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"So I'm told," Tofir agreed, looking at his mostly empty cup and wondering if he ought to have another serving of wine or leave it at that. If he left it, he'd soon have no excuse to linger over dinner and converse with Layla. He enjoyed talking to her. She really was sweet, a delightful respite from the anxious posturing of his dorm mates and Yulu's sharpness.

"Of course, I'm also told on a regular basis to shut up and mind my own business and stop asking so many questions. I think people have been telling me that since I could talk." He shook his head, though whether it was at himself or the poor fools who couldn't silence him was unclear.

"That's true. Sort of an advance warning system." He grinned at the thought, and also wondered if the clutch Roseth and her sisters had hatched in had given any sort of warning. He couldn't remember if there had been a touching.

Tofir actually laughed when Layla compared time's passing to treacle. The picture it presented was clear in his mind and he had to agree with her. It did seem like time was passing impossibly slowly, and he was nearly perishing with curiosity about the Touching. He'd never attended one. Which reminded him...

"Say, sometime after the Touching would you mind meeting up with me, just to compare experiences? I'm interested in -" Everything. "- knowing how different people react to the eggs."

Having been imagining the cool water upon his tongue he tipped his head at her pointed look. Mismatched gaze studying her for a moment before flickering to the surface of the watering hole.

Ahhh..

He had spotted the telltale ripples across its surface. Something wa sin there, something big. Giving her a silent nod to show he understood he sank down into a low crouch, shoulder blades protruding high, hind quarters quivering with the strain of the position, yet he seemed completely comfortable. Clearly he was a male used to hunting, and hunting well. Not like many of the pride-bred lions who relied on the females to feed them.

As Hesper approched the water he crept forwards, keeping well out of sight of the crocodile, but close enough to back her up if she required it. Perfectly happy to take his que from her.

Despite knowing she was provoking whatever was below the surface, his body still twitched as the giant croc burst from the water, his natural instinct to attack a moving target very nearly forcing him from his spot. But Hesper obviously had a plan so he watched as she batted and baited the creature.

As it twisted round violently after her when she lept away from him, he sprang from his own hiding place, using his superior weight to their advantage as he landed directly on top of the thrashing, scale-covered body. Planting his powerful legs to either side, claws digging deep furrows into the ground, he stretched his jaws wide and clamped down hard onto the back of the creature's skull, right at the base. With a low grunt of effort he heaved up and back on its head, the muscles in his shoulders and neck straiing as he forced it to curl upwards, exposing its soft underbelly and throat to Hesper.

With his jaws clamped tight on the wreathing beast he couldn't call to her, but he hoped she would slit it's thoat quickly before his grip slipped. His fangs were dug deep in between the scales but he couldn't hold it up like this for forever.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her go for the kill, a sense of relief breaking through him as he felt the shudder as the blow hit home. The sudden surg forward f the scaly body under him very nearly tore his grip from the beast. Letting out a rough grunt he struggled to keep ahold of the croc. He could feel his fangs slipping on the blood-slick scales and desperatly tightened his jaws despite the screaming agony of his muscles. Claws sinking into the wet bank as he struggled to keep his footing, knowing that even as it was dying, if the croc got its fangs on him, he would be a dead lion.

The heaving body thrashed and fought, but its strength was draining away into the dirt below them and finally, finally, it grew still. Yet Kato waited, unwilling to release his grip incase it was a ruse. His breath blowing out in great gusts from between his fangs, still buried deep between the scales of the monster.

As the crocodile went limp, Kato had to force himself to relax. After such a short but brutal fight, it was hard to trust that the beast was safe to release at last. Carefully he opened his jaws, feeling the twinge in his jaw as he did so, the relief of releasing the immense pressure he had been using was enough to make his bones ache.

At her prompting he gingerly stepped over the carcass and smiled down at her. His sides still heaved from the quickly spent effort as he limped down to the waterline with her. "Thanks. You did pretty good yourself." He replied as she moved into the water. He hesitated, then took a tentative step forwards before deciding that the chill was in fact rather pleasant and moving to submerge most of himself, leaving only his head and the tip of his tail where it rested on the bank, above water.

"Where did you learn to fight crocs anyway? They aren't usually prey for a lone lioness." Kato himself rarely even considered them, the powerful beasts were typically a match for a single male, or even two if it was a particularly large one.

Kato might have been injured, sore and hungry, but even he wasn't blind enough to miss the spark of interest in Hesper's gaze as she looked at him. Shrugging his shoulders to try and loosen them after the battle, he smiled back at her. "Thank you. I get the feeling I'd be a lot worse off on my own today." Her sudden splashing surprised him, but he was quick to reciprocate, dashing after her through the shallows.

When their short bout of play was done, Kato obediantly followed her back to their prey, flopping down beside the still monster with a nod. "I can't decide if Im more hungry than aching right now. But food will help both." Grinning at her he waited for her to start befrore joining her in the feast. His mother had managed to instil some kind of politeness in his thick skull after all.