Lake Osprey I've Gotta Feeling

Tonight was going to be great! She hadn't really gotten to sleep, but that was OK, because she'd been buzzing anyway. She couldn't shift in the city, except for that one time, and her schedule made it hard to find time to get away. It was really a choice between roaming alone in the woods being herself or wandering around the cities and meeting new people. And she didn't really have many friends yet, so she really wanted to make friends.

But this was always when she just got to let go. Freeing herself from the confines of the apartment right after she said goodbye to her student, Nousha picked a direction, knowing that she would eventually find something green and sparcely populated. It was a very long walk, honestly and it took her most of the day (with breaks to eat and then overtime made up by running when there weren't really people around) to make it to what she discovered was Graupel Canyon.

The air buzzed in her ears, which made her hesitate for a couple of minutes. It wasn't like she was here to do anything bad. Just explore way out in the woods somewhere. It would be fine. It wasn't quite sunset when she shifted, eagerly racing into the trees until she found the lake. Swimming was tempting, but the trees...Well. Nousher threw herself at the truck of a tree and it groaned as she sank her claws into it to reach the first branch about twenty feet up that didn't immediately snap beneath her weight. It was there that she watched the sky change colors as the sun began to set, making way for the beautiful full moon.

Looks

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This shift was needed on so many levels, she was stressed and tired and really being like this helped a great deal so here she was on all fours running around the woods and a lake. She had hunted and managed to catch a rather fat raccoon that she was carrying over to the water's edge because she was going to take a good long drink before eating the thing.

As she was padding out though, the sound of claws in bark had her attention, causing her to turn with her mouth stuffed with the ridiculous size of this thing to look up and see a jaguar up in a tree. They both weren't quite out in the open but they were close enough that she could see the lake but mostly the bigger spotty cat had her attention.

Snowie though was happy to see another feline; they were the best type of were in her opinion and jaguars were right up there with snow leopards for being amazing.

Sitting, a muffled chuff would leave the snow leopard up to the thicker cat up in the tree. A small hello from the snow spotty cat that was just sitting with her paw absently playing with the tip of her fluffy tail.

Smells. Nousher rowled before she even saw the leopard and her meal. And then she did it again, still without seeing them because she was excited. Her claws dug into the branch as she peered over the side of it. Oh! There they were!

Another rowl. Thankfully that raccoon was already dead or she might've scared it away. Her tail whipped against the wood and Nousher suddenly wished she wasn't all the way up here when the other cat was all the way down there! She started to scoot backwards until her butt hit the trunk and the branch dipped up and down a few times.

Just a second!

Snowie was going to have a furball in her mouth after this but she would turn her head and lower the carcass down to the ground as she let out another friendly chuff to the tree cat.

In her own cat like way, the sides of the felines face would rise in a slight smile before another encouraging chuff left her. Snowie, true to her form, would use her powerful tiny jaws to bite and rip the raccoon in half. She had snacked on a rabbit already so the hunger pit wasn't greedy so she would share.

Looking back up with a tilt of her head though as the tree branch bowed under her weight; was that branch even going to hold? Not wanting to accidentally ruffle fur, she stayed put and finished the last tears of the hide and then set a half in front of her that was a bit away while she cleaned her paws with neat little licks.

This was not going to work in her favor. In typical cat fashion, she'd gotten up with little thought on how she was going to get down. It had probably crossed her mind that she would just jump, so easy, not even that high. But looking down now, it was very high, so she was going to try and climb back down.

Green eyes peered over the edge again as the pretty leopard tore the raccoon in half. For her? Mmmmmmmm. Her sides rose and fell in rapid succession with a number of snuffs. With a moderate amount of success, she started her very awkward and "that's gonna hurt tomorrow" descent. Which mostly consisted of her claw-dragging nearly halfway down the tree before she fell the rest of the way, falling with a heavy, cement bag thud onto her side.

Snowie was watching, stopping her paw grooming as she observed the feline up in the tree. She looked...interesting as she worked on getting down and her head tilted a bit more as her ears twitched forward to the sounds she was making as well as the tree.

So far, it wasn't terrible; that tree now was a scratching post for all intensive purposes but then she fell with a ground rumbling thud and Snowie was up in a flash and ran the short distance over to her to check on her.

