This was the third week of having to hear that little cheetah giggle over his shoulder and preen and wait for him to be ‘exposed for the attack’ or whatever it was she was actually expecting to happen. That aloof face and her very much….
…
Failing at tailing him was something that had slowly grated on his nerves.
Which is why the confrontation had to occur the way it did. It wasn’t as though Verdandi wasn’t expecting him to be nice and oblivious to her stalkings, but she hadn’t expected him to snap the way he did. Which was, to say, quite literally and painfully on her end.
To her she’d just been happily trailing her ‘nemesis’ around a bend of trees… just to come face-to-face with the leopard who had turned and gotten right in her face, a hiss gracing the air. “What is it that’d driving you to this?”
While in most tones that would have been a simple question, the utter annoyance to the point of getting violent lacing his voice caused her fur to puff slightly, as though she knew very well that he was going to confront her at some point or another.
Which she had, but never like this, leaning back onto her hind legs and baring her teeth at the leopard in as feral a posture as possible. He, however, had already puffed his way into being much more threatening than she was, and frankly… she was terrified. It wasn’t as though she was going to die, but…. He’d never seemed the kind to get angry like he was currently.
Not like she was much of a threat when, in comparison, she was a little stick-limbed feline and he was more… bulky.
“The fact you run away…” she hiss-chirped back, earning a deep throated sound of disapproval at her answer from the sandy colored leopard, who shifted his weight and crouched so his face was in hers, causing her to hiss and back up a bit, snapping at his nose.
Her efforts earned her a paw in the face, which she batted back at and then backed off ever so discreetly from, ears flat against her head as she slowly flattened against the ground.
Some ‘knight’ she was.
That didn’t stop him from approaching closer, looming over her with that disapproving frown.
“What kind of knight can’t even track one leopard without being caught immediately?” he asked flatly, before getting back into her face with a growl. “The kind that will die by the paw of adversity..” he practically threatened, lifting a paw.
She backed away immediately and swatted at his paw. However, he caught her paw and quickly flipped her over, pressing his other paw lightly against her ribcage and bending down as though to bite into her neck, pausing once there before pulling away.
“You can’t even best someone you’ve observed for some time.. how will you best someone else stronger than myself?”
It was that comment simply that he turned about-face on her with, knowing fully she would probably still follow him, now with more fervor than before in an attempt to ‘best’ him.
However, he’d already established his position on her capabilities.
Verdandi, however, just hissed at his retreating form and skittered away to watch him from afar, a frown on her face. Watching as he got smaller…
And smaller…
And she eventually couldn’t even see him.
