- no IS, I have too many -

"I spy... something brown," came sing-song words in a contrasting bass tone. There lumbered a massive brute, large and furry enough that he somewhat resembled a polar bear as he made his way across the sands. If one were to look more closely, they would pick out the dip where his grand mane ended or the long, arching swoop of his tail. Thus gave away the identity of Jethro. "–– something else brown," the lion clarified with a glance over his shoulder. Say 'something blue' and give away instantly either the sky or the sea. Say 'something green' and go through listing all the vegetation in sight. Say 'something white' and the answer was always "Daddy's butt" – not that he minded the laughs that one usually earned. Therefore, the game got a bit repetitive.

"Come on, squirts. I smell water nearby," he encouraged with a flick of his tail. The pale light of dawn cast a greenish hue across the sky that morning, nearly blending into the distant ocean waves on the horizon.

As they walked in a small grouping, the cat was intentional in the way he wound his steps around in large loops, trying to brush away at the sand where the cubs stepped to throw off their trails for anyone wandering by. He ignored the way his paws screamed for sanctuary. He ignored the dizzying stench of salty brine clinging to every hair on their heads. With miles behind them and the infinity of the unknown in front, Jethro could only continue on as long as the girls could stand it.

---

|| october y10 | four years | rogue lion | at maua's passage | wait for @Ylva & @Nathaira ||
+10 - Leave a trail of confusing tracks (Sept double XP)
+10 - Scout a neutral territory (Sept double XP)
+10 - Explore a new territory and find something useful (Sept double XP)

code by corvus

brown, he says and thaira rolls her eyes with a little tsk of disappointment. really was he going to make it so easy? she opens her mouth, fur-tipped ears angled back and eyes flicked skyward. the sa- she starts, only for him to cut her off with clarification. her lips twist, pressing tight together, and she regards him with venom in her pale gaze. she doesn't want it to be easy but she doesn't like being told she's wrong. her gaze flicks back to @Ylva, studying her twin with contemplation. ylva. she says, then, already triumphant.

@Jethro loops around them, his great big paws sweeping across the beach in a deliberate way that has her dark brows furrowing. he's been doing it for hours, it feels like, and thaira is tired of it. tired of this. tired of walking. her little jaws split in a yawn, the elongated canines poking dramatically from her pale lips. dad, i'm- she starts, snapping her mouth shut only when he turns his gaze and proclaims water.

well, yeah. she snips, face screwing up in disbelief, a small paw swinging out to point at the sea. there's water right there. it's been there the whole time? was he feeling alright? it never occurs to the little shit that he could be talking about freshwater and, perhaps, if it had she would have been a little more excited. her tongue is dry and her eyes are dry and her feet are dry-

suddenly unwilling to go a step further, she slams her furry butt down in the sand with a harrumph and glares at him.

don't wanna hurry. i need a nap.

ART BY SPU, CODE BY LARS

they had been traveling for what felt like years.

(not that she knew what a year felt like, she just knew that it was a really long time)

she was really starting to get tired of walking. she was starting to get tired of her dad's constant loops, and nathaira's constant attitude, and there was just too. much. sand. obviously its the tree trunks, nathaira. she sneers with a glare at her sister, bumping into her shoulder as they walked the beach together.

she didn't have energy to play the games anymore. they had been walking for so long that ylva's paws were starting to hurt and her head was beginning to ache.

she flopped to the ground in protest, releasing a big sigh as her sister plops into the sand beside her.

dad, i just want to sleeeep. are we done yet?

She had been traveling through the sands of the passage when the pale form up ahead was spotted. Kireena turned towards @Jethro with an ambling pace, offering a few chuffs of greeting so he wasn't caught unaware. It wasn't until she got closer that she realized the lion was dogged by two children who...by the looks of things were flat /done/ with walking.

