Under the Cypress Trees

*Tahlia* · 08-20-2013, 04:37 PM

Walk | Talk | Think

In her desperation to clear her mind, Tahlia had set her sights skimming across the sandy ground beneath the cypress trees as she walked beneath their shadows, her steps purposeful with their stride but aimless in their path. Absently she glanced to a tree at her side, watching the way the bark set around its trunk and the roots stretched downward, seeming to hold the structure upright just above the ground's level. An adaptation, she presumed, for the watery world that it lived in, currently absent from the sea's touch because of the low tide. But eventually it would return and the trees would take from it what they could. The strange way in which the tree sat above the ground, the curious reach of its thick root system holding it in place, drew a little more of her attention in passing, and so she missed the movement of the body above, the effortless leap it gave, and only became aware of the unrecognizable scent just as it landed before her.

Panic was at the forefront of her mind. Here was something huge, languid with a predatory grace, and it had just taken a considerable leap to find itself square in her path. Frantic feet backpedaled to give herself space from the large, black spotted creature, her own golden eyes fixing on its mesmerizing blue ones. Instinct kicked in not a moment too soon, and as the hair at the back of her neck rose a growl rumbled within her throat, body incredibly tense as she faced the massive feline. Never before had she felt so small, so terribly insignificant in comparison to another. It seemed there was a first for everything.

Over the sound of her own growl, she could hear words trail with a heavy accent from the creature's lips, letting her head lower protectively over her neck as she managed another slow step back. More words followed the first, these drawled in a dialect that at least she could recognize, and just a little she quieted her growl. "That depends," she stated, her breath somewhat rushed from the scare he had and was currently giving her, "do you plan on chasing me?" Very much she wished to run, to fly away from the cat and seek safety inside the borders of her familiar home, but if he had been able to take a leap down from the tree the way he had with no ill effects to his body, who was to say that she could even get away with him so close? Tense, still strongly defensive, Tahlia surveyed the cat, quietly evaluating her chances for survival from the encounter.

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