But how could she know which ones didn't speak? What if she killed it before it had a chance to speak? Does that mean for every prey she caught she shouldn't kill it right away just to make sure? Luckily Bug was leading this hunt, so she didn't have to worry too much about selecting the wrong target. When she went off on her own she would have to figure it all out through trail and error.

She had no sense of smell, and was quite confused why Bug was moving her head around. Was that a special trick that would allow them to catch prey? Sakhira mimicked the dragon cat's movements, though didn't feel any different. Following the added instructions, she looked around the area, owl eyes cutting through the darkness. Her ears took in the sounds of the area.

And she heard it. Or rather, saw it first. The tail of something disappeared behind a rock. And when she focused her hearing, she found that it was making a quiet scratching noise. "Behind rock. There." Sakhira's eyes stayed focused on where she had last seen the creature. It was still there. Or at least, around that area. The scratching noise it was making as it moved around confirmed it.

@Bug

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.

@Sakhira

Sakhira's movements were unbalanced, unrefined. They were much more rigid than fluid, and at times she almost lost her balance as she was transitioning between steps. As they neared the scratching noise, she could feel her heart racing in anticipation. And the pitch rat came into sight. That thing was ugly. Black fur and red eyes? Not a good mix. It made her feel a bit better about killing it. Or, well, it was mainly Bug killing it. She would be watching and learning.

She took careful note of every single muscle, every paw step, eyes constantly flicking between the source of the noise and Bug. It was interesting actually, how their anatomy was rather similar. Cat-like, and with wings too. Though Sakhira's wings weren't exactly grown out yet, having fluff in place of feathers. Either way, this was a useful lesson in hunting.

And Bug leaped- only to miss and come crashing down in a plume of dust. Ouch, that looked like it hurt. There was a moments hesitation as she wondered if she should help the dragon cat instead of continuing the chase. But she had to make sure all their efforts weren't for nothing! Breaking out of hiding now that their cover was blown, Sakhira sprinted as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast admittedly, towards the rat. But she covered more ground with her longer strides, and soon caught up. Remember what Bug did! Pounce! And she did, landing on the rat. Literally. She tried to keep it in her grip as it struggled to wiggle out from under her. "Bug help!" Sakhira didn't expect to get this far, and was unsure of what to do next.

@Bug

oops i meant the flying pitch rat aka winged harmless bat not giant evil rat but... i'll be vague that's my mistake-

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.

@Sakhira

Bug was coming! Sakhira was losing energy already just trying to hold it down, and wasn't sure how much longer she could hold out. But as she looked up, the dragon cat instead missed once more, appearing for only a moment before disappearing out of sight with a thud. She was a bit confused why a master of magic like Bug was trying to physically kill the thing when she could just burn it to death with a wisp or something. Especially since it seemed trying to kill it by force was not working out very well.

Sakhira had to make a decision now before the prey escaped, and recalled what she had been taught earlier. She needed to bite it a lot! But how? She didn't have teeth. Well, closest thing was a beak so... Not sure where exactly was the spot she was supposed to be 'biting' it, she just started rapidly pecking all over it until it stopped struggling. It wasn't dead exactly, but it wasn't quite alive either. It was in a state of probably would be dead soon. Exhausted, she got off the creature and lay down on the ground, chest heaving as she regained her energy. The thing was too injured to go anywhere anyways. There was no point holding it down any longer. "Bug! I. Did it! You okay?"

@Bug

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.

@Sakhira

Sakhira could tell that Bug really wasn't having a good time. The cat was covered in dust, and she took a step backwards as she shook herself out. It was more so out of instinct that anything, as Bug was at a distance where there was no way any of the dust would actually get on her. But they caught it! Or, well, she did at least. But it was Bug who taught her how hunting worked.

Sakhira noticed that she wasn't as energetic as before, which made sense considering Bug had suffered from two crash landings. She beamed at the dragon cat's praise. She had done it! And it wasn't as hard as she had expected it would be either. The creature hadn't formed any words or acted in a way that told her it was a gembound. Therefore, it must be safe to eat for sure. Though at this point it was a bit too late to decide not to eat it. It was basically dead already.

The sphynx bent down, memorizing what the slain lesser looked like for future reference when she would have to hunt on her own. Once this was decently imprinted into her memory, she decided to take a bite out of it. It was actually sort of hard to rip off a chunk, but once she did so, she gulped down the chunk of meat whole in the fashion of an owl. "No like. Taste bad." Sakhira declared almost immediately. It wasn't the fact that it was meat, she just didn't like the taste of this peculiar specie of lesser. "Bad to eat. Like water." At this rate she was going to starve herself or something from being picky about her diet. "Bug can have." she nudged it towards the cat, looking quite disappointed about her catch.

@Bug

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.

edited into an exit partially by request!!

@Sakhira