It was the breathing time of day for Lazarus. Having just come down from a vigorous run, he was lounging underneath the shade of a pretty, though small, green tree. It was perfect, as if it had grown just for him, to offer him the right amount of shade without leaving too much from someone else to come in on. He wasn’t one for sharing when he was tired, and was selfish when it came to comfort. If accommodating someone else was going to put him out then, in that moment at least, he wasn’t going to stand for it.
Stretching lazily, he heaved a profoundly restful sigh and rolled onto his back. Eyes closed, he let his legs fall in whatever direction they wanted to. The savannah was hot, the yellow grass seeming to steam as visible clouds of heat billowed off the dry earth. It no longer mattered to the strained Jackal, however, now that he had found this little bit of heaven.
He had been chased by a lion with a short temper and no tolerance for sarcastic or even good natured jokes. Ruffled, but no worse for wear, Lazarus decided he would have to try a different tactic on the next creature he met.
Chirpa, too, was having a rest. She had spent the morning hopping around the ground eating seeds, as well as the occasional insect that got close enough to her. Food was more plentiful in the morning, not to mention predators were scarcer. The only thing she had to worry about was being spotted by an early rising cub who wanted to practice their hunting skills. She had seen those before. The fledgling has just barely learned to fly, but it was enough to help her get out of the way of cheeky cubs. One day when she was bigger she'd get them back for attacking her like that. Silly lion-chicks.
The young bird had been resting when the sound of breathing brought her from her slumber. She peeked her head up, blinked twice, and then spotted something in the grass below. Chirpa studied the jackal for a moment, before deciding that she had never seen anything quite like it before. So, she only did what was natural. She asked it. "'scuse me sir, but what are you?" It looked like a sir, and Chirpa secretly hoped she hadn't been wrong guessing its gender. It would make for a better first impression.
The green jackal lifted his head at the sound of the voice, glancing around for its source. He saw nothing, and thought he had either dreamed it, or was finally going insane. Chuckling at the very idea of the latter, he rolled his eyes at himself and settled his head back on the earth. It was difficult to recognize anything while he was upside down, anyway. Closing his eyes again, he took a long moment before he realized that he had, in fact, seen something.
Opening on eye slowly, he focused on the little bird. Rolling onto his side with a fatigued grunt, he leaned forward and sniffed the ball of feathers gently.
“Hello, little… piece of fluff,” he said, grinning broadly and baring his white fangs. He didn’t mean it as a threat, his jovial, bright blue eyes and honestly pleased voice attesting to that, “I’m a Lazarus, or so I’ve been told. That’s my name, at least. I’m a Jackal. And a really cool one, to boot. What are you, besides a pretty little thing?”
Of course, he knew what it was, but it was a nice segue into a conversation, and he wanted to hear her response. He was still, vaguely, a little unsure that she was actually there, after all.
Chirpa drew herself up at the piece of fluff comment, and clicked her beak. "I am not a piece of fluff! I am a bird!" See, at least she knew what she was. Still, she supposed it was only fair that he didn't know what she was, seeing as she didn't know what he was. But he looked and talked like an adult, so that meant that he should definitely know better. After all, weren't adults supposed to be really smart?
She listened intently when he continued onwards, eager to learn what he was. So his name was Lazarus, but he was called a jackal. Interesting. "Are you a baby jackal or a big jackal?" He was quite small, but that didn't mean that he had to be a baby. Adult birds were quite small compared to lions but they were still adults. It didn't hurt to ask. "I'm Chirpa! And how come you're a really cool boot?" She had clearly misinterpreted what he had said.
Lazarus laughed, “I’m a really cool boot because I just kick it, I suppose,” he said, inadvertently making a joke that even he didn’t understand, “and I’m an adult jackal. All grown up, this one.”
He stood, to show off his size, holding his head up and his chest puffed out as if that might make him seem a bit more imposing. Once he was done posturing, he leaned his head down close to the little bird again, nudging her with a tap of his wet nose.
“You, on the other hand, are still very small. I can see that pretty clearly. Cute, though. Where are your parents, I have to ask, as the responsible adult that I most certainly am. I don’t think they would much like a little thing like you, wandering on your own? If I was like any normal jackal, I might have eaten you already.”
The young bird blinked slowly at the jackal, wondering what in the world he was talking about. "If you say so, sir, but I dunno what you're saying." All this nonsense about booting and kicking and all sorts of other strange words. It must have been some sort of jackal slang or something, which was why a bird like her wouldn't understand it. That in mind, it was probably worthless asking him what he was talking about. He wouldn't know how to explain it.
"You're very small though. Are jackals not as big as lions?" She had never met a lion, only seen a couple of them from a distance. Now they were massive creatures. This jackal was definitely bigger than she was, but he wasn't too big. That made her feel better. "I am very small but I'm allowed to be small," Chirpa puffed up her feathers. "I'm only a baby, see. I have lots of time to grow and grow! She shrugged a little at his question. "Around. Hiding. Sleeping. I dunno." They would find her when it was dinner time. "And they don't mind what I do, really. Besides, you wouldn't eat me! I'd peck your nose off first!"
