umm.. I'm going to pretend I was not absent for almost two years..anyways
im gonna start being more active here again this year! in a little bit ill be posting a chapter from a wip that's been sitting in my drafts for a while ( and hopefully come up with a posting schedule for it) but ssrleona will prevail!
since my ask box is kinda flooded rn, I went ahead and deleted everything completely. if you would like to resubmit an ask or request, feel free! (but pls read the rules)
warnings: slight angst, allusions to childhood mistreatment
word count: 1.5k
s: at your insistence, you finally visit the afterglow savannah and meet Leona's family
a/n: this was written before the tamashna muina event released. and since I haven't read the trans yet, how I describe the savannah and its culture may not be the same as it was described in game. I'm East African, and since the lion king was essentially a mishmash of East African culture (mostly Kenya, Ethiopia, and for some reason some stuff from W. Africa), most of what I describe comes from my own cultural background + light research. enjoy!
It starts with a letter.
It’s not unusual for Night Raven College to be overrun by its unruly student body, but the coming summer holiday brings a new level of restlessness that hums through the walls. Hasty stops at the school store, last minute assignments, bittersweet goodbyes. Even the faculty seem on edge and ready to end the semester.
Ruggie all but collapses at your feet when he spots you in the hall of mirrors, heaving a woven basket twice his size. It’s filled to the brim with an assortment of different packages; mailers, bags, miniature boxes wrapped in newspaper clippings and assorted wrapping paper. A neat ivory envelope tied with a golden ribbon at the very top.
He gives it to you. “Could you hand this off to Leona? I have enough on my plate as it is.”
“Is it usually this bad?” You ask, eyeing the precarious stack that’s leaning just a little too close to the floor. You turn the envelope in your hands. The words on the front are written in a script you can’t make out, only recognizing ‘Leona Kingscholar’ in the far left corner. It’s bulky, like someone crammed multiple letters inside, but doesn’t take away the luxurious quality of the paper. It’s silk between your fingertips.
“It’s from his family, so I doubt he’d read it anyways,” Ruggie comments. He hefts the basket from the floor, “Throw it out if you want.”
His family.
Besides bitter remarks thrown in passing, Leona never speaks of them. Or his home. What you’re holding in your hands is the only piece of the other Kingscholar’s you’ve ever gotten so close to. The letter is tucked away before you give the suggestion a second thought.
“You came all this way, I might as well.”
“You just wanna read it, huh?”
“And you wouldn’t?”
Ruggie laughs at that, turning to the door with a shake of his head. “There’s a reason curiosity killed the cat. Something’s I’d rather not know.”
Warm arms circle your waist as you enter the room, dragging you backwards until you hit the plushness of his sheets. He’s practically on top of you. Flush against him, back to chest. His head finds its way to the crook of your neck and you can feel the sigh he releases on the wisps of your hair. The softness of his tail curling around your ankle.
Leona’s tone is scalding, but the delicate possessiveness of his actions tell you otherwise.
You turn your head. Heavy olive irises sharpen as you place the letter between the both of you. “I got caught up.”
Groaning, he’s quick to toss it on the nightstand before burrowing himself further into your neck. With you two so close, sheets ballooned around you, a drowsy warmth fills you. It’s hard not to fall into it.
“That’s the last thing I need right now.” He huffs.
You raise a brow. “You haven’t even read it.”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s the same old shtick. Naggin’ me to come for break.”
He sighs. “If it was up to me I’d just stay here.”
“Aw, you’d miss me that much?” You tease, yelping as he pinches your side. The laugh pulled from his lips ease into a yawn.
“In your dreams.” Leona exhales. His breath evens out, warm against the shell of your ear as he’s lulled into sleep.
And that was that.
In your position on the bed, you have a perfect view of the nightstand, eyes catching the glimmer of gold ribbon in the dim light.
Coming to Twisted Wonderland, you’ve constantly been thrusted into the most asinine of situations all while being told to keep your head down and leave things where they lie.
