The Appalled One (On Hiatus)

11

Scorpion, Lucifer, and Alastor were all crouched down within tall sheets of grass, their tails swaying in sync. Axel had decided to stay back and care for the girls, so it made Scorpion's job a tad bit easier. By now, the cubs were substantially larger than Scorpion, to the point where they could easily take him down if they wanted to, but it appears that Scorpion's theory was true, the cubs all looked at him as if he was their parental figure, all except Lucifer. Lucifer of course looked up to Arachnid more, but he still deeply cared for Scorpion as well. Scorpion watched a family of rabbits hop past, Lucifer already getting ready to pounce, but Scorpion bared his teeth and lowly growled at Lucifer, Lucifer sighing heavily and backing down. Alastor lowly snickered, Lucifer hitting the back of his head, which of course started a fight between the two brothers, causing the rabbit family to run away hurriedly. Scorpion looked at them, very much annoyed and thus he growled loudly, both of the brothers quickly pulling away from each other and bowing their heads down apologetically. Scorpion narrowed his eyes, motioning for the cubs to follow him to a more rural part of the forest. 

During their ventures, Lucifer began to complain each and every step of the way, claiming that his paws were tired and that his claws would snap off if they were to continue walking any further. Alastor groaned, shaking his head as he walked faster, staying beside Scorpion at all costs. 

"Dadddd,, are we there yet? My paws are killing me. I think I stepped on a few sharpened pebbles back there." Lucifer consisted, his ears twitching. Scorpion shook his head, continuing to walk as Alastor looked back at Lucifer, sneering at him and muttering a few colorful words at him. However, as he turned back, he bumped into Scorpion's still figure, about to mewl in confusion before he was quickly shut up by Scorpion. The three of them quickly crouched down, watching as a group of lionesses passed by. Scorpion watched the lionesses with careful eyes, instructing the cubs to move quietly as the lot of them snuck past without being spotted. 

One of the lionesses looked back, her tail swaying as she went to explore where they were, the brothers panicking. Scorpion looked around, muttering orders to them as he braced himself before biting off a strip of flesh from his arm, a stream of blood coming out of it. Lucifer and Alastor quickly covered their coats with his blood, Scorpion covering his abdomen with his blood as well before going into a dead position. By the time that the lioness reached where they were, all she saw was two cubs "feasting" on the cadaver of a wolf pup that they had come across, the cubs trying their best to imitate the sounds of bones being crushed. The lioness approached more, examining the cubs before she let out a low purr, the cubs turning around and covering Scorpion's underbelly with their bodies. 

"Are you two lost? Where's your mother lil cubs?" The lioness stated, her voice extremely soothing yet still holding so much power. Lucifer and Alastor looked at each other, before Alastor sighed and opened his mouth. 

"Our mother is nearby, she's just scouting the area. We found this corpse here and well, we couldn't resist but to feed. Mother says that it's crucial to also be able to scavenge despite the fact that we are not scavengers." Alastor said a bit nervously, Lucifer just nodding in agreement. The lioness stared at them, scuffing lowly before she examined the "corpse" of Scorpion, her tail swaying gently. 

"A pup? This won't do for you two cubs. You need something far bigger. That pup seems to be a runt, so it may cause malnutrition. Come with me, I'll get some real  food for you two." The lioness gave a toothy grin, Lucifer and Alastor shaking their heads at the same time. 

"Mother told us to not go with strangers and Ithinkweshouldreallybegoingnow." Lucifer said quickly, shoving Alastor aside as both the cubs grabbed onto Scorpion, dragging him away, leaving the lioness watching with bewilderment. 

"Scavengers? Really? You had to call us scavengers?" Lucifer huffed, batting the back of Alastor's head with his forepaw. Scorpion snorted quietly, the cubs putting him down as he stood up, crimson still leaking out from the strip of flesh that he had voluntarily ripped off. He lifted his wounded arm above ground, instructing the cubs to get a bit of moss and water. The cubs nodded, running off and soon coming back with the materials. Lucifer wrapped the moss around Scorpion's arm, Alastor drenching the moss with water. Scorpion winced quietly, shaking it off as he stumbled towards the den, the other cubs running out and embracing Scorpion, the sudden impact almost making Scorpion lose his ground. Axel stepped up, sniffing the moss around Scorpion's arm and tilting his head, mewling in confusion.