She has been having the worst luck lately, and Prydet was just about done with it. Strange birds, scary lions, stupid ostriches.. why was everything out to get her?! Now, just to top it all off, she was struggling to catch a dumb rabbit, of all things. Though, to be fair about that last one, she had been upwind of it and hadn’t noticed it was there until it was looking at her. Not that that helped her predicament right now.
Prydet snarled as she zigzagged back and forth, trying to catch the rodent before it got away. She at least knew better than to let it near its burrow again, but the thing was fast and dove away whenever she made a grab for it. At this rate, she was going to wear out before it did.
In one last ditch attempt to get it, she lunged forward with a snap of her teeth - only to feel air. As she slid to a stop, she growled as she watched the rabbit zip away over the hill. The growl grew in her throat until she finally let out a frustrated roar and rolled over onto her back. What was going on?! Springtime was usually a fantastic time for her, between love in the air, warm breezes and pleasant company, but everything kept getting dragged away from her before she could get it!
So into her internal monologue, she didn’t hear the last squeaks of her prey as it died a short ways away. Instead, she had her eyes closed and hissed at the air above her. The world was cruel and unjust and annoying and-
“Are.. you okay?”
The question made her yelp and she tried to wiggle back to her feet only to end up flopped sideways in the dirt. Breathing quickly, she turned her head up to see who had spoken, hoping to god it wasn’t another lion or bird because she was so very done with them. Instead, her gaze fell on a lone cheetah, staring at her with an eyebrow raised.
“I- er-” Clearing her throat, she finally managed to twist herself up and around to face him fully. She leaned down to toss a few quick swipes of her tongue at her chest fur, sure it was an absolute mess by now, and tried to pull herself together. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine,” though she winced as her voice cracked at the end.
The cheetah gave her a long look, “Riiiiight..” He clearly wasn’t believing a word she was saying, “Well.. it looked like you were having trouble there, so-”
“I said I’m fine,” she said sharply, embarrassment clear on her face, “Nothing’s wrong, just a normal day, and I don’t need any help.”
The two sat there staring at each other for a moment, before the cheetah snorted and rolled his eyes. “Sure, okay, miss ‘I’m fine’.” He started pushing a lump she hadn’t noticed down by his paws towards her, “Even if you didn’t need it, I thought I’d lend a paw.” It was her prey. He had caught it for her during her tantrum, and now that it was dropped off, he turned and left with a huff.
Guilt set in then. She wasn’t one to turn down a free meal, and, pride or not, this other cat had helped her and she’d thrown it back at him. That just wouldn’t do.
“Wait!” Snatching up the kill, Prydet scrambled after him until she managed to stop him from leaving. Setting it down between them, she bowed her head, cowed, “I’m sorry, thank you for catching it. It’s just.. been a very long few days.” She stayed staring down at her paws until she heard a sigh.
“It’s alright, I guess. I can understand having a bad week.”
Prydet looked up then, eying him up and down for a moment as he seemed to be reflecting on his own ‘bad times’. Come to think of it, he was quite striking to look at as well. Definitely a very unique individual, different from the leopards she’d normally come across, and not a lion, which, as she’d mentioned, she was very done with being around. Hmm.. perhaps her summertime romance wasn’t a lost cause after all.
But she had gotten off on the wrong foot. She would need to rectify that.
With a glance down at her food, she nudged it forward and decided to offer, “How about I make it up to you. It’s not much, but we can share if you’d like.”
“Oh, uh, well I don’t really-” Cutting him off before he could finish, Prydet inched forward with the most pleading, shy look on her face, making sure to have her eyes wide as she leaned close. The cheetah’s ears flattened against his head, hesitant now to reject such an earnest expression. “I mean.. I’m not terribly hungry..” he bit at the bottom of his lip, “.. but I guess I can have a bite or two-”
Like a switch being flicked, Prydet perked up immediately and shuffled up close so she could nudge her head under his chin and rub herself up against him, knowing full well what she was doing. “Wonderful! We can get to know each other too. I’m Prydet,” she said with a sparkling gaze up at him.
“R-Roku..” He tried to clear his throat and back up a bit, but she had twined her tail around him, “My name is, uh.. Rokusasu.” Little by little, he was beginning to think he’d bitten off more than he could chew, but he wasn’t one to back down from something he’d said he would do.
Prydet, feeling the beginnings of triumph, practically purred as she said, “It’s so good to meet you. I bet we’ll get along great.” While her spring fun hadn’t started out great, she was willing to bet that it was about to get better. She just needed to do a little bit of kissing up first.
So, twining her tail with his, she gently pulled him to sit down beside her and dig in.
Word Count: 1018