[PRP] Wait, where am I?

[wooga Paes]

Kifalme was wandering around in the west house. Or at least, he thought he was. He actually hadn’t realized that he had passed on to the South house a day ago. This was possible because the lion had decided he would spend a few days near the borders, on his own, and then had somehow forgotten to ever make sure he didn’t cross said borders.

You see, Kifalme hadn’t inherited all of his family’s usual intelligence. He wasn’t dumb, but was more of a brute, and didn’t often think things through. So the orange male walked along, blissfully unaware of how far he had actually wandered.
 

[Nuxaz]

(Cert lies ;P)

Kayonga held her head high as she moved along the borders of the southern house. She made it a routine, a goal to cover the outskirts of her lands before she settled into anything else. It was a hard task but it kept her busy and allowed her to make up for their...lack of guards. Their numbers had dwindled since she had come to her father's lands, many members had seemed to vanish and she hated that it seemed to come at such an...inconvenient time.

Of course the upcoming change of leadership wouldn't be an easy time.

Often the dark brown lioness worried that her aunts and uncles would disagree with her grandmother's decision to name her heir. As such, she was determined to prove her worth. And when she saw a lion she had never seen before she felt her heart race and quickened her pace. "You there!"  

[wooga Paes]

He really hadn't been expecting to be called all of the sudden, because the orange male had been quite sure he was all alone. That had been part of his plan, after all! Lonely, no one to call him a b*****d... or anything like that. Fortunately it didn't happen too often, but still.

So his head snapped in the direction of the call, and his brows slowly furrowed as he focused on the approaching lioness. Strange, he didn't really know her. He flicked his white tip tail, and turned his body so he could properly face her. She was far enough in the pridal lands to probably not be an intruder. So he figured he didn't have to react with hostility, but he still kept his big dumb face looking grumpy and dumb. But that was hardly voluntary!

"What do you want?" Not the most delicate answer, but he could defend himself saying she hadn't exactly been very lady like, either!  

[Nuxaz]

Her eyes narrowed slightly as he responded. He was some stranger on her lands! Of course she was more towards the center of the pride so it was likely that he was a member of another house. She kept her emotions in check, her face emotionless as she addressed him once more. "What brings you into the lands of the south?" She asked carefully, her tail flicking behind her almost as an irritated twitch. Something about this male bothered her, perhaps it was his gruff appearance and the attitude that matched.

"Do you have business here?" She questioned, hardly giving him an opportunity to respond to her initial question.  

[wooga Paes]

"Of course I do. I li..." He paused, suddenly something she said registered. "What do you mean lands of the south? This is the west." He scowled, ears folding back. Despite his words, it was clear he was no longer certain, because Kifalme did accept that sometimes he did stupid things. He was certain he had heard that from someone. Ah, yes. His own aunt, Ari, had once said that. Kifalme, sometimes you do stupid things. He didn't mind, though, because Ari was the empress and he admired her regardless. And despite everything, she had always been nice enough to him.

"I... uh. No business. Just..." He hadn't even had business when he thought he was in the west house, but in the west house he didn't need to have business.  

[Nuxaz]

Kayonga nearly snorted at his retort, but she stopped herself. Clearly he was confused and it would do the lioness no good to come off hostile. "This is not the West," she told him, her features softening slightly. "You've past the border between the houses and have ventured into the South," she explained, her voice softer and more kind.

"You just lost track of your whereabouts?" She asked, tilting her head slightly as if it would allow her to hear him better. "Perhaps you shouldn't be so careless," she offered without realizing her words were likely to come off condescending. Or that she was a being a bit of a hypocrite. She had been far more careless before she had come to Tianxia.

Though she had always been bright, she had made her fair share of mistakes over the course of her life and she was likely to make more. Her restless nature was likely her weakest trait.  

[wooga Paes]

Okay, now all Kifalme had left was to feel stupid. At least he played that part well enough, and his shoulders drooped slightly. Well, damn! "Oh." Was all he could answer to that, and he looked away briefly. That was pretty awkward.

