[PRP] It's an Invasion! (Adar/DiYi/Kongwe)

[Epine de Rose]

She was still talking.

They'd been walking for a while now, or rather he had been walking for a while. It seemed that even deities tired themselves out sometimes and she had unceremoniously deposited herself on his back. Given her weariness she'd also lost the ability to hide what she was and to those who looked at them from a distance, Adar was bound to strike a rather bizarre figure. Horns and wings sprouted from his back - he could only hope that most regarded it as a bird of some description relaxing on his back.

...You know, like they did on hippos or elephants.

Alas, despite being to tired to walk, it seemed that her mouth had access to an entirely different power source. She was putting this to good use as well; anything of remote interest was open for discussion. If she saw an oddly shaped tree then she wanted to know why it was this way, if someone yelled obscenities she wanted to understand why... and if anyone reeled from the smell of her current 'vehicle', she had the good nature to express her own discontent with a snort and a murmured 'how rude'.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that Adar'Malik had long run out of conversation, but this mattered little to the young lioness. After all, she was talking more than enough for the both of them and the older lion had already tuned her out. His main focus was on navigating his way back home, through the jungle they were now crossing in to. He wasn't afraid of the dark, nor flickering shadows, but this wasn't a reason he wasn't entirely familiar with and therefore he needed to concentrate.

...If the little 'thing' on his back would allow him that was.

LadyPipen

 

[LadyPipen]

Kongwe lounged in her favorite tree, low enough that she wouldn't fall out this time- damn those earth-shakes- nestled safely in a ford of thick, secure branches and it was there in the coolness of the shade that she had, for all intents and purposes, intended to stay. Naptime, for once, was not an entirely unwelcome concept.

Life was simply too... Too busy. It, for once, was not an idea thrown around in solitude and sarcasm- for the first time since her sister left, life was exciting and unpredictable... But not in the best of ways. The strange happenings were a welcome distraction at first, certainly- the skies falling, the earth shaking under her very paws... That was an interesting wake-up call, falling out of her tree in the early morning hours!

But soon enough came the less-interesting effects. Wildfire scorching half her territory, disasters chasing most of the prey away, and worst of all- losing what was left of them to rogues who suddenly thought it was all fine-and-dandy to barge into her home. Well, she had decided she was well and through with all that, and the next rogue that wandered into her forest would be tasting claws!

.... It was just her luck that the next rogue to wander into her lands was <******** huge. Or perhaps she was really small, and only just now noticing... She had heard the chattering before she'd seen them, and the moment she hopped out of her tree and bound fearlessly through the brush to confront her intruders, she regretted it. She'd thought that it was going to be a couple cubs, hearing the tiny one go on, but she was wrong.

Oh, so wrong.

For a moment after bursting out of the undergrowth, all the leopardess could do was stand with a dumbfounded look on her face, somewhere between continuing and giving up immediately to run for the hills- somewhere between the tick of three seconds and four, however, she seemed to find her senses, mask of doubt turning into a hopefully-fierce glare, tail whipping to and fro.

He totally wouldn't notice if her legs shook the tiniest bit, right? Right. "Excuse me, but you are trespassing," She hissed, trying to look as ferocious as possible- never mind her very obvious disadvantage in size, "And you and the... the, uh...," Now that she looked a little closer, the cub on his back didn't look entirely like a cub at all- cubs didn't have horns, or wings.... What had four paws, wings and a pair of horns? She didn't know, but she didn't want to meet it's actual parents, for sure. "The, ah... Cub." Best to leave it at that- when in doubt, shut up, as mom always said, "Have gotta go. Go on! Turn that tail right on around, or... Or I'll fight you!"

Epine de Rose

I'm imagining a small, yapping dog... And since my image is too big to include normal-like, Here!

 

[Epine de Rose]

"You would lose," The lion regarded the leopard with an otherwise neutral expression as she educated him to the fact that based on her own interpretation, these lands were her's. As per the general 'rules' of the roguelands she was partially right in this, but as fluid as power was within these lands, she could just as easily be unseated. Consequently he took her declarations with a pinch of salt... He was also inclined to believe she probably lacked the capacity to fight him properly either.

This didn't mean that smaller creatures weren't capable of incredible damage when pushed, but she didn't seem to have quite the same air about her that some others he knew. The black lion suspected that her bark was probably worse than her bite... and even then her bark was a more adult version of his current companion's high pitched chitter.

