Angavu Contest Entry

Angavu "Wamekimbia" | Bright "Runaway"
Dumaka's Mother

Why I chose what I did:
Angavu's colors are pretty much all a lighter shade of Dumaka's colors. Since Negasi was darker than Dumaka, I made Angie {I'm just going to call her Angie for short} lighter so Dumaka could be somewhere in the middle, and more of a mix of the two. If Angie had been darker, Dumaka's colors wouldn't have made any sense.

When I was looking back through the comic I noticed that Negasi had all of Dumaka's hair poof, but not those signature pompous puff-ball curls! So I just decided that he got those curls from Angie

Outlander nose? What? Oh yeah, Angie does have an outlander nose, even though she has that pridelander build. Wanna know why I did that? Think about Dumaka's kids. They're Sarabi, Diku, Dwala, and Naanda right? Well none of them have outlander noses, and they're also not the reason I gave it to Angie either. You have to go farther, to Naanda's cub, Zira. That little outlander cub is the reason. I mean sure, she could have gotten her nose from Juno, but her's wasn't black like Zira's. And I don't think any of the other characters in Zira's known extended family have black noses. So Angie was the answer to that problem, and that's pretty much why she has that nose.

Also the reason Angie has a pridelander build is because of Sarabi, Diku, and Dwala. I tried to make her have that Amazon goddess look that Sarabi has but, meh, I'm not that skilled yet. But in case you couldn't tell, yes, Angie is supposed to have the same looks as Sarabi, but with an outlander nose and curly mane poof.

Why does she have a radio tracking collar? To make her unique and give her an interesting backstory, that's why. :T And yeah I think humans exist in this comic, I'll show you-
"A strange animal came to our lands.. They killed most of our family. And those who survived were killed in the fire the creatures set on our lands..." -Mohatu's Reign: Chapter4: Page38
That sounds like naughty humans to me.

Why is the name Angie on her collar? Because that is the human's name for her. Ironic right?

What is the whole "Wamekimbia" thing about? It's her nickname, and I'll explain that later.

History:
As a cub Angavu had the best life possible. She was always able to play and have fun with her best friend Juno, and learning royal lessons was not a responsibility for her, for she was a regular old lioness without a drop of royalness in her blood. As a cub she did get to secretly watch some royal lessons though. Juno and her would always sneak around, eager to catch a glimpse of teenage Imara learning to be a king.

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When she was a teenager Angavu went through some rough times, but those times were a lot harder than the problems most teen lions have.

The first incident that happened to Angavu occurred on a warm Spring day while she was out on her first hunt alone. She was a skilled hunter, and the pride didn't doubt that she would return with a wonderful catch. But they couldn't have been more wrong. While she was stocking a zebra, Angavu felt a sharp pain in her hind leg. As she focused on the pain the zebra's were spooked by a strange snap in the distance, and ran off before she had a chance to catch one. But the suspicious snap was quickly followed by another sharp pain in her back leg, and the thought of zebras was soon forgotten. Her thoughts quickly became jumbled as the world around her began to spin and melt together. Her paws became clumsy and she tripped on a stone, landing on the ground with a thud. As Angavu strangely heavy eyes started to close she focused on something moving in front of her. And for a moment she saw the beast with clear vision, it's ugly, hairless legs moving towards her. To her is was the weirdest thing she had ever seen, and she became scared. Squirming with fear she fought to get up, but her legs no longer moved and her vision had become even blurrier. And soon she was out like a light.

When Angavu woke up she quickly realized that something was wrong. As she came to her senses she peered around, and thankfully the weird pale monsters were gone. But still feeling off, she continued to use her senses to try to pinpoint the problem. She saw nothing wrong with her eyes, and she could smell nothing that was an issue, but as she focused on her ears an annoying beep rang around her. Sitting up she glanced around in fear, swiveling her ears in every direction. Eventually she found the source of the noise, and the beeping contraption was hanging right around her neck. It looked like a dried banana peel with a lump on it to her, but when she asked the local monkeys they said that it was a radio tracking collar. She didn't know what that meant, but she did know that she definitely didn't like it. But not being able to take the thing off she learned to live with it. And it really wasn't all that bad, the only horrible part about it was that she could no longer hunt due to the beeping. So her dream of becoming the top hunter was crushed.

