Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Sand. It felt odd between his paws. Claws would flex as he wiggled his toes, burying them in the sand as he stood there. Brows were furrowed, confused. The dark pelted youth would shift his gaze, to his left- the Oasis…where home had been. To his right, the supposed enemy…or not nice lions. He remembered meeting them, they were violent and such warrior-esque that it was almost beautiful to him…the girl certainly had been.

Huffing quietly, he would shake his head, in the process pausing to look over his shoulder, in the far distance was the Passage, the sandbar that led him back to Ama…back home.. Along that path, somewhere, were his mother and father. They’d discouraged him from returning, but he would not be forced or ordered. Rebelling against his parents wishes being the most cliche form of adolescence that he didn’t quite yet understand. They were happy, away from this land, but he had felt something missing…he didn’t like being in an alien place, this felt natural, as easy as breathing. There he had been smothered, suffocating.

Where would he go? The anxiety of being alone was building slowly in his chest, reminding him that there were dangers of being a rogue. GRRRGGRRR. The loud rumble of his stomach reminded him of one such danger- hunger. Tongue rolled over his lips as he turned, inadvertently heading towards the Bluffs as he ambled along as the sun set. He knew the basics, but he was far from a master of hunting. Maybe he’d find something that was already dead. Yeah…that sounded way better.

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

i am the storm / and im coming for you

it was dry here, too much sand, not enough lush forested areas and fertile soil. nothing can thrive here. faustine would not be stupid enough to try and spend time here if not for her desire to find food. she was still hungry than normal, except now she could keep herself from showing it. so she covered the badlands, nose taking whiffs of dry air, hoping to capture the scent of a living creature. she needed her catch fresh, because there was no such thing as a scavenger in her identity. a hard to please girl she was, but faustine could beg to differ.

her paws stopped when she caught sight of an all too familiar figure. the boy was around her age, young and lithe with the baby fat of youth still protruding from some of his body. nevertheless, it was that boy she had fought in her grandmother's challenge. several months had passed and @Evren looked worse for wear. she would not even consider devouring him if he had offered. such a thin thing and faustine would rather move on to another. even so, faustine was curious. are you alone? she asked, going towards him. she made sure she stood tall, for the boy was now bigger than she was. you'll die here, you know. a hint of a smile appeared on her face. no other lions were here.

CODE BY DAANYEN + ART BY HUSH

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

The youth could almost imagine the scavengers circling, waiting for him to drop from exhaustion, too tired from lack of food to carry on. He wasn’t that bad, though. Sure, his ribs were a bit more prominent then they should have been, lingering baby fat thinner than it should have been, but he wasn’t bird food yet. His nostrils flared, pulling in scents, but there was nothing. Nothing in this dry wasteland for him to find to eat. His ears would pull back, frustrated. Eyes glancing to the empty sky above. At least the vultures weren’t literally circling him. He did, however, look up at the horizon, hoping to find them circling close by. Beggars couldn’t be choosers after all.

It was while he was doing this that a movement far too close for comfort finally caught his attention. His gaze would divert, black eyes falling upon the familiar form of the girl that he had squabbled with all those months ago. A grin started to pull at his lips, only to fall slightly into a smile. Play it cool, Ev, don’t grin like an idiot. He scolded himself as he resisted the urge to fidget in front of her. She was shorter than him, but plump and well fed, able to grow and thicken her muscles while he currently could not. Ears pulled forward at her words, "are you alone?" "Y-yeah…" He stuttered and then trailed. Real smooth. She for sure thought he was an idiot. Who wouldn’t?

"You’ll die here, you know." His brow furrowed, a spark of defiance flashing in his gaze, but then a faint grin tugged at her mottled lips and the look would fade. She was only teasing…right? "So will you." He teased in return, not understanding that her joy might have been from picking his bones clean and not just from the joke. He would once more breathe deep, this time pulling in her scent, the scent of the bluffs. "You’re grandma still holds the Bluffs?" He asked, head tilting slightly to the side. Such a boyish expression on his face, so innocent and naive.


