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Description

NAME: Ikenna Afolayan (ee-KEN-nuh ah-FOH-lai-yahn).
NICKNAME: Kenna, Ikko, Ikki.
AGE: 28 years old.
GENDER: Male.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Demiromantic Pansexual.
RACE: White Lion.
TRIBE: Lion Tribe.
HEIGHT: 6 feet, 2 inches; 187.96 centimeters.
WEIGHT: 171 pounds; 77.5 kilograms.
EYE COLOR: Dark Red.
APPEARANCE
Ikenna is a very tall man, with long, strong arms and legs and an imposing figure. He is muscular, robust, and well-toned from a life spent hunting in the open savannah and fighting for his place both in his family and in the Lion Tribe as a whole. His creamy white dreadlocks are wild, but clean and carefully taken care of, with bones, beads, and rings tied into them. His skin is a moderately dark brown color, dotted with a few freckles, and is covered with black-inked, intricate tattoos. The fur on his ears and his tail is also a creamy white color, fading to a pale brownish-golden color at the tips. He always wears golden earrings, a large nose ring, and, occasionally, a lip ring and a tongue ring. He has a flat, intended nose and broad, full lips. He has big, round reddish-colored eyes that often look almost black. His default expression is one of impassivity, and so he often has a crooked smile on his face and half-lidded eyes. He usually wears thick black kohl on his eyes, making the rusty color of his irises pop. He is very particular about his appearance, and only ever buys the best silks and clothing he can find. When he was younger, Ikenna learned how to heal wounds in a way that prevents scarring—and, if he can help it, that’s how he treats all of his wounds. So far, Ikenna has managed to keep his skin, and especially his face, from becoming overly scarred and marred.
WEAPON: Dual Chakram.

