the green calls to her, as it always had. this is not her holler, though, and nor would it ever be. but there's something comforting, nonetheless, about forests and jungles and everything in-between. it's no surprise, then, that her aimless wanderings bring her here. this section of the forest seems... different. for starters, the path she's been trailing reeks of another and it takes her some time to realize it's a border of some type. curiously wylodine stops, jaws parting to better scent. it didn't smell like a pride, but instead of one woman. head tilting slightly, marred gaze shifts from the ground to the land beyond — the space beyond the borders. she might not have much experience with prides here but even she knows better than to enter someone's home without asking. so, asking is exactly what she does — jaws part to chuff out, beckoning.

code by irish

~Céleste is hidden~ she is the local ghost to the firnen rainforest. quiet and deadly within all of her movements and approaches. something that is almost frighteningly accurate for a woman with blind eyes for the way she navigates through each slippery slope comes with ease. ease dripping branch and dilated seam of sewn vines that intertwine to create the matriarch of her sovereign's entrails of throne. she is always watching. perhaps not physically, but somewhere in her dreams there is always an acute sense of awareness of what is happening within her home. from the damned tree tops above to the sinking falls of water that provide a pit fall of portals Céleste is there. stuck within every dark corner that even ones with the most acute eyes could see past. "Why have you come here?" A caw from the darkness, booming throughout the tree tops as the ghost lingers from her tree top perch. Lingering just in enough darkness to go unseen for whatever duration of time she would see fit. Tensions were high, things were changing, and one could never be too cautious whenever it came to home. So - she stays. Lingering within the tree tops in a comfortable distance from their assailant. This would be interesting.

@Wylodine

though she calls loud enough to be heard, wylodine does not expect anything to come of this. a scent marker did not necessarily mean anything — she'd marked enough of the areas outside the gardens for that to be true. so once she falls quiet, voice echoing through the branches, wylodine turns her attention. the ground is untilled, untouched; without the scent markers you'd never know someone was ever here. maybe that's the point? hmm. attention shifts once more when a voice brays out, sudden and loud. it halts her in her tracks, from where she was about to pace along the invisible line. immediately her gaze snaps up, used to lions loitering in the canopy. not surprising is the fact that she cannot see @Céleste, but still her head tilts, considering. what was she doing here? it isn't like her to venture out like this, nor to call for company. but, ah, maybe loneliness was finally catching up to her. you claimed the forest? she calls, tilting her muzzle up — still unable to find the woman she speaks with. if she felt like it, maybe she could try to sniff her out, but wylodine is content to speak just like this. i did not know you could do that. it felt awfully official compared to the hovel she grew up in, and she is curious. happy to stick her nose where it doesn't belong and maybe get a home out of it.

code by irish

"The Rainforest is her own... she allows us to live here - and we care for her in return." Sangria's deep, but nearly bland tones came from @Wylodine's right as the goliath emerged from the trees. She leveled her bi-colored gaze on the female before gesturing to the trees around them with the flick of a large wine stained paw. "Firnen Rainforest - home to a pride of lions that are welcome to call beneath her boughs home." The amazonian would normally give @Céleste a nod for her work - pride evident in the woman taking seriously their laws. But, it seemed the pale woman wished to remain hidden in the foliage.. so she wasn't going to spoil her plans or hiding place. Let the newcomer wonder how many others might be hidden within the forests thick underbrush. "I'm Sangria - the Sovereign of this pride - have you come seeking information?" She was curious - a subtle inhale gave no pride scent on the woman away - but as far as she knew she could have washed it off in the nearby river. Sangria stood in silence, relaxed, outwardly calm and collected - though internally she was wondering what the others plans here were.

code by koi

the forest is tender, within her embrace the vanity finds comfort even in the canopies of her dangerous wares. it is funny. the way that the foreigner squabbles among the floor boards in what Céleste can only assume as searching. seeking for her foiled frame. she considers briefly for a moment of revealing herself, but decides against until her amazonian queen follows. the wheaten woman wondering briefly if she were to give away her position within their bridges - but she does not. instead she leaves a silent acknowledgement to the wares of her position. causing the woman to push further onto her branch. embracing her jungle home with a lazy lounge as acute ears tune to the sounds of chattering. Céleste does not speak - settling for the role of mysterious and ghostly figure of the wilds. she's here only for protection against her home and sovereign, and would remain until further intent is revealed. it was a promise that she made after all.

