Welcome to Gaia! ::

There is no cure for me. *u*~

Once you feed me I follow you forever.

I thought you loved me. TT.TT

YOU LIED TO MEEEEEE...-Plops down and wails.-

To make sure to save the stragglers for you?

Won't You Be My Melancholy Baby?
.:For The black and teal edited lioness:.
Username: Fallenthroughmidnight
SoA Name & Meaning (if applicable): Leto, which means ‘to be hidden or forgotten’. Her name was Klytië (An ocean nymph from Greek Mythology, she fell in love with the sun god Apollo but her love could not be returned. Brokenhearted, she pined away until she became a heliotrope flower, the blooms of which always face the sun. ) but she lost it with her memories.
Rank in the Pride: Bard, or perhaps a Healer. Either would work, she could be a huntress as well if you need more of those. Her personality is suited to any of the above, and her backstory would work for these as well. Bard is my preference, as her healing skills pale in comparison to her talents as a singer and storyteller, but she’s not in a box.
Is she diseased, a carrier or immune? Diseased, but does not realize it fully as the symptoms are currently only the early stages and only occasionally. This has been going on since she joined the pride, but she thinks herself to be immune or, maybe, a carrier due to never experiencing severe symptoms. Mostly she feels achy or tired, but she puts that down to stress or something rather than thinking she has caught the pride’s plague. When it does intensify for her, it will happen rather quickly and unexpectedly until it kills her within a week (due to a genetic weakness she inherited from her unknown mother acting up and causing her immune system to practically die once she hits a certain age) but this will not occur until she is much older.
How old do you see her as? Almost middle aged-ish, like late twenties or early thirties.
Personality: Leto is broken, but still kind, damaged, but full of love and compassion. Her lost memory plagues her more fiercely than any physical illness ever could, her own past just as much a mystery to her as it is to anyone else. She is settled where she is now, devoted to easing the suffering around her for all each passing breaks her heart. She loves too easily, and with everything that she is, so when someone she loves dies it leaves her utterly shattered…but while she carefully picks up the pieces of her heart she finds herself offering them to someone else who needs to feel loved and cared for. The more advanced the stages of the illness, the more horrible and near to the end someone is, the more she feels that they need someone, anyone. And so she loves them, devoting time to them, murmuring stories and soft songs to ease their minds from the dark places death drags them to until they close their eyes for the final time, leaving Leto aching for the loved one she’s just lost. The idea that her damaged memory might have caused her to forget any one of these crushes her, but she can’t help but stand up and seek to offer herself to another sufferer. Much stronger than she seems, she truly shows that the broken part of a chain, once mended, is the strongest link of all.
What has her life been like up until now? Tell me this girls story. . . :
The ocean is endless, it stretches wide and touches upon so many places that to stand in the ocean is to reach out to unknown shores and become a part of a much greater world. Klytië was born upon one of these shores, and she spent much of her childhood alongside the endless sea. It taught her of softness, the calm warm sparkle of sunlight across its surface full of peace and serenity. It taught her ferocity, the dark grey storms whipping a roaring temper and clawing away at the stones until it seemed that there could be nothing left in the end. It was always shifting, always changing, and yet it was always there, always the same. It was, her grandmother told her once, the greatest symbol of love in the world. Gentle, yet strong, sweet and nurturing, yet wild and untamable, with greater depth than any who stood at the shore and dabbled naught but a paw within could ever understand. Like the ocean, to be a part of love, real love, one must be willing to submerge themselves entirely, welcoming the good with the bad, the storm with the silence. The cub listened with rapt attention each and every time the ancient lioness told her of the ocean, and would go down to the shore every single day to splash about and come out absolutely soaking wet. It was a happy childhood, on the stony beaches and wispy grasses that grew up around the dunes. Her grandmother taught her both to fish and to hunt, and even as a youngster she gradually began to take over these duties as her guardian’s eyes began to fail her.

