Tropical Vacation [Ingrid]

[Gin]

Sprawled out on a sun-warmed rock, Isoba was at peace. His heavy eyelids drooped, blocking the bright sun. His front paws hung in front of him off the face of the rock, one sticking straight out rather than against the rock like the other. On the latter lay his head, ears slightly back, eyes closed. His thick maw was set in a relaxed smile. Isoba was finally happy.

He had spent the night on the mainland, trodding through thick underbrush and muddy soil when he had found the trail of rocks jutting above the ocean's surface. The cat had inspected the path for a good ten minutes before deciding it might have been worth it to go across. The island he had seen from the mainland was no where near as beautiful as it was when his large paws had finally hit the sand. Isoba's dark eyes had scanned ever bit of the island that he could without moving. When he had finally seen all he could stationary, he began moving.

All the trees were hairy and tall, very flexible. Large fruits hung from the branches. One fell from its place above, dropping into a bush near the jaguar. A small bird had burst from the bush, sqwaking it's anger at being hit with a coconut. The large cat had only chuckled and continued through the island. He had come upon the opposite side in only a couple hours and found a desolate beach. A few smooth rocks were scattered over the sand. Isoba chose one that would be in the sun for most of the morning and had settled down to rest.

The sun warmed his pelt, giving him the sense of dreaming. Everything seemed just too perfect.

[Shadowcat]

Mouth slightly agape to help pick up scents, Ingrid padded through the dense jungle-island. Her rounded ears were perked, listening for nothing in particular. The cat wasn't really doing anything at the moment, perhaps hoping for some food to come running out of the bushes. Or maybe she'd find a nice area to stay. She quite liked this island, even though she had only discovered it the night before. It had food, water, shelter, warm, and was generally just a great place to be. A shelter other than the small cove under a rock that she had just stayed in would have been nice though. Perhaps there was a nice cave near by.

At the sound of a bird chirping, the jaguar stopped walking and turned her head to the left, ears honing in on the sound. She wondered what was going on, but, almost didn't head in that direction, as she figured it wasn't of any importance to her. She stared to continue walking just as a scent hit her. A cat. She lifted her blackish nose into the air, sniffing. She couldn't identify the scent further, so she walked a bit in that direction. A jaguar. Male.

Ingrid couldn't help her excitement at this piece of news. Her instinct longed to go in that direction, as it might lead to a potential mate. And so, she did. However, she mentally hammered at herself to put her 'childish excitement away.' By the time she spotted the other animal, she had regained herself.

She stopped in the distance and watched the cat lie down. She closed her maw and wondered if he would be terribly upset if his nap was ruined. Oh well, he doesn't need to be sleeping this early in the day, she decided, continuing forward.

When she reached the spot where he lay, walking as silently as ever, she plopped herself down on a smooth patch of land. She stretched her paws out, feeling the ground slightly, though she did not put her head on them. She let her back legs turn out to the side so that she was lying half on her stomach, half on her side. Her murky eyes looked at the jaguar directly across from her, about fifteen feet away. A smirk crossed her face a moment before she spoke in a clear, bold voice.

"Napping so early in the day, are we?"

[Gin]

Isoba was slowly slipping into a state of utter peace. His head lolled to the side, eyes still closed to the bright sun. The gentle crash of the waves against the sand was peaceful. It gentle called him to his dreams. He couldn't see anything but a few bright colours flitting across his vision. As the sleeping jaguar focused on them, they became butterflies. Their brightly coloured wings flapped the breeze and stood out against the black around them. Something else was coming toward him, something bigger. It was a female, that was obvious, though not by any sense. He simply knew. It had to be female.

The shadow took no shape nor held any scent. She was simply a shadow in the black but lightening world of his dream. Bright eyes glittered to live amidst the dark and she stared at Isoba. Her eyes were full of love and acceptance. Isoba could feel himself drawn to her, closer and closer. But as he got closer, she only seemed to get farther away. A muffled cry escaped his throat but the female only stared at him lovingly though she continued to move away. Before he could call to her, her form had faded away and her eyes had dimmed and suddenly lit into two dull moths.

Isoba, laying on his rock, made a few muffled sounds but was otherwise quite. His tail twitched against his rear leg in a twinge of remorse for his dream loss.

"Napping so early in the day, are we?"

The brute's ears snapped up, followed by his head, trained on the form that had settled itself a distance away in the sand. His ears flicked back with irritation. Who was so bold as to interrupt his nap?

"Who are you?" he asked, a slight grumpy tone. But he couldn't stay mad for long. Within seconds, he had corrected himself. "Sorry," he said with a lighter tone, "What's your name? Anything I can help you with?"

