WHERE DO WE BEGIN — P. 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?"

[align=right][i]—INFORMATION