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 Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:50 pm
Mvuatuliva was no fool. She knew her size. Afterall, it was hard to forget. She was smaller than most beasts she met, other than preybeasts - and even a number of those towered above her! She was always in danger of being bullied for her food, or bullied for the fun of it, or getting killed on accident (or even on purpose! Mkodi forbid!), but there were very few occasions that she risked being squished.
Yes, squished.
Hippos, rhinos, giraffes and - worst of all - elephants. Ugh, elephants. Tuli was a kind cheetah, generally, but she hated elephants. They were dumb and clumsy, taking down trees left and right and stepping on helpless cubs and who knew what else. They monopolized water holes and, get this, she couldn't hunt them! They were a ridiculous waste of space. A lot of space.
Needless to say, after waiting a number of hours for a herd of the stupid creatures to vacate the area, Tuli was pouty. Her stomach was all dirty from being pressed so flat against the ground, and her ears ached from swiveling about so much. She was sure that if a fly landed on her without warning, she'd shriek. Tail flicking irritably, she made her way away from the termite mound and toward the watering hole that the elephants had, sucessfully, ruined. Padding around the edge, she observed the mud and small puddles of remaining water almost wistfully before she sat back on her haunches and sighed. "Stupid elephants."
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 3:32 pm
 The young leopard had temporarily grown tired of the jungle, so just for that one day he ventured a bit from his home. Chui was approaching a small clearing that....didn't look all too clear right now. The dust was just settling as he watched a herd of elephants walk off into the distance, leaving a heavily trampled ground and ruined area behind them. With a small sigh he sped up his pace, then stopped at the side of what was left of an old watering hole.
Luckily, he wasn't all that thirsty.
The male looked around and noticed another nearby, who was also a little upset that there was little to nothing left of the refreshing liquid. "Hello there!" he called as he bounded toward the cheetah. Being the cautious type that he was, he stopped several feet from where she sat, just in case.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2007 7:31 pm
It was good that he stopped some distance off, as his bounding towards her definitely gave her a start. If it hadn't been for his friendly greeting, her reaction might've been much more violent, but as it was she merely jolted in a way that her paws stretched out slight (as if she were ready to spring away) and her muscles tensed from tip to tail. Her pale eyes were wide, unsure whether she had expected an elephant to be baring down upon her or some other frightening beast.
A leopard, however, she could handle. Male or not, more muscled or not, she could out run him if need be.
When he slid to a stop and sat, her ears rotated forward and she sat up once again, interested by his eager hello. Curling her now muddy tail around her form, her brows arched as she chirped a reply, "Hullo! Seems our less-than-brilliant friends have ruined a perfectly good... watering hole." She glanced helplessly at a muddy puddle as she finished the observation.
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:06 pm
He chuckled and nodded in agreement. The lack of thirst and a full stomach put him in a rather good mood, which may or may not have been a good thing...but either way he was glad he didn't have to worry about needing water at the moment. "Yes, they have. Funny, to have them passing through at such a time though...I hardly ever see them during most of the year." Chui stood and took a few steps closer, deciding that she wasn't a very hostile one, and wouldn't mind the movement.
"But the watering hole will go back to normal once the rains come. Count on it," he said with a reassuring smile. "And there's another one somewhere nearby, I think." The leopard stood and got a little closer once more, just to make it more of a normal conversation. It felt...strange, talking from such a distance.
"I'm Chui, by the way. And you are?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:44 pm
Her stomach was full, but her mouth was dry. She was parched! But that very well could be influenced by the fact that there was no water to be had, and so her body decided that she obviously had to have it. Licking her lips, she stared at a muddy puddle for a moment before she glanced in the direction the elephants had disappeared to, "Big, stupid, foolish beasts. They soil everything."
Her poutfest soon ended however, and she looked at him with a small, hopefuly smile. "I'll have to try there later. Hopefully they didn't destroy that one was well after deciding this was no good." Her tail flicked, watching him drift closer though she didn't even allow her muscles to twitch. He was close enough now that he would notice, and she didn't want to offend him, so instead she merely made sure to keep any eye on him.
"Mvuatuliva, but you can call me Tuli. Pleasure to meet you, Chui."
