Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zhao Yun snorted and took a long look at those collecting down below. Another noble had entered, elegance in every easy movement, confidence swelling her chest, and dignity sharpening her keen eyes. She glanced to a smaller, younger male. One of her advisers or fellow nobles perhaps. He was attempting a conversation with his sister... attempting. She was giving all the subtle signs of discomfort. It seemed, at least from where he sat, the male was painfully aware of this. The poor girl.

Glancing over to his brother he gave a shrug. "What better place to catch one of the lords than at a wedding? Every lord and lady, duke and dutchess that has any respect for the unity of this pride will be here to give their blessing. It's only polite."

He made a face. "Perhaps I should join you. I don't mind hunting for the pride but here I feel as though we'll never have claim to something...more honorable than what we were born into."

----

Lu Xun had been selected as the head adviser for a reason. He was no slouch at reading the body language of others, noting subtle hints in posture, the movement of their eyes, or the tone of voice. He was making the poor lioness uncomfortable. She was far too polite to directly request that he left her to herself.

"Well regardless, it's a decent day for it. No rain, no pressing cold. Everyone seems in high spirits." He glanced sideways, catching the eye of his lady as she made her arrival.

Looking back to Shuzhen he gave a slight tip of his head. "If you'll excuse me."

He turned with a graceful sweep of his paws and crossed the gathering to where Mila, lady of the east, was making her entrance. He'd not given her any grand fanfare but he had taken the time to arrive beforehand and get a glance over the situation. "Seems a good crowd." He announced with a smile. "Much of the seats close to the front have been occupied. Would you be opposed to sitting further back?"

Kweupe wasn't more on the antisocial side because he disliked others, but because he was a shy and awkward lion, in general. The large, blue fellow fluffed out his thick, dark mane and fidgeted his paws as he waited for the ceremony to begin, his vibrant eyes following the many different lions from the different houses, interested in making contact, though he had little to speak about.

The Hunter from the West House saw none of his siblings thus far, nor any faces he recognized in particular. He stood and stretched, finding sitting in one spot and fiddling his claws was about as interesting as his own life would be, should he let any interactions pass him by. He mingled slowly, unsure of just who to approach, his mind leaving behind the normal day to day worries of duties and quota.

It was during his short walk that a playful, innocent voice caught his ear.

“’Course I am! I wouldn’t get in trouble here!” Feeling somewhat more at ease, the young male offered a bemused look, before nodding politely to Zhenzhen and the larger male she spoke to.

"It's so pretty and well set, here, hard to think anyone would be able to get away with some shenanigans." He chuckled lightly.

Sida's eyebrows seemed to shoot up at the sudden appearance of the white male who more or less claimed they were in his way. Immediately she stepped back, away from her consort to give him some room. "My apologies," she told him with a small bow of her head.

Jiù​xīng, however was relieved that Bai Bo had intruded if only because it gave him an excuse to shift the conversation away from marriage ceremonies. He had come to terms that Sida was going to be his wife but still, the idea of commitment was a terrifying one. "Sorry," he mumbled attempting to move out of the way only to get much more into the way of the older male.

Flustered he tried to step back and stumbled. He fell into a jumbled heap, head spinning and dazed. Concern spread across Sida's features as she stepped down a few of the steps. "Oh no!'

Oh wow! Three lions, all at once! Talking to her! For a few seconds Zhenzhen didn’t quite appear certain of who she should devote her attention to, and glanced between the lions. Lions were so big! First, the brown cub decided she would take care of her manners, and looked to the female. “Nice to meet you, miss Xúnqiú! I’m Zhenzhen!” She offered her best toothy smile, then looked at the gray-and-blue male. “I think it will be. Why not?” She shrugged at that, because it seemed strange that something would ruin the wedding!

Besides, wasn’t it mostly going to be just a talk? What could go wrong?

As for the blue male, she nearly purred. “Well, shenanananigans should be easy. But it would be impolite!” She knew how to stir up trouble when she wanted to, though perhaps that wasn’t something to boast about. “What’s your name?” She asked, because now he was in the conversation. Then she realized she hadn’t asked the first lion his name, and looked at him expectantly.

-

Ahali remained silent as Xun spoke, paying attention to his words and Sheng’s reactions. He found he quite liked Sheng’s son, seemed like a smart boy. Spoke better, more agreeable than his father. Afu would probably like him, as well, though she had fewer issues with the (former) Lord of the North. He couldn’t see why his daughter would have objections to this lion either, and that was nice.

But he wasn’t the sort of lion to sing praises. “Quite.” He said, in form of agreement. He wouldn’t object to sending Sheng out, spreading Tianxia’s name. “The central House fares well. It is low-maintenance.” True enough, the central house consisted mostly of Ahali’s family, and few others. There were a couple messengers and their cubs residing there for now, but it wasn’t going to be their permanent residence.

-

Weisheng nodded, and smiled. He liked the idea of going North with his brother, and they could train together. It should be rather pleasant, things always felt best with family.

“If you joined me it would be cool.” Sadly, what the male had inherited from his family was mostly just size, and some natural fighting ability. Unlike his grandfather, he wasn’t too smart, or eloquent. Perhaps he just needed more education, and it might still have come too late for him.

-

Though the black and white male had every intention to be polite, he didn’t really notice Bai Bo leaving them, focused more on the female who shared his name. He didn’t often get to talk to girls, so this was a nice change from only hanging out with Yujin, and occasionally Weisheng. “It is! They were well timed, I suppose.” He probably should have gone for an aardvark, instead of a bird. Aardvarks were ugly little things, but they had more meat, less feathers. And an offer to share wouldn’t seem as silly. “Would you like me to get you something? I’d offer my bird, but… well, it wasn’t exactly a big bird.” He smiled sheepishly.

