The call brings irritation quickly to his mind.

He lingers in the long-cast shadows of the Bluffs towers at first, blending with the darkness efficiently so he may watch the scene unfold from afar. His place is high up, and from there he can witness the ugly sigh that brings far more than simple irritation to his chest. There, on their doorstep, laid something that belonged to him.

Why, then, was it that @Ludivine stood above it?

Mine. It was mine. Much akin the shadows that cloaked him now, darkness unfurled within his mind, slithering with whispers of vengeance and this to satiate a blood-debt. But greed for flesh reigned supreme. How had Ryker slipped from him so? Just like Anthonius, he had not been able to find the man no matter which rock he upturned, no matter which crevice blood-shot eyes peered into. It was infuriating. Self-consuming.

Mine. They took what is mine again.

At some point in time he'd stopped ignoring the whispers. At some point they've become loathsome shrieks. "Ils l'ont repris." He muttered to himself, slipping down from his high place to walk toward the growing gathering. @Louve was already there, seemingly pleased with her co-Matriarch ( oh, but he hated that title! ). He felt his stomach churn at the bloodied skull. But it was not out of its grotesque beauty, no. It was for the fact it stood out of reach, in the undeserving's grasp. It is mine!

He stands silent, a shadow behind his daughters, behind his Matriarch. He sees nobody else but them, and the Firnen thief. How many more times must he give up his prey to women? Time and time again, he was forced to step back and watch them devour what he'd laid claim on. What he'd worked so hard for.

Countless eyes sprung open all around them. He began to loose feeling in his right leg, and yet he still stood. Watching Ryker's unseeing eyes as they mocked him. His heartbeat hammered, he felt saliva drip from his lips and on the red floor.

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of gore, decapitation, cannibalism

There's a certain swell of pride in her breast as she awaits her kin upon their borders — this had been mostly for them, after all. Even though @Ryker had threatened her own sister, it wasn't until he'd gone for Wolfbron's crown that she had placed a kill-on-sight target on his head for his disrespect towards her extended family. When he'd killed off the other matriarch's husband, it was her duty to finish the deed and bring justice to a Dieudonné grim reaper.

But that pride, that excitement — it doesn't last long.

She briefly acknowledges @Levana and @Kireena ♞ approaching the scene, but for the time being her gaze remains trained to the pride's borders, watching as @Louve rightfully is the first to approach the wretched, gore-y scene. The cannibal Queen's lips stretch for a moment in a twisted, macabre grin — see what I've brought you? — but that emotion falls quickly from her grasp when her co-matriarch only offers one word in acknowledgement of her victory: Efficace. Efficient, that's all she can muster? No acknowledgement of celebration, or gratitude? Nothing more than some droll appreciation that would be more fit for some hunt amongst strangers?

Her lip lifts once more — not through a smile, but through anger.

The world around her blurs as both Ryker's family and her own gather in a small group around her bloodied prize, but for the moment, she pays them little attention. She remains quiet as her gaze burns upon her co-matriarch, shifting only when the man of the hour appears behind her. A flash of memory back to her pride challenge — here as well, @Apollinaire does nothing but remain like a silent mutt at his master's heel. He doesn't even look at her, his eyes instead trained to the gaze of a dead man.

D I S R E S P E C T
Oh, how her hate burns. It draws forth the festering wound in her heart once more, a wound she'd thought had been healed through the sharing of power between kin. But non. Still they do not respect her — still, they treat her accomplishments as something akin to roadkill beneath them. An enemy of the family, slaughtered for his crimes, and even still they cannot muster up the energy to treat her as one of them. To bathe in her glory, as one.

The wound grows — poisonous, black, and grime. Had Louve offered her a position as co-matriarch simply to placate her wrath? For fear of what she might do to the rest of the family, should she truly wish to have their blood on her teeth?

“Ryker is dead,” she speaks finally, words missing the bite of passion she had felt mere moments before. “He wished me to return this to you,” she finally turns her attention over to Levana, before she hooks his head on killer claws and throws it in the direction of the ex-King's mate. It's long since been drained of blood, so the toss is clean and bloodless; it lands with a sickening thump in front of Levana's paws.

“His death comes with a promise: the Dieudonné will leave you and your kin alone, so long as none of you come for us either. The kill-on-sight target that was placed on his back has been repaid with his death. You will not have to fear any further retaliation from us.” She emphasizes her words with a bite: as long as Levana or her family do not come for Ludivine and her family, there will be no need to spill further blood between them.

But she's not done there.

