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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:45 am
It was quiet - undeniably so. The previous week her tranquility had been shattered by a male leopard. Pursued relentlessly by Hyenas, he had bounded up into her tree without any warning and had abruptly woken her from her slumber. Admittedly, the feline hadn't been in a deep slumber and was dozing in much the same fashion she did everyday, perched precariously on the thickest branches. Far out of reach of most predators, she was usually undisturbed when it came down to things.
Nevertheless the meeting had proved to be a relatively interesting one with the leopard acting much like a petulant child when she finally took notice of him. He had wounded pride, she had seen that immediately but she had never quite understood what the whole deal was with 'pride'. You see, Tia'Moyo was an unusual female in the sense that she was largely indifferent to the grand scheme of things. It wasn't that she couldn't care, she simply couldn't understand why someone would waste so much time and energy on the trivial. After all, stress gave a girl grey hairs and that simply wouldn't do at a young and sprightly age. Not only that, but stress in all forms gave headaches and her preference was to avoid those - no, it was far better to relax and bask in the sun.
That was much more present.
Besides, if she wanted excitement she could simply defer to her very colourful imagination. She had an array of budding actors in that head of her's and put it to great use. The benefits of this were astounding as well, for the simple reason that they did as they were told and there was no unpredictable dramas because she came up with them all. It was a win/win situation.
Alas, it was with a bleary eye that the sun invaded her personal space this morning and woke her sleep. It was early, but not the break of dawn and as a consequence she was likely to be one of the last to wake up this morning. This wasn't a bother to her as she had never conformed to society anyone but sometimes she had to wonder if there wasn't a less 'painful' way to wake up; her eyes really didn't appreciate the light on them so soon after opening!
Nevertheless she was awake and she gave a little 'huff' of warm air through her nose before rising. She gave a series of stretches, extending and flexing each limb and then shook out her fur. By all standards this took a significantly longer time than most other felines would take but she had her habits, as did everyone else. Satisfied that she was in a reasonable condition to walk, she then set about locating something for breakfast. Suffice to say she wasn't in as energetic a mood today and as a result birds were not a viable option - Fish then? Fish seemed reasonable.
She set off for the river.
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 8:41 am
 Water! Nuala loved water, and there was plenty of it here in the shallows of the river. What she liked best of all, about water, was the fish. There was nothing like a wiggly bit of fish for breakfast..or lunch..or dinner..or a snack! Well..maybe she like swimming as much as she liked fish...or maybe it was both she just adored together. Huh, that was interesting..was it both? Or did it depend? I mean, either allowed for all kinds of amusement, and both were pretty satisfying in their own way.
This would certainly take some more thought...but...she'd have to weigh both activities pretty seriously in order to make an informed decision about which she liked better...and that meant..well it meant more fish and more swimming! Wow! Science was ssooooo much FUN! Who'd have guessed?
Which first than? She was already in the water...and it wasn't hot enough just yet to lay out and dry off to get to the fishing part of her science experiment..so that meant swimming. YAY!
Grinning from ear to ear, excited about the prospect of swimming and fishing for the rest of the day, for the sake of science and education of course, the Groundling dove back under the shallows, searching for the water violets she liked to weave into head wreaths...she could lump that under swimming...like she would lump eating the fish under fishing. Yup this was gonna work just fine.
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Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 4:37 am
It was getting loud and unbeknownst to Tia, she may have unintentionally stumbled upon the borders of a prideland. Admittedly she wasn't so foolish to walk into them, but she did come precariously close on occasions. This morning appeared to be one of those days and there was no surprising the coos of delight and the multiple splishes and splashes that came from the direction in which she was heading. She could be thankful for small favours though, lifting her head to give a few dainty sniffs would bring news that whatever was ahead of her wasn't a hyena and as such, wouldn't be a royal pain in her rear end.
