"I came from a Pride ... but it's gone, now" She was quick to add the last part, almost saying it like she wanted to reassure him she didn't have relatives that were suddenly going to come out of the bushes and attack him. It was a silly thought, on reflection; if she had family, he wouldn't have found her dying on a patch of dirt looking like a fuzzy skeleton.

She crouched down, looking inside the den without actually going inside, her eyes showing that she was impressed by the space underneath. It was clean, tidy, and she was still amazed he was able to keep the den from any other animals who would also like the living space.

"I didn't know leopards had dens ... lions sometimes do, but not often. Depends on the territory. I've seen some prides who have caves, some have dens like this, others hide in tree hollows from massive old baobabs that elephants have broken up to eat"

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"I'm sorry to hear about your pride, Chuki. I've heard that it's like a family... and family is important. Something to protect..." He fell quiet for a moment, listening to her thoughts about his kin. About leopards. Then he stood up and stretched, yawning wide and exposing his long, sharp teeth.
"Most of us do have dens, but it also depends on our lifestyle. I, for example, like having a home base of sorts, which is my den. Sometimes, though, I'm out for days on end as I'm hunting, so I'll sleep in trees. So... how do lions even go about finding a space that's big enough for everyone? Don't your families - prides - get massive? I had a hard enough time finding this little spot for just myself."

The wind rustled through the dry grass, but a small portion of it seemed to move a little more than the wind had caused it to. Perhaps something was hiding in there... moving about.

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"Well ... " She sat down, realising he likely wasn't familiar with how prides worked, "Most pride lands are passed down the generations. Lionesses like me don't usually leave our mother's pride. We stay, but male cubs are chased away once they're old enough. Or ... killed if there is a new male taking over the pride"

She shuddered a little, witnessing a takeover before she fled.

"Some Prides are new, they can form when a male leaves and takes a few lionesses in that have left their prides. They fight or claim land from other Prides, maybe ones that are too small to defend it. Most Prides are like that, we call that the 'wild way'. Some prides are so stable and their lands so plentiful they have Kings, where a Pride passes from father to son and they aren't as brutal. But those are really rare. We used to tell stories about those kinds of Prides, almost like a old baboon's tale. You can get really big prides, or really small ones. Just ... whatever the land can support, and how the pride works"

Her ear twitched, picking up on the rustling, but paying it no closer attention for now.

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Atlas's eyes widened, and his ears lowered slightly.
"Wow... lions are brutal... er, I mean, the concept of prides. Not saying that you yourself are brutal just because you're a lion." He added the last bit a bit hurriedly, as though worried she might take offense to his comment.
"So with most prides, family is more like a formality. Not a value... so because you weren't part of the family, the prides wouldn't accept you?"

Atlas frowned, not liking that lions, who were viewed by many as the top predators, could be so careless with life. Wasn't life meant to be preserved? Kept in balance?
"That's messed up. Or maybe that's how things are meant to be. All I know is that I don't like that you were forced out. You probably have a lot to offer to a pride. Had a lot, too."

The leopard's black tipped ear twitched at the rustling sound as well, and he looked over at it, instantly on the alert.

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"Well, a Pride is usually all about family" She mulled over his view, "I mean, well, a mother and daughter, aunts and female cousins. Males come and go, but usually it's all about the core family of lionesses. We would share meals, hunt together, play together, nurse all the young together ... But it's not as close as, say, a wild dog pack where it's a mother and father and their children. Family is important, but ... bonds between fathers and sons aren't really a thing. Or mothers and sons once the males are big enough to go out on their own"

It did sound cold and cruel, in a lot of ways.

"What about you? I know cheetahs sometimes stay together if they're brothers, but cubs leave their mothers and don't live with each other. Are leopards the same?"

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"...We are usually very solitary, save for mating." Atlas said quietly. "Usually our only main lasting bond is with our mother. I never knew my father. I usually keep away from the other leopards, but I don't like that I have to." He kept his amber eyes fixed on the spot of grass that had rustled, but continued speaking.
"They attack intruders in their territory. Especially other leopards. I avoid them because I don't like hurting them. Hurting others when it's not for food or to protect another... it just doesn't make sense to me, and it never has."

The leopard's gaze shifted over to Chuki, as though he half expected her to tell him that it was ridiculous. Why would he run from a fight that he was likely to win?
"Is it wrong of me to like being peaceful?" He asked. "I know it's not normal, but does that make it wrong?"

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"... I don't think so" Chuki mused, her balding tail twitched as she thought this over, "A lot of animals don't like taking part in fights if they don't have to ... I mean, why get hurt or make enemies or waste energy if you don't have to, right? Even elephants and rhinos usually bluff and don't really attack unless someone doesn't back down. I've seen zebra males chase around rivals like they're silly foals and the other male doesn't even try and fight back! He just wheezes and runs away and goes to look for someone he CAN fight"

The rustling got louder, a large shadow suddenly bursting out from the undergrowth in a blur of black and white. A crested porcupine, thoroughly agitated, rushed at Chuki backwards, the long and elegant spines rattling against each other and producing the most alarming hissing-like sound to warn her that she was about to get a face-full of pain.

Before she even fully realised what was attacking her, Chuki jumped to her paws, before crouching down and leaping high into the air. So high, she grabbed one of the lower branches of the tree

This was quite a few feet above her, well above average jumping height, and she seemed surprised herself at how far she'd managed to leap. Now was not the time to think though; she struggled due to the lack of muscle, but sheer panic made her try anyway, her back legs kicking into thin air until she was able to twist herself properly around to grab onto the branch, holding on for dear life as she looked down at the threat with her heart thumping in her throat.

