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 Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:22 am
 The moon had changed from a tiny sliver in the sky to a brilliant round egg since he left his mother to live on his own. It had been rough at times, but Hantan'gang enjoyed his time alone and was getting steadily better at hunting and caring for himself. He sometimes thought about her but didn't miss his mother, and he didn't think she missed him either. An adult male leopard had started to scent mark in the area shortly before he left, and he took the hint. No need to get killed in a fight over his mother. (Eww)
Hantan was currently resting on a branch in a tree he thought of as 'his'. Not that he would stay there forever, but it was home for now and he had slept there for a few nights and even managed to drag the leftovers from a small antelope he had killed up there with him. It wasn't much left now, and with a full belly and a secure resting place he allowed himself to close his eyes and doze off. He knew he couldn't easily be spotted among the shadows, and he knew that the animals that might want to hurt him or steal his kill weren't likely to climb a tree.
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Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:21 pm
 Fenja moved a regular pace towards the exact same tree Hantan had chosen to rest in. Even from a considerable distance, the large tree seemed to be easy enough to climb – a good place to spend the night, the bright lioness figured. As far as hunting was concerned, she hadn’t had much luck during the day but later into the evening Fenja had managed to find a small pond with fish that were stupid enough to be caught. One she’d eaten on the spot. The other, a rather large carp that had put up a good fight, Fenja was carrying in her mouth due to the arrival of a small hyena group. It was a full moon and the lioness’ coat gleamed in the pale moonlight that graced the area as the young girl moved closer to her target.
The fishy scent in her nose was not enough to camouflage the smell of a carcass nearby and the faint scent of… leopard (?) but failing to recognize anything in her surroundings that might account for the signals her nose kept catching, Fenja decided it would be best to climb to a safer spot as quickly as possible.
As always, she found that climbing was much easier than getting back down on the ground. After one powerful jump, her paws propelled her upward with ease and she landed on a low branch. It would do for now. Moving closer to a small recession in the trunk, the lioness dropped the fish and licked her lips, eyes scanning the ground in every direction as she looked for any potential dangers. Wait, was it her imagination or were the scents getting stronger?
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 3:46 am
Hantan was feeling so safe up his tree that he didn't even open his eyes when the scent of another animal drifted towards him. The vibrations of a large climbing animal woke him up, however, and it was hard to miss the pale creature below. Unless his eyes deceived him it was a lioness, the first one he had ever seen up a tree. Wow... This... was potentially bad. Had it been another leopard his size or smaller he might have tried to chase it out of "his" tree, and for a leopard larger than him he would probably have made his presence known without trying to pick a fight. The lioness didn't look as if she was trying to get him, or his prey, and her presence puzzled him. He shifted on his own branch, a little clumsier than necessary so that he would make a bit of noise, to see if he could get a reaction.
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Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2010 5:30 pm
If it was a reaction Hantan wanted, one he certainly got. The scent and noise above the Fenja made her slowly lift her head up, examining every branch carefully - most likely expecting to find a large bird over her head. She did a rather comical double take as she finally noticed the striped leopard that was ridiculously close to her and jumped backward with a surprised hiss. Her back legs slid dangerously on the branch and she almost lost her support but she managed to keep all four paws sustaining her weight.
It took but a second for Fenja to clear her head and grasp the situation. A leopard, young but not small enough that she could easily take on. Not that she’d want to fight him anyway… after all, she seemed to have climbed his tree and he hadn’t reacted aggressively to the sudden intrusion. She’d never fought anyone on a tree and the lioness wasn’t too keen on getting hurt, hurting him or, worst possible scenario, get them both killed by a nasty tree fall. Fenja wasn’t sure if the leopard had been too stunned to react or if he truly wasn’t looking for a fight but her crouched position, laid back ears and the glimpse of fangs that were showing between her lips wasn’t exactly the best way to elicit a positive response so the lioness made an effort to, at the very least, perk her ears forward inquisitively as she waited for the leopard’s reaction.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 7:28 am
Fenja's reaction startled Hantan into a rather comical display of his own. At the first sign of aggression he tensed up and was on his feet in no time. With stiff legs, fluffed fur and ears slicked to his skull he did his best to look imposing. Or something. Why had that lion climbed his tree? When she no longer looked as if she would try to rip his face off he allowed himself to calm down a bit, and actually sit down again. His blood was still pounding wildly in his ears and he felt high just from surviving. Hantan might be overreacting but it was, in fact, his first close encounter with a lion. During his brief moment of panic he hadn't thought about his kill at all, and when he settled he managed to upset the delicate balance between carcass and tree and sent it tumbling down.
"Aww, rats," he complained loudly, almost forgetting the lion situation. "That was a pain to..." He stopped talking and glared suspiciously at the lioness. If she wanted to polish off his leftovers there wasn't much he could do. Sure, he could b***h and moan all he wanted about it, but as his mother had taught him it would be better to take that loss and lose a meal than to injure himself and be unable to hunt. There wouldn't be any more meals if he couldn't hunt.
