#lion🦁

[hoofpeet]

Doing a full pivot in 2025 into dedicating this blog to Between the Lions fanart

[la-hannya]

I think the PEAKEST villain character design of this era tbh is "What if Aslan was Lucifer/Satan" aka The Winged Lion

ᛗᚴ ᚺᚣᛗᛊ ᛨᛢ ƂᏌᛊᏒ

[bunnwich]

HELLO! Do you have a summary of how you portray Leona's personality in your stories? I'm a big fan of your Leona and Yuu stories and I've read them multiple times www /gen I always feel like you just nail how he would act and say things and you inspire me to work on my own fics and get better at writing scenarios with him. Than you in advance ily🙏 🦉anon

How I Portray Leona in General and in Romance

HI ANON! So I've gotten this question a few times and someone in my discord asked me basically the same thing so I'll share with you what I wrote a few months ago about Leona and the general way I write him. (it's quite funny bc a lot of these things come up in Chapter 7 when we see his dream. I AM CURSED WITH APOLLOS'S GIFT OF PROPHECY WITH THIS MAN ISTG)

I hope this is helpful?? I would like to point out that the way I write Leona is fully based on my biases and life experiences. And that a big part of fandom is projecting what you wanna see in characters while still making them feel like the same character we know in canon, yk? Good luck with your fic writing! And thank you!! mwah mwah.💚 --

So Leona takes himself as a direct person, BUT he hides A LOT. He purposely misdirects people to get a reaction out of them. (Ex: pretending to be incompetent to anger someone) or he's playing with them. HE LOVES GAMES. Everyone is a chess piece, he has to feel in control bc that’s all he has ever had over everyone else; his wits. He’s a dickhead. He will say offensive shit to scare people off.

It’s a test to see who sticks around. He has no reservations when it comes to this. You take him as he is. And despite how some people write him he’s kinda silly? Like dad jokes. Why does he joke so much about eating people, who knows? (He says shit like Namby-pamby ffs) Why are you a 40y/o in a 20 y/o body?

I HC he purposely talks casually and gruff to distance himself from his upbringing. (I like to mix proper language and slang with him bc it feels right? Also lots of animal puns, and nicknames. HE'S CORNY AF)

In general, I don't think Leona is an entirely romantic person in canon, however in my timeline, I do HC that he, like Scar has this “want vs need problem” with connection to others. He thinks it's just praise he wants (or to be king) BUT he NEEDS TLC. What was Scar MOST jealous of at the end of the day?? Mufasa’s connections, a ✨queen✨, a family! BEING KING DID NOT MAKE SCAR HAPPY!! He needs to be needed and in Chapter 2 novella, he admits he HAS to numb himself to not care. I feel like this is something he constantly battles with. Yeah, he's lazy but it's partly bc he’s tired. He’s burnt out.

On the surface, he projects 100% nonchalance. He wants you to think everything he says is just "off the cuff", but it's not. He plans everything!!! He’s a mentor, big bro, caretaker. He is not the best at comforting words but he enjoys being a leader bc people appreciate him and look up to him. Something he never got at home.

Leona and ✨Romance✨

He fools himself into thinking he has the upper hand at first and keeps his distance keeping an eye on the object of his affection. Why would you catch his eye? Well, his greatest strength is picking up on OTHER STRENGTHS. Chessmaster. He is a mentorrrr and caretaker lowkey, he wants others to NEED him and rely on him. HE WANTS YOU TO NEED HIM.

At first, he would place himself in your path, trying to be helpful in a very tsundere type way. But he would still be causal and keep ruffling your feathers to gauge how you feel for him. He guards his heart pretty heavily. And more and more he is slowly collecting info about you he would find more ways for these meetings to happen until he realizes: "Oh shit, I’ve caught feelings." This one is the winner. He’s the king of nonchalance but also...he’s a very overly sensitive person. No doubt he’s freaking out a little, he doesn't wanna screw this up. But, he’d never show it.

I do think he wants to be challenged and given some pushback (insert manga panel about "something being harder to get and therefore is better"), He wants to WORK for it, to prove himself to you that you SHOULD choose him. He wants to impress you. It makes him feel alive. A person who keeps him on his toes.

And once this ”game” of cat and mouse starts to happen. He might start to let his guard down if you are shown you can be trusted with his VERY VERY delicate feelings, that you DO accept his flaws, treat him differently than all others, and see past his gruff demeanor. It is a test of sorts. He is testing that you can “handle” him. MORE GAMES.

He’d let you set the pace though. He won't be the first to give in. To kiss you or confess first. But he would fall first HARD. He’s not been given much one-on-one attention in his life so he would crave that time with you. Physical touch is a big one, but he would not be pushy. He'd tease your boundaries and become addicted to your time together.