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One summer evening, after a day of learning how to patrol borders she went for a walk, eager to have some time alone. But she didn't get to spend very much of the walk by herself, for Prince Imara had been keeping his eye on her for awhile, and had decided to join her on a walk in the setting sun. The orange and pink glow quickly set a romantic spin on things though, and Imara and Angavu ended up spending the whole night together. Although Angavu loved Imara, their love was not true. Their little moment was just a summer fling, and Imara turned her away the next day, not wanting anything to do with the poor lioness he had used.

A few days later, Imara was betrothed to Asali, and they were to be wed on the eve of the Fall Equinox. Not wanting anyone to find out, Imara grabbed Angavu and tugged her to a pride-free area, where nobody would be able to hear their conversation. Then Imara began roaring about how no one was to find out about their little 'fling', and that if they did he wouldn't be able to be a respected king. He finished his roaring with a threat to kill Angavu if anyone did end up hearing about their love.

A week later Angavu pulled Imara over during one of his lone patrols. Even though he didn't want anything to do with her, Angavu insisted that what she had to say was very important, and eventually he agreed to listen. After a moment of silence Angavu took a breath and whispered, "I'm pregnant Imara... And they're yours." In shock the Prince gave a might roar and struck Angavu's face. Luckily his claws weren't extended though, and Angavu only suffered minor bruising. Then Imara rambled about how he needed a proper heir, and that if the pride found out about this, he would be in deep trouble with them and his father. Once again Imara threatened to kill Angavu if anyone found out that the cubs were his, but then he changed his mind. He couldn't even run the risk of having anyone see Angavu pregnant, for his cubs might look exactly like him. But the Prince didn't have a completely cold heart yet, and so he told Angavu to run away and never return. And then he threatened to kill her if she did come back. But the heartbroken Angavu didn't want anything to do with Imara and the pride any longer, and she obediently ran away from them all.

When Imara returned to the pride he told them that Angavu had challenged him to a fight to be the heir of the kingdom. Then he continued his lie and told them that he had easily stomped her traitor heart into the ground and defeated her. Imara thought about his lie for a moment and then also added in that he had given her the option to stay in the pride and never speak of this, or run away. And of course, he told those gullible lions that she had run away. The story Imara had given them was quickly spread through the pride and stretched and molded into completely different stories. But the one thing that stayed true in all of the legend-like stories was the nickname they had given her, Wamekimbia {Runaway}. So if you ever hear an elder telling the story of a runaway lion named Wamekimbia, well just remember that she is Angavu. The lion that was used and thrown away like a pile of garbage.

During her time of exile Angavu suffered a lot. Due to the beeping of her radio tracking collar she could not hunt for herself and eat the food that she needed. Eventually she ended up loosing her cubs, but not the horrible memories that came with them. When she finally was too weak to carry on she flopped over and passed out, close to death. But luckily she was found by another outcast, Negasi. He nursed her back to health and then eventually asked her to be his queen and create a pride with him. Which she eagerly did. And even though her past always haunted her, she ruled with a optimistic and bright attitude. And no lion ever suspected that anything terrible had ever happened to her.

Other Stuff?:

Credit for all the characters and such goes to , this entry is also for her comic contest.

Also Raven, if I win, you don't have to use the history that I typed either. I just thought it kind of was cool and I felt like giving her a bit of a story. Also her radio tracking collar is totally optional. You don't have to have her wear that if you don't want to either. Oh and her personality is optimistic and mischievous really. I forgot to add that part in