The Spring Race Day Arrives
The Spring Race is finally upon you. Despite the name, there is more than one race. Their is a sprint, measured in a unit a little longer than a foot, called a “forearm”. There are three springs, one at 25 forearms, one at 50 forearms, and one at 100 forearms. Then there is a small marathon that takes place around the town; their measurements for longer distances are “thousandstrides”, somewhat close to a kilometer, and the marathon is around 50 thousandstrides.
There are many cheetahs from all over showing up, and each town has their own methods; different kinds of coin-sashes, different kinds of canteens, different colored shorts, and a couple of towns even use fur dye as a form of tattooing. Many seem friendly enough, though they don’t go out of their way to speak with you, and you arestill feeling out of your element; doubly so as you are a complete stranger to this world in general.
A few, however, seem less than friendly. There is one cluster of cheetahs who wear black shorts and matching black dyed fur, which replaces the normal black stripes of cheetah muzzles with solid black fur around the whole muzzle. They look you up and down, quickly realizing they do not recognize you, so they discard you as not worth knowing. Understandably, you feel a bit bristled, but decide to keep your muzzle down. After all, you are a stranger to this society, in a body you do not fully comprehend.
As you are ready to walk away, you soon came to realize that the black-muzzled cheetahs discarded you for more than simply being someone unfamiliar. He walks up to you with a smile on his muzzle and a gleam in his eye (he's looked at you differently ever since that night on the beach), but his expression soon soured when he noticed those from Brookhollow nearby. They notice him, and one of the female cheetahs gave a toothy, predatory grin; one filled with a curious mixture of jeering and interest. Your hackles immediately raise as you saw the glint in her eyes; she is interested in Swiftfoot, and in more ways than one. Worse yet, as you look to him, you could tell he has a bit of interest himself. The jealousy overtakes you quickly, but you bitterly bite it back; you dod't want to drive him apart from you as well. But surely that night means something to him as well...
Written by Lone Wolf on 06 June 2015
