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 Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:37 pm
 Dru lounged in the tiny tree that she had stumbled across on her explorations of the watering hole. It was a tiny tree but its branches were thick and could easily hold her weight. She had been able to climb up the tree easily now after her tree-school lessons with Dar. She could even hope out of the tree just as easily. And she did so the first few times she'd gotten up into the branches. Not once did she hurt her paw.
Content and without any desire to watch the creeping crawling insects below, Dru closed her eyes. Her tiny tree was convenient, she could bask in the sun while at the same time be in the shade so the heat would make her feel icky or sticky. She closed her eyes and daydreamed about her tree. Climbing in and out of this tree only proved that she could climb her tree. Whether it wanted to be climbed or not!
But the tiny tree wanted to be climbed. It liked being a bed for small predators like herself. Obviously the tiny tree had decided not to grow so tall from the ground so that it would always have company since it was the only tree so small. So it wanted company that was small too. Dru liked her tiny tree and decided to keep it company even after she climbed her tree and claimed it.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:30 am
 “Hey Dru, watcha doing?” Mura said with a lazy yawn as she moved closer to the small tree. The pale leopon wasn’t sure its branches would be able to support her weight as well so she simply placed her front paws on the trunk, bright blue eyes searching for her sister’s. “Do you think it will hold if I climb, too?” Mura watched every branch, carefully assessing it. She found a few thick ones that were probably strong enough to support the weight of the growing girl.
“Tachio was looking for you earlier.” she said lightly, her tail flicking playfully behind her.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:38 am
"Sun-Shadow bathing. I think it will hold, Mura!" Dru stood up on her branch and jumped up and down. The tiny tree shook, but held. He didn't even groan. She was going to name the tree Valens because it was worth-while to climb and play on it. "See?!" Valens was quickly become her favorite tree. Even though she was sooo going to conquer her other tree. The difficult one.
Laying back down on the thick hardy branch, Dru tilted her head to look at her sister. "What did Tachi want?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:57 am
“Great!” Mura said quickly before using her back legs to jump up climb to a branch slightly lower than her sister’s. She grinned at Dru’s question while she silently settled down comfortably in the branch. “I don’t know. She didn’t say.” Her tone indicated that Mura didn’t really think it was something important. “She was probably wondering where you were.”
The young leopon stretched once before giving a few quick licks to settle the wayward fur on her coat before lying down, blue eyes lazily travelling to the horizon and back. Lately, she was becoming increasing worried about keeping her coat clean and pretty. “Have you seen anything interesting from here?”
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:10 am
Dru shook her head and closed her eyes, relaxing. "No, Valens is too close to the ground to really see anything. There's a tree further out from the watering hole that is much taller. From its branches you can see something glisten in the horizon, but its so tiny that you know its too far to walk to in one day. Mom wouldn't be happy with us disappearing. And there are Avian nests in the tree too. Some of their eggs are shiny. When they hatch, the mom and dad birds push the shattered eggs out of the nests. One set of parents gave me a large piece of the egg. It was silver-colored and shiny." Dru rambled on. When she realized she'd been rambling in relaxed excitement, she closed her mouth and tried not to blush. She didn't usually spill so many of her obsessions. Maybe it was the magic of Valens.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:30 am
“Aaa… Valens…?” her head, that had been resting in her paws for a few seconds rose again and Mura’s ears shot forward with interest. “You named the tree?” Mura looked around as if she was trying to understand why her sister gave so much importance to the small tree. It was cute, she supposed. Easy to climb, too. But that other tree sounded much cooler than this one especially now that they were growing and becoming really good at climbing. “Did you name that other one, too? Are there still shiny eggs there?” Shiny eggs did sound rather interesting, Mura had to admit. They’d have to be really careful not to break them though.
“Why did they give you the shell? Do you still have it? Can I see it?” It was now Mura’s turn to look excited.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:58 am
Dru shrugged at Mura's shocked voice. "Because he is important." Then she opened her eyes and stretched before jumping down to the ground. Still good. No paws hurting. "The other one is Tula. It was named by an Avian I met there when I was climbing the tree. He gave me his baby's eggshell. He said because he'd never had a conversation with a leopon in a tree so close to his nest before. But I think its because I'd bring the unhatched baby Avians pretty flowers to decorate their nest with."
Again Dru shrugged waiting for Mura to jump down out of the tree. "I still have the shell if you want to see it and then I can take you to Tula."