But you're a curious sort by nature. It’s a hunger, insatiable in its pursuit to pick everything apart, examine every crack and rough edge, feel the grain against the pad of your fingers, piece by piece. You’ve disrupted the debased philosophies of Night Raven College’s elite because you’re always pushing for more, not settling for less.
This is not something you are ashamed of.
Yet, as you stare at the envelope in front of you, you can’t help but feel hesitant.
Leona is an enigma, an ever changing labyrinth. The moment you think you have him figured out, the layout changes and you’re back at square one. And it leaves you starved.
You want to know him, yearn to trace his patterns like the dips in the back of your hand; know where each curve started, why it ends, and swallow it whole to keep wherever you go.
You also know this: if you push too far Leona will close himself away and never let you see these parts of him ever again. And you’ve grown greedy.
(Something’s I’d rather not know)
You grab the envelope.
The ribbon gives easily enough, and you’re met with letter after letter, all scrawled in messy print. You realize these were written by Cheka– asking his uncle how he’s doing, when he’s coming to visit, and what he’s been up to at the palace since the last time Leona saw him. On the bottom of some of the pages were crayon drawings: portraits of his parents and scenes of Leona and him together, exploring the palace or traveling through the city.
As you sift through, a paper falls into your lap.
It’s a photograph of Cheka and who you’d assume to be his parents. The man in the photo is laughing, light smile lines gracing his face. Cheka’s in his arms, and the woman beside them looks at the sight with fondness. The background is flooded with the country’s namesake- an assortment of orange, yellow, and pinks kaleidoscopes together in a painting of the setting sun. It looks homey, tender and inviting, and you can’t help the smile that curls around your lips.
You’d love to be there, surrounded in that warmth.
Leona’s scoff makes you jump, looking over at him, and his bleary eyes meet your stare. His expression was mostly hidden in the depth of your shoulder but he didn’t look pleased. You didn’t realize you said the words aloud, or that your movements woke him.
“Go be a comedian if you wanna start telling jokes.” He grunts. You turn yourself in his grasp to face him fully and his arms tighten their hold. His hair is mused with sleep, blanketing the pillows beneath. Your hands itch to touch it.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” You insisted. He scowls at this, tail shifting back and forth beneath the sheets. “ I want to see the Afterglow Savannah, the palace, your family. It'd be nice to know where you grew up.”
The message is quiet. You do not tell me enough.
Leona grows silent. Contemplative. He knows when you get like this, stuck on an idea that overrules your every action, close to nothing can convince you otherwise.
He told you once that’s a trait he liked about you in the best of times.
( ‘But half the time it just makes you hard headed’ he said, and snickered at your glare.)
Leona knows you well, too well. Usually this would bring a coy flush to your face, but you couldn’t help but grimace at the thought.
“I just want to know more about you.” You admit.
“You could just ask.”
“Like you’d tell me.”
He says nothing, looking through you, deep in thought. Leona doesn’t seem annoyed by your probing, but something about the furrow in his brows looks resigned. Bitter.
“There’s nothing worth seeing.” He bites out. “It’s a bunch of royals too stuck up to see past their ivory towers.”
The photo; the honest smiles and laughter.
“I’m sure there’s more than that.” You contend.
Something bubbles forth in him. A dark quality you haven't seen before. He growls deep in his throat. It’s too low for your ears to catch, but you feel it reverberate through the bed and into your chest.
“ Yeah, the stupid age old rules they hide behind–and they're sure to ostracize anyone who steps outside it.” He meets your gaze.“Birth order is the only thing that matters. If you’re not first then you’re nothing.”
The vitriol in his tone catches you off guard, and the words fall away from your mouth before you can stop yourself.
“Do you hate the Afterglow Savannah?”
Instead of the eruption of anger you expected, the brewing storm leaves him sullen.
You regret it as soon as it passed through your lips
“You really don’t let up do you?” He sighs. Leona’s voice is oddly gentle. You wait for the other shoe to drop; anger, arrogance–anything. But it never comes. His arms move you so you’re in your original position, back to chest, as if the conversation never happened. Except this time, he curls himself into you– his body hiding you away, swallowing you whole.
