It was almost nightfall, but Sophie was burning up. The desert had been hot, but the heavy humidity of the jungle was almost worse for the woman of the tundra. A wall of exhaustion and dehydration clouded her mind as she slowly made her way deeper through the trees on her hunt for water and a place to make camp for the night. There was no way she would be able to hunt for her prey in her condition. There were all sorts of strange sounds in her ears. Some were far off, but others sounded a little too close for comfort. She had little to actually fear, though.
Winding her way through the vines and thorns in her path, she smiled with relief once she finally spotted the slight glimmer of a watering hole. Throwing herself down to her knees before it, she eagerly scooped a few handfuls of water to drink before splashing her face and neck with it, the cool water a much-needed refresher.
Not knowing the wildlife of the jungle too well besides the great tiger she was sent to retrieve, Sophie thought it best to stay off the ground, at least for the first night. She hoped she wouldn't be here long anyway, so she didn't see a need to get super cozy and spread out her things for a true camp. A tree would do quite nicely, she thought as she raised her head to scan the shadowed treetops. Finding one she thought would be safe enough, she climbed up as nimbly as she would have in her other form and set her pack against the joint of the truck and her chosen branch to make a pillow.
While the location was different, the ritual of sleeping in trees let her relax a little and gave her a small feeling of safety. She thought she would be able to at least see or hear any possible threats before they were upon her and get some rest. It'll be morning before you know it, she reminded herself. And then you'll be rested and refreshed and ready for a day on the hunt. He won't stand a chance.
The cool waters of a nearby stream helped keep the striped cat comfortable in the humid jungle as he lazily paddled on downstream. Fintan had only woken up from a lazy afternoon nap a short time ago and was still in the process of getting over her lethargy. It would not be long though before he was heeding the call of his stomach and searching for food.
As he dragged himself up onto the bank, he made a mental note to walk the perimeter of his territory in the near future. It had been a while and the last thing the male needed was a trespasser thinking they could get away with freeloading on his lands.
Without direction, Fintan wandered aimlessly, enjoying the peaceful night. Suddenly, a primate darted from cover, catching his eye and in a shot the tiger was hot on its heels. It bounded high above in the canopy, hooting and hollering in fear as it tore ahead, Fintan leaping easily in stride on the ground below, waiting for the creature to fall.
When it did not seem to be close to doing so, the tiger decided to help things along. In the blink of an eye, Fintan's powerful legs propelled him up through the air like an arrow as he launched himself into a tree, leaping up several branches on the way until he came to a sudden stop face to face with something that did not belong.
His whiskers twitched as he bared his teeth in a warning snarl. It seemed he had been too reminiscent in his duties after all. Had he acted sooner there would not be some human in his tree. Meal long forgotten, the tiger hissed, his tail snapping angrily from side to side in agitation.
She had nearly fallen asleep to the sounds around her until something different set her on alert. A primate screaming as it tore through the treetops above her caused her to raise her head in interest. It seemed strange to her, but she supposed it might have spotted some far-off predator. She didn't think it really mattered to her anyway. At least until her branch shook violently from the sudden addition of a tiger snarling in her face. She couldn't let her excitement blind her, though. She had no way of knowing if this was the tiger she was after. She highly doubted there was only one in this region. For now, though, she realized she should probably focus more on surviving this encounter to even be able to investigate more later.
Calmly staring at him, Sophie quickly reached out and punched him on the nose before making a quick grab for her bag and launching herself out of the tree. Making a run for it might not have been the best decision, but it was the only one that would buy her time to think of a plan or find a place to hide. She tried to be as quiet as possible and keep her path constantly changing hoping to shake him if he gave chase; she wasn't going to take the time to look back to find out.
Pain exploded in his face and tears welled in his eyes as Fintan reflexively backed away from the source of pain. 'She punched me! The little bitch actually had the gall to hit me!' A feral scream belted from his chest as he easily dropped back down to the ground and bolted after her.
Fintan at least had some advantage over her for while she was fast and had a headstart, the powerful beast knew this land better than her. This was his home and he was going to defend it until his last breath.
While she zigged and zagged, trying to lose him, the tiger put all his efforts into trying to corral her away from areas that she would likely be able escape from him. He would surge forward and scream from either side of her hoping to force her in a new direction before falling back a bit to recover before the next jump.
Though she thought her escape was looking like a success, the shifter had no idea she was unconsciously being driven away from the right path by the tiger. She desperately tried to keep calm, but she was on high alert and just praying he would not catch her and maul her before she was able to find somewhere to hide.
Every little trip over roots or stumble from running through vines had her feeling more and more helpless even though she powered on. She had no idea where she was going or what her plans were once she got there, but she was determined to lose this cat.
He egged her onward, herding her away from tight spaces or bodies of water that would lead him to slow down or lose her scent. Then as strictly as he had pursued her, Fintan came to an abrupt stop. The human had crossed over into another's territory and therefore was no longer his problem.
Up and down the tiger paced the line, watching her and yowling at her in warning to keep running. If she stayed clear of his lands then that would be enough for him. He stayed put though, unwillingly to leave in case she decided to turn around and sneak back in.
Suddenly there was no longer the sound of the tiger giving chase behind her. Running several hundred feet before she allowed herself to look back over her shoulder to check, Sophie was surprised to see that he had indeed stopped chasing her and instead was making what she could only assume were warning sounds. Puzzled, the shifter took her chance to climb up into the nearest tree to watch him, wary of what he might do next and not willing to take her chances with turning her back on him right now.
Panting and curling up to hug her pack, she stared down at the striped cat with pure confusion as things finally began to settle in her mind. This tree would probably do just as well as the one she'd been in, but she didn't understand why he had taken such issue with her being in that particular tree. Determined to keep an eye on him until he left, Sophie settled in for what she assumed might be a long, silent battle.
Fintan worked on catching his breath, his chest heaving with massive breaths. He remained on the ground in case she decided to make a break for his territory once more. Seeing her appear to settle in for the night in a tree only served to further irritate him.
Trying to burn off some steam he paced back and forth along the edge of his lands all the while staring up at her and occasionally sending off a warning cry to try and scare her off. She was far too close for comfort in his opinion.
Eventually he tired though and sat down to keep vigil. Fintan had resolved to stay the whole night if he had to to ensure that she would not intrude into his territory again.
She found it peculiar that he still seemed agitated but would not come any closer to try to chase her away again. Perhaps he had simply tired, though she worried for what that might mean once he regained his energy. She knew he wasn't very happy with her being there, but she did not understand why. It had not yet dawned on her that he might have been defending what he considered to be his territory.
She stayed motionless as she waited, watching the jungle become darker as night fell upon the land. As a human she could barely see anything that wasn't a few feet around herself, and she knew she was at a disadvantage for that. Unfortunately, though, she felt the need to move for she did feel trapped in the tree.
Slowly climbing down and trying to be as quiet as possible, the shifter woman tiptoed her way west with the hope of getting out of range of the tiger's hearing before attempting to make her way back through the jungle.
Despite her attempts at silence, Fintan still heard and watched with wary eyes to see what she was up to. She went west, forcing Fintan to follow in turn. If the human was intent on walking his border then he was going to ensure that she did not cross back into it.
On silenter paws than her clomping feet, he stalked close behind in the shadows, his ears constantly shifting forward and backwards listening for any signs of a trap. One could never be too careful these days. He would not put it past his brother to resort to such tactics in order to start something.
A twinge of fear entered her heart when she realized she was being followed again. She felt hunted, felt threatened, and it was not a comfortable place to be while stumbling through this unfamiliar land. She was not as graceful here as she was in her snowy home, she knew, but she was certain this striped animal was planning to make her food, else she didn't think he would follow for this long.
Blindly wandering deeper into the jungle's shadows she paused for a short rest at a stream in her path. Kneeling to drink, she turned slightly so that her back was not to the direction she'd come, sensing the larger cat was lurking somewhere nearby. Splashing her face with water she bided her time, waiting to see if it might be safe for her to move on or if the cat was intending on corralling her again.
Fintan growled deep within his throat at seeing her stopping so close to his territory. She was only safe from him running her off again because she was on the wrong half of the river. From where he stood and deeper into the jungle was his part of the river but upstream belonged to another and therefore made the intruder someone else's problem.
Her being so close to his lands concerned him and kept him on her proverbial tail. But between his chase of her earlier and the heat of the summer sun, Fintan was sweating and wanted nothing more than to dive into the cool waters of the river for a drink and swim.
After a great deal of furious pacing he finally gave into his urges and dove into the waters from a tree high above, creating a mighty splash not far from where the girl was. He hoped that by doing so perhaps he could spook her off for good as well as earn himself a bit of fun for all the troubles she had caused him.
The crackling of broken twigs was her first warning as a dark figure flew through the branches above. The loud splashing sent her scrambling back from the riverbank but it did not shield her from the small wave that soaked her front. Convinced he would be swimming right for her, ready to make a meal out of her, she was thankful that she thought he'd missed his mark in swooping down upon her.
Scrambling to her feet she hastily grabbed her pack and shot out into the cover of the trees again without a word, oblivious to the fact that she was reentering his territory as she ran alongside the river. Once she felt she might have enough distance from him, though, thinking a waterlogged cat would be slower than her no matter what, she quickly shifted into her faster feline form. She was intent on outrunning him and finding a safe place to hide for the rest of the night, and she was certain that it would cause him to lose her more human scent if nothing else. Carrying her pack by its strap hooked upon her teeth, the snowy cat bounded on paws much quieter than bumbling feet. Her light green eyes were wide with concern and on high alert to her surroundings as she searched for somewhere she might be able to take cover for the remainder of the night.
With much-improved eyesight she unknowingly wandered towards the heart of this poor cat's land. The spreading silence around her gave her a false sense of comfort and security and she began to slow her frantic pace to a gentle lope until an old, fallen tree caught her eye. The hollowed out space would be perfect for her to sneak into to curl up for the rest of the night, or so she was accustomed to in her homeland. Sophie circled it once and then twice before she darted inside and lay flat on her belly. Panting, she tried to quiet her heaving breaths and listen. Praying her hiding spot was well chosen, she set her pack between her paws and hugged it defensively against her chest. She would not feel entirely safe unless a good amount of time passed without hearing anything of that blasted tiger.
He screeched his rage as he swam through the water, cooling off while fuming at her insolence and persistence. When he felt he was calm enough to pursue her, Fintan shook off his thick, water-logged coat before bolting after her scent right up to a hallowed out trunk.
Prepared to spook the now obviously cornered human, the fierce tiger was in for the greatest shock of his life when he was met with not the pathetic hairless wonder of an idiot but instead a rather fluffy white ball of...fluff.
Fintan bared his teeth, growling softly as his tail whipped about in agitation. The scent was confusing him as this was obviously not the prey he had been after but yet this is where the trail ended and with no scents of blood or signs of carnage he doubt the human had managed to get herself eaten already. No, instead Fintan was faced with a second problem on his territory and truth be told he was not sure whether he was more intrigued or disturbed by this one.
It took so little time for him to find her, and that was so very disheartening, but she wasn't going to let it show. The growling was answered with a hiss as she flattened her ears to her skull. Feeling cornered, she hooked her pack on her teeth and rose to a low crouch as she slowly began backing out the other end of the tree trunk. Her eyes trained on him, she growled and hissed in warning entirely fed up with being chased by him and wanting him to stay back so she could leave in peace.
As soon as she was out of the trunk she was off once more, attempting to make her escape deeper into the jungle on graceful paws instead of clumsy feet, still having no idea she was well within the bounds of his territory.
'Oh no you don't!' he thought, diving into and through the tree trunk to follow her in hot pursuit. With knowledge of the terrain and his territory in his favor, Fintan easily ran abreast of the female, nudging his side into hers as they ran in hopes of throwing her off balance. His curiosity had been peaked the moment she latched onto the rucksack and taken off with it, making him wonder what would happen when he tried to take it from her.
Sophie rumbled unhappily once she realized she was not only not shaking him off her trail but he had caught up again. The nudging and bumping caused her to stumble and trip and nearly fall for the pack she stubbornly refused to let go, but she pressed on and ran even faster, her tail whipping about to help her keep her balance. The smaller leopard growled and hissed awkwardly at him for the weight on her jaw.
At least he wasn't outright attacking her. But why did he have to be so annoying? Couldn't he just leave her alone?!
Her defiance only served to anger him and Fintan was left with no other choice but to act and act quickly. He launched himself at her with a might shriek, landing on her back heavily, his teeth seeking purchase in the scruff of her furry neck as he growled fiercely in warning. If she so much as thought about resisting he would shake her until her eyes rolled about her skull, of that he was sure.
When his incessant pestering ceased momentarily she thought she was pulling ahead and would be in the clear. His scream had her tilting her head just in time to see him leaping for her. Yowling and trying to scoot out from under him and away, Sophie was yanked back sharply by the teeth locking on her scruff.
Shrieking in frustration and pain for being so abruptly stopped she toppled to the ground and laid flat on her belly. Fearing for her life in this position she rumbled and growled as loudly as she could to announce her displeasure but did nothing to resist him so openly asserting dominance and control over her.
Locking her teeth around her pack even tighter for fear of losing it in a fight, Sophie braced herself, her lean muscles coiling in tension and anger at the larger cat taking advantage of his size.
Fintan completely flattened himself out over her, hunkering down as low as he could with his full weight to prevent her from deciding she could make yet another dash for it. With a warning growl and a tug at her scruff he used one paw to try and reach around in front of her to swipe the bag away from her. It was now his rightful property given that the human female had gone missing in his territory and left her sack behind. This female could just shove off for all he cared. He was the king of his jungle and woe to she who tried to stop him from taking what was his.
Sophie hissed and scratched at the jungle floor, imagining it to be this brat of a tiger's flesh. Grunting unhappily for the way he tugged at her scruff she opened her mouth to growl and hiss again when she found herself staring at her pack being flung just out of reach and knocked from her mouth.
Grumbling her displeasure she instinctively reached for it but found it just out of how far she could comfortably stretch. Tilting her head to glare back at him, Sophie let out a string of rambling, unhappy noises unsure how to communicate 'let me go' to him. She didn't yet realize he intended to keep her sack, her lifeline, her maps and source of food, her journal.
He growled back just as loud and unhappy against her back while shake his head enough to try and get her to stop fighting him without harming her. Tentatively when he felt he had waited long enough and with his teeth still firmly gripping her scruff, Fintan attempted to drag her away from her sack and away from the edge of his territory as if he were carrying a young kitten who had been naughty.
She yowled and huffed and scratched at whatever she could reach even while he was shaking her. Once it was enough to give her a headache, though, she paused her resistance. Panic set in as he tried to drag her away and she grew even louder with her complaints even though she was bodily not strong enough to stop a young tiger with doing what he wanted with his 'prey.'
Sophie fought and scratched at him, turning around and making swipes at his front legs despite the pain in her scruff as she was pulled along.
Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Fintan gave her another punishing shake before plopping her back on the ground and laying on top of her. His teeth gripped her scruff harder as he growled and hissed loudly, daring her to continue to defy him. "Mine!" he tried to convey with every twitch of his tail. "Leave!"
Sophie growled and tried to squeeze out from under him but it did nothing for her and after fighting it a bit more she finally relaxed to lay down flat on her belly again. Her tail swished angrily as she kept her eyes on the prize and began to plan her escape and recovery of the bag.
Finally, deciding on what she would do, the leopard relaxed entirely and half closed her eyes in the closest display of submission she could muster. Her tail relaxed to lay flat on the ground and she retracted her claws to let fluffy paws lay bare beneath her.
Fintan slumped over her even as he squeezed her in close to him with his strong back legs and forepaws. For several tense moments he continued to hold her before ever so slowly coming to a conclusion that he had no other choice. Even if the female was smaller than him it was not enough to wrestle her away. He did not trust her surrender having done the same to his brother many times before.
Instead he resorted to his most hated last resort tactic. Fintan shifted into his human form, holding onto the furry animal beneath him as tight as he could for fear she would try and bolt on him. He did not relish the idea of going on yet another romp through his territory after yet another infuriating female.
She waited patiently, her throat tightening as she counted the seconds and silently begged for release from his grasp. Wasn't this enough?
She breathed a sigh of relief as she finally felt the weight on her back lighten. Puzzled as to why he would not entirely get up, though, Sophie angled her head to peek back at him and was shocked by what she saw. Eyes dilating and ears flickering around as she lifted her head to search the immediate area for signs of the great cat, she was not yet willing to admit to herself that he was that cat.
And then, realizing her 'opening' she did the only logical thing in her mind. Feeling her cat could not be bound by a single man she quickly flipped and rolled on him to try to knock him off before making a leaping dart for her pack. Clumsiness had her swiping at it and knocking it back behind her again and she glared at it as if it were the bag's fault as she turned to try and grab it.
Even in his human form he growled fiercely as she slipped out from beneath him some and he was forced to wrestle with her like a wild crocodile, rolling and twisting about in the dirt. At least though he was able to find enough purchase on her fur to lift her bodily off the ground, his strong arms securing her under both sets of armpits to ensure she would not suddenly roll in his arms and start shredding his front as he struggled to stand.
"None of that you over-sized rug," he rasped hoarsely in a voice that had obviously not been used in a long while. "You've given me enough trouble already. I won't have anymore fuss out of you on my lands. Now behave!"
Finding the pack just barely out of reach again as she was pulled up off the ground and found her paws dangling uselessly in the air Sophie let out the most pitiful complaint and excuse for a scream as she heaved to catch her breath. There was certainly no resisting being lifted but as she hung there she began to realize that this man was one and the same with the tiger that had been chasing her before.
Shocked that she had not seen him for a shifter before now she resorted to violence to try and hide her embarrassment. Shifting back to her human form she slammed her elbows back against his ribs and tried to push off and away from him. "I will behave when you stop chasing me!" she hissed grumpily, glaring at him over her shoulder. "You don't own this land. Nobody does. Trust me, I checked," she huffed.
He was in for quite the shock as fur suddenly receded into hair and clothed skin. "You!" he howled, his eyes narrowing as he recognized her at last in the moments that she pulled away from him. They only narrowed further to the thinnest of slits as she dared insult his claims to his territory.
"How dare you! This is too my land! I have fought for it. I have bled for it. I have staked my claim in it and I will not have some uppity northern fluffball tell me otherwise as she prances around like she owns the place! Get off my land!" The tiger within growled even as he stepped forward menacingly, blocking her from retrieving her rucksack.
"I am not uppity!" she retorted, entirely insulted that a stranger would ever say that of her. She was kind! She was gentle! She was a saint! How dare he! "It isn't your land! I have every right to be here! Every right! You're just a squatter! Doesn't mean you own it you dumb animal!" she grumbled, very aware of the way he was wordlessly pushing her back and blocking her from reaching her pack.
A quick glance down to the ground made her realize just how very naked he was. She immediately pitied how feral he'd let himself become, or so she thought, going about without any clothes to shift into. "I'll be on my way, my business is not with you anyway," she huffed, trying to step around him to scoop it up.
"Your business became mine when you entered lands that I have every claim to. You are the stranger and the trespasser here who talks as if she knows anything, as if claim is something to be looked up in a book," Fintan spat, his eyes flashing with russet anger.
He noticed her look but felt no shame over his nudity. Instead he again stepped closer and into her path so that he was toe to boot with her. "This is not on your way. The end of my territory is that way," he indicated by jutting his chin towards the land behind her. "You would do well to move along now."
Angered by his persistent blocking, Sophie continued to try and circle him so she could snatch up the pesky bag. "Well I will go when I get my personal property back. I can't leave without it, not that you would know anything about personal effects," she snapped, glaring at his bare chest for a moment before making solid eye contact.
He snarled and bared his teeth at her, continuing to turn with her so as to block her from it. "By rights everything that enters this territory is mine including you. I am doing you a service by allowing you to leave. Quit trying my patience you pathetic excuse for a shifter!" The features of his face shifted ever so slightly as an animalistic scream tore from his throat before he reverted back to his more human-like features. "I will not continue to be so lenient if you persist in trying my patience!"
Sophie just stared at him, unimpressed by what she thought was disgusting proof of his lack of control between his forms. She was immediately pegging him as immature, as someone who could not even manage himself in two bodies with the way his features shifted with emotion. "You're such an animal, you have no right to judge me or keep my things hostage," she said as calmly as she could, trying to reason with him.
"Just let me take my bag, the one I came here with, and I'll leave. That's all. Just want what's already mine. Mine. Not yours. Mine," she emphasized each with a pointed finger at his chest or her own before once again trying to step around him for it.
Fed up with arguing, further incensed by her pointing, and seeing he would not get anywhere with the way she was carrying on, Fintan was left with no other choice than to act. As she once more moved to go around him, the tiger-shifter latched onto her wrist and yanked her hard against his chest while using his other to keep her in place.
"Enough!"
And just as it was within her reach again she was being yanked away from it. She was not still even as he held her against himself. "How dare you!" she scoffed, pushing at him and setting a firm kick to his calf. "Such an animal, I swear. Or a coward. Or both," she spat angrily, rolling her eyes at the outrageousness of this whole ordeal. "Apparently nobody ever taught you any manners.
"Get your hands off of me. Now," she demanded with a snarl, her light eyes flashing with rage that some stranger, and a man at that, would grab her in such a way.
He held her as if she was nothing more than a squirming child in need of a nap, giving her a squeeze when she kicked him but all the while refusing to let her go. "Or you'll what," he taunted with flashing teeth. "You've been nothing but a fly buzzing about my ear since you first waltzed your way in here and now you refuse to march yourself back out. You leave me with no other choice." So saying, Fintan bodily lifted her up and tossed her over his shoulder, his arms latching onto her legs to keep her from kicking as he attempted to move them further out of his territory.
"I'm not refusing!" she protested, upset that he was lifting her like that and pinning her to his shoulder. She let her fist slam into his back in retaliation, not willing to give up without a fight. "You can't keep my stuff! That's stealing!" she complained, trying to push off from his shoulder but falling back down to it with her legs pinned as they were.
"I just need it back!" she insisted, forlornly staring at the lumpy pack as he carried her away from it. "And then I'll be out of your hair forever!" she promised.
Fintan huffed and snorted but continued walking, his eyes focused straight ahead as he fought to ignore her. The sooner he dumped her off on his brother's territory, the sooner she stopped being his problem and became someone else's. If he was lucky perhaps his brother would even be close enough to drag her off to have his fun with.
"Wouldn't that be lovely," he muttered under his breath.
"That's right!" she agreed, having no idea he might not have been speaking to her. "So just let me go get it and I'll be gone! Never see me again!" She was getting desperate and the calm was cracking as she thumped a weaker fist against him. "Please. I'm not here to bother anyone. I'm just trying to do my job," she pleaded, hoping he might see reason.
"Oh and your job involves terrorizing people in their homes does it now?! Well aren't you a considerate little bitch wanting to leave now that you've had your fun and caused your trouble, nevermind all the bothering you have already done!"
Fintan unceremoniously dropped her as if she was nothing more than a bag of stones. "Off with you now. Go bother someone else," he shooed her while drawing a line in the dirt with his heel. "This," motioned to his side of the line, "is mine while that," he motioned to where she was, "is not my problem. Mine. Not mine. Got it?"
"No!" she protested. "It doesn't! Oh goddess you don't listen!" she groaned. She grunted for being dropped and scrambled to her feet ready to fight again, but she was taken aback with his drawing a line in the ground.
Realizing she would get nowhere with this right now she glared at him and heaved a mournful sigh as she turned without a word and marched away. She needed rest and she needed to think, and she couldn't stand being near the idiot any longer. "You'll regret this," she called over her shoulder before disappearing to wander aimlessly in this unfamiliar area deeper in the jungle. Certainly she could do her job without her things. Thinking about it, the only really important thing she couldn't stand to lose was her journal. But even that was replaceable in time. Nobody could take her memories away at least.
Fintan waited passively, his arms crossed over his chest as she stormed off into his brother's territory. No emotion displayed across his face as he observed to see if she would double back. Only after a considerable amount of time had passed did he at last turn his back on her and go to retrieve her rucksack.
With a grunt he slung it over his shoulder before trudging deeper into his lands to disappear amongst the foliage in search of a good resting place. All of his running after her had left him tired and distressed. He wanted nothing more now than to snooze and forget about her.
Nothing looked comfortable here. Nothing looked anything like her home. Still, she was determined to find a decent place to rest after such an unexpected ordeal. Finally settling on a fallen tree she thought might be a good landmark and point of reference she noisily began ripping small branches from surrounding trees and plants to build herself a nest of sorts and at least some small shelter should the goddess be unkind and pour rain down upon her.
Curling up on a bed of leaves she lay awake and listening to the sounds around her as her head rested on her arm for a pillow instead of the familiar pack she traveled with. Exhaustion tugged at her eyelids but each time she closed her eyes she only found herself thinking of what she could have possibly done to prevent the loss of her beloved property.
While Fintan rested, another tiger was drawn from his own rest to the sound of a stranger in his territory. Prowling within the shadows he was amused to find the young female attempting to make a bed out of branches when in his opinion it would be far better to have climbed up in a tree to sleep.
Ultan, as the large tiger was called, shifted fluidly into his human form appearing almost identical to his smaller brother Fintan save for the many scars adorning his torso as well as the more yellow than orange eyes peering out from beneath thick brows. He lounged against a tree, arms and legs crossed as he waited for the little human to wake whenever that might be. She looked delightful and there was no doubt in his mind there was fun to be had where this one was concerned.
Sophie got little sleep that night. Though she was accustomed to travel and odd sleeping arrangements there was nothing that would ever beat the comfort of her home den. Groggily she emerged from her shoddy shelter, her eyes observing the landscape around her as she listened for where water might be. She turned once, then twice before following her ears. She was none the wiser that she was being watched.
As she paced his resting place, Ultan rumbled appreciatively. "Good morning to you dear, sleep well?" he growled ruggedly at her, his eyes practically dancing as he drank in her form openly as he would prey.
Startling slightly, she stopped and turned to look back at where the voice was coming from. Not really studying him enough to see there were differences between this man and the one she'd scuffled with the previous day, Sophie frowned and shook her head before continuing on her way. "Not really. Thanks to you," she answered. She wanted to ask why he'd followed her if this wasn't supposed to be his land, but she was mostly disappointed that she hadn't seen her bag anywhere. "We have nothing to talk about if you aren't going to return what's mine, so you can stop the pleasantries," she sighed.
"Oh? And what praytell of yours have I seemingly taken?" Ultan asked, falling into step beside her. "Before last evening when I first laid eyes upon you making your little nest I had never seen you before. Though I regret we had not met sooner for you are indeed a sight to behold for sore eyes. Have you been traveling this humble jungle long my dear?"
Sophie shot a glare his way. Never in her life had she encountered men who seemed to feel it was acceptable to hold a conversation while naked. This jungle was a very strange place. It was then, though, that she realized he was different than the one she'd seen who'd taken her bag. His eyes were different at least and he wasn't wearing necklaces, she noticed, though she hadn't quite caught on that they were related. But she snapped her chin up to stare ahead, not wanting him to think her looks were at all of admiration.
"My apologies," she mumbled, shaking her head. "There was...someone else. I arrived yesterday. He stole my bag. Well...he won't give it back to me. And he knows it's mine," she scoffed, upset by even the thought of the shifter who'd refused letting her leave with her own personal property. Thinking back on what he'd said though, she cast him a puzzled, and slightly concerned, glance as she continued walking. "You shouldn't watch people," she snipped, shaking her head in disappointment at the seeming lack of manners of the people here.
Ultan smiled in a predatory fashion as he continued. "Not even when the one being watched is the most beautiful creature to ever grace this side of the jungle? My dear there are many a dangerous creature amongst these trees who would seek to harm you even in your precious sleep. Be thankful I took such an interest as to ensure you remained unharmed. A missing bag would have the least of your worries had I not."
The compliment was not lost on her, but it was unappreciated when paired with words that suggested she was helpless or vulnerable. "Trust me, I can take care of myself. I am not a helpless cub." When at last she came upon the stream she'd heard she kneeled to scoop a few handfuls of water to drink and gave herself a few splashes to the face. "Besides," she finally offered. "I'm looking for a creature many would consider dangerous. I'm here on a job," she explained, hoping he would leave it alone if she gave a vague explanation.
