The Fossa sighed, shaking his head. Luck? What was that? And why had it abandoned him?
Slowly, he rolled over, feeling stones dig into his skin. It was only pure luck that he spotted the red-pointed stone, and he reached out, grabbing it in his teeth. It was a bit awkward, and he ended up having to use the upper part of his skull-helmet to scoop it in. But he finally managed to pick it up, and clamber down from the heap of rock, before beginning to run again.
Loping along, it was impossible to miss that he was alone, the only one still running on the course--aside from a little kitten that was mewling pitifully, just sitting there. But he assumed that a medic was on their way, and kept running, the rock rattling against his teeth.
The glowing boulder came up quickly, and he skidded as he dug in his claws, lunging forward to tap his paw against it before spinning around, tensing his muscles in preparation to regain his lost momentum.
His luck finally seemed to be holding, as nothing stopped him. The Fossa began to run again, loping the rest of the way to the finish line, ears flat at the humiliation of being the last one to finish the race--and by such a great amount, too. Easily multiple body lengths, he was probably a spectacle.
Rift wasn't as tired as the others. After all he had stopped to take a breather before finishing the race, for whatever reason. He didn't expect to place but found himself quite shocked when the winners were announced. A kitten had beaten a full grown cat and a worm had beaten everyone else. He hadn't expected to place, sure, but he had not expected these results either.
He shook his head, flabbergasted. This was insane! But if the judge said that the worm could win well, then, it won. However unlikely it was. Then again, he glanced towards the edge of the river where the strange fish-like creature was perched. She had made it before him as well.
He shrugged. Stranger things had happened.
Huckleberry was more relaxed than he had been in a while. He looked from the judge to the winners and it was lost on him how incredible it was that those were the winners. He smiled, his tiny tail flicking happily. He didn't say anything, others were offering their congratulations. Instead, he curiously followed the gaze of the judge where she had glanced before.
His insides went cold at the sight. Jayberry was here. She had been here the whole time. She was hurt and she looked terrible and Huckleberry desperately wanted to go out to help her. But then an image passed across his mind. Jayberry laughing, her muzzle coated with blood, her fur splattered with red. She was tearing into Enka, that kind dear from the Kingdom. She was insane. She was a murderer. She was not family.
Huckleberry shook his head, confused. But she was family, wasn't she? Huckleberry had cared for her, she had loved her once. But now he knew her, how terrible it all was. Huckleberry had left the family. Jayberry had not.
She didn't want her to see him. He backed away, disappearing into the crowd, before turning and sprinting away, hoping that she hadn't seen him at all.
Pale was getting her breath back as she listened to the announcement. To her surprise and, even more surprising, delight, Jay had placed in first. She looked to her friend, tail flicking behind her. She was disappointed and embaressed, yes, but at least Jay had gotten first.
There was also a sense of jealousy rising that she quickly pounded down. Jealousy led to foolish decisions. Envy clouded the mind. She needed to be happy for Jay, even if she was not happy for herself. She turned and forced as best a smile that a cat could show on her face.
Well, only a glance at the kitten could tell Pale that Jay was tired. She glanced back, shooting a look of disgust at the worm that had somehow gotten into third before following Jay away to the river.
Lamia breathed the water in deeply, cherishing the wonderful feeling she had been robbed for a while. She felt much better, much more at home, and her rubbed, red, and irritated scales sighed with relief at the water's cool touch. She didn't really mind that she hadn't placed, unaware that she had been quite close to third place, but she had, at least, had a lot of fun. And she had taken that risk to be out of water for such a long time.
It wasn't an experience she wanted to repeat but she had, at least, done it.
She wanted to express her own feelings but found herself unable to really articulate it. She had such a limited vocabulary that she was unsure how to properly say what she wanted.
She continued to lounge on the beach, watching the other land dwellers, watching their movements with interest as the began to break up before turning and diving back in the water. She was getting pretty hungry from all of this exertion.