Isoba looked at her more clearly now that he was fully awake. He faced another jaguar, similar in colour to himself, that is, her pelt wasn't black like he had seen of other jaguars. She had orange-ish eyes that stared at him almost teasingly.

[Shadowcat]

At the cat's response, Ingrid's eyes seemed to half blink in what was a glare that was stopped earlier on. His tone was a bit rude, but she had woke him up after all. That much she could tell by the way he had looked at her when she spoke. He only lied down just a moment ago.... And yet he fell asleep so quickly. The thought amused her.

Although she hadn't really changed her posture or show any tension at his first words, Ingrid softened noticeably at his apology. She expected to be treated well by everyone, not that he had really treated her poorly.

"No, nothing in particular," she answered him. Giving a half smirk, half smile, she added, "just thought you might want to wake up to a nice view." As she was directly across from him, it was pretty obvious that she meant herself. Her tone could have been described as flirty, playful, or stuck up. In fact, it was a combination of those three, and that was how she intended it. Well, she didn't so much intend the arrogant side of it, but she did see herself as quite beautiful. She meant her words more as a joke and to tease him a bit.

The female sat up now, puffing her chest out slightly. It was a move that was partly intentional as flirting and joking around, but it wasn't particularly funny or even that noticeable, as she did it a lot out of habit. It was just her posture. She was bold and she liked to strut around without a fear or care in the world. She was a complicated and complex cat to understand at first. However, it took a very short time to understand, and then you could almost always predict what she might do. In a nutshell, most things she did were more a flirty-teasy thing, with a tad of arrogance thrown in. And you could always count on her to be bold. Unless things got personal. Then she would only share with her closed friends.

"My name?" She said, turning her orange eyes to the sky, as if she had to think about it a moment. She looked back at the other jaguar after a slight pause, giving a sly smile. "Ingrid." As with everything else she had done so far, her smile and pause, along with eyes turned heavenward, was a gesture of flirting and teasing, without the arrogance this time. She wasn't really teasing the other cat, just more goofing around. And even her flirting wasn't really male-female flirting. It was just how she acted; her personality. It sometimes made bad impressions, but she was hardly ever rude. She really wasn't a bad cat. She just like the "sly side."

Turning her tone more casual and friendly, she asked, "and yours..." She trailed off a moment, looking him up and down, before reverting to her previous tone and adding, "...feline?"

[Gin]

The fae didn’t seem too hurt by his mildly irritated tone though she visibly lightened her frame as his voice softened. Isoba gave her a small smile, just enough to let her know he appreciated the fact that she wasn’t attacking him.

"No, nothing in particular just thought you might want to wake up to a nice view." Her voice was teasing and arrogant, a healthy mix but Isoba only paid attention to the arrogance. He crinkled his nose for a second, flattening his ears slightly. She must think pretty highly of herself to go around saying things like that. After all, who went around spouting off that they were beautiful and that it would be like paradise to wake up to see them? Okay, so she hadn’t said those words exactly but Isoba could just see them lurking around there by her head. She was probably a stuck up, spoiled cat. It would probably be best to just get away from her and not talk to her. Nothing good could come of making friends with a spoiled brat.

The female sat herself up, puffing out her chest in a showy manner. Isoba just pinned his ears back, shifting uncomfortably on his rock. He pulled his front paws in toward his chest and tucked his back paws under his frame. His tail he left flicking on the smooth surface behind him. She was no where near an eyesore but no one was as beautiful enough to make up for arrogance. Presented with this show of self-confidence, even if it was undeserving, Isoba had curled himself smaller. Isoba wasn’t any kind of a flashy male, proud to go showing off for females. He just wasn’t anything special to look at. He was just an ordinary, mangy cat. What was there for females to see in him?

"My name? Ingrid.” Again her tone was teasing but she had dropped most of the arrogance. She had looked up to the sky as if someone up there had to tell her her name. Isoba nodded a slow greeting to the fae as he heard the name. He shifted again, uneasy with the flirting tone she continued to use. It confused him. And yours…. feline?” She, Ingrid, had started off normally this time, luring Isoba into a false comfort but then her tone switched back to flirting with her last word. Again, Isoba shifted, moving two paws that had been threatening to fall asleep.

“Is--Isoba.” he murmured. His brown eyes flicked down to the sand, staring at Ingrid’s paws. This female was good at making an insecure cat feel awkward. Well, more awkward.

[Shadowcat]

Ingrid seemed not to notice the other jaguar's first reactions to her words. She never really seemed to know others were irritated or angry until they verbalized it or gave some other overly obvious sign, like growling. Or rather, she probably did notice his crinkled nose and flattened ears, but didn't think anything of it. Perhaps sub-consciously, she even understood the meaning of his actions, but that meaning couldn't make it's way to the front of her mind and was forever lost in thoughts.

