Invader
Who: Aaron When: Just after nightfall Where: The tree, his hammock What: Rotten luck, or is it? Rating: PG for swearing.
Aaron dragged himself up the curved trunk of the climber tree. He had to climb upward and back again, shuffle around and crane his neck but eventually he remembered where his bed was. He was still in shock, no doubt about that, but he was functioning at least. He'd managed to harvest a metric ton of those yarnballs. At least, that's what it seemed like. Then he'd helped to load up the carts and munched on a thoroughly boring meal of the strange pink lemonade flavored melon. His stomach was a bit unsettled from eating so much of the fruit's sweet pulp. Meat was scarce in the group, but the melons were plentiful. After taking care of his nightly business he'd attempted to find his sleeping bag. The temperature was already dropping and more than anything, he just wanted to climb into his sleeping bag hammock and get some rest. Everyone was talking about this long walk they'd have to take the next day.
He'd finally found his branch and sat down with his back to the trunk to unlace his boots. Once he got them off, he tied them securely to a branch much like he'd seen some others do who had theluxury of footwear. Since the previous night had been so chilly, Aaron decided to keep his coat on for now. It wouldn't be the most comfortable sleep but he was counting on exhaustion to take care of any resistance. Easing himself down the branch he reached for the edge of his hammock and pulled it toward himself. All of a sudden from the deeper shadows in the pit of his hammock there came a small engine rumble that had a very distinct warning sound to it.
He drew his hand back and leaned closer to get a better look at what was making that sound and as he did so, the animal inhabiting his hammock turned glowing green eyes on him. "Argh!" he bellowed as it lashed out at his face in a flash of needle-like teeth, razor sharp claws and elegant, long curling whiskers. His balance off-set, Aaron struggled to keep his footing as he shuffled backward. With a frightened gasp he realized that he was falling backward. He felt it happen in slow motion. His center of gravity had tipped too far back and with flailing arms, to toppled. His back thumped into a fortunate branch before he'd lost footing on the branch he'd been standing on and he froze there. Winded, wild eyed and trembling, he let himself stay there as his mind caught up to the fact that he hadn't fallen to his dead many dozens of feet below. Finally, when Aaron felt brave enough again, he reached for a branch over his head and pulled himself upright again.
Now that he was on relatively firm footing, there was still the problem of the animal in his bed. Frowning, he inched closer once more. When he peeked into the hammock again he did so cautiously, especially since that whining warning rumble went off again. Those same green eyes peered at him with suspicion but this time the vague shape of the animal was visible. The body was the size of a large raccoon but the ears were large and pointed. Not like alynx but like some of those desert foxes you saw from time to time. The wideset glowing green eyes were larger than a cats but he could see the vertical slit pupil, a shadow against the luminous pool of green. A long tail swished back and forth in agitation. Everything about the posture of the animal said that it was thoroughly unamused by his regard. Aaron huffed in annoyance as well. It was...a cat. He hated cats. Sure, this cat wasn't like any that his Aunt Barbara had kept in abundance but still. It was definitely a cat. Frowning, he reached for the edge of thehammock and the warning rumble grew a little higher pitched. "Hey!" he loudly whispered but then cleared his throat and shook the hammock. "Scoot! Get lost!" The cat only growled at him and sunk it's claws into the lovely plush guts of his winter weight sleeping bag. Aaron shook the whole thing with enough vigour to cast the animal right out of the tree but it just clung for dear life.
With a tired and frustrated huff, Aaron stepped back. Frowning and fuming, he started to look for a stick to push the damn thing out with. He ended up having to wrestle with a thin branch. It took him most of twenty minutes but he snapped off a branch about the size of a meter stick and approached his invader with fresh determination. "Get lost, cat!" he said as he reached across and jabbed it in the side with his hard-won weapon. "Hit the road!" The cat's reaction was nothing if not hostile and infuriating. It attacked the stick with it's teeth but didn't let go. He was starting to escalate the violence of his prodding when he noticed apiece of the dark-furred trespasser detach and mewl. Wide eyed, Aaron withdrew the stick. Was that...a baby cat? Had a cat just given birth on his only bedding!?
Grossed out beyond compare, Aaron gagged even as what he now believed was a mama alien cat grunted and leaned down to lick at the tiny furball. "Ugh..." He backed up a little ways. "That's..just so nasty..." He had a dog that gave birth when he was small. It was a messy business. He could just imagine the damage to his sleeping bag. Not to mention the fact that a wild female cat would probably kill him if he tried to reclaim the bedding. His fingers tightened on his stick and he stepped forward with the intention of pushing them all out of thehammock before the mess got worse, but...when he looked down at the rumbling pool of shadows he thought he caught the sound of a tiny little purr as the first born latched onto his mother. "Dammit," Aaron sighed and dropped the stick. He sighed and backed away from the new little family, figuring he'd crash on one of those wicker hammocks for the night. In the morning, maybe they'd be gone.