Jungles and Moonlight

The creature before him was unlike anything he'd quite encountered, anything in his jungle anyways. Like a serpent but much more intimidating and likely capable than the likes of a worm like Kaa. That hissing belly writher was unlike the feminine beast that stood alert before him. She was wary, but unafraid. And what reason did she had to be of him, he was much smaller than she. But just as wary, the tiger took a few gentle steps out from behind the leaves that only slightly obscured him, brushing against the leaves almost soundlessly as he took a seat a respectful distance away.

He'd heard of dragons, they weren't uncommon in this new much more vast world. He seemed to receive her message easily enough from the flick of her ears as she finished her meal. If Khan was bothered he didn't appear to show it, instead looking relaxed but interested.

"I'm known to take a stroll around my home in the night every now and then. Make sure things are in order." he confessed reasonably. Those yellow eyes trailed down her sleek silver scales, much more interest passed to the wings and the likely dangerous teeth she was using to snap up the fish remains. Two things were prevalent in his mind however. His home, and the order of it, meaning she was not normally an inhabitant.

"Tigers are rather common in a jungle. Your kind, though, I've failed to cross too often." he pointed out. If ever. A twitch of his ear as he regarded her, and any stance changes she might have made during his speech.

"You can understand me, yes?" he poised the question with a slight apprehension, as if he was skeptical she could even understand a word of his tongue and simply imagined her response earlier. The nagging question of her intelligence weighed on the back of his mind still and he needed answers to the silly query before he continued here. Or wasted his time.

"You can understand me, yes?"

Crimson eyes flashed through the dark, body barely reacting to the voice but taking in the familiarity of the voice. The queen was stretching her claws, body low to the ground as she shuffled through the tall grass of the jungle. She was unsettled by the differences in the jungle. She missed the short dry grass of her home, the warm ground uncovered by the thick assault of trees. Prey was plentiful here, that she was fine with. And there were areas to train her new crew such as patches of old human ruins.

Yet it still wasn't home. It still wasn't the Pridelands. The land she'd rightfully earned with blood sweat and tears.

Her tail flicked as she walked towards the duo that were speaking. Shere khan, the sophisticated tiger. He reminded her of Scar somewhat. The other creature was a white crocodile...with wings? Zira's lips pulled back in sneer. She emerged from the brush, head low, ready to launch into attack mode if she needed to. "What is that?" She sneered.

Well, okay, she had no reason to complain. Scar had done right by her this time.

The jungle had, perhaps, never been intended to sustain a large - and ravenous - hyena clan; but would you catch Shenzi caring? Not in the slightest. Her clan was the backbone of Scar's army, so of course she'd moved them out to the jungle here when the would-be king had begun consolidating his power base out here. Not quite all of them, granted; Janja and the other male cubs, who were old enough to watch their backs but far to green to be of use to anyone, had been left back in the Outlands to play at being important - something that no male in hyena society would ever get to be otherwise - but otherwise, the bulk of her clan were now quite happily settling in to India.

It was tempting to grow complacent, the matriarch knew, when surrounded by so much good food with no Mufasa to drive them away; but she also knew that to do so would be a mistake. And so, even while her clanmates gorged themselves and then slept, Shenzi was alert and on the prowl. She'd caught and made short work of a pair of inattentive monkeys earlier that evening, so was in no great need of food; more, the hyena was taking in this new territory.

A voice from up ahead attracted the matriarch's attention... even as it sent a shiver down her spine to recognise its sound. So far, Shenzi hadn't met Scar's big tiger ally in person, but she had seen him in passing, if nothing else. He had radiated power like no other animal, except maybe Mufasa - far more than did Scar himself - and she had enough common sense to know that Shere Khan wasn't an animal to be trifled with.

