The Rainforest is a far cry from the open, rolling fields of the Plains. In her homelands she could see the sky stretch on for miles, a sea of wheatgrass meeting at its distant horizon. She could follow that conjecture forever and still not meet its end. Clouds would sprawl in lazy plumes across a peach sky, and the first speckles of stars would begin to appear in the darker perimeter.

But there was a charm to Firnen. She could not see the sky, but the thick canopy of trees above was almost equally as magnificent.

She's laying on her back in a small clearing by her den. Above, she could barely see the empty sky from between the crisscrossing of vines and gnarled, tangled branches. Monkeys howled as they flung themselves tree to tree above her, causing a large billow of leaves to wrest from their branches and fall about her in a slow cascade. In a way, it reminds her of the way snow falls, descending with a beautiful, agonizing pace. At least here, it was still warm. Mostly.

A cold wind whirls through the trees, and Cree shudders, reminded that they are in the thick of winter, and likely everywhere but here is covered in a layer of snow.

---

@Lucifer

Since returning home, he'd spent quite a bit of time surveying the damage from the elephant stampeded, and cleaning up where he could. As well as ridding the rainforest of the stink of the squatters. After that, it was just nice to aimlessly wander down old familiar paths and see how things had grown and changed and how different things looked from an adult height.

This aimless wandering - maybe subconsciously following the noise of the monkeys - was what brought him within sight of one of the newer faces in the pride. In that she wasn't a family member or older acquaintance. He'd slow to a stop a comfortable distance from her and sit, letting his gaze trail up to the noisy creatures overhead, "Eventually, it'll just become background noise." Light, conversational, but true. And then it would only be really noticeable when the noises changed to warning calls or silence.

After a few seconds of watching the monkeys, he'd drop his attention back down to @Lucretia herself. "Settling in okay?"

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Eventually, it'll just become background noise.

She whirls to her feet, and tries her best not to look startled. The frayed fur about her neck settles when she realizes it's @Lucifer, though embarrassment never lasts long on Cree. Rather, she is enthralled by his almost easygoing nature. It makes her just as homesick as it comforts her.

But it's all mushy, those feelings. Blegh.

Settling in okay?

The roots and trees are charming, she muses, curling strands of her cheek fur between her claws. And I suppose the howling monkeys make you feel less lonely, yeah?

She's used to eight other howling cubs, after all. In her ears, at all times of the night—and she in theirs, too. But never had there been a tighter knit gaggle of brothers and sisters, now wayward and lost, just as she is—

Feelings. Ugh, no.

You're a bit young to be a king. As if she could talk—barely on the cusp of adulthood and already struggling to find her way in the world. Even my dad was old as dirt when he was one. He wasn't that old, she could practically hear him argue. But I like it. It's...refreshing.

Enough to commit herself to his cause, for however much help she was.

The landscape was, indeed, charming, he agreed. Lucifer shrugged lightly at the question, though, "More like....it's too quiet without them, I think." It came with a wry sort of half-smile; the background noise of the jungle was just one of those things that was part of every day life. It only stood out to him when the sounds changed, or stopped, and he'd always found other areas too quiet. So...okay, maybe she had a point, it was a form of lonely, but that was background noise to his life, too. Solitude. A social creature at heart, living alone for so long, maybe he really had been more lonely than he'd thought.

But it was different now. He was home and slowly becoming surrounded by friendly faces.

He'd seize onto her commentary as a way to shift his mind away from actually thinking about such depressing things as his life thus far. Instead, he huffed in amusement, "Yeah, maybe, but I saw an opportunity and took it." All he could do now was try to do his best and try to avoid making the same mistakes as his father. "Where did your dad rule?" And who was he, anyway? Probably no one Lucifer would know, but that didn't really make him any less curious.

@Lucretia

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She knows the danger of quietness well.

In a way, her homelands had been the same. Though they'd not howling monkeys and tropical songbirds and croaking frogs, there was a sort of melodic resonance to the plains. The whirling of wheat grass in the warm summer wind, the sound of antelope herds traversing the foothills, the chirping of crickets just as dusk descends, as if it's awaiting their symphony.

Silence, by comparison, means more than just loneliness.

So she's thankful for the primates and their loud cacophony. And she's thankful for @Lucifer, too.

...but I saw an opportunity and took it.

You weren't afraid? Pink-and-periwinkle eyes blink wide with wonder. I mean—you look strong but—have you seen some of the big guys out there? Not to say you couldn't take them on—could you?—I mean, of course you could—

Heat, heavy and purposed, spreads across her cheeks as she fumbles over her own words.

Is that embarrassment, Lucretia Frei?

Lucifer, ever the generous king, throws her a lifebuoy.

Where did your dad rule?

The heat drains from her face. Lorien.

Violarum Frei was well-liked, but despised by just as many. She'd never taken much care in the politicking he and her mothers had to endure, and knew not her friends or enemies in this land. It never even occurred to her to take such things into consideration.

I haven't heard much of it since, though. He wasn't in charge when I left.

'You weren't afraid?' It brought a wry little smirk to his face, "Wouldn't say that." Any of that, actually. If only she'd witnessed his last, failed, attempt to seize Firnen. "The previous ruler solidly kicked my ass when I challenged him, so I decided to wait either for someone else to dethrone him or for some natural disaster or event to run him out so I could take over." It had been embarrassing in the moment, but he'd managed to embarrass them right back (he hoped) by escaping their efforts to keep him prisoner the very same night.

