=[IC]= Two o'clock =[IC]=

[Mila Farrell]

It was afternoon; the sun beat casually down on the southern borders of the Ethiopian Highlands and, more importantly, on the new claimed Tianxia territory.

Afu was sunning herself on some rocks, her dark pelt standing out against the lighter browns and grays of the grasses and boulders, but it was hardly her intention to stay hidden ... she was too dark to do so well in the day time, anyway, only the night, so there hardly seemed any point. Her purple eyes casually rolled over the border to the southern lands below every now and again; until they got guards to protect the borders, this would be one of her jobs. For now, her sister's newborn cubs were too fragile for Sheng to go far, and so it was largely up to her and Ahali, as well as the other Lord and Ladies, to patrol. Something hardly fitting of dignity; but she did it nevertheless. It made a good impression, if the Empress was working hard, although she was certain not to make it last.

Lulled by a sense of security, and warmed through by the sun, she closes her eyes briefly, finely curved, aristocratic ears turned upward, quietly digesting birdsong and the splatter of insect noises in the background.

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

The sunlight never really hindered the shadow. Known perhaps as an enigma, had they really seen the darkness against the dark? Oh yes they had seen it but only the blackness of the shadow knew when it wanted to approach someone.

It was simple enough to use even the most miniscule of shadows to become invisable. He had learned a very long, long time ago that if you made yourself as unobtrusive as possible, that if you made it so people didn't look at you, you weren't there. It had dawned on the dark male that he'd entered a land he didn't know and there basking upon a large flat rock was a female, as black as him, perhaps he could have put her in that catagory, but no, she sat out in the open to show off ehr dark pelt against the pale ground.

He appered next to afu, as if by magic, it was no magic, it was simply, illusion, the idea that he could move like a shadow, a ghost and appear, it made him mysterious, frightening perhaps. "Enjoying the sun?" He let a little laugh lull over his lips, a smile breaking widely on that jet black maw, flashing fangs tainted with blood, his eyes observed her one at a time, first the black orb, dark unmoving, then the other, white, with a pupil so small that it roved to look over her whole body.

"I am in a new land yes?" He let a rather girly giggle roll over his lips again his long black tail flickign back and forth, the soft, dirty blond tip flicking up the dust.  

[Mila Farrell]

She had heard him coming; perhaps not from as far a distance as she should have, but enough so that she opened her eyes in narrow slits when he came up next to her, carefully and unhurriedly uncoiling, sitting up straight and looking more like a statue than a living, breathing feline for the briefest of seconds.

Afu surveyed the lion before her; black as black, with odd eyes. The giggle grates on her nerves, but she holds back any impatience she feels; politician, she reminded herself sternly, not tyrant. "I am," she says slowly, in response to the question. "And perhaps; it is not new to everyone, although if you have not been here before, it may certainly be." She curls her own tail-tuft tightly around her forepaws, eying the dust. A slight narrowing of the eyes suggests she is not pleased with it. "And you are ... who?"

 

[Syrius Lionwing]

The smile faded ever so slightly at the stern manner but the dark male did not move, both eyes fixed on the dark female now, his odd eye no longer roaming as his gaze fell quite seriously on the violet eyes before him "I have always been called Tiyatahmey, it is long, but there is no shortening it." This was not a request, this was something he had to see happen, to shorten his proud name, or to pronounce it incorrectly, well, he hated that over anything else.

"I have been here before, but before there was nothing, no lions, only little friends of food." He laughed a little then his smile widening once again. "Is this a pride now? A pride out here must be very unusual." He closed one eye then, the black one the white orb, with it's tiny black pupil fixed and stareing. "Yes, very unusual."