“That’s very interesting!” Ping tried to make sure he didn’t use any words like ‘cool’ or ‘awesome’, because this was too classy a place for that. “I’m not much of a hunter, either. I rather… wished to be a royal guard myself, someday. “ He admitted, because it was a bit different than the other-Ping’s pursuits. “But I often regret not having more of an interest in learning when I was younger.” He tried to make up for it. And it was sincere! Moments like these, he wished he were smarter.

“I’m afraid I don’t see any.” He mused, glancing about for his brother or any of his sisters. Everyone was invited, but not all could come, as there was still work to be done. “My mother wished to, but I’m afraid she is too old,” he paused there, realizing that was an indelicate way to put it. “Er, frail, to make the journey.”

Xún​qiú nodded to the newcomer (he was quite a bright shade of blue!), smiling before she looked back to the little one. "A pleasure, Zhenzhen." An adorable name for an adorable cub! (Oh, what she would give to find a mate and have cubs herself one day!) She looked to the blue and gray male as well, nodding her acknowledgment. "You as well, Yéyé." Odd name, but...well, some tended to pick up names that reflected their age or position. He didn't LOOK old...but some just didn't show their age, she knew well enough.

"Haha, as he says, little one, my name is Kweupe! Or Ceng Xaio, if you want to be more proper. But where's the fun in that, eh?" He gave the young cub a wink of his pale, violet eye. It was hard to hide the merriment in his voice and his tone inflected a bit, possibly even a bit too loudly for the occasion, as he turned to acknowledge his brother's jovial greeting. He was extremely happy to see his brother's familiar, black and white face and rumbled happily, a smile plastered on his bright blue maw.

Noting the fact that he may have spoken too loudly, though unintentionally, he lowered the tone in his voice. He felt as though he ought to introduce the pair of lions he had been speaking with, but it occurred to him that he knew neither of their names.

"I've been exceedingly well, brother! What of yourself? It's been ages too long since we've spent time together."

"That's so lovely of you to offer." Ping replied, delighted to be treated like a lady by the stranger. It was extremely flattering and she couldn't keep the smile from her face. "If it wouldn't be too much to ask for, it would be nice. No true preference, if I do say so myself." And she desperately hoped her stomach wouldn't start growling. Perhaps it hadn't been such a good idea to forgo food until the event. A growling stomach wasn't very ladylike now, was it.

Her ears perked up at his admission of his desired rank. "Royal Guard? How wonderful! It's nice to meet someone with ambition. My parents taught me that trying for a good career path is the sign of good birthing." Or something like that, anyway. She giggled a little at his follow up. "Well you're never too old to learn. My father spends almost all of his time learning. My mother, too. I'm hoping to follow in their footsteps someday."

"Well, in that case, give my regards to your mother when you return. I'm sure she'll be looking forward to hearing your account of the day's events." Her nose twitched in thought. "Perhaps you can even arrange to have some food taken back for her? By the looks of things there should be something left." After all, quite a few looked to be indulging in conversation alone, though perhaps they were just working up an appetite. "

--

Bai Bo tried not to grimace. "That's...quite alright." He said stiffly. "It does take time to get used to an unfamiliar land." But then it looked like the lion was in some sort of pain and Bai Bo felt a jolt of concern at that fact. This was turning out to be a real disaster.

"Perhaps its best you take a seat." He continued as a follow up to Sida's idea of fetching a relative. Then, giving her a sharp nod, he seated himself, too; not caring that he might now be in the way of anyone trying to get by.

He gave a wry smile as the female darted off, leaving the poor male behind to wallow in his embarrassment. "There's no point trying to tell a woman what to do, boy. They'll do what they want. When they want. It's the natural way of things."

Ria was a bit too much like her father, and so she wasn't that amused when Zise approached her. Still, being in the public like this was vastly different than being home in the West, and so she offered a graceful nod of her head to her dark-coated sibling, a slight smile crossing her face. "Dear sister, it is good to see you here. I assume that Mother and Father are coming soon, if you are here." Being heiress had its benefits. Wailai merely nodded at his future sister-in-law, but as he wasn't officially married to Zhao yet.

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Ryger hadn't realized that someone had sat next to him until he heard the sound of claws tapping against the rock and stone of the area. His head instantly snapped around, as he was quite jumpy. Miandui had ordered him to go with his own wife and enjoy himself, but the guard to the future Emperor was not at all pleased with this fact. It made it hard for him to enjoy himself. Ryger nodded to the male next to him as a way of saying hello, though he looked rather bored. "You should eat something," the blue and white male said.
(I need to figure out his chinese name rofl)

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Yèlǐ was startled to see that it was the Lady of the South who approached her. SHe started for a moment, her face not hiding any of her emotions. "L-lady! H-hello, its' good to see you here..." She hadn't been expecting to chat with the Lady of her House, no matter how small the house was. SHe felt...very overwhelmed but blessed. This was her home now, and the South members were good about helping her to fit in and comfortable.

She turned to see Sida approaching, and with their exchange of words a look of concern crossed her face (which she could get away with, being a much lower rank). She bowed her head to the two lioness', intent to wait here for them to return, or perhaps find herself someone else to talk to...she wasn't certain, as she was still adjusting to the formality that was expected in these lands.