But her comment about his carelessness sparked up irritation, perhaps because he was used to being goaded and taunted, so anything that might resemble such a thing immediately got him on the defensive. An open book, Kifalme's expression clearly demonstrated how he felt about what she said. "I am not careless." He couldn't think of a proper alternative, but he would not accept being called careless! Kifalme cared a lot about a lot of things. Like his mother, and his pride. Especially his pride!

"Who're you, anyways?"  

[Nuxaz]

An eyebrow was arched when his expressions changed, when irritation spread across the male's features. Otherwise, his defensiveness did little to effect the lioness. "Everyone is careless," she retorted calmly. "But it is not always obvious when they are, it just so happens that this is an instance where you obviously were." Kayonga wasn't helping the situation with her explanation, though she was young and learning on how to think about her word choices.

As the heiress, she had much to learn. It was likely that Ming would not be retiring soon.

"My name is Sì​dà," she told him after a moments hesitation. She had to remind herself that they were within the pride and as such she had to go by her other name, not her birth name. "I am the heiress of the South."  

[wooga Paes]

He may have gotten very angry then, because to him she might as well be saying he was obviously dumb, but, fortunately perhaps for the both of them, Kifalme tended to get distracted easily, and her introduction was distracting enough. It didn't totally dissipate his irritation, and he definitely looked grumpy, but the orange lion seemed to have forgotten about her 'insults'.

"I am Weisheng." He was a little surprised by the next bit of her introduction. Heiress of the south, great. She outranked him. But still, in hopes of retaining some dignity to him, and because she had provided extra information, he did the same. "Grandson of Wei Gang and Tzu Hsi, nephew of Ting Lan." His grandparents' names certainly meant something, even if they no longer ruled. And he added his aunt's name, as well, because everyone certainly had to know her. Hopefully this lady would just assume he was a legitimate child.  

[Nuxaz]

Kayonga was proud of her title and the fact that her grandmother had chosen her instead of one of her children, though it probably had to do with the fact that her father had opted out of the position due to his wandering nature. Regardless, the lioness had high hopes for the future and she hoped that one day she would be as strong as the green striped female she took after.

"Nephew of the empress?" She mused, a flicker of a smile on her lips. "Why do you reside in the West, when your family is from the Central House?" Her word choice was careful this time, her tone even more so. She was simply curious this time, there was no malicious to her words.  

[wooga Paes]

"Yes." He confirmed, because he was definitely the nephew of the empress. He even resembled his grandfather quite a bit! Save for the white mane, and the orange pelt, his markings were very similar. Kifalme was certainly a member of the royal family! Except for that one little detail that this lady was getting closer and closer to. Hm, he might have to leave before she actually figured it out. That would be embarrassing.

"Because my mother decided to live in the West house." An ambiguous enough answer, since the empress wasn't his only aunt, and royals could easily move to wherever they wished. And it was kind of true, anyways. His mother had joined as a rogue, but she did still, in some ways, chose the west house!

"Is that all? I should head back."  

[Nuxaz]

Kayonga was rather quiet, taking the opportunity to instead study Weisheng. She found him strange, awfully defensive when there appeared to be little reason to be. It meant that he was hiding something. A part of the green striped lioness wanted to dig deeper and find out, but another part told her it was none of her business. Everyone was entitled to their secrets.

The irony was that it was a secret they both seemed to share. As it was, and little was it actually known, Kayonga was technically a b*****d child as well. Her parents were not mated, her mother didn't even live in Tianxia but it wasn't something she'd ever say.

"Nothing is keeping you here," she told him, ears flicking back and forth. "But..." she paused. She shook her head, "nevermind. If you would like to leave then you are welcome to."  

[wooga Paes]

"Since I am welcome to," Kifalme said, and gave her a little mock-curtesy bow, though he did have a bit of respect for her. Being the future lady and all! Ladies and lady-heirs deserved respect. It was a shame they hadn't started on the best paw, to the orange male made a note to be much more charming and polite next time he saw her.

He was also a little curious as to what she was going to ask, but not curious enough to forgo leaving. "Goodbye, it was... nice to meet you." The last bit was said with a shrug, because it hadn't exactly been nice, but it could have been worse. He turned, then, and headed northwest.