@Wylodine

her question falls on deaf ears. instead of answers all wylodine gets is silence, or something close. bird song and quivering leaves fill the empty space, but no more disembodied voices. the moment stretches and snaps, and the mauve woman tilts her head, considering. hmmm. had she imagined the voice? mistook a rustling breeze for a question? wylodine has experienced stranger things than this and almost thinks nothing of it, especially when @Sangria appears. attention slides easily to the sovereign, darkened muzzle tipping up to look at the tall woman. her words, more than her hulking appearance, give the crow woman pause. possibly for the first time since entering this land. the forest... chooses its inhabitants? you truly believe that? the words might be flippant, prodding — as if assuming it's a joke that she's not in on. or worse, that this woman is crazy. but wylodine knows the power that dwells in nature and the green, and it's... surprising to hear that belief here. ears tip forward as sangria continues. was she here for information? no, wylo says before she frowns, giving her head a shake. well, maybe. yes. she frowns, annoyed with herself. she knows these island lions to be protective of their land and pride, yet she has little experience with... living in one. or, rather, interacting with them. i have lived in the jungle since i've come to this land. she explains, using a darkened paw to gesture vaguely in the direction of aniadar. i did not realize there was a group here. she knew of a pride in the swamps, and a pride around a lagoon; neither of which were suited for her. but this place? this green? but — i could live here? she says, accented voice lilting up in a question. it's clear that she doesn't really know what she's asking, nor how to ask it, but here she is, shooting her shot. attention remains solely on sangria, still blissfully unaware of their audience, @Céleste in the trees.

code by irish

@Wylodine questions whether she believes it and the goliath tilts her skull upwards to regard the trees overhead. "I do. She was quiet for some time before I fought the previous king for the chance to let her choose." Gaze lowered then as she looked towards the lioness, her expression externally stoic - as it often was.. but she was curious about this female. "Since the fight, she has been.. stronger. More alive." The others that had lived here prior were likely to have a different story - and perhaps Sangria was off her rocker - but she truly believed that the Rainforest was alive. Maybe not in the normal sense of the word that it was a breathing entity - but it was an entity of some sort. Perhaps not 'gendered' in the normal sense of that term - but in the mind of the Amazonian, she put the feminine face to the visual she would think of as the forest guardian. She didn't care if some thought her crazy - it was her belief that mattered in the end. When the woman questioned living here, she would nod, the beginning of a smile tilting her lips. "If you wish to - you're welcome to come live within these trees. We have a few rules we ask everyone to follow - but beyond that..Your life is your own.. We only ask that you put to use your skills to better yourself and the rainforest. Work with your pride, not against it." Sangria shrugged, the grin that touched her lips more obvious when next she spoke. "We'll defend you - you help defend others..If you want a rank, it will be worked for - a challenge, a test of will in the aspect of those that don't fight - knowledge versus knowledge...If another is trapped in one of the other prides - we will get them free." "Beyond that - what you do is your choice. If something happens beyond these borders and you need help, we will help." She wasn't in the business of controlling every aspect of the lives of those that lived here. What they did beyond the borders and within them was their own choice - she wouldn't try to determine who and what was acceptable. The lady forest would decide that for herself in the end. "But, I...will warn you before you make your full decision.." The same warning she had given to everyone seeking to come to Firnen. "The pride to the south has declared war - the previous king I overthrew was a family member to them. If you come here.. you will likely find yourself caught up in it.. I will be one of the first into battle to protect those that live here - and the lady rainforest..but I'm not going to keep something of that magnitude from you.." The woman wasn't going to lie to anyone trying to join - until tensions with the Mire were sorted.. she wasn't going to simply "forget" to mention such a thing. Her father wouldn't have cared. Not only would he have purposefully neglected to say it - he would have claimed the woman and expected her to defend and pick up the pieces of his mess without giving the option. Sangria would wait, bi-colored gaze leveled on the female, knowing that @Céleste still lurked in the brush.