" You're a lion," he stated, as if he noticed that fact just now, "Why are you in a tree?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:25 pm
He was sitting, good, a good sign indeed. Crisis averted, it seemed.
Fenja leaned away from the falling carcass and listened to the leopard’s words carefully. She found him somewhat amusing, laughing silently at the look he gave her after the remains of his meal fell to the ground – half suspicious, half resigned.
“I feel safer on a tree. When they’re not occupied already, you know.“ Fenja said, slowly moving through the branch and down the trunk of the tree. She felt like playing a little joke on him - he had startled her after all - though perhaps she should assume most of the fault for the small misunderstanding. She sniffed at the remains of what was most likely the leopard’s kill before finally looking up with a mischievous grin. “But I am a lioness as you can see. Don’t worry, I won’t take it. I’ll get this back up there for you.”
Well, easier said than done, wiser creatures usually said. Half-eaten or not, dragging a carcass up a tree was no easy task for the lioness. She was a stubborn one but even Fenja knew when to quit. After sliding down the trunk like a helpless cub for the third time, scratching and grunting as if her life depended on it, the bright lioness looked up to the leopard with a sheepish smile, white fur splotched red by the bloody carcass.
“Hum… I don’t think I can get this up there. It’s a little too heavy for me… ” she lifted one paw indecisively, unsure on whether to wait for the leopard at the bottom or to move away to find another tree. She had to admit she was rather interested in the young leopard as it had been a while since she’d seen one of his kind. A fully grown male could pose a considerable threat to an average-sized lioness like Fenja but this one still felt like a “kid” to her and she found it easier to get along with him. There was too much stake for the two of them, it was unlikely that a fight would erupt.
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:54 am
Hantan stared with disbelief as the lioness first confirmed that she was indeed a lioness and then proceeded to try to fetch his kill for him. This wasn't what he had learned to expect from the world. Lions didn't do that! From the bits and pieces his mother had taught him he was to stay clear of lions since they wouldn't hesitate to take his kill, or even kill him if they thought he intruded on their territory and might be a competitor for the available prey in the area.
"Are you sure you're a lioness," he asked as he watched her struggle and eventually admit defeat. When he was really young his mother had told him lions didn't climb (when he refused to go to sleep for fear of one taking him while he slept), and she had also showed him how to secure prey up a tree to make sure lions couldn't get it. Well, it seemed that the last part was sort of true at least. She was really bad at carrying prey up a tree, and he wondered if it was because she was a lion or because no one had showed her how to do it.
He climbed down with ease and landed close to his escaped dinner. It was slightly unnerving to be this close to a lioness, but he focused on the task at hand.
"This is how you do it," he said before grabbing it with his jaws and proceeding to slowly drag it up the tree again, trying to be obvious about how he did it just like his mother had been the first few times. He had to secure the carcass on a lower branch than before, and he wasn't entirely happy about that. But he supposed he'd have to be content with having it off the ground.
"There," he panted, "Not very difficult at all! Is that a fish on your branch?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:56 pm
Both out of respect and caution, Fenja took one step back when the leopard reached the ground.
“Last time I checked.” Fenja laughed, the lioness’ tail tuft her dancing playfully behind her. The leopard was quickly growing on her.
“Pff, easy for you. I’m not built the same way.” She said with a chuckle but she had been paying attention to the young leopard’s demonstration. She was actually considering changing a few things about the way she posited his paws when she climbed but he didn’t need to know that. “Fish? Oh.”
Oh, darn! The fish. She’d forgotten about it. Well, that meant she had to go back up the tree, didn’t it? At least the choice had been made for her. Once again, she jumped and reached the previous branch. Her muscles were aching this time, most likely complaining about the previous abuse that Fenja’s attempts had placed upon them. The lioness sat down comfortably, looking fairly relaxed this time.
“Yeah, I caught on that lake to the west. Well, it's more like a pond, really, kind of small. I’m sorry about startling you before, by the way. I really didn’t notice you were up here.“
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Posted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:13 pm
Hantan grinned as the lioness laughed. They had made a joke together there. He was really starting to relax in her presence, and unconsciously he had started to think of her like less of a threat and more of an equal. Not unlike another leopard, albeit a clumsy and oddly lion-shaped one. She didn't seem hostile, and while he was sure she could hurt him he was equally sure she wouldn't. He dragged the carcass up another notch and secured it best he could before settling on a nice branch with all four legs hanging down.
"I've only seen dead fish when the rivers dry up," he said, peering down at her. "And they don't smell like food. I didn't know you could catch them."
(Gah... I need nosedrops now. Sorry about the short post!)
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Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 7:17 pm
Fenja tilted her head to the side, a surprised expression taking over.
