Solo Water Baby

[Kalina]

14th Day of Fall, 513AV Once again, Kalina left the camp, heading out on her own in search of food, or just something to occupy her time. If she had thought that she had been travelling for a long time last time, she was severely underestimating the amount of time it would take them to get to... wherever they were trying to get to. Of that particular place, she had no idea. The others all seemed to know where they were going, just as they all seemed to know how long it would take. But Kalina had never thought to ask, just trusting her Master to know all of this so that she didn't have to. But as the days passed, and the four season old Kelvic grew more tired, her attitude grew worse and worse. Not more that a few days would pass between tantrums now, which took place in both human and ocelot form. Both forms were no doubt as bad as the other for the three adult travellers; the human tantrums being very vocal, and the ocelot tantrums being quieter, but far more damaging to property. Suffice to say, days went past where she was not the most popular member of the travelling party. Her pace slowing, the young ocelot heard a rustle from the leaves a number of yards in front of her. Instinctively, she crouched down, back legs preparing to spring, through she was far too far away for it to be feasible that she would catch the animal, should she pounce now, remembering how badly it went last time. This time, however, she was more prepared, as she knew the scent of her new prey, and it wasn't the flighty buck she had tried, and failed, to kill. It was the much smaller, and much less satisfying, rat. But Kalina was hungry, and she didn't really have the time to look for something larger, such was the knowledge that her travelling party were currently on the move and, though she was keenly aware of the trail they left behind for her to follow, she made mistakes, and didn't want to let them get too far ahead. The ocelot tore her gaze away from the rustling bush in favour of scanning her surroundings, something she was doing based on instinct, rather than actual experience of having lost her prey to another predator. Most of what she did was actually based on instinct; growing up in the Kelvic Research Institute had left her vastly unprepared for what the real world had in store for her. Kalina had no idea what she would do if she were to spy another feline approaching... and the ignorant creature had no knowledge of what else was out there which was a threat to her. She was a territorial creature, but size, age and incompetency meant that she would not survive against anything truly wild, which she was not. Fortunately, there was nothing else around, and the Kelvic turned back to her unwitting prey.

[Kalina]

*

Rats were relatively easy to kill, mainly because the young ocelot found them easy to track - they were noisy and they had a distinctive smell which was obvious enough that she could even sometimes pick up their smell when in human form, with her less adept nose. There were also a lot of them; families consisting of enough that she was normally guaranteed to catch at lest one of them, maybe even two. The more the better, in her eyes, though, as they were small, and her stomach didn't always feel the satisfaction of the kill from just one of them. She was glad, then, that she had the option of eating the food offered to her by her Master each day.

Her body was low to the ground, her bright, pure white under-belly hidden as it brushed against the grass and weeds that made up the ground. The rest of her golden-grey and black fur was better as camouflage among the grass, so her hypothetical prey was less likely to spot her as she approached. The white, however, was obvious, and instinct and experience told her that she had to keep that hidden as best she could. Moss green eyes stared out, through the grass, towards where she assumed her prey was.. She couldn't see it yet, so she edged closer. She extended her claws, feeling the earth shift beneath her as she dug into the ground for a moment, testing the soil. Her wide paws were perfect for this, as they spread her weight evenly, meaning that she could move nigh on silently through the undergrowth. With relative ease.

Yet Kalina still had to exercise caution; she had already learnt the mistake of carelessness and arrogance, when she reached too far and too fast above what she was capable of doing. Even her large paws could alert her potential prey to her presence. If she lost her concentration, one careless step onto a small twig or dried up leaf would result in it crackling or breaking, which would be a marked contrast between that and the general silence that nature offered her. Slowly, she began to stalk closer, following her nose and ears rather than her eyes. The smell grew stronger and stronger with each step until she was about three or four feet away. Briefly, she considered getting closer, but then she was risking discovery. She had only been able to get so close because of the cover that the shrubs and bushes around had offered her so far.