The flirtatious cat had already begun to notice the way the male moved about uncomfortably. She tried to hold back her amusement at this, not wanting to offend him, but she couldn't stop a small smile from slipping onto her face. Even in his insecurity, Ingrid didn't exactly realize how it was making him feel. She saw it as funny, and didn't think about the emotional distress that could very well be behind it, and all because of her.

She wasn't intentionally rude or arrogant, or bad in any other way. The feline was actually very nice, but, first impressions of her were often wrong. Wrong because of her. Why did she act as she did? There are parts of one's personality that are never understood. One part of why she acted so was understood by herself. Ingrid, in truth, felt that others saw no value in her, even if they tried to explain that they did. She tried to make up for it by "being funny" as she called it. Her arrogance was due to trying to make others see the value that she knew she had. She was confident, maybe a tad more than should be, but she tried too hard to show her own confidence so that others would be confident in her. Yes, that was part of her problem. She had yet to truly realize that she over did imposing her self confidence and trying to "be funny."

As Isoba, as she now knew him, stuttered over his name, like a rabbit jumping out in front of your paws, Ingrid's smile became wider. She tried again to tame her amusement, but she failed once more, letting out a quiet, flirtatious giggle. Quickly, a little too quickly, she raised a paw to her mouth and licked it a few times, trying to muffle the sound. It half way worked, but her giggle was still audible.

[Gin]

Isoba was, though confounded, fascinated by this female. Or perhaps it was because she had so confused him that he found himself wanting to know more about her. Why did she insist on flirting with him when it was obvious that he was so uncomfortable? How had she made him this uncomfortable in the first place? It wasn't such a magnificent feat, but the sheer ease the female had in confusing him left the brute even more confused. He could only stare at her with keen interest and a stiff frame. Without much knowledge about her, he was left tense and unsure. This cat could have been sent to hurt him. Who would send after such a task, he had no idea but it could happen. Why else would any female want to be around him?

The female gave a light giggle. Isoba's eyes flashed up to her, wary of the laugh. She attempted to stifle it with a paw to her mouth, licking as if she were bathing. But she wasn't. Isoba knew better. She was laughing at him. Of course she was. It had only been a matter of time until she saw him for what he was, a miserable, unattractive, unappealing brute. Others had laughed. They were right to laugh. He was nothing special, the opposite of special. He should be ridiculed for what he was. But accepting it and appriciating it were two different things. Much as Isoba knew he wasn't handsome, wasn't clever, wasn't worthy of love, he desperatly wanted to be and to not be laughed, or giggled, at.

Isoba turned his face away, shifting his body mass to lean away from the female. His weight slumped on the rock on the side that she faced so that his back was toward her. His muscles tensed as he held himself together, small and, hopefully, unnoticed. His head dropped to his wide paws, carefully laying over the burnt orange fur. A wary thought kept Isoba's tail tucked tightly against his body, unmoving save a light flick at the black tip.

Maybe she would go away. If he ignored her, pretended she wasn't there, laughing, giggling, amused with his pathetic life, the way he took up space and air. His ears flattened back, trying to block out the awful things he told himself. But they kept coming. She was just here to torment him, to tease him, to laugh at him. He shouldn't be there, he should just go away. He should be miserable, he didn't deserve to live or breath. He deserved nothing good, only laughter and taunting. And he was getting it.

[Shadowcat]

Ingrid's ears flattened against her head and her tail twitched. Why wasn't he responding? Things were no fun when you were the only one doing the talking. Maybe she could prod him into speaking. Before she could think of anything, he turned his back to her and her ears flattened more. Well that was rude... Here I am, trying to have a conversation with him and he's ignoring me! She shook the dust off and frustration off her pelt and stood up.

Ingrid walked around until she was right in front of Isoba again, then sat down, staring at him with her murky orange eyes. She tried to make eye contact with him, the flat look on her face daring him to look her in the eye. This cat either wasn't at all interested in her, or he was just trying to be rude. But, the female jaguar knew her worth, so or, what she was worth when she was acting more normal. She wasn't going to let this stuffy creature act like she wasn't even there.

She stared at him a moment before speaking. "Whaaat?" She asked slowly, her tone irritated. "The big kitty doesn't know what to say?" Yes, she had turned from flirtatious and unintentionally insulting to offended and irritated.

She snorted. "You've got some nerve, ignoring me like that." She began licking her other front paw, puffing her chest out and sitting tall. She looked regal and elegant. But, she kept her eyes staring straight into Isoba's.