Lazarus laughed, a gentle rumble in the back of his throat as his shoulders rose and fell in rhythm. He liked the spunk this little bird had, that was for sure.
“No, this is about as big as we get. I’m a good sized Jackal, and don’t you doubt that. Lions are just… giants, really,” he sniffed at her, ruffling her puffed up feathers with how close he was holding his nose. Trying not to sneeze and blow her away, he crossed his eyes to look at her face directly, “sure, you’re allowed to be small. But you act so grown up, I guess I didn’t realize how young you were. Just a baby, huh? You’re certainly cute enough for it. I wouldn’t eat you before you grew up, you have my word on that. I’d want to see how pretty you become first.”
He grinned, pulling back just a bit.
“Not that I would eat you at all. I like my nose, and I’d rather you not peck it off. I’ll have to be careful around you. I mean, you’re off on your own already? Must be pretty brave and adventurous, huh?”
"Oh. How come you're smaller than a giant lion?" Chirpa asked curiously, blinking up at the jackal. Everything was big to her, but she didn't understand why some things grew gigantic and others, like herself, simply stayed around the same size. It was very peculiar. Why couldn't she grow as big as this jackal? No lion-chicks would ever try to catch her then! They would give her the proper respect she deserved. But alas, she was still small. Life sucked sometimes.
She was quite pleased when he said that she acted all grown up, and fluffed her feathers even more. Of course she was a big girl! She rather resented the cute bit, but she would take whatever compliments she got from this strange jackal thing. "So you'd rather eat me when I'm pretty than when I'm cute?" Chirpa attempted to clarify, frowning a little up at him. Silly jackal. If she got bigger then she would really peck his nose off! It wouldn't be just an idle threat. "Well thank you for not wanting to eat me. I wouldn't want to eat you either. And of course I'm brave! I'm a bird who goes on adventures! Do you go on adventures?"
Tilting his head, he puzzled over the question for a moment. She sure was a curious little thing. It was endearing.
“Because lions think they have to be big to be scary. But we Jackals know better, so we’ve always been smaller, faster and smarter,” he said with a nod, that being the absolute truth of the matter, “Smaller is better, most of the time, because it makes us harder to hunt, harder to find, and harder to pick on. And, if you keep in mind how lucky you are to be small, we’re near impossible to scare.”
“You wouldn’t want to eat me?” He laughed, a louder sound this time, “well that’s good! Glad we got that settled. And I. Love. Adventures. I go on them all the time. I call them missions, though, because I like to be official. I give myself something to do, like find a rare flower or get a hair from the tail of a hyena or something, and then I go out and do it. What kind of adventures do you like?”
Chirpa listened intently to the jackal's explanation, cataloguing the response to study again later when she was bored. "So the bigger you are the stupider you are? Or just the smaller you are, the smarter you are? And I think lions would be scary even if they weren't very big. They have very sharp teeth." She had met a nice pair of those up close when a cub nearly grabbed her before she could get off the ground. She had responded, in turn, with a sharp peck and then made a hasty retreat. The teeth were not something she'd like to see again.
So being small is brave? Of course! She was brave, thus all things like her should be brave. That was how things worked. "Of course I wouldn't want to eat you, you have too much fur. I like bugs." Chirpa grinned at Laz. Bugs were very tasty. Jackals? Not so much. She gave an excited chirp when he said that he loved adventures, glad that she had found a fellow adventurer. "I like meeting new creatures! Like you! I say hi to them and figure out what they are! One day I'll be able to identify every creature on the whole savannah! Tell me about one of your missions!" They interested her.
“That’s true, lions do have sharp teeth. I’m afraid little birds don’t, but we Jackals do. Very sharp, little teeth that are good for tearing. Lions don’t really like it when we bite them, so we’re just as tough. But yeah, pretty much. I suppose there are some smart, big lions, but mostly they’re just bullies.”
He grinned, “I like them.”
Tilting his head to one side as he listened to her speak passionately about adventures, and then ask him for one of his.
“Well, first, I don’t think it’s very safe to go up to any random creature you don’t recognize. I admire your courage, though. Precocious little thing,” He lowered himself to the ground again, having sat up for a bit of a stretch, and rolled languidly on his side, his nose toward her. “One of my missions? Well. There was this one time I wanted to pounce on a snake, and see if I could get away without being bitten. I found one sitting by some water, and I stalked up to it, keeping hidden and silent, just like I’ve trained myself to do. It had no idea when I leapt out on it. She, as it turned out, wasn’t too happy. But she didn’t bite me, so it was mission accomplished.”
Chirpa nodded intently. "We have sharp beaks though! But they're better for pecking. My mama has a nasty bite when she gets angry though! This one time, I saw her chase off a lion cub who got too close to the nest and she bit him so sharply on the rump he squealed!" She was very proud of her mama, who despite scolding her frequently for wandering off, was a very good mother. It was because of her that Chirpa had survived so long. "I'm sure you could bite like my mama with your little sharp teeth. Little bites are the worst!"
