[PRP] Free Spirits (Umbia and Rowtag)

[Ameh]

As usual, the desert air ran high and hot, and the blaze of the sun kept a constant presence on pelts within the Motoujamii-Simo. It was especially hard on those who had the chance to sport darker, blacker pelts - an epidemic that unfortunately, for now, persisted in about half the pride. The lioness that found herself walking heavily across the sands on the outskirts of her pride without her snake companion was a little agitated, lost, and had less patience than usual because she was alone. However, Tlitl had good reason to stay behind; he had been through much with her in the past few days looking for food, and his weary snake body had grown exhausted. She would be in his position too, except strong blood ran in her, and her larger frame made her a little more durable in these scouting sessions.

It was... so hot, and admittedly, sometimes she wished she was in the shade of home rather than out here, searching for some prey and water. Even though she often liked adventuring outside of home, free to just fly with the wind, even these hot days made her think a second time about doing that. It seemed absolutely impossible these days to find something quickly. But still, she needed to do it. For her pride and her own integrity.  

[Andranis]

The high sun felt good on his red pelt. Rowtag climbed to the top of a dune, surveying the area. Now and then, he'd spot a lion or lioness out on their rounds, searching for new rations. Sometimes he wondered if it was a futile search - The drought seemed in no hurry to end, and he worried that they'd all begin to perish before it DID end. He gave a snort, turning his eyes toward the sky. Not a single cloud. And it was only getting hotter. Soon they'd all need to turn back toward home to keep from getting killed by the heat.

A spot out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and the lion turned to look at it. A dark shape on the horizon... It could easily have been the heat, but he swore the distant lion was a bit far out. He let out a sigh, then went down the dune, taking the hard route and going over dunes to reach them. As he got closer, he spotted the lack of mane and knew it was a lioness. His gaze turned to the sky again to check the sun's position, before hurrying to catch up to her. "Hey! It's getting too hot out here, it's about time to go back!"  

[Ameh]

The lioness seemed lost in thought... It was hard to concentrate on anything, really, doing these menial tasks under the hot, hot sun. What was she looking for, again..? Oh, right. Gold eyes blinked at the expanse of nothingness before her, and she thought it would probably be time soon enough for her to go back to the pride, where it was a little cooler with the shadows and all.

She almost didn't notice the shout beckoning to her. In fact, she almost ignored it completely for the first few moments of it being issued. Was something calling to her? Surely Tlitl had not found his way out here all alone. It would have been crazy for him to do so.

She trudged on, but then stopped when she realized she had decided there would be nothing she could find anymore out there. But when she turned around, she saw a red and black male dashing towards her, and stepped backwards in alarm. Was that where the voice had come from..?! Was he addressing her? Something about going back...

By the time he approached her, she eyed him warily both out of the heat tiring her and natural caution. And the fact that he was telling her what to do. As much as she liked to respect the elders and higher ranked in the Motoujamii-Simo, she liked to just do her own thing sometimes.

"You are telling me to go back?" she inquired, trying to confirm if she heard right through the distance and inattention.

Though she had chanced the thought of going back herself just a few mere moments ago, the fact that this random male would come popping up telling her to do exactly that was a bit startling, and she did not want to seem like she would follow a stranger's order at once.

"Who is telling me?.. Have you been following me this whole time?" she smiled and let out a laugh at that second question, eyes softening in amusement, "I'll have you know that I can hold my own out here, boy."  

[Andranis]

As he got closer, Rowtag could see the startle in her eyes and stance. She'd been lost in thought, it looked like. He frowned at her first question, shaking his head. "It's not so much telling you what to do, but asking you to heed whatever alarm is hopefully going off in your head." He'd already seen some pretty stupid lions out there, and he hadn't even been a tracker for too long! He paused, catching his breath after so much running, even if it hadn't been far. Going over dunes maybe wasn't the best of ideas...

Her next question caught him off guard, and it was his turn to be startled. "Following you? No..." He motioned with a paw back in the direction of the pride. "I'm one of the trackers, and to make my job a bit easier, I like to find a high dune and watch those out on rounds... Provided I can still see them." He really needed a hawk or eagle. That'd make his job all the easier. He knew Kosuke had an eagle... And said eagle made the older lion's job FAR easier because it put eyes in the sky. "I saw you still wandering out further, so I came to make sure you didn't get lost." He stopped. "Okay, that DOES sound like following..."