Arsynia,
Lioness of Prideless
Played by dusk

arsynia tollaire.

The transition from dry to wet season was never gradual. A storm had blustered over the mountainsides overnight, stealing condensation from the snowcapped peaks and spilling out into the forests of the valley below. Arsynia had fled from the rocky outcroppings, rolling hills that offered little protection in the vicious downpour. By the time she had reached the line of trees that bordered the Sidonius Woodland, she'd been soaked through. Her thick fur slicked against her slender form. The long fur of her cheeks hung just beyond her jawline, the thunderous pattering of water subdued by the canopy above, but only just. The sky was twinged with a windy, bleary darkness; the forest was even darker, a haunting haze lingering between the trees yet, beyond the rain, it was blissfully silent.

Arsynia moved between the trees, watching as smaller animals desperately scurried around her underfoot, rushing toward their nooks and their burrows in order to escape the rain as it began to pool between the leaves and gnarled roots. The tree branches ached in the wind, bark crackling similar to the thunderclaps that sounded in the far distance. The electrified charge of the wind unfurled along Arsynia's whiskers, sending a shiver up her spine, increasing a sense of animalistic urgency in her gait. Eventually, she settled in the hollowed trunk of a centuries-old tree, having grown just wide enough to fit a lioness of her size before dying, hallowing so that other creatures, like she, could seek refuge within its tangled, ancient roots.

And though it was not completely dry, the pattering leaks in the bark offered a blissful white noise as Arsynia settled, and began to groom herself dry.

Art by DefineDead