Nyongeza

NYONGEZA

the basics

the appearance

Species • African Lion
Eye Colour • A deep and striking shade of cool blue, commonly considered Indigo
Markings & Scars • Two tears in her left ear- a gift from her mother
Height • Above Average (3.5 feet and still growing)
Weight • Above Average (300 lbs and still growing)
Voice Actor • Mackenzie Davis as Grace
Basic Appearance • Rugged and scruffy with an usually thick coat, Nya looks like she's ready to settle down to hibernate through the winter. She comes from an area far far south of the Pridelands and, having lived in the mountains there, she is used to snow and the cold, though heat makes her uncomfortable, which is why she tries not to hunt during the day. Her coat is a warm almost red sort of orange-tan coloration, somewhat similar to Scar though she has no biological connection with him. She has a super scruffy patch of hair on her head that can sometimes droop into her face and obscure her vision, but she brushes it away pretty regularly, most of the time it's not a problem. Her underside and paws are slightly lighter in color than the rest of her, and her dark blue eyes sit in the center of dark patches around each one. Her tail tip is dark brown, her claws are always extended and are black in color. As a teenager, she still has some growing to do but she promises to be a huge lioness as she is already pretty big, even though she is only a teenager. She uses this to her advantage a lot- flirting with other girls by showing off her muscles and physical prowess. But she also unafraid to stand up for herself or others around her as she is pretty convinced that she could wipe the floor with almost anyone. She has a bite wound in one ear, a gift from her mother when she was younger and had a tendency to mouth off at her, it was their first real argument and her mother was so appalled that she lashed out in a moment of pure rage and a young Nya had to fight the grown lioness off. She has no other scars or visible injuries other than that, however.

the personality

Personality • Having lived the life that most other animals would be afraid to, Nya comes off to strangers as a self-absorbed asshole. She curses like a sailor, she is honest in all pursuits, and she will absolutely give you a piece of her mind if you get in her way. She can be a little moody in this way, often angered by something but is then unwilling to talk about it, leaving others to simply guess what has her so upset. Sometimes, she is better off on her own, alone with her thoughts so she does not lash out at anyone who might come along and try and help the troubled teenager. But Nya is an introvert and, even when things are going well for her, she still has a tendency to avoid others, to be something of a wall flower, simply disappearing into the background.

It takes a long time and a lot of work to earn her trust, and even once you have it, it can be hard to tell, as she has always pushed others away out of habit, out of fear, she desperately does not want to be hurt anymore. In her younger years, she was far more bold and adventurous, a naive little cub. Now she is wiser and more skeptical and suspicious of others manipulating her or only talking to her because they want something. She's never really had the love and attention of her peers and while she knows something in her mind is missing, she seems to be unable to help herself when it comes to romance and dating, she is often a little too forward, a little too desperate. She can be incredibly stubborn- once she sees something she wants, she's going to get it, come hell or high water, which is often too intense for more laid-back lions. But she recently came across a beautiful white lioness who has taken her attention. She is beautiful, kind and very smart, Nya is smitten. She won't admit it to anyone but she is attached to Amari by the hip and, though cold and sometimes even hostile to strangers, friends and family like Amari get to see the blonde lioness' softer side. Turns out she loves to cuddle, who knew?

Likes • Sleeping, takes frequent naps | Fighting, both physical and verbal, she loves to debate | Loyalty and sincerity | Small groups of close friends | Hyenas
Dislikes • Being told what to do, especially if done so because of her young age | Water, rain, just being wet in general | People who cannot take a joke | Stoic and serious types, silence annoys the hell out of her | Being treated like a child

History • Nya's relatively short life has been a whirlwind of traumatic events, which has then turned her into a little bit of an asshole now that she is approaching adulthood. Nyongeza was born one early November morning, one of a litter of four. The other three cubs were male, as were her older siblings from previous generations. Her home pride was massive in this way- the Queen was notoriously fertile with a tendency to give birth to multiple cubs at a time. So Nya was never lonely, her twin brothers were a little meek and a little shy with more reserved personalities, so the outspoken outgoing Nya often played with her older brothers instead, building up muscle and skill by constantly play fighting with each other. While at first, the older cubs enjoyed these games, as Nya grew in size, her brothers had less and less fun fighting her. She was simply too fierce, and too big, for them to handle her anymore. So eventually, the play time faded away and Nya started to feel lonely, almost abandoned. Even her twin brothers seemed to be frightened of her. So she learned how to entertain herself, wandering away from the pride to explore and try her hand at hunting. She was just not patient enough to be a good huntress.

