[PRP] Crunchy [Drogon & Ramla]

[wooga Paes]

A pack of about six wild dogs had managed to catch themselves an impala. Normally, this would have been an excellent thing for them, as impalas were plenty big to feed six little dogs.

Unfortunately, it was also an ideal meal for Drogon, who just so happened to be nearby. Tall for his age, the quickly growing lion had an appetite to be reckoned with. He had no qualms about taking food from a few pups, as it were. It was done easily, even a young male lion was still much stronger than any wild dog, and the group wasn't large enough to really threaten him. Once that was dealt with, Drogon was content to settle down with his meal. Wild dogs ate fast, but most of it was still left for him.

After eating a decent bit of it and feeling full enough for now, Drogon was simply lying beside what was left of the kill. By now there were a few vultures and crows around, but he was in no hurry to leave them scraps.  

[Andranis]

It had been a while since they'd found themselves here. Ramla wasn't fond of them, but for the sake of keeping up appearances, she'd forsaken her gods in favor of keeping alive. The belief in the Horde way wasn't really there... Not entirely. But the system fascinated her. While there was no denying that it was a male's world, she still found she wasn't about to back down to anybody. So help any male who tried to take her from Ngoma, she'd make sure he never had cubs and go right back to the ex-Firekin. As she walked, she let out a light sigh. Ngoma had taken to it far easier... He'd felt cheated by the circumstances of life, the lie his father had lived, and his belief in his own goddess had waned. And then the Horde... Their habits of slavery, if convoluted compared to what Ngoma had talked about, had appealed to him. Ramla wasn't sure herself about it, having never really encountered it before.

Silver eyes looked up at a dark shape. As she drew closer, she somewhat recognized the youth before her. He was... The son of someone in the pride, someone high ranking. She remembered that much at least. Just not his name. The copper lioness paused not far from him, simply watching, evaluating. He was already getting bigger than her, and she was an adult. Ramla'd never been a large lion... Not that she minded. A small girl, with a very big mate that she knew she could put in HIS place. She wasn't sure she'd attempt with this one, though.  

[wooga Paes]

Drogon wasn't a particularly friendly young man. Not that he wasn't polite enough in social situations, but he didn't bother going out of his way to make friends, or greet people when they passed by. As such he had little interest in Ramla once he saw her, standing over there watching him. It irritated him a bit, being watched like that for no reason, especially coming from a female. He'd rather be watched by one of the Worrurds, and none of them were female. The only lionesses he cared to make an impression on were his own mother and Rapha Oma; aside from that, he had yet to become interested in any of the females he had seen.

Still, throwing a fit over being looked at would be childish and dumb, so Drogon wouldn't. His course of action would remain within ignorance until she simply couldn't be ignored. Bored and still a bit lazy after a large meal, he grabbed one of the bones of the impala, still with a bit of meat, and tossed it towards the hungry vulture, amusing himself with the resulting ruckus.  

[Andranis]

Ramla watched the vultures and then sneered. "Filthy beasts..." And yet amid them was one that looked markedly familiar. Aah, that was why she came this way. She was looking for her little... 'Pet'. Shukura was easily distinguished, with her own copper feathers amid all the dull browns... Though she swore she saw at least one black and one green. Definitely a green. But her only concern was Shukura. She'd finally caught one of those stupid vultures hanging around the temples back in her birthlands and more or less beat the thing into submission, her own personal little pet and slave, too afraid at first to leave, and then kept around by a good case of what humans called Stockholm Syndrome. Not that she knew the word 'human', nor would she likely ever.

She then looked over at the male and let out a sigh, walking over to him. When she got close enough to talk, she stopped walking. "You. What was your name again? I can't remember it and I've been staring in some hope it'll come back to me." She doubted he was the mysterious Graos Oma, he was too young and he had siblings in the pride, a mother. None seemed to be permanently adolescent.  

[wooga Paes]

Mrrrk. He wasn't sure he was in the mood to talk, and even when the lioness approached he quietly hoped she'd just harass a few vultures then leave. Of course, that just wasn't the case. He flicked his tail, gnawing idly on a bone when she finally spoke up. Drogon perked his ears and raised his eyes to look at the lioness. "My name is Drogon." As much as he wasn't a chatty young male, there was simply no practical reason not to acquiesce.

He initially hadn't planned on asking for her own, due to lack of personal interest. He didn't want to invite a lengthy conversation. But he remembered a few key words. Knowledge is power. Who knows, maybe someday it would be worth being able to identify this lioness. Drogon doubted it, but he might as well. "And what's yours?"  

[Andranis]

The lioness' eyes had gone back to the vultures, before she gave a short roar. The copper-colored bird looked up, clacked her beak, then went hopping over to the lioness, hiding under her legs. Ramla looked down, frowning at the bird. "You should really stay closer to me, you never know what cub may go after you..." She used her claws to pet the bird, who had an expression that was a mix of comfort, paint, and fear, as if it rather liked the fear it felt around the lioness and the pain of her claws.

She looked up at Drogon, mentally filing his name away. She'd have to remember it later. It might come in good use... "I am Ramla." She looked at the carcass, though made no indication of wanting any of it. "So, you brought the impala down by yourself? Very impressive. Not many lions can do that. Congratulations, Drogon." She had no idea yet that wild dogs had done it, and for all she knew, it was the younger lion. If he didn't correct her, he could boast about it to anyone who cared to hear.  

[wooga Paes]

At first the roar earned a grimace from Drogon, who didn't quite know why she had done that. The grimace continued for a few moments even when he did, as the vulture went to meet the lioness. He was fine with ravens, but Drogon was no fan of vultures. Or perhaps he just wasn't in his best of moods, which immediately made anything more annoying.

