How many years had she spent lazing about in the same forest - With that in mind, how many other individuals had she seen sweep under the thick tree branches that she often resided in? She could tell anyone here and now that she'd been here since birth and the pawfall in this region was sparce at best. Not that she minded in a general sense, there was something enjoyable about the silence in the region. It was tranquil, relaxed, and at no point in her life had she ever felt rushed or pressured into doing anything. For all intents and purposes she would have had the 'perfect' life if she'd had a slightly greater number of individuals to converse with... Just one or two more, some sort of regular that would regale her of tales from the outside world. After all, a leopardess like her much preferred to live vicariously through others, than electing to place herself at immediate risk!
Alas, the gods had elected not to favour her in recent months and as the days wittled on and both gossip and tales dried up, the leopardess began to ponder over the possibility of take a quiet and very understated vacation. Of course, given how foreign this concept was to her, the leopardess had no inclination of where on earth she was supposed to begin. Was there a methodology to all of this or did an individual simply pick a direction and walk in it until they hit an obstacle? Her lack of knowledge when it came to such things should have been embarassing and would have been to anyone other than her. Fortunately for Tia'Moyo, she was imbued with a mindset that more often than not, indicated that it was simply too much effort to concern herself over trivial matters. Yes, to any individual who thought it was necessary to feel guilty or concerned by their lack of knowledge, she would have been an oddity.
Energy and effort should be left for important issues, such as hunting, climbing to a comfortable perch and swimming if it got a little too warm. There were no arguments in this and no one would dissuade her of this either - her views were set and if an individual didn't agree with them then that was their problem. Frankly, given past encounters with the rogues that had wandered by her forest, they could all do with basking in the sun for a little while... They all seemed so stressed. Ah, but there was a thought that made her pause momentarily! If she set off to explore as well, would she become as stressed and snappy?
It was doubtful.
It just required far too much effort!
However, what was unavoidable was the awareness that she needed to do something about the lack of gossip. She couldn't demand that others come to her on a more regular basis (such things weren't well received) and the only other viable option short of befriending the neighbouring food, was to go for a little wander. Deep down the leopardess had a sneaking suspicion her mother might approve of this, after all, she'd made frequent references to how Tia should 'explore more' and 'see the world'. Years down the line when her mother had sauntered off to another region, Tia was just beginning to see the appeal. Granted, it wasn't for scenic reasons at all, but the desire for gossip and the very basic need for some company were a strong enough pull to pique her interests.
Well, it was a start at least - perhaps if she did explore then she would begin to appreciate the world that existed in her midst. If she could look away from a gossiping rogue for longer than twenty seconds she might begin to appreciate the majesty of nature. It would certainly be food for thought, after all, there had to be some reason why so many lions were nomadic. Suffice to say that if the leopardess could manage to motivate herself enough to start walking, she might very well end up broadening her horizons. It could be good for her, even she could recognise this, it was just a question of getting herself to the point that she wanted to shift from her perch.
...This was no easy feat.
Fortunately, fate had already been pushing the leopardess for the last few months. A failure for any other creatures to pass by had ensured that all gossip had dried up and the only way she could acquire more was to move. Comfortable as her perch was, the lack of companionship in any form was starting to get to her. You see, Tia'Moyo didn't need monstrous amounts of company, but she did rely on it to paint pictures in her head. Without gossip and stories she couldn't daydream and as such, a foreign sense of boredom threatened to sink in. It was something she had never really experienced up until recently and she really didn't like it... For some reason, it left her tetchy and disgruntled, and given that negative emotions required a significant amount of energy that just wouldn't do at all!
It was only after considerable contemplation that the female came to the conclusion that a brief and spontaneous wander in any random direction, would prove to be less energetic than expressing any form of negativity. The wander would give her a chance to see, smell and even meet something new and in return, she'd be able to shoo away the grumpiness. With that in mind, she would theoretically recover her appetite (something that had been disrupted by an unsettled tummy) and improve considerably in every sense of the word. Suffice to say that after at least a week and a half of pondering, it seemed that the leopardess had reached some sort of conclusion - it rather took the 'spontaneity' out of it if one really thought about it. That aside, she'd elected to explore and her random direction had been declared 'that way'. Truth be told, she had absolutely no idea where 'that way' was, but she rather thought she'd work that out when she hit the rim of the jungle.
With her decision made, the leopardess had waited for the next morning and then, as dawn approached, she had bounced from tree branch to tree branch until she had found herself at the edge of the jungle. It was something she had seen before and had visited it a number of times, as a consequence she was aware of this immediate vicinity, it was more what lay beyond it. It was with a momentary pause that she took the time to look at each direction in which she could select and finding nothing that immediately appealed to her, she waited for some sort of sign.
This sign came in the form of a breeze and didn't force her to wait very long at all - in fact, it was more minutes into her 'wait' that the wind swept up and slightly caressed the back of her neck. A second later and it had headed to the east. The answer was clear at this point, east was her personal 'that way'.
Without anymore delay, the leopardess then leapt from the tree branch and padded off, east bound until further notice...
Word Count: 1256
