[CLOSED] Children of the Elements ~ Winners Pg. 7!

[SilverLutz]

So, here's my story...
Username: SilverLutz
Lion's Name: Thewyn - Welsh for ember
Prompt: 3
Prompt Response: It had been a long, long time since he had walked this path. The dark lion paused by a tree, scratched and marked to hell by the members of his pride. A fond smile touched his muzzle as he lifted a paw, pressing it against the abused bark. This was the edge of the Coileání Draíochta's lands and the rogue lands. This was the edge of his time of wandering paws and his return to his home. The edge of him being a child and an adult, of not knowing what the world held for him and being a wiser, stronger lion.

Tossing his curly mane from his eyes, Thewyn glanced back at the way he had come. He had been gone far longer than a normal wandering paws took young adults out of the pride. What was supposed to take a moon or two had taken him ten. Thewyn had been a very lost soul in his youth, unsure of his place in the world and what life would hold for him. He had never known his father and his mother had perished just after arriving here, her body too weak after trying to keep five cubs alive during a particularly harsh dry season. He had been the only one of his siblings to make it and, once his mother passed, the only one to have survived at all. The pride had taken him in and helped him grow strong and wise, and yet he had nothing but questions. Why him? Why had he been the one to live and none of the others? Could he have done something to save his mother? Where was his father?

Those questions had kept Thewyn out in the rogue lands for quite some time. When he had left he had quite a bit of his mane left to grow into, and now he had reached his full size. Strong muscles rippled under his dark coat, his mane thick and luxurious, mind sharp and soul at peace. He had found his answers while out there alone in the world, and finally his heart had ached to be home.

That's what this place was and always had been. He turned to look into the Coileání Draíochta, the path familiar and welcoming. On his adventures he had come to the realization that he had survived because he was meant to do something with his life. His mother had given hers for him, that her purpose was to see him safely here, to this pride. Something great awaited him here, and all he had to do was step forward and return home and all would begin to become clear.

Stepping forward finally, Thewyn felt a surge of happiness and warmth fill him as he walked back home. A large smile broke out over his muzzle and with a laugh he began to pick up his pace, bounding in exuberant leaps. He had missed this place dearly during his time away and it made him feel as if he had wings. He was home, his friends and those that knew him would welcome him back with happiness and joy, and he could put himself to good use making this pride and possibly the world itself a better place.

Oh, it's good to be back home again!

Notes: I'd love for him to be a son of Nelly! He definitely takes after his mother/the pride that raised him, though, and is a very un-hateful guy.  

[Wylde Roses]

I'd like a ticket!
Username: Redbud-Tree  

[chi honda]

Gimme my points!  

[Tanakako]

I'd like a ticket!
Username: Tanakako

(Second choice to 'Ember')  

[Puhterodactyl]

So, here's my story...
Username: Puhterodactyl
Lion's Name: Llygru (Welsh, Uncorrupted - since WoW Neltharion's whole origin story is about him being corrupted etc etc)
Prompt: Combo
Prompt Response:
His secret is his parentage. He denies knowing who his father is while admitting it is a god, making him a seer. Maybe it's the notorious Al-hattal, he offers to those who pry.

Annually around Samhain, his visions become more and more frequent. Dead kin trying to pass along messages? Spirits tormenting him (there's not really an SoA equivalent to faeries as far as I'm aware...)? His visions have warning signs and lingering after-effects where he thinks he sees something from the corner of his eye when nothing is there, or he thinks he hears a voice, but he can't make out what its saying and he's alone, too. When the vision fully strikes him, he wretches or finds himself immobilized (like sleep paralysis). He Sees awful scenes of the apocalypse and doom.

Worse still (as if having the God of Hate as a father wasn't bad enough), the only thing he found that seemed to abate these symptoms before a full blown vision
manifests is sacrifice to Neltharion... And plants and prayers weren't good enough. He has a good deal of blood on his paws. Llygru was convinced that these sacrifices stopped the visions inflicted upon him by the blood of his father of Hate, but they could have been 100% coincidence.

He was quite world-weary and depressed. He doesn't want to become a vessel for his father's hate. But he felt hopeless.

