A Not so Enjoyable Ride

“So, Pitsiark. Are you ready for this? …. I know I am not.” Midnight said as he moved towards where his tokota was laying under a tree. For a while now, the dire female had been visiting their camp constantly and now Midnight knew that he had to go further than just letting her be a crazy wild that followed them everywhere. After all, is was about time to pack up everything and leave the Tartok Mountain range due to they could not survive a winter up here, unlike Pitty.
The dire female’s eyes watched him and drank in every move the feline man took as he walked around her before coming up on her side and stroking her neck. The sphinx dire responded by nudging him expectedly with her nose, demanding for treats.
“I do not have any on me, right now, Pitsiark. But if you cooperate and be an overall good girl, I could give you some when this is all said in done.” Midnight said, hoping she would take the bribe. He knew what he was about to do would not be easy… Pitsiark would make it a living Hell for him, and yet, he knew he had to try. If he didn’t try now, there was no guarantee he would ever be able to ride her.
“Come on. Up, up!” He ordered, making the gesture for her to get up. She stared at him for a few seconds, still rusty on what all the signs meant before it seemed to dawn on her and she lifted herself off the ground. She then tilted her head down at him and lowered her nose to sniff at him eagerly.
“No, no! That is not what I meant by cooperating!” Midnight grumbled, pushing her nose away but could not help the small smile her act had caused. “…. Okay… Um…. Crouch down!” He ordered, making the sign for his tokotas to know to lower themselves so he could mount. As expected, Pitsiark did not react as she had never seen this sign before.
“Down.. Down!” Midnight repeated the word, making a crouching gesture. The tokota watched him with confused eyes before she gave a small grunt and then laid back down.
Midnight let out a small sigh, realizing that she must now have come to a conclusion he meant lay back down. “No, no! Not lay down, crouch!” He snapped, making the sign that meant to get up. This got a grunt of confusion from the tokota but she went about obeying the order.
Frowning a bit, Midnight thought a bit of how he had taught his other girls to listen to the order before he took a few steps forward and lightly tapped at her elbows. “Crouch, see? Crouch.” He wacked the inner part of the elbow, which got her to reflex and bend down a bit. This also got her to growl in confusion and then jump away from her.
Midnight sighed and then followed after her and managed to do this a few more times while repeating the sign and command until she finally grew to irritated to listen any longer and rather turned away from him, darting across the clearing that the camp was located in and then swirling around to stare challengingly at him, her ears angled back in distress.
“Ugh…” Midnight groaned out, trying to think of another method of how to get the dire to do as he wished without making her turn aggressive on him. She was not one of his tamed tokotas that had been bred to obey and listen to commands as well as be mounted. She was a wild born creature and he had to keep that in mind when working with her or risk hurting himself and maybe even her if she was to turn aggressive because he was doing his training the wrong way.
Finally, he came up with something and turning away, he went to the tent and went in before coming back out with a bit of moose meat.
“Spirit! Here, Spirit!” He said, using her wild nickname in hopes that it would calm her a bit. It did seem to do the trick as she started to come over to him.
Watching her approach, Midnight threw the meat a few inches away and watched as she went over and bent down to pick up the meat.
In a flash, he had rushed over and threw himself onto her back.
Idiot… Why had he not thought past getting on her!? Surely you would think he would be smarter! But obviously, he wasn’t…
Pitsiark rocked up at this contact and turned around to stare at him. He expected to see rage, confusion, and outrage. But rather, he just seen shock reflected from her amber orbs.
“Um… Hi?” Midnight said weakly, watching as she studied him.
She just stared at him before her shock disappeared and was rather replaced with an expression Midnight did not like…. Smugness…
All of a sudden, Pitsiark started to walk, her gait was steady and smooth. At first, Midnight was terrified of what she had planned and held on tightly. But, as they walked through the forest, he started to relax. He let out a breath and turned his gaze around. Until he realized he had absolutely no idea where they were…
“Pitsiark…” Midnight said, his voice wary as he turned his gaze on the tokota.
Her ears flicked and she turned her gaze on him, and he caught the sudden glint in her eye. Out on instinct, he grabbed hold on her scruffy, short fur, and in good timing too. She was off so quickly, Midnight had thought he had just been hit by a hurricane wind!
They were suddenly speeding over the untamed mountain terrain, Pitsiark having the time of her life while Midnight held on for dear life!
It was all he could do to hold onto her sides with his legs and keep ahold of the fur he had as she flew over the landscape.
She was so fast! So swift, and whenever she decided to change direction, Midnight always felt like he had been hit by a desk of sorts for the wind was coming to fast it stung when it hit his bare skin under his fur! Even the skin under both clothing and fur was being stung by the cruel winds that Pitsiark was charging through!
And yet… Midnight had thought it had been bad on flattish terrain. Oh no. It got worse when the ground suddenly sloped down and Pitsiark charged down the mountain side. By now, he was screeching in horror, demanding for her to stop. But she didn’t listen to him, but rather just kept going!
“PITTY! STOP!” Midnight screamed for what must have been the fifty-thousandth time by the time they reached the bottom of the first steep descent. His eyes widened under his shades as he seen the next steep hill to come. He was so sure they were going to go down it and he tried to brace himself but just as he was about to get ready for the on slaughter, he was suddenly not on Pitsiark’s back. She had suddenly turned sharply and sent him flying.
He hit the ground hard and he screeched. Pain shot through him and he struggled to regain control of his thoughts. As he rolled over onto his stomach, he groaned… He was sure something was broken… But with a bit of examination and moving his limbs, he discovered that theory was not true.
The sound of a distant tokota roarish howl could be heard and Midnight sat up, looking around until he spotted what was Pitsiark charging off into the forest at the bottom of the second hill.
Watching her go, Midnight spat a little bit. He had, had a feeling his first attempt to ride her would end badly but he had not expected to be brutally thrown from her while she took off without not one bit of concern for his own personal safety.
“Geez, thanks…” Midnight hissed, feeling rage, bitterness, and hurt at the way she had just left him and not cared if she had caused him harm.
But as Midnight got up, he realized where he had landed… He had landed on a rather thick patch of moss and grass, a rather good cushion.
It dawned on him now… Pitsiark had been very much aware of what she had been doing and had purposely thrown him onto the bed to send a message as well as cause him as little harm as possible. While the collision had been extremely painful, Midnight was coming to terms that other than having a few bruises, he would was not harmed physically.
Suddenly encouraged by this, Midnight turned back to where Pitsiark had disappeared. “Fine. Today you came out on top, but next time. Oh next time, I guarantee you better be watching out because, next time, I will be the one that comes out on top. You can count on that, Spirit. Oh you count on that.”
And with that, Midnight started the long and slow solo trek back to camp.
Word Count: 1533