She met the leopard Ochieng during one of her many hunting trips, and the two of them seemed to connect almost instantly. He was a loaner, wanderer by nature, and yet somehow he couldn’t find it within himself to wander far away while she stayed behind. It was nice, he decided, to spend time in one place, and during the long winter nights when the dunes were touched with frost, he would curl up with Klytië and her grandmother within their rocky den. The dark leopard would tell the stories of his travels and the young lioness would sing soft songs to the rhythm of the rolling waves while the ancient lioness who raised her lay quietly, her tired head resting on worn paws. The blossoming friendship warmed her withering heart, and when she finally slipped into that final sleep it was with a sense of peace. Her granddaughter mourned for her the morning the old lioness would not wake, and Ochieng let her lean upon his strong shoulders while she grieved the loss of her family. Together they sealed the den to keep her body safe from scavengers, and with a last farewell to the waves that had lulled her all her life, Klytië followed her beloved friend into the strange and wonderful world he’d spoken of so fondly.

The world was as wide as the ocean was endless, and its paths filled with the same unpredictability that it had always concealed within its depths. She saw many things as she wandered with her beloved friend, as the older leopard slowly became the adolescent lioness’ beloved mate. She saw places where the earth seemed to touch the sky, she traveled beneath trees where the air hung thick and moist and green-tinted sun barely touched the ground beneath their paws, and she raced with her lover across gold-painted fields that seemed as endless as the ocean the tall grasses swaying in the wind like the rolling waves she’d danced through as a child. She learned the songs of the birds, and the music in the world and within the heart, and every night slept curled against the soft flank of her beloved. This two, was a happy time, for love may overpower loss if it is strong enough and young lives travel ever onward towards their dreams.

But for every dream there is a nightmare, and theirs was fast upon them. A great and cruel warrior from a pride where the fiercest have the right to take what they please and blood spilled was honor earned found the pair and scorning the idea that a lion, which was far a superior race, could possibly love a lesser creature like a leopard, decided to teach the both of them a lesson that Klytië thought she could never forget. Before the sun crested the horizon, her mate lay broken and she herself was scarred more deeply than any physical blow could have touched. She lay with him through the morning as his life shuddered from his veins, helpless to save him. He died beside her before the sun had set beyond the western plains, but she stayed where she was long into the night, her soft voice pouring lullabies into his empty ears until her throat was too worn to utter sound.

Life without love was empty. The earth was dry and hard beneath her paws, the sun too bright, the wind too harsh, and the silence deafening. She didn’t travel any longer, but wandered to and fro across the rolling plain that had once reminded her of the ocean. But there was no love to be found here, no endless depths of sweet mysteries to discover. Often she thought of returning to the mound of rocks where Ochieng’s body lay and resting there until the sleep her grandmother had slipped into found her as well. But the life she felt starting within her kept her moving, the hope that it was his cubs she carried, that a piece of her mate might be living within her, inspired her to stay alive. She neglected her health, barely eating and rarely bothering to groom her once beautiful dark fur. She watched as her flanks swelled, her stomach heavy with the family she’d always wished to start with him, and she clung to this tenuous thread of life. If they were not Ochieng’s, she said softly, then she could lay down and join him, for nothing that came of that night could ever be good. Nothing that came of that night could ever be love.

The moment the cubs entered the world, her bitter broken whispers were proved wrong. The cubs were dark, as she was and he had been, but marked with the bloody red that their attacker had been brushed with. But suddenly, suddenly the fact that they looked nothing like her mate did not matter. These were precious little lives, the three of them tiny fragile treasures. And like all mothers must, Klytië found that she loved her cubs. The youngest was too small, guilt told the lioness that it was lack of nutrition that brought her tiny daughter to death’s door before the little black and red cub could even open her eyes. Her sons she doted upon, her own life suddenly important once more. She was their mother, they needed her. And she loved them, loved them in a way she thought she’d never be able to love again.

They grew slowly, her cubs, and she told them stories of the ocean, whispered to them of the leopard that would have been their father through love, for that mattered far more than any blood, and sang them softly to sleep each night, their little bodies warm against her side where she curled around them in the small den she’d made. Love had returned to her life, and it was, though bittersweet, a happy time.

But again, it did not last.

The monster that had beset the young lioness and her leopard mate returned one day to claim what he believed to be his. The cubs that he’d sired, the little monsters that he desired to raise as his own blood and heirs to his wicked line…he never thought that a female he’d abused would refuse to give them up. Little demons, living nightmares, constant reminders of the pain he’d so easily wrought when he destroyed her life. The fool never thought she’d fight him for them. But while he’d been certain that she would lose, he never dreamed that she would mark him so very deeply, and the eye she’d torn from his face would forever remind him of the female he’d thought to dominate. He stole the sleeping cubs from the blood-spattered den, their eyes still yet to fully open, and vanished back to whence he’d come with his prize.

