[LoSt In PrOgReS]

Username: Lost in progres
Lion Name: Arte
Lion Gender: Male
Pride: Eternal snow
Pride Status: Gaurd
Arctic Hunter As the rest of the pride prepared to go to sleep, Arte prepared for something else entirely. When everyone was asleep it was Arte's time to shine, after all. Walking past the cub's den, he smiled seeing the youngest members of his pride snugly asleep in one giant cub pile. He always wished he could sleep with the others, but he also knew that his job was an important one.

Through the long mane covering his eyes, he could also see various small glowing lights surrounding the little ones. Most were animals, happily flying or running in the air above the cubs. Among them, he noticed some barn owls.

Suddenly, he remembered something an elder lion once told him "Look at you. You don't even seem to have noticed other's dreams sneaking into your reality. You spend so much time in other's dreams, do you still know our reality? I surely hope this won't get into your head, young one."

After he met that lion, he noticed rumors were spread about him. The lion who hunted nightmares. In time, he became renowned as the one lion keeping everyone's dream safe, but Arte sometimes wondered if it was really worth it.

Noticing one of the cubs twitch and whine in their sleep, Arte decided he couldn't muse any longer to start today's hunt. His eyes and necklace glowed with their usual soft purple and, to any lion who happened to be sneaking around, he disappeared.

When he opened his eyes again, he noticed a beautiful landscape. Tall, glowing mushrooms loomed overhead like a forest. Personally, Arte liked it. It seemed so calming and peaceful. But he wouldn't be here if it truly was peaceful.

Walking around, the necklace pulsed with an angry red glow. That's odd. This must be a mean one then.

It didn't take long to find what he was looking for. A young cub lay crouched on the ground, surrounded by what looked like barn owls pecking at their small body. The cub seemed terrified.

Arte had stopped for a moment, but then sprang back to life, jumping at the birds to swat them away from the cub. Holding one of them down, his necklace shook, before absorbing the owl, now just a small orb of red light, into it. The other owls followed soon. Of all nightmares he had fought, those involving cubs would always be the hardest for him.

The cub was looking at him in awe. Arte looked at them. "Tread lightly, young one." he whispered, just loud enough for the cub to hear. And with that, he was gone again.

After a few more nightmares, he went back to the 'real' world. His pride was waking up. He looked back to the cubs. Not much had changed. The barn owls were gone though, replaced with glow flies. The cub's dreams were safe.

He heard someone walk up behind him. "How did it go?" Boyle asked. Arte just nodded, walking away. He felt satisfied today.

[katrei]

Username: rhiannon_rings
Lion Name: Akuma
Lion Gender: DFAB Agender (they/them)
Pride: The Bad Intentions Brotherhood
Pride Status: Oracle
Arctic Hunter

"And you got all of this, all on your own?"
Akuma nearly flinched at Yazir's words, though they weren't at all demeaning; in fact, their leader sounded quite surprised - maybe even a little pleased at Akuma's bounty. The white furred lion's eyes shifted downwards towards the flightless bird carcasses at their feet. There had to have been at least five or six of the buggers - big ones at that, as well.
"Yes," they finally replied, after a moment of staring at the penguins. "They weren't that difficult to catch; caught them off guard a ways away from the shore. Little pests had no time to react. A couple got away, but I got my prize." They puffed out their chest proudly, though they knew deep down that they deserved none of the credit. What a liar.

Yazir dipped his head in a nod, clearly accepting the story as truth. "This is truly incredible, Aku," he purred, and Akuma felt chills run down their thickly maned spine as their leader used such an informal nickname in such an affectionate tone, feeling their cheeks heat up but not daring to say anything in response. "I've never seen quite a catch from any of my hunters. Are you sure your only gift is speaking with the Ancestors?"
Akuma gave a breathy laugh in return, pawing at the snow bashfully at the complement. "I appreciate the flattery, my king," they mumbled graciously, still feeling that twang of anxiety bubbling in their chest. What a liar.

Yazir chuckled and stood, motioning towards the penguins with his tail. "Well," he said, "I suppose we should bring this to the fresh kill pile. The pride will be very pleased with your efforts."
Akuma nodded eagerly, assisting Yazir in carrying the penguins to the center of camp, where several other lions began to crowd around in awe as they saw the large, plump penguins being dropped into the fresh kill pile. Akuma felt their eyes boring into them, their paws nearly growing shaky as they placed the last of the carcasses down and then all but barreled into their den, guilt coursing through their veins like adrenaline. They gave a choked gasp, gulping down air as anxiety hit them in waves. Liar, liar, liar.