If there was one thing to be said for Tia, she was not much of a runner and didn't really enjoy the possibility of having to run for her life. Even if it was a short distance from the riverbank to a tree, that still didn't excuse the fact that she would have to expend more energy than was absolutely necessary - honestly, some hyenas, some lions and even some leopards for that matter were so very rude. If she'd been more interested in their behaviour then maybe she would have set about doing something to fix it - as it was, she'd leave that in the capable paws of other meddlers.
She'd just watch.
She excelled at observation.
Alas it was with this in her mind that she continued and it wasn't long before she reached the river's edge. An immediate and very swift glance round brought nothing to her attention and then, sure enough, a glimpse of pink came into her peripheral vision. Obviously this was the individual who had been making the noise and Tia recognised that the feline was suitably entertained by her own activities. Content with this knowledge, she deposited herself by the shore, lay down and took a few laps of water.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:41 pm
Nuala surfaced with a fish clutched between her teeth and a very pleased look in her eyes, one that turned to delight upon seeing a stranger on her bank. How wonderful! Someone to share fish with!
She flipped the squirming morsel up onto the bank beside the other pale pink leopardess and gave her a friendly smile. " 'ello! Beauty of a day isn't? Have a fish, there are plenty in here. They're just swimming around with a la de da."
The Groundling ducked back down into the water, chasing after another perch with a small measure of skill. Within a few moments it joined its hapless partner on the bank. Nuala slipped out beside it and gave her fur a good shake, spraying water everywhere.
" Nothing like a good swim on a hot day and some fish afterward." She turned her green eyes on the leopardess, " You'd better eat him, before he decides to get back in the water. OH unless you want him to go back in...though he looks a little done in for..." she tisked,' nope..better you eat him, but him out of his misery. Mercy killing like Tam says. "
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:50 am
Was it a beauty of a day? The leopardess was still groggy and took a moment to slowly gaze upwards towards the tree canopy. She was greeted by the numerous rays of sun light that penetrated the cracks between each leaf and cast down upon her. By all standards, the heat this morning was lacking and as a result, it was a very comfortable start to the day. However, up until now she hadn't given it much consideration, nor had she really thought about eating either. Thus her mild surprise could be forgiven as Nuala tossed the fish up onto the shoreline beside her and encouraged her to eat.
...She'd give herself indigestion.
"Well that is what fish do," Tia observed, her tone otherwise wistful as she remained comfortably positioned at the river's edge. Her ears swivelled forward and her gaze continued to trail after the feline as she continued her hunt. By all standards, Nuala was significantly more enegertic than Tia had ever been. It was exhausting even to watch her, how did other creatures operate like that? It certainly wasn't for Tia, that was for sure!
Nevertheless when she was offered the food she did have to concede that it saved her the effort of hunting - she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, should she?
"Swim, idle, otherwise go about their daily business without consideration for others..." she added and then shimmied to the side a little, without getting up. She then leant over, sniffed at the fish and plucked one to taste test. "Thank you for this," she offered as she took a bite of the now dead morsel.
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:49 pm
Nuala perked up as her snack was accepted, a smile lighting her green eyes, making them sparkle with mischief and good humor, " OH! You are very welcome, it wasn't any trouble to catch it! Besides, it was part of my science experiment. I couldn't let it go to waste, even if it was for education. Tam always tells me that education is very, very important....but usually its when he's teaching me something much more interesting then fishing."
The pretty little Groundling ate her perch in a few delicate bites, showing good breeding despite her seeming scatter brained nature. Cleaning off her whiskers with a neat swipe of her paw, she turned to her new best friend, " There are some water violets down in the shallows I need to gather for more experiments, can I come back here and weave the wreaths next to you? I love company when I am working on them. I'll even make one for you! OH and then you can wear it to dinner tonight when you come meet TAM!"
Nuala clapped her paws in delight, clearly pleased with herself for coming up with the idea of dressing up the other female.
