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 Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:28 am
 Padding along a dwindling river, a lone leopard watched the water's inhabitants, wary of the crocodiles and more than wary of the hippos. Gold eyes trained on the great blubbery beasts, he frowned, wondering how to make it across. If he swam... Well, if the crocodiles didn't rip him apart, the hippos would crush him.
Pausing by the long-picked carcass of an unlucky zebra, Mkorogo frowned. There was no crossing here... But a glimmer in the sun, and his eye was caught. When he approached, he found a very human innovation stretching the span, left recently. The tracks in the dirt and mud attested to the recent passing, not yet covered by other animals. Placing a paw slowly on the bridge, he tested its strength. Was it safe to cross here...?
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:47 am
Aryiola. Fortune teller. Young female. Seer.
The young one, new to adolescence, had been lying amongst the grasses, bathing in the dappled sunlight that filtered in through the tree she had found. Now it was her tree and it was her favourite place to lounge when she had nothing better to do. Today she was here to get away from her mother's fussing, and what fussing! She wasn't a baby anymore but her mother still treated her as if she were no more than a ball of fur. She wasn't a cub, she was a very capable seer.
She was just dozing off when the sound of another disturbing the surface of the water broke her muffled thoughts and she lifted her head to scan the terrain. After a moment she spotted him.
"Ah..." She breathed and stood, moving forward a few steps to see what he was doing. He was trying to cross. But why? She moved after him with a bouncy step and paused to boldly call out.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you."
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:53 am
One paw on the strange metal bridge, Mkorogo paused, looking over. "And why not?" Never one to heed many warnings, he placed weight on the paw. "It's not going anywhere... And it doesn't look like the hippos are going to come at this thing..." Another paw, and he heard a distinct hiss. Looking on one side, then the other, he spotted crocodiles watching him. Well, they might come on it... Ears back, he looked to the lioness again. "Or did you mean the crocodiles...?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:58 am
She shrugged her shoulders, drawing closer though moving slowly now. Her eyes flicked to the crocodiles and she knew by their angry sounds that they were very much interested in partaking in a good dinner. Stupid things. Did they really it was going to be as easy as that? Just lie in wait and hope for the best? Yes they were deadly but they sure weren't that smart.
She flicked ehr tail indignantly at them and chose to answer the leopard. "It's not natural. I wouldn't trust it. Odd creatures made it. Maybe they made it to trap leopards trying to keep their paws dry?" She smiled. "As for the crocodiles, I'm sure they wouldn't object if you decided to take a dip instead."
She laughed. "But no, honestly, I was just trying to worry you. Go ahead, darling, cross." She sat and eyed him curiously.
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:05 pm
Rolling his eyes, Mkorogo took another step on. "It's not a trap, it's a bridge. Humans... You know, those two-legged animals that look like monkeys with no tails or hair... Build them to cross rivers and gaps in the land." Placing his last paw on, he looked at her. "I've just never seen one like this before..." All of the bridges he'd ever seen were made of either rock, or wood and rope. The former he trusted far more, and the latter not at all. His cousin had tried crossing a rope bridge... The rope broke, no more cousin. Whatever lived at the bottom of that drop was probably happy for a meal, though...
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:11 pm
"So you do know something?" She jested. "Well, that's no fun. Males are so much easier when they're too stupid to know any better. You, darling, are far too smart for your own good." She blinked slyly. "So, it seems you know a lot about those animals-which-are-not-animals. The 'two-legged' ones, as you call them."
She stood and edged closer, ignoring the beady-eyed looks of the crocodiles slowly, very slowly, slinking up to them. "So tell me, leopard, how do you know so much about those fur-less animals?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:26 pm
As he started across the bridge, Mkorogo glanced over at the female. "They're called humans..." Pausing in the middle, he turned around. "And I know about them, because they used to live where I come from." Key words being USED TO... "There's paintings of them all over the temple walls.." He flicked a rock off, bouncing it off a crocodile's head. "There's also a leopard back home... He came from a place where humans are in total control."
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:47 pm
She moved after him still, her pace even and fluid. She was an elegantly built creature, slender and trim from living as a rogue all her life. "Humans?" She hesitated and drew to a halt just as she reached the bridge. She wasn't just going to trot along it. The thing was unnatural and she'd stayed clear of it ever since her little family had stopped here to make their temporary home.
"Well now, isn't that something. Humans have no place in this world, leopard, they are unnatural. As I say animals-which-are-not-animals. This thing is unnatural too."
She eyed him cautiously. "What is so important that you would want to cross that contraption in any case?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:38 pm
Looking at the bridge underpaw, Mkorogo frowned. "It is very much natural." He looked up, tail curling. "A bridge can be made of near anything. There are natural ones made of rock and dirt, ones made by trees... Humans weave animal hairs or plant fibers to make rope to make bridges... They make them out of stone, metal, I'm sure if they could they'd make them out of bones."
Walking back towards her, he looked her over. "Why I need to cross, is nobody's business but my own. As for humans... Have you ever seen a gorilla? A chimpanzee? They look like humans, very much so... Or humans look like them... The leopard who came from the human's world... The gorillas in his old home told him there are humans who believe they're related to the apes. If you compare the two... I'd have to believe them." Tilting his head, he turned and headed back across. Mid-way, he found the crocodiles waiting at the other end.
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:47 pm
She snorted. "It sounds to me like you know about humans and not much else, leopard." She still refused to take a step onto the bridge. "I have no interest in those digusting things. And why should I when they do not know how to live as one with the landscape? We risk our lives crossing a river but they refuse to do so. The bridge is proof of that. They do not conquer the land as we do. We are better than they are."
She watched him moving back and let her eyes lower to the crocodiles. "See, leopard? The bridge has done little. What are you going to do now? I'll offer you my company until something else draws their attention, if you wish it? I have many a trick to keep you amused for days."
She twitched her tail, awaiting his response. "Perhaps I can teach you a thing or two about lions."
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 7:48 am
Pacing back to the other side of the river, Mkorogo gave the lioness a bored look. "Humans have thumbs, and brains that think differently. Like I said, a fallen tree can easily be a bridge. All you need is either a good strong wind, or a good strong elephant."
Circling slowly, he lifted his head, trying to make use of his full size. While he was large for a leopard, there were still going to be a lot of lions that were far bigger than he was. "As for knowing about lions, I know plenty." His ears moved back, a frown on his face. "I have a mate, she's very much a lion."
He let out a grunt, then turned back to the bridge. The crocodiles were watching him, hissing, waiting. Oh, he'd played this game before... Many times before. Scared his mother out of her skin every time.... Backing up a few feet, he crouched down, ears back. Charging forward, he ran across the bridge, jumping over one crocodile and on several others before landing on the other side.
Doing a little prance, he turned and smirked at the lioness. "I ain't 'fraid of no humans. See you later!" The hissing crocodiles, angry at being cheated out of a meal, snapped at the leopard, who turned and ran from them. He could easily outpace them.
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Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2009 7:53 am
She rolled her eyes. What an odd leopard indeed. She didn't waste breath arguing him. His knowledge on humans unnerved her, along with his insistence that they were anything but destroyers. With a growl, she glanced at the crocodiles - angry they had missed their chance for food - and snarled.
"Stupid beasts. If you were really that hungry you should have tried harder!" And, with a growl she turned away from the bridge and trotted back off to her tree to laze the day away by herself.
At least it was better than putting up with an odd leopard.
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