Racing Hearts (still open)

[tenebria]

Skoren had a wonderful ability to focus on the most unneccessary things. Like climbing. If he was climbing, he was going to remember what he was doing, he was going to focus. His claws gripped the fence while he moved a shaking leg upwards, wobbling slightly. He knew he could get over, if only he could get past that little tilted portion. Now THAT was the trickiest. And he was already quite near it. A few more silent minutes passed, broken only by a speedster somewhere below him dashing about madly before plopping down. His attention did not catch her movements however. Totally concentrating, he shifted another leg upwards, pulling himself higher, and trying to keep himself as close to the edge of the fence as possible. He knew the longer it took the harder it got, but that was the fun of the challenge. If he just ran up it, it would all be over in a moment, and the entire idea of it being a challenge was totally lost. So he inched his way up. Reaching the tilted part, he began moving faster, hooking a claw on the edge and starting to hoist himself up... until back his paw slipped. Oh that traitorous paw! First tripping him earlier, and now causing him to completely fail his mission! With a slightly surprised yelp, realizing he'd lost his focus and his mind had wandered, he slipped off the fence, and plummeted to the snowy ground below. With an effort he managed to twist himself to land a bit better, before poofing into a large mound of snow. He let out a slight gasp, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him. It wasn't like this was an uncommon occurrence, it just wasn't one he liked it be in very often. Slow pawsteps made their way towards him, and hazily he made out the golden grey muzzled face of Frodr above him. "I wouldn't suggest attempting that again" the older dog said in a slow tone as he nudged him, assisting in getting his nose out of the snow enough for him to gasp in a breath. His ribs quite ached he realized. Oh wait had his elder said something? He couldn't remember. Frodr gave him a quick look over, then noticed the blank expression in his eyes and let out a slight huff. He didn't like repeating himself, but he knew it was often needed with Skoren. "I was mentioning how climbing once again today wouldn't be the best idea" he said, adding "You're expending more energy that you have right now, and if you end up twisting a paw or ripping off a claw you won't be able to run anytime soon" he admonished with a slight frown. Skoren twisted his paws to get underneath him, then shakily pushed himself up, giving a large shiver and then a giant shake, snow flying off him. Frodr calmly moved his head to the side as a large icy snow clump flew past from the hound's tail. Skoren tried to focus. Right, something about not getting hurt. "Once a day is my motto, although i'm sure on a second try I could get it" he said almost musingly. Frodr flicked an ear slightly at this. "My suggestion is to at least rest first." he said resignedly as he turned and made his way back to his indentation in the snow. With a few scrapes of his paws, and shakes of his head,he deepend the den he had made and curled up, his head almost level with the top dusting of snow, just the way he liked it. Skoren watched, then glanced at the fence. It was tempting... but his ribs hurt. With a frustrated sigh he moved over to the trough and lapped up some water, then turned and began trotting towards the sunshine on the snow. A nice snooze would be quite opportune, he suddenly thought, not realizing the thought had been put there by Frodr just moments ago. Now he could dig himself a den, or burrow under the snow, or just lay on top of it... there were so many options! Suddenly he tripped over something ,and went sprawling headlong into the snow... for the fourth time that day. With a snort he sprang to his paws, his ribs sending reminding twangs of pain to his brain, then glanced back to see the head of his Alpha had been quite embedded in the soft mounds of snow... by his own paws no less.

[mainehorse]

Echo picks up her head from where it had been rather forcibly shoved into the snow as Skoren tripper over her. She snorts, shaking the snow from her thick brown coat. "You alright there Skoren? You took quite the tumble there" she remarks as she settles back into a seated position. She had thought that she would have been easy to see amongst the snow, since her coat was a pretty dark brown color, but perhaps she had been mistaken. Or the younger dog had simply been distracted. He seemed almost worst for wear from what she could see. She curls her tails around her paws as she regards the other dog. Hopefully he wasn't injured too badly. There would likely be more practice runs, and it wouldn't bode well if he couldn't participate in them. The race was fast approaching.

