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 Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:09 pm
A lone figure laid out on the branch of a tree, stark white with spots and stripes of black and gray littering her coat. Her muzzle rested on one extended foreleg and one hind leg hung comfortably off the side of the branch while the rest of her sat rather neatly perched. Her eyes were closed and to all the rest of the world she looked like she must be sleeping and dreaming a very peaceful dream, if the small smile was any indication. The only movement was in the slow tick of her tail, and now and then a flicker of movement from her ears as they swatted away stray insects or picked up an interesting sound.
She couldn't remember how long it had been since she'd last seen Usiku, who had been one of the closest things to a constant companion she'd had for a time. It was always like this, though. Ever since she'd lost her mother as a cub Kiyoshi had more or less been on her own. She didn't really go actively seeking someone to be around all the time and she didn't actively turn anyone away, either. It just seemed like it was her purpose in life to be solitary. Weren't leopards supposed to be solitary creatures to start with anyway?
Thinking about it she really hadn't seen many others living in a group. There'd been a few with the Achana, but they all had children to consider, so that was no surprise, really. There was safety for them in numbers, raising half-breeds.
She'd tried that life, but in the end she just hadn't been able to make a connection. So, she tried her paw at going it alone again and once more found her rhythm. Life was pretty good all things considered, though she'd certainly be happy to have someone to talk to again.
Life had always been interesting for Mwezi, even when it's roads didn't quite lead him where they'd initially pointed towards. After all, he'd been born the heir of a pride, the prince of a great land which... he'd seen die before his very eyes when he reached something approximating adolescence. He'd seen the great fall; watched people disperse, leave, a pride broken, a war... not lost, but ended in a sort of stalemate, and just when he'd decided to turn his back on the world, the world had looked back at him and tossed him obstacle after obstacle.
He'd not even been allowed to quietly hate everyone around him as he'd traveled; life had seen it fit to toss a lioness in his path; one he'd been unable to hate. Not content with just this though, life had tossed him yet another curve ball, given that once Mwezi had seen if fit to redirect his anger, resentment and hate towards non-lions... he'd gained a daughter, in the form of a parent-less little cheetah.
It was most frustrating for him, given the fact he'd been forced to adapt and re-adapt his morals and outlook on life to fit those around him better. It'd been tiring, and yet, he'd gained much more than he'd lost, all in all, and he was strong enough to admit to it. He'd even gone along with Malkia's and life had been... good. Her disappearance had been the trigger that had finally made him decide it was time to get up and move on. After all, they'd raised lovely children, now adults, they had prospered, added to the strength of their then pride and later... he'd grieved.
In the natural order of things, it was simply time to move on, and thus, move on he had.
However, if there was one thing life had not been able to cure him of, it was his (argumentatively misdirected) hatred of leopards. His distaste showed plainly upon his usually much more composed features as he stopped walking and turned to look up at the slumbering feline up above him. His ears swiveled back, flattened, and his lips went to far as to offer a silent snarl of disgust for the poor leopard before he slowly, very slowly, turned around and began to walk in a completely different direction.
Or... he would have, if there hadn't been a rock formation right there, taunting him. He had two choices; he could keep going in the direction he'd been following, forcing him to pass inches away from the resting leopard, or he could go back the way he'd come.
Mwezi took the third option; he glared the rock blocking his path on the other side, almost as if quietly hoping it'd incinerate. Needless to say, this brilliant plan was really not working very well.
The leopard that had unwittingly fallen into Mwezi's radar was blissfully unaware. Even upon hearing pawsteps she didn't seem to worry. Most other creatures couldn't climb as well as a leopard could. Cheetah's claws tended to be too blunt and lions tended to be too heavy to really get up into the branches like she could. Wild dogs didn't have the flexibility, and hyenas were even worse. Anything else was too small for her to worry about- aside from poisonous or large snakes of course.
None the less her downtime was being interrupted by the sudden arrival of the other. She would have been remiss to not at least get a peek at her visitor, and so Kiyoshi cracked open an eye to observe. All she was in time to catch, however, was the glaring at the stone wall that was... well... stone walling his path, though that did present her the perfect chance to study him a little.
He was a regal looking fellow. A pale lion, shoulder marked in red, the oddest looking rosaries she'd ever seen, in fact. His mane was also pretty fascinating, but what caught her eye first was his very interesting looking furry-dead-thing. What was that, exactly?
