Newborn.
Fenja was born at night, with fur almost exactly like it; dark and spotted with bright white speckles. She was beautiful, and her coat was incredibly so special.
Unfortunately, that was where she went wrong…. Being so special, her pride saw them as a trophy and once she was a few months old, sold her to another pride.
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Adult, three years and eleven months old.
Fenja was only a few weeks from being four. Her birthday would've been an awesome milestone, but that just meant she had spent another year in this horrible pride.
The male inhabiting the pride was mean, and she was his favorite to mock and annoy. The other lionesses in the pride were nearly as mean, too. Being the only lioness not related to the other lionesses or cubs, she was always isolated.
What sucked even more for them, is always being called "she," "her," "lioness," etc…. She didn't hate those things, but they liked "they," "them," and "lion," too, and they never got that from the pride. It's not like she could tell them that, though, the last lion that had similar feelings to her, being born female but wanting to be called "he" and "him" got screamed at. They preferred to not be yelled at, so she just kept it herself and spent most of their time at the river.
So, like usual, she went to the river to sit and stare at their reflection.
But this time, something was different.
After a few minutes, a large, intimidating male with giant fangs, and an almost purplish coat with black stripes and a yellow underbelly, walked up to the water on the other side of the river. From his size and fangs, it was clear he had the blessing… or curse… of the silika, a primal gift of the ancestors. It looked like he was from the smilus variant, a type only sent to males and a variant only slightly smaller, but more muscular than the regular silika. They also tend to be much more aggressive and violent.
He was… a little scary to Fenja.
Especially with the stoic stare he gave Fenja as he bent down and lapped at the water.
Fenja stared back, looking much more… well, terrified, than he did.
He lifted his head and sat down after a moment, finally blinking in what seemed like hours.
"Hello," he said, his voice deep and almost gravelly.
She flinched, and his intense gaze went away.
"Oh, sorry, did I scare you?"
They paused for a moment before shouting, "No! I don't get scared."
He chuckled a bit. "Okay, okay. Still, I promise I'm not going to hurt you if you think I was going to. I might look like I eat other lions, but I promise I'm nice."
She just glared in response.
"Oookayyy… well, I'm Melodrama."
"Why are you telling me your name?" She huffed.
He shrugged. "I think knowing someone's name makes them a little less scary."
He gave them a big, toothy grin. "Do I look less scary, now?"
"....No." She mumbled.
He laughed a little. "Okay, that's fair."
She looked away for a while before growling, "Fenja."
"Huh?"
"That's my name," she mumbled, looking back over at him.
"Fenja? I like that name. It sounds beautiful."
"....Oh."
He snorted. "Sorry."
"Why?"
"Cuz I made you feel weird."
"No, you didn't. Don't act like you know how I feel."
"Okay, I won't, then," he said, smiling a bit.
"....I like your name, too. It's beautiful, too."
"Beautiful? My name's never been called beautiful before…."
"What? You don't like that?"
"Actually, I love that. It's sweet. It's just not usually a guy's compliment, so I was kinda surprised."
"What do you mean it's not a guy's compliment?" She growled, before getting up and taking a step towards the water, glaring at him. "I just called you that, didn't I?"
"You did," he said, grinning. "Just, no one's ever done that."
Fenja and Melodrama hung out for a while more, never passing the river but still having a nice chat. An awkward one, but a nice one.
They met together the next day, and the next, and the next, telling each other more and more about each other and getting more comfortable with each other. ….And also learning how to compliment in a less awkward way.
Melodrama was supportive about everything, and he made Fenja feel safe. Even when they told him about her feelings about pronouns and gender, he accepted her, and started saying "she," and "they," when he talked about them.
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Adult, four years old.
On Fenja's birthday, she and Melodrama met up at the river again, like they had every day since they met.
"Happy birthday!" He said as he trotted up, grinning.
She smiled a bit. "Thank you."
"I didn't really know what to get you, but I think… I finally figured something out."
They narrowed their eyes a bit. "....I'm not doing anything with you, if that's what you mean."
He laughed, shaking his head.
"No, that's not what I mean."
