Chasing A Game

     Feeling this way, Issi walked into the cold plains, watching an exciting game of tag being pursued by Sigurd and Vee, her brothers of sorts. She lingered back from the game, paws on the ground firmly to hold her in place, tail wagging behind her lightly as every instinct told her to go after them. To run, giggle, join in on their game. She was almost like a puppy, watching two older dogs rough house with each other, knowing that harsh words and reactions would be inflicted on her if she attempted to join in.

     It was not that they would deny her. But she was slender and a girl, so they thought she could not play with them without getting hurt. Maybe they were partially right, but Issi’s gentle whine made it clear: it did not matter; she wanted to be there. Wanted to be with the ones she called her family.

     But she could not be.

     The two boys were a bit foolish when they got together, but they got along well. They were a good match, in fact. Sigurd with his snow colored coat, intense black eyes that took in every detail as he boastfully showed off how fast he was. Then almost mechanical Vee, who could calculate the move that Sigurd would make next, cutting him off when he veered. Then, when one was caught by pure chance of one or another's devilish antics, laughter would again sing into the air, joyous and satisfied.

     Issi refrained from moving forward although the soft cry of “Catch me, I dare you!” raced into the air from a warm, sarcastic voice. Vee. That meant that Sigurd was “it” as the moment.

     The Neopian Plains were open without many trees to shelter the warm blowing wind, so it ruffled her simplistic but eye-catching, plush rainbow fur. The little female Gelert felt overwhelmed by the sight of the burly Lupes romping around. Never being gentle, never thinking about her while she sat there watching. That was what she did most days—sat in the fields, watching the wind blow over the grass.

     She needed a friend. She thought about it, but then dismissed it. She had to be realistic; she could not ask for things. She was tempted to ask for a petpet, someone she could cuddle. Someone she could curl up around in her paw print bed, someone she could romp with in the fields.

     Another reason was more unselfish. It was so that Sigurd and Vee would stop giving her the guilty looks when they returned from their play, knowing she felt excluded, but not having the faintest clue what to do about it. They had offered to play some silly game with her once, but that had not been what she had intended. She did not want the pity. She did not want to be cruel and force them into playing with her.

     She figured it was the fact they were boys that was why they were so inconsiderate and then desperate to make it up to her, so she let them off the hook.

     As it was, a petpet was not an option for Issi. Times were hard, and money was difficult to come by without a lot of time and dedication. She knew this and she attempted her best to accept it. She knew Sigurd had an Anubis, but something was being done to him—every day, they wondered if he would still be an Anubis when they woke up in the morning. Vee had asked repetitively for one, and they had seen the results. Their owner loved them, but priorities needed to be made.

     Dropping onto her front paws, she laid her head down on them, sighing. “Why can’t I be a priority?” her soft voice whispered sadly as she watched the Lupes pin, roll around and wrestle in the long grass. They had begun a new game to determine again who would be “it” next. It was their way of avoiding arguments when one had a hard time catching the other, pounce and then wrestle it out, nipping and growling at each other in tease.

     She was so jealous. “I want to play too...”

     Discouraged, she looked away from the boys, her long ears falling as her tail tucked into her side.

     Issi had no clue how to handle this situation that seemed never ending. She wanted to do something about it, felt it was becoming necessary. Too many days had been spent just watching. She had to take action eventually. She had to get involved. Make the boys see that just because she was more petite, more fragile, did not mean that she could not stand her own ground against them!

     Suddenly, she jumped off her spot in the grass and started forward, trying to come up with a reason to interrupt them. Her mind raced with options, paths to take to make them want to spend time with her. Oh, my! How she wished it was as easy as making up some random game.

     Issi’s tail swayed again behind her as she approached him, her head half lowering as she stalked towards him. Her eyes twinkling as she thought of sort of idea. She needed to think quick, since once she arrived there she would have to say something.

     “Issi?” Vee was the first to notice her, of course, by the time she had got in hearing range of them. The large, robotic Lupe stopped instantly, like someone had turned off his switch as his laser-green eyes studied her. He seemed almost displeased to see her, but he quickly hid any negativity.

     Sigurd was a bit slower on the uptake, although as he came from the left, he hurtled himself into Vee, knocking him over with a war cry that sounded more like a deep-belly laugh. As the two males hit the ground, their laughter bubbled out like the flow of potions coming out of Edna’s witching pot. Issi tried to join in with the laughter, her giggle warm, sincere. But it quieted the boys as they both watched her.

