Fastest Creature Alive... For Now (TAG)

[Riley Jackson]

"Okay, Chester, you're grumpy I woke you up, I get that, and I'm sorry but--"

Riley was cut off by a hiss and a clawed paw batting at her. Thankfully, her speed kept her out of reach, but she still continued to try to slowly move toward the cheetah that currently was growling at her, back arched, in very defensive and threatening posture.

"Come on, be a nice kitty, let me pet you and we'll go for a little run..."

Another hiss and swipe, another burst of inhuman speed keeping Riley's face in one piece. Oh if Ryan could see her now, he'd have an aneurysm. 

Really, this was the only place where her plan had kinda fallen apart. One day, she'd realized that not only had she never been to the zoo here in Astaria, but she'd also never outsped a cheetah and watched the look of absolute confusion that she was sure would erupt across it's muzzle. So she decided she'd kill two birds with one stone.

Getting into the zoo in the early hours of the morning, before it opened, was child's play. She was fast and she could pick locks. If there was a gate that had an electronic lock or something like that there was usually a wall she could run up to get over the gate anyway. It wasn't long before she had made it inside the cheetah enclosure, and that's when the trouble started. First of all, the cheetah didn't seem particularly fond of some unfamiliar girl in black leggings, a t-shirt, and sneakers waking it up early. Second, Riley realized that she had no idea exactly how she was going to convince this creature to race her, and on top of that she really wanted to pet it.

What made that difficult was the cheetah seemed to want to pet her. Head. Off her shoulders. Or something like that. 

She didn't feel like she was in trouble, but really, she knew she should be terrified. Yeah, she was fast, but she wasn't doing the smart thing and running away, and one wrong move on her part and she was going to end up doing her best impression of coleslaw. 

"Come on, I just wanna give you some nice pets and then go for a run. It'll be fun!"

The cheetah's roar and swipe that Riley just barely ducked told her that the critter didn't quite see it the same way she did.


Quill Linden

[Quill Linden]

Patch and Pepper slept on the couch as Quill made himself ready for the day. His morning routine was quite usual for the two canines and they hardly seemed to care that their human was going to be gone for the majority of the day. Quill got to the door and the rattling of a treat bag got their attention before the short walk. Giving them kisses and telling them thrice over to be good, which he knew would be a hard feat, he left in order to arrive at the zoo early as usual.

The morning hours were the times to get ready for guests. He needed to check on several animals, even though he was specifically the red panda expert, the big cat’s caretaker had taken maternity leave. It was a welcomed change to the sleepy animals and getting to look in on, and care for such a majestic animal such as the cheetah they had, Banshee, it was so eloquently named.

It wasn’t long before he arrived at her pen, opening the door to the inner workings and getting her routine set up, the raw chicken for her breakfast to dine on and stuff, but as he opened the cooler to get the morsel out for her, he felt the difference.

“What’s up Safari. Are your animal senses tingling?” Brett joked, opening a can of something for the newest addition to the big cat family. Quill shook his head.

“Yes. Timmy fell down the well. I need to go rescue him. Hey, prep Banshee’s meal for me. I wanna go look at something.”

Human. Eat. Danger. LEAVE.

The feeling of something going wrong with the feline caused him to rush more as he looked through the window at the enclosure and that’s when he saw the hand too close to the cat and the swipe of its paw. Without another thought, Quill rushed in, closing the door behind him.

“WHAT THE HELL. Get out girl- how did you even get in here?” He yelled but drew the attention of the feline away. He put his hand up to her as the same low growl and extended claws gave Quill the notion that Banshee was not in a good mood.

“Banshee-shee. Calm down. I help. Calm. Calm.” He whispered out, watching the teeth bared against her lips. She was nothing more than a pissed off cat in water. His eyes peered over to the girl and then back at the cat. “Get out the way you came or this cat will eat you for breakfast and waste the chicken I was preparing.”

“She-she. Listen -” He watched her movements and took a few more steps to her. His eyes playing with her emotions and watching the full extension of teeth become less and less barred. “Good girl… easy. Easy. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Danger. Intruder. Danger. Eat?

“No, She-She. No eat.” Quill looked at the girl. “Do I let her eat you? You’re not even supposed to be here-”

Riley Jackson

[Riley Jackson]

Well heck. She'd been here longer than she realized. Still, Riley had her goal and she was not easily swayed from it.

"I'll leave when I'm done. First I need to pet... You said Banshee? She looks so damn soft. Then I'm going to beat her in a race."

She inched closer, only to have Banshee snap at her hand, and she yanked away with superhuman speed again. "Oh come on! I don't even taste that good. Hell, my hypoglycemia probably screws with how I taste anyway. I just want one little pet and then you can try to catch me."