"Cub? A strange choice of words don't you think? And what," he asked watching as she bent over to drink water, "pray tell does your job entitle? What dangerous creature as you say is your quarry?"
She shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with her choice of words or why it might seem that way to an 'outsider.' "Well, if you must know, I am a huntress. I'm looking for a tiger. The biggest one in the jungle," she gestured with her hands but was quite certain the cat she was after would be much bigger than she could show. "And I'm to bring him home. So far I've found one, but... turned out to be a dud. So I'm scouting."
He could not help himself and snorted, knowing exactly who she was after and taking great amusement in the fact she had no idea what she was up against. "You're a little small for a huntress. How ever do you plan to catch this king of our humble jungle? You already said you've lost your pack. You don't sound all that off to a promising start my dear. I would be willing to help you find this beast though if you so desired. I know exactly of whom you speak and where to find his impressive hide."
He doubted her. Sophie frowned and shook her head. "Well, my people are as determined as we are small. I have my methods, don't you worry." Sophie was surprised, though, that he was offering to help her. "Well I'm not a fool enough to turn down help when I need it. Where can I find him?" she asked eagerly, standing and turning to face Ultan properly.
Ultan smirked lazily, allowing his eyes to trace every inch of her body before answering. "He moves as he pleases, expanding his territory and fighting off trespassers. But in the center of these lands there is a place he tends to circle back to. I am sure we will find him there at some point. He is never far tough from where trouble is and I do not doubt my dear that you are a world of it."
She listened, intrigued but a little worried. It hadn't occurred to her before that the biggest male would likely also be the most aggressive and territorial. It was something she was quickly learning about the cats. "Well, by all means, lead me to him," she smiled appreciatively, ignoring the looks she knew he was giving her, but her expression turned to one of confusion quickly. "Why do you think I'm trouble?" she asked.
"You're a woman," he replied. "They're always trouble, especially if they're worth it." Ultan licked his lips and stood up straight. "Are you ready to go or is there something more you wish to do before we head off? Is your pack that essential?"
She wasn't sure what to think of that but didn't find it incredibly insulting. She was confident she could hold her own if there was any real trouble. "Well, it would certainly help, but...no, not essential. I'll figure out how to get it back, I'm sure," she sighed, having no idea how she was going to convince the man who'd kept it from her to return it. "We can go...when you're ready," she told him, giving him a once over again to imply he wouldn't be until he got himself clothed.
Missing her meaning, his smirk only grew wider. "Like what you see?" he commented as he held out a hand to her. "Allow me to lead the way, fair maiden."
"Not...really," she answered awkwardly. "You remind me of someone I hate." Sophie didn't offer her hand, though, even as he prompted her for it. Instead, she kept her arms hanging at her sides like normal, like he'd never even asked. "Go ahead," she urged him. "I'll follow."
Ultan hummed and cocked a brow at her. "And who might that be? You've met another man as well-figured as myself before? I assure you, I can bring you far more pleasure than he. These scars aren't all from wild animals you know. Or at least they weren't considered that before they entered my bed," he told her lasciviously.
"It would really do much better if we walked side by side, though I can understand your not wanting to be deprived of the view of my backside." He laughed before turning around and heading deeper within his territory with all the confidence of a man who owned the place.
His forwardness left her wide-eyed and standing in shock as a blush crept to her cheeks. "I don't know, he looked a lot like you," she muttered, waving at him dismissively and a bit embarrassed that he would be so open about his body and the things he was implying he'd done with it. The people of her homelands were not nearly as much.
"Well, that works just fine for me," she answered, hurrying to fall into step beside him instead so he wouldn't think she was trying to do anything of the sort. "How far would you say this place is?"
"It is right in the center of his territory and you happen to find yourself on the edge so I'd say on foot about mm half a day's walk if you can keep up? Perhaps a day given your uh," he gave her another once over, "more compact stature? Will that be a problem? I could always carry you if you wished to get there faster."
Sophie sighed, not knowing what else she expected to hear of it. "No, no, I don't need that, I'm fine. I've come this far on foot, shouldn't be too bad," she told him, though it was more to encourage herself.
"You know, you can quit calling me small and compact. I know I may not look capable, but I assure you I am not impaired in any way. I'll keep up," she promised with a confident nod, picking up her pace hoping he wouldn't feel the need to slow down for her.
Ultan chuckled to himself and easily began to move to outpace her. "If you say so my dear. I would hate for you to tire out so easily." With that said, the large man began to tear his way through his territory as efficiently as he would in his more natural tiger form, daring his little trespasser to keep up for long, if she could.
She increased her pace little by little, embarrassed but determined as she found she had to jog to keep up with him. And then run. She panted lightly but was very far from winded. "A half day...you said?" she wondered between breaths, dreading that he might keep this fast of a pace the entire time. "You know, I usually count my travel in terms of walking time," she grumbled.
"I'm sorry," he quipped. "Is this not walking for you? I did say it would most likely be a full day." Ultan slowed his pace tremendously to better accommodate her much shorter stride. "You insisted though you could keep up or was I mistaken in my heathen understanding?" He grinned toothily at her even as he hopped over a fallen log effortlessly.
Sophie glared at him, gesturing at herself. "Do I look like I'm walking?" she grumbled, slowing down to a gentle jog and refusing to say anything of thanks for him slowing down. "I guess I'm fine with it taking a day... What's a day when I have weeks to get home anyway," she reasoned, shrugging and trying to find a way to comfortably walk instead while keeping pace with him. "As long as you're sure you know the way."
"So confident you can even catch him when you can barely keep up with a man's pace. How ever will you ensnare a tiger several times faster and stronger? Seems to me little woman that you are all talk and no walk. Perhaps it would be prudent to retrieve your bag of tricks from your little thief. But that's just my advice," he added nonchalantly before turning to face forward again at his new lazy pace.
She shook her head, seeing no point in arguing with a man about her job when he couldn't even have the decency to wear clothes. What she didn't want to admit was her worry of actually performing her job seeing as she couldn't really handle herself effectively in either of her forms against the shifter she'd encountered the previous day.
"I have my ways, no need to worry about me. Wild animals are dumber than you might think," she told him with a chuckle. "Besides, I'm sure he's probably already destroyed my stuff... Not that anything I had would have helped me. It was all...sentimental stuff. And food."
Ultan shook his head, his "fur" ruffled at the idea that he was just a dumb animal. "Ah but you've never met this tiger," he persisted. "He's smarter than you think and if you continue with your line of thinking you're likely to be eaten."
Pausing for a moment in thought, he suddenly stopped and turned to her. "This man that stole your things wouldn't happen to be one and the same with the man that resembles me now would he?"
Not expecting him to stop dead, Sophie walked past him a bit before turning to face him. "Yeah," she sighed. "That would be him. About as tall but...he was wearing a lot of necklaces and things. Come to think of it, he didn't like wearing clothes either. Must be a native thing," she grumbled.
"Why? Do you know him?"
"Fintan," he hissed with a rather competitive gleam in his eyes. "My dear I insist we turn right around and claim your rucksack back from that pathetic excuse of a man! It simply will not do to allow him to bully you around in such a way!" Without waiting for her assumed protests, Ultan latched onto the girl's arm and began to pull her back towards his brother's territory, his heart pumping in anticipation of the fight he was about to enjoy.
She thought it a rather pointless trip to be making, given how firm of a no she'd received about it before, but she that this man seemed to know the thief seemed encouraging at least. Perhaps he would know how to persuade him. Hurrying along to not be dragged by her arm the shifter tried to pull her arm away from his grasp but found his grip on her quite firm.
"He was very stubborn, I didn't know what else to do but leave it with him. He threw me away and told me to stay out," she grumbled. "But maybe he'll listen to you?" she wondered hopefully.
Ultan was practically running with glee now that he had a reason to see his dear puny brother again. "Oh he will if he knows what's good for him. Otherwise his pathetic furry behind is going to be crushed six feet underground," he gloated. "You mustn't fault yourself though dear. Fintan is notorious for his preconceived notions that he is the biggest, baddest boy around. But in actuality that's all he is, a boy."
She tried to keep pace with him, finding herself needing to jog again to keep up with his long strides. "Well he sure acted like it," she sighed, taking note of his mention of the other man being 'furry.' Perhaps he knew him well enough to know he was a shifter, though she wasn't yet catching on to their much closer relationship and that this man was the same.
Rushing through the trees, though, she didn't know the landscape well enough to be able to tell if they were anywhere near the areas she'd seen the previous night especially with her compromised vision given her usual unwillingness to travel in what she felt was her more vulnerable form despite the sharper senses it lended her.
Drawing up on the territory border fast, Ultan gave a shout in hopes of drawing Fintan out to play. "Oy Fintan!" he hollered at the top of his lungs, "got something for you!" It was not long before the shifter made his appearance, once more in tiger form and this time hissing and screeching, his fur standing on end at the sight of his brother so close to home. He had not yet noticed the woman so close behind though as he focused on posturing and pacing in warning.
She winced for his yelling but glared at the tiger that appeared, recognizing him all too well. Moving up to stand beside Ultan she crossed her arms and just stared at him with a scowl. "See? He's probably gone and hidden it somewhere, this isn't going to get anywhere," she conceded, fully expecting this man to cower in the face of the tiger.
Fintan screamed in horror at the woman hoping to warn her away from the bully before rushing at Ultan who only laughed and opened his arms wide. The two crashed into each other just as Ultan shifted into his own ferocious tiger form so that the pair became a blurred ball of screeching, screaming, striped orange and black fur. The girl was quickly forgotten as they fought over everything they always had, their territory, their pride, their honor, and their very lives.
She stepped back as she saw Fintan running for the man, not wanting to get trampled, but she stood frozen with shock for witnessing Ultan shift as well. Blinking at the fighting males she was so very discouraged by her task and grumbled under her breath, "I suppose nobody thought to tell me this was a jungle of shifters before coming all the way out here."
Shaking her head, Sophie stubbornly stepped back into Fintan's territory and marched on, determined to retrieve her belongings if she had the good luck to find them at all.
Oblivious to the female leaving them both, Fintan and Ultan continued with their brawl, tearing into each other with the intent to kill. Teeth sank into flesh as claws raked across it and screams rent the jungle air, silencing all other natural sounds until a victor could at last be found. One tiger had managed to flip the other onto his back and currently stood over him, his teeth sunk into the vulnerable throat to slowly cut off air supply.
All the terrible sounds they created had her wincing and flinching as she could hear other animals startling or fleeing the area, but she pressed on. Her eyes were peeled for any sign of the worn bag, worried that he'd just dumped it somewhere or torn apart her journal. The sounds in the distance continued as she pressed on, sending a shiver down her back and giving her pause to wonder if she should try to stop them. What use would it be, though? She'd already been shown she was much weaker than just the one and she didn't know the politics of these shifters as she hadn't known they'd existed at all until the past day.
More scuffling followed before silence once more fell over the jungle. "You idiot!" a voice roughly declared as a hand yanked the girl around to face him. Fintan, once more in human form was huffing for breath even as blood ran down from cuts to his face, throat, and abdomen. "Do you have any idea what he was going to do to you? Are you that daft woman?! Stay away from him!" he roared while trying to shake her.
Distracted by her search she hadn't heard his approach and squeaked in surprise as he pulled her to a halt. Staring up at him and blinking in surprise, Sophie just shook her head though she frowned some for the blood she saw. "You're hurt," she stated plainly, as if reminding him of wounds he didn't know he had.
She winced for the shaking and tried to back away from him. "Don't be so dramatic, he was fine. Much nicer to me than you were. He's going to be helping me, I just came back to take what's mine," she explained, stupidly trusting Ultan still despite what Fintan was saying now. "Where did you put my stuff?"
"Helping you do what?" Fintan barked, refusing to let her go as he blinked blood out of his eye. "Ultan is the biggest, meanest bully of this jungle. If you think I was bad booting you out of my territory you have absolutely no concept of what he would do to you. What did he promise you even? Because I assure you whatever it was would lead to you being his little pet until he tired of you and dumped your furry carcass somewhere in the nearest river."
Breathing heavily still while his whole body tensed under the effort not to shake or crush her to understand the seriousness of the situation, Fintan finally sighed painfully and dropped his head in defeat. His hands slid down from their bruising grip on her biceps to fall limply at his side. "It's in the tree hollow," he replied quietly without looking at her.
"He was going to help me. I'm looking for a tiger, a wild one mind you, and he... he said he knew where one was and..." It slowly dawned on her just what Ultan could have been implying by that and she let her eyes fall in shame, embarrassed that if such a thing were true she had entirely fallen for it.
"I just don't know my way around here. And he offered to help me so I thought he meant good by it," she apologized, watching him slump in defeat. "The tree hollow," she repeated thoughtfully, lifting her head. To her, that meant absolutely nothing with all the trees surrounding them. "Well...which tree? There's quite a lot of them here. I...have some bandaging if you haven't destroyed anything. You can have it. I mean, it's meant more for setting bones but," she winced, looking him over again. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had one or two."
Fintan sighed again and shook his head. "It's over there," he said while pointing in the general direction of the tree before plopping down on the ground to give his shaking body a break. "He's the most dangerous tiger here," he admitted weakly. "And I don't say that just because he's a bully and an asshole and my brother but because he truly has earned his title."
"Oh, your brother... I knew he looked familiar but maybe not that familiar." Sophie headed off in the direction he'd directed her, crouching before each of the trees she came across before finally plucking her pack from its hiding place. Gripping it to her tightly, she quickly opened it to find its contents undisturbed and her journal safely where she'd left it. Trotting back over to him, she knelt and offered him the roll of loose bandaging in an outstretched hand.
"I didn't know that... I don't really know anything about this place," she admitted. "Are you two the only tigers here? Are there any wild ones? Non-shifters?" she questioned him gently.
He shook his head at the bandaging, already in too much pain to be able to apply it properly himself and too stubborn to admit someone should help him. "For someone so sure she knew what she was doing you really did come unprepared. There are others like me here, my mother and sister to name too. The non-shifters exist but we do not see them often. We are considered the upper end of the territorial hierarchy. Is it possible it was in fact one of us you were after and not one of our shyer brethren?"
"I see," she offered, a bit disappointed he wouldn't take the bandages, feeling like it was a rejection of her. Setting the bag down to put them back she cautiously sat beside him and listened to his explanation. "No... At least I hope that wouldn't be possible. I was sent here by a wealthy man," she explained. "He wanted a tiger. To hunt for sport or as a trophy if I can't bring one back alive, but I wouldn't dream of treading through shifters' ground for one. I'm sorry that I didn't realize any sooner." It upset her slightly, knowing now that there was an entire family here and she'd been none the wiser.
"You blend in, though, so that's good," she offered, smiling some as she made to stand. "Very...tiger-y. I'll get out of your hair, sorry about...this whole thing. Thank you for letting me have my things back."
"Stay," he said with a sigh. "You might as well. You've already wasted the day and it isn't safe for you to head back to his territory. At least here you know your "enemy" as you may call me is too weak to put up much of a fight. You can rest here and sort yourself out in the morning. I won't chase you off this time. My word is my bond," Fintan assured her.
"Well, thank you. That's very kind of you. Certainly not an enemy." Sophie flashed an appreciative smile while holding out her hand, fulling expecting him to shake on it anyway. "Fintan? I think that's what he called you. Sophie."
He looked up and down between her hand and her face before slowly reaching his own out and pressing his palm flat against hers, not understanding what a handshake was. "Aye, Fintan. You are...Sophie, then? Where do you hail from little fluffball," he teased while trying to hide the pain he was in as it was all just starting to hit him at once.
She shook his hand enthusiastically, delighted that he'd even gone half way on it. "Yes, Sophie. I-" She let her jaw hang slightly for being called a 'fluffball', and she couldn't help a small laugh for it. "I'm from Hyoite. In the north. Lots of snow, that kind of thing. And there I am no 'little fluffball,'" she assured him, kneeling to prepare a nest of dead leaves for herself without ceremony. "I am a great huntress. I have fame and honor and I am utterly beloved," she teased back.
Fintan snorted. "Your people must either have very small standards or are just extremely lazy," he jested back. "Alas though you are not home and here you are indeed a tiny fluffball. Or perhaps I should call you a snowball?" He wiggled his brows at her teasingly, then flopped back to lay down, uncaring how vulnerable he made himself.
"Bastard Ultan," he cursed under his breath.
"Snowball?" she chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief but knowing this was not a battle to fight, playful or otherwise. She settled in the bed of leaves she'd made and set her head to rest on her pack as she was most comfortable with, at last able to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Ultan?" she wondered aloud, flipping to lay on her other side to face him. "The...other man?" she guessed, glancing over what injuries she could see and frowning, knowing it must still hurt a lot. "I wish you a speedy recovery," she told him sincerely, wincing.
The tiger-shifter hummed in agreement. "My brother, yes. Unfortunately. He'll be back eventually. My chance at recovery never truly lasts long. It is the way of the wild here though. Your land is yours and you must defend it from any outsider or risk losing it to that outsider. I'm sure you understand though. Surely it is the same in your homeland."
Sophie frowned, finding it a very brutal way to live. "Not...really? I'm sure it is not agreeable with the leopards of a more natural variety but my family is very close. We share a territory and defend it together," she explained, knowing it was uncharacteristic of her wild counterparts. "And that way it's large enough to accommodate us all, but I don't really use my other form very often so my siblings benefit the most of it," she told him.
"If that's...your shared border," she gestured at the direction she'd left them in last, wincing as she remembered the glimpse of their fight she'd witnessed. "Why stay close enough to it that he bothers you?" she wondered.
"You have just provided the answer to your own question," he returned tiredly. "Ultan can not be left to his own devices. He will take that which is not defended. Some years ago there was another who was a buffer between us. Ultan won and now I have him for a neighbor. It is the way of the jungle. If we don't fight, we don't survive. I couldn't imagine life without spending most of it in my natural form," Fintan commented, referencing back to what she had said earlier. "How can you not want to be the leopardess? Or is because your the fluffy snowball?"
"How sad... He seemed nice earlier. If a bit...predatory," she winced. His repeated jabs at her cat were not lost on her, though, and she flopped over onto her back to get more comfortable and stare up at the branches and stars above.
"I like it enough, don't get me wrong, but I guess it's just how I was raised? My parents prefer being humans and all the comforts it provides...and I guess I got comfortable with it, too. My leopard is mostly just a way of hiding or a faster form for travel when I need it. But it feels...like a second body to me. Not like a part of me, if that makes sense."
Fintan shook his head. "It doesn't," he stated plainly. For a long while he just laid there listening to his homeland sing its nightly lullaby as he pondered what to do with this infuriating female. First she had wandered onto his lands and forced him to chase her for a full day. Then she had managed to get herself into trouble with his loathsome brother and he spent another fighting the bastard off to save her. He wearily wondered what she was going to force him into doing come morning's light. With a heavy sigh he rolled and shifted into his bestial form, stretching slightly as he began to prowl in search of any problems that might disturb Sophie in the night.
"Oh," she muttered, a bit taken aback by his bluntness. After watching him leave she returned to studying the night sky, unaware of his troubles as she curled up to sleep, uncaring for the dangers of his jungle home.
Upon waking she stood up and stretched, letting her hands tangle in her hair as they came back down to pull stubborn leaves from it. Rummaging through her pack for food, as she had not eaten now in two days time, she was disheartened to see how low her supply was. Taking just a small amount to spare herself hunger later, Sophie sat and flipped to a blank page in her journal. Crunching softly, she began scribbling down her account with the shifter brothers she'd met in the past day. If nothing else, she needed a cautionary tale for herself in the future. When she could think of no more to write, though, and having plenty of space left on the back of the page, she took to drawing what she could remember of Fintan's tiger.
By the time that Sophie awoke, Fintan was already halfway across his territory on patrol. He ran, burning off steam while trying to keep his sore muscles active in hopes that they would not lock up on him later. As he ran he came across something that gave him pause. He could do something nice for Sophie. She had not seemed all that bad the night before, perhaps even the slightest big grateful for his actions even if she did not say so. Coming to a conclusion he took off, racing through his jungle to achieve his goal.
When at last he had what he needed, he made his way back to where he left her in time to see her deeply concentrated on something in her lap. Feeling the slightest bit mischievous he barreled towards her, yowling in warning as he came up right behind her to pounce.
Concentrating on filling in the stripes of her drawing, she didn't realize Fintan was back until he was nearly upon her. Lifting her head sharply for the sounds behind her, she looked over her shoulder in surprise as he raced towards her. Sensing it was him but slightly unsure, a bit worried the other shifter might have returned for her, it was all she could do to brace for impact. Tucking her precious journal against her stomach, she turned to flop over on her side, hoping he may just miss and run right over her.
Fintan skidded to a halt, his back half sliding around as he pivoted on his front and came to a resting crouch facing the now toppled Sophie. A rumbling echoed from his chest as his tail swished about playfully and he seemed to grin in his feline form. Just as suddenly as he had charged her he was up and headbutting her arm and rubbing himself against her, instinctively marking her as part of his territory.
She laughed in surprise, shaking her head at the way he bumped and rubbed against her. Sitting up, she pushed at his furry shoulder and groaned for what she saw as playfulness. "Well good morning to you, too," she laughed, setting her book and breakfast aside before the small sack of dried fruits was spilled across the ground. "Looks like your mood's turned around," she commented, ruffling the fur of his scruff before trying to stand.
He mouthed her hair, then gave the collar of her shirt a tug with his teeth wanting to get her to come with him. Fintan had a surprise for her that he wanted to share from his romp through the jungle. Another tug and a playful growl hopefully would be enough to get her moving back in the direction he had come from.
"Ick," she scolded him playfully for mouthing her hair. Realizing he was trying to get her to move, she packed up her things and slung her bag across her back. "Alright, alright," she soothed, petting his side cautiously, ready to follow his lead. "What is it?"
'Finally,' he thought, bounding ahead to take her through the tree cover. Uncaring that she most likely could not keep up, Fintan began to drag something big and heavy back towards her until he was able to plop the animal carcass at her feet with male-tiger pride. His eyes squinted shut as if he were smiling while staring up at her face waiting for praise and approval.
Sophie followed him, wary of her steps as she danced around the brush he slid through so easily in his feline form. It was the smell that hit her first, her eyes dilating in hunger as she came upon him dragging a carcass. Watching him warily, she licked her lips with uncertainty and gestured at the body with confusion. "That's...a lot of food. You must have a big appetite," she joked, uncertain if he'd meant to share with her or just show it off.
He huffed and pushed the animal closer to her, trying to get his point across. With a shake of his head he reached up and gave her sleeve a tug with his mouth before pointing with his paw at the carcass and then to them both again. "Shaaaaare."
Understanding his gesture in pulling her closer, Sophie gave him an appreciative smile and set her bag aside and shifted into her feline form as she approached the carcass. Excited, she licked at her muzzle as she studied it, looking it over before deciding she should leave the meatiest parts for him. Crouching down, she tore into the flank of the body to begin eating her fill, a hum of happy purring reverberating through her at the satisfaction of a large meal at last.
A sense of pride bloomed within his chest at the sight of a receptive female partaking of his kill. The sound she made though both shocked and intrigued him though. Having grown up as a tiger-shifter and around other tigers, Fintan had never heard purring before and cautiously he reached his paw out towards her before giving her a nervous but swift bop to the shoulder while rumbling worriedly in his throat.
Confused as to why he was bothering her while she was eating, Sophie stopped her sounds for being bopped and raised her head to stare at him questioningly. Seeing nothing wrong with what she was doing, she thought perhaps he wanted the part she was eating and lazily walked around to the other side to bite into the shoulder instead, her purring resuming as she swallowed, entirely enjoying her meal in otherwise silence.
Fintan just stared at her. Being very delicate given his size he returned her portion of food to her, not wanting her to think he was being an asshole and depriving her of the food he had already offered. But, the moment it was down he was nudging his head and nose under her throat, feeling the vibrations of her purring against his head. He even went so far to lick under her chin, in a gesture of comfort as if he was trying to fix her.
The pressure at her throat was a bit alarming. Never in her life had she met anyone so insistent upon disturbing her meal, as she saw it. Feeling he just might not understand any boundaries, the purring stopped dead and her ears flattened to her skull. With a warning growl she backed away from the carcass and raised a paw as she tensely sat back on her haunches, ready to swipe at him should he try it again. She didn't yet realize that he was simply curious about the purring and that he'd never heard it before.
She had a mind to just leave and continue on her way, but her stomach still rumbled with hunger and she would have been a fool to leave without a full belly of free, pre-killed food.
He huffed and sighed, once more nudging the food towards her with his nose. Fintan then made a yowling sound and rubbed at his own throat. His whiskers twitch while trying to replicate her purring but all that came out was a bunch of snorting that resulted in coughing. With a pathetic yowl he gave up and laid down, his paws resting under his chin.
Watching him with interest, Sophie finally bared her teeth in a smile and snorted at the sad look of him attempting to mimic her. Her ears perked back up again and it was then she realized he was not able to perform the same sound. Trying to help him, she approached and lowered her head to nudge at his cheek while conjuring the purring out of thin air again, gradually ramping up its intensity as she licked at his fur, trying to show him that it was a happy sound.
Startled by her affection, Fintan yowled and tensed but was soon relaxing instinctively under her soothing bathing. He tried again at purring but instead only ended up with growling. Giving up, he turned on her and gave her a lick to the shoulder then a playful shove back towards the food. He himself also began to dig in and eat, feeling at peace for once with someone so closeby while he ate.
Sophie felt a bit bad that he still seemed unable to copy the sound. Perhaps he just needs more practice, she guessed, watching him as he began to eat. Happy that he'd thought to share with her despite what she'd admitted to him the previous day, she ate her fill, happily tearing into the carcass and careful to not encroach upon what she suspected he considered his "area."
When she was full she licked the blood from her muzzle and rumbled happily in her chest, giving him her best look of thanks as she moved to lie down beside her bag, the meal deserving a bit of a rest before she would be on her way as she was truly worried what that much raw meat might do to her more human stomach.
Fintan continued gorging for quite a bit after her until nothing truly edible or desirable remained on the bones of the carcass. With a massive huff and a sigh, he flopped down not far from her. Lazily, he began to groom first his paws then his face and chest to the best of his ability. A particularly stubborn spot on his chest proved impossible though and with a grumble he finally flopped fully onto his side and gave up, his eyes closing to relaxed slits.
Lounging and content, she observed the way he cleaned himself, finding it a bit amusing that he didn't seem flexible enough to finish the task. Enjoying the warmth that enveloped her from the jungle's heat, Sophie dozed lightly for the rest of the morning.
When she at last awoke from her food-induced nap the leopard slowly rose to her feet and approached him. Watching him curiously, she lowered her head to his chest and swiped her tongue at the spot he'd struggled with before quickly dancing away. Returning to retrieve her bag and carrying it with her head held high she said her best way of saying a clumsy "goodbye" in a series of huffs, snorts, and rumblings around the material before heading off in a random direction she assumed would lead her deeper in the jungle. She was still a bit curious if her trip could be salvaged and needed to see for herself what lived there.
He watched her from between the slits of his eyes as she surprised him and licked at his troublesome spot before taking off. With a grumble he rolled back to his paws and was soon trailing after, curious to see what she was up to. Fintan had not caught her "goodbye" for what it was and was not about to let her out of his sight quite yet.
Not realizing he had not understood her vocalizations, Sophie continued along happily and none the wiser that she was being followed for a long while, until she caught a glimpse of his stripes and stopped, spinning herself lazily to face him. Greeting him with a series of happy yips and chortling, she tilted her head in a questioning manner wondering silently why he was following her.
Fintan responded to her greeting several gentle rumbling growls and a playful swat to her tail. Ignoring her question though he moved to stand beside her, rubbing the length of his body completely against hers as he did to mark her with his scent.
"Mine," he wanted to say. "All mine."
The gesture entirely missed upon her, Sophie simply purred for the bit of affection and nuzzled against his hip in return as she side-stepped to try and circle around him. Thinking he simply wanted to accompany her, she playfully batted at his rear paws to signal he should move before heading off again in her exploring.
