Wordcount: 1,137
This day was hot enough to make even Hari just plain grumpy. The sun showed as much mercy as Ohahira in the morning. She wasn't a morning person, you see, so that was really saying something. It was so hot, Hari didn't even want to continue moving the gears in her plan. Not today. Today she was going to get water, then go back in the shade and stay there until.
Fate had other plans. Today would be no different than those other days where she intentionally tried to con someone. Today, she wouldn't need to. They'd do it themselves.
The watering hole felt agonizingly far away.
Hot. Hot. Hot.
Why was it so hot?!
Reina whined. She complained to no one, yet to everyone. The entire walk to find water, any water at all, she was yapping to the wind about the poor weather, how hot it was and things were just getting worse. Nothing more than skin and bones, she was. It was expected someone like her would complain.
She hadn't until today, though, don't cha know. It was just too hot to be brave.
--Water!
A happy yip, followed by four more, and Reina bounded over to the lake, gulping down mouthfuls greedily.
Hari didn't notice the pup at first. When she did, she paid the thing little mind. Her attention was mostly on the meal she was consuming. How in the world had she gotten anything when it was scorching? Well, boars got hot too, you know, and the one she'd captured was but a child. What kind of mothers were out there these days, just letting their kids run around like that?
She gnawed on the meat lazily, not willing to expend much effort to do something as simple as chew. To be fair, it took more than most meals. This thing was small because it was young, and to top that off it was a scrawny thing.
Tomorrow, she'd get Ohahira and take down a zebra or something.
Reina, for a while, had her head practically submerged in the water. Had her lungs not painfully reminded her it was necessary, she'd have forgotten breathing was a required chore and drowned there that day. A few gasps of air and she was at the water again, consuming as much as she possible could.
The motions were so frantic and focused, it wasn't until they ceased the scent of blood (food!) drifted to her. The excitement was short lived, however, because soon she realized the prey beast was already in the possession of a lion. They weren't known for sharing.
She looked like a well fed lioness, though, and Reina thought it in her best interest to stick around to pick at the remains when she was done. That thought in mind, she plopped a respectable, but still noticeable, distance away from Hari.
Oh, you've got to be kidding. What was it? Orphan day?
Admittedly, Hari forgot how many were supposedly out there, and witnessed few of them first hand. If there was one thing the Mtaishi didn't have a problem with, it was lack of family. Everyone had blood relatives, and if they didn't, they were adopted by someone.
Warily she scanned the company. Had it not been so hot, she'd have been more cruel. But it was. This pup's lucky day. If you could even call the bag of bones a pup. There was a twinge of sympathy Hari felt for her.
Yes... It was far, far too hot.
"What do you want?"
"Don't want nothin' really," Reina told her honestly. It was pretty difficult to sound untruthful as a mere pup, really. They just didn't have it in them to lie even for the few that had the knowledge to do it. At least, she didn't. That was why she kept going instead of stopping there. "Gonna pick at that when you're done with it. I haven't eaten nothin' in a few days now. It hurts pretty bad."
All of this was told in a matter-of-fact tone, the same voice someone would use explaining why the Savannah had become so heated on that particular day.
Hari arched a single brow. This little pup was far less annoying than most youngsters she knew. Maybe that was only because she didn't have plans to kill her later like all the Mtaishi cubs. What really startled her was the answer. She'd never been given one quite like that.
Too hot...
A sigh was the opening act of tossing the corpse at her. In her general direction, that is. Throwing the thing at her would have probably ended in the tiny thing being squashed to death. "Here, you can have it. It's too hot to eat anyway."
The excitement she felt watching that meal be tossed in front of her was nearly enough to make Reina throw up. Or maybe that was the agonizing starvation and unbearably hot weather tag teaming her small body. She went after the boar carcass like she had with the water, gasping for breath as she ripped, shredded and chewed.
The meat was unpleasant, too rough in some parts and too soft in others. There wasn't much of it either. To Reina, this was the best type of dinner she could have been given: A free one.
Hari wasn't sure why she stayed and observed like it was some sort of side show. Her brain was probably too fried for her to care. She stared blankly at the ongoing sad excuse for a feast. The way this pup was eating you'd have thought she dropped a banquet of the highest quality before her.
Orphans were far sadder creatures than she realized. Her mind went back to Tanana, the smallest lioness she'd seen to date. One would guess Ohahira hadn't fed her too well. Is that what happened when they went hungry as children? Psh.
With a shake of her head she turned, starting back to the large tree in the distance Ohahira had taken over to use for it's shade less than an hour ago.
Reina had close to finished every bit of eatable parts of her offering (and even some that weren't) by time Hari got up to go. She watched her closely, tensing upon realizing the lioness was going to leave. Her stomach was not a large one and between the meat and the water was full already. She ripped off one final piece of meat, then dashed after the big cat, trailing quietly behind her.
Minus the sounds of chewing.
Yawn.
Bah...
What did she have to do today? Hari reorganized her mind in spite of the heat, running down a list of tasks they had to do. Most of which involved Ohahira. It was doubtful she'd be willing to move today. In the long run, it was probably a good thing they didn't have the same level of drive and motivation or they'd never have worked well together. Still, she couldn't help being annoyed with the down time...
...Was that thing following her?
The lioness turned. She considered smacking the thing, but found it was too far away. Kids these days. "What are you doing?"
Reina, too, was going over all the things she had to do that day. They consisted of not starving, not having a heat stroke and, most importantly, not dropping dead before she saw adulthood from the combination of the two and whatever other factors might come into play. That bug bite she had on her paw was kind of worrying her, y'know.
The pup stopped and took a step back. She wasn't so stupid as to walk right behind Hari. Even this young she knew better. "Following you."
Following her.
Hari groaned and turned back to face the direction she was going. Ohahira was going to eat this little brat. She'd just let her deal with it.
"Your funeral, kid."
