Upon seeing its owner, the yellow beast's cries only get louder and more distressed. The blonde woman immediately runs through the backyard to stand beneath the tree that straddles their property lines.

"Nala! Sweetie, come down! You can do it!" The blonde yells encouragement to the cat, but the animal only hunkers down into a smaller ball right next to the trunk.

Lexa sighs and drops the bag of grapes in her hands onto the ground. She knows that the cat won't be coming down of its own volition any time soon, and if she wants to stop that horrible yowling, she must get the cat down herself. "Excuse me, ma'am?" Lexa calls out to the blonde, who is still focused on her pet. The woman jumps slightly and turns around to face Lexa, wringing her hands in front of her with her face a mask of distress. "I have a ladder." Lexa calls out, still a little stunned by the beautiful woman who just came running into her life.

The blonde takes a few steps towards her, until the cat starts making pitiful whining noises, which stops her in her tracks. "That would be great, thank you so much. I just moved, and…"

"It's nothing. I will return in a few moments." Lexa waits for the blonde's answering nod and then turns to stride around her side yard to the garage, which she opens with the electronic keypad. She thinks she hears a few yells as the door opens, but can't be sure as the noise from the garage door is loud. As the door stops moving, she realizes that there is a ruckus going on in the backyard, but figures that it's just the blonde trying to soothe her cat. Carefully, she lifts the ladder off its place on the wall and hefts it over her shoulder as she heads back around the house towards the backyard.

The brunette doesn't know how, but somehow in the few moments that she has gone the situation has completely escalated. The blonde is screaming at the tree and trying to jump up to the closest branch, which happens to be ten feet above her head.

"Get away from my princess you animal!" Clarke screams in anger, and Lexa looks up to find Heda perched on a branch holding her paw out to the terrified cat.

"Excuse me?" Lexa growls in anger as she lifts the ladder off her shoulder and onto the ground underneath the tree.

The blonde turns around upon hearing Lexa's voice and clear relief flashes across her face. "Thank God, you have to get her! That thing crawled up the tree and went after my cat! What if it has rabies?"

Lexa frowns at the woman and glances up into the tree where her pet has now settled right next to the cat and appears to be petting the yellow animal's head in comfort. Lexa narrows her eyes at the blonde in anger before beginning her ascent up the ladder. "I sincerely doubt that my raccoon is going to harm your beast."

Lexa pulls herself up onto the branch and glances down at the blonde, who looks equal parts worried and offended. The brunette's attention is drawn upwards once more as Heda chitters at her impatiently. Lexa sighs at her raccoon and quickly climbs up to the branch where the two pets sit huddled together. Slowly, she stretches out her hand for the cat to smell, and Heda starts to purr as the cat appears to accept the tentative pet that Lexa gives her on the head. Now that she knows the fluffy beast won't try to claw her eyes out, the brunette carefully picks the cat up and brings her to her chest. She wobbles for a moment under the weight of the cat – it is a big animal – but manages to keep her balance. Lexa holds in the wince she feels as the cat latches onto her bare shoulder and back with her sharp claws, and then cradles the cat to her chest with one hand while she uses the other to steady herself in climbing down. Heda descends the tree one branch at a time in sync with Lexa, emitting comforting noises all the way down.

When Lexa finally makes it to the lowest branch, she finds Clarke at the top of the ladder waiting for her. Gently, the brunette pries the strong animal's claws out of her skin and hands her down to her owner. Heda runs along the branch and grabs onto Lexa's uninjured shoulder, then holds on as Lexa lowers herself onto the ladder and steps carefully down to the ground.

Despite her earlier anger, Lexa can't help but soften somewhat towards the blonde, who clearly cares deeply for her pet.

The woman is holding the grumpy looking cat up to face her, scolding it. "Nala, don't ever do that again! I was so worried about you. You can't just run off like that, you don't know your way around yet. And climbing trees? What has gotten into you!" The cat lets out an odd little trill and the blonde brings it to her ample chest, squeezing it in a tight hug. The feline starts purring and nuzzling her human, which causes the woman to finally relax.

When blue eyes finally open and meet her own green, Lexa fights off the urge to blush at being caught staring. Fortunately, the blonde takes pity on her.

"Thank you so much for rescuing Nala, I don't know what I would have done without you."

"I'm sure you would have figured something out. You clearly love your… cat?" Lexa trails off, still unsure how this giant fluffy feline could actually be a domesticated housecat.

"Princess Nala, she's a Maine Coon cat." The blonde lovingly looks at her cat and squeezes it tighter. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Clarke. Clarke Griffin."

Lexa reluctantly holds out her hand to shake the blonde's, choosing to ignore her neighbor's surprise upon seeing the raccoon sitting quietly on her shoulder. "Lexa Woods."

The blonde shoots Lexa a friendly smile, and turns her attention to the black masked creature on her neighbor's shoulder. "It's nice to meet you Lexa. And who is this?"

"This is Heda." Lexa stares intently at Clarke, daring her to comment on her choice in pets, but the blonde only smiles.

"I'm sorry about before, I didn't know that she was your pet, Oh!" Clarke is cut off as the raccoon holds out her right paw, and the blonde giggles as she gives the small animal a handshake. "Nice to meet you, Heda."

Heda happily chitters back at the blonde and then leans forward and holds out both hands towards Clarke's chest where Nala is staring intently back at her. The cat twists her body, trying to free herself of her owner's arms. In her struggle to maintain her hold on her pet, Clarke steps forward, putting Heda in striking distance of her cat. Nala immediately puts her big fluffy paws on the raccoon's shoulders and starts gently licking her face. Both animals start purring, and their two owners are frozen in shock, especially Lexa, who had witnessed the two animals at each other's' throats only moments before.

After a few seconds, Nala is satisfied that she has thanked her new friend and turns her attention to Lexa. It only takes one long lick of her rough tongue on her cheek for the brunette to draw back.

Clarke laughs at the horrified look on her new neighbor's face. "That's her way of saying thank you."

Lexa grumpily wipes the wetness off her cheek and glares at the beast that had started all this mess. "Just don't climb any more trees, Nala." Lexa grumbles back at the cat, who only lets out a happy trill in response. Lexa pulls Heda off her shoulder and into her arms, as it looks as if the raccoon is about to leap across the distance separating the two neighbors so that she can be closer to her new crush. "No, Heda, it's time for dinner." Lexa scolds, holding her tightly. "Well, it was nice to meet you Clarke. I'm sure I will see you around. If there's anything that I can do for you, do let me know." Lexa gives Clarke a polite nod and is about to head into her house, but stops when she notices the hesitant look on the blonde's face.

"Well, now that you mention it…"