The dark lioness woke with a deep ache in her skull, scabs forming slowly over injuries that should not have healed. Dazed and confused, she lay still, her eyes open but unfocused as something moved back and forth around her. Blessed coolness spread across her wounds as something soft and smooth was padded against her flanks. A voice spoke softly to her, though the words were meaningless and no face swam into her vision. Her eyes closed, and she drifted between waking and dreaming, life and the border beyond. For how long she was under she could not say, for her first memories were of the small den she awoke in, the pale furred lion the first face she saw.

He was kind, this stranger, for he told her that he had found her bleeding and for no reason other than a desire to save a life had brought her back from the edge of the void. She was lost, confused by the black empty space that roared between her ragged ears, and he stayed with her. Leto, he called her, for she had forgotten her name, and she stayed with him for many sunrises. Iasthai was his name, this master healer. He was a banished prince from a far away pride, for his uncle had killed his father. Iasthai desired to return and reclaim his rightful place, but knew better than to attempt to do so on his own. His skills, he explained, lay within mending what was broken, not with breaking what was whole, and Leto agreed that that was surely the greatest sort of gift there was. He taught her some of his tricks, which herbs would heal and which would harm, ways to coax an injured limb back to life again, and also, perhaps most importantly, how to live in a world that was half dark. Slowly Leto learned to hunt again, and some nights pieces floated through her dreams. Iasthai told her that the endless water she saw in her broken mind was a true place, and would repeat to her words she murmured in her dreams. Whether the den they’d stayed within on the rolling plains had been hers or merely a shelter for the night, he couldn’t tell her, nor could he help her to identify the other scents he’d caught when he first came upon her. The mound of stones in the field puzzled both of them, but Leto felt there was something almost sacred about it, and refused to allow the stones to be moved. Something precious had been lost here, her heart whispered to her, and the lioness didn’t desire to disturb the monument to a memory she no longer possessed.

Time passed, and she grew from a long-limbed bony adolescent into a sleek and muscular adult. The scars, under Iasthai’s masterful care, had faded so as not to be seen beneath her fur, and the soreness that made her limp was eased away. Only her ragged ears proclaimed her forgotten battle to the world, and only those who spent time with her could guess the rest. Her right eye had ceased to see, making her steps clumsy at first, but the color remained bright and clear, and Iasthai concluded that it had gone when her memories had been clouded. Perhaps, he said to her on occasion, the eye that had been blinded was merely turned within her, looking for the lost fragments of her life. The idea was less comfort to her than the banished prince seemed to believe, but Leto never breathed a word of this discomfort to him. For a while they were almost satisfied with one another, but there were slim threads that tugged them in different directions. Iasthai needed to return to his pride and regain the destiny he had been born to fulfill, and Leto ached to find herself. Though it was not a sad parting, there was a finality to it that both could feel deep within their bones.

Leto’s paws brought her back to the ocean, the brush of familiarity with some places drawing her to linger a while. Once or twice a face she thought ought to have been familiar approached her. A few asked for a song, and she willingly gave it to them in return for the flickers of her past that they provided for her. A dark leopard, they said, traveled with her. But she did not know who he was, or where he’d gone…or why he was with her no more if they had been as happy as these familiar strangers claimed they had been. The ocean called to her, and while she still lingered occasionally, her paws did not cease until they had been submerged once again in the soft roll of the waves.

’The ocean is the greatest symbol of love there is in this world…it is forever changing, with many secrets below its surface. And yet for all its shifts, it will never cease to touch upon the shores…’. Leto felt the salty air caress her fur and fill her lungs, a deep ache in her chest slowly coming unknotted as she wandered along the shore. There was peace here, there were memories that reached out to touch the edges of her mind. Songs, stories, and someone who loved her very much. Where had that someone gone? Why was she alone now? Where had the love she knew to exist faded away to?

It was here no longer, and so as the seasons began to turn, Leto left the ocean with its whispers of the past to wander once more. What she sought, she was not sure. All she knew was that there was more than wandering, more than soft songs sung to the stars hanging could and distant in the sky. There was sorrow, yes, and loneliness. But there was joy and contentment as well. It just needed to be found, needed to be remembered.

