Leona

This is simply a backstory I created for one of my SL roleplay characters.

Leona grew up in Montana, knowing and embracing her inner beast, and though she loved the green hills and lush valleys of her home, she had a desire for bigger things.  There was a creative side to this werelioness that begged to run as free as Leona did each full moon.  Her mother encouraged this but her father detested it, for she was not the son he had wanted.  He did nothing outright, but Leona could sense his disapproval and so she worked to please both parents....she studied art and dance for her mother and learned metalworking for her father.   She moved to New York at the age of 21, to attend college.  During college she continued to study dance and art as well as her metalworking skills, earning a Master's degree in Art and a Minor in theatre.   She grew to love both sets of skills, combining them into scupltures and jewelry she sold. Her time in the city was hard though.  She was used to green expanses and the ability to roam free when the moon called.  She had several narrow escapes from Central Park where she went to try and soothe her beast.  She soon learned that trips to the Adirondacks and Lake Placid were much easier and she took numerous jobs to pay for the trips, model, welder, dancer and the more de riguer waitress, though she disliked the snooty socialites who looked down their noses at her, never realising she could snap their necks.  It was on one trip that she met a fellow werelion.  Though she had not known it at the time, he had followed her with the intent to add her to his pride as his mate and to dominate her.  He devised a plan for them to accidentally meet and once that happened, so began his courtship of her.  She was naive despite having lived in New York for nearly 5 years.  It was true you could take a girl out of the country, but you could never take the country out of the girl.  She had a caring heart and she was blind to his cruelty towards others, for he showed her only kindness.  She had also grown weary of not having a pride to belong to, 5 years was a long time to have no family so to speak and she was ripe for the picking.  She fell hard and he took advantage of that, moving them out of the city.  It was only then, after several years in which he continued to woo her did she discover the hidden side of him.  She happened to come home from her job in the city early one day.  Her modeling shoot had wrapped early and she was excited to have some time to herslef.  She came home to hearing snarling and growling and she was instantly on alert.  Creeping sliently to the small field that bordered the pride's home, she found her Rex terrorizing one of the other females.  She must have made some small noise of distress for he turned and the look of rage on his face made her stumble and he was on her in a flash.  She fought with all her might, marking his cheek with scratches, biting and kicking but his strength was more than hers and he beat her till she was too bruised to even move for the pain.  He called her names she had never heard before from his mouth and he beat her again and again over the next week, keeping her too weak to shift and heal.  Taunting her and tormenting her till she broke and begged for mercy.  That was when he knew he had won and he let her go and warned her, if she ever fought back, ever misbehaved again, he'd beat her worse next time.  She had to take a week off work to heal her wounds and she lost her waitressing job, but she didnt tell her Rex that.  Instead she began to learn to defend herself, to increase her strength.  She learnt from the other lioness that they had suffered for years, beatings and rapes at his hand and had been warned with death if they told her what was going on.  The females he brutalised were always hidden unil they had healed so she had never know what was going on.  She was sickened and full of rage and she became sarcastic and caustic as a way to let out her aggression because he was still too strong for her to beat.  Now that he had been discovered she too joined the ranks of the other lioness, being beaten for any small infraction and whereas the other lioness cowered she began to channel her rage into a plot to escape.  She continued her defense lessons and she took any available job she could find to put away money to live on.  then one day, nearly 3 years after that first beating, just when she desparied of ever having the chance to make an escape he was called away on a business trip.  Normally all the lioness' accompanied him on such trips but she had landed a cover shoot for a major fashion mag and the Rex was contracted to appear at his business function.  This was her chance and she knew it was now or never.  The Rex would be gone for several days, nearly a week and her shoot would only last 2.  The minute the Rex was gone, she packed everthing she owned and went to her shoot.  2 days later when it was done, she boarded a plane as if nothing were wrong and she never looked back.  She landed in Mexico and promptly destroyed her identification and assumed the name Angeline.  She worked wherever she could find it, plying her trade as a metalworker and selling her jewelry to the tourists.  After another 3 years passed, along with her 33rd birthday, she decided it was time to go home and she stole across the border.  After several weeks of roaming she had a chance encounter in a bar where she met Gage, who would become her Rex.  She was skittish and ran as soon as she scented what he was, but he followed her because just as she had scented him, he had scented her and he followed her easily.  He carefully approached and though she remained skittish she soon found herself pouring her story out to him, a stranger.  He looked at her that night and promised to take care of her, for he too was searching for a home and he welcomed her and soothed her hurts.  Over the next two years, he proved himself to her time and again, earning her loyalty, her trust, her respect and her love.  She will kill to protect him just as he will to protect her...and so that brings us to today...the day she joins her Rex in hopefully their new home.

Author's Note

please ignore grammar and punctuation errors as this is still a piece in progress, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the idea of the character herself and if it has merit.

Reviews

Hmm, werelions. It isn't exactly a new concept, but it is a rarely used one. However, instead of it being about horror the story just seems to be about belonging and searching; something I'm sure many humans can relate to. I like the back story.

[ShaneBerry]

it would be an easier read if i knew what story the charactor belonged to lol