A chuckle rose as the Firnen lioness came closer, letting her gaze linger across the cubs warmly before she looked to who she would assume until otherwise was the father. "Welcome to Amaryllis....my name is Kireena...you three look tired.. if you'd like I can lead you to Firnen for food, water and a long nap?"

She wondered at the story of the three travelers and while she was curious what had happened to their mother - wouldn't pry as it wasn't her business to know.

@Nathaira @Ylva

ART BY VASILIA, CODE BY LARS

I put my armor on, show you how strong I am

Silken fur frizzed in the air as she fluffed up a little, emerald gaze wandering, watching. The pale lioness had been sitting near the entrance of the passage like a statue, gaze directed towards the sea. A gaze filled with longing and more. Thoughts wandered, back to days long gone.

It was the sounds of a male and the voices of children that drew her attention away from the glittering waves. With a chuff, the slender warrior queen approached, just as a much larger lioness made her appearance as well. Ears laced back ever so slightly, though she waited for the woman to introduce herself before approaching.

"Now, my home at the Cove would be a much shorter walk," she offered with a smile, looking between @Jethro and the children. "You can call me Lagertha. And I too bid you welcome to these lands."

@Kireena @Nathaira @Ylva

code by flea, art by irish

i am the storm / and im coming for you

she wasn't early this time. two others, @Lagertha and @Kireena, where already there. faustine now knew both women by not just scent but by voice and she looked forward to the time she didn't need to. which wouldn't be soon, she was sure, as she stepped up to the rogue and the two children. hello, greetings to all three of you she said as she kept her tone even, normal. the bluffs can also offer shelter and food for you and your younger kin. she hesitated to call the two younger lions as anything other than what she had said. they looked close enough to be related. maybe they were a father and his children. nevertheless, there would be three of them and faustine wanted to bring all of them home. @Jethro @Nathaira @Ylva

CODE BY DAANYEN + ART BY HUSH

"Ylva."

"Wrong again!" Jethro smirked as he kept on in his swaggering gait, not even bothering to look at the tufted child as he shot down her guess. He could not pretend it was not satisfying to deny her when she was being smug – wonder where she got that from?

"Obviously it's the tree trunks, Nathaira."

"Wrong, wrong," he insisted and shook his head. Round again he looped, scuffing out their most recent paw-prints with a sweep of his tail. He was too busy refuting his daughters' hopes to hear the first signs of protest, only stopping short at the venom hissed from Nathaira's lips.

"Well, yeah. There's water right there. It's been there the whole time?" Jethro rolled his eyes in an exaggerated motion.

"I dare you to try drinking that water, though, smart-ass," he retorted with a glower and a flash of devil's fang. Perhaps this was what sent their ragtag train screeching to a halt. Jethro furrowed his brows once he realized that there were no longer two bratty meerkats up ahead of him in that dawn-lit landscape, craning his neck to get a look over his shoulder at the crumpled figures of his juvenile daughters. He exhaled a sigh.

"What if I let the vultures get you, hmm?" Jethro had already come to a stop, though he still watched the pallid cubs from over his shoulder. This was when vultures of another kind began to descend. He snapped his attention forward at the sound of a breathy chuckle, regarding the large and dark lioness with a curious tilt of his head. Another one approached almost in tandem, this one much more pale and lean than the first. He was just twisting his muzzle to shake out a reply when a third woman appeared on the scene – no, not a woman, a girl.

"See?" He quirked a brow and looked back at the cubs once more with a glittering gaze. "I told you strange lions come and take cubs if they're bad." His lips crimped with satisfaction as he searched for appropriate terror. He looked back at the strangers. "Kidding... mostly. Don't try it."

Jethro gave his neck a stretch and rolled his shoulders forward, flicking his dusty tail idly at his heels. While these were far from the first strangers they had encountered on their travels, they were not so clumped together – certainly not so eager. He forced their words back to mind, welcomes and offers of food and shelter all in very vaguely-named places. He kept waiting for the catch.