What felt like bells passed for the impatient kelvic, though it was only a matter of chimes. Kalina was not known for her ability to remain still for extended portions of time, but she forced herself to, just for a little longer, so that she could be sure of where her prey was. She only had once chance to make this kill, so she had to get this right. Finally, she spied more movement - one of the rats was on the move, heading away from the bush behind which it had been hiding. When it was a little further away from its cover, when it was completely out in the open and defenceless, Kalina didn't waste any more time in waiting. Hind legs already taught and ready, she pounced, piercing it with her claw in one swift motion, before reaching down and clamping her powerful jaws around it to insure it was dead.
*

[Kalina]

*

Warm, viscous blood dripped from her jaw, coating her canines and white-grey snout, which slowly began to congeal. The ocelot kitten tore a section of flesh away, a few shattered bones ripping away with it as she glanced up. Though the sun was shining bright in the sky, Kalina's eyes were still dilated from the anticipation of her kill. Unblinking, she surveyed her surroundings, as she had before the kill. She saw the green and yellow of the grass, shrubs and bushes, and some trees dotted around, but nothing else. Part of her was disappointed not to see any more of the small rodents, but she was glad that nothing larger, and more deadly than she, was around.

Per Master had taken great pains to warn her of the dangers of wandering off alone and, whilst she hadn't paid full attention to what the man had said to her, she had taken some of it on board. What she understood from her Master's words was that she needed to protect her prey from anything else that might want to eat it too. It didn't occur to her that something would want to eat her, or just kill her for the sake of it. Other than the odd scrapes and bruises, she had never really been injured... in her mind, she was invincible.

The flesh was generally quite tough and lean; it took her time to bite through the meat, though the bone shattered easily at contact with her canines, her jaw easily powerful enough to break through. The taste could not compare to the delights of fish, which Marcus had often given her in Ravok, particularly when she was well behaved. But now, whilst they travelled, the food that the humans ate was distinctly bland, and the ocelot preferred rats over that. A few more bites and she was done with her meal. Pushing herself up, she stood and stretched out, then her nose returned to the ground, back at the bush, searching for the scent of the other rats, who had scattered the instant Kalina had pounced and killed their kin.

Within a few ticks, she had picked up the trail of at least one of the rats. She didn't know how far away it would be, or if it would return soon, so she kept her under-belly close to the ground once again. Her eyes checked for movement in front of her, as well as to the sides, whilst she used her nose to track the rodent. She wasn't particularly hungry now, but hunting on an empty stomach made her more careless, as she was more desperate to feed. Practicing was not a foolish idea.

But, out of the corner of her eye, Kalina saw something glitter in the sun light. She lifted her head from the tracks to look over, only to see a pool of water, shimmering in contrast to the dull land. Stepping away from the tracks, she tentatively made her way over to the water, intent on having a drink. The pool was rather larger than a puddle, and how deep, the ocelot could not tell. But it was a great deal smaller than the lake which surrounded Ravok, of the same name. Thus, Kalina deemed it safe. Ducking her head, she lapped up some of the cool, fresh water from the surface.
*

[Kalina]

The water was fresh and cool, and the grey-furred ocelot lapped it up without complaint; much of the water that her Master carried was luke-warm and (if water could even be so) stale. This water tasted of soil and rocks, and it was pure. She could feel it, like ice, as she swallowed it, and it cooled her warm insides, from her throat all the way down to her stomach.

Eventually, she was done, and she stepped away from the water for a tick. That was when she hesitated, for she knew that she should return to the hunt, to find the prey that she had tried – and failed – to stalk and kill. She felt her body vibrate, a rumbling sensation that she had quickly come to understand as meaning that she needed to eat soon. Yet she was loathe to leave the clear blueish green waters that sparkled and lit up her narrow world. She was, without a doubt, mesmerised.

Slowly, she treaded forward, her steps were many, but close together, and eventually she reached the water. After another moment of hesistation, she lifted up a paw and dipped it into the water. Her thick skin didn’t feel the temperature of the Fall-cooled water as much as her human form might have, but she felt her fur stick to itself as she lifted her paw out again. Raising it higher, she leant in a little and sniffed at the sopping paw, and then licked at the dripping fur. Then, she lowered her paw back into the water and pressed her weight upon it.

