deep rumble left the dragon as they pushed their way through, tracking their ward by scent. Their legs had been giving them trouble as of late, new wounds reopening after the recent scrapping with bandits and using their body to uphold a collapsed tunnel. Exhaustion on their face, the kingpin rumbled as they trailed after the child, barely keeping xyr within eyesight. Taking a corner, they finally caught up, aware of silver blood leaking down their legs, tracing their scales, angry scarring covering their shoulders and throat, scars jagged and rough over their eyes. Orbs of bright sapphire glowed, lightning racing through their veins. They weren't afraid of what would happen o them should they lose their ward, they were a bloody leader, they were afraid of what would happen to their ward should they lose them. "wuyi. Come here.", there was the smallest amount of heat in their voice, gaze fixed on the carnivorous plants the cub had been touching before. Gods help them, they didnt like the look of that, "don't touch strange things without knowing what they are, please, little one.". The jungle was harder to travel in this body, but anything was hard pressed to want to eat them in this body, and scales gave more protection than fur. A low growl escaped them, assessing their surroundings and the individuals there. From the pot and into the frying pan, truly.

Locking their eyes on Stryker, they flicked an ear, "I'm here to discuss our allegiance, and more. I come with an invitation today, and a suggestion of opening a trade route, kingpin to kingpin.", they spoke to him directly, ignoring Stheno for the time being. Thank gods they were nearly at the end of their journey between territories. What hell this was becoming.

Turning their attention to Stheno, they laughed, "I do not fear a sharp bite. We are here for business outside of violence. If you crave a show, I would be happy to play with you later.", they chuffed, hard gaze passing over Ghost and Caesar who they chose to ignore. Crude mouth on that one. "wuyi, if you speak like that yellow cat there, I will personally wash your mouth out with soap.", they spoke to their ward sternly, hoping against hope the child would stay on their shoulders, or better yet, climb up between their antlers. Should they need to rear up, the youth would be well out of danger's immediate range. "If your pet makes a move on me or my ward, I will not hesitate to respond.", they spoke to Stryker once again, "Though they will find that I am not one that they should be keen to fight with.", they warned, gaze flicking back to the raptor hybrid and Stheno, curious yet intrigued. They could feel the lightning sliding along their throat, sparking in their saliva, the call of violence never far from the surface in them. Shaking their mane, they nodded to Stryker, waiting for his reaction after their classy late arrival.

(I totally slipped the boot on this one. Looked through my threads and realized I hadn't posted here akskdnfn. My bad lmao) //

they rumbled silently as they felt wuyi climb up their head, gaze cutting over the individuals there, "good, wuyi. it has a foul mouth, that one.", they spoke softly, eyes lingering on caesar with a low rumble before moving on, turning their head back to stheno, "i should like to leave these lands without incident, or we all may find ourselves in dire straits", they murmured, the kingpin's visage stony yet remaining the tired dark circles below their eyes. they had many better things to be doing apart from standing here, relief filling them at the weight of wuyi above the ground, safe from the immediate threat of everyone else upon the ground. grumbling slightly, they sighed, turning their gaze away from ghost for a moment, not trusting the beast.

exhaling, they held stryker's gaze, "we bring news of a bonfire we are holding within our lands, and we plan to invite those who wish to come to such an occasion.", they would tell him, speaking to the rest of the group as well, "threats will not be permitted in such a place, aiming to celebrate even with those who would rather take our heads from our corpses. one such, we both know.", they would rumble, aiming the last words to stryker, speaking of a certain captain that both knew of.