"Oh ..." She tried to cover her panic, "Oh, I ... thought it might have been a mamba ..."

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Atlas nodded slowly, finding her explanation to be both logical and comforting. When the porcupine burst from the grass, the leopard found himself reeling backwards to avoid the spines. A moment later, he realized Chuki had vanished.

Upon hearing her voice Atlas looked up to see the lioness clinging to the tree, and his eyes widened. Then he started to laugh. He had a rather pleasant laugh, rather deep and full.
"How the devil did you manage that?" He asked, eyes gleaming with mirth as he made his way up to join her. He leapt and climbed, digging his claws into the bark of the tree to give himself purchase. "That was incredible!"

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Atlas made it look so easy. Leopards were born tree-climbers, lions ... not so much. If Atlas had a disadvantage with his size, his natural abilities compensated. If Chuki lacked the natural ability, her very lean weight compared to much stockier, healthy lionesses meant she was having less difficulty than most lions. Still, she was clinging on with her claws entrenched in the bark grooves as she watched the porcupine. The enraged rodent snuffled at her, shaking their quills once more as they scurried back into the longer grass. A second shadow, rather smaller, hurried after it. It was a mother and a young one, overly protective and aiming to strike before the two had any ideas for dinner being served with a back full of blades.

Chuki swallowed, now able to focus on Atlas' attention as she tried not to think too hard about how she was going to get down.

"I ... I've always been good at leaping up high. They used to call me the 'bird-jumper' in my own pride, I would hunt birds a lot since no-one really wants to share a bird with you, and lots of hunters think they're too difficult. I used to practise watching servels"

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Atlas watched the mother and baby porcupines scurry off, and then he returned his attention to Chuki to listen to her explanation. He tilted his head thoughtfully at the concept of practicing the odd hunting technique, but then nodded.
"That's really quite remarkable. Well, once we get you down, We can get to work on reviving you as a bird-jumper. By that, I mean we're going to get you back to being healthy once again. You've got a chance to keep going, to keep living, and I intend to help you take that chance."

Atlas grinned at her, and then stood up on the branch he was on. It was slightly lower than the one Chuki clung to, and was thick and strong as it stretched out into the branches of the neighboring tree.
"Come, try getting onto my branch. The tree it reaches into grows on an angle, so it's easier to get down. I see smaller animals using it all the time when I come back from a longer hunting trip."
He moved along the branch to give her plenty of room to shift herself over.

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She bit her lower lip, still clinging to her branch as she looked over to the one that he was on. Again, he made it look so easy, he could leap like a monkey between branches but she was far more cautious. After all, a slip and breaking a bone would be the end of her.

He was so sure, so she had a good reason to try. Gingerly, almost like a young bird trying to walk out of the nest for the first time, she placed one paw on the branch, her ears pinned to her head in half-fear, half-concentration. Her claws were so tense her bones were likely to pop out of her paws, as she inched over to the branch. She didn't dare stand on it like he was doing, instead sliding her body over to cling with all four limps, her heart visibly thumping behind her visible ribs.

"How do you do this?! It's so high up here ..." She was getting dizzy just looking down, "Lions aren't made for trees, we're just not made for trees ..."

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Atlas watched her inch her way onto the new branch, and he tried his best not to laugh. She looked quite ridiculous, though, creeping along like a worm.
"I don't look at the ground, first off." He said, watching her patiently as he moved backwards to give her more room.
"I focus on where I want to go, and the branch beneath me. You're a cat. Imagine this is not a tree, but one of those rocks you climb on as a cub. It's a narrow ledge, but beneath you is soft grass. Close your eyes, focus on my voice and let your paws feel the branch beneath you. Trees might not be your world now, but you're dangerous on the ground. I can't contest with a lion very well on the ground, but I can in the trees. Your main job, though, is to focus on my voice."

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Is this why leopards were so sure-footed? Because they saw trees as simply moving ground? It was a thought, and she swallowed hard again, the water in her stomach rolling threateningly as she stood up, shaking so hard the branch was practically vibrating, and focused on moving forward.

"I don't think you need to worry about lions" She noted, distracting part of her thoughts as her body made sure to put one paw in front of the other, "You are gigantic for a leopard; if you had a made, you'd be the same size as a lion"

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Atlas moved into the tree that the branch extended into, and then paused on the slanted trunk of the new tree. Then, he turned to look back at Chuki as he felt the branch vibrate beneath her.
"I'd be the size of a lion, hm?" He seemed amused by this comparison, but he didn't deny it. He truly was huge for a leopard... it left one to wonder if he did not have a lion or tiger in his heritage somewhere that resulted in his size. Or, he could be just a freak of nature in that aspect. It was hard to tell, and the solitary lives of leopards only made it more difficult. He didn't know any of his family save for his mother, and she was of normal size.

"You've almost made it. You can just run down the trunk once you get here, it's leaned over enough. I've seen lions race down steeper inclines than this tree before."

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Getting down was always more difficult than getting up. She reached the nock of the branch where it merged into the main trunk, a touch more relieved but still very concerned as to how she was going to get properly down. Taking a deep breath, she stood up more fully, hugging the tree to try and shimmy down backwards.

This worked until part of the bark fell away, and she landed on her face in an ungraceful pile of bones and fur.

"UGH, climbing is NOT what lions are made for" She crinkled her sore nose, sticking out her tongue and baring her teeth as she spat out pieces of grass and dirt, "I'm as much use as an ostrich in trees"

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