8/15/12

Frustrated and in his partly- drunk- sleep- deprived state, Adrian leaned his head over the face of the man, with the chest of Leila brushing up on the back of his neck. He could feel Leila’s breath rustle his hair in regular warm waves. It was soothing. He wanted to curl up next to her, bury his face in her fur, and sleep for many hours.

8/13/12

“Don’t crush him to death” Adrian said quickly. Leila shifted. The majority of her weight was now one three of her legs, but one giant paw was still pinning the man’s knife arm. Adrian directed his voice to the man on the ground. “Who are you?” he asked in a louder tone of voice than he meant to use. The man on the ground said nothing.

8/8/12

Adrian was a little slow on the uptake. Leila had a man pinned in the hallway by the time he had rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Leila! You can’t just pounce on someone!” Adrian yelled as he jumped across the room and halted next to Leila. She looked at him, and for a fleeting second he felt fear fly through his stomach. The pierce of a huntress’s gaze is truly terrifying. He turned his gaze down to the man and noticed the knife in his hand. “Ohhhh…” Adrian realized why his tiger had thrown the man to the ground. “Well, you should have just explained that he was attacking us” he said to her, half sarcastically. The man beneath her looked as if he was slowly flattening into a two-dimensional man pancake.

7/3/12

Leila crossed back to the door. The man on the other side swung the door open, only to be greeted by a full gown tiger, pouncing with all her teeth shining visibly in the dark night. She pinned him. There was a knife in his hand, but his whole arm was trapped by the weight of the tiger. He squirmed, twisted, and struggled, but he was stuck. As Leila looked down toward the knife in his hand she saw a tattoo wrapping around his arm. She knew that tattoo. She knew this smell. Both belonged to the man she had just killed. The hair was a lighter shade, and he had fuller round lips, but he was undoubtedly part of the other man’s kin.

6/24/12

Just as she was dozing off, Leila heard a shuffle outside the door. She sniffed the air. Salty. And something familiar- she had smelled this smell before. With swift silent steps, she crossed the room to Adrian’s bed and placed her head heavily on his chest to wake him. He twitched. She looked down and the still sleeping man. Carefully, she lengthened one of her claws and poked him hard in the thigh. Now he was awake. Awake and looking at her with fury. Before he could launch into a verbal complaint, a creaking sound brought his attention to the door. Someone was right outside.

6/21/12

Leila listened to the sound of his light snoring with one ear as she kept the other pointed towards the door. Adrian had always taken care of her. Not that she really needed it anymore. Ever since she was a cub he had been there for her. When she got brambles stuck throughout her fur, he was the one who spent hours weeding them out. When she got trapped in a barn once, he had to come rescue her. All throughout her young tiger life, she had trusted him to always be there to help her. Even if he was just a human. It concerned her that he lacked specific tiger instincts. Leila might get things caught in her fur, or get stuck in a barn, but she was able to sense danger and protect herself. Adrian, in comparison was hopelessly clumsy. He had no stamina, no fighting instinct, and no ability to sense danger before it was right in front of his face. It occurred to Leila that this must be a usual human predicament, or else that man would never have put himself in a position to be killed by a tiger. His instincts should have made him run the other way. No doubt his thinking had gotten in the way of the appropriate action.

6/20/12

Idiot human. Leila was exasperated. Adrian did not choose a good time to be drunk. She had all sorts of important thoughts and emotions to sort through. She looked down at her friend, and then leapt down to the floor, curled in a ball near the door, and shut one eye. “Fine fine,” Adrian said “I guess I will just have to ask you in the morning”. And without any more hesitation he stripped off his clothes and tumbled into bed.