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 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:00 pm
 Like most days on the savanna, it was hot.
The sun was a huge, orange blob in the sky, shooting angry heat beams straight into Durion's eyes. His coat was soaking up the sun like a sponge in the ocean and he was not liking it.
Tail whipping at flies that bounced on his bum and tongue lulling out of his mouth as he struggled to stay cool, all Durion wanted to do was find some shade. As usual, Durion's old friend, Lady Luck, was at his side. In the middle of shaking his mane of flies, the lion saw a huge tree just in front of him. He blinked, mouth open and ears pointing up.
The tree's branches were sparse of leaves and the bark was almost white. Near the stems of the leaves were white buds. But were they buds...? Or...
"Dang," he said hoarsely, throat completely dry. He squinted. "Pearls grow on trees?"
Sliding his tongue across his maw, perhaps in some kind of hunger for some new, shiny jewels, Durion moved towards the tree. He placed his front paws against the trunk, trying to discover the best route to take to get to the top. Luckily for him, the tree had branches quite low to the ground. He was able to grab hold of these branches and climb up with ease. But as each back paw pushed down on a branch as he pulled himself up, that branch would break.
Durion's ears flipped back in nervousness at the thought of falling, and he scrambled up the tree as fast as he could.
"Haha, damn tree." he cursed, once he was nestled in the heart of the branches. "I'm--...What the..." Durion squinted, leaning his face close to the leaves. "...FLOWERS?" he rasped. "What the hell?"
Annnd the branches around the side of the tree were gone. Durion narrowed his eyes slowly.
He was stuck.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 7:19 pm
 Dole had wandered off, down his pretty tree for some water. He had chosen this tree for a specific reason: it had flowers. And they smelled very nice. It reminded him of home, somewhat. The smell was comforting.
But he had grown thirsty, so he had jumped gracefully from a somewhat-low branch and had made his way towards the nearest stream. It wasn't too far away, but it was a good little walk, just because the sun was so high in the sky and all around was a desert. The leopard had drank his fill, rested for a moment, and turned to head back to his tree.
Problem was, there was now something on his perch that didn't belong there, and that thing was a huge black lion. Not only that, but most of the lower branches were ripped off from the tree itself.
The blue leopard's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he neared the tree.
"Did you do that?" he called up to the male, pointing at the broken branches down below. Then he noticed the somewhat-panicked look on the other male's face. He was stuck, wasn't he? Dole asked his next question in a very sweet, innocent voice, putting on his best manners and the most polite mask he could create.
"Do you need help getting down?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:27 am
Durion flinched in surprise at the sound of a voice.
Dangit, he had lowered his guard too much because of his situation...And he had fully embarrassed himself by flinching like that. But he shrugged it off, one eye narrowing as he examined the brightly-colored male leopard below. His first thoughts were, "Hm, blue like on my coat. Not bad." His second, "Oh hell, a leopard..."
It was all that crazy leopardess's fault that he couldn't look at leopards the same anymore.
Then again, who cared?
Durion feigned stupidity at the broken branches. "Did I do what?" he asked innocently. And to the offer of help, "I ain't stuck!" he shouted, trying to hide his embarrassment with offended-ness. His back foot slipped against a branch and Durion clawed desperately at the branches around him until he had a solid footing again.
...Crap.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:12 pm
For a moment there, the leopard took a step forward when the lion stumbled and almost lost his grip. But then the male recovered and Dole wasn't needed anymore. Or so he thought.
"I didn't say you were stuck, now did I?"
The leopard trotted closer to the base of the tree and looked upward, assessing the situation. It didn't look like it would be an easy one to solve, that was for sure.
"Look, if you want my help, all you need to do is ask. It just so happens that I was in that very tree a minute ago, when I left and then you climbed up it. Pretty flowers, huh?" Dole grinned.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 1:21 pm
Durion narrowed his eyes. "No, and I didn't say you said I was stuck, now did I?" he answered back smarmily.
Apparently, flies, Durion's worst enemies, were attracted to something in the white buds of the flowers. So the ones already swarming around Durion's sweating face were calling their little flower-sucking buddies in on the party.
Durion ground his teeth, anger mounting and tail lashing in frustration. He sneered down at the leopard, ready to take out all his feelings on him, but couldn't because he was stuck in that dang tree. He really didn't want to admit that he needed help...But leopards were good at climbing trees. And the leopard seemed like a laid-back kind of guy. If only he could lower his pride...NO. Not that. He'd figure a way out of that one...On his OWN.
"I don't need your stinkin' help, guy!" Durion snapped. "I was just up here admiring these--..."
Okay, who was he kidding.
"...Nevermind, just get me the hell down."
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:16 pm
Mm. "Perhaps not," Dole replied calmly. Then he received a tongue-lashing for something he had not done, and the leopard simply stood there, a friendly smile still upon his face. He could tell that the lion was losing his patience, among other things.
Ah, there was the 'plea for help.'
"I suppose I can help you, if you'd care for my assistance," he offered in a droll tone. Dole gracefully approached the tree and inspected the trunk to see if he could find a way up the tree. All the lower branches were gone, though, and he couldn't get up any other way. "It looks like you're going to have to climb down and jump, friend."