As she came into her teenage years, Nya was shocked and surprised when her mother broke some terrible news. Nya had never really developed a relationship with her mother, the lioness was obsessed with having cubs for some reason. When Nya was younger, she had explained the situation, something about needing more females in the pride, since it was mostly males at this time. But her story faded with age and she just pumped out cubs like she was some sort of baby-making machine. And while she was a very prickly parent with terrible bedside manner, when they were little and reliant on her, she was a fantastic mother. But once the cubs were old enough to walk around on their own, she'd disappear for a time, obviously off getting pregnant again. And, since the pride was 90% her offspring, the ridiculous amounts of incest was problematic. Thankfully, Nya came out pretty okay- she has no physical deformities but her mental state is questionable. Still, she had to care for her ailing brothers, many of them dying young, simply overcome by deformations of their hearts and lungs. And yet her mother was constantly running around pregnant, not caring at all that she was flooding the world with miserable offspring that were innocent and suffering because of her decisions. So Nya has no love for her mother and, thank goodness, the lioness also wanted nothing to do with her daughter.

Nya's father on the other hand absolutely adored her. He was the king of the pride through title only, her mother had picked him because of his size and strength. However, he did not approve of the female and her tendency to get pregnant every two seconds, often with her own sons, it was terrible and the male felt bad that he simply could not perform often enough to satisfy his mate's desire for cubs. But, kind and lawful, he just wanted his children to be happy, and Nya was particularly special to him- he grew up with all sisters so he could relate to her on a level that no other male could. His favorite thing to do for her was sing, he had an amazing singing voice and had a particular song that he'd sing to her, illustrating that while she might not think she is special or significant, the song insisted that everyone has a part to play in the Circle of Life and no matter how big or small that part was, it was still needed for the world to work the way that it does. It was a nice thing to hear when you're a young cub. He absolutely spoiled her with things like this, telling her stories and testing her intelligence with games and playtime. So when her mother called her into the main den, looking very somber, Nya immediately knew that something was not right.

Her father was dead.

No one seems to know why or how he died, and Nya in particular adhered to the idea that her mother killed him when he could not perform to her ridiculous sexual expectations. But there was no body to study, no places to examine, the female kept her mouth shut about the whole thing and it made Nya not only suspicious but hostile. She wanted to know who killed the greatest male in the world and why, her father was a kind soul, the only person who never got along with him was his Queen., so, fueled by this relevant coincidence, Nya's relationship with her mother took a nose dive. They argued and fought all of the time for months and months, Nya absolutely aware of her short temper and her inability to forgive and forget. But her father had been her rock, he was her Superman, and to have him just brushed aside like he was nothing infuriated her.

So her mother did something drastic. Tired of all of the yelling and fighting, the lioness just said "fuck this" and sent Nya away, trading her to another pride in exchange for one of their females. Nya was immediately betrothed to a young male in the pride, but she was not interested and instead kept to herself, drifting slowly away from her new family as time passed. The male that she was betrothed to was not happy with her distance and was constantly chasing, harassing, and attacking her, even forcing himself upon her. But she was growing like crazy, to the point that even at her young age, she outweighed her prospective husband and absolutely beat the crap out of him in retaliation. It was just so chaotic that Nya quickly got over it and, after drifting away slowly, one day she just bailed completely, heading off to god knows where, as long as it wasn't a nomadic pride or some weird or crazy cult of lions or anything like that.

She stumbled upon the Pridelands by accident, literally walking along a ridge that bordered part of their territory. She was admiring Pride Rock from afar when, distracted, she mis-stepped and ended up tumbling down the ridge. She was not badly injured but, having hit her head, she did have a bit of a concussion. At first, she just shook it off, but almost immediately her balance was gone, she was slurring her words and could not concentrate on pretty much anything, very dazed and confused. She does not remember much of what happened after she fell. Her next memory was her waking up on Pride Rock with a white lioness resting comfortably beside her, cold nose buried in her fur. At first, she was disgusted and wanted to get up immediately and figure out where the hell she was and how to escape. But as she watched the young lioness sleep, something seemed to anchor Nya to the ground. She felt like she couldn't move, but was not trapped, she was just.... tired maybe? Yeah that was probably it, she wanted to sleep some more. Who cares who this beautiful white lioness was?

