History
draft tho
Persephone and her sister were born to Iaso and Tibalt, to much joy and celebration. She remembers spending her first few years snuggled into her mom's fur, listening to her sing and feeling her warmth. Iaso was a good mother - she taught her girls to be polite, kind, and proper - but she also taught them to be tough. Iaso herself was a brawler, who knew how to hold her own in a fight - and she made sure both kids did, too. She spent her days following her parents around, learning to do everything they did, and wanting ot be just like them. Iaso was a beautiful singer, she remembers, and often sang the girls lullabies as they went to sleep. Seph once had expressed interest in singing, to which Iaso took great delight. Immediately, Iaso began teaching her young one the basics. Soon, they were singing together - and after more practice, Seph knew how to sing in harmony. She would come home from trips with little trinkets for the girls, often jewelry or little figurines. Seph always looked forward to her mom coming home, when she could run around her legs and try to guess what today's gift was. Iaso looked at her with such love at this time, proud of her little daughter and the lioness she was growing to be. Seph wishes she could look back on this memory with fondness, but alas, she cannot.
It wasn't too long before The Incident - Seph never found out what really happened. She knew, thought, that something was wrong. Iaso had changed that day. Iaso's arrival home was anything but joyous. Her frantic sprinting led her to crash into the room, tripping on furs that lined the floor in one area and landing hard on her side. She was still panicked, looking for her girls. By this time, both of them had looked up, watching their mother, who stared back with a terrible look in her eye.
That look still haunts Seph.
Iaso picked herself up, attemptign to re-settle in a more dignified way. Seph noted she was covered in... something. Was that blood?
In a shaky, but stern tone, Ia called the girls to her. They came obediently, asking her questions about her day and playing with the little glowing bubbles that floated around her neck. Although Iaso wasn't really answering, the girls were still entertained. Iaso watched them intently, thinking very hard.
Seph didn't know that she wouldn't be going outside again for several years.
Iaso became incredibly withdrawn, fairly quickly. She would pace the den, but refuse to leave it, and she would watch out the door, as if waiting for someone to arrive. She was always on edge, and Seph came to walk as quietly as possible, fearing her mother's indignant glances. Iaso was suddenly too present - and the girls noticed.
Tibalt brought them food, water, and anything else they could ever want, but Seph and her sibling were getting cabin fever. As younger cubs, they had not really questioned why they were no longer allowed outside, but as they reached their adolescent years, it became suffocating. Iaso had taken to staying up all night, sometimes days on end, and refusing to listen to anyone telling her otherwise. She wouldn't tell anyone what the threat she was looking for was, and panicked at any mention of the cubs leaving.
Seph remembers vividly when Chikiv, in a hushed tone, told Seph she wanted to get out of there. Seph was initially nervous about this idea, glancing at the pair's passed-out mother, who was clearly dreaming of something terrible. She had been up for days, worrying over them, and had finally succumbed to exhaustion. This was the only time the two could talk, really, as the rest of the time Iaso was listening.
Chickiv shifted her tail, getting Seph's attention again.
Seph nodded, slowly, worried - what if they were caught? Iaso had never been one to punish the pair, but she was well aware of how deadly their mother could be. And with how wound up she was...
"She's suffocating us," Chikiv added, before settling down herself.
"...yeah."
While she knew she wanted to leave, Chikiv had yet to come up with a plan, so the two waited. Seph was still unsure if she wanted to go at all, fearing her mother would track her down anyways. Once, in the past, Chikiv had wandered out of the cave - not far, but far enough. Iaso had prung ot push her back inside, nearly screaming. The whole household was on edge as Tibalt tried to calm her down, and Chikiv nursed a bruised shoulder. Seph sat, shaking, What, truly, would she do if they left?
One night, when the family was sleeping - even Iaso, who had been coaxed to bed by Tybalt - Seph woke up, cold.
She blinked awake, scanning around in the dimness of the cave, until she spotted someone standing quite close to her, staring.
She sat bolt upright, ready to raise the alarm, when she recognized the figure - her mother!
Beginning to calm down, Seph started to giggle in releif. But the figure shook her head in an odd, slow manner, silencing the cub. Dread began to fill her again as she wondered what was going on.
The figure of Iaso continued staring, standing very still. Seph stared back, increasingly more wide-eyed, for what felt like ages.