Still; either he liked the sound of his own voice, or he was having a very one-sided conversation with someone, and Shenzi found her curiosity getting the best of her. Forcing her way through the undergrowth and out into the clearing, her yellow eyes fell upon the peculiar sight of the tiger making casual conversation with what looked like a giant - and apparently mute - white skink. The hyena bit back the urge to laugh at the sheer ridiculous appearance of the situation.

Still, expecting her to keep silent was altogether too much to ask for.

"And she's high on the food chain how?" Oh, the teeth implied that, alright... but Shenzi was sceptical, and vocal about it. "If I was all glow-in-the-dark like that, prey would see me comin' from a mile away-- Oh, hey, Zira."

She switched track abruptly to toss the greeting casually - quite possibly too casually, but she was used to speaking to Scar that way - in the direction of the only animal present who she was actually familiar with.

Zira's eyes stayed narrowed as she sat up, sitting poised and perfect like a statue. She was staring straight into the creature's eyes. It was the most strange, bizarre animal she'd ever seen. Smooth scales like a lizard, wings like a bat, larger than the largest croc she'd seen. She didn't trust it. Not as much as Shere Khan seemed to. "A stray," she repeated.

Did they even want this creature with them? How did they know she wasn't dangerous?

A shiver buzzed up her spine as she heard the laughter of Scar's pet, his favorite hyena. Zira was annoyed with them already. Slobbering monsters sliding all over their new lands. She couldn't walk a square of territory without running into the spotted things. She'd never been a fan. They'd frightened her as a cub even when Scar took her to see them.

"-- Oh, hey, Zira."

Her eyes narrowed to slits. So casual. "Shenzi," she said, "I thought I smelled you slinking about. What do you think of this...potential recruit?" She still had not addressed the creature herself. Zira wasn't ready.

Staying hidden at times had its distinct advantages. And it was almost second nature to Scar to seize any advantage he could. Doubly so, being in a new land. The jungle had a bounty of food, and plenty of shade with which to escape the hot sun when needed. And, more importantly, an abundance of shadows to mask one's presence. He didn't distrust Shere Khan, per se, but the tiger had yet to prove trsutworthy in Scar's eyes. And here, in the jungle, the tiger was at a distinct advantage in many ways. After all, this was his home.

So, while Shere Khan and the odd white creature conversed, in a manner of speaking, Scar was content to lurk, unseen, and observe, green eyes nearly shut so they wouldn't reflect any light, and give away his position. The tiger's hatred of all things human had been plain to see, his distaste for the creatures easy to play on. He'd dropped hints to the tiger that they'd only need the humans for so long. Now, he had only to wait and see how said hints might sway the tiger's thoughts.

The white creature was a different story. An unknown, both in mentality and species. What was she? He'd heard descriptions of dragons before, but had never seen one. Nor did he generally lend much credence to mere rumors. It didn't help that the dragon, if that's what it was, was apparently unable to speak as they did, though it clearly had no trouble using body language, vocalizations, and expressions to convey its thoughts.

When Zira and Shenzi showed up, Scar took the opportunity to further observe the dragon. It was wary, but not overly concerned. Big as it was, it would likely be formidable in a fight, and its lack of fear suggested it had more at its disposable than met the eye. Intriguing. Moreover, those wings certainly looked to be large and strong enough to allow it to fly. A lot of potential for a creature that might just be swayed to be an ally. It would have to be handled delicately, though. Shere Khan it seemed was up to such a task, but Shenzi? Not so much. Zira? When she was in the right temperament, perhaps. Which wasn't now.

"Indeed, how would we?" he agreed, finally revealing his presence as he stood and made his way into the light. He looked the dragon up and down as if in admiration. And some of it was true. "Take a good look, Shenzi. She clearly knows how to keep herself fed, despite such radiant scales." She didn't have a bony look to her, nor did she look like she was going hungry. "Wouldn't you agree, Zira?" He turned his attention to his queen, padding to her side and nuzzling her neck for a brief moment before glancing at Shere Khan and nodding slightly.