[FIN] Thinking of Blood (Iloziya & Dwyllodrus)

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Dwyllodrus was looking at the night sky quietly, reflecting on the current state of the pride. His father, the King, was losing ground steadily. The Rebels were now living within the pride itself, in an area that they were successfully holding against all Loyalists. He wasn't nearly stupid enough to barge in there, even though he would desperately love to shred some of them with his own claws.

That betrayer of a Royal Guard, Orion, was right at the top of the list of those Dwyllo would love to kill, for taking down Tyfu. Oh sure, the black and blue male had know that his mother wasn't nearly as invincible as rumors (that she'd probably started) had had it, but it was still galling that a slave had lucked out so badly. Especially considering that Uchanjaa had been the actual target of that assassination attempt, and he'd gotten off scot-free!

Next on the list, or perhaps tied with her father, was Orion's crazy daughter, Nyeusi. Dwyllodrus had to admit that he clearly hadn't given the insane lioness enough credit. Yeah, she'd been against Shangyue from the very beginning, blathering on about the Great Lion to anyone who would listen, but she'd just been crazy. Sometimes it happened. Perfectly harmless, right?

Wrong. Very wrong. Mari had gone looking for trouble with Orion and found Nyeusi instead. There'd been a skirmish, and his sister had retreated, licking her wounds. Then she'd done something incredibly stupid: she'd gone after Nyeusi a second time.

Needless to say, Mari had joined their mother in the afterlife.

Then Chunyue, the idiot, had gone after Nyeusi as well. Maybe she'd shown him some mercy, maybe he'd managed to escape her. Regardless, his brother was still alive, though still recovering from his injuries.

So Dwyllodrus had a bit of an issue with that family. Not all of it, of course, Nkosazana and Halili were as loyal as the King could ask for, but Uchanjaa, Orion, Nyeusi, and others were Trouble. The lion would truly love to have the lot at his "mercy". But again, he wasn't that stupid. Now was a time to wait, to plan, and to see how he could twist things to be to his advantage.  

[NchiMahadhi Pride]

The sting of death was still strong, his Mother and Sister had parted ways with their bodies, spirits sent to the afterlife. The battles had been fought ruthlessly, with no positive outcome for his family. It seemed even his Father, the King, was finding himself in a position that didn't seem possible in the beginning, but here the pride was, tearing apart. Littered with rebels whom had begun living within the pride. Thinking back to his youth, none of this seemed likely to happen.

Iloziya hadn't kept in perfect communications with his family, nor did he avoid them. He was merely paying attention, catching what he could as he could, but he hadn't truly found himself in a heap of trouble, nothing he couldn't handle. This meant his life hadn't truly been on the line for his Father or the pride, yet. Yet having been the key there, everything was time based now.

Time to re-evaluate, determine what could truly be next.

It was thoughts of this that were whirling among his head when he spotted his brother. "Dwyllodrus." He greeted him shortly.  

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"Iloziya," the blue-marked lion offered, looking over to his brother. He was tempted to remark on the fact that his oldest brother was the only one in the litter who was entirely whole and unwounded. But, frankly, Dwyllodrus couldn't blame the other male for trying to avoid personal injury. He'd do the same thing.

"Haven't seen you around lately, Brother," he went on. You couldn't blame him for being cautious, right? After all, Chunyue had stumbled onto the Hunters' Strike. It had even seemed as if their brother had been persuaded by the Rebels. Luckily, they'd soon been sent to deal with Umepatwa and Dwyllodrus had arranged for the idiot to strike the final blow, a nice way of cementing Chunyue's loyalty to their mother. Who had even congratulated the pair!

But Iloziya had been quiet of late. It would be good to know for certain what side he was on.  

[Ctrl F Greenie]

Iloziya gave a brief nod when his name was spoken, in a sort of greeting itself. There had been a lot on his mind, he knew that others would perceive his absence as weakness, but it hadn't been his intention. At this point in time it could better be chalked up to wrong place, wrong time on some occasion.

"Been weaving myself among the pride lately. The whisperings have told me that the rebels have come to live among the pride?" He'd done his best to keep up with the rumblings and if anyone had the precise idea of what was happening that would be his own blood relatives. Though frankly he was glad to have come across Dwyll, he'd heard some things about Chunyue that he wasn't all to impressed about. Testing the waters of loyalty. It just didn't seem like something they'd have to face, but again, here it was.

"Have we any direction at this point?"

The quiet phase of his time was done. He planned to really step into the role as eldest sibling, though he hadn't placed much thought into what precisely that was.  

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"Oh?" he replied archly to Iloziya's comments (excuses?) for where he'd been (or not been). "It's hard to avoid knowing that," Dwyllodrus pointed out. Really, he'd always considered his oldest brother to be smarter than Chunyue, but maybe he'd been wrong.

"The King's getting desperate. Mother's death put him in a bad position. He's been trying to crack down the Rebels, but things aren't going his way." It had been pretty pathetic, actually. Even the Queen had started looking at Shangyue with worry.

