Ngoma stared up at a group of vultures, brow furrowed. How was he supposed to catch one? If he got close, they flew off... Or they pecked at him. His face and back bore the marks of their surprisingly sharp beaks. The carrion pickers were surprisingly fierce. The white lion paced back and forth, watching the birds with narrowed eyes. Now and then one would look and snicker, even point a feather at him. Mostly... They seemed to drop feathers.

From a different perch, away from the rest, a rather green vulture watched the lion as well. While he snickered like the others, he found himself... Curious. He'd flown far ahead of his new-found master into the desert lands, but he still found himself drawn to lions. Where there were lions, after all, there was inevitably meat for the picking. If one was patient enough, anyway. Vunde was a patient bird.

Finally, he gave in to his curiosity and, spreading is wings, went gliding down to the lion. Mindful of claws and teeth, he stayed just out of reach as he circled. "Just what has a lion like you watching bird brains like them?"

The lion growled at the vulture, watching it circle. "Get down here and I can SHOW you!" His only reward was a raspy laugh from the bird. Circling under the bird, Ngoma followed it to a fallen column. It made no attempt to escape as he drew closer, and he found the urge to pounce it... Not there. "Just what do you want, anyway?"

Vunde preened at his feathers a bit. "To know why you're watching vultures like that." He gave the lion a flat look. "We can't really be THAT exciting that we're worth watching." He spread his wings out a bit, sunning his back. "I could get used to this place..." He closed his eyes, smiling a bit... Or as best a bird COULD smile. "Now... Why ARE you watching vultures...?"

Many thoughts ran through his mind at once about the bird. Primarily, was it worth telling him what he was up to? After a moment, Ngoma eyed the bird. "Promise not to laugh?" One green eye remained trained on the bird, eyebrow up, as he waited... Only when the vulture nodded did he speak again. "There's this girl, she's more than half my size, and she kicked my butt... She told me if I wanted her... Which I kinda do... I had to bring her a vulture."

"So you're watching something smaller and far more nimble than you to try and catch it for your girlfriend." Vunde opened his eyes. "The question is, did she say it had to be ALIVE?" When the lion made a disgusted face, Vunde held a wing up. "Ah, not what I meant! Well, that DOES apply... But..." He hopped to the lion's back, mindful of the claws. Unlike this lion, he'd long ago found Xavier didn't mind them. After all, Xavier was a god, he had time a plenty to heal. Unless he ran into the God of Hate again. "What about a FAKE vulture?"

Ngoma considered the vulture's words. "Well, she just said A vulture... Nothing about how alive or real it had to be..." He turned and eyed the bird. "Do you think it'd work? I mean, I don't even know how to make something like that." He held a paw up. "These are NOT the paws of a craft lion!" Maybe he'd go FIND a craft lion. Then he heard the raspy laughter of the vulture on his back. "What's so funny?"

Carefully side-walking closer to the head, the vulture leaned over. "Dear lion, you don't NEED to be a craft lion to make a fake vulture! Not a very good one, anyway. As long as it passably resembles one... And trust me, I'd know if it did. What you need, are two rocks - One large, one small - a couple shells... Oh, about four... Preferably muscle shells..." He motioned with a wing to the other vultures. "The feathers they keep dropping... And if you need more, I can yank some off their butts. You also need some honey to glue the feathers and shells to the rocks, and the rocks together." He looked at Ngoma. "Sound easy enough?"

His ears went back into his mane. "No that doesn't sound easy enough! Where am I gonna find honey?!" It wasn't like it was all that easy to find, let alone COLLECT. The bees were a nightmare to deal with! "Isn't there something else I could use to glue everything together? Like... Mud? Or spit?" Something that wasn't so DANGEROUS for him to get! He rather liked being alive. And not having giant welts all over his body from bee stings.

The vulture gave a huff. "No initiative... Then go out into the lands beyond and use tree sap! You wimp." Vunde then spread his wings and jumped off the lion, hopping a bit along the ground. After a moment, he surfaced from somewhere with a complete vulture skull. "Okay, nix the second rock, you can just use this. Or use two pieces of wood and use one as a neck. I don't really care at this point." He paused, eyeballing Ngoma. "Well? Get looking! I'm trying to help you here!"

With a bit of a snort, the lion got moving. He soon returned with a small chunk of wood from the beach, as well as a stick, both worn and smoothed from time in the ocean. Next came gathering the feathers. They weren't the most matching, but they worked, and he soon only had the problem of sticking them to the wood. Claws made getting the stick in the chunk of wood easier, at least, but the feathers... "Now what...?"

Vunde let out a sigh, then flew off, grumbling about idiot lions. He soon returned with, of all things, a chunk of a bee hive. How he'd gotten it would remain a mystery, but he had it, and put it in front of the lion. "There we go, your glue!" He then found a perch, giving the odd criticism on how Ngoma was putting it all together.

Finally, the lion held the fake bird up. "Well, it... Um... I hope it looks okay." He looked to the bird. "How does it look to you?"

Hopping down from his perch, Vunde circled it, then nodded. "I think it looks like a vulture! Enough, anyway. I mean, there's some small things, like eyes, but you still did really well for not being a crafter." He pointed with a feather at the base of the 'neck'. "Like a creative use of your claws." He then nodded. "Your girlfriend should take it just fine!"

He hoped so. "Thanks. And... Uh... You're sure this will be acceptable... I mean, I think she IMPLIED a real, living vulture..."

Vunde gave the lion a pat on the shoulder with one wing. "My friend, it's called a loophole. She didn't SPECIFY it had to be a real, living vulture. Just a vulture. You have there, a vulture. Fake vulture, but a vulture! Now go impress her!"

With a sigh, Ngoma carefully picked the fake bird up in his maw. The honey tasted odd. So did the feathers. But it was what it was. He had to look an odd sight carrying it back to the den, that was for sure. He just hoped Ramla didn't attack him for using a loophole.