Laurel was very nearly sleeping, her eyes closed tightly against the brightness of the sunlight that warmed her inky black coat. She was laid across a broad limb that stretched out from the trunk of the tree, one hind foot dangling from the tree as her long tail swished easily back and forth. The tip was curled up and jittered back and forth as her tail swung. The more comfortable she became the louder and more throaty the growls became. Her body was also beginning to smolder, light tendrils of smoke coming off her. The bark of the tree beneath her was starting crisp and smoke as well. The charcoal smell filling the air around her as the smoke breezes away.
Her nose twitched, flicking her whiskers at the smell. Her breaths were hotter the surrounding air, making it look as if she were breathing smoke, perhaps she was if the smoke rolling off the rest of her body was any indicator. It wasn't long before she heard the sound of footsteps that were quite loud for a regular person. She, however, paid them no mind as she lounged like the big cat she currently was. She was quite a ways off the ground perhaps twelve or fifteen feet off the ground, just shy of being over the surface of the lake. The tree she was laying in was just beginning to sprout leaves, the little bundles of green brightly shot out from the dull grey of the tree limb. They were rolled in tight rosettes like the smallest of blooms while others were nearly completely unravelled.