At some point, the figure started leaning closer, and Seph was very unsure of how this silouhette could possibly be her mother, acting this strangely. However, before moving very far, the figure tipped from being off balance, startling Iaso, who seemed to awaken. Shouting suddenly, Iaso now looked around the room, wide eyed. She noticed her cub, who was staring at her with a just-as-frightened expression, and seemed to calm down. Seph watched her mother take a deep breath, reorient herself, and dutifully go to check the door.
Seph didn't sleep well that night, but she didn't sleep well most nights anymore.
Some night, in the darkness of a den full of sleeping lions, Chikiv slipped out. She hadn't shared her plan with Seph, and she didn't say a word before leaving. Even Seph was surprised to find her absent, joining in the search of the den, and frantically calling out her name with the rest of the family.
But she was gone.
Iaso spent her first days outside of the den in a long while searching for her daughter, often coming back bruised and injured from walking long days. Seph would help clean her up dutifully, looking for any affection from her mother, deeply missing her sister.
Iaso was understandably not sure what to do with herself when she wasn't searching, and thus bbegan to pace once again. Seph, now alone, rarely talked to anyone, let alone her parents. She lived, but did not much else.
Tibalt often seemed to be the only one managing things, trying to talk to Iaso and making sure Seph was fed and happy as best he could. Seph felt responsible, in part, for her sister leaving, though.
She approached her mother after one of her long treks, clearing her throat gently. Iaso, who had been staring absently into the distance, suddenly came to alert. Seph hadn't noticed it yet, but this time, Iaso looked as she did that one night, in the dark.
"Mom I just wanted to ell you I'm sorry that Chi-"
"What?" a voice other than her mother's rumbled.
Seph looked up, meeting the lion's gaze. This lion... somehow looked... different. Instinctively, the fur on her back began to raise. Those eyes - those weren't her mother's eyes. "I - uh"
"Spit it out, kid," came the sharp reply, in that same, foreign voice.
"I'm uh - sorry that Chikiv left is all, I -"
The lion's eyes narrowed. They looked Seph up and down. "Just as well," the voice rumbled, "your mother may not see it, but I can see that you made her run."
Seph stepped back, unprepared for the venom in that voice. She could hear her pulse in her head, telling her to 'run, run, run' - but she stayed, glued to the spot, until she could hear the voice talking again.
"I'll give you one more chance," it said. "In two more days, when I'm strong enough to return. IF you aren't gone by then -"
Seph's mind was screaming at how wrong this was, but she forced herself to keep listening, "I'll kill you, too, you little..."
Suddenly, Iaso was back, Staggering to her feet, the massive lioness nearly knocked Seph over as she stumbled around for a moment, growling. Seph was terrified, and instantly took off - running to the highest, most hidden corner of the room.
Iaso called out to Seph, but Seph stayed quiet, her teeth clenched too tight to answer.
Iaso called again, and seph forced herself to move her tail into view. She heard her mother sigh in relief, but if anything else was said, it was lost. Seph's mind was racing, coming up with anything, anything she could do to get herself out of here, and fast.
Strangely, Iaso seemed to calm down in the following days. Seph didn't know why, but she liked the change. Iaso chose to sleep with Tibalt instead of pacing one night, and Seph found herself awake, trying to figure out if tonight was the night.
She was awake all night, though, and when everyone woke up the next day, she found herself jumpy. Seph was shaking too badly to think straight, and anytime she tried to walk near someone, she'd get worse.
Tibalt brought in dinner that night, asking Seph if she was okay, and Seph insisted she was. She graciously ate her share of the food, though her mind had resigned to it being her last meal.
her last breath.
When was that "other lion" going to show up again? Were they serious?
Seph finished her meal, and tried to excuse herself to her room when Iaso seemed to shudder.
Panicked, Seph tried to walk away faster, only to run into the wall.
She corrected her course and sprinted up the ledges, abck up to the top.
Tibalt took care of Iaso, who they both decided needed to rest.
When the pair had settled in, Seph watched - and watched... and watched...
When starshift came, and the pair was still asleep, seph crept as quietly as she could down to the floor level. Silently, she moved across the floor, every step carefully timed to when the pair was sleeping deepest.
It felt like forever, but she finnaly reached it. The cave entrance.
It felt like another wall to her - she couldn't remember crossing this threshold in years. She reached a paw out, but stopped short. She didn't know if she could do it.
