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Meets smiles at Slide and his little mongoose, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes. She doesn't much care about the race itself, but running is a thrill, and running with Slide watching -- well, it starts her heart beating in her chest as if she had already run the length of the plain and back. "I think I shall, thank you Slide," she replies, tilting her head up to the buck and, without thinking, rubbing a droplet of water off the fur of his neck. "Wish me luck!" she exclaims, leaping of rather uncharacteristically towards the starting line and bending over to take a small sip of water -- just enough to wet her thirst -- from the pool at the roots of the great grandfather mangrove.

And then the grey-and-red Kiokote shouts for the runners to go, and Meets is off, flying over the waterlogged field, her long tail blowing behind her in the wind. The little doe barely notices the other runners, so caught up is she in the rhythm of her legs and the cool breeze against her face, but a familiar voice -- dry with lack of use -- calls her out of her reverie. Meets looks around to where Slide is standing, suddenly alone, and follows the trail of his blue-on-blue eyes to where a little brown mongoose is running, dangerously close to the pounding hooves of the racing Kimeti and Kiokote.

"Pillar!" she cries out in worry, using her tail as a rudder to help steer her around in a circle and run back towards the mongoose. "Pillar, get out of there!" She swoops over to the animal and picks him up in her mouth by the scruff of his neck, swinging him over onto her shoulder and depositing him amongst her back spines. The maneuver has slowed her down, but not stopped her, and she skids around once more in the wet grass, leaving a trail of mud in her wake as she spins to rejoin the race -- now at the back of the pack of runners.

At first Acorn wonders why Shadowstalk is following her. There is a race, after all. Then it hits her: he thinks she is racing. With a grin Acorn breaks into a trot, not anywhere near her fastest pace. She speeds up a bit, then another idea comes to her. Peeking behind her to make sure Shadowstalk is still there, and frowning at him when she sees he is - to keep up appearances. Turning back Acorn studies the course while she runs, then alters her position slightly. It's not yet noticible, but soon enough it will be, assuming the buck follows her. If Shadowstalk does follow Acorn then he'll be led way off course, cutting through the clearing instead of going around it.

Stormbreaker doesn't hear Rock Squirrel's excited, jaunty taunting -- and can't spare a thought for what's happened to Plainsfire. All he can hear is the thudding of his hooves against the ground, the splashing of the water, and the heavy breathing, jeers, and catcalls from the rest of the racers.

How dumb, Stormbreaker thinks. They're going to be out of breath before they're halfway finished, because they're talking! With that, he gathers himself up and puts on an extra burst of speed. He might not finish first, but at least he'll finish -- and it'll feel good to be in the lead for awhile, if he can manage it.

There are some truly, surprisingly fast kimeti. He hopes that at least one of his siblings manages to finish along with him -- but as a kimeti goes bounding past him, all sleek muscle and flashing, glowing eyes, he begins to wonder.

-*-

For a moment, Pillar is nothing more than a flailing, hissing ball of fluff in between Meets-the-Sea's teeth. When he is deposited among her back spines, he chitters angrily at her, and even goes so far as to consider nipping her -- but instead, the mongoose simply digs his little claws in and hangs on for dear life. It won't hurt at all; in fact, his claws feel like tiny thorn pricks. But the little thing is scared -- and Slide will likely be overjoyed to see him safe.

Glow jumped in joy when she saw that there was another new creature, this one orange and gray unlike the purple one from earlier. And she... he maybe? had said "painting," what was that? Glowing had to know. But... she also wanted to see the races. But that was just a bunch of kimeti and kiokote running, she wouldn't look at that very long, and she could always go look at the winners later. She started bounding off, never too far from her brother. Browning Leaf was startled by the sudden movements and flew from her back, still hovering near her.

"Brother, do you know what 'painting' is? It's gotta be something you do, not eat, cause that non-kimeti said it was a contest too."