There was something familiar about the young leopard that warned her of the pride’s illness. These were the borders, he told her softly, and to cross them meant risking infection. The plague killed, it always killed. But Leto was drawn to the place he warned her of. Standing there on the border, speaking to the dark furred feline, she felt something stirring within her. To help another was the greatest talent there could ever be. Had she not told… who was it that she had spoken to? A white lion…he’d a kindness to him that had meant so much to her…what had it meant… who was he?

How much had she forgotten? Who else had fallen into the broken shadows of her mind?

“I want to stay,” Leto heard herself saying, pain and panic gripping at her chest. Faces flickered behind her eyes, memories she could never quite grasp. How many people had she loved and left behind? Who had she forgotten? A mate? A parent? A sibling? A child? If she stayed she would fall prey to the illness that ravaged the pride…but she would always be surrounded by those she would come to know. That she would come to love the others here she had no doubt, for love touched upon all hearts the way the ocean touched upon all shores. The caress was different upon each one, but the ocean remained the same. And if she stayed…if she stayed, maybe, just maybe, she would not forget them…

Why does she look so glum and downcast? She has a tendency to gravitate to those most seriously ill, seeking to help ease their suffering but falling into love of them as well. Her soft and warm heart and gentle nature does do wonders for the emotional crisis of those close to dying, but in the end she always loses the people she loves. Her memory issues also pain her greatly, as she knows there are things missing and cannot for the life of her remember what they were. It kills her to think she may have forgotten someone she loves, especially since so many of those she cares about are gone now. What kind of love would be so easily forgotten? Sometimes she wonders if she might be some kind of terrible person for not remembering…
How does she get along with others, both in and out of the pride? She limits contact with outsiders, as the pride does for their safety, since she ‘knows’ that she is a ‘carrier’ (doesn’t realize she’s totally infected). If she does encounter one, she keeps her distance and politely informs them that she is sick, and it is very catching so it would be for the best if they didn’t approach and risk contamination. Within the pride she is a tender loving person, looking after anyone who could use the shoulder to lean on and growing deeply attached to those who need her the most…only to have her heart broken each time a life is lost.
If she had to have a theme song, what would it be? I’m torn between Save You – Kelly Clarkson, and Pale – Within Temptation as both feel right…sorry, I’m not good at picking just one. ‘Save You’ feels the closest though.
Any additional comments or notes of interest? I’d like to have her seer-rolled, which would give her visions of her past and also of her cubs as they grow (whether or not these will be actual customed SoA is debatable, but she can still have visions of NPCs, right?) If she is not a seer, then she will only dream memories of her forgotten mate and lost children that she barely remembers upon waking and soon forgets as the day unfolds.
Link to one or two completed or current RPs (from SoA or another shop) just to get a sense of your writing style!
The Unvanish Place: Kekanei and Mana My only finished SoA RP I’m afraid, I’m a little bit newish.
Where have you…cubs??: Aiko, Hikari, Jiro, Satomei, Kekanei, and Nanashi – in progress
A writing sample I did today, sort of a sample SRP of the way I’d RP this girl since Kanie is a very different sort of character and I am really lacking in RP samples I can share.

-edit- I didn’t realize how long I made this! If it’s too long, I can rewrite or something. Once I started I just…couldn’t stop.

