He was unsure if there were any other Black's among this strange world. So far, there was on he, @Wrath and @Lotus. Three of which he was pleased to have here in this new chapter of their journey. His wife was injured and that enraged him greatly but that was a rage he would save for a later time. Right now, his main concern was finding a place for the family to live without having to much trouble with the natives that lived here already. Granted he was not aware the ones he had met were not really natives but were strangers on their own. Welcomed to a world that they didn't even know until they arrived here themselves.

Envy would stroll along the edges of the land before it turned dark. What he now stood on was sand but it was no sand that he had ever seen before. It was strange and it clung to his fur in the most uncomfortable of places but he would move forwards and onto the beach before him and glancing around. It was open which meant that he could see if anyone was coming and they could see them, but for now, he was not concerned about that as he let out a call for the family he knew was here and if there was any that had ventured in without him knowing.

@Sloth @Astra @Taipan @Siren @Asylum

image by moogle/code by saph

Shadows creep up the beech as the sun descends towards the ocean horizon. Light catches every bend and curve in the sand, throwing long exaggerated shadows across the beech and tinting everything in crimson. His smell was unmistakable, crept along the beech like a putrid miasma that chokes the world around it. It is a fragrance she knows well, and while most creatures may shy away from the smell of his disease, Taipan draws closer.

She had crossed the border with her mother recently, and the two had not strayed terribly far since. There was safety together and in a time of so much uncertainty, she found herself longing for her family. Even her uncle, with all of his cruelties, was a relieving sight against the twilight sky. She wonders if he misses his brother as she does - her father - a foolish man to be sure but Taipan's father none-the-less. What Pride did not provide, it was now Envy's turn to take up the mantle as family patriarch. Taipan is unsure of what will become of them now but she is just happy to have found a Black.

Lithe steps carry her silently across the sand. It depresses against her paws in a pleasant way, even if her footsteps feel more unstable on the slippy ground. She approaches to sit a distance away from @Envy, dipping her head silently. She does not speak, acknowledging him only with reverent body language and a cautious distance as they wait for more to arrive (how many had survived?).

Grieving the lose of her beloved Pride, Astra found herself gracefully hiding her pain behind ice blue eyes as she trotted down the shores of an ashened colored beach. Having been chased from her home with the other survivors of the family she had married into she was quiet. Having arrived with her beloved daughter Taipan her last link between her late husband and herself that truly linked the two of them she would be damned if she let a single hair look on her hide be harmed. Let alone left the child behind.

Following not far from @Taipan she moved just behind the lioness on her left side as the scent of the one they had been tracking grew stronger. It was unmistakable that a host of the Black Disease was here. The scent grew stronger until the sight of @Envy came within view. The lion who had inherited her as a wife from her late husband much to her dismay. Honestly if she wasn’t able to have Pride she would have preferred @Wrath or even @Sloth for that matter. Though Sloth was a bit young for her tastes. Still she would have preferred him over Envy.

Coming to a halt she sat down next to her daughter and dipped her head. Bowing to the new family head she was silent. Like a good lady always silent. Seen but never heard unless spoken to first.

There was a certain resilience to allowing strangers to care for her, regardless of her age or her need of aid. An offered meal could only be met with a grateful smile and enthused thank you, which she could easily present. She was a talented actress despite her young age, a childhood hastily discarded as she was forced to either grow up or perish. She could only hold out hope that her family might reappear someday, for Asylum was not welcome among common lions, less she wear her kindly mask. She was not herself and that bothered her. She had nobody to talk to about what she had suffered either, for they could not relate or understand it.

Imagine her shock when a voice rang out, one of authority but more importantly, one of familiarity. It was a bit of a journey from here to the place in which it resonated. She was eager to see if it was indeed her father, but also wary of approaching too hastily. She could be wrong about it, because of wishful thinking, her lack of sleep or a corrosive memory. It had been two months since last she heard it, she might have been convinced any summons was his if it meant finding her family again.