“Stop worrying about it.” He mumbles. “Hurry up and sleep.”
You don’t. You spend that afternoon staring at the photo, tracing over their juvenile smiles.
umm.. I'm going to pretend I was not absent for almost two years..anyways
im gonna start being more active here again this year! in a little bit ill be posting a chapter from a wip that's been sitting in my drafts for a while ( and hopefully come up with a posting schedule for it) but ssrleona will prevail!
sorry for the radio silence! I just found out that i got accepted into an internship i’ve applied too, so for the past week i’ve been prepping to practically move across the country OTL. expect some content soon!!
Heeeeey so. Not to commence e-begging, but I am commencing e-begging. Specifically I have been unemployed for a few months now and my family has had a small spat of car troubles (seriously every vehicle we own has now been to the mechanics multiple times).
As I said, I never want this place to become money driven. Im going to continue to work on the free headcanons stuff. However, any money that can be kicked my way at the moment, I would super appreciate. In exchange for which, I am offering:
-Meta post on the character of your choice. Essay a la Shark Dissection, or just going in-depth on a character beat of your choice. I can also do basic writing tips for character voice if any of you rpers will find that useful.
-Fic with the character(s) of your choice. Length and number of characters slightly variable depending on cost but feel free to dm me and we'll work out something equitable. (I am also offering NSFW for this for characters who are 18+)
-Matchups. I don't typically do matchups as I find that they can clog the feed, but I am willing to do both a matchup+short meetcute drabble at 10 bucks a pop. Obviously this will require a short bio in my askbox, hence me turning anon back on. You will however have to dm to confirm you sent money.
And hey, just to be clear: do not feel bad if you cant or even just dont want to send me money. Your support through liking and reblogging my work is more than enough and Im very grateful for all of it. I'm in a tight spot for this week but am even now working to get out of it. I just thought I'd put feelers out there.
Ko-fi account is pinned in my rules post, and if you want to work out fair rates dm me. Will be working on more of the free girlies tonight, as well as continuing to chip away at a long post Ive had planned for quite some time.
Hi!Sorry for bothering, if you're not busy can i request Leona with a shy gn reader? Reader is close with ruggie, and hangs out with him a lot, and Leona starts feeling jealous abt it. The end is Leona basically trapping reader in his room while cuddling(if u can include it) Hope it's not too much, i love your writing! Have a nice day/night^^
Thanks so much!
Leona Kingscholar:
Leona’s normally a heavy sleeper. Ruggie complains he could send every single one of Kalim’s elephants through his room and it wouldn’t make him do much more than turn over. Moreover, he had a talent for passing out quickly, in the unlikeliest of positions. Sleeping was an all-times, all-places sorts of activity.
Which is why he really had no idea how to fake it other than pressing his face into the pillows and try to keep his ears and tail from twitching too much.
You weren’t making it easy.
“Gaaaah, it’s too much.” You complained, for the fifth time in the past ten minutes. “I’ll never get this all done in time, especially not with all the other assignments Crewel has us doing.”
Ruggie heaved a long-suffering sigh, rolling onto his back and twirling his magic pen between his fingers. “So just ask him for an extension then.”
Annoying. So annoying. Why had he agreed to this again?
You and his right hand were currently occupying a good two thirds of his floor, papers and textbooks spread out as far as the eye could see. Impromptu study session. Normally Ruggie went over to Ramshackle for these. Some kind of accident with that damned furball of yours had taken that option off the table though, and now you were both here. Occupying his precious free time with your chitchat.
For the life of him he could not remember why he’d let you in here in the first place. You two could easily study in the lounge area, or Ruggie’s room if you were so jumpy around large groups. The hyena had done some fast talking about the open air being good for developing minds, and he’d relented just to get himself a few seconds of peace.
So he was insisting to himself, at least.
“You really think Crewel of all people is gonna give me an extension.” You said, voice laced with doubt.
“Why not?” He could hear the grin on Ruggie’s voice, even if he couldn’t see it. “You’re the little golden student, aren’t’cha?”