Play-growling at her, Fintan scampered after her to rub up along her other side before moving to cut her off and rub his side across her front, his head nuzzling the back of her neck and shoulder as he went. He even went so far to give her a familiar lick to the point between her front shoulder blades.
Still viciously holding onto her pack, almost afraid he would try to take it from her again, Sophie stood and watched him. Puzzled but enjoying the attention for what she thought it may have been, getting to know her, she indulged him for a few moments and rubbed her cheek along his side as he went past, standing still to let him nuzzle at the more sensitive area he ventured towards.
But just as soon as she was relaxing into the contact, thinking she was beginning to understand him, she was off again and stepping around him as if he were merely a tree in her path. She purred lightly, though, not wishing him to feel spurned by her restlessness.
Fintan rolled his eyes, loping alongside her for a bit until he felt she had gone far enough in one direction. Then, he nudged her with his own should, trying to direct her away from the edge of his territory and further into it instead.
Thinking he was playing she nudged him back, a playful growl sounding in her throat even as she let herself be herded in a different direction to explore a different part of his territory, though she did not really know it. It was a bit strange for her, to be running so freely in her feline form. Her gait interrupted by the additional drag of her bag upon her it still did not feel particularly comfortable, but she was getting better at moving more naturally and with less of a human mimic.
It took her nearly no time at all to tire of the pace, though. Struggling to pant around the bag she carried, she snorted and yowled in discomfort as she slowed to a walk, finding it much more agreeable to her lazy self. As if urging him to go slower with her, Sophie stuck close to him for a moment and took to nuzzling and rubbing against his side and a bit of his belly. She lifted her head to look up at the treetops and made a slight chattering rumble of praise in her chest, trying to tell him that she thought this place he called home to be quite beautiful.
With a huff and an eye-roll, Fintan slowed his gait to match her much shorter one. He also leaned into her gently trying to take the rucksack from her so she was not struggling with it so much. They had not gone very far in his opinion and he could not believe she was tiring so quickly. It nevertheless reaffirmed his decision to keep her there. She was not strong enough to survive without him in this jungle and it was therefore his task to protect her and keep her comfortable whether she liked it or not.
Not realizing he was trying to help her, Sophie complained and snuffled and growled at him, trying to make it clear that she was most comfortable holding it for herself. She didn't realize how sad and helpless she probably looked to him, a cat unfit for the wild, for this habitat especially.
Trying to assure him that she was okay to carry it, despite her slowing them down, she purred and nuzzled against his shoulder, bumping him gently with her head after before trying to pick up the pace to a trot again.
Sighing and growling softly, Fintan placed himself in her way so that Sophie could not continue forward and used a massive paw to push down on her rear, hoping to force her into sitting. He then tried to again take her bag from her, even trying to slip his paw threw it to wear on his shoulder. The tiger kept shaking his head and huffing, his exasperation quite evident. He could not believe she would not just allow him to assist her when she was obviously struggling.
Startled by his insistence, Sophie plopped herself down to sit and whined pitifully for the bag being taken from her. Hanging her head to peer up at him with begging eyes, though, she was startled to see him fitting it around himself to wear it as she might have in her human form. She found it amazing and hadn't even realized she could have been doing the same herself this entire time.
Mewing and rubbing her cheek against his shoulder as her way of saying thanks, she nudged at the bag, trying to situate it better upon him. Satisfied at last she tried to continue on, hoping he would go with her and not run off with her bag as she feared, waiting for him tensely.
He laughed at her as best as he could in his current form, gratefully accepting her help to situate her sack properly before following her at a sedate pace. He kept the side that the pack was closest on between the pair of them in case she would need it as well as to show he could be trusted and was not about to just bolt off with it as he assumed she feared.
Placated by his assurances, she eventually relaxed about the bag and continued her directed "exploring." She was still not very fast on her much shorter limbs, though they carried her with grace. Relieved of her bag, she moved at a gentle run once she was no longer checking his shoulder every two seconds. Fascinated by the jungle, she slowed her pace every now and then whenever something caught her attention, disrupting her smooth pace with the curiosity of a kitten about every odd sight or creature that caught her eye.
Fintan was amused by her curiosity and took it in stride. Although it was not the only thing he was enjoying. Able to observe her move completely unhindered was a very satisfying ordeal. Despite the fluff she was a very attractive shifter who moved with all the grace of a hunter, something he found both alluring and respectable. He could not wait to see more of her and wondered how long he could keep her corralled on his lands before she realized what he was up to.
Circling around and coming to the river once more, her ears perked up as she recognized the area. Lowering her head to drink for a few moments, she contemplated her next choice, wondering if she should cross or follow the water. She ended up choosing the latter, not wanting her bag dunked in the river and her journal ruined. Running along the riverbank she looked to him with excitement every time she came across something interesting, as if to say "Did you see that?!" Little did she know she had now crossed over into another's territory, the change in scent entirely missed by her unpracticed nose.
His whiskers shook with tiger laughter, nodding his head with each of her little discoveries. He sat on his haunches while she drank but tensely rose to all four paws when she cluelessly crossed into another rival's territory.
Yowling and pacing, he fought to get her to return, refusing to follow her and keeping her pack secure in hopes that she would not try and leave it behind. "Get back here!" He bared his teeth and hissed to try and get his point across further.
Startled by his sudden refusal to follow and not understanding why even with his huge display of unhappiness, Sophie turned to face him, still standing across his line. She tried to urge him to keep following, trying to share that she was excited for all the new things she was seeing and wanted to keep going. She gave her best pleading look and made a small circle in place before trying to continue deeper into "enemy" territory once more.
He shook his head in frustration before beginning to paw the ground in front of him tensely. Fintan tried to signal to her with his paws and head that she needed to return to him and quickly. The last thing he wanted was another tiger showing up and stealing her from him. He had had quite enough saving her for the moment and wished to recover before she forced him into doing it again. In sheer exasperation he let out a fierce scream before stubbornly backing further into his territory, hoping to tempt her to follow him instead.
A little disappointed at how upset he seemed, Sophie lowered her head at his scream and headed over to him again, unaware that she was once again "safely" back in his territory. Rumbling gently, trying to assure him that she'd had a good idea with where she'd been going, Sophie licked at his shoulder beside the strap of her pack to try and soothe him. Unsure of where he was willing to go, she nudged at him gently with hopes he would lead instead.
The moment she was safely at his side, Fintan was nosily checking her over, licking at her shoulders, neck, ears, and flanks in a thorough fashion to ensure she was safe and unharmed. He even threw a paw over her shoulder and pulled her in close against his chest, rumbling in a grumpy manner before letting her go again and leading her off into the heart of his territory where she had not yet explored.
The hug was not lost upon her, the very human gesture helping her to see that he had been concerned for some reason. She didn't understand what there was to worry about, but she followed along eagerly, excitedly twitching her tail and whiskers as they wandered deeper into his slice of the jungle. Now that she was not leading she instead took to bumping into him whenever she saw or heard something exciting: the flash of a colorful bird high above, a frightened rodent scurrying to be away from the big cats, the cry of a far-off monkey. Her eyes were wide with interest, alert and head swiveling with precision to catch many interesting new things. Despite being full still from their earlier meal, it got her wondering what all he hunted there and what she might be strong enough to catch for herself.
Feeling a bit bored after a few hours of exploring, Fintan decided to get up to some mischief. Using his tail, he began to ever so often thump hers with it. He loved just how fluffy her tail was, finding it incredibly amusing and intriguing to playfully antagonize her as they ran.
The first few times it happened she merely ignored it, seeing nothing wrong with it. As it became increasingly noticeable, though, Sophie rolled her eyes or mewed for his disturbances, even going so far as to swat at his own tail with her lighter and fluffier one. When it finally got on her nerves enough she growled and lunged for him, playfully bumping him shoulder-to-shoulder before cautiously mouthing the side of his throat, unsure if he would allow something so bold from her after witnessing the way he'd fought the previous day.
He tumbled back at her before throwing his weight to try and flip at her. Fintan was enjoying her and liked that she seemed to want to play back with him. His tail whipped around excitedly as he tried pawing at her sides and belly with his claws retracted so as to bring her no harm.
Scrambling back in surprise, Sophie fell and tried to shield herself with her paws, curling them up loosely and batting at his own paws and legs. She rolled around, squirming and trying to wriggle away from him as she flicked her ears at his curiously. With wide, interested eyes she climbed back to her feet but nudged and prodded at him still. Trying not to get knocked down again, she raced ahead again, trying to stay just out of reach as she wandered deeper still into his territory.
Fintan yowled loudly after her before deciding to secure her pack in a safe place and taking after her. Given the way it had kept sliding off him, he was afraid of damaging or losing it which would only lead to her giving him no end of grief. Freer to move though, the large tiger easily caught up to the little snow leopard and tried his hardest to pounce her for good this time.
Not realizing he had put her pack down at all, Sophie ran faster and faster as she heard his approach, thinking he was just letting her get ahead for now. She ducked and lept about the unfamiliar brush, knowing that being both larger and more familiar with the area that he would probably catch her soon. When he did she was relieved that it was not aggressive but with a playful tumble that she fell. On the inside she was laughing, not believing that a shifter that had been so territorial before was now so welcoming and playful.
Batting at him, she rolled to press her rear paws into his belly, her tail swishing feistily to knock at his paws. Hoping he would not take her playful aggression seriously, she nuzzled at him and gently licked at his muzzle to try to assure him she was not challenging his dominance in his territory.
He grumbled at her a bit while giving her a fierce look moments before he began to mouth at her shoulder and throat without any of his fierce bite. Fintan even gave her a few licks as he crouched down more over her in hopes of preventing her from kickikibg him in the tender stomach. His eyes danced with mirth as he tried to pin and knock her forepaws away from him.
With eyes wide with playfulness, Sophie mouthed at him just as much he did to her, hot breath puffing against his fur as she yowled her "displeasure." Taking note of the way he was pinning her, she tested against him carefully, pressing her paws firmly up against his belly but not resisting even as she continued to gently hold onto his leg, paw, shoulder, or throat with the lightest brushing of her sharp teeth. Tucking her forepaws in even as he tried to knock them away, she pressed them lightly at his ribs, cautiously kneading at him as she played, growled, and hissed. Her tailed curled gently around one of his legs, hoping to keep him off-balance if things turned sour.
His eyes opened wide in surprise as her kneading both soothes and tickled him. Feigning injury, Fintan flopped to his side off her. His tail twitch weakly as he play swiped her side before weakly stilling, his head on the ground, tongue out and eyes closed.
Worried she had hurt him for the display he was putting on, Sophie rolled to stand up quickly. She lowered her head to his, sniffing at him and mewling with her concern and nuzzled him as her apology. Gently, she pawed at his leg and shoulder, trying to rouse him as she swept her whiskers across his own and going so far as to lick the tip of his tongue with her concern.
Fintan fought to keep still even as she worriedly brushed against him and tried to coax "life" back into him. It was only her licking his tongue that startled him and sent him wide-eyed straight into a sitting position while he repeatedly stuck his tongue in and out as if trying to lick it. He could not believe she had the nerve to do that.
Pleased that he was "awake" and definitely alive, Sophie perked up and watched him with amusement as he played with his tongue. She stepped closer, nuzzling at his shoulder to try and reassure him, but she grew distracted with the realization that her bag was no longer on his shoulder. Wide-eyed, her ears twitched and turned as she darted away to search the immediate area, her human side slowly falling into a panic as she made circles around him.
He watched her with amusement as she circled around and around him, thinking it a game as he too circled to keep her away from his backside and swishing tail. It never even occurred to him that she was searching from her well-secured pack and that she was steadily headed towards a full-blown panic.
After a few more rounds of her ever-widening circle she darted back to him at its center, sitting back on her haunches and giving a short wail of despair, unaware that he had been playing with her at all. She shifted back to her human form then. With her knees tucked to her chest her head came to rest in her hands as she desperately tried to stifle the urge to cry or be upset with him, though that was a losing battle. "My bag," she began softly, her panic bubbling as she struggled to breathe or speak evenly. "My bag's gone," she cried, her shoulders shaking as she mourned its "loss" as she thought it was gone and forgotten in their play in a place that was still quite unfamiliar to her. Should have never let it out of your sight, you ninny, she scolded herself.
Fintan huffed and openly rolled his eyes at all her whining before moodily walking over to her and snuffling at her face and neck. Afterwards he gently used his teeth to grab one of her hands and give it a tug. If she was going to be so annoying and spoil their good fun then he would take her back to her precious sack that he had worked hard to place in a secure, hidden, and dry area.
She reached to pet him, thinking his closeness was him trying to comfort her. The way he tugged at her hand, though, she was quickly rising to her feet, not wanting to be dragged around. Unsure but hopeful, she walked with him. Completely unaware that he had hidden it again and not just lost it like she assumed, Sophie struggled to navigate the terrain in her human form. She fumbled about stubbornly for a bit and did a poor job of keeping up with him before she gave in to the ease of it and shifted back to her feline form so she could stay right at his side instead.
The moment she shifted, Fintan picked up his pace so they could get there faster. Whenever he thought she was going too slow he would give her a nudge to the side or hindquarters to urge her forward impatiently. They were close although he wondered if showing her where the bag was would lead her to trying to take off without him again. He was not looking forward to the moment she realized she was not going anywhere now that he had his eyes on her.
Sophie kept her eyes peeled, mewling fussily every time he bumped or nudged her. It was a distraction to her, as she thought he wanted to play and not actually help her look. She didn't realize how close they were to the bag in its safe hiding place, but she was upset still over its "loss" and she stubbornly flopped down to the ground in a ball of self-pity once they reached a spot she was sure she'd noticed before, convinced they were walking in circles and getting nothing accomplished.
Staring at him pitifully, Sophie snuffled and whined and was overall fairly dramatic in her ignorance. She had no idea that he planned on keeping her there and keeping her occupied, but she had seen kindness in him before and was all but begging him to help now.
'Oh you big baby,' he thought while growling. With a roll of his eyes, Fintan swooped in to quickly latch onto the scruff of his companion's neck and lift her up as best as he could by it. Not about to let her fight him, he stubbornly pulled her along to plop her right on top of her sack within the tree hollow before crouching down in front of her to stare pointedly at her. 'See it's right here!'
She yowled a loud protest for being hauled up so abruptly, but her hind legs and tail simply dragged along the ground in her stubbornness as he pulled her. She hung there, her scruff not hurting at all even as she continued with her whining, though her noise came to an abrupt stop as she was dropped. Her ears flattened back as she grumbled, but were perking up just as quickly in confusion as she moved to stand and realized she'd been resting on something.
Turning in a quick, tight circle she just stared at her pack with confusion, wondering how he'd found it. Sniffing at it, she was certain it was hers and not some other's. Happily rumbling as if nothing had ever happened, she crouched down and struggled to step through the stap and get the bag secured on her shoulders as she'd seen him do earlier. Sitting back on her haunches, she puffed her chest with pride and watched it warily, half expecting it to just fall off. When it didn't, though, she stood and nuzzled at Fintan's ears and purred her thanks as she moved to step around him.
He used his shoulder to push back into her chest wanting her to stay put and pay attention. From there Fintan used his paw to motion from her pack back to the safety of the hollow repeatedly, hoping to indicate she should leave it or else he was not going to let her out. He found it incredibly stupid to have to constantly have to lug the heavy bag around when they were trying to explore and have fun together.
Confused at first, Sophie just stared at him in confusion as he kept her from leaving and seemed to be trying to tell her something. Looking down at the gestures he was making with his paw, she finally understood that he wanted her to put the bag down. She wasn't sure how long she was expected to leave it abandoned, but she didn't quite understanding his reasoning behind it or that he saw her belongings as a burden.
Carefully moving the bag off her shoulder and tucking it away in the hollow again she was quick to "cover" it with a pile of leaves and brush, thinking it would be much safer out of plain sight. With the bag put away again she tried to leave once more, giving Fintan a very pitiful look and hoping he would let her after doing what he seemed to be asking of her. She turned to scratch at the tree, though, despite trying to hide it she wasn't sure she could remember the place without marking it. At least she would be able to see it whether human or leopard.
As soon as she released the bag, he moved enough to allow her to leave while he worked on ensuring the bag was well hidden and protected again. To his horror though she began destroying things in his property and marking things that were not hers to mark.
With an angry and shocked yowl he moved over to the clawed part of the tree and sniffed it with a glare. From there he also clawed the tree before circling it several times and raising a leg to thoroughly mark it as his own all the while shaking his head in disapproval.
Shocked by how disturbed he seemed by her clawing the tree just a little Sophie followed him as he circled the tree. She was confused by him but she also wanted to thank him for making more obvious marks as she thought it would be very helpful when she did need to find the tree again. Once he was done with it she moved closer to rub their sides together as she walked past him. Her tail flicked at his shoulder and neck teasingly but she circled around again to take a good look at the tree and study the markings their claws had left upon it.
Satisfied and happy with the result, not realizing it was just that that had disgruntled him, Sophie rumbled in her chest and playfully swatted at his forepaws before dancing away to dash off again, their play finally remembered and the leopard content with the safety of her pack.
He rumbled grumpily, not easily pulled into her games despite how soft her tail may have felt. The swats earned her a growl followed by him racing off after her, fully intent in recapturing his little kit who seemed intent on causing trouble time after time.
Thinking they were going to be back to their games and frolicking, Sophie was carefree as she wove her way through the trees. Her energy renewed she tore through easily, though not quite of a speed for fleeing. She continued to explore his territory, wandering deeper into the heart of it. The jungle was certainly like no other place she'd seen before and it became apparent quite quickly that she was not really used to such an obstacle course of vines, rock, and fallen trees as she was slowed considerably whenever faced with the necessity of navigating the terrain. Sophie stopped when at last she came upon a stream that she could only guess branched off from the river she'd seen before, crouching down to take a drink as her whiskers trembled from her labored breathing.
The run soothed his nerves though and he was soon back to enjoying chasing her even though it was at a more sedate pace than he would an actual prey. The sight of water reminded him of his earlier swim and Fintan found himself wanting to dive in again so he did. With a mighty splash that would spray Sophie, he threw himself into the water and began to swim around beneath the cool surface.
The leopard yelped in protest for the sudden splash of cold water, her front half decidedly soaked even as she backed away from the bank to glare at him happily paddling around. Shaking what she could from her fur she knelt again to drink her fill and catch her breath a bit before letting herself slip down into the water at her own desire. She could not move as fast as him, her smaller paws hardly moving her at all as she pushed her way around.
Fintan was delighted to see her swimming along. But, he did have to briefly marvel at the fact that her thick fur was not causing her to sink like a rock. He was sure all her poofiness was going to be her end. Using long strokes of his paws, he soon caught up to her and was swimming beside her, a fish in his mouth like a prized possession.
Interested in his fish but not wanting to steal it, Sophie swam along slowly and occasionally dipped her head underwater to watch the life beneath. It was curious to her that most of the fish stayed in the deepest part of the water, seemingly hiding in the shadowed areas of the stream. Hoping she would be fast enough to catch one, she dove down with the curiosity of a cub to observe and fail at catching any with a swipe of her paw. She had not yet caught on that she needed to use her teeth as fish after fish darted away from her with punishing swats of their sharp fins against the pads of her paws.
Eventually he pulled himself out of the water to lay on the bank and watch her, his fish resting on his paws too weak to flop about more than a little bit. He rumbled with laughter as she floundered about more than the fish. Part of him wondered if he should go and help her but he was enjoying her flailing about too much to move. If she came back fish-less then he decided he would teach her how. For now though he lowered his head to enjoy his raw fish, still wriggling with a bit of life.
She tried and failed several times, even needing to come up for air twice, but she did finally get a small fish. It was only half the size of his but she at last surfaced with it clenched in an awkward sandwich of fish and paws. Kicking with just her rear paws and steering herself with her long tail she eventually made it to shore after ingesting far too much water from her unbalanced front bobbing under. Her paws touching the ground she reared up slightly to throw the fish up onto land, proud of her small catch as she hopped out of the water. Her soaked tail swatted at him in a "I told you so" way as she moved to crouch over the flailing creature to eat what she could of it.
Her tail was like being smacked with a wet rag as it made a splat sound against his face and shoulder. Fintan shook his head to get rid of the wet feeling before leaning over to inspect her fish. Seeing it as so small, a whoosh of air left his lungs before he was quickly racing back into the water, afraid she would take a swat at him again for laughing. He decided to help her out and after a few minutes came back with an even bigger fish than his first to share with her. A toss of his head sent it flying onto the bank so that he could navigate the waters without half-drowning himself as she seemed to do.
Sophie thought nothing of his laughter or how he dove back into the water. She was content to eat her small fish, picking the bones clean as she watched the water to wait for him to surface. The additional fish surprised her, though, her head tilting in confusion as she watched him climb out. Finished with her own food and thinking he'd only gotten the extra fish for himself, Sophie tossed the bones of her much smaller one aside and flopped over to lay out and sunbathe.
Fintan retrieved his fish to drop at her front paws. He ignored it though in favor of licking her forehead and ears, grooming her with his tongue. A gentle paw nudged the fish towards her more before he was back to his cleaning, this time of her neck and shoulders.
At first she thought he was only teasing her, putting it so close. She rumbled with laughter for the grooming she was getting, though, a bit surprised that someone so feral would be so gentle and caring, as she saw it. Finally understanding that he meant to share again, she carefully rolled to lay on her belly and cautiously began to eat from the second, much larger fish. Settling in, she began a soft purring again as she ate, the sensation vibrating her from nose to tail.
He jumped slightly at her purring as it still startled him and was not something he was used to. Fintan gave her an evaluating stare before determining she was fine and enjoying herself. From there he returned to his grooming over and nuzzling at the back of her neck in order to feel the sensation of her purring more. He found that he enjoyed it immensely and if he could not make it himself then he certainly could learn by listening.
She finished exactly half of the fish before setting it aside, nudging it closer to him as she gave a yawning yowl of thanks. Turning her head to look at what he was doing, though, she was amused with the way he nuzzled at her neck, thinking him silly as she was unaware it was the purring that captivated his attention so. With a satisfied groan she leaned to lay down and stretch, her belly feeling almost too full from all of fresh meats she'd been gorging upon after weeks of not eating "properly" for her kind. Her purring only intensified as she became more relaxed, her eyes settling to half-lids as she watched him lazily as she gave her thanks only in her thoughts.
In two bites the remainder of the fish was consumed and Fintan was flopping down behind her. His chin rested in the crook of her neck so that his throat could enjoy the sensation and sound of her purring as he stretched out behind her, feeling every bit the king of his domain.
She was happy and relaxed, the pressure not bothering her in the least as the soft sound carried on. With a yawn of contentment she simply stared out at the water, the sounds quite soothing as she continued to rest and let her coat dry. Occasionally she lifted her tail to bat at him, as if checking if he was still there.
After what felt like the hundredth time that she had batted him with her tail, Fintan found himself grumbling while giving her a warning bite to the throat. A large paw reached around her and pulled her flush against him as he settled, giving her a few more grooming licks to the neck and allowed his head to rest back atop hers, his eyes closing to tired slits.
She grumbled softly in complaint for the biting but did nothing else against him as she waited him out, flicking her ears as she laid her head to her paws. Content to snuggle, as she saw it, Sophie allowed herself to drift off for a nap to recharge after what had already been quite a busy day for her.
Dusk was nearly upon them once she stirred again, and the leopard eyed the dimming horizon with dismay. She'd fully intended to be on her way home already and was a little apprehensive about trying to make her way out in the night. Slipping away, she tried to retrace their tracks to find the tree again where she'd left her pack.
Fintan grumbled in his sleep at her absence but remained prone on the ground. With a grunt he rolled to his other side, completely oblivious that his quarry was making a run for it without him now that it was getting dark. His tongue lulled out lazily as his tail flopped against the ground in time with his deep breaths.
When she finally came upon it the young shifter was back in her human form, scrunching her nose a bit at the offensive smell of his earlier markings. It was definitely the right tree. It was no trouble at all for her now to secure the bag across her shoulders, though she quietly cursed the way she'd stored it for it now stunk of wet leaves.
Confident that their earlier explorations had left her an expert of the land, Sophie headed off towards the northern edge of the jungle she had entered through with the hope that she could make it out by dawn. The various sounds of the creatures of the night hummed around her as they stirred to life, the place probably more alive than it had been during the day.
He continued to doze, unaffected by her loss until a slap of his tail outward gave way to nothing but empty space. Lazily he lifted his head to check to see if she had moved to eat or drink but when his search revealed nothing, Fintan was on his paws in flash.
A warning growl reverberated through his chest and throat at finding her missing and he was soon back on the hunt. Mentally he was cursing her absence, sure that she was about to get herself into more trouble and most likely bring his brother back down on his hide. He felt he was a fool to take his eyes off her for even the smallest of catnaps. She simply was not to be trusted.
Having no idea she was in any kind of trouble at all Sophie hiked on through the jungle. It was almost strange to be there, as if seeing it through different eyes now made it foreign to her human ones. Nothing smelled or looked quite the same, but she thought she knew where she was going at least, having set off by the last rays of sunlight.
She slowly carved her way through the dense brush and settled into thoughts of her excuses for her client instead, hoping he might be alright to receive some other animal's pelt or allow her to bring him something more local for a hunt. If nothing else she felt it best to respect the privacy of the family she now knew resided there, feeling quite uncomfortable to use their lands for her own gain as she knew she would feel the same violation if a southern had come to her homeland for such purposes.
The first place that Fintan went to look for Sophie was the tree with her pack. Finding both her and it absent though infuriated him and let loose a roar worthy of every one of his stripes. In his mind only a woman would be so foolish as to wander around without regard for place or time. His sister was the same way. With no idea in which direction she went, he began circling around and around the tree in broader arcs in hopes of finding a trace of her disturbance or scent that would once more send him off on the path after her.
The roar startled her even though the sound was far-off behind her. Sophie paused, gasping and holding her breath as she listened to the sounds of distress around her as a few birds fled the immediate area. She had a brief moment of worry, hoping Fintan was not hurt or fighting with his larger brother, but she felt it was not something she should concern herself with and continued on, unaware that it was her he was angry with or that he was searching for her at all.
Eventually Fintan was able to figure out which way she had gone and catch up to her. But, like the first time they met, he did not immediately go for her. Instead he stalked Sophie for several paces while he tried to decide what to do. After several moments he finally came to a decision and like a streak of light, the tiger was racing through the underbrush to loop around in front of her path. He say himself down right in her path, refusing to budge as he waited her to round the bend and see him.
She was unaware she was being followed, the shifter moving along untroubled and relatively unhindered, the ever-present pack her only real burden. The sound of him shooting through the brush she did hear, though. It didn't really trouble her, thinking it was some smaller creature. When she finally came upon him, though, the darkness causing her to miss him until she was nearly upon him, she greeted him as if nothing were amiss at all. "Aww, you came to say goodbye, huh?" she giggled, pausing in her journey to pet his head and scratch at his ears some. "Thank you for everything, I had a lot of fun today but I really should go home. I should have done more research before I just...barged in," she admitted goodnaturedly before she tried to step around him, as if he should just accept that as their parting.
He was having none of it and immediately placed himself in her path in order to prevent her from attempting to pass him. Fintan even squinted his eyes at her, daring her to try and disobey him in his territory. She was staying and in his mind that was final. He found her and therefore he was keeping her. The fact that she was too stupid to take care of herself on sealed it for him. The tiger shifter was just going to have to be her guardian to ensure her safety. There simply was no other option.
It was difficult to tell in the dark but it almost felt like he was glaring at her. She didn't yet understand that he intended to keep her there. She tripped over him as she tried to go around him, stumbling and catching herself against a tree with a grunt. "Careful, it's dark out here," she complained. "I'm sorry if I worried you, but I'm fine! I just didn't want to wake you just to tell you I was leaving. Take care, Fintan," she bid him, adjusting her pack on her shoulder and pressing on up the dimly lit path ahead.
The tiger shifter growled warningly in his throat, not in the mood to put up with her insolence as he saw it. When she once again attempted to step around him, Fintan lost it. He was fed up with constantly having to corral her like a helpless cub. He knocked his shoulder into her knees and used his mouth to latch onto her ankle gently but with enough pressure to make his point clear. Sophie was going nowhere.
