Aila:Aila had been wandering about. She'd managed to get away from her brothers and father and Feng and... And pretty much everyone. She was on her own for once, which was a rare thing. There was usually someone following them around, didn't want to let the cubs out of their sight.
She was contemplating the stars that were coming out when she got a bad feeling. Green eyes looked around and to find a rock and she bounded over to the first one she found, pressing her paw to it and closing her eyes.
The image was fuzzy but she was pretty sure she saw...
Jacques:
Run! Run! Runrunrun!
A thin cheetah cub wrapped in a large, bright blue strip of cloth was running as if his life depended on it. Well, perhaps that was because it did. There were at least two wild dogs on his tail, snapping and growling. In the darkness, he could see a gully and the first thing that came to his mind was that he hoped it wasn't full of water.
'Cause water meant snappers.
Aila:
Aila's ears perked up at the sound of barking and she knew it was what she had seen in her vision. Her heart leaped as she looked back in the direction of her family's camp... No, there would be no time for that. By the time she got an adult, the little cub could be... She bounded into action, heading for the river that was near the camp.
Jacques:
The cheetah had gotten a lead on the dogs, but skidded to a stop when he reached the crack in the land. Sure enough, it was a river, wide enough that he couldn't jump across, and it was too dark to tell if there was anything in it. He glanced back over his shoulder, the dogs were still coming. His ears fell back, then he ran along the edge of the crevice, coming to a tree that was growing on the edge, its think roots snaking out of the side of the gully.
He looked back once more, flicked his scarf more around him so that it didn't trail any longer and then jumped down, onto one of the roots. There was another log that spanned the water, a branch from the tree that had fallen and bridged the gap between the root and the other side. The only problem was that it dipped under the water for a length equal to his body and shook when he stepped on it.
He ran across the wood as fast as he could, trying to be as careful and quiet as he could. But as he jumped the gap in the wood, there was a snapping sound and hissing. Terror filled him as he kept running, not daring to look back and risk miss-stepping or wasting time. His tail flicked up upwards just in time to save it from another snapping sound. But the branch was thinning. It wouldn't support him. He jumped from it just in time for the dead wood to crack and fall into the water, half of his body landing on the other side of the gully. His claws scraped against the dirt as he started to slide back towards the water and the snappers.
He whimpered as he feared the end when a figure ran out of the dark and teeth latched onto his scarf.
Aila:
Aila was suddenly glad for all the running Feng made them do. She came in sight just in time to see the cheetah land halfway on the bank. But he was slipping back! And there were crocodiles in the water!
She put on another burst of speed, running as fast as she could and skidded to a stop, just in time to grab his scarf in her teeth. Green eyes met blue with a similar terrified look as they worked together to get him up onto solid ground.
Jacques:
The cheetah looked to the female that had pulled him up once they were on solid ground, the quickly turned to see if the dogs were still following him. Most of them were still in sight, running back into the night. He looked down and saw that two had tried to follow, there were two distinct bodies being torn up by snappers in the water. He turned away and shivered, sucking his scarf partly into his mouth as he sunk to the ground.
Aila:
Aila watched him look back and then sink to the ground, sucking on the cloth around his neck. It was too big for him, but she thought it was cute.
Cautiously, she stepped to him and licked at his ear.
"It's okay, you're okay now," she murmured, trying to be comforting. She wasn't as good at it as Safi was. She was like the comforting mama and fun big sister of the group all at the same time. She should take him back to her home, take him to her papa. Papa would make sure he was taken care of. Actually, Gremio would take care of him, Gremio was good at that.
"You wanna come home with me? You'll be safe there..."
Jacques:
He looked up again, she'd licked his ear and asked if he wanted to come home with her, where it would be safe. Safe. That was a word he hadn't heard in a long time, a feeling he hadn't felt in even longer.
He nodded slowly, still sucking on his scarf.
Aila:
Aila smiled when he nodded to her and nodded in the direction of her home.
"C'mon, it's this way," she said and watched as he slowly stood and followed her as she walked back towards home.
When they got there, there wasn't really anyone around, not that she could see. They could very well have been on another side of the camp, or out hunting... or even out looking for her. She looked back at the male, saw he was shivering a bit and his scarf was no longer in his mouth simply because he was in the process of yawning. He looked really tired.
Maybe finding her papa would come second to letting him rest.
"We can take a nap and then I'll find my papa, okay?"
Jacques:
He nodded a bit when she suggested a nap and flopped down, exhausted. He had been running so hard, fearful of his life. Now he could finally rest, he was safe. And he had a new friend.
Aila:
"My name is Aila, by the way," Aila finally said, curling around the cheetah boy as he laid down. He was so quiet, this whole time. He hadn't said a single word in all of this, hadn't even cried out for help when he was being chase or when he was slipping off of the bank. She waited for any sort of reply from him, his name or an acknowledgment or... Anything really.
But he wasn't saying anything. She glanced at his face and found his eyes closed. He'd fallen asleep. She smiled a bit and closed her eyes, too, drifting off, herself.
Jacques:
The young cheetah opened his eyes again when he felt the girl relax at his side. He looked over to see she had fallen asleep, as he had expected. He gave her a little smile and carefully moved to flop part of his scarf across her back.
"I'm Jacques. Thank you, Aila," he said softly, settled back down, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.
