[Mid-life]

on the fourth day of winter my true love gave to me... a very sweet sugar plum fairy!

for this elegant lion, please tell me one sweet/ kind thing they did for another pride member (you may make up an npc or use a lion already in your pride)! you may use a maximum of 500 words and 1 art piece. (remember: quality over quantity)

edits: leg fluff and fluffy paws

Code: Select all

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Lion Name:[/b]
[b]Lion Gender:[/b]
[b]Pride:[/b]
[b]Pride Status:[/b]
[b]Prompt:[/b] (400 words and 1 art piece)

prettying up allowed, but won’t count towards judging

end date is december 23 at 5:00 pm PST
have a holly jolly holiday season!

[justamindset]

holy heckin mark

[epilogue]

Username:
Lion Name:
Lion Gender:
Pride:
Pride Status:
Prompt: (400 words and 1 art piece)

oh you bet i'm working on this pretty purple baby on my downtime during midterms

[Mercuré]

Username: irockwaffleking
Lion Name: Kala
Lion Gender: female
Pride: https://www.chickensmoothie.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=103&t=4186402&p=127282636#p127282636
Pride Status: Caretaker
Prompt: (400 words and 1 art piece)

WIP
idea: raises Makanui has her adopted daughter

[EchoIre]

Username: EchoIre
Lion Name: Ghaliya
Lion Gender: Female
Pride: Motoheri Pride
Pride Status: Denmother
Prompt:

Ghaliya crouched beside Earwyn, watching the Healer mix herbs before giving them to a sick cub. She followed his example, murmuring gently to the cub in front of her. They cracked their weary eyes open, licking the herbs off her paw before laying their head back down. They sighed, content. She could already tell they were sleeping better.

Ghaliya turned to Earwyn, a relieved smile on her face. "You're a miracle worker!" She whispered, careful not to wake the cubs. "How can I repay you?"

"Don't." Earwyn replies simply. He set about picking up his herbs, returning everything to a small leather pouch. Ghaliya moved to help him. They worked in silence, interrupted only by loud coughing from Earwyn. Ghaliya walked out of the den with Earwyn, but stopped him before he got too far.

"You sound sick." She mewed, her gentle voice heavy with concern. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

Earwyn stifled another cough. "I'll be fine." He insisted. "Take care, Ghalyia."


Earwyn would not be fine.


It was not even three days later when Muirenn, Earwyn's daughter, approached Ghaliya to beg for help. The headstrong Healer has collapsed in his own den. Muirenn suspected he had been sick since the beginning, and she couldn't remember the last time she had seen him eat anything bigger than a lizard. She was beside herself with guilt and anxiety, but Ghaliya was quick to dry her tears. For the next two weeks, she helped the Healer's daughter tend to Earwyn, pushing long nights just to make sure Earwyn's condition was stable.

~

Ghaliya sat not even five steps away from Earwyn's nest, resting her paws against her paws. Muirenn was out gathering herbs; she was simply here to make sure the Healer didn't worsen any. A low groan from Earwyn's nest caused Ghaliya to open her eyes in a flash, then recoil in surprise as she realized he was waking up. She leapt to her paws, dashing outside to gather water. She set it down in front of Earwyn.

"Drink."

The Healer gulped down nearly half the bucket before he pushed it away. Ghaliya stroked his head with her paw, like she did with sick cubs.

"You gave us quite a scare."

Earwyn coughed. "Where's Muirenn?" He croaked.

"Getting herbs." Ghaliya hummed. "She'll be back soon."

Another bout of coughing seized Earwyn. "I'm sorry." He wheezed eventually.

Ghaliya smiled sadly. "Don't be."

[-Isabella-]

Username: Isabella45
Lion Name: Shirin (Meaning; sweet)
Lion Gender: Female/Lioness
Pride:xxXxx
Pride Status: Lady
Prompt:

"This cub is not worth it," one lion murmured, staring at the pathetic scrap of fur laying before the gathered lions. "Nothing more than a mistake. the royal family will be so displeased.."