Eventually, her tiny form would come to rest along the fringes of the gathering place, seeking the last bit of tall foliage available to inspect the distant forms from. Any closer than this and it was all exposed ground. Was it them? She crouched motionless, finding her legs had betrayed her desire to draw closer, locked in place. Perhaps with more time she could be certain, but for now, all she could do was stare out from her hiding place. She felt so overwhelmed with indecision, joy, caution and fear of being wrong that she ceased to pay attention to the rest of her surroundings. Hopefully, some passing predator wouldn't come upon her exposed backside in that moment.

image by moogle/code by saph

Where one brother slithers, the other is never far behind. Its a role the beast, the wrath of his kin had found himself slipping into with shocking ease. Despite his discomfort in the manner of things, in the deaths he had followed, it was far simpler to fall into line. To swallow doubts and worries and do his duty. Pride, well, as much as he loved his kin insomuch as he could, had messed up. @Envy had been doing better. Not to mention, his changed role had some benefits he had just been learning. Ones that, given time, he would likely delight in, his lips curling up in a grinchlike smile at the mere thought. Or it would, right now, right now he was distracted.

For while the miasma of his brother boiled and crept out from him in terrible waves he had noticed.. a smaller, softer variant. One that, as he came up upon the beach from inland, only grew stronger. Jaws part to draw the scent more firmly, fully into his nostrils, and then as he reads the putrid stench upon the air his gaze snaps open and down. Spying the last bit of foliage and the mauve shadow beneath.

@Taipan, and her mother @Astra could wait. They had arrived while he had been scenting, but the viper was not interested in them now. No, he closed the distance between himself and the small child, the youngest black. " Asylum" he rumbles, fondness rare but for the babe and his wife emerging from deep tones. He does not get within her reach quite yet; she had gotten the Black gift in droves and surprising her was a bad idea. Lest he himself get bitten. And while he certainly would not die from it, it was best to be cautious. A bite from one as strongly blessed as @Asylum would not be fun, even for him. So the hulking figure looms above her hiding place, a slight smile upon his lips. The Funcle was here dear one, and he would take you into the midst of all the others, including your father.

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for vague mentions of self-harm

The smell of death and decay was a tantalizing odor that could not be ignored by the dappled woman. It spun a path before her led by her family members, a familiar smell that reminded her of home despite being so very far from there. Siren did not trust @Envy and his intentions for the family and in her eyes he could never be the ruler that her father had been, however Pride’s eldest daughter would hold her tongue, for now. She moved across the beach at a leisurely pace, pausing only when she felt something peculiar underfoot. It was then that she glanced down, noticing that she had managed to cut her forepaw on a broken seashell. The spotted woman gazed adoringly down at the wound on her pawpad as it pulsated blood, however she felt nothing. No stinging, no burning. She frowned then to herself, contemplating picking the shell up to slice her paw deeper. Deep chuffs echoed across the beach to reach her pointed ears and reluctantly she pulled her gaze from her wound, now was not the time nor the place.

Shuffling forwards she left dainty blood-spattered paw prints behind her in the sand as she moved to join the gathering. Her gaze would flicker from @Astra and @Taipan and then shift to her beloved and @Asylum. Easily she sidled up alongside @Wrath, her body melting against his before she took a seat. Her gaze would move to land upon @Envy, narrowing ever so slightly. She would not bow but instead would keep her head held high as her face held a mask of indifference.

image by moogle/code by saph

Envy had been expecting to see the Black's arriving to his call first not those that he would consider part of the Grey's. Ears twisting as he would turn to face the two that arrived, his metallic jewels landing on @Taipan briefly at the mark that gave her the name she so deserved before going to her mother and his wife @Astra. He knew that she didn't like him and he wasn't to fond of her either. She had smelled - drenched - in his brother's cologne that it was rather disgusting to his own scent. But in due time would he make her aware of where she belonged; perhaps he would share her. Only time would tell.

He was unaware of his own daughters hidden figure until @Wrath came and stood above some foliage. Ears twisted on top of his head as metallic jewels narrowed in on the his brother before moving towards the foliage. As he moved closer, the scent that matched his own grew stronger and he found himself purring in pleasure. Come out my little demon. Ah yes, he was never one to speak out kind words like sweetling or what a normal parent might call their child. That was not Envy. Anyone who knew him knew that he was entirely different.

