Name: Shale

Gender: Male

Pride: The Others - Prince

Lioness(es): None officially(OPEN)

Family: Slate(Mother), Granite(Father), Breccia(Sister)

Personality: When he was young, Shale was a very playful cub, always working to impress the girls and always trying to get into trouble. He was never the best at navigating the tunnels, but eventually got used to it. He was undoubtably his sister's best friend, always with her. The two were inseperable their whole lives. Shale was always exploring and had a very adventurous spirit, never willing to give up anything search. He had a very high-activity imagination, making him great at coming up with stories - especially scary ones - which were often adopted by the lionesses of the pride to tell to their cubs. Shale often claimed to see fantastical beasts, which were just crazy enough that no cub believed such things could live in the caves, but realistic enough that they certainly did believe the creatures lived Above. That he did to help keep them from venturing out on request of Slate.

Shale loved the spotlight and getting attention, and somehow, it suited him perfectly. He only took one thing seriously: Breccia's well being. Nothing mattered more to Shale than his sister, and any male who tried getting near her would learn that the hard way. Shale was never too shy in using brutal force, making him rather respected amongst the males. He always stuck close to his sibling, and somehow, the two were closer than a snake to whatever it crawls on. The strange part was how highly the two contrasted - Shale was rather on the loud side, arrogant, taking pride in being a trouble-maker with the girls. Breccia, though, was sweet, quiet, and humble, shy with the lions and passively uninterested in them.

Everything changed for Shale, though, when his sister was attacked by a rogue. He lost control of himself and hadn't realized what was happening until there was a dead lion, bleeding and still, laying at his feet. Shale became terrified of himself, unwilling to be anywhere near the others. He left for awhile and lived as a rogue in the pridelands. More provoked him and he found them dead. Soon afterwards, he found Pride Rock and met Simba, and after falling into rage several more times, he was sent to Rafiki to learn to control himself. He became calm and pacifistic after awhile, and was eventually found by Granite and a search party.

Likes: Trouble, attention, swimming, darkness, cool breezes, his sister, his family, winning spars

Dislikes: Being threatened, his anger, hot days, stuffy air

Fears: Himself

Strengths: Fighting, running distances, control(later in life), tracking

Weaknesses: Hunting, running for speed, easily distracted

Crushes: Open

Crushers: Open
 

History: Shale was born into the Others as the prince of their pride alongside his sister, Breccia. At the start of his life, Shale was decidedly going to be the king after Granite, his father, retired from his position, but as he grew, the King began to notice that his daughter was the one showing highly adept leadership skill. He consulted his mate about it, and the two decided that it was best that Breccia became the next leader with whoever she may choose as a mate.

After asking his son about it, all was set, and it felt as if a great weight was lifted from Shale's shoulders - he never wanted to lead, he knew he was a follower. So, the young lion cub went on to do his own thing. He began to spend his time exploring deep in the caves, and loved it immensly. He got lost countless times due to being very bad at navigation, since oftentimes he would suddenly realize he didn't even remember getting where he was, but it never stopped him. He continued to explore.

When he was with the other cubs, Shale loved the attention he got when he told tales of strange creatures living Above. He often played games in which he described a beast and he and the others would go looking for it. They never found it, though, because Shale never told them it wasn't real. Eventually, this caused Shale, Breccia, and a few friends to edge out of the caves, to the Above. They all were nearly blinded by the light, but after getting used to it, found they had no clue where they were. They wandered about for nearly three days when a group of hyenas attacked them. One of the cubs was killed, another terribly maimed. It was thanks to a large yellow lion with a red mane that the rest were alive. After chasing off the hyenas he turned to them and asked, "Why are you out in the Pridelands unattended? You could've ALL been killed!" Shale shrank down for a moment before realizing something: He was the son of King Granite! It was his job to fess up and take responsibility. He didn't want to, but he knew he had to. So he stood up and puffed out his chest.

"It's my fault," he told the big lion, his voice thick with remorse. His friend was dead because of him.

"You should be more careful," the lion snapped. "Where are you from? I need to take you back. Before MORE of you are hurt." Shale looked down. "But this injured cub - What is her name? - she will have to stay with my Pride for a time to heal."

After the lion called a bird called Zazu to find out where the cubs were from, the big male took them to his home - "Pride Rock". Shale saw many strange things there - these lions weren't the color of stones! How could they possibly hunt? He asked many questions, and many of the lionesses found them very strange. Shale didn't mind - they answered him seriously anyway, and for that he was pleased. He met several cubs - Simba, Nala, Kula, Chumvi, and Tama. He learned the big lion who had saved himself and Breccia was Mufasa, king of the Pridelands. Shale didn't say where he was from, simply avoiding that question. He knew well that the Others weren't supposed to be discovered.

After about a week, Granite came and claimed that they were from a Pride on the opposite side of the river, and took the cubs home. He was extremely upset with Shale, who was even more upset with himself. He was supposed to be better than this, and felt like he'd let his dad down.

