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The sun was warm against his dark red pelt. Warm and comforting. Hinoko had spent the majority of the morning keeping his mind busy with spars. A few patrols shortly after, and the rest of the warm afternoon would find him dozing in a small patch of sun as far from his den as he could get without losing sight of it.

His recent confrontation with a thrall had left him feeling a little less on edge than he had felt in recent days. It was nice to feel so relaxed; the warm sun was definitely helping, too. With a low rumble of contentedness, Hinoko allowed himself a brief respite.

Timorien was pretty upset, and rightly so. Asper had approached him very recently about gaining intel on a lion in the pride - one who had, for apparently no reason, attacked their family. Yes, Atheris was a thrall, but it was strange circumstances that had gotten him there, truly. Asper, being the oldest of them all, had asked Timorien (of all people) to gain some insight as to the Reaver's reasons for beating Atheris so badly that a tooth had snapped off.

Truthfully, though, Timorien had his own reasons. He was now in charge of chewing up Ath's food for him, and it was really a despicable place to be in. If any information he could gather would get this dark lion's a** whipped? Well, Tim was going to help expedite matters.

"You. Hey. You."

At first, Hinoko did not think that the whiny, nasally voice nearby was directed at him. When the verbal prodding persisted, Hinoko grunted and squeaked open one eye so that he could peer at his foolish assailant.

A lion he didn't recognize. Hinoko groaned. What now?

"What do you want, fool? Do you not see I am sleeping here?"

Hinoko lazily unsheathed his claws before lifting a paw to wave it about.

"If it's training you seek, I will be available later. I have had a busy morning on the sands, and I am feeling exhausted. Be gone."

That should do it.

The dismissal accomplished nothing. In fact, instead of causing Tim to retreat, it only irritated him more.

"You've made a mistake, I'm not one of the lions you beat on. I'm not a thrall and I'm not even a Reaver. I'm Freeborn. That means that you're not the boss of me. Free. Born. Yeah."

Tim shuffled closer, sniffling. When next he spoke, his voice was a defined whine - shrill and accusatory.

"You beat up my cousin. He's a thrall - but you hurt him real bad and now you're gonna be in trouble. Big trouble."

Gathering intel, Timmy. You are so doing it wrong.

When the other lion spoke, Hino dragged himself to his feet with a loud, annoyed groan. Such an annoying voice. Such an annoying whine. Surely this lion must be a thrall of some sort, or perhaps someone's nancy wife?

Narrowing his eyes at the grey aggressor, Hinoko couldn't believe his ears - once he started paying attention, of course. So this idiot was related to the thrall he'd thumped soundly just days past?

Made perfect sense.

"If you think that being Freeborn will save you from my paws crushing in the side of your skull?" Hinoko hissed, baring his teeth.

"You are wrong."

He took an offensive stance, looming nearer.

No, no, wait, this wasn't how this was supposed to go. This wasn't how he'd pictured this going down. Get information. Learn more about him. Backpedaling harshly, Timmy looked frantic. Not a second after the lion before him spoke his last word, Tim was screeching like a female.

"Don't hurt me! I haven't done anything wrong! I'm just.. just delivering a message! What's your name? My cousin wants to know your name!"

Timorien took a moment to glance around. Exit strategy. He had to make his escape soon or all would be lost. There would be no way for him to get back to Asper with the important information he hadn't gathered.

Hinoko let out a bark of laughter. This was ridiculous. A sissy Freeborn. The lion looked like he was going to piss all over himself. It was thrilling, Hinoko would be lying if he denied it. He hadn't lost it. He still had the ability to cow and terrify. It was a powerful feeling. Hinoko cherished it for a brief moment, savoring the sight of the terror in the idiot lion's eyes.

"I am Hinoko. Tell your cousin. I fear no lion." He puffed up proudly. Yes, he feared no lion - but he was scared shitless of his wife.

Timorien did not waste time in shooting off one other question. Asper might want to know where he lived. Right. Keep your mind on the mission at hand. Don't cry. Not yet.

"Where do you live! My final question!" He wibbled nervously, watching Hinoko. He was prepared to run at a moment's notice. If Hinoko came at him, Timmy was not above running straight towards Asper's den. Asper was big and strong, and older, and he had sons - and he had also been on a Viking with Ru - and that meant something, right?

"Tell me! Now!"

Oh gods, he was going to piss himself. He really was.

Hinoko lifted a wide paw and pointed in the direction of his den. Melinoe loomed near the mouth of it - this caused Hinoko to wither just slightly. He quickly dropped his paw and sent the grey lion a disgusted look. Why couldn't he just lay here and rest? That's truly all he wanted to do - and now he couldn't, because he knew Melinoe was watching him with that stupid face of hers.

"Over there."

He sounded more than slightly defeated, and quickly flopped back to his side, a cloud of dust rising around him before settling on his mane.

Tim took a moment to glance in the direction that Hinoko had pointed in, catching sight of the large, lumbering female therein. He immediately backed up five paces. She was big - she was pretty, yes, but she was big. Mean-looking.

Tim despised her on sight.

"You're going to pay for what you did," Timmy whined quietly, shuffling his weight from paw to paw. "My cousin is going to come find you and beat you like you've never been beaten before. Just you wait. Nobody messes with our family."

As a final show of defiance, Tim purposefully kicked up a huge plume of dust as he tore away to divulge all of his precious secrets to his cousin.