He gestured behind her and said, "You want to get away from your pride, right?"
"Well… of course I do."
"I know you don't know me really that well, but why don't you come with me? I'm-"
"Yes."
He paused before grinning. "You want to leave with me?"
"Yes!"
They leaped across the river, nodding over and over. "I do!"
She looked back across the river, her heart racing. "B-but I've tried to leave before, they don't like it when I'm gone too long…."
"Then, I'll eat them," he said playfully, grinning.
They turned towards him. "....I know you're joking, but if they find me, can you… pretend you're serious and say that to them?"
He thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, of course. I'll scare them off for you. I'll even fight them."
She sat down, smiling.
"The pride I'm running with is-"
Their heart dropped.
"Oh…."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know about this, anymore…. They're not going to like me…."
"What are you talking about? Of course they would."
"I'm not family, they wouldn't… no…. A-and I'm not a very…. I don't get along with other lions, no one likes me…."
"Well, I like you," he said softly, giving her a smile that made them blush.
"And plus, barely anyone in the pride I'm with is related. They take in everyone, you'd fit right in, Fenja."
They hesitated a while before mumbling, "What if they don't like me, though?...."
He leaned his forehead against theirs. "Then, I'll keep you away from the ones that don't. You can't sleep in my den, if you'd like."
"Den?" She asked, barely even paying attention when he was that close.
"Yeah, this pride sleeps in these caves in some mountains…. It's weird…. I sleep in the one at the very top. You'd love it."
He finally stopped leaning on them and took a step back, grinning. "I'll work out any worries you have, trust me."
"....Th-then, I-I want to go with you."
They took a surprisingly long walk back to the pride Melodrama was with. It was nearly two hours, and spanned over lots of different types of terrain, even some dangerous ones that made them stick very close together.
It made Fenja wonder why he'd walk this much just to drink at the river by her pride, when there was so many other, closer rivers.
Once the two got there, Fenja leaned over to Melodrama and whispered, "There's… so many lions…."
He did the same, quietly saying, "Don't be scared, it's okay. I'm here with you."
"I don't get scared…." She whispered, her eyes darting around. "But don't get too far away, or I'll chase you."
He chuckled. "I won't, I promise."
He led her to a lioness with pale, blue-ish gray fur and rosettes.
"Jambazi, this is Fenja."
Jambazi gasped and smiled. "Oh!! Oh! Hello!"
Fenja's eyes widened. "H-how do you know me?"
"Oh, Melodrama's told me about you!"
Melodrama cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um… I kinda tell people about you, sometimes…. Nothing private, or anything, though, I promise. I just like talking about you."
Fenja paused for a while before blushing a bit.
Then she eyed Jambazi again, who just grinned.
"....Hello."
"Hi!! Oh, oh, I need to give you some food! You look so skinny, I can see your ribs…." Jambazi said, looking excited at first but quickly adopting a concerned stare.
Melodrama introduced Fenja to everyone after they ate, before bringing them up to his cave.
She inspected everything before laying down on a pile of leaves, Melodrama's scent rising from each leaf.
"I… I like your pride."
He smiled, sitting down next to her. "Yeah?"
"....Yeah. They're nice."
"I'm glad you think so. I was worried you wouldn't like them, and you'd want to go back."
"No, I don't. I… I think I want to stay, if that's okay with you and everyone else…."
He laughed. "It's more than okay. I'm sure Jambazi would beg you to stay."
She smiled. "Jambazi was very friendly…. It made me a little uncomfortable at first, but I think I like her, too."
He grinned. "I'm so happy to hear that."
He laid down, slowly leaning his head on them. "Jambazi loves you. I told her about you on the first day, and now she's always asking about you."
They leaned towards him after a moment.
"It feels a little weird that so many lions knew about me before I knew them, but at least they like me…. I guess you only said good things."
He nodded, chuckling. "I've never said a bad thing about you."
They smiled at him. "Well… thank you."
They cuddled a bit more, before Fenja passed out, her head resting on Melodrama's paws.
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Adult, four years and one day old.
