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 Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:47 pm
But today, it was something somewhat less dicey that caught her attention. It was very odd, and was down a ways from where her family rested. A tiny stream trickled away from the pond, but something small was moving down that way! She splashed down into the stream, only wetting her paws, and tread carefully down the small waterway. She approached what she had though was what had moved, but now it sat very still. Maybe she was wrong? This looked very much like a lump of mud... but just then, it unfolded long, spindly legs and leapt away from her in an apparent panic.
"Wait! Wait, I won't hurt you!" The jumping clod of mud was actually very fast! She followed it urgently, wishing to assure its safety and so it knew she wouldn't hurt it. Very soon she was beyond hearing of her parents, but that was nothing new. Ikira was rather known for being impulsive with venturing beyond momma's hearing.
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Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 1:56 pm
 The leopard was dozing near the stream - the sound of the flowing water was soothing and he'd enjoyed a good day's nap here. The nap had lasted until the high pitched voice of a cub broke in and shattered the peace and quiet of this place. Blinking, Susurro opened his eyes just in time to see a small blur of black and white and yellow bound past him. He shook his head in confusion before getting to his feet and looking after the cub in confusion. It seemed to be a lion cub, a girl. And she was chasing...was that a frog? "I don't know that it believes you," he said mildly at last, coming up behind the cub as she tried to corner the poor amphibian.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:42 pm
"That," she huffed, as she darted right and left, trying to stay in line with it as waffled on where to go next, "is why I have to stop the mud." She was getting out of breath, and it didn't seem to be breathing at all! It finally stopped moving, and she finally could see that it was, indeed, breathing. It's neck flickered faster than she could ever imagine breathing. She stood absolutely still then, trying to catch her breath. "I have to reassure it that I'm good!" She leaned forward a little, eyes locked on the strange living lump of mud.
Just then, the 'mud' gave a great big sound, it's throat swelling enormously as it did. She gave a yelp of startlement and jumped in place, though landing half her length back away from the crazy, jumpy, loud clump of mud. "Oh my!" she cried, after her initial start. "It talks!" She stared at it in complete and utter astonishment. This was not at all what she had expected to run into today! So enthralled was she, she didn't look to see who had been talking to her. Perhaps she should have, but her survival instincts were not fully developed, only warning her of danger she already percieved. Having not seen him just yet, and despite hearing him, she simply didn't think of the leopard as a source of danger.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 3:47 pm
Susurro gave a mental snort. Children. Their lack of knowledge skewed their view of the entire world. He really had no idea what she meant by "stopping the mud" or why she had to tell it she was good. Obviously it wanted nothing to do with a predator more than ten times its size. But he doubted that she'd understand him if he tried to explain that small fact.
"I don't know that it cares if you're good or not. It probably thinks you're going to eat it regardless," he pointed out dryly.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 4:09 pm
She finally stopped and turned to solemnly regard the individual who she'd been speaking with. She didn't seem put-off by the fact that he wasn't a lion. She'd already talked to lots (really only a few) of non-lions already, and she knew they were just as normal as she was. From her perspective, anyway. At the moment, she was leveling an almost stern gaze at him. "How will it ever know differently if I do not tell it?" she asked him slowly, as if teaching someone younger than she. "Communication is important, even between different species." The words sounded awfully big in her small mouth, but it was quite clear she knew just what she was saying, and meant every syllable.
"Don't you ever talk to the birds, or to the little cats, or even to your prey, sometimes?" She turned completely around, putting her back to the clueless frog, and gave the male her full attention. By "little cats", she mean the servals, genets, and ocelots, who were usually equally intelligent as their much larger cousins. In fact, she had met one not long before, and had found it very friendly and fun to play with. It was nice to make a friend that was a fellow predator!
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:00 pm
"I talk only to those which speak first," the leopard replied simply. This statement was, after all, only the truth. Susurro was not one to initiate conversation...mostly. There were the occasions, such as today, where he felt obliged to point out the obvious to someone who was clearly missing it.
He had no real concept of the lion's vocabulary being more advanced than it should have been at that age. She spoke, he answered. Thus this qualified as conversation.
He also didn't know or care if the frog could understand the cub. It wasn't worth arguing over though.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:09 pm
"Then you are missing out, mister leopard," she said firmly. "How can you expect to make friends if you aren't friendly?" After all, who didn't want more friends? Friends were so very useful. They kept you company, warmed your back at night, warned you of danger, and advised you when you weren't sure about something. She glanced over her shoulder to see if the mud was still there, but of course it wasn't. She frowned then, or perhaps pouted just faintly. "And now I have lost a friend," she mourned. With trepidatious speculation she turned her eyes back to the leopard. Was he the sort who was a friend? She didn't think he was a foe, but he certainly didn't seem like he wanted to be friends. Maybe he was more akin to the lump of mud than to a friend-to-be. Neither one seemed eager to talk with her.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:43 pm
Cubs. Gods all preserve them from cubs. Logic that just never made sense and logic that was more twisted than any river could ever be. Good thing he'd never been one.
"I am not interested in friends," the leopard pointed out, a bit of acid in his tone. Especially not with little obnoxious cubs of a different species. Honestly. Was she so naive that she thought she could be friends with every beast that crossed her path?
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:04 pm
Her ears canted backwards and her face schooled itself into a very severe expression that her mother tended to use when one of them was acting up. This clearly was not friend material! "That would explain why you don't have any," she replied stiffly, beginning to feel that he was more relegated into the 'foe' category, even if he wasn't an evil foe that needed eradicating. Perhaps there were people out there that would oppose her mentally and emotionally, if not physically. "And I am sorry, but I could not be your friend with that kind of bad attitude." She gave a sniff of indignation. What a grouchy male he was! She'd have to ask her mother if it was because he was a leopard, a male, or simply hadn't had a mother to teach him differently.
This last reason gave her pause, as she realized that would mean he deserved her sympathy rather than her scorn. She opened her mouth to ask if he'd had a mother to teach him good, friendly manners, but stopped at the look on his face. She quickly closed it and began scooting for home. No, best not ask after all. "I've got to get back now. Tell the mud I'm sorry if you see it!" With that rather odd statement, she disappeared back up-stream.
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Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:08 pm
It was only force of will that kept the leopard from laughing or from even showing the barest hint of a smile on his face. Okay, that had been genuinely entertaining, the cub's sudden and forceful rejection of him as friend material. She was simply too young to understand that friends were unnecessary to life and that one lived better without the additional burden.
There was, he decided, watching her go, only one thing he hadn't truly understood about their little interaction.
What the hell was the mud she was talking about? It...couldn't have been the frog...right?
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