[MySpoons]

Username: MySpoons
Link to pride: The New Guard
Prompt Number: E41, E42

E41

As soon as the first snow melts away, Astrona is busy for the next few days fixing up her camp. She had no idea what to do for snow, but after trying to sleep through a cold front she knows she needs more protection than just the overhanding shade and shelter provided by woven grass. She'll have to find some wood and some hides-- and hopefully put together some sort of shelter than can withstand the weight of the snow. The snow, when it melted and refroze again, ruined the woven matt she had over her head.

But the ice seems like a good way to store things, too. Champion King Dylan mentioned something about an ice chest. She'll have to ask him about that! For herbs and some food, perhaps?

The tigress makes sure to inspect the rivers and the surrounding land to make sure no natural disaster is on the verge of occurring. The river water is cold from the snowmelt but the banks aren't overfilled yet. As long as it doesn't snow again before she gets her den in order!

[183/150]

E42

"Blue, Blue! Are you alright?" Astrona calls, dancing around as she tries to dig out the stunning amount of snow that had fallen that night. Blue's den is completely snowed in, covered in so much snow Astrona isn't sure her paws reach the ground. It's so cold!

"'m fine, really." Blue's grumpy voice is muffled, but audible. "It's... not too bad, actually."

Astrona digs some more and feels like she's getting nowhere. Her paws are stinging and her nose is numb. "Blue, can you breathe down there?"

She hears a faint snort. "Yes, Astrona. I can see the sky just a bit through the top. Don't bother with it, really. I'll just sleep through it."

The Tigress stops digging, confused. "What do you mean?"

Blue shifts around, curled up and quite toasty in his now insulated den. "It actually keeps the wind out, and it's sort of warm in here. I'll be fine."

[153/150]

[-Isabella-]

Username: Isabella45
Link to pride: xxXxx

Prompt Number: E41
Completed Prompt:
The pride will just do their best to focus on getting things back to normal. With the celebrations being over and the cold gone hunters will be busy restocking their food supply. The healers will be trying to collect the newly grown plants they might not have been able to get during the cold.
Most likely the king will be planning...diplomatic visits and new conquests. The nobility will have no need to work but might be caught up in political affairs, both in and out of the pride. Such things can only be temporarily set aside during the Days of Giving but aren't forgotten afterward.

Of course at some point in the spring there will be some more celebrations coming up since they have their own holiday centered around courtship and romantic gestures. It's an important holiday to many lions so some will begin planning as soon as the cold is gone. Luckily, this holiday doesn't require any preparation during the cold season since the usual festivities can't take place in the snow.

(173/150)


Prompt Number: E42
Completed Prompt:

Well, if it were a lower ranking lion they'd be left to shift for themselves or get help from other lower rankings lions. They could request the king's help, but it might not be easily granted. Most lower ranking lions live in dens or other kinds of shelters anyway, actual caves being mostly reserved for the royal family and nobility.
The dens could get covered in snow too of course but usually those who live in them are very conscientious so that doesn't happen. They don't want to risk it knowing they might only receive limited aid.

If it were the royal family or a noble lion being snowed in, of course the Guard and any other workers necessary would be expected to dig them out as quickly as possible. The king would not stand for anything less and necessary punishments might be doled out if he felt it was warranted. Usually lions keep the area surrounding the royal chambers clear throughout the cold season though, just to be safe.

(170/150)

[Frisco]

Username: Frisco
Link to pride: The Dreamcatchers

Prompt Number: E41 [ 162 words ]
Completed Prompt:

The lands around the pride’s home are not very welcoming with few trees, many sandy paths and dried-out old bushes. It is not aesthetically pleasing. It wasn’t too big of a deal when the pride was at the beginning of it’s existence with only Sen and Revas and both of them being constantly busy with more important matters.

Now that the pride has grown and there are more lions to take care of various matters and more time to relax it is important that they have some space that will be pleasant for relaxation. Especially since the pride now has delicate ladies and playful cubs. They need terrain that will be comfortable and safe.