The next day, they got up and Melodrama got a little hungry, so he asked Fenja if she'd like to go hunting with him. She agreed, and they set out together.
"There," Melodrama whispered, gesturing to a lone gazelle with his head.
Fenja finally spotted it and immediately crouched down.
He looked over at them before doing the same, slowly stalking forward.
He led Fenja towards the gazelle for some time, before he stopped, looking over at them and shot a smirk their way. He smiled at them for a moment, before looking over at the prey and lunging, immediately getting a hold of it and pinning it to the ground. But, for some reason, he let go for a second and it was just enough time for it to get free and kick him in the jaw.
Fenja took after it, grabbing its throat with her teeth and tugging it to the ground, holding it until it stopped struggling.
They looked over at Melodrama, before quickly trotting over to him, panicking.
"Are you okay? Did that hurt? Are you alright?"
He laughed a little bit, stretching his jaw out before wincing.
"I'm… I'm okay, it just kinda hurts…."
"You're bleeding!"
"Awe, are you worried?"
"Yes!"
He chuckled a bit before shrugging. "I'm alright, don't worry."
She sighed, before grabbing his face with her paw and shoving him onto the ground, holding him down as they licked his jaw and cleaned off all of the blood.
"You should learn to dodge better," she mumbled, "It tore off a lot of skin."
"It was worth it to have you caring for me," he said, grinning.
She bit his cheek before rolling her eyes, blushing a bit. "I'll eat you."
He giggled. "Okay, okay, I'll stop. But really, thank you."
They looked over at him, "Well, it would get infected if I didn't."
He sat up, leaned his forehead against theirs, before gesturing over to the dead gazelle.
"We should go eat, before it starts rotting."
She grinned a bit, nodding.
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Adult, four years and two weeks old.
Fenja was… prone to nightmares. Usually, they weren't too bad, but this time, she woke up, jumping to their feet and snarling before they could even truly wake up.
Melodrama stumbled awake and roared, puffing up as he expected a stranger to be in the cave.
But as he started really waking up, he realized there was no one there, and looked over at Fenja… who looked terrified.
"Fenja? Fenja, what happened?"
She paused for a while before letting out a huge sigh, slowly slumping down onto the ground.
"Nightmare…."
"Is that the worst one you've had? You've never… done that before."
"Yeah…. Sorry I woke you up…."
He smiled, shaking his head. "No, it's okay."
"I'm so tired…." She mumbled.
They heard a bird fly by and jumped to her feet again, growling.
She groaned as she realized it wasn't anything scary. "And I'm too jumpy to sleep!"
"Hey, you can relax, I won't let anything get ya'."
They sighed, sitting down. "I can't."
He moved a little closer and sat down with them.
"Just lay down and think about something nice."
She sighed and laid down, staring at the cave entrance.
He leaned over and started grooming her fur, licking her face and her neck as they laughed at him.
They leaned into it, though, smiling at him.
Surprisingly, it worked and they calmed down enough to go to sleep, with her head resting on his back.
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Adult, four years and two months old.
Melodrama stretched out on his back and licked Fenja's ears.
Fenja's ears flicked a bit before she looked over at him and rolled her eyes.
They closed their eyes just in time for Melodrama's tongue to slide across her face. "Hey!"
He giggled as she rolled her eyes again.
They laid their head back down onto his neck, yawning.
He yawned too, before closing his eyes.
She couldn't really tell if he was asleep or not, but either way, he looked cute.
They looked at him for a while before realizing they had deep feelings for him. Not just a little crush.
She thought about it for a moment, until he opened his eyes and looked over at her.
He smiled and asked, "What's up? Do I have something on me?"
She stared at him for a couple more seconds before blurting out, "I'm in love with you," regretting it before she even finished the sentence, but unable to stop themself from speaking.
He blinked for a while before grinning as they started apologizing.
"Don't be…. I love you, too."
Her eyes widened.
"Oh!" They said, blushing.
They had a wonderful afternoon after that, cuddling and talking about their relationship. It was perfect… and Fenja even got to get her feelings across about wanting to be exclusive, and Melodrama agreed, both deciding they wanted to be each other's mate for the rest of their lives.