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:03 am
Nuala was a muddle of confusion and incoherent language, the leopardess could do nothing more than listen to the pink feline as she spoke. Suffice to say that Tia'moyo was finding it exceedingly difficult to understand how fishing in any form, could be described as an 'experiment'. It should have come at no surprise that her eyebrow lifted just a little in reply to the 'inane' chatter the pink leopardess was providing her with - it wasn't long before her interest was piqued to a point that she had to ask. Admittedly she wasn't overly curious but she had been cast some bait and she elected to take it, after all, what was the worst that could happen?
"An experiment?" she enquired softly, puzzling over this for a few moments as she regarded the fish more closely. At present she couldn't see anything of immediate interest, it was juts a normal fish. "Explain to me how fishing could be considered of scientific interest..." she murmured, turning her gaze towards the leopardess beside her. She paused in her eating, as was only appropriate and waited expectantly for a reply.
However, what came next was not something that Tia expected and she couldn't help but feel taken aback. At some point, Nuala had deviated from her topics of scientific interest and had systematically deposited her into a position that resulted in just one thing - at some point, the pink leopardess had decided that Tia should be subject to the company of an individual named simply as 'Tam'. Tia pulled a face at this, her nose scrunching up slightly at the oddity of the statement, she was fairly certain she had other plans for this evening...
"Dinner with who?" she enquired slowly.
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 11:26 pm
Nuala, who wasn't half as scatter brained as one might think, looked over at the other female as she was asked about how her fishing was of any scientific value, and beamed at her.
" Its really simple. I had to figure out if I preferred fishing to swimming, or swimming to fishing. So I had to do both several times, though I did get a little confused as to if I should lump the eating of the fish with fishing, or have it separate, but then, since I lumped gathering water violets with swimming I figured I just better lump the eating too. I haven't analyzed my raw data yet, but I will while I weave the wreaths."
The Groundling's tail was waving back and forth with her excitement, it was fairly clear she thought the whole exercise was valuable and brilliant all at once. To her guests other question, she just tilted her head to one side, clearly confused by it.
" Dinner with Tam. He's the one who this part of the woods belongs to," she pointed with an elegant, delicate gesture to the trees behind Tia, and the large white roses that were growing among them, " Those are his, and so is the pool back there. He's out hunting for dinner. I asked for a springbok, so he had to travel a little further, but he'll he back soon."
Nuala smiled again at her new best friend, happy to have company, " but don't worry, not so soon that I won't be able to make a pretty wreath for you to wear. Tam likes pretty things." The Groundling patted Tia's paw in reassurance, not wanting her to think she wouldn't get the promised wreath before Tam came home with their evening meal. That would be just awful!
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:08 am
Oh, so she was in marked territory... Well that certainly explained bits and pieces whenever it came to some of what Nuala had said, but this didn't put Tia at ease. The leopardess rarely said no to a free meal as it meant she didn't have to exhaust herself hunting, however, it was almost as is the decision had been made for her and her input wasn't necessary. Was this the consequence of walking in unannounced? To be fair, white flowers were not the most clear of ways to mark your territory, she could be afforded some leeway in missing that.
"I see," she replied slowly, her brow furrowing just a touch as she mused over everything that had been said. She had remained silent throughout the entire duration of the pink leopardess' chitter, up to and including the explanation of this fabled 'Tam'. It had been better this way, it was a waste of breath to interrupt, particularly when there weren't very many options to do so!
"And at no point did you think that if you elected to combine the act of eating the fish with swimming, it would defeat the purpose of the experiment entirely?" she enquired in the same, drawn out manner. If it had been any other individual the tone might very well have turned into a drawl, but the case seemed to be that this leopardess was naturally this way. Everything about her gave off an air of slothlike tendencies, from the way she would lift her paws, to the way she would speak.
"Afterall, you eat a portion of the fish while fishing, which in turn means you are performing three actions - it is impossible to have viable results if you do so," she pointed out softly. Suffice to say that Tia'moyo was not just a pretty face and did possess a level of intelligence, there were benefits to being so observant and lazy, you could observe so much! "Thus if you are eating the fish while fishing, yet combine the act of eating with swimming, then you are actually combing all three as they are intrinsically linked..."
