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The wintery grass brushed her flanks as Leila slows from her lope through the grass, chest softly rising from the gentle exertion. She slows, side-stepping as she begins to turn and scans the grass for that familiar pale and strawberry shape. Even in dead winter, the grass had remained tall - though somewhat withered - and in her efforts to beat him here, she has lost track of her love.

Smile mingling with a searching squint, Leila chuffs for Dragos. By the mingling scents this seemed to be where the dens of the plains tended to be, and she is both hopeful and curious to firstly, have a good sticky-beak, and second, pick out something nice.

Whilst she waits, Leila turns her attention to the area around her. Scanning, she sinks into a greedy stretch, claws extending into the earth and well-trodden grassland. She had missed pride life, and once well-enough oriented to their new home, hoped to be soon back into the swing of it all.

@Dragos

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+20 Learn something from a Master of your trade
+10 Discuss hunting needs with another 1/2
+5 Learn something from another about your trade

It’s not hard to find the pride’s cache, stocked and well kept, near enough the dens that it’s easily defendable. He’d watched Leila wander off ahead while he checked it out, driven by those new instincts and drives that urge him to plan ahead - new for him, anyway. Since becoming a father, Dragos thinks he’s someone different. He certainly feels different; a few years ago, his youngest siblings had driven him mad. Young, defenceless things that couldn’t be left alone. Babysitting duty had been maddening. Cubs were annoying, and he’d been glad when he thought he knew he’d never sire his own.

Now, the kids are out of sight with their new friend, but not out of mind. Dragos checked the cache to ensure there’d be enough to feed them over winter, and then sort of wondered if he should go and check on them. An afternoon playing tag, or answering endless questions, doesn’t bother him in the slightest.

But as much as he wants to check on the cubs… Leila calls, chuffing for him, and he remembers he gets to be alone with her for the first time in eight months. So it’s not actually that hard to turn tail and trot after the tigress.

He finds her near the den area, kneading the grass under her paws, rump in the air like a dare - one he accepts. Dragos pads up behind her and quietly nips at her flank, next to her tail, a soft rumble in her chest.

"Long time, no see," he grins, big and wide, pressing his side greedily against hers. "There’s a good stock in their cache, but with how much Bee’s been eating lately…" Even with his mind distracted, he still thinks of their children.

What the hell is happening to him?

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Leila is glad it is not long til @Dragos finds her, and though she is curious what had diverted his attention, she is more pleased to see that handsome piebald figure emerge from the winter-weathered grasses.

She wishes for more sunshine, but the cool air is pleasant and the scent of damp earth holds the promise of fresh green growth in the world. With it would come plenty of prey, and Leila is eager for the challenge of feeding a pride once again.

As she finishes her lazy motion, she feels the gentle touch of his teeth and chuffles a fond greeting. Leila leans her banded tail into his mane and straightens up so she can turn into his touch, reaching up on the tips of her cream toes to rub her muzzle and jaw into his chin.

"Hello mister," Leila hums happily, affectionately as she nuzzles into his mane, "Where did you get off to-?" she finds her words overlapping his explanation, and she quiets to listen, though upon the topic it is hardly patient. A good cache? She liked the sound of that. On the mention of their son though...

A grin cracks her dark lips and Leila nods. 

"He's getting so tall!" she says with none of the concern and all of the shining pride of a mother. Dearest Ducky was too; though Leila thought she was safe knowing their daughter would not yet tower their mother - like her brother - quite as soon. Both of them were hitting a growth spurt, Leila was certain. It felt like only so recently they'd be so tiny...

"I haven't looked for dens yet," she muses as she leans against him, 

"I waited." Patience is a feat for the tigress. A tilt of her head, 
"I wanted to look together."

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+20 Learn something from a Master of your trade
+10 Discuss hunting needs with another 2/2
+5 Learn something from another about your trade

That rumble turns into a throaty purr as Leila pushes up under his chin, and after a second of making her reach up on her toes, Dragos slouches his broad shoulders and pulls her closer with a thick grin. "We should hunt later. Get them something fresh for dinner." This is not getting anything done, but he’s nothing if not indulgent. Especially for her.