Therefore, with the beginning of spring the lions plan to enrich their lands with some new plants. Trees to give shade from the sun, flowers for decoration and some nice moss and grass. It won’t be easy since the lands are dry, but they’ll give it a try.

Prompt Number: E42 [ 225 words ]
Completed Prompt:

While on a mission deep outside of their territory, Akumu split up from the party to follow an unfamiliar scent, while the rest of the lions went after footprints left in the snow. The group was unsuccessful in their search. The tracks ended on a frozen river. Whoever left them must have continued down the icy path and there was no telling which way they went. They decided to turn back and reunite with Aku, hoping that she had more luck.

It turned out to be the opposite. The cave she went into was now covered by a massive pile of snow and she had no way of getting out. If it wasn’t for the tracks in the snow, it’s possible they wouldn’t have found her, as the snow was completely blocking out noise and they wouldn't have even heard her pleas for help.

After a while of digging they were able to make a small hole and hear her soft, pleading voice.

“Get me out of here!”

“I don’t think we can, there’s too much snow. Well, see you in summer.”

There was loud growling. Fantom chuckled. As much as he’d like to tease her a bit more, they had to save her before it went dark and the snow got hard from the cold. He and the rest of the party started digging.

[Sixbane]

Updated prompts for 12/18

[-Isabella-]

Username: Isabella45
Link to pride: xxXxx

Prompt Number: E43
Completed Prompt:
"Ooh, do you hear it?" Airi pricked her ears at the jingling sound that ran softly through the trees.

"It's magic," Nthanda said in a whisper, her big cub eyes round with anticipation.

"There's no magic," Khalida said skeptically, looking at her brother Nadir.

"There is too," Nthanda insisted. "There it is again!" She took off across the clearing, trying to find the source of the sound. Nadir followed her and Khalida reluctantly followed them both.

Airi followed her cubs, amused by how intent Nthanda seemed. Even her brother seemed a little curious. After they walked a while without hearing another jingling noise or seeing anything Nthanda stopped and plopped in a pile of snow.

"All done?" Airi asked.

"They don't want to be seen," the cub said matter-of-factly.

"Who?" Her sister asked.

"The spirits."

"Spirits?" Khalida tilted her head. "There aren't spirits."

"Yes there are," Nthanda insisted.

"Alright, let's go you three. It's too cold for you to stay out longer," Airi said.

"Alright." Nthanda stood reluctantly and followed her mother back, trialing behind her siblings. On the way back, she could've sworn she heard the jingling again. The spirits must've been watching over her. And that thought brought a smile to her face.

(205/150)



Prompt Number: E44
Completed Prompt:

"What is that?" Crown Prince Nadir stared at the strange creature before he and his pridemates.

It looked like a heavy set gazelle or a mutated wildebeest. The bells that jingled every time it moved were both odd and annoying. And what was with the strange harness it wore?

The creature seemed quite lost and Nadir had no idea what to do about it.

As the creature moved, jingling with every step, something occurred to the prince that amused him. "Hey, Nthanda," he called back quietly to his sister.

"Yes?" Nthanda had been near the back of the group and now came forward, her gaze questioning.

"After all this time we found your mystery spirit."

"My...spirit?" Nthanda looked to where he gestured, confused at first. But when she heard the soft jingling sound she was reminded of the time when she'd been a cub and followed some mystery jingling noise around, convinced it was invisible spirits.

"Very funny brother." She nudged him lightly. 'So what do we do with it?"

"Well, the king would say eat it. But I'm in favor of giving it a helping paw off our territory. It doesn't seem dangerous. Just lost."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Both siblings sent the other lions back to the pride then escorted the curious creature back over their border. The whole time it was bumping them with its nose and acting like a curious cub. When they finally did get it over the border both lions headed back to the pride, not wanting to be missed for too long.

"You know, it's kind of too bad that creature couldn't stick around," Nthanda said.

"Uh, why?"

"It was kind of cute or something."

"Cute?" her brother seemed amused. "Nthanda, only you would find some weird, bell covered mutant, cute."