She lapsed into silence for a few moments and then shook her head.
"Why would I want a flower wreath? It's an unnecessary amount of effort to carry it around," she remarked idly.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:50 pm
Nuala's nimble paws were working on the wreath, weaving the flowers into a dizzying pattern of vine and bud, her claws flashing in and out as she smiled patiently at her guest, " Oh no no no, you see because I can swim without fishing very easily, AND I can fish without swimming, the two can be mutually exclusive. It really is all relative to the concept of which you are doing at the time. Though...." she paused for a moment in her weaving, pondering something, " I didn't have a control group...which would make the data flawed...though I can not consider this a purely scientific experiment as it does have aspects of a social one as well since I shared the fish with you and now am sharing the wreath."
The pink leopardess tied the end of the flowered circle off, picking the purple, yellow, and white woven piece of art work up for inspection, " Oh this did turn out very lovely, it is going to really bring out the underlying hue of your fur. At first I thought you were a spring tone, like me, but looking at you, you are most definitely a summer."
As she spoke she settled the wreath on her best friends head, adjusting it here and there before she deemed it in the perfect position. " There, all settled. Now we can go into the thicket and get the pool all ready and trim some of the roses to set out for when Tam arrives with dinner." Nuala smiled brightly, again very pleased with her handy work.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:03 pm
Tia's eyebrows shot up once again, but this time she refrained from replying. Nuala was rambling again and while some of it would have made for a logical argument, the rest did not. The leopardess had therefore, quickly concluded that it was a waste of time to keep up with the charade. If Nuala desired to waste away her days pursuing idle fancies and illogical 'experiments' then who was Tia to judge? It may not have been her pot of tea, but she could appreciate how each individual had their eccentricities. This in mind, she quickly reschooled her expression into a more neutral one...
Alas, this didn't last long as she observed the pink leopardess. Just watching her made the spotted leopardess tired. She moved so fast and exuded such energy that it was rather difficult to keep up. Was it really necessary to move that fast? Tia'moyo would be so bold as to say it wasn't, she'd lived her life without requiring that much effort and she got along just fine. She'd gone cross eyed by the time that Nuala had finished assembling her wreath and could do nothing more than gape as the leopardess set it upon her head.
Now she was t alking about colours? Well if they were going to do that... No, she stopped herself at this point, aware that she could end up in yet another confusing conversation!
"You want me to clean?" Tia enquired incredulously and shook her head, bewildered by the prospect of doing anything domestic. "I only came to relax," she continued, a touch breathless.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:26 pm
Nuala blinked at her, her paw coming to her chest, "CLEAN, are you crazy? You've been out in the sun far to long. Maybe I better weave you a sun hat before you leave again, or you may boil your brain, and that would just be dreadful." Nuala placed a paw over her friend's forehead making sure she didn't have a fever.
" You seem ok...but you may have sun stroke. Best get you in the shade and by the pool to keep you cool. By getting the pool ready I meant we just have to cut some of the roses and float them in the water silly. The big blooms, the ones almost as big as my head. The fireflys like to fly around them, so when the sun goes down they make like tiny stars in them and light up the whole thicket....its beautiful really. We eat by their light, and sometimes Tam tells stories, and I sing and some of the others dance."
She grabbed Tia's foreleg and hugged her close, " You'll love it, and if you are really, really lucky, Tam will take a fancy to you. Now come on, or we'll be late."
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:40 pm
"When you get something ready you -" she had started to respond but wasn't given any further time. She'd gotten about half way through her sentence when the large paw descended on her head and Nuala started to talk again. The pink leopardess was positively bonkers, it was both fascinating and exhausting. Tia was in half a mind to agree that she probably did have sunstroke but given she hadn't really been in the sun that long it wasn't possible. It would be safer to assume that Nuala was the one causing her to remain in a constant daze - balancing on the edge of confusion as the pink leopardess overwhelmed her with nonsense.