Already she was too conditioned to not worry about his growling, though she should have heeded his warnings. In an instant she was on her knees, the teeth upon her ankle like hot knives as she shouted for pain she expected to come but was, in reality, only there in fear. When pain did not come she was looking over her shoulder at him in confusion, uncertain as to why he was holding her down like that. "Fintan...?" she asked, as if his name should have been enough of a question about it.
He continued to growl, giving her ankle a bit more firm pressure before using one of his massive paws to keep it in place so that she would not try to run off on him the moment he released her from his jaws. Moving quickly, Fintan then stretch himself out across her torso, using enough weight to pin her without crushing her in hopes of getting his point across.
She felt his growl all the way up her leg and it sent a slightly fearful shiver up her spine. Her hands pressed almost uncomfortably into the ground as she was pinned, her human form feeling so breakable as she was acutely aware of how she was sandwiched against the ground. "Okay," she squeaked, reaching out behind herself to touch at his side in a silent plea for her release. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I did,"she admitted sadly, hoping she had not caused him some loss she was unaware of. She still did not understand the permanence of his intentions.
Fintan huffed and sat up enough so that he could beside her instead of on her and nudge her over onto her back. His posture was tensed though, completely ready to spring at any moment and hunt her down if she decided to bolt on him.
At his urging she turned over onto her back, the pack nestled uncomfortably against her spine as she stared up at him nervously. Her eyes flickered over his, squinting slightly for the dark but uncertain as to why he would not let her go. "Did I do something wrong?" she guessed, sadness in her voice as she cautiously leaned up onto her elbows. "Are you mad at me?"
He nodded his head twice, once for each of her questions. The grumblings in the back of his throat continued though as he lowered his head to sniff at her and nudge her as if worried that she had managed to injure herself in their short time apart. Finding nothing though, he huffed in her face and narrowed his eyes, trying to decide what to do with her.
His silent affirmations had her frowning. What could she have done to have him chasing her down like he had? She watched as he nudged and sniffed at her, curious but relaxing once he did nothing more about it. Slowly she pushed herself up to sit up properly and reached a hand out to try to scratch at his neck and shoulder reassuringly, her voice quiet and her eyes averted as she worried for offending him, "I'm sorry, but I don't really know what I did. Why are you mad at me?"
Fintan grumbled more as he got up to pace around her. The thought of shifting to talk to her never crossed his mind as he felt more comfortable in his tiger form than his human. Instead, he turned and latched onto the sleeve of her tunic to give it a tug back in the direction they had come from and away from where she had been headed.
Sophie was disheartened, taking his seeming refusal to shift as a sign he was very upset about whatever it was she had done. She rushed to stand up so she wouldn't be dragged and walked with him, not yet understanding that he meant to take her back. She was obedient, following his lead as she quietly mulled over what came to mind that could have upset him so.
Was it the bag? Did he see it as his since he'd gotten so worked up over marking the tree? She certainly hoped not. Her few belongings were quite precious and she would not give them up willingly if that were the case. Perhaps he had changed his mind and she was no longer welcome on his lands. But that didn't make sense. He wouldn't be taking her back if that were the case.
"Fintan," she started again, sighing and shaking her head as she stopped to stand her ground, determined not to be dragged around. "Whatever it is please tell me. I have a really long way to travel and I meant to be long gone already. I just overslept," she mumbled the last part, slightly embarrassed by how comfortable she'd gotten in someone else's home.
He led her back past the tree where he had stored her back and even deeper into the heart of his territory. They were headed somewhere new for her as he wanted to take her to his favorite resting spot. If she was so insistent on being in her human form as opposed to her superior feline one then he would provide her with the proper shelter to care for her. All the while he continued to yowl and "talk" to her, assuming that she could understand him in the same manner that the rest of his family did. It was silly of her to try and run off when she was only going to get herself hurt. She needed him to protect her and that was final.
Sophie only sighed, worried that she still felt he wasn't "talking" to her. She followed but let more and more distance fall between them the longer they walked. His yowling sounded strange to her, thinking it more complaining than conversational and having no idea what he might have been trying to say either way. She followed along but kept her distance, willing to entertain whatever it was he was doing for now. In reality, it wouldn't set her back too far, or so she believed. What was one more day?
She stumbled through the dark that slowly became early morning light. It made her path easier, but her human form was still much slower than his feline one. "Are you trying to show me something?" she guessed, running out of ideas and a little frustrated with their wall on the communication front. She understood her own family quite well no matter what forms each individual chose to take, but his "way" of speaking was like a half-understood language to her. The body language was there and the sounds seemed similar, but it was the actual "words" of it that left her lost and confused.
Fintan halted in his steps at her question, mid-yowl as he whipped his head around to look at her as if he could not believe she had not been listening to him. With a huff and a sigh, he tried to usher her towards a cave even as he entered and shifted into his human form. His posture though became more shy as he seemed to cave in on himself despite his size.
"You should rest," he mumble hoarsely, still not used to his human voice.
Despite the sounds of displeasure she followed him inside, looking around at the new location warily before her head shot up for him finally speaking to her. "Rest? No, no, I just woke up!" she told him, nodding with a soft yet confident smile as if he simply misunderstood her. She paused in her steps and starting turning back towards the entrance, realizing she'd been distracted and wandered quite far into the cave to follow him.
"I need to leave, but... If there was something you wanted to talk about, if you're still mad at me or anything like that, I'd like to talk about it," she offered. "Don't want to leave on bad terms when you've been so kind to me."
"You're not leaving," he told her matter-of-factly. "I told you this already. It's not safe for you out there and you've already proven that. Now, rest. You've eaten much and you'll stomach will hurt if you don't," Fintan ordered, expecting to be obeyed.
What she perceived as concern was a bit touching, a gentle smile there as she shook her head and laughed at the idea of staying. "Perhaps just for the morning, then. I did eat a lot, but I feel fine," she shrugged, not taking his words as something she should be concerned about. Sophie turned again to put her back to the entrance of the cave and join him inside.
"But... Please tell me? What did I do wrong? Why are you mad at me?" she asked, her brow furrowing slightly with concern, especially that, as far as she understood, he had brought her to their current location before even speaking to her.
"You left without me. It's not safe for you and you shouldn't have done that. I've only been telling you that all day you silly girl." Fintan sighed and huffed, stalking around his domain in search of supplies to make a nice bed of sorts for her since she was mulishly insistent on retaining her human form over her animal one. "Doesn't listen," he muttered under his breath.
"Oh..." It didn't make sense to her. Was she not allowed to leave without his escort? Just because she'd gorged on food? That definitely made no sense but she was not connecting the dots that he saw her as his to protect now.
"I was actually fine until you came along. I knew where I was going," she told him confidently, following him as he moved about like a clueless duckling would its mother. "But I guess next time I'll be sure to say a proper goodbye," she chuckled, smiling goodnaturedly.
"Then you're just stupid," he blurted out. "Because only an idiot would wander into a tyrant's territory. My brother would have torn you to pieces. You can't be trusted to care for yourself. You're lucky you have me looking out for you. You couldn't even handle your bag being separated from you for two minutes! You're a walking disaster if I ever saw one!"
His words stung. Really stung. She stood there just opening and closing her mouth trying to say something but no words came out. Her brow furrowed and she hung her head and crossed her arms over her belly in silent defense of herself, as if his words had stabbed her. "Well, I didn't know," she defended quietly, leaning against the cave wall. "It's not like I was going to pay him a visit, I was leaving. Leaving this jungle entirely." She shook her head in disappointment. "Is there a way out that doesn't cross his lands?" she wondered, not wanting any trouble with Ultan again but knowing she'd been entirely unharmed when she'd arrived in the first place. Sophie ignored his comments about her bag, though, feeling he couldn't possibly understand her attachment to it given how little he seemed to value possessions other than his land.
He huffed and shook his head in silence, choosing to ignore her rather than answer the question. It was not in Fintan to lie yet he was not ready to tell her just how irrational her ideas of leaving were. What he needed was a way to distract her but after spending the past day loping around his territory with her and then the night bringing her here, he was not sure he could convince her to do so again quite so easily.
"Are you still hungry?" he asked, not catching on just how obtuse he was being.
"Hungry?" she repeated, a little shocked he was even asking. "You already said I ate a lot... No, not really. If you are hungry feel free to hunt," she told him, finally shrugging her bag off her shoulder and setting it down on the floor of the cave, uncertain of where she was welcome to stay in it. "Um... Which area is your space?" she asked nervously. "Where can I sit?"
"A lot but that doesn't mean enough. Don't you know how to eat properly?" He stared at her in disbelief as he assumed she was not so different from him who ate like a tiger and required large quantities of meat to survive.
With a sigh he rubbed at his brow with one hand and waved randomly at the cave with his other. "All of it. Anywhere," Fintan told her, uncaring where she decided to get comfortable. He did notice that she had placed her pack down and was quite pleased by that gesture. She would not leave without it, of that he was sure, therefore he could relax a bit that she would not try and leave again so soon.
That he questioned her own ability to care for herself stung and she visibly winced for it, sucking in a hissing breath. Looking in each direction he gestured she finally stepped to what seemed like a corner and slid her back down the wall of the cave to sit. Carefully curling her legs against her chest Sophie wrapped her arms around her them and rested her chin on her knees to watch him. "I eat properly. For a human. I don't really feel a need to feed...my cat. Much. Difficult to hunt all the time and meat isn't always accessible," she explained without any resentment. "Though you seem to be able to eat well here," she admired. "I won't trouble you with it, though. I really don't need all that. Perfectly fine eating plants and such."
Fintan stared at Sophie in aghast horror. His mouth worked as he mouthed her words but no sound escaped him until at last with a sputtering gasp he cried, "PLANTS! Why would you eat plants? Are you insane? Are you ill? Plants she says," he muttered to himself as he shook his head in shock.
"They aren't all bad!" she hurried to tell him, wincing slightly for being called insane. "I don't know what you have here that's safe but there's so much variety. Very healthy. You don't need to only eat meat," she explained, as if saying that alone would help her case. "There's nothing wrong with me, I'm perfectly healthy and safe and I hardly even eat meat anymore," Sophie announced proudly.
He shook his head in continued disbelief but when she finished that she hardly ate meat anymore a loud strangling sound tore its way from his throat. "Not meat?" Fintan practically squeaked as he started to hyperventilate. "Clearly ill. Unbelievable!" He paced up and down the cave while muttering to himself with his head in his hands. The shifter just could not believe what he had been hearing and was already making plans to care for her better as it was obvious to him she could not do it herself.
"I'm not ill, I promise," she laughed, finding it incredibly amusing how he seemed to be panicking over it. "Do I look unhealthy?" she asked, cocking a brow and lowering her legs a bit to gesture at herself and poke at her stomach a bit. "Perfectly healthy."
"Sometimes the sickness is within and cannot be seen. Never judge the jungle for its canopy after all. Sometimes the sleekest tiger is the sickliest. From what you've been saying though you are well onto the way to ruin. It's a wonder you even made it into my territory alive and on two feet!"
Sophie could only laugh. "That's silly. I was healthy when I arrived and have remained so," she told him with a confident nod. "If anything, I should be eating less meat. Get a more...varied diet. And I think you could do to eat more plants, you must feel terrible if you never eat any! You're really missing out!" she insisted.
He offered her a skeptical sideways look from the corner of his eye as he faltered in his pacing. She was clearly insane, there simply was no other explanation for it if she thought varying her diet and restricting her meat intake was good for her or good for anyone for that matter. Briefly he began to wonder if the reason she took to eating plants was because she was too weak to catch any prey for herself. It was all starting to make sense to him like jigsaw pieces fitting together when you cannot see the picture.
"Rest," Fintan commanded moving to stand over her and give her a gentle tap to the forehead. "You clearly need it."
She was surprised by the tap, not really understanding what it was for. Lethargically she tilted her head up to look at him, offering that same knowing half-smile. "No more than you do. Are you going to rest?" she challenged even as she slid down further to slump over on her side. The hard stone was a far cry from a bed but it would do for now, at least it was out of the elements.
Fintan snorted before fluidly transforming into his preferred form and nudging at her with his nose as he tried to find a place to settle next to her or curl himself around her like a big fluffy pillow. He worried that if he did not then she would try and leave again or do something stupid in her sleep. She was safest with him and that was final. If she did not like it then too bad.
Thinking he meant for her to move Sophie scooted away from the wall slightly, kicking her bag away in the process. Patting the cold floor beside her, she could only chuckle and shake her head for his perceived pickiness. "Get some sleep," she urged him, yawning a bit and struggling to cover her mouth. Finally settled, she used her arm as a pillow and closed her eyes and tried to let sleep take her away, convinced that he would not have been so insistent if she didn't really need it.
Seeing the space between her and the wall no matter how slight, Fintan immediately stepped over her to wedge himself in the small space and lay down behind her. He nuzzled his face against her neck and and shoulder while throwing his large paw over her chest and pulling her close against him in a very possessive gesture.
The possessiveness was lost on Sophie, her only thought about the gesture a slight appreciation for him sharing warmth and the cover of his fur with her. She slept peacefully despite the sunlight shining brightly through the dense trees outside of his shelter. It was not for exhaustion that she allowed her body rest but she still felt at peace as she dozed through the morning.
A rumbling tummy finally caused her to stir. She was almost embarrassed that her body would abandon her, though she didn't realize it was only crying out for more of what it had been so strictly deprived of for so long. With a grunt she pushed herself up trying to to squeeze out from under his leg and caging paw.
He growled at her movement and immediately used his paws to draw her closer to him again with the intention to keep her there. His ears twitched at the disturbance and his tail even thumped against her thigh in an agitated warning that he did not wish to be disturbed by her flailing about when she was supposed to be resting. Fintan was not going to allow her to run off on him again.
She gave a shrill squeak of surprise for being pulled back down, having not even expected him to be awake. "Let me up," she whispered in complaint, trying to push at him again and twisting to get her knees purchase beneath herself. "I can't believe how much you sleep," she complained, shaking her head and thinking he just wanted the warmth. "Not asking you to get up, but...I'm hungry," she admitted.
Fintan huffed and grumbled before finally relenting and letting her go. However, he too was groggily on his feet in order to watch her every move. He yowled at her to tell her he knew best and was right before nudging at her legs, wondering if she would shift so they could go hunt. Fintan feared her human form would be too loud to catch anything worthy of feeding her and could only imagine the horrors she would cause traipsing around through the jungle recklessly.
Clumsily climbing to her feet, Sophie shot him a triumphant smile as if it was not his doing at all. The nudging was entirely lost upon her, the young woman already having her mind made up that she was going to forage and did not need his help or her cat to get the job done. "You can sleep if you want. I'll leave my bag here with you, you don't have to follow me everywhere," she pointed out, not realizing the perceived helplessness extended to her "hunting" abilities as well. "I'll find us something yummy."
Not waiting to see if he would follow or not Sophie turned and headed for the mouth of the cave, stretching and yawning as she went to work out the kinks in her muscles. She made a mental checklist of things she should look out for on her "hunt," certain that the jungle was blossoming with edible things on the ground that he just wasn't aware of. Mushrooms, grasses, roots. There's got to be plenty of that around here I just wasn't seeing. Probably berries and nuts too, she thought, enthusiastic about the prospects of the hidden treasures of his jungle home.
He grunted skeptically, believing it an entirely incapable task for her. Nevertheless, Fintan padded towards the entrance of the cave, intent on keeping an eye on her even if she desired to show off her skills. If she found herself in trouble or proved as he thought she would, herself unable to, he would jump in and feed them both. He was not about to let her starve herself out of pride or stupidity.
Sophie thought on what she might be able to make as a meal with a lot of her usual resources unavailable. She did think of herself as an expert in making a meal out what others might have thought of as insignificant. The woman was practically giddy with the spring in her step as she searched, occasionally crouching down to study something more closely. "Oh, I think these will be nice!" she announced, eagerly plucking several mushrooms from their mossy home as well as a small gathering of shoots at the base of a nearby tree.
Pulling her top up to create a makeshift cradle for them, she continued on and picked what fruit and berries she could reach, confident that they were safe to eat as it appeared to her that animals had gotten to them as well at some point. "These should do fine," she praised herself, proud of her finds as she turned back to return to the cave so she could sort through the food, her mind already made up that she would try to roast the berries and mushrooms, confident that they would be delicious. "Have you ever had any of this before? It's all right here." She was slightly amazed, certain that if the land was as good elsewhere in his territory that there was a bounty of plant life growing that could provide the sort of things she was used to eating.
Reaching into the sack she'd created with the bottom of her tunic Sophie pulled a few raw berries out and offered them to him with a flat hand.
Fintan grumbled and mumbled to himself in his tiger form as he followed behind her at a relaxed pace. He did not see everything she grabbed but could definitely tell none of it was anything bigger than a mouthful and that concerned him. While she searched, his ears swiveled about in search for the sounds of prey that he could possibly sneak up on and capture quickly to feed her proper.
He drew closer to her, sniffing her outstretched hand before shaking his head violently and sneezing. Unintentionally, Fintan began to growl as he stared at her hand and even made to swipe at it to knock the berries away. Her insistence on eating things other than meat grated on him and enraged him.
Sophie scoffed at his rejection, laughing at the look of displeasure on his face. The berries were knocked from her hand from his swipe, spilling to the ground, but she only shrugged and knelt to carefully deposit the spoils of her forage on top of a rock and began to sort through it. She popped a few berries in her mouth as she worked, shaking her head and laughing. "These are delicious, I can't believe you won't try them," she teased him, lifting one to his muzzle in final offering. "Do you have a preferred spot for a fire?" she asked, "Or does it not matter?"
He sneered at her as she offered the berries to him again and turned to give her the cold shoulder. As Fintan remained most often in his bestial form, he never cooked his meat, instead preferring to eat it raw. He found it ridiculous that she wanted a fire when she should just shift to her own sleek form and consume her food that way. She would also be warmer and more comfortable in his opinion that way and her assumed stubbornness was growing on his nerves. Instead of answering her, Fintan huffed and turned his back to her, refusing to acknowledge her insane plans.
His continued refusal didn't really bother her, the younger shifter simply shrugging and patting his shoulder and head even as he turned his back to her. "Suit yourself," she chirped, standing and setting off in search of any dry wood she could use to build one. She settled for breaking off splinters of a long-dead tree, dragging them back to where she intended to prepare her food and setting them in a pile while she knelt to dig out a pit in the ground for a fire.
The sounds of things breaking soon had Fintan changing his tune as he whipped back around and began to pace agitatedly behind Sophie, his eyes never straying from her for a second. He was sure that if he did look away at any moment she would manage to cause herself severe bodily harm or have a tree fall on her or set the entire jungle on fire. She needed him after all whether she thought so or not.
She heard him but paid him little mind, her only acknowledgement of him a brief glance over her shoulder between her work to prepare a fire pit and carefully arrange the wood she'd found. Stabbing a crudely sharpened stick at a rock she tried to get a spark going. Eventually she did and stood back to proudly admire her work after puffing it up a bit. "Perfect," she remarked, though the haphazard thing was far from it. Spearing the mushrooms and impaling them all in a row, Sophie sat to hold them over the fire and stared, patiently watching and waiting for them to cook.
Fintan continued to pace and prowl, making his displeasure known whenever she did something he felt was risky or foolish. Surely she did not need to be so close to the fire especially given how ridiculous a choice of food she had made was. He wondered if she would stay put if he left to bring her back a real meal but finally settled on staying given her penchant for running off on him. It would be more work and frustration than it was worth to try and track her down.
With a few grumpy sniffs, he examined the mushroom skeptically expecting them to do something vile such as shoot green smoke or reek worse than rotting fish. When nothing happened though he again growled and yowled but this time at the vegetable while he gave up and flopped onto his side to watch her.
She gave an amused hum as she listened to him, staring intently as she slowly turned the stick as parts began to show a nice char. She lowered the stick closer to the flames, thinking it necessary as she wanted them thoroughly cooked. The last thing she needed around him was a cooking disaster that made her look like a fool and a mess of a person.
When at last she thought they were done she leaned back and set the stick to rest on a nearby rock, thinking twice on roasting the berries as she had nothing to hold them in. Popping a few into her mouth and biting into the flesh of a small, purple fruit she'd found Sophie waited patiently for the mushrooms to cool. "Have you never eaten any of this?" she inquired, raising a brow in surprise as she did find the fruit quite tasty, if a bit oddly-textured. "Will you try any?"
He remained where he had dropped, giving her a disinterested huff. A shake of his head answered her question but his eyes were intently focused on the fire she had created and not yet set out. At any second, Fintan was expecting her to trip and fall in the fire or do something equally stupid that would cause her great bodily harm.
His lack of answer as she saw it wasn't troubling, the woman getting used to how non-vocal he seemed about everything. Once the mushrooms had cooled she carefully popped them off the stick and cut them into crude halves. Satisfied that they were cooked she separated them out and pushed his half closer to him while she began munching happily. "Mmmm," she sighed, humming for the taste of something "fresh-cooked" though the mushrooms did have a slightly off taste. She suspected it was just whatever variety grew here and thought nothing of for now. "Try them?" she urged him.
Fintan was less than thrilled with the idea of eating her food but he had a feeling she would not stop until he did. After all what was the worst that could happen? He would be right and spit it out. Surely that would not be so bad.
Laborously he dragged himself to his feet and pawed at the unwanted mushrooms, his lip curling back slightly and his ears flattening with disgust. Eventually though he managed to bring himself to eat them, scarfing them all down in one bite despite the difficulties of trying to chew.
The taste was horrific in his opinion though and he was soon shaking his head agitatedly and trying to clean his tongue off with his paws once they had been swallowed. There simply was no removing the acrid bitterness from his mouth though and he kept sticking his tongue out as if that act alone could make it go away.
Sophie continued to eat and watched him with amusement as he danced around it and laughed once he was finally scarfing them down. "Oh no," she sighed, unable to hide her giggle as he fussed with his tongue. "I'm sorry... Not used to the taste, huh? Or did I overcook them?"
She finished with her own share and snacked on the remaining spoils of her foraging with pure delight, though her stomach still had an eerie rumble to it as she did so, causing her to rub at it for her discomfort even as her face grew quite pale. "Well...most of it was good," she remarked as she wiped her hands of the fruit juices and returned to sit by the fire, the new position completely unhelpful for her gurgling stomach. It was not immediate, but it wasn't long before Sophie was shifting around uncomfortably, laying on her side and then her back beside the fire before rolling to lay on her stomach with her face in the dirt. She was certain the fever she felt was not only the fire's doing.
"..Fintan," she finally murmured, turning her head towards him with the most miserable look on her face, her forehead glistening as her body fought her, wanting to reject the poison she'd unknowingly put in it. "I need water, can you take me?" she begged, weakly climbing to her feet as an unusual dizziness overcame her.
He watched her worriedly as he writhed about, feeling his own insides clenching painfully as he crawled over on his belly to nudge at her shoulder worriedly. The moment she turned her face towards him, he licked the sweat from her brow and shook his head in disappointment. Sophie was very ill and if he did not help her she was only going to get worse.
Fintan brushed his aching body heaving into her legs, trying to force her to lean on him or even sit so he could lead her as fast as he dared to the nearest running water. Deep within his belly he could feel the need to be sick but he staved off his own nauseousness to care for her first. When this was all over though he would have quite a few to say to her about her foolishness that nearly got them both killed.
"Thank you," she sighed gratefully, leaning against him with a hand loosely holding the fur at his scruff. She didn't realize that he was feeling bad as well, not yet connecting that she had picked out poisonous mushrooms. She thought she was simply not agreeing with the southern fare.
Sophie walked with him dizzily, sweat still glistening her skin as she fought the urge to vomit, not wanting to do so near his "home" as she saw the cave. "Maybe meat was a better choice," she finally agreed with him.
Fintan grunted, gagging on the bile in his mouth as he rushed to hurry them further ahead. The sight of the cool water was a relief but he collapsed before he could guide her to the edge. A few more coughing gags and he lost his battle against his stomach. He felt miserable and weakly shifted back to his human form, remaining on all fours as he fought to keep from being sick again.
Sophie was not nearly as graceful as she stumbled forward once he'd stopped. Dizzy and swaying as she looked back to watch him she suddenly felt incredibly guilty to see him coughing and gagging and struggling just as much as she was. Hanging her head with both shame and a sudden queasy feeling the shifter dropped to her knees over the edge of the bank and scooped water to her face to try to calm the fever flaring against her skin.
It was no help, though, and she suddenly found herself turning her head to heave and sob as she hurled her breakfast -or was it dinner?- in the grass. It was defeat, her own body rejecting what she'd been trying to nourish it with. More than that, it just further strengthened Fintan's view that she could not care for herself, which she hated.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, her head hanging in shame as she slipped into the water fully clothed. It was as much to calm the heat upon her flesh as it was to hide her embarrassment and hide from him.
He groaned as he crawled around his vomit towards the water. Each movement hurt as if he were dragging himself through hot coals yet he was determined to get to Sophie and pull her back out of the river.
"Foolish woman," Fintan growled as he latched onto her collar to plunk her back on shore. "You'll drown!"
"No," she whined, flailing her arms to brace herself against the bank, fighting to not be pulled up. "I can swim, I'm fine. I just need to cool off," she hurried to explain, knowing it made absolutely no sense and she was just avoiding the inevitable. "Are you mad?" she winced, eyes growing wide with concern.
Despite being in human form, Fintan let out a roar as he bodily forced her to remain on the shore. "Enough!" His brow shone with sweat and his chest was heaving with the labored task of breathing as he shivered despite the heat of the day. "You will obey and you will rest and stay put and I do mean now," he growled threateningly, dragging himself to lay between her and the water as if the act alone could keep her from disobeying him.
His raised voice had her wincing, feeling like she had certainly earned it. Slowly she began to relax, no longer fighting to free herself from him. What did her in was seeing him so desperately uncomfortable. Pulling herself out with a wet plop she grunted for the chill of being entirely soaked and suddenly in open air. "I'm sorry," she moaned, coughing against the stinging still in her throat and whimpering, "I just wanted to be comfortable."
Fintan grunted, already in too much pain to do any more than lay where he had dropped himself. "Shouldn't've eaten the damn plants then," he growled at her, wishing desperately that the pain would cease. "Told you, you can't care for yourself!"
Sophie rolled herself onto her side to face away from him, her arms folded to both cushion and hide herself. "I can!" she hissed, tears welling at her eyes in her shame for what had happened. "I have lived all my life like this, it was just an accident," she insisted, certain she must look crazy to him but she could not be angry. After all, she had caused him just as much pain and trouble for his trust in her.
"You haven't lived here," he hissed, curling further in on himself as his stomach sent fiery tendrils of pain throughout his system. "I told you it was stupid. You don't listen! You're going to get yourself killed and now probably me too now." Fintan huffed and groaned, burring his face in the dirt. "Last time I trust you with food."
Her face fell for his words, her shoulders slumping as she watched him curling up with his pain. "I'm sorry," she whispered sincerely, upset for him and wanting to bash her head against a tree for her stupidity. Instead, she reached a shaky hand out to rub at his back hoping to soothe the pain she'd caused. "I'm really sorry. Please don't die... I won't...cook anything for you again. Ever, I swear," she promised him, as if that alone should be a good enough reason to live on.
He shivered at her touch, though he blamed it on the chills from his growing fever. "That's if you live long enough," Fintan growled. "Such a weak body," he moaned more to himself than her as he rolled on the ground in hopes of finding a more comfortable position. He despised his human form and wished he had been able to retain his tiger one. "Hate this."
Sophie winced at that. Was she really so weak? Did he truly expect her to die out there in the jungle? With a final pat she stood on unsteady feet and walked away to be behind a nearby tree to shield herself from him for the sake of modesty, her back to him for good measure. She carefully peeled her soaked clothes off one by one, wincing and muttering to herself for how stupid she'd been to just jump in fully clothed.