By the time Ramla looked back at him, however, his expression was more neutral. He shrugged at her words, choosing not to comment on the impala. He hadn't killed it, but wasn't about to go correcting praise. Besides, he was confident he could have, having managed to take down a few other animals on his own. You just had to get creative when they could run faster than you.

He was mostly uninterested in Ramla, and hoped she would just leave him be soon. Either that or Drogon planned on walking away. But then a thought did occur to him. "Why did you and your mate join us?" He had seen this lioness' mate, with red mane. And most importantly, the marking on his shoulder, which, in fact, he had seen before on one of the slaves.  

[Andranis]

Ramla shrugged, sitting down as she continued to pet the vulture. The claws had retracted now, so it was much more soothing... And confusing to the bird, who was used to the claws being WITH the paw. "My birth pride began to collapse.. So we left after our children had grown into their manes. A few of them began dispersing, too... Ngoma was bringing me to meet what relatives of his remained in the Motoujamii, but we found the Horde first. To say the least, he left HIS birth pride disillusioned to the ways of their current ruler, Kidondo... As far as he knows, while the pride rejoined itself back into one after a civil war broke out, there's still lions left in the pride loyal to their former patron goddess, Finar-si. Ngoma lost that faith when he found out his father wasn't the lion he thought he was and fully understood the implications of his lack of pure blood... Not that bloodlines matter to me beyond 'are they related'..." She grinned wryly. "We'll just say, one of my fathers spread his seed a bit, and beyond that, he has a lot of his own blood relatives scattered around... So my primary concern with pedigree is avoiding inbreeding, as it were." It was something she'd stressed to her children as she'd raised them, too. "So... When we came across the Horde... He was all for joining, especially since his shoulder marking was of interest." She motioned with a paw. "He's not even the only lion in his family to have it. He got it from his mother, he said, and he's got... Oh, how many brothers and sisters was it...? Ah, right... One other brother with it. He's a much older brother and in the Motoujamii still."  

[wooga Paes]

Her words held some useless information to him, though he made a note to remember it. Finar-si was why the firekin were so interesting to him and perhaps the rest of the Nergui, a pride that had rid itself – at least mostly – of the influence of a Kulukadok, at the same time as they had stolen from it (because a Kulukadok, to Drogon, was neither a he or a she), it's blood strengthening them. Drogon listened to news about the Motoujamii lions with interest.

But most of what Ramla talked about was family. She mentioned inbreeding, which seemed a little gross to him, but ultimately didn't mean much. She did finally touch a subject of interest to him. The marking, yes. Definitely a special looking mark, and also... Drogon, admittedly, liked the intrigue. "The marking on his shoulder, yes... We've seen it before." He mused aloud. "That same one, same spot. Another lion, he has a black mane. He even looks a bit like your mate." Not entirely in coloration, but perhaps in build. "Perhaps you've seen him around? One of our slaves." He wondered if that would earn a reaction. Perhaps the lions were related. It might not make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but, admittedly the intrigue might just amuse Drogon. It would definitely be a strange situation.

And there were other interests, as well. As far as Drogon knew, this slave wasn't warming up to them very much. Perhaps if he really was related to Ramla's mate, he'd feel more inclined to.  

[Andranis]

"Oh, I've seen him... And made sure Ngoma doesn't." She frowned. "He described all his brothers and sisters to me in great detail, in case we ran into any of them, or he was occupied and I found one so I could avoid getting killed by them or something. That one... Black mane... Orange colorations? That's... Mua? No..." It was on the tip of her tongue... She looked down for a moment. "Oh, I can't remember his name... But he IS Ngoma's brother... I remember that." And that was why she was trying to keep Ngoma from SEEING him. Her mate had made no indication that he knew a brother was here, though.  

[wooga Paes]

He was at the same time pleased and disappointed. Pleased, because Drogon had been right, and Drogon loved being right. His disappointment stemmed from the fact that her mate did not know his brother was enslaved by the Nergui. For starters, it would be a great test of this lion's commitment to them if he stood by their side despite his brother's current condition. Also, if Ramla's mate didn't know about his brother, they could hardly hope he'd help to convert him. Lua would definitely be a valuable addition if he didn't, you know, hate the Nergui.

"You should let him see." He said, not minding that his opinion hadn't been asked for. "I can't imagine he'll be pleased when you slip up and he finds out on his own, and you were hiding it all along." He pointed out. "But what's really important is your mate might be key in getting Lua to smarten up." Drogon was thinking in an unusually business-like manner, and he quietly noted this would probably please his mother.

"Even if he doesn't, that's a great way to prove his loyalty to us. If he'll stand by Tra Ord Omak despite what fate has befallen his brother." Drogon stood now, having eaten his fill, and rearing to go. "If you play it right, you and your mate will probably stand to earn yourselves some more... status." Frankly, at the time Drogon imagined they didn't have much. They were outsiders and couldn't yet speak the local tongue, nor had they done anything to prove themselves.  

[Andranis]

Ramla thought about what Drogon was saying, looking down to the vulture for a few minutes. When she finally looked up, the young male was beginning to leave. "I think I WILL let him see Lua... Maybe even tell him..." If she did it right, she could get him to believe she was simply gathering information before finally telling him. And if it went right... Maybe they could get Lua to reconsider his stance, join the rest of the pride... The lioness let out a sigh, then bowed her head to the male. "It was a pleasure talking, Drogon. May our paths cross again." She then gave the copper vulture a shove, beginning to walk to go find Ngoma. She had words to share with her mate...