Shortcomings Of A Human

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You sat staring up at the night sky. It was cool out tonight, in fact, it was probably the coolest it had ever been since you first came here. You shrugged to yourself, "Winter's on its way."

"You'll catch a cold if you stay up here sulking like that."

You spun around, startled at the sudden statement. You found Luna climbing up over the side of the roof. "Oh, hi Luna..."

The wolf gave you an unreadable stare. Her eyes seeming to scan your features before a warm smile crept across her face, she took a seat on the roof next to you, "It's peaceful up here."

You nodded as you turned your attention back to the sky, "Yeah."

After a few more moments of silence passed, Luna addressed you again, "So, why are you sulking."

You gave a gave a slight smirk, "I'm not sulking."

Luna chuckled to herself, "Of course you are," She stated.

"No, I'm not," You insisted.

As you finished that sentence she pulled you close to herself with her right arm. You bumped into her side as her tail curled around your lower back and draped itself onto your lap. "Your skin is cool to the touch," She noted.

You shrugged as you looked up at her, "So?"

As she stared up at the night sky her ears twitched before she shifted her head in your direction a little. You were only able to see half of her face, obviously the side that faced you. Her amber eye then shifted down to lock onto your own eyes, "So, on some level you must be uncomfortable. Or more accurately, you should be uncomfortable. But you seem fine, completely unbothered by the cold. Or maybe, too distracted to care about the cold." You silently stared back into your adoptive mother's eye, "Because you're sulking."

You were initially surprised, but quickly changed you expression from shock to annoyance, "I told you I'm-"

"So why are you sulking?" Luna interrupted.

You rolled your eyes in annoyance, "Fine, I'm sulking."

Luna's expression shifted as she seemed to take on a rather smug look, "I know what your doing. What I want to know is why."

"It's because of the game," You murmured.

Luna nodded, "I figured that much out on my own."

You gawked at her in disbelief, "Then why did you bother asking abou-"

Luna interjected yet again, "I want to know what specifically about the game has you so worked up."

You thought back to the last play of the game. Your team had closed the gap, but you were still down by two. You only had two minutes left on the clock, this last play would determine who moved on in the tournament and who would be knocked out. By now, everyone was tired. Even Hunter could be seen panting. The two coyotes had been giving their all to keep you and your fox companions away from the goal and frankly, it was working.

You were running out of time, you needed to put one more shot in the basket. Eventually, Hunter decided to call a timeout. You met Hunter and Annika on the side lines, all of you were breathing heavy as you tried to recover with what time you had.

"I can't get near the goal," Annika panted.

Hunter shook his head as he looked back towards the opposing goal, "Neither can I."

"If you two can't get a direct shot in, you already know that I can't," You gasped.

Hunter looked over at you with a deadpan expression, "Maybe we should do an alley oop?"

Annika shook her head, "If that's what you're thinking it would definitely have to be a late setup,"

Hunter looked back to you, "What do you think Kiba?"

"It could definitely work, but they already have seen the first configuration. We'd definitely have to use the second one."

Annika shifted uncomfortably in place, "Are you sure you want to trust me with that?"

You shrugged, "We've practiced it a dozen times, you'll be fine."

The ref blew the whistle, and you were back on the court.

Malcolm hummed in anticipation, "I wonder what they'll do now."

Luna nodded, "They're definitely in a tight spot."

Tanya said nothing, but watched with anticipation instead.

Hunter passed the ball in and Annika picked it up and moved down court. As she did so, the opposing team did nothing to stop her. You were surprised at this.

"Earlier they would have gone after her right away, but now the relaxed their coverage?"You thought to yourself. However, the moment Annika moved near one of them, they jumped into action. As she retreated, the opposing players went back to their starting point. Realization washed across your face. "Their playing zone defense!"

You waved to Annika to get her attention, she saw you and passed the ball your way. You positioned yourself just at the edge of their zones based on what you had seen earlier. Both coyotes immediately left their zones to come after you. You couldn't help but feel a bit bitter at that, "Their targeting me like this because they thought I'd be an easy target," You though with a sour expression crossing your face, "They wouldn't have come after Hunter and Annika like that."

Unfortunately, you had allowed yourself to become a little too preoccupied with their tactics. The coyote lunged at you. You panicked and picked the ball up before pivoting in place on your right foot. The coyote was surprised by the maneuver and went staggering past you. You mentally kicked yourself. You really hadn't intended to use that move until much later in the tournament, and now you'd gone and showed it to everyone watching. However, you couldn't dwell on that mistake at the moment as the second coyote came after you. He swiped at the ball and missed; Hunter made himself open to your right. You glanced at the clock, there were nine seconds left on the shot clock. You bounced the ball between the coyote's legs in Hunter's direction. The coyote spun around in confusion. Hunter passed the ball to Annika, who stood directly in front of the goal at the three-point line. Hunter positioned himself just past the free throw line. The cat, not knowing who to go after attempted to reach Annika for a block while you ran towards Hunter. Annika shifted and twisted to keep the opposing cat from the ball. As you reached Hunter he crouched as you placed one foot on top of his cupped hands in time with your stride. Hunter catapulted you into the air towards the rim. Annika found her opening and passed the ball to Hunter, who passed the ball to you. The white fox breezed past her brother and waited under the goal as the you bobbled the ball in your hands from Hunter's pass. At the last possible moment, you managed to get a grip on the rubber orb before slamming it into the goal. You hung from the rim for a moment before letting go as the buzzer sounded. You landed roughly in Annika's arms with a minute left on the clock. You're team was able to play defense and hold the opposing team off, though Hunter and Annika did most of the work on that front. Granted, you did contribute. But it was obvious who the real workhorses were.

Your mind snapped back to the present with Luna, "I was too weak," You stated. "I made decisions based on fear. I let my nervousness affect my performance and then there's my physical shortcomings..."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "You say you're too weak. Is that how you really feel? Or do you mean you're too human?"

You looked back up at her, "Is there a difference?"

Luna paused for a moment, "Come with me, there's something Malcolm and I need to show you."

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