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:28 pm
Durion almost lost his footing at the leopard's words. Face wincing into a grimace, he stared down at the blue male, not believing his own ears.
"Climb the--...You CRAZY?" he yelled. He dug his claws deep into the bark, suddenly feeling slightly light-headed. He had a secret fear of falling. Funny, since he was able to climb up that tree without any doubts or second thoughts.
"How the hell am I s'pposed to jump down when I'm...Fourteen feet off the ground?" he asked smarmily, pulling that number randomly off the top of his head. Yeah, he was pretty high off the ground. But when you're the one in the tree, things always seem much higher-up than they are...
Durion was unaware of that.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:33 pm
Dole rolled his eyes. Trust the lion to blow things out of proportion. First of all, he wasn't fourteen feet up. More like...six feet above the ground. Not that high of a jump. And for a cat, this should be nothing.
"Maybe I am crazy, but I'm all you got right now," the leopard called back up to him. He paced a small semi-circle at the base of the tree, keeping his gaze above at the lion. "If you hadn't ripped the branches off before, you would be able to get down easier. Not my problem." He pondered for a moment, walking this way and that, trying to decide on the easiest plan.
Which would be for him to go to that lower branch (on the opposite side of the tree) and then slide down the bark with his claws until he was either at the ground or at a comfortable distance to jump off. That was the only solution he could think of.
"Alright, here's what you're gonna do..." and he proceeded to explain.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:44 pm
Durion twitched an eyebrow involuntarily.
...Was the leopard calling him fat?
...Nah...
"Whatever, blue-jay, I'm listenin'." he said, just wanting him to get on with it. The sooner he was out of that tree, the better.
Really.
Durion ignored the slow, gradual feeling of the muscles in his arms and legs weakening. He tried to focus on the leopard's instructions; trying to pay attention and visualize just what he was getting at.
"Alright, alright..." he said ponderously, glancing to the other side of the tree carefully. "I get it...And, uhh..." He stared, perhaps wondering if he should proceed with his sentence or not. "...How am I gonna get to the other side of the tree?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 10:52 pm
Dole took a deep breath. This was the second lion that had created a nickname based on his bright blue fur. It wasn't a very nice feeling, for one. Another, he wasn't a bird. Sure, both he and birds like to perch in trees, and some were the same blue as his fur, but that was where the similarities ended.
Seriously.
"Okay, you can hold onto the trunk with your claws and maybe...swing yourself over to the lower branch? See if the bark will hold you. If so, great. If not...we'll worry about that if it happens. Go ahead and swing yourself over."
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:01 pm
"Swing...Right, I can do swingin'." Durion said quietly, confidently. He gave a determined nod, perhaps to the leopard, perhaps to himself; it was unclear. Without further ado, Durion started on his task.
Carefully removing his left-paw claws from the trunk of the tree, he siddled that paw on over farther away from his body. He dug the claws into the trunk once more and then proceeded to do the same with his right-paw claws. So far, so good. Durion smirked, thinking that it wasn't so bad at all. Climbing was easy. Sure. Getting down was easy, too. Why not? He had just needed to be pointed in the right direction; be given the right instructions. It was all good. Now for the back paws.
Removing his back left-leg from the branch, he stretched it out into the air and reached for the branch below.
It was lower than he thought.
Completely losing his balance and grip on the trunk, Durion's claws and feet were ripped from the tree and he was free-falling down to the ground. Hitting several branches on the way down, grunting loudly with each impact, Durion ended up face-down in the dirt, a cloud of dust rising around him.
He groaned.
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:15 pm
He was watching the lion move across the trunk, slowly, and he was muttering encouraging words under his breath. But when he slipped, Dole managed to scramble out of the way just in time as the male came crashing down with a loud thud onto the dirt below. It didn't look pretty.
He winced in sympathy and padded closer to the lion, inspecting him slightly for spare injuries.
"That's one way of getting down," he joked weakly. "Did you break anything?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:26 pm
Durion ignored the leopard's humor and slowly got to his feet, legs jiggling a bit. He grunted with the effort, eyes narrowed and teeth gritting. Yeah, he pulled somethin'...
"That's the..." he began in a wheeze, teeth still clenched. "...Way I planned it...All along." he grunted.
Finally on his feet (though it was more of a half-stand considering how much his body was sagging from the pain and muscle weakness), Durion nodded once to the leopard, maybe as a kind of thank-you, then turned around. It took a short while. When he was finally facing the opposite direction, the lion began to drag himself off to rest, and find some other shady place.
And this time, he wouldn't climb said shady place...
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 11:30 pm
"You're welcome," Dole called out to the lion in a friendly tone. Smiling, he looked up at the poor tree, with its broken branches and torn bark on the trunk. Poor thing. It used to be so beautiful, with its little flowers and long branches and green leaves...
The leopard sighed and shook his head. Might as well continue on his way. Go find another tree. He trotted off in the opposite direction in search for a better perch.
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