After a long and tiring lesson and a shift of guarding the borders, Xiang was exhausted, he been getting less sleep and wasn't adjusting to it well so he was looking for a place just beyond the border to nap. Finding a nice spot in the sun, he didn't mind it so much as some of the other pridal members did, lay down with his head on his paws. The pale demon's scar covered pelt blend well with the savannah grasses.


She'd been walking for a long time, her whole life really, going from one place to the next. Staying only long enough to become hated, or feared, or both. It was her personality, her demon. Once, a shaman had told her that her mother had mated with a demon, and that she was a crime against the gods.
The next thing Yaretzi knew, she was standing over the lions bloodied carcass, blood dripping from her muzzle. Her demon didn't like people talking down to them...She'd been an adolescent then, but had still been smart enough to know to run for her life. Yaretzi never knew why she'd been cursed with this thing in her head, all she knew was that it made her more powerful... And yet, it made her more dangerous.
She'd never liked that, but she'd learned to accept it. But when she heard talk of a demon pride, she'd decided it would be best to check it out. So here she was now, lazily making her way through the grass, searching out this pride of demons.


Xiang's ears twitched as he heard someone or something approaching through the grass, he lifted his head, "Halt, who goes there?" His voice was growly and annoyed, his shift had been long but quiet, and now an outsider approached, he just wanted to nap.


Yaretzi stopped in her tracks, looking around for the body that went with the voice. IT sounded masculine and slightly threatening. She expected the owner of the voice to be a big scary male. Not that she was ever one to let her emotions show... "Well, currently I'm not going anywhere.... I could tell you, if you tell me which territory I'm in."


Xi stood, he eyed the dark female without malice, but still an air threatening hostility. "You stand at the borders of the Hellfire Children, the Aikanaro'hini lands."


Yaretzi sneered and smiled at the same time at the young male in front of her, almost as if she was taunting him. "I see." she said simply, puling her features back to normal, not really paying attention to him, as if he didn't matter. She'd done her research on the clan already, listened to the gossip, heard the horror stories. She knew that he was not a very high ranking lion, because of his coloring. She was surprised actually to see that he wasn't a slave. Whatever the reason was though, she didn't pay it much attention. If this was to be the one to lead her in, why belittle him? "well then," she said trotting over to him, "It seems that I've found myself at the destination of my liking. This land belongs to the notorious demon tribe? Good. I've been considering joining it, But if you're the only thing standing between me and the pride, maybe not so much."


Xiang looked hard at her, seeing the sneer and promptly ignoring it because he's seen such an expression so many times. "Taking a demon lightly?" He laughed a little, "I wonder how much you'll like it after you've gotten a few more scars on your pretty pelt."


"Oh, I see, quite the comeback Child. would you like to talk about scars?" Yaretzi smiled, sitting down in front of him, and raising an eyebrow, almost mockingly. "What makes YOU so certain that you'll be giving me any scars at all hmm? because it seems to me, that with all of YOUR scars, you seem to be quite the fighter. I bet you LOSE a lot of those fights too" She grinned villainously, threateningly, exposing her fangs and tilting her head slightly.


Standing before her, Xiang backed his ears, his lips pulled from his teeth, he bites the words sharply in reply. "I fight to defend myself and my prides' lands, I am a -demon-, I wear these scars with -pride-. If I win or lose I still yet -live-. Marks do not make any me less of a fighter, you will see the scared lions of these lands with your own eyes, and you will not say that we all lose easily because of them!"


Yaretzi let out a bored yawn, replacing the expression on her face to one of nonchalance. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, as if the male before her didn't know what he was saying at all. "You see, that's the problem with children, always so quick to temper. Such a pity really." She extended her front claws on her right paw, pretending to inspect them. "For one, scars should not be a source of pride, unless they were obtained through some HONORABLE act. And who says that just because one has some scars means that they're easily beaten?"


"I'm not a child!" He barked harshly, letting his anger and fatigue get the best of him. "You did, you assume I lose because of my scars." He was tried and annoyed that this rogue female would act as if she knew so much and then as if he didn't matter at all.


Yaretzi barked out a laugh, which simmered down quickly into a few chuckles. "Not a child?" she asked between the laughs. "That's EXACTLY why you had such an outburst." She put a paw in front of her mouth, continuing to laugh. "And who knows, maybe I was only assuming that you lose because you're rather... SMALL."


The adolescent paws the ground with his claws, a growl building in his throat, "Keep mocking me and we shall see who wins and who loses." He has lowered his head now and stands his ground, he tries to keep his anger in check.


Yaretzi growled low in her throat, she hadn't yet moved into a position of attack or defense. Quite honestly, she was wondering just how much she could poke at and instigate the male before her before he did something stupid. She hadn't come to these lands not knowing anything about their customs. She'd learned as much as she could, which wasn't much. But what she did know was this, pale colored pelts indicated lower ranks in the pride. Meaning, if she were to harm this adolescent, the pride leaders most likely wouldn't care. "Well come on short stuff, less talk, more walk."

(bridge to gap here to be completed, the rp started very causal and we are trying to fill in the begining, the rest after this may change ;; )


Xi had sat up now, to tensed to lay any longer, and to riled to feel his exhaustion. he watched her hesitation and frowned hard at her reply. "You should think on your own stupidity before you open your mouth. I never said that all of my scars were earned without mistakes, but I've learned from my mistakes and my scars remind me to not make them again. I wear all of them proudly. They mark every day of my life."


Yaretzi stopped, taken aback by the males response. "Tell me child, how old are you?"


Xi was stopped by her shift in questioning, his tail twitched, he didn't see what it mattered, she probably wanted to hold her own age above him... "Three seasons."


