Despite her limp, Katu'chemka had yet again wandered away from the shelter of her family. Even her almost-twin and closest sibling. There were things that she could do that Kat couldn't, and even being with just her it upset her. She'd never show it, of course, but it was an overwhelming feeling. So much that whenever she'd spend time with her siblings she'd almost always have a scowl on her face. Today she felt like being in more of a decent mood. A nice one even! If that was possible..
The young juve slowly made her way through the jungle. She'd grown familiar with the area surrounding where she and her family were situated since she snuck away often enough. It'd been a while now though since she got away, and she was getting tired, so once she was out of a bush and in a small clearing she took a seat. Pink eyes traveled down to her slightly malformed leg, glaring at the misshapen bone. It wasn't a major thing, actually, but you could tell that the bone hadn't grown right. Her leg was bent in a strange way, but aside from a small limp it was nothing.
"Stupid bone.." she muttered, flicking her tail to the side, brushing some leaves out of its way.
Kije was... content, really. Not the sort of feeling that usually came upon the leopard male. Usually he was agitated or bored or... Well, memories caught up to even him sometimes.
But not today. Today was a different day.
The weather was nice and he'd had an interesting encounter a few days prior. Perhaps that was what lifted his spirits most. His mind briefly wandered toward the striped leopardess. He hadn't even learned her name. She was a female after his own heart, it would have seemed. He wasn't much of the relationship type, to be honest. The one time he had ever cared about someone, that caring had killed her. And that loss had nearly killed him as well. He didn't want to have to deal with that again. Which was why he was usually against others wandering into his territory. He'd usually do his best to run them off, either by charm or by ferocity.
So when muttering floated up to his ears from below where he lay across a tree branch dozing, one fire-colored eye opened in slight annoyance and he looked down at the small leopard female that sat on the jungle floor, scattering leaves about with her tail.
"It's dangerous to wander into unknown territory, little one," he called out softly, his deep voice holding a bored tone as he watched her through slightly narrowed eyes.
It took a lot to scare her, and hearing an unfamiliar voice call to her out of nowhere wasn't something that could. Surprise her, sure (which it did), but not scare her. And did it call her 'little one'? That brought a curious look to her face as she lifted her gaze to the tree branches above her. She scanned them in search for the figure of some animal that had spoken to her, and when her eyes landed on a brown leopard towards her left she raised a brow. "Little one?" she called up to it, turning her body so she didn't strain her neck.
"It isn't unknown territory anyway, I wander around here all the time." Kat said that proudly since none of her other siblings could say the same. She thought herself special, and at the same time managed made fun of them without even mentioning their names. Looking around though, the area really was unfamiliar. She'd never been gone this long, nor did she really go in this direction away from her home. Usually she'd head toward the borders of the jungle to glimpse the open roguelands. This time, though, she had to avoid running into her brother and sisters so she went a different way to get away from them all. Being the composed girl that she was, though, she didn't let the worry show on her face.
"My neck's starting to hurt you know. Why don't you get out of that tree so I don't have to look so high up?" It sounded like more of a demand than a request, but not at all threatening since she was still fairly young. The fem then lowered herself onto her stomach, waiting for him to come down before properly introducing himself. Meantime, she started grooming herself by cleaning her paw. Her tail now rested beside her, occasionally flicking the stray leaf that fell from the tree branches above her.
There had been mild amusement on the older leopard's face prior to her words, but when the young leopardess all but command him to leave his tree, his eyes widened in surprise and he had to clench his jaw tight to keep from outright laughing. He did, however, chuckle low in his throat before he spoke again.
"My, aren't we demanding?" he replied as he stood and carefully leaped from one branch to another until he was back on the ground. He approached her slowly and tilted his head a bit, looking at her curiously.
"A little young to be going off on your own, aren't you? Something unpleasant could befall you," he added offhandedly, sitting not far from where she lay.
She'd finished with her one paw and moved on to the next by the time he made it down. Kat looked up at him when he started talking, a small smirk on her face. "It was enough to get you out of your tree, so I guess so." And his last question made her shrug. "Not really, my parents don't mind anyway." Which was a lie, but he didn't know that. She watched him curiously, not really worried about his small, would-be threat. "Mm, I think if you wanted to hurt me you wouldn't have called out to me. Unless I'm wrong, in which case I wouldn't mind you just putting me out my misery."