The whispers circled around the clearing as everyone stared at Princess Leila's cub. The princess had succumbed to the sickness that had overtaken many lions in the cold weather. And now her cub was left all alone. The cub's grandsire wouldn't take care of her. With the father unknown and likely nothing more than a commoner the cub was an embarrassment and the king would not acknowledge the cub, or his daughter's disobedience.

No one else was willing to step forward and risk the wrath of the king so the cub had been left alone in the cold by the village. The cub's nurse was standing over it protectively, begging someone to take in the cub who would need food and warmth.

"Please, she needs a home," the nurse begged.

No one stepped forward still, murmurs circulating and words like 'embarrassment' and 'disgrace' being whispered.

The cub was nearly crying, cold and still grieving the loss of her mother. Then crowd parted as Princess Shirin came forward. She was the recently deceased Princess Leila's sister, and everyone knew she had loved her sister dearly despite her rebellious ways.

Now her violet eyes came to rest on the cub. The nurse's gaze imploring, all but begging her to do something.

"I'll take the cub," Shirin said after a moment, exacting shocked murmurs from those around her. to take this cub was to defy her own father, something the mild mannered princess had never done in the public eye.

Without waiting fora response she leaned down to scoop up her niece. "You'll come with me now,dear," she murmured.

"They say I'm nothing," the cub whispered quietly, her eyes clouded with grief. "Mamma said I was a princess, I was special. Mamma loved me."

Shirin felt her heart break for the cub. In this kingdom no one would ever acknowledge her as a true princess, or anything more than a disgrace. She had a long, hard road ahead of her. But Shirin intended to walk it with her every step of the way.

"Of course you are special. They don't know how special you are but to me you always will be."

"You won't leave me?" the cub asked softly.

"Never, my sweet. I will never leave you."

That seemed to satisfy the cub who was quiet as Shirin carried her back to the palace, prepared for her father's wrath but not caring. Whatever happened she had claimed this cub and intended to protect her no matter the cost.

Thanks to Shirin the young princess grew up, not without struggles, but always knowing she was loved. And that one act of love and kindness from her aunt changed her life and her perception of the world in many ways.

(489/500)

[Firedancer77]

Username: Firedancer77
Lion Name: Tamu (swahili for "sweet")
Lion Gender: Male
Pride: Isle of Roses
Pride Status: Learner
Prompt:

Ua rushed about the pride camp in a tizzy. Mzatamo and Msaliti were both out at the nursing den, and she was determined to prove she was capable of solving an issue without their help. Besides, it wasn't that much of an emergency, though that didn't stop Ua from being concerned. They had stocked up on all sorts of herbs, but Ua had somehow overlooked borage.

Sure, it wasn't the most important herb out there, but it was useful during the summer, when lionesses were more commonly having cubs, as it helped them to produce more milk. The whole reason they were stocking up was because it was about to be the hottest season in the Isle of Rose's territory, and if they didn't have enough of their herb stocks, they might not be able to get more till after the hot weather died down, as many herbs became hard to find when the weather got hot. It also didn't help that borage was one of their best herbs for dealing with fevers, belly aches, and chest pain. It was something they wanted; how could Ua have neglected to check it yesterday? She had been specifically tasked with making sure that section of the medicine storage was fully stocked!

"Is something wrong, Learner Healer Ua?" The lioness looked up just in time to avoid crashing right into her purple pridemate, Tamu.

In her panic, Ua couldn't keep herself from allowing the words to spill out. She was typically so level-headed, but she didn't want to let Mzatamo down, and she knew her Teacher would be disappointed with her if he found out. "I was supposed to make sure we were fully stocked up on herbs in a certain part of our storage area, but I just realized we're all out of borage, and I should get more but Kokoto just came in and has some scratches that need looked at, so I can't get the borage, but Mzatamo will be mad at me if we have none during the hot weather, and we might not be able to find any because the hotter we get the less likely it will be growing, and-"

"Calm down," Tamu instructed. "What does the borage look like?"

