Dragos quickly settles into the Hollows, finding no excuse not to. He selects a den and digs it out until it's big enough for two of him, and the whole time all he can think is how much Leila would hate it down here.

Being underground has never bothered him before, but the Hollows makes Dragos feel like he's suffocating being in it. Every corner he takes feels like something vicious is waiting on the other side. Something blood thirsty.

He knows it isn't Leila's fear rubbing off on him.

He sleeps in his den and then immediately leaves the underground, sprawling near the secret mouth of the Hollows, soaking in the sun while it lingers.

@Valerian

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Valerian was relieved @Dragos was back amongst them. Though he had yet to get much of anything about his brother’s time in the forest, he had felt everything okay once more. They had a stronghold, they were safe, and in what could only be a sign from the Mother, there was new life in their ranks. The first in many, many years. Valerian was a superstitious beast and he couldn’t help but feel the odds were finally in the favour of the Savante. No longer were they on the back foot.

Soon, he hopes to introduce the family to Omena.

With intentions of a border patrol, Valerian squints into the sunlight as he emerges from the deep tunnels, a yawn breaking past his lips in a big greedy welcome of the light on his dark fur. Sunshine was rare these chilly days.

He stops just shy of a form near the entrance. It is Dragos, and a rumble of greeting lifts from the brother’s chest as he stoops to greet him with a shove of his nose. “Settling in, brother?” he asks in their mother tongue, brow arching as he comes to sit beside him. He had not yet picked up on the troubled look in the strawberry man’s eyes.

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Dragos stirs slowly, eyes cracking open as a familiar greeting rouses him in time for the shove of a cold nose to not be as startling.

"Mm," he rumbles, struggling to connect to the joy and passion his family have - oh, he's happy for them all. Even for Alexander. Cubs are precious and to be loved and cherished. New siblings are always welcome, and when they're bigger Dragos cannot wait to teach them inappropriate swear words and the like. But he just... Cannot hold that joy for long without the clouds darkening his mood once again.

"It'll do." But then, a sudden smirk slips across Dragos's lips and he looks at Valerian out of the corner of his eye.

"How's your girlfriend?" That's right, the older brother has noticed the scent on Valerian's pelt, the small woman often loitering around - the fact the brown lion looks like a love struck fool.

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“It feels good to be royalty again.” Valerian admits as he drops to a sprawl of his own. The borders would be safe for now - he’d rather spend some time with his only elder brother. “I brought pelts from the Oasis,” he adds after a moment of thought, “You can have some if you want.” Surely Omena wouldn’t miss one or two - especially if it was for a new move-in?

He suddenly regrets his decision to hang out when he recognises that classic smirk of his brother’s and Valerian instinctively knows what was coming. He rolls his eyes.

“She’s great.” he huffs. He did want to talk about her, but he had his brotherly right to be annoyed at that smug look by principle. “She wants to get married, like, yesterday.” It is the first time he’s admitted it to anyone, in truth.“But-” Valerian sucks in a breath through his teeth. “I want Dad and Auntie’s approval first.”

He glances toward Dragos, trying to gage his reaction. Understandably, Valerian had always kind of expected Lucanus to be first one of the three of them to be married.

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Is it wrong to be jealous of your little brother having love? No, Dragos supposes it's not, as long as he isn't a jerk about it. He plans to be a dickhead, but it isn't in him to really be an asshole. He likes to play at it, the same way he likes to pretend he isn't at the beck and call of his family.

And yet he ran here the second Teodora told him to. He left - he left Leila the moment there was a threat to the connection he has to them. There's no point pretending anymore.

Nevermind the day dream he was just having about running away with a tiger, leaving everything behind.

"Do you think dad got permission to marry - how many is he up to now?" Sure, some of them were arranged but Alexander certainly has more wives - and husbands probably - than Dragos has ever bothered keeping track of. The older lion shrugs a meaty shoulder, but he knows there's no point arguing with Valerian. The boy was far more interested in their family's approval and acceptance than Dragos ever was. Maybe because he's never had to work for it before, it's always just been given to him.

"Do you love her?" The question surprises Dragos, and he shifts his gaze from his brother's intense eyes.

