Summer's day faded to evening sky. The heat of the day lingered on, musk ridden scents cloyed, filling her nostrils with the smell of both lion and beast.
Sláine strode across the sand, waggling her hips carelessly as her head was held tall, confident. She has had enough of fleeing. That is not who she is. It will not be who she becomes.
It's obvious to her that this place was something of a recruitment zone, sapphire gaze trails a few different set of tracks for a while before eventually she slowed to a halt. Dark toes pressed into the cooling sand as she looked around, throat jerking into life as she emitted a low chuff for any who might be be interested in a new recruit.

code by corvus

Hrefna strode confidently across the sandy flats leading out to the passage of entry to their land, her gaze distant as she contemplated her goal in going there. More than pleased at her plan having been such a success to integrate back into the hollows and take up responsibility, she remembered Roan's words regarding the passage and how he expected her to recruit there. She had boasted of her previous experience at the time, but words alone could only take her so far. She knew that a recruit would be the best way to earn the Hodari's confidence and was intent upon finding one such lion on that particular sunset night.

A chuff announced company and Hrefna swiveled her ears forward with attention, spotting a figure almost as dark as she was strolling through the sandy passage. She echoed with a chuff of her own and shifted directions to try and approach the stranger more quickly.

"Welcome to Amaryllis," she announced politely, accompanying the sentiment with a gracious bow of her large head. "I am Hrefna Sigrún, a gentry at Obsidian Hollow Pride. This is the passage where we find new wanderers daily," the lioness explained with a conversational nod of her head and a flick of her tail.

"Anyone who joins us will be wanting to recruit you, too. What is it that you are looking for?" Hrefna questioned her calmly. She had been there enough times to recognize the pattern of events–the slew of questions everyone would ask and how they would try to perform their best for a first impression. Her skin crawled slightly at the thought of having to stand still as they ran through the motions of it.

---

|| july y7 | one year | OH gentry | at maua's passage | tag @Sláine ||

photomanip & table by k'sariya

There is no rest for the wicked. Or was it weary? Alaric couldn’t care — he only knew that it was time to get to work. His ranks were empty and his pride had plenty of room to grow, so he was back at the passage with that in mind. A lone female pulls his attention, though by the time he reaches her she is not longer alone. A sigrun… how interesting. And of the Hollows no less! His expression is carefully schooled all the same, his focus on the newcomer and not the Sigrun girl. “my name is Alaric Starke, high sovereign of Ecrosia Mire.” The title is comfortable on his tongue, his words smooth and charming. He wears the look of a genial king well, and his introduction is accompanied by a practiced smile. “I would be interested in learning what you’re looking for,” carefully chosen words, “and I can tell you if we would be a good fit.”

image by moogle, code by koi

Ears perch forward, capturing the returning call of another lioness. The clanswoman waited where she was until the large black woman came under her steady, curious gaze.

Another is not far behind in the coming, a wheaten hued male. The woman lets them speak, her focus spent straining to understand their accents. It had been a long journey here from the plundered clanlands and she had picked up the common tongue along the way to Amaryllis. Knowing as all clan women that assimilation was key. But Sláine would not repeat the mistakes of the past. The language had proven not so different to her own really, but the accent was a different beast.
So here she was, the dark woman had heard the rumours of this place, neighbouring territories spoke of it in whispers, a mythical, bountiful place of fair rule. Yeah, bullshit. But what had she to lose when she was homeless, without a tribe to fight for?

The lioness shifted and sat down, confidence exuding forth, unafraid that they might attack her. "They ca' me Sláine Armour. I hae come tae make this my home." Full, feminine voice took hold of their language with some minor difficulty. Though her own accent was still strong. She looked to the other woman, @Hrefna and then to @Alaric "I want a strong leader that I can follow intae battle. Is that ye?"

code by corvus

“My name is Alaric Starke, high sovereign of Ecrosia Mire.” The deep baritone voice of a male caused Hrefna to swerve where she stood, pivoting to try and get a view of the diplomat so that he could not ambush her. Recognition flooded her expression in a moment of terror as she looked upon the same pale brute who had tried to take the hollows from her betrothed's family immediately after she had joined–the same event where her aunt had battled to the death with a Rike.

She knew he was the same man her uncle urged them to assist in rising up against now that he had overtaken the mire, and here he was trying to make a charming display at the passage. I'm sure you need recruits, she thought bitterly to herself, consciously smoothing over her own features so as not to reveal just how pregnant the air was with tension. She winced inwardly at the realization that she would never make a good scout if she could not keep her cool in these situations.

"I am glad your travels delivered you," Hrefna offered the lioness with a polite smile as she tried to recall what it was the rogue had been saying in her time of panic. She had introduced herself as Sláine Armour, a name unfamiliar to Hrefna but made more interesting by the heavy accent with which the lioness spoke. "I want a strong leader that I can follow intae battle. Is that ye?"

