Dancing On A Mountaintop

Akselle stalked along the branch of a large oak tree, his tail swaying lightly back and forth as he strode confidently along it. He slid his belly gracefully along the branch and then, claws extended, he began to scratch. His limbs moved in short, jarring motions as he sharpened his claws and left his scent upon the tree. He'd been wary of the island at first with it's northern placement but he was finding he was settling in quite well. Of course, it still required more exploration.

Akselle licked lightly at his right paw, his mismatched eyes eyeing a set of chickadees huddled up in a nearby pine. He licked his lips but opted to let them be. He had no problem killing for sport but he had other matters to attend to.  Leaping from the oak branch he landed in another pine tree a little less gracefully, letting out a squeak as he started to slip off the branch. His tail waving madly he managed to pull himself up.  Looking around carefully he dipped his head to lick at his paws feeling quite sure that no one had seen that.

Nestled contentedly on a pine bough, Casanova was blissful ignorant of Akselle's presence. Ignorance that was short lived as the cat clamored noisily into the same tree. The jaguarundi sent the branches swaying just enough to rouse the sleepy panda. He groaned unhappily and uncurled before stretching and cracking open one sleepy eye. The sound of a barbed tongue on fur alerted him to the identity of the branch-shaker before he laid an eye on him. The cat. With eyes still bleary, Casanova flopped a paw around blindly until it landed on a pine cone. He seized it gleefully (and perhaps a tiny bit maliciously) and sent it flying in Akselle's direction. The shot was likely to go wild, but he wasn't too concerned with hitting his fellow thief. No, he was simply trying to make a point. "It's the middle of the day," he said saucily, "Some of us are trying to sleep. If you're going to flop around like a cat, do it in another tree, please."

Dancing On A Mountaintop

Akselle had decided that he had started grooming that he may as well continue. As he bent his head to start cleaning his back paws a pine cone sailed over his head. Akselle's sleek head whipped around to see the groggy, irritated face of Casanova. He grinned slyly. "You mean flop about like this?" He leapt up and down on the branch a few times before staring innocently at the red panda. He chuckled before leaping up to a higher branch where he stretched out on his belly, his jewel-colored eyes peering curiously down at the other. "How much longer do you need to sleep? I've spied an old male wolf padding through our territory. I thought it might be fun to welcome him buuuuuuut if you're busy I suppose I could go solo?" He wasn't sure if the other wished to nap instead but it was always a treat to welcome new guests to the island.

After he finished speaking Casanova yawned and out of habit his eyes closed. They then stayed closed partly because they were heavy and partly out of hope that Akselle would spare him further aggravation. He did not. Casanova's eyes popped open as the branch he was on began to bob up and down violently. He was forced to wrap his paws around the branch to keep from getting jolted off. After a few seconds the bouncing stopped and the panda was able to right himself. His face twisted up in a pout and he petulantly covered his face with his paws. "How much longer do you need to sleep?" In response to this Casanova grumbled noisily. As Akselle continued to speak the grumble turned into a whine and Casanova's paws moved from his face to his ears. The sound died off as his friend's words registered. One eye cracked open and sought out Akselle's face. "Is he close to anything...important?" He dared not speak the word 'treasure' out loud.

Dancing On A Mountaintop

Akselle grinned at the red panda as his paws shifted to his ears. Sometimes Casanova was just to fun and easy to annoy but the cat had indeed come on business and at the panda's question Akselle shifted from paw to paw. "Not yet, but he seems to be traveling in a straight line toward items that don't concern him. I've been tailing him, hoping he'll change his course but he doesn't seem to." It seemed a boring way to explore an island in his opinion though perhaps the wolf didn't want to get lost and so was content to travel as the crow flies.

"What do you say? Shall we educate our guest?"