“I’m not that special-”
“But compared to the rest of us ruffians, a practical saint.”
“-and besides.” You insisted, a thwap and resentful ow indicating you’d punched him. “...I’d never be able to ask him.”
He can’t help himself, he snorts. A sound he has to disguise as a soft snort when your head jerks up to look at him.
“.....Are you sure we’re not bothering him?” You said, voice a couple degrees softer. His ears flicked, the murmuring sound making him feel all weird and shivery.
“He’s fine.” Ruggie said, stretching out a little more. “Takes a lot more than that to wake Leona up.”
Close call.
Still though. Characteristic herbivore. You’d lie face down in the dirt to die before you let yourself inconvenience someone in the slightest. With a spine that flimsy it was kind of a wonder you’d stuck it out this long at NRC. For a long while he’d been convinced you couldn’t talk, considering how you’d clam up whenever he so much as glanced at you.
..Aaaand who is he to talk, considering his current position.
Alright fine. You had some grit underneath the big scared eyes and the bright flush. It was part of what had attracted his notice early on. You’d bend, but never quite break, no matter what cornered you. For as much as you’d squeak and mutter you’d never quite let him have his way. Sometimes it felt like trying to catch a mouse. You’d squeak and scurry and dart every which way, but whenever he slammed a paw down you always managed to be just out of the way.
Maybe that was why he’d started letting you in a little closer. Into his room, his dorm, even putting in a little more patience to talk to you than he would with most people. As gratifying as teasing you could be....you were interesting when you finally did speak your mind. And beyond that he didn’t really want you getting all quiet when he came around. Your voice wasn’t unpleasant, and despite your apparent reservations you did at least enjoy his company enough to come when he asked.
Were you involved? Not exactly. Enough for him to feel weird and tight at the thought of being replaced in your hierarchy of importance, and yet not enough to actually voice those concerns.
Bringing you to your current predicament.
This was all so damn stupid of him. At any moment now, he could “wake up” and actually participate in the conversation. Or better yet, kick you both out altogether and get some privacy back. Like he’d planned to do when Ruggie brought you both in here just as he was bedding down.
So what was stopping him?
....You were different.
With Ruggie. You weren’t just that squeaky little mouse running around underfoot. It made sense from a logical perspective, he knew the two of you were close. But knowing wasn’t the same thing as seeing (er, well. Hearing.)
You laughed, more readily and easily. You still weren’t chatty but you didn’t just mutter and mumble until he went away. Something about him seemed to set you at ease.
Why was that thought clawing up his insides so bad that he’d rather fake sleep than break it up?
...Whatever. Better to ignore it and hope he actually did pass out soon...
Then again, when was his luck ever that good.
The two of you continued to work, bantering lightly over the history textbook and gossiping away when a distant, echoing bellring from below made both of you fall silent. Ruggie cursed, closing up textbooks in a whirlwind and stumbling to his feet.
“Can’t believe I forgot.” He muttered, pulling on his shoes in a hurry. “We have a dorm check-in for Spelldrive practices.”
Right. That. He’d forgotten too, if he ever knew. These meetings ran together in his head, and endless litany of tracking progress with a couple dozen of the meathead first years who wouldn’t take the advice anyways. Not until they were properly humbled on the field, and started to think their elders might have a point or two about the game.
“Should I go, then...?” You said, half rising to your feet.
“Nah, give me thirty.” He continued gathering up items as he went, scampering for the door. “You wanna do me a favor though, see if you can wake him up? We don’t really need him for this but it’d do something for morale if the housewarden’d show up to at least one of these things.”
It takes everything in him not to growl audibly.
“Wait, but I-” The door closes behind him. Silence echoes through the entire room.
Alone at last.
He bites back a sigh, nudging his head deeper into the pillow. A moment later he feels a hand nudging his shoulder. Tentative. Like you were scared he’d bite or something.
“Leona....?”
He bit hard on the inside of his cheek.
