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Ace was born into Forrest Strider's pride. At the time she was born there were only three other cubs, Paris, Imperator, and Cumulus. She would play with them occasionally, but the latter two were inseparable. Paris was older than her but would socialize with Ace every now and then.
Overall Ace's years as a young lion were quite uneventful. Her mother, Marrow, wanted her cub to be safe from any harm as she grew up, she wanted the opposite of the childhood that she had for her baby. And sometimes this meant that Ace was banned from practice hunts and was told to keep to the pride's innermost territory so that she wouldn't come near any danger.
This made Ace a bundle of energy. A bundle of energy with nowhere to spend it. No cubs to play with and no hunts to join. Ace became rebellious. She took to sneaking out at every opportunity she could find, chasing butterflies and birds across the Savanah. She would start her own practice hunts, sneaking out and heading in the opposite direction of the hunting party. She didn't have formal training so this was often detrimental to her health and she picked up quite a few scars that she had to hide from her family.
The other cubs knew exactly what she was up to, but they thought it was funny that she wasn't allowed to join them, that she was an outcast. They made no attempt to stop her, content to watch her outcast herself further, which they now regret.
It all came to a head when Ace wandered away under cover of the night and was found by a patrolling male from the territory next to hers. These lions were known for being ruthless and violent. The cubs were warned never to venture to the east side of the territory for this reason. But it was night and Ace was out on her own, she wasn't ever given instructions on how to tell which direction she was going in the night and she had no protection, only her very minimal self-training. The lion stalked closer to Ace, taunting her. For every step forward, Ace took one step back until she was up against one of the many rocky outcroppings that littered her territory. Panicked, Ace cried out for help as loud as she could, hoping that she was near enough to the center of the pride and that her family would be able to hear her.
The yell she let out angered the lion in front of her and he pounced. Ace clumsily rolled away, and the lion hit the rocks that were behind her. Using her one moment of freedom she began to run. She had no idea where she was in the inky night and no idea where she was going, but she just knew that she had to get away.
She continued to cry for help as she ran, hoping that she was getting closer to the pride.
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