[VIKING -SRP] Unwitting rivals (Lumiya x Ragnvard x Rayn)

[Tanakako]

Rolling his eyes he trid to tune his sister's furious voice out. She had been ranting about a reaver that had snubber her, refusing to spend the night on accoutn that she had tricked his brother out of his kill a week ago. Rayn maintained that it had been the brother's fault that he fell for her comments about likely mushroom dreams, and she was harly responcible for other folks lacking brain power. But the reaver had flat out refused and Rayn couldn't seem to accept the loss and move on. Granted she had been eyeing up the reaver for days now, but even she was bound to fail every now and again.





Snarling under her breath she shot her brother a hard look, realising that he had quit making sympathetic noises a while ago. "Are you even listening?!" She snapped, lunging sideways with her open maw and biting him hard on the shoulder. From the irritated expression he shot her in return she knew she was testing his patience, but she didn't care. He was supposed to reasure her and offer to go tear out the horrid reaver's trhoat who had dared refuse her. Her! Who all males had to fall over their paws to impress!

"Oh Forget it." She hissed, facing forwards again and storming past him. "Who are we killing today?" Growling angrily she scanned the horizon. A good fight was what she needed. And just about any victim would do.
 

[Tanakako]

Prowling across the savanah, the dark-coated Darth female scowled under her thick hood. It had been some time since she had seen her old Master. The Lord's Hand was often away from their pride on missions but until recently Lumiya had always accompanied him. This time he had gone off alone, and while he had at least left her a note, scrated into the earth by her den, he had not told her when he would be back. Not that she was worried for him, or missed his company. The leopard had never been what one would call 'pleasent', as he was short tempered and quick to use his claws if anyone displeased him. But he was one of the most skilled assassins in the pride and Lumiya had been carefully cultivating his trust since she was an adolescent. To loose her most valuable asset would be a huge blow, and not one she was willing to accept easily. That was why she was stuck out here in the blistering heat, her thick grey hood pulled low down over her face, struggling to follow the week old trail of a Sith who was more ghost than flesh and blood.
 

[Tanakako]

Rolling his eyes as his younger sibling stalked past, her fur all stood up on end and her hotheaded temper bubbling away. But he was well used to Rayn's tanrums and knew that all he had to do was weather the storm until she got distracted and forgot all about the issue. Huffing he followed her gaze to the surrounding landscape, scanning the dry grassy land before them. Suddenly he slowed, realising just where they had arrived at. This was the land near the Nguvu Tamaa.. the Sith. The very pride he had used all those seasons ago to slaughter the old Captain Arnljótr, and more recently where he had spotted the crazy red leopard and his young trainee. Frowning he squinted as he caught something moving in the distance. A dark shape.... a lion most likely... moving confidently through the heat-haze. Sith? Maybe....

Drawing to a halt he narrowed his eyes, struggling to make out more details about the possible sith in the distance.



Still furious, tail lashing the sand behind her as they walked, Rayn didn't ralise her brother had stopped until she had walked several more paces. Pulling up she spun round, anger pulling her expression tight. "What now?" She demanded, snarling at him in her impatience when he didn't immediatly answer. Realising he was staring past her and into the distance she twisted round and stared hard, trying to spot what had caught his complete attention.

Nothing... not a single blip.. she didn't.. Wait! What was.... a lion? Frowning hard she strained her neck forwards. Why was one lone rogue freaking her brother out so badly? "Who is it?!" She demanded, swinging her head back to glare at him darkly. "Thor help me but if you do not say something soon I will go ask them!"
 

[Tanakako]

Mind stewing over where Darth Ruyken could possibly be, and what the odds were that her best assassin contact might possibly be dead. The young lioness wasn't copletely focused on her surroundings, but even so she sensed the two strangers some distance away on a small hillock. Without breaking her stride or turning he rhead she squinted out the corner of her eye at them, her natural wariness surging forwards. No way had they not spotted her, outlined as she was against the horizon and disadvantaged out on the lower plain. Who were they? very few ventured this far out, infact she had only met a few that ahd not been part of her own pride anywhere near this area. One of those had been a near-miss with a Stormborn lion, or so Ruyken ahd said. And Lumiya was not in the habit of questioning her old Master. She had never known him to be wrong. About anything.

Scowling she kept an eye on the pair as they stood there, neither approching nor moving away. They appeared to be fighting, or at least talking in a tense manner... Not that she carred. She would only bother with them if they came down and tried to pick a fight. Lifting her lip in distaste she snorted, knowing she had enough poison in the bag hidden within the folds of her hood to take out a small army of lions if the need arose. Two strangers weren't going to worry her none.

Keeping an eye on them she continued along her path, eyes flicking between the ground ahead and the two lions on the hill. Regardless of her audience she needed to find Ruyken.
 

[Tanakako]

Her threat registered in his ears belatedly and he snapped his stare from the horizon figure to his sister's dark expression. "Woman! You will not!" Snarling in a fairly classic display of his ledgendary temper he glared at her hard. Her defiance in the face of his anger only serving to enrage him further. Struggling against the desire to force her submission he took a deep, calming breath, narrow-eyed glare still pinning his sibling with his displeasure. Really, he had no idea why he put up with her sometimes...

