The black and gold male emerged from one of handful of entryways into his den, an unorthodox one to be certain. He had taken over an abandoned termite mound that had been built up along a tree. Sure, it took many a night of modifying and making sure that the mound could stand up against storms and howling winds, but it was made habitable. After strengthening it with heavily compacted earth up around the base and the three taller spires and digging tunnels wide enough for him to move freely and easily all through the mound, up into the partially hollowed out old growth oak, and even some in the ground around the mound.
After giving himself a shake to free his fur of a bit of dust and stretching his wings, Tarquin took to the sky. He was a little early leaving his den and the sky was still painted an orangey gold with the suns fading light. He was born with a very limited ability to see which was marginally better at night, whereas he was virtually blind by day save for vague shapes, fuzzy colors, and obvious movement. This was dusk, the time where his vision began to clarify slightly, save for when he passed through a beam of sunlight which rendered him virtual completely blind. But he wasn't entirely vulnerable, in lieu of his miserable sight, his hearing grew far keener than that of one who had all their senses intact. Plus he had his natural ability to echo-locate, a skill which was taught to him by his parents.
Now was a time for hunting. Now was the time to go out and feed. Tarquin only enforced the area around his den as definitely his, preferring instead to let himself wander however far he needed to go to fulfill his needs. In spite of his relatively solitary lifestyle, Tarquin did fancy himself as the amiable sort, but frequently found that if he stumbled upon another that they would do their best to either run him off or to high tail it out of there leaving him on his own again. He could handle being partially starved for company, but the hollow pang in his belly held precedence over that need.
Before long a tantalizing scent carried his way, the scent of some ripe passion fruit which was a favorite of his. Tarquin angled his wings and lowered himself so to be better able to follow the scent which lead him through some pretty dense greenery. With a bit of trial and error he landed at the base of the tree, the ground around it littered with ripe fruit. The male gathered up a trio of decent sized fruits and took to filling his empty belly.
