“Pesky bugs,” Chopoa whined, picking all sorts of different bugs out from Ment’s two-toned crimson mane. She hated seeing them there, mostly because their wiggling and scurrying caught the blue and white birds eye and made her hungry rather quickly. It always resulted in what was going on now, a thorough de-infestation of Ment’s mane.
“You like what they taste like, though,” Ment smirked as he trotted across the Rogue Lands on his way back to the Simbafutaji. He was glad Chopoa was still enamoured in her task of leaning the bugs from his mane, otherwise he would have gotten a rather harsh peck to the back of his head.
The two had been gone from home longer than they had planned, but they had brought back lots of interesting materials and had met many interesting people. Ment couldn’t wait to tell his younger bud back home about all the cute females he had come across, and the males who wanted to take chunks out of him for one reason or another. That was all in the past though as they trotted through some long, vibrant green grass
Ment picked a scent up on the wind, which was blowing towards him at its own leisurely pace. It took some time for him to pick up the full extent of the smell and determined it was a mixture of another predator in the area as well as an old kill. If the kill was old it probably meant that there was a wild dog or a hyena scampering about, looking for scraps. They had to be careful. Wild dogs weren’t a large threat to Ment, but a full-grown female hyena couold easily match his muscle, or out-muscle him quickly.
Luckily for him, the hyena in which he scented feeding off the old kill wasn’t any big, muscular female. It was just skinny little Uziwa. She was having difficulty finding adequate food once again, and though she had gotten much better at hunting, she was also terrible at tracking prey. She didn’t know they migrated from place to place during the seasons and had made the mistake of trying to take up permanent residence in a den space she found.
It didn’t take long for Ment to come across the pitiful and thin looking female hyena. He stopped quietly and watched her as she desperately picked at the old kill before her, trying her best to gain any scraps that were left before the vultures followed the scent to find her and it. She looked so shaky and delicate, nothing at all like some of the hyenas he’s come across during his time in the Rogue Lands.
“She’s going to die,” Chopoa said bluntly, albeit a bit loudly which ended up tipping off Uziwa to the fact she was someone had been watching her. How in the world could anyone, particularly a hyena end up so damn skinny? She hadn’t even seen any other birds in such a poor condition before. “Oh look, she knows we’re there.”
“It’s because you’re a big mouth Chopoa,” Ment grunted, noting how the female hyena had shrunken herself down in hopes of appearing not there.
Uziwa had been startled when she heard Chopoa talking about her and her ears went quickly flat onto her head as she tried to make herself look smaller. The male lion standing a couple hundred feet away from her was so much bigger than she was and well fed. He could take this carcass from her at any moment, or decide to make her into a carcass for himself. It scared Uziwa and she shook from the nerves. She missed her home and her two-legged family.
If Chopoa was able to roll her eyes, at this moment she would be doing so. This silly little hyena looked as if they were going to beat the snot out of her, “Stop looking like you’re going to be attacked. We’re not going to do anything to you, and we definitely don’t want that pitiful kill of yours.”
“Chopoa be nice!” Ment said sternly, looking over the hyena and giving her a friendly grin, “I’m Ment, and the bird is Chopoa. I’m sorry to have startled you…Uh… We smelled the kill and decided to investigate, I guess. How come you’re so underweight?”
It took several moments for Uziwa to calm herself. She still wasn’t so sure the male wouldn’t try and take her food, what little there was of it. He was much bigger and stronger than her, on top of which he had a bird who could easily serve as a distraction or even attack her as well. She was torn between trying to defend the pitiful amount of food she had with her and letting her guard down and try to make an acquaintance.
“Because there’s not a lot of food…” Uziwa answered quietly, quickly plunking her head down to take a bite out of the carcass, her eyes still on Ment. There wasn’t a reason why she couldn’t talk and eat at the same time. They’re the ones who interrupted her after all.
“Well yeah, it’s the migrating season. Most of the food has left here and went elsewhere,” Ment said, quirking his head to her. For a hyena she sure didn’t act like one. She was quiet and not all that aggressive. It was an oddity in a hyena, especially a female considering they were the leaders of their packs. He wondered what was wrong with this one.
“Migrating?” Uziwa asked in between chewing what little meat was left. What on earth was migrating? She had no idea what that happened to be and it was apparent on her face. “What’s migrating? Is it what the two-leggers do with the giant sticks to make their food grow?”
Ment looked at Uziwa oddly, before peaking up at Chopoa who equally looked confused. What did she mean by two-leggers? And how exactly did they use sticks to make food grow? Were they grazers like the gazelle and zebra? Did they eat the tops of trees like giraffe’s did? She made no sense, maybe she was a little crazed. Yeah, that was it… oh wait, not another one.
“Migrating is when the food moves elsewhere,” Ment explained, trying to think of the simplest way to convey the idea to her. “When the grass gets scarce here, they move on, so that it can grow back. When they move, you’re usually supposed to move with them, unless you have pups. Do you have pups?”
“P-pups? No, no, no… I don’t have any pups,” Uziwa stuttered, choking slightly on a piece of flesh she picked off the bone. She was far too thin to carry pups. Even though she knew nothing about being a mother, she knew that much. A think, starving hyena would not make a good mother, and would have a painfully small litter. “When is the food coming back?”
“Not for a while,” Chopoa chirped, her patience with the hyena wearing thin and the overwhelming feeling of obliviousness making her irritable. How could a creature like this hyena even exist and not know of the heard migrations? She looked so inept at hunting from her thin appearance. Something must be off genetically.
Not for a while… The thought that the food wouldn’t be coming back for a while was devastating to Uziwa. She had just set up home in this area, and now she would have to go back to traveling in order to find a new home near a food source. She often wondered whether or not life was going to give her the chances she deserved, but she never made a bet on it. If only she could go back to her two-legged family. If only they would take her back, “Do you know which way they went?”
“Chopoa, which way did we see the herds go a few days ago? I can’t remember off the top of my head,” Ment commented, scratching at his chin with a paw, his eyes floating up towards the top of his head, as if trying to see over his own eyelids; not that he could.
“The last we saw them they were heading north, that way,” Chopoa said complacently, pointing a wing towards the direction of where they saw the herds moving. Chopoa figured that a small helping hand was necessary for this Hyena, otherwise she’d never find a food source. While the thought of one less creature to help Ment compete against was a good thing, she could tell Ment wouldn’t see it the same way, especially one down on its luck as he had often been.
Uziwa looked to the lion and his bird companion quietly, appreciating their advice as she ripped the last little remnants of decaying flesh from the carcass. She would head that way and hope that there were fresh carcasses for her to feast on while she hunted down these herds and found a new place for her to den. “Uhm… Thank you for your help… I need to go!”
Uziwa took off anxiously, her comfort level having dissipated once again into nonexistence as her weariness of the strangers crept back into her. Ment and Chopoa simply quirked their heads at the odd little hyena when she scampered off, exchanging glances and being on their way. Another strange encounter to be added onto their
WC: 1570
