Uzembe was having a hard day. He had just been attacked by a random lion and he was flying away as fast as he could. He was not sure where he was any more and he fell out of the sky after his long flight when he just could not take the pain in his back any more. He rocketed to the ground like a meteor from space, slamming into the ground and skidding across the grass for a few feet. He left a long trail behind him, digging up the earth and the grass. He even took out a bush and bumped into a tree that he was pretty sure was now tilting. He took a slow breath, just to remind himself that he was still alive.
Being a God had its perks, at least. He was hurt, yes, but he was not dead and he was not as badly hurt as a mortal might have been from the same kind of fall. He was in one piece and he was pretty sure he had not broken anything important. That was not a certain fact, though, because he had not dared to move his body just yet. He was in terrible pain already, and moving was just going to make it all worse, undoubtedly. He was not in a hurry to experience that.
Tucci had just been walking along when he was nearly killed in a horrifying fashion by something plummeting from the sky almost on top of him. It was a large something, and Tucci’s fur was standing up on end when the thing landed with a deafening crash. He looked at the destruction in its wake with wide eyes, then followed the trail despite himself. This was a terrible idea, undoubtedly, but what was he going to do? Just ignore it and not go figure out what it was? He would never be able to get through the day, wondering about it.
It would haunt his sleep.
Trying to settle his fur down first, so he did not look like a mess, he padded along the dug up trail where the thing had skidded, coming up to the source of the ditch. It was a lion, surprisingly enough, but not one he had seen before. And when it turned over and unfurled its wings, Tucci began to doubt his first assessment. This was no lion. This had to be something else, something unlike anything he had ever seen before: this could have been the thing he was searching for, to really start his life down an important and illustrious path.
“Are you okay?” Tucci asked carefully, stepping closer but not getting too close, in case this guy lashed out when he was hurt. He looked dirty and scuffed up, and Tucci noticed a lot of blood on the other lion’s back. He must have been attacked, but what on earth could attack a lion with wings and win? It seemed like he had wandered into a story lionesses would tell to cubs to keep them from misbehaving. It was very difficult for him to believe what he was seeing, as if his eyes were more likely to lie to him than for this to really be happening.
“I’m fine,” Uzembe said, grunting as he righted himself and then sat down heavily. He was in a lot of pain and having a tough time thinking about anything, his brain fuzzy and his thoughts thrown in various directions. He looked at the black lion and tried to focus his vision on him, but things were just a blurry blob for him. He sighed. “I just had a bit of a… bad run in with… you’re not a Stormborn are you?”
“I don’t even know what that means, but I can assure you I am no such thing. I am an inventor!” He would be, anyway, when he invented something that would help others and change the world they lived in. That was a bit far off at the moment, though, as he had no ideas whatsoever. Even this God did not make his muse spark like he thought it would: he was not sure how he could utilize a flying lion to revolutionize life as they all knew it. That did not mean it was impossible, though, and he was going to keep thinking about it.
Something would come to him.
“Well, that sounds good. Look, you don’t happen to know how to patch up cuts, do you? Because I’ve been hurt and it… it seems pretty bad.”
“I don’t… uh. But I can help you find someone that does. How about we find you some place to hide, so no one bothers you, and then I go out and see if I can find someone who can help us more. I’ll get you some food, that I can do, and you should be okay… right? Do you think you can hold on that long?” Tucci was a kind lion, even if he was self motivated and he could lose himself to his ambition sometimes. Right now, he saw something bigger than him, so he was willing to help. It was not like he was putting himself in danger to do so, after all.
If that were the case, it would be an entirely different story.
“I would really appreciate it, thank you,” Uzembe sighed, feeling exhausted from the long flight away from the Stormborn that had attacked him. He limped a bit and Tucci moved to lean against him, supporting the much larger lion as best he could as they walked. Tucci led him to a den that he had been using for himself, but thought would be good for this, letting the lion get settled before he moved to head back out.
“I’ll be back very soon! Just stay there, okay? Uh. My name is Tucci.”
“I’m Uzembe. God of Negligence. Thank you for your help, Tucci…”
Tucci nodded his head, hesitating for a moment as the God put his head down to get some sleep. A God. It was almost too much. He shook his head but tried to focus, turning away and bouncing off to go and search for someone that might know more about injury care than he did.
Word Count: 1,045 in Word
