Reuben | 1 year | Male | North American Puma
Location: Enclosure, West side of rescue
Mentions: Amir, Wilfred

Rube was an overgrown kitten. Any cat, or human, within a ten mile radius probably knew that. But for some reason, the humans hadn't been back to pay attention to him in two whole days. He sat at the entrance to his enclosure, staring through the metal fencing to look for one of the strange hairless upwalkers. The puma had been sitting there a whole hour, still as frozen water. It was the closest he had ever come to being outwardly calm, though inside his mind was racing with questions regarding what happened to the people.

Finally, he came to the realization that no one was going to come out today, either. A rough sigh escaped his mouth as he stood and turned toward a different enclosure. The enclosure across from him held a young leopard that he liked to play with, Amir. Sure, he was bigger and they couldn't actually reach each other, but they could play stop-and-go or run from one end of the fence to the other and see who was faster. Rube tended to make sure Amir won at least half of the time, though sometimes his feet hurt too bad for him to run fast anyway. Being declawed, he walked more on his “heel” than his toes, because he couldn't balance on them well without that first bone.

He shuffled over to the side where he could see Amir, and was about to call out to him when suddenly the ground began to tremble. Rube swung his head over his shoulder to look at his father lazing in the center of the enclosure, but even he had raised his head at the start of the shaking. At first it was just a shock, but it wasn't long before it roared deeply and threw him to the ground. “Papa! Amir!” he cried, trying to get back up and failing.



Wilfred | 4 years | Male | North American Puma
Location: Enclosure, West side of rescue
Mentions: Reuben, Amir

The large male laid there, one eye trained on his childish son. This was the worst he had ever seen the boy. Even though the humans didn't do much in the way of interacting with them, they did bring food, water, and for the younger ones, attention to some degree. He could see the way his son's ears drooped and his tail lay flat on the ground instead of curled high. Wilfred didn't mind not seeing people all the time, minus the lack of food. His stomach growled angrily, and he could only imagine that Rube's was doing the same thing.

Wilfred kept his gaze on his son as he moved over to where he could speak to Amir. Wilfred hadn't spoken much to the young cub, but he was definitely cute, and it gave Rube someone to play with so that he could rest once in a while. Something seemed off though. Every hair along his back was prickling for some reason, and after Rube looked at him, he shot up and leaped over towards his son. Before he got there the earth snarled and bucked under him.

“Stay still and keep down!” he yelled, flattening himself as low as he could to the ground. He also tried to move forward, but the ground was moving too much. He couldn't get any closer to Reuben.

Amali||Female||Amur leopard||1 year

Location: Enclosure- East side of rescue

Mentions: Bojan

Icarus | Male | 3 Years Old | Florida Panther
Location: Rescue - East Side / Enclosures
Mentions: Amali, Bojan

Icarus paced back and forth along the length of his enclosure, tail-tip flicking irritably every few seconds as yellow-green eyes scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the humans who usually cared for him. The young panther couldn't say he especially liked them, or any Two-Legger for that matter, but he had undeniably come to rely on them. A sharp pain filled his belly as another day without food carried on. He'd been lucky enough to snag a rather unfortunate mouse who had wandered into his cage a few hours previously, but it was hardly enough to sate his hunger. Had the humans abandoned them? If so, why? It seemed rather uncharacteristic of them. The rescuers had never let them go without food for this long before.

Icarus halted at the main entrance to his cage, eyes narrowing. His caretakers always convinced him to enter another sectioned off part of his habitat, safely securing him behind a gate before moving into the enclosure, usually to deliver meals or clean up any messes he had made. After that was done they would leave and release him again. He just needed to figure out how to open it up as the humans had. Pawing and pushing at the enclosure walls, a sudden feeling of foreboding crept up his spine. It was Icarus' only warning before the ground began shaking in violent tremors, knocking the tawny-furred cat off his paws.

A yowl of fear escaped his maw as Icarus tumbled to the cage floor, long black claws sliding out and gripping the earth beneath him in a desperate attempt to stabilize himself. The ground seemed to rip apart all around him, leaving behind deep gouges as if a great cat had reached out and clawed the earth. A sickening crack overhead caught his attention and Icarus rolled out of the way just in time as the front end of his enclosure fell in on it's self, heavy branches from a nearby tree embedding in the ruined fencing. Icarus crawled forward on unsteady paws, squeezing out through a small hole in the fence created from the collapse. Once outside he shot forward only to stumble down again a few pawsteps later. This time he didn't try to right himself until the ground stopped shaking.

