Dodging The Buck

Words: 3658
Cats: Neri, Aleeza, Astrid.




Neri crouched to the side of the Apprentice's den, watching the cats go in and out of the camp. She had only just joined but was not yet assigned a mentor, so she simply waited and observed most of the day. She was also silently taking in the suspicious and curious gazes of the cats around her. The suspicious cats made her anxious, worrying if she could win the trust of her Empiremates. But the curious gaze made her feel welcome, wondering if they were to give her a chance.

Neri was as still as a rock, ice blue eyes narrowed with concentration, and tail curled neatly around her, her long, thick fur wet in the snow. She was a dark-silvery gray, with a lighter silver underbelly. With seven stripes on each leg and eight rings on her tail, a ticked tabby, but her legs were speckled slightly, almost like ashes, making her stick out in the snow. Her round ears pricked, and a darker marking on her forehead, almost outlining her eyebrows, was a smudgy bird shaped marking, but it was blurry. Yet, her thick fur could not hide her bones just showing from underneath her fur.

Well.. I'm not gonna gain their trust if I act like an outsider spying on them. Neri sat up, looking around. Her gaze soon rested on a Tiger hybrid with.. Something she did not recognize, the cat herself, much larger than her. The she-cat was fully grown, but young like some of the apprentices, but Neri, was unable to tell what rank she was in. She sighed, flicking her tail as she pondered the first chat with the hybrid, in her mind, it did not go well.

Neri looked back down, examining the snow her large paws were buried in, almost frozen, but the apprentice took no notice to her cold paws and tail tip. Much less the cold itself. She looked back up, and decided to go up to the cat. Neri started padding over as she argued with her mind, losing track of the real world. I mean-- what could go wrong? She looks like I can trust her-- but looks can deceive.-- Oh come on! If anything, it wouldn't be a good battle plan to attack your own Empiremate in your own-- camp. She realized that she was now at the side of the she-cat, bringing up the little courage she had, she mewed. “Hey,”

 

Aleeza was sitting outside in the snow, lost in thought. She was an apprentice now, learning from her lioness Mentor - Astrid was her name - and Aleeza was just thinking about their last training session.

She felt both excited and a bit worried to be an apprentice, but she was determined to be the best she could. The Tiger mix was growing up into an adult now, and her fur was thick for the cold winter that had crawled up on the empire. She had large paws and large round ears that stayed perked up at any sound. Her blind blue gaze starring dully ahead at the white snow.

"Hey..." a soft voice spoke, Aleeza perked her ears. She had heard the cat approaching, the snow made every paw-step much louder. She turned her head slightly, but her gaze starred over the cat's shoulder.

"Hi! I don't think we've met? I'm Aleeza!" She said cheerfully, smiling at the newcomer, swishing her tail.

 

Neri went stiff when the Tiger mix spoke cheerfully, "Hi! I don't think we've met? I'm Aleeza!" A little startled by her cheerfulness. But was curious on why she didn't look all the way back. Ignoring her curiosity, she didn't reply for a while, thinking. Well... That went well... for now. Now come on, let’s try to reply-- wait. How long has it been?!


Neri quickly turned anxious, and said. "N-no, we haven't met. Well.. We’re meeting now but anyways! I'm Neri." She tried to straighten herself to look bigger, but failed. Her small stature wasn't growing anytime soon.

 

Aleeza often looked much bigger than she really was, her winter coat was still shedding and her extra fluffiness made her appear quite large. Though she was a tiger, so she'd only grow bigger, but she was still a bit small for a tiger at the moment.

She continued to stare past the smaller cat, flicking her ear's up as Neri spoke.
"Well it's nice to meet you Neri." Aleeza smiled, swishing her tail,

 

Neris' ears pricked when Aleeza spoke, straightened herself, and then said. "You too, are you waiting for someone-- if you don't mind me asking."

 

"No, not really. I was just thinking of asking someone if they wanted to come on a hunt with me. Maybe today I'll have better chances then I did yesterday..." Aleeza paused a brief moment.

"Would you like to come?" She asked, swishing her tailed.

"I.. don't really know how, maybe you could help teach me? So I have an idea of it." Neri suggested hopefully, curiosity glittering in her ice blue gaze eagerly.

 

"Well...I don't see anything wrong with it, as long as we don't stray too far from camp right? Okay! I'd be glad to teach you, not that I'm any gladiator though." Aleeza chuckled, smiling warmly at her.

"Maybe we can learn from each other right?" Aleeza perked up, swishing her tail.