Setting them carefully on some of the lower-hanging branches she took a small figurine from the pocket of her crumpled pants and carefully unrolled it from the thin strips of leather that bound it. Unraveling the necklace she placed it carefully around her throat, even going so far as to braid a bit of her hair into the knot at the back of her neck to ensure its security. Once it was settled, she shifted into her feline form and came around to approach him with a somber face, her wide eyes sad as she laid beside him and nuzzled at his arm in a gesture of comfort.
Fintan opened his eyes, startled at her gentle touch before reaching out and dragging her furry body flush against his front to snuggle and curl around. His knees tucked under her rear and his arms clung firmly about her middle so that his head could burrow into the white and black fluffiness before him with a relieved sigh.
She crawled closer, nuzzling and licking at him in apology to the best of her feline abilities. She hoped he at least could find a small amount of comfort in her as a body pillow and she remained quiet, calm, and still once he seemed settled, dropping her head to rest and try to let the rumblings of her stomach subside as she relaxed with him.
Not able to allow her to continue to feel too guilty because of his pain and anger with her, Fintan began to use one of his hands to gently rub and stroke her belly in hopes of assisting in soothing the pains he knew she felt as he shared them with her.
She grunted slightly for the pressure, but she quickly decided that it was welcome and relaxed once more, her chest moving gently as her breathing calmed. In acknowledgement she mewled gently and purred softly in thanks for his help.
With the sound of her purring coupled with the warm of her body, Fintan found himself rapidly falling into the world of dreams, his hand slowing in its petting as he drifted to sleep. Before he succumbed though with a sigh, he murmured into her neck at how soft her fur was before snuggling more into her back as if she were his litter-mate and he a cub once more.
Sophie was content with a snuggling sleep, a comfort she was not usually afforded in her travels. She spent the rest of the day practically motionless as she slept off the remains of the poison she'd put in her body. The last time she'd awoken the day had only just begun but now she was confused and uncertain. How many days had passed? Her sleep was so thrown off from all her activity and odd napping. Shifting so frequently was not something she was accustomed to and her body was quite tired for it alone, her lack of practice hampering a smoother transition.
Finally wide awake she tried to rise up but quickly realized that they were quite tangled together and she cast a worried look at Fintan, hoping she would not wake him as she tried to slowly slip from his hold.
Fintan slept restlessly, but comforted by having the warmth of another soft body cuddled close against him. Her pulling away from him, caused him to moan and try to curl around her. "Don't go," he mumbled against her back. "Don't leave."
Her heart sank with guilt. He looked so...comfortable. Alright, alright, she thought, lowering herself down again but turning slightly to nuzzle up against his throat under his chin. Getting comfortable, Sophie heaved a big sigh and stretched her limbs out in front of herself instead, knowing it would have to make do for now.
He hummed with pleasure, instantly snuggling back into her once she settled and beginning to resume his petting now that he was awake. "Feeling better?" he asked, his eyes still closed as he rested. "Still alive?"
Sophie yowled in slight protest as if to say "Of course I am!", huffing and rolling her eyes at nothing as she snuggled back against him. The petting soothed her, though, and she quit her complaining in favor of a happy rumbling. She nodded and rubbed her head against him in answer as she tilted her head slightly to look at him hoping he would understand her expectant gaze was full of the same questions.
Fintan nuzzled blindly against her. "Seems the worst if over. Wish could shift though," he grumbled to himself. "I hate this form, so weak and awkward and," he peeked an eye open to look down at himself "furless."
Sophie merely snorted, and she would have laughed if she could have. As far as she was concerned the jungle was too hot to need fur, so she wasn't sure why that was a complaint.
She spent a few thoughtful moments in silence before choosing to shift back to her own human form, despite her nakedness. She covered what she could with her hands, turning her head to look at him thoughtfully. "Are you...stuck? Or does it pain you to try?"
The shifter grunted and pouted. "You're not fluffy anymore." Fintan whined and pouted, trying to get comfortable now with the body tucked in against him, completely oblivious to both their naked states. "Both, can't shift when ill."
She sighed, the heavy burden of guilt tugging at her heart. "This is my fault," she mourned, hoping he would understand the sincerity of her promise, "I'm very sorry. I'll stay with you until you're well enough to be yourself again.
"I could hunt for you. And, well, I wouldn't cook but you could eat my kill. The least I could do seeing as I made a mistake. Poisoned us. Made you ill." Sophie shook her head, regretting her stubbornness, regretting her resistance to his ways.
"Stay," he urged her, nuzzling in against her shoulder. "Don't leave. I feel better knowing you haven't run off and gotten into trouble without me to look out for you. You don't know the boundary lines. I wouldn't want my brother or worse to get to you."
"Alright, I will. For now, at least. But maybe you should show them to me so that you don't have to feel like you have to go with me everywhere," she suggested, thinking it a very sound idea. "Or perhaps not. Would be a waste of time," she thought aloud, certain that she would be on her way and heading home once he was well.
"Wouldn't be a waste of time if it kept you away from him. But perhaps you're right," he replied from the muffled position of his face buried against her arm. "If I'm well enough to show you the boundaries then I'm well enough to hunt for us both."
Sophie could not help grimacing for that. "That wasn't quite what I meant," she added softly, hoping he would not be angered but also not wishing to upset him with more talk of her leaving. He'd already shown he didn't like that and she was genuinely worried of what might befall her if she tried again. Her guilt would not let her leave him ill, though, at least.
Slowly, she leaned back against him for the warmth and settled a hand to rub at her stomach. The rumblings were mostly gone but she felt terrible that she seemed fine and he was left ill by her actions. She was content to let him rest and settle into silence, though, not wanting to upset what little comfort he had.
He pulled her in a bit closer but found himself huffing in frustration as she did not seem to fit against his form in quite the same comfortable manner she had when she was in her feline form. "You're too boney," he complained with a slight whine in his tone. "All the fluffy padding is gone," he continued to huff.
She winced as if his complaints hurt her, self-conscious already about staying with him in such a state. "Let me get clothes on then," she offered, eyeing where she'd laid her clothes out to dry earlier. "Will be softer. I prefer being able to speak, though. In case I need to.
"I'll be right back, alright?" But she did not move away immediately remembering the way he'd clung to her not too long ago.
Fintan huffed but refused to let her go. "You need to learn to listen more," he told her. "You don't listen when I talk to you in this wretched form and you all but ignore me in the other. Why do you hate being what you were born to be so much?"
His words stung quite a lot. It took her hardly any time to settle against him again, a guilty frown tugging at her lips that made her thankful for their lack of eye contact thus far. "I do listen," she answered gently. "It is difficult for me to understand you as my cat and even more so when you are yours. We are not the same," she pointed out, as if it were not so obvious.
"I don't hate myself, I just prefer this form. I can talk to people, be with people. I am not reduced to the savagery of my beast. I do not always desire what my cat wishes," she explained, as if it were like sharing with another instead of the reality of her single mind and body. "I'm sorry if I've...upset you, Fintan. I didn't mean to step on any toes."
"You're...not one and the same?" he asked in a quiet, pitying voice, his eyes filled with pained apprehension for her answer. "You see yourself as two separate...entities? No wonder you don't understand; you're incomplete!"
"Yes, but I'm not incomplete," Sophie protested, sighing in disappointment that he didn't seem to see things her way. "I don't disagree with the way of my people. I have a large family back home by all accounts, but I do not see myself as entirely like them. I prefer being like this, being human. My cat makes me feel like I don't have control of myself." Sophie made a face of disgust, one she was thankful he couldn't see.
"I eat as she does. I get territorial and possessive. I don't like those things in myself. I'm above that, I don't need what she wants. I am free. I am above the base needs of a predator." She shuddered slightly, feeling disgusted that she shared her mind and body with what she felt was a different creature entirely. "As a human I choose what I want. I choose when I want to do things," she concluded, sighing and curling up a bit more on herself.
Fintan shook his head sadly, burying his face more into her neck as he tucked her in extra close. Her words were heart-breaking in his mind. A tear even escaped his eye to splash onto her shoulder as he murmured against her skin.
"You don't know what freedom is when you believe yourself caged in by a monster and a beast. You accept existing but not being. You have not come to accept yourself for what you are and your potential Sophie and that is the most sad thing anyone could ever do."
Sophie hated that she felt pitied. The moisture at her back was a little startling and she felt almost guilty over knowing he was crying. She did her best to try to comfort him from silence as he spoke, running a hand reassuringly along the arm holding her to him.
"It is the way of shifters," she tried to defend. "It is a gift to be able to escape being feral. I feel a connection with my leopard, please don't misunderstand, but she is not exactly 'me.' Perhaps," she sighed, "You have been as your tiger for too long. Perhaps you have lost touch of reality. You are human, too. I think it's fair to say I feel the same about my cat as you do your current form.
"You hate it, don't you?"
"No," Fintan replied with certainty. "I do no hate this form. I am ashamed of my vulnerability in it as I feel unsafe with my illness. It is a reminder that I cannot even return somewhere where I feel protected. But, no I do not being human nor have I lost my touch of reality as you seem to believe. I am one heart and one soul with the tiger. I am no more feral in this form than I am rational in the other. A true shifter embraces all that they are and does not pick and choose what they want."
She was a little taken aback to hear that she was wrong and that he had a vastly different opinion than she had guessed. "I suppose I am a true shame upon my family then, if every other feels that way," she mused, feeling a bit sad. "But that is truly how I have always felt. Perhaps I am destined for a different sort of life, one without her. I can honestly say I have never felt as one with my leopard anyhow.
"My only hope for now is that you recover quickly so you can be free to change forms again," she bid him, patting his arm gently.
He kept his silence, unwilling to argue with her further as it sapped his strength. Instead he half-sighed, half-grunted in discomfort while shifting enough to make himself a bit of a makeshift pillow for her. Fintan saw no sense in them both being uncomfortable if he was going to suffer. "Get some rest," he ordered a bit gruffly, his body already relaxing some for sleep.
She didn't like him telling her what to do, but there was reason in it she couldn't deny. She lay tense while he adjusted and gradually leaned back against him more and more once he'd settled, more than happy to have him as a pillow. Leaning against his shoulder, she looked out at the bits of river that peeked through the trees as it wound its way through his slice of jungle.
Silently reflecting, she remembered that he'd complained when she'd shifted and thought it might be easier for him to rest to have her fur to hold onto again. With a yawn she stretched and shifted back to her leopard form without a word, adjusting carefully to not pin him and instead snuggle back against his side. She tried to use the time to feel more comfortable in her own skin as she sunbathed, her tail thumping lazily against his leg as she drifted in and out of sleep in the fading light.
The return from flesh to fur was a welcome relief as it served to soothe Fintan's weary nerves. He easily burrowed into the softness at his face, humming and sighing at the feeling of it tickling his nose and cheeks. "Thank you," he breathed before falling asleep.
She wouldn't admit it aloud, but she felt so much more relaxed resting as her leopard. She didn't struggle or fight him and was content to just lounge and let him use her dusty fluff to snuggle with. Once she'd had her fill of sleep she stretched out beside him and kept a lazy watch of their surroundings, her green eyes bright and thoughtful as she pondered the possibility of trying to do any more for him. He'd seemed clear that he didn't want her doing anything else, but she felt guilty for their predicament and didn't want to do anything but her best in remedying it.
While Fintan slept, his stomach made obnoxious gurgling and groaning sounds as it demanded food now that the poison was flushing its way out of his system. His sleep was more peaceful though for her presence and eventually his grip even loosened enough for her to wiggle out if she needed to as he used her more as a blanket than anything else.
The symphony of a hungry stomach was something she was quite used to and certain that she was not mishearing. It made her feel guilty, knowing she was responsible for his missed meals. The temptation of leaving was growing fast once she realized that she was technically "free" to leave again. She hesitated, knowing full well he would probably see her as disobedient again when he'd spent so much time explicitly telling her she should stay.
In the end, she did escape from him and circled the immediate area in a very non predatory search for food. She was fairly clueless when it came to the finesse of the hunt in her shifted form. She had no weapons besides tooth and claw but she had no real grasp of how to use them to her advantage. She was too loud and making far too much of a mess scattering dead brush with her clunky paws to even dream of catching anything worth eating.
He twitched and groaned as the sweats of fever brought on a chill despite the jungle heat. Sophie's absence was noticed and filled him with dismay once he was able to work his foggy brain around the situation. Weakly, with dry lips he called for her, already despairing at the idea she had gone and done something exceedingly stupid and he was not well enough to help her.
Sophie immediately felt a pang of guilt for hearing him call out for her. She was caught, there was no escaping that, but she worried that he was in pain or trouble since he sounded so weak. Hurrying back, she crashed through the trees and trotted over to him without hesitation. She lowered her head to his shoulder and licked at it in what she hoped he would understand as a comforting gesture. The last thing she wanted was for him to be stressed, sad, or angry, and she worried he would be at least one of them now.
Fintan grunted at the feel of her rasping tongue, finding that he enjoyed it much more when it was not bare flesh but soft fur that met it. "Don't wander too far off. I can't look out for you like this," he quietly told her, weakly raising a hand to scratch at her ears. "I'm sorry."
He was rewarded with a gentle purring for giving scratches. Her bright eyes seemed amused by his worrying and she let him know such as best as she could with nuzzling and butting her head against him.
She turned her head to stare out at the surrounding jungle thoughtfully, occasionally tilting her head this way or that as she listened to all of the still-strange sounds. How far was too far? She wished she knew how to ask him but it was frustrating to feel like she had no way of communicating her concerns as her cat.
Slowly, she lowered herself to lay down close to him again, not wanting him to feel like she would just go running off at the earliest opportunity, as much as she might have wanted to.
He easily snuggled up against her again, giving Sophie vigorous petting and belly rubs before gently patting her side and pulling away. "Go get something to eat," he urged. "Meat, this time ok? Fish, whatever. Make sure it's not sick and be careful. Don't die and don't stray beyond where you can see me." Fintan brushed his fingers along her cheekbone. "Might need you."
That he was so touchy again surprised her, pleasant as it was. Her purring grew louder as she listened to him, nodding her head in agreement and understanding. Reluctantly, she got up again. For a moment she lingered for his additional touch, hoping she might get more petting or scratches for her patience. Soon, though, she was off again and careful to stay where she could still see him through the trees.
Her skills as a cat still weak, though, she wasn't able to catch anything. She resorted to the river again. The fish hadn't been terrible, it just wasn't exactly familiar. After considerable effort she surfaced with two of them shining in her jaws. Shaking the water from her body she proudly carried them back to Fintan and dropped the largest one beside him, nudging it closer in gesture that it was for him as she settled down again to eat her own.
Fintan startled slightly when she returned with the fish. He had dozed in and out of restless sleep as she prowled for food and was surprised to find she had thought of him as well. With a groan, he slowly rolled to his hands and knees before attempting to shift. Every bone in his body screamed in protest as skin became covered with fur and the tiger within tried to make itself known. However, the shifter was only able to hold his form long enough to take one half-hearted bite before collapsing back down to the ground as a human. He did not have the strength to maintain his favored form and it embarrassed him to be so weak not that he would admit it to her. Instead he closed his eyes as if intent on sleeping and prayed she did not try to mother hen him.
She was pleased to see his tiger again, thinking it a sign of progress, but she dropped her fish and immediately was at his side and fretting over him with deep concern for him collapsing. Sophie pushed her muzzle against him, poking gently and trying to feel for any injuries. She whined with concern, pacing around him a bit and throwing nervous glances around as she tried to decide what she should do.
Thinking it important that he was fed and kept healthy she was off in a flash, loping back towards the trees and shifting just as she reached her stash of clothing. They were still damp, but they would do just fine. After quickly dressing again she dragged more branches out towards their spot by the river and carefully built and started a fire again. While it grew she cleaned the remains of their fish by the water before spearing them and moving to stand right next to the hungry flames to let them cook, pleased by the light sizzle as she waited. "I'm sorry," she finally spoke, glancing over at him, uncertain if he was back to sleep or not. "I didn't realize you still couldn't. You'll get your strength back soon," she told him, trying to be encouraging.
He pet her, trying to assure her he was alright even as she burst away from him and his arms fell heavily to the ground as if weighted down by massive stones. Fintan curled in on himself in pain and hunger, letting her do what she would. The shifter only peeked out at her when she spoke and then he tiredly yet gruffly replied that it was not her fault.
Despite his saying it wasn't her fault Sophie was entirely sure that it was, still. She watched him warily, concern ruining her usually calm expression as she waited in silence for the fish to cook. She gave them a bit more time than she normally might to ensure the strange, new-to-her fish cooked properly and then she sat down closer to him to let them cool. She kicked a bit of dirt towards the fire to calm it, remembering his concern over how big the last one had been, and she reached out with her free hand to rub at his shoulder.
Once the fish had cooled she held the stick out to him. "Please try this?" she asked, a little worried he might turn it away on principle of her poison mushrooms. "I'm sure it will be better than the other stuff." Sophie held her own stick calmly, despite her hunger coiling in her stomach. She would not eat until he had his fill, even if she needed to retrieve more fish. "And let me know if you want more."
Fintan huffed grumpily, his lip curling slightly in distaste at having to eat the fish though it was of not fault of Sophie's and solely his own dissatisfaction with being confined to a weaker form. He picked at his food, eating slowly and swallowing dryly before thanking her truthfully for her assistance.
"Eat Sophie. It won't kill you," he urged her, misunderstanding her waiting for him as something else.
She tried not to stare but she was pleased that he was eating, despite his slowness. She shook her head and glanced to the other fish she was holding onto. "I want to make sure you eat first. You need your strength," she explained, hoping he would not be offended that she wanted him to eat his fill first. "I want you to get enough. I can wait."
"Eat," he growled testily. "I can't take care of you like this so I'm trusting you to look out for yourself. Don't make me regret it." Fintan shot her a warning look as he paused in his eating. He would not take another mouthful until he was sure she would feed herself as well.
Sophie narrowed her eyes at him stubbornly for the growl. She didn't think it was really his place to complain about their situation. "I will eat when you are no longer hungry. You can even have my share if you'd like, I can always get more later. I will not sit here and eat in front of a hungry man to torture him when he cannot hunt for himself."
Fintan huffed and rolled his eyes, barely able to keep himself from tossing his food at her. "I am eating so it's hardly making me watch you and starve empty-handed. Eat you cooked fish before it goes cold and you complain woman. Stop arguing with a sick man, you impossibly stubborn thing!"
"I'm not being stubborn, I just want to help," she argued, unwilling to budge on what she'd already committed to. "You will eat. And you will eat until you cannot possibly have another bite. Then, I will eat. And only then. Not up for discussion."
The shifter growled loudly, a wave of fur appearing and disappearing upon his skin in a wave as his rage fought to make him shift despite his weak state. "You're lucky I can't reach you child or you would not be running your mouth quite so much and instead be eating. Don't think just because you're helping me that I will let you neglect yourself. I haven't forgotten the real issue here."
She didn't like what she saw, thinking the rippling fur a display of his lack of control similar to his changing features days before. A tight frown was fixed upon her lips as she stared at him, refusing to back down. She was unhappy that he was calling her a child, but she shook her head in disappointment. It was out of pity more than anything, that he could be so short-sighted. "I already told you I would eat, I'm not going to break my word. What are you going to do? Force me to eat?" She raised a brow at that, entirely unamused by the verbal posturing.
Sophie firmly believed he could do nothing about it at all and shouldn't be worrying himself so that she wouldn't keep her promises. Scooting closer to sit right beside him, she held her fish out expectantly. "Eat this, too. You need it."
His eyes narrowed dangerously as she moved closer and continued to seemingly defy him. Fintan took the fish from her before proceeding to smack her in the shoulder with it. "I said eat it, not give it away! It's no wonder you're such a mess and too thing. You're probably even smaller than the runt of your litter because of how you persist with your idiotic habits. If you do not eat now then I am refusing to eat!"
Sophie stiffened at his insults, her expression entirely unamused as he ranted and proclaimed ridiculous things. "I'm not hungry," she lied, moving away so he couldn't keep hitting her with the fish and add even more insult to her cooking. "If you don't like it then just say you don't like it, Fintan. No need to be so rude about it," she huffed, stubbornly crossing her arms and curling up to sit so he couldn't force it upon her.
Again, Fintan growled angrily, wishing desperately that he was more himself so that he could knock some sense into her. "Never in my life have I met such an unbelievably mule-headed person before! I never insulted your food, I only asked that you be wise and eat as well instead of arguing with me and letting it get cold for us both. I wanted to share with you and instead you throw my concern and care back in my face. Need I remind you, you also were made ill and require strength and rest?" By the time he was down yelling at her sweat had accumulated on his brow and he was breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon. The effort of being terse was taking its toll and Fintan was easily winded and overwhelmed feeling.
"But it was my fault!" she snapped back at him, practically hissing until she saw how winded and strained he looked from arguing with her. Sighing and feeling quite guilty, Sophie just shook her head sadly. "It wasn't as bad for me. I feel fine now. You are the ill one now and I can't deny responsibility for that. Besides, I wanted to share with you first," she complained, thinking it a very valid reason for her stubbornness. "Please eat and rest. You need it."
"It's not sharing if you make me eat alone, Sophie. I don't like eating while feeling watched. Surely that instinct you must understand." Fintan sighed and shook his head, feeling dizzy and ill. "I don't under stand why it affects me more," he whined more to himself than anyone. "Hardly fair or logical."
"If that's the problem then I can just not watch you," she pointed out, shaking her head in her frustration. "Perhaps it is a weakness of men," she pondered. "Or perhaps it is that you don't eat many, if any other thing besides meat. Either way, I'm sorry. I just want you to get your strength back so you can go back to living your life and I can go home with a guilt-free conscience."
Fintan rolled his eyes but otherwise refrained from commenting further. He was too miserable to argue and after a few weak bites, the shifter once more laid down in a ball to rest. He had given up on arguing with Sophie for the time being and would not hear of her urging him to eat more if she tried. Fintan was sick and tired and all he wanted was rest and good health again.
Content to let the silence fall between them, Sophie did not stare as he ate and let him have that peace at least. She carefully untied her necklace from her hair and looped it around her throat once more. Once the sounds of his eating had subsided she slowly rose and walked to the fire, stoking it carefully with the hope he would be able to keep warm enough without clothing. After, she walked to the water's edge and surveyed the fish below.
Leaning forward, she shifted as she fell and made a very ungraceful plop into the water before diving down. She returned with a few bigger fish having tried Fintan's methods (or rather what was the proper way of catching fish.) Settling down on the opposite side of the fire from him, she ate in silence. In fact, she ate a bit more than she normally might have just to show she was not too stubborn to put away what he might see as a "proper" amount of food. Once she'd gorged and her belly was slightly protruding from the amount of fish she'd stuffed down she laid out to rest by the fire, staring into it and watching the flames dance in silence.
He watched her quietly, feeling a bit pleased that she was eating what he deemed enough and working to provide for herself properly even after their argument. Fintan kept his silence though for fear of proving another disagreement between them that had the potential to send her away from him again and into further danger that he could not protect her from.
"Sophie?" he called out to her after quite some time. "Should we head back?"
She lifted her head slightly for hearing her name, peering at him around the fire. "Back" was the cave, she assumed, the place the closest thing to a home she'd seen him around thus far. She rumbled her approval and slowly climbed to her feet, her tail swishing slightly in discomfort with her belly protesting such movements after a feast with an angry gurgle.
Sophie stepped around the fire and approached him, nuzzling at his shoulder and fully expecting him to use her for support to get up and even walk if he needed. She turned her head this way and that, looking out into the trees with confusion as she realized she wasn't sure exactly which way they should go.
Fintan gently rubbed her sides, careful to not place pressure on her obviously full belly as he rose to all fours and clumsily crawled towards the fire so that he could put it out before they left. Only once he felt it had been sufficiently put out did he begin to try and crawl in the direction of the cave. He did not feel well enough to attempt to get to his feet but nor was he able to become his more comfortable and agile form yet.
"Don't forget your things," he wearily reminded her as he trudged along, knowing he would not get very far at the rate he was going.
Things? What things? She glanced around their spot on the bank and saw nothing of value she might want to bring along. She was confused by it, but assumed it was merely a delirious reminder. Watching him, though, she felt very sad. If nothing else she felt sorry to see such a predator reduced to such weakness. And yet, it was all her fault, too.
For a while she simply padded along beside him, careful not to get ahead of him. Seeing how little progress they were making, though, she paused beside him and grumbled her concern and nudged at his shoulder cautiously. She crouched down and tried to get her head under his arm to help him along. Sophie wasn't sure if she could carry him entirely, but she was determined to try if he let her.
"I'm going, I'm going," he grumbled, misunderstanding her care for impatience. Fintan wobbled as she attempted to get under him as he was almost unable to keep his balance solely on three limbs. "No need to be so grumpy!"
Her ears flattened for hearing his complaints. Did he not see that she was trying to ease his burden and her guilt along with it? Grumbling her displeasure for his misunderstandings, Sophie nudged at him more and more, hunkering herself lower to the ground to try and get under him more to support him better. It was underhanded, she knew, but she wanted to try and force him to lean on her instead, even if only out of necessity if he couldn't crawl along otherwise.
Fintan stared down at the female who had managed to wedge her furry body beneath him and was all but causing him to collapse on top of her. He growled quietly at her before shifting his weight so that he could wrap his arms under her body and then fall to his side with her in his arms.
"What are you trying to do to me woman? You're driving me insane," he murmured against her neck, burying his face against her scruff before releasing her.
A frustrated yowl escaped her, her fluffy tail whipping with an angry twitch that her intentions were not clear enough for him. She didn't fight him, but she let out an unhappy huff at his mumblings. How could he not see that she wanted to help? That she wanted to be the crutch he so obviously needed?
Sophie tilted her head to look back at him, though she mostly could only see his hair now. She stared at it, though, noiseless questions in her eyes though she knew it would not answer for him.
Allowing instinct to rule him, Fintan bit down albeit gently into the scruff of Sophie's neck and shoulder, giving her fur a light tug before letting go and nuzzling his face into her more. "Infuriating and stubborn. None of your lip now. Too tired to deal with you storming off and getting yourself nearly killed."
The pulling at her shoulder was startling, but she wasn't entirely surprised given his preferred form and apparent isolation. Sophie pouted as much as a cat could for his assumptions, though. How dare he think she would just leave him like he was! He was worse than a helpless cub to her and she wasn't about to let him out of her sight, let alone leave voluntarily.
She nudged at his shoulder encouragingly, a few puffs of hot air brushing against his neck before she crouched beside him. Gently bumping against his arm, she tried to get it around herself and guide him through what she wanted.
He cracked an eye open and groaned at her persistence. "Have you no mercy? I cannot move with all your shoving," he growled, hoping that she would cave to his superior tone while cursing his inability to change into his proper form which would be able to remind her of her place in no time. "I'm not a toy to play with. Go chase a leaf if you're so inclined," Fintan grumbled as he attempted to crawl forward once more without her help.
Her ears flattened at his growling. How could he not see she was helping?!
The leopard huffed, snorted, and yowled her displeasure as he crawled along without her. She watched fussily, troubled that he seemed to be struggling so much and wouldn't accept her help. Again, she tried to force herself under his arm so he could lean on her. She mouthed his arm and let her teeth graze gently against his skin with the hope that he would take her demands seriously this time.
Fintan hissed at the feel of her teeth, snapping his head around to growl and glare t her in warning but his resistance was futile. Her persistence was so much stronger. With a defeated sound that bordered on a hunter's yowl and a human's whine, he shamefully allowed her to take some of his weight upon her back as she wriggled her way into supporting him. Already he could feel the strain of fighting her drain the last of his reserve energy. All he wanted to do now was close his eyes and sleep yet he doubted she would allowed or that either, stubborn witch that she was.
He wasn't strong enough to overpower her physically, the way he was, so Sophie stood her ground and stared him down until he backed off on the resistance. Feeling the pressure of him finally leaning on her, she released his arm with a few licks and nuzzles of thanks. She guided him slowly and carefully towards the place she understood to be his home.
Back in the shelter of the cave she crouched to press her belly to the cool floor of stone to ease him down and make his transition as easy as possible. She grumbled fussily at him, her eyes dark with concern over what she'd caused. The leopard licked at his hair and temple as a symbol of apology.
