It was night and Glyn couldn't sleep, despite how tired he was from the day spent chasing around all kinds of potential prey that always seemed to slip out of his paws.
It started with a zebra foal. Normally he had little problems with these. He'd picked one newly born and not as steady on its legs. Something he thought would be easily caught and he, being such a big lion, would easily scare the mother away from defending her foal least his claws swipe at her and injure her for another predator to take advantage of. Nope. This one had decided to stand up to him. She'd charged him, flailing her front hooves at him and making such a racket that a nearby stallion, what Glyn assumed to be the father if he understood how zebras worked, came rushing in to help. He'd barely fled without a broken rip at all the kicks and teeth coming at him.
So he thought he'd go a bit smaller. A klipspringer, maybe. That also proved too much for him to handle, as the tiny thing darted and weaved with masterly moves until it had darted successfully into the protection of a bush. Glyn had circled it, trying to find a way in. Only to notice tiny hooves coming from one side of the bush. The tiny deer was nowhere to be found.
So he went even smaller, finding a nest on the ground with no parents nearby. Though he tried to be sneaky, just before he could pull an egg away, the parents came back with a vengeance, dive-bombing him and pecking at him until he fled.
He failed to catch a rabbit. Or any rodent that came across his path. He tried to fish in a nearby river and almost became a meal himself to a crocodile he'd not seen basking in the water nearby. All day this had been going on, until he'd stumbled across a discarded corpse and decided he'd just become a temporary hyena and eat whatever he could find. Even if it lacked a pleasant taste, it was still food and filled his stomach.
Now his string of bad luck was continuing on into the night. If it wasn't one thing making noise in his ear, it was something else. For hours this went on, until he felt he couldn't take it anymore.
"Can you all just be quiet!" he yelled out, covering his ears with his paws. For a moment it was quiet. Than a cricket started chirping beside his head. Argh!" A giant paw came down, missing the insect by inches as it hopped away. Glyn let out a giant sigh and rolled over onto his back, placing his paws on his chest.
Blue eyes stared up at the sky above, watching the stars twinkling. He'd never been much of a stargazer, but considering the way this night was going, maybe now was a good time to start. What was there to look at, though? Sure, they were beautiful. Whatever they were. He liked to think of them as tiny guardian angels, watching and protecting him as he ventured in the world all on his own. He wasn't sure where his mother and siblings had gone. Didn't really matter anymore. He was fine on his own. Really, he was.
At least most days he was.
Glyn gave another large sigh, arching his head back to continue to look at the lights in the sky. He could see them sparkling through the leaves of the tree behind him. Like eyes glowing in the darkness. Or were those actual eyes?
Squinting, the blue lion tried to see what it was from this distance. His perspective being upside down wasn't making that any easier.
The creature in the tree moved, slinking out of it and down the trunk, hiding perfectly in the shadows. The moonlight glinted off the eyes that were still intensely staring at him. Creepy. Glyn rolled over onto his stomach, tilting his head at the other animal curiously. He felt no fear towards whatever this was. It didn't seem all that aggressive if it was still just staring at him, daring him to make the first move. Well, prepare for a long battle of silence, unknown being. Glyn was a master of the staring contest.
And so it went. For at least half a hour, the two stared at each other, both making barely a movement except the flick of a tail or ear. A few times the tail of the other broke the darkness and entered the moon's light so he could see the shape of it. If he wasn't guessing Leopard from the sheer fact it was up in a tree, the tail was leaning correct in that guess. He'd known lions to climb trees and this one had no tufts on the end of its tail. A hybrid of the two was also likely.
Eventually the creature blinked slowly and turned its head, disappearing in the shadows of the small forest behind the tree it had been in. Glyn remained where he was, not moving a muscle to follow. As much as his curiosity was banging around in his skull, trying to take control over his limps. Had this creature been interested in speaking to him, it would have. Clearly he had disturbed it in some way and it was judging his intentions with the racket. Now it had left to seek a quieter sleeping place. How it could have slept there so long to begin with, with all the noise all night was beyond him.
Wait. Noise. There was no noise right now. Flicking his ears in all directions, Glyn took the time to listen carefully. For the most part, everything around him was silent. As still as the night should be. Finally! He could sleep!
Placing his head on his paws, Glyn started to close his eyes, closing off his mind to the dullness of approaching sleep. Just as he was beginning to feel himself drifting away, a cricket started chirping in his ear, startling him back awake.
"Why is this area so noisy!"
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