But yeah, this push and pull goes on for a while, all the while he’s gauging how you react to this. Memorizing it all.

He’s def one of those texters who erases their sentence like 5 times when they are nervous bc he is cookin' up the RIGHT response to endear you. (Not in a sappy way of course more in a: “I know you miss me, mouse.” snarky sorta way.) Though he can be self-deprecating on bad days. He’ll act confident, though soften up behind closed doors.

I think once he realizes that you have picked up on his simpery and there's no going back...all bets are off. He doubles down, no longer ashamed of hiding it. (Assuming at this point the person has reciprocated these feelings too!) He wants to be yours and he’s not subtle. Someone to be by his side.

Then you get the REAL simp Leona, who lowkey mumbles the sappiest shit to you in his native language when he holds you, (bc he’s still embarrassed to be vulnerable, though this will fade over time) He’ll be your biggest supporter, and wants you around him as much as you can be.

This just keeps going until you're married. Congrats you now have a lion to take care of forever.🦁 Hope this helps!✨

[wandapinkay]

Here you finally have my villagersona.. took me long enough- (even though she's just my truesona in the Animal Crossing universe but shh-) Now I can finally draw sappy scenarios with my husbies LETSGOOO

[xtruss]

In Kenya, Martial Eagles Hunt Lion Cubs For Lunch

Martial eagles, with wingspans that can exceed six feet, can take out young impalas or gazelles. Recently, researchers have seen them targeting another species’ young.

— By Joshua Rapp Learn | October 3, 2024

Martial Eagles (One Shown in Serengeti National Park) Occasionally Hunt Lion Cubs, New Rsearch Shows. Photograph By Klaus Nigge, National Geographic Image Collection

In December 2012, tour guides in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve witnessed a series of killings targeting one of the savannah’s top predators. An adult martial eagle followed a pride of lions for weeks, waiting for the right time to swoop in and kill three cubs in total.

“This is an eagle really looking at these lions and thinking, ‘I’m going to systematically hunt these lions,’” says R. Stratton Hatfield, a Ph.D. candidate at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands.

A Juvenile Martial Eagle snatched this three-week-old lion cub on March 15, 2019, in the Mara North Conservancy, Kenya. No one saw the bird kill the cub. Based on the fledgling eagle's behavior, researchers suspect that an adult female gave the cub to the fledgling. Photograph By Jes Lefcourt

While the supposed kings of the jungle may dominate the land around them, this incident and others like it show that African lions (Panthera leo) may not always sit on top of the food chain when it comes to the skies. In fact, martial eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus) likely prey on lion cubs when the opportunity arises, Hatfield and his colleagues recently reported in Ecology and Evolution.

“It’s really a testament to the predatory nature of martial eagles,” Hatfield says.

Queen of the Skies

Martial eagles’ wingspans can exceed six feet. Adult females weigh more than 10 pounds, while adult males typically weigh around seven pounds. Though comparable in size and ecology to golden eagles, the species often kills larger prey. The birds swoop in and dig their razor-like talons into their prey’s spine at the back of their skull, sometimes taking out young impalas or gazelles far above their weight class. “[Their talons] are just massive killing utensils,” Hatfield says. “From a predator perspective, they are impressive in what they’re able to do.”

Hatfield’s team only recently realized the birds also preyed on other predators. The team collected seven records, including the 2012 incident, that describe martial eagles preying on lion cubs, resulting in the deaths of nine cubs and one near miss. Most of these episodes probably involve larger females, Hatfield suspects, though two records included juveniles preying on cubs.

The earliest case comes from 2008, when a photographer captured an image of an eagle feeding on a freshly killed cub, while the most recent was in 2023, when a safari guide saw a juvenile eagle hunt and kill a cub large enough that the raptor couldn’t fly off with it.

Risk Versus Reward

Despite their aerial antics, martial eagles are typically risk averse. “When they go to take a lion cub, it’s with a lot of recognition of the risks,” Hatfield says. But not all records seem to show this careful calculation.

In the one failed killing, a martial eagle swoops in to snatch a six-week-old cub right next to its mother. The lioness spots the approaching danger, and “literally leaps in the air to try to take the martial out of the sky,” Hatfield describes. “You can just see the lioness’s eyes lock onto something, then she crouches and launches.”

The eagle dodged the counterattack, and didn’t get the cub, but the whole maneuver “was just stupid.” Hatfield speculates that the raptor didn’t see the lioness. Episodes like this are so dangerous for the eagle, “you wonder if they are doing something ever just for fun,” he says.

