[PRP] Feathers... (Xefo & Bora) FIN

[Jovi of Shadows]

Bora wasn't too fond of the recent weather patterns, and was quite familiar with what the dry season might bring with it. Annoying, hungry, short-tempered cats. One in particular; Dina. The vulture ruffled her feathers and hunched her long neck closer to her chest, beady blue eyes squinting as she thought of their first season together. There had been more yelling and frustrated growling than Bora could have shaken a feather at, but then half the time she supposed she had egged the behavior on. Big cats often had egos, and Bora couldn't help but test Dina's whenever possible. It made for quite the amusing afternoon!

And why did she stick around? The vulture had asked this of herself many times, and always came up with one answer. Food. Easy, protected food source. She wasn't exactly as spry as she use to be, and it had been easy for others of her species to push her around and deny her a good kill. Hmph, she'd like to see them try that now! A good chomp and Dina would have them right out her way. The vulture cackled slightly at this, her beady blue eyes sharp and awake in the humor of such a situation.

The pale avian flexed her talons against the tree branch she was perched on, keeping a look out for anything of interest in the area. Typically when she wasn't scouting the area with Dina in tow, she was looking for something amusing to watch; although, recently Bora had found herself drawn in to watching the border and the red pelts. They were interesting, there was no denying that. Perhaps they'd be fun to watch today, but then Bora was quite happy where she sat. A day without kitties was a good day. A vacation if ever such a thing existed.  

[Annchen]

Another vulture circled slowly overhead. The old vulture didn't have any particular destination in mind today. He was fed, he had talked to Xatu about what he'd seen on his little outing and at the moment he was enjoying a bit of alone time. As he spotted the other vulture he changed his mind about wanting to be alone, however. Feathered company was different than lion company after all.

"Greetings," he said as he landed near her, "Anything interesting going on among the lions lately?"

Xefo had acquired a lion companion for similar reasons as Bora, and the lion tooth around his neck was a visible token of the mutual agreement. The white vulture had already been here when he was bonded to his Enda so she had more experience of pride life. Xefo and Xatu were supposed to spend much of their time outside of the pride, but it didn't stop him from being curious. Pride politics could affect Xatu's, and indirectly his own position in the pride.  

[Jovi of Shadows]

It was difficult not to notice the descent of the other vulture as he got nearer to her tree, though Bora recognized him as being one of the others that hung around the pride. Well, a particular lion if she was going to get technical, and at that not around pride territory for very long. A curious sound quipped from the back of her throat as the old man landed in her tree, and Bora craned her thin neck around to get better a look at him. Hardly a social bird, she rarely conversed with anyone but Dina, but another vulture was worth her time at least.

"Some", she mentioned with a ruffle of her white feathers, an amused gleam reaching her eyes. "The females ganged up on one of the males as a huge group to question him. He seemed uncomfortable by the end before Gakere pulled him out for patrol duty." Lion society was always interesting, and quite ridiculous! They had concerns Bora didn't even consider worth worrying over, but then, it was hard to argue with free food.

"Has anything exciting happened near the red pelt border yet? I don't want to miss it." She had been there when the two prides originally met one another, and wasn't exactly confident that they'd be able to remain peaceful for long. Those giants seemed a wee bit unpredictable.  

[Annchen]

Xefo chuckled as he preened his flight feathers. All the females ganging up on one male sounded like an amusing sight. Perhaps his lion Xatu had a reason to be wary around females... Lionesses could certainly be scary when they wanted to. Poor boy, but he needed to learn to relax. For all intents and purposes he wasn't even supposed to be a male when he was in the pride, and the vulture could see a clear difference in how his lion and the leading lions were being treated. It was interesting...

"Actually," he said, "I took a little trip to check out the neighbors. Not just this small camp near the border."

The flight through the desert had been a tiring one, but it had been worth it. He didn't know if what he had seen would help Xatu in any way, but it had been amusing enough to be worth the wing ache anyway.

"I'd say they're as silly as our lions at home," he said, "But perhaps a bit more fond of fight games. They were playing war... with riddles."  

[Jovi of Shadows]

Now that caught the pale buzzard's attention, and she shuffled to get a better look at her fellow avian. "You flew all the way to their homeland?" Impressive. She had dismissed the trip as being too far to bother with, and not knowing the exact location of the red pelt territory would make for an uncomfortable trip through the desert. Hmm, the older Xefo seemed to be bolder than she had originally anticipated.

At the mention of the foreign lion's fight game the female dipped her head to peer out in the distance, focusing on the direction she knew the desert to be in. "What a strange game to play, I can't imagine how riddles would fit into war", she mentioned, humoredly. To be sure, that would something worth seeing, perhaps even worth a flight into the desert.

Though further thinking brought her back to thoughts of their lions. Their smaller, less fight enthusiastic lions. "Why do you suppose they'd be playing a war game in the first place?" It was a peculiar question, and perhaps they simply enjoyed the fighting, but it bothered Bora. She liked her free meals and guaranteed safety, something she doubted she'd be able to find again.  

[Annchen]

Jovi of Shadows

Xefo shrugged, as if it had been no big deal. It had been an exhausting flight, however, despite the help of the hot updrafts over the desert. If the lions wanted more intel from the red pelts they’d have to walk, or sprout wings and make the flight themselves.