"I don't think that's going to get it to move."
A brilliant plan and extremely helpful advice, Mwezi was totally set, wasn't he?
When the leopardess talked, Mwezi's ears flattened back further, if at all possibly, hiding themselves entirely inside his mane, and though it was quite clear he'd heard her from the mere action, he didn't turn to face her immediately; he was still offering the wall a couple more seconds to vanish, before he was forced to take much more drastic action against it.
Alas, needless to say, stone walls were wont to do as what stone walls would do, and as such, it remain impassive and unmoved before Mwezi's glare. Eventually giving up his tactics (and filing away a mental note to kill or somehow maim this horrible obstacle, it's family and it's friends, later on in life), the large, white lion turned his head to pin the leopard with a rather impressive glare.
He seemed to be directing all his hatred, all his resentment, bitterness and disgust in her general direction. As if the poor female were to blame for all the woes and troubles of the world. Then, his eyes slid away from her form, and his head turned to look in the direction he'd come from; turning back would be most distasteful, given he really didn't want to tread ground he'd already walked, and yet... going forth required almost direct contact with the leopard's tail.
His gaze turned upon the poor leopardess again, and he offered her a long, dour look before silently advancing towards her and passing under her branch, attempting to avoid her twitching tail as he went.
Today was not shaping up to be the most glorious of days, as far as Mwezi was concerned.
Curious, he didn't seem convinced about the wall at first, but after a while he did give up. Kiyoshi's eyes followed along as he turned away, glared in her direction (with a mighty impressive intensity, she'd add), contemplated his route, and then chose to pass by underneath her. Not even so much as a hello, She was polite enough to move her tail aside as he passed, but watched as he continued on without a word.
Just another typical encounter in the rogue lands. Meanwhile she should probably see about eating a bit more and then disposing of the last of her kill. It was further up in the tree away from her (keeping most of the earlier mentioned flies that way). As she shifted to sit up and turn to her food the sky seemed to protest, either his going or her decision. Either way as they parted paths there was a loud rumble from overhead, like an angry growl building up to a loud, foreboding crack of thunder.
Mwezi's left ear had flicked as the sound of thunder rolled through the skies, but otherwise paid no real attention. The moment a large drop of water passed through the trees and his him square on the nose, however, the large lion allowed a sound of frustration to slip past his lips. As much as he wanted to continue forward, thunder meant heavy rain, and reduced visibility, alongside the fact he'd be drenched, which was never actually a welcome sensation. Finding refuge was in order.
As such, and without so much as glancing back towards the leopardess (indeed, the female already long gone from the forefront of his thoughts), Mwezi made his way through the jungle until he found a suitable refuge under a protruding rock formation. It was snug enough that he'd see someone coming for him from the few sides the walls didn't cover, and the protruding rocks long enough that allowed the earth and grass below to remain dry.
Hours later, when the sun had fallen, and the rain came down in a thick, harsh blanket, Mwezi still remain within his little refuge; his body laying on the floor, back to the walls of the rock behind him. His head rested upon his fore paws, as his eyes remain shut; he was allowing the sound of the torrential rain beyond to lull him into sleep.
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:24 am
It had been an uneventful storm after the roving stranger had passed through. Kiyoshi ate again, got comfortable, and fell back asleep while the heavy rainfall poured all around.
It was well after nightfall and Kiyoshi was waking randomly from her sleep. Long time habit, waking at random intervals in the night. It came with being a solitary creature. With no prowl or the Achana to keep her safe, watch her back it was just second nature. Other times there'd be an actual reason that she woke so late in the night hours, a sound in the near distance, or a scent strong enough to penetrate sleep. When it rained as it was doing at that exact moment, however, scents became washed out, muted, much harder to detect until they were very close. That's where sleeping in a tree came in handy.
Kiyoshi woke again rather abruptly, an odor, incredibly thick, had just entered the circle of the tree, out of the rain. The sharp sounds of hyena "laughter" made her eyes pop open, and staying as still as she could she began to look around the base of her tree. Three hyenas there... at least that she could see. She would have been happy to ignore them and share the shelter, maybe even try to strike up conversation after a while, but they clearly had other plans once out of the rain.