"Sounds... lovely," he conceded, flashing a crooked and toothy grin. He swept the velvet of his ears back against his mane, still flicking his tail as he struggled to gather his words. "Food and shelter and rest for a few mangy strays," Jethro mused through a mismatched squint. "What is the – hmm. How do you –" he kept faltering midway.

"What are you gonna do to us?"

---

@Nathaira @Ylva @Kireena @Lagertha @Faustine
+10 - Leave a trail of confusing tracks (Sept double XP)
+10 - Scout a neutral territory (Sept double XP)
+10 - Explore a new territory and find something useful (Sept double XP)

code by corvus

@Jethro is entirely too delighted to point out that she's wrong and thaira scowls after him, her brows tight and lips pulled back in a silent growl. before she can say anything, @Ylva insists it's the tree trunks and bumps into her. her tufted ears slam to her skull and she glowers at her twin, only smirking when dad insists she's wrong, too. hah, she quips, reaching out to slap at ylva's side with a clawless paw. she's distracted by her father doing his endless, infuriating loop around to swipe his tail across the sand. ugh, it's driving her insane. before she can say anything, he's snapping back at her and she curls her tail in amusement. but she's tired and the twins collapse together in the sand. he's peering back at them with obvious disappointment and as her twin whines at him, she nods empathetically, going so far as to groom ylva's shoulder in a soothing way. vultures ain't shit, she quips boldly, eyeballing the pale man from where he's watching them. they couldn't take the cubs off - they were much too big and bad, of course.

when the strangers start arriving, she goes from languid and sleepy to more alert, keen eyed like jethro as they all survey @Kireena, @Lagertha and @Faustine. he insists that they are coming to take away bad cubs and she flashes a savage little grin in his direction. they woulda taken me a long time ago. there's no shame to the statement when she says it, eyes glittering with equal parts amusement and threat - she doesn't really know if they love one another but she certainly likes jethro. if only for the verbal sparring matches ( and, sometimes, physical if she's feeling too angry ) they get into.

forcing herself to her feet, the weary teen watches each stranger as they speak, as her father promises some sort of violence if they actually try to steal the kids. a snort from her and she slashes a coy look in his direction. guess you do like us, nathaira mutters, lips twisting, and presses closer to her twin in both comfort and possession.

one of the women is as massive as their father and she passes her gaze between the two before letting it trail to the others. they seem so much smaller by comparison, but the youth really draws her attention. she was.... trying to bring them to her home? did she have a home by herself? that was cool, thaira muses, sniffing and turning her head away from them all as if disinterested. if the cove means more sand, i might throw a fit. she says, voice level, training her gaze on her father. the sand was itchy as it climbs inside her fur and rests against her skin, irritating and prickly and not at all something she desires to deal with for the rest of her damn life.

ART BY SPU, CODE BY LARS

Cirilla is a little later than she had liked, but it did not matter. What mattered what that she was here, present, and trying to recruit. Eyes look to those that had gathered, and she clocks @Kireena. Cirilla says nothing to the Firnen lioness, knowing that there was unresolved tension between the two. She was not here to play tit for tat, she was here to recruit. Eyes look to @Jethro and his daughters and she offers them a smile. I appear late to the party, but I’m here to offer you and your children a safe home in the Lagoon, if that’s what you desire. Lots of ranks open to challenge for, if that’s what you want.

artwork • coding

She noticed the arrival of others before the words of @Nathaira hit her ears and she laughed despite herself. "I can't say I don't disagree. I hate sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating...and it gets everywhere.". She looked amused before she glanced towards @Jethro before humming. "Nothing done TO you.. Firnen is a rainforest towards the northern edges of the lands...no sand..plenty of waterfalls and colorful things. Pull your weight...help fill caches and help where you can...basically and you're pretty much left alone."

She glanced towards @Lagertha and @Cirilla..wondering if the aversion to sand would net three new members of the rainforest on sheer location.

ART BY VASILIA, CODE BY LARS