Until he found the Coileání Draíochta. Did their magick draw him in? Or was it luck? Had he been here before in a past life? Through their methods of prayer/rituals/etc. he's found that his visions are less frequent and less severe. While still negative, they might take less scary forms of failed hunts, intense floods, another's passing (old age/illness/accident, whichever) and so on. The voices aren't as antagonizing, the dark figures not as menacing. Imbolc is his favorite ceremony and marks the time of year when he has the fewest number of visions- if any at all (he also would like to be a priest someday- perhaps use his visions to rush to the side of a member about to pass and keep them company as they pass to the Summerlands). He has a lot of repenting to do.


#3 : I counter your song with some of my favorites :
The Moondoggies - Undertaker
Maiden Radio - Sweet Sunny South
First Aid Kit - Lions Roar
Heartless Bastards - Marathon
Perseverance, determination, weariness, wanderlust, nostalgia... Where do you go when you have that feeling of wanting to go home... but you're already there? Maybe it means the place you live isn't truly your home. Llygru's territory was never his home, but perhaps a pride??  

[chi honda]

Gimme my points!  

[CascadingRayn]

I'd like a ticket!
Username: CascadingRayn  

[chi honda]

Gimme my points!  

[Manda]

So, here's my story...
Username: Manda
Lion's Name: Varad (fire in Sanskrit)
Prompt: Combination of 2 & 3
Prompt Response:

He remembered the first vision that he'd ever had - even after all this time. Barely days old, he had what he thought was a dream. At first, it was just the shadowy form of a lioness, walking through tall grass. The moon behind her, making a stark silhouette out of her form. Clouds scudding across the sky, slowly obscuring the face of that moon, losing sight of the lioness for a few moments. In the way of dreams (or visions), he knew that the lioness was his mother.

Suddenly, a spark. No, wait. It wasn't a spark, but the flickering glow coming from a lion. A lion with wings... and though he was too young at the time to have learned what a "god" was, he knew, even then, that this was something ... more. More powerful, more important than any normal lion could ever be. He watched, helpless to do anything, as the dark lion stalked his mother through the grass. The moon reappeared just as he leaped for her ... and the cub woke up, heart pounding with the intensity of the dream. It had felt so very real - though he could do nothing but watch.

He never knew exactly what happened after that, never saw it in a vision and never asked his mother. But what he did know, was that he never wanted to be found by that dark lion. The vision scared him, as no other ever did. This fear eventually led him to leave his family when he grew old enough - determined to escape even the area where he had seen it.

After that, he wandered for a very long time, drifting in and out of different lands, various prides and groups. As he grew into his adult mane, he started having visions that seemed very precise. He would see a particular tree. A rock, a stream. He felt that he knew these places intimately, though he had never seen them while awake.

Soon, he started to also see other lions in the dream-visions. Everyday thing, such as drinking water, or stalking prey through the grass. As soon as he saw a lion, something seemed to whisper their name to him. It was as if he was seeing old friends that he had known for years. Slowly, he learned each one's habits, likes, dislikes... even some of their dreams and wishes. Many times, he couldn't recall these things while he was awake - but every time he would dream about them, he remembered perfectly. It was almost as if he was living two different lives.

Eventually, Varad became almost obsessed with the dream-world of his visions. It was so much better to visit the friends there - even if they didn't know of his presence - than to be lonely in the real world. He found ways to sleep for longer than he probably should. Plants that could be eaten so he didn't wake for nearly a day sometimes. He began to waste away. Then one night, his peaceful dream-world was shattered by the re-emergence of his first vision. His mother, and the dark god.

His fear was re-awoken and he started to think about what might happen if he was alone, asleep, and the god found him somehow. Suddenly more awake than he'd been in weeks, Varad decided he needed to find his dream-world while he was awake. He needed to discover where the friends that he had never met lived. Find them, and join them ... for his own safety, and sanity.  

[Manda]

Someone gave me a name!
Username: Manda
Lioness' Name: Siyona'Noelani
Name Meaning: Graceful Mist of Heaven (combined meaning)  

[chi honda]

Gimme my points!