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:24 pm
Her pouting brought yet another chuckle to him, and he shook his head a bit. "It's not their fault. Mkodi made them the way they are, but...well, I suppose they could at least try and be a bit more uhh..careful." Chui inclined his head when she introduced herself, and he looked at the mess that used to be a watering hole. "Don't worry about the other watering hole. I'm pretty sure it's in the opposite direction they were headed." The male stood and turned to a little puddle of mud, poking it curiously with a toe. "Hm..."
Chui made a face at the stuff, as he wasn't a fan of mud. It kept him from moving as swiftly and fluidly as he liked, which is why whenever the rains did come he'd spent the majority of the days and nights up in the trees. Luckily for him the task of jumping quickly and easily from tree branch to tree branch wasn't too difficult.
"Actually...just staring at this place made me a little thirsty. The other watering hole isn't too far away. How 'bout we head over there instead of looking at this dump?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:09 pm
"Mkodi should've made them less heavy. Or smarter." She fixed the muddle with a disappointed look before raising her pale blue eyes to look at the leopard once again. She was being rude and pouty, so with a flick of her tail she decided to fix that. Being cubbish was no way to make friends. Her ears pressed forward at the prospect that the beasts hadn't ruined this other watering hole.
Mud definitely slowed her down. She glanced at the stuff warily as she lifted her paws, remaining on the relatively dry earth that was merely splattered at random with wet. Cheetahs didn't have the benefits of trees. Land bound, they had to rely completely on the terrain and she certainly didn't appreciate rainy days when sprinting was difficult.
The mention of traveling to the other watering hole made her smile and she nodded, "I would like that, very much. Looking at this has made me realise how thirsty I am." She stood, her tail swaying as she did so. "Shall you lead? 'Fraid I don't know exactly where it is."
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Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:11 pm
Chui chuckled and stood, shaking his body a little bit to get of any dirt that may have decided to attach itself to him. "This way then," he said, then turned and began walking. He went at a slow pace so he wouldn't get even more thirsty before they got to the other watering hole.
The walk was a silent one, as he really had nothing to say at the moment. That, and his throat was getting drier and drier the longer he went without water, making the walk a little uncomfortable. Lucky for him, it was a very brief walk, and he saw the watering hole after walking for about fifteen minutes.
"Over there! See? They didn't trample the place down, I don't even think they passed through here."
With a broad smile he began jogging toward their nearing destination, and once he was at the edge of the water he dunked his entire head in and took a huge gulp, and then some, before pulling his head out.
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Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 10:17 pm
Tuli did the same, lifting a paw daintily to shake free any mud remnants. She couldn't remember the last time she'd met a leopard, but he was making the experience pleasurable enough. At least, she didn't feel like he was going to randomly tear her to pieces. Unless she provoked him. What would he do then? No, she wouldn't even try. That was just foolish and he seemed nice enough. Her tail flicked as she shook out each paw and started after him.
She said nothing either, quite use to silence in her long travels alone. Her blue eyes darted over the savannah as if expecting a lion or, worse, the elephant herd to come trampling out of nowhere. She was peaceful, however, and relaxed, but when Chui suddenly spoke again, she started slightly.
Her nose lifted, smelling the breeze. No recent lions as far as she could tell. And definitely no elephants. Returning his smile, she sprinted after him before stopping abruptly at the edge of the water. Lowering her head down, she lapped at the cool liquid for a few minutes before she raised it once again to speak, "Thanks. I was so thirsty. Those elephants ruined my day!" Her mood was definitely improving.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:14 am
The male laughed aloud as he lay down comfortably on the ground, his throat completely fine now. "Elephants probably ruin everyone's day but their own. What makes it worse, I think, is that they're not even aware that they do it." Chui sat up, tail flickering silently behind him. "Those are the first bunch I've seen so close to my home in a while....odd, I think. Too many getting hunted down...."
He sighed and lay back down, rolling to his side and into the shade of a nearby boulder. It brought even more relief from the heat, which made him a bit sleepy. Strange, as he'd taken a nap not too long ago. Chui moved his eyes to look at Tuli, then rolled back onto his stomach so he could properly hold a conversation.
With a smile he asked, "So what brings you to...uhh, here Tuli?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:40 pm
She flicked her tail, listening to him speak as she lowered her head to take another drink of the cool water. She didn't lay down, preferring to not only keep her coat clean but be prepared to leave should the situation arise. She didn't think he'd do anything, but she wasn't sure about what the surrounding grasslands might be hiding. You never knew.
