><Freedom Isn't Perfect><

[Stan]

The Story So Far…
A group of cattle escape from the stockyard and run for the wilderness. They evade capture, and have come upon a feral herd who may assist them to their final goal: Gallop Free.
Original Thread

The last three posts:
<Augustine flicked his ears back in agitation, drool caking his bottom jaw and eyes a tad too wide and fearful. Wet nostrils flared and head bobbing nervously, the Ayrshire steer bent his head towards the grass, sniffing furiously, then raised it again, now testing the air. They were closer to humans than he preferred, and though no ranch hands had come to do round-ups in weeks, the faintest odor of their horses and tires still was evident - a little too evident for his tastes. He was probably being unnecessarily wary, but then, being high strung was the only reason he was alive.>
"I don't like it, Gracie; we're getting too close."
<A second Ayrshire, this a female and three years senior to the steer, with lopsided udders and a scar around her neck from past abuse, snorted slightly. The large russet and white female swung her head to nudge Augustine's flank, a gesture that was simultaneously intended to be calmative and cautionary.>
"We certainly are not. And my name is Graciella; I hate being called Gracie."
<A clatter of hooves from behind them signaled Cenova's approach. A charolais, and the most dominant in the group, the bulky, muscular female was exceptionally anxious and athletic. She always seemed to be running somewhere instead of walking, and it was no different as she came up alongside her two herd mates. Tail raised and muscles taught, her hide was twitching with agitation, wide eyes not stopping their search over the land as she spoke>
"I can't smell any farms or dogs nearby, and there shouldn't have been a round-up in some time, but something ain't right. I smell unfamiliar cattle on the breeze - ones than smell like they've been around people recently, not the ones who have been at grass for years."
"Fuck 'em."
<That was Juria. The texas longhorn was the smallest of the bunch, having suffered the effects of poor nutrition as a calf. She'd also been dehorned, though two small, downwards-facing nubs still adorned her poll. Juria's small size and lack of horns made her no less formidable; she was an agressive little firecracker who was always up for a confrontation. It was amazing she'd been able to get along in any herd, really.>
"If they've been 'round humans, they're bad news. Prolly have someone trackin' 'em down right now. I say we ward 'em off if they come by."
<She tossed and lowered her head as she said this, aiming her poll ahead as if gesturing for a battle. One dainty hoof scored the parched earth, though the sight of it was largely lost in the tall prairie grasses that rose so high on the small cow's body>
"No need for that now, is there? We were once a bunch of escapees fleeing from man as well, were we not?"
<Dodge nudged Juria's flank, a gesture to which the longhorn responded by swinging her head threateningly and giving a half-hearted kick. Neither blow connected, nor were they meant to; Dodge and Juria were unlikely friends, the former a calm and authoritative animal with a penchant for compassion, the latter a moody, unruly little beast. Overall, the herd was a diverse bunch, and unlikely collection of diverse breeds and dispositions thrown together by chance and common experience.>


:Stratos fought off the urge to preen when Esperanza confirmed that she would be some help, a task made easier by the cow's following words. Stratos glanced over her shoulder, as if the human threat would materialize out of no-where. She frowned when the Corriente suggested they didn't rush, however. From the smell of the place around them, humans rarely ventured here; there was the lightest scent of tires and dogs about the ground, and Stratos didn't see their mark about the land. The chances of them running into new humans seemed small, while they didn’t know if the old ones were still chasing them. Anyway, she didn't think humans where quite smart enough to discern why a herd was hurrying- they'd probably just assume they were running from predators. Which, in a way, they were.
:Before she could voice these thoughts, though, Valiente spoke up. the Watusi winced, and thought this all the more reason to rush- after all, if the humans were going to covet them, they better get away from them as fast as possible. Esperanza's answer far from comforted the cow, either. It seemed silly just to hope for something to happen, when they could plan a way to assure it didn't (not that she could see what plans they could make, but they all- save Valiente and Martyr- seemed bright cattle; they could come up with something).
:Once again, she was cut off from speaking, but this time by Gwri. She was happy that someone was being proactive, but frowned all the same- she didn't like this forest idea at all. From what she had seen of trees, they had many low hanging branches that seemed just right to get tangled up in her extravagant horns. Of course, none of the others had the problem to such a degree, which worried Stratos; would she be an eventual liability to their little group? Worse, would they leave her behind? She was cut off from voicing her objection to Gwri's plan, however, when she caught scent of other cattle. It only caught her attention because it was the scent of a bull, yet was coming from a different direction than either the Corriente or the Highland.
:She sniffed the air, taking a few steps away from their own ragamuffin herd, but couldn't smell anything very clearly; surely, there were cattle in the distance, and at least one bull, but she couldn't make out much more than that. She swung her head to look at the rest of the group, smiling- it would be a stroke of luck to find a wild herd; perhaps they would be kind enough to lead the new ferals to safety... and she wouldn’t have to say anything negative without a plan to back it up.
"I smell some other cattle; maybe they know where to go to get away from the humans." A way that doesn't involve trees, she added to herself. She had never had to resort to running into a forest when she was free, but then again, she had been caught.:


~Esperanza was quiet as she observed the rest of the herd. She was being quite calm considering everything, something the cow didn't understand herself. She wanted to run like hell and get as far away from the humans as possible, even if it meant leaving everyone behind. She wanted to go, not discuss what was the best way to go about it. And yet she was staying quiet, listening to others, and dealing with Valiente. The personality change surprised even herself.

Stratos's behavior gave her something to be grumpy over. The female could see that the cow disapproved with all their ideas, and she supposed she had to give her credit; she had been out in the wild longer than them, after all. But she had been captured in the end, so whatever she had done previously must have not worked; surely then Stratos had no reason to seem so critical. Besides she couldn't see what was so wrong with Gwyri's idea. Sure, his logic was a little off -- Humans did go into woods, often to cut them down or kill things in them. But it was better than hanging around in the open.

The female was about to ask what was wrong when Valiente, once again, stopped her from arguing.

"Other cattle!"

Seconds later, Stratos voiced the same thing. Valiente looked over at her, excited and happy that something as impressive as the horned beast had noticed the same thing. He liked the idea of them helping too; it made sense to him, though not quite in the same way as Stratos. After all, Valiente had noticed that these cattle didn't have a human smell attached to them. This didn't meant they were wild, though; Valiente had no concept of that. On the other hand, Valiente had decided that, if the cattle didn't smell like humans, they must be god-cattle. After all, what other cattle could have existed before humans, and lived to this day? They had to be gods, immune to humans and death, and therefore certainly able to help them. Valiente couldn't wait to meet them.

Esperanza didn't have even half of Valiente's enthusiasm, and indeed, seeing him being so excited had her extremely worried. A herd of relatively wild cattle was a good thing, certainly; if they had evaded humans for this long, then they could give their rag-tad bunch some advice. However, Valiente seemed a little... Overexcited about it. That could only mean his brain had cooked up some absurd back story about the cattle, or something worse.

Casting one worried glance at Valiente, who was too busy drooling with excitement to notice, Esperanza chose to ignore him and nodded at Stratos.

"Sounds fine to me."

She was still a bit grumpy over Stratos's previous behavior, but managed to put it off. There were more important things at hand than petty bickering and egos.~

[Gwri and Gwynn]

___Gwri had been proud of his little suggestion to hide in the forest, and thus felt some wind leave his sails when no one appeared to be jumping on the idea. However, any disappointment he was feeling was quickly washed away when Stratos announces the presence of other cattle. The bull had been so busy trying to think of the best way to figure out how which direction was most apt to have a forested area that he hadn't been mindfully scenting his surroundings. Now he raised his lacerated, splinter-peppered muzzle and inhaled deeply through massive, wet nostrils. Other cattle were indeed nearby, several from the smell of it. And better still, the smell was unaccompanied by humans. Was it possible that there had been other escapees?
___"That sounds like a good idea, too. There aren't any people around so it's probably safe to assume that they're also... free." He had trouble deciding what to call themselves and other cattle who weren't owned by man, but when he said free, he felt positively titillated. Until this point, the fear, exhaustion, and planning had gotten in the way of really realizing the big picture: for all of the trouble they may encounter along the way, he and the other cattle with him were free. No fences, no dry hay in place of grass, no drinking stale water from troughs. No listening to cows bellow as their calves were torn away for them mere days old, no living segregated from the females, no being ah... stimulated by humans for collection instead of being able to mate naturally. No more frightening transports, crowded stockyards... no slaughter. They were free.
___Inspired by this sentiment, he turned around gave Martyr an epically frothy, wet lick on the cheek. This was one of his herdmates now! Gwynn, apparently not quite having reached the same conclusion yet, blinked perplexedly at the other Highland's behavior before shifting her glance to the other cattle around her. Valiente seemed excited about the idea - perhaps not for the same reasons as the others - and both Esperanza and Stratos were in agreement. Really, the only one who hadn't voiced anything on the matter was Martyr, which she supposed was to be accepted of the quiet little cow. Personally, the highland lacked any preference on the matter; she was all for anything from hiding in the forest to seeking out the feral cattle - anything that involved staying the hell away from humans was fine by her. Taking a few steps in the direction of the scent, she looked to the others once more.
___"I suppose that settles it - shall we, then?"