Worried chuffs left her as she sniffed and gave a light nudging with her nose against one of her limbs to check and see if she was alright. It might not have been an incredibly high fall but falls still hurt so now there was a worried snow cat chuffing away at her.

It was enough to rattle her brain into darkness for a few seconds, which was jarring on its own. When she came to somewhat disoriented with another cat snuffling on her, she growled reflexively, but did not move because she was trying to remember what the heck was going on. RIGHT! THE PRETTY CAT AND THE RACCOON.

Like a fairy tale. Nousha scrabbled at the dirt to push herself upright, her tail waving, cheeks flexed to push her whiskers forward, snuffling and being a lot. She still hurt, mostly her side and her toes, but that was a problem for Nousha. Nousher had other things to do. She chuffed at the white cat.

The growl at her was met with just a slight grumble from her and a -.- look at the cat on the ground. She wasn't the one who failed tree climbing- even though she rarely did it herself but no one needed to know that.

Like a spring though, she was up and fixing herself and Snowie was sitting up with her long fluffy tail curled around her feet again as a hello chuff left her to the fellow spotty cat. She was lovely and could probably squish her but Snowie didn't care, no, she would inch a little closer and give a few little sniffs before letting out a happy rumbly purr at meeting the other lovely feline.

Would this cat take it better than the bear?

Even though that was kind of her fault cause she was sharp. Nousher danced heavily on her paws, insides rattling as the snow leopard leaned towards her to sniff.

She would meet her in the middle, making to bump wet noses.

The movements didn't bother her at all, her own tail bouncing excitedly as she sniffed.

Then...a wet nose bumped hers!

A happy chuff left her and if the jaguar didn't move, Snowie would lean in and just lick her muzzle with a happy purring sound.

Nousher vibrated. Literally vibrated when the pretty cat licked her muzzle. Her sides shook with excited chuffs as she pushed her nose into the snow leopard's face and bounced backwards.

Her tail lashed behind her, smacking against the truck of the tree. She stuck her neck out and stared right at her. Play!

Snowie puffed up happily, bright icy blue eyes widening with excitement as her own fluffy tail started to flick around excitedly from the reaction she get!

She would waist no time into dropping down in a playful pounce position and as an invitation, would reach out her big fluffy paw; with no claws out at all, and bap at her leg as if she was tagged before turning to run off a few feet.

Snowie would stop for a brief moment to check to see if the jaguar would give chase!

Oh, she did. Her muscles tensed as her new playmate fell into a crouch and pounced forward to tag her. Eeeeeeee! Yes!

Nousher chucked herself forward, head thrown backwards before it caught up with her hefty body. She reared up on her hing legs, hoping to encourage a bap fight.

The play was on!

Once stopped and the large cat was up on her hind feet, she would do the same and then reach out with big ole fluff paws and rather playfully bap at her face and arms as her long tail kept in her balance for the time being.

Nousher was less steady, still feeling the effects of her failed flight.

Each poorly aimed swat at her playmate was a chance to right herself again with the back and forth momentum. But she tried to aim mostly for the top of the head and around the shoulders. The broadest places. It was like a feline game of chicken.

Snowie used her tail to help her keep up so that she could continue to bap at the jaguar, napping at her shoulder and arm and occasionally getting her snoot because her balanced wavered now as she backpawed a little bit.

More little chuffs left her as she would then try and cat-flop right onto the jaguar to knock her down onto the ground!

Off-balance to begin with, Nousher fell victim to the cat-flop. She tried to hold back, front paws swimming in the air like she could scoop it up to support her. To no avail. The snow leopard fell on her and Nousha began to writhe, her back legs now pedalling gently against the other cat's belly.

Snowie was victorious! Taking down her new feline companion but the kangaroo back paws against her soft belly made the snow cat let out some weird sounds as she was bounced up in the air a little bit.

Before getting off of her, Snowie would do her best to just get to that little disk of an ear and nom it in retaliation!

Murder! The unfairness of it all! Her back paws pushed up into the belly of the leopard, but stopped kicking. It was time to turn her attention to the teeth on her ear. So Nousher tipped her chin up to jab her nose into the white cat's throat, before attempting to roll out from beneath her and make a run for the lake a few hundred feet away.

