It was sometime after her encounter with Yu that Jolteon found herself exploring cliffs. The steep rigid terrain left little to the imagination with sharp rocks butchering the cavern below. She expertly navigated herself along the cliff face, every so often peeping down to see how far it was.
Nothing fazed it. It was like staring death in the face and flipping it off.
By the time she reached the top, the herd she'd seen had already moved on. "s**t." She growled, huffing as she flopped her rump down. Where was an avian when you needed it?
Jirachi, however, had other worries.
"Can't see, can't see, can't sseeeeeeeee!" All day he'd avoided the sun's heat by ducking in and out of shade, but today it caught up to him. He was sprawled out on a stone, barring the brunt of it with aggrivation.
"Go away, Mr. Sun and stop being so mean to me." He could have cried at the injustice. His back legs sprawled out behind him, head burrowed into the crook of his arm as his stomach crawled along. When was the moon coming back? It always made him happy. It and it's star babies.
The female crossed the open plain with a gallop now that she had spotted her prey. She could recognize that lazy butt anywhere! Her paws gained traction in the coarse dirt at just the right time to send her flying onto his back. "Omph! Put on some weight, would'ja? You make a sucky pillow." And boy, did he! It was like landing on the rock itself.
"Jolt?" Jirachi's face looked so stupidly happy when he turned around that she laughed. "It is you! Missed you, Jolt." Affectionately, he rubbed his cheek against hers and purred in a way that only cheetahs do. Eventually she rolled off to lay beside him so he was able to snuggle up, despite the heat.
"Guess what? I saw this thing yesterday, thought it was a bird, but it looked like a fat lion. A REALLY fat lion." He held his arms out and waved them, demonstrating just how big the beast was. "And it had really pretty fur, Jolt. I wish I could have fur like that."
Jolteon squirmed out around him as Jirachi tried to snuggle his head on her stomach. Damn, that boy was clingy. She put her paw on his face and pushed him off with a smirk. "Back off, Romeo. Try that on another girl and see if she doesn't smack you."
But still, she purred back when he nuzzled and even licked his ear. They weren't related in the slightest, but somehow, it felt like they were. He was so much a part of her life that he could have been a twin. "A flying fat lion? Pffft, are you sure you haven't been eating weird plants again?" Now, why did this seem so familiar? He was just like Yu! "Lions don't fly. And if they did, I doubt they'd be fat. And besides, you have pretty fur already."
Jirachi pinned his ears back and pouted. "Nuh uh. It was real." He stuck out his tongue before turning his head to the side. He thought for sure Jolt would believe him, but apparently not. How could he make her believe? How could he - OH YA. "I'll show you!"
Excitedly, he hopped up and flat ran to the tree line, shimmied his way into a tree and hopped back down with a fat red feather in his mouth, his face smug. Let her try to deny this.
Jolteon sat up, undeniably curious. "Alright. You've caught my attention." She leaned forward to take it from him and sat it down at her paws. It was definately avian in appearance, though it stunk of lion, but not a normal one. She couldn't stop sniffing it. Every once in a while she would peer up at him, then go back to the feather. "You....really weren't lying, were you? This is a real God's feather."
"S'not a God. It's a fat, flying lion!" Couldn't she get anything right? Jirachi thumped down into the shade the stone was making, only his head visible as he laid it next to her paws. Really, it was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen, next to the moon and it's babies.
"I wanna see it again, Jolt. Really bad."
She thought on that. If God's existed, then surely they could track it like any other bird. Unless it was better at hiding. She wasn't for sure how God's operated, but maybe, just maybe......"Hey, Jirachi." The golden cheetah placed her paw on the shaft of it, rolling the feather from side to side. "How about we find it? How many cheetahs do you know that have seen a real God?"
"None!" He chirped giddily. Yes, YES! The adult looked like a drug induced cub from the way he flipped around in the shade. "We'll do it, ya? You mean it? We can see one, we can see one? CAN WE? Say yes! Tell mmmmmeeeee."
"Yes! Now stop acting like that. Sheesh." She placed a paw to her head, suddenly weary. Maybe this wouldn't be worth it after all. Then again, a God could grant her the ability to never have to stop running and that.....that would be amazing. "Pack your s**t, Jirachi. We're moving out~"