@Faustine

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

i am the storm / and im coming for you

faustine could admit it was unfortunate for @Evren to be alone. she couldn't remember what his family looked like, if she ever saw them. but their presence was clearly there on his pelt the last time she saw him. now, looking at him, he looked just like every other rogue lost at a young age. faustine wasn't kind, not without desiring something for her or her family. so she had no way to be concerned for him. when he asked about the bluffs, an idea popped into her mind. oui, she's still reigning she said, believing still that amara would rule forever. the only other candidate to replace her would be faustine's mother. i'm now the heiress she added with pride. the title wasn't the only thing that happened. louve was going to teach her about the techniques of battles so that faustine could lessen her defeats. she just had to bring it up to her about becoming her student. come with me, you will be cared for, and you will protect our pride in exchange faustine said. she was determined to have evren join the bluffs. he was young, moldable to the desires of the dieudonne and herself as well. her very own lion pet, the one she bested as a child. so it was right for faustine to have him, no?

CODE BY DAANYEN + ART BY HUSH

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

It was natural to feel concerned, but concern was not what Evren wanted. He did not want her pity, truly, did he want anything from her? They stood as stark contrasts to each other. One plump and the other thin, one bold and the other almost shy. One corrupted with questionable morals and the other still innocent and naive. An ebb and flow, yin and yang. Black eyes blinked, ears twitching as she spoke, her accent finally coming through as she spoke. "Oui?" He would ask, brow furrowing in confusion, he assumed it meant yes, given the rest of the sentence, but he wanted to be sure.

It was impressive that the elder lioness had continued to defeat her foes, but @Faustine did not appear so impressed, as if her grandmothers reign was a gift from the gods, unable to be contested or taken. His eyes would widen slightly, though no whites would become visible, she was not heiress. "Impressive…I was a prince." He would say, the words slipping from his lips before he could hold them back. He wasn’t a prince anymore. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be. "Prince didn’t suit me…" He would say quickly, "but…Heiress…it suits you." He would nod slightly, a flirtatious glint in his eye.

He could have sat and spoke with her for hours, but then she would make an offer, one only a fool would refuse. Are was no fool, but the way the terms were spoken....it sounded off to him... he would jerk back a step. Shaken from his trance of her beauty. "Are you asking, or demanding?" He would question, eyes sharpening, as if insulted. "I can feed myself…What else do you offer?" He would ask, knowing that he couldn’t really feed himself. He did okay, but he could do far better in a pride with a cache. He knew what the Bluffs offered...what could she offer him though?

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

i am the storm / and im coming for you

ah, it seemed not many knew of the french that rolled off of her tongue. yet, faustine couldn't help it. she laughed, deep and rumbling. oui...yes, in our language she explained as her tail swayed gently behind her. evren talked some more, about himself, and faustine soon learned his previous rank as royalty. to be stripped of it...how unkind of fate.

faustine wanted to say that of course heiress suited her. as it would suit her sisters or any other dieudonne woman. only women, especially bred of their noble blood, could thrive upon a throne. men were too prickly, too animalistic in mind to ever be capable.

this, of course, was just faustine's opinion. she decided @Evren would not yet know of her thoughts, just like she would not know his. all she cared for, at the moment, was to get him to join. fatten him. train him. he would be a good soldier once he was ready. this is how a pride is run, former princeling she said, making sure to add the last two with emphasize. you help us, we help you. of course, i'll be different. nothing could conceal the sharp smile on her face. i can protect you from my sisters and brother if you follow me. they're little monsters, as am i, but i am, ah, softer. despite her words, faustine loved her siblings dearly. they would not know of evren as more than just a member, not in the way faustine wanted to know him as. well? what do you say? you want to be strong again and return to that former glory, or do you want to stay here for some other monster to grab you? she hummed, tilting her head slightly after learning ( while watching other women her age) that her girlish youth was her best weapon.

CODE BY DAANYEN + ART BY HUSH

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Laughter, oh how sweet it was. His ears would pull forward, eyes almost softening at the sound- almost. It still made his heart flutter, sending butterflies into the pit of his stomach. He decided then that he liked her laugh, her smile, even if the joke was on him. Infectious in his mind, a grin and soft laugh would find its way from him as well. She explained, not mockingly, but factually to him what the word meant. He would store it away for safe keeping. Coveted like the gem that it was. Like she was.

