[Mid-life]

on the seventh day of winter my true love gave to me... a very grumpy grinch?

this lion seems to have something against the holiday season... tell me why they did not like this time of year and how they grew to enjoy it! (do not use the actual grinch story, be original!) no word limit and no art limit for this prompt, quality > quantity

edits: wreath neck fur, tail fluff
without neckfur here: x

Code: Select all

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Lion Name:[/b]
[b]Lion Gender:[/b]
[b]Pride:[/b]
[b]Pride Status:[/b]
[b]Prompt:[/b] (no limit)

prettying up allowed, but won’t count towards judging

end date is december 27 at 12:00 pm PST
have a holly jolly holiday season!

[LoSt In PrOgReS]

mark

[DraconisSumeris]

Definite mark

[EchoIre]

mark!

[Flicka]

Username:Flicka
Lion Name: Alouetta
Lion Gender: Female
Pride: (need to add)
Pride Status: Baroness (second in command)
Prompt: (no limit) Wip

[minifun990]

Username: minifun990
Lion Name: Arilyn
Lion Gender: Female
Pride:Mystic Isle
Pride Status: TBD
Prompt: (no limit) this lion seems to have something against the holiday season... tell me why they did not like this time of year and how they grew to enjoy it! (do not use the actual grinch story, be original!) no word limit and no art limit for this prompt, quality > quantity

The decorations. Oh, the hideous asymmetrical atrocities against her eyesight. Every year they seemed to get worse, didnt they know that shade of yellow berry clashes horribly with that shade of pink on the leaves?! Oh and that rope of leaves was hung crooked! Not to mention that some of the decorations weren't up yet, it was going to get so much worse before they were taken away for the year. it made Arilyn want to sit down and cry. The whole thing was just driving her insane.

She couldn't show her feelings though, how could she be so cruel after everyone's hard work, it was just all so wrong. She quickly slunk away to her den where she didn't have to look at the holiday decor. She just wanted to rip it all down and start again.

Even as the hunters brought back the days food and showed the cubs the gifts they brought back and everyone started to mess around Arilyn couldnt bring herself to feel as much cheer as the others. She tried, oh did she try to return smiles as bright as the ones which were sent to her but all she could see was the crookedness and clashing colours, the messy stains and things that could be better.

In the end her leader actually ended up coming over to ask her what was wrong. She tried to brush it off, play it cool.

"Its the decorations isn't it?" Arilyn froze, her unaffected guise seen straight through. She shook her head but it was too late.

"I've seen you in the healers den sorting the herbs into colour order and making sure the feathers in your nest are symmetrical." Siella laughed.

"You have?" Arilyn exclaimed, completely embarrassed. "I didnt think anyone noticed."

"Its alright," Siella replied. "You do you, dont let anyone make you embarrassed to be who you are." She paused for a moment sniffing the air, and smiled "Besides, its going to rain tonight, ruining these decorations, how about you help out tommorow? Im sure the cubs would love to have someone with such an eye for detail."

"I-I couldnt" Arilyn insisted, but she couldn't help but perk up at the idea, the leaves on that willow tree would make awesome decorations for the dens, the yellow berries from before would suit nicely some of the feathers she had, everything could be done perfectly. Siella raised an eyebrow. Arilyn shook her head to get out of her fantasy.

"I mean, of course Id love to help!"

From then on the decorations were always done perfectly, cubs quickly learning about the colour wheel, symmetry, and ratios. They loved having an adult join in with just as much if not more enthusiasm for the holiday

[Firedancer77]

Username: Firedancer77
Lion Name: Chafya (Swahili for "sneeze")
Lion Gender: Male
Pride: Isle of Roses
Pride Status: Soldier
Prompt:

"I hate the winter season," huffed Chafya, "it's the worst." Msaliti and Ua both chuckled as they maneuvered around the den. "Don't laugh. You two would be just as annoyed if you got sick every single year."

As if on cue, he sneezed and then growled in frustration. "Wow, has it really been every single year?" Msaliti mused as Ua headed to the back to fetch some herbs.

"Yes, it has," Ua affirmed as she made her way back, voice slightly muffled thanks to the herbs in her mouth.

"The pride has their fun while I'm cooped up in here. It's frustrating."

"Well, we're stuck in here too, aren't we?" Msaliti pointed out as she looked over the herbs Ua had grabbed.

Chafya fixed her with a glare. "Isn't your job to make me feel better? You're just making me feel worse. Another reason for me to hate the winter season."

Msaliti huffed, "That's not what I meant."

"What she meant to say," Ua translated as Msaliti grabbed some of the herbs Ua brought and brought them over to Chafya, "is that it's not like you're alone. Though I am surprised that Mzatamo didn't insist on staying; he normally tries to avoid attending ceremonies. Says they get in the way of his work."

"That still doesn't make me feel much better." Chafya sulked as Msaliti set the herbs down in front of him.

"Eat up. Make sure you chew on them to get all the juice out, then swallow."

Ua sat down beside him as he followed Msaliti's instructions. "Well, if you're stuck in here. We might as well do something, right? How about a game?"

Msaliti looked at the other Learner Healer as if she'd grown a second head. "A what?"

"A game! You know, like charades? That could be fun!"

And so, somehow, Ua roped the two of them into her idea of a game. If they were questioned on the subject later, both Msaliti and Chafya had no idea how they had been convinced to go along with it. However, when Mztamo entered the Healer's Den when the festivities were over, he found both Ua and Chafya practically howling with laughter as Msaliti stomped around the den in what he later learned may or may not have been her way of pretending to be him.

He didn't give her too hard of a time for it. It was the first time he'd seen Chafya that happy during the winter season.

[Mid-life]

sorry for the wait everyone!

our winner for this grumpy little lion is minifun990!
i loved the idea of a perfectionist lion, who can’t control why she feels the way she does about the decorations, except that they are just all wrong. the ending was really surprising and the fact that this perfectionism doesn’t just stem from the holidays, it is a burden she lives with in her daily life as well, made this a super unique tale. i really enjoyed your story, and so for that reason you are the winner!

i will also be giving an ru to firedancer77
your story was equally as beautiful as minifun’s and so that made it super hard to decide on a winner. i loved the idea that even though the poor lion has been traumatized by being sick every year during the holidays, an indoor game helped him to change his feelings about the holiday, despite being cooped up in the healer’s den.

[minifun990]

Thank you so much! , goodjob to firedancer too!

[Firedancer77]

Congrats minifun! The perfectionist aspect is such a great idea. And ahhh, thank you for the ru!!