A hacking sound left Snowie at the nose to her throat! RUDE! A rumbly sound tried to leave her as she continued to try and chew on the little ear before feeling her target escape her teeth! Oh no! Snowie was on her as if she was a snow bank that she needed to jump into! She would then just keep up right behind her to the lake, ready to jump in on her if that was what was going to happen.

The smaller cat was faster. Her head start was slowly meaning less and less the closer she got to the lake. Ringed tail stuck straight out behind her and she tried to be an aerodynamic hot air balloon. Head down, ears back. Faster!

Water splashed up around her paws as she felt the snow leopard's breath on her back. Oh well. Wrestling in the lake would be a lot more fun. Plus, this was her arena of choice. She was like a shark. But she'd let the snow leopard think she had the upper hand. All according to plan.

Snowie was able to keep up, being more slender was an advantage that allowed this as she would lt out hot chuffy breaths on the jaguars back to remind her that she was right here and not allowing her to win easily.

The coolness of the water startled her but it was no matter, she was pouncing on her back this time to try and wrap her paws around her torso so that she could attack her ear one more!

Nousher stumbled up as they entered the water. She tried to pull herself at least to belly-level, even as the other cat hung off of her. Her butt pushed low, back paws scattering river rocks trying to push herself further.

Why her ear! Why! She needed those to hear, silly! She rocked in the water hoping she could rodeo the snow leopard off.

The lighter cat did her best to just hang on with her arms and her tail wrapping around her as well as if she was a branch right now.

The protests were met with aggressively affectionate cat nomming of her ear, her rough lick licking before using her teeth to lightly nom on it until it was fully wet from were snow leopard saliva!

The rocking through was met with a tighter grip but Snowie was slipping and making unhappy sounds about the water splashing into her own face and body -.-

Nousher only ever wished she was a littler cat when stuff like this happened. Then she'd be on top nomming on ears with a big floofy tail. She baaaaor'd as her ear was assulted. There was only one way out. The ace up her furry rosetted sleeve.

The jaguar tipped over in the water, letting her legs go out from under her.

Snowie felt victorious at this, claiming the eat and rightfully cat slobbering it- at least until she felt her mouth fill up with water!

letting go, the cat would bob up to the water and just sneeze, spraying water and cat boogers all around now as she had inhaled some. Shaking her head now, she had to try and spot her friendly adversary from above the water; if this was snow, she would win but alas this was the wettest version of it.

Pushing herself beneath the water, she kept close to the rocks, rubbing her belly on them just to confirm she was low enough. And touching the rocks meant she was low enough to really launch herself up like a big ol' whale.

Her front paws paddled her in place while she hunkered her muscles into bunches so she could push herself up and out of the water like a chunky missile to dive onto her playmate.

Snowie was looking, she looked like a drowned cat now with all her fluff fur now stuck to her slender yet muscular feline body as she would duck sort of low to try and see where the other one was.

There was a flash of orange that she caught right before jag-shark lept out and pounced on her! She let out a startled yelp and would then find herself being squashed by all this wet fluff into the water!

With no intent to drown her, Nousher paddled off after she'd struck. Her head bobbed above the water as she jag-paddled paralell to the shore. It wasn't too much fun if she had a waterlogged playmate that couldn't fight back, so she wanted to let the other cat get her paws under her again.

Bubbles came from the felines mouth until she released her but oh no...Snowie wasn't coming up yet. She had to get revenge on her so she would just roll and turn to pounce out of the water to wrap her paws around her neck again! Her mouth would lightly nom on her face in retaliation for pinning her into the water =3

She legitimately hadn't expected Poofy Tail to stay underwater. So being attacked from below was completely unexpected. Nousher paddled awkwardly to the side as the other cat gnawed on her face. And she decided now she was just going to take it. Her legs flailed through the water as she tried to keep swimming towards the shallows totally nonchalantly as Poofy Tail clung to her face. It was very difficult and it wasn't as casual as all that. She groaned and squinted and didn't make it very far at all, her toes sort of skirting the rocks.