Displeasure still sang through every cell of his body as the torture finally ceased and he was deposited on the cool stone floor of the cave. Everything hurt despite the females persistent care and attention. It took every fiber of Fintan's being to be able to raise his arm in a gesture of forgiveness to run weakly at her soft ears and hard head. But as soon as the effort was made his arm was falling away as if made of stone. His world was fading around the edges and the tiger feared what would come from his illness that was leaving him unfit to care for his territory and his new lady-friend.
The gesture surprised her, but she wasn't quite ready to believe any gentleness was genuine when he couldn't even pick himself up off the ground. She accepted the touches, watching him closely as she tried to gauge whether he was tired or dying.
Deciding she would take her chances on the former, Sophie circled him a few times to regain her bearings of his home before settling herself to rest near him, not quite touching to allow him what privacy she could.
Instinct told her this man was a whole world of trouble, that she should just go home while she had the chance to leave without any more drama. But she was guilty of his pain and, despite their differences, felt it was probably better to see him recover from the poisons she'd caused him to ingest before leaving him to fend for himself as she'd originally found him. A gesture of good faith and kindness from one shifter to another, she told herself, couldn't do any harm.
Fintan slept, suffering feverish nightmares that caused him to moan and flail in discomfort. He sweat and shivered, switching between curling in on himself and trying to toss and turn. Had he been able to see himself he would have been mortified at his own ineptitude. Finally, though the sickness passed. He lay upon his back, pale and death-like in appearance but very much alive. The effort to open his eyes was impossible but he did his best to listen with weak human ears, hoping his den was safe and the little white fluffball of a woman was as well.
Sophie kept watch throughout that night, dozing only when there was brief peace and stillness within him. By morning she was resting her head upon her forepaws, too sleepy to hold her head up anymore but still trying to keep herself awake and alert for him in her stubbornness. She wondered if he would be angry that she was still there when he woke up. Perhaps he'd only wanted her around because he was incapable of getting himself home despite how he'd complained about her attempts at helping him.
Gradually she slumped over to lay more on her shoulder instead of her belly. She watched him through half-lidded eyes, struggling to not let them shut even though her focus was drained. The warm light of morning would have normally been welcoming, but the light only burned her tired eyes and left her grumbly and huffy as she remained upon the floor.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard her sounds of displeasure. She had remained, the rest he could take care of later to see that she was satisfied. With a groan of his own, he mustered the courage to roll onto all fours, his joints popping and cracking as they reawakened along with the rest of him.
A weary shake of his body and he was able to slowly albeit painfully return to his preferred form with a soft yowl. Fintan padded over to his guest sluggishly, nuzzling the scruff of her neck in appreciation and thanks once he reached her while rumbling in a poor attempt at a purr.
She thought she might have been seeing things, but she couldn't deny that he was up and "himself" again once he'd shifted. The light physical touch was also undeniable. The leopard slowly rolled herself to sit upright again as he thanked her in his own way.
Sophie was stiff for a few moments, uncertain if he might still lash out at her, uncertain if his gentleness was genuine. The rumbling caught her off guard as well and it took her a little while of listening to realize he was trying to purr. It would have left her smiling if it had been possible, but she finally relaxed and rewarded his gentleness by bumping her head against his own.
Wary of his previous condition, she stood and brushed sides with him as she walked around him, surveying him cautiously. She lifted a paw to lightly brush against his belly as a silent question, concerned about how he was feeling even though he'd been strong enough to shift.
Fintan grunted at her touch, lowering his belly to the ground to keep her from doing so twice. He was well enough to be on his paws again but was still nowhere near the condition he had hoped to be in. Instead, the tiger-shifter butted heads with the female, rubbing his scent on her to reinstate his claim should anything decide to wander into his territory and think otherwise. He certainly hoped it would not be necessary though for both their sakes.
She would have laughed at how fast he dropped if she had been able to. It was a clear enough signal, though, so she left his vulnerable belly alone. Oblivious to his feelings of claim over her, though, Sophie was happy enough to accept what she saw as playful headbutting. She went along with it for a bit, pushing back against his cheek in acknowledgement, but she was fairly drained of energy and a bit too tired still to be very outwardly playful with him.
She yawned and stretched a bit, her claws scratching lightly at the floor of the cave before she settled to lay down again closeby. Sophie reached out a paw to tap at his forepaws a bit, as she was unsure of how else to communicate her happiness for his progress since he seemed against his belly being touched. It was nice to see he was able to shift again, but she needed to have a rational, human conversation with him after she caught up on missed sleep before she would feel good enough about the situation to try to leave again. For now, she was silent about her plans and tried to keep alert and slightly playful even in her sluggishness.
Fintan nuzzled against her a bit even after she moved, circling around her to ensure she was alright before yowling softly and resting his own head upon his paws. It was obvious to him she was tired and would need her rest. He resolved to wait until she slumbered deeply before going out and finding proper food for them both. There would be no more of her silliness with leaves and grass and green ickiness. It would be fresh meat from now on.
She watched him closely, curious about what he was up to until he resettled. She thought he seemed awfully active for someone who'd been so ill before, but perhaps he simply recovered from those kinds of things quickly.
She stayed awake for a little, uncertain if he would be offended by her need for sleep after he'd been out for so long, but she eventually succumbed. Slow blinking turned to closed eyes and dozing rather quickly. Eventually, a light purring sounded in her chest as she slumped over and stretched out onto one side.
The moment he was assured she was truly rested, his stance altered, showing how truly weak he was feeling now that he did not have to display his strength and endurance to keep her there. Fintan slunk out of his den once he was positive she was asleep and would not follow.
He needed to hunt and knew with his illness and his slow recovery, obtaining food would be more difficult than normal. He was not about to let her think less of him by coming back meagerly or empty-handed. It took him hours to accomplish such a simple task and once he was done he was exhausted.
It took everything the shifter had to drag the giant lizard he had caught back home. All he wanted was to flop onto his side at the entrance and have a good nap. Fintan yowled his return, hoping to show off his prowess and ability to provide for her.
Sophie slept soundly for the better part of the day with not a real worry on her mind. The sounds of his return woke her, though, and she lifted her head and stared, blinking as she tried to determine what sort of animal his kill was. The large lizard was certainly not something native to her northern home.
She rumbled her thanks as she stood, stretching as she stepped closer to inspect it. Her tongue flicked out to taste a bit of blood that ran down from its throat. Satisfied that it would probably be fine to eat, Sophie lifted her head to rub against his own in a further gesture of thanks. He seemed fine enough having brought back a kill at all, but she couldn't deny that he looked exhausted. She wondered if the animal had put up a big fight or if he simply was still too weak to be doing such things.
The shifter licked at his shoulder in thanks, nudging him gently towards the deeper part of the cave so they could be away from the sunlight she found so offensive.
Fintan puffed up in pride at her recognition and obvious pleasure. Her nudging though nearly pushed him right off balance and he had to stumble a bit, dropping the lizard in order to adjust himself. Only once he had did he grumble and retrieve it once more to drag laboriously further into his home. When he thought himself sufficiently within, he did finally collapse onto his side, his paws pushing the kill away from himself so she could feast upon it to her heart's delight while he got some much needed rest. His stomach may have rumbled and his breathing was heavy but he was otherwise happy and that is all that mattered to him.
She watched his struggles with regret and hovered close as he made his way further as she tried to figure out a way to help him with it. Not being of any use, though, she stared and observed his behavior tensely as she looked between him and his kill. In her family it was always males or the hunter who got to eat a shared meal first.
His offer made her a little uncomfortable as she tried to determine if he was simply setting it aside for later or insisting that she partake in it. His rumbling stomach concerned her and she quickly approached him, grabbing the lizard to drag closer to him again.
Sophie laid it out in front of him and gave the body a few nudges towards him, hoping to make it as simple as possible for him to eat from it if he didn't have the strength to sit or stand.
He huffed and grumbled loudly in displeasure, once more attempting to shove the lizard back towards her. Fintan even moved into a more upright position to keep her from pushing it back. He hoped she was not insulting him by refusing to eat now. She had no room to stand on given her last foray into what was and was not edible nearly got them both killed. Sophie needed to listen to him, he knew what was best, just as it should be. "Eat" he yowled forcefully, nodding towards the food and then to her.
The unhappy sounds he made startled her, but she realized quite quickly what he was trying to tell her even though she didn't understand what he was trying to "say" exactly. She stared at him questioningly for a few moments longer before she finally relaxed and dipped her head to tear into the flesh instead of trying to give it back anymore. She didn't understand why he wanted her to eat first, but she didn't want to fight with him over it. That certainly wasn't worth it.
She rumbled her thanks to him as she tore into the shoulder and belly of his kill, only lifting her head occasionally to make sure he wouldn't be upset with her for taking too much. When she was finished she laid down with the lizard between them and stared expectantly as she groomed her fur of its blood.
Once she began to eat, Fintan relaxed, allowing himself to lay back down fully on his side. He watched her through lazy eyes and listened with a slow-flicking ear to ensure she was indeed taking care of herself even as he struggled to stave off the gripping claws of true sleep. Fintan still did not truly trust the little fluffball to stay put but a full stomach would mean she most likely would not be going anywhere for a while so that she could digest and rest some more.
Seeing her preening herself rekindled his sense of pride though and for her sake he pulled himself back onto his paws to step over his kill and over to her, closing the space between them. For a moment he nosed the top of her head before offering her a tentative lick at her scruff where she could not easily reach.
Sophie was a little taken aback by his gesture, but she accepted it. While she thought it seemed a little uncharacteristically generous and kind of him, she did appreciate it after the things she'd put him through.
Lowering her belly to the floor, she sprawled out and tried to keep the pressure off her full stomach as she tilted herself towards him. She hoped he might continue helping her groom, but she could always go wash it off later if he didn't. As he'd hoped, though, she was a bit too full to even consider a trip to the river for the moment.
Her acceptance eased the tension in his shoulders that he had not even realized was present. Fintan took to grooming her with vigor, nuzzling his head against hers, covering her in his scent, and working to aid in cleaning those tough to reach spots. He was gentle but thorough. Eventually it wore him out enough to force him to lay down as well but he did not let up, working carefully at her ears and under her chin, always slow as he moved in case she changed her mind and decided to take a bite out of him instead.
She basked in the attention, her eyes half-lidded and a strong purr rumbling in her throat. Once she was feeling relatively clean again she shook herself out a bit, her ears twitching this way and that as she turned to offer him a few gentle licks and nuzzles of thanks.
Staring at the remains of the meal, Sophie tried giving him a gentle nudge again. She hoped he would actually eat something substantial rather than leave her feeling guilty for indulging in his own kill without him, but she knew she had no power to force him.
Drowsily she sat up onto her haunches and took to grooming her already immaculate coat again, feeling like she just wasn't clean enough with the taste of lizard still in her mouth.
Fintan ceased his grooming efforts once she shook herself out. Having dealt with two females in his lifetime he knew better than to press her ire. She had been lenient but that could easily turn to impatience and angry bites.
He ignored her attempts to get her to eat, watching instead in confusion as she resumed her own self-grooming as if his efforts were not enough. Fintan huffed a large cat sigh before lightly butting heads with her and attempting to groom her as well. She was foolish in his opinion to be so obsessed given that she was clean but if he was not good enough for her then he would only try harder for her. He had not suffered the grooming wrath of his mother's and sister's tongues just to essentially be told he was not good enough.
Not realizing he took offense to her self-grooming, she flattened her ears a bit at his pushing and further attempts to help. She stopped, lifting her head to push back at him with a warning growl. It did accomplish his goal, though. She was bothered enough by his persistence that she stopped doing it herself as she stared at him questioningly. Did he not understand her desire to be certain she was clean?
The leopard shifter huffed and pointed her paw at the remains of the lizard on the floor, challenging him to eat again.
The moment she growled at him, Fintan was backpedaling so fast, he tripped over his own tail and ended up rolling onto his rear and then his back a graceless flop. With his ears pressed flat against his skull he took in her gesture towards the lizard and hurried to appease her in how own misunderstanding fashion. Fintan backed away more before nudging the remaining carcass towards her with his nose in a peace-offering.
She stared in awe at the way he fumbled over himself, her ears relaxing for a moment before she saw the way he tried to nudge the carcass towards her. They flattened again as she snarled and put out a paw to stop it and push it back towards him. She wished she could just tell him to eat and that she was full, but she didn't know if he would understand her. Instead she just rumbled a warning growl in her throat, watching him warily for any more shenanigans.
Fintan huffed, not knowing what she wanted from him, and starting to truly feel the strain of fighting with her deep in his bones. He rolled his eyes and looked away, his head and shoulders slumping in frustrated defeat and exhaustion. If she was going to be a picky female then there was nothing more he could do it seemed. She was obviously cross with him and he was helpless to fix whatever perceived wrong she believed he had committed.
Her usually sleek coat grew puffy and stiff as she stared him down, upset that he didn't seem to understand her at all. Standing quickly, she moved away from him to plop down at the very back of his cave. If he wasn't going to listen then she had no reason to stress herself out trying to force him. That surely wasn't going to work and it would only be tiresome to attempt it.
Once she left to seemingly sulk, Fintan once more huffed and rolled his eyes. He allowed his front paws to slide forward across the cool stone, bringing him down onto his belly with the lizard remains within eating distance. Slowly and moodily he took to eating his kill, displeased with her attitude and seeing it as a direct insult to the care he had continuously been trying to show her. As he gnawed on each bite he mulled over what she possibly could have been in such a snit over and finally resolved that the only answer could be her being a typical unpredictable female. There simply was no other viable answer.
Once she could hear him eating she snapped her head around to stare at him in shock. It slowly turned to a glare for his seeming stubbornness. She batted her tail in annoyance but began to relax as it seemed he was finally "obeying" her. She sounded off a short yowl of approval as she turned herself around to face him, even with so much space between them. Sophie watched, content with staring him down and observing his feasting.
Fintan looked up at her agitated tail-tapping and unspoken challenging. He grunted at her with displeasure before slowly dragging himself back up onto his paws, gripping the neck of his kill within his massive jaws and relocating himself and his meal even further away from her so that he could enjoy it in peace. He saw no reason why she needed to be so irritable. She had shown disinterest in the remains and it was his kill after all. If she wanted it now then that was too bad. He was hungry and after everything he had done for her and what she had done to him, he deserved this at the very least. The tiger-shifter plopped himself down again, his back to her but his tail twitching in obvious wary displeasure and his ears turned back to keep an "eye" on the grumpy female in his den.
Sophie stared in shocked surprise that her "words" seemed to have not been understood by him and he was putting even more distance between them. Instead of being upset about it, though, she just settled to lie down more comfortably and tried to rest with her full belly. She yawned quietly and set her head down onto her front paws with the hope of getting a much-desired nap.
He finished his meal in peace, belching upon its completion from all the air he had swallowed while running about to catch the three previous failures before he happened upon the lizard. Fintan pushed aside the remaining bones and moved on to grooming himself lazily. He found himself distracted though by her obvious lack of interest now that he had finished his fill. She truly was a mystery in his eyes.
First she was hungry then she was not. Then she wanted to groom herself then she did not, then she changed her mind again. Then she refused to share before she had a hissy fit over it. All of this followed by complete and utter disinterest. It simply did not make sense to him.
Fintan yowled questioningly towards the white fluffball, hoping for an answer for her onto now odd and strange behavior while in his home.
She tried to ignore him at first, her ears twitching a bit at his sounds. Once he called to her, though, Sophie raised her head drowsily and stared at him for a bit just blinking. Her eyes wandered to the remains of their meal and she grunted in satisfaction that he'd finally eaten a good portion of it.
Crawling up to stand, she tested his patience with her now that he'd eaten and wandered closer. Sophie continued to stare at him, giving her best "Am I forgiven?" look she could. She lowered her head to attempt to mimic his earlier, kind grooming of hard-to-reach places.
Fintan grunted, tiling his head back so he could watch her with a wary eye, his ears pressed firmly back against his skull. For several irritated breaths he stared up at her trying to determine what her aim was before finally relenting and looking away to allow her what she seemed to want. His massive shoulders shrugged as if to say "what does it matter anyway?"
Sophie ignored his ears and shrugging and licked cautiously at his fur. She nuzzled at his scruff and purred lightly, hoping to get on his good side again if she buttered up enough. The last thing she needed was a tiger being grumpy with her.
Despite himself, Fintan relaxed under her careful grooming. His head lowered to his paws as he allowed the weight of his body to lean firmly into hers. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he enjoyed having her close, both generally and physically. She was different and for as infuriating as that was nearly every second of their time together she was certainly interesting. The tiger shifter grunted softly in pleasure before moving his head slightly to rub against her chest in appreciation for what she was doing.
Seeing that he wasn't withdrawing, she settled down to lay beside him, content with letting him lean on her as she returned his earlier favor. Even as he rubbed against her she continued at a relaxing pace, even going so far as to set a paw on his shoulder to hold him steady. Sophie tried to be gentle and not shove at him too much, but she wasn't sure if he was simply tolerating her or what he even thought about it. Perhaps tiger culture was different about things like that, she had no idea.
Once she was satisfied with her work, though, she gave him a final nudge at his ear and settled her head against his neck to rest for a moment. She yawned lightly, content with her efforts to repair what damage she'd felt she'd done.
He melted under her ministrations, allowing her to do as she would with him without major complaint. As a rather solitary individual, Fintan tended to keep to himself and therefore had not had so much attention upon his person since he was a small cub. He was coming to find he rather enjoyed it though and let loose his grumbling attempt at a purr.
His ear flicked out at her once she finished but Fintan was far too drained to do much else. He allowed his head to fall to rest upon her paw as his eyes closed for the briefest of moments. Before her yawn was even completed the tiger was fast asleep, safe, warm, and content.
It became clear to her rather quickly that he was asleep, but she had no complaints about staying with him if he was comfortable enough with her to do that.
Curling in slightly as she settled with him, Sophie gave him a few final nudges and nuzzles before resting her head against his own and closing her eyes for a much-needed nap.
Fintan snored loudly, completely content to sleep off his food coma while soaking in the warmth of his companion. Gradually, he shifted to lay more on his side so that his soft underbelly was spooned up against Sophie's side. His tail tangled with hers as he managed to wiggle and bury his nose into the soft fur of her chest under her chin. She smelled of an exotic place far his territory that gave him dreams of pure white trees and a sun that painted black shadows upon them to hide a lithe, white ball of fur with piercing eyes.
Fast asleep through the rest of the day, Sophie was surprised by how dim the remaining light was when she finally awoke. She was equally surprised by the way Fintan had snuggled himself against her. Wanting to stretch a bit, she carefully untangled herself from him and shoved at his shoulder some to wiggle her leg out from under him before she rolled away.
Stretching while she stood, the young leopard stared at him with worried eyes. She'd certainly caused him more trouble than she felt her company was worth, but a deal was a deal. To herself, she hoped he would be well soon both for his own sake and well-being and so she could return home with a clear conscience.
The tiger growled in his sleep at the loss of warmth and the movement that threatened to waken him. Large paws reached out, grappling to reclaim the closeness of soft, warm fur as Fintan mewled searchingly. When he met nothing but air though in his initial attempts, he finally allowed one golden eye to open to peer out with displeasure. He thumped his tail grumpily against the ground, hoping to entice her back for more napping.
Surprised to see him wake so quickly and feeling a bit guilty for being the cause of it, Sophie lowered her head to nuzzle at his shoulder in acknowledgement. The tail-thumping left her clueless, but she stared him in the eye to try and determine what it was he was after. Cautiously returning to lay with him after she'd gotten the kinks worked out of her muscles, Sophie flopped against him and lightly batted at his paws to try and signal her asking about why he was reaching like he had been.
He relaxed at her return, batting back playfully at her paws before drawing her closer and nuzzling into her again. Lazily he licked at one of her ears before resting again against her, rumbling with happiness. His tail stilled its incessant tapping, instead entwining itself about her leg as if to keep her still and in place. Fintan closed his eyes once more, content with the warmth of her small body and soft fur.
His antics were a little endearing she had to admit and she was beginning to understand the rumbling to be a happy sound. She growled playfully for the batting and continued to push back just to let him know he wouldn't be able to win that easily. She allowed him to wrap his tail around her leg but she moved it a little to make sure he understood that she still expected a full range of motion even if he was going to remain lounging with her. Sophie eventually took to grooming him lazily to pass the time and make herself useful since she wasn't feeling very tired anymore. She assumed he just enjoyed a companion and wasn't feeling well enough to do anything else by himself just yet.
Fintan allowed her movements, seeing them not as a retreat but an adjustment. If she had tried to get up and leave again he would have quite a few things to say though. He sighed in pure contentment and enjoyment as the other shifter took to grooming him. It felt good, better in fact than when either his mother or sister had done so as their attentions had always been overwhelming. The tiger made his pleasure known vocally while attempting to burrow himself closer to the female. He even attempted to return the grooming to her paw but was far more lethargic about it than she after having eaten and been so ill before.
Amused by his attempts at returning the favor, Sophie rumbled softly in her chest for the attention while continuing her own work on him. It was the least she could do for causing him such trouble.
It wasn't long until her neck had become tired and she slowed to a stop with it, though, in favor of allowing her head to rest against him. It was strange for her to share any sort of bonding or grooming with another shifter, but it seemed like the natural and right thing to do in their situation.
She watched him even after she was done, though, alert for any signs that he needed her help with something else.
Tired from both the hunting and their shared antics, Fintan found himself shifting back into his undesirable human form. The change caused him to groan in protest as he also reached out to cling to her soft fur, hoping to share in her warmth now that he had no fur of his own and the fire had long since died out. He curled up against her in a tight ball while grumbling to himself about the injustice of it all. Fintan feared her leaving him now because he had proved himself to be too weak to provide for her after all since he could not retain his preferred form indefinitely.
Surprised at his sudden shift, Sophie nuzzled at his shoulder gently in concern for his groaning. She allowed him to curl up with her for a little while, lounging lazily with him, but she mistakenly saw his own transformation as permission to shift back to her own preferred form.
Once she could no longer wait in silence the leopard slowly faded away in favor of the smaller woman within. She pet his hair with care and concern, trying to move it away from his face. "How are you feeling? Any better?" she asked gently, not wanting to upset him with sudden or loud speech.
Fintan groaned when she shifted, missing her warmth and softness almost instantly. He huffed at her questions while rolling this eyes before answering. "Tired," the man sighed as he attempted to pull her close to himself again. "Cold. Stay?" His voice was hopeful yet twinges with concern and fear. If she left he did not think he could follow so easily or convince her to remain out. Fintan did not possess the physical strength in that moment to bodily keep her there either.
She allowed him to embrace her out of concern for him more than anything, wishing to comfort him as best she could. "I'm very sorry, Fintan," she murmured sincerely, hugging him and rubbing a hand at his back to try and warm him and comfort him some instead.
"Of course I'll stay. I promised you, remember?" she chuckled, thinking he might have forgotten in a haze of illness. "Until you get better and I won't leave a moment sooner, I swear it. Try to relax, okay?" Sophie glanced around what she could see of his home briefly and sighed when she still hadn't caught sight of what she wanted. "You don't happen to keep any blankets around, do you? Might be better for the cold. Or clothes. Clothes would be good, too."
He grunted in response and shook his head. Fintan had remembered her promise but he was still displeased she wished to leave him for good once he healed from the plague she had set upon him. Her touch was soothing though and he did his best to relax in her arms though he still shivered and pressed himself close. "No point to either when there's fur to keep your hide warm," he grumbled with a gravelly voice, still thick from disuse. "Too hot most days too."
"Well for times like this where you have no fur it would be pretty useful," she teased him, noticing how he shivered still. "You seem chilled. Did you want me to start a fire for you?" Sophie offered, unsure about why he seemed so stubborn about what she considered to be common comforts. It was hardly fair of him to rely upon her to keep him warm through what little body warmth she possessed.
"Times like this never happen because meat doesn't make you sick," he grumbled back bitterly with tightly pursed lips and a furrowed brow. "Stay," Fintan repeated instead, pulling her closer and nuzzling his head against her. "You're warm. Will be cold without you."
She tried not to laugh at what she assumed were the rantings of a still illness-crazed man, endearing as they were. Sophie rewarded him with a few gentle pets of his hair she hoped might be comforting, not noticing the way he scowled at all without seeing his face. "Alright," she sighed, nodding against him and tucking him close under her chin. "But if you're still cold later I'm building a fire. You need to stay warm until you're better, there's no use in being stubborn about it. For what it's worth, though, that was the first time I've ever been ill from eating. Ever," she winced, knowing how awful of an impression it probably left upon an innocent acquaintance.
Fintan huffed grumpily. "First time for me too all because trusted your nasty plants." He made a sound of disgust and shook his head. "Meat only from now on just as it should be. For you too. You might still grow taller yet with proper food in your belly instead of those foul things." The shifter hummed softly to himself in self-agreement as his body relaxed more into hers. "How are you not cold without your fur? It was so warm."
"Cold?" she cocked her head slightly in confusion about his continued obsession with her leopard self. "I have clothes," she stated simply, as if that should be answer enough. "I'm not sure how young you take me for, though," she added with an amused smile.
"I can assure you I have aged well beyond any chance of growth. Just as well, I prefer a varied diet. I'm not entirely insane. It was just a....fluke of unfamiliar plants," she explained. Sophie understood quite well he didn't trust her or her cooking, but she saw a lack of trying to change his mind as an admission of guilt and she just couldn't have that either. "Does that mean you....never tried any plant things before?" she wondered, raising a brow at the mere idea of it. Truthfully, she feared it wasn't even healthy. Perhaps it explains some of his quirks, she thought.
"Never," he growled out with emphasis and pinched features. "S'no wonder you've not grown as big and strong. Even my runt sister is larger than you from eating properly." Fintan sighed and shook his head. "Much to learn," he unknowingly muttered aloud. "Should have brought back two lizards and made you eat more." He shook his head slightly before turning his head to look up at her with one eye. "How do you have these clothes anyway?"
She frowned in thought, not understanding his logic at all. "Eating more wouldn't make me any stronger. That would have been a waste of a life. I'm perfectly happy with how I am right now, and I'm not a runt either." The comment about her clothing had her confused, though, perhaps even misunderstanding his intended question about it. "Well my sister made them for me," she began, a slight smile of pride at the thought of her. "She's very skilled with it. She always gifts each of us in the family something handmade, but it does take a bit of time to craft. Worth it, though, always so soft and never itchy," Sophie giggled, hugging him warmly in place of her sibling.
His brows furrowed with his further confusion. While he enjoyed the embrace it was not enough to distract his overly curious mind. "All your furkin shift with these clothes?" he asked her, a hint of distaste as he uttered the last word and continued to eye her skeptically. "Or is it just you? My people have always gone from fur to furless. What is this...this," he shook his head, not having a word for the concept of magic having lived in seclusion all his life in the jungle.
His continued probing about the issue of clothing had her freezing with realization. Her cheeks became slightly flushed with embarrassment for her misunderstanding. "Oh, no. I'm sorry," she sighed, unsure of how to explain the phenomenon to him in simple terms. "Naturally we are like you...fur to furless. But... See... This. This here." She removed one arm from around him and leaned away slightly from their entanglement so she could pluck her precious medallion from where it was hiding beneath her top. Holding it against her palm she raised it towards his face a bit to show it to him.
"My father had this made for me," she announced proudly. "A gift for my twentieth winter, years ago. It's enchanted and... Well, he wanted me to be able to shift freely when I wanted to. It lets me retain whatever clothing or adornments I'm wearing on my body between both forms. I think he was just being kind and understanding about my...feelings towards my abilities. I don't use them often but they can be a bit of a hassle among regular society. Turning up naked in a town where nobody knows me is generally not a very good idea," she explained with a wince.
Fintan grunted at losing the warmth even if it did provide some enlightenment to her appearance. "If you're so worried about being furless then why be furless at all? Why wear clothes." Without asking, he reached forward and took her medallion into the palm of his hand. Turning it this way and that he scrutinized it meticulously as if doing so would reveal hidden answers to the mysteries of life. "How do enchantments work?"