[Abbster]

Iris looks up as Echo began to talk to Skoren. She snorted slightly. No one usually ever talked to her. Sometimes it annoyed her, because they were a team. Her team should talk to her...right? Iris wondered. Was it because she was so fast and always did morning runs? She wondered to herself. Iris shrugged slightly and decided to not think anything of it as she then went back to licking at her paws. She tried not to look at Skoren. He was a very...well....he was slightly handsome and Iris tried not to let herself like him because of how much racing meant to her. Shaking her head and slapping her back with her tail. "Stop" She grumbled to herself. "Your duty is racing." She thought back to racing and every other thought left her mind. Iris smiled and then felt her eyes glimmer as she suddenly stood up. "Anyone up for a race?" she asked

[wingfeather]

Bear sat down for a moment, catching his breath. He was now finally tired, he looked over his shoulder at the seemingly endless army of trees that he would have to back track through to get back home and groaned. What if he stayed out here the night, and came back in the morning? Then the thought of wolves came back, he liked barking at them when they howled but the idea of staying out with them through the night and by himself didn’t exactly appeal to him. But he definitely did not feel like going back now. “I’ll just take a nap and go back later,” he said to himself. There were plenty of eligible trees about to find cozy pine needle covered nooks to take a nap in and soon enough he settled himself quite nicely within one. The exhaustion of mind and limbs quickly put him down into a dreamless rest.

[tenebria]

Skoren shook himself violently again, then grinned at Echo "Nothing different from last week!" he said cheerfully. The fact that he'd smushed the highest rankings dogs face into the snow didn't rattle him in the least. He hadn't done it intentionally anyway, everyone knew when he was deep in thought he was basically a blind dog. Suddenly hearing one of the Team Dog's voices, he looked over and grinned excitedly, forgetting about his aching ribs. "Always, Anytime!" he said challengingly as he trotted over.

[tenebria]

Frodr glanced back again at the commotion, giving a slight eye roll to the heavens for patience towards that hound who couldn't seem to grow up. When Iris, a quiet husky usually but very energetic, mentioned racing, Frodr shook his head again. The energy everyone seemed to have! He remembered when that energy just couldn't be stopped or let out, but he knew the rarity of true rest for a sled dog. Soon they would all learn it too. His eyes scanned the rest of the area then focused back on the fence, and the forest beyond as the shadows grew longer. If that pup was gone during the night, he might just force Skoren to get to climbing again.

[Abbster]

Iris grinned. "Bet I beat you" She said, eyes sparkling as she looked around. "Ok....how about....to that tree and back?" Iris suggested as she flicked her tail back and forth. Every dog knew Iris was fast...very fast, but she wasn't sure if she could beat Skoren knowing how fast he was as well. She waited until he was ready before she pawed the earth. "three....two....one....GO!" Iris said, as she took off towards the tree she had pointed to with her nose moments ago.

[wingfeather]

The red husky didn’t sleep all that long, it was more like a power nap. Soon the young dog was up again a simply buzzing with energy. The shadows were longer now but his nose was pointed towards home and his tail wagged and the thought of seeing his comrades and teammates again and… food. He was, to say the least, rather disappointed at not being able to find any game, but he was never known for having any hunting skills and he knew that the food bowl wasn’t that far away now. His sharp ears pricked at the wail of a long distant wolf, his body gave any inconstant shudder. He’d been told since young that the wolf was his distant relative. This he saw as a legend… but what if it were true. The house was now in sight and Bear had to give a grin at the two speedsters of the team racing around the yard. After shimmying under the fence again he walked over the the two older dogs and laid down not far from them, not really bothering to make himself a nest. He wondered how dogs could just lay around, but perhaps this is what they did to have fun. He snorted some snow off his nose and sighed as he watched Iris and Skorken still running around.

[tenebria]

Skoren let out a playful growl "In your dreams!" he barked before dashing off, his muscles straining as he gained on the fluffy husky. In a few long bounds he caught up, and held the pace as they raced side by side. Snow flew up around them, and it wasn't enough to just race to the tree, as they both tied quite undeniably. "Three laps!" he challenged and took off again. They were only on the second lap by the time Bear squeezed back under the fence, not that Skoren noticed, he was too caught up in the SPEED and EnErGy!

[tenebria]

Frodr ignored the chaos and drifted into a pleasant doze. It wasn't a long one however, as a scrabbling nearby caught his attention. He opened his eyes, yawning widely and then watching with a mixture of sternness, relief, and curiosity as Bear trotted over, plopping himself down with what was apparent exhaustion, and watching the two crazy dogs racing around the yard endlessly. A slight smile drifted to the old dogs muzzle. Back in time for dinner, he should have guessed Bear wouldn't let that event slip by without his attendance!