@Siren's appearance did not go unnoticed nor did her narrowed stare go unnoticed either. She had been rather disapproving of him taking over and unlike Wrath who kept their thoughts to themselves. She held herself with pride and didn't bow to him, something that easily pissed him off and Envy wanted to tear out her throat and teach her a lesson or two for that very thought but at new lands; he would let it slide - right now. For now, Envy's attention was to his daughter and now the rest of the family. @Lotus was not there, he had know she was hurt and in truth would not expect her to be here but at the same time expected her all the same.

I see we are few but strong. This new land brings promise, and we shall not fall and succumb to the same things as before. He would begin turning to the Black's but his voice rang out to the all as his metallic gaze glanced at Taipan and Astra. First order of business, we need to find us our own place. A place that can stay hidden from prying eyes. Any ideas? He took his families voices seriously. Let's not be like Pride and not take in the opinions and advice that other's may give.

image by moogle/code by saph

Mismatched eyes watch as one by one other Blacks appear. They are dignified as always, as though untouched and undisturbed by the traumatic events that had unfolded. They suffered great losses, but the Blacks never lost their stride. Yet, Taipan thinks she sees a weariness in their faces - one invisible to those who don't know them. Her mother especially suffered; she needn't say anything. Taipan knew how much Father had meant to her and knows that now she is shackled to a man she does not love. It was not an uncommon fate in their family - but that hardly made it less unfair to her mother to have to suffer @Envy's indifference.

Her tail sweeps around her haunches as @Envy speaks, promising greener days to come. His eyes flicker to her and @Astra; did he seek their forgiveness? Taipan's eyes remain guarded and cool, betraying nothing. He would not find atonement or judgement in her schooled expression. He asks for ideas next, and Taipan knows there must be prides around - she's smelled the stink of their borders, this place reeked of lions. For now, she stays silent. Even if she did know more about the locals, it was not her place to be suggesting paths for the family. You tell us, oh leader.

Her hiding place was soon discovered, though it was to be expected given how hastily she had concealed herself, given little thought to her more exposed backside. She should have considered the fact that more might arrive and would berate herself for being so foolish. Nothing ill would come of it, for the lion that discovered her was family. Of the Black family, she had always felt the most adoration for her two uncles and her parents.

Although she was never the most affectionate outwardly, made more withdrawn than ever in these past couple of months, she would turn to the lion, wide-eyed and slightly stiffened in her surprise. It would take her a moment to take it all in, the realization that she had found her kin. The girl would not speak, instead wrap her paws around his leg, pressing her forehead against it. Whatever anyone else might think, she found his scent a welcoming one. She was reluctant to let go, wanted for a moment to weep, but she would restrain her emotions. She did not wish to make a scene or bring a pause to what must be an important meeting.

She would only release him when her father eventually spoke, realizing now that she was here. She wished to approach him, but her legs felt numb and she did not trust them to carry her, regardless of how light she might be.

image by moogle/code by saph

As concerned as he was for the child, whom he reached for as she did him, he did not fail to notice the scent of blood. The scent of blood intertwined with his mates. The babe clings close and he gently reaches for her scruff, aiming to peel @Asylum from his limb. He appreciated the gesture, he does, but as @Envy approaches and @Siren pads closer still, he wants to join the group at large. He steps forward to place her gently at her father's feet; say what you want about Envy but he wasn't a terrible dad for one afflicted.

He steps back, leaning into Siren's caress, concern for her drawing his gaze down. While he specializes in things that harm, he had learned a fair amount of tricks to treat the various injuries she gave herself. His careful attention had him noting her narrowed gaze, the uptilt of her chin. He wanted to bite his lip, but didn't, instead letting his jaws snake down to her ear to speak to her alone. "Hush, please, its not the time nor place lover mine" he begs. Her pride, defiance is something he understands, but, he does not and will not stand for her getting hurt. Not when she didn't understand the seriousness of bodily injury. Not when Envy's rage and her reckless nature could lead him, them to absolute ruin. His head then shifts away from her ear to her limb. Gently attempting to nudge her forepaw with his muzzle to look at the injury. To confirm it is something they could ignore until business was done.

Envy spoke, and while his ears were trained on his brother, he did not look up until he spoke of places to stay. This he could help with. "The north. Tis a cave system that does hath springs of heat"he offers, catching his brother's gaze and holding it for a moment. He wanted to convey he felt it was good spot. Then, after the required time, he turns back to his wife, looking to study her paw more.