The first week or two, he'd lived with constant anxiety that Gauthier was going to charge out of the shadows to take back the rainforest. But the longer he went without that happening, the more at ease he felt.

Lorien, she said, and Lucifer thought a second, "I don't think I've ever visited that one. I've passed by on the way to other places; it looks nice from a distance." Far too open for his tastes, but he was sure it had it's own charms. Had to, if lions chose to keep living there, right? Surely if it was horrible it would be left open and abandoned, right?

@Lucretia

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She's thankful he doesn't poke and prod at her sudden flush, the way her siblings would tease he rosy cheeks or bewildered eyes. Even the other cubs she'd grown up alongside would not spare her, though it was more often than not retribution against Cree's own merciless teasing. Instead, she is invited a closer look into @Lucifer's history, speculating the image of him facing off an impossible enemy and still emerging alive in the end. Bruised, bloodied, but alive.

And when opportunity did rear its head, he took it. Cree would have done the same. Who needed tales of revenge and great battles when he still came out the winner in the end?

Lucifer's a smart one, she thinks. Not at all like the brawny boneheads she's come across all her life, desperate to contest who stands taller, whose skull is thicker.

Despite the admiration that sparks in her eyes, her lips purse with a playfulness. We should have a herd on standby if he decides to come back, then.

What an image it was: Elephants set loose on any poor would-be conqueror who sets their sights on the jungle that Lucifer had grabbed out of the hands of its former king.

I don't think I've ever visited that one, Lucifer admits, I've passed by on the way to other places; it looks nice from a distance.

It was nice, she wants to say. It was everything.

It's alright, she admits with a cool casualness, averting her gaze. I'm more excited to see what you do with this place. It's too big a forest to be alone.

Not that he was alone, really. Not like she was. But the Rainforest is massive and sprawling, and they are still young enough that she can feel the company of the birds and the monkeys more than other lions.

I think it'll feel better once I make some friends, she admits aloud, perhaps without meaning to. She just couldn't remember a day in Lorien where she did not wake up with five snouts in her face, eager and looking for adventure. Though she wakes lazily to the warm sun now, there is nothing to greet her but the endless sprawl of forest and the duties she now burdens as a pride member expected to be productive.

An entire herd of elephants on standby? He laughed at the idea, "Wouldn't that be funny," just a bunch of guard elephants ready to trample any challenger. Probably not legal in the eyes of Amaryllis law and culture, but still a funny image. Even funnier was the image of Gauthier himself trampled flat as a leaf underfoot.

Lucifer let his gaze wander over their surroundings, taking in the familiar trees and other flora, "I've lived most of my life alone," his voice was softer; he hadn't lived that way by choice at first, but it had grown into a habit that proved hard to break. It had been strange, at first, to effectively re-enter society, but he was a social creature at heart and was only beginning to realize how lonely he'd really been like that. "I don't want to live like that anymore." Tucked away, concealed, living in constant fear an enemy might hunt himself or his family down.

The strange somber shadow that had fallen over him lifted as he took a deep breath. Friends. Yeah, friends would be good. "Well," he gave a small grin, "are we friends now?" A little heart-to-heart was good for forging that kind of thing, wasn't it? As far as he was aware there were no laws saying a king couldn't be friends with his pride mates.

@Lucretia

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She makes him laugh. And there's something of a warm satisfaction that blooms in her chest at the sound of it. Cree cannot help the small smile that flits to her lips, a rare honesty that seldom makes it past her easygoing guise. But it is gone just as quickly as it arrives, the shifts in topic taking a more somber, longing nature. Yet another rare show for Cree, who has never shown vulnerability to anyone before. But she was never out on her own before, either.

I've lived most of my life alone, @Lucifer admits, and Cree's periwinkle eyes flit to his unyielding gold. I don't want to live like that anymore.

Vulnerability is nice sometimes, she decides.

She raises a paw, as it to reach forward and place it upon his shoulder, as one of her siblings might have found comforting. Instead, she hesitates, until it falls back to the ground.

But when he grins, she eases. And when he offers his friendship, she returns his smile.

I would like that very much, I think, she replies, inclining her head so she could get a better look at him. That way we're never lonely again, yeah?

A win-win, if there ever was one. Something that Cree was determined to keep this time, now that the adventuring of youth is slowly molding into a desire to settle, to establish her roots. The notion seems strange to even her, who has never known anything but the desire to take flight, to be free of anything and everything.

I rather like this place, you know, she continues, just in case the king thought she might otherwise. And if the last guy ever comes back, I'll help you kick him right back out.

The paw that lifted, hesitated, and fell did not go unnoticed, and some part of him appreciated the thought. And then his grin grew a fraction when she accepted the offer of friendship. Lucifer could count his friends on one paw, excluding family. It really wasn't that many, and he wasn't actually sure he could count Sif as a friend more than a...friendly acquaintance. "Yeah," never lonely again sounded very nice.

He'd lay himself down, comfortable in the space and company, even as she brought up the very scenario that worried him. Maybe not the same guy, but someone. There was always someone, wasn't there? Someone out there who would try to take everything away again? Lucifer hummed in thought, "What if someone challenges and wins? What if I can't keep this place?" Would she stay behind under the new ruler? Would she go somewhere else instead?

@Lucretia

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