VoK Prompts

Prompt D2 - Write a 400 word scene/story of your choosing involving your pride members 
Word count: 400 / 400 + 417 / 400
Exp: 600

"Please, come in. Sit down. Don't worry, you're not in trouble. And I won't expect you to speak," Isihambi watched as the fidgeting lioness relaxed slightly at that last sentence. Again, a deep empathetic sorrow for her filled his heart, as it did every time he studied her. "I just wanted to... explain myself, if you will let me?" He phrased it as a question, but they both realized she had no choice but to listen. The king turned to the guard at the door, and murmured, "Could you please give us some privacy?" When he saw the guard's reluctance, he added, "Don't worry. I'm not afraid of her," He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a bit of confusion on the lioness's strange face.

Once the guard had stepped away, Isihambi cleared his throat. The lioness sat still, her face towards him but her four eyes flicking a million miles a minute. He sighed, pulled his own eyes away and tried again. Confidence, Isihambi, he told himself. Make this easier for both of you.

"I... know where you're from..." Okubi jerked up straight, all of her eyes wide and trained on him. He even noticed a little tremor in her stature. "Wait, no, not exactly, but I've seen, urgh, no, sorry I'm a mess. Let me try again..." Still Okubi didn't falter. "I understand you unlike anyone else in the pride can. You see, I... from the moment I saw you, I recognized you. Well, not you exactly, but your type, but not exactly that either. Sorry, this is hard to explain..." But Okubi didn't falter, encouraging him to go on. "You see..." Isihambi glanced around, making sure no one was listening in, and he lowered his voice. "I'm not from here. No, I don't just mean I was born in another pride. I mean, I was born somewhere without prides. Somewhere far away. I think you might understand this feeling?" For the first time, Okubi nodded. "I…” Isihambi paused again, trying to find the courage to say these words that he had never spoken before. “I am not of this world.” His next words came out in a rush, and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to be freed. “From the moment I awoke in this world, I knew it was not my own. Eventually, it became my home, but I still know it is not where I belong. For goodness sakes, look at me. Look at us. We are not like the others. I have been searching for as long as I have been in his world, and I have not seen another like myself, or like you for that matter. We… are not like the others. And they have a right to think that, to be afraid, but yet… they accept us. They let this be our home. Home. I didn’t believe it then, and I can still hardly believe it now, but I accept it… I guess what I’m trying to say is this…” He finally opened his eyes and met Okubi’s, whose eyes had never left his face. “Okubi, or whatever your true name is… I want this to be your home. I don’t want you to have to live in fear. I cannot know what you went through, or, goodness, what you are going through, but please know, I have been through something like it, too. I want this pride to be your home for as long as you… and I… are stuck in this strange world. You may not look like you belong, but what does that even mean? No two of us are alike, and that’s what’s magical about this world. We can be different and still be family. So… if you want to leave, that is your right. You can leave, but please know, whatever happens, even if the rest of the pride despises you or fears you, I will be here for you. I will be your choice. When I stumbled into this pride, much like you did, I was afraid, and Amanzi was my voice. She has carried me for so long, and I have blossomed in the love of this pride. I believe- no, I know you can thrive here, too. I will not ask you to ‘let us in’ or ‘let your guard down’ or ‘let us help you’ because that is not what I wanted to hear when I arrived, but I want you to know it. We are here for you, and we always will be. Now, you don’t have to make any decisions today, and I don’t mean to pressure you, so when and if you are ready, come find me, and we will make this your home…” His voice faded, and he watched as a single tear slid down Okubi’s twisted face. She nodded, just a small motion, and Isihambi felt a tear fall from his own eye. 

Prompt D8 - Write a description of two pride member’s relationship (can be your lions, or relationship with another user’s lion) 150 word minimum
Word Count: 168/150
Exp: 100 

A thick silence settled over the room, as the two lions watched each other and cried. Without thinking, Isihambi embraced the “alien,” the “freak,” the “creep,” and they let their tears fall freely onto the other. He let go of his strong facade, but he knew he didn’t need it. Okubi didn’t want it. Isihambi cried for all that he had never said, all that he had kept bottled inside for too long. He had carried this weight for too long, afraid to lay it even on his own wife, for she too carried her own burdens, but this was different. In letting go of his burdens, he picked up some of Okubi’s. Now, the burden was theirs, not his, not hers. He knew she felt it, too. The shared weight had become a shared bond, and the first block of the road to healing. The two “aliens,” “freaks,” and “creeps,” cried. They cried not for the pain, but for the healing. And that was a beautiful thing.