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 Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:07 pm
The morning was bright and clear. Clouds in the distance, but the sun was warm on his pale pelt. Poor Sliabh might have been much warmer already...but the water would cool him down. And he might just stay cool if he jumped too soon...consistantly. Giving a small chuff of amused laughter, he pushed himself upright and danced around on his paws, in good, goofy spirits despite that nagging sense of self-doubt.
He and the darker male managed to take down a gazelle in the early hours of the night, which was a good thing. His current companion might be hungry upon waking, but at least that would be bearable and he would have some tolerance for waiting for the perfect time.
Life looked pretty good, regardless. He was content with himself, with the time he took every so often...and of course, with all the time he spent with his beloved mother. She'd named him because he was a light in her life...and he tried to live up to it, to keep her happy and content as much as he could. He hoped he was, and would continue to, do a good job of it.
And life would move on. It had moved on long before he had come into this life, and certainly it would move on even if he wasn't around to watch it flow.
Shaking himself with zest, he grinned lopsidedly and sat himself down. Tempted, he gazed at Sliabh. Briefly, he wondered if the male was sleeping...because that would make the temptation even more pronounced. He wanted to pounce, to see his reaction...but... Sliabh was still a lion, and Ber really didn't know too much about him. For his efforts, the male's reaction could be something polar opposite of what he was thinking and hoping it would be.
So he sat and, like watching the fish in the river, waited patiently.
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Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:46 pm
Sliabh was awake, used to getting up at a certain time for his rounds back in the Kitwana and as of yet, being out in the roguelands had not yet been successful in breaking the Guard's life-long habit. When at length the young leopon stirred, Sliabh rolled onto his belly and gave a great yawn, long tail flicking slowly back and forth, the dark tuft at the tip rustling over the hard earth.
"Morning." He greeted, his voice husky with sleep but calm and collected. Shaking his heavily manned head he stretched slowly, easing out the aches of his constant journeying form his bones before pulling himself to his feet. He was no smaller in the bright light of the morning than he had been the day before, the lean, muscled body moved easily as he stretched again, working the kinks from his spine as he gave another yawn. Deadly curved fangs exposed for a moment before he closed his jaw and padded over to the river for a drink.
Once he had slacked his thirst he turned and moved back to where Ber sat, gold eyes patiently curious. Wondering how the day's lesson would work out.
"You should probably feed yourself before I start... I doubt I'll be a fast learner.." He quirked a grin.
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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 12:30 am
This particular bout of distress had begun only days ago when the young mother's son had failed to return to the territory they currently called home. Unlike her daughter, Berhanu had long made it habit to travel in fairly even intervals. Finding his way back to Hime after several or more evenings of exploring the surrounding areas and beyond. Almost like clockwork the adolescent would arrive from some random direction with a cheerful smile and occasionally a special treat to share. This time, however, this time was different.
A dependable sun had sailed across the sky, an entire day passing without any sign of her handsome son. Bemusement twisting into a knot of concern in the depths of her belly as dusk broke over the landscape. Nightfall eventually cast a dangerous blanket of velvet blackness across the jungle, leaving Himeru a ghostly apparition amongst the tangled vines and twisting trunks of ancient trees undisturbed by humanity before she could no longer avoid the anxiety creeping over flinching pelt. Why wasn't he home yet? Where had he gone? Could something have happened? Maybe he had been lured away by the temptation of a female never to return to her ever again. A pang of sorrow and then another, deeper stab of guilt struck her. If such was the case, the pale mink would have been glad for Berhanu. She only wished all the happiness in the world for her cubs and would never have held them from their destiny.
Still, her sweet, loving Ber. If he had found someone special he would have at least brought her home, even if only to briefly introduce them. He would want me to know her. I.. I know he would.
Unfortunately, this left only far more frightening possibilities to linger at the forefront of Himeru's thoughts. Maybe he ran into trouble on his journey. Ambushed. Attacked. Wounded. Dead. The last causing her to tremble uncontrollably, fighting down overly ambitious tears. How could she sleep when her cub was out in the wilderness somewhere, possibly in need of his mother?
And so, without any more consideration than that, the fragile leopard had begun her arduous trek night spilling into daylight as she crept to the edge of her forest and beyond it into the valley and open savannah below. Open, unprotected flatlands made Hime terribly nervous, but she made her way always slinking in the tall grass with her head carried low to avoid drawing attention to herself. A difficult task considering how often the unskilled tracker passed the same area more than once. Her sense of direction seeming, unsurprisingly, to grow all the more impaired without rest or barely even stopping long enough to wet pink, panting tongue.