"High Sovereign Roan is our leader, and he has fought and prevailed twice to secure his crown and our home." She turned her half-seeing gaze to Alaric briefly, wondering what emotion she would see there at the indirect mention of his own failure. "Last time, it was this very lion before us whom he bested." Hrefna had never been one to shy away from the direct truth, and it seemed this was not the day she would start.

"We merely defend our people and what is ours," she explained, breaking her gaze away from the male finally and resting it back upon their shared interest. "If you seek war for the sake of it, we will not satisfy you."

---

@Sláine @Alaric
+5 - Gather useful information on an enemy lion (Alaric, leading + recruiting)
+5 - Learn a character’s full name and rank (Alaric Starke, high sovereign)
+5 - Learn a character’s full name and rank (Sláine Armour, rogue)

photomanip & table by k'sariya

His reception was... tense. Alaric side-eyed @Hrefna, but didn't pay her much mind otherwise -- he had no fight with her. Truthfully he had no real beef with anybody and merely wanted to live and let live. His old-school upbringing shone clear, here, where his focus was only on the prize. "Indeed. It was a good fight that Roan gave -- I have no shame in losing to him." Alaric shrugged -- it was simply the way of life. Win some and lose some, and obviously he did not always lose. His attention did not move from @Sláine, though a wry grin twisted his lips as he next spoke. "Feathers are very easily ruffled, here, I have little doubt you will see battle sooner than you'd think." It was a strange place, Amaryllis, but he was learning it's ways bit by bit. "I am a new ruler, but I am strong, and I will do well by my pride. You will not see me hiding behind my soldiers." Alaric was a leader, plain and simple.

image by moogle, code by koi

It's an interesting exchange, she watches as the two parry words, her interest growing. Sláine had never supposed that politics played much part in her life until her home had been swept out from beneath her paws by an invading force. But the clanlands had been held for centuries before they fell, a whole way of life destroyed in the process. Not simply the rise and fall of a single chieftain.
If she is to believe the word of strangers, it is clear that @Hrefna hailed from a strong pride, her leader seemingly able to defend himself against challenge after challenge.
Sláine's questioning gaze lands upon @Alaric once more, studying the man before her, whom had apparently been just such a challenger.
"It isnae war that I yearn fer. But is in me bluid." And is an ever present topic on her mind. "Soldiers make all th' difference in a war." A pointed look given to the Mire King.
Abyss hued features shift with her thoughts as she reaches a decision, speckled hide rippling across muscular shoulders as she rose to a stand.
"Thank ye my lady fer yer time." She addressed Hrefna with a polite nod of her broad head. "I will tak' my chances wi' Sovereign Alaric." She set her eyes back upon the large male. "See if I can convince ye of a soldiers worth."

code by corvus

her words rung true, and he gave a quick nod. "Aye, you're right there." A king could not stand alone -- something Alaric had learned quickly in the wake of his ascension. If he had any hope of maintaining his rule he would need to have soldiers on his side, and in order to have soldiers he needed to broker some kind of trust. @Sláine surprised him by turning his way, he had half expected her to go to the Hollow's after her reprimand. But perhaps the drive for battle ran stronger through the girl's veins than he had anticipated. If it was in her blood then she would be exactly the kind of member he needed in his ranks. "This way, then," he agreed with a bit of a chuckle, turning back towards the Mire and the path that would quickly become familiar to him. -exit-

image by moogle, code by koi

She supposes she might have asked him about his home first, what the land was like and whether it was plentiful. But that is supposing she needs coddling, the ease of living a lady might require. Sláine needed none of that. She was as hardy as they came, able to fend for herself in the most desperate of wilds.
The one thing she did require was a cause, a group, something to set herself behind. She knew that the woman @Hrefna had offered the best choice with a stable ruler, but @Alaric had quite obviously been the choice with the most need. Need made her feel worthwhile.

Her new chieftain wasted little time, wanting to scurry her away to his home to join the ranks of his underlings. The dark woman obliged with a nod, then taking to her feet and slinking unhurriedly after him.

-Exit

code by corvus

"Indeed. It was a good fight that Roan gave -- I have no shame in losing to him." The lion literally shrugged off the matter as he accepted the results, a quirk of her brow the only clue Hrefna gave as to how she felt. He certainly did not seem outwardly hostile, and yet, Roan was set against him. She supposed she would be as well if she had endured the things the Hodari had at the paws of this lion and silently she reminded herself that this was a matter of her own family now, too.

Though she corrected him, the rogue maintained her gaze on the lighter lion of the pair and finally voiced that she would be joining him. Tightening her jaw, Hrefna hated the way it felt as if Sláine had personally raked her claws into her chest despite knowing her for merely a matter of minutes.

"I pray our next meeting is not upon the battlefield," she voiced finally, glancing between the pair of them darkly with her half-seeing gaze. Deciding that nothing else felt useful to say, Hrefna turned to make her own departure.

---

-exit-
@Alaric @Sláine
+5 - Gather useful information on an enemy lion (Alaric, leading + recruiting)
+5 - Learn a character’s full name and rank (Alaric Starke, high sovereign)
+5 - Learn a character’s full name and rank (Sláine Armour, EM lion)

photomanip & table by k'sariya