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 Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:10 am
Night was starting to fall among the trees as Mimayin moved silently through them, quiet as the ghost she was named for. She hadn't eaten yet, so finding food was her first priority. Hunting was all she really had in life, having never been trained or encouraged to do anything else when she was younger. Well, she hadn't been really trained or encouraged to do anything at all. She just knew hunting was an integral part of her surviving, so when her parents went out to hunt, she shadowed them, silent so that they didn't notice and she didn't cause them any problems. After a few times, she started trying hunting and catching prey herself. It took a while to get it, but once she knew how, she quickly improved. She never thought having to sneak around her mother and father all the time would actually help her somehow, but it did. She was a superb hunter and in no time, she had a small deer under her paws, still after its short fight for life.
She ate slowly, savoring each bite as if it might be the last she would have in a time. She should have probably been quicker at it, as she didn't have any idea how long she had before something else came along. A preybeast wouldn't chase her off, nor would a bird, but any other predator likely would. The Ghost was a solitary creature and in most cases, she would run from interaction. She didn't want to fight or risk injury to herself and every other predator held that threat. At least, that's what her youth had taught her.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:27 pm
That looked delicious.
The little cub had only spent a few days now, removed from his family from an unfortunate series of events that he didn't dare talk about - it was all his fault, in the end. Little did he know, it had become difficult for him to find food by himself, his ego tarnished by an endless run of bad hunting luck. Living on mice and little rodents that he was able to catch through flusters and a series of fortunate events, his little stomach had reminded him that he needed something bigger and nourishing. And soon.
Looking at the large feline, Miju loomed every so quietly - as quietly as a cub could, waiting on itchy paws for the opportunity to take whatever the grown female left behind her when she left the carcass. It was ego crushing, but he had to find a way to live while he searched for his family. Problem with waiting though, is the waiting. Especially to a little cub with the attention span of a rock. Sitting down roughly in his little hidey patch, he curled his maturing tail over his paws, and looked down at the groud for something to amuse him while he waited for the leopardess to become bored with her meal and wander off.
After a few moments, he lifted his paw and started batting a small little bug, watching it fuss and try to out run him, mindlessly following it and getting off his hind to chase it mindlessly. It was great fun, and hgave him a steady source of amusement, no matter how much noise he was making . . .
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:06 pm
Ghost stood quickly when her ears caught the sound of another. It was rustling in the bushes, so she didn't know how big it was. Well, the underbrush wasn't that great a cover so whatever it was couldn't possibly be that large a creature. Ears flicked back, she moved as quickly as she could to the origin of the sound and swiped the cover away with her paw, hoping in the back of her mind that she was right on the size of the noise-maker.
She didn't expect it to be a leopard cub.
He was still really small, couldn't have been very old, so his parents shouldn't be far away. And that thought worried her. She immediately took a step back and looked around, listening for the sounds of adults. That was the only other thing she was really good at, listening for other leopards.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:50 pm
Shock!
He had been found out! Unable to even unravel the situation correctly in his mind, he stood there like a deer in eyes of a predator, dark eyes widened by the shocking sound of the brush that had oh-so amazingly hidden his normally obvious bright pelt, and kept him from the other predator's range of sight. How silly was he, now that he was in her crosshairs, her face showing both uncomfort and a small ting of worry.
Frozen, he looked up at the leopardess, the wriggling of the little caught bug bringing him back to his senses in time to realize that she was looking around, for something. Something that he wasn't sure about, but after watching her for a few moments, he realized that she was looking around to see if he had brought any friends. Shame she couldn't be further from the true. Raising his eyebrows in a pitiful attempt, he finally tried to make some form of communication with the large female that scared him witless.
"There's no one out there following me. No one to come get me so you don't have to look." He murmured, his voice dry and a little jittery, the sound a little foreign to him, since he hadn't had anyone to really talk to for the last few days . . .
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:08 pm
"No one?" Ghost asked, frowning down at the cub. That couldn't be possible. He had to have someone out there, didn't he? A cub couldn't survive on its own for very long, not in the cold with all the dangers out there. It was why she had been smart enough to never run away. Her eyes narrowed a bit at him, deepening her frown.
