Welcome to Gaia! ::

The black and white cheetah stretched himself out as he emerged from his den he shared with his life partner, a leopard by the name of Gottschalk. Even their familiar 'children' were still sleeping this early morning.

It meant he could go do what he needed to. Stretching himself out, claws digging into the damp grass and dirt beneath him, Sulieabhan sighed out in a big huff before yawning. With one more shake, he took off towards his usual hunting grounds. He wanted to surprise Gottschalk with breakfast this morning. They had a miserable time of hunting last night, both having gone to bed hungry.

Not today though. He knew of a spot that was nice and flat with only one or two trees dotting here and there. Which meant the perfect spot for him, especially with the tall grass.

Sulie stretched one last time before he started lazily slinking away. His red tipped tail flicking this way and that as he walked in the rising sun. Even the grass was still damp beneath his paws.

He was going to start on a run, but Yuuma, his maned wolf, had woken up to look for him.

"Yuuma," Sulie sighed out, turning to look at the wolf he called his son. The cheetah leaned over and licked at the wolf's sleepy face, cleaning the scars, and smoothing the fur back into place. Seems Morgy was moving around in her sleep. Yuuma didn't move too much.

Yuuma, however, only gave a soft, pleased rumble at the attention. "What?" He asked, voice thick with sleep. "You weren't there... Morgy's got Godstalker, 's fine..."

The maned wolf's mouth opened wide and his tongue curled as he yawned hard.

Sulie's attention was soon captured by two figures heading toward them. He moved in front of the wolf, his brows knitting. "Stay behind me."

"I don't really want to answer that question~" Sulie called back, not afraid to put on a carefree, goofy vibe for these two. They didn't need to know much about him. The smile spread over the cheetah's face was wide and fake to anyone who knew him. "But hello! I see you two are surviving fine."

Neither looked like they hadn't eaten in a while, which was just fine with him. The chances of them attacking were sort of low. Sulie had no food to share anyway.

"We don't get strangers through here often. Who're you two? Mates?" He sidled up to the girl and gave her a bit of a wink.

Yuuma stayed where he was, a little growl escaping. He really didn't trust strangers much. The maned wolf was backing up slowly, the hair raised on his back. He wasn't going to attack, but they would be best to not approach.

"Oh no, no~! I can help. Trust me, I'm a very helpful cheetah. I just have something of a family you see. Can't very well trust someone who shows up out of the blue!" He beamed at them and just gave a little roll of his shoulders. Then the male said they weren't involved and red eyes focused on the female hybrid and a little purr rolled through him.

"Well, yes, I can! There's a place I was heading too not far away. Come on, Yuuma! They're alright."

At once the maned wolf's demeanor changed. He relaxed and wandered up to the cheetah, who just nudged him along when the wolf tried to nuzzle against him. "Stop that, let's go, Yuuma. I'm thirsty and so are they."

"You're kind of a p***k," Yuuma muttered and huffed, just walking beside the cheetah, not even looking at the others yet. When he did, it was with hesitation.

"Forgive Yuuma," Sulieabhan started. "He's very untrusting. Had a very rough time of it as a pup. Found him and he was tied to a tree, scared up and nearly dead." He clicked his tongue as his tail brushed over the wolf. "So he's kind of like....family." He wouldn't say son. No, Sulie didn't acknowledge he had kids, despite knowing he did.

"I can tell my own story, Sulieabhan," the wolf snapped with no real bark behind it. He was just embarrassed.

"Sulieabhan is my name, and this is Yuuma." There, no everyone was introduced. His smile didn't fade even as she mentioned a family. Sulie wasn't deterred. He sometimes bedded mated females. They provided a wonderful challenge he didn't often back down from.

"Since I was a pup," Yuuma asked, turning his head to look at the hybrid. He didn't know what kind she was, but he wasn't about to ask. The wolf's ears were back a bit. "My parents died when I was young. I got captured and dragged away from the desert I called home. Sulie found me. Gottschalk too. Then we got Morgy..."

"Giving away too much," came the nervous laughter of Sulie from behind gritted teeth. The wolf was too talkative with strangers. He wasn't going to give up those names.

"Anyway. Since he was a pup, yes. Nursed him to health and took care of him. Now he won't leave." Sulie rolled his eyes a bit and just nudged Yuuma.

"What about you two?"

As they talked, Sulie did lead them to a little place for water. It was at the edge of a hard rock area that faded into the grasses they were walking on. The cheetah kicked a few rocks and just motioned to the pool of water with a hum.

"Been on the road long together?"

Yuuma shrugged. His past was just that, his past. There wasn't too much thought about it now and bringing it up just left him feeling rather empty than upset or anything. He thought of that as a healthy feeling towards it. Even if it wasn't, there wasn't much changing it right now.

As they got to the water, Yuuma sat down and stared out at the horizon, letting the 'adults' talk more if they needed to.

Sulie hummed and nodded as he listened.

"Well, share some stories with me! It's been a while since I traveled last." He settled down with the pair on his belly, front paws crossed and all ears.