Pissed was an understatement. Amorette was livid when the elephants charged in screaming their horrendous sounds and causing the pride to flee. She had considered taking one down, show its allies that she was not to be trifled with, but the fear of her pride mates had prevented her from risking her tail. Most importantly, she was frustrated at all the trinkets she had collected in her den. What was worse than not obtaining something for your collection was having to start it all over again. For a third time.

She stalks through the gardens, snapping at a butterfly that floats past her nose. The scenery, the bright colors, the creatures shuffling through the lush area only adds to her annoyance about the situation. Where the hell was she supposed to go now? She really wasn't in the mood to consider having to catch her own food right now and conveniently her stomach growls at the thought. Huffing to herself, Amorette walks through the gardens purposefully crushing flowers as she heads in the direction of the grove. The rainforest had provided plenty of food, surely this other forest could do the same?

@Lorant

SPEECH

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reel me in

and just send me off

The opportunistic leopard had gathered that those gardens seemed to attract beautiful creatures of many types – be they butterflies or ladies. Lorant frequented the trees on the outskirts so he might eye the day's wares, his expression creasing with devilish intent at the familiar sight of that dark lioness. While he had mulled over the idea of giving up on her as too much work, there was something about a good chase that kept him coming back even when he had sworn he would not. He leapt down from that tree in one bound.

"Which flower I pick you?" Lorant mused in a rumbling drawl. He swiped one of bright crimson with a single paw, tucking it neatly behind his own velvet ear with a smirk.

---

|| december y12 | ten years | lone creature | at ivelum gardens | @Amorette ||

code by corvus | art by max

There were two terms that absolutely did not apply to Amorette. Feminine and romantic. The sensation of crushed petals beneath her paw pads is phenomenal and with each step she imagines the bloody cries of her enemies. For those that have forsaken her right to a secure and food abundant home. The crows and now Gauthier. All failures in her brain, all that deserved the reckoning of her wrath. So, when that familiar drawl reaches her ears and that spotted hide tickles her senses, Amorette feels a gush of saliva pool into her mouth. Already greedy at the prospect of another meal by her leopard provider. However, the disappointment is clear on her expression, brows furrowing with confusion and her lip upturning in disgust.

A flower? How dare he.

She follows the motion as he swipes a flower saved by her thundering stomps and tucks it gently behind his ear. She grumbles, tail flicking behind her. "No food?" She asks him ignoring the prospect of which plant she will absolutely not be placing behind her own ear.

@Lorant

SPEECH

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reel me in

and just send me off

No answer to his question came. Lorant toppled his expression in feigned offense as the rainforest woman questioned his lack of food, a resigned shrug given instead of anything to fill her stomach.

"I told you thee deal," he drawled. The leopard reached out a claw to pinch the stem of yet another flower, lifting it in front of his face as if to imagine how it would look tucked within her rich fur. "Gauthier be gone, too. You cannot narc." His eyes shimmered with a not-so-subtle challenge as he recalled their first conversation – or rather, him talking to the back of her head.

---

@Amorette

code by corvus | art by max

I told you thee deal

Nose crinkles as she shows her teeth in disgust. Someone playing her own game. How appalling. Only she could pull that card. Another flower is plucked and presented in front of her face hovering a foot away as he imagines it placed on her. Amorette takes a few steps forward, snapping her jaws at the air only inches away from his outstretched paw. "You did not want it," she tells him simply. "I tried to give it to you." Along with part of his face, but could he blame her for looking so edible? Tail lashes against her ankles as he mentions Gauthier and she glances off into the distance. "Oh? You didn't see him over there?" She jerks her head behind him in the direction of the grove. Testing if he would dare remove his eyes from her and look.

@Lorant

SPEECH

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reel me in

and just send me off

"Mm, too fast! Kisses only, Amorette," Lorant teased at her recollection of their near-embrace, as if she had been tackling him for reasons beyond punishment for his silver tongue. He snickered and lowered that outstretched flower back to the meadow from whence it came just as her teeth clicked shut around fragrant air. He followed her sweeping gaze for a moment, peering out to the trees in the distance until her words registered fully in his mind.

"Oh? You didn't see him over there?"

"He ees a rug for the elephants," Lorant insisted through a dark laugh and whipped his attention back to her.

---

@Amorette

code by corvus | art by max

He reminds her of his 'kiss only' rule and she rolls her eyes, refusing to admit that she had planned to do much more than that. Sure, she wanted to impale her teeth into his flesh, but who's to say that wasn't her twisted version of love? "I got excited," she finally claims as he lowers the flower back to the meadow, unable to be returned to its roots and likely to begin wilting in the next few hours. When he glances around as if to check, she twitches her lip at his statement. He might be brave now saying such a thing, but she was sure if Gauthier was here to prove otherwise, Luca wouldn't be speaking so freely. "Did you do it?" She asks, a gleam of annoyance in her eye. This whole situation was too fishy for her liking. She didn't give him his kiss and then she lost her home. Now, he shows up acting as if it's nothing. There was a clear correlation here.

@Lorant

SPEECH

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