Riley looked up at the keeper. "Spoiler alert, she won't."

She took a better look at the keeper. "I know you're just doing your job, but seriously. I'll be fine. Just gotta get Banshee to play nice, let me pet her, and smoke the hell out of her in a race, and I'll be gone. I meant to be gone earlier but she wasn't playing nice."

Quill Linden

[Quill Linden]

The girl must have been stupid the way Quill glared at her. It was almost like the time the flame boy came in here with the cigarettes threatening the animal's clean air. He huffed, watching her and trying to debate on what to do with Banshee and whether or not to make it look like an accident. The thoughts toyed with him waiting her answer.

Banshee's fur bristled, the fur on her neck raised and bristled in fear and anger and a couple of other emotions that this animal was experiencing that was way deeper than he'd like to lead on.

"Really - you'll be eaten alive. She's fast though and what do I tell the zoo manager when they look at footage the footage of Banshee's snack being a non-paying customer?" Quill shook his head and again cooed to Banshee, getting her attention and walking closer to her.

"Who cares what you taste like... she just wants your bones to chew on." He taunted the girl then got in between the girl and Banshee, looking her in the eye.

"She-she. Wanna run?" He put his hand out gently letting her nudge him before she turned her attention to the girl again. "If you win, you can eat her."

He felt her muscles tighten and he raised his hand to run his fingers gingerly against her head and then behind the ear. A low purr emitted through her teeth and he could feel the vibrations. "She'll race you - but don't count on touching her. Her bubble is tighter than my own. And believe me - I don't get close to people."

Quill took a step away.

"Well- I'd start running if I were you."

Riley Jackson

[Riley Jackson]

Riley looked at cheetah, then up at Quill. She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Okay, but tell Banshee that I'm sorry for embarrassing her."

There was a gust of wind as the air rushed to fill the space that Riley left after she took off. This was exactly what she wanted. She didn't keep up at full speed, holding back a bit, just to make it interesting. "ComeonBansheecan'tyoukeepupI'mrightherecan'tyoucatchme?"

The cheetah's tail whipped back and forth, balancing herself while she ran, snarling and snapping at Riley's heels.

She smirked again, and then picked up the pace, blazing away from the big cat. She whipped around a large play tree in the enclosure, then decided she was going to be a little cheeky. Up and over the wall, she zipped out of the zoo, ran by a butcher, then zipped back to the zoo, leaning on the wall behind Quill, holding a thick steak in one hand.

"So, how long will it take her to figure out where I've gone? Also, can she have this? As a thank-you treat?"

She had a confident grin on while she watched Banshee continue to run for a few minutes more. "I told you she wouldn't win."

Quill Linden

[Quill Linden]

Quill watched intently to the girl and then to Banshee. He was just more worried about the girls health then he lead on, but it was more of the fact that he didn't want to explain why an intruder was eaten or maimed. The thought of shrugging his shoulders played in his head and a rightful grin appeared when the girl mentioned apologizing to the big cat.

"Your funeral, but you might want to apologize in person. It'll mean more." He raised an eyebrow and thought that it might even give her the moment to tackle the runner.

Then there was a gust of wind and she disappeared suddenly and she was truly faster then she lead on. "Powered..." He grinned, now enticed to the girls arrogant attitude and crossed his arms as Banshee ran, snapping at her heels and snarling. A daring laugh erupted as he could see her line, just barely a blur, but he kept up until she left suddenly and for a moment, Banshee was just running around looking for the ghost that was no longer there. "Damn, I didn't even get her name."

His words just barely finished when she reappeared behind him on the wall. He turned, leaning heavily on the wall. "You're a dead man to her. I can't stop her this time, nor do I want to. I want to see you outrun her again." It was more out of jest, and interest. "Sure, you can give it to her yourself. You've proven your faster than her hunger pangs.

"Maybe you were right, but that don't mean you can taunt the poor kitty." A court laugh danced on the air around them as he held his hand out to her. "Name's Quill. You? Nice powers, by the way -"

[Riley Jackson]

"I'm Riley. Nice to meetcha."

In a blink, Riley dashed out to in front of banshee again, dropped the steak, and was back at the wall by Quill and shook his hand. "And thanks. About the powers. I'm guessing you have some powers that have something to do with why Banshee agreed to the little footrace. That was pretty awesome too."

She leaned down and extended her leg, stretching out the tendons in it. Just because she could move them at immense speeds didn't mean she didn't need to keep them limber. "Sorry if I cause you any trouble with your bosses. I dodged most of the security cameras, except for a couple I knew had low frame rates, I'll be a "blink and you'll miss it" blur on those. Unless there's one here in Banshee's enclousure... shit I didn't think of that."