...In short, all quite easy to ignore.

"Thus your actions are ill advised," he finished calmly, just as the 'cub' clambered partially on to his head. Forelegs causing his ears to splay flat to the sides, Di Yi was quick to scrutinise the leopard in front of her. She'd never seen one of these before, it didn't look very lion-y.

"What are you?" she asked curiously. "What it is?" she added as she patted at the head of her 'mount'.

"She," Adar corrected his tiny companion. "Is a leopard. They dwell in the trees above us."

"I see, I see..." She paused for a scarce half second before peering back towards Kongwe. "But we aren't in the trees," she pointed out as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. It seemed the cub had decided that the land owned by the leopard was in the air rather than the ground. "You can't have both that's greedy."

Adar was the first to roll his eyes in response to this remark.

LadyPipen

 

[LadyPipen]

Hell yeah she would lose.... but her mother had departed with a great deal of emphasis on pride, and, uh.... Right. Pride. She would not allow her territory to be taken!

.... Yet.

At least with the talking she could stop her stupid limbs from shaking? Sort of? A task that came much, much easier the moment the rude, stinky- it was decided, that horrid stench came from that little brat, she'd never smelled such on a lion before- little rhino-brat clammered over his head.

"Excuse me, rude little child, I am not an it!" Kongwe righteously hissed- never mind that the lion had already corrected his ward well before, no, there was a special emphasis in saying it for herself. "A leopard is far better than being the mish-mash you are," she huffed, nodding curtly and.... Honestly forgetting that the goal was to get the pair out of her territory without a fight, not insulting them and starting one.

"You can't claim trees- I climb them, I'm not a bird who spends all day in them! The trees are on the land, and I own The. Land." Kongwe stamped her paw at each word, for special emphasis, "There's trees everywhere, but if a tree is on someone else's territory, you can't go climbing it, either, and... And what have you been teaching her?" the leopard gave Adar an accusatory glance- arguing with a child, how immature! Never mind that she was little more than a child herself, barely out of adolescence.

We'll conveniently leave that part out.

Epine de Rose

 

[Epine de Rose]

Adar's expression remained unreadable as the young leopard sought to educate the cub on his back. Fortunately the young deity wasn't yet arrogant enough to make use of her abilities yet, hell, she didn't even know what they did yet. Nevertheless despite her youth it was unwise to assume she lacked knowledge, it seemed that for the most part she had been imbued with some form of otherworldly awareness...or a basic understanding of some concepts operated.

...Not that she'd be a diplomat or a master strategist any time soon, but she'd at least grasp the simpler concepts.

"You is a divine being," Adar'Malik said at last, referring to Di Yi in much the same manner of address as Kongwe had chosen to. The decision had been deliberate in this respect, designed to unseat her and remind her that she had no place to chastise or use a degrading tone on anyone when she exhibited the exact same qualities.

Rudeness and naivety, with just a touch of arrogance (faked or otherwise).

...Or perhaps there was something underneath this facade but the black lion had never been one to psychoanalyse individuals.

"We could take that territory though," Di Yi seemed remarkably good at ignoring surly tones. It was that oblivious nature that had probably kept her out of several scraps with her own family. Whether she truly pegged the discontent or disgruntled demeanour of those she spoke to remained unknown for now, but at least her behaviour served to benefit her at this point in time.

"That is how it works, yes?" She lifted a paw to pad at her 'mount' and tilted her head to the side.

"To claim land as your own?"

"Yes!"

"Provided that you can defend it, yes, that is how it works," he conceded and turned his gaze back towards the leopard thoughtfully. "Not that this particular region possesses any strategic value," he peered at the very slightly quivering limbs, ah, but was the little one nervous? He wouldn't blame her all things considered, a stranger in her lands and he could only assume she was not blind to the bizarre chaos happening above and around them.

"Huh?" Di Yi hadn't understood, further supporting the fact she definitely wouldn't be a strategic mastermind any time soon.

"It doesn't have any qualities that would be useful beyond 'shade', most wouldn't have a use for it so one such as this leopard is safe to claim it. The story might be different if it provided other benefits."

"I don't know the trees seem like a good vantage point," Di Yi murmured, at which point the lion shook his head.

"The vast majority of us cannot climb those."

"But she can though?"

"Different being."

"She doesn't look that much different..."

LadyPipen