See, they too could smell clearly once out of the torrential downpour, and they smelled the carrion higher up in her tree. Whether they just saw an easy opportunity with a lone leopard or if they were truly desperately hungry enough didn't matter much.
As the rain seemed to either be letting up at last or taking a momentary lull a cacophany broke out through the jungle- louder than usual and silencing the nocturnal creatures gathered around, at least temporarily. The angry, pained yowl of a leopard broke through the trees and sent roosting birds into the air, accompanied by the excited, mocking laughter of hyenas and the sounds of a fight. The noises would continue for quite some time, with the leopard's cries growint pained and weaker after a while and it seemed no animals were eager to draw the attention of the angry combatants towards themselves.
Sleep never came to Mwezi easily, and least of all for long, drawn out periods of time. At least not while he was out in the rogue lands; he'd had the luxury of sleeping in a pride before, for a long time, in fact, but the moment he'd come back out to no man's land... the old habits had returned. After all, staying alert often time meant the difference between life and death.
As such, the large lion had remain in a realm somewhere between the waking world and the dreaming world all night, and when the ruckus and chaos started, he was not so much startled awake as annoyed into full consciousness. An ear swiveled towards the sounds, though Mwezi didn't deem it important enough to actually open his eyes. At least... not until a vaguely familiar yowl resounded through the jungle, scared and in pain, that the lion actually opened his eyes and lifted his head.
"I don't think that's going to get it to move."
The words the leopard had spoken drifted unbidden through his mind, and as he listening to the ghost of the words, another yowl resounded, coupled by a chorus of hyenas; the leopard would die soon from the sound of it. And really, he should have been just fine with that, given the fact he'd allowed himself to place all his hatred and anger upon her species, however... as another yowl resounded, fainter, tired, and horribly in pain, the large lion stood up from where he'd been laying. He let out a weary sigh, walked back out of his makeshift den and lifted his head heavenward.
The droplets of water that still fell, albeit slower, hit his closed eyes, and deep down, with his head lifted to the moon he could not see... Mwezi prayed. He prayed for his family, his parents, his children and his old, stranded mate. He also prayed for himself, because something was obviously fundamentally wrong with him if he was willing to risk his safety to help someone he'd decided to loath. He obviously received no answer, and after a few beats, and another yowl, the large lion launched himself into a run, crashing through the foliage while creating as much noise as he possibly could. When he was near enough he was sure the hyenas could hear him, he allowed himself a mighty roar, shoving into the strength, as much noise as possible.
Insanity, he thought to himself as he skidded into the familiar clearing he'd ventured into earlier that day, I've finally gone insane.
That was his final though before he launched himself, opened his jaws, crabbed the nearest hyena by the neck, taking it utterly by surprise and then swinging it with might to the right. The force of momentum crashed the canine against the rock formation he'd death glared earlier, though he didn't actually wait to watch the impact. Instead, he turned and lowered his body over the fallen leopard's, his stance defensive, his lips curled into a silent snarl, "Be gone," it was a calm warning, an order even, as he stared the other creatures down.
The only thing that the leopard could think about clearly by that point was the pain and exhaustion. There were too many of them for her to fight off and even though she'd managed to avoid any broken bones to that point she had sustained enough injury that the only thing keeping her standing was the rush from knowing she was so close to being killed. At some point during all of the fighting she'd been knocked down, hard enough that she was winded by it and struggling to maintain consciousness. As she laid there barely able to make out the shapes of the beasts in front of her, weariness telling her to just stay down and give in to the urge to rest, a thought crossed her mind. Had her mother met her end this way? Was that why she'd not come back for her? Had she found herself in a hopeless situation just like this, at the mercy of her attackers knowing that no one would come?
One of the blurry shadows moved towards her and she knew that if she didn't get up it would go for the kill, but she was too weak to even protect her throat. Finally the female gave in and closed her eyes, one more tired exhale leaving her body beforer her breath fell shallow and halting once more. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. Now it almost hurt to think.
Then, suddenly chaos erupted again- someone was roaring. The presence was gone with a sharp, pained yelp and a sickening thud, and someone else was crouching down over her protectively. In the darkness she couldn't make out details even if she'd been thinking clearly enough to try, but she wondered for a moment if it wasn't Huang or Han who had come to her rescue.
The last of the hyenas looked at each other, then turned and bolted, and their friend, though probably in little condition to try, ran after them as soon as they found their paws.
