Lune had heard the commotion at first with no more than a passing thought, as nothing more than the buzzing hum of a fly. She had been wrapped up in a melodrama of her own. She hadn’t seen Xavier for a while and was reeling in the wake of his absence. The world had dulled significantly, food has lost its flavor, and sound was a never ending ring of silence. Lune melted back into her worst habits slinking back into a creature of vanity. Focusing on her appearance with a vigilant iron fist. Smoothing her golden furs until they were silky and sparkling. Refusing to utter a word regarding her internal state if she could help it - not letting her blood drip into shark infested waters.

It is the call from Amara that brings the flaxen beauty to her feet. Not out of a sense of duty but moreso from a sense of curiosity. Lune had been spending her days away from the Bluffs when she could. And so she found herself lacking the foundational knowledge of the many dramas they played out at what seemed like a rapidly increasing pace. Casually, Lune sauntered across the sharp dusty slabs of red rocks towards the call. Upon arrival she sees both Apollinaire and Amara locked into intense, venomous fights with the other pair of Dieudonnes. Interesting. Lune lifts an eyebrow as she takes a quiet seat away from the battles but close enough to observe and be seen. She had no dog in the fight and did not feel it necessary to pull closer until her medical skills were required.

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY DAWN, CODE MODIFIED BY CALA

Kireena, for her part had remained largely silent, her gaze watching over @Levana and the children as she had been asked to do so not just by Ryker, but the widow herself. As things grew heated, she would shuffle slightly. It was the first order to leave that had her turning her attention towards those she'd come with - at least those that hadn't already left. She was well aware without being ordered to do so that this wasn't something they needed to bear witness to.

She paused, watching Ludivine and Apollionare engage in a bloody battle, one she knew would end in the death of one or the other..and she felt her ears fall against her nape. "Lev..--". Then Amara rushed towards Leontine, the language passing over her head but she understands well enough to know that they to would only finish with one of them hitting the ground without breath. She froze, wanting to help somehow but it was the words of @Delphine followed almost immediately by @Roussel that finally had the red giant making a more than subtle motion.

She would move to place herself between the Dantanians and the members of the bluffs, her gaze focused on the Wolfbron lions as she would do what she had been asked to do.. protect and support. Support had been done, now as things grew heated, protection was next on the list. In a tone she might use with her own children, she would rumble a final request for it wasn't an order , not truly - Levana was an adult but she had duties..and thought Kireena trusted her..she also knew what grief could do - how it could blind.

"Time to go. Everyone out.". Everyone of course meant those she had come with and not those of Wolfbron obviously. Still, her gaze remained on the lions of the bluffs, her position and stance plain without words. She wouldn't be leaving until those she'd come with were safely seen well beyond the lands. A last sentinel against the shedding of blood that she was sure would soon rub rampant through the space. Once a frenzy started it was very much like blood in the water to the piranha and wouldn't stop until the dust settles.

code by corvus, art by rabbit

Everything gets flip turned upside down immediately, she is focused on the fight between the Firnen queen and the Dieudonne dog, she is locked on the battle, she needs to see the outcome, needs to see if the dead man walking will fall to her husbands killer or will Ludivine fall. She hopes it's the mutt, for it was his fault in the end that Ryker had a target put on his back. She hopes he rots in Hell, she hopes his soul is as tainted as the festered skin he wears.

Attention was shifted once Amara leaped towards Leontine, her emerald green eyes lock on, the words Amara had spoke were enough to have her inhale sharply, her ears pin back, she is then aware of the threats from the young of the Bluff lions.

Kireena moves Infront of her and she moves to stand up, she doesn't say anything to the others, only the lift of her lip in a snarl, a threat, she was not across the border, and they were given orders not to attack, would they defy their matriarch so early on? Maybe dogs weren't as loyal as some would say? She turns on her heel and with one last look over her shoulder to the fight to the death that mattered to her, she shoves her daughter as much as she can, threatening to haul her ass by the scruff of she didn't move herself, and only once her daughter removed herself did the widow follow. Knowing Kireena would be by her side along the way, and if she wasn't Levana would be coming back for her.