Turns out she did. The other female introduced herself as Amari and after caring for her head wound a bit, Nya ended up following the lioness out into the sunshine to be shown around the territory. And the outlander was absolutely smitten. Amari was smart, she knew the Pridelands well and told the story of Scar- the rightful king, she had said. Nya had no idea who Scar was but she was massively infatuated with her new female friend so, when Amari expressed disgust in the way that her father was treated at the end of the day, Nya blindly agreed, especially because she could relate to the idea of suddenly losing your father. So she is on Team Zira but really only makes this claim because she wants to be with Amari, above all else. The two share a bond that is just unlike anything Nya has ever encountered. She didn't expect to want to stay in the Pridelands, even after falling for Amari, she was planning to tell the white lioness to leave with her, to run away and start their own pride with their own rules. But life in the Pridelands was hella comfortable so, for now, she has no problem sticking around, Wherever Amari is, that is where Nya wants to be.

the FAMILy

Father • Halisi (Hal for short)
Mother • Katili (whereabouts unknown)
Siblings • Though she had about 26 siblings, she only really got to know her three littermates- Mamba, Nyoka (Nyo), and Chatu. Moja is her oldest brother, an adult now, he lives close enough to the Pridelands that he visits from time to time. (currently an NPC but hit me up if you want to play him). Barafu is another of her many brothers who joined Moja in a small pride, jealous of his brother's place of power and his close relationship with Nya, he is not a nice lion and is planning on killing his brother to take over their pride, as well as killing Nya and her mate just out of spite (again, he is currently an NPC but hit me up if you want to play him).
Mate • Amari <3 (well eventually, they are just barely moving beyond friends atm)
Offspring • None
Others • Mkaidi- Maternal Grandmother, Molo- friend, spotted hyena, Arnay- friend, spotted hyena, Dahdah- friend, spotted hyena

the role player

Name • Heapass
Nickname • Heapass is fine, can be shortened to Heap, my real name is Joey which some of my friends use sometimes
Age • Thirty
Password • Don't post this until you're COMPLETELY finished with your app.
Other Characters • Tojo

roleplay Sample

Missy had always been a finicky horse, which was not saying a lot since she was only a few years old, still a teenager by horse standards. She was still getting used to eating solid food, still getting used to the idea that her mother was now ten stalls down the row from her rather than being within muzzle reach, and the whole concept of life in this big, bad adult world seemed to hit the leggy filly hard. It was not odd for her to reject her feed every few days or so. But she'd pace, get some exercise the next morning and return that night for dinner sporting a healthy appetite again and all would be well. Not eating for three days straight was a bit odd, even for her and her young jaw, her unground teeth.

That was how the oldest De Luca child found the cremello filly that damp evening- pacing restlessly in her stall, a full bag of oats hanging from the sliding wood door to her stall, still heavy and completely untouched. She was starting to wear a track in the bedding on the floor as well, a perfect oval of kicked sawdust marking every step of her shoed hooves for the past 72 hours, where as all of the other horses, her mother included, stood stock still in the slowly darkening evening air. They probably had never worn tracks in their stalls in their lives. Carson's eyebrows dropped toward his brilliant blue eyes in an expression of deep puzzlement. To be fair, Missy was always a fidgety filly- taking after her sire and sporting boundless amounts of energy, she promised to be an excellent racehorse one of these days. But a healthy amount of energy was also usually accompanied by a crazy appetite, and even when at her most finicky, she'd go maybe six to twelve hours maximum without nibbling on something. This three day stint was unheard of.

Unsure of what else to do, the tallest of the De Luca family used his long strides and well built legs to close the small gap between himself and his favorite horse, casually coming to a stop with his chest leaned against the soggy wooden doorframe. Outside of the stables, the sky was cast over with darkened clouds and a lazy rain fell from the heavens in low, gentle rumbles. But the shingled roof was solid and the thoroughbred paused in her stall to eye the soaking wet figure that now peered at her through the bars, swiveling her ears once or twice curiously before silently walking over to where his hand lay outstretched through the door. Without hesitation, she sniffed and then casually nibbled his extended fingers, tugging on the wet sleeve of his jacket, as though to ask why he'd be foolish enough to come out here in the bad weather. But the werewolf only smiled knowingly at the animal and patted her nose gingerly.

"What's the matter with you? Your favorite rolled oats and you've barely touched 'em."

WORDS: 507 (and that's pretty short for me, I can regularly type between 700 and 900 words)