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Valerian wonders if @Dragos felt just as out of touch as he did. They’d all be fighting for their lives for so long. Now he can relax and feel safe, contemplate such things a marriage and happiness when for a long time, he hadn’t even been sure if they’d make it out alive… it felt alien. He doesn’t know normal. Not very well, at least.

He scans his brother’s face, sensing the pause.

“It’s important to me.” he answers, contemplative and not sure how exactly to explain it. “And… with who we’ve lost…” he dared not speak of the cursed, not so brazenly. It is his own turn to shrug. “It feels like it’s the right thing to do.” The Mother’s approval is what he seeks, but he didn’t have that personal connection like the women of their bloodline, as much as he looked for signs.

He puffs out a thoughtful, noncommittal noise of surprise at the particular question Dragos blurts. “She’s a dream.” he says, “I feel like she’s way out of my league.” Maybe she still was. “I do love her.” Marriage just felt like some immense, unconquerable thing. At any turn, they could be obstacles - beyond the ones there already were. Like the guilt in his heart they could never have their own children. Was that fair to ask of her?

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If Valerian notices the way his brother flinches, Dragos can only hope he takes pity and says nothing. He dares even hope Val just puts it down to Dragos mourning the loss of their cousin, who may as well be dead despite living happily with her dickhead husband. It's no secret the Savante heir has always held every loss personal and deeply. He says nothing, preferring to let Valerian gush about his soon to be wife.

"I'm happy for you." Dragos says, and he means it with every inch of his heart. If he can't be happy, his family should be. His brothers. His sisters. They all deserve happiness and peace and joy.

He can't wish it for himself - he can't see it for himself. He's too broken, too fucked up, too scared.

"I'm going to have to meet her officially," Dragos decides. And yes, that is a threat.

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The loss is fresh, and Valerian does figure the flinch on his brother’s features to be because of their cousin. He doesn’t know how to offer comforting words because he cannot break the law set by Camellia. He is too fearful of the Mother’s wrath - or worse, abandonment. He doesn’t know what happens to someone to breaks that curse.

He pushes the thoughts away, leaning a brief and appreciative shoulder against Dragos’s, because truly, his approval mattered too. They are his world, and he would have any of his siblings - any of his relatives, really - backs through thick and thin. Through war, already. “Thanks.” he says, quietly lest they are overheard. He can’t be seen being so soft in public.

Valerian looks both enthused and horrified at the idea of @Dragos meeting Omena. “Interrogate, you mean.” he snorts with a grin playing upon his jaws, “Only if I get to background check whoever you bring home.” Eventually, he thinks. Because as far as Valerian knew, his brother wasn’t the settling down type.

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Valerian's weight is familiar and comfortable and Dragos uses it like an anchor, much like he had in the past. Through battles and loss and victory, they have always had each other - all three of them, Alexander's sons. Some days each other was all they had, and Dragos can't help but feel a moment of worry that it might be changing.

Will Valerian need them now he has his soon to be wife? Lucanus likely won't waste much more time in finding his own mate. Then... It'll just be Dragos.

Those thoughts of impending loneliness are pushed aside to keep up teasing his brother - only for Valerian to accidentally stab him in the heart. Dragos's face falls, losing the cheeky grin he'd been wearing.

"That won't be happening." He says, far too sharply, far too angrily. He knows for sure that the one creature he's ever wanted that way is out of reach forever, and he'll never settle into a loveless marriage like their mother just to make his father happy.

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Valerian can read his brother well; too well. But the way his face abruptly falls surprised the Savante prince, dark head cocking to the side.

His reply was sharp, unexpectedly guarded. It is quite unfamiliar for the brother to see @Dragos recoil into such a shell; there was little they kept from one another. Valerian’s lips twist into a puzzled frown.

“What?” he says lightly, trying to coax him back to the gentle ribbing, “I promise I won’t steal them.” he wiggles his brows slightly, pushing a smirk onto his maw. “But I can’t help I’m so ruggedly handsome, after all.” It is all bluster. Valerian had about the romantic intelligence of a large granite boulder. Whatever the hell Omena had seen in him, was truly a mystery.

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