"He better not get taller than me," he huffs with mock indignation. Being as big as his own father was a feat Dragos had been rather proud of as a boy. Had he been as tall as Nicklebee at nine months? "By the time I was their age… I was being trained for a war." It’s an offhand comment, but one that makes him frown when the memories stir. Had Alexander had the same gut-twisting fear at the thought? He couldn’t imagine letting Duckie or Bee go into battle, let alone train them for such bloody work. But then, his father had little choice; Dragos had all but insisted and then threatened to run off and fight with or without guidance.

Unwilling to let that conversation happen, and not wanting to think of it any further - they had, after all, joined the Plains to keep the kids out of a fight - Dragos dips his head down to press his nose and muzzle into Leila’s cheek. "Me too," he murmurs, and then his expression turns sharper - wicked. "If we find one before the kids get back, we could… you know. Make sure it’s comfortable." Wink wink.

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Leila squishes her snout into @Dragos's fur and breathes in his comforting scent. Even though they had been scarcely parted this past half a year, she would never grow weary of snuggling up to his pale side.

"Yes!" she agrees, lifting her chin so she could meet his eyes. A hunt sounded very lovely indeed. Her favourite thing, with her favourite person. "If the cache looks good, it means the prey is running well." Better than the grove, she hoped. It had grown quiet and difficult to hide in in these colder months.
 "And the snow will make it easy to down something tasty."

Excitement at a hunt aside, her face crinkles with amusement as his mock concern. 

"He might..." she teases him with a twinkle in her eye. Because he could, as far as she knew. That boy was growing like a weed. She doesn't let her cheer falter at Dragos's musing comment though, but she does search him a moment with her warm brown eyes. "Ducky and Bee are safe, my love." she reassures him stubbornly, tip-toeing the topic. She presses her cheek into his chest - solidly, comfortingly. Leila refused to let herself worry about that now - not when she'd spent so much time already avoiding it, anxious about it. If their children ever did want to fight for something, Leila was determined that it would be because they had decided to for themselves, and not for any inheritence of bad blood.

She'd much rather laugh and chatter about things that ultimately didn't matter. They had earnt it, deserved it.

So Leila rises to her paws, eyes tracking toward where she intended to first search. Dragos's voice draws her back to him, and her eyes narrow with mischevious agreement, nodding slowly. "Well - we'd better start looking hm?" she urges him with an intrigued grin, 

"Come on!" She winds herself purposefully, tempting, across his chest, drawing him after her with the pale tip of her tail, brushed beneath his chin.

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+20 Learn something from a Master of your trade 1/2
+10 Discuss hunting needs with another 2/2
+5 Learn something from another about your trade

"Easy? Hunting’s been hard with the snow." Not one to argue (ha), Dragos huffs, half-hearted grumbling about the past few months and his struggles to bring in any food for their small family. Leila had recovered from the birth enough to hunt as well, and she was far better at it - but still. The Savante’s pride had been mortally wounded when the weather turned and made his already lacklustre skills apparent. He didn’t mind learning from the tiger, not at all. There is still something demeaning about watching the mother of your cubs go hunt because you’re too useless to do anything but babysit.

Either way, the conversation shifts, and Dragos hums a soft, noncommittal agreement. Their kids are safe - they are all safe. Lorien might not want to get involved in whatever war is brewing between his family and the Bluffs, but that’s exactly what they need. Neutrality. Duckie and Bee growing up somewhere they won’t be touched by the war. As long as the Plains protect them if it starts overflowing here… that’s all Dragos wants.

It’s Leila that breaks their tight embrace first, but not without Dragos getting a kiss first, unendingly greedy for any affection he can give and get. His attention and gaze follows her, and she presses close before drawing away - all but luring the colossal lion after her. He barely refrains from nipping at her tail, padding slowly along as she leads him to the dens.

"There’s some trees with deep roots towards the mountains," he suggests, his mind struggling to keep on target with Leila - well, existing, in front of him.