Akuma knew they didn't get those penguins the way they said they did. There was no "epic hunt." There were no escapees, no brilliant, mind boggling kills - not even a real fight to get them, really. In all reality, the agendered lion had been trekking through the thick snow and had stumbled upon some sort of manmade web, made of thick hempen ropes, floating in the water with the penguins trapped inside. The things were noisy at best; how no other predator had come across them first would remain a mystery to Akuma, but at the moment, they didn't care.
The white furred lion had, admittedly, stolen the birds from the manmade web. Why not? What would a couple of useless humans need with even more useless birds? It's not like humans even ate penguins, anyways; surely these little pests wouldn't be missed. But Akuma knew that wouldn't fly with Yazir (no pun intended). They knew that Yazir viewed any form of acceptance of outside help - even if unintentional - as a sign of weakness in a pride member. They knew that their leader would be mad at them for even considering stealing prey from the humans, and they didn't care.

It made them shudder, and take another gulp of air. They lied to Yazir. And all because they just wanted to impress him.
Akuma turned back to look at the fresh kill pile, seeing some of the cubs bound excitedly around it as they chattered about how "rare" of a delicacy penguins were; and that much were true. Penguins weren't often found near the Brotherhood's territory, and to find a whole web of them was lucky in itself. But Akuma wasn't thinking about their pride at the time.

They were thinking about their pathetic little crush on Yazir. This love would (probably) quite literally be the death of them.

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[MySpoons]

reminder post for me to wait for rhiannon's entry to come in~

[MySpoons]

Username: Firedancer77
Lion Name: Jasiri (Swahili for "brave")
Lion Gender: Female
Pride: Isle of Roses
Pride Status: Huntress
Arctic Hunter:

"Jasiri," Ua paused in her herb-gathering to give the larger lioness a pointed look, "you need to stop hunting for guys."

Jasiri chuckled, acting as if Ua had been joking. "Stop hunting for guys? Don't be ridiculous, Ua. I never started hunting for guys. It's not my fault they can't stop tripping over themselves to be with me."

With a sigh, Ua set down the herbs in her mouth so she could speak properly with Jasiri. "Oh, that's what you call your flirting with Shujaa? You could not have been more obvious."

"What's that meant to mean?" She actually had the nerve to sound offended. Ua wasn't sure what to make of the reaction.

"Seriously, the whole 'oh, Shujaa, would you like to share a meal with me?' I mean, come on, you were batting your eyes and everything. It was obviously romantic."

"It's not my fault he found me pretty."

Though she was normally calm, Ua's tail flicked back and forth in irritation. "Maybe not, but it is your fault for stringing him along."

Jasiri came as close to pouting as she could. "I wasn't string him along, I was just...testing the waters, you know? How was I supposed to know whether or not Shujaa and I were compatible unless I hung out with him?"

"Hanging out and making it seem like you're drooling over him are two very different things, Jasiri."

Her friend just rolled her eyes. "You're no fun. What's the matter with me flirting with a few lions? It's harmless. I'm on the hunt for the right guy, and I need to have a way to narrow that search down."

Ua sighed, picking her herbs back up. "I just think there's a nicer way to do it, that's all. One that doesn't involve heartbreak. Poor Shujaa looked crushed when you gave him the cold shoulder today."

Jasiri huffed dramatically. "I only did that to make sure I wasn't stringing him along. I didn't want to give him false hope, you know? He's sweet, but just not my type. If I was nice, he might get the wrong idea, and I wanted him to know there wasn't any chance of us working out." When Ua didn't ordain to respond, Jasiri added, "Look, if I just hung out with them, I wouldn't know how they thought they should treat a lady. Besides, I'm not faking interest. I'm generally interested in seeing if they're a lion I could see myself settling down with. So, I bat my eyes, press up against them, and coax them to spend some time with me. A little brush of the shoulder, a little intertwining of the tail, maybe I rest my head on their shoulder. I don't think you can get upset with me for any of that."

Ua just shook her head as she began to walk away with her herbs. "If you say so," her muffled voice said as she disappeared into the trees.

Firedancer, this one got a good laugh out of me. Infamous hunter indeed! After lions' hearts!

There were so many good entries, I have to give some RUs~ need more fluffy babs in this world I award an RU to Lost in Progres for cleverness for a nightmare hunter and Rhiannon for making me as stressed as the poor hunter.

Those will be up tomorrow likely on the winter event thread~

[Firedancer77]

EEe thank you so much!! o: I will take good care of Jasiri. I got the idea while trying to think of a unique spin on the hunter idea, and decided I would go for it. I'm glad it got a laugh out of you!!