“Quant à toi,” As for you, brilliant white fangs flash behind obsidian lips as she turns to her co-matriarch, “je lui ai pris la vie pour me venger du meurtre de l'un des nôtres, et c'est tout ce que vous pouvez m'offrir? 'Efficace'?” I took his life as revenge for him killing one of ours, and that's all you can offer me? 'Efficient'?

“Vous racontez de si doux mensonges sur le fait que nous sommes une famille, mais vous ne faites rien pour le prouver.” You spill such sweet lies about us being family, but you do nothing to prove it.

She ascends the Bluffs, late to her sister's call but unable to fully keep away. She knows the younglings would be stowed away in Firnen, safe from their aunt if she were to rove after the duo making their way to their sister-pride with their prize. The one she should have taken. The one that makes her stomach burn with shame that she didn't take. She'd had to have @Ludivine fix her mistakes, her trouble, again. And it only feeds into her ire because Léontine doesn't deal well with feeling shamed. She's quiet for it, the humiliation, and lingers in the backdrop. Watching. Waiting. Ever the dutiful sister if she can be nothing else. Levana's screaming daughter and quiet children are ignored - even the woman, herself, is ignored. Because Ludivine has decreed it. There's no anger about that decision; she's long forgotten any desire to destroy the family of the scorned former king. She'd been happy to ignore him, too, until he started making asinine decisions. @Apollinaire lurks behind @Louve with their children scattered around their legs. And none of them look particularly happy. That coaxes a scowl to her lips and she sidesteps where she stands behind her sister and shifts into place near her side. Her head slithers lower, almost undulating in a serpentine way, as her luminous gaze tracks the Wolfbron Dieudonné. Shouldn't they be celebrating? A brow quirks and she rolls her eyes up from beneath her layered half-mane to peer at her Sovereign. Tu nous as demandé de t'apprendre. You asked us to teach you, Léontine points out, lip curling to flash a fang at the Co-Matriarch. Nous voilà. Here we are, a paw lifts, spreads, and gestures to the head between the two groups. Are you not entertained?

Amara slipped into the gathering with a weary eye. The scent of death, of Levana, and her young filled the air as she moved. It took her a moment to see that it was Ryker's head that had caused the gathering. Kireena was there as well. The lioness seemed to like getting herself wrapped up in things that didn't have anything to do with her. Amara twitched a lip in annoyance at others being here but moved her focus back to the head. Ryker's head. The male had thought himself smart enough to target the Bluffs and her family. What once was his home, became the very place he signed his death wish. It was because he came here, challenging for something that wasn't his, that the kill order had been placed by Ludivine.

Her ears flick as she looks up, listening to @Ludivine. She had managed to clear things up with Ryker and in doing so, gave protection to his family. Amara's eyes followed the head before looking back to Ludivine with a nod. She would follow her orders. She didn't say anything, her place here was different now and Amara wasn't looking to stir things up at the moment but it seemed that things weren't as Ludivine or Léontine wished for them to be as the focus shifted to Louve.

Amara's body stiffened. She remembered the fight for death clearly. Louve let her keep her life and the scars they both shared from it are a sharp reminder of the past. Louve would need to stand on her own, she had decided to let Ludivine live, she had decided to walk alongside her in leading the family, and now Amara would have to see where things would go. She didn't like it but her days were numbered and with it, her protection.

She wasn't sure what the pair of females wanted from them. This was one enemy if he could hardly be called that, they had dealt with. Many more had come before him that they had handled on their own. Amara was stoic in her expression as she waited to see what happened but she also thought it a little early for the pair to be boasting when they hadn't been through the same things that her kin had been since birth.

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The piebald lioness stood unwavering amongst the Firnen Queen, she sheds no tears nor does she shake or tremble under the gaze of the sisters, her gaze holds onto Ludivine's for a moment until both their eyes are torn from each other's when the Bluffs queen emerges, amongst her are some children that Levana can only assume are Louves and the Dieudonne dog.


Louve gives one word to the Firnen queen and it's not hard to guess what it means, Levana waits for a moment, she can see that something she changed in Ludivine's body language, she watches intrigued, her eyes slide to Apollonaire, the man whod hurt most of her family, who had lost to her husband but had been brought back. The dead man walking stared hungrily at her husbands head, she felt a small satisfaction that it was someone else who'd claimed his life, that Apollonaire would forever have to live with knowing he failed again.

When Ludivine tosses Ryker's head to her, she doesn't even flinch, she'd had time to wait and cry over his decision, and with that she'd built walls up for this moment exactly. When he rests before her, she nods towards Ludivine, drawing her husbands head closer to her with one paw, ""It is settled then."" She speaks firmly but softly, eyes sliding back towards the Bluffs family, before looking to @Lucifer, ""Your father would want you to have this."" She speaks carefully, knowing her son was going through his own emotions, but just as Ryker was, he was good at hiding them, so she gently nudged the head to him.