Readying herself again, she tried once more, once more stopping short.
She sat there, trying to get herself past it, when she heard something behind her. She had no time to identify it before she was gone, off like a rocket.
She couldn't' remember the landscape out here, tripping over plants and small rocks every so often. Her legs were sore and bleeding by the time she could think straight again, and she slowed to a trot, looking around her.
The landscape was strange, and BIG - too big.
Terrifyingly big.
Seph found herself crouched again, wide-eyed and worried.
Then, she spotted a crag in a nearby rock, big enough for her to slip into.
Perfect.
It wasn't too long before The Incident - Seph never found out what really happened. She knew, thought, that something was wrong. Iaso had changed that day. Iaso's arrival home was anything but joyous. Her frantic sprinting led her to crash into the room, tripping on furs that lined the floor in one area and landing hard on her side. She was still panicked, looking for her girls. By this time, both of them had looked up, watching their mother, who stared back with a terrible look in her eye.
That look still haunts Seph.
Iaso picked herself up, attemptign to re-settle in a more dignified way. Seph noted she was covered in... something. Was that blood?
In a shaky, but stern tone, Ia called the girls to her. They came obediently, asking her questions about her day and playing with the little glowing bubbles that floated around her neck. Although Iaso wasn't really answering, the girls were still entertained. Iaso watched them intently, thinking very hard.
Seph didn't know that she wouldn't be going outside again for several years.
Iaso became incredibly withdrawn, fairly quickly. She would pace the den, but refuse to leave it, and she would watch out the door, as if waiting for someone to arrive. She was always on edge, and Seph came to walk as quietly as possible, fearing her mother's indignant glances. Iaso was suddenly too present - and the girls noticed.
Tibalt brought them food, water, and anything else they could ever want, but Seph and her sibling were getting cabin fever. As younger cubs, they had not really questioned why they were no longer allowed outside, but as they reached their adolescent years, it became suffocating. Iaso had taken to staying up all night, sometimes days on end, and refusing to listen to anyone telling her otherwise. She wouldn't tell anyone what the threat she was looking for was, and panicked at any mention of the cubs leaving.
Seph remembers vividly when Chikiv, in a hushed tone, told Seph she wanted to get out of there. Seph was initially nervous about this idea, glancing at the pair's passed-out mother, who was clearly dreaming of something terrible. She had been up for days, worrying over them, and had finally succumbed to exhaustion. This was the only time the two could talk, really, as the rest of the time Iaso was listening.
Chickiv shifted her tail, getting Seph's attention again.
Seph nodded, slowly, worried - what if they were caught? Iaso had never been one to punish the pair, but she was well aware of how deadly their mother could be. And with how wound up she was...
"She's suffocating us," Chikiv added, before settling down herself.
"...yeah."
While she knew she wanted to leave, Chikiv had yet to come up with a plan, so the two waited. Seph was still unsure if she wanted to go at all, fearing her mother would track her down anyways. Once, in the past, Chikiv had wandered out of the cave - not far, but far enough. Iaso had prung ot push her back inside, nearly screaming. The whole household was on edge as Tibalt tried to calm her down, and Chikiv nursed a bruised shoulder. Seph sat, shaking, What, truly, would she do if they left?
One night, when the family was sleeping - even Iaso, who had been coaxed to bed by Tybalt - Seph woke up, cold.
She blinked awake, scanning around in the dimness of the cave, until she spotted someone standing quite close to her, staring.
She sat bolt upright, ready to raise the alarm, when she recognized the figure - her mother!
Beginning to calm down, Seph started to giggle in releif. But the figure shook her head in an odd, slow manner, silencing the cub. Dread began to fill her again as she wondered what was going on.
The figure of Iaso continued staring, standing very still. Seph stared back, increasingly more wide-eyed, for what felt like ages.
At some point, the figure started leaning closer, and Seph was very unsure of how this silouhette could possibly be her mother, acting this strangely. However, before moving very far, the figure tipped from being off balance, startling Iaso, who seemed to awaken. Shouting suddenly, Iaso now looked around the room, wide eyed. She noticed her cub, who was staring at her with a just-as-frightened expression, and seemed to calm down. Seph watched her mother take a deep breath, reorient herself, and dutifully go to check the door.
Seph didn't sleep well that night, but she didn't sleep well most nights anymore.