PERSONALITY
Clever | Intelligent | Strategic | Adaptable | Strong-Willed | Ambitious | Dedicated | Competitive | Charismatic | Flirty | Witty | Sly | Devilish | Composed | Judgmental | Perfectionist | Moody | Insecure | Sensitive | Destructive | Fierce | Ruthless | Vindictive | Unforgiving | Dishonest | Untrusting | Lonely
It’s easy to tell, even from brief encounters, that Ikenna is a clever and intelligent individual. He is always thinking, a characteristic of his that is evident in his controlled mannerisms, his careful speech, and his attentive and watchful gaze. It’s hard to fool Ikenna, seeing as he makes it a priority of his to be at least two or three steps ahead of everyone around him—and, besides that, being a liar himself, it is generally easy for him to see through deceptions and charades. Although, depending on the person and the situation, he might play along, just to see what happens. Ikenna has an excellent strategic mind, honed from a childhood of manipulating his father and his older brothers and from a habit of using people like the pieces of a board game. His adaptability makes him a good commander, both in politics and in battle. He weighs his enemy’s strengths and weaknesses quickly, using them to his advantage and changing his tactics accordingly. Ikenna is by no means set in his ways. He has no problem changing how he does things if he finds a better method, or even changing how he acts or speaks around certain people in order to achieve better outcomes from the interactions. He is strong-willed, though, and often refuses to give up at anything until he succeeds. This characteristic of his was first apparent when his mother died and he made it his mission to gain his father’s approval, something that he didn’t succeed in gaining until years later. He is ambitious, too, eager to work his way up the ladder to the highest position he can get: the position of the King of the Lions. His ambitions, however, are sometimes his downfall. He will step on anyone and everyone to get what he wants because, the way he sees it, the ends justify the means. He is also extremely dedicated to his goals, his duties, and his relationships, often to the point of wearing himself thin. (It’s not a strange thing for Ikenna to lock himself away from the world for three days straight just to recharge his batteries.)
Ikenna is an intensely competitive individual. He sees all of his competitors, even if they’re friends, as enemies until the end of the competition, and will do everything in his power to win. Unfortunately, he has ruined a few friendships like this—but, in his mind, if a friendship can’t handle friendly competition, then it’s not worth his time, anyway. Ikenna has no problem talking to people and, in all honesty, has been told on more than one occasion that he is charismatic and charming. He plays this up when meeting people for the first time, seeing as he is also a major flirt. Ikenna will flirt with just about anyone—male, female, young, or old—so long as he or she is reciprocating. Ikenna hasn’t had a meaningful or lasting relationship since his ex-lover, Mudiwa Lumumba, which wasn't very meaningful to begin with, and so he has no problem with one-night stands. (In fact, Ikenna uses one-night stands to boost his confidence. The way he sees it, if someone wants to be intimate with him, he must meet at least a few standards.) The charismatic side of him slowly wears off the longer the relationship lasts, however, because the charismatic side of him is the side that is the most exhausting. Being an introvert with extroverted tendencies, Ikenna is usually only his real self when he feels the most comfortable, which, in turn, is usually when he is alone and isolated. He will spend most of his free time sleeping, reading, meditating, or simply lounging around his hut, so long as he knows no one will stop by. Ikenna’s sense of humor is witty, sarcastic, and dry—often so dry that it can be hard to tell when he is being serious and when he isn’t. He never misses a chance to slip a snide remark into a conversation, and while he sometimes does mean it to be hurtful, most of the time he doesn’t. As a result, Ikenna’s favorite people are usually the people that take insults and sarcasm easily. When Ikenna isn’t described as charismatic, he is described as devilish. He has a resting bitch-face, which can come across as ill-intentioned. Ikenna is usually composed, though, careful of his posture, his mannerisms, and how he comes across to other people. He learned a long time ago, with the death of his mother, not to let his feelings show or affect his actions. As a result, Ikenna is very good at keeping his expression straight and doesn’t buckle under pressure.
Ikenna can be judgmental, both of himself and of other people, and his judgments are usually harsh and severe. Being a perfectionist, too, heightens this characteristic because he wants everything to be perfect all of the time and, when it isn’t, he ends up frustrated and angry. Insecurity has been something that Ikenna has struggled with since he was a cub. He is painfully aware this white hair and his red eyes are not normal—far from it, in fact. As a result, Ikenna doesn’t like it when people stare too long, or when they touch his hair, or when joke about his appearance. He has learned to use his strange looks to his advantage in battle and to intimidate his opponents, sure, but it can still be a drag to him when people he considers friends bring it up or ask him about it. Ikenna’s greatest wish, after all, is that he was born normal. He thinks he might have had a happier life if he had been. It is these kinds of thoughts that leave Ikenna moody and sensitive, usually once a week. When that happens, Ikenna mopes around and, if pushed to his breaking point, can have emotional breakdowns, although those are generally few and far between. Although Ikenna prides himself on his ability to keep his cool in almost every situation, his patience does have its limits.
Having been raised in the brutal culture of the Lion Tribe, with its emphasis on physical strength and the ability to hold one’s own in a fight, Ikenna has a tendency toward destructive and fierce behaviors. It takes a lot to push him to the point of violence, as he is generally a composed and careful individual, but when it comes down to it, he’ll hold nothing back. Ikenna will fight tooth and nail for what he wants, when he thinks he needs to, or when he’s simply pissed as hell. And when he’s pissed as hell, Ikenna likes to watch things burn. He’ll drag someone through the dirt for no reason at all, or he’ll say just the right thing to hurt someone. (Ikenna tries his best to keep this side of her personality from showing too often. It’s his greatest embarrassment. For all of his admiration for the Tiger Tribe’s more sophisticated culture, Ikenna knows, deep down, that he would never fit in there. He’s too brutal, too barbaric, too fierce, and, all in all, too much of a lion, no matter how hard he tries to hide it.) Despite his attempts to remain impassive and controlled, Ikenna has an ingrained vengeful streak. It’s hard to earn his forgiveness after he’s been wronged, and he will often go out of his way to humiliate or belittle those who have wronged him. His desire for revenge can sometimes ruin his long-term plans, as Ikenna will often prioritize his revenge over his schemes. As someone who relies more on deception than on brute strength, Ikenna is a masterful liar and bluffer. In fact, Ikenna is somewhat of a pathological liar. He will lie about almost anything, no matter how small, and meticulously keeps track of his lies so he won’t stumble over them later. And, at the end of the day, Ikenna is a lonely bastard. He’s desperately looking for someone who accepts him the way he is, but he doesn’t think someone like that exists.

LIKES
Plants, poisonous plants, cacti, and flowers.
Herbalism, helping to heal the injured and sick, and medicinal experiments.
Hunting alone, and occasionally hunting with company.
His alone time, being by himself, and meditating.
Antelope meat jerky, honey, fish, figs, spicy soups, and sweetcakes.
Memory games, mind games, manipulating his family and friends, and outsmarting his adversaries.
Bones, dead animals, carcasses, and vultures.
Scary stories, the graveyard, the Festival of the Dead, and anything to do with the occult.
Thunderstorms, rain, lightning, the rainy season, and monsoons.
Spiders, flies, ants, bees, and other insects.
Bats, the night, and caves with bats in them.
Competitions, and winning at just about anything.
Strategizing, planning everything he does before he does it, and organizing the Lion Tribe.
The Lion Tribe traditions, Ijumaa Mosi, and the Lion Tribe’s reputation as brutal.
His daughter, Lesedi Afolayan.

DISLIKES
People who act without thinking, and people who rely only on physical strength.
Being disturbed while meditating, and spending too much time with company.
Getting up early, being tired, daybreak, and bright sunlight.
Hot days, summer, and being stuck out in the sun for too long.
When people barge into his home unannounced, or too early in the morning.
Yams, bananas, sweet fruit, and sweet potatoes.
Being talked down to, and being shown-up.
Losing in competitions, or losing at just about anything.
Being seen when he’s not completely put-together.
Failure, and when people let him down.
His ex-lover, Mudiwa Lumumba.
His father, his mother, and his older brothers.