code by koi

it is the lavish drip of waning curiosity that rides among the desolate wind. wafting through their territory with ease as the guards stand attentive to foreign concepts. it is only whenever her goddess speaks that the blind assassin seems to crow from the trees. "She grows stronger everyday." To speak of the forest as if she were some sort of person would be considered crazy to others. But between the two like-minded colleagues. Well - she was more than just that. A lover to lay gentle roaming hands upon exposed flesh in the mid moore of day, a fighter to defender her family from the wings of death and even a martyr to the wills of Maua. Firnen, she was so much more than just a simple forest. it is time. for her frame bends narrowly against the broadened brush within a creaking stretch that rattles the leaves above. she seems to descend as a dove from the heavens, small and lathe frame colliding with the ground with ears. the vibrations pursuing throughout her toes in a delightful sting as the blind adversary settles as closely to her sovereign as possible. +5 Practice speed or stealth (2/2)

@Wylodine

i do, @Sangria answers with little fanfare. there's more, to be sure, but it is this that seemingly solidifies wylodine's mind. if there was anything she could understand, and agree with, it was putting stock in nature itself. even though the pride aspect might be strange and unfamiliar, at least this was something she could wrap her head around. she listens intently as sangira explains that the forest seems to have come into its own after the fight (something about a previous king?), and that disembodied voice calls once more, an agreement drifting lazily on the breeze. her ears tip, marred gaze once more swinging up, yet she says nothing. does nothing besides flick her tail in annoyance and listen. pride rules were... a different sort of pill to swallow. but even back home, it wasn't a lawless little group -- despite what her younger sister might have thought. and none of the rules sangria says are... terribly far from how she lived her life typically. maybe a little more amazonian warrior than wylodine usually preferred, but. and then -- ah. the last little tidbit sangria says makes wylo's features twist, curiosity sparkling in her dark profile. i ain't no solider, and i ain't a fighter. wylo warns, knowing this would probably be enough to turn her away. what good was an extra pair of hands, if not to feed their war machine? but i ain't worthless, neither. i can fix ya all up, send ya off with blessings and tonics. she was no combat medic, nor nurse, but she knew enough to at least help. understood the nitty-gritty of it all, knew what plants to eat and which ones to avoid. her mams had taught her that much. movement, then, catches her attention -- marred gaze shifting quickly as they're joined by another. this lioness is smaller than the first, smaller than even wylo herself, and @Céleste's gaze is cloudy, unfocused. vision problems, maybe? or indifference. she can't tell which, doesn't think it'd matter much if she could. if you'd have me, i'd like to join. she says after a long moment, head tilting to the side as her gaze swings between both of them. a slow metronome as she waits, but then her tongue curls behind her teeth as she adds: my name is willow. a lie, true, but it's close enough to the truth. and if firnen turned out to be the place for her, perhaps she would give more.

code by irish

[OOC: Getting this in so she can be all official! Also - feel free to post at the meeting since I've been setting it 'after' all these threads so everyone has a chance to get in! <3] A smile touches her lips - the faintest curving upwards of her muzzle as @Wylodine states she neither soldier nor fighter. A large shoulder lifts and then falls. "Everyone has something they're good at - and if they're not they just haven't found it yet. You don't need to be built for war or fighting. Just be willing to help where you can." She wasn't built well for hunting - but still she did when the pride needed her to. The bi-colored eyes noted the woman offer her name, and she shifted - stepping to the side to give the woman access to the rainforest beyond. "I'm Sangria.. but call me whatever suits your fancy.. Just don't call me fat." There was a teasing tone to her voice before she gave the female a considering look. "If you wish a rank - we have many open - feel free to challenge for it - if you'd rather test yourself against another with skills of something else - then we will set up a test between yourself and whomever wishes the rank as well." Sangria knew that not everyone within these trees would fight - or wanted to - so accommodating those needs in other things was paramount. "Welcome to the rainforest, Willow. We'll have a meeting soon so you can get to know those within the pride.."

code by koi