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“In the forest, yes.” she muses, immediately soothing. “But here, the tracks make it nearly impossible to lose a hunt.” a considering tilt of her striped head, “Now- finding something is the tricky part.” As was the pay off and differences in seasons. Nothing had it’s pure advantages. She lets it go, feeling nothing would surely this foolish to be deep in lion territory. They’d have to go further out to hunt.

Hunting isn’t on her mind as she casts a glance over her shoulder, watching him pad after her. His suggestion is a good starting point. He knew already how picky Leila was with her dens, but she nods her approval. “Which way does the worst of the wind come from?” she muses, “It’d be nice to make sure we won’t wake into a gale, mm?” Out here on the plains she had to think about things like that. She would miss the shelter of the trees a little.

The scent of the dens is obvious as she leads them down an incline in the winter grasses. Whose was whose, she had yet to know by scent, but Leila was sure she’d soon learn.

The tigress pauses, scanning for the trees @Dragos had mentioned.

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+20 Learn something from a Master of your trade 2/2
+10 Discuss hunting needs with another 2/2
+5 Learn something from another about your trade 1/2

He wants to think he’s taking in the information Leila is offering - but let’s be honest, he isn’t. Dragos follows, unable to really keep up his end of the conversation and not really trying to - he knows the look in the tigress’s eyes. She’s teasing, albeit offering a decent thing to consider. The lion pauses, forcing blood to flow to his brain so he can actually summon an answer.

"The wind shouldn’t come from the east," he says, recalling the map on the site. "So something facing that way will be fine." He, too, can scent dens nearby - most of them well hidden, it seems. Dragos comes up to Leila’s side and nips at her ear, ever the perfect height to do so easily. "Pick," he hums, "or at this rate the kids are going to be sleeping in my mane."

Not that that hasn’t happened before.

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Leila smothers her amusement, sensing how long it had taken him to bring forth an answer to her question. From the east, then - that narrowed her choice down well enough.

She flicks her ear upon his nibble and brushes her striped body down his shoulder as she turns easterly. “I’m picking.” she grins toothily, pausing briefly to nibble some grass seed stuck to the fur on his ribs. His input had made Leila settle on something she liked.

Up a small knoll she leads him, where a wizened looking acacia tree had taken growth. Despite the snow, there was an overhang worn into its massive roots. It had probably taken years to wash away that much. Open on two sides with a hard-packed earth back wall that she was sure could be dug further out, should they need it.

The smaller roots are pliable, and Leila noses her way beneath the tree, into the hollow space. Her eye is critical, but the light flooding in past the dangling roots made the space feel cozy but not claustrophobic.

“It’ll need a bit of digging,” she muses, turning to inspect it all, “But I think this will do, don’t you?”

@Dragos

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+20 Learn something from a Master of your trade 2/2
+10 Discuss hunting needs with another 2/2
+5 Learn something from another about your trade 1/2 I don’t think they’re getting that done lmao

A shiver runs down his spine as teeth dig into his fur. She’s trying to kill him, Dragos is sure of it now. Maybe she’ll drag him across the entire pride to pick a den, just to see how long he can remain standing. At some point in the last year, he’d gone from thinking it was entirely innocent to realising, with some horror, that Leila knows exactly what she’s capable of doing to him.

With more horror, Dragos realised he liked that.

Eventually, Leila does manage to find something suitable. An ancient tree, thick roots - something he knew Leila liked - space to expand. She wiggles in easily, but there’s less space for the bigger lion, so he has to put effort into getting in. Once inside, however, there is space - enough that he isn’t squashing Leila, but it is cosy.

"It’s nice," he murmurs, looking around for all of half a second before his gaze turns to Leila’s, pressing himself close. "We’ll get some furs to keep us warm." There might be spares here, or they can go back to the grove and get the old ones. Doesn’t matter.

"C’m here," Dragos demands, pulling Leila against his chest, then lowering his head to kiss her cheek, then her jaw, and then nibble behind her ear. He breathes in her scent, something so familiar to him now, yet it - this - feels like the first time he was brave enough to pull her close. His heart is pounding just as hard as then, too.

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