Why were you so easy with Ruggie? He knew you liked him, could tell it plain as day from the way you stumbled over your words, the sidelong glances you thought he’d didn’t notice. So why did it feel like he had to work twice as hard to get you to relax around him.
“Leona, there’s a meeting...”
....Its a day for bad impulse decisions.
A hand shoots out to wrap around your wrist, pulling you headfirst into the mattress. All you can see is a tumble of leather and the sheets and suddenly there’s a weight pressing down on your back, pinning you effectively to the bed.
“L-Leona-!” You yelp, squirming a bit to get loose of him, and he’s reminded again of that mouse. He shifts his arm to wrap around your waist, drawing you back into him and feeling a low triumphant thrill in his stomach as he feels your heart beat a little faster.
“Kinda feel like you owe me some naptime, herbivore.” He mumbles, tucking his face against your head and closing his eyes. “About two hours of it, by my count.”
“Y-you were awake?” You’re not pulling against him, but you seem to shrink almost. Curling up in his grip a little as you struggled to comprehend what was happening. He’s got you pinned so you can’t see his face, can’t read his expression.
“Mmmhm.” You were warm, at least, and soft like always. Wasn’t the first time he’d had you like this, but more prior experiences had been almost accidental. He tried to focus on that, rather than the clear difference, as he nestled deeper into the cushioning. “So pipe down, and be a good pillow, alright?
“It’s the least you can do...”
He’s half expecting you to jerk away. Tell him off, or plead to be let off the hook. Or anything.
Anything but go still. Anything, but eventually speak in an even tone.
“....Ok.”
You shift a bit more, squirming a bit to get comfortable. One hand reaches down to tug the blanket over you.
He’s not one to turn down the opportunities he’s offered. However unexpected. Both his arms twine around your waist now, and he finally, FINALLY, manages to drift off.
Ruggie takes a lot longer than he expects. Which is just fine by Leona’s book.
Let his right hand keep you chatty as much as he wants. In this one area alone...its nice to know he can make you be just a little bit bolder.
Absolutely!! I agree with everything you said! And your note about Leona not being good at flirting is really making me think. I always went along with the fact that he'd be so smug with his honeyed words but now all I can think about is Leona trying to be smooth with his words in the beginning of the relationship only to mess it up which makes his s/o laugh. He may feel embarrassed but he's too busy relishing in his s/o's laughter to care.
(Also can I be zenith anon?)
If anything, I think he'd just be blunt lol. it's easier ( and less embarrassing) to just plainly state his intentions instead of beating around the bush. he's the type to come up to you and be like 'we're taking a nap now 'be available on x day we're going on a date.' and at any sign you're adverse he'll just plainly ask if you don't like it. I dont see him as one for honeyed language either! anything remotely supposed to be lovey-dovey from him just sounds way too serious...like he's a soldier leaving his wife for war and not a 20 yr old prince who just woke up from a 73 hr nap and is about to take another one
Leona is smug and arrogant by nature and is ofc prone to banter but! think of his pride! he won't just openly flirt he has zero experience. u point and laugh when he tries and he attempts to bite ur finger off. instead he puts the weight on you-- oh you want to hold hands? talk abt needy. you're gonna kiss me?? talk abt forward, we are in public....trick ass lion
Hi! Just wanted to say thank you for sharing your writing with us! I absolutely adore the way you write Leona, he would totally be head over heels for his s/o. I can't wait to see what else you have in store :3 I hope you have a great day!
YES! if you look at the cards featuring leona, he's helping out ( willingly or unwillingly) those that he cares abt. Ruggie's ssr is probably the best example of this. plus, for him to have an upbringing where he's not appreciated for who he is and is always thrown to the wayside for his brother...only to do the same thing for his s/o?? the person he's supposed to love?? make it make sense people 💀
he may be an asshole and pretty hellbent on portraying himself as someone who never cares, but the only reason he does this is because he's someone who cares so much , and that amount of care and detail would be placed in his romantic relationships as well
and of course!!! the only way for the lion bastard to leave my head is if i write abt him, and im always happy to share 👍🏽
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