"Well, it wouldn't be proper to go around without them. It would be embarrassing. I don't wish for the entire world to see my naked body," she told him, shuddering slightly as if that should have been obvious. "Some men take the mere sight of flesh as an invitation," she frowned in disgust, though she was quickly distracted by the way he'd seized her medallion. She watched him study it, not thinking the object all that remarkable besides the magic it held.
"Enchantments are...special properties placed on objects by a powerful witch or sorcerer. Just one form of magic, I suppose," she explained, thinking he already understood the concept of magic itself. "I guess it's a sort of magical...blessing? Or curse, depending on its purpose."
He frowned at all the magical talk, still not understanding. Fintan resolved that it all was not very important and could bear forgetting about as he was most unlikely to ever encounter such oddities again. Instead he returned his thoughts to the original topic concerning her clothed yet furless state.
"Why only the men? And why care? You don't care about my furless state. I don't care about yours. Clothes are the unnatural thing here not furlessness."
"Well, I suppose it could be women as well. I have only had poor experiences with men with such things," she explained, certain such a thing was never a problem for him. "Humans that cannot shift wear clothing. It's just...what they do. It's for shelter from the elements as much as anything else. A cover so mud and dirt doesn't stick to your skin so much, a small piece of protection against men who think the sight of a naked body means they have rights to it. I've...just had a few bad experiences with that, but any reason, really, it's just portable shelter.
"I personally find them to be very comfortable," Sophie shrugged. "You can...remain as you are if you wish. It doesn't bother me and it's not like I can force you to wear anything anyway," she teased, smiling some as she tried to take back her medallion from his grasp so she could hide it away again. "Is it really so unnatural to you? Did your family never wear anything?" she wondered.
"But you're not human," he said staring at her in slightly disturbed confusion and speaking as if he were talking to a child. "You're a shifter. You don't need clothes. Of course it's unnatural! Only the week or the foolish choose this form over their proper given one. When we weren't tigers we went as we were. There is no shame. We were born this way. It is how it is meant to be. I don't understand why you would wish to insist otherwise."
She understood where he was coming from, she knew the difference between herself and a human, but still she was bothered by the mere ignorance of his words. "Clearly you do not know the cold of the North, then," Sophie sighed, shaking her head. She knew that she was more knowledgeable in that at least.
"You would freeze to death if you ever chose this form without wearing any clothing there. I normally wear even more, but there is no need for heavy coats in the jungle heat." She pat his shoulder as if to say she forgave him for not knowing any better. "I understand why there is less of a...need for that here, but it is still a shield from insects and scratchy plants," she tried to reason. "I'm sure you would understand if you tried it sometime."
Fintan huffed at her implication that there was something he did not know better or understand. "You still wouldn't need them altogether if you just kept your fur on. What is so wrong with that? You haven't answered that one." He relaxed once more and let the medallion drop from his hand. "Clothes are too hot. Nothing a good soak in the river won't fix though."
She scrunched her eyebrows together as if it pained her to give the issue any more thought. "I thought I'd explained this well enough already," she sighed. "Besides that I do not feel as....connected with my leopard as you seem with your tiger it is just uncomfortable to me. I feel like a stranger or guest in her world most of the time. And with you, well, I find communication difficult between leopard and tiger. It is like you speak an entirely different language.
"If I am to care for you I would prefer to be able to communicate with you at least. You and..., well I suppose your brother in a way, are the only 'people' I've spoken to in weeks. Frankly, I've missed simple conversation. I am most comfortable passing the time in this form and I would appreciate remaining this way. I do not understand why you find it so...repulsive," she said sadly, turning her attention to look him square in the eye. "Not all shifters are like you."
His brows furrowed in concern as he scowled in displeasure. The hand that had formerly been holding her medallion moved to press his palm above where her heart was. "Poor being," he mumbled softly, looking quite pained as he said it. "How you must suffer." Fintan sighed and shook his head in frustration. "Well most of us are! It is you that is the odd one with your human notions and antics! I can understand we not possibly speaking the same tongue if you are truly from the north as you say but you allow yourself to be too human and it is that which causes such upset. You are not human you are more than that. Do you not see?" He looked up at her with wide and worried eyes before repeating himself more softly. "Do you not see?"
His concern seemed genuine but Sophie did not understand why it seemed the end of the world to him that she felt differently about her other form than he felt about his own. "I understand that I...have different abilities than a human does. I am not trying to fool myself into thinking I am human or anything like that," she explained, feeling belittled for gaining his sympathy at all. "I know what I am, but... I feel I have a choice. I think being a shifter is freedom to be what I want when I wish to be it. I just choose human the majority of the time. Is that really so terrible to you?"
What Sophie did not realize was that she was simply out of touch with her leopard and entirely out of practice with speaking their hidden language. As cats they shared the same tongue but a matter of region should not have stopped her from understanding the basics of how to communicate with a tiger of the south. She had forgotten the cues and body language as much as the vocalized communication in her neglect of her other form. She had been crippled by her family's coddling to adapt to her losses, not even realizing the way they communicated with her was different than how they "spoke" amongst each other.
"You forsake your birthright," he proclaimed in dismay. "You make it a choice between one or the other instead of seeing them as one and the same. You are the cat and she is the human. You are one and the same. You are a shifter and you don't see that at all. You divide yourself in half and keep yourself locked in a cage until it suits your mood to be otherwise. Even I who curses the limitations of this form see its advantages. There is no tiger and human in me. There is only shifter and we are one and the same. So too should you be. So is every shifter in this world. Mark my words I am not wrong."
Sophie was skeptical but she couldn't deny the passion behind his words. She could only smile sadly at him, blind to the way she had become over the years. "It just isn't that way for me," she told him gently, not upset at all that he saw things differently. "Perhaps for you. Perhaps you feel so connected with that side of yourself, but I do not. It feels so wild, it's overwhelming," she tried to explain, sad that he didn't seem to understand her at all. "She craves such different things in life than I want for myself. I feel so trapped sometimes when she is angry with me and yet I can do nothing to rid myself of her feelings and thoughts no matter how much I avoid her. She is trapped inside me and there is no other way of going about it," Sophie tried to reason with him, genuinely thinking herself to be that way.
Fintan groaned, letting his fed fall back in exasperation. "You didn't listen to my words! You are not separate; you are same! You're angry with yourself. You don't accept yourself. It's you that feels trapped because you can't accept who you are. Did your father not teach you? Or did he abandon you because your mother was not around to do so? You're impossible," he sighed to himself, squeezing his eyes shut against the headache she was causing him.
"It is not my family's fault," she snapped at him, enraged he would speak so lowly of her father and mother without knowing them at all. "They did nothing wrong, I was born this way. I have always been this way. You're just an animal that can't understand," Sophie growled, loosening her grip to put as much distance between them as possible without abandoning him entirely.
"At least as an animal I didn't poison us both with silly notions of being human and living as they do!" he growled at her, his expression clearly displaying his hurt at her cruel insult. "How long you going to deny it before ya get yourself killed, eh? I try to take care of ya and help ya but you don't care. You'd rather kick me while I'm down. Well go ahead then! Kick me! See if I care anymore. All I wanted was to help you, ya foolish kit."
"I care, you stubborn thing," Sophie groaned, rolling her eyes at his theatrics. "You've helped me, you're just...being infuriating. Don't insult my family if you don't want to be called any names right back," she warned him, releasing him entirely and rolling to lie on her back beside him instead, her feelings of warmth practically gone for his jabs at her. She'd agreed to care for him, she had to remind herself, not be a personal body warmer for a grumpy tiger.
"Do you need anything? Are you hungry again?" she asked, trying to remain emotionless lest she anger him again.
He covered his face with his hand, shielding his eyes with a cool hand to try and ease his headache. "Haven't doen anything wrong," he grumbled petulantly. Fintan sighed tiredly, his breath coming in fast puffs that he tried to keep quiet.
"You shouldn't leave the cave, especially not in your human form. There may be others who seek to take my territory while I'm indisposed. It is just our way." He shook his head without looking at her. "Not hungry. Just cold."
Sophie cocked her head slightly in confusion, the idea of territory still not something she entirely grasped. At home she merely shared the land with her family and had no real competition for it anyway. "How would they even know? They must be quite nosey," she grumbled, thinking it quite rude if it really as so normal for the others to take advantage of weakened competition.
"Are you going to let me build that fire?" she asked, glancing out towards the jungle. "Or would you like to borrow clothes?"
"Have to constantly patrol and mark the area. No scent. No patrols. Then it's free game. My brother in particular is rather insistent in attempting to expand his territory at the specific cost of my own. Later I'll have to go out and rests bliss those areas that border his hit hopefully they're enough for now."
Fintan groaned at her suggestions while offering her a rather heated glare. Twice he attempted to shift but to no avail. Skin briefly prickled with fir before once more receding into skin. Weakly the shifter dragged himself deeper into the cave where he was out of the touch of most of the elements. It was not perfect but it would do while he fought against his fever still.
Sophie turned her head to watch his attempts, fascinated at the results of his failures. She watched him move away, frowning that he was wordlessly rejecting her offers. For a while she remained silent as well, staring at the ceiling and just listening to the sounds of the jungle beyond his den.
Once she made up her mind she stood quietly and made her way outside. She walked slowly around the immediate area, taking in the view of the place to be sure she could remember it when she returned. She went further out to gather what good wood she could find for a fire from what she hoped was still his territory, dragging it back piece by piece to the entrance of his home to form a loose pile.
When she was finished she sorted what she would use for the day from the surplus and moved the extra aside while she built and started the fire outside where she sat before it. If he didn't want to use it she definitely would do so herself.
He tried to doze where he rested but the sounds of her movements distracted him. Fintan did his best to ignore it but the moment she left his den he knew. Tiredly, he rolled to his side to see what she was up to and immediately he wished he has not. Already his slowly a airing headache came flaring back at full force once he caught sight of her not only outside but in her human form.
The shifter rolled to his belly, his joints cracking as he move so that he could drag himself to the cave's entrance to confront her. All the while he cursed in his mind that surely he had not been delirious and dreamed up telling her to stay put.
A deep growl rose in volume from deep within his throat by the time she sat down to enjoy her little human fire. "What part of stay inside or shift of you must leave was hard for you? Are you trying to get yourself kilt?"
She jumped at the sound of his voice and growl, not realizing she had been watched all that time. Sophie glared at him defiantly, purposefully meeting his eyes and refusing to look away. "I'm right here. There is no danger and I didn't truly 'leave,'" she argued, not seeing it his way at all. How could a bit of work outside but in sight of his cave be considered "leaving" anyway?
"My leopard can't protect me any better than I can protect myself," she told him stubbornly.
"In here," he grunted, pointing back to the den where he was, "I can protect you, out there I cannot! If your other half cannot protect you better than this half then you are either far more capable than I ever gave you credit for in this form or are entirely foolish in believing your other half is useless and refusing to nurture it. You are in my territory right now and you must follow the rules of this jungle! You are not in the north anymore where young cats can do as they please. Here you can die and there is nothing you could do to stop it if you allow weakness to rule you. If another shifter invaded this territory, which would not be unusual, then you would be fair game to an attack from a full-grown healthy and hungry tiger. You still think you can win against that?"
"But I'm right here," Sophie laughed, gesturing at the very small space between herself and the mouth of the cave. "If there truly is any danger I'm certain I could retreat there before it reached me here, right? Besides, what shifter could possibly eat another? That's crazy talk. That's just the sort of thing that doesn't happen."
She chucked a few sticks onto the fire, causing it to dance and and reach out to her, but the flame never touched her skin. "I came here hunting a tiger, a wild one. I almost killed you but I did not. Because you are a shifter. We just don't....do that to one another, right?"
Fintan flinched as the fire danced, but did his best to hide his reaction by readjusting how he was sitting. For a long while he simply stared at her with a deep, penetrating gaze before finally answering in a gruff voice. "You're not back home anymore. Here the rules are very much of the wild and while they might not eat you there are other things men hunger for here."
It took her a moment, but Sophie eventually figured out that Fintan's implication was the same thing her father had warned her against in her travels. She glared at him, though she was not angry at him directly for it. She found the reminder itself disturbing once she'd realized. "That's equally awful," she stated quietly, shaking her head in disappointment. "This is exactly what should not happen."
She stared into the fire in silence for a few more moments before she quietly moved to sit just within the mouth of the cave to take the place beside him. She couldn't feel the warmth of the fire as much, but if it guaranteed her safety and calmed her host she was happy enough to remain. "I'll only go out to keep the fire going, is that fair?"
He watched her like a hawk as she finally came to sit beside him. It secretly pleased him that she finally obeyed and while he would never admit it, Fintan did significantly relax against the cave wall although his arms did remain crossed about his chest. A small nod of his head and an affirmative grunt were the only pleased response her obedience would earn though. He was still irritated she would have to leave at all but given that he was already there despite the cold, there really was no use complaining in his eyes since he would be able to watch over her from then on.
"You can't move it closer?" he asked nodding towards the dancing flames.
Sophie looked between him and fire a bit, uncertain if she really could move it easily. "I would be nervous to try, but I'm sure I can manage." And just like that she was up again, moving quickly to the fire as she began to drag it through the dirt two branches at a time. She was wary of the bursts of flame that reached out towards her as she shifted things around, nearly getting licked quite a few times as she moved it piece by piece. Once it was settled and calmed from its adjustments she rejoined him to sit inside the cave once more, allowing their legs to brush ever so slightly as she did so.
She smiled proudly for her work, rubbing her hands together a bit and reaching out to feel the pulsing heat on her palms. "Much better, yeah?"
Fintan sputtered as she was once more up and moving away from him. He had not expected her to literally move it right then and there and as she nearly burned herself from time to time he made sounds of distress and discomfort. It was only once she was back beside him, palms sweating and heart racing that he finally felt able to breathe again. The man wheezed as air refilled his lungs once more. It was a relief though to feel the heat of the fire seep into his bones and chase away the chill the fever seemed to have left him with. Fintan bowed his head gratefully to her. "Thank you," he offered quietly yet sincerely. "That was...unexpected. Thank you."
"Well it's just a fire, but you need it. You must stay warm," she warned, shaking her head at his continued stubbornness. Sophie settled and relaxed easily enough, though, her heart calm once again since it seemed to her that she was forgiven. "Are you sure you don't want to borrow anything of mine? I think it would help, but if you're really so against it... I suppose I can try to keep the fire going until you're well."
"You could have just made a new one or waited until it died. There was no need to risk yourself simply because you feel that I need such things. It would not do if we were both harmed," he lectured her tensely, not liking the idea of needing a fire himself. "What things of yours are you referring to? Not more plants I hope," Fintan grumbled skeptically.
"I'd rather see you comfortable," she told him honestly, though she smiled at a thought as she continued teasingly. "Though it doesn't seem to spare me your grumpiness, does it?" She shook her head about his question regarding the plants, blushing with embarrassment for the awful mess she'd caused before.
"No, no. No plants, I promise. Not yet at least. I meant clothing, mostly. If you would like to borrow any I'd be happy to lend it to you," she explained gently. "Though I know you hadn't seemed too keen on it before... Thought I might offer again."
Fintan flinched at the "yet," eyeing her with a tense and nervous expression. It soon faded though as he eyed her up and down curiously, taking in her rather delicate and minute form before turning his gaze to his own person.
"You believe clothing would be a satisfactory substitute for fur but I admit I find it rather difficult to believe. You have something that would cover this?" Fintan waved a hand towards his person. "You are still very small kitten and I am much bigger."
Her offer had come under the innocent assumption that size would not be an issue, but she furrowed her brow at the way he pointed out their differences. "I'm no kitten," she protested, turning her head to peer over her shoulder into the darker parts of his cave. "I might have something that will fit you. I must, I'm sure."
Sophie rose quietly to go to her pack. From it she withdrew a set of clothes and a cloak she knew to be quite warm that had been reserved for her early and assumed later days of travel once she returned to her tundra home. She personally felt dwarfed within it so she hoped it might be suitable for him. "Perhaps your shoulders are a bit wide," she finally agreed, giving him that at least even though she knew there were much more obvious differences between them.
Returning to sit with him with the garments on her lap she held out the cloak to him first. "If this doesn't fit then the others might not...be so comfortable. I'm sure it will, though, just try it," she urged softly. "Just think of it as...a temporary fur replacement."
He quietly if tensely accepted the cloak turning it this way and that as he inspected. At any moment he was expecting something to suddenly jump out at him or for it to suddenly come alive and strangle him. When it did neither of those things he brought it a bit closer to his face to scent it. The cloth smelled of far away places and of her. Otherwise it seemed rather harmless.
Giving in with a heavy, long-suffering sigh, Fintan finally struggled to situate over his person. Having never worn a cloak before himself nor seen anyone else wear one in the sweltering jungle. Eventually though he managed to drape it upside down over himself with the bottom wrapped around his front and shoulders and the narrow part over his crossed knees. "So...it fits?"
Sophie watched him calmly, patient even as he "wore" it wrong. "If you're comfortable like that, but it's meant to go around you," she explained, leaning over him to reach for it. "Let me correct it, see if you like that any better," she offered, slowly taking up the fabric and turning it over to reveal the small leather tie that was meant to be around the neck.
"This goes in front," she explained, smoothing her hand over his knee through the fabric before she pulled his blanketed version away. She opened it slowly, to demonstrate how to do it should he need to keep using it, and then leaned forward and reached around him, almost hugging him to bring it up and drape over his shoulders. It certainly seemed a good bit shorter than was necessary but she thought it still usable in its state.
"And this you tie in front. Very loosely usually," she added, fiddling with the tie at the base of his throat to make a bow of it. "It's a bit short for you and the hood is a bit small I have to admit, but it's probably for the best. Might get too warm if you wore it up. Are you feeling any warmer?" she asked gently, sitting back on one folded leg to admire her work.
Fintan allowed her to correct the cloak, barely able to listen as he marveled in the warmth her body was letting off. He truly was freezing despite his stubbornness and having her close again reminded him how much he had enjoyed being curled up close with her. With the cloak readjusted he learned much to his disappointment that he had been correct and human things just were not meant for him. The shifter growled softly as he attempted to pull both ends of the cloak together and found he was unable to due to his broader chest. He huffed in annoyance then decisively reached forward and gently but firmly pulled Sophie into his chest and lap.
"Still cold," he complained. "You're warmer. Stay?"
Sophie watched him expectantly, though she frowned slightly for the way the cloak didn't quite come together. "It seemed bigger than that on me," she apologized. While entirely unexpected and giving her cause to tense and stare at him wide-eyed, the relocation was not entirely unwelcome.
He was comfortable despite his grumpy nature and his reasoning seemed genuine enough when almost all he'd talked of had to do with warmth. Perhaps, she reasoned, he just naturally ran cold. She could definitely see its advantages in the jungle.
Adjusting her legs to straddle him, she draped her arms loosely at his waist and allowed her front to lean fully against his own, her head tucking nicely against one shoulder. To her it was simply a gesture of comfort and something she certainly owed him for all the trouble she'd caused. "If this suits you better," she agreed. "But I warn you I'll be cramping if you must sit like this all day," she reminded him, hoping he would not treat her as some sort of furniture in her kindness. "Did you want me to remove that, then?" she asked, allowing her fingers to play with the fabric of the cloak.
He lifted his arms to not be holding her in place and allow her the freedom of movement. "Get comfortable then, please. Your warm and this human thing," Fintan gestured to the cloak, "only works so much. It was warmer when you were close before and I want that again. You want to be out here so I stay." The shifter sighed with exhaustion, allowing his head to fall back against the cave wall and his eyes to flutter closed. "Just don't run off...please. Don't want you hurt," he murmured softly, a great deal of worry and concern lacing his tone as he warned her once more.
She would need to think of other arrangements but she was content with it for the moment. Sophie didn't like his continued worries about her being hurt. She personally felt she could hold her own quite well and it was a little offensive in her naive eyes that he felt she would gravely injure herself merely by being out of his presence. The dangers of the jungle were truly unknown to the younger shifter. "I won't get hurt," she answered gently, unwilling to promise not to wander off in the event she found some need of something beyond the sight of his cave.
Sophie wasted no time becoming reacquainted with his body, the hands at his waist sliding around a bit to rest at his back instead. Despite how he complained of the cold she thought his chest at least was quite warm. She got comfortable and quiet, content to just rest with him as she settled a bit lower and adjusted her head to rest at the hollow of his throat. There she could monitor both breathing and heartbeat, which seemed logical to her.
"Let me know if it gets uncomfortable," she finally offered, hoping he would tell her before legs went numb or he got too warm with illness.
Fintan allowed her her adjustments, sitting quietly and still himself so as to not get in her way. Once she was settled though he dared to wrap his arms around her waist again and rest his chin atop her head. "You're really warm," he commented, enjoying the way her body-heat seemed to seep deep into his bones. "Thank you," he added tiredly. "Wake me if you feel there is any trouble.I'll take care of it. Will just be more trouble if you don't and you would be hurt. Just how it is in this land and I wouldn't want that happening to you," the shifter explained quietly. "Just wouldn't want that."
"I think you're a bit too confident in yourself as a sick man, but I hope nothing happens because that would just be silly," Sophie sighed, not seeing a point in him taking care of any problems if he could hardly take care of himself for the moment.
"How would you take care of something?" she wondered. "You can't shift. Not safely, at least. Is there really so much danger here? That you might be attacked in your own home?" she asked skeptically, uncertain why he lived there at all if that was the case.
"They don't know that," he growled back sulkily. "This is my home and I'm known in this area. Not many would dare pass the border but as the scent weakens they might get bold enough. There is one in particular though who would prance his way right up to the heart of my home to rub it in my face. He's the most danger. Hopefully it won't come to that though," he sighed, nuzzling her neck gently.
"So we're to rely on your reputation alone?" Sophie snorted, unable to keep herself from shaking her head against him for the weakness of his plan. She was unaware of who "he" was that Fintan referred to, but she hoped that none of his so feared rivals might move to make a challenge while he was unwell.
"I don't want to see you lifting a finger until you're well again," she warned him. "Otherwise, what am I here for? The food you brought was very good, but it wasn't worth affecting your health like that," she scolded gently, taking a slow breath to inhale his scent, something that seemed surprisingly calming despite her irritation with the stubborn tiger.
The man growled and sulked, not liking her sarcastic tone. It was rude of her to insult him so when he had no idea who he was or the way life worked in the jungle. Out of spite, he intentionally lifted his index finger in a small, silent rebellion to her demand that he remain still.
"You needed food. Not going to let you starve or eat more of those awful green things to get us both killed just because you don't know this area or are in danger due to my current state."
Sophie lifted her hand to set atop his hand when she noticed his act of rebellion against her but otherwise didn't argue it. There was no point, as she'd learned. He was just far too stubborn.
"Well you shouldn't do it again. I am capable of hunting things that aren't green," she pointed out. "How am I going to keep my promise if you decide to go out and collapse or get hurt when I'm not around? Hm? If you don't trust me I don't really see what the point of me staying."
"You're not from here," he reminded her. "Is it so wrong to worry about your health when you obviously don't know what will kill you or save you? Have you recognized anything here from your own homeland? It isn't a question of your capability," Fintan admitted gruffly. "It's about keeping you safe while you're in my territory. You're my responsibility here whether you like it or not, you insufferable kitten." He huffed and let his head fall back to thunk painfully against the cave wall.
Sophie narrowed her eyes at his chest in frustration, insulted that he would call her out in such a way even though it was true. Things were very, very different in the jungle and she was not familiar with any of her surroundings. That did not mean she couldn't learn, though, and she felt coddled by his not allowing such a thing by restriction alone.
"So you are keeping me safe from myself and you are keeping yourself safe from me, too. What am I even here for if I am not going to be allowed to help? Am I just waiting for you to be well enough to escort me off your land? So that you can wash your hands of me without a guilty conscience?" She shook her head in disappoint, already thinking she was right about it. He saw her as a child that was not mature enough to understand or learn, it seemed, and only because she was not native to his land. Sophie did not understand the importance of her company through all his complaining.
"It doesn't really seem like I'm very welcome here," she finally observed calmly. Perhaps he would understand the root of her issues with him. "And I don't think that will change if you see me as a mere kitten."
Fintan huffed and growled his frustration, squirming slightly as he was unable to stand and pace as he wanted to due to his own limitations and her current location in his lap. "You do help. It is the only protection I can provide though in my current useless state," he spat venomously, angered at his own inadequacy. "If you're patient and listen I could teach you some of what you need to know. Instead it seems you'd rather fight me at every turn hence the name kitten. Surely even your kind know that even kittens have claws."
His assurances calmed her fire a bit, the younger shifter nodding in understanding. "Well I can do that, but I'm no kitten. Haven't been for many, many years," she said, lifting her head to give him a pointed stare. "My kind considers me a full grown adult and I hope you might respect that while I'm here." Sophie did feel a bit bad for snapping at him, though. As she lowered her head back against him she nuzzled against his throat in apology before setting her nose to the bend of his shoulder.
It was nice to have a bit of close companionship at least, something she hadn't been able to admit to herself about missing in her travels before. "I don't want to fight with you. I just want you well again and... I just want to go home."
Her nuzzling soothed some of his ire and he found himself relaxing more against the wall. Fintan did not believe that he was disrespecting her by calling her kitten, it was no different than when he called his runt sister teasing names either but for now he decided it best to keep those thoughts to himself.
Instead he focused on what she was saying concerning her wants. "Have you gotten what you came for then? You are so far from home anyway and to want to go back now...you are ready to return so quickly then?"
She heaved a great sigh at his questioning, the reminder of her failures causing her to slump against him a bit more. She'd had such a plan before entering the jungle and meeting him had ruined it all, but it was for the best in her opinion.
"Not exactly. I think I'll just return empty-handed. It wouldn't be the first time," she explained gently, straightening slightly so she wasn't just dead weight against his chest.
"It wouldn't feel right to hunt your...wild cousins. Or however you think them. I can easily lie and say this was all a failure, that I never found any tigers." It was the story she'd been thinking on, at least. Whether her employer might accept it as truth was yet to be seen but she just did not feel right hunting so near native shifters for her own profit.
She would probably upset the balance of the land and shift the power if she killed for the skin she'd been sent for. Privately, she also doubted her ability to take down an adult tiger after seeing both Fintan and his brother, as much as she would deny it and claim she was strong. Even more, she thought she might have trouble seeing a wild tiger for what it was after her most recent mistakes.
"I will repay him the advance he gave me for the trouble and go back home to the north. It was nice to come visit and see, but the jungle is very different from home," Sophie lamented. "Very different."
He did his best to try and console her, rubbing a hand slowly up and down her back along her spine in hopes of bringing her the comfort she seemed to need. "Would he harm you," Fintan found himself asking, concern and a need to protect, flowing like fire through his veins, "for failing?" The shifter thought hard, trying to remember what exactly she had said before about hunting a tiger but it was all fuzzy for him. In the back of his mind possible solutions were beginning to arise but it would depend on what and how desperately she needed things to be a success. "What did you need to bring back for him, exactly?"
It probably shouldn't have felt so nice but his consoling hand helped uncoil the tension she hadn't even realized she'd been holding in. Burrowing against his chest and squeezing him close Sophie shrugged a bit. It was all so complicated and difficult to explain when she'd been given so many options.
"I was sent to bring a tiger back. Alive if possible. I assume for a pet for some noble," she began, though she realized she was leaving out some details. "I accepted a job from a dealer, I assume on behalf of a client that wants one. They asked for a rumored tiger from this area. 'Large male with beautiful coloring,' but I didn't have much else to go off of. The biggest tiger around, whatever I could manage... I honestly didn't think tigers were so, well, large," she admitted, chuckling softly at the ridiculous idea of her small leopard managing to drag a tiger as big as Fintan or his brother to an entirely different country altogether.
"They were willing to accept a skin as well, if I couldn't manage to deliver a live one," she added with a frown. "But I can't do that. Any of that. Would be so wrong to harm such a beautiful creature." Sophie was glad her face was well-hidden for that, the heat upon her cheeks was obvious enough to her but she didn't want him catching on just how much she'd grown to admire the natural beauty of his animal.