Neri pricked her ears, when Aleeza asked, watching her tail swish. She thought for a while, a little nervous, then agreed. "Sure." She padded by her side, looking ahead. "You want to lead or me?" She looked at the she-cat, waiting patiently for an answer.

"I don't mind either way," Aleeza answered, her ear's turning towards Neri as she spoke. Her blue gaze starring ahead as they padded off into the woods.

Neri padded briskly after her, and asked. "Are you from the Empires initially? Ooorr... what?" she knew that many were born there, but then others joined like she did-- is what she could gather from conversations. She also gathered information about some kind of big battle, but she decided not to bring it up.

“Oh, well…Um, no…” Aleeza said after a second, her ear’s flicked back and she frowned slightly, she didn’t really like telling people about how she joined. “I was a cub when I first joined, I was running from the hunters that killed my mother.” She said after a pause, not going into details on how or why they attack her mother.

“Are you?” She asked her, her smile returning, perking her ears, and immediately bouncing back to her cheery personality.

Neris' ears began to flatten when she found out about how she got there. But managed to lighten a little when she went on happily, but the small cat saddened on the inside toward the question. Well.. I have to be fair. She told me, I tell her.

And with a heavy sigh Neri tried to hide, she croaked. "I don't come from around here, then again, I don't know where I come from by name. My mother and I--" she added quickly, "I never knew my father-- moved over here when I think I was six moons old at the time. It wasn't easy, I could could see and hear the strain in my mother. One day, she went hunting and.. didn't come back. That was a few days ago. Sol had set by then, and the moon was at its highest point when I got in the camp with Tempestas."

“I’m sorry, that must be really hard…But, I’m here for you. We can watch each other’s back.” Aleeza said, flattening her ears slightly at hearing Neri’s sad story. Aleeza knew what it was like to lose your mother, sometimes even a year later Aleeza still missed her mother as if it was yesterday.

They came to a more open-field, tree’s scattered here and there, the sounds of birds singing in the morning air. A soft breeze blew into Aleeza’s face, and she sniffed the air perking her ears. Neri sniffed lightly at the ground, trying to catch a scent. She decided not to answer her, going quiet. She picked up a small scent, but she didn't recognize it. Aleeza perked her ears, “There’s a rabbit in the grass ahead…Near that tree, I can smell it, and hear the grass moving.” She said pointing in the general direction of the tree, she could smell the leave’s and hear them rustling in the wind so she knew there was one there.

Neri listened closely, and she heard the rustling lightly, but she felt the rabbit move from the way the ground shifted lightly without a sound. "I can feel it.." she breathed quietly, but it was more of a mumble. Now what? Flicking her ear, she asked quietly but Aleeza, a little louder. "What's the plan? “Aleeza nodded slightly, "Well...Maybe I'll flank around and chase it into that tall grass. While you wait in the grass for it?" She suggested, perking her ears,
"Do you have any suggestions?" She asked keeping her voice quiet.

"I can go into the tall grass and wait for it there." Neri whispered quietly, trying to see the rabbit. Aleeza nodded, "Sounds good." She said, standing up and flanking around the rabbit perking her ears, and parting her jaws to scent the air. Neri slunk into the tall grass, trying a hunting crouch she'd seen other cats practicing around the camp. She caught sight of the rabbit, then backed a little, breathing in its scent.

 

Aleeza flanked around the rabbit keeping low and quiet, spreading her toes out for better traction on the ground. She kept her tail low and made sure not to move it too much, she could smell the strong scent of rabbit washing over her as she edged closer. Her sharp hearing picking up on the quiet sounds of the animal's movements.

Then she leaped up with a snarl, fluffing her fur out to make herself appear bigger then she was - though she was pretty big as it was - and growling. The rabbit's eyes were filled with fear, as it quickly sprinted away from the tiger mix - unknowingly right towards Neri.

 

Neri waited, heart racing even if she were still. She tensed herself, then leaped for the rabbit, her tail trailing from the grass behind her. The view of the rabbit came closer and closer until...

She missed by a whisker.

"Shi—!" She cursed, but caught herself and didn't finish the statement. Her tail bushed, startled that she had come to empty ground. She turned her tail waving the other way to keep balance, a trick her mother told her to try, saying that Jayson, would do the same when he would climb or run. She extended her right paw, just snagging the back leg of the rabbit before it disappeared into the bushes. She yanked it towards her with her claws, and almost lost it again before she sank her teeth into its fur, hearing the reassuring crunch.

 

Aleeza perked her ear's panting slightly for a moment as she listened to the sounds of the frighten rabbit as it dashed through the grass. She heard Neri curse, and the sounds of paws hitting the ground before a satisfying crouch as Neri broke the rabbit’s neck.