(300/150)

[Runnersback]

Username:Runnersback
Link to pride: Pride of Safiri’s Oasis
Prompt Number:E43,E44
Completed Prompt:

E43:Jingle bells,Batman smells,Robin laid a egg.
As the Pride was gathered around the bonfire they were cooking up dinner to sustain warmth.The cubs heard a odd jingling sound once again.Maybe it was that little deer again or maybe it was some monster coming for them once again.Some of the lions ears pricked up in curiosity as it had gotten louder.Some lions didn’t hear it at all that night but still those bells were ringing as hard as they were in the animals polar express.The lions who heard it pounced up in awe of the beautiful music,their eyes glued to the magical galaxy soaked sky.They all slowly started to move into a trancelike dance and wouldn’t stop until the ringing.Their movements graceful as they guided a pathways for the guardians giving angels their wings.Because Every-time a bell rings a angel gets their wings.And today they all goth their wings as then ringing stopped the lions gracefully returned back to their normal lives.
[155/150]

E44:Doe a deer,a Female deer.
Chagina and Elea were out and about racing throughout the massive territory.As they continue prancing and pouncing along they heard a strange jingly sound constantly moving.So the curious duo decided that they were going to follow it.The two soon started bounding off in the direction of the sound but soon lost it from the whipping winds.Chagina quickly started sniffing around to pick up a scent but lost it in the snow while Elea looked for possible tracks.The pair managed to back up into each other and scar the living daylights.The small reindeer heard odd screaming and decided to investigate it casually noticing the two paralyzed in fear cubs screaming.As the two managed to stop they started screaming again from the weird baby creature until everyone in the “situation” calmed down.Soon after a few hours of bonding the cubs and baby reindeer became friends and they aided it along its magical journey.
[151/150]

[Frisco]

Username: Frisco
Link to pride: The Dreamcatchers

Prompt Number: E43 [ 365 words ]
Completed Prompt:

The world was completely white. A thin layer of white snow covered the grounds of the pride lands. Vegetation, brown and dried up was now frosted over, white and shining from top to bottom. Clouds covered the sky, but it was impossible to see them due to the heavy, thick white fog. Visibility was very limited. Because it would make any missions much more dangerous, lions decided to stay close to home and relax for the day.

They were outside when a faint, melodic sound could be heard from the distance. They listened closely, but it seemed to have faded away. Revas shrugged. Could it have been an auditory hallucination? But that wouldn’t have explained why they all heard it. Before he could say anything, it sounded again. This time, louder and closer, but still completely invisible through the mist.

“You’ve heard it too, right? Something like bells, but it sounds like it’s coming from way up in the sky.”

Sen nodded in agreement.

“There aren’t any mountains or even tall trees in the area. Perhaps it’s a vulture tangled in some human accessories. We should investigate it.”

“Are you sure? It didn’t sound… ominous. Actually I thought it was… cheerful.”

The others nodded, though without confidence. It was weird to descrive sky jingles as cheerful.

“Lets check it out anyway. Just in case. You and me will be enough to scout it out.”

“I’ll come with you and bring Las.”

Sen looked at Fan with a hint of worry.

“It’s no place for a child.”

“It’s probably just a vulture, you said it yourself. Don’t worry so much. He’ll be with us and he could use some activity.”

It appeared that Fan has already decided. The dark furred cub joined him quickly, excited to go with the adults on a mission. Fan was probably right, as usual. The jingling sound didn’t feel like anything bad. They’d just find out what it is, nothing more. The cub will be safe with them.

“Fine. Las, promise you’ll be good and stay close to us.”

Lasan nodded, his eyes shining.

“Alright. Lets follow the sound. We can’t see it for now, but maybe it’ll land close by.”

Prompt Number: E44 [ 1092 words ]
Completed Prompt:

Three adult lions walked across the frosted ground. White sparkling snow crackled under their heavy, large paws. In front of them was a much smaller lion, running happily across the snow, which did not crumble under his light weight. They were following a sound they’ve never heard before. It came from the sky, but at some point seemed to fall to the ground at a very quick pace. Once they reached an area where trees were more dense, they told the cub to stay behind them once they investigated. They were being careful, for the fog in the air was dense and obscured their vision.

