Event prompts

Land prompt : Day 1A - Color: Black/near black

Hearing out their new guests, the pride of cinder's gorge is rather mystified at the downright... magical events unfolding in front of them. They were scientists, and their loyalty was to logic, to reason and discovering a way to continue after everything they knew had fallen around them. This? This was absolutely otherworldly. Some members of the pride fled almost immediately, refusing to face what was in front of them. Others were eagerly taking note and observing everything possible, pacing excitedly around the area to analyze it with careful eyes. Kaisa alone stood tall as her pride was addressed with a task-one to save themselves and the world they knew. She listened cautiously. before sighing "Well, you aren't giving us much alternative." she said to the cat and lion before her, representatives from worlds so far beyond her own. 

"We aren't warriors...or fighters. So we'll have to arm this chosen hero of yours with the only weapon we've got.... our knowledge..." she trailed off distantly. It sounded so feeble an offer now, with this threat bearing down on them. She'd faced an army of outraged robots...surely she could face this too? Her knowledge had saved her before. She drifted her gaze to the black lioness in front of her. She seemed disgusted to be there. This was a great start. "I suppose... come with us." she motioned for her to follow... even though Kaisa had much more interesting work to be doing, it seemed that a new task was dropped in her lap. She'd make the best of it that she could, and at the least- perhaps they'd all learn something from this.

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Sky prompt : Day 1A - Color: white

Melora didn't feel right in this place, this ancient city built long ago by these "humans" as her new compatriots called them- strange beasts with working hands, who worked on two feet. It reminded her a little of the city she'd lived in in the sky, but this one was in ruins...covered in technology that seemed to capture lighting, something the sky hadn't put together yet. She didn't like this place, it felt dirty on her paws. She had no wings,  but if she did- she'd fly from this place as fast as they'd carry her. She sat on the stones staring wistfully into the sky when a voice interrupted her daydreaming. "You could give us a chance, you know." Belle states softly to their visitor. Melora lifts her nose to the heavens, ignoring her. This strange lion was nothing like anything she'd seen before. 

She claimed to be of the land, but she wielded massive wings and hooves like that of the prey-creatures that kept the land dwellers fed. Belle didn't seem terribly offended by the other lioness's snooty behavior. She just walked over, settling in the dirt without much care. Melora couldn't help but shudder in disgust...had this lion no shame? at least she sat on a rock so her fur wouldn't get coated in dust. Belle looked to the sky with her. "It's beautiful isn't it?" she ceded. At that, Melora couldn't help but nod a little, pensively. "Here is beautiful too. Just in different ways" Belle continued, pointedly. Melora grunted at the continued effort to convince her. "I don't believe you. But I don't have a choice."

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Sky prompt: Day 1C - Edit: Tail feathers
*scene cont. from sky1a

"So where is it that you came from? You are clearly not from here if you treat this place with such bitterness." Belle questions their guest, somberly. She genuinely wanted to know, but was also hoping to learn something that could help her win Melora over. She wasn't making it easy otherwise. "Where did I come from? The sea." Melora answers, puffing out her chest just a little "The deepest, darkest trenches where there is no light, where my black pelt shielded me, a whisper in the darkness, a hunter like no other." she declared. But she deflated in memory, unnerved by her own progression. "Well. My father was. A great hunter, but he was killed by one of the creatures down there. He always told me I'd be a hunter like him, but I never got the chance. After my village was discovered by creatures and attacked, I was forced to move to the more shallow waters...A refugee from the great sea-beasts below." she explained. "But it always hurt. To know my family and all that I truly knew was gone. That I never really belonged in my new village..that they looked at me with confused and judgemental eyes." she continued. So when the alliance happened, and the elders chose me as the representative to go to the sky city- well, I simply didn't have any reason to refuse. I had nothing left there to lose- I thought, perhaps, a city so different from my own home would offer me solace I didn't find there. That I could find friends, a family to be a part of..." she stared off into space, her eyes glossed over in thought. "Well did you?" Belle prodded, softly. 