"Okay," Ua said, taking a deep breath, "okay. It's got blue or pink petals and hairy leaves. It has a distinct smell, and the leaves are green, with the best ones generally being about halfway up the stem. I just don't have time to go looking because-"

"I know," Tamu said patiently, "so I'll get them."

Ua sputtered her thanks as he headed off, and almost forgot he'd gone out to get them till he came back after the sun set, hours later, with a mouthful of borage leaves.

"Will these do?"

Ua practically tackled him in thanks.

[LoSt In PrOgReS]

Username: Lost in progres
Lion Name: Elan
Lion Gender: Female
Pride: Eternal snow
Pride Status: Hunter
Prompt:
xXx
After a long day of hunting, Elan had crashed into her den, ready to fall asleep. It had been storming outside all day, but the howling sounds of the wind comforted her, gently luring her to sleep. She was already half falling asleep when she heard a small whine. It must've been one of the cubs. Half-opening her eyes, she listened closely. It didn't take long until she heard it again. Getting up, she wandered to the cub's den.

Walking in, she noticed that Hayle and Flarion were, quite adorably, cuddled up together, fast asleep. Upon closer inspection, Soros and Spiros were asleep similarly, right next to each other. The only one awake was little Umbris, who looked at Elan with wide, frightened eyes. Elan hummed softly, laying down next to the little cub "The storm scaring you, little one?" Umbris glances away, slightly embarrassed, but still nodded. "That's all right." When the cub still didn't look at her though she cleared her throat and continued "You know, we're all afraid of something." Umbris looked at hern "Well then, what are you scared of?" There was a decent amount of sass in the young lioness' voice, which Elan smiled at "Bats. You know, you see them in the dark sometimes, or in caves." Umbris giggled "Bats? But those are so cute!" At that moment, loud thunder shook across the den and Umbris instantly hid her little face in Elan's soft fur.

After a bit of conversation, Elan looked at the cub. The storm was still going strong. At every loud noise, Umbris flinched. The cub had already crawled closer to Elan. Still, the lioness gently nudged the cub even closer "It's okay to admit something scares you. Because if you do, others can help you get over your fears. And like that, you can get stronger." She sighed "How about I stay with you for the night?" The cub nodded at that, smiling at Elan. Umbris laid her head on Elan's back, enjoying the warmth the other lioness gave her. Huddled close to the purple lioness, Umbris felt oddly safe though. It was late already. Yawning, Umbris muttered a quiet goodnight to Elan before falling asleep.

When she woke up, Elan expected to have one cub snuggled up to her. Waking up to five sleeping cubs cuddled around her and one snickering Boyle was quite a surprise. The cubs didn't seem to be very keen on waking up, even when Elan tried to wiggle out of their grip. They did, however, make sad whining noises upon the realization that the pillow was trying to escape. Boyle had wished her the best of luck with her situation before wandering off. While Elan thought he had gone to do... Whatever Boyle does, really, he had instead went to fetch Flurris! The head hunter snorted, trying to hold her laughter before turning to Boyle "Looks like we're down a hunter." She started to walk away, but called back "Guess you'll have to substitute."

[Mid-life]

Username: Isabella45
Lion Name: Shirin (Meaning; sweet)
Lion Gender: Female/Lioness
Pride:xxXxx
Pride Status: Lady
Prompt:
— snipped —
(489/500)

winner is isabella45!
I was seriously moved to tears by your story; I am wiping the tears away from my eye as we speak. i’m not even sure why... but you did an incredible job of building a connection between the reader and your characters— the lioness’ sisterly love driving her to care for the cub, despite what the other lions thought about the “disgraceful” cub, was just so motivational and sweet. congrats!

[-Isabella-]

Thank you so much! I really fell in love with her while writing that and I can't wait to do more with her.