BACKGROUND
Ikenna’s father, Kibwe Afolayan, was one of the most famous hunters in the Lion Tribe, having taken down at least three wild lions with nothing but a short flint knife over the course of his life, but he wasn’t the smartest man around. Valuing his muscles and his strong, burly physique over his mind, which slowly degraded with each time he suffered a concussion in the fighting pits, Kibwe oftentimes came across as a bully. He bullied his siblings, his friends, his enemies, his wife, and his children. Ikenna’s mother, Aisha Manyara, was also a skilled huntress, but at the same time a weak-willed individual. When she married Kibwe, Aisha knew he was a bully, and a cruel one at that. She didn’t care because, for the majority of her life, Aisha had been ignored, forgotten, and left behind, and Kibwe was the first one to notice her. She latched onto that, even when Kibwe started to ignore her, too, with the birth of their first son, Nomusa Afolayan. The birth of their second son, Onyekachi Afolayan, followed only a year later. Both sons were raised by Kibwe, who believed he was blessed by the gods to have been given two strong, healthy boys, to be the best at everything. Kibwe wanted one of his sons to be the King of the Lions one day, no matter the cost.

And then Ikenna was born, during the Festival of the Dead. As soon as Ikenna first opened his eyes, as red as blood, both Aisha and Kibwe knew something was wrong with him. His hair grew in white, like the clouds on a clear day, rather than black or brown. The only explanation for the the whiteness of his hair and fur was simple: a wandering ghost had been trapped inside Aisha’s womb, and Ikenna had been born with it inside his body. Kibwe, whose ignorance led to a fear of anything different and a conviction in superstition, insisted that Ikenna be left out in the wilderness to die, so that the ghost would be set free and return to the otherworld it had come from. Aisha, however, resisted. Ikenna was only a baby, after all, and he was imperfect—something that resonated with her. Because Kibwe wanted nothing to do with him, Aisha declared that she would raise Ikenna on her own, without any help. Kibwe would never accept him, but Aisha hoped that if she raised Ikenna right his brothers might, against their father’s wishes. She tried to raise him to be strong, energetic, passionate, talkative, and wild, but Ikenna was never any of those things. In fact, Ikenna preferred to spend his time counting ants in anthills, rather than wrestling and play-fighting with his brothers and the other cubs his age. As a result, Ikenna grew up isolated, and without the necessary skills required to make true, lasting friendships. Ikenna’s personality made his father’s apathy toward him turnt to outright dislike. Instead of ignoring him, Kibwe took to telling Ikenna that he should have been born dead, for he was an abomination, after all. Ikenna’s brothers, who looked up to their father as an idyllic idol, followed suit, and bullied Ikenna to the point where he would spend his nights crying himself to sleep. The only person who had ever been on Ikenna’s side, his mother, Aisha, didn’t once stand up for him, and instead pretended like she didn’t see the bruises covering his body. As a result, Ikenna also grew up feeling bitter toward all of his family, even his mother, and often wished he had been born dead, like his father wanted.

When Ikenna was ten years old, the old medicine woman, Dawa, found him crying over a cut on his arm and took him to her hut to patch him up. Because Ikenna was so distraught, Dawa took to explaining the herbs she used and the plants that could be found in the savannah, hoping to calm him down, and Ikenna was at once enraptured with the practice of herbalism. He came back to her hut the next day, and the next day after that, and, as soon as he was able to, Ikenna began working along Dawa as an apprentice of sorts. He learned about the different medicinal plants—and the poisonous ones, too—that Dawa used and how to apply them to wounds and to fight diseases. When Aisha fell ill, Ikenna was twelve years old, with two years of herbalism under his belt. However, not even Dawa could save Aisha, for she had given up on life. Her death hit Ikenna hard. He had been angry with her and bitter at the fact that she never defended him when his brothers hit him, never stood up for him when his father drunkenly swore he should have been born dead, and never comforted him when he went to bed crying, but Aisha had been Ikenna’s only true friend and confidante. With her death, Ikenna was well and truly alone, for the first time in his young life. He cried for days, but Kibwe cut his mourning short by telling him to get over it. After Aisha’s death, Ikenna learned to lock his feelings up inside himself, and to keep them from showing on his face. It helped, in all honesty. Once Kibwe and his sons could no longer get the reaction they wanted, they simply ignored Ikenna.

After Aisha’s death, Ikenna found his way to the fighting pits, where he learned to hold his own in a wrestling match. He vented his anger and bitterness in the fighting pits, ruthless, fierce, and brutal during matches. Over time, Ikenna surpassed even Kibwe, managing to best him during Ijumaa Mosi. He became strong, but kept his temper under check because he still preferred to fight with words rather than with fists. Ikenna was initially optimistic when Rassa, a foreigner, took over as King of the Lions, and swore loyalty to him as all lions did. Rassa was, after all, a capable man and he seemed as if he would restore the Lion Tribe to its former glory. It wasn’t long until Ikenna realized what kind of person Rassa was: the same kind of person his oldest brother, Nomusa, was. As a result, Ikenna didn’t like Rassa—but that isn’t to say that Ikenna didn’t respect Rassa. Rassa certainly led the Lion Tribe well, after all, especially during the drought crisis and the war with the people from the swamp. Ikenna willingly followed Rassa into battle and fought viciously at his side, as all lions did. His brother, Nomusa, was killed in the war, and Ikenna let it happen. He saw an opening to save his brother’s life, to ensure that all of the sons of Kibwe returned safely from the battle, and Ikenna didn’t take it. He let Nomusa, who had been trying to help a fellow lion named Ufuoma, be stabbed in the chest.