"No." Melora answered. "And I didn't understand the gravity of what I'd gotten myself into, either." she responded. Looking to the other lioness with sad, but genuine eyes. "I saw it as a one way ticket to anywhere but where I was...and ended up with the weight of the world itself on my shoulders." she said simply. "I had hundreds of eyes on me, but they were more judgmental than ever." she said as she turned her head away again, now staring squarely at the horizon. "It was a beautiful city. But not where I belonged." she said. Belle shifted a bit on her haunches, moving her hooves in the dirt to get comfortable "Well. You may not like it here, but theres a lot of good cats here." she said to her, earnestly. "Many more than could fit in your cities of sky or sea..with all sorts of different things... I find that they are quite forgiving of differences, if you find the right ones." she said. Melora couldn't help but eye her hooves "Do you fit in here?" she asked, blatantly. Belle just smiled knowingly. "Oh, of course not. No other lion here has hooves like mine, nor wings like mine, nor a heart as gentle as mine. They tease me for being different, sometimes, but it's these things that make me strong. And they see that too. I just had to show them. But I think even normal cats have that problem too..." she trailed off. 

Melora scoffed, defiantly "No they don't." she grumbled crossly, annoyed at the implication. Belle just chuckled "...Redheart's pride is abnormal...and we tease him for that. Komali is a worrywort, and she gets an earful... Birk won't touch the daylight- he might as well be undead. We all have our quirks. Mine is just a little more obvious." Belle responded, evenly. "We are nothing alike." Melora snapped, impatiently. Annoyed with the conversation, and Belle's attempts to reconcile her disdain for the people around her. Belle said nothing, only shrugging  "As you say." she said simply. Moving to leave, she walked off back towards the city.

 Melora's shoulders sank, and she sighed in deep disdain. She'd given up that hope far too long ago for it to mean anything anymore.

Sea prompt: Day 1B - Marking: Wavy stripes 

"Cinder will teach you." Kaisa said simply. "Cinder, who's that?" Melora said, abruptly. "And why? What makes them good enough to teach me?" she stuck her nose up in the air pretentiously, earning a small head tilt from the pride leader, who was more confused by her show than anything. "Well, Cinder's the only one of us who really knows how to fight." she answered. "Some of us can do basic recon or some simple self defense... but if you want to be trained- well, she's the one you'll have to learn it from. "Alright, so where is this 'Cinder' lion or whatever-" Melora said impatiently, turning in a restless circle as she stood, looking at the lions scattered about the room who were eyeing the situation suspiciously. They trusted their leader- but something had them on edge. Melora smirked a little to herself- she thought that was her doing. Of course they feared her. Just like she suspected they might, and just like she wanted them to. She wanted them to choose a different hero- because she certainly had no business being here as far as she was concerned. She didn't care to save anyone at all. Kaisa motioned with a nod of her head "Cinder lives in the generator room. Helping keep the building powered.." she said. Melora blinked at that- unsure what that meant in the slightest. 

Kaisa just sighed "The big doors with the big signs on them." she didn't bother to say what they said... DANGER, in big red letters. It didn't seem like this newcomer could read the human's language, so she didn't waste the effort. Melora let out a confident puff before strutting over, pushing open the door with one paw. She walked in as the doors shut behind her with a significant thud. She stood in silence for a few moments...before the world was sent reeling as a heavy weight turned her on her side when a massive and muscled lioness tackled into her without hesitation. The mane of fire around the lionesses head roared behind her as she hissed down at the intruder she had pinned "Show me what you've got- outsider-" Cinder growled as she dared her to make a move. Melora tried to wriggle free, to lash back, to attack her in response, but she got nowhere. Cinder countered her every move viciously. The older lioness was not only a force of fury to be reckoned with- but had the skills of a seasoned veteran, and this young lioness had no chance of escaping her pin.

 After Melora finally seemed to give in, letting out a 'whoosh' of air as she flopped hard on her chest in defeat, Cinder finally moved off of her back "Pick yourself up, Charcoal, we got work to do...." she grunted in annoyance as she walked away. Melora wheezed as she tried to get the air back in her sails. "My name is Melora-" she spat back defiantly. Cinder only laughed "Cut it Charcoal. And brush that pile of ash off your pelt before you catch fire." she snapped right back. Caught off guard by the response, Melora made the wise move to shut her mouth before doing as instructed...standing and shaking the myriad of dust from her fur before grudgingly plodding after the other lion. This was going to be a rough week.

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