Once his mane started coming in, he found that his forte was certainly fishing. Most of the lions of the Others didn't like the water - unsurprisingly, of course, but Shale was a natural swimmer. Because he loved the water, he learned to fish, and taught the lionesses how to as well. Once he had, and also found there are other edible things in the underground river, the pride didn't feel it when Scar came into power Above, in the Pridelands, and didn't even leave the caves.

Eventually, a few years later, Shale became a young adult. On one morning after taking Breccia above to hunt, he was walking with her in the caves. "Why not go fishing?" his sister suggested.

"Sounds great." Shale smiled brightly, glad that his sister would be with him. She trotted ahead and, feeling like all was well, Shale fell behind. Then Breccia turned a corner.

Shale heard a terrible shriek. He turned sharply as it echoed through the tunnels and darted toward it. Turning a corner, there was his sister Breccia hopelessly outweighted by a huge lion who must have followed her down from a hunt. He had her down, and forced himself upon the lioness, who once again screamed. Shale felt intense mixtures of emotions, freezing him. Fear. Anguish. Hatred. Rage.
Breccia broke away from the male for a moment before he pounced on her again.

That was when he broke. Shale lunged on the male, tearing him away from Breccia, and snarled. No words were nessessary. The strange male bared his teeth but turned toward Breccia. I planned to wait awhile, he sneered. But I guess I can't have any burdens, so I'll just kill you now.
Without thinking, Shale advanced on the male, leaping and throwing him into the river that cut its dark path through the caves. He pounced on the male, feeling the other's claws tearing his skin. Shale sank his claws into the rogue's throat and face, forcing his head under the water. Unthinking, he felt the lion thrashing under him.

Suddenly Shale realized what was happening and was thrown off. He sat up, and the male was gasping. He turned away slowly. Fine, I'm leaving, he rasped, slowly standing and walking past Breccia.
Suddenly he turned on her. He attacked Breccia and Shale leaped on the rogue, rolling him to the ground and tearing his throat open and watching the lion bleed. He stared in terror at what he had done.
Shale...? He didn't turn as his sister spoke quietly. He just ran. Shale ran off, above the caves, into the rain. He stared up at the sky, terrified of himself. He couldn't stay there any longer. It wasn't safe for anyone.
 

He was a killer.

After walking Above for a long time, staring at his feet, Shale encountered a lion. He was kind to him, but the male - a rogue, nothing but bloodthirsty - attacked him. In self-defense, Shale fought back, but soon blacked out once more, and once more, didn't realize he had killed the lion until his head cleared enough for him to realize it was dead in front of him. Shale ran, not paying attention to where he was headed, and dove into a river. He started swimming, but heard a noise.

A terrible noise. An aggressive noise. He stopped and turned, realizing what was happening.

The young adult was surrounded by hippos.

In that moment, he percieved things about them: They were many times his size. They were powerful. They had the aggression to match it. They could kill him.

They were probably faster than him. And he was violating their territory.

Snapping him out of the transe, one of the hippos opened it's massive jaws, preparing to attack Shale. The lion fled, swimming as quickly as he could.

Not fast enough, though - one of the beasts caught hold of his leg, smashing the bones. He roared in pain, dragging himself from the monster's grasp, and dragged himself from the river, running, his broken back leg uselessly trailing. He was lucky the hippos did not follow him.

Shale limped amongst the grass for another day and a half. Suddenly, a small pack of seven hyenas approached Shale. He was terrified. A half-remembered memory of canines and an old friend flashed through his mind.

Now he'd join the unlucky cub. He was sure of it.

They advanced and leaped on him, tearing his flesh. He waited for them to finish him, but they only continued to tear him apart.

That was when the impossible occured.

A lion, larger, stronger and older than Shale, with a red mane and gold body, saved him, chasing off the hyenas. He turned to the badly damaged Prince.

"Who are you?" he questioned.

"As good as dead," rasped Shale. "Help me... please."

Thankfully, the lion did. In his daze of pain and suffering, Shale didn't recognize Simba. Not that he should've - the two met once, a very long time ago. Simba took Shale in for over three months, waiting for his leg and wounds to heal. To pass the time, Shale told stories to the cubs. He was too scared to go back to his home once he healed though, and stayed with the Pridelanders for a few more months.

However, after healing, he had several more outbursts of rage, but thanks to Simba, he did not kill. After one, Simba suggested that Rafiki should come to meet Shale.

So he did.

Rafiki took Shale back to his tree and taught the lion for a long year how to control himself and his rage. He eventually learned, but it didn't come easily.

Finally, though, he was pacifistic. Shale didn't fight or injure after his time with the shaman, and eventually went back to the pridelands.

His father was waiting for him.

Granite had been searching for his son for a long time, and finally found him. He brought Shale back, and after over a year and a half, the Prince was back with his family.

Back with his Pride.