Buluukoza slithered over the ground, keeping mostly to herself. Actually, she was keeping entirely to her own little world as she hummed to herself and kept her eyes closed. she only stopped when it seemed the ground she was on shifted suddenly, rising without any kind of warning.

"Woah!" She hissed sharply, though lacked any kind of limbs to hold on to the mound with. She bit down into the strange purple grass, gripping it in an attempt to keep herself from going flying. She hadn't been expecting the ground to cry out in response to being bitten.

"Ye-owch!" Yelped the land mass, bucking around like a wild horse refusing to be broken. "That hurt! Get off, would ya?" the ground demanded, coming to a stop and looking over his shoulder at the snake. The snake let go of what was now clearly fur to her, her surprised shifting to embarrassment as she realized she had just climbed right on top of a large purple lion without even realizing it!

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," the snake said without the usual hiss to her voice, her expression a concerned one, "I didn't know you were down there! I was just humming and thinking about other things and I really didn't have any idea I would slither right over a large lion. I really hope you're not mad, because I really didn't mean any harm and-"

"alright, alright!" Huffed the lion angrily, heaving a heavy sigh to center himself again, "you don't have to tell me your life story! It's fine, okay? Just... get off me." With that, he sat himself down, allowing the snake to slide off of him without causing either of them anymore pain. She plopped into the real grass with a soft thud, before quickly slithering around the large male to get in front of him. She raised up a little to look at him better, smiling warmly at him.

"I'm really sorry," she said again, "thank you for not attacking me! I can see in your eyes that you're a very kind lion. Perhaps a bit of a prankster, hm?" She asked lightly, watching him very carefully.

"How can you see that?" Zuka asked, leaning forward as he became instantly interested in the strange creature. He had never seen a snake who could guess things about him that are not super apparent! Was it some kind of trick? He supposed it hadn't been anything TOO special. Still, he smiled, looking down at her with interest.

"Oh! Well, I've always been able to read things about others," Bul replied, "I suppose it was just a talent I was born with. Not quite the seer abilities some other lions have, but it works well enough for me, you know? Oh! And my name is Buluukoza! You can call me Bul!"

"Well, that's a really cool talent, even if it's not from the Gods, and you can call my Zuka," the male lion replied, deciding not to make this familiar a servant in his pride. While they weren't mistreated, he could tell she gifts were better left for all to enjoy. He couldn't really wrap his mind around kidnapping her, anyway.

That kind of thing was beyond him.

"You know, I don't feel so good all of a sudden," Zuka said suddenly, the world around him starting to spin as he watched Bul. She looked like she was splitting into multiple snakes! And spinning. Round and round she went. "Ohhhh," he moaned, "I think I might throw up."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry," Bul said sheepishly, "I must have injected you with some poison when I bit into you just now. I'm REALLY sorry about that. But don't you worry! I'm not a deadly type of snake by any means, and I certainly didn't give you enough poison to kill you even if I was!"

"Poison?!" was really the only part Zuka registered.

"Yes! But don't worry- you're going to be fine. It'll take a couple hours, but the symptoms will pass! You should just try and lie down and ride it out, okay?" She offered softly, feeling nothing but guilt about what she had accidentally done to him. The large lion complied with her directions, flopping against the ground with a heavy grunt. He let his chin rest in the grass, his ears flattening against the back of his head. His eyes had dilated quite a bit, and it was clear to her that he wasn't going to be conscious for very much longer. Poor thing! He had just been sleeping there and she had bitten him for no reason!

"Don't worry Zuka," she offered weakly, feeling a bit ashamed, "I'm not going to let you stay here and suffer on your own, okay? I know there are some berries that can help with the processing of the poison, so I'm going to collect some and bring them back to you. Then I'm going to stay here until you feel better and bite anyone who might get too close, okay? Zuka? Can you still hear me?"

But Zuka was just staring blankly out ahead of him, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. It was clear that, while he was physically there in front of her, no one was home. Bul sighed, slithering off to find the berries she had been speaking of. Once she managed to find them, she came back quickly, carrying them in her mouth. She went right back up his back, chewing the berries as best a toothless snake could before smearing the gooey mess it produced over the bite wounds she had left on his back. He didn't even seem to notice the sting it must have caused.

Probably a good thing.

With that done, Bul sank back to the ground and moved to coil up next to him, holding true to her words and not leaving him while he was still under the effects of her poison. She knew he would feel better soon- and she would make sure no one took advantage of him in the meantime.

It was six hours before he woke up again.

Wc: 1028