/EXIT

The intricacies of the ruling family had become a constant source of interest for him. There seemed to be much more history than he might grasp even if he made a more active effort, though their basic traditions seemed simple enough to understand.

The pair that came bearing the head of an enemy (if he could have truly been called such?) seemed to take offense at the lack of celebration their gift received. He found some small amusement at this; he'd lived within the bluffs long enough to understand the Wolfbron lions didn't do giddy. It was Apollinaire that truly surprised him. So soon after his last dance with death, he sought another - and against one who, it seemed, would get him in quite a lot of trouble if the reactions from the crowds were any indication.

Sébastien was largely content to sit along the sidelines and observe. Some called for the violence to stop, and others...well Amara launched herself at the insolent mahogany woman. Ah- and others were approaching their guests. He finally moved, drifting toward the borderline where the family of the late Ryker sat.

In contrast to @Delphine and Roussel's violence and anger, he came with a patient expression and a polite smile to those who lingered. Although the brown-and-white girl was already turning away and pushing what he assumed was her daughter (judging by appearances) along with her. And so his attention would fall on the large red woman (@Kireena ♞), even as he spoke to @Roussel, Non. Their business is concluded, and they have made no trespass. They will be allowed to leave peacefully. Violence for violence's sake was embarrassingly distasteful against an invited guest. Surely they were better than that, no?

code by daanyen || art by rabbit

others come to join them -- family and foe alike -- and yet louve does not look away from the morbid scene in front of her. even manon's inquiry does not pull her attention for long, though she flashes her daughter a quick, warning look that indicates she should hold her tongue. she can feel the presence of her husband at her back and shivers, but even he does not draw her attention.

louve waits, patiently, for ludivine to speak. waits with her attention honed on the woman, thinking not to speak before her when she has prepared such a presentation. it is respect that holds her tongue, allowing only that one word to escape. in it there had been amusement, an attempt at some shared secret between them. disrespect had been the furthest thing from her mind and so the glaring shift is... unexpected.

the anger that blooms is a tangible thing -- louve can all but taste it in the air. at first it is met with confusion, a furrow of her brow that indicates just how uncertain of the source she is. in fact her head swings to look back at her husband, to direct a rumbling sound his way, a demand for him to pay attention. was that the problem? his lack thereof?

louve is not blind to the madness that has crept in to his eyes but she staunchly ignores it; ignores, too, the festering feeling of danger that it heralds. they might call he blinded by love but no, she sees, she simply makes the foolish decision to not address the problem, thinking she can hone his wicked teeth and claws and direct them only where she wishes.

the problem is not solved, though, and louve's head snaps back to rest yellow eyes on her co-matriarch, a curled lip meeting the glaring disrespect. "comme tu me connais peu pour confondre mon respect avec le contraire," how little you know me to mistake my respect for the opposite, louve bristles, claws clutching at the earth, anger racing through her blood. there is no cowering before the bitch's teeth -- only a fierce glare that speaks enough of her distaste.

"J'ai cherché à faire amende honorable et tu me l'as craché au visage chaque fois que tu en avais l'occasion," i have sought to make ammends and you have spat it back in my face every chance you've had, she was sick and fucking tired of trying so damn hard to bend over backwards for this woman, this stranger who had come from distant lands and mocked louve's lacking knowledge. "vous recherchez mes faux pas et ne cherchez pas à enseigner, seulement à vous en moquer davantage." you seek out my missteps and look not to teach, only to mock them more.

