It was a cool evening, and Tiombe found herself once again lounging around. As usual, she was beneath a shady tree, but tonight, she was far from bored or tired.

Resting her head on her paws, she looked out into the distance, the eerie silence of the evening beginning to mess with her mind. She was a lion, there was nothing to fear... right?

With the moon gone, the night was even darker than usual, and despite the lioness's feline vision, she was having trouble seeing things from distances away.

"Runi?" She called out, "Runi... what are you thinking?"


Runi was up in the tree, again. Just as a lion felt safe on the ground, a leopard felt safety in heights, in trees. He moved around, tracing his way down a branch so that he would be able to look down at Tiombe. Finding a sturdy spot, he draped himself across it. After being separated from Nko, he'd had some exhausting nights trying to find a place to sleep that was sheltered from the unpredictables of predators and weather. In some parts of this somewhere, the trees were plentiful. In others, he was lucky to find even one amongst the seemingly endless grasslands. "Not much.... the moon's gone."


An evening breeze blew by, sending a shiver through Tiombe. For the most part, she didn't mind the nighttime, but every now and there there'd be evenings where she'd never settle down, not with so many strange noises and creepy feelings going on.

Glancing up at the branch, she could make out the shadowy figure of her companion, who seemed quite content where he lay. She didn't want to disturb him....but....

Her head swiveled around, her blue eyes wide with surprise at hearing a distant, undefinable sound. "Ru, what was that?!? Did you hear that?" she hissed quietly, straightening herself up from where she lay.

Something or someone was out there, and Tiombe didn't want to discover what it was!


Silence from the tree above her, save for a slight creak as the leopard shifted his weight as he attempted to hear whatever Tiombe had. There was something... but... he wasn't familiar enough with this place to even begin to hazard a guess. Usually, though, things coming at night weren't good. Nighttime was when he and Nko had run afoul of the hyena pack... Uh oh.

"Tiombe... remember when you said you wanted to learn how to climb trees?" he called down to her, trying to keep his voice hushed, "This is probably a good time to start."


She froze, her eyes still glued to the darkened distance ahead of her. The fact something out there was bad enough as it was, but the idea of Ru pushing her to climb the tree... well, well that was just downright scary.

Her mind debated on questioning him, to make sure he thought it was really necessary, but a little voice in the back of her mind told her that talking wouldn't be wise... that if something WAS out there, then it would only hear her and draw nearer as she spoke.

Backing up slowly towards the tree, she carefully turned around as quietly as she could, placing her claws up against the trunk's bark.

"How... how do I do this?" She hissed softly back at him, frantically trying to figure out the best way to latch on to the tree without losing her grip.


There was nothing to see for Runi. His eyes were pretty good for darkness, but it seemed to him to be just a dark mass. He didn't want to take the chance with Tiombe that hyenas were out there, after the mismatched pair because they were out of their element. Runi had to pause and figure out how to explain it to someone who had never climbed a tree before - which was weird enough in itself. "Claws out.. uh... paws around the trunk. Dig them in, and try to... climb..."


Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. She could do this, she could do this.

Wrapping her black and green paws around the trunk, she attempted to snugly hug against it as her claws dug deep within it's bark. Once she determined they were firmly in place, she held her breath as she lifted her back legs up and wrapped them around the tree as well.

Hanging against the tree, she finally opened her eyes and stared up at her leopard companion.

"Ru..." she whispered, "Ru, I'm scared!"

The noise off in the distance seemed to be getting closer now, the grass rustling with each move the creature or thing made. Gulping, Tiombe whimpered and attempted to shimmy up the tree, only making it a few feet before she realized she didn't know how to get from trunk to branch.

"Ru, I can't do this!"


"Reach one paw first! Grab the branch." he whispered, seeing her hanging uncertainly from the middle of the trunk. It was a strange sight that he didn't have the opportunity to appreciate the humor of. Runi looked off into the distance for a moment, his branch creaking briefly, then back down to Tiombe. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat, distorting the sound of the now-definite something as it made its moves closer to their hideout. Leopards didn't fight, they ran. Would Tiombe make it into the tree? Could he find the courage to get down there with her if she couldn't? He wasn't sure how to calm her fears when he was just as afraid as she was. "You- you can do it!"


Her eyes clenched shut and she shook her head. Lions weren't meant to climb trees. THAT'S why leopards were small, so they could do things like climb high up... what in the world was she doing up here?!

If her parents were around, she knew they'd be disappointed in her. Her siblings would probably laugh at the sight of a large lioness dangling from the middle of a tree. All thanks to some unknown noise. Well, noise or not, she wasn't going to risk it. She might have learned to hunt, but defending herself was a totally different matter.

His words stuck in her mind. Yes... yes, she could do it. She just had to try, right?

Opening one eye, she stuck out a paw towards the branch, clutching tighter to the trunk with her other three. Holding her breath she reached and reeeeached and.. got it!

Assuming her claw stuck deep enough into the branch, she exhaled, feeling relieved and ready to try to move her other paw.

That is, until she heard a snap.

Assuming it was the branch, she looked up frantically towards Ru, her eyes widened as her second paw had begun to reach out to grab for the branch. She soon realized, however, that the branch was not breaking, but one of her claws, and her grip immediately loosened, sending her flailing towards the ground with a shriek, and then a thud.

Moaning, she opened her eyes, her back sore from the fall. Leaning over to the side, she winced and tried to stand up... just in time to see a pair of meerkats peek out at her from within the tall grass.

... what in the hell? Meerkats?

"Tiombe!" Runi felt like the wind had been knocked out of him as well. He hadn't meant - and now there was a - was she okay? Runi rustled through the treetop, as he paced quicky along the narrow way. Instinct told him to stay put in the tree until whatever it was left, or the sun came up and he could at least see it. But he'd failed his sister. He wouldn't fail Tiombe. "Hold on!"

The blue leopard swiftly scaled the tree down to the ground, claws out in preparation for whatever had come toward them. He circled around Tiombe protectively as she struggled to get to her feet. Even though the noise had grown close, he couldn't see anything. Wait. Meerkats?

"SCRAM!" she snarled at the small creatures, who frantically dashed off, confused and frightened. Little did they realize how much they had frightened two felines who were more than ten times larger than they were!

She gave Runi a sheepish grin, and then a friendly nuzzle in appreciation. No one had ever defended her like that before, and, despite the aches and pains her body was feeling from the treefall, she felt happy that she meant so much to another, enough to even warrant protecting.

"Sorry, Runi," She apologized, decent enough to be embarrassed due to all the commotion she'd caused them both for the evening. "I guess it really wasn't anything to worry about."

Surprisingly enough, a large yawn made it's way out into the open, and Tiombe hobbled over towards the tree, where she curled beneath.

"G'night, Ru." she said softly, not waiting up to see what her friend would do. After that fiasco, all she could think about was sleep, and sleep she was going to get!