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Adult, six years, three months, and two weeks old.
Fenja had spent all of her time with Melodrama when she went into heat a couple weeks ago, and now she was showing… signs.
They were angry, had aversions to certain foods to the point she couldn't stand being near it even if she was hungry, etcetera, etcetera.
They brushed things off for a while until she just knew that they were pregnant. Even if it was early, they just… knew.
She walked over to Melodrama, and sat down.
"Melo?...."
"Yes?" He asked, grinning.
"Do you ever want cubs?...."
"I'd love a big family… but I'm happy without any, too. What do you think about cubs?"
They didn't say anything for a moment before just blurting out, earlier than they wanted to, "I'm pregnant."
He paused, watching her expression and her body language. They didn't look like they were feeling one way or another… which is something she did a lot when they were worried about what he'd say.
He walked up to her. "Are you happy about it?"
"....Are you?"
He grinned. "Of course I am…."
She let out a huge sigh. "I'm… I think I am, too…. But I'm freaked out, too. I didn't mean to get pregnant this soon, I just wanted you, I don't know how to feel about it…."
He paused for a moment before saying, "There's this thing that can end a pregnancy, and you won't have to worry about it… if you'd like, I can get one."
They shook their head. "No… I know I don't want it gone, I just… don't know how to feel about it just yet."
He leaned his head up against hers. "Well, we have time to figure this all out."
"How… how do you feel about it, right now?"
"I'm ecstatic, I've always wanted to have my own cubs…. Especially with someone so wonderful."
They smiled a bit. "Th-then, I think I'm happy, too."
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Adult, six years and seven months old.
Fenja was very pregnant. She was also very ready to not be, anymore.
So, when she started going into labor, they were so excited… until it started hurting.
They were laying down beside Melodrama when they started going into labor, and quickly nudged him awake.
"Melo! It's coming!" She said excitedly.
He took a moment to process what she said, before jumping up, grinning.
"It is??"
"It is!"
He gently head-butted her, before he started excitedly grooming her face.
He stopped, smiling at her, "We're going to be parents…."
They excitedly ranted about becoming parents for ages, before they somewhat settled down, cuddling.
After ages of pain and encouraging words from Melodrama, Fenja finally gave birth to the cutest little cub.
They both started cleaning the cub off, their tongues so strong that they were pushing the newborn over just trying to groom it.
Once it was all clean, Fenja looked up at Melodrama.
"We should name her something pretty."
"How about, Fenja the second?" He asked, smirking.
They laughed a bit. "No, really! What should we name her?"
"I still say Fenja the second."
She rolled her eyes before pausing.
They nodded, smiling. "Okay."
They cuddled for a while until they all took a big nap, even Fenja the second going to sleep, too.
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Adult, seven years and two months old.
Melodrama gently head-butted Fenja goodbye, going off on a patrol with Asitirus.
Barely even fifty minutes later, Asitirus came back, covered in blood, scratches and canid bites.
"Hyenas!" He yelled, huffing and puffing. "They killed Melodrama!"
Fenja paused for a moment before rushing over to him. "What!?"
"There was a whole pack of them, and- and they surrounded us, and he tried to chase one of them and they all just swarmed him!"
"And you let them!?"
"No!"
"Where is he!? Is he okay!?"
"Fenja…." He sighed, shaking his head. "He's-...."
"No, he's not." They growled. "Where is he? Show me to him!"
Jambazi slowly walked over to Fenja.
"Fenja, look at Asitirus… I don't… I don't think Melodrama could survive all of-"
Fenja swatted at Jambazi, before snarling at the smilus in front of her.
"You! You let him die!?"
They lunged at him, but he shoved her onto the ground and growled.
She stared at him for a while, both growling at each other, before she finally looked away and slowly got up, leaving in the direction of the Wanaishi pride.
Fenja reached the pride after some time, finding Elnara and pleading with her to help them being Melodrama back. Elnara refused to directly help; she didn't want to be involved with any magic bringing back the dead… but, she did give Fenja enough clues to find someone who would help.
