Bug nodded, and turned, dropping quite low. Her swift, silent prowl was exceedingly cat in its movements, fluid and practiced. It was probably a good example for Sakhira, even if Bug failed.

She slid her way around the rock, little pitter-patters of her feet interspersed with long, silent pauses where she listened. She could hear the scratching just ahead, the faint movements--and she let that be her guide, hoping Sakhira was paying close attention behind her. She couldn't exactly stop to dictate advice, now.

Oh, she thought, coming in sight of a pitch rat. It was foraging, pushing through some sparse growth in search of food. They were pretty harmless beasties--and she felt bad about killing one. They reminded her of her, and of her family--jet black with draconic wings and clawed hind feet. But... a kid had to eat. So she steeled herself, tensing low. Her body coiled down, and she looked very much like a cat about to pounce except for her wings: also tensed, raised in half-mast, ready to catch her and propel her forwards should her initial leap miss its mark.

Bug leapt, springing in an arc that brought her down near-perfectly on the pitch rat--except it darted to the left in a leap of its own, seeing or hearing her coming. Bug, reflexively trying to adjust her pounce mid-air, twisted her body. Her wing flailed, flipped, hit a jutting overhead stone, and sent her crashing upside-down into the rubble in a puff of dust. She lay stuck for a moment, thrashing and coughing, sand pluming high--the bat, unless Sakhira snagged it, ready to wing away.

Shit.

Bug flailed, a shove of her wings sending her tumbling back to her feet. Upright once more, she turned, blinking rapidly as she quickly relocated the little fight.

She sprang, claws out, fangs aimed for the back of the creature's neck.

And missed--a lurch in the fight sending her spinning over it yet again, overcorrecting. As it turned out, there was a ledge just beyond, and the cat-dragon hybrid shot completely out of sight, a brief wail of surprise announcing her plummet. A soft thud was followed by a puff of dust and a loud groan.

Some help she was.

When Bug's head appeared over the edge of the little ruin, it was very much a "look what the cat dragged in" sort of moment. Except she, Bug, the 'cat,' was what was being dragged in. She was covered in a fine film of dust, ears flattened down at two different angles, eyes half-lidded in supreme irritation. She hauled herself up onto the flat ground, glanced briefly at the half-dead prey, and shook herself out in a spray of dirt.

"That usually goes better," she muttered, most of her go-to enthusiasm gone. She tried, though: she looked to Sakhira, forcing herself to brighten just a little. "Hey, you did good! ...Good job! Now you know how to... yeah. Do that. Uh."

She paced over, and lifted the neck of the unresisting injured creature, giving it a solid shake. "Now you just. Tear it open and eat it. And yeah--that's one of the ones that doesn't talk," she added, as if to reassure her.

Bug squinted at this, studying Sakhira, and tried not to sink a little more. All that effort from them both, and she didn't even like meat..? "Well. We can go try fruits or plants, I guess," she agreed at last, and eyed the pile of dead black fur. "Those don't fight back at least! Best not let this go to waste, though."

She paced to it, crouched, and began to eat, batwings mantled above her. She ate with dedication, focus and intensity, a predator determined to gulp down as much as possible before some other, bigger animal chased her off, by instinct.

"You sure you don't want some more of this?" she asked at last, glancing up, licking her jaws. Her lips were a little bloodied, spined tail twitching behind her, but she seemed content to share.

____

Time passed quickly after that: her goals were to make sure this kid could care for herself, and--well--she could. Probably. Basics were taught, and all that. Satisfied that her responsibilities (self-granted, admittedly) were, and bored, as she so easily became, Bug was soon on her way alone.