For being as hulking of a man as he was, @Dero should could disappear if he really set his mind to it. The lion was essentially a shadow that came and went with the sun, but he never planned on being stalked by the sun herself, did he? Of course not. Furia had given him some time to catch up with Roan, had stepped away to give the small family some time to recover from everything they had endured. Roan had been through more than enough for someone his age, and with the weight of the world on his shoulders, Furia could only imagine he needed some father-son time pronto. She had waited impatiently (it was Furia, she didn't know patience) for two days before finally gathering the courage to greet her dead brother. Who wasn't dead. Looked like shit, but wasn't dead.

"Deeeeebs," she called out, tiptoeing (loudly) through the jungle as she scented the air. He was around somewhere, she could smell him, it was just a matter of where. Furia didn't know why, but her stomach was twisted into knots. It was like she had no idea who she was getting ready to see -- but honestly, she didn't. Her Dero could have been gone completely, and how could she adapt to him being.. different? He had been her rock for so long, the idea of him being anything but her goofy brother was terrifying.

So she opted not to think about it and plunged into the darkness, grateful for the moon overhead to illuminate her path.

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Dero never tried to disappear, but after spending so long stuck in one place while healing, the dark brute couldn't help but feel the need to stretch his legs more often now. The limp in his back leg was growing milder by the week, but nothing would ever rid the man of the numerous scars that plagued his body. At least the worst was over. He'd hope, anyway. Everything left was cosmetic. Everything except for his eye, however. The vision had still yet to return, leaving the fallen king to assume it never would. Sometimes, in the right light, he thought he could see some foggy shapes, but nothing of detail was ever seen again. The Hodari had long since resigned himself to the idea that he would never be a king again, certainly not in this condition either. Willing to sacrifice his own life back in the Jungle did things to his mind and will to live. There were still parts of the man that wished he had died back home, but that was a dark thought he'd never share with his family. They'd all done too much for him for the obsidian lion to be anything less than grateful to be alive.

In his midnight stroll, the ebony brother never anticipated the addition of company. He simply just preferred to explore at night, obviously to avoid the sun and heat of the day, given his dark complexion, so the sounds of his sister caught the man off guard. Paws halted for a moment, allowing his head to lift with ears twisting to catch with direction @Furia was calling from. A moment later, the large lion was turning towards her location, offering a few chuffs to alert her of his nearby position. "Over here," he'd call through the darkness before eventually catching her scent and honing in on his golden sister.

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The jungle was always disconcerting nowadays. It made her feel almost claustrophobic, like the trees were closing in on her and forming some sort of wooded cage. Perhaps she had an aversion to the things nowadays, unwilling to be anywhere that reminded her of the home she had lost. Nothing would ever come close to that humid cesspool her brother and mother had seemed to love so dearly, but just because she didn't understand the appeal didn't mean she didn't miss it. She missed it quite a bit, actually, and would have given any leg to be back there. To be home. To be happy, safe. Gods, she would have given two of her legs to take her whole family back and just be.. be them again.

She paused when he spoke. Even now, knowing he was entirely alive, it still made her heart skip a beat to hear him. Furia had gone for so long thinking he was dead that it almost felt like she was speaking to a ghost. Or she was insane. Eh, either way.

The lioness honed in on him and made a beeline towards him, foregoing any usual bratty tactics such as sneaking up on him or anything else she would have normally done. In fact, most of her typical sass was missing as she slunk towards him and moved to bump her head against his. "Heeeeyy, how's it hanging?" she asked awkwardly, settling onto her haunches with a crooked grin. Stuff was normal, right? Yep.

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The brother had his own mixed feelings about the jungle. While he knew these were not the same jungles as the ones he had ruled and almost lost his own life in, there was still that familiar feeling. The moisture in the air, the humidity, the canopy blotting out the sunlight during the day. There were times when the man was half-asleep where he'd envision days long since passed, watching his children run through the foliage and finding new treasures around every tree. How much he wanted to go back to that, but if the first move taught them anything, there was no going back.

As Furia came into sight, the scarred man's lips curled into a warm grin. Every time he saw her golden fur now felt like a new reunion all over again. After all that time spent apart, Dero would forever cherish every minuscule moment spent with his sister. A purr rumbled in his chest as the siblings bumped their heads against one another. "Oh, ya know. Just peachy," the fallen kind smirked in response. There was a certain level of awkwardness lingering between the two lions, but Dero couldn't place the reason for it. There were still many things left unsaid about it all. He didn't know about the disgruntled encounters with the natives while he hadn't told his sister about some of the more dangerous moments of his last moments in their jungle home. And now with Kiton taking the Mire, there was much to be discussed between the Hodari clan as a whole. For now, though, Dero was content to just be with his sister. He just wanted her in his corner, just as he wanted to be in hers.

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Furia was awkward, but what else was new? She had her world flipped on its head so often she wasn’t entirely sure which way was up anymore, and Dero’s return had been no exception. How did one interact with someone they had mourned for so long? She had all but physically buried his body, had gone through each stage of grief around eighteen different times in an attempt to put herself back together. Shit, everything she had told Jamil about his uncle had been in the past tense! How did she explain that to her boy? Oops, Mommy thought Uncle Dero was dead but turns out she just was super hella depressed for no reason? Knowing him, Jay would take it all in stride and nod along enthusiastically. Spirits bless him, she didn’t deserve such a sweet boy.