The juve looked at her weird leg, lifting it to show him. "Limp, see?" It was nothing more than an annoyance really, so showing this strange leopard wasn't that big a deal. At least it'd keep him from pitying her if he saw that she didn't mind it too much. Sure, it was an insecurity, but that wasn't something he needed to know.
Kije tilted his head a bit to get a better view of the leg that he showed her, frowning slightly. He'd never seen that before on another creature and he had a fairly good reason as to why. She'd have problems later in life with that thing, he was certain of that. Why in the world her parents would let her wander away from their sight with something like that, he had no idea. He certainly wouldn't have, not if he had cubs. Of course, there was a possibility he had a good hoard of bastards out there, but so far none of his trysts had come forward with them. If they didn't want him to know, then he didn't care.
"Ah, well, I never said I would hurt you. I will, however, admit to having some neighbors that are not as charming as I am," he replied, thinking specifically of the old crocodile that haunted a nearby river. Their feud was something a game to them, but dangerous to anyone who wasn't aware of the cranky reptile that lurked beneath the water's surface. Should this little leopardess have stumbled onto the water and went for a drink, well, she certainly wouldn't be heading back home after that.
"Fair enough," she answered with a bored wave of the paw she had in the air. After lowering her leg back to the ground, Kat gave a sigh as she eyed the other leopard. "So aside from this thoughtful warning of yours, did you want anything else?" came her next question. "How about introducing yourself? You paid attention to me first so it'd be the polite thing to do." At that she sat up, waiting quietly for his name. Her parents had told her that if someone calls out to you first, they ought to introduce themselves first. She'd never admit to actually paying attention to anything her parents said, but once in a while things did manage to stick to her. She got bored enough to actually listen to them, so she couldn't help it.
"Well?"
Kije narrowed his eyes at her as he smirked a bit, tilting his head ever so slightly to one side.
"I never said I was polite, either," he said, raising one paw in an almost bored manner looked down to observe it as he flexed it a bit. It felt a little strained, he must have slept on it wrong.
"I don't usually like others in my territory unless I know them or they're a means to sate my hunger. Since you are neither of those," as he was neither the type to eat other cats nor "prey" on young females, "I felt to let it be known that you are not in your family's territory. Do what you will with that knowledge."
With another shrug the young feline stood, keeping pressure off her misshapen leg. "After a short rest I was planning on going home anyway," Kat replied curtly. "Assuming you'll know me the next time I come around, I'll be swinging by again. I tend to wander a lot." She'd turned her back already, a small smirk on her maw. He was very different from her father, and it intrigued her somewhat. Plus.. she really did like to wander around. It gave her some alone time, which she desperately wanted everytime she was with her family. All the 'happy' that came with her family was borderline frustrating for the young juve.
"Since this was your terriroty I guess I ought to thank you for your hospitality," she went on, then let out a soft laugh. "Right, so bye."
"Mmm," Kije more or less replied, watching her carefully. She wasn't leaning on her leg. He actually felt rather sorry for her. A... part of him was reminded softly of Weledi, and that hurt him. He hated being reminded of his sister for that pure and simple reason. It was his fault she was gone after all. He'd learned his lesson, and he certainly wasn't stupid enough to make that mistake again.
"It's Kijeshi, by the way," he finally said, his voice slightly strained.
Kat stopped and turned for a second, the smile still on her maw. "Thank you," was all she said before turning once more to head back home. Before she got too far she did call back to him though. "I'll tell you mine next time then." And with that she hurried on home, wanting to just be out of sight before slowing her pace down again and making her way to a familiar path to the jungle's borders. She knew she had to be home before nightfall, but she had enough time before then. She could afford a detour anyway, so why not?
Kije wasn't stupid and he had a penchant for being somewhat chivalrous when others weren't looking, so as soon as she was out of sight, he took back to the trees and followed her as silently as he could. He was a ways behind her, but still able to keep her in his sights. He'd made up his mind, he'd follow her until she was safely back with her parents and then he'd go home and... And do whatever he felt like doing.
As she went Kat she heard a faint rustling, but she figured it was just her tail. It was brushing past fallen leaves and such after all, so rustling was inevitable. Still, it was a strange sort of feeling that was creeping up on her. "Don't scare yourself Kat.." she murmured quietly, then stopped walking for a moment to take a deep breath. "It's just you, no one else right now.." and with that thought on her mind she started walking again. Eventually she found the path she'd been keeping an eye out for, and once she was on it she paid her surrounding almost no mind at all. She knew this area almost like the pad of her paw, so hiding from any possible predators was a non-issue. Running.. could be an issue, but aside from that she'd be fine.
