While his stay in the Oasis had never meant to last long and just long enough to feed himself for sustainability, it had ended rather abruptly. Ashelia should not have given her pride to anyone, she should have stayed; protected as she was meant to do and yet she had given it to some family member that had strangely vanished. Not that Mithros cared. He hadn't been very sure he even tolerated her but it wasn't his business anymore.

Without the Oasis, he had no pride and no way to really stick out on his own so he did what he was expected to do. Mithros wandered towards the Lagoon where he knew a few family members had been and hadn't even truly realized that @Vermier had claimed it as his own. The second he'd realized Mirza was gone, he'd dipped out like a shadow. So as one can imagine he was rather surprised not to just catch Vermier's scent but @Amara's as well, wondering if @Cassine and @Hazarin had wandered this way, as well. While living with family hadn't been his plan -- at least not for another while -- it was the only one he had and at least here, he wouldn't have to be treated like a young child. He'd be treated better.

_{© LARS}

+5 Patrol the border Amara walked along the edge of the land that was closest to the bit of land to the main area. She was concerned that the pride that was nearby might start to have some issues with them. Vermier had done nothing that she was aware of to set up relations with their neighbor. For the moment, it was how things would be. Once she got Cassine here, things would shift. The winds brought her a scent was was now familiar to her and she moved to find the yearling. Golden gaze looked him over closely as she neared him and came to stand in front of him. You look well. She didn't want to assume that he was here to join or anything. He could be looking for his siblings or just checking in, still, even if he didn't she cared in a way only she could. @Mithros

irish

GOD KILLS INDISCRIMINATELY AND SO SHALL WE

Knowledge of the yearling's scent did not exist. Last they had been in close quarters, @Mithris was still a soft boy. Vermier interpreted the male scent at the borders as a threat, for he had not called out. He growled and trotted after the scent, limbering himself up. His tireless advertising had worked! More were coming to the borders with broad, glossy gazelle eyes, frightened yet enthralled to feel out the might of the Dieudonne.

Vermier approached longways, his skull low, on the hunt. He saw @Amara before him. Greeting this invader with kindness? Pathetic. But this visitor was young and easy to defeat without her aid. Although he did wish he could inspire her to the savagery she had once displayed. He came closer and revised his impression of the visitor but resentment yet lingered, not acted upon, but retreating influencial at the back if his skull. Upon his visage spread joy and a wide smile. There was nothing there of relief for he had never doubted the children could care for themselves. They were Dieudonne.

"@Mithros! Welcome to Skeela! Where have you been? How many have you killed, eh?" (Spoken in French, phone post) He aimed to close distance and enclose the yearling in a bearish hug. The last part of his greeting he leaned back and grinned appraisingly, with a squint.

Joining up with blood felt oddly bittersweet and something he loathed to do but knew it was necessary. Dieudonne had a way of coming together and if it didn't believe it then, he did now. Manes coming out of the shadows to inquire in the Oasis then to challenge for the Bluffs was a blemish on his ego. As a child of his, Mithros thought he was supposed to look up to him but instead only found shame and disappointment. A feeling that he knew he shared with his siblings and certainly that of @Amara, probably @Vermier too.

The loyal Amara was quick to come to the borders and addressed that he looked well. Was she trying to get on his good side? Jokes on her, he didn't have one. Mithros felt like a bomb had gone off and he was a remnant of debris that couldn't be shaken. Jamais assez, mon oncle. (Never enough, Uncle.) As Vermier crossed the distance for a bear hug, Mithros attempted a brutish headbutt before allowing himself to be encompassed by blood family. Garder le siège au chaud ? (Keeping the seat warm? he asked, with an apathetic expression, somehow knowing that he was doing what he could to make sure that the dieudonne were set for the future. Also knowing that should his mother return, the seat would be hers for the taking. Or at least until @Cassine was of age.

_{© LARS}

Vermier arrives and Amara gives him a quick look over before her focus is back on the yearling. She didn't know him well and wondered what he took from his parents. Was he more like his father? His mother? Time would tell. The males talk for a moment and Amara just looks him over. There seemed to be very little on the outside that screamed his mother to her so hopefully, it was more internal. After they had come to a stop with their talks she spoke, Rester? She asked, she didn't see any reason for small talk with him. Either he planned to stay or not and she had other things she wanted to do with him if he indeed was going to stay. (staying?) @Vermier

irish

GOD KILLS INDISCRIMINATELY AND SO SHALL WE

Vermier did not doubt that the yearlings had their mother's spirit and blood and that was all that mattered. They mated for life and mates served for life, adding their loyalty and skill and looks to the family but their mannerisms could no more drown out the Dieudonné superiority than one weed could withstand a flood. What he saw in @Mithros' countenance was boredom, not apathy. He assumed the boy had been ranging just as he had in Ambrosine's absence, stirring up trouble and getting into fights but to what focus and to what ends? It was good he had returned. All together again the horde could rekindle their direction. "En flambé," (on fire) he chuckled low, ears demonically twisting sideways. He would hand his sister not only a pride, an empty seat without history or character, but a horde that was already named and feared. Whoever came to serve the matriarch would have to beg her to pull the hounds back.