“Oh, for sure, I can tell.” Peachy. As if either of them had ever experienced that for more than ten seconds. Furia settled onto her haunches, clearly not in a hurry to go anywhere, and tilted her head to peer up at him through a curtain of their mother’s red. “I have to say, pissing off ~*AbUeLa*~ and Babu enough that they literally told death to fuck off and came back to life is a level of extra I can only hope to attain one day.” How many others could say their grandparents had been so upset they had literally transcended realms? Only Dero. Literally only Dero. “How are you, though? Really?” Outside of Hanneth, she had a feeling Dero would only be honest with Furia -- and that was okay. That was why she was there.

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The sarcastic comment was wholeheartedly expected from his sister as Dero smirked in response. When had he ever used to the term peachy to begin with. Of course she wouldn't believe him. Without missing a beat, though, the golden woman would poke fun at the fact that their grandparents came back to life just to save Dero's sorry ass. The dark brute scoffed playfully in return, accented with a nice eye roll as well. "Just so you know, the older you get, the more you remind me of her," he teased, of course meaning their grandmother. WONDER WHY THAT IS.

All joking aside, though, Furia just had to go and be a good sister and actually ask how Dero was doing. Now, that left the battered man with a dilemma of if he told her the truth or told her what he knew she'd rather hear. In the end, Dero knew Furia would see through any lie he tried to pass off as legit, so why even bother? Keeping things bottled up for too long wasn't good, nor was it helping his mental state. Even if the Hodari was getting rather good at putting on a brave face, some things were getting harder and harder to hide. "I.... I don't know, Furia...." he'd trailed off with a sigh as his gaze started to look away from her. "Physically? I... I'm okay. Not perfect, not that I'll ever be, but I'm okay." He'd learned to live with his current state. By now, he knew he'd never get decent vision out of his right eye, and maybe never fully be rid of the limp in his back leg, but he could live with it. They were getting older. Dero didn't need to be a king anymore now that his sons were ready. But mentally?... The scarred lion didn't know how to say it.

@Furia

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Furia squinted suspiciously at her brother when he compared her to their grandmother, though she wasn’t entirely sure if she was supposed to be insulted or complimented. Instead, she chose to huff in a snobby way and glance off into the distance. “Hmph, if I can cheat death and be petty enough to bitch myself back to life, I’ll take it. And what do you mean the older I get? I’m four years old, thank you. You’re the old one here.” She said, gesturing towards the beginnings of gray along his muzzle. Furia had it too, of course, but with her golden fur it was more difficult to spot. Also, they were littermates. No matter how much she poked fun at him for being old, Furia was stuck with the knowledge she was just the same. Sigh.

Things turned serious, as she had strangely intended for them to. Furia wasn’t one who enjoyed heavy topics, but for Dero, she would make an exception. It broke her heart to see him so uncertain of himself. As rock solid and confident as he had always been, it pained her that he was hesitant. She wished she could just.. take all of the feelings away from him, but she couldn’t. And she couldn’t even handle her own issues. “The one thing I’ve learned is that.. even if we’re not okay now, we will be. It takes time -- a lot of it, and there will be days when it’s worse than others.” Furia was an expert on trauma nowadays. “At the end of the day, things can’t go back to the way they were, but.. ugh, as stupid as it sounds, at least we have each other. And the rest of the family. Dunno if Hanneth mentioned you have a nephew now.” She flushed in embarrassment beneath her fur, completely lacking confidence in everything she had just said.

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Honestly, Dero didn't know how he meant the statement in the first place. Was it a compliment to be compared to a woman who had lived an entire life, became a deity in her afterlife, then brought herself back to life to help save her grandson? Yeah, that was probably a decent image to try and live up to, let alone a grand compliment to be compared to such a badass woman. In an afterthought, though, Dero knew he meant it as an insult at least on some level. Teasing, at least, if anything at all. "Okay, sure. Whatever you say, sis," the dark brute smirked at her claiming to be only four years old. Obviously, he knew she didn't really believe that, or else she was more delusional than he previously thought.

If anyone knew that it took time to heal, it was Dero. After losing his first wife, it had taken the dark knight so long to recover, to truly and fully allow himself to love again. Rooney had left a large hole in his heart. Though it healed overtime, there would always be a scar. Scars, he could live with, but this was something different. It was like the trauma wouldn't succumb to the expected action of 'healing over time.' Just like the infection that had festered physically within his own body, the extent of his trauma was still simmering beneath the surface, just out of reach of a healing touch. Even with @Furia's words, it didn't make the Hodari feel any better. Only her mention of a nephew would pull a weak smile to his lips. Instead of doing the healthy and mature thing, and talk more about his feeling and such, Dero decided to latch on to the nephew thing. "Yeah, she did," he smirked lightly. "And he's pink?" the brother gently teased with a small crinkle of his nose. "Bet Avana loves that."

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