Just before the drought and the crisis with the swamp people, Ikenna had met and started a short-lived affair with a lioness named Mudiwa Lumumba. She wanted what Ikenna couldn’t give her, however: a real relationship. He wasn’t ready for one. He wasn’t ready to let her in—at all, to be honest—and ended up keeping her at a distance. She thought that things would change when she became pregnant with her first child, but they didn’t. Ikenna remained as emotionally apathetic as ever. When Lesedi Afolayan was born, however, with the same white hair he had been cursed with, Ikenna was immediately drawn to her. Lesedi was, essentially, the first person to ever crack into his heart, even as a newborn. Now, Lesedi is no older than a toddler, and Ikenna loves her dearly. (He has even taken to tying feathers and bones into her hair, which he usually dreads for her.)

For a time, there was peace in the Lion Tribe.

But when the Eclipse Festival came around, it was supposedly a chance for people across the country to join together and celebrate under a flag of truce but an individual turned up dead, apparently bitten and killed by a snake. Ikenna didn't care at first—it wasn't his problem, considering the victim had been a stranger to him—but then the King of the Lions, Rassa, went to get answers from the Lady of the Snake Tribe, Savina, and ended up meeting the same fate as the previous victim. Rassa's death left the Lion Tribe in disarray, chaos gripping the village and all of its inhabitants. For a time, the Lion Tribe was leaderless. The men battled each other for control, day in and day out, while at the same time organizing searches for the missing lions and lionesses, Ikenna's ex-lover, Mudiwa, included. The only results were that no one gained control and more and more lions and lionesses went missing. Eventually, the remains of a few of the vanished lions turned up on the savannah, and the Lion Tribe lost what little order it had left. Ikenna, always one to take advantage of an opportunity, saw that the Lion Tribe was getting nowhere. None of the missing lions had been found, save for the ones who had turned up dead. Mudiwa was still out there, and even if Ikenna believed he had never truly loved her, he wanted her back, dead or alive. He wanted to know who had taken her, what they had done to her and to the others who had been kidnapped, and he wanted revenge for the dead lions. But no one knew for sure who was responsible. Most of the Lion Tribe was convinced it was the Snake Tribe's responsibility, but Ikenna had never been one to jump to conclusions. He wanted to know for sure, and that meant he had to do something to bring the Lion Tribe to order, or he feared they would never find the purpetrators. He used the disarray in the Lion Tribe to propel himself to the position of the King of the Lions through the traditional path: the trials. The other men competing were too distracted with the need for revenge, for answers, and for justice, that their performances in the trials suffered. Ikenna, on the other hand, managed to separate himself from the circumstances, something he was good at doing, and managed to keep his cool long enough, despite his fear for his daughter and his fellow lions and lionesses, to win fairly. It was the only way he knew that the lions would accept him as a leader, after all. It was simply their way of life, their tradition.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
He has a Nigerian accent. (He pronounces his “th’s” as “d’s” and so on.)

He hates being called Ikki. It’s what his parents, his older brothers, and his ex-lover called him, and he is no longer fond of the nickname. It immediately puts him in a sour mood.

His smiles as a rule mean he’s upset—but it’s easy to tell his real, genuine smiles, from his forced, fake smiles, so there’s that.

He didn’t much like Rassa, the former King of the Lions. He thought Rassa was too brutish—and, to be honest, Rassa reminded him of his older brothers, but in a position of power.

He first started collecting bones and tying them into his hair when he was a cub, after attending the Festival of the Dead for the first time. It initially scared his mother, who would immediately take them from him and toss them out in the savannah. He wouldn’t stop, though, and eventually she gave up.
Ikenna personally likes certain aspects of Tiger Tribe culture, such as their sophistication and their class, but, at the same time, he can't stand the Tiger Tribe. He doesn't like the people, the leaders, or the politics. (His daughter, Lesedi, almost died in the drought, after all.)

RELATIONSHIPS

Kibwe Afolayan: Father; Not on speaking terms.
Aisha Manyara: Mother; Deceased.
Nomusa Afolayan: Older brother; Deceased.
Onyekachi Afolayan: Older brother; Not on speaking terms.

RP INFO
Skype: Note me for my ID! I check this most often.
Google Docs: Preferred to Notes and Chat.
Notes: Preferred to Chat.
Chat: I’m in the OOC Chat almost every day!
I like to brainstorm before RPs, but am down for winging it, too.
I’m open to anything: fluff, angst, shenanigans, romance, etc. I enjoy shipping and crackshipping, but I won’t consider anything canon until it actually happens in an RP or accepted headcanon.

