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 Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:30 pm
 The sun was bright, the day was pleasant, and the breeze was just fantastic. Zsaru stretched her face forward as just such a breeze blew towards her; her jaws parted in a contented smile. She had been laying on the sun-warmed earth for hours, sometimes napping and sometimes just enjoying herself. There were many times that she had decided to get up and try to salvage her unproductive day, but yet, here she was still.
As the breeze faded, Zsaru lay her head back down on the ground. What was a few more minutes of lounging? The day was just too beautiful to waste. Rolling over onto her side she stretched out to her full length to absorb as much as the sun's rays as possible. With her ear to the ground she could hear something strange; it sounded as if something large was streaking across the ground, and getting closer. She lifted her head to look around, but by the time she looked behind her, it was already too late. Her vision was filled by a large shadow and she only had time to brace herself for impact.
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Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:20 pm
 Per'roth stared with intrepidation at the track Mavi had laid out before her. The lioness had dragged her cheetah racer all the way out to the rogue lands, then had proceeded to set up a very long race track. Very long. She had walked it out with Mavi the day before, while the lioness mumbled about stamina. Per hadn't been sure what she meant, but she had certainly been dismayed at the length of the track.
Being her owner, the lioness was also her trainer. She'd been helping her since the two had paired up. Now she'd ordered Per to run the track at least once a day, while trying to further than the previous day. Staring down the lightly lined turned it seemed daunting. Mavi really expected her to run this whole thing? There was nothing but to try.
With a deep breath crouched down. On your mark. Get set. Go! The blue and purple cheetahess became a blur of precision movement. Her body working at peak performance. Inhale, exhale. Extend legs, take another bound forward. Her feet under her but none of her touching the ground. Muscles tensing and relaxing. It felt good.
Until she spotted a black bump in the middle of the track. She was going much to fast to swerve and avoid it at these speeds. This wasn't going to be pleasant. Per'roth put on the brakes and closed her eyes for the inevitable.
Her legs hit the bump and went out from under her. She went rolling head over tail until she slowly came to a halt.
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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 4:49 pm
The creature crashed into Zsaru with such force that she ended up doing an awkwardly angled somersault and then skidding through the dirt on her other side. After she came to rest, she lay still blinking in shock for a few moments, then hauled herself to her paws and shook herself vigorously. As the dust settled, she caught sight of an equally harassed looking female cheetah a few tail-lengths away.
Realizing what had happened, Zsaru's hackles rose and her tail bushed up to twice it's size. She flattened her ears against her head and demanded, "Is it normal for you to not watch where you're running, or did you make a special exception just for me?"
Her anger was caused mostly from the terrible fright and minor injuries she had sustained from the collision, and Zsaru momentarily regretted her snappishness, but her anger was renewed as she tried to shift her position. As she put weight on her right foreleg, she hissed in pain and abruptly shifted back; her paw seemed to be sprained or something similar. Nothing that wouldn't be healed in a day or two, but still uncomfortable. She glared at the cheetah with watering eyes as she waited for her response.
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Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:15 pm
It took her several moments after she stopped moving to realize it. She lay there a bit longer as Mavi had taught her. Slowly she flexed her toes, then feet, followed by legs. Nothing appearred broken, but she felt a touch of pain in one forleg. Cautiously Per rolled up and went to stand. She noted that her front leg with the heart mark hurt when she tried to put weight on it. Great. Just great.
Standing on three legs, she turned her head in surprise as the bump stood up and spoke to her. Her? At the accusations Per laid her ears back. That had been a well defined track! "Do you often lay in the middle of a race track to be run over?" Her voice dripped with contempt. It was mostly due to the pain and fear she wouldn't be able to run in the upcoming race. The cheetah felt a moments surprise as the serval tried to stand on her right leg and hissed. Then she remembered her own injuries and didn't feel so bad.
Now she had a long hobble back to the dens. Per didn't bother putting any weight on the leg she knew was hurt. She hoped it wasn't bad, but wasn't going to risk making it worse. Awkwardly she hopped her front foot forward as the back legs followed. Pity for herself already starting to fill her mind.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:47 am
Noticing that the cheetah was also hurt, Zsaru started to calm; it had been an accident after all. She was just about to ask if the cheetah was alright when it tried to blame her for the situation. All she had been doing was laying there! And the cheetah's tone was definitely less than apologetic or friendly.
"Race track? Race track or not, it's not like I blend in with the ground; you should have clearly seen me." Zsaru spat. "And what in the world is a race track?!"
Confusion added slightly to Zsaru's anger - she didn't like to look stupid, and not knowing something that seemed so obvious to this cheetah made her feel just that. While tracks were a pretty common thing, she had honestly never heard of a "race".
