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 Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 2:02 pm
 Lolani was, again, up in the tree. She had found a nest with eggs in, and the mother bird calmed down once some of the other birds had vouched for Lolani that she wasn't some kind of mad, egg hunting maniac. She just liked tree tops.
Still, she wanted someone to share it with. Someone aside from her brother, who could be obnoxious. So she decided to go after one of her sisters, and get her up in the tree to see the eggs.
Lolani went searching around until she saw Lanikai not far from their dozing mother. She hopped slowly down from branch to branch until she could talk without shouting.
"Lanikai! I found eggs, you should come up and see them!"
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Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:41 pm
Lanikai had been peering at small forest flowers with some fascination - their mother napping nearby. It hadn't been long since they'd made their way into the colony, and yet their mother was still so tired. Lanikai, had she been old enough to understand how much strength her mother had lost trying to take care of them, perhaps would have been more sympathetic, but at the moment, she was mostly frustrated that her mother was not up and playing with them.
Startled by her siste'rs voice, she glanced up -spotting Lolani on one of the branches. "Lolani!" She gasped. "You're going to fall!" He sister seemed to love trees. Lanikai was waiting for her to fall, but she really hoped she didn't.
"Was that what all the noise was earlier? Were you harassing a mother bird?" She asked, with a small frown, but she bounced to her feet anyway, eyeing the tree with some worry. Se didn't think cheetah's were made to climb trees...
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Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:38 am
"I'm not going to fall, I just have to be very careful and go along the big branches. And find a place to climb up. There are some rocks I use."
Lolani, like any other cheetah, was not made for climbing - but she didn't let that stop her. Rocks, stumps, and low branches were her ladder into the canopy, and her long, puffy tail helped her to balance as she made her way slowly along branches, just as it would help her running on land.
"I wasn't harassing, I was talking, and the eggs are supposed to hatch soon so you should come up and see them! It will be really cool!"
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:55 am
Lanikai was slightly skeptical of the strength of the tree that held her sister up high above the ground, but perked up slightly at the thought of seeing eggs hatch. She scanned the area, spying some rocks that were near the tree trunk that would help her climb onto one of the lower branches. Scrambling up them, she poised a question at her sister.
"Is the mother alright with us watching the hatching?" She asked, wiggling awkwardly up onto the first branch. She dug her claws in, in an attempt to not fall off as she peered up to where her sister was. She was only a branch or two higher than Lanikai, and so she stretched her claws out, staying close to the trunk, before wiggling her way further up the tree towards Lolani.
Ooh, she hoped the nest wasn't too high in the tree, she thought, reaching the same branch as her sister. She wasn't sure how many times she could pull herself up higher - cheetahs were definately not made to climb trees.
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Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:12 am
"She said we could as long as we stayed out of the way and didn't try to touch anything or the baby birds when they come out of the shells. And we have to be quiet."
Lolani watched her sister pull herself up the tree. "If you walk up the branch you're on now, you can just step over to that branch and walk up it since it's leany. And then I can help you on to this branch and we can go see the birds."
Watching her sister reminded Lolani of just how awkward she had been when she started going in trees. Before they came to the colony, she had met a leopard, and he moved through the trees easily. It was a lot harder for Lolani; when the leopard could climb the trunks and pull himself around on his claws, cheetahs weren't built that way. She had to find walking paths through the branches, rocks and logs that led into them, and minimized actual climbing as much as possible. Walking along a branch and stepping from one to the other was one thing, but it was very difficult to move between levels if there weren't branches around that acted as bridges and ramps.
"It isn't far at all and we only have to go up one more level and there's a nice wide limb that will take us almost right to the nest."
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Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:29 pm
"Well, that was very nice of her!" Lanikai announced, surprised that the bird was being so forthcoming about the hatching off her offspring, but still, it would be amazing to see, Lanikai realised and smiled.
She moved slowly along the branch, following her sister's instructions. Carefully stepping into the next branch, she panicked a bit when it wobbled, clinging to the wood. When the tree slowed it's shaking - which had only been the barest of tremors- Lanikai eyed the branch her sister was on. "How are you going to help me up?" She queried, moving closer to her.
Lanikai nodded, happy that she'd see the nest but still a little concerned about her height about the ground. What if she fell? She tensed and little, before looking at her sister. "How do you do this all the time, Lolani?" Lanikai's heart would give out from all the stress if she tried to do this tree-climbing business often.
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Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 9:16 pm
Lolani moved backward down the branch and let her tail fall in front of her sisters face. "Bite on my tail - not too hard! - and use that to help you keep your balance and help you over here. I saw monkeys doing it with their paws and tails, but this is the best I can do."
When climbing carefully on her own, Lolani often used smaller branches to help her scale the larger ones.
"I fell a lot at first, and stayed real close to the ground. But then I learned to go slowly, and pick out a way up. That helps a lot. I met another cat once, before we came to the colony, and he was a lot bigger then me and he said he lived in trees all the time. He was shaped different though."
Lolani tried to keep talking to ignore the bite when it came. She didn't know how else to explain her sister how to get across to this branch. The rest would be easier.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 3:58 am
Lanikai eyed her sister's tail with heavy skepticism, but didn't bother asking if Lolani was certain. Of course she was, she'd suggested it anyway, but it still seemed like such an odd idea! Lanikai nodded and listened to her sister talk away, before latching her jaws around her sister's tail, trying hard not to bite down too firmly, but still keeping a grip as she moved her way from the branch over to where her sister was. She stumbled a little, and jerked the tail in her mouth, wincing and shooting her sister apologetic looks as she did so.
Soon, she was beside her sister though, feeling rather acomplished. "Wow! I can't imagine doing that without you," she murmured, "Thanks Lolani, for the help." She smiled at her sister, before something her sister said sunk in, and she blinked.
"Does mama know you talked to a stranger in the rogue lands?"
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