Post by Caedir din Sahra on Dec 21, 2013 20:01:03 GMT -5
It was another day for Caedir, another run through the Rukongai on his daily delivery route. The feline Beast-Clan had been assigned a small pouch of letters, as well as a pair of boxes that he had tucked under each arm, but despite the fair load it wasn't the weight that had him stumbling along awkwardly; the cheetah was fairly strong compared to the average human, so the weight of the deliveries he had hardly bothered him. No, what made Caedir's footing somewhat awkward was his inability to use his hands to help with his balance, due to the boxes he had to carry. Though he was trying to integrate himself into the human culture and mimic their ways of life, including walking, the cheetah had never gotten very good at standing on two legs for very long. He generally switched between two and four rather freely, based on how he needed to stand for balance's sake, but more often than not he was braced on four points of balance instead of two. Standing on two legs for an extended period was most certainly awkward.
But despite that, Caedir forged ahead, making his way from doorstop to doorstop. Whenever he arrived at a destination, the feline would put down the boxes in a place that was neither wet nor muddy—he had been scolded several times by both his employer and the recipients previously until he had learned that humans had an almost obsessive need for clean paper... well, as clean as it got despite the scribbled ink on it—and deliver any letters that had the same scribbled shapes that were on the doorways. Caedir remembered his employer calling them something like numb bears or something, which was a funny name; maybe the shapes were named after the creator? That seemed silly, though, even to the cheetah; there were just so many things that he didn't understand about humans! But he delivered them diligently anyway, making fewer mistakes every day.
So far, he hadn't messed up once, to his delight. The feline's good mood was evident in the lazy smile on his muzzle, a generally positive swing to his step as he fumbled his way from doorstep to doorstep. Despite being in charge of mail deliveries for Districts 41 through 46 of the Rukongai, which was a fairly sprawling area, the cheetah had few deliveries in each area, meaning that he had plenty of time spent running between them, but it didn't bother him; Caedir enjoyed getting out and moving, feeling the wind through his fur. He was in fact at a half-jog right that moment, unable to really run effectively on two legs yet—though he was getting better, with practice!—and enjoying what seemed to be a fairly good day for the Beast-Clan member.
Of course, just that thought was enough for karma to jinx him; as he was running through one of the smaller alleyways between the Rukongai buildings, Caedir felt something hit him in the back of the head, and hard. Dizzied, and already off-balance due to his two-legged gait, the cheetah stumbled and fell over, dropping the two boxes he was holding into a large, mud-laden puddle. Frowning, sure that he would be yelled at when he delivered them, Caedir rolled up onto his feet and looked around. He felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and reached up to feel it, wincing as another jolt went through his head. The cheetah's paw came up slightly bloodied; he had been struck by something, likely a rock. But who had thrown it?
A glance showed a pair of older boys, probably in their mid teens, standing at the front of the alleyway in the direction Caedir had come from. One of them, the older of the two, had another rock in his hand, lining it up to be thrown, while the other cheered him on. The cheetah gave a low growl, causing them to start, but the older boy let loose the second rock before they both ran off, laughing and jeering at him. The stone was easily dodged, but Caedir's morale was hurt more than his physical body had been; though he knew he was different from others, it still stung when human prejudice cropped up, and it did so often enough that the cheetah never forgot just how different he was from others.
With a sigh, Caedir retrieved his deliveries, frowning at their disheveled, mud-soaked packaging. He was going to get an earful for this...
But despite that, Caedir forged ahead, making his way from doorstop to doorstop. Whenever he arrived at a destination, the feline would put down the boxes in a place that was neither wet nor muddy—he had been scolded several times by both his employer and the recipients previously until he had learned that humans had an almost obsessive need for clean paper... well, as clean as it got despite the scribbled ink on it—and deliver any letters that had the same scribbled shapes that were on the doorways. Caedir remembered his employer calling them something like numb bears or something, which was a funny name; maybe the shapes were named after the creator? That seemed silly, though, even to the cheetah; there were just so many things that he didn't understand about humans! But he delivered them diligently anyway, making fewer mistakes every day.
So far, he hadn't messed up once, to his delight. The feline's good mood was evident in the lazy smile on his muzzle, a generally positive swing to his step as he fumbled his way from doorstep to doorstep. Despite being in charge of mail deliveries for Districts 41 through 46 of the Rukongai, which was a fairly sprawling area, the cheetah had few deliveries in each area, meaning that he had plenty of time spent running between them, but it didn't bother him; Caedir enjoyed getting out and moving, feeling the wind through his fur. He was in fact at a half-jog right that moment, unable to really run effectively on two legs yet—though he was getting better, with practice!—and enjoying what seemed to be a fairly good day for the Beast-Clan member.
Of course, just that thought was enough for karma to jinx him; as he was running through one of the smaller alleyways between the Rukongai buildings, Caedir felt something hit him in the back of the head, and hard. Dizzied, and already off-balance due to his two-legged gait, the cheetah stumbled and fell over, dropping the two boxes he was holding into a large, mud-laden puddle. Frowning, sure that he would be yelled at when he delivered them, Caedir rolled up onto his feet and looked around. He felt a sharp pain on the back of his head and reached up to feel it, wincing as another jolt went through his head. The cheetah's paw came up slightly bloodied; he had been struck by something, likely a rock. But who had thrown it?
A glance showed a pair of older boys, probably in their mid teens, standing at the front of the alleyway in the direction Caedir had come from. One of them, the older of the two, had another rock in his hand, lining it up to be thrown, while the other cheered him on. The cheetah gave a low growl, causing them to start, but the older boy let loose the second rock before they both ran off, laughing and jeering at him. The stone was easily dodged, but Caedir's morale was hurt more than his physical body had been; though he knew he was different from others, it still stung when human prejudice cropped up, and it did so often enough that the cheetah never forgot just how different he was from others.
With a sigh, Caedir retrieved his deliveries, frowning at their disheveled, mud-soaked packaging. He was going to get an earful for this...