Not that he had any reason to be noticing the Queen.  

[Ctrl F Greenie]

He scoffed at the off handed comment laced with an attitude that Iloziya couldn't argue with. His choices hadn't been the most intelligent, but still he was alive and well enough to stick up for his Father. Even if it was deemed a little late to the game.

Better late than never. Though never may start to seem like a tempting option, should things continue to go down hill for their King.

"Desperation." The word was muttered in off way. Slight disgust was apparent on his face, but only for a moment. "What do we have in ways of going after the rebels and their camp?" He had been out of the loop, yes, another moment of weakness that would eventually lead to someone questioning him, but alas he had to ask it. Should he have any desire to defend his Father this was what he had to.  

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Dwyllodrus sighed. It was good to see Iloziya's mind finally working on the problem at hand, but his brother was still quite clearly behind the times. The younger brother shook his head.

"We don't have the numbers to storm the camp; not only are the Rebels holding approximately a third of the pride's territory, they have some of the most notable fighters in the pride. Not just Meshach, but Uchanjaa as well," A frontal assault was out of the question.

"But, it's not always about a big battle, that's what Mom said - remember?" Dwyllodrus offered with a nasty gleam in his eyes. Tyfu had been quite clear on the point that if you could demoralize your enemy before the fight, you'd win.  

[Ctrl F Greenie]

It seemed his forward question and thinking had rewarded him with information, rather than a demeaning glance and regard. This was what he had been looking for, something productive. His mind was swirling with thoughts as Dwyll spoke. The rebels had really gotten ahold of some good lions, their forces would be better prepared and so his younger brother was right, finding a way to attack directly wouldn't be good for them.

"It would seem we -- ..."

The irony in what had just happened was glorious. Moments before the words were out of his brothers mouth he could just hear their Mother explaining tactics to them. The particular strategy of not engaging the bigger battles, instead keep your wits about you and doing something entirely sneaky. A grin that matched Dwylls spread across Iloziyas maw.

"Ah, seems great minds think alike. Mother was wise." He caught himself reminiscing and brought himself back to the present time. "You almost sound as though you have a plan, or know of one Brother. Do share the information if you have it? Or shall we plan, ourselves."  

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The younger lion gave a harsh bark of laughter. Yes, he shouldn't have underestimated Iloziya. Really, it had only been Chunyue who'd been an idiot in the litter. The one whose loyalty wasn't completely assured, the one who was, frankly, not the smartest.

"Not quite yet, but I've been in the loop, keeping track of things," he explained. "Frankly, our dear father is likely to be out of a throne and a life at this rate," Dwyllodrus concluded. He'd been losing ground, losing supporters, losing his grip on the pride.

Not that he was going to advise Iloziya to do what he was already doing and make arrangements to not be tied to Shangyue when he was slain. That was his brother's lookout.  

[Ctrl F Greenie]

Laughter was a welcome sound. His grin broadened briefly before expiring at the exposure of truth. Sure he knew that his Father was behind in this 'war' that he himself had waged.

"You couldn't be more right. It's the unfortunate reality." His tone had become cold with the thoughts that in the next few months they could likely see the end. He knew that his brother had to have some kind of plan, a back up, should things go south. It would be very unlike him not to.

In fact, Iloziya had half a mind to bring it, his idea that Dwyll had plans. Was there a way out? Not that he could ever wash his name of bloodline. That'd be near impossible, but not impossible entirely.

"It's unfortunate that we don't have a way to predict the future, but I suppose it wouldn't take a genius to see how things will go." A grumble could be heard as he mumbled under his breath.  

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"Not a genius, no, but some modicum of intelligence," Dwyllodrus replied. There were a lot of stupid lions in the pride, and who had allowed it, he had no idea. But then again, he wasn't stupid enough to want to be in charge. Of course, he and his siblings hadn't been born into an appropriate class, though he and Iloziya could always marry into the right one.

Hah, that'd be funny. If Iloziya found a high class lioness who wasn't too closely related, he could marry her and put in a good argument to make himself King. After all, the black and purple male was Shangyue's eldest child.

"Not that this hasn't been fun, brother mine, but I think there's plotting and scheming calling my name," Dwyllodrus said, shaking his mane out and preparing to go.  

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"Truer words."

Iloziya spoke slowly, and in entire agreement with his brother. What had the pride come to? Surely he would never know. Nor would he waste his time trying to understand it.

At that point he was considering his options. There were quite a few roads he could attempt to travel along. That wasn't an issue, the issue would be the lions he came across along the way. There would have to be a lot of convincing if he chose the rocky path that had crossed his mind. All in due time he'd figure it out, that time wasn't at this exact moment.

Iloziya stood as his brother prepared to depart and gave a small stretch. "I will see you soon brother."  

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The younger lion nodded to his older brother, a gleam in his eye. Whatever came of this rebellion, he was now quite certain that the two of them would come through it intact. Of course, he had some arrangements to make now to ensure it, but they should be fine.

It was the rest of the pride that didn't even know what to be careful of.