Stampede! {{OPEN!!}}

[SnickersPods]

The bovine eyed the hulking silhouette blocking his exit, dark brown eyes glowing with malicious inclination. It felt, as every herdbeast does at some point in their short life, that for some reason he had to avoid this human at all costs. Unfortunately, for him, it was Briac's turn in the feeding pens. This particular bovine, of which he was squaring off, was due to move from breeding to feeding. He was old, and no longer sired good stock, so they had asked Briac to move him from the breeding pens over to the feeding grounds.

Briac shifted his stance slightly, clenching and unclenching his hands as the beefy bull eyed him almost ludicrously. Briac smelt like fear, he knew, the feeding grounds reeked of the natural pheromone brought about by the two-second image of a giant dragon dropping out of the sky. The few creatures that had managed to survive the slaughter for longer than a week were sly cunning creatures, skinny and wipe fast they avoided being lunch by the narrowest of margins.

Clearly his charge was picking up on that, his nostrils flaring alarmingly as he tossed his square roman profile with stately grace. Briac had very little experience with herdbeasts, and only the briefest of practical teaching given to him. He grumbled as he slid the rope off his shoulder, grateful at least that the malevolent bovine was of a breed without horns. Trained to lead on a rope halter, or so he was told, it had been suggested it should be simple enough to lead him from one pen to another. They had been wrong, Briac was sure.

He sidled up to the muscular male and slipped on the halter with surprising ease. Nevertheless, there was something distinctly calculating about the way in which it seemed to wait. It followed by his side meekly out of the protected underground box stall a sire of breeding was permitted, walking with only the occasional head toss. It wasn't until they entered the broad underground passageways and hit clear tunnels that it made its move. With a head butt that threw Briac fifty yards, though this may have been his pride talking, the bull bellowed its rage before spinning in an amazingly agile move and thundering up the sloping hill that would eventually lead him to the first of the lower caverns. Briac climbed to his feet with a cringe and watched with wide eyes, silently praying to Faranth that he would turn right towards the weyrbowl and not left towards the lower residences and laundry. He cursed as the rampaging animal turned left, uttering a strangled version of his earlier bellow as he stampeded upwards. Briac sprung into his fastest gait, which unfortunately was a pace best suited to long distances and not short sprints. He pounded up the hill after the animal, moving from one patch of light to another as glows illuminated the underground caverns. He wondered if he would get into alot of trouble or just a lake load as he skidded around a corner and thundered after the distant bellows and, he cringed, the first startled exclamations. Shards he was in it now! He was beginning to pass some stunned people, the ones who were still shocked enough to not be mad...yet.

[Inadua]

Yawning lazily, T'shiro barely kept his eyes open as he sauntered through the underground passageways with a full basket of laundry in his arms. Ohhh, what a late night it had been. How had he justified staying up late to drink again? Then he grumbled to himself..and where was a woman for taking his laundry when he needed it?
With a bit of a groan, the bronzerider ran a hand over his face. All the while, thinking to himself, he'd almost completely toned out the shouts of protest coming from behind him -probably just some rowdy kids.

Surely, if there had been some raging bull stampeding from behind, it would have bowled him right over for how unaware he must have been...and this was...and it almost did.
Luckily, as the sounds grew louder, they didn't quite fit that mental picture he'd had in his head of boys being rowdy; he noticed the rush of hooves and muscle mass just in time! Tossing the laundry, T'shiro took a dive, rolling his body against the wall of the corridor. As he came back to his feet, the bull passing, laundry was falling to the ground, scattered everywhere. Following after the beast with his gaze, the rider's eye's grew wide...
"HEY! Those are MINE!"
His riding trousers had fallen across the broad shoulders of the beast as it ran by. T'shiro took off after it in a sprint.
"OOOUI! Wait!!!"