It was only by some unexpected folly a day or more later, when the distant scent of water and lapping splash of running water brought the fisher to the river. Traveling the edge of the river in some desperate hope that she might find Berhanu safe and sound, having lost track of time in the glee of fishing.
Tiny paws ached and thin, willowy limbs were unsteady when she chanced upon two figures in the distance, further down the stretch of the winding bank. It wasn't in her nature to openly approach strangers, but in her desperation she was willing to risk everything. Cream colored ears smoothed flat against her head while her posture was held meek and nonthreatening in her cautious approach.
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Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:57 am
...that really didn't take long at all. A bit of disappointment flit through his mind, but was quickly wiped away with a quick grin.
"Well then, perhaps that will add some motivation." Ber quipped, "I'll let you catch me my breakfast, as repayment for last night."
There was a slight gleam to his eyes. "And I'll help you catch yours of course. It might take a bit longer than we both think."
He really didn't think much on the 'repayment' business; he was only too happy to help, and the prey they'd chewed on added a full easiness to him. He could stand to wait a while for breakfast.
"Now..." He intoned, picking himself up to trot over to the water's edge, back up onto the bank. From here he could observe the area around them, as well as the river. Light glinted from the surface, but he could see the faint sheen of scales beneath the water. There was really no need to creep and crawl, as Ber would have to explain anyway. "Do you know the tricks water plays?"
It was a simple question, but a very important one. One he always had to remember and adjust for...and one that he sometimes forgot, resulting in a lot of missed fish.
"...well, anyway. I prefer to be up in a tree if there's some near the water, with a big branch so I can slink out over the edge. But leaping off a bank is pretty good, too, as long as it's not too high." He rambled a moment, then pulled himself up. "But you have to be patient to wait for the fish to come close. Close enough so that you could scoop them out of the water...only that's tricky."
He'd tried that many times, and as interesting as it was, he had more success by diving on the fish.
A white speck in the distance caught his eye and he stared a moment. Was it moving? He didn't know, but it was very hard to spot, anyway. Shrugging mostly to himself, the leopon twitched his tuftless tail and sighed softly.
"Then...well, you want to try and catch them with your teeth...you can try and use your paws...but once you have that fish, don't even try to adjust your grip. They'll get away faster than you can react. ...and if you get it, you want to move as far from the water as possible. ...I've lost fish by staying too close."
A chuff of laughter at some of the memories. Ber smiled his lopsided little smile and twitched his tail again. Turning his pale eyes to Sliabh, he tilted his head questioningly. Of course, he couldn't do much more until after he had watched Sliabh try and fish a few times. But he didn't want to put pressure on him by stating that.
"I'll help you out as we go."
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 11:58 am
Dipping his head in acceptance as the youth set out his terms, Sliabh couldn't help an amused smile. "As you wish, I just hope you aren't overly hungry yet." Sliabh didn't really expect to catch much of anything, knowing how bad his skills were currently, unless Ber was a magic worker, then they would both still be fish-less come the sun's decline into evening.
As the leopon moved off, Sliabh turned and followed, padding up alongside the younger male as he studied the water flowing below the bank. Looking back at the other as Ber asked his question, Sliabh blinked for a moment. "Tricks?" He knew that a river which looked shallow and slow could be deep and swift, knew that while water was light and almost invisible, it held a power that was frightening and could drag an unsuspecting lion to his death. Oh yes.. the water had a lot of tricks, but he wasn't sure those were the ones Ber was asking for.
Giving a confused shake of his head he listened to the pale halfbreed, worrying about needing to climb trees, not surprisingly climbing branches was far from Sliabh's strong point, he was rather too large and heavy to be a good climber. Pulling his mind back he filed away al the little bits of information for study later. Use fangs not claws, don't try and get a better grip and don't stay near the water once you had the fish. Ok.. so that part seemed easy enough.
Suddenly uncertain the large lion gave his 'teacher' a small smile before stepping forwards and hunching down on the bank, amber eyes settling on the surface of the water, watching its swirls and shifting light, straining to see the fish that had to be below. Eventually he realised he had to focus past the glittering light to see the shadows below and he began to follow the twisting, lazy movements of his would-be prey. Several times one swam close and Slabh tensed, but it always turned at the last moment and he was forced to settle back down again. At last he dived forwards, splashing into the water and sending a wave up the bank behind him. After a few moments of flailing about the lion lifted his head, mane plastered to his skull and dripping wet. Snorting the water from his nose he trudged back to the bank and jumped up, turning round and settling back down to start the whole process all over again.