((Meanwhile, because I don't like masturbatory roleplaying, my herd is arguing amongst themselves as to if they should book before the other cattle find them, ignore them unless they show up, or stick around and help. The conclusion will be ignore them unless they show up and oh, they shall show up. rofl.))

[Stratos and Martyr]

– Martyr, who chose not to attend to the conversation -- or the world, in general -- in favor of considering the sudden and bewildering absence of humans from her life, recoiled from the sensation of a cow’s tongue upon her cheek. She looked at Gwri with surprise, and found in his exuberance another puzzle -- and from Gwynn’s words garnered utter bafflement. She realized, then, that the future had been decided around her, and she had not turned an ear to its creation. She crowded close to the furry bull and nudged his shoulder with her nose. “Where are we going?” she asked him, careful to keep her voice quiet, although she could not subdue the note of panic which laced through the words.
– Stratos did not see the other cow’s distress; indeed, saw nothing but her plan going into motion. She told herself, with not the least bit of heat behind the thought, to rein in her ego before it broke loose and caused someone injury. She found it hard to be anything but upbeat with freedom on the horizon and a herd around her. Not to mention she found the cheerfulness of Valiente and Gwri infectious, didn’t mind at all when it boosted her own mood. It made Stratos optimistic, let her think that perhaps she’d get far enough away from humanity that this time she would not fear staying in one area. Perhaps she’d have a real herd. A thought worth getting giddy over, that. She strode up to Gwynn, but hesitated to pass the cow. Stratos smiled, sudden and wide, and said, “I can’t wait to get where we’re going.”
– She regretted the comment a moment after she said it -- it broke her image of mature competency a bit. And her own words made the thought strike her -- though she’d always known -- that they had no definite goal, but the ephemeral wild. It took the edge off her cheer, so that her smile dimmed. She walked forward, hopeful that she’d moved fast enough that Gwynn would not note the sudden downturn of temper. She need not inflict her gloomy notion on the other cattle -- but did not think she could keep herself from voicing it, if one of them were to ask why here emotions were so erratic.

[Esperanza and Valient]

((I accidentally wrote Vistana in the name box. Yeah, my wolverine is here. Also, I suck because I didn't realize it was my turn to post))

Esperanza rapidly realized a special fact about her fellow species; they were really damn slow, and not in the way that Valiente was slow. They would argue forever about decisions, make a decision, and then not move. She listened impatiently as every cow -- every single cow -- felt the need to agree with the plan, except for Martyr. Then... They barely moved. Gwri ran around showering love upon his fellow cattle -- Martyr looked positively confused -- While Stratos chose that moment to have a complete emotion flip-flop. One second the cow was exuberant and acting like a calf; the second she was dampened.

Perhaps the only cow acting normal was Gwynn. She wanted to get moving, not lick random cows or have mood swings. Esperanza nodded at her, then looked to see if Valiente was planning on joining them. She sighed, ears flicking back, when she saw him staring, drooling dripping from his mouth, at Gwri. The shaggy cow had favored Martyr! He wondered what she had done to get such an honor from such a unique bull, and secretly wished he could get the same thing. He would have to work extra hard so he could get honored, too.

"Valiente!"

He nearly jumped out of his skin at Esperanza's shout and scurried to look at her, ears low and face the perfect image of a scolded child. Esperanza only sighed and nudged him.

"You're fine. It's just we're heading out."

Valiente's ears perked.

"We're meeting the god cattle?"

Esperanza decided that she really didn't want to try and figure that one out. Instead, she only nodded. When they met these, um, "god cattle", she could explain to them about Valiente's "condition."

"Yes. Come."

She didn't bother with pretty words, and Valiente didn't seem to care, either. Instead, he plodded along cheerfully, heading in the direction of the feral cattle's scent. Esperanza kept slightly behind him, glancing once at the other cattle before continuing to follow the other Corriente. The others would either follow or be left behind.