Yaretzi moved slightly closer to the male, a less hostile attitude as she approached him, almost as if in a submissive manner. Her eyes narrowed as if she didn't necessarily believe him. "You've gotten all these scars, in only three seasons." Her eyes softened then, with a still present slightly disbelieving look in them. "Such maturity for such a young one."


Xi didn't really trust the female's manner, what was she planning? He didnt back down from her, nor did he advance. "Do I -look- any older to you?" his tone was disrespectful, he couldn't help it, he usually tried at least, to be respectful with his elders, "So which is it, that you see when you look on my pale pelt. Stupidity or maturity?" the sarcasm dripped off his words.


"Pfft, Scars and pelt." Yaretzi extended a paw towards the males face, pushing on his head slightly to look into his eyes. "Truly, they tell us nothing of a person. What really matters, is the eyes. And your eyes..." She looked into them for a moment, a brief moment before letting go coldly and backing away slightly. "Are filled with much to much maturity, and hatred for my liking."


Xiang almost shifted away from the extended paw. A paw bore five sharp claws and he didn't want hers near his face in the least, but they were not extended. When she spoke her words were confusing and when she backed away he blinked, shook his head and lay back down, eyes still open and aware of his surrounding, but not focusing on her fully, truly he was still exhausted and he didn't need this females confusing speech interrupting his nap any more. "Then don't look into them any longer, elder-" he used the title with as much respect he could muster, far less that the title deserved, "and you wont have to see it."


Yaretzi lay down near the male, laying her head on both her paws, lay one on top of the other. She didn't fell like leaving this male alone. It was almost a pity now that she'd said all those things about scars before to him. She wanted to take them back, they all seemed so, out of place now she supposed. Her ears flicked forward slightly, as she listened to the male attempt to insult her as a means of removing the attention from himself. She sighed and rolled her eyes, males were all the same no matter what age. "I don't think I'm your elder..." she said thoughtfully, as if more to herself than to him, "I would have to be a part of your pride to obtain that title. I'm just a rogue."


Xi shifted away, did she think it was alright to just stick around? He wanted to sleep. And he would hate pity, everything said had weight and meaning behind it, or else it would have no reason to be voiced. He eyed her again once more at her admission- "Then I have no reason at all to show you any respect then do I? If you stray to far into our lands, you risk gaining many scars of your own, also you risk your very life. Demons dwell within the lions here, rogues are welcome to leave swiftly." he settled his head back down.


Yaretzi opened an uncaring eye and appraised the males words by looking at the expression on his face. "Yes." She said, thinking out her words, wondering how this male really felt about all of his scars. "I'm well aware of that, I've come to join this lands pride." She stretched out, as if what she'd just said had no real importance, she opened both her eyes now, and turned her head in a quizzical manner to him, winking at him in a reassuring manner. "Demons, no big deal, I have that if it's a qualification." She smiled at the male. "if rogues are so welcomed to leave, then why haven't you attempted to kick me out yet?"


Xiang turned his head to look her over, was she serious? His first thought was that her coloring was right -at least- but he just as swiftly dismissed that appraisal, he of anyone shouldn't be judging on color alone, that being the reason that he had such a vicious collection of scars, among other reasons, no lions of the Aikanaro'hini was with out a collection of their own. "So then, which is it that you want, to be run out, or to be led in? If you know there are demons here and wish to join us, do you already know what else lies ahead of you, if you choose to continue the path that leads in?"


Yaretzi remained still, as if she were sleeping lightly. "Led in a suppose." She stood up slowly and stretched languidly, smiling to herself as she felt her back crack in a few different places. She sat down, and looked at him expectantly. "Everyone has their own demons, though I suppose some take them more literally than others. I myself seem two-faced at times, a shaman once claimed me to be possessed." She looked up and away for a minute, her eyes clouding over slightly with a memory from the past.


Xiang pondered this lioness, he was just outside the boundary lines of the pride's lands, he'd come this far out to be away from the pride and it's dealings today, but that didn't mean he was any less a Aikarnaro'hini today, she wanted to be led in... if he could, he would have left that to someone like Hewa, that was his job as Neumar, but any lion could bring another demon in, all demon were welcome, or so he thought, if she truly was demon.

"I'm not sure what you mean by this, 'everyone has their own demon.' That's nonsense, only lions have demons, and then not all lions. Otherwise why would we patrol our borders, if everyone was demon, all lands would be demon lands." Xiang's tone had taken on a slightly sinister tone, he didn't care about shaman or possessions, these unfamiliar terms he passed over, latching instead onto things he could question and name.


Yaretzi rolled her eyes and stretched out her hand to pet the top of his head, withdrawing it quickly. "Of course you wouldn't understand it; you're too young to comprehend it. one day though, you'll understand what it is that I mean. And when you're an adult, and if I still know you, I'll say it again." she twitched her tail a few times and finally stood once more, stretching forward and running her claws through the ground.


Xiang would have swatted roughly at the lioness if she tried to pat his head, he would not be patronized. "Sounds like you're just twisting words around to your own will and don't really mean anything, I'm not a -child- I can understand if it means anything at all, I'm assuming it doesn't. Age has nothing to do with the demon inside you. You come of age when you learn your demon's name, granted, but you still have a demon before you know it."


Yaretzi shook her head and turned her back on Xi and she couldn't help but laugh at him at over her shoulder, twitching her tail back and forth as if mocking him. "Of course you wouldn't understand what I mean, obviously, look at the influences in your life. You'll never comprehend what it is that I say-" She gave another, short, mocking laugh. "Such a pity."