The second paw followed into the water, and then the back two were not far behind. A mewl escaped her as she stood stock still in the water, wondering what she was supposed to do now. She had never entered water before, and she was surprised by how heavy it felt. To any onlooker, she must have looked ridiculous as she painstakingly dragged each leg completely out of the water before moving it forward, in order to paddle around.

It took her time, but Kalina got used to the thick liquid flowing around her, sloshing higher up against her legs. Each time she lifted a paw out, her legs appeared thinner, almost breakable, when the normally fluffy fur clung tightly to her skin. The ocelot kitten got deeper and deeper into the water, and it reached her white belly, at which point she flinched, but she continued on, until she had to stretch to keep her head above the water.

A tick or two later and she was no longer able to keep her feet on the ground; her head ducked under the water, and she thrashed her legs out in completely uncoordinated movements, trying to force her head back above the water. Instinct, rather than experience, told her to hold her breath, but she managed to poke her nose, then her head, back up above the surface. Though there was nothing planned or ordered about them, her legs kept moving, pushing against the water, and it was enough to keep her pushing the surface.

*

[Kalina]

Ticks turned into chimes and, even though Kalina was little more than a child, a pre-adolescent, she was strong… much stronger than a human child, especially in this form. Even though she had never been in the water before, and had never been swimming, her stamina was enough that she was capable of attempting to tread water for quite some time.

Her head kept dipping below the water; she was by no means an apt swimmer, but her legs kept going, and she kept pushing herself up to breathe in quickly. It was enough, and she quickly learnt that she was able to breathe out even when she was below the water. Through open eyes under the water, she watched in awe as the bubbles floated upwards from out of her nostrils. Never before had she been able to physically see her breath leave her, and the pockets of air, which shimmered like silver blobs of molten metal as they rose to the surface of the water and popped, captivated her.

In time, she managed to gain some semblance of a rhythm with her four legs, and her head bobbed above the water more frequently, though it never stayed above the water for a long period. She began to tire and, glancing back the way she came when she managed to look above the water once more, she pushed harder on two of her legs, which turned her around. There was no current in the water, so there was nothing that she was fighting against; it was easy to master turning in the water.

Surprisingly more difficult, however, was trying to coordinate herself so that she could propel herself forward, back towards the edge of the pool, where she might be able to stand again. It took more effort – previously she had just drifted away, but now she actually had to will herself back. When her head sank below the water once again, this time for a longer stretch of time, she began to panic. She needed to breathe and, for some reason, she knew she couldn’t, so she didn’t. Her lungs began to burn, and her mind screamed in protest against the strain. Though she was tired and her legs wanted to rest, they worked even harder to get back to the surface.

Her claws scraped against the sandy ground of the pool and, instead of pushing herself back up, she scrambled instead to claw against the ground, trying to hook her claws into the loose, wet sand. The ocelot kitten was then able to drag herself forward through those means.

Back standing above the water, she shivered, partly from the cold, and partly from the short-lived fright that she had just experienced. Turning her head, she glanced back into the water, and there was a small swell in her chest; she was proud of herself. Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had to return to her Master and tell him what she had just achieved. She knew that he would also be proud of her, and Amelia would praise her too! Clambering out of the water again, her lost prey forgotten, she took of at a sprint back to where the humans had been camped, looking forward to sharing the news she had.
*

[Ink]

Let me see what you have done with your ink. Kalina Skills Hunting 1 Observation 2 Running1 Stealth 2 Swimming 2 Tracking (Forest) 1 Unarmed 1 Lores Mighty Hunter of Rats While Hunting Be Wary Of Other Predators Swimming: Only Breath Out Underwater Swimming In a Pond Between Black and White If there are any concerns or problems with my grading please feel free to toss me a PM. I am more than happy to explain my reasons or reevaluate them if you feel I've been unfair. Also please remember to edit your grade request as graded or delete it if possible. Thank you, Ink