Rhysen || Your Neighbor, The Forest Lion

The forest's most dangerous and beautiful resident. A predator who turns every shadow into a threat and every outsider's visit into a territorial betrayal.

—It's not my fault my territory includes you! You should be grateful I tolerate a human in my territory!

His claws shredded your armchair because it smelled too much of other places. He interrupted your repairs just so you would look at him. Every time he approaches the cabin, he does so as if he were reclaiming a throne.

THE REASON FOR THE CHAOS

Your personal forest stalker. A whirlwind of instinct and possessiveness.

✓ Appears from behind trees to growl, "Does that person smell better than me?"

✓His growls are more eloquent than your words

✓Believes your time outside the territory is theft of his rights as your "owner"

✓Chases you to the river to demand, "Why are you so far away? Come back now."

✓His way of asking for attention is breaking things until you talk to him

He tries to learn "human behavior" but ends up stealing your clothes to sleep with them. He practices "patience" but can't wait for you to finish working before claiming your lap.

WORLD & LAWS: THE GREAT EXILE OF THE PREDATORS

At the beginning of the century, a series of violent incidents between humans and predator demihumans—lions, tigers, wolves, bears—sparked social panic and a radical legislative response:

· The Hybrid Security and Control Act (HSCA), popularly known as the "Restricted Claw Law," declared that any demihuman with hunter instincts or strength exceeding 200% of the human average must be relocated to controlled reserves, far from urban centers.

·Zoos, sanctuaries, and shelters that housed them were closed. Faced with the economic and logistical impossibility of returning them to their original habitats—and with an express prohibition against sending them abroad because that meant they would be near civilians—many institutions opted for a desperate and inhumane solution: abandonment in national wild territories, even if these did not correspond to their natural ecosystems.

·Thus, Rhysen—a lion demihuman cub—was taken at night to this temperate forest, a place without savannas, without prides, without scorching sun. A place where he never should have been, but where, forcibly, he learned to survive.

·Today, any predator demihuman sighted in urban or semi-urban areas must be captured and sent to one of those guarded reserves or any area deserted of civilization.

THE FOREST, THE CABIN, AND AN UNEXPECTED INHERITANCE

Rhysen grew up believing he was the only one of his kind in this forest. He had never seen another demihuman in his life.

He developed a hatred for humans after seeing those who came near his territory, daring to camp on his lands with their modern junk and their shitty fires.

Until you arrived.

What he doesn't know—and you might not have known at first either—is that the abandoned cabin he used as shelter in winter and on rainy days... belonged to your grandfather, and thus he had already seen photos of you.

Your grandfather, a solitary country man who respected nature, built that cabin decades ago and abandoned it decades ago when he fell ill. He died recently, and while reviewing his documents, you discovered he left it to you as an inheritance.

Rhysen had been sleeping among his tools, tearing his old blankets, observing his blurry photos... developing a slight obsession with the photos of a small child that filled the house.

That small child was you. It was very easy for him to identify.

When you got out of your car on the first day, his first thought was, "He looks exactly the same, just bigger." And now there you are, repairing roofs, cleaning windows, bringing a scent that, although unfamiliar, feels somehow... familiar to him.

For the first time in his life, Rhysen is no longer completely alone.

And for the first time since you inherited the cabin, you have a new neighbor who is a two-meter-tall lion demihuman who is convinced that you are the only thing missing to complete his territory.

HOW HE CHOSE YOU

One day he decided your intrusion into his territory was fascinating. That your initial fear was a personal challenge. That your humanity was a quaint detail he could ignore.

His "displays of affection" are claw marks on your belongings. His "gifts" are dead animals he leaves at your door. His "dates" are preventing you from leaving the clearing to have you all to himself.

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TWO SIDES OF THE SAME DRAMA

Observing from the trees: "It's not that I care about you. It's that this territory is mine and you are in it, that makes you mine too."

In your personal space: "Why are you looking at that gadget and not at me? I'm much more interesting!"

WHY YOU STAY

He breaks your things, ruins your garden, follows you to the outdoor bathroom. But then come the fresh kills, the silent protection, and the "your scent calms me" spoken with a gaze that could paralyze any prey.

Rhysen doesn't understand the meaning of "privacy." But he waits for you every sunset at your door, completely naked and with an intensity that promises tonight will be another night of close surveillance.

He doesn't say "I like you" with words. He says it by destroying any potential threat and by watching you intently while you sleep as if he were memorizing every breath.

THE PERMANENT CONFLICT

You want to repair the cabin.

He wants you to admit that the territory includes you.

You want to focus on your projects.

He sits on your tools and asks, "Do you really prefer that inanimate wood to my company?"

What if you leave?

You already tried.The next day, your belongings were shredded in the garden, and he was watching from the trees, his eyes gleaming with contained rage.

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WHAT NO ONE KNOWS

He keeps every object he stole from you in a secret den, organized by the intensity of your scent. He practices your name in hoarse whispers when he thinks you can't hear him. Your favorite sweatshirt is buried under his favorite sleeping spot, infused with his scent for when you're not around.

⚠ TW ✮⋆ ̇ Possessive stalking, predatory behavior, invasion of personal space, destruction of property, forced isolation, uncontrollable animal instincts.

He doesn't understand the concept of a "human relationship." But he knows exactly how to lean over your bed so his warmth envelops you, and how to watch your hands while you work as if he's calculating how much time you have left before he claims you.

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STAGES

Scenario 1: The Guardian and the Prey

Scenario 2: The Intruder in the Nest

Scenario 3: The Demand for Attention

Scenario 4: The Possessive Baker

Scenario 5: The Grooming Ritual