Amara

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The Next Generation
Staring
Amara

General Information

Name: Amara
Age: 3 years old (adult)
Gender: Female
Species: Lioness
Alliance: Outlander

Personality

Your typical Outlander lioness, Amara is most notorious for being a mysteriously quiet but all the same a very powerful and imposing character. Possessing no fear- only a sense of anger and bitterness that can only be quenched with blood of her enemies, she is notoriously difficult to trick, fool, or frighten away from her goals. Her focus is unparalleled in all of the grasslands- once she has a mission or goal set in her mind, she will flip the world upside down to get it done. She takes responsibility very seriously, despite her typically gruff and uncaring nature. As the oldest of the three younger siblings, she is used to being given the most responsibility (obviously, always second to her older brother) and takes any duties handed to her by her peers without question, without fear and without hesitation. Intelligent and analytical, she's a clever strategist with a lot of focus on using brute force and scare tactics to her advantage, preferring to resolve conflicts with a lot of bluffing, taunting and clever lies than actually fighting. Despite the threatening show she puts on for her enemies, she's not a terribly violent character. Her biggest responsibility is ensuring the safety of her pride, so she'd rather scare a threat away than risk their lives fighting it.

She will gladly risk her own instead, however, and seems to have a frustratingly low sense of self-worth. Not in a depressed or down-trodden sort of way- in fact, she seems to gladly accept it as fact, thinking of herself as an expendable bodyguard as opposed to a valuable member of her family. This frustrates her siblings during wartime, as she tends to formulate fantastic battle strategies that either end in her death or exclude her brothers and sisters entirely in order to keep them safe. So her heart's in the right place, but her mind doesn't get a chance to filter it sometimes.

Casually, when there is nothing to be done, she comes off as leisurely, almost lazy, and annoying apathetic to the petty needs of others. She'll die for a fellow Outlander on the battlefield or in a hunt. But when the afternoon sun is high, she'd much rather be lounging on her favorite basking rock or chilling in the water of the river. The same stubborn determination that makes her a natural leader also makes her a little self-centered when there is nothing to be done. She seems to have two speeds- 0 and massacre. If there is no one to massacre, you'll usually find her sleeping or lounging with a hunk of meat under a tree, immovable until something catastrophic needs tending to. Casually, Amara is frustratingly lazy, with a sharp tongue and sarcastic wit. She doesn't talk often, but when she does, you usually remember what she says- either for its importance... or because she just pissed you off.

A very simple but somewhat rebellious character.

Appearance

Taking after her father, Amara is a somewhat sizey lioness, smaller than her brother but larger than most females her age- both in terms of height and weight. Though not "fat" by any means, she is rather hefty in terms of bodily mass. Most of it is muscle but, since she can be rather lazy when the time is appropriate (which just so happens to be most of the time), one can assume that some of it is useless body fat. Still, whatever it is, it makes fighting her a pain in the butt. Large and heavy, with somewhat sizey paws and large black claws, she is a force to be reckoned with when her wrath has been invoked. Her blows are powerful and her build favors brute force over speed and agility (though she still possesses some significant speed, it only applies for short distances- she tires quickly from a sprint). So her build is solid, firm, but sleek and athletic in the same instance, similar to the build of a human kick-boxer or professional athlete.

Her fur is short, scruffy around her joints but smooth everywhere else. With her tendency to lounge, she spends a lot of time grooming herself just to pass the time. So, for an Outlander, she appears very clean when the lands are at peace. Once wartime hits and her attention is drawn elsewhere, however, she may go days- weeks even, without grooming. She is not particularly narcissistic, even though many other lions consider her startlingly attractive. Her pelt is a brilliant golden coloration, very similar to her brother's, with a light underside and light parts on her face and paws. Her head in particular has some striking markings- streaks of warm brown crisscross her face, traveling back onto her ears and eventually covering all of her neck and upper back before tapering down her spine to her rump. It's a very unique set of markings, making her somewhat easy to identify.

She also has a series of long scars on her face and forelegs, all from a single fight that she just should have accepted as a loss but didn't. In the end, she paid the price and now typically limps slightly on her front right leg. This impairs her running ability but not her ability to use the leg in general. In fact, her "right hook" is probably one of the strongest out there... for a lioness anyway. She just can't use it too many times in a row.

History

Amara and the rest of her family was born in an area far away from both the Pridelands and the Outlands, unaware of either for much of her life. All she knew was wandering. From just about the time she could walk until the time they finally took up their seat in the Outlands, she and her family were constantly on the move, lead by her mother and her older brother Tau. It was a pretty boring way to live, even she had to admit. Constantly traveling from place to place meant there was hardly any time for rest, hardly any time to get to know the locals or stop and chit chat with friendly folk. So Amara grew up very close to her family and siblings.

Her mother was a little distant- somewhat caring but still distant, treating Amara as the baby sitter for her younger siblings while Tau and their mother went off to hunt. Constantly being handed responsibilities, she quickly learned the importance of her job- to protect and defend, to fight for her family's safety and so on. Though she wasn't so concerned for her mother, she did want to protect her siblings, wanted to be as "strong" and as fast as her brother Tau, and worked hard on a day to day basis to achieve these things. She was a hard worker from day one, very progressive in her pursuits.

That is, until they found the Outlands. Originally, there was no real plan to stay. That is, until a leopard crossed paths with their family. The leopard explained the past tales of the land, tales that infuriated her brother and set forth the notion that the kings of Pride rock deserved to be de-throned. To be honest, Amara wasn't so sure she agreed with her brother's ideals- not at first anyway. She did not know these Pridelanders, did not believe they were all that bad, and wanted to see for herself what all of the fuss was about. So, bold and fearless as ever, she crossed the threshold into the Pridelands to investigate.

There, she encountered a lion who appeared to be out on patrol. Curious, she stalked him through the brush, simply observing what he did and how he did it, looking to find just what was so bad about the pridelanders. When he disappeared into a thicket, she believed her chase to have been fruitless, but when she turned to continue on, he leapt upon her. The male was a rogue- an older male with a grudge, but there was no way for Amara to know this. For all she knew, she was being attacked by the very king of the Pridelands, and fought him for all she was worth. But, youth and size differences got the better of her after a very extensive tussle and she lost, left in the sandy grasses to die.

It was her mother who eventually found her.

Amara didn't die, obviously. She recovered with relatively minor wounds. But the fight took a toll on her psyche. She became quieter, more focused and overall less motivated to pursue trivial matters. She'd lost to the Pridelanders once before, she was interested in avoiding losing again. But, she was not afraid, simply learned the benefit of caution and now lives by it. When there is nothing to be done, she simply does nothing, rather than setting off to get into trouble. It was a learning experience that allowed her to mature into the cunning, discrete, cautious tactician that she is now- protective of her family, especially when it comes to the Pridelanders.

[Army Wife]