Never Look Back

Kiros should be one of the Pride's own soon! Here's the thread where he's invited: --->HERE<---

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The darkness and gloom of the swamp was definitely expected when the young man had decided to go with the beautiful Miss Armour... but it was a darkness and gloom he had only heard about, and not actually witnessed. The muck and grime oozed between his toes with each step, slurping and smacking as he forced his way through. Of course, he was marching along a game path that was well traveled, but even so!

Still, he was not one to bear a sensitive stomach. All the while, when others might have been appalled and disgusted, the young man's eyes were round with wonder! Everywhere he looked was something new to observe, ponder and examine! From the smallest of creatures scurrying about in the muck to the large boa he was so SURE he had seen in passing - it was a gold mine for a man such as himself!

Kiros chuckled to himself as he watched a strange beetle scurry across his path in a hurry. Oh, the fun he'd have here. He just hoped @Sláine wouldn't mind if his first few days in the Mire were spent a bit ... preoccupied.

You're Not Going That Way

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A few days had passed since the clanswoman had brought the earthern male @Kiros into Ecrosia and she was keen to see how he was getting on. The swamp could be a dangerous place, one wrong step might see a lion sink up to his neck in the deep wells of mud spotted about the edges of the murky streams.
Sláine had expected her search for the large male to take some time, but as it was, the early autumn breeze gifted her blue tinged nose with his scent quite readily. As the lioness made her way to join her new recruit, her ears slipped forward to catch the sound of squelching, untrained (or curious?) paws against mud.
She finally spotted Kiros through the trees, opting to catch up to him some metres to his left, on a considerably more dry path. Though of course, even Sláine could not escape the inevitable flecks of mud, new and old, that splattered across her abyss fur.
"Ye ought tae be canny(careful) in th' mud, if th' snakes dinnae tak' yer toes. Paw rot just might." She smiles, flashing her teeth in a friendly way that was at odds with her words of warning.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

Never Look Back

The young man perked up when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. Digging his paws into the soggy earth, he came to a stop with the smile still pulling at his lips, his blue eyes falling upon Miss Armour. He waited for her to catch up to him, but it would seem she had found a path much drier and more accommodating... and not too far off to his left!

He bounded to her side, and once he was there, he would wiggle his toes to clear them of as much muck as possible. "My Mor and Far always told me that." He would chuckle, and with a swing of his head he invited her to walk along the path with him. "... What are snakes?" He then questioned with a brow hiked in curiosity, having been able to use context clues for the words 'canny' and 'dinnae' he was not so sure about the word 'snake'.

@Sláine

You're Not Going That Way

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He seemed to think better of his choice to wade through the mud and joined her on firmer ground. The sovereign gave the lion room, moving over as he arrived at her side and watched with interest as he flexed his toes to free himself of the swamp dirt.
Slaine's friendly smile slid into one of amusement as she accepted the invitation to walk alongside @Kiros, finding his demeanour very pleasant.
Though she had to pause for a brief moment in surprise as he expressed his ignorance of snakes, or at least the word naming the slithering beasts. "Odd devils with nae legs or arms tha' shift along on their bellies. Some give a fearsome, poisonous bite an' others can wrap around yer leg an' kill it o' life entirely."
Perhaps the strength of her accent would prove too much to explain the creatures properly. Though Slaine had long given up attempting to wrap her tongue around the local accent. The lioness walked along, unconcerned, though the swamp that she called home held host to innumerable snakes and other fearsome beasts.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

Never Look Back

The young man listened with intent curiosity as the saxe-pelted female explained to him a very familiar creature. Strange and curious it was, the name they had given these creatures that slithered upon their bellies. Immediately, despite her strong accent, he pictured an animal he had seen many times before.

With a smile and a spark of understanding Kiros lit up. "Ah yes, indeed! You speak of 'Quivers'! Many a time as a cub I would play with the squirmy things... though I was careful to keep to the small and far less harmful." He would chuckle, followed by a quirky brow hike and an odd questioning look.

"So the name for the creature is 'Snake', eh? Quite strange... I suppose it is fitting though. Does everyone here refer to them as Snakes?" He wondered only because she did have quite a strong accent that suggested she hailed from a land far from this place... and definitely far from where he himself hailed from.

