((Cinga List, Prompt 2: You find a snake hidden beneath a rock overhang. (Bonus Event!)- 1: Nothing else happens.))
It had been several days since Chazama had last ventured out on her own. Again, probably not a smart idea, but the lioness kept telling herself she wouldn't go too far. A day's travel away from the main body of the pride, that was all. So, she had told herself at the beginning of this trek. It had decidedly been longer than a day, but Chazama had stubbornly not turned home yet. She had to find something. Anything. The survival of the pride depended on someone, anyone, finding something. She kept telling herself the harder she pushed her own body, the less her mother would have to do. It probably wasn't true, as Dina was about as stubborn of a lioness as any she'd ever seen, but it offered Chazama some small amount of comfort to believe it was true.
The day was getting late and Chazama was starting to feel the heat to an uncomfortable degree. It would be smart to find some sort of shade, and though she wanted to keep going, she couldn't quite ignore the very thing she was trying to avoid Dina doing. With a heavy sigh, and even heavier paw steps, Chazama turned towards a nearby rocky overhang. It wasn't a very big rock pile, but it at least offered a space large enough for Chazama to lay under for a few hours while the sun was at its brightest.
She wasn't thinking about anything other than escaping the glaring heat, when bird's shriek caught her attention and startled her into coming to a complete halt. The cry had been much closer than Chazama had expected, and her gaze traveled to the top of the rock cluster where she saw a large vulture hop to the top of the dusty stone.
"Watch your step darling, there's a particularly ornery viper that has claimed that shade," the vulture warned as she flared her wings.
Oh. Oh! Yikes. Chazama took a few quick steps backwards as her eyes darted to the shade. And just as the vulture had warned her, a pair of reptilian eyes stared back at her, its body mostly hidden in the crags of the stone pile. "Thanks, that could have been bad," Chazama responded, not daring to take her eyes off the snake. She definitely wasn't going to be spending any time under those rocks, not with that viper staring needles into her.
"It certainly could have been," the vulture agreed as her wings settled back against her sides. "You're far from your pride, lioness. Assuming you belong to the one that calls this place home," she observed, rather curious to see the lone lioness this far by herself. As far as she knew, the lions of this place typically stuck together.
"I may have traveled a bit further than I had anticipated," Chazama relented, as she dared to steal a glance over her shoulder back towards where she knew the pride to be. "I should probably start back towards home," she sighed aloud, rather disappointed she hadn't found anything useful for the pride. She took another careful step backwards, her eyes keenly locked on the snake as she did so. Chazama certainly didn't trust the creature to not come slithering after her as soon as she turned her back to it.
The vulture watched her for a moment, a slight glint of amusement glimmering in her eyes as she watched the lioness back off even further from the shade. Perhaps she was too afraid to turn her back on the viper? "If it eases your mind, I will aid in your departure, lioness. Go on now, I'll keep my eye on the scaly beast," the vulture offered as she prepared to ascend into the skies to assist the feline in her nervous escape.
Chazama chuckled nervously at the offer for help. Maybe she was being a bit silly, but as the vulture had pointed out she was more than a day's travel away from her pride or any assistance. The last thing she wanted was to be bitten by a venomous viper. "Thanks. I'm Chazama, by the way," she smiled awkwardly as she began to turn her back to the rock cluster and the viper.
"You can call me Umfula, darling," the vulture responded as she took a lazy hop into the sky, her wings catching her and carrying her upward where it would be easier to keep an eye on the snake.
Chazama was certainly grateful for the vulture's assistance, even if she was being a bit silly about it in the first place. Though she had to admit, that at least this vulture was much more pleasant to talk to than Bora, her mother's avian partner. Chazama had known that particular bird since her cubhood, and the two had only recently started getting along with one another. An idea seemed to strike her at that moment, and Chazama gave a curious look upwards at the large vulture. "Thank you for helping me, Umfula," she called up to the avian, as they were still within earshot of one another. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in following me all the way back to my pride? There's something I'd like to ask you." It occurred to Chazama, that if she had a vulture companion who was willing to help her than maybe she'd have a better chance of finding something useful for the pride. And hopefully, she could keep her mother from any long treks out into the hot sun.
Umfula was no stranger to the ways of the pride that called this place home. She knew some of them traveled with vultures, and in turn those vultures were treated quite well by the felines and were even allowed to eat from their kills without being chased off. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been tempted before, but actually approaching a strange lion about something like that seemed like a gamble to the avian. She didn't want to turn into someone's dinner herself, after all. So, when Chazama started the conversation so easily, Umfula already had an answer in mind for the lioness. "Not at all, darling. Please, go on, what would you like to discuss?" In truth, Umfula was quite pleased with how the day was turning out to be.
The rest of the way back to the pride Chazama talked with Umfula, and together they agreed to work with one another.
((Word Count: 1,074))