#also lilia in captivity but maybe somewhere like a bat sanctuary

[merakiui]

Last Octavinelle post made me think of Leona being able to smell when you’re ovulating and taking that as a free pass to mate 👀

Omg yes. orz imagine Leona in captivity and you're the one who brings him his meals and cleans his enclosure. You're the only one he doesn't lash out or growl at, so the task of caring for him has been entrusted to you because no one else is able to take one step into Leona's enclosure without being chased out with his intimidating presence and low, threatening growls.

No one tells you he's in rut, but then they couldn't have known because Leona keeps to himself most days (often sleeping in a spot where the view of the cameras can't quite reach him). So when you step into his enclosure as you do every day, you expect to find him napping in his usual place. But he's wide awake, staring at you from across the enclosure, his pupils blown so wide and his nostrils flaring curiously. You don't realize that because you're menstruating the scent of blood clings thickly to you, which Leona can smell so clearly with his heightened senses. And it doesn't help that he's in rut, too, so it really is an appealing smell to him. You smell so fertile. <3 naturally he will be overcome with the instinctual desire to mate.

One of the behaviors in lion courtship is that the male will patiently follow the female, so Leona will trail behind you so slowly, so patiently, waiting for you to pick up on his subtle gestures. Human courtship is so foreign to him, but despite that, in the midst of his rut, he's certain that since you came into his territory with such an appealing scent and looking so perfect in his eyes it must mean you want to mate.