@Léontine speaks and draws her focus, then. "Non. ce n’est pas un enseignement." No, this is not teaching. a performance, with both of them hungry for any perceived mistake the sovereign made. louve could see, clearly, exactly what mistakes she had made, and the biggest one had been thinking there was any salvaging the relationship between them and the rest.

before she can even think how to proceed everything vaporizes to dust, and in one swift swing of the ax there is no going back. apollinaire launches in to action (there, then, is that dangerous gleam she had come to know) and her heart seizes in her chest. "Non," she snarls and reaches a paw -- too late, too late -- and her claws swipe harmlessly through the air. too late to stop him; too late to prevent this.

a sickening dread settles in to her stomach and wide eyes flick to leontine again, a hint of panic flashing in the brilliant yellow. the sister is speaking up against her mother the panic is quickly swallowed by a steely determination. "non. ce n'est pas sa faute." no, this is not her fault. "il n'a pas été élevé ici. ses racines sont pures." he was not raised, here. his roots are pure. Apollinaire was as much dieudonne as any of them, his knowledge more true than most in amaryllis. this was not amara's doing, nor even her husbands.

this was madness.

louve knew it but did not name it; knew it but would not lay it before all of these prying eyes and hungry ears. @Valaine steps up in their defense and some part of her is grateful for the rike woman even if she cannot currently show it.

"il paiera pour son crime." he will pay for his crime she delivers this sentence in solemnity, a vow that she whispers to her family, now. no matter how it ruins her, tears her heart from her chest and shreds it, louve promises them it all the same. apollinaire would pay for what he had done today, even if she must be the one to deliver the punishment.

and then her mother drives the nail in the coffin.

louve could hardly fault her for it, but her fury explodes all the same. a vicious snarl as the two lionesses launch in to another deadly fight, and before she can fathom a way to salvage this disaster her world crumbles around her.

@Delphine's angry demand is backed with a warning growl from the queen; a message that is clear as if she had spoken it out loud. this was no matter for strangers and interlopers -- this was a matter for family, only.

I am not a woman, I'm a god

code x art

Non.

The answer that seeks to curb his obvious, desperate craving is a disappointing one indeed, though it does not come in the form of Delphine's feminine cadence or even Louve's growling tones.

No, it is another male who answers him, a pridemate who'd always stood out by virtue of his enviably pristine white coat and the delicate curl of his inky forelock, though Roussel's unsure that he even knows the man's name. If he'd ever heard it, he's unlikely to remember it now when the taste of blood grows ever thicker in the air, disrupting his thoughts and winding the knot of anticipation ever tighter within the depths of his stomach. Who is he to command him so?

And yet...perhaps Roussel could have pulled himself back at the advisor's behest, snapped the mask of patient obedience back into shuddering place just as his father had taught him.

Perhaps - if only he had not caught sight of her.

He remembers the maroon giant that plants herself so boldly in front of their dappled 'guest', her retreating presence easily forgotten behind @Kireena ♞'s colossal shadow. He remembers the faint taste of her blood, needly cub teeth struggling to bite past impossibly thick fur. He remembers how she had laughed at him and his brother both that day - the day they had lost everything. She'd thought him harmless, then. 'Cute,' perhaps.

Roussel is neither of those things now.

@Sébastien may be 'better,' but Roussel is not. "Non." He parrots back, the heavy, commanding presence of his kin all around him growing distant and muted beneath the noise of bloodshed as his focus narrows down upon a single, maroon point. Or is it his vision that is turning red? "Mon affaire avec celui-là n’est pas encore terminée." My business with that one has not finished yet.

He is moving before the words have even finished leaving his mouth, racing to cross the distance before someone more vicious could halt him, his slender frame set upon a violent crash course with Kireena if she wasn't quick enough to turn tail and flee with the rest of her jungle friends. And if he is to take the direct approach, why not go all out?

Sharp talons would slip free from their sheaths as the yearling lunged upwards, mottled forelimbs raising in an attempt to sink those claws into the vulnerable skin on either side of the taller woman's neck. Snarling, dripping jaws would attempt to snap towards Kireena's face, even as his growl reverberated in his throat. "Remember moi?"

He may not have a full mane yet, but he is a child no longer. And she will recognize the Dieudonne for what he is, this time.