     “Did you need something, Issi?” the snow Lupe asked lazily as he nipped at Vee’s ear, his own fluffy snow tail wagging. “We were kind of playing here... were we called home?”

     Issi sighed softly and took a deep breath, shaking her head in response. “N-no, No, nothing of the sort.” What would interest the two in front of her? She tilted her head to the side, and then said softly, “I just wanted you both to know...” She faded off.

     “To know?” Vee asked interestedly, knowledge making him want to know as he leaned forward, his eyes waiting to try and disprove, or better yet, actually learn something. Sigurd was a terrible lot less interested.

     “That I’m faster than both of you.” A bold statement from Issi, her eyes intent as the two boys heard the challenge in her words.

     "You are not!" an outraged Sigurd sputtered, eyes flashing.

     "That's highly improbable, Issi," added Vee wisely, his nose wrinkling in dismissal of her foolishness.

     "Fine," Issi continued haughtily, her eyes bright and hopeful. "If you bunch of scared Chias," she stated dryly, making the boys growl at her, "don't want to prove me wrong, then I guess I know that you two know I'm telling the truth."

     With that said, a smug look appeared over her face and she moved to step over the two Lupes still on the ground, giggling in her delight. When she knew they were both ready to prove her wrong, by their muttering about how wrong she was, Issi yipped a soft bark and took off running, laughing as she went.

     Did she ever run! With all her might, she burst out into the hilly plains, her voice calling back constantly as the Lupes set out after her, paws thumping the ground as the both chased her frantically. “Keep up! Come on now, run—don’t walk!”

     She continued to run and run, even once the grass started getting thicker, taller. She could still hear with her ears the sound of the thumping paws of her brothers, hearing them howl that they would catch up to her. She laughed joyously, figuring this is what it must have felt like to play with them.

     Eventually, though, when it started to become a struggle as the grass grew higher, she could hear different things being called to her.

     "Issi, stop!"

     "Issi--come back!"

     "Issi, stop running!"

     Ha! Issi's thoughts turned triumphant. They could not catch her. She was too fast! They would not make her stop; they just wanted to come running up and pass her. Leave her in the dust. Then how would she ever prove herself to them if she let them win by their sneaky plots?

     As the Gelert went deeper, she noticed moments when her paws did not drop to the ground fully. It was a little rougher the longer the grass got. She could hear Sigurd’s voice bellowing to her and she was shocked at how fast she had gotten so far from them.

     “See!” she called happily, “I can outrun both of y—”

     Issi screamed.

     Her paws had come out from under her as she had leaped to gain a little more ground, and when her front paw had hit the ground, the ground had been a hole.

     Hitting it, and with her momentum sending her foreword, Issi cried in surprise and fear as she was tossed forward, hitting the ground with her snout as she landed in the grass. She rolled painfully, her neck being bent as her paw went up in fire, burning with pain.

     She rolled clumsily down a slope, almost like a hill until she hit the bottom with a loud thud. Eyes closed, she groaned in pain to the burning through her body. What had happened? She had never had encountered holes before--usually, she was so careful.

     “Issi!” a sharp yelp cried out, Vee’s voice. Issi tried to lift her head, and found she could not. It hurt too much. She knew she would be okay, except perhaps her paw. As one eye crooked open, she noticed the scratch across it. Not badly hurt, but it stung around the spot.

     Frowning deeply, her long ears lowered and she closed the eye she had opened, scolding herself. She could hardly believe she had been so silly. What had she done?

     But she had wanted them to play with her. Was that so wrong?

     “ISSI!” Sigurd’s voice, louder than Vee’s ever could be, howled her name. They were just over the hill, she noted. Somehow, she had to get to them. She could hardly just stay down here—who knew what was out here—and wait for them to come find her.

     She could hardly begin to think what they would say to her. They would see her as weak. She was a disappointment to them. She had to be able to look after herself, perform to her best ability. Issi knew she had failed that.

     Issi sighed, whimpering as she pushed herself up from her spot on the ground. She wobbled there for a moment, trying to place her sore paw on the ground. She knew it was not broken, but it still hurt ridiculously. “This is silly... they’ll send me home...” She knew what her brothers would do, coddle her and then tell her it was not wise for her to go running off.

