mother said she'd be back and planted a kiss on her cheek before she disappeared. it had been months now and the familiar black figure of genya still hadn't come back. the wait had been so long that even septima left to search for their mother. long enough now that diantha didn't miss mother anymore and thought septima an idiot for going out to search for her. genya's good as dead to me, diantha thought, as she trudged along the sandy pathway that led to the lagoon. by now, she had remembered the direction by heart. ragnar had taught her every secret about his home and she hers. their encounters were cut short the moment diantha lost herself to the mist. i hope you're still here. but the scent she came to wasn't the familiar one she was used to. lingering in the air, thick and heavy as the weight of her dark heart, was the smell of another. diantha's face twisted into shock, mouth hung open as she attempted to skirt along the border. no, this couldn't be. the sigrun's scent was gone and replaced by another. why didn't anyone come to the oasis and tell her? why did ragnar— she had to find out - one way or another. there was no going back to the desert until she learned where her friend was. it was a reckless move, but diantha placed one paw over the border, tipped her chin up, and called for the new leader to come.

table by koi

A call from the borders! Walpurgis whipped her head up from sleep. Her fur was mussed up like she hadn't been expecting visitors (she would look the same if she had) and she looked like a fat, flustered, greasy raccoon all curled up with only her head raised and an expression of confusement/affrontedness. But she was off and shaking herself off before she remembered where she was at. Not that it mattered. She was off to see what there was to see. New friends, new enemies, new new new.

She was in Friend Zone until she crossed a side breeze. This visitor, though young, smelled like Others. Not the Others who had inhabited the Lagoon before her, whose scents had been slow to dissipate leaving an ire that was slowly slipping away: this was a pride she didn't know about at all. Maybe not a pride, maybe a family group, but it was the smell of Many and Walpurgis didn't like strangers on her border. Though she didn't perceive the social affront of the single paw just a toe over the line. Nor did the find the call for her presence rude. It was the smell that had her lips nakedly curling to greedily suck in more and more of it like a child determined to eat ALL THE ICE CREAM despite the brain freeze. Brain freeze being metaphor for... instinctual aggression. Somehow. Look, her player needs sleep.

Actually she noticed that the stranger was pretty freaking large and she didn't notice or care about the age at all. So. LARGE stranger. Walpurgis growled, her ebony-tipped mane spiking out with a renewing layer of grease. "Where ya from? I think you da ENEMY."

@Diantha

the more time she spent here the more diantha noticed that there were no multiple scents around. there was only one. a brief laugh escaped her mouth at the realization, further compelling her to question why she was here. it was obvious the lagoon was taken by another. yet the leader had no charm and power in them to gain supporters. which made the sudden fall of the sigruns all the more bitter for her. they were her father's most powerful of alliances. if they fell that easily to a creature who couldn't even assemble members, then what would that mean for the miroslav?

where ya from? i think you da ENEMY. diantha's eyes caught onto the face of the older....thing. bright red and bowlegged, making her more miserable-looking than a pauper. diantha's lips pulled back into a sneer, all modicum of respect lost by the words that spilled from the wretch's mouth. watch your tongue she said, silken voice laced with threat. i am not your enemy, yet. she exhaled slowly, allowing some quiet to settle between her and the older lioness. i am from the oasis, here to ask about where the previous rulers. most importantly, if ragnar and his immediate family were okay. but that, too, was dusted away, just by looking at the woman before her. she probably had not an inkling of a clue as to where the previous rulers had gone. @Walpurgis

_{BG — DUSK/ALE-TIE — CODE}

This enemy sure was acting like an enemy. Her upper lip wriggled as she took another jaunting step forward. Her crooked tail swayed, abruptly changing direction. Both squat ears were forward, black tips accusingly pointed. "You sound like da enemy!" And therefore she was. There was no use arguing with an enemy. They were to be driven off. She gave a sharp snarl and flashed an empty snap on thin air. Her fangs remained bared afterward, yellowing and drool-stringed. "Get outta here!" Her toes splayed on the sand, claws out. Bulbous shoulders tensed and she took a mock lunge, intended to spook the enemy off so she could give chase.

@Diantha