Aleeza smiled, and ran over to the smell of freshly killed rabbit, "That was awesome! We work well as a team!" She said cheerfully, bouncing on her paws slightly.
Neri looked up, and nodded. "Yeah, we do. Do you want to hunt some more?" She inquired, picking up the rabbit in her jaws. "And, what should I do with the rabbit..?" She muffled.

 

"Well if you want to hunt more we should bury it somewhere?" Aleeza suggested after a moment of thought, sniffed the air and walked up to a tree with claw marks in the bark.
"Maybe besides this tree, that way we know where it is but the smell won't attract predators?" She said, perking her ears up, her pale blue eye's starring over Neri's shoulder as if there was something there. But of course the blind Tigress couldn't see anything.
Neri muffled, "Yeah, okay." She dug up the dirt beside the tree, burying the rabbit. "So how should we go about this next?"

 

Aleeza helped her dig besides the trees, as Neri dropped the rabbit in the hole and they covered it with dirt.

"Well I'm not sure, I guess we should find prey first?" Aleeza said, "Or find where it is at least..." She said as she sniffed the air slightly.
"That's not what I mean, I mean who should we hunt the next piece next. Depending on what it is."

"I'm sorry I don't understand?" Aleeza said, abit confused, she tilted her ear's slightly to hear Neri better.

"Well, who's gonna chase and who's gonna kill. Guess what terrain we mind have and go about that. Like if there's a ledge, one of us could jump down from there to make the killing blow."

"Yeah that make sense, let's find the prey first then form a plan...You want to lead the way this time?" Aleeza asked, her tail swishing behind her excitedly, she smiled widely.

"Yeah, sure." Neri nodded, taking the lead, smiling. he sniffed the air, and began to walk to the right, quiet now.

 

Aleeza followed Neri, hearing her footsteps as she took the lead. She kept her ears perked up for any sounds of moving prey or animals.
Neri sniffed the air, soon coming across a musky scent she was not familiar with.

As Aleeza padded along she noticed Neri stopped, the tigeress parted her jaws and sniffed the air.
"Do you smell that?" She asked Neri, speaking barley louder than a whisper.

"Yeah," Neri replied quietly. "Do you know what it is?" Aleeza sniffed the air again, "I think its deer." She whispered quietly, her tail twitching in slight excitement.

Neri gulped a little, "I'm too small."

"Well maybe you can chase it out this time and I'll take it down?" Aleeza suggested, though the tigress herself was still abit small, as she was still growing. But she was much bigger than Neri.

She crept forward's slightly, to get a better view of the clearing ahead. "There it is..." She pointed with her tail at a limping deer eating from the grass. It was all by itself and had a messed up front hoof.

"I would think it'd would kick me instead." Neri blinked in wide eyes. It was huge, it had to be one of the biggest things she'd seen yet! With black, hard hooves and a brown furry body. How would they even get it back?

"Yeah I guess your right...If we got hurt we'd get in a lot of trouble too..." Aleeza said sounding slightly disappointed, she was excited at the challenge, but she didn't want anyone to get hurt either.

"The other patrols are sure to catch it, they couldn't miss it. Sorry, though," Neri apologized, "If I were bigger, I would run for it."

"No it's okay! If we got hurt my mentor would kill me for doing it...Astrid would tell me to wait till we had more cats, and more experience. So it's better to wait anyways, and your right the other patrols will see it!" Aleeza said, smiling, "Do you want to keep loo-" She started, but then cut herself off, the fur on her spine spiking up as her body stiffened.
"Uh, Neri...." She trailed off...

The buck had heard the rather loud tigress as she spoke, and feeling threatened by the large cats, he was snorting it's horn's down facing them, pawing the ground with it's huge black hooves'. Aleeza would have expected the buck to run from them...Not Attack them!

Neri flinched, "And what did I tell you about the kicking?" She hissed out of instinct, ready to bolt.

Aleeza's ear's flattened looking guilty for a moment, she wasn't the quietest of cats in the forest. She didn't say anything though, more afraid of the buck at the moment. The Buck snorted, Aleeza slowly stood up fluffing her fur out to try and look bigger.

The buck started right at the two feline's, Aleeza could smell it's strong scent washing over her like a water fall. The sound of its snorts and grunts much louder now in her ears. For a moment she thought maybe the buck would walk away, but as soon as that thought came to her mind...

The huge buck charged at them.

Aleeza turned to Neri "RUN!!" She yelled, pushing Neri out of the line of the charge towards the direction of camp.

