Blacktail Deer Plateau stay gold, ponyboy

When Amelie gave the awaited signal, Osprey Jr. shrieked girlishly and dug her blunt claws into the earth, pushing herself forward into a short-legged lope. She ran to the furthest edge of the clearing, then buzzed the shrubbery as she ran around the outer fringe like a racehorse running on the outside loop of the track.

When she dared glance back at Amelie, her tongue dangled from her mouth like a piece of sticky bubblegum, scores of tiny bubbles frothed at the edge of her black lips and her little chest hitched with her rapid breaths. Her eyes didn't immediately locate the juvenile, though when Junior did spot her, she used the last of her breath to scream and collapsed suddenly to the ground.