#vashkartzen

[lioneage-stranger]

MY POOR SWEET BABY!!! If an animal ever looks at me like that irl people will unalive.

[jesterden]

Lore Post - Reaper

Vashkartzen’s first ever Championships win! Also the reveal of his battle “alter ego”. Vashkartzen is an adolescent in this, and V’kai is a young cub, probably just recently weaned.

I know we made the decision to kill Vashti off but I missed writing her already and she’s only been gone for like. Two posts. So there’s a lot more Vashti than Viskar in this one.

He stands at the entrance of the field, before looking back to his mother. “Mom, are you sure?”

Vashti’s prideful smile is almost easy to miss as she keeps her younger son in place with a large paw. “I’m positive,” She grins, “Remember, there’s no shame in losing. You’ve made it to the finals, but don’t take it hard if you lose now.”

Her eldest scoffs. “Like you’ve ever lost a fight. Remember, you’re the Undefeated Valkyrie.” It’s easy to take the sarcasm to heart, but instead, Vashti’s smile grows wider.

“Maybe so,” She whispers, “But you are not me. You, Vashkartzen, are not bound to the legend of the Undefeated Valkyrie. You get to create your own.”

With that, Viskar rounds the corner, staring at his family with pride. “Vati, we need to go get our seats. They said it’s about to start.”

She nods, but her eyes spot a flyaway gift of hair in her son’s mane. She releases V’kai just long enough for Viskar to pick him up by the scruff, keeping the cub from running off and terrorizing anyone else other than his parents. Her tongue goes over her son’s forehead, and instead of fighting, he chirps happily, going in for a nuzzle against his mother.

“Go get them, cubbin.” Her voice is so soft that it almost brings tears to Viskar’s eyes. They turn around, slumping off to find the area that they had reserved with a handsome sum of beetles. It leaves Vashkartzen utterly alone, and he takes a deep breath, before turning his eyes to the paint his mother had gotten him.

The fight goes by in a blur. Vashkartzen remembers claws in his side, some new scars, but he manages to close his jaws around the opponent's neck, signaling the end of the match. He releases when he hears the familiar blow of a whistle, one he grew up hearing. The lioness referee stands beside him, roaring to quiet the crowd, but then, she shakes her mane out of her face, and grins wildly. “The winner is Vashkartzen, the Reaper!”

Reaper, he thinks, it has a nice ring to it. He can hear his mother’s cheers, her usually stoic façade broken into a million pieces by her pride. His father is shouting too, tears in his eyes at his baby boy’s first real Championships victory. And of course, V’kai sat between their parents, an awestruck expression on his face, complete with his mouth gaping open.

“Have any words you’d like to say?” The referee asks, and the crowd goes quiet again.

Vashkartzen looks up, meeting his mother’s eyes. “I want to thank my family,” He speaks, “I couldn’t have done this without them. I… I love you guys.”

He half expects his parents to charge into the field, but Vashti simply looks at him with a warm smile, and gently mouths her reply.

“We love you too.”

[hugepolecat3298]

Lioden ask game

I don’t think anyone’s done this before, so have fun. Feel free to reblog, or you can ask me any of these questions ;D

Laharu: What’s your favorite food?

Wenet: What pisses you off the most?

V’kai: Have your older siblings ever pushed you around? If so, share a story.

Vashkartzen: How well would you do in a fight?

Anubis: Have you ever lost a loved one?

Bast: If your friends were kidnapped, how far would you go to save them?

Seth: What’s your favorite kind of dog?

Apollyon: How defined is your chin?

Apedemak: How well can you control your temper?

Menhit: What was your relationship with your parents?

Tefnut: Do people look up to you?

The Harbinger: Do you see yourself as a failure?

Nirah: Do you like choosing sides?

Aitar: How excitable are you?

that one hell monster guy that doesn’t tell you his name: How much does it take for you to trust anyone?

B O N U S R O U N D ! ! !

Murphy: How much would it take to make you snap and hurt something?

Jelly Roll, the rollover cub: Do you look fake when upside-down?