Fenja set out for the lioness, a spirit named Jioni, and found her rather quickly.
Jioni explained that there was a type of ritual that Fenja could perform, that would take Melodrama's soul and bring him back. All they needed, were some herbs, a few remnants of Melodrama like fur, claws, etc, and a host body to willingly participate and allow a sort of… soul swap.
There were lots of risks, though. Jioni would've explained every risk, downside, and upside to the procedure but Fenja wasn't listening and ran off before she could explain.
Fenja grabbed each herb she needed, before… aggressively encouraging a random male she spotted on her way back to get Melodrama's shed claws from the den.
She made the poor lion follow her back to the pride, and once she figured everything out, she led him back to Jioni.
He looked… well, frightened from Fenja's threats, so Jioni asked him multiple times if he was okay with this and every time, he agreed.
Jioni went through the arduous process of summoning Melodrama's soul from the plants and his old claws and fur, before looking proudly down at him.
Melodrama's silhouette was smokey and pale blue just like Jioni's, but his figure was much less clear than hers.
He also looked very confused, frantically searching around before spotting Fenja, who was staring up at him with wide eyes.
Fenja froze for a while before smiling. "You're back!"
Melodrama gave her an uncertain smile, looking around. "I am?...."
Fenja looked over at the male beside her. "He's going to become a host for your soul, and then you can be back back."
"....What does that mean?" Melodrama asked, looking over the poor lion.
Fenja explained everything in gentle, vague terms, before Jioni took over the monologue and explained everything in a way that wasn't intentionally light to make Melodrama and the other male more willing.
Melodrama was very hesitant at first, but after he and the lion had a very long chat together, they both agreed to the idea and went through the process.
When Melodrama finally woke in the new body, Fenja immediately head-butted him and he flinched away from her, snarling a bit.
She paused, taking a step back. "Melo?...." She whispered.
"What?" He grumbled back.
"....What?...." They asked, looking up at Jioni.
Jioni paused before quietly saying, "Something may have gone wrong…. It takes time for souls to adjust into new bodies, so it could just be the sudden change affecting his personality, though. He's probably going to be a little disoriented for a while, the change also affects memory…."
Fenja looked at Melodrama again, before sighing.
"You don't… remember me, do you?"
"No?" Melodrama asked, holding his head up high. "Am I supposed to?"
"Yes!" They yelled, looking devastated.
He just eyed them for a while, before looking up at Jioni, the slightest hint of recognition in his eye.
Turns out, he recognized the form and not her, as he asked, "Why's there a dead girl?"
"I prefer the term spirit, instead of dead…." Jioni mumbled. "And because you were just resurrected, Melodrama. I helped."
"Who's Melodrama?" He asked. "I'm Ud'rom."
"Oh. Oh, no…." Jioni whispered, looking more than a bit concerned.
"What's- what's the 'oh, no' for?" Fenja asked. "What happened to him? Is he okay?"
"....
(Melodrama sets out on a patrol with a sub-male and the sub-male comes back an hour later announcing Melodrama's death. Fenja's so devastated that she turns to black magic and resurrects Melodrama, putting his soul into another male's body, but… it didn't work 100%. He came back, alive and sound, and his appearance even faded in, but his memories were all gone and his personality was different. He was… distant and refused to be called Melodrama anymore, correcting everyone and saying "Ud'rom")
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Adult, seven years and four months old.
(Fenja set off to her favorite rock to cry on, the one she used to cuddle Melodrama with on, and stayed there for a while. She was certain something went wrong when she was resurrecting Melodrama and she wasn't sure what to do. After a while, Ud'rom came over and sat down. He leans up against her shoulder and smiles at her, showing her the most emotion he had in weeks. Then he tells them that his memories are coming back and he doesn't remember everything, but he's starting to remember her again and she's ecstatic.)
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Adult year
(she helps him get some memories back and even after he gets everything back, he still prefers Ud'rom)
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Adult year
(they have a cub)
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Adult year
(eventually she gets old enough and passes, resting beside Ud'rom. A couple days after, Ud'rom passes as well)
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