He took in deep breath, waiting for his own body to stop trembling before rising to his paws. The great earth shake had stopped just as quickly as it came, but the air around him still held a certain aura of danger. Moving onward cautiously, Icarus paused as he reached the two enclosures across from his own. The first had a leopard, the other a lynx. Normally Icarus would never be the first to seek out other cats, but right now he just needed to know if Amali and Bojan were still alive. He needed the comfort of not being entirely alone in a broken world. A loud, screechy scream erupted from his throat, and his ears perked forward, hoping to pick up any kind of response.

((I don't have time to write an intro for Fahima right now, but I'll get around to it next post.))

Misha | Female | 2 yrs. 3 m. | Clouded Leopard
Location: Rescue - North East Side / Enclosures
Mentions: Icarus, Amali, Bojan

Misha, a smaller clouded leopard with a thick, healthy coat and gleaming eyes resided two enclosures over from Bojan and Amali and just across the "hall" from Icarus, whose cage ranged wider than hers. She was a rather new amendment to the rescue; unused to the smaller amount of room she'd been given, the female had taken to pacing in her cage quite often. Her thickly-furred tail lashed as she passed by the front wall of glass, glancing out the large window and at the stone world beyond. Turning and letting out a low growl, she leaped up onto the twisting tree near the center of her enclosure and stared out at the other side. Beyond two more rows of fencing was an unknown world full of tall, real trees and tangling undergrowth. Staring with amber eyes at the world beyond, Misha began to purr softly to herself.

It had been an unknown amount of time since the humans had stopped returning to this rescue. Misha was used to going hungry for a few days-though it was rare at her previous home- so she was merely curious over the matter. What she was more interested in was how the other large cats were handling the situation. Tired of being alone and fenced away from her possible companions, Misha glanced over towards the other cages and let out a friendly, curious call.

A sudden shiver racked her body in the moment of silence that followed, quickly turning into a full body tremble that mocked the earth. The ground shook beneath Misha and her tree, sending her careening forward and nearly throwing her from her perch. Scrabbling at the wood with her claws, she dug in deeply and managed to catch her footing before the earth rumbled again and then shook violently. This time, her claws were thrust from the wood and she hit the ground with a low yowl of pain. The breath left her lungs in a violent gasp and she lay there for a moment as stars clouded her vision and her head spun dizzily.

The ground shook slowly as she lay on it, and a few pieces of tree debree fell around her, one landing on her back leg and forcing her to wriggle away from her place of falling. Glancing around, she noticed a few cracks in some of the equipment- and some of the walls! Misha was just sitting up when she heard the familiar voice of Icarus across the hall, a screechy scream that caught her attention and made her get to her paws. Not once having gained the courage to say something before now, Misha mewed quietly to herself and then called out shakily and in a high tone, "Hello?! Are you guys okay?!"

Basho | Male | 3 Years Old | King Cheetah
Location: Enclosure on East Side
Mentions: Misha, Icarus, Reuban, Wilfred

The glass that separated him from the outside world taunted him, mocked him from where he stood. Freedom seemed so close and within reach, yet it was entirely unattainable. Basho had bitten at the wiring of his enclosure in an attempt to escape, but he couldn't stand the bitter iron taste for very long and so he inevitably gave up. Running his paws along the glass was useless and in the end just made him look stupid, his feet awkwardly sliding out from beneath his weight and resulting in an ungraceful smack of his nose hitting the window. Would he ever be able to be free of this place?

He doubted it. Basho hadn't been in here very long, and he couldn't understand why he'd be thrown in such a vile place. He craved the taste of fine pate's and to walk freely along his estate, confined only by the gold collar that once circled around his neck. Now here he was, surrounded by walls and being stared at by unfamiliar cats he was forced to live alongside. His interactions with the other felines had been few and far between, and quite honestly he'd prefer to keep it that way. He'd caught a glimpse of a clouded leopard, perhaps a few panthers here and there. Meh. Though admittedly, he was growing quite bored. Or lonely. He couldn't tell the difference between the two anymore. Not to mention, he was absolutely starving. Where were his servants? The fur-less two legged beasts who fed him and stank to high heavens? Those foolish creatures hadn't tended to him in what seemed like days and he was growing irritable. Letting out a dramatic groan, the marbled cheetah flopped down to his side and into what felt like a herd of elephants. What the hell? Was the earth moving beneath his paws?!