Tell me if I missed any important NPCs, and I’ll add them!

[jesterden]

Lore Post - Brotherly Love

No image this time, similar to Vashti’s death b/c there isn’t really an image I could imagine putting with this. Also no cut. This is Vashkartzen drinking loving his brothers juice (aka saving their dumbasses).

————

The trading center was a place the family didn’t go to often. However, hunting had been hard recently, so that left the family on the hunt for lions selling food.

Or, well, Viskar and Vashkartzen were. He had given the younger two, V’kai and Varn, a pawful each of silver beetles, and strictly told them to stay out of trouble while they entertained themselves.

“What do you want to get, Varn?” V’kai’s smile was contagious as his little brother trotted beside him, his bag of silver beetles hanging from his middle.

The young cub looked up. “I want a skull!” With that excitement, he then proceeded to trip over a nearby tail, falling forward in a way that would have been funny, had it not been for the paw that kicked him to the side afterwards.

“Hey!” The lion paid V’kai no attention, even as Varn began to cry in the dirt. “I’m talking to you, douchebag!”

Now, the lion stopped. He didn’t speak, however, so V’kai continued his barrage. “What kind of numbnut kicks a little cub? He’s only eight months old, you stupid prick!”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” The lion growled, turning around and revealing a heavily scarred face, and an almost sadistic grin. “What’s your name?” He took a heavy step closer, lowering his head to stare.

V’kai slowly backed up, pulling Varn along with a paw. The cub was still sniffling, but V’kai set his jaw and tried to look as intimidating as he could. “My name doesn’t matter, because I’ll beat you so hard you’ll forget it anyway!”

Varn also stood his ground. “You’re a butt face!”

The lion across from him chuckled, and V’kai’s blood turned to ice. “I’m not going to waste my time with something like you.” Relief flooded through the adolescents doubloon lion, but then-

“Deal with them.”

Two snarling lionesses came from the crowd around them, and V’kai quickly snatched Varn in his mouth, tearing through the plaza that made up the trading center.

Maybe, this was how he died. V’kai’s kings were screaming as he kept running, now a worrying distance away from the trading center. The lionesses kept nipping at his tail, until one of them actually managed to sink her teeth into it, pulling him to a harsh stop and causing Varn to fall out of his mouth. The cub squeaked as he hit the ground, rolling to a stop in the dirt, and lionesses surrounded V’kai-

A loud roar interrupted his thoughts, as a dark ginger blur tore through the air and tackled the lioness currently on top of V’kai. It growled loudly, and judging by the sounds, it wasn’t fighting for fun. It turned around to the other, snarling and smacking her harshly, the sound of torn fur and skin filling the air. The lionesses had tried to fight back, but there wasn’t much of a chance to begin with. By the time V’kai collected himself, they were taking shallow, final breaths on the ground.

He looked up to his savior, and his jaw fell slack. “Vash?”

“How do you always get into situations like this, V’kai?” Vashkartzen’s voice was a low growl, but it broke towards the end as he looked at his little brother, with all the small scratches and bruises. He shook his head. “Nevermind. Are you two alright?”

Two? Oh, right, Varn. V’kai remembered the cub as he toddled over, rubbing himself against Vashkartzen’s leg. “That was awesome!” Varn sounded incredibly happy to witness a fight like that. For once, V’kai was speechless as Varn continued talking. “You were like ROAAAAARRRR and they were like AAAAAHHHH and you beat them up!”

Instead of a scolding, Vashkartzen simply laughed. “Yeah… yeah I did.” He pulled his brothers close, nuzzling into V’kai’s fur and forcing Varn between them.

V’kai put his head over Vashkartzen’s, closing his eyes and huffing. “Thanks, bro.”

“You’re welcome,” He whispered, “Bro.”

[jesterden]

Lore Post - Moving On

This deals with the family trying to move on from Vashti’s death. Takes place before Rosalind is adopted, but after V’kai and Ashvin become ‘mates’ (marriage for lions). Viskar is attempting to move on from Vashti’s death, but one of his son’s just can’t accept that.