[mainehorse]

Echo sighs quietly as she settles back down in the snow. Hopefully this time she would have more luck with actually being able to rest for a bit after the run. Dinner would be served eventually, but she wasn't concerned on when. She trusted that her new master would feed her the same as her old master always had. There were times where she missed her old master, but the new human was decent enough. He fed them well, and they had ample space to run around out here when they weren't hitched to the sled for practice runs. That was all she could really ask for from him. And it was nice to be able to still run rather than being forced into early retirement simply because her old master had passed away. The average sled dog to the best of her knowledge usually worked for eight to ten years, though it varied depending on the dog. Some would work longer and others retired younger. But she was certain that she had at least a few more years left in her. She wasn't as energetic as she was a couple of years of, but she had the energy to lead still. She just liked to spend her time after a run more leisurely than she used to.

[Canadian Sunfeather]

Sorry for my really late reply I have been very busy lately (Not exactly sure where we are in the rp if need be I will edit my post)

Katjuk would watch the other dogs he was also thinking about his past he had gone from just another dog on the sled to being one of the dogs on the winning sled, however that was the past and now he was here on a new sled with new dogs he would have to get to know in order to work with the team he would need to know what they were like in terms of personality were they young and energetic or old and wise beyond there years, he wasn't sure what to do at the moment as it seemed like everyone was kinda doing there own thing which was fine with him as he wasn't exactly the most social dog outside of working on the sled with the team so he just curled up in the snow trying to catch up on some sleep he had missed out on, however it didn't last long as the dogs who were playing caught his intrest he wanted to join them but then he realized that dinner could come at any time from now to later, he knew rest was important or at least that's what his old leader said to him and the team before the musher split them up deciding to move somewhere warmer for retirement, he was young so he had energy to spare for the remaining time till morning came so instead of joining the dogs who were playing together he just rolled in the snow barking in delight as the snow covered him from tail tip to nose in it's cold whiteness that he enjoyed, he would rest later for now he just wanted to chill out and release some energy he had left over.

[wingfeather]

(That's alright Canadian! And your post is great!)

Bear's ears pricked suddenly at the sound of heavy footsteps steadily ploughing through the snow towards the shed, he knew what this meant: FOOD! The young red husky immediately stood and stretched, he would always be able to sleep later. He bolted towards his master who was holding a large basket which Bear could tell, after quivering his nose, was filled with dried fish. He started jumping up and down at the man's heels and barking unceasingly, he knew very well that this annoyed his master but Bear didn't care, he was just starving.

[tenebria]

Skoren quite forgot he was in the middle of a race, and went speeding off suddenly in the other direction, testing his own agility just for kicks. He noticed one of the other sled dogs come down and join them.... oh he couldn't remember the name right then, he was just too busy with SPEED! Abruptly his muscles decided it was time to remind him that he had just taken a large tumble, and began to ache incessantly. He slowed to a halt and flopped down in the snow, panting happily as he looked around at the pack. That other sled dog... what on earth was his name???... was rolling about in the snow, and Skoren was quite enamored by the idea. Flopping onto his side he buried his nose into the snow and began to roll, although the clumps of soft snow refused to stick to his smooth coat After a few more seconds he sat up and shook himself off. And just in time! He heard the footsteps of their master approaching! He let out an excited bark, getting to his paws and padding towards the man, but staying at a distance. That was one lesson that he had learned... and remembered. No cavorting at his heels while he brought them their food.

Frodr flicked an ear as zoned out to the craziness around him, quite used to it at this time. A few minutes later, he was broken from his doze by the familiar crunching sound of footsteps. His tail wagged softly in the snow and he pushed himself to his paws, yawning and shaking himself heavily before padding closer to where Skoren was, his tail still slightly wagging. Meal times were not as needed for him as for the younger dogs who burned their energy as soon as they had it, but it was a welcome event nontheless.

[Canadian Sunfeather]

Eska would watch the sled dogs from a distance she was too young to join them or the sled so she just watched from the side lines, "When I get older I want to be just like them" she said barking in delight as she copied the two dogs who were rolling in the snow, she seemed to faintly remember her siblings doing the same thing once with there mother Kalika and father Svir when they had been together, she tried to ignore how much she missed them but it was hard as she was just a young pup and had really no one at the moment to even comfort her, she calmly walked over to the fenced in yard her eyes seemed to watch the musher as they held a big bag of food and entered the fenced in yard, she could not help but let out a bark matching the energy of the other sled dogs as the musher seemed to lower the bag of food.