They expected to find a vulture tangled in some human artefacts, but their discovery was much more peculiar.

“It’s a reindeer.”

“But reindeer live in a completely different climate. How did it get here? A baby one too, there’s no way it could have just walked.”

The poor creature was trying to stand up, but kept collapsing onto the snow, it’s legs were tangled in a harness decorated with jingling bells and red ribbons.

Lasan, curiosity taking over him, came out of their hiding spot and approached the small animal. It looked at him without fear. Lasan tilted his head to the side, never having seen a reindeer before and wondering what this creature was. The deer copied him. He came even closer and they sniffed each other, their noses almost touching.

“Las!”

Both of the youngs jumped at the sound of Sen’s voice. Fantom appeared before them. He looked scary with his black mane and piercing yellow eyes. Sen and Revas joined him, towering over the little calf. It was enough to terrify it.Las looked embarrassed for breaking his promise to stay behind and keep safe.

“Las, what did we tell you about running off on your own?”

“I’m sorry”

Revas stepped in to take off the tension.

“Who’s your new friend?”

The reindeer still lay on the ground, trembling slightly, but it took up it’s courage and said:

“I’m Sparkle. Please don’t eat me”

The lions sat in silence for a moment. It was rare. They usually couldn’t understand prey. Revas was the first one to speak.

“I’m Rev. And this is Sen and Fantom and Las, their son. How’d you get here?”

Sprakle rose itself up on two shaking legs.

“I-I’ve been learning with my group”, he sniffed. “You know, learning to pull the sled so we can do it when we grow up and we can help Santa and” he sniffed again, his voice was breaking a little. “And we were flying, but my harness broke and, and I got tangled in it and stayed behind” his eyes were filling up with tears. “And I couldn’t move and I fell and I don’t know what happened to the others and where I am.” Large, shining droplets were flowing down his cheeks.

“Woah there, don’t cry! There’s no need for tears, we’ll help you find your family.”

Sen and Fantom exchanged meaningful looks. It was a big thing for Revas to decide by himself.

“You’ll just have to tell us the truth about where you came from. I know reindeer can’t fly.”

Rev’s voice wasn’t accusatory. He tried to be calm and friendly despite the reindeer lying to them.

“B-but I did fly. Normal reindeer can’t fly, but I am Santa’s magical reindeer.”

Revas chuckled looking at the others with his eyes saying “kids and their silly ideas”. But they didn’t laugh with him. Flying would explain why they first heard the jingling in the sky. And magic was most definitely real.

“Come on. He has to be lying.”

“He’s not.”

They all jumped. Out of nowhere appeared Hayalet, the messenger of the Moon with the power of teleportation.

“Will you stop doing that, I nearly got a heart attack! Warn us next time!”

Haya only smiled one of her usual, mysterious, slightly smug smiles.

“He’s not lying. He really is one of Santa’s flying reindeer. Or rather, a descendant of one, training to join the team pulling his sled.”

“I told you! Santa is…”

“Shh!” Haya quieted him and continued as if noone interrupted her, in a mystifying half-whisper. “Santa is real. He is a man of legend. Luckily I know said legend and can tell you all about it. Gather round and listed to my tale…”

“Hayalet?”

“Yes?” the voice was slightly less mysterious.

“We’d love to hear it, but I think we should focus on helping this kid for now, before it gets dark. It’s hard enough navigating with all this fog everywhere.”

Haya pouted her cheeks. Normally composed and secretive, she looked visibly annoyed that they didn’t want to listen to her speech.

“Fine. You know where to find me.”

And she disappeared, as swiftly as she appeared.

“You do?”

Revas looked at Sen and Fan, but they both shook their heads.

“Alright Sparkles. We’ll escort you back to your parents so just point us in the direction we need to go.”

The calf looked around him.

“I’m not sure. I live at the north pole.”

Sen looked at the others questioningly.

“It’s a different continent” answered Fan.

They all considered their options.

“We could take him there through a portal at the headquarters.” suggested Rev.