I'll Help Advertise!
Username:Quiftan

I hope you get to feeling better. : (

I'm All Cried Out Over You
.:For The Possibly Rejected Brown/Masked Female:.
Username: YourxStarlessxEyes
SoA Name & Meaning (if applicable): Jabari’Noga (Sweet Martyr in Swahili)
Desired Rank in the Pride and Why: Nanny, because she has a very caring heart, and she feels that the love she cannot give to the male can be used to care for the cubs instead.
Is she diseased, a carrier or immune? She is diseased, and at this point is at the very end of the beginning stage.
Personality: Jabari is a very gentle, soft-spoken, and devout lion. She is self-sacrificing to a fault, and only wishes the best for the pride and those around her, worshiping Pestilence daily for all of them. She tries to keep up an optimistic front despite her impending death in order to impact everyone around her as positively as she can, in hopes of helping everyone somehow. She believes it isn’t important that she will die, as long as she can help others while she’s here.
What has her life been like within the pride up until now?: Jabari had a good life in the pride as a cub, happy, well taken care of, and with many friends. She learned much and played often, always taking care to be gentle and courteous to all. When she was a young adolescent, though, she was discovered to show symptoms of the plague, and it has been progressing rapidly. She recently watched both her parents die, and the only true, close friends she has are the spotted female and male, due to her quiet nature.
What is her relationship like with the spotted female and the male lion? Jabari and the spotted female have been best friends since they were cubs. They did everything together, and they played with the male together for many years. As they grew up, both girls began to have feelings for him, but they agreed not to do anything about it for now, lest they risk their friendship. Unfortunately, as an adolescent Jabari found out that her disease was progressing more rapidly than was predicted, right at the time both females began really showing interest in the male. She probably at least another five years or so left in her, but when she learned the spotted female was progressing much more slowly (or was only a carrier), she thought that she would be more suited for the male. Jabari decided to relinquish her love, because she wanted him to be happy and have a mate with a long life, who would bear children well, and because as her only family left, her greatest wish is to see them enjoy their lives.
How does she feel when she is not chosen as the males mate? She is not surprised, but she’s still heartbroken. She is a little bitter, and very disappointed, but she’s happy for the couple in a forlorn way. She refuses to show any outward sign of her heartbreak, wanting to still encourage the couple, and unwilling to seem hung up.
Will this outcome change her or effect her life within the pride? Jabari will begin to believe she will never find a mate, because she doesn’t want to hurt them emotionally by dying quickly. However, she will hopefully find one, although she will be insecure and nervous about hurting them at first. Other than that, she will drift away from the couple because it hurts too much to watch them together. Instead, she will focus on nurturing cubs, what she believes is the best outlet for all the unrequited love she’s held, especially focusing on fostering cubs who are orphans.
Link to one or two completed or current RPs (from SoA or another shop) just to get a sense of your writing style! For the Horde! (Soquili)
A Stranger (Soquili)


What a Man's Gotta Do
Username: YourxStarlessxEyes
SoA Name & Meaning (if applicable): Adili’Mtima (Honest Soul in Swahili)
Desired Future Rank and Why: Scout/Royal Escort because Adili will want to be useful to his pride, but his personal vow of honesty makes it difficult for him to keep everything but the most intimate confessions secret. This way, he can put his cautiousness to good use, not have to worry about accidentally revealing top secret plans, and if a member of the royal family wishes it, he would be happy to be an escort and companion.
Is he diseased (and if so at what stage do you intend for him to show symptoms?), a carrier or immune? He is diseased, and he will show minor signs of the beginning stage as an older teenager, then will suddenly nosedive into the intermediate stage a few years later.
Personality: Adili is a somewhat oblivious and cautious cub. While he’s generally very happy go lucky, he scares easily, and is very sheltered. This sometimes makes him seem ignorant, but he really means well in all things, he tries his best to make his parents proud. When he learns of the disease, it horrifies and disgusts him, and when he learns his parents have kept it hidden from him, he vows to always be honest, while still being as tactful as possible.
What is her relationship like with others in the pride (both adults and cubs his age?): Adili loves to make friends, although he wishes that there were a few less adventures. His friendships as a cub area little shallow, though, because his parents hide the disease from him, and sugarcoat it. As a cub, this isn’t too big a deal, because most other cubs don’t have a deep grip on it either. Older lions sometimes view him as ignorant or tactless, but it’s just because he doesn’t completely understand everything that’s happening yet. He does have a little trouble relating completely to others until he learns of the disease himself, but after that he will strive to be known for his honesty. He will try to overcome his fear and revulsion of the disease in order to become a better, more helpful pride member, and so he will be able to have many people he cares about.
Where did he come from? Adili was born into the pride from his mother and father, both diseased. He was the first one to survive so far, and his parents are very proud of him. This is also the reason they shelter him heavily, because they are worried of unnecessarily burdening him, simply wish for him to have a happy, worry free childhood, and because he’s a bit of a scaredy-cat.
Any other notes of interest about the cub? Not really, just that he will be sheltered and naive at first, but that will change drastically as he grows.
Link to one or two completed or current RPs -  Just to get a sense of your writing style! For the Horde! (Soquili)
A Stranger (Soquili)
Why should we pick you?  would be my first, or one of my first, SoAs. I’m very devoted to RPing and concept development, and he’s just so cute! I’d be obsessed with him.