A loud crash over his head had him flinging his body closer to the ground, digging his black claws into the flesh of the earth as his body shook violently against the strange force. The very top of the glass window had cracked from the binding and shattered all over the floor of his enclosure, small shards digging painfully into his pads. If he still desired freedom, he'd get it now for sure, but he wasn't confident he'd even make it out alive. His head ached from the strange pressure and the mane of fur along his neck was wildly bristling, refusing to go down even as the vibrations died down and the world was left dishevelled but strangely still. He laid there for a few moments, mahogany eyes wide with uncertainty and fear, before slowly pushing himself to his feet. Ouch. Glass in the paw pads, wonderful. More importantly.. what was left of his so-called companions? Limping over to stick his muzzle between a set of bent bars, he let out a loud yowl. "Hello!" His ears flattened, not very fond of the silence that met his words initially. They pricked up again at the sound of a catish scream. "Is anyone still out there? Whats going on?"

Icarus | Male | 3 Years Old | Florida Panther
Location: Rescue - East Side / Enclosures
Mentions: Amali, Bojan, Misha, Basho

Icarus' ears strained for any sort of response from the two enclosures in front of him, but an eerie silence hung over the rescue and he didn't hear so much as a shuffle to signify either cat was still alive. Icarus was unsure what drove him forward, perhaps his own dreadful curiosity getting the best of him, but he crept closer to the cages. Nearing Amali's first, he peeked through what was left of the ruined mesh walls and his pelt bristled upon spotting the leopardess unmoving on the ground. He squeezed through a break in the door and rushed to her side. Blood trickled down her face from a wound on her head and he pressed an ear to her side, signing in relief as he picked up the movement of breathing. "Wake up," he demanded, shaking her shoulders with his front paws when Amali remained unconscious.

Growling softly, he lifted the leopard up by the scruff enough to awkwardly slump her across his back. After a bit of re-arranging her paws dangled along his sides and head hung across his neck. He stayed in a half-crouched position for a moment as Amali was heavier than he had expected and carrying the slightly larger cat like this was proving rather challenging. Pushing forward slowly, he managed to miraculously slip back out through the hole in the cage, letting Amali slide back to the ground as he flopped down next her panting. "Damn...either I'm out of shape or you could afford to lose a few pounds," he joked wryly.

Moments later two new voices filled the air, calling out for other survivors. He recognized them as the Clouded Leopard across from him and one of the African Cheetahs, though he had never bothered to learn either cats' names before now. "I'm alive," he called back in answer to Misha questioning if everyone was alright. Basho's inquiring what was going on only had the panther irritably rolling his eyes however. "What do you think happened bee-brain? The earth shook and ripped itself a new one." Heaving himself back up to his paws, Icarus attempted to spot the other leopard and cheetah. Were they still in their cages. "You two stuck?"

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Fahima | Female | 2 Years Old | Asiatic Cheetah
Location: Rescue - West Side / Enclosures
Mentions: Rueben, Wilfred, Amir

Fahima tripped over her own paws as the ground began trembling violently, sending the young cheetah careening into one of the enclosure walls, a pained yowl escaping her maw as she fell to the floor. Her permanently unsheathed claws gripped at the grass and she clung to the earth for dear life until the shaking stopped. One minute she had been sprinting circles around her habitat in an attempt to stretch her legs and distract herself from how hungry she was and the next thing she knew the whole world was being torn apart.

She continued to lay there for a good few minutes before gathering her courage and stepping forward. A tree had brought down a good part of the enclosure wall and she easily slipped through. Things didn't seem much better outside however. The ground had ripped open in some areas, none of the other cages had gone undamaged, the smell of blood and death was pungent. Horror washed over her as Fahima realized most of the rescue's inhabitants had not survived the ground shaking.

She found herself checking each enclosure she passed, recoiling in sorrow whenever she discovered a new corpse or a cat beyond help. The hardest was a small lion cub who's spine had been snapped by falling ruble. Fahima had managed to dig the little one free of the debris, but he died only minutes later. Head hanging low, she padded onward until a new scent hit her nose. Another cub and two Pumas. She prepared herself for the worst as she approached the enclosures, but was delighted to find both Pumas were still living, though she couldn't spot the cub anywhere. "You're alive!" She blurted out, rushing closer to where Rube and Wilfred had crouched to get a closer look at them.

