She couldn't believe it! She had actually convinced Bora to help her out on a hunt! Okay, so convince might not be the right word... more like: brutally tortured her with a high-pitched whinnying voice. Bird's had sensitive ears right? Chazama wasn't all too sure on that point, but it had worked out in her favor and the young lioness was more than happy to have the buzzard tag along. And if this worked? Well then, who knows, maybe her mom wasn’t so weird for the keeping sack of feathers around after all. Oh, oops, there she went being all mean towards Bora now! The lioness sighed and kept her expression calm and collected, hoping not to alert Bora at what she was thinking about. Or, you know, that’s what Chazama thought. In actuality she was being very leery, her pink eyes flicking over to Bora and then quickly diverting themselves to look in another direction, all with a faint hint of a scowl and wrinkled nose of disgust on her face. Chazama was not very good at hiding her thoughts or feelings, especially when she was attempting to do just that. ”Do you see anything yet?” she called out towards the vulture, who was circling above her low in the sky. Man, this was boring.
How on earth did she get roped into this? Chazama had to be the dumbest lion she had ever met! She was rude, uncaring, and she assumed a little daft in the head. Now Bora understood why Dina had to put so much effort into this one, and the vulture vaguely felt sorry for her lioness partner. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do if any of her kids turned out like this kitty. And then screechy voice reached her ears once more and the pale avian jerked right, as if trying to shoulder past sound itself. ”Ugh!” she screeched, jutting her beak harshly in Chazama’s direction. ”Will you shut up! You’re gonna scare them all off again.” Seriously, what was wrong with this kid? No hunter’s instinct at all!Chazama rolled her eyes. Yeah, right, like she could do that again. Still, the lioness shut her mouth and let Bora continue on her search undisturbed, though her tail began to flick impatiently after a few moments. Should she be crouching or something? She had seen many of the lionesses take such positions on a hunt, but then again, Chazama wasn’t anywhere near prey. It probably wouldn’t matter any way.
In a what had to be the dumbest luck of all, Bora spotted something even Chazama could handle. Granted, it wasn’t much, but it just might be enough to get the kid to leave her alone. Descending toward a tree near the lioness, Bora gestured with her beak in the direction she had spotted the target: a cluster of meerkats. From what Bora could tell, they were too busy gorging themselves on disgusting bugs that they shouldn’t be able to react in time if Chazama was quick enough. Speaking of which, shouldn’t she already be heading in that direction? Any minute now…?
Chazama watched as Bora came down from the sky, landed on a branch, and then proceeded to stare at her with her creepy bird eyes. Ew, vultures were disgusting creatures. It occurred to Chazama that maybe Bora had given up on their task and was waiting for her to leave, and so Chazama laid on the pouty face again. ”Giving up so soon?” It might have been pathetic, but the lioness was desperate to be a successful hunter at this point, and a little bird groveling wasn’t going to kill her. Hopefully. So long as none of the abaholi got word of this. Or worse, the firekin! She wanted to train with them so bad, they’d probably turn her away if they found what a lousy hunter she was, and that she was begging favors from vultures. This seemed wrong somehow, but she couldn’t quite put her claw on it.
No. She couldn’t be this dumb. Bora drew the line at thinking Chazama was too daft to realize when a platter of food was being thrown in front of her, and all she had to do was be cautious in catching it. But then again, it was Chazama. When a few moments past and Chazama didn’t so much as bother as move an inch forward Bora literally pressed a wing to her forehead. This was insane. What kind of foul god was playing a trick on her, the god of dumbasses? In a more exasperated attempt to get Chazama to notice the meerkats Bora flapped her wings and once again jutted her beak in their direction. Eventually, when all she got back was a confused look the bird simple gave up and considered flying away. ”Just look over there. Dinner. Yumyums. You know, food?” Was that sentence too complex for her to understand?!
”What?” There was a long pause as Chazama continued to look at the crazy bird, when finally it sunk in. Oh! She beamed up at the white buzzard and instantly dropped into a crouch, spotting the delicious pile of meerkat snacks. There just might be enough for her catch one unaware! This was exciting, it was amazing, she couldn’t believe she was about to successfully hunt something- and that’s where she stopped. Pausing mid-step before slowly drawing herself upright and sitting back on her haunches, the young lioness realized what her mistake had been. ”This isn’t right. ... Is it?” Real lions didn’t need this much help. Real lions weren’t as pathetic as she was. With an annoyed growl Chazama turned away from the potential meal and stalked off in the opposite direction, a frown pulling heavily on her maw. Why was she such a suck-a** at this hunting thing?
Bora couldn’t believe her eyes. Just as soon as the stupid kitty was about to pounce on the stupid rodents she stopped, growled, and scared them all away. There had be something seriously wrong with this one, there just had to be. ”What are you talking about? I did all that work for nothing?” Bora was exasperated, and rightfully so. This trip had turned out to be a waste and she was going to wind up owing Chazama some kind of favor or something. That just would not do!
The splotchy lioness paused in her step once more, glancing back to the pale vulture. ”No,” she said slowly, sullenly almost. ”I’ll give you part of whatever I catch.” And she meant that, not because she liked Bora or anything, but because Chazama felt bad for making the vulture go through this. And the lioness had to realize one thing: if she was ever going to make it as a real hunter, she would have to start acting like one. As hard as that was, she had to catch something on her own. Even if it was just a stupid meerkat, it would be a stupid meerkat that she found herself.
Bora wanted to throw something, and she would have it she were able to. So instead the white buzzard took to the skies once more, cawing out in frustration and wheeling away from the direction Chazama chose to go in. She couldn’t understand this kid, and she was fairly certain that she didn’t want to. Food was food no matter what to the vulture, no matter how it was obtained. Maybe it was different for lions, but whatever the reason Chazama backed out Bora was more than fed up with dealing with her. At least now she understood how Dina felt, and perhaps she’d be more empathetic towards her in the future.
(Word Count: 1287)
