Roan Hodari

i wanna taste love and pain wanna feel pride and shame

ooc: mandatory pride meeting. anyone with a posted absence is excused. rogues interested in joining are welcomed to show up. will post again in a few days or when majority of the pride has arrived.

This was long overdue, as it always was, but then again, they lived a quiet life in Obsidian. There wasn't often a need for large scale gathering between them all just to talk about boring pride stuff. Parties and celebrations were much more exciting, but sometimes a check-in was just necessary.

Roan meant to do this much sooner after the last challenge for Obsidian, but then the world was also crumbling around them. Now that things had settled out a bit, he felt it was time to catch everyone up to speed again. With Maia, Jafar, and their kids having moved to Firnen, there was a hole left in their wake. Ranks needing filled, recruitment needing amped. However, it did also now afford them all a new ally. A silver lining. The Hodari tried to pick a time of day when he hoped majority of his pridemates would be close by before stepping into their usual gathering place within the tunnels. A few chuffs echoed their way through the Hollow in summons of the pride as Roan took a seat to wait.

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anxiety was her constant companion these days, with her suspicions all but confirmed with each passing day. still she had said nothing to hiccup, fearing the reaction of her best and closest friend. things were already strained between them (and she knew that was entirely her fault) and the dark furred girl felt a little set adrift. it so happened that she was nearby when the call went out, and though she all but dreaded making an appearance when her moods were prone to fluctuation she also knew that it would be a true faux pas to not show. plus, though life had thrown a wrench in her plans, she did eventually want to prove herself to the hollow. to roan. arriving to see it was only him present she managed a quick smile, before settling herself somewhere near the edge of the space. with no rank to her name she had little right to sit anywhere closer, and a small part of her was (irrationally) afraid that somebody would realize her hidden truth and expose her before the entire pride.

image by papertiger, code by koi

Vitala entered the tunnels with a jackrabbit limp in her jaws; the warmth of life still fading from its body. There were plans in place to enjoy a meal with @Keir until the summons echoed in the halls of her home. Her pace didn’t change, nor did her course. Rounding the last bend before her den, she placed the catch on a stone and glanced around the room.

Things were neat and tidy. Some of the plants that decorated their den were recently refreshed and Vitala reached forward to pluck a pink flower from the wall to place behind her ear for a little flair. She hadn’t diverted her attentions from the beckoning of Roan, only devoting a few minutes to this stop before exiting the room and making her way to the meeting spot.

As she arrived, she glanced between the two others and nodded towards both of them. “Good to see you,” she greeted the High Sovereign with a pleasant, casual smile. A soft gaze was dispensed between both of them with while she took her seat and got settled in; her peripheral attention keeping a look out for her mates arrival. She vaguely recognized the other lioness present, having only seen her in passing around the territory or in the backgrounds of large gatherings elsewhere.

What's this? Who summoned them? Who summoned her?

She frowns as she hauls herself to her feet from the darkness she had been lying in, and she stomps towards the sound. Along the way, she scoops up some odd stones, that she had decided she rather liked- and that were hers now. Because when you're a swamp monster turned cave monster, you can claim whatever you want- or at least that's how her mind worked.

After the brief pause in her stomping to retrieve her items, it resumes and she follows the sound of the summons to find others there already. Huffing out a sigh, she drops her rocks to her feet, and stares up at the male who seemed to be the summoner, with a frown. "You?" She asked him ( @Roan ) -- he appeared to be in charge or something. So she wanted to know who he was.

ART BY IRISH, CODE BY LARS

Her husband called for the pride, and it was good to hear a call go out that wasn't someone attempting to take over their home. She wasn't sure what news he had to share with the pride, save for that some of their members had gone to join the Rainforest and they were now allied. Perhaps other things had transpired that she wasn't aware of.

She came upon the gathering in time to hear Marja question Roan, and she smiled at the woman as she took her seat beside him. "Roan is my mate, and he leads the pride. Roan, this is Marja, we met in the labyrinth and I invited her to come join us when Maia won the Rainforest. She also lives in her swamp," she explained to the both of them, since clearly they hadn't met before.

Dad was calling, and Alvena honestly didn't know what that meant. But, she was obedient if nothing else, and so she came to join the gathering. She rubbed up against Roan's front legs with a purr before settling herself beside her mother, trying to look proper and regal. It was to be the first pride meeting she'd been to that she could remember, and she wanted to make a good impression. Not that she hadn't been part of large pride gatherings before. Still, this was obviously something important and she was going to do her best to treat it as such.