She stopped leaping as they got closer, and crowded behind her brother, hiding in her shyness. Browning Leaf landed once more on her back, making it look like she had wings. She barely peeked out from behind him, wondering what this new creature was. She or he didn't seem to notice Glow, because he or she had only addressed Searching, and Glow was fine with that. There! She said it again! Get painted? She wondered what would happen to her brother! Her flanks quivered in excitement.

"C'mon, Storm," Plainsfire called, brushing past her green-streaked brother as she raced after Rock Squirrel. She fairly flew across the ground, a thrill racing through her at the feel of the wind so fierce in her face, catching her mane, her tail, helping to streak her glowing colors against the air. They would win this one, just as Stormbreaker and Rock Squirrel had predicted, and then maybe they would find their father...!



Searching shook his head, just as mystified as Glow, but Ochre's question had him smiling. "Is painting like when you draw colors on things?" he asked, bumping up against Glow as he stretched his neck out, trying to look over what Ochre had displayed. "I would like to be painted, I think. Does it hurt at all?"

Glow shied out from behind her brother, now that the new creature had addressed her.

"U-um, wh-what is the paste made from?" She twitched her head around quickly as Browning Leaf gave several flutters. She bucked a little to encourage him to fly off her back and watched as he landed in a nearby tree.

"U-um, I'd love to be painted, but I don't know how to paint, so... so you should probably paint? Though, maybe if you'd let me, I'd like to try, just a little? I don't have any favorite colors, so you can paint me whatever Searching wants to be painted, but, I don't know if you have anything shiny, but if you do, I really like shiny."

"Um, uh..." She glanced at her brother. She really wanted to ask what what this creature was, and if she or he was a she or he, but she wasn't sure how to ask and she definitely knew it would be rude to ask about she or he. Maybe she would be lucky and Searching would ask.

These Kiokote were so fast! Not to mention the super-fast Kimeti currently matching the pace. Speak Softly put on an extra burst of speed as a green glowy Kiokote sped past her. That was totally not fair! The doe made some ground on him, but then stumbled and nearly fell when her hooves caught on something in the mud. Awww, darn. A few others overtook her, amongst them a familiar Cheetah. Speak couldn’t see her red friend at all. Looked like she’d lost him along the way. She continued to race, hoping she'd find him at the end. Maybe he'd been so fast she hadn't even seen him go past?

This ridiculous creature was throwing things at him. This ridiculous creature was throwing things at him. Not that the petulant strikes could even touch Rouge's darling fluffle-wuffles, one of the best hunting dogs in the entire desert, but the ignominy of it lit a deadly fury that primed every muscle, ready to leap -

- but his beloved owner had said stay. With these aimless layabouts. And seemed to like them. She would be so very angry if he ravaged them all, and Kisses hated being a bad boy.

And so, the mighty killer, who had once faced down a hyena alone and left it three-limbed, who could break a hare's neck with one snap of his jaw, who could gut a charging caracal with a single bound, 'saddown'ed, still as a stone, dreaming about his favourite taste of all - fresh blood straight from their jugulars, flowing sweetly down his throat.



*******


Just a few tree-lengths away, Rouge had little idea how close her lovely new friends had been to sudden death. She was holding her own quite well, if she may say so herself - not exactly at the head, but not far behind. That was just fine by her: with her hunter's habits, the pacing came automatically, she only got faster as she ran. But this was not a hunt, which required concentrated silence and single-minded intent, this was a race, and it was fun! She threw her head back for a delighted peal of laughter, and whipped her neck around for a glance over the many on her tail. That was when she saw it - a flash of brown fur in the sun, struggling -

Her heart stopped for a moment - had her darling Kisses followed her anyway?! But - oh, thank goodness, no. The flash had been rescued by a kimeti doe, and was not like her Kisses at all, much smaller, much darker (and quite tasty-looking). At any rate, it was safe now! But the distraction had cost her, and she had fallen back a little into the chasing pack. Well, no matter: her teeth glittered in a brief, savage grin - there was almost nothing she loved better than the thrill of the chase...