It was a success! She was happy to get a good couple mouthers on her friend before letting go and splashing around in the water to get her wet. Snowie would let out another sneeze from the water getting up her nose again but once that was out, she would leap run over to her to bap splash water at her!

Free from her sucker fish Poofy Tail, Nousher bounded forward a few feet so she could jump in the air and twist. It didn't feel great on her side and she made a horf sound when she landed. Just in time to get water in her eyes and in her mouth. Thick pink tongue flopped out and Nousher huffed. She reeled back to smack a stream of water back. And then...wait!

"Food!" She roared, so it sounded it a bit whistled, and she turned to looked back towards where they'd come. Towards the abandoned raccoon.

The returned fire water attack had her head shaking and spraying more water around, her paw lifting to rub some from her face before halting at the word. Recognition hit her, oh right! She had caught a raccoon! It had been forgotten in their playing as her paw would drop as her head bobbed.

"Fooooddd, " the feline said in agreement as she would move over to her and give a light bump of her head against hers before starting to walk out of the water and then doing the biggest cat shake of her life that would leave her looking very puffy from all the water.

How fast play could come to an agreeable end when food was mentioned. Nousher chuffed happily as the other cat seemed just as excited and even gave her a little headbump. Her front paws worked against the rocks as she watched her go back up onto shore and shake out. But then she would follow, choosing to just let the water drip off of her like a bag of wet soil. It made her reluctant to run back to the tree. She decided instead to plod along, dragged by the blossoming smell of dead animal.

Snowie was still feeling wet, so she would do another full body shakey shakey- including her tail that looked like a wiggly noodle as she got it all fluffed out again and to a point where she wasn't irked at being wet.

Padding over to the split raccoon, she would pick up a half and set it right in front of her jaguar friend and then went over to her half and flomped down and dug her face into the meaty treat and started to rip out chunks to eat. Happy purrs left her as she ate, her tail bouncing a little on the ground as she happily ate to recharge now.

Poofy Tail had a built-in sprinkler, which was pretty cool. She felt the effects of it as she walked past her. Like a weird sideways rain shower. It made her pause for a second before Poofy Tail ran past her and she wobble-galloped to accept her delicious prize. She really wasted no time in tearing into it, chewing before she even laid down.

"Roooooooo." Was her lazy attempt at a thank you.

Snowie made happy sounds while eating, the bones crunching and the meat tearing with ease in her mouth as she ate until nothing was left but a stain on the ground. She would lick her paws and her maw as she tried to get it all but missed a spot above her nose; oh well!

The rooing from the jaguar had her getting up and moving over to her and then slightly flopping on top/ over her and starting to purr. This was her way into saying thank you was by giving happy rumbles to her new friend; as well as giving some friendly licks to her neck.

The bones were her favorite part. There was still in there. Like a meaty pinata. Her tongue flicked out and she tried to spit the fur from out of her teeth. Most of it got stuck to her chin. Nousher chomped down on a bone, crunching it in half so she could lick the marrow out of it. She gave a little grunt as Poofy Tail flopped over on her and purred into the bone, rattling it as she worried at it.

This was nice.

Snowie was a happy cat, she was purring and offering some affectionate grooming to the other feline who was bone chomping. Guh, she was still soaked, so commence attempt at helping dry the jaguar! She felt different than her, maybe not as strong, so the friendly caring side of her basically kicked into grooming mode to basically get her to dry off.

The bones were tiny, so she made quick work of them, eventually just munching them between her teeth. The ground beneath her was soaked into nearly a shallow patch of mud and leaf litter. But her chin rested on the ground while Poofy Tail groomed her, and she was content to leave it at that.

Snowie was happy to groom her, small licks to the back of her head and neck as she tried to help dry off the cat. Kaly was a bit more aware, mostly wanting to be there to watch over her if she fell asleep and make sure she was safe so that nothing happened to her. It was something she realized that she could do and that was wake up faster and Kaly loved it so dang much! So, she would groom and purr, sliding off of her to be next to her now as she let out some rather content purring chuffs.

Nousher would fall asleep, because why not? She fell out of a tree, wrestled in the water, AND got to eat. It was a lot. Her head rolled gently towards Poofy Tail, conking into her own big wet paw.

And she dozed off. Hefty snores rattled out through her nostrils and her tail twitched as she snoozed.