Ah, a pride meeting. It had been a little while since one had happened, but Tobin didn't feel as though that was a bad thing. It just meant things were finally peaceful within the pride. He hoped nothing had happened to change that. All he could think of that had happened recently was the challenge from the mire and of course Maia and her family leaving to take over the Rainforest. Perhaps that was all they were going to discuss.

He came to join the little gathering, noting the happy family at the center of it all as he took a seat by the wall, setting his good eye on the group as by this point he truly no longer could see out of his left eye.

Keir had taken to patrolling almost daily, wanting to ensure that their home was safe and secure. He would mark areas that needed rescented, take in the scenery every now and again, but was also ever vigilant in looking to see if there were any unsavory lions who tried to spy or ambush them. It would be here, after his patrol, that he would hear the calls from their leader. With a huff would Keir make his way through the tunnels and toward where the sound came from, soon enough coming to the meeting spot. Blue gaze would look over who had gathered already, giving @Roan a nod of his head before moving toward @Vitala. He would attempt to give her cheek a rasp of his tongue as he settled down beside her to sit, staying silent and waiting for the meeting to begin. He could only assume this would be a rather informational one, seeing as he had not yet been apart of any meetings since both he and Vitala had joined, as well as all the recent happenings in Amaryllis.

ART BY MOOGLE, CODE BY LARS

Avana Hodari

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Always busying herself with herbs, Avana had started to lean more into her medic training than that of the pathfinder these days. It was difficult to keep certain plants fresh enough for use with the summer heat, but at least the underground seemed to help slow the decaying process. Though it also blocked out considerable sunlight as well, the benefits managed to outweigh the costs. When she heard her brother's call, the huntress took a few minutes to tidy up her stockpiles before heeding the summons. She couldn't really remember the last time they had had a pride meeting, so she supposed they were due for one by now, if for no other reason that to check in with everyone. With the moving of Maia's family to Firnen, there was certainly a hole left behind among the ranks.

By the time Avana had arrived to the meeting room, she had expected more bodies to be present, but yet there were only a handful of occupants thus far. At least she could say she recognized everyone, even if only vaguely. Aside from her direct family members, Tobin had been here since day one of Roan's reign, and Asteria had been with them for a while now as well. Keir was more familiar as the lion her brother had fought to take over Obsidian in the first place, but he and Vitala had also taken part in some hunts already. Even Marja, Avana had had a chance to run into, so with no completely unfamiliar faces around, the maned woman would take it as a small victory. Or maybe is should be a loss because that meant they hadn't gotten many new members lately....

In any case, despite being the king's sister, the strawberry pixie didn't ever sit up front with the 'royals.' It wasn't her place to do so, though she smiled when she saw her little niece sitting up proudly alongside her parents. Now where were the boys? Avana arrived as @Faelyn was introducing @Marja to Roan, opting to take a seat next to the swamp monster while her sister-in-law spoke. "And Roan's my brother," she offered, further solidifying the previous mention of Fae being her sister-in-law, when the maned girl first met Marja. Attention would then shift towards said brother, curious as to what he had in store for them.

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Line art by Adoptadpoles | Image and table code by Amanda

Though Hero didn't fully understand the concept nor the necessity of a "pride meeting," what he did know was that if his parents were calling, he would come running. And that he did as the shadow cloaked prince careened down his favorite paths towards the meeting cave. It was more out of sport, just trying to see how fast he could maneuver through the corridors and how sharp he could make his turns than an actual desire to be on time to something. Day by day, he neared his first birthday, and soon enough knew he'd be saddled with more responsibilities than he was probably ready for. Boyish games and pastimes would be less frequent in exchange for assuming 'royal' duties.... or so he assumed.

By the time the dark prince had gotten enough out of his solo race through Obsidian, he finally sought the finish line. The teen stepped through the opening in the cave, huffing and puffing from his run, though his icy gaze was just as bright as always. Little tufts of red and white were just barely beginning to sprout around his face in rather unflattering patterns. The disheveled state his race had put them in had not helped in the slightest, but Hero was already over trying to tame his budding mane. He could only hope that this was just an awkward phase at which fur grew, and soon enough, he'd have a sleek and lush mane like the men who came before him. Not wanting to draw any further attention to himself, though, Hero did his best to steady his breathing before approaching his parents. Since @Alvena was sitting next to their mother, the boy stepped up next to his father. It felt weird being infront of everyone, but the prince just assumed that was where he was supposed to be. Maybe if other siblings had been around, he could have taken cues from them, but for now, he'd follow his prim and proper sister's lead.

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