Reuben | 1 year | Male | North American Puma | Location: West Side
Mentions: Amir, Fahima, Wilfred

A loud roar split the air as the earth began to pull itself apart, cracking along a jagged line towards the north of the enclosure. Rube covered his ears with his clawless paws, trying to protect his delicate eardrums from the snarls of a pained planet. The rumbling bounced him around on the ground, pushing him up against the mesh of the enclosure and stinging his face as it pressed hard into the metal. His eyes were shut tight, but at a new, thunderous sound he slit one open and caught sight of the big tree in the center—the one that he kept all his shinies under—topple over onto the wire surrounding the two pumas. With a loud, ripping crash, one side of their cage was crumpled into a heap by the old tree.

After a few more seconds of shaking, the earth settled again, going still. The muscles beneath his fur still trembled from where he had curled into himself so tightly, his paws still clamped over his ears. Satisfied that everything was over, he pulled his paws back to the ground and lifted his head, gazing around at the destruction. A huge, gaping hole was on the north side beyond the enclosure, and it seemed to stretch through the rescue. His eyes grew wide at the sight, doing his best to tear them away to look at where the tree had smashed through the side of the enclosure. Finally his mind clicked back into action and he thought of Amir, forcing him to whirl around and peer into the cage across from him. From where he was, he couldn't see the leopard cub.

A short pelt brushed against him, and he looked up to see his father, Wilfred. The larger puma was staring down at him with scrutinizing eyes, scanning up and down his flanks and face. Finally, his father sighed and pressed their foreheads together, letting out a purr. Rube smiled softly and returned the gesture with a purr of his own.

Wilfred | 4 years | Male | North American Puma | Location: West Side
Mentions: Amir, Fahima, Reuben

Wilfred had dug his claws deep into the soil as the ground rocked back and forth, and by the time it was over, his muscles in his paws were sore. He wasted no time once the earthquake was over, leaping to his feet and racing over to his son to check on him. Reuben was all he had left in this world, and even though he was an overgrown cub, he was still his son. After he was satisfied that Rube wasn't hurt in any way physically, he bumped their foreheads together and purred. They might have stayed that way longer if a voice hadn't risen from the rubble around them.

Swiveling his ears and then his head, Wilfred spotted an Asiatic Cheetah. He hadn't seen her before, but if she was there, she had to be from the Rescue if she was wandering around here. Taking in a steadying breath, he called out, “Thankfully!” Then he nudged his son towards where the tree had torn down the wall of metal fencing. “Hang on, we'll be out in a moment!”

Guiding Rube over to the tree, he instructed the youngster to climb up onto his back to get on the tree trunk and then to balance along it until he was out. Even though he hesitated at first, he decided it was better to obey his dad and climbed up. After he was safely on board, Wilfred bunched his legs under him and sprung up onto the tree in from of his son. It was more difficult for Rube, since he didn't have any claws to grip the bark with, but he did remarkably well and didn't fall off. Perhaps it was because Wilfred was shoving through and breaking most of the branches in the way that could be broken, and maybe it was just luck.

At last the two leaped down outside of the enclosure and joined the cheetah. He dipped his head politely and said, “I'm Wilfred. This is my son, Reuben. I guess the earthquake destroyed your enclosure, too, then?”

Amali||Female||Amur leopard||1 year

Location: Next to enclosure- East side of rescue

Mentions: Icarus, Misha, Bojan

With a sputter of breath and a coughing fit, Amali jolted up only to tumble over again. Her large tail couldn't help balance her when the world was spinning all around. This time she stayed flat against the ground but let her eyes adjust before looking around. The world was torn and ripped in many places and all the enclosures she could see were toppled over and crashed into heaps or rubble. She could smell blood close by and she looked around for a moment before rubbing a paw over her head, feeling the sticky and crimson liquid. She recoiled at the strange liquid before wiping her paw off on the grass.

Voices filled her ears after a few moments and she turned her head slightly, feeling a sharp pain in her head, it quickly dissipated and she focused on the cat ahead of her. "Icarus? Is that you?" Amali spoke out and slowly stood up, fully seeing the panther in her field of view. A cat- still in their enclosure -stood ahead of him. Misha- a fellow leopard. Bojan was nowhere in sight but a cheetah approached who wasn't usually visible to the Amur leopard. "Hello, I'm Amali-" She blinked rapidly as she approached the cat, "Are you okay? You're limping." Her head cocked to the side and she circled around the cheetah, viewing his marbled coat before sniffing closely at his paws, smelling blood. "And there bleeding." Amali looked up at him, seeing his height reminded her of her human caretakers and she immediately liked him.