Stepping a bit closer to him, however, she sat down to clean her paws. First, she responded, "We're nothing more than overgrown flies to them, I'm sure." She didn't say anything about them being hunted down. She'd seen humans, but they weren't exactly a solid idea in her mind. The idea that they were hunting animals as she did - worse, hunting her own kind - was far from her mind. She considered that he meant lions, though the idea that lions were taking down elephants now was certainly a frightening thought.
Her ears swivelled backwards and forwards at his inquiry, a broad smile crossing her features as she replied, "Water?" Knowing he meant something different, she chuckled at her own joke before offering, "I go where I please, so... nothing in particular? What about yourself?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:42 pm
"A wanderer?"
The question pushed his own thoughts, though only for a moment, to when he first entered the jungle. He was fairly young, just growing out of being a cub, but not quite big enough to be considered an adolescent. He was....troubled, then. Thankfully he'd grown out of that once becoming an adult.
"I got bored of the jungle," came his reply, as he noticed he'd drifted off into his own world for a bit. "So I left in search of something to do. Hardly anyone to talk to in there, they're all in hiding and that sort. Or..well, asleep." The male chuckled. He was one of those that slept constantly, and wandered very little within the jungle, after all. "You get lucky every now and then, but most days you're alone unless you've got a mate or a family or something."
"It's kind of like being a rogue," Chui mused, "But...within a limited space, not to mention it's a bit safer." He quirked a brow. "Not very much safer, mind you...but safer."
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:47 pm
She nodded at his echo, smiling, "I am. I've never settled anyplace for longer than a few hours to sleep or nap." They were the same thing, of course, but sleeping typically inferred a longer period of rest than a nap and she spent a variety of lengths of times beneath trees or brush to rest.
His silence as he slipped into his own thoughts was not awkward in the least. Tuli was used to such expanses of silence as she traveled on her own. They were comforting and usually less confusing than conversation itself. When at last he spoke again, she listened with rapt attention as she looked away from the horizon where her gaze had wandered. Taking in his statements about jungle life, her nose wrinkled mildly in displeasure as he spoke.
It wasn't the loneliness that would get to her, not in the least, but she vocalised her concerns as soon as he spoke again, "Limited space? I couldn't imagine." Her eyes swept the horizon before returning to him, "Wide open space... I don't know what I would do without it. Feel trapped, likely as not." She gave a shy smile and shrugged.
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:00 pm
Chui smiled and nodded. He didn't like the limited space, that was for sure, but he preferred that over too much space. "It isn't all that great, but when I think about how much safer it is in comparison...I'd have to say the jungle wins out." He laughed a little. "I mean, could you imagine someone like me put up against a pack of hyenas, or worse - those desert lions. I'd be dead meat, in the most literal sense." But he shrugged and rolled onto his back again. "But to each their own, I always say."
"I'm thinking about leaving it for a while though. It's getting too....dull.." He sat up and sighed. "I like it there, but thanks to all of that shelter I'm pretty clueless about life outside of its borders." He closed his eyes as a soft breeze came, letting his thoughts wander for a split second before he opened his eyes.
"I'm young, but it's never too early to think about starting a family. I'm more likely to find a mate out there than in the jungle.."
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Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:11 pm
His explanation of the safety provided in the jungle made sense to the slight figured cheetah and her head tilted to one side thoughtfully as she turned these ideas over in her mind. Surely, he was right that he would not be able to stand up to a pack of hyenas or desert lions - of course, neither could she, but she at least could run. Maybe this jungle thing was a good idea, but then she suddenly had a thought which she spoke outloud, "Oh, you climb trees!" It was as if a question had been voicelessly asked, but she was quick to explain herself, "Jungles are fine for you because you can go up, but I can only hunt or flee... horizontally."
She felt silly, but she quickly nodded and added, "To each their own. Agreed."
Raising her face into the breeze as well, she let the silence enveloped them before she voiced her response, "It is always a good idea to experience new things and meet new people." She nodded, agreeing that he should leave the safety if only for a little awhile, "Besides, all laziness and no adventure makes a lazy cat." Winking, she let her front paws spread out before her so that she could stretch her back and shoulders contentedly.
She didn't have the heart to tell him that she'd naught seen any of his kind in sometime. She hadn't even met that many female beasts of their age, but she supposed that if they went in different directions that he might have better luck than she. The idea of starting a family, however, made her chuckle quietly, "A family is cause for settling down. That's a bit too much for me at the moment, though I wish you luck in starting your own."
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