Some night, in the darkness of a den full of sleeping lions, Chikiv slipped out. She hadn't shared her plan with Seph, and she didn't say a word before leaving. Even Seph was surprised to find her absent, joining in the search of the den, and frantically calling out her name with the rest of the family.
But she was gone.
Iaso spent her first days outside of the den in a long while searching for her daughter, often coming back bruised and injured from walking long days. Seph would help clean her up dutifully, looking for any affection from her mother, deeply missing her sister.
Iaso was understandably not sure what to do with herself when she wasn't searching, and thus bbegan to pace once again. Seph, now alone, rarely talked to anyone, let alone her parents. She lived, but did not much else.
Tibalt often seemed to be the only one managing things, trying to talk to Iaso and making sure Seph was fed and happy as best he could. Seph felt responsible, in part, for her sister leaving, though.
She approached her mother after one of her long treks, clearing her throat gently. Iaso, who had been staring absently into the distance, suddenly came to alert. Seph hadn't noticed it yet, but this time, Iaso looked as she did that one night, in the dark.
"Mom I just wanted to ell you I'm sorry that Chi-"
"What?" a voice other than her mother's rumbled.
Seph looked up, meeting the lion's gaze. This lion... somehow looked... different. Instinctively, the fur on her back began to raise. Those eyes - those weren't her mother's eyes. "I - uh"
"Spit it out, kid," came the sharp reply, in that same, foreign voice.
"I'm uh - sorry that Chikiv left is all, I -"
The lion's eyes narrowed. They looked Seph up and down. "Just as well," the voice rumbled, "your mother may not see it, but I can see that you made her run."
Seph stepped back, unprepared for the venom in that voice. She could hear her pulse in her head, telling her to 'run, run, run' - but she stayed, glued to the spot, until she could hear the voice talking again.
"I'll give you one more chance," it said. "In two more days, when I'm strong enough to return. IF you aren't gone by then -"
Seph's mind was screaming at how wrong this was, but she forced herself to keep listening, "I'll kill you, too, you little..."
Suddenly, Iaso was back, Staggering to her feet, the massive lioness nearly knocked Seph over as she stumbled around for a moment, growling. Seph was terrified, and instantly took off - running to the highest, most hidden corner of the room.
Iaso called out to Seph, but Seph stayed quiet, her teeth clenched too tight to answer.
Iaso called again, and seph forced herself to move her tail into view. She heard her mother sigh in relief, but if anything else was said, it was lost. Seph's mind was racing, coming up with anything, anything she could do to get herself out of here, and fast.
Strangely, Iaso seemed to calm down in the following days. Seph didn't know why, but she liked the change. Iaso chose to sleep with Tibalt instead of pacing one night, and Seph found herself awake, trying to figure out if tonight was the night.
She was awake all night, though, and when everyone woke up the next day, she found herself jumpy. Seph was shaking too badly to think straight, and anytime she tried to walk near someone, she'd get worse.
Tibalt brought in dinner that night, asking Seph if she was okay, and Seph insisted she was. She graciously ate her share of the food, though her mind had resigned to it being her last meal.
her last breath.
When was that "other lion" going to show up again? Were they serious?
Seph finished her meal, and tried to excuse herself to her room when Iaso seemed to shudder.
Panicked, Seph tried to walk away faster, only to run into the wall.
She corrected her course and sprinted up the ledges, abck up to the top.
Tibalt took care of Iaso, who they both decided needed to rest.
When the pair had settled in, Seph watched - and watched... and watched...
When starshift came, and the pair was still asleep, seph crept as quietly as she could down to the floor level. Silently, she moved across the floor, every step carefully timed to when the pair was sleeping deepest.
It felt like forever, but she finnaly reached it. The cave entrance.
It felt like another wall to her - she couldn't remember crossing this threshold in years. She reached a paw out, but stopped short. She didn't know if she could do it.
Readying herself again, she tried once more, once more stopping short.
She sat there, trying to get herself past it, when she heard something behind her. She had no time to identify it before she was gone, off like a rocket.
She couldn't' remember the landscape out here, tripping over plants and small rocks every so often. Her legs were sore and bleeding by the time she could think straight again, and she slowed to a trot, looking around her.
The landscape was strange, and BIG - too big.
Terrifyingly big.
Seph found herself crouched again, wide-eyed and worried.
Then, she spotted a crag in a nearby rock, big enough for her to slip into.
Perfect.