TRIGGER WARNING!

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for mentions of gore, death and cannibalism

The world melts one bloody drop at a time, shifting as if he – and Ludivine and Ryker – stood in the giant belly of a beast. Liquid flesh oozes down from the ceiling. It was sweltering in this place of his mind’s conjuring. Where was the cool breeze he was so used to during this time of the year? Whatever happened to autumn rain?

Scratch that. They took it.

Again.

And again.

Drip, drop. The sound of blood trickling on the ground. No, wait. Wasn’t that the sound of his saliva hitting the ground? He is not certain. Nothing is certain but the severed head lying at those unworthy feet. The lips twist at the corners, upturning in a crooked mocking smile. He shifts for the first time since arriving, instinctively recoiling at the sight. Not in disgust – no – in anger. Muffled words buzz somewhere in the background, muted by that damn persistent one-note sounding in his ears. The world around him shifts again, taking a breath.

French tones somehow lure his glazed red eyes that lack their usual sharpness when the thief speaks to address Louve with a tone that stirs him even further. The contents of her voice do not register, not fully. Only the tone… that grating tone that silences even the undying one-note. You spill such sweet lies about us being family, but you do nothing to prove it.

Lies. Family. Revenge. Life.

She took it. It was mine. Mine.

He shivers, and the world shifts again. This time, however, the walls begin to close in and he feels as if sooner or later, the twisting monstrosity will cave in on them. Anger rears its ugly head, his face morphing into a mask of anguish and hatred.

That was all the warning he gave before whatever mad creature stood among them leaped straight for Ludivine.

All teeth and claws, his limbs devoured the short distance between himself and Ludivine. And Ryker. Or… whatever remained of Ryker - his Ryker! His heart sank and twisted a thousand times when he thought of those wretches dining on what had been rightfully his. Memories begin to flood him, of a thousand times he stood and watched as they did just the same – take the first bite, the second… take the best they could find, and leave nothing for him. They knew his unyielding hunger, the way it gnawed on him from the inside and perhaps that is why they always insisted on dining where he could see them. Yes. It’s always been that way.

No more.

Today he will have what is his – and more!

He aimed to approach Ludivine from a slight angle, moving towards her right shoulder. Once close enough, his left limb snaked forward to try and bury dark talons into the flesh covering her shoulder. His jaws gaped wide, attempting to sink deep into her right eye. He will dine on her if he cannot dine on Ryker.

Apollinaire vs. @Ludivine
for Death
Round 1 / 7
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 17 + 11 + 6 + 9 + 20 + 16 + 13 + 7

Dodges:

Rolling 5d20: 20 + 13 + 10 + 18 + 17

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 10 + 7 + 6 + 20 + 9

Predictably, his sister arrived in a more dramatic fashion. Lucifer's jaw clenched when she screamed and sobbed and generally made a scene, only to be swiftly corrected by their mother. He offered her little more than a glance from the corner of his eye, a look he hoped she might interpret correctly. This was not the time or place; had she not yet learned you couldn't afford to show weakness in front of these monsters? Later, in private, they could all fall apart in their own ways, but here and now was the time for strength - real or faked.

Others filtered in, their words flowing but foreign. Eventually, he supposed, he would just have to add their tongue to the list of those he knew. At least the usurper chose to speak in a language he understood, at least for the first half. Pale eyes tracked the arc of his own father's head through the air, sticking as it landed even as the brown woman continued.

He'd done it. At great cost, but he'd done it. He'd secured their safety for as long as they could trust these lions would hold to her order. Did she really command that much power and respect among them? The Wolfbron lions had been here far longer, as he understood it, so how much real power did the usurper have among them? The bluffs group did not seem...impressed.

He was jolted from his thoughts by his mother's voice, and the shifting of the head toward his own paws. And it hardly looked like his father anymore without the subtle smirk and whatever fire once lit his eyes. Lucifer swallowed and reached to pull it close, only to flinch at the sudden eruption of movement from the very man who'd so recently tried to kill Ryker himself. At first, he thought Apolliniare was coming for one of them, but no - surprisingly, he went after the usurper instead. Perhaps if Lucifer understood their familial language, he might not have been so surprised, but this seemed as if it came from nothing and he had to wonder if death and resurrection had driven the man crazy.