@Amara was obviously not one for family reunions. He wondered if she was bitter that she had not kept Mithros like she had the others. Vermier smiled faintly, a bit of nostalgia that he alone would understand but that was no reason to conceal the emotion. "Quand j'avais ton âge, j'errais seule avant de retourner aux côtés de ma sœur lorsqu'elle est devenue reine de la crête. Elle m'a donné beaucoup de liberté, comme je vous en donnerais." (When I was your age, I roamed alone before returning to my sister's side when she became Queen of the ridge. She gave me much freedom, as I would give to you.) The freedom to terrorize and consume the rogue population, which he always had, but also the freedom to claim and imprison. Power meant freedom. Always had, always would.

It was plain to see that on the outside he had taken quite a lot from his father's genetics than his mother. Almost entirely so but he felt as though he followed a lot closer to his mother. At least, from what he could remember. The only thing he really remembered of his father (at this moment) was how disliked he was and how disappointed he felt towards the man. So, for the time being, @Vermier was the closest thing he was going to get to his Mama and @Amara, too, though she was more or less recognized as someone who took over in her absence. Mithros drew respect for the dark woman but like everyone else -- he just wanted his mother back.

Oui, he answered promptly with a nod of his head as it crested towards the likes of Amara before changing quickly to his Uncle. A hollow chuckle within his throat at his blood relatives admittance that he was keeping the seat on fire for whenever mother returned or, he supposed, when Cassine would decide she was ready to take her place. Keeping to his silence as Vermier recounted his life before, during and after Ambrosine's reign. While Mithros had no idea where to begin on his quest for power, he knew that in time he would know and feel it when it came knocking. So, he was happy to join the Lagoon and take whatever he could. Occasionally looking for guidance on what was expected of him now that he was a young adult and not a starved child. Je vous rejoindrai (i will join you) and he would conquer, destroy and let suffrage reign. But mostly, he would do as was necessary to be a part of this family. To return to where he was supposed to be in the hopes that if he joined them, and his two siblings, that Mum might return to them once again and forgive him for wandering.

_{© LARS}

Hazarin is hidden

+10 Explore the borders of a pride or group (pathfinder)
+20 Learn something about pride/family relations (sleuth)

It was no lie that Hazarin had been notably absent from the Lagoon since they had joined when Vermier had challenged for it. He'd been conflicted - Manes had been there, and it was the first time that the yearling had seen his father in quite some time. How was he supposed to feel when the man appeared just completely out of the blue, without an announcement? He was confused, angry, guilty, sad - a miriad of emotions all boiled into one, and the yearling couldn't cope. Since becoming a lion of the Lagoon, Hazarin had been unable to settle.

And so, when the call from his brother echoed through the land, Hazarin rose to his paws and moved away from the cesspit of a den and towards the border. By the time he was close, @Vermier, @Amara and @Mithros were deep in conversation. The clay pelted male remained hidden in the shadows, purple eyes studying the trio, listening to the utterances that were being passed.

GOD KILLS INDISCRIMINATELY AND SO SHALL WE

Another speck of blood within the Lagoon, more relations massing to sate the rest of the island with their dominion. Vermier smiled. Unlike most of his, it was evenly distributed, without the obnoxious verge of smirk. But of course there were still teeth poking out and the satisfaction of e v i l in his eyes. "Bon. Prenez la plus belle tanière que vous voulez, même si vous devez chasser des étrangers. Et ne soyez pas timide avec le cache. Dieudonné mange en premier." (Good. Take the nicest den you want, even if you have to kick out strangers. And don't be shy with the cache. Dieudonné eat first.) There needed to be more of them throwing their weight around so the others would always remember their place. And @Mithros needed some more meat on his bones first of all! Vermier had spent his yearling stage roving around and picking fights and he fancied he still bore the muscles from it now. He certainly still had the scars.

He passed @Amara a half-blink of dismissal as he turned to head further along the border. He still felt the urgency from when he had believed this had been an intruder. The threat. The desire to tear into something. He stretched up a tree and renewed the scratch marks on its outward-facing surface. Continued, surveying the landmarks and refreshing the scents where needed.

-exit

While not quite as hungry for e v i l as some of his kin were, he did delight in the idea of shaking things up a little bit. Certainly something that had been lacking in his stay in Andal where he felt like he was walking on eggshells trying to behave as was expected of him. Ashelia had taken him in under the assumption that he would be learning how to work with a pride. While part of that had worked and he could see a small fraction of it, it had been nothing like how his family ran them. To which he was thankful to have returned full force into. So with a sneering grimace he nodded his head once, slowly, understanding the french @Vermier gave and taking it with great care. Mithros was kind of hungry. Merci, oncle. (Thank you, Uncle.) Before turning to @Amara and regarding her with respect as he knew her to be quite a loyal friend and accompaniment to his mother. A small voice in his head dared him to ask what she knew of her location but couldn't bring himself to know the answer. For surely, it wasn't the one he wanted. So instead he bowed his own head to her and took leave swiftly. exit mithros

_{© LARS}