TW: Discussion of Death

“This is a joke,” Vashkartzen growls, glaring down his father. Despite the primal’s height advantage, the merciless stare was enough to bring tears to Viskar’s eyes. “You’re joking, right? There’s- that… that no-name will never be a part of this family.”

V’kai clears his throat, and Vashkartzen’s eyes snap to him, like V’kai was his prey. “He’s allowed to move on. Mom’s not coming back from the dead, Vash.”

Vashkartzen shakes his head. “So what, we’re just supposed to forget her? Play a happy family with some random stranger dad brings home?”

It’s Varn who speaks up next. “He’s not some random stranger! He knew Mom, just like-”

“What? You’re going to say just like you did?” Vashkartzen’s tone is filled with malice, and even if he doesn’t mean it, it sends a shiver down Varn’s spine. 

“Vashkartzen, enough-” Viskar tries to interrupt the argument, moving forward to his sons.

“I was the only one who was there! I was the only one, out of all of us, who cared enough to be there for her while she fucking died!” The shout echoes off the walls of their cave, and Vashkartzen turns to his father. “You couldn’t even look at her! And now you just run off with her old battle buddy? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“He’s allowed to be happy!” V’kai forces himself between his brother and father, advancing on Vashkartzen. “Just like you are!”

Those eyes look down at V’kai, revealing that behind all the anger, there’s a deep, deep sadness. “Like you know about being happy. You go off and play pretend with a sideshow freak of a King, do you pity him, or are you just that messed up?”

There’s a moment of silence, and then, a growl comes from V’kai’s throat. “If you ever talk about Ashvin like that again-”

“You’ll what? Kill me? Do it, then! Because apparently, I’m the only one who still wants to remember mom!” He’s not even trying to hide the tears anymore. “You walked out on us! Mom died and you went and ruled a whole fucking pride!”

Varn steps in, looking up at his eldest brother, and then to V’kai, who looks like he’s genuinely about to pounce on Vashkartzen. “He’s still hurting, V’kai.”

“Does he think he’s special? I’m hurting too!”

“She was important to him!”

“She was important to all of us, she was our own damned Mom!”

“She wouldn’t want us fighting!”

That’s all it takes. Vashkartzen knocks Varn to the side, glaring down at the youngest. “How would you know what she wants? You didn’t even know her!”

Viskar narrows his eyes. “He’s trying to defend you, son!”

“No, he’s not! He only cares about his own damn self, just like the rest of you! None of you care about how I feel, about how she would feel! Everyone’s ready to move on and pack up all of her memories, but I’m not! And I’m not letting some man who walked out on her take her place! Even Dad wants to forget her!”

There are no words. But even if there were, none of the lions there would know how to say them. Vashkartzen throws the cloth they had put over a rock to the side, knocking over all the food that once rested there. V’kai speaks first. “Vash-”

“I’m done. I don’t want to hear this. Not anymore.”

“She’d be happy,” Varn whispers, and Vashkartzen grits his teeth, before stomping on the ground.

“I said I don’t want to hear it!”

“Vashkartzen, look at me.” Even though he’s not a cub, even though nothing requires him to listen to Viskar anymore, he turns around. “We’re not trying to forget her. But dwelling on how bad it feels, it’ll hurt more than moving on. You don’t have to forget her to move on.”

“She-”

“She’s gone, yes, but her memories aren’t. She loves you. I love you.” Viskar is staring into his son’s eyes, lowering his head, a sign of submission. “More than anything.” Vashkartzen wants to look away, but he just keeps staring. “I know you’re hurting. I shouldn’t have sprung this on you so quickly… but can you give this a chance? I don’t want you to think I’m forgetting her, because I miss her everyday she’s not here.”

The silence hangs heavy, and then, Vashkartzen starts crying. Harder than he was before, his entire frame shaking from the force of his sobs. Viskar quickly wraps his legs around his son, forcing the lion into his mane, and V’kai looks to Varn, before walking closer, nuzzling into the scene. Varn follows, swallowing the lump in his throat, but not caring to wipe away the tears in his eyes.