Leaving just Mwezi and the leopard who he'd tried quite earnestly to incinerate on the spot with his eyes earlier. She tried to speak, but only managed a feeble groan.then gave up. Staying awake was hard enough as it was.
It took the hyenas just a few moments to realize that the tables had turned, and soon, they ran away, leaving him alone with the leopard. Mwezi retained his pose for a few beats, even after the last, lagging hyena yipped and made it's escape. Soon enough, however, the scents were gone, and the lion lifted his head up, taking huge gulps in an effort to make sure they were truly alone. Only after he'd made certain of that did he finally turn his full attention to the pitiful creature that lay between his fore paws and hind feet; she had been hurt, bitten and scratched, and had he not arrived when he had, she would have died.
The scent of blood was poignant, reaching his nose, making his curl his lips into a deep frown as he lowered his head to languidly inspect her limbs, "You will die, if you remain here," he told her matter of fact, and though his voice remain calm as it had when he'd addressed the canines, it'd almost smoothed out, lost the edge of anger it had previously held, "Stand," he nosed her neck, once, twice, trying to rouse her out of the darkness that was likely gripping her, because honestly, what good would it do to save the stupid creature if she fell unconscious here? The scent of blood which had been spilled on the ground, and the scent of the carcass in the tree would likely attract more predators, and though the hyenas had been intimidated, he was just one lion and this place... was not build in an appropriate manner to offer much defense, "Stand," he said again, and while the word was not forceful, it carried and edge of urgency to it.
It took him several tries, and quite a lot of effort, but Mwezi finally managed to place the leopardess have over him, half against him, "Walk," he instructed, "Do not succumb yet. Wait until the earth beneath your paws is dry," it was probably the most he'd spoken in quite a while, but... desperate times called for desperate measures.
He kept nudging her as they padded across the jungle, waking her up when he felt she was slipping, and in a way, he figured he was probably torturing her, but... that torture would save her life. In a way, the pain she felt, and the torture he had to administer to keep her alive vindicated him from past deeds, giving him much food for thought.
It wasn't until they reached his previous makeshift den (the promised dry ground) that he stopped needling her onward, finally allowing her to lay down down, before he settled himself against her. He made sure to put her behind him; between the wall of the rock formation and his large frame, blocking her from view, and then, he placed his back against her frame so that he may face any opponent foolish enough to seek him out here. After all, this place was easier to defend, giving attackers could only come alone or in pairs, the opening in the rocks much too small for a group. That, and it was high ground. As far as Mwezi was concerned, their current location meant half the battle was already won, should anyone show up.
The in mind, the large lion allowed himself to yawn wide, the motion curling his tongue before he finally closed his jaws and he silently, languidly, faced the opening of the den.
No explanations were given, no words offered.
She'd been just about ready to succumb to the darkness swirling around her when the voice from before spoke again. He sounded distant, like her head was underwater and he was speaking overhead, but without the distortion. There was initially no outward response. Sleep- her body said -just for a little while, yet the logical part of her knew she should do what he said. It wasn't safe to stay here.
Then there was pressure from his nose against her neck, prodding, urging. She groaned faintly but it did keep her from drifting off as her body so craved. Eventually between his orders and prodding and Kiyoshi's efforts the two did manage. Not long after the two were making their way... somewhere, she didn't know. Away. Maybe he was leading her from one death to another, she didn't know, was too out of it to consider much else besides his promise of sleep anyway. She didn't care where they were going as long as she got to sleep when they got there. And were it not for his efforts she would have surely passed out at least three possible times along the way. Mwezi's voice and unrelenting instruction did keep her conscious long enough to make it back to his shelter, however, and while it took her a few seconds to realize that the ground beneath their paws had indeed turned dry (because by that point she was running on autopilot and reserves) the moment that she did Kiyoshi was moving just as far as he guided and then sinking to the ground. Come morning she'd feel guilty for not thanking him immediately but at that moment she was too exhausted and injured to even consider it. There was a soft sort of exhale as the female was finally allowed to rest and no sooner had her head hit her paw and the ground- almost before the rest of her body had settled with her -than she'd fallen into the darkness' embrace. The leopard was vaguely aware of the warmth at her back and a feeling of safety right before she slipped off.
At least for the rest of the night she would be protected.
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