A quiet, quick, inhale, and he would lean slightly toward his mother, so as to speak into @Levana's ear. Keress meg a dzsungelben. Find me in the jungle. He'd seen how Apollinaire had stared at his father's head, and if the man survived, Lucifer didn't really want to give the man a chance to try and steal it. Or have to fight him over it.

There would be a brief hesitation as he bent to pick up the gruesome heirloom, but he would settle on gripping it by an ear. Whatever business they had here was finished, did he really need to stand there and watch one of them die? No. He'd rather take what was left of his father home. Such as it was.

-exit-

code by corvus

Elaine had stuck to the shadows. To her, Ryker was better filed under the same useless weight as all the others. It wasn't worth looking for him but had she come across him, she would have followed through on the order. It seemed that was over. Elaine slinked along until she was behind Ryker's wife. How their whole lives had changed because of a single action of Ryker. They had been safe here. Welcome friends. Now. They were less than nothing. Once the head was toss Elaine moved out of the shadows and stood in front of those gathered. Take it. Leave. Her tone left no room for question and if any of them decided to stay, she would remove them. By force.

Elaine looked back at @Ludivine's words which were followed by @Léontine with a frown. Elaine wasn't sure what it was that they had expected. None of those here were gathered here were the type to start jumping around and dancing or anything. A smile from most of them was the best you would get even when there was a birth in the family. She looked to @Louve before the movement of @Apollinaire caught her attention. His focus on Ryker's head had not been missed and she knew that the male had been unhinged before his near death. Apollinaire! She called as she started moving toward him. Non! Arrêt! Maintenant! No! Stop! Now! She had never commanded him before but her voice was sharp and rose above the rest. What he was doing was akin to one of the highest crimes. Even if he won, there wasn't a way that he would be able to live through this. Was there? Elaine couldn't linger on it long as she moved to try to stop him.

She's Got A Stain On Her Soul

she's the fire in the sin. and you'll burn breathin' her in.

Art | Table Code | background

She would be a fool not to expect retaliation. The memory of the first time she attended a meeting between their family still weighs heavy in the back of her mind, haunting memories that twist and warp her dreams into nightmares. The way a simple question from her dear sister turned into a violent need for slaughter. So when @Apollinaire takes his first step — when muscles sing and dance beneath brunet flesh marred by many years of hardened battles — she is already ready for it. Her eyes train to him, almost in disbelief that he would dare such a thing.

To touch a matriarch, it is a most heinous crime.

“Chien traître,” Traitorous dog, she whispers, just barely audible enough for her own ears to pick up on. Time almost seems to draw to a crawl, slow motion as adrenaline pumps through her veins and her own body draws taut like a bowstring. Death would be too kind to bestow upon him, and yet—

“I will have your h e a d!”
It is a war cry — it is her promise.

Hind limbs brace for the impact, claws digging deep into the flesh of the earth to keep her balance as he draws upon her like a ravenous beast. Eyes narrow and her skull ducks low as he aims for her eye, his fangs instead digging into the flesh and skin of her brow rather than the soft orb of her eye. Deadly tips drag against bone — so little protection on the face — but she reacts immediately. She ducks further to avoid a firm grasp before violently swinging her head back up, attempting to slam the hardest part of her skull against the underside of his jaw or throat.

Simultaneously claws dig into the meat of her right shoulder and she gives it to him, responding by lifting her right forelimb and twisting her paw skywards so that she may attempt to sink ripping claws into the unprotected joint of his extended elbow.

Ludivine vs @Apollinaire
Death — I of VII

Hits

Rolling 6d20: 6 + 19 + 10 + 13 + 15 + 20

Dodges

Rolling 7d20: 14 + 6 + 2 + 13 + 20 + 17 + 11

Luck

Rolling 5d20: 10 + 11 + 20 + 19 + 8

Moments pass as Levana looks between Ludivine and Louve, she can feel the tension in the air, meanwhile the beast behind Louves almost vibrates with hunger, she watches as it happens, Apollonaire's paws beat against the earth as he closes the distance between him ajd the Firnen queen. Being as she was still on the neutral side of.the Bluff borders, Elaine's order barely registers in her mind, she needed to see this, she had to see how this ended.

Lucifer takes his leave with the head and she watches him for a moment, watching as Abbadon also follows him out, her head hung, tears still dropping to the red earth beneath her, Levana hated seeing that. Her eyes drifted back as Ludivine bellows out her promise, the piebald lioness feels her wrath, the electricity in the air as soon as the two clash.

She catches herself thinking that had things been different, had their paths crossed in other ways, she would admire Ludivine, she would admire the bloodthirsty and domineering personality she had. If Ryker had not fallen at the paws of Ludivine, Levana could have seen some sort of allied companionship between the two.