She waits.

For... something. Anything. anything to prove that the matriarch is putting effort to mend the splinter fracturing the family tree. And yet, it does not come. No meetings, no lessons-- just typical queenly duties. it stings, but ot makes her realize: Maybe the role of a queen ( on top of being the singular matriarch ) was too demanding-- perhaps it proved too much for her maman. perhaps, then, lazare should be the dutiful daughter and help her shoulder that weight. Lessen louve's responsibilities so that the matriarch can focus on the family, rather than the pride.

As it should be.

This idea was... not wholly her own. non, She'd seen it before, when louve had tried to wrestle the crown from her own mother. Maybe it would be easier, simpler, to call for the heiress role that had sat pitifully empty for so long. To help shoulder the burden rather than wrench it from a white-knuckled grasp. But... that would only be a temporary fix. It would help the immediate issue, oui, but it would not mend the crux of the matter. There is only one way to do that.

And so, she decides.

There is no spite in her heart as she meanders towards the center of the bluffs, nor any anger. She has long accepted that her place in the family was fraught and has long lived with the idea burrowed deep under her skin. It was only now that she thinks to do something about it-- something that the others would never bother with doing. Lazare had told louve that she wanted to learn-- and still does. That is why she was here; that is why she was still here. Why she was doing this. Better it come from her than another, again.

When the challenge comes, it comes from a mouth filled with teeth and teeth and love.

( lazare dieudonne doubts the others will see it the same way she does. But she is so, so tired of waiting for their eyes to open. The dieudonne were always meant for more, and if this was the only way to wake them up....

Well.

What other option was there? )

She waits, no more.


lazare vs. @Louve
For wolfbron bluffs
0 / 5

Well, this was unexpected. Amara had ruled for far longer before Louve had challenged for control of the pride. Amara had wondered which of the younger generation was going to be the ones to test things, turns out it was the quietest of them all. Amara wasn't really sure where she stood with her granddaughter, her fault? Maybe but she had pulled back a lot after things but as she pads into the space for the fight to happen, she is the first. She looks @Lazare over before asking a simple question to help her understand. Pourquoi? why? Why now? Why only the pride and not the family? Amara knew the challenge of one and knew the challenge of both often folded the one wore them. She had seen it before, many times, and not just within their own family. She settled into a seated position, if this was the fight that was wanted, it would happen._{BG — ART — CODE}

((No tresspassing))

Zahra should not be out here at this state, but she didnt want to use her pregnancy as an excuse to laze around. She still wanted to have eyes on important events suchs as this one. Not wanting any troubles, she was coming with the intentions of being as cautious as possible and making sure not to anger anyone here. her relations were too well but it hasnt gone any worse. would that be a good thing? Besides she was here just to watch. And as such the woman with a mildly swollen belly lied down outside of the borders, hoping to watch the fight. And do so respectfully.

code by scorpixia♡︎ - Icon by CatAndCrowCreations

      
"Hey,"

She did not expect a challenge to ring out in the bluffs. At first, she had thought it came from the Oasis…but no… It was the bluffs. Someone calling for Louve’s crown. Someone familiar, but she could not place the roar as she stopped in her tracks and then turned to head back the way she had came, back towards the hot lands, towards the bluffs and the Oasis.

It did not take long for Zinnia to realize that the sound came from the bluffs as she got closer. Again, she was confused. The challenger sounded familiar to her…but she did not know anyone with a death wish…not anymore anyway. So who could it be? Jaws tightened on the bundle of herbs, lavender poking out of one corner. She wasn’t sure why she brought it, Louve had her own healers. Louve did not need her herbs. Zinnia certainly wasn’t going to make a bold statement by healing whoever sought to steal her crown (especially in front of her).

When Zinnia arrived, she was even more confused, there was no one at the border. They had called from within the borders… She hesitated. Now what? From her understanding, you weren’t supposed to cross borders…but many did during challenges without injury. Perhaps during challenges prides were more tolerant…she didn’t see why though.

When another arrived and lay down at the border, she frowned, looking from her to deeper into the territory, head bobbing as if she were trying to see. "I’m going to get closer." She would say around the mouthful of rabbit fur and then she took a breath and crossed the invisible- but clearly defined- border so that she could get closer to the fight. Only two were there with one clearly being the challenger. She dropped the pouch as she came to a sudden stop. Her brow furrowed. "You?" She asked, shocked that Louve’s own daughter would try to steal the crown.

She glanced to the elderly lioness and nodded respectfully to her. "I brought herbs…for the Queen." She offered her herbs as an explanation for her trespassing. They weren’t great herbs, but they helped. They helped Reti feel better.



Medic
+5 Attend a spar or challenge to assess the wounds

my venom went and turned to rage

code x art

black hole sun, won't you come

Gwynevere didn't expect something like this. A challenge for the throne, but from one of Wolfbron's members. Honestly, she wasn't one to judge. Gwynevere craved a crown of her own, but she would never challenge for the kingdom built of rocks and blood. No. She had found allies for herself, much like how Genesis had found herself a group of friends.

The dark lioness moved through the territory and sat down upon her haunches. She did not sit front and center. That felt... Rude. No. She was merely here to spectate so she would be in the know if there was a shift in leadership.