Snowie continued to groom her, purrs leaving her as she dried her neck and head with her raspy tongue. When she noticed though that the jaguar had fallen asleep, both Kaly and Snowie would look around and then take up a watch around her. She wanted nothing to happen to her and even though they were in the woods, they probably should be in deeper. Oh well, it was fine, they'd be fine and she would share her long fluffy tail with her as a slight blanket that draped over her.

Nousher sucked in a huge breath and it was like the jaguar peeled off around her. The woman groaned as she shifted back, but didn't wake up. Her skinny limbs grabbed onto the snow leopard's tail and that was that.

The suddenly shifting back jaguar had her body flinching a little but then settling as she saw the female form, the snow leopard moving in and giving a little bump of her head against hers just to check to see if she was truly asleep; she was, even cuddling her tail.

Kaly let it be for a few minutes before doing some wiggling and jerking and some flexibility to move the sleeping girl over her back as much as she could. As gently as she could, she'd hold onto one of her arms with her mouth and carry her deeper into the woods where she had left her own blanket and bag of snacks and would lay her down on it. She felt bad, her legs were now very dirty from being dragged over the ground but eh, a bath would fix it.

Kaly was as gentle as she could be laying her down and pawing over the blanket at least over her hips before she too laid down and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Rinse and repeat until she was konked out asleep next to her on the blanket for the next three hours until Kalypso would wake up.

If nothing too eventful happened during the sleeping time, Kaly would wake up and groggily pull on her clothes and then pull out an extra set for the sleeping girl next to her. She had a book to read and something to drink and she would do just that while patiently waiting.

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Movement permission granted :)

She woke up before her eyes opened, the first feeling being discomfort. Why? Nousha groaned and curled into a ball and then decided that hurt more and stretched, which also hurt. So, she groaned. And opened her eyes. The woods, right! And Poofy Tail? "Good morning," She said through a cottony mouth opening a little too wide. The woman pushed herself up and leaned back on her hands. The blanket covering her bumbled down to bunch in her lap.

"Thank you for the blanket." She said while peering down at her lightly bruised side. The purply-yellowy blotch would probably be gone soon enough, though Nousha was certain that it would be sore for a bit.

Kaly was flicking through her novel, sipping some koolaid flavored water and only stopping when she heard the stirrings of the other cat-girl. Putting a book mark in the book, she would pull out another bottle of water and a bag of peanut m&m's and would set them down on the clothes as she spoke, "Good morning, how are you? " she asked curiously as she would open her own water again and take a drink.

Seeing the bruises, Kaly would wince a bit before nodding, "No problem, waking up on prickly grass and twigs? I'll pass, " she said with a chuckle before picking up the sweat pants and shirt with the snack and drink on it to hand to her, "Here, I don't know where your stuff is but I tend to carry extra...especially after she tore up clothes of mine once, " Kaly told her with a laugh.

"Other than this," Her fingers moved over the bruises and Nousha made a face. "I feel great!"

There was a moment of hesitation as the little pile was passed to her. Oh. Clothes, right. A shame. She pulled the sweatshirt on over her head and wiggled the pants on under the blankets, sparing Poofy Tail at least that much. The candy was a nice touch and she tore them open, pouring half of the bag into her mouth. She cracked open the water bottle and chugged most of that down, too. The raccoon had mostly burned off sometime shortly after shifting back.

Nousha gestured somewhere south. "I left a backpack down there. Somewhere." The water bottle was chugged to nothing and she crushed it between her palms before recapping it. "I'm Nousha."

"You did take a pretty good landing, huh? " not a fall, a landing...just an unfun landing.

It wasn't often Kaly got hurt from her exploits as Snowie but when she did...they sucked. It was never a fun time for her really. She would take another bite and down her drink a bit more as she rehydrated herself to feel better before tucking in into the bag and setting her book inside it as well.

When she downed the water and motioned to some direction, she would look that way and just tuck things away before smiling, "Kalypso, it's nice to meet you. Want me to help you find your stuff? I don't have anywhere to be, " she told her as she would reach into a pocket and pull out a hair tie and work to throw her long thick hair into a messy bun to keep it outta her face as best as possible.