Description

NAME: Ikenna Afolayan (ee-KEN-nuh ah-FOH-lai-yahn).
NICKNAME: Kenna, Ikko, Ikki.
AGE: 28 years old.
GENDER: Male.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Demiromantic Pansexual.
RACE: White Lion.
TRIBE: Lion Tribe.
HEIGHT: 6 feet, 2 inches; 187.96 centimeters.
WEIGHT: 171 pounds; 77.5 kilograms.
EYE COLOR: Dark Red.
APPEARANCE
Ikenna is a very tall man, with long, strong arms and legs and an imposing figure. He is muscular, robust, and well-toned from a life spent hunting in the open savannah and fighting for his place both in his family and in the Lion Tribe as a whole. His creamy white dreadlocks are wild, but clean and carefully taken care of, with bones, beads, and rings tied into them. His skin is a moderately dark brown color, dotted with a few freckles, and is covered with black-inked, intricate tattoos. The fur on his ears and his tail is also a creamy white color, fading to a pale brownish-golden color at the tips. He always wears golden earrings, a large nose ring, and, occasionally, a lip ring and a tongue ring. He has a flat, intended nose and broad, full lips. He has big, round reddish-colored eyes that often look almost black. His default expression is one of impassivity, and so he often has a crooked smile on his face and half-lidded eyes. He usually wears thick black kohl on his eyes, making the rusty color of his irises pop. He is very particular about his appearance, and only ever buys the best silks and clothing he can find. When he was younger, Ikenna learned how to heal wounds in a way that prevents scarring—and, if he can help it, that’s how he treats all of his wounds. So far, Ikenna has managed to keep his skin, and especially his face, from becoming overly scarred and marred.
WEAPON: Dual Chakram.

