It was a patrol day, but with an added quirk.
He glanced back, an ear flicking almost impatiently at the speed of the thing that was supposed to keeping up with him. Wei Gang was still unused to the idea of cubs being such.. wimps, and hardly slowed down his usual pace, not even for his daughter. Her being crown princess or not.
"Speed up the pace, Ting. Unless you want me to carry you. " He snorted, stopping so she could catch up. He knew the heiress of Tianxia didn't like being handled around, so carrying her was a successful threat, and the cub sped up, though her ears laid back towards her skull. "Much better. "
He paused. Maybe time for some trivia. "Now, what are the names of the lords and ladies? Start with the North. "
She grumbled, glancing suspiciously at her father as she got closer, in case he still tried to pick her up anyway. Sure, he was emperor, he had stuff to do, and she was heiress, she should be tougher, but did her really need to go so fast?!
she blinked at the question, but was sharp. "The lord of the North is Sheng Kou, or Moto'Vianzio. His mate's name is Fu'ren, though her birth name is Mwana. " She said, making a small trot to keep up.
"Good, " He said, twitching his ear. "And the west? " He flicked his tail tip calmly.
"Lord Zhong Xiongwei, or Zahi'jyotsna. " She paused to think a bit. Did he have a lady..? Yes. "And lady Zhong Ren, or Mio. " She flicked an ear. "And to speed things up, the lady of the south's name is Ming, or Zagaa'Tamanio. She has no mate. " There was one missing, but Ahali seemed to have gotten distracted by something else, and let it slide.
"What're you looking at?" She frowned, watching as her father moved towards the edge of a cliff, which was pretty common in these lands. In fact, she was completely used to just trotting along when there was a huge drop only a few meters away from her.
"I see a.. wild dog. " He twitched his ears. How had it gotten this far into the lands? .. Well, wild dogs were fairly small and pathetic, as such, not much of a threat. And this one was a mere juvenile. Nonetheless, it was invading, and he should deal with it.
It was not so close, a pathetic little thing, poking at what seemed to be a dead mouse with a paw. In mere moments, he was descending, climbing down on narrow ridges rather well; he'd long grown accustomed to navigating these lands.
The heiress blinked, and perked her ears. It didn't take long to see it; a white, smallish canine(compared to her dad) with black splotches all over its pelt. What was a dog doing all the way over here? She huffed, and took off after her father, having to make larger leaps to reah safe spots, but soon she was roughly on the same level as the canine, and was relieved to just tag along at her father's side once more.
Typically, he hadn't meant any trouble. Really, he was just a hungry pup that had wandered far from home. Very far from home. And had somehow ended up here. Now he was poking a muse, and six seconds later, and enormous shadow had descended over him, causing the dog to whine in surprise, throwing himself to the side, ending up with his back pressed against a wall.
"Ah! Don't eat me! " He cried, ears against his skull. Ooh, he was in for a bad, bad day.
The emperor seemed satisfied with the reaction, his tail flicking in amusement as he paused to et Ting Lan catch up and wait by his right paw, peering at the dog. "Why shouldn't I? You're trespassing. " He said, twitching his tail as the dog trembled.
"We don't like trespassers, you know. "
Ting Lan blinked, twitching her ears in amusement. She couldn't help but feel somewhat great; standing here next to her father who was, quite successfully, scaring the daylight out of this poor wild dog.
"D'you know what usually happens to trespassers? " She said, deciding to take a role in this. The more she impressed her father the better, after all.
Kow shuddered, ears getting even smaller against his skull, entire body shivering slightly. Ooh, oh Kow, what had you gotten yourself into this time? He glanced from the large male to the cub--seemingly his cub?-- and whined slightly. "I didn't know this was trespassin', s-sir, I-I thought no one lived here! "
He glanced at the cub, questioning slightly. What did they do? ... he shuddered. "What do you do with.. trespassers? "
He blinked, eyes twinkling with amusement at how his daughter was acting. Tough kid, that was pretty good. So long as she knew when to be polite and.. princess-y.
"Oh? I thought dogs were supposed to have nice, sensitive noses. " He quirked a brow. "Answer his question, Ari. " He said, using her birth name.
"Well, it really depends. " She said, taking a step a bit closer. She was a cub, yes, but this was a wild dog; even being older, he wasn't that much bigger than she was. And it was definitely scrawnier.
"Do you preffer.. skinning, mangling, breaking.. " She paused, quirking her brows and looking at him with a small smirk. "I could go on. "
Kow gulped, tail drooping. "I don't like any of those.. " He mumbled, stepping so tha he was even more squeezed against the stone than he already was, as if he could step into it for safety.
"Can't I just.. leave? Or.. or.. " He glanced around, as if planning for an exit.
Ahali was amused at his daughter, and would probably laugh a bit if he weren't supposed to be scaring this dog. he knew he shouldn't be like this to everyone, of course, but he could have his occasional fun. This dog was just a sad victim. And with his daughter added in, it was funny.
"I don't know. What do you think? " He looked down at his daughter once more.
"Well, " She raised a paw, tapping her chin as if in deep thought. "You could always.. " She paced around him a bit, then leapt at him, landing with her face inches away from hers.
"Run! " .. and the pup was off. She smiled, sitting tall for a moment. She'd so scared him off! .. okay, her dad had, mostly. But still.
Ahali chuckled as he watched the dog dash off, tail tucked between its legs. that one was not coming back. He stretched out a paw, patting his cub's head.
"You do know you're not supposed to do that to everyone, right? "
She smiled, though she didn't enjoy being patted like any scrawny little cub, she could hardly show her displeasure to her father. "I know how to pick my battles. " She said cleverly.
But she was sick of this patrol business, now that the dog was gone, and nothing even remotely interesting seemed about to present itself. "I'm going to head home now. Its getting late. " She said this decidedly. It wasn't totally bogus; he couldn't expect her to work like an adult, even being the way he was.
"Bye. " The cub said, politely brushing against her fathers front paws before sliding off past him, making her way back towards their cave. He could keep on patrolling; and she could get off the hook.
Ahali smirked, considering, for a moment, ruffling her fur a bit more, until his daughter announced she'd go home. Now, he wasn't totally pleased at hew 'announcing' it, like he had to let her, but he didn't feel the need to thwack her.
"Alright, " He said, watching her walk by before turning and continuing the patrol. In truth, Ahali was also somewhat glad to be off the hook. Cub company was hardly his favorite, even if it was his daughter and heiress.