"Safe? The world is not safe, especially for a little bird. And I don't really go up to them. I usually talk to them from up in trees and stuff. You're different 'cause you're small and not a lion-chick." She grinned at him, and then quieted so she could hear the story of his missions. He was clearly very passionate about them, and it was very exciting. "You jumped a snake?" Chirpa repeated, clearly awestruck. "And didn't get bitten? You really are brave! Mama says never to talk to snakes 'cause they're really dangerous. You must be really brave and really lucky!"
“Wow! I’d hate to meet your mother under the wrong impression. I definitely would not want to be bitten that hard by a beak. Little bits are the worst! I guess that’s something jackals and birds share in common, huh?”
He smiled. Wagging his tail, he tried not to take offense to the fact that he had not been particularly intimidating to a baby bird. It made his fur bristle, however, as his ego absorbed the blow. Shaking his head and huffing through his nose, he rolled onto his back, folding his paws close to his body.
“I did! She told me she wanted to bite me, but I charmed her out of it. I think snakes have a taste for birds, though, so your mom has a good point. But it had nothing to do with luck! It was all skill and execution. See, when I’m not on missions, I’m practicing for them. That’s what I was doing before you came around. Well. I was taking a nap, but before that, I was training. It’s good to be prepared.”
“Hey, maybe when you’re older, one day, we can go on a mission or an adventure together, huh?”
"Exactly!" While it was true that big bites often did more damage, it was the little bites that most definitely hurt the most. Chirpa had been nipped a few times by her mother, and remembered those times very well. If her mother was smart she would have nipped her to stop her from exploring, but she didn't. She only scolded her, which only kept the young bird nest-bound for so long. The world called to her, and she had to answer it. It was only polite, after all.
She watched his tail wag curiously for a moment, before she was pulled back into the conversation when Laz started speaking again. "You charmed her out of it? How did you do that?" Chirpa tilted her head, blinking curiously at him. "How come it has nothing to do with luck? Everything has some element of luck in it! It can never be all skills, no matter how much you practice." Her mama had told her that. Every bird only survived as long as they were lucky. The faster you were, the luckier you got. Perhaps that was why this jackal was so lucky.
"Prepared is good! And I'd love to go on an adventure with you! But no snakes! Mama wouldn't like me going anywhere with them."
“Well. When I say ‘charm’, I mean I talked her out of it. I’m almost good with words when I have to be, and they help me out of some tough situations. Words, my little friend, are you most valuable possession. They’re you’re greatest skill, your strongest weapon, and your most effective friend-maker. Language is always underestimated, but I think it deserves a lot more respect.”
He frowned thoughtfully. That was true, about luck. And he knew it, but he liked to show boat. Grinning, he shook his head, “sure, luck is important to most people, but for me… well, I make my own luck. It’s easier to take care of yourself when you know what you’re doing.”
Rolling back and forth, he nodded, both actions combining to make him a bit dizzy, “I wouldn’t take you to any snakes! We’d do something easy, like explore a new area for us both, or sneak up on a den of rabbits and see how long it takes before they notice us, or something. Fun, but not too dangerous!”
Oooh, so that was what charming was. She didn't know there was a special word for being really good with words. Perhaps it was more than that, but Laz probably wasn't going to tell her that. Chirpa would have to remember to ask her mother. She should probably do that soon, before she came looking for her. With all this talk of nips and bites, she didn't want to get one for being gone too long. "Words are good! Sometimes you can convince other creatures not to eat you. My friend told me that one. She said that you can talk long enough to get your wings up under you and then fly away!"
"I like fun things!' She chirped happily, ruffling her wings. "I've never seen rabbits so that would be really fun! I'll make sure to find you again when I'm big and I can fly really really far!" Chirpa would remember his name too, and ask other creatures for directions if she got lost. The young bird already had it all planned out in her head. "But I gotta go now, before my mama gets too worried about me and decides to send all her friends to come and get me. That wouldn't be very good. But I'll find you again Lazarus! And we'll go on an exciting adventure!" She gave him one final grin before she took a running start and leapt up into the air. With several awkward flaps of her wings she was off, heading back to her nest. Hopefully her mother wouldn't notice she was gone.
Lazarus smiled. He was glad to have met this little ball of fluff, as the conversation left him feeling even more content than the nap he had been taking. Nodding, he stood and bowed as the baby bird excused herself from the conversation, watching her all the while as she flapped her little wings and got herself propelling forward. She was a tenacious little thing, and he imagined that they would, one day, go on that adventure together.
“See you around, Chirpa! I’ll be looking forward to it!” He called, before settling himself back down onto the soft earth. Closing his eyes, he chuckled and sighed, a smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep. He hoped her mother wouldn’t be too mad at her, should she have found the baby missing. He wouldn’t want Chirpa to lose her adventurous spirit.
