Further and further she braved — always with a backwards glance to see if she would be stopped. Slinking in a cub-clumsy way, practicing for the day she would be great. The skittering mouse had been too fast for her young paws, but perhaps she could find something… slower.

Louve frowned at the notion (she wanted to catch all the fast things!) but trundled on. Shadow-dark paws carried her feet from her den, where she believed her family to still be sleeping. It was dawn, barely, and she was awake and alive and determined.

A beetle draws her attention first, but she soon disregards the hard shelled creature — too slow! The rustle of foliage promises a mouse, but she barely pays it mind — too fast!

But past the bushes she hears a promising step, slow and lazy as the morning calls for. It sounds much bigger than the mouse and Louve has visions of making her family proud, grandiose ideas that would be quickly dismissed by an adult; she was a tiny cub, after all.

Louve crouches down and stumbles slinks towards the bush, pushing through until her prey is just opposite the wall of foliage. With a fierce growl she bursts from hiding and launches at the twitching creature, realizing far too late that her outstretched claws were aimed at the back legs and tail of another lion.

Oops.

louve dieudonne

And everything feels so different now

code by corvus, art by yumpy

She was content to wander the territory in an effort to familiarize herself with it. The point before dawn when everything turned blue and the world was silent. Most of them slumbered. She preferred to walk the nights into the early morning before eventually turning in.

At least it was quiet until the sound of rustling comes from just behind her. She comes to a stop, her ears flicking backwards. It hadn’t sounded very large. She had a sneaking suspicion that it also wasn’t dangerous. That was confirmed by the ferocious squeaking that came with the blur of a small shape aimed for her ankles. Said blur would be allowed to make contact with her heels while Naeina looked over her shoulder with a raised brow. The child reminded her of Theta and herself as a cubs. The sting of needle claws and teeth made her lips twitch but she was unharmed.

From there Naeina would simply seek to flop towards the cub in a mock effort to “squish”.

art & code by Zodiac

i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

Louve's sneakin' out, but not unnoticed. He peels his eyes open as soon as she's left the den, and with careful steps rises, trying to also not wake the other, and sneaks after his cloud-scored sibling. She seems to be trying to catch something -- and his sibling getting something that he doesn't draws his immediate urge to take it for himself -- and so he prowls on after her toward the bushes.

She lunges through them and he scrambles to barge in a moment or two after her, just in time to see the stranger flopping over onto her, and doesn't understand that it's playful. Something surges inside of him, a great volcanic fire bursting forth at the thought of someone hurting her -- only he's allowed to do that! He gives a high-pitched snarl and a little (pathetic-sounding) roar and charges forward without hesitation. He tries to throw himself upon the woman's collapsing side, up near her shoulders, as the much larger cub seeks to try to sink every little fang and tooth into her skin that he can, practically blinded by his own fury. He can't stop her from squishing Louve, but maybe he can make her get off of her if he's enough of a pest!

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

No matter that she had not planned to hunt a lion, Louve is pleased as punch when her needle sharp teeth latch on to flesh. With a swell of pride she latched on and attempted to shake her head, far too focused on her own attack to realize that there was a retaliation. It was too late by the time she noticed that the lion was shifting, and she promptly found herself squished between much larger bulk.

With an 'oof' of surprise she quickly released her grip and struggled for escape, muffled "lemme outta here!"'s escaping from the fur of the other. There was chaos, then, as she struggled and @Xavier burst out of nowhere, and a casual observer might feel badly for the one who had stumbled upon not one, but two Dieudonne children.

Vicious little beasties.

louve dieudonne

And everything feels so different now

code by corvus, art by yumpy

Unbeknownst to what became two little beasts is that Naeina is just as savage. She remembered how Copree dealt with her antics as a cub eager to chew and attack any unguarded body part she could reach. One of which was a move she was happy to employ upon @Xavier - the cub seemingly too absorbed in attacking the thick hide of her shoulder to perhaps notice the looming jaws of Naeina as she attempted to grab the boy with mindful teeth and a low chuckle. She would not make an attempt to move the boy, but rather hold him. The girl that had bitten her ankles had been effectively captured, Naeina poised in such a way to also hold @Louve ♔ without inflicting any hurt. She would remain this way with them both and give them an opportunity to work on escaping.

art & code by Zodiac

i

have known anger before war or walking / i have known fear before i have known love

---

He latches on to the lioness' shoulder with everything he has -- which, for a cub his age, isn't much beyond a needly sting or scratch just yet. Jaws stutter against her flesh, repeatedly closing and opening as he tries to find a grip but fails to with his small mouth. He doesn't notice her jaws swinging back to him, grasping about his upper midriff.

He hears Louve shouting, muffled, and with his heart thundering in his chest, he wriggles madly in her grasp. His back legs curl up against his belly as he tries to kick his small but sharp needle back claws into her lower lip, trying to get to the sharpest spot he can reach. His grip releases on her shoulder as he wriggles to try to clutch at her head, trying to cling to the side of her face with a vicious growl.

"Je te sauverai!" (I'll save you!) he declares heatedly, deciding that he's now fighting for both of their lives against a vicious enemy!

Art by Rabbit, table by cala

For a whole two seconds she pouted about her predicament, pressed beneath the larger female, but it wasn't long before she was back to full on attack mode.

Louve abruptly kicked up a fuss, claws and teeth and limbs moving as much as they could in her position. She had enough room to breathe - which was the first indication that she wasn't really under attack - and so she let out all of her air to give herself a little extra room to wiggle. This would prove to be enough as she managed to squirm forward to the point that only her back end was trapped. With her front legs free she sought to utilize those claws again, noticing that @Naeina had @Xavier trapped too!

"laisse le partir!" (let him go) Shouted between growls and hisses as she fought to free herself the rest of the way.

louve dieudonne

And everything feels so different now

code by corvus, art by yumpy