Roussel vs. @Kireena ♞
Minor Maim
Round 1 / 4
Hits:

Rolling 4d20: 16 + 9 + 15 + 17

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 4 + 7 + 10 + 13

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 19 + 3 + 13 + 20 + 1

code by scorpixia ♡︎ art by irish

She wasn't privy to the earlier call, and so she minded her business. But when the sound of battle rang out and Amara's familiar call rose above it, Dysnomia immediately scrambled to her paws and raced to the scene. What she saw there was nothing less than a travesty. She couldn't claim to understand the Dieudonne family politics, but she knew enough that it was obvious Apollinaire had signed his death warrent, regardless of how the current fight went. Perhaps it was simply the reaper coming for what he had been denied before.

It was Amara's fight that had her ears slicking back against her skull in concern. The woman was a fiersome fighter, she knew that much, but never before had a battle been of such high stakes.

She didn't dare draw any closer. Amara may have called for the Bluffs but it was clear from the others that they were not wanted. Still, she watched over the battle of the former high sovereign like a hawk, prepared to lunge in herself should anyone seek to intervene on Leontine's behalf regardless of what the rest of the family might want.

code + art

Just as she was about to make her way out of the fray, right behind her daughters tail, she hears the crackling voice of a yearling that draws her head back, her neck twisting to face the pinkish boy as he declares he is not done with her companion just yet. Emerald green eyes lock tight onto the male and she turns her body back around, head lowering as she snarls, this boy had just ruined any chance of peace, they were just leaving, they were about to walk away and just put this behind them for now.


And then this boy had to fuck it all up for everyone, she just hopes they remember,it was not hers and her family that came for them, it was their family that could not be pulled back by the leashes that held them. She looks to Louve, she does not want this, not after what her husband did to protect them.

But she would not leave another one of her loved ones for the jackals, she would not let them tear another person from her side, she moves closer to the battle but not across the border, she stands like a gargoyle, readied, but more so there for Kireena.

Iron, deep and heavy, swells into his nostrils. More claws rending flesh. More teeth grinding through muscle. More carnage. More death.

And chaos still erupts. Demands made, bodies lurching. And it is all too much. Adrenaline runs hot through his being. Knotting up through his tensed muscles. Claws extending out as far as physically possible. Almost to the point of pain. Louve demands that the outsiders leave. And they begin to. Until Rousell goes for the big red woman. Cassius's icy gaze lands upon the smaller companion. The dark brown and pale blanketed one. Across the border but still within their reach. A dumb move really. Should have listened.

Want to stay and watch? Then share her fate!

Cassius surges forward with a snarling grin. A blaze of murder in his eyes. A blood frenzied shark. He hurls himself at the lioness, claws and teeth looking to sink into her skin. To grind down into her bones. He attempts to sink his claws into her shoulders while fangs attempt to latch into the right top side of her head.

Cassius v @Levana
Minor Maim
Round 1 / 4
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 18 + 8 + 7 + 3 + 20 + 4 + 2 + 1

Dodges:

Rolling 3d20: 14 + 10 + 19

Luck:

Rolling 6d20: 1 + 9 + 6 + 8 + 20 + 10

+1 luck from Lead Scout present

Art by Rabbit, Code by Minxy

Emerald green eyes snap to he male as he lets out a bellow, her shoulders square and she braces for his impact, snarling as he barrels forward, as he lunges for her with teeth bared, ready to bury deep into her flesh, she surges forward, using her powerful hind legs to lunge upwards and meet him head on.

Her jaws unhinge as she aims to place her teeth in his face, hoping to land them along his cheek and above his eye, all the while she grimaces and hisses as his teeth find purchase in the spot where her upper shoulder meets her chest, she feels fangs sink into the dense fluffy coat, they pierce into her flesh though for now theyve not pierced too dangerously deep.

The things she does feel though are his claws that sink deep into her flesh, she feels one paw grip somewhere along her side and sink deep and the other sinks somewhere along her shoulder and back as if they were locked in a macabre embrace.

@Levana vs. @Cassius ♔
Minor Maim
Round 1 / 3
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 18 + 4 + 9 + 6 + 13

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 14 + 6 + 10 + 17

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 8 + 14 + 5 + 11 + 13