/633
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Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:39 pm
The ground was quickly changing texture beneath the soft, raw cushioning of Himeru's pale, pink pads the closer she came to the pair by the river's edge. Shifting from the hardened crust of the typical savanna dirt to the damp, gritty mush of moisture sodden banks was almost a relief though the tiny leopardess could already feel a sense of guilt setting in. The two males seemed to be staring intently at the rushing currents below and it was becoming blatantly obvious to her that they were quite enveloped in whatever task had currently been set before them.
So intent in fact, that they didn't even seem to notice her approach. Was it really such a good idea to interrupt them? Hime battled inwardly during the length of her approach. More than once even daring to turn on her heels, but something forced her to keep moving forward. Perhaps it was the fact that the one lion looked so much like Berhanu.
Ber... The name slipped off her maw in a bleak sound of desperation. Where are you?
Dusty frame was nearly on top of the pair before she came to a hesitant stop, careful to keep enough distance between them and herself to promise an easy escape if a moment beckoned it. One could never be to careful when dealing with strange males. E-excuse me...? I.. I was wondering if either of you.. might have seen my son?
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Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:38 am
Almost every time before the big male jumped into the water, Ber caught the twitchy movement of the fish and winced.
'...don't go yet, don't go yet...' He chanted silently to himself, willing Sliabh to stay still...and he did.
When the dark male leaped forwards, however, the leopon had to resist the urge to shrink away from the edge and the inevitable splash, in favour of watching what his 'student' was doing. Of course, he couldn't help but break out into laughter when the big guy surfaced, looking like a drowned rat. Trotting down to the lower bank to meet him with a goofy grin, Berhanu twitched his tail back and forth in good spirits.
"Hold up, Sliabh, hold u-up." He chuffed, waiting until the lion got out of the water and the surface calmed a bit before carefully sticking his paw into it and holding it still.
"Look at my paw in the water...and look where it comes out... You see that..?" He asked after calming himself. He motioned with his other paw, hoping Sliabh would see the 'break' where his paw was with the surface of the water. "Water tricks."
Wandering up back to their spot on the higher portion of the bank after making sure the lion caught on to what he was meaning, he waited lazily for Sliabh to continue.
He'd forgotten about the approaching figure...but...but his eye was doing funny things. The vision of what was in front of him was fading out and being replaced by cream-white fur and familiar markings. Was he that desperate to get home? Closing his eyes, he rubbed the back of his paw against the eye that was giving him trouble and grunted softly.
Preoccupied with his thoughts and hunkering down to watch Sliabh take another shot, he didn't realize the once-approaching feline had actually made it to them until the voice made him freeze and pick his head up.
Disbelief and shock raced through him, and he abruptly sat up.
"M-Mom."
Concern, first and foremost, for the clearly exhausted leopard made him pick himself up and lope over to her, guilt at having made her worry enough to look made him bow his head a moment before he inspected her for hurts and licked her cheek.
"I'm sorry!" He intoned, sinking low after making sure she wasn't seriously hurt, curling himself up next to her and flicking his tail around her.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:28 pm
Shaking the water from his mane he padded to Ber's side and blinked down at the leopon's paw as he put it in the water. Squinting he leaned closer, golden eyes trying to see past the glare of the sun on the water's surface to what the younger male wanted him to see. Finally, just before Ber pulled his paw out, Sliabh realized that the water made the paw appear to be closer than it really was.
"Water tricks..." Frowning a little he eyed the water before finally following the youth back up onto the rise and settling back down. "So the fish are actually further away than they look..." He wondered how anyone had ever learned to fish with such a strange and sneaky trick to work around. Looking back over at Ber he gave the youth a half-smile, for even though Ber hadn't been fishing, he looked like he might as well have as soaked as his fur had gotten from Sliabh's failed attempt.
Turning his attention back to the river, Sliabh crouched down once again, muscles held tense as he watched the water intently. Just as he was about to make another try, his coach's startled voice shattered his concentration and he looked over, golden eyes puzzled. Sitting up he remained silent as what was obviously mother and son reuniting, allowing a small smile to curl across his muzzle even as he ignored the pang of loneliness and loss in his chest. It had been so long since he had been home in his pride, too long since he had seen his beloved mate Eva. He missed his adopted cubs, sure they must have grown so much since he last saw them.
Swallowing a soft sigh he settled back on his belly, waiting for the pair to finish their greetings. He half considered leaving quietly but he was too polite to just walk away without being given leave to do so, as after all he had accepted the leopon's hospitality the night before.
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