"You wouldn't have to manage. There are other options," Fintan informed her quietly, his thoughts miles away and racing with solutions. One in particular stood out firmly within his mind. "There is a way to meet the secondary expectation, if you're willing that is." He sighed softly, squeezing her a bit closer as he adjusted his position slightly. He was completely oblivious to her attraction to his species but he did know where a fur could be found without having to take down one of his fearless cousins. "It would mean some traveling if you're still interested in following through with whatever your human lifestyle required."
She was curious, but she almost didn't want to ask at the same time. She shuddered at the thought of obtaining one, traveling or not. "It might be for the best," Sophie finally whispered, feeling sad for what she could only assume to be him taking her to some far off tiger he knew of. The proximity didn't matter to her, she no longer liked the idea of killing one as she assumed he meant.
"Maybe once you're well again we can discuss it," she dismissed, adjusting some to try and relieve whatever annoyance she thought might have caused the fidgeting. "Won't be doing anything until you can be all grumpy and stubborn again." The last was muttered to herself, albeit affectionately, despite it being quite true in either of his forms.
Fintan huffed at her, giving her a look of disgruntled disbelief before shaking his head. "I am not grumpy and stubborn. You're the stubborn one," he muttered, feeling sulky. "What's to discuss even. Either you want it or you don't." He shrugged at the simplicity of it all. "Or why wait if you're so insistent upon talking? Have nothing better to do, do you?" The shifter sighed and huffed again, feeling incredibly tired and as grumpy as she had aptly described him.
It was a good point, but she wasn't sure she was ready to discuss it. "Well, no, not really. I guess I was just...afraid of what you might have been wanting to suggest." Nuzzling against him in the lightest touch again she finally came to a decision.
"Tell me about the way you had in mind. I was just under the impression we could not go anywhere until you were well again."
Her nuzzling was surprising yet soothing and comforting. It was a familiar gesture for the shifter and therefore not one he expected from the human-inclined shifter curled up in his lap. "What was so awful that you feared what I suggest? This is my home. I would never do anything that would cause the balance of it to be swayed."
Fintan sighed and unconsciously moved so that his head nuzzled into her hair and her scent was allowed to wash over him. "There is a wild one who has grown quite old. If his time has not yet already come then it is not far off either. His fur is no use to him once he passes," he informed her matter-of-factly. The cycle of living and dying left him with no concern or fear. It was just the way things were. "Would that suit your purposes well enough?"
Sophie was intrigued by the idea he'd suggested, the thought truly never entering her mind even though it was exactly what she needed. "That actually...would, yes," she murmured, nodding against him even as she felt a slight pang of guilt.
"It wouldn't leave him very dignified, but... No. No, it's alright. I think I can manage that." She bit her lip and wavered on the decision of whether or not she should even voice her fear to him.
"I... I thought you might have wanted me to hunt one away from your territory," she explained, realizing how silly it probably sounded after hearing his real idea. "But this is much better."
"It is more dignified than hunting down one of the younger and healthier beasts. That sacrifice on his part should be enough for the good of the forest," Fintan tried to reassure her, rubbing her back weakly from the base of her neck to the base of her tailbone. "It would be safest if you remained in my territory. Hunting outside of it will not earn you favor with the others and would only put you into more danger. At least on my grounds your safety can be assured. You are small enough not to disrupt the balance of my territory with your hunting and you have me to look out for you against anything bigger than you."
While it was all well-meaning and heartfelt Sophie focused on one little annoying statement in particular. Lifting her head some to give him a dry, unimpressed look she sighed heavily and grumbled, "I am not small. I am a fierce huntress and I don't need you to protect me from anything." She of course ignored the fact that she was smaller than him and that the creatures of his jungle were proportionately much bigger than those she would have seen in her tundra home.
With a howl of frustration, Fintan rolled them so that they were laying down and she was trapped beneath his larger and heavier body. "You are smaller," he growled in her face, struggling to hold himself up from completely crushing her. "That is a fact, get over it. It does not make you weaker or lesser. It's just who you are so stop getting insulted by everything I say because I am too sick and too tired to tiptoe around you. Understood?"
Stunned that he'd even been strong enough to manage flipping them over Sophie stared up at him in disbelief. Her lips twisted into a grimace, poised to snarl right back at him but the uncomfortable weight upon her chest reminded her that she was trapped and gave her pause. It probably wouldn't do her much good but something about him brought out the wild streak of defiance that was normally so dormant in the shifter.
"You implied that I was weaker," she practically hissed. "Weaker than a sick tiger that can barely keep himself warm." Sophie raised her hand to thump against his side as if to demonstrate. It was insulting no matter how he phrased it, but her sudden flash of temper was cooling quite quickly.
"Let me help you and protect you before worrying about any of that," she pleaded in a softer voice, eyes narrowing in concern.
He grunted in pain as her hand connected sharply with his side. "You heard what you wanted to hear," Fintan hissed, a deep growl lingering in the back of his throat. "Don't abuse me because you feel threatened!" Her words had stung and the tiger shifter wanted nothing more than to roll away from her and sulk. However, the effort to flip them had taxed him more than he had expected and he found himself stuck as he was. He huffed in her face before letting his head weakly drop across her shoulder. "This is why I live alone," he muttered under his breath, not realizing he had spoken his thoughts aloud.
Sophie shook with her frustration even as he let his head drop to her shoulder. What a stubborn thing he was!
"Then get up and I will leave you alone," she hissed, her biting tone returning as she desperately tried to keep from flying into a rage at her sick friend. For some reason he had a way of getting under her skin that was quite unnerving.
Even as she said it, though, Sophie was bringing her hands up to rub along his back in what was meant to be a soothing manner. She realized it was as much for herself as for him, though.
Fintan softly rumbled at her touch, his muscles relaxing at her soothing gesture against his will. Defiantly he buried his nose into her shoulder, breathing her earthy scent so different from everything he had ever known and yet smelling more like home than his own den ever had.
He hoped his refusal to move would be viewed as a stance of dominance rather than weakness by the little "furball" of fury beneath him. Fintan did not think he could admit he was too physically depleted to even make that simple effort to roll over for her.
As he lay there though a thought came to his mind that made him chuckle softly before coughing at the physical irritation it caused. "So fiery and warm for an ice cat," he shared, nuzzling tiredly into her.
She gradually relaxed the longer he remained, realizing it was pointless to hold onto her anger with an immovable wall of a man on top of her. If she had really been so determined she could have moved him herself, but it seemed wrong to force him when it really wasn't all that annoying or even painful. He was receptive to her minor affections, at least, and that was reason enough for her to back down.
"I need to be. Would freeze without it," she teased, for once satisfied with his joking since he wasn't picking on her size. "You're cold, but... Think that's mostly because you're ill." She frowned slightly with regret for that, patting him lightly on the shoulder.
She added a mumbled, "I think I'm doing most of the protecting here anyway."
Fintan smirked weakly at the mental image of the little fireball puffed out to the maximum with her long, soft fur. He mused privately to himself that she might even be able to double her size by doing so. However, he felt it best to keep those thoughts to himself. Sophie was already in a poor mood and unwelcoming to any comments regarding her size good, bad, or otherwise. Likewise he chose to ignore her comment regarding his illness as the shifter felt it would not make the tension between them lessen. She already felt enough guilt over causing his weakened state and his pointing that out beyond the obvious would be pointless.
Her final murmured statement though having reached his ears was simply too much to ask for him to ignore. Unable to consider the consequences before he allowed his tongue to wag, he quipped aloud, "thank you then for protecting me from the floor."
Her features twisted, first in amusement and then to a scowl to try and hide that she'd been about to laugh. She bit at her lip while the sound still bubbled in her chest, a tightness there as it threatened to spill out anyway.
Sophie was silent for a few moments, trembling in her stubbornness to not let it show how she'd let her guard down. Despite how she'd managed to grow a soft spot for him she still had to remind herself that she was a guest and her arrangements were temporary (at least in her mind). There was no use getting too comfortable, but it couldn't hurt to be kind to him, could it? It was what she'd been doing after all.
With that in mind she finally relaxed beneath him and let a short chuckle slip, rolling her eyes and reaching out to gently poke him on the nose. "You're being a child," she scolded gently, though she didn't exactly see anything wrong with him making light of their situation. "If you've got the energy for that I think you can get up."
"I'm not a child," he huffed into her neck petulantly. Out of defiance he stayed a moment longer, relishing her closeness before he would have to force himself away again. Fintan felt like his bones were made of clay held together by dried grass. His limbs moved but begrudgingly, already exhausted with the effort to lift his weight off and over her. He pooled into a pathetic lump of flesh off to her side and within the cool shadow of his den's entrance. "Told you so," he wheezed between labored breaths.
She was surprised that he actually listened to her and was quick to sit up once he'd moved his weight off of her. She could breathe a bit easier at first but that same sense of weight upon her chest returned once she realized he was having just as much trouble as before.
Sophie's eyes darkened in a painful twinge of regret and sadness. She scooted herself closer to the weakened tiger shifter, sitting on her legs as she knelt beside him. "The floor isn't your enemy," she chided gently, reaching out to wipe his hair back from his face.
"And I'm not either," she added rather quickly, frowning slightly in thought. It was an uncomfortable feeling, having the need to clarify that to him.
Fintan huffed in response at her light chastisement but made no other response. He had been sarcastic when he named the floor an enemy but if she wished to take him so seriously he was not about to argue. Instead he reached up to take her much smaller hand within his own, dragging it down his face to his chest where he clutched it close, curling in around as if to protect her close to his heart.Tiredly he rubbed his stubbled cheek against against the back of her hand before placing a weak kiss of apology to it. "Never said you were."
Sophie was a little shocked at his moment of gentleness, the way he held onto her hand not unwelcome but still entirely unfamiliar. She could only smile, wiggling her fingers lightly against him and almost going so far as to try to tickle him before she remembered herself and thought better of it.
"I know." She let out a happy sigh, rubbing her thumb gently along the side of his hand. "Just don't ever want to be."
Slowly she uncurled her legs to lay down with Fintan again and tuck herself against him, aware of the fire losing a bit of its strength just beyond his den. He seemed to prefer her as a source of warmth anyway and assumed that might make him happy enough. "You should relax. And rest," she stated simply, using her free hand to rub gently along his shoulder.
He sighed while keeping his thoughts to himself. Fintan could not imagine her as an enemy but to say so would most likely garner her wrath again. Knowing her, the shifter imagined Sophie would consider it an insult that perhaps she was not strong enough of fierce enough to be considered a viable opponent. The last thing he needed was more of her griping and sulking especially now that she was once more settled in warmly against him.
"I am resting and relaxed," he huffed against her ear. "Any moreso and I'll be a puddle on the floor, a frozen one perhaps but a puddle all the same." Fintan hugged her close, unconsciously smiling as her pleasant scent soothes him and indeed relaxed him further.
"A frozen puddle is just ice," she informed him, smiling at how silly he sounded and biting back a giggle. The last thing she wanted was him thinking she was making fun of him.
At his acceptance, though, Sophie relaxed some herself and moved her free hand from his shoulder to brace against his back instead to return the hug and keep them close. "You're trouble," she stated simply, smiling to herself as she noticed how content she was to be so near to him again. Curiously, she'd been more tense and upset when there'd been more distance between them before. Now...things just felt right and oddly cozy.
She couldn't really help herself, taking the opportunity to nuzzle into his shoulder and just breathe in his scent. It wasn't something she did with family or other shifters she'd met, but it felt right with him, like she couldn't get enough of it or feared she might lose it if she didn't do it enough. She wasn't sure why that particular thing bothered her, but it did. She didn't want to forget it or forget him and it was an easy scent to relax her with, eyes closing contently as she settled in to just rest with him.
"Ice," he repeated with a huff. Having never seen such a thing he was not sure what to think of the word. He knew though that saying any more on the matter was likely to reawaken her fiery spirit which he had only just managed to miraculously quench. Fintan was soon distracted by her gentle nuzzling and willing closeness though. It warmed him both inside and out at having her there. Putting aside the times when she was too stubborn for words she was a rather agreeable female, pleasing to the eyes too for that matter if one could ignore her rather foolish human notions. Distractedly the shifter stroked at her back, his hand moving higher and higher until he was gently touching the back of her neck and base of her skull. "I'm tiger-kith of course you'd see me as trouble," he finally murmured, tiredly.
"Tiger-kith," she repeated quietly, not really believing that to be a real word and laughing quietly under her breath.
"Are all tigers trouble, then?" Sophie guessed, unconsciously submitting to his touch, bowing her head slightly against the hand at her neck. It felt nice, but she wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve attention like that. The young shifter wasn't quite picking up on his tiredness either, too occupied with their idle chatter to notice how it was affecting him.
"No," he drawled as if her question was completely nonsensical. "We're not trouble at all," Fintan informed her as he continued to massage and touch her. The feel of her was soothing and reassuring as if he feared not doing so would cause her to vanish like smoke on the wind. "Human and tiger just don't mix usually and you prefer one over other." His tone showed some of his displeasure at such a notion but he let it go to instead squeeze her close and run his cheek against her as any cat would do against their possession. "Just trouble to you."
She narrowed her eyes at his suggestion, though her face was well-hidden as she tucked herself against him, thinking it impossible that they naturally didn't -or couldn't- get along. It simply couldn't be like that, it was a choice.
"You don't have to be, though," she pointed out quietly, subconsciously returning the nuzzling gesture before crawling up to press her nose into his hair. Sophie entirely missed all of the body language and social cues of the other shifter, oblivious to his silent sense of claim even as she lie with him all comfortable and content to accept that very attention that felt so nice.
"Maybe if you weren't so far...tiger," she suggested softly, then frowned and shook her head to admit, "And if I wasn't so human. We might get along better. But we're just too different. Way too different, so you're just trouble instead, hm?" It made sense to her at least.
"Perhaps," he agreed quietly. It pleases him greatly to hear her acknowledge that she was altogether too human. That notion far outweighed her comments regarding such a possibility that he was too much a tiger. Fintan did not believe that such a thing could even be possibly. He simply embraced all that he was in the same manner it seemed that she rejected her own inner beast. "Doesn't have to be that way," he added, brushing his lips against her jaw. "Even fire can dance on water if given a chance."
Sophie froze, finally realizing just how close they were, how affectionate he was being and how welcoming she was being to that attention. She shuddered some to realize it wasn't entirely unconscious or unwanted, the thought of suddenly being away and unable to comfort him more upsetting than what was happening already.
"What does that even mean. They don't go together," she whispered, more for herself than anything as she carefully readjusted herself, lowering her face to only press into his neck instead and not cling to him so tightly. It seemed less intimate at least to her, which was really her only reason for making a conscious effort.
"You really do think me a kitten, don't you?" she accused lightly, her lips curling in a playful pout even as she ran her hand along his side in what she hoped was a soothing manner.
Fintan chuckled at her confusion but his laughter was cut short by her shifting to the more vulnerable area of his neck. He was rather surprised by his own trust in such an intimate gesture. Briefly he nuzzled the top of her head before allowing his hand to lower to rub at her upper back instead. The last thing he needed was her to become hissy because he went too far with his touches.
"They don't normally, no," he agreed, still feeling amused. "Look at it differently and they can though." Fintan sighed and closed his eyes briefly to catch his breath then continued again. "Not in the way you think." He shivered at her gentle touch, embracing her a bit closer before losing his hold to let her leave if she chose to.
"Apparently I never learned to see the world that way." Sophie sighed, her way of thinking honestly unable to understand him or his analogy. She didn't understand his hesitation, though, and lifted her head some to stare at him questioningly when he let go.
"Don't be stubborn," she chided, thinking he wanted her to leave suddenly and tightening her hold on him instead. It was a little offensive, to be honest, after the way he'd mostly rejected anything but direct body warmth."I'm staying right here. Unless...you changed your mind?"
"Not too late to," he replied nonchalantly. It was up to her what she decided to accept or discredit. He saw no harm in her having her own opinion on the matter. It was not something worth forcing the issue on after all. Her chiding though was a different matter entirely. "Stubborn?" he growled lightly. "Not being stubborn. Not smothering you," Fintan corrected as he too held her tightly once more now that she had done the same. "I haven't changed. I trust you," he added more quietly, once more resuming his gentle soothing stroking of her back in hopes of placating her and silently apologizing for the misunderstanding.
Sophie was pleasantly surprised to hear that he trusted her, the idea strangely satisfying on its own. She nuzzled against his chest for the gentle touching, not wanting to admit how much she was enjoying their time together even if it was for odd reasons. She didn't even realize how calm he was keeping her on his own, though, her earlier temper all but forgotten with a soothing hand at her back.
"So you trust me as...a body warmer," she reflected thoughtfully. "I guess that's not too bad. Shifters...have to look out for each other." At least that was how she'd been taught.
Fintan grumbled unhappily at her assumption and shook his head. For a moment he simply breathed in her scent before finally responding. "I trust you to stay, to," he paused, searching for the right word that would neither offend her nor insult himself. "Protect," the shifter finally settled on as he pulled her flush against him once more and snuggled her contently. He would have enjoyed himself more if they were both in their "proper" forms but for now he would take what he could get. Having her close was indeed a great comfort and he could hardly complain when it meant she actually remained without her quibbling.
"Protect?" Sophie asked, slightly unimpressed but willing to think on it. It seemed ridiculous after all his talk of her being too weak in her human form to truly protect him from anything outside of his den. How was inside any advantage when he'd already said he could handle it himself?
"I guess that's kind of what I said," she finally decided, lifting her head slightly to peek at his face. "I can look out for you. Try to at least." For the time being she was content to curl up with him and finally settle into the calm. Burying her nose against his shoulder she reflected silently, wondering what else she might be able to do to help him recover.
He huffed and sighed in relief, glad that she had not managed to get her tail in a knot again. Fintan nodded slightly before gently nuzzling his head against hers, taking comfort in the same manner that his more primal form would. "Are all the females of your fur like you?" he asked tiredly, hoping that at least if he kept her talking and somewhat entertained then she would not entertain ideas of leaving or wandering off again. "Never seen one of yours so far from home."
Sophie unconsciously butted her head against his own, the leopard within her reacting with an audible humming purr she wasn't even aware of making.
For a moment she thought on his question but it was a simple enough one to answer with her own knowledge. "I don't know, but it's probably fair to say they aren't. I've only ever known of my family but they all love living in the north, near home," she explained with a shrug, not really seeing it as a bad thing that she was different from them. "My brother and sister sometimes talk of travel, wanting to see the world before they settle down. They seem comfortable where they live, though. I don't ever really get the impression that they'd follow my path but maybe they're just a little envious," she mused kindly, smiling fondly in memory of her family.
"My father traveled a bit, but I'm the only one who does now. Just how my life is, I guess." Wanting to be conversational she almost asked the same of him before she set her lips in a tense line, knowing full well that not all of his kind were like him. His own brother had proven that already, but he'd mentioned a sister before, too.
"What other shifters have you seen here?" she asked instead.
Fintan hummed with pleasure at her reciprocated affection. He listened quietly to her answer, not surprised that most of her kin had stayed put and she was the oddity. She was certainly an oddity enough here all on her own. Her question though caused him to blink in thought. Not many shifters traveled through the area and most that did steered clear of other people's territories, unlike her of course.
"There have been some. We tend to leave and let be. We have our own lands and protect what is ours. My kith share some neighboring borders with me but there are others. There was a spotted one for a while but I have not smelled him in the area in a long time."
"Well that sounds very stiff. And boring." She wrinkled her nose at the thought of being so distant that he did not even truly know his unrelated neighbors. It wasn't exactly a surprise, though, judging by his initial reaction to her being near his territory.
"Spotted?" That didn't sound like a tiger to her. In fact, it seemed more like her kind. She mistook his lack of "smelling him" to mean he had not made it out to find him, though.
"Your life sounds very boring, Fintan," she sighed, pouting as she stared at him with an almost pitying gaze. Reaching out absently she stroked a few fingers through what she could reach of his hair. "You should get out more. See more of the world than your family and the jungle. There's more to life than having land and isolation."
The shifter growled softly and huffed in displeasure. "I am not boring," he grumbled, giving her a nip of warning to her collarbone. His lands were extensive and Fintan took it as a bit of an insult that she would insinuate that he was not well-traveled. "This is my world. Leaving means never returning. There are things here worth keeping, worth protecting. I'd rather stay. What have you done then that is so fulfilling?"
Sophie narrowed her eyes at him for the brush of teeth. It wasn't that he'd hurt her, but she didn't like the idea of being nipped every time he was unhappy with her. Would be a bad habit for him to form and she certainly wasn't going to let him. For the moment, though, she relented and just listened to what he had to say instead of snapping back immediately.
"I've seen the world," she declared confidently, gesturing with her hand as if she could even begin to demonstrate its vastness. "And a lot of its people and places. It's refreshing to see, but- well you wouldn't know what I'm talking about." She frowned at that, somehow sad that he wouldn't be able to appreciate the beauty of it. Even the basal differences of climate amazed her, knowing how warm and mild it could be in the southern stretches of Le'raana during the harsh winter months of the north.
"The world is just...beautiful. There are so many parts to it, so much culture, so much...life."
Fintan snorted and shook his head. "You speak of the world but hold no value for your own home. You appreciate the wonders of afar but have yet to love the ones so close to you. You have seen a glimpse of my land but I know it's heart. I feel it's beat and it's warmth with every step I take." The shifter shook his head against her. "Do not make small of my experience because I have chosen home over the world."
Her eyes widened at that, a bit hurt that he would think she was making small of his own experiences. She didn't understand how he could be bound to stay, or at the least compelled to by the mere claim over his lands.
"That may be true," she conceded with a defeated shrug. "I only meant that there really is a lot more that you haven't seen. And a lot of it is quite amazing." Sophie offered him a sad smile before turning her head away, still feeling quite embarrassed and like she'd misspoken and upset him. "I just thought it was a bit of a shame, but...if that is just the way of your culture I can respect that."
"There is no shame in taking advantage of what you have so close to home and enjoying it to the fullest. It is better to have such a deep understanding of one thing then to know bits and pieces from all over that are scattered like the pollen from many different trees. There is so much here and still more I have not seen or known. Why would I go elsewhere to start all over again and again? Why do you?"
"But it isn't starting all over again," she pointed out gently. "Just stopping by, visiting different places. Home is still my home. I do it to teach myself, I suppose. I like knowing about more than just what's around my home, that's just my choice and preference about how I live my life. You're entitled to your own, of course."
Sophie grew quiet in defeat, realizing it was probably useless to try to persuade him when he had no idea what she was even talking about. She couldn't even begin to describe the sense of wonder and joy she felt in her times of exploration.
"You're not alone, though," she continued, a note of fond remembrance reaching her voice. "My family is like you, as I said. Living at home now and nowhere else. I guess I'm the weird one of our...kind. Shifters."
Fintan shook his head, making his beads clink and dance about. "To leave is to never return. Once you leave your territory is no longer yours and others will be quick to take it. It had to another of us. I claimed most of his lands as my own but my brother took the rest. Before the panther kept us separate. With my territory gone there is no more for me. I would have to fight for a piece. That is no way to live. Would be the same elsewhere."
He looked to her curiously, trying to assess her in this new light. "You're just looking for your own territory," he finally declared. "All cubs do when it's time."
Sophie frowned at the idea of neighbors snatching up your land the moment it was vacant. She'd never had that problem among her family but she sincerely hoped her brother hadn't gotten any ideas with her gone on yet another long journey.
Fintan's guess had her snapping back to the present, though, and a short bark of disbelieving laughter had her features crinkling with a smile. "I'm much older than a cub," she reminded him gently, sighing contently as she reached out to play with the beads in his hair. "I already have my own territory. It's been my home for years. When I'm away my brother looks after it for me. I always bring a small gift home for him and go on a few hunts with him and...that's really all the repayment he can handle before he tells me to look after myself more than him. I think he prefers doing things on his own."
In reality it was more that Christopher knew his sister needed his help more than he needed hers and he allowed her to tag along so she felt she was contributing.
The tiger snuffed. "Sounds more like it's his territory than yours. He tolerates you around him in the same way I tolerate my own female kin. He chases you off in time when he's had enough of you. You are still so much a cub." Fintan leaned in further to her touch, enjoying her playing with his hair even as he listened to the sounds of his world around him.
"You'll see in time I'm right. You just have to grow up more first is all."
Sophie tensed slightly, a deep frown creasing her features even as she continued playing with Fintan's hair. The tiger really was so stubborn about his opinions even when they didn't even apply to her.
"I'm fully grown. It's my brother that's still young," she pointed out gently, though it was hard to keep the edge of irritation from her voice. "He never chases me off. He couldn't even if he tried. The rest of our family would never tolerate it, but... Well we are just very different when it comes to siblings. You would see how other families live if you ever left this place. Different is not bad, there are many ways to live happily."
"If you feel so," Fintan growled, not believing her for a second. In his mind he was right and she was seriously and grievously mistaken. She really was just like a cub. Perhaps she was even a bit touched in the head and that was why her brother and family tolerated her so. Instead of putting her out of her misery they allowed her to continue in her sickly state. It really was a sad state of affairs after all.
And now she was his problem. Fintan let out a pained sigh. Why were the females always his to deal with? First his sister and now this one. She was not even the same species as him! "You're such a problematic female," he bemoaned aloud.
Her eyes widened briefly before narrowing. She leaned away slightly to look him in the face, studying him for the sound he'd made. There were all types of people and perhaps he was persistent with his rude comments for the sake of masking his pain. At least that was what she hoped, she was doing her best to soothe him.
"I have no reason to lie... Why am I a problematic female?" Sophie asked calmly, the corners of her lips turning down slightly in a disappointed frown.
Fintan huffed and sighed, realizing his mistake of making the comment aloud now that she was yipping at him again. Women really were trouble in his book. First there was his mother, then his sister, and now this scrap of a kit. What was a poor tiger-shifter to do?
"You don't listen. You insist you're right when you're wrong. You've barely been here long enough to create even half of the problems you have already started and to top it all I now am left defenseless and unable to defend either you or my territory. Perhaps my northern cousins are softer than me but here in the jungle it's survival of the strongest and right now I'm lower than you on that vine of dominance. So yes you are a problematic female."
Sophie sighed as he explained himself, gritting her teeth to hear that most of the problems were his own personal ones, even if she had been the cause of them.
"Is it problematic to you that I want to help and fix things? That I'm taking care of you in your time of need? I'm trying my best to undo what I've done, you don't have to be so grumpy about me sharing my experiences in our free moments. Calling me problematic and a cub, of all things," she grumbled, though she unconsciously continued stroking her fingers through his hair to soothe her bubbling anger and nerves.
"And only a little while ago you said you trusted me to protect you. If I am your only hope at protection I don't see why you would antagonize me," Sophie pointed out with a grumpy huff, unwilling to let his words push her away. She would do what she'd promised, he deserved that much from her even if he was incapable of showing any gratitude for it.
"Just because it is the truth of the matter doesn't mean I have to like it," he hissed back with bared teeth and a snarling mouth. His expression quickly faded though for even the effort to do that exhausted him and left him breathing heavily.
"You are just a cub though. You are young and small. You have much to learn especially so far from home. It is a wonder you've made it this far. You're lucky your littermates didn't run you out as it is."
Fintan sighed heavily, his chest aching with so much talking and breathing. His thoughts turned to his own sister and the care he had taken to ensure her safety over the years. He could only guess it was the same with this little lost kitten and her own siblings. She had said her brother kept her territory for her. Fintan had no doubts though that that's what the leopard was likely doing. He had done the same once himself after all.
Sophie's lips twitched into a thoughtful frown as she gently shook her head at his continued insistence that she was a cub. He would certainly learn she was not if circumstances ever called for her to show her teeth as it were. At least that was her opinion. In reality her own defense largely came from showing her cat, not using it.
"I will learn what I can while I'm here," she insisted gently, carefully tucking his hair back behind his ears for a moment to study his face while ignoring his comments about her family. It wasn't his fault he didn't know their nature.
"You look so tired," she breathed, her frown growing a bit concerned for how labored he seemed, for the lines in his face and the way the light had dimmed slightly from his eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so...defensive." The apology was paired with a gentle nuzzle against his cheek, her hands falling to rest at his cheeks for a moment to loosely frame his face before settling against his shoulders instead.
"Get some rest now," she ordered gently. "I've kept you up and talking too long."