Everyone's A Hero
Username: YourxStarlessxEyes
SoA Name & Meaning (if applicable): Fidhulika’Sala (Defiant Prayer in Swahili)
Desired Future Rank and Why: Priestess (of Healing) because Hulika believes that the pride can be cured, even by more than one goddess. Her heart is torn for the suffering members of her pride, and this is the way she believes she can ease their suffering, even if they don’t.
Is she diseased (and if so at what stage do you intend for him to show symptoms?), a carrier or immune? She is a carrier.
Personality: Fidhulika’Sala has been on her own nearly since she was born. She is strong and independent, never backing down in a dispute. However, she is firm, not arguementative, and patient. She is very aware of the suffering of the lions who are diseased, and despite her calm and steadfast bearing, she carries great grief for her people inside. She also feels some guilt for only being a carrier, but still endangering future generations, and cannot be dissuaded from most of her decisions.
What is her relationship like with others in the pride (both adults and cubs her age?): She is a true and compassionate friend to all around her, although she is viewed with a mixture of respect, envy, and wariness as a carrier. She gets along better with most of the cubs her age, and as she grows and follows healing, adults will especially distrust her and try to discourage her. She will listen to, comfort, and advise any who talk to her, and makes a great effort to visit the sick to comfort, understand, and relate to them. She is especially like by those close to death, for her voice and prayers are soothing.
Where did she come from? Fidhulika was born to her diseased mother and an outsider who died of an outside cause shortly after he arrived. Her mother also passed away soon after he birth, and has been left alone in the pride, cared for by the nannies, always a little distanced from everyone due to her status.
Any other notes of interest about the cub? She knows the consequences of worshipping the Goddess of Healing, but she truly does it to help, not to defy Pestilence.
Link to one or two completed or current RPs -  Just to get a sense of your writing style! For the Horde! (Soquili)
A Stranger (Soquili)
Why should we pick you?  Just curious. . . I absolutely love this concept, and I think her coloring is gorgeous and fits her outline well. This is such a rich pride to play in, and I’d be honored to be part of it.

Won't You Be My Melancholy Baby?
.:For The black and teal edited lioness:.
Username: bella dea
SoA Name & Meaning (if applicable): Amonke(ah-mon-KAY) - You caress in love if you know her.
Rank in the Pride: Secret Keeper
Is she diseased, a carrier or immune? Carrier
How old do you see her as? Mid-aged. Around 30 in human age.
Personality: She doesn't like being around others very often and only seeks out others when she needs to or is otherwise told. She has scars that holds in deep and she wont let anyone in like that again. And thus she is a mystery to those that have seen and heard about her. The only ones that are allowed near her, or that she will let near her without being completely stand offish is the cubs of the pride.
What has her life been like up until now? Tell me this girls story. . . : Well, when she was younger her mother loved her as much as a mother could. And thus her name. She was a wonderful girl who knew love everyday and wanted her nothing. But little did she know that her mother would die at a young age, a year passed and she was left alone, the disease having taken the only person who mattered in her life.

After that, she wished for death, but it never came. Not even a fever. She was believed to be immune after a while and had set out on the boarders of the territory searching for a reason to go on..

But she was met with only pain. A few rouges had come upon her and roughed her up in more ways than one. Left to die in a ditch, no better than the bones of the dead. A smile came to her maw. This was after all, what she wanted. But a lone male changed all that and saved her life. Nursing her back to adequate health. She quickly fell for him. But it wasn't met to be. They tried to cubs, only for her to be left unpregnant. And less than a year after that, her first and only love died. Leaving her broken hearted and empty.

And thus, she will forevermore be as she is now. Empty and without hope of finding what she has lost.
Why does she look so glum and downcast? She's lost the two lions in her life that she cared for more than anything.
How does she get along with others, both in and out of the pride? Others, inside and outside of the pride are treated with silent respect. Outsider are watched carefully and avoided when possible.
If she had to have a theme song, what would it be? Take me away
Any additional comments or notes of interest?
Link to one or two completed or current RPs (from SoA or another shop) just to get a sense of your writing style!
Nevara and Rayne - Soquili
Melanie - Soquili