PERSONALITY
Clever | Intelligent | Strategic | Adaptable | Strong-Willed | Ambitious | Dedicated | Competitive | Charismatic | Flirty | Witty | Sly | Devilish | Composed | Judgmental | Perfectionist | Moody | Insecure | Sensitive | Destructive | Fierce | Ruthless | Vindictive | Unforgiving | Dishonest | Untrusting | Lonely
It’s easy to tell, even from brief encounters, that Ikenna is a clever and intelligent individual. He is always thinking, a characteristic of his that is evident in his controlled mannerisms, his careful speech, and his attentive and watchful gaze. It’s hard to fool Ikenna, seeing as he makes it a priority of his to be at least two or three steps ahead of everyone around him—and, besides that, being a liar himself, it is generally easy for him to see through deceptions and charades. Although, depending on the person and the situation, he might play along, just to see what happens. Ikenna has an excellent strategic mind, honed from a childhood of manipulating his father and his older brothers and from a habit of using people like the pieces of a board game. His adaptability makes him a good commander, both in politics and in battle. He weighs his enemy’s strengths and weaknesses quickly, using them to his advantage and changing his tactics accordingly. Ikenna is by no means set in his ways. He has no problem changing how he does things if he finds a better method, or even changing how he acts or speaks around certain people in order to achieve better outcomes from the interactions. He is strong-willed, though, and often refuses to give up at anything until he succeeds. This characteristic of his was first apparent when his mother died and he made it his mission to gain his father’s approval, something that he didn’t succeed in gaining until years later. He is ambitious, too, eager to work his way up the ladder to the highest position he can get: the position of the King of the Lions. His ambitions, however, are sometimes his downfall. He will step on anyone and everyone to get what he wants because, the way he sees it, the ends justify the means. He is also extremely dedicated to his goals, his duties, and his relationships, often to the point of wearing himself thin. (It’s not a strange thing for Ikenna to lock himself away from the world for three days straight just to recharge his batteries.)
Ikenna is an intensely competitive individual. He sees all of his competitors, even if they’re friends, as enemies until the end of the competition, and will do everything in his power to win. Unfortunately, he has ruined a few friendships like this—but, in his mind, if a friendship can’t handle friendly competition, then it’s not worth his time, anyway. Ikenna has no problem talking to people and, in all honesty, has been told on more than one occasion that he is charismatic and charming. He plays this up when meeting people for the first time, seeing as he is also a major flirt. Ikenna will flirt with just about anyone—male, female, young, or old—so long as he or she is reciprocating. Ikenna hasn’t had a meaningful or lasting relationship since his ex-lover, Mudiwa Lumumba, which wasn't very meaningful to begin with, and so he has no problem with one-night stands. (In fact, Ikenna uses one-night stands to boost his confidence. The way he sees it, if someone wants to be intimate with him, he must meet at least a few standards.) The charismatic side of him slowly wears off the longer the relationship lasts, however, because the charismatic side of him is the side that is the most exhausting. Being an introvert with extroverted tendencies, Ikenna is usually only his real self when he feels the most comfortable, which, in turn, is usually when he is alone and isolated. He will spend most of his free time sleeping, reading, meditating, or simply lounging around his hut, so long as he knows no one will stop by. Ikenna’s sense of humor is witty, sarcastic, and dry—often so dry that it can be hard to tell when he is being serious and when he isn’t. He never misses a chance to slip a snide remark into a conversation, and while he sometimes does mean it to be hurtful, most of the time he doesn’t. As a result, Ikenna’s favorite people are usually the people that take insults and sarcasm easily. When Ikenna isn’t described as charismatic, he is described as devilish. He has a resting bitch-face, which can come across as ill-intentioned. Ikenna is usually composed, though, careful of his posture, his mannerisms, and how he comes across to other people. He learned a long time ago, with the death of his mother, not to let his feelings show or affect his actions. As a result, Ikenna is very good at keeping his expression straight and doesn’t buckle under pressure.
Ikenna can be judgmental, both of himself and of other people, and his judgments are usually harsh and severe. Being a perfectionist, too, heightens this characteristic because he wants everything to be perfect all of the time and, when it isn’t, he ends up frustrated and angry. Insecurity has been something that Ikenna has struggled with since he was a cub. He is painfully aware this white hair and his red eyes are not normal—far from it, in fact. As a result, Ikenna doesn’t like it when people stare too long, or when they touch his hair, or when joke about his appearance. He has learned to use his strange looks to his advantage in battle and to intimidate his opponents, sure, but it can still be a drag to him when people he considers friends bring it up or ask him about it. Ikenna’s greatest wish, after all, is that he was born normal. He thinks he might have had a happier life if he had been. It is these kinds of thoughts that leave Ikenna moody and sensitive, usually once a week. When that happens, Ikenna mopes around and, if pushed to his breaking point, can have emotional breakdowns, although those are generally few and far between. Although Ikenna prides himself on his ability to keep his cool in almost every situation, his patience does have its limits.
Having been raised in the brutal culture of the Lion Tribe, with its emphasis on physical strength and the ability to hold one’s own in a fight, Ikenna has a tendency toward destructive and fierce behaviors. It takes a lot to push him to the point of violence, as he is generally a composed and careful individual, but when it comes down to it, he’ll hold nothing back. Ikenna will fight tooth and nail for what he wants, when he thinks he needs to, or when he’s simply pissed as hell. And when he’s pissed as hell, Ikenna likes to watch things burn. He’ll drag someone through the dirt for no reason at all, or he’ll say just the right thing to hurt someone. (Ikenna tries his best to keep this side of her personality from showing too often. It’s his greatest embarrassment. For all of his admiration for the Tiger Tribe’s more sophisticated culture, Ikenna knows, deep down, that he would never fit in there. He’s too brutal, too barbaric, too fierce, and, all in all, too much of a lion, no matter how hard he tries to hide it.) Despite his attempts to remain impassive and controlled, Ikenna has an ingrained vengeful streak. It’s hard to earn his forgiveness after he’s been wronged, and he will often go out of his way to humiliate or belittle those who have wronged him. His desire for revenge can sometimes ruin his long-term plans, as Ikenna will often prioritize his revenge over his schemes. As someone who relies more on deception than on brute strength, Ikenna is a masterful liar and bluffer. In fact, Ikenna is somewhat of a pathological liar. He will lie about almost anything, no matter how small, and meticulously keeps track of his lies so he won’t stumble over them later. And, at the end of the day, Ikenna is a lonely bastard. He’s desperately looking for someone who accepts him the way he is, but he doesn’t think someone like that exists.

LIKES
Plants, poisonous plants, cacti, and flowers.
Herbalism, helping to heal the injured and sick, and medicinal experiments.
Hunting alone, and occasionally hunting with company.
His alone time, being by himself, and meditating.
Antelope meat jerky, honey, fish, figs, spicy soups, and sweetcakes.
Memory games, mind games, manipulating his family and friends, and outsmarting his adversaries.
Bones, dead animals, carcasses, and vultures.
Scary stories, the graveyard, the Festival of the Dead, and anything to do with the occult.
Thunderstorms, rain, lightning, the rainy season, and monsoons.
Spiders, flies, ants, bees, and other insects.
Bats, the night, and caves with bats in them.
Competitions, and winning at just about anything.
Strategizing, planning everything he does before he does it, and organizing the Lion Tribe.
The Lion Tribe traditions, Ijumaa Mosi, and the Lion Tribe’s reputation as brutal.
His daughter, Lesedi Afolayan.

DISLIKES
People who act without thinking, and people who rely only on physical strength.
Being disturbed while meditating, and spending too much time with company.
Getting up early, being tired, daybreak, and bright sunlight.
Hot days, summer, and being stuck out in the sun for too long.
When people barge into his home unannounced, or too early in the morning.
Yams, bananas, sweet fruit, and sweet potatoes.
Being talked down to, and being shown-up.
Losing in competitions, or losing at just about anything.
Being seen when he’s not completely put-together.
Failure, and when people let him down.
His ex-lover, Mudiwa Lumumba.
His father, his mother, and his older brothers.