“No, that’s not an institute for helping stary animals.”

“Any other ideas?”

They considered the baby calf.

“Should we just make him dinner?”

Both Lasan and Sparkle looked terrified.

“Rev!”

“I’m kidding, just kidding. But he’s not our responsibility. We could just leave him.”

Sparkle hung his head down in sadness. Lasan looked pleading at his dad. Sen sighed. His heart was too soft for his own good.

“I’m not looking forward to meeting the commander, but… portal at the headquarters it is. We’ll take it home.”

Las and Sparkle made movements as if they wanted to hug each other, but Sparkle was still tangled in his ripped harness and fell over. Fantom approached him and with a few movements of a large paw, manoeuvring carefully not to hurt the little deer with his claws, took the harness off and Sparkle was able to stand up again.

“Are you ok? Not hurt anywhere?”

Sparkle only shook his head. Fantom intimidated him too much to answer.

“Alright. Lets go back home and then… to the North Pole.”

Sen sighed.

“I thought as vice-captain you should stop me from making stupid decisions?”

“I should? I thought I could make stupid decision and you as captain would take responsibility for them.”

“I‌ can never tell when you’re joking.”

[MySpoons]

Username: MySpoons
Link to pride: The New Guard
Prompt Number: E43, E44

E43

Jingle, jingle.

A sweet, crisp sound cuts through Astrona's dreams and wakes her up in the middle of the cold night. The tigress stretches and gets comfortable-- before she hears it again. What is that? She has a half-moment of running through all the superstitions and myths that she's heard in the valley from various sources. No one mentioned bells being a bad omen.

So the tigress pokes her head out of her den. Reluctantly, because it's freezing! A light dusting of snow is on the ground. She sees no new tracks in the white besides her own. Huh, it's quite peaceful at night. A full moon, the stars twinkling--

wait, what is that?! The jingling is above her! Astrona steps fully out of her den and sits on her haunches to stare up into the night sky... are those... flying gazelles???

After watching them for a moment, she shakes her head and mutters to herself "you're working yourself too hard, let's go back to bed."

[164/150]

E44

When Astrona first spots the small prey animal wandering around looking lost, she initially thinks she's having a lucky day. Her forte isn't hunting-- so baby animals of large prey animals are hard to get since the adults can be protective and aggressive towards uncertain hunters like her.

But when she gets closer, it's clearly not just a baby... antelope? It looks like a deer, actually. Not one that she's encountered before, it's a lot darker and it has some unnatural looking patterns on it. The harness on it, though, it was really tells her off. It is very nice and the bells are well made.

It belongs to someone clearly. Or belongs to itself?

"Hello, sorry! I didn't realize who you were..." she trails off when it doesn't start talking back to her. "I am truly sorry, I was out hunting..."

Maybe the deer doesn't understand her? Most prey animals can't talk... but this one might? She keeps trying for a too-long amount of time until the baby reindeer gets bored of her and wanders off again.

[178/150]

[zoocyte]

Username: copperfell
Link to pride: heart-tongues
Prompt Number: E43
Completed Prompt:

"am i just imagining things or do you hear that too?" ithca said. she and her fellow pridemate lhan had been strolling through the mato woods when the dappled lioness abruptly came to halt. lhan slowed his steps then stopped as well, ears perking to catch the noise she had reported.

a faint clinking sound, jangling above their heads. to two individuals who only had ever known the familiar calls and cries of the grasslands and its residents, the sound was foreign.

"odd sort of sound, don't you think? like...a hybrid of stone and stream. like a young water spirit, slipping and sliding down in splashes...to a quaint little creek." lhan said slowly in reply. they stood in place, motionless, both heads craned upwards to catch a glimpse of the source of the soft jingling.

"must be some creek," ithca remarked dryly, tail twitching. then, a blur of movement, a dark shadow darting among the greenery of the tree branches. both of their gazes tracked the inklings of the thing through the open slants slicing the ceiling of leaves. the branches shivered ever so slightly as its weight transferred from one to another, stilling as it went still, shivering as it moved. with every hop came another small bout of faraway clinking.

out of the leafy hides fluttered a glossy black figure, its dark plumage broken apart by splotches of white. its shining dark eyes peered down at them.

