhi and Hewa seemed to be travelling the same pathway despite parting ways in opposite directions. He was nearby, standing over a fresh kill, when he heard the first panicked cry for help. He waffled for a moment - he was hungry and would likely lose the beast he had worked so hard for if he left it but, too, his nagging honor was prickling at him by the sound of the second, distressed call.

With a sigh on his maw and fear beginning to crawl down his spine, Akhi turned toward the voice at a sprint, keen on finding whoever it was as quickly as possible. It wasn't just for their sake but his own, too, because he was really hungry.

It took him very little time to find the scene - there were signs of a mudslide, no doubt because these lands had been drenched in a torrent of rain recently. Even before he found the freshly slipped druge, his paws were sinking into the earth with every step. It was difficult to make heads or tails of what was going on in the tumbled trees and rocks of the settling mud so he dove atop a rock that seemed to have been tall and heavy enough to have escaped the worst of it, then turned his bright eyes around him until they settled on the patch of white fur sticking out just beyond a tree that was no doubt threatening to smother the smaller female.

"Stop moving," he called, gruff and commanding, "the more you move the more you'll sink."
He took back to the most stable part of the ground and edged along the side of harder packed earth, looking for any place to put his paws that would keep him from sinking in. It was only as he drew closer that he noticed who it was trapped beneath the weight of the trunk - the foolish girl, again. It caused a frown to pull over his already-darkened face but he said nothing in the wake of her emergency, for a relief.

"I think I can push the tree off from here, just tell me if it feels like the suction is pulling you down when I try."

With his back feet planted on a solid patch of ground, he pressed his front paws into the base of the trunk and shoved with all his might, aiming to use the buoyancy of the mud to free her at least from the weight of the tree. If he had to drag her out of the mud himself still remained to be seen.

Admist Hewa's panic, she didn't recognize the voice that called out to her. The only thing that filled her was relief. So much relief that she wanted to cry. But now was not the time to cry. Or relax, for that matter. Because she was still in the mud, underneath the tree. And so, intead, she listened, whimpering slightly in fear at the idea of just staying still and putting her fate in someone else's hand. But... she really didn't have a better idea. "H-Hurry!" she cried out, unable to see the body of the voice.

She was about to start struggling again. He was taking way too long. She could only catch glimpses of dark fur from her position but.. he wasn't doing much moving. "Aren't you going to help me?!" she demanded almost shrilly, eyes rolling in fear. But, he finally did speak.

Suction... there would be a suction?! "H-hold on-" she cut off as he already began pushing at the tree, heart hammering into her chest. She felt... something, but her overreactive imagination was amplifying things. And, when the tree was off of her enough, she found she could wiggle and put her legs beneath her. It took several moments of constantly slipping before she finally got traction and reached out with her mouth to clamp down on another tree to help keep her up. Slowly, she got out of the mud, with much effort. And when she was out completely, she danced away several steps before collapsing, panting.

She was alive. She was out of the hole. She was alive. Tears welled up in her eyes. She felt a sob hiccup through her. She turned her gaze to who her savior was... and her tears disappeared. Her gratitude disappeared. In fact, thought disappeared. She stared, not realizing that she looked pitiful, on the ground, white gone from her fur replaced with the mud. All she could do was stare.

"Are you stalking me?!" she asked in a bewildered snap, not sure how to feel.

So much for a thank you, it seemed. He sighed at her reaction and fought the urge to roll his eyes at her general lack of gratitude.

Despite the obvious irritation that welled up in the wake of her snapping, he did not respond, simply sat down on the closest patch of dry, rocky land that he was certain would not dislodge or send him toppling back into the unexpected mud slide she had been swept up in. The few moments of silence and collection afforded him the ability to adress her with less anger than he would have otherwise.

"No, I was hunting nearby. I gave up a kill to come and save your hide this time so you could try being a little more-"

He cut his words off with a growl directed at himself. He was trying very, very hard not to be snappy with her given the fact that she did look so pitiful and so obviously exhausted.

"I'm not going to fight with you. You're exhausted and even I can tell you can't fight off anyone if they decide to attack you right now - and they would, being that you're so damnably small." And young. And naive. There were a thousand other words on his tongue to imply how ridiculous it was for her to be out here, alone, especially now. "I will stay until you're feeling better if you aren't going to be a brat the entire time."

That was the deal.

Her eyes narrowed more and more as he spoke. A little more what? A little more grateful? "Do you get a kick out of meddling into others' business just so they can owe you? she asked in a growl. Just as a thought occurred to her. A horrible, horrifying, awful thought.

She owed this stranger her life. Twice. Sure, maybe the first one was debatable, considering she hadn't asked for his help. Never mind that he fished her out of the water; she probably had trouble because he was distracting her. But this... she had called out for help. And he had answer. And now... she owed him. The thought of being in debt and being in debt to this lion angered her.

"I'm not small," she snapped as her head mulled over her situation. She could just sneak off. But then... it wasn't a matter of him expecting a payment of some sort, although he probably did. It was a matter of her own pride. Could she really walk away and not pay back what she owed? It was as bad as stealing!

"I don't need you to stay here," she muttered before trying to push herself up. Her legs were wobbly. She was wet and sticky and felt miserable. And she was tired from the ordeal. Giving him a suspicious look, she moved further from the mud. Not too far, however. She plopped back down just before her legs gave away.

"I don't know, do you get a kick out of putting yourself into situations that can get you killed?" he shot back at her immediately, "because that's a really odd way to try and have a good time."

His words rolled off of his tongue and ended in a growl even as he forced himself to sit down where he stood, though he was wary of the ground around them even if it seemed to be mostly stable. It didn't even bother him as she stood up and pointedly hobbled away on legs that could barely keep her upright - she wouldn't fool him. He could see how damnably weak she was. It was no wonder she liked hippos so much, he thought, because she was about as bullheaded as any of them he'd ever seen in his life.

The dark male's eyes narrowed, his jaw cracked - and then he stopped himself.

He was arguing like some adolescent idiot, not the grown adult he was and had been for longer than she had even been alive. It made him swallow the words sitting on his tongue immediately as the realization hit him squarely in the face. Narrowed eyes swept away from her, pointedly, to stare out at the mudslide that had very nearly drowned her in a thick, painful death. Despite his anger, he knew she probably had no way of knowing how stupid she was being. If someone had caught him acting an idiot when he was her age then he was sure he would not have acted much better.

Pride was stupid. He knew.

"I'm gonna stay right here. Let me know when you can stand if you want to fight about it. I'll let you have a free hit."

Moving this here because I constantly forget the RP server!