BACKGROUND
Ikenna’s father, Kibwe Afolayan, was one of the most famous hunters in the Lion Tribe, having taken down at least three wild lions with nothing but a short flint knife over the course of his life, but he wasn’t the smartest man around. Valuing his muscles and his strong, burly physique over his mind, which slowly degraded with each time he suffered a concussion in the fighting pits, Kibwe oftentimes came across as a bully. He bullied his siblings, his friends, his enemies, his wife, and his children. Ikenna’s mother, Aisha Manyara, was also a skilled huntress, but at the same time a weak-willed individual. When she married Kibwe, Aisha knew he was a bully, and a cruel one at that. She didn’t care because, for the majority of her life, Aisha had been ignored, forgotten, and left behind, and Kibwe was the first one to notice her. She latched onto that, even when Kibwe started to ignore her, too, with the birth of their first son, Nomusa Afolayan. The birth of their second son, Onyekachi Afolayan, followed only a year later. Both sons were raised by Kibwe, who believed he was blessed by the gods to have been given two strong, healthy boys, to be the best at everything. Kibwe wanted one of his sons to be the King of the Lions one day, no matter the cost.

And then Ikenna was born, during the Festival of the Dead. As soon as Ikenna first opened his eyes, as red as blood, both Aisha and Kibwe knew something was wrong with him. His hair grew in white, like the clouds on a clear day, rather than black or brown. The only explanation for the the whiteness of his hair and fur was simple: a wandering ghost had been trapped inside Aisha’s womb, and Ikenna had been born with it inside his body. Kibwe, whose ignorance led to a fear of anything different and a conviction in superstition, insisted that Ikenna be left out in the wilderness to die, so that the ghost would be set free and return to the otherworld it had come from. Aisha, however, resisted. Ikenna was only a baby, after all, and he was imperfect—something that resonated with her. Because Kibwe wanted nothing to do with him, Aisha declared that she would raise Ikenna on her own, without any help. Kibwe would never accept him, but Aisha hoped that if she raised Ikenna right his brothers might, against their father’s wishes. She tried to raise him to be strong, energetic, passionate, talkative, and wild, but Ikenna was never any of those things. In fact, Ikenna preferred to spend his time counting ants in anthills, rather than wrestling and play-fighting with his brothers and the other cubs his age. As a result, Ikenna grew up isolated, and without the necessary skills required to make true, lasting friendships. Ikenna’s personality made his father’s apathy toward him turnt to outright dislike. Instead of ignoring him, Kibwe took to telling Ikenna that he should have been born dead, for he was an abomination, after all. Ikenna’s brothers, who looked up to their father as an idyllic idol, followed suit, and bullied Ikenna to the point where he would spend his nights crying himself to sleep. The only person who had ever been on Ikenna’s side, his mother, Aisha, didn’t once stand up for him, and instead pretended like she didn’t see the bruises covering his body. As a result, Ikenna also grew up feeling bitter toward all of his family, even his mother, and often wished he had been born dead, like his father wanted.

When Ikenna was ten years old, the old medicine woman, Dawa, found him crying over a cut on his arm and took him to her hut to patch him up. Because Ikenna was so distraught, Dawa took to explaining the herbs she used and the plants that could be found in the savannah, hoping to calm him down, and Ikenna was at once enraptured with the practice of herbalism. He came back to her hut the next day, and the next day after that, and, as soon as he was able to, Ikenna began working along Dawa as an apprentice of sorts. He learned about the different medicinal plants—and the poisonous ones, too—that Dawa used and how to apply them to wounds and to fight diseases. When Aisha fell ill, Ikenna was twelve years old, with two years of herbalism under his belt. However, not even Dawa could save Aisha, for she had given up on life. Her death hit Ikenna hard. He had been angry with her and bitter at the fact that she never defended him when his brothers hit him, never stood up for him when his father drunkenly swore he should have been born dead, and never comforted him when he went to bed crying, but Aisha had been Ikenna’s only true friend and confidante. With her death, Ikenna was well and truly alone, for the first time in his young life. He cried for days, but Kibwe cut his mourning short by telling him to get over it. After Aisha’s death, Ikenna learned to lock his feelings up inside himself, and to keep them from showing on his face. It helped, in all honesty. Once Kibwe and his sons could no longer get the reaction they wanted, they simply ignored Ikenna.

After Aisha’s death, Ikenna found his way to the fighting pits, where he learned to hold his own in a wrestling match. He vented his anger and bitterness in the fighting pits, ruthless, fierce, and brutal during matches. Over time, Ikenna surpassed even Kibwe, managing to best him during Ijumaa Mosi. He became strong, but kept his temper under check because he still preferred to fight with words rather than with fists. Ikenna was initially optimistic when Rassa, a foreigner, took over as King of the Lions, and swore loyalty to him as all lions did. Rassa was, after all, a capable man and he seemed as if he would restore the Lion Tribe to its former glory. It wasn’t long until Ikenna realized what kind of person Rassa was: the same kind of person his oldest brother, Nomusa, was. As a result, Ikenna didn’t like Rassa—but that isn’t to say that Ikenna didn’t respect Rassa. Rassa certainly led the Lion Tribe well, after all, especially during the drought crisis and the war with the people from the swamp. Ikenna willingly followed Rassa into battle and fought viciously at his side, as all lions did. His brother, Nomusa, was killed in the war, and Ikenna let it happen. He saw an opening to save his brother’s life, to ensure that all of the sons of Kibwe returned safely from the battle, and Ikenna didn’t take it. He let Nomusa, who had been trying to help a fellow lion named Ufuoma, be stabbed in the chest.

