Name: Laikkua
Gender: genderfluid, prefers he/him most of the time
Rank: Gladerunner
Clan: Gladewood [
x]
Description: Fawn Marbled Tabby
Age: 3 years
Edits: [nr] claws, expression, scars, missing eye, accessory;
[c] min fur, tongue, shorter tail; [uc] round ears
Owner: Adamented
Gladewood has some strange customs that have been passed down over the ages, some have been around since the dawning of their gathering of Wanderers and others since they became bound to nomadic ways. However, traditions have got to come from somewhere.
Gladerunners are an important part of the traveling ways of the Gladewood Wanderers, they defend and protect the others, especially the youngest, and encourage others to push on when they feel they can't take another step. The Wanderers often pushes its members to a point beyond what they're capable of, it's in the spirit of that very idea that Laikkua here has established a new tradition!
They spent many months of their recent young life preparing for this moment, from before they even requested the Grand Huntress' permission to wander far from the others. They're time away was lonely, it was arduous, their ambition wouldn't allow them to move at an easy pace. After all, with the other Wanderers the Gladerunners were always pushing themselves and their family to their limits and beyond, they would be embarrassed of themselves to report any less to the lioness who trained them from a young helpless kitten to a capable, lean muscled adult.
In their time they searched for the perfect spot, it wasn't easy. They are a perfectionist with deep seeded criticism for themselves and their own choices, so they wouldn't settle for any less than exactly what was needed. Laikkua finally found what they were searching for a month ago and began making their way home.
There was a long winding river- shallow with not too many rapids or sharp rocks- that met with a small lake, a mud pit that was dense with moss and surrounded by low hanging evergreen branches, a small rocky mountain with nettles and snakes, a narrow pass with prickle bushes along the ridges of the cliffs competing with ivy for sunlight, and at last one large hill at the top of which was a beautiful ocean view and a drop down to a sand shore that you could get to if you were careful.
This was their stage, their stage to show what they were capable of. A track, more specifically, that the Wanderers would send their most capable to in order to compete. It was a show of athleticism, a show of agility and of dexterity. You couldn't succeed off pure strength, off just speed, or a divisive eye, you had to have an even distribution of the skills necessary to serve the Wanderers as a Gladerunner.
Laikkua participated, with no prior practice more than the others- they were exhausted after the endless travel and couldn't wait to return to the others, spending endless days without sleep only pushing themselves to return home. Only stopping for food and water. Their now-annual marathon had bee an exciting experience, they were all full of adrenaline, panting and spread out across the ground at the end. Laikkua and Harja [
x] licked each others shoulders and ears between heaving breaths to congratulate one another. They'd fallen to the ground, collapsed, right at the end of the climb down to that sandy, illustrious Beach. Surrounded by smooth, round, frosty stones in brilliant colors washed up from the sea, they lapped up each others' company in the hardest challenge they've ever overcome together.
Though exhausted beyond belief and yet relieved for it to be over after nearly a whole cycle of the sun, Laikkua is proud of themselves and their best friend Harja. They hadn't quite won, but driven with the competitive air that Harja and they shared, they managed to finish the race just behind him. Both were rewarded ribbons- Harja's a brilliant ruby, wrapped loosely around his leg, and theirs a Sapphire blue. Their favorite color. It was perfect, it was all perfect.
A wild smile spreads across Laikkua's face as thoughts rush to their mind, picturing everything they could have done better, how they might creep up closer to Harja the next time.
They can't wait to do it again next year.