But this part of the Rogue Lands was new to Zsaru, and she supposed that that kind of thing was to be expected when you went somewhere you'd never been before.
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Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:02 pm
It made her appreciate her ability all the more now that she didn't have it. It had only taken her minutes to reach this spot out here. Now it was going to take her hours to get home and be seen. The serval spat and Per'roth had trouble keeping her fur down. Her anger was mostly due to pain, she told herself. She turned her head to speak over her shoulder. Turning around was too hard.
"Look you. We cleared that track. I shouldn't have to watch out for fools laying in the middle. My job is to focus on running, and breathing, and staying in the lines." The cheetahess blinked as the smaller feline asked what a race track was. She sputtered for a couple minutes. How could she not know?! Very patiently, as to a child, she replied.
"A race track is a defined stretch," here gesturing to the track markers on either side of Zsaru, "of land where high preformance cheetahs, like myself, run in competition with each other. The first one obviously being the winner. We have several tracks back at the pride. My friend Mavi was helping me train by having me run this endurance course out here."
Per gave another look at the serval and sighed. "C'mon. If we make it back to the pride, Mavi will take a look at us both, and then you can see what real tracks look like."
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:49 am
While being called foolish was less than desirable, Zsaru smoothed her ruffled fur and contented herself with glaring. Glancing around as the cheetah gestured, Zsaru noticed that there did appear to be a defined track if she looked for it. While she didn't feel guilty, as she couldn't have possibly known about these race tracks, she no longer felt angry at the cheetah. They were both at fault here; Zsaru for not knowing, and the cheetah's for assuming she did.
As the cheetah explained race tracks, Zsaru's interest perked - even more so when the cheetah mentioned a pride. She'd had no idea there was a pride out here. While she wasn't too thrilled about going to a pride - pride's usually meant bustle and noise and other assorted potential annoyances - she appreciated the cheetah's offer, and she was in no position to turn down help.
"Thank you for the offer; I accept. I am called Zsaru." On a whim, Zsaru decided to swallow her pride and try to make amends with the cheetah. "I... I apologize for tripping you. I had no idea these race tracks even existed, and while we were both injured, my injury doesn't really affect my lifestyle, whereas someone who's job it is to run probably can't afford to have a hurt paw."
Keeping her right foreleg tucked against her chest, Zsaru limped after the cheetah on three legs and hoped that her apology would help to smooth things over. As they headed toward this pride, Zsaru couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive; this was going to be her first time in a pride, after all.
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:28 pm
Per gave a jerk of her head to encourage the serval to follow her. She was going slow enough that the smaller feline could easily keep up even injured. Her ears flicked. "Nice to meet you Zsaru. I'm Per'roth. Well I did run you over, so its the least I could offer." She gave a nod.
"And I apologize for running you over. I'll keep better watch when I'm out here from now on. Oh I got the best healer in the pride. I'll recover to race another day." Per gave a happy grin. "So what do you normally do?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:10 pm
Good. Zsaru thought to herself, and smiled. Things seem to be all better. She was much happier now that the two weren't being aggressive, and was glad to chat with Per'roth. Being alone had it's perks, but sometimes it got.. well, lonely.
"Mostly? Nothing. I know it's not an exciting life, but I'm all on my own in the Rogue Lands. When I'm not doing something that I'd die if I didn't - hunting, eating, drinking, that sort of thing - I usually nap in the sun or explore. I like to wander around and encounter new things, which is actually why I'm here in the first place. I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job encountering new things." Zsaru finished with a chuckle.
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Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:43 pm
Rennekae Fin and you can do a wrap up post.
"Well then! Just wait until you see the pride. Lots of new stuff there to see." Her leg didn't seem to hurt nearly as bad now that she was in a better mood.
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Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:12 am
While Zsaru certainly didn't mind hunting - most of the time, she actually enjoyed it - she could definitely thing of a few occasions where having someone else do it for her would have been nice. She had so many questions to ask about the pride - how many different species were in it? How did they all get along? Why were the other members content to do all the hard work while the cheetahs just ran around? - but she didn't get the chance. They had arrived.
Gazing around, Zsaru was dumbfounded and a little nervous. Stretched before her was a vast expanse of mostly flat ground, with a river winding through it. The area was full of creatures; cheetahs, lions, hyenas, and wild dogs. Zsaru had never seen these creatures near each other in peace, especially in such large numbers, and now here they were working together. At first inspection, however, she couldn't locate any other servals, and was unsure if she was welcome. Timidly, she padded after Per'roth, now walking a little closer to the larger cat for comfort. Her first journey into a pride had begun.
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