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"The sun slowly rises over the ash covered fields after a volcanic eruption."
Aftermath is a stoic lioness who generally doesn't like the company of others. Her mate, Ashfall, is the only lioness she's most open to. Hyaen, Smog, Cake, and Lillemore are other lionesses in the sisterhood she tolerates. Other than that, Aftermath is pretty silent. Many think she's mute, but she can and has spoken before. Not even Ashfall knows why Aftermath is so quiet.
Before joining the sisterhood, Aftermath was from a pride in the Ethiopian Highlands. It was a small pride, and it wasn't easy to catch prey for the average lion. Most of the pride members were more nimble and climbed a lot more than most lions to get around the rocky terrain. Aftermath, however, was more muscular and had a harder time getting around tight spaces. She was still a great climber like her family, and was trained to be an ambusher when it came for her to join her elders in hunting. A life changing incident happened to Aftermath a month after she turned two years old. During a particularly dangerous hunt, Aftermath was knocked off a cliff by an ibex buck. Fortunately, the fall wasn't too high. Unfortunately, she broke her left shoulder and bruised a rib. Aftermath was left in a lot of pain and the pride deemed her unfit to even remain in the pride. She was swiftly chased away after three days of her condition not getting any better. Alone and unable to hunt on her own, Aftermath was forced to scavenge prey and attempt to steal from hyenas. Despite being in pain, she has been able to fend off smaller hyena clans while securing a meal for herself. The plains were still a hostile place despite her slowly healing. With her dark pelt, it was hard to blend into the surroundings to ambush prey. Seeking a better place to hunt on her own, she traveled up north, crossing into the Nubian Desert.
Jackals and camels were common sights in the desert, but weren't at all easy to catch. She spent weeks living off of scraps that were already hard enough to find. Two months into her exile, Aftermath came across a small lioness. She was grey with a dark back and faint white dapples. Her ruby eyes gave her a stern yet gentle look which drew in Aftermath. Though Ashfall was a bit distrustful and first, the two eventually became friends despite Aftermath rarely talking to Ashfall. They traveled the eastern regions of the Sahara desert together, wanting to reach better lands for prey. The lionesses traveled southwest to the Nile, taking the risk and crossed the raging river where it was thinnest. For a few months, the lionesses stayed near the river where prey was plentiful, but humans were becoming a bigger threat. And so, they continued down south where on their journey, Aftermath and Ashfall grew closer together. During a cold morning in the dry season, Ashfall confessed her feelings to Aftermath who was flustered but accepted her feelings. From that day on, they were now mates who went everywhere together.
Around two months after the lionesses became mates, they were passing through the arid terrain of a smaller desert region. That is when they encountered a young lioness who was nearly as tall as Aftermath. Her ghoulish dark pelt with red and silver accents was a bit strange to Aftermath. The lioness was heavily scarred and wore a leather and iron collar on her neck. Despite her intimidating appearance, she was pretty friendly to the two and introduced herself as "Hyaen." She asked if they'd like to join her and her two friends. Aftermath looked down at Ashfall, who gave the quiet brute a nod. Aftermath turned to face Hyaen and nodded at her. Ashfall did all the talking for Aftermath while they were heading to the nearby grasslands over some large dunes. That is when Ashfall and Aftermath were introduced to two lionesses. One was as tall and bulky as her. Her grey pelt was accented with a dull brown and fiery flecks. She introduced herself as "Bush Fires," and her friendly tone was off putting. The other lioness had similar fiery accents, but had black stripes and bits of mauve purple on her body. The lioness joyfully introduced herself as "Wildfire," and she was teaming with excitement. Aftermath didn't trust Wildfire either, but her and Ashfall were allowed to tag along with the three lionesses. That is when the group of lionesses decided to form a sisterhood that Bush Fires and Wildfire named, "Ferocious Felines."
(Kind pose?)
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