She did not dare say a word. She would keep herself in the background, watching with mismatched eyes.
― ★ ―
July Y13 | 2 y/o | Wolfbron Bluffs Lioness | at Wolfbron Bluffs

and wash away the rain

code x art

He had already avoided the borderlands, the claiming ground where the lesser prides mingled and tried to sink their claws into those who first stepped into these lands. He knew where he was going, or at least the name of the pride. It was easy enough to follow the description that had been given to him by his mother. Then, it was made even easier as he heard a call ring out, a demanding feminine voice that he could only assume belonged to someone in the family.

So he ascended the Bluffs, finding the border and the familiar scent of those whose blood flowed through his veins. He wasn't, technically, part of the pride, and so courtesy dictated he not step over the border, but he couldn't see from where he was, and so he crossed it anyway. He didn't go so far as to join the family that was gathering, however, instead stopping just as soon as he could see the woman standing in the arena and those gathering around to watch. Yes, this seemed a safe enough vantage point. Still, he chuffed to announce his presence, blood calling to blood, his double sets of ears pressed forward intently to hear what was going on.

I can but bow obedient to her will

code by corvus

For some time, he'd been more withdrawn from the daily life of the pride. It was becoming harder with each passing day to deny that his health was steadily fading. Without a dedicated team of servants to do the trapping, hunting for himself had proven more difficult than he'd hoped. But hers was a voice he did not expect to hear in such a context, and it drew him from the depths of his darkened den, into the growing light of dawn. Without the cloak of shadows to cover him, his emaciated appearance would be embarrassingly apparent.

It was slow progress, fatigue crept into his limbs more readily these days, but he would arrive in his own time. He would choose his favored spot, a rocky perch that allowed him to observe from slightly above. Though, instead of seating himself like some pale gargoyle, he would lay himself down. "Bonne chance, ma petite goule." Good luck, my little ghoul.

Would Louve show her own daughter mercy? Would Lazare follow through with a victory? So many 'what ifs' that hardly mattered until the dust settled.

---

Lead Advisor Perk: +1 luck to all pride-mates when fighting on their pride territory

code by daanyen || art by rabbit

Maddened, he had once chewed at the bony railing of his cage—

But no more.

Now, where @Lazare walks, so does he.

Rabid in life, he is rabid in death, but a madness no longer led by insatiable hunger is easier to control. After all, what destruction could a rabid hound create when he lacks the mortal body?

It is strangely freeing. His world is still warped in dulled hues of red, in grotesque and twisted shapes, and yet he can make out her voice as it rises above the chaos of his afterlife. He is awaken from the slumber from the first time since his death, and like in life a woman pulls his chain but this time he gets to decide if he goes.

And he does.

He appears only for her eyes to see. Was it not only proper? To take control in his own way again. To seize the power he had longed to seize when he'd lunged for Ludivine's throat. Disobedience! Oh, how dare he? How dare he break the chain again? What a bad, bad dog! He grins from ear to ear when the specter of his body materializes to stand beside @Lazare. "Ma colombe," "My dove," he coos in her ear, sweet as honey. "Mon chéri." My sweetling.

He regrets the day he ever thought of @Lazare as less ambitious than her sisters. Evidently, she was anything but.

@Amara's voice cuts like knives through the air. Was that betrayal, he could hear nestled within it? Alive. She was alive, yet her so-called crimes were not any different than his, were they not? His laughter is long as maddened at the absurdity of this outcome, at the shock in her voice. In the end, they were split and torn apart.

There will be no bringing them back together and he was not sure if he should laugh or cry.

He finally wipes the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Elle ne comprend plus." She does not understand again. Oh! When ever will she? Dieudonne blood did not run through Amara's veins, but she has been here for a long, long time. She should know by now that Dieudonne women are tested constantly - especially by their own kin. "Le chemin que vous tracez doit être le vôtre." "The path you carve must be your own." No matter who she must take down in the process. After all, how else would the Dieudonne progress?

"ooc:" he is visible only to laz at this moment <3

ooc: will edit this to be pretty later! he is speaking French!

“What happened to providing a united front little beast?” the voice drawled smoothly from his vocal cords, a rumble of masculinity and calm. Tripfire had arrived to stand beside Amara or rather close to her, while he observed @Lazare with a curious look in his yellow eyes. Yes they were progressing, perhaps slowly, but with the chaos that had enveloped the summit and the Lagoon, maybe it was ok to progress without notice? And hadn’t they just been through a Dieudonne disagreement? Quietly he looked around them, curious if those half breeds would show. The trouble makers of a weaker branch. “you are prepared to lead us through hell?” he asked of Lazare, he didn’t know this cousin as well as he did Louve and Elaine. The red lion reclined into a seated position to observe those who entered to watch, muttering to @Amara only, “I will patrol should the battle commence…” he wanted to sneak off once the woman began their fight, to ensure no one was sneaking around their lands.

the summons comes from within the blood, she knows the scent that lingers in the land though she has never spoken to the female that she can recall. she approaches, the crowd beginning to grow as she looks for her mother's face among them. louve has not arrived yet, but Rosalie had been closer perhaps to the summons. she stares, instead at the female who challenges for the crown of the queen. a female that she knows is somehow her sibling, though she is older. she looks like their mother and father, though her memories of appollionaire are hazy at best. she recognizes the female from one or two of the family gatherings, but she has never spoken to her- never placed a name to her face.

what did it mean, for a sister -- a daughter of her mother, to challenge for the throne? was it simply the way of things? rosalie creeps up in the shadows, hanging back to stay in the hidden shadows- to watch and gather information. to observe.

ART BY Rabbit, CODE BY LARS