@Sláine

You're Not Going That Way

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Quivers. An odd name to be sure, but appropriate all the same. Sláine let the corners of her mouth curl up in amusement, then boldly aimed to clash her shoulder against his as she swayed in step. A flirtatious look given to his direction, a returned raise of her blue brow. "Ye were a brave bairn indeed tae play wi' any o' th' wretched things." As a child, she'd explored the highlands unabashedly and fought many a peer and small beastie. But like many of her kin, they had known to avoid the terrible bite of the snakes that lurked in the tall grasses.
"Aye, snake is th' common tongue name. In gaelic they be called 'nathair'." She replied whilst glancing to him once again. "So, where is it ye come from, Kiros?"

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Never Look Back

The woman at his side seemed to be quite amused by his story and even the word he had used to name the squiggly creatures. She bumped into his shoulder, giving him a flirtatious look... and if he could have blushed, he would have! He wrinkled his nose in play as he aimed to tap her back, being sure to be gentle - maybe too gentle... hopefully she would feel it at all. "Always a brave 'bairn', milady." He chuckled, making sure she knew he was STILL brave, being sure to repeat the word she had been describing him as. He wasn't sure exactly what it meant, but he assumed it meant 'boy'.

@Sláine would then explain that the common tongue in this land referred to the creatures as snakes, but also revealed to him what she had called them in her own tongue. It was so very interesting... so many unfamiliar names and yet the creature was familiar to all.

Then came a difficult question to answer. Where was he from. The light left his eyes as the memories came to the forefront of his mind, though he tried to seem unaffected by the question entirely. "Oh, there was never just one place for my Tribe." He said vaguely, not really wanting to get into the dirty details. Instead, he simply huffed in good humor, skimming the top to try and sate her interest. "Nomads of the plains mostly." Then to try and turn the topic back to her. "And yourself? I've never heard of the Gaelic tongue." He said with genuine intrigue. Such a whimsical name for a language! Perhaps the homeland was just as magical.

You're Not Going That Way

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Was he flirting? The feeling that he might be struck a chord with the queen, encouraging out from her broken heart a little vibrance and cheer. @Kiros was a handsome man and did seem markedly different from any of the hard-hearted warriors she had known and sparred romantically with in her youth.
Her blue shoulder does indeed feel the gentle press of him. Though she is cautious and polite enough to pretend that she does not.
Ears pressed toward the new Mire male, listening to him speak of his past as a nomadic tribesman. The pale chin of the lioness found itself nodding along before offering a smile as he returned the question.
"Like yerself, my kin were more tribe than kingdom." She replied, immediately wistful for times gone by. Though her tale had a sour ending, though didn't they all? "We were removed, root an' stem by a king, intent on his own empire." It's a little too much, she knows. But Slaine is by nature an oversharer. All the same she watched the man for his reaction. "Is more than a year's journey tae my homeland fae 'ere. Is green mountain an' hills. We were a proud lot too, warriors an' songsmiths." Such is life, pain and heartache had driven her here, to a land that had repaired and replenished her joy for life, for the most part.

ART BY IRISH / CODING BY SENTINEL

Never Look Back

Kiros listened with exceptional interest, her voice like music against his ears. The accent was something he could listen to for days without ever finding it tiresome... but the words she uttered were not of a cheerful lot. He knew, though, that most who found themselves alone in the world had a rather tragic story as how they came to be. No one in this wide world ever chose to be alone. At least, not in his experience.

His eyes were empathetic and sad. He knew the heartache she must have gone through. "The wound such an event can cause... must have pained you a great deal to make such a journey." He muttered, longing to ease such pain in her, but not knowing exactly how. He looked to his paws as they walked against the sopping mud. She had shared more than he...

He cleared his throat. "It was not an outsider, but a death from within that scattered my tribe to the wind." His brother... by his paw, but he did not share that. What would she think of him if she knew? Surely she would think him some kind of monster. After all, he had not yet forgiven himself - how could he ever ask her to overlook such a thing?

@Sláine

You're Not Going That Way

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Slaine spared @Kiros the finer, more tragic details of her past, the loss of her adult children in a rebellion of her own making had long brought shame to her heart. An open book she may be, but some pain is simply too much to relive again and again.
Especially so since the failure of Ronin and Mirari to return to her, leaving the woman to accept the inevitable, that they were also lost to her. At least she still had Iona and Caillen.

Words of comfort were met with a warm smile from the lioness, but she would shrug as if the pain of it all was long in the past.

They walked on, but it was as the wise man revealed a slither of his own history that the lioness slowed to a stop, ears lifted, encouraging him on with his tale. "Yer chieftain?" She asked, intrigued. Her bright eyes finding a place across the kind features that had showed her such sympathy.

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