Neri sunk her teeth into Aleeza's fur on her paw, and pulled her. "We're a team, that doesn't mean you go getting yourself killed." Neri hissed in between her teeth.

"I wasn't planning to," Aleeza said, she huffed. "If we attack it's legs, and keep darting out of the way we might be able to annoy it enough that it'll run off" She said,

As the buck passed by them snorting and grunting. Rearing up and swinging its deadly hooves' at the feline's. Aleeza snarled, and let out a loud roar, trying to appear bigger and more intimidating.

Neri looked up at Aleeza with wide eyes, her ears flattening at the noise that came from Aleeza's jaws. She was stiff, "O-okay, but wouldn't that hurt?"

"The buck yes...But it's that or have it hurt us..." Aleeza said, jumping out of the way of the buck's huge horn's as it swung its head. She didn't mean to scare Neri, but she was more concerned with not getting hit. She snarled at the buck, nipping at its legs and darting out of the way when it reared up towards her.

Neri leaped out of the way, watching the buck rear up in front of Aleeza. The small cat was behind the buck now, and began clawing at the buck's heels, growling. The buck started to back up, Aleeza snarled loudly showing her large teeth and trying to appear bigger than she was. Finally, the buck decided it had enough, and ran off into the woods....

Aleeza stood there panting for a few silent moments.
"Remind me to keep my mouth shut next time..." She panted, feeling rather ashamed as she glanced back at Neri.
"Are you okay?" She asked.

Neri looked up, she had sat down by now, panting all the way. "Yeah, just a little stiff." Out of terror, she added to herself. Aleeza sat down, taking deep breaths. She was trying not to think about the lecture she was probably going to get from her Mentor Astrid.

"You're good at this stuff." Neri Said.

"I almost got us killed..." Aleeza said sounding abit ashamed, her ears flattened against her head. She turned in the general direction of Neri's voice, her blind eye's starring past the smaller cat.

 

"But you didn't, it's not your fault you're louder than a cub."

"I guess your right...You were really brave too." Aleeza said smiling slightly at her, Aleeza's tail swishing back and forth.

"Well, I tried." Neri sighed, tired.

"C'mon, we better head back, I'll go grab that rabbit we buried." Aleeza said, gently touching Neri's should with her tail. The Tigeress stood up, and walked in the direction of the tree they had buried the rabbit under.

Neri followed, waiting for her, but didn't know the exact way back.

Aleeza dug up the rabbit, picking it up in her jaws. She jogged back to Neri and led the way back to camp, she knew the forest very well. Her mentor had showed her around, the blind tigress knew where every bump and log was - she had to so she could walk without running into a tree.

As the two felines entered the camp Aleeza dropped the rabbit in the pile of prey. When she raised her head she could scent her Mentor Astrid standing in front of her.

"Where have you been all Morning?" Astrid asked sounding slightly annoyed, “We were supposed to practice today.”

Aleeza's ear's flattened. "We ran into abit of trouble...So we were gone longer than expected....I'm sorry Astrid..." She said.

Astrid seemed to soften slightly, "Its okay, but try to be back next time okay? What happened anyways? You have some scratches on you..." The lioness said sniffing Aleeza's pelt worriedly.

"I'm fine, and it was just....er...." Aleeza glanced back in the direction of Neri. "Uh...Well...It was a buck...We - I made too much noise and it charged us..." She trailed off slowly.

Neri began quickly, quiet though, “But we handled it! We're fine, no broken bones." She looked up at Astrid, trying to be brave.

Astrid looked at Aleeza and Neri quietly, she said nothing for a few moments.
"Well next time be more careful...Don't go up against a buck like that Aleeza I expected you to know better." Astrid said, Aleeza nodded looking abit ashamed.
"But I'm glad you’re okay," Astrid said more gently nuzzling Aleeza's shoulder gently.

"Why don't you two take some time to go get rest, you both look like you've had a long day," Astrid said.  Though Neri didn't think it would work, she was grateful to take the offer. She slowly nodded, hanging her head.

"Don't worry about it, just learn from your mistakes. You’ll both be good gladiator's one day, I know it." Astrid said, trying to lift their spirits. She nodded to them, then the lioness walked off to join a patrol that was just leaving.

Aleeza turned to Neri, "Despite getting in trouble...That was fun! And we did catch a rabbit, we should go hunting together again in the future."  Aleeza said cheerfully, swishing her tail. "And I got to make a new friend today too," She smiled at Neri.
Neri nodded fervently, "Yeah, it's nice to have a friend. Just in general."