The boy would listen as she spoke, adding that little wound of his former title. His eyes narrowed, but perceived as playful but the smirk on his lips. Ah, yes, that was how a pride worked, but was that how she ran as well? When she mentioned she would be different he would take a slight step forward, as if to say ‘Im listening’…and he was, with rapt attention, hanging onto every word, every twitch of motion. She would protect him, from her siblings - if he followed her. They were little monster, but she was softer. He snorted. He remembered their fight, she was ferocious. His blackened gaze shifted over her, thoughtfully, she was plump but there was muscle, reminding him of his mother who was far from soft. "And what sort of monster are you, hmm?"

She would propose again and this time Evren would expect this would be the last, the last chance to get to know this monstrous lady he so adored. After a long, careful thought, he would nod slightly. "Oui, I will come with you." He agreed, if only to come with her, but it was implied that he would follow her too, perhaps to the ends of the earth. As long as she didn’t try to eat him.

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

i am the storm / and im coming for you

@Evren was young but he wasn't childish. stupidity was not a trait that faustine wanted in either women or men, and certainly not in someone whom she had claimed as her pet. the boy must know that faustine wasn't a saint or any good woman this land had to offer. which was better than the opposite, for she could only hide away her true face until it threatened to burst. the better kind, of course she said, which was a lie. she was proud of what she was, the cannibal princess turned heiress into a queendom. the beauty of the dieudonne was their lack of inhibition towards the taboo and their fierce unity towards one another. to the outside world, faustine and her family were monstrous, but to her, they were divine. you'll be glad one day, to have chosen us rather than all of them she said. my name is faustine dieudonne. what's your name? a laugh controlled to a softer touch escaped her mouth at the boy's attempt at simple french. the thought of introducing her native tongue to him was an interesting thought, but he would have to truly earn it.

CODE BY DAANYEN + ART BY HUSH

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Young and naive, but stupid he was not. Upon his departure from his parents they had burdened his mind with valuable advice, it was just up to him to use it. Today, perhaps he let his flip flopping stomach and heart get in the way of that, but he would survive. He could remove himself from the girls clutches if he needed to… or so he told himself.

‘The better kind, of course’. His lips would purse into a smirk at her evasion of his question with a cutesy answer. It would do, for now. Besides, he kind of liked the coy flirting that was going on between them. It was…feisty and mysterious all at the same time. “No such thing.” He would answer, but the roll of his shoulder would tell her he didn’t much care for an elaboration, after all he had agreed to come home with her so eventually her true monstrous colors would show.

She continued speaking, her voice sounding like honey to his ears, but her words barbed. He nodded slightly, “they are not worthy of such a creature like me. he commented with a playful wink and an upturned twitch of his lip. That’s it, keep playing it cool, Ev, your growing on her. He told himself silently, he had this. He had her. Finally a proper introduction. Faustine Dieudonne. “A pretty name- for a pretty monster.. He would have said lady… but no that wouldn’t do. She was no lady after all, just a monster in a sheep skin.

” I’m Robin.” he lied, telling her the name he told strangers. Much as his heart beat for the feisty girl, he didn’t know her, until he could truly trust her, he would be nothing but a flighty bird.

Such irony, playing each other as they did. Who would win this game? The flighty bird or the terrifying monster?

ART BY KIM, CODE BY LARS

i am the storm / and im coming for you

this boy did have his way with words. faustine had yet to be complimented like this, but it didn't feel bad. she heard of ways outsiders would try to get into her mother and grandmother's good graces. from gifts to compliments, to obsessively recounting tales of their victories. yet neither of the sovereigns spared them as much of a consideration. in the end, the outsiders joined as unranked philistines. or, they were turned away, their ego stronger than what the bluffs desired. will this robin turn out to be like that? was he going to try to take more than he was willing to give? faustine would hope not, for that meant a quick departure from an opportunity of comfort. my, you know how to charm, she said, a girlish giggle slipping out of her mouth. nonetheless, she was amused and vaguely charmed by his antics. robin, what a name. it sounds...nice she added, remembering the small birds she used to grab and rip as a little babe. their bones were now made dust inside the long forgotten den she used to keep them in. pray this robin boy would not become one of them. let's go then, to the bluffs. [exit]

CODE BY DAANYEN + ART BY HUSH