"It was interesting," he said, "It's probably worse to try to make the trip on foot. But I'm not too keen to do it again..."

He took some time to preen and rearrange his flight feathers while listening to Bora. The riddles had stumped him too, and he could only guess why they were playing war.

"They seemed to enjoy this game," Xefo said, "Well, most of the lions. Some seemed impatient when the game got too silly, and when some of the lions decided to mix in riddles in the game. But I suppose it might have been both a game and a drill of sorts. Like the play fights in their camp here."

The massive scale of the war game made him hope it was just for fun. Lions rarely prepared for full out war if they didn't expect war to happen eventually. There was a time when he thought that war was a good thing for a vulture. Unfortunately it wasn't such a good thing for a vulture depending on lions.  

[Jovi of Shadows]

The pale buzzard bobbed her head in agreement, "The trip would definitely be more troublesome on foot." Luckily they did have wings to speed up the process, but from what Xefo was telling her, it wasn't a trip she was keen on making any time soon. Bora had been many places in her life, but the desert was not one of them. It was uncomfortable, and the sand often swallowed those unfortunate enough not to complete their journey before she could get to them. All in all, it was a place she had decided wasn't worth her time.

The vulture lifted a wing to nit-pick at a few unruly feathers, considering Xefo's thoughts on the play fighting. It did seem as though these non-home lions were much more prepared than their own little pride. In fact, Bora wasn't even sure if Dina could fight. She'd seen the lioness hunt plenty of times, even fend off other poaching predators, but Bora had never seen her fight off any of her own species. This was... interesting. "It is troubling to think about, but perhaps it was just a game," she shrugged her wings, perturbed though not even to visibly worry about any of it. It was a lion-worry after all.

Her thoughts shifted then to their home-lions, and Bora craned her neck around to eye Xefo with one beady blue orb. "How is it you became partners with your lion?" She remembered vaguely around the time Xefo had begun to show up around the pride, and even him leaving with Xatu, but nothing definitive. How exactly did the old vulture get caught up in this mess?  

[Annchen]

"They seem to enjoy fighting for fun," he mused, "Even out here on the outpost. Have you watched the young ones fight?"

Some of their lions had already started training with the red pelts, and Xefo had watched some of it. The basic idea seemed to be to take two opponents of equal size and letting them fight it out. The bonelands lions were beaten a lot, but he was sure they'd improve if they could stand losing repeatedly. Failing was a very good way to learn after all.

"My lion?" he repeated, and then laughed, "Funny story. I suppose it started one day when I was arriving late to a kill. The struggle around the carcass was much worse than that silly game those lions played so I decided to watch before diving in. Jackals and vultures were struggling to get to the scraps of meat left... I decided I wasn't hungry enough to deal with that."

Bora would understand that. From what he gathered she had life before bonding with her white and yellow lioness, so she must have seen a good food fight before.

"I started talking to another vulture watching the war below," he continued, "She looked well fed but she wasn't interested in the carcass at all. That was when I heard about vultures teaming up with lions for food and companionship."  

[Jovi of Shadows]

The white buzzard bobbed her head, "I've seen that too. Though I haven't gotten to watch as much as I would have liked. It'll have to be a trip I make soon", she replied, finding it rather amusing to watch lions go at one another. They were just so big, and what Bora though, clumsy as well! Her beady blue eyes remained on Xefo as he told his story and once again Bora found herself bobbing her head in agreement. "That's one thing I'm glad I don't have to deal with anymore. Any competition for a carcass and Dina scares them off like its nothing. I wish I'd known about this sooner." That would have saved many a lost feather in scuffles for scraps.

Bora then raised both wings to stretch the muscles, flapping a few small strokes to get the stiffness out of them. "It might be worth the trip to the outpost for the afternoon. I haven't seen enough of these red pelts, and they're much more interesting than our lot. Well, usually." It wasn't everyday that a male got ganged up on by a group of squabbling females, but Bora doubted that would happen again so soon. "Care to join me?" Feathered company was after all, much sought after in a land of lions. Kitties didn't make for good conversation.  

[Annchen]

"Yes," Xefo agreed, "It's very convenient, but I wonder if I'd appreciated just how convenient it is when I was younger. The impatience of youth..."

There was a time when the squabbling around a carcass was exciting. The larger and stronger vultures pushed away the weaker ones, but they were also strong enough to open it up and provide access to the inner parts. When the larger more violent ones filled up the smaller got their chance. It was an interesting "game" to watch and to participate in. Or at least it had been. Ah, watching lions squabble in a larger scale version of the same thing also proved entertaining.

"With pleasure," he said, "It's always nice with some like-minded company for a change."  

[Jovi of Shadows]

Bora stopped consider that point. She had been youthful once, would she had appreciated a lion for a companion back then? Probably not as much as she did now, but it definitely would have still been welcomed. The white vulture had had some rough times as a young thing, her white coloration often making her an easy target. Yes, she would have preferred having a lion at her side, that was for sure.

"Agreed, the kitties aren't too great with conversation", at least no conversation that Bora wanted to have. They were fun to poke fun at, and most of them didn't seem to enjoy it. With a shrug of her wings and a hop from her perch the large avian took to the skies, her pace leisurely and unhurried. After all, it would not do to leave Xefo behind.