Tia could only blink, crossing her eyes to inspect the paw as Nuala spoke.
"I don't think I have -" she began, before she was once again interrupted. She released a sigh at this, her features schooling themselves into one of bemusement as Nuala clarified what she meant. So basically, they were now going to commit mass murder of innocent blossoms - how on earth was that fair? At this moment in time, Tia was definitely channeling her inner-hippy, courtesy of her mother. Her lips parted again, perhaps another attempt to speak and then she conceded defeat - who was she trying to kid? She couldn't keep up with this crazy kitten!
And if you are really, reall lucky, Tam will take a fancy to you.
Wait. What?
She shook her head back into the present, but before she had the time to clarify what that meant, the pink leopardess was already walking away. Tia stared dumbly after her for a few moments, weighed up her options and then finally pulled herself to her paws. She suspected that if she didn't move now, Nuala would probably come back anyway and she didn't have the energy to move fast enough to escape!
"What do you mean 'take a fancy', are you implying I'm sort of fruit?" she mumured slowly, following after the pink leopardess.
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:51 pm
" Fruit? Why on earth would you think you were a fruit? You WERE in the sun to long...that will never do," Nuala tisked at her, her green eyes huge with compassion, " I so hope you didn't damage your brain out there. The sun can be so unforgiving. Maybe Tam can figure a way to un-boil it."
As she spoke she lead the other female to a slight hole in a large vine choked thicket, with thorns have the length of their tails and about as thick, " Now be careful coming through here, stay to the left and as close to the ground as you can or you will impale yourself." With those words of instruction, Nuala slipped into the hole like a savanna hare into a burrow with unearthly grace..frankly it was disgusting how she managed it.
Once the deadly barrier was manged however, the other side opened into a sheltered canopied paradise. The trees branches grew thick and close together, the ground was lush and soft with moss and grass, and a rock cliff dominated one side where a clear waterfall fell to feed a smooth pool that all around grew thick, beautiful, white roses.
Felines of all kinds sat together, some talking, others singing, a few playing, while some danced to the music they made, and there in the corner of the pool two had started the process of trimming the heavier blooms to begin to float in the pool.
Nuala beamed up at Tia, " Welcome to my home."
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2011 4:03 pm
Evidently, Nuala wasn't really on the same wavelength as Tia and the leopardess could do nothing more than accept that she was going to be a constant source of pity for the pink leopardess for the time being. By the gods, Nuala's eyes had become positively owlish when she had misunderstood Tia's remarks, Tia had half a mind to ponder over how the pink female would react if she had started to spout riddles! Nuala might very well assume that she was speaking in tongues, consider her insane and declare that this 'Tam' was the only one who could possibly save her.
Alas, holding her tongue, Tia said nothing and continued to follow the leopardess, pausing only to stare in horror at what Nuala wanted her to climb through. Now this really was getting ridiculous, why would anyone in their right mind crawl through something that could potentially murder them? Not only was it a needless about of effort, but it was absolutely and positively stupid! Unsurprisingly, Tia's expression was skewed in to one of disbelief as she watched Nuala scurry through.
No, just no. There was no way she was crawling through that hole, to her death. She was lazy, she had more than a few years left before she met her maker. Of course, if she delayed then...
Goddamnit, peer pressure was a b***h.
It was with another sigh that Tia sucked in her breath and clambered through, making her body as tiny as possible as she shimmied her way through to the otherside. When she had finally reached the end (much to her relief), she had to admit that the scene was pretty, even if she was partial to her own jungle home. "How nice..." she murmured politely, glancing behind her to the way she had come in - argh, how the hell was she supposed to get out again?
She really hadn't think this one through and she still had to meet this Tam fellow. It was going to be an interesting few hours.
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