Capuccino

This was the kind of girl you wouldn't like to cross paths with at night... or any other time of the day anyway.

Cappuccino belonged to a different pride years back. She was born and raised like any other cub, loved by her mother and siblings, playful with fellow cubs and overall a very outgoing personality. As she grew up and reached her teenager years, however, everything started to change. Her fur wouldn't stop growing, giving her a rather shaggy look instead of the slender, elegant silhouette of normal females. It didn't take long for rumours to arise among her pride... former friends slowly drifted away and pretended she was a stranger, lionesses slapped and bit her for getting too close to their cubs... she kept hearing things about her presence being a bad omen to the pride, a curse. The way her unruly long fur made them suspect she was some sort of demon born in a lion's skin. The Great Hunger season that followed not long after her appearance change certainly didn't help these suspicions... even her mother gave in and rejected her at that point.

The king, hearing his pride's constant complaints and bickering towards the odd female, eventually reached his limit and forced her to leave. Her stubborness only served to make this an even more difficult, violent process, earning Capuccino multiple scars from the dominant lion, including the loss of her right eye's sight. During months she wandered about on her own, rejected and attacked by any lion she came across. This changed her once lighthearted, outgoing personality into pure bitterness and hatred, turning her into a cold fighter. Such twist eventualy led up to her first lion kill, a loner male that attempted to dominate and mate with her. A very poor mistake that cost his life, and Capuccino made sure to always wear his skull afterwards as warning to any other bold lion she met in the future.

Anyone would have thought such lioness would never find another pride, that she would be wandering by herself for the rest of her life... this certainly would have happened if Capuccino hadn't met Loviisaa. A young female close to her age that one day happened to be chasing the same prey she had her eyes on. When she approached the stranger to chase her away from the now dead animal she had claimed first, Capuccino realized that lioness was different... she had very long fur as well. Though unlike her shaggy pelt it was silky and elegantly pooled around her form.

Having never found another mutated lion before, she instantly grew curious and started to talk to Loviisaa, quickly learning that she belonged the pride of some king called Lumiére. The kind stranger gently invited her to come along and meet him, and although she was reluctant at first Capuccino couldn't help but wonder how well they could receive someone like her considering Loviisaa semed to be happy with them. Fortunately the king had great interest in her story and fighting abilities, and gladly accepted her in his pride. And although Capuccino would always be the coldblooded, bitter lioness she had been turned into, at least now she had finally found a place to call home.