"That, is likely one of the Sith. They are viscious and dishonerable and are far more trouble than they are worth. And they fight dirty." Snorting his distain for the pride of assassins and murderers, he turned away, not about to risk a confrontation for no good reason. While he would usually enjoy a good fight and the chance to take a thrall, the sith were simply not worth it. And if you did manage to catch one it was unlikely you would last the night, for they all used posions on their claws and their fur was said to be bathed in toxin.



Frowning she forced herself to hold her tongue, knowing full well she could onyl push her brother so far before he snapped, and even their family ties wouldn't save her then. So despite the fury churning in her stomach she watched him darkly, listening to his words.

"Sith?" Still scowling fiercly she turned back and stared hard at the dark shape moving across the dead grassland. She ahd always wanted to meet these 'sith' her brother sometimes mentioned. They sounded like forbidible foes and were supposed to be as sly and cleaver as a fennic fox. She longed to test herself against one of them but had no idea how to do it to her own advantage. Glowering as her brother turned away she refused to follow, instead she stood planted to the spot, staring out at the lone dark lion.

"You would run from one?" She hissed, part irrate and part frustrated.
 

[Tanakako]

Shortly one of the strangers turned away from the top of the hill and vanished from view, but the smaller one remained. Clearly the other was still close by as the one Lumiya could see kept turning back, as if shouting at them.

Well... let them shout and argue, it was nothing to her. They were too far from the pride to worry about them stumbling over it, and even if they did... two lions, no matter who they were, would never survive an encounter with the whole of the Nguvu Tamaa. Sniffing her derision at the spectacle taking place in the distance she suddenly stopped, dropping her head to eye the faintest marking in the sand. Ruyken!. It had to be... Good. At least she was on the right track for now... though the leopard she was trying to follow could move through the deepest sand without leaving a trace, even the Lord's Hand couldn't hide completely, not from his own student. These minuscule traces had led her this far... she would simply keep following them until she found him.
 

[Tanakako]

With his back turned to the stranger and his stubborn sister he growled low in his throat. "Careful what you say, sister mine..... I will not tolerate slander." Flicking his gaze back at the rigid form of his sister he was half tempted to let her run off and into the claws of the sith creature. But she was useful to him and he was loathed to loose such a valuable asset. Instead he snorted, grinding down on the fury that twitched under his skin.

"If we fought it, we would have to kill it. They do not make good thralls and the pelt would be worthless, for they do not go down easy. It is not cowardess to know when it is stupid to risk injury for no reward. Now come." The note of command growled through his voice leaving no room for argument.



Having turned back to the shape in the distance she hissed at her sibling, pale eyes narrowed with anger. She knew better than to continue to question her brother, he could easily gut her and leave her for dead if he truly wished, and she had no desire to die out here this day. No matter what any stormborn claimed, none of them tried to die. They lived, and fought, and claimed whatever they wanted. So she would heed her brother's warning and leave the stranger alone. But she did not have to be happy about it.

Finally, reluctantly, she turned away from the sith, following her brother with stiff, angry strides. But at least all thoughts of the reaver that had insulted her had vanished, instead she focused solely on the sith and what her brother had said.
 

[Tanakako]

Gaze focused intently on the ground as she walked, she still kept her senses trained on the hilltop. The one smaller lion was still there, though they seemed to be deep in an angry conversation with whom ever else was up there. By now she assumed any danger had passed... thye had not come closer, and indeed seemed to be on the verge of leaving. That suited Lumiya just find. Normally she would love the chance to take out a stranger, even better that these two had blindly stumbled into her territory.. but today she was too busy. And besides, a fight would ruin what tiny traces of Ruyken's passing remained.
 

[Tanakako]

It was going to be a long trip back to the pride, he thought sourly. And he had considered the walk out here to be tiresome... 'Thunder and lightening... why do I bother?' Mentally wincing as his sister's voice, still spiky and sharp with her affront, continued to assault his ears. Yes she was a very valuable asset to his reavers and also his baby sister, but sometimes he really wished he could just leave her in a hole somewhere and be done with it...

Twisting round he growled savagely and snapped at her, missing on purpose but ithe threat was very real.



The sudden outlash didn't surprise her but she jumped away with a short little yowl. Hissing at him with annoyance she nevertheless knew better than to push him any further. Snapping her jaw shut hard enough that her teeth made a vicious clicking sound, she glared balefully up at her older brother. Snorting in derision she held her tongue, glaring viciously forwards as her temper boiled. The rest of the journey was completed in silence, and the instant they passed th pride's boarders, she left her brother, stalking off towards the dens where she intended to pick a handsome reaver for some distraction. She needed the attentions of a bewitched male to sooth her ruffled feathers.

Gods curse brothers! They were unbearable!
 

[Tanakako]

Finally the pair on the hill left. She could feel their movements as they went, anger and fury swirling like a thick miasma in their wake. Whoever they ahd been they weren't happy, but that wasn't anything she was going to tink about. She was finally convinced she had the right track and knew which direction Ruyken had taken. Picking up her pace to a jog she bowed her head, her deep hood shielding her face from the glare of the burning sun, and set off. She would simply have to track her Master until she located him, and she knew that was going to take some weeks, knowing him.

Already forgetting the pair on the hill she made her way across the dust-strewn wasteland, until her slim dark figure anished into the wavering heat on the horizon.