"Do not lie to me," she continued. She didn't have to move from where she stood to be intimidating. The tone in her voice and size did enough to help with that. She wasn't trying to be scary, she just demanded his attention and the truth.
But he looked scared and he was so small. If he really was on his own, she felt bad for him. And if he was... she couldn't treat him poorly. She wouldn't become her parents.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 6:48 pm
Miju had anticipated some kind of harsh reaction from the leopardess, his face squishing up in the telltale cub-like 'I've gone and done it face that any creature of any age would recall from past history. When her voice broke the blanket of silence that she had covered her every movement, his eyes widened a little, back to their regular size, staring up at her with a fierce interest.
"No word of a lie, cross my heart and whatnot!" he crackled up, his dry voice cracking here and there from the excitement of the statement, tail curling up against his body, like a protective barrier. "I lost my family about 3 days ago, if they were anywhere close to here, I would have found them by now, I think . . . " It was nice to get it off his little teal chest, his eyes downcasting as he thought hard about that one. He really wish he knew what step he took wrong, which only opened up the doors for more questions.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:24 pm
Ghost blinked in mild disbelief for a moment. He lost his family? How... horrible. Her face fell as she watched him look down. He was such a pitiful little thing and for a moment she thought she was looking at herself. Troubled, lost, scared.
"Here... You must be hungry, right?" she finally sighed, gesturing to the remains of the deer. She figured it was enough for a cub, had been more than she had managed to scrounge up when she was his age. She wasn't just going to make him wait until she was gone before letting him eat. In fact, she would probably stick around until he was done. If she didn't, there was a good possibility that something bigger would come along and either chase him away or worse.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:14 pm
For a split second, Miju was concerned that his statement had not been sincere enough, his voice dry and strained sounding. But when her emotional veil lifted a little, he finally let go of the breath he didn't even know he was holding, giving his tail a soft thump against his tucked in white paws. It wasn't until she gestured to the carcass that he lightened up completely, his whole body lifting at the prospect of food.
Jumping at first chance from his spot, he darted across his little patch to the source of food, before stopping a few hairs of the spot that the leopardess had only been a few minutes before, and turning his head around to view her behind him, eyes full of curiosity. "A-Are you certain? I mean, you still have a lot, and I am just being a bit of a bother, suddenly appearing infront of you and everything." HE hadn't killed it, anyways. It was a tough world, his mom always told him and his two siblings, and he felt a little bad about impeding so much, even if he was so hungry.
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Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:57 pm
"More than enough for me. Go ahead," Ghost replied with a nod towards the carcass. She moved to be near the kill again and settled down into a slightly relaxed lounge, her attention focused on their surroundings. She was lying, of course, but she didn't mind. She was likely to find something else to eat soon if she wanted it, he was less likely to.
"What are you going to do without your family, little one?" Her voice was soft and cool as she spoke to him, it was almost a whisper. Most who met her would think she never did anything loud. And that was how she liked it. She could be alone and safe. But if she was ever cornered and had to fight her way free, she could get pretty loud and at least attempt ferocious.
But all in all, she would rather flee from conflicts. She wasn't that skilled of a fighter, at least she didn't think so, and she hated getting hurt.
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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:24 pm
It only took a hesitant moment, a few short steps and dark eyes watching the larger feline before he truly believed her sincere words, his paws barely handling the rush of desire pulsing through his body as he made his way to the source of food, his stomach finally breaking down the wall of denile that he had built up during the last few days that he had been removed from his family. After a few moments of gorging on whatever he could find, he finally slowed down his eating process to savour the meat that he was blessed with, praising the spirits that were around him for the gift that came in a strange leopardess with a big heart.
Hearing her voice break the silence once again from behind him, he lifted his head from his well-needed meal, dark eyes peering back at her again to regard her as she talked to him. Tilting his head away from her for a moment, he regarded the ground in a sort of dream like daze before tilting his head side to side a little.
"I dunno. I kind of want to keep looking for them, at least." He murmured, before taking another small helping, before deeming himself full enough to last a week. Or, that's how he felt. "Not sure what else to do though. I've been here for three sunsets, at least. It gets a little lonely, though."
Being one who was so small still, he was wary of things going bump in the night. He knew he was vulnerable, so he was always watching his back.
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