Amy Dickman, a conservation biologist at Oxford University in the U.K., isn’t surprised that eagles will go after cubs again and again if the strategy proves successful. She also leads Lion Landscapes, a nonprofit focused on coexistence of humans and wildlife in Kenya and Tanzania, and says the conclusions of Hatfield’s team “seem sound.”

As far as the lions are concerned, “it’s just another kind of risk that lions have to deal with,” Dickman says, like predation from hyenas or male lions from competing prides. While she doesn’t think the eagles pose a conservation threat to the big cats, an individual pride in a given area might feel pressure if a martial eagle has honed in on their cubs as a food source. “It shows you how interesting and diverse the natural world is,” Dickman says.

Predators or Prey?

Martial eagles aren’t picky when it comes to big cats. Some have taken cheetah and leopard kittens, as well. Hatfield also notes the risk probably goes both ways—lions could and probably have hunted adult eagles or nests. At least one YouTube video shows a leopard killing a martial eagle.

“The relationships between top predators at the top of the [food] pyramid are complicated,” Hatfield says.

Martial eagles are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and Hatfield hopes that studies like this bring more attention to their plight. Like other large raptors in Africa, the species faces habitat loss, poaching for parts, electrocution on power lines and persecution.

“We are all so focused on the elephant and lion and rhino,” Hatfield says. “A lot of these big eagles and vultures are going to go extinct right in front of our eyes.”

[lpsotd]

todays littlest pet shop of the day is … lion #1004 !!

[raenyships]

gentle touches, so soft you barely notice them if you're not paying attention. your f/o traces the shape of your body while you drift off to sleep

[kniftsstuff]

Lloyd!!!

Art by Pix

[girls--complex]

received cowards 1 & 2 the other day :3 very interesting reads and i enjoyed showing my friends as well...... worf every penny

I would like to shout out my friend @toxicmetalexpo who not only designed & printed the books for me but also helped me learn to sell them and stuff... I'm totally useless about stuff like that LOL 😆 ‼️ so it is all possible thanks 2 Ari! Yesss! I'm glad ur pleased. I pray everyone gets their Cowards OK 🙆‍♂️

[nanamikentorp]

had a hard day yesterday… it was nice at first because i got to buy the snoopy tumbler i’ve wanted, but the other half of the day just made me feel so… bad.

we had a group report on their topic and the professor got upset at them because it felt too rushed and then took out his anger on the whole class. the next thing we knew he called us n our current writings for his class as stupid garbage and walked out. ever since that, i felt like shit, not only about my writing, but myself as well.

i tried to work on my midterm paper for this subject last night but… i just felt like i had no drive or somewhat couldn’t do it bc of what he said :// idk, sorry for putting this on here, but i just wanted to let it out… i hope you’ve been well and have been healthy at least, kento. that’s comforting enough for me to hear of :(

-🦁

That's a mean professor... It is unfortunate you got stuck with him

I hope you managed to finish your paper.

[pygmyharmoset]

I really wouldn’t survive a day in the Lannister army because I’d try to pspsps and pet the lions and be eaten on the spot.

[bunnwich]

Okay I’m assuming that the other long ass ask you mentioned was about the Halloween event too and your take on it so fair warning, this will also be about that and will also probably be long. I only play en and try to avoid spoilers but also I love the lion man so I got some of that anyway. But you really hit on a lot of points that I feel are important when people wanna flatten Leona’s character to 2D (even though he is literally 2D I guess), but what we’re seeing now in terms of “Leona chugs respect women juice and hates men” feels like just another iteration of “lazy lion man is lazy and doesn’t wanna do anything.”

And about Leona respecting a potential friend or partner regardless of gender, it’s like two weird sides of the same coin where people will say he hates men but it feels almost infantilizing toward women (Sally specifically in this case) about him being kind to her BECAUSE she is a woman. No! He likes her because she is smart and cunning and clever and will do whatever it takes to get what she wants (poisoning someone to get to freedom)- all things Leona values, and I think there’s probably a certain amount of “finally, my kind of person” with some of the closer analogues I feel being Leona mentoring Jamil and pushing him to go after what he wants as well as letting Yuu “bully” him into helping with Azul because dammit Yuu is using everything at their disposal and figured out the trick to Azul’s contracts, both of which are worthy of respect (and it lets him destroy his own contract). I’ve lost my train of thought a smidge but yes, it’s not about respecting women specifically or a matriarchal society, it’s about being around someone he actually vibes with and respect

Switching topics but yeah, he IS a hypocrite! He’s calling out Skully’s not seeking consent specifically because the behavior annoyed him as a whole, not just the consent part. And possibly Yuu’s or anyone else’s reaction of “oh how gentlemanly” too. I feel like that one goes back to his tendency to seek any and every advantage or whatever he can use to get the result he wants. In this case, he wants Yuu to not be overly impressed or even annoyed with Skully, and that’s the way to get the result.