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:02 am
“How do you know it’s a “he”…?” Mura said distractedly, moving closer to the trunk as if she meant to follow her sister. She almost imitated Dru’s drop but the pale leopon wasn’t one to try new things when she had an audience to critique her technique and see her mistakes. So she climbed down slowly using the same method a dark blue leopardess had once shown her.
Once on the ground, she was back to her previously excited state.
“Oh yes! Let’s go see the other one!” It made sense that a bird would name the place where it lived so she understood why the other tree had a name. “Show me the shell. Or Tula. Or the shell…” she made a funny face, obviously conflicted. “Let’s see the big tree first! Can we climb it?”
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:04 pm
Dru waited patiently while Mura got herself to the ground. Apparently, she'd met a climber too. "Cause he said he was a he." Once Mura was on the ground, Dru lead the way in the general direction of their den. Tula was further out. Where she'd gotten stuck until Rei found her. That tree still didn't like her, but it wasn't as tall as Tula. But Dru couldn't climb up all the wait to Tula's top either.
"Tula is tall, and I can't climb up as high as I'd like, but the Avian saw me and we started a conversation. He was very nice. Didn't make fun of me as I practiced."
It took them ten minutes to get to Tula and once at her roots, Dru looked up. And up. And up. Tula was very tall. Giraffes liked Tula's leaves. But there wasn't any around right now. "Here's Tula, Mura."
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:34 pm
“Trees don’t talk, Dru! Are you making fun of me?” The pale girl pounced on her sister lightly before following her steps. “You’re talking as if they’re just like us.”
“That's 'cause the bird is smart. He knows we're gonna be great climbers one day so they better be nice to us. I bet I can climb all the way to the top.” She said with a grin knowing she was pretty good at the going up part. It was the coming back down part that always gave her trouble so perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to make such bold statements before seeing the...
“WOOOW.” She said loudly in obvious awe of the mighty tree. Oh yeah, she was definitely NOT going to climb all the way up there. “So tall, Dru! It’s so tall!"
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:29 pm
Dru nodded staring up at the tree. She couldn't see the top of it. But she did find the branches that acted like a ladder or steps for good climbers. And Mura was good, she'd seen that when she climbed Valens. "Come on, we'll go as high as Valens' top branches. From there we can probably see an empty nest." Dru started to climb up, careful of her footing. This was a mighty tree, and she was happy that Mura liked it. Tula was like the tree of life. A tree of life. Or something like that.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:00 pm
“Yes, yes. Let’s go.” Mura laughed, happy at the mere sight of the tree before she followed after her sister. “Hey, hey! You know what, Dru?” her voice cracked a bit as she attempted to keep a conversation while climbing. “We need to start practicing carrying things up the trees. Leopards do it all the time so maybe we should do it, too!”
Leopards were known for being able to carry huge loads up tall trees where the lions and hyenas couldn’t reach it. It was something she wanted to do as well.
“Is this high enough?” she asked, running out of breath. There was still a long way to go until Mura was able to carry a gazelle up tree, that much was certain.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:36 pm
Dru was panting, having climber higher than she ever had, even when the birds were in their nests. Which they weren't. "I-think . . . that . . . we should get . . . better at . . . . climbing, . . . Mura, . . . before we . . . try to carry . . . anything up." She perched on a tree branch and sprawled out as much as she could without fearing falling. They could rest here before climbing back down, but first -
"Mura, do you see that up there? The pile of twigs and things up above us a few branches? That was the nest of the Avian that gave me the silver eggshell. He was very nice."
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:31 am
“Yeah…” Mura said in one long raspy breath before she chose a nice smooth branch to rest. “I think you’re right.”
“It’s really tall, Dru.” She said again looking up at the sun shining down from the branches above. ”How old do you think she is?” Without realizing, Mura could no longer call the amazing tree an “it”.
“Do you think that if we come back another day, we might talk to it? And then I might get a shell, too. You wouldn’t mind, would you?” She was already making herself comfortable on her chosen branch and the young leopon sighed contently as she sat down with her back against the trunk of the tree.
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 8:15 am
Dru cuddled into the softish bark of Tula. She loved this tree. "We can come back anytime you want, Mura. Tula isn't owned by anyone, not even the Avians that live in the tallest branches. They don't claim to own her."
Dru yawned, her eyes drifting shut. If she didn't move, she'd end up sleeping in Tula. Again. In a last ditch effort, Dru appealed to Mura's excitement about the shiny eggshell."Did you want to go see my shiny? I have it hidden so that way shiny-seeking creatures don't steal it from me. There are a lot of shiny-stealers! Even edible birds and snakes and lizards and monkeys like to take shinies, and they should know better than to steal from a great feline predator, even a young one like us."
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