Alexander could feel the hurt, even despite the cold response that fell from her lips. That protective instinct in his soul urged him to approach and offer some sort of respite to that loneliness, but the Savante knew that it was far too soon for that. She was a creature that seemed guarded, careful - knowing. Being alone meant you had experience that others might not. Assuming she was any level of weak would, no doubt, be a mistake.

Tongue slides along his lips briefly before he hums thoughtfully, nodding, "I suppose you have a point, however, I will bring it upon myself to keep you company." He offers teasingly, smirking a bit before looking back to the moon. "Our kind, we are not solitary by nature." He adds quietly, his tone more serious this time. Perhaps over time @Ember had gotten used to the notion of being alone, but deep down he could sense there was a longing there.

The large red brute was not wrong. Not in a single thought that crossed his mind. Every single one of them were correct assumptions and yet, even if they were voiced she might have scoffed and expressed he knew nothing. While her feminine brain quietly voiced I would love that, her body language attempted to deny everything. To somehow express that she didn't necessarily need @Alexander ♔'s company but that she would take it since it was offered to. Really, though, she was thankful to have even a shred of companionship.

At his remark, her lips purse and her eyes move away from him. Casting to her side before taking a deep breath and looking up to the moonlit sky above them. I wouldn't know. Despite how little she shared with anyone, this was about as vulnerable as she had gotten ever since she was a child who didn't know when to shut her mouth. Though, that was at any early age so she might've been a couple months old last she was so vulnerable.

One of her fathers had died, the other two had left; and out of four other siblings, she was the only one who hadn't left. The only one that had kept fighting. Being alone hadn't been by choice, at first, but after a while it seemed the easiest.

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Alexander takes it upon himself to move closer now, until he was sitting directly beside her. There is no touch, however, simply an understanding - silent as it was. "What happened to your family?" He asks boldly, turning to allow the full extent of his pale blue eyes to level with her features, studying her face carefully for any slip in expression or something that might give him more of an idea of what was going on beneath all that armor. He was, however, a patient man and would do his best to try and unravel the mystery. Idly he thought that perhaps he could introduce her to his kin, especially those younger in his family. Never did he want to replace anyone from her past, but finding a kinship in others, support, he knew that it could heal. As much as the Mother did with her love.

@Ember

The brute lingers closer to her. Taking position beside her and she feels repulsed by it while also feeling comforted. A reaction she had not anticipated in feeling and knows not how to act. Very few lions had ever bothered to actually ask or give a shit, perhaps the closest being one of the lions that @Alexander ♔ didn't like. Though that had only been a one-time thing and a long time since. I've been alone since I was several months old. I was born in Firnen Rainforest. My parents were it's leaders until someone challenged for it and kicked us out. Not that she understood why she was telling him but perhaps it was easier to tell him because he was asking genuinely and it didn't seem like it was out of pure pity.

After that, my family dispersed and eventually left altogether. She was almost presses that one of her fathers died but she was already receiving more pity/sympathy than she wanted in a day so best to leave it a little less tragic. Four other siblings and I'm still here. Fighting every day to stay alive, well fed and out of danger. Unfortunately, that also came with the burden of loneliness that had made her a lot more distant and unforgiving to folks that weren't herself.

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Alexander listened, keen on every word spoken and taking in the information carefully. Ears flick forward, revealed from beneath his thick mane for a moment. "Prides seem fickle here, changing leadership often." He observes quietly, thinking on the amount of challenges he'd heard ring out over the land as of late. Perhaps it was inconsiderate of him to say, but the truth was often ugly.

It was saddening to hear she'd been alone so long, without family. He wanted to offer her solace within his own, but that might seem a bit odd - given they'd just met. "We have very different lives, you and I. My family and I, we ruled an Empire for generations. My grandfather, his father before him and eventually myself. It was war that brought us to these lands, and being forced from our own." He explained calmly.

It was still fresh in his mind, but there had been some time to grieve, to heal and to overcome the darkness that had seeped in during those months of travel. Amaryllis had been a bit of a culture shock, but it had also helped ensure to them that the Mother was everywhere and she had not abandoned them. "I have a very large family, perhaps you could meet them." He muses softly, one blue eye peering at her in a sidelong glance.

@Ember

That is correct. She answers quietly, her eyes continuing to look forward over the dark blue of the dunes among the night's shadow and the moon's silver touch. Prides had changed hands so many times during her role as a rogue. Not that she knew much about who led where but she had heard enough challenges and claims to know that they were never ending. All she remembered from Firnen being taken was that she had been dismissed with her parents and they had moved to be closer to a family that she had never actually met.

Ember felt jealousy burn in her gut as the kind @Alexander ♔ expressed that his family had ruled together for a long while. Been together through what seemed like everything and anything, never separating; a life that she had thought she might have had if things had gone differently. Ember couldn't sympathize on the bits about war seeing as she had never been in the middle of one but from the way it was talked about, she could make the assumption that it wasn't a topic that he enjoyed.

At the prospect of meeting his large family, she felt her own gut twist. At first with excitement before her dark conscience told her no. Mind twisting wildly to remind her that she wasn't cut out for everyone and crowds did her no justice. I'm not for everyone. Her version of they won't like me coming into play but it was easier to make the assumption than to meet them and get hurt. So she believed.

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He didn't need the confirmation, but it still felt as if a nail had been driven into a coffin at such an admission. Amaryllis was unstable - seeming in a constant state of war. While so far, none could compare to the War of Darkness, Alexander still wondered idly if he had brought his family to a land that would spell their doom. Brows furrow faintly before his attention settles back on @Ember.

She was a quiet thing, but in some aspects he could appreciate that. A single ear flicks at the mention of her not being for everyone. "I assure you, neither are we. But, often times, it is such a union that makes for the best companions." The beast can't help but let out a short laugh, as if the idea of her being anymore insufferable than some of his kin was possible.

Alexander stands, moving to brush past the rather large feline, blue eyes focusing on her intricate, unique features. "We reside in the Oasis, should you find yourself curious enough. I would love to introduce you, Megaera." Tail flicks as his massive form slides down the dunes with ease, heading back home.

He genuinely hoped he would see the girl again.

There was little to her life other than knowing that none of it was fair. With her entire life alone and bargaining for scraps and living to the next day only to question whether or not you would get fed again. That was all Ember had known and she assumed all she could ever know. @Alexander ♔ provides information that his family wasn't for everyone either and that that was what made them better for each other. She supposed that if all of them were of the same and still strong together that that was something. A shame that she didn't have a strong connection to the family she had been born into. Left behind and forgotten, she would be surprised if any of them would even remember her.

A part of her yearned to participate in meeting his family and getting an idea for who they were and even more so, who he was specifically. Their time was drawing near, she could tell, and so she didn't stand to stop him as he began to leave. Almost barking out at him who she actually was and who Megaera had been... but she held her tongue, recognizing that she should not give into childish impulses and desires. Yet, he was the closest thing she had had to comfort in years and all she wanted to do was stifle it before she got hurt.

So as he disappeared back to the Oasis, she assumed, Ember turned her gaze to the stretching dunes. Trailing their curves with her eyes as they bathed in the silver light of the moon, casting the area with a bright sheen that could mesmerize her forever. Occasionally the wind would force trails of sand to crawl across the ground but it was quiet, eerily so, and left Ember feeling lighter but also a lot lonelier. fade ember

+5 - Scout a neutral territory

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