     Ah, like she did not already get enough lectures at home, Issi growled lowly at the thought of what she was going to hear soon. Now she would get this too from the pair of Lupes who were more foolhardy and stable. They could take falls and thumps, unlike their lithe, delicate little rainbow-colored Gelert sister of sorts.

     She could hear them now. ‘Why did you do that? It’s dangerous; you fell! What were you thinking? That could have gotten you a lot more hurt than it did!’

     “ISSI!” Another scream broke her thoughts.

     “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she muttered as she started up the hill, limping as she tried her best not to put pressure on her paw. The green grass twirled beneath her paws as she walked slowly; scanning the hillside like a magnifying glass for any more holes.

      It took her a while, a lot of effort on her part. But she moved a little faster the more urgent the Lupes got, hearing them cry her name. She knew they worried about her since they could not see her. It brought a heavy guilt on her. They obviously could not see where she went down; it was reasonable—the hill was steeper than she had thought it was while she had been rolling down it.

     Paws pushed into the earth as best as she could, and she winced at the sound of their upset voices. Her name was like a broken record, being played over and over again. After this, she wanted to go curl up around her faerie bori plushie and just sleep for a few hours. The walk was tiresome.

     “Vee!” she called out as she looked over the peak of the hill, seeing the Lupes searching in the wrong direction for her. It made her smile despite herself, oh, only them! “Sigurd!”

     Sigurd and Vee turned, barked happily, and headed towards her hurriedly, their tails flicking as they ran up to her, touching noses with her in greeting. Vee gasped softly when he, always noticing things, saw her paw. “You hurt yourself.”

     “It wasn’t bad,” she protested instantly as he leaned down to examine closer, making her step back. “I fell...”

     “We didn’t know what happened to you!” Sigurd hissed, almost mad sounding. It made Issi’s ears fall back against her head, her tail tucking submissively.

     “I-I’m sorry...”

     Vee blinked slowly at her, and nodded his head. “We know. But you scared us.”

     Sigurd did not accept the apology, instead he exploded anxiously, “What was that about! If you wanted to race—you should have just said so! We could have raced home, we could have done something simple—”

     Issi’s eyes widened. “Since when?” She shook her head accusingly, her emotions spilling. “You never let me do anything with you! N-never.”

     The robot Lupe and snow one exchanged looks sheepishly, but Vee reasonably said, “Because you never ask to.”

     “A-ask! You always just ignore me, or tell me I-I’ll get hurt.”

     Sigurd looked wryly at her. “And this proves it.”

     Issi was crushed. She had only wanted to play with her brothers. Whimpering, she slowly pushed by them, wanting to go home. She wanted to go and be safe away from them and their treatment of her for a little while.

     “Wait now. Don't be upset.” Vee followed, shaking his head. “You did hurt yourself, Issi. We would have done things with you, would have toned it down if you had asked. Did you not see how you left us in the dust?”

     His words brought Issi to look at him, frowning nervously. “I-I did, didn’t I?”

     Sigurd snorted, but followed after the two. His tail wagging as he laughed enthusiastically to the memory of chasing her before things had turned sour. “It’s been a long time since anyone has so easily outrun me. I bet you would always win.”

     "You think so?" Issi asked softly, her eyes turning back to the Lupe trailing behind them.

     He nodded firmly in reply, which made the mood lighten in Issi's heart a little bit more.

     They continued to walk, together, while Issi still limped. For a bit, they all lapsed into silence, all leaving one another to their thoughts. Issi smiled lightly to herself, her tail flicking behind her softly as she walked. They might let her play with them. They were impressed with how fast she could run.

     She swallowed, giving up her last nerve as she moved a bit ahead of them, then she found herself turning back to them. Stopping them in their tracks. The boys both gazed at her questioningly, and she smiled again at them.

     "So... will you let me play tag with you, next time?"

     The Lupes remained silenced for a few moments, and Issi's heart beat faster.

     Finally, Vee and Sigurd exchanged a look and then both looked back to her.

     "Sure..." Vee said slowly.

     "But..." Sigurd added dramatically, fading off as Issi's hopes started to sink again. But? There was a but?

     Finally, they both grinned widely, walking up to her, both paws reaching out to brush her on the shoulder before they both exclaimed delightedly, "You'll be it!"

     Issi giggled and gave them a horrified look, but her smile won out within seconds, reappearing as the rainbow Gelert's tail swished in the grass as they strolled back towards home.

     She had won her game.

The End