WHERE DO WE BEGIN — P. DOKTÈ

[THESEUS]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4;"]If Theseus was going to be entirely honest with himself, this isn't what he expected when he decided to head for the island he was now (temporarily? maybe) calling home. He'd heard their reputation, of course — it wasn't as if he was oblivious to the world surrounding him even when he was off on his own. He just hadn't expected them to live up to it. Though the people at the border had been relatively kind, and everyone was entertaining so far, Theo knows he has a somewhat daunting task ahead of him tonight. They had a ritual for joiners — some sort of test, he assumes — and for some reason he'd decided to do it. Whatever it leads to, he wants to be able to say that he faced his future easily and with faith. In this case, it means embracing the entire pirate culture thing. Within reason. No murder, just bracelets and whatever was in store for him tonight. He'd already made himself one, just a thin braided cord of white and soft yellow with a thinner strand of red woven around it. And perhaps as a habit, or as a thank you, he hadn't stopped with his own.

Doktè wasn't the sort of person to invest himself in a group the same way Theo did (or at least appeared to, but that was a story for later), so he'd decided to... help. Sorta. The other bracelet he made is sturdier than his own, a leather cord and a much softer strand of royal purple. He'd managed to wrestle his favorite colors out of him a while ago, so he might as well use the information. (And a bit more, though that was half of a joke.) With a bit of a purposeful bounce to his step, Theo sets off in search of the recipient, checking the quieter areas of their island first. Eventually he finds him half in a patch of sunshine at the edge of the rainforest, and Theo smiles even though he has yet to make eye contact. At least he looks relaxed. Theo carefully sets everything down and pads a little closer, just to touch his nose against the larger lion's shoulder in greeting. "You settling in alright, prickles?"

[DOKTÈ]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9.4pt; line-height: 1.4;"]Doktè, on the other hand, had been relatively isolated from the world for a few years, content to just mind his own business and live on peacefully in a small village untouched by the ridiculous problems plaguing the rest of the planet. No politics, no revolutions, no need for revolutions, no more than small matters like families bickering and attending to a snake bite. He had needed that simplicity, had needed rest after spending so much time knowing only dust and sweat and blood. He'd needed Lisette, too, with her green eyes and light smile, teaching him to soften his touch, to understand that yes, he was capable of loving someone after all the faces laid to rest in his wake. But Lisette was gone, and his peace ended. He was here in the world again, whether or not it needed him, because there was nothing else for him back there, nothing beyond the lilies at her grave.

It wasn't all awful out here, he supposed. Just mostly. At least Theo wasn't entirely infuriating, though he did come close to it. At the moment, he was a bit nearer to that landmark, if only because he was interrupting, but Doktè tempered himself. He wasn't doing anything important to disrupt, so he abandoned his solitude and glanced over at Theo with mahogany eyes when the other lion touched his shoulder. Immediately after, he rolled his eyes and snorted. "Don't call me that. And I'm fine. Nobody's been too stupid yet." His gaze narrowed. "Why? Having second thoughts?"

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[THESEUS]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4;"]Theo never got simple. Maybe when he was young, first due to his own... well. Youth. And then because he was protected. It was a long sort of limbo, a period of time that seemed to stretch on for a comfortable eternity. Tucked in his dad's hood or leaning over the top of his head, kneading on his back or swiping at his ears when he got sarcastic with people. He'd been a sweet kid, he really had been, but the older he got the more sarcastic he got, and so now — well maybe it's a good thing he's independent, huh? He's still good with acerbic people, intentionally sweet to compensate. He could probably blame Corsair for how he ended up, drawn to everyone who kept their thoughts quiet and voice rough. It's just who he understands best. Corsair, Letty, now this asshole. (He says it affectionately.) Maybe, like Doktè's quiet life in the middle of nowhere, this is what he needs.

He tries to put the aching out of his head (and his chest). It means keeping busy and staying annoying, unfortunately for Doktè. So far, the other lion was the only one he could bother like this. Warm eyes crinkle at the edges with his smile — he's easily amused, but not easily irritated — at his snort. "And what if I don't?" Theo's tail swishes behind him as he sits down, still mindful of what he'd set down behind him. "No, no second thoughts. Everyone's nice." Mostly. "You know we're supposed to have bracelets? For charms or whatever?"

[DOKTÈ]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-size: 9.4pt; line-height: 1.4;"]Sometimes, Doktè found it a bit amusing that what so many people found refuge in was one of his stages of hell. Childhood was meant to be -at least by common understanding- something protected, spent in comfort and with no need to worry about the sort of things adults did. Doktè, on the other hand, had broken just about every expectation of youth as a treasured time when he ran off to join a group of terrible people who hadn't hesitated to exploit a boy's impressionability. He could remember bits and pieces of his mother, of his two sisters, but they were little more than snippets. More fresh were his memories of harming those who didn't deserve it, and the helpless fear when he was caught in a trap, leg on fire as those he'd been loyal to turned their backs on him. Peace came after, when he awoke in a bit of a haze to gentle -albeit a bit coarse- people who hadn't hesitated to shave out a place for him. The same why Theo didn't pause when he met him, as though seeing something Doktè couldn't, and for all his grumbling, it was nice having him around.

Sometimes he reminded Doktè of Lisette, but then he would smirk and he was entirely himself. That wasn't a bad thing.

Agitating as hell though, and he had half a mind to strangle the lion when, instead of complying, he just challenged him casually and sat down to stay. He was going to drive Doktè insane eventually. "I'll pass you a slap." He gave a brief hum when Theo affirmed that he had no second thoughts, although he could just about hear the missing word from that sentence, but he didn't have time to linger on it. "'Or whatever?' I might've heard something like that."
[align=right][i]—INFORMATION