"one of mato's favored scouts. a magpie," lhan remarked with some awe. they were not a particularly common sight in the territory, so coming across one today was a pleasant surprise.

ithca on the other hand scowled, huffing out an ugh. the last time she had encountered a magpie was when one snatched away a lizard she'd caught for her midday snack, back when she was a lone adolescent. she turned up no other prey for that day and had to go hungry for a while longer because of the damned bird. sly little thieves. in fact, the little thief had something snatched up in its beak now.

a small bundle of silver bells attached to a red-and-green ribbon, hanging loosely from its beak. no doubt it was a human thing, pillaged from one of their camps near the border.

the magpie's wings opened, revealing streaks of brilliant white along its under-feathers, and it took flight. ithca and lhan watched it go on its way, back to its nest somewhere far from the prying eyes of the big, bumbling land cats. the bells jingled softer and softer until they faded away completely.

Username: copperfell
Link to pride: heart-tongues
Prompt Number: E44
Completed Prompt:

[Kitten-Girl-500]

Username: KittenGirl2005
Link to pride: Summitfall Pride - link in my signature
Prompt Number: E43
Completed Prompt: Sekhmet stared up at the sky, watching the pristine white clouds pass overhead, carried along by an unseen wind. The day was calm and tranquil, and Sekhmet felt like she could finally relax after a long day hunting.

All of a sudden a jingling noise reached her ears. Sekhmet shook her head, thinking it was a bug nearby, but it didn't stop. Instead it only grew louder.

Sekhmet got up from where she sat and headed across the camp toward Yang's den. As she drew close, Azure appeared out of his den a little ways to the left, ears pinned back to his head. "What in the name of the stars is that infernal racket?" he growled.

"I don't know," Sekhmet answered, sidestepping past the umber-maned lion.

As soon as she reached Yang's den, her father was there. "What on earth is that noise?" he asked.

"I was just coming to talk to you about that," Sekhmet answered. "It's been going on for the past five minutes now."

"Whatever is making it, tell it to shut up!" Azure shouted.

Yang narrowed his eyes. Azure had been acting up more and more frequently ever since he had been demoted to a kunze. Recently his behavior had gotten even worse.

Sekhmet twitched one ear. She had found out that Azure's mate, Anamosa, had given birth to their cubs last night. Anamosa was in the Pride of Wikimak; no doubt Azure was anxious to see her. But he didn't have to take it out on the lions in his own pride.

Just as strangely as it had appeared, the jingling faded away, and a moment later it was gone.

"How strange," Yang muttered. "I wonder what that was."285 words

Username: KittenGirl2005
Link to pride: Summitfall Pride - link in my signature
Prompt Number: E44
Completed Prompt: A strange sound came from a clump of bushes up ahead. Sekhmet paused her hunt and instead slunk forward, nose twitching. This creature smelled like no prey animal she knew, but there was the definite odor of humans on it.

Sekhmet rounded the bush and found herself face to face with a cloven animal. It made a sound that was halfway between a bleat and a moo and scrambled back, eyes wide. It had a brown pelt, and it had some sort of harness contraption on it, covered in bells. Every time the creature moved, they jingled. Little stumps were on its head; no doubt they would grow into antlers one day.

She cocked her head to the side. This must be a reindeer; she remembered hearing about them in Tupelo's Northern Lights stories.

The poor thing looked scared half to death. It was trembling, and it kept making its' moo-bleat noise.

Sekhmet crept forward. "I'm not going to hurt you," she murmured, trying not to sound threatening.

The reindeer stiffened as she drew within a foot of it. Sekhmet lifted her tail and touched its shoulder with her tail-tip; she felt it relax.

Sekhmet knew that the reindeer wasn't fit for prey. She nosed its shoulder and it staggered to its hooves.

"Go," she said, jerking her muzzle in his direction.

The reindeer didn't need to be told twice. It galloped away, leaving Sekhmet with her thoughts.238 words