Okay last one but yes it is so cute to get to see Leona a bit softer and kinder since it’s such a rare sight in twst. There’s this kind of vindication too, at least for me, to see what as so obviously there to me out in the open for once.

Leona has always been soft…but not a gentleman.

HI ANON!! Actually, the other ask was not about the event but honestly, I get why you would think that. (I get Leona asks a lot about different things :3c DFGHJ)

“Leona chugs respect women juice and hates men” feels like just another iteration of “lazy lion man is lazy and doesn’t wanna do anything.”

YEAH YEAH I think I see what you mean with this. I have a couple of thoughts on that tbh- 

Ppl get excited about a character they like and then they end up saying/joking about things without thinking about other ppl in the fandom who are different from them. Which…is fine to a degree but fandom is a community (or supposed to be) AND masc/nonbinary (and/or those with those types of OCs) often ALREADY get left out of fandom content and end up feeling like they aren’t “as valid” as femme folk and their OCs.

The other thing may be that some of these ppl feel in order to “justify” liking this “flawed character” that they MUST sanitize aspects of them. And turning Leona into a “squeaky clean feminist” suddenly and “consent” king is their way of flattening his character in order to make him safer to like?? Or like a vindication for him liking their femme OCs over a masc one?

Maybe I’m wrong, but those are my thoughts.

To your second point, YES EXACTLY!! I have always felt like Leona takes a soft spot for the MC in Chapter 3 and even somewhat for Jamil in Chapter 6 when he sees aspects of himself in him. And I feel like I never see ppl bringing that up about Chapter 3 especially. 

In the manga, you can see how delighted Leona is when Yuuta figures out the secret to Azul’s Unique Magic. He respects Yuuta's tenacity and even though he “says” he only helps because he wants his personal contact destroyed, I have always believed that that is just a part of it. I think he genuinely grows to like the MC more and actions speak louder than words. If he TRULY wanted to be rid of Yuuta or the MC in the game…he would have thrown them out like he threatened to do from the beginning. He’s a pushover…for certain ppl ofc.

You can even see this with Ruggie as well. Leona “says” it’s only for his benefit but we KNOW that he helps Ruggie behind the scenes with his homework “gives him extra money” and hand-me-downs. If it was truly only a business relationship he wouldn’t bother. And in one of his birthday vignettes, Cater goes on about how much he obviously cares for his underclassmen.

I guess what is truly interesting to me is that I’ve ALWAYS known Leona has the ability for softness and kindness. And bc Sally is a sweetie and so cool and YES a lady I think he was just more open about being nicer to her. 

Let’s remember that Leona doesn't have a lot of ppl he's close to at Night Raven College, therefore we don’t get to see that side of him often.

Idk…I feel watering this all down to “Leona is just a feminist” and that is why he’s nice does as you say: infantilizes women AND waters down Leona’s capacity for said softness and kindness and just making it about “manners” he learned growing up, yk?

THANK YOU, HE IS A HYPOCRITE. Leona as much as I defend is…rude AF. He has touched people without consent in vignettes and in the past. So I agree with your interpretation. I think it could even be interpreted as jealousy if someone wants to go that route.  But is it bc he TRULY gaf about Scully's manners? idts

As we know, he’s blunt compared to many of the characters and according to Vil and others has terrible manners. In fact, this was brought up MANY times in the Tamashina Mina event and so I think more the scene with Sally was more to show that he CAN be kind and a gentleman…when he wants to. Rather than showing he’s a simp for women or w/e.

 I'm FINE with ppl saying he’s a feminist or respects women! I believe he does! That’s harmless but- 

I just wish that ppl wouldn’t use this as an excuse to put down others AND remember that Leona isn’t just kind to women. He may have been softer to Sally but he has always been a generous person to those he believes has potential and/or respect.

I agree, I loved seeing him in this! I hope to see more of this openness from him in the future. 

Like you, I feel like I always knew it was there and have been preaching it for years! I already knew he was capable of softness. I think we just got to see it so openly bc it was someone NOT from NRC. 

And IT IS a great vindication for me too! Leona was always big bro, soft for those he admires etc. And I think before it was hidden between the lines and now it’s just out in the open.

Thanks for this ask! I’m glad my yapping is understood and that you could relate to what I meant in my previous post about him.💚💚💚 TLDR;

[bigcatbulges]

Source - Neumoken

[k1221k]

Oh hi Lero

[themissingmango]

[jttlpgroup]

Amber 🐞 6232   http://www.steveb29.com/2024/09/amber-6232.html