Dina had spent most of the afternoon snoozing in whatever shade she happened to come across, each nap lasting no longer than the shade remained. And unfortunately, the savannah sun rose quickly in the sky, making it impossible to find a patch of shade that would stick around longer than a few hours at best. Perhaps she should have transverse back to the den area, but the painted golden lioness had yet to claim one as her own. Mostly due to the fact that she wanted the rest of the pride to have first pick, as the lioness wasn’t keen on taking over a living area that would be better suited for someone else. As for herself? Dina was fairly confident that she could settle into just about anything with little to no discourse on the matter. A huntress by birth and a survivor through tough experiences such as this, Dina felt well equipped to handle just about any living condition when it came to the dens. Though unfortunately for her, the sun had yet again changed its position in the sky, and she could feel the searing heat tickle and then sizzle against her soft nose. It was a feeling she wasn’t particularly keen on, and the lioness had to sneeze to rouse herself from her short nap. Blue eyes slowly creaked upon as she took the time to gaze out at her surroundings; once again time seemed to be passing slowly with how short her naps had been. The lioness gave a defeated huff at the thought of moving to a new patch of shade, thinking the cycle never ending at this point. Well, she could always go check and see if the dens had been mostly claimed by now, but she somehow doubted that was the case.
With no more ambition than a lazy tortoise the female heaved herself onto all fours, the scraggily trees she had been laying under brushing the top of her back. It had been a comfy spot this one, but there was no need to lay under the heat of the sun while dust still caked her hide. Oh how nice it would be to finally take a bath in the water! Though that sport would be saved until the drought came to an end and there was water of plenty to go around. It would not do to go about splashing in what little reserves they had left, both dirtying the water and spilling it onto the hot dusty ground. Until the rains finally broke and there was more than enough to go around, Dina would simply have to settle on the fact that her coat was going to remain dusty and dirty, as the thought of tongue-bathing in this dry heat made her face crinkle up. Ick, a muddy tongue was only tolerable if you had water nearby to rinse your mouth out when you were done.
The huntresses clear blue eyes scanned the area once more as she count the number of pride members out and about on one paw; obviously it was smarter to stay in the shade at the time being. Dina was apt to agree, but her body was once again feeling restless at doing nothing. She could go hunt she supposed, but with the sun as high as it was the heat as aggravating as ever she really didn’t want to put forth the effort until night fell. The night air would be cooler and the prey beasts would be settling down for sleep, a perfect time to catch a meal.
Even as Dina thought this through her mind still balked at the idea of remaining idle all day. Something seemed to be missing, she supposed; something very important to keep her mind off how dull and boring the daytime was during the drought. Normally she would have busied herself with menial tasks such as grooming or scouting out herds of antelope or wildebeest for the hunt, but not when it cost her too much energy just to move around in the sun like that. The lioness flicked her ears back in a horrible show of her mood, boredom easily etched itself into her features with how her claws dug into the dirt and her tail lashed continuously behind her.
Not only was it difficult to find something occupy her time, but the lioness was fairly certain she’d felt this feeling of restlessness before. In times when she had been younger and the pride full of life she could remember this strange stirring resentment to doing nothing. There had been a solution, of course, but it didn’t immediately spring to the top of her mind, leaving Dina rather puzzled as to what she was feeling. No matter, in due time the older lioness would figure it out. And by then perhaps the rains would have broken and she’d no longer need to consider the matter.
It was as she was thinking on this that a tingle on the back of her told her that it might be a good idea to get out of the sun before it baked the dust further into her golden coat. With a sigh and a start forward the huntress prowled around the new pride’s territory in search of something that offered enough shade for her to lay under, still stubbornly against the idea of claiming a den until tomorrow, when she was certain the rest of the pride had settled in. It wasn’t often that she found herself overly concerned with how the pride was adjusting as a whole, but with the loses they had suffered already she knew some members would be more apt to mourning than others. It was only considerate to allow them the first pick of living areas, even if Dina herself was stuck with a small little thing to call her own. For these first few weeks, possibly months, she would wait it out until the drought broke, and then look into finding something a little more her own style. As for what the others did with their time, she wasn’t too concerned with them, as she already had a plan in place for when night fell. Dina, being as resolute as she was, felt certain that hunting at night would be far more fruitful a venture to put her efforts into.