“You never ate fresh fish? They taste kind of funny at first but really good on warm days. Here, try this one. If you don’t mind a bit of drool that is…” What a very unladylike thing to say! Well, Fenja couldn’t care less about appearances now. She seemed to in good company - younger company - and that made her all the more relaxed and, granted, childish. And she was comfortable around other species. The bright lioness followed the leopard half way and dropped the fish a little closer to him. “They're kind of easy to catch… not the smartest creatures around, you know.” … and maybe she was making it sound a little too easy.
“There are much bigger fish than this though those are a little harder to get. One time, I caught a fish thiiiis big.“ she said, raising her front paws to show the young leopard just how big the fish had been – though perhaps it should be noted that there was a slight exaggeration on her part. “Hey, I’m Fenja!”
(no worries, mine get pretty short sometimes, too xD)
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Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:03 pm
This fish smelled different than the baked and half rotten carcasses he'd encountered before. Some elements of it were similar, but without the overwhelming scent of decay it wasn't too bad. Peculiar, but not entirely off putting. He gave it a few experimental licks, getting the feel for the slime and scales covering the fish. More like lizard or snake skin than fur, but not really like any of those. He wasn't normally such a fussy eater, but both the new taste of the fish and their conversation was distracting.
"Whoaah," he exclaimed as she showed the size of her past catch, not doubting her for a moment, "That's really cool. I'm Hantan'gang."
And with that he gave the fish a last lick before taking his first bite. It wasn't half bad, but like any small animal there were lots of bones and crunchy bits together with the meat. The meat tasted slightly muddy, and Hantan supposed it was from living in a murky watering hole.
"Did your parents teach you to hunt in the water," he asked. Curious as to how she had got the idea.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 1:26 pm
“You don’t mind if I just call you Hantan, do you?” she said with grin, delighted to see someone’s first reaction to fish meat. “Watch out for the bones, they’re really thin and sharp.”
Her grin faltered for an instant as she was caught off guard by the young leopard’s comment regarding her parents. And then Fenja smiled brightly as she tried to pretend his words had not affected her and that she was in very high spirits – succeeding, at the very least, in fooling herself.
“Ah, no. I learned it from a leopard actually. And I got a little better when I met a cheeton in a forest.” She spoke lightly, letting her mind wander to the memories of those happy days she’d spent with Pasang in the lush forest that was his home. “He taught me a lot. Have you been alone for long?” In truth she wasn’t even sure he was alone. For all Fenja knew, his family – or mate, though he seemed perhaps a little too young to have one already – were right around the corner.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 8:58 am
As if on cue one of the sharp bones poked him in the roof of his mouth. He grimached and put the fish down while trying to spit the offending bone out. Since he was way too preoccupied with pointy things, Hantan failed to notice the effect his question had on his companion. But with his limited life experience he might not have done so even if he had watched her face.
He had imagined, just for a moment, a strange tribe of tree dwelling fish eating lions, but the fact that another leopard had been her teacher was almost as cool. And... Cheeton? Cross breeds were not that common and the young leopard had yet to encounter one, or learn what they were called.
"A cheetah in a forest," he asked, assuming that she had talked about something he was familiar with, "I thought they'd just end up running into trees if they ran into a forest."
Yes, his mother might have told him that cheetahs were stupid creatures, and fair game if you could swipe their prey and get away with it. That's the way it went after all. Steal if you can, and protect your kill because bigger predators will take it from you if you're not careful. But here he was taking with a really neat lioness, sharing her kill. Well... Fish. But it still counted.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 11:53 am
The bright lioness chuckled as the young leopard fought against the bone, feeling just a hint of guilt. She might’ve been the one to give him the fish but he had to learn sometime and what was best than to learn from experience, hum?
“A cheeton, chee-ton!” Fenja said between good-natured laughs. “Yeah you’d think that, wouldn’t you? But he was perfectly comfortable there and the forest was full of prey. Kind of like a bright lioness up a tall tree. They do surprisingly well.” She grinned and it was clear she was talking about herself.
“His mother was a cheetah and his dad a lion... wait, was it the other way around...?” She seemed excited now, happy to show how much she’d learned in her many journeys and share it with interested company. “Ah well, I can’t remember, I never did get to meet them. But he looked a lot like a cheetah, not as stocky as other cheetons I’ve seen... probably because he was still an adolescent. And then he had a tail like a lion, with a tuft at the end!”
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Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:19 pm
Cheeton and not Cheetah? Like many young animals Hantan had yet to realise that there were many, many things he did not know. There was an animal called Cheeton and it hunted fish in forests... Weird but now he knew pretty much everything again. He laughed with Fenja, already liking this bright tree-lioness. And then she dropped the next bomb.
"They can do that," he asked in wide eyed surprise, since this was the first time ever he had considered that two different cats could... Hantan wasn't even sure what to do if he ever got his paws on a female leopard so he had a hard time imagining how it would work. But that had to apply to cheetahs and lions only, they were a bit weird in the first place. "But... A leopard wouldn't... that... or? Right?"
He wasn't even sure what he was asking, but if it wasn't for his fur he would have blushed. As it was he probably smelled rather embarrassed at the moment.
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