Basho | Male | 3 Years Old | King Cheetah
Location: Enclosure on East Side
Mentions: Icarus, Misha, Amali, Bojan

With the chaos of the world around him now beginning to subside, Basho's ears twitched furiously around his head as he struggled to focus in on specific voices. One in particular caught his attention quite quickly, an array of sarcastic words being thrown in his direction and causing him to wrinkle his nose irritably. "You say it so casually." He snapped back, though his voice was low and grim. He'd never experienced something so strange, and he'd certainly never think that the world around them would fall apart like this. What did this mean? His cognac coloured irises trailed along Icarus' form from where he paced, and nearly laughed at inquiry. "What do you think, bee-brain?" He shot the words back at the panther, pressing his cheek against one side of the bars in a feeble attempt to see if they'd bend under his weight. Much to his disappointment, they did no such thing.

Letting out a frustrated huff, the marbled cheetah fell back onto his haunches. A quick observation of his enclosure revealed he'd be able to jump through a hole at the top of his enclosure where the glass had separated from the binding, but Basho wasn't sure he'd be able to jump up that high. Pushing himself back to his feet, he paced uneasily beneath it, studying it with narrowed eyes. Perhaps if he just managed to hook his paws around the broken glass and haul himself over it.. Hello, I'm Amali.. Nearly jumping out of his skin, the amur leopard nearly had him jumping out of his own coat. "Nice to see your eyes are working." He drawled out dryly to her, lifting a paw to allow a small trickle of scarlet to weave down his forearm and sink into his fur. Abandoning his sarcasm and letting out a sigh, he let his paw fall back and gingerly scrape over the ground. "Not a single scratch on you, huh? You lucked out." Angling his head behind her, he motioned to an enclosure parallel to his own. Two limp forms lay beneath fallen concrete and iron bars, crushed by the weight. Only their spotted tails were visible from where they stood. "Them? Not so much. Leaning on the positive side, however.. you wanna help me get out of here?" His eyes flickered from Amali and to Bojan, an unfamiliar lynx who was approaching. They were all strangers, at least to him, but in order to be free from his torn-up enclosure he'd have to rely on the gratitude of these strange cats.

Icarus | Male | 3 Years Old | Florida Panther
Location: Rescue - East Side / Enclosures
Mentions: Amali, Bojan, Misha, Basho

"No, some other cat just almost broke his back getting your unconscious behind out of your enclosure before it collapsed and crushed you the rest of the way," he replied to Amali sardonically as she padded away to greet the still trapped King Cheetah. A sharp retort lingered on the tip of his tongue regarding Basho's response, but he bit it back. He could snark at the other male later once they were all free of this prison. Or better yet, he could be on his way. A huffing sound caught his attention long enough for him to catch sight of Bojan heading in their direction. "Nice of you to join us," he commented flatly. "Do me a favor and make sure Misha can get our of her cage while I take care of Stripes here," he requested, pointing his tail toward the Clouded Leopard's enclosure before joining Amali in front of Basho's.

Icarus eyed the hole near the top of the enclosure wall and frowned. He didn't know how high Cheetah's could jump, but he doubted Basho would make it. "Forget that. You'll just do more damage to yourself," he grunted, eyes glancing toward Basho's bleeding paws momentarily before he began walking along the length of the habitat. "Look for a break in the wall somewhere else before you consider using that one." He paused at a thin crack near the corner, but found it was too small for Basho to squeeze through. He clawed at it, but all that did was leave him with sore paws. He moved on to locate the next possible escape route. "To answer your earlier question, that was an Earth Shake. We got them all the time in the place I used to live. Just...never this bad."

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Fahima | Female | 2 Years Old | Asiatic Cheetah
Location: Rescue - West Side / Enclosures
Mentions: Rueben, Wilfred, Amir

Fahima waited with baited breath as the Puma pair maneuvered their way out of their enclosure, dropping down in front of her only moments later. The fur along her spine began to prickle as she noticed Wilfred especially was rather...large. Her claws kneaded the grass nervously, but she pushed aside her own misgivings about bigger cats long enough to politely greet both, dipping her head respectfully. "I'm Fahima. Indeed it did...are either of you hurt? I could try looking at your wounds," she offered.

Her head suddenly jerked in the direction of Amir's cage as a muffled plea for help reached her ears. The Leopard cub! How could she have forgotten him? "We need to help him," she blurted out automatically before racing away from Wilfred and Rueben, skidding to a halt in front of the still mostly intact mesh cage. 'Where are you!?" She called, mahogany eyes scanning the area, but not spotting Amir's smaller form anywhere.