Just before the drought and the crisis with the swamp people, Ikenna had met and started a short-lived affair with a lioness named Mudiwa Lumumba. She wanted what Ikenna couldn’t give her, however: a real relationship. He wasn’t ready for one. He wasn’t ready to let her in—at all, to be honest—and ended up keeping her at a distance. She thought that things would change when she became pregnant with her first child, but they didn’t. Ikenna remained as emotionally apathetic as ever. When Lesedi Afolayan was born, however, with the same white hair he had been cursed with, Ikenna was immediately drawn to her. Lesedi was, essentially, the first person to ever crack into his heart, even as a newborn. Now, Lesedi is no older than a toddler, and Ikenna loves her dearly. (He has even taken to tying feathers and bones into her hair, which he usually dreads for her.)

For a time, there was peace in the Lion Tribe.

But when the Eclipse Festival came around, it was supposedly a chance for people across the country to join together and celebrate under a flag of truce but an individual turned up dead, apparently bitten and killed by a snake. Ikenna didn't care at first—it wasn't his problem, considering the victim had been a stranger to him—but then the King of the Lions, Rassa, went to get answers from the Lady of the Snake Tribe, Savina, and ended up meeting the same fate as the previous victim. Rassa's death left the Lion Tribe in disarray, chaos gripping the village and all of its inhabitants. For a time, the Lion Tribe was leaderless. The men battled each other for control, day in and day out, while at the same time organizing searches for the missing lions and lionesses, Ikenna's ex-lover, Mudiwa, included. The only results were that no one gained control and more and more lions and lionesses went missing. Eventually, the remains of a few of the vanished lions turned up on the savannah, and the Lion Tribe lost what little order it had left. Ikenna, always one to take advantage of an opportunity, saw that the Lion Tribe was getting nowhere. None of the missing lions had been found, save for the ones who had turned up dead. Mudiwa was still out there, and even if Ikenna believed he had never truly loved her, he wanted her back, dead or alive. He wanted to know who had taken her, what they had done to her and to the others who had been kidnapped, and he wanted revenge for the dead lions. But no one knew for sure who was responsible. Most of the Lion Tribe was convinced it was the Snake Tribe's responsibility, but Ikenna had never been one to jump to conclusions. He wanted to know for sure, and that meant he had to do something to bring the Lion Tribe to order, or he feared they would never find the purpetrators. He used the disarray in the Lion Tribe to propel himself to the position of the King of the Lions through the traditional path: the trials. The other men competing were too distracted with the need for revenge, for answers, and for justice, that their performances in the trials suffered. Ikenna, on the other hand, managed to separate himself from the circumstances, something he was good at doing, and managed to keep his cool long enough, despite his fear for his daughter and his fellow lions and lionesses, to win fairly. It was the only way he knew that the lions would accept him as a leader, after all. It was simply their way of life, their tradition.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
He has a Nigerian accent. (He pronounces his “th’s” as “d’s” and so on.)

He hates being called Ikki. It’s what his parents, his older brothers, and his ex-lover called him, and he is no longer fond of the nickname. It immediately puts him in a sour mood.

His smiles as a rule mean he’s upset—but it’s easy to tell his real, genuine smiles, from his forced, fake smiles, so there’s that.

He didn’t much like Rassa, the former King of the Lions. He thought Rassa was too brutish—and, to be honest, Rassa reminded him of his older brothers, but in a position of power.

He first started collecting bones and tying them into his hair when he was a cub, after attending the Festival of the Dead for the first time. It initially scared his mother, who would immediately take them from him and toss them out in the savannah. He wouldn’t stop, though, and eventually she gave up.
Ikenna personally likes certain aspects of Tiger Tribe culture, such as their sophistication and their class, but, at the same time, he can't stand the Tiger Tribe. He doesn't like the people, the leaders, or the politics. (His daughter, Lesedi, almost died in the drought, after all.)

RELATIONSHIPS

Kibwe Afolayan: Father; Not on speaking terms.
Aisha Manyara: Mother; Deceased.
Nomusa Afolayan: Older brother; Deceased.
Onyekachi Afolayan: Older brother; Not on speaking terms.

RP INFO
Skype: Note me for my ID! I check this most often.
Google Docs: Preferred to Notes and Chat.
Notes: Preferred to Chat.
Chat: I’m in the OOC Chat almost every day!
I like to brainstorm before RPs, but am down for winging it, too.
I’m open to anything: fluff, angst, shenanigans, romance, etc. I enjoy shipping and crackshipping, but I won’t consider anything canon until it actually happens in an RP or accepted headcanon.