She immediately stood up and started to look around for a camera. "I was planning on being out of here before you started to open up, but I was having trouble getting Banshee to cooperate. She's not very friendly to new people."

Suddenly, Riley had an idea. "Wait. Hold on. Is a cheetah really the fastest critter you guys have here? Do you have anything faster?"

There was a light, a spark in her eyes. She was pretty confident she was one of the fastest creatures on God's green earth, but now she had a chance to test it.

Then she remembered where exactly she was, what time it was, and who she was talking to. "Oh shit. Never mind, I can come back later, you're trying to open up everything and I should probably get out of your way."

Quill Linden

[Quill Linden]

"Riley." He muttered under his breath as she gave the treat to the cat. He noticed her absence for merely a moment before Banshee growled and attacked the steak dropped at her feet and then the gentle breeze caught his attention beside of him. Her hand molding into his and for once a half assed grin appeared out of kindness.

"No problems here. They understand that I'm an asset to this place in more ways then one and the only one who can calm the ferocious bear when he's getting his knickers in a wad - and by ferocious bear, I mean my boss. The actual bear is a huge teddy."

Talk of the camera's only gave him a shrugging moment, crossing his arms in front of him and watching as Banshee's low rumble echoed to his ears. "She wants more." He teased knowing that the morsel was basically enough to taunt her taste buds instead of satiating her hunger pangs.

"Thanks to you, whatever I give her later, she'll snarl at me for something so mediocre." He nodded at Riley. "Well, she don't like anyone. She barely even likes me. She's more of a housecat anyways, but a bad attitude."

With Riley's question, he began to ponder. "No, I don't think we do. Not here anyways. Besides, Banshee's enclosure doesn't actually give her enough room to keep her standards of a cheetah up to par. You'd want one in the wild and that's got more motivation to chase a tasty morsel like yourself." He half grinned, eyeing her.

"If you want to come back later, I'll treat you to lunch. What do you like? Rabbit food, I assume?" Quill chuckled and nodded toward the exit of Banshee's exhibit. "Time to move on. I gotta go check on Yogi before we open and make sure he's fed. Last thing I need if for your to challenge him to a test of strength and speed. Those jaws -"

Riley Jackson

[Riley Jackson]

Riley raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit when Quill called her a "tasty morsel." So he was a bit of a flirt, huh? She was actually flattered a bit.

"I'll have to take a vacation sometime and get a real race in. No offense Banshee!" she shouted toward the big cat.

She frowned and leaned against the wall a little harder, looking at the walls of the enclosure. She didn't like Quill saying that the place was too small for the creature. Sure, it probably had something to do with her powers, but she was a big proponent of being free. Free to run, free to move. She knew zoos were big on conservation and if Banshee was just let out into the wild she probably wouldn't do super great right off the bat, but... she hated being contained. Being unable to go when she wanted to go, to run how far she wanted to run.

"You should talk to your bear of a boss and get Banshee a bigger enclosure. She should be able to run just as fast and as far as she wants."

The comment at challenging Yogi, who she assumed was the bear that was a big teddy, got a deep, melodic laugh out of her. "Nah, not a strength test. Maybe a speed test, but I'd win."

She stretched again, getting ready to take off. "I'll be back for lunch. Rabbit food... Hah, I'd die if I kept up a diet of that. Nacho Bitch is close, I like tacos. Unless you don't like tacos. Either way, I'll be back. See ya!"

With that, she was a blur, and gone up and over the wall and outside the bounds of the zoo again. She had to report in at the Cabal, after all, and make sure that nothing would interfere with this lunch date. This was exciting! Who would have thought that starting her day with racing a cheetah would have led to this much excitement?

Quill Linden

[Quill Linden]

Quill was floored by her. Absolutely floored by her tenacity and drive to be her own person and it didn't matter to him that she was powered or not. In fact, that seemed to be the one thing that drew him in to her, after all, he wasn't much of a people person. When she had ran off, she mentioned tacos and wondered if he liked them as well, to which he had nodded but almost like that she was taking off in a blur before he shouted back to her that he'd meet her her.

With the wind kicking up the dust in her tracks, he stood there staring at the place she last stood and then back to Banshee. She turned her attention to him, after having eaten the treats she brought him. "Should I go?"

Banshee dropped her head and brought her paw up to her mouth and began to lick her fur. "Is that a no? Or a yes? Or you just don't care." Quill left her enclosure, locking the door and again, looking in the direction that she had taken off to. His mind whirling with thoughts about maybe having someone else to confer with other than the company of animals that he found completely comfortable with.

With a half hearted grin, he headed off into the direction of the bears, his eyes anxiously gazing at the watch on his hand. It would be a while before lunch but it would be worth it.

Riley Jackson