Vigilant (BrackenStorm268)

***Spoiler Warning:** This article contains spoilers for the comic!*

## Vigilant

### Other:

Radiance, Cheerful, Hopeful, Adamant, Quiet, Fierce, Stoic, Felicity, and Daybreak (nieces)
Bold, Elegant, Charming, and Sunny (nephews)
Graceful, Joyous, Troublesome, and Aggravating (niblings)
Daffodil (grandnibling)
Bean (grandnephew)

### Mate(s):

Prosperity

**Vigilant** is a fan character of *I Hope So* made by BrackenStorm268.

## Summary

> *One of Watchful and Wild's four cubs. She was briefly a Traveller, hoping to protect Cheerful, Bold, and Sunny on their journeys elsewhere, but returned to the Golden Grove after losing track of all three of them. After rejoining the pride, she works hard to keep her sisters safe and prevent them from struggling* too much *with hunting or cubsitting.*
>
>

## Appearance

Vigilant is a golden lion with a dark dorsal stripe and a small, but noticeable, hair tuft on her head. She has very dark ear tips and pale markings on her muzzle, underbelly, and paws. Vigilant has orange-gold eyes.

## Personality

Before everything, Vigilant was a noble and curious young lioness who loved her parents dearly. She did believe her mother, Watchful, about the stories of Travellers and the hearsay she fed to her and her sisters, but those would change later. Just like her name, she kept a vigilant eye on her family and her pride. She was alert and protective about her home and family, but kind and compassionate nonetheless as well. After losing her nieces and nephew, Vigilant felt guilty and swore to protect her family that remained.

When returning to the Golden Grove, Vigilant remained *very* vigilant when the new king, Jasper, gave her weird and suspicious vibes. And as she swore, she protected her nieces and nephews from Vicious' behavior towards her own cubs which made her have very little respect for her own sister anymore.

## Background

Vigilant was born as one of the middle cubs in the bunch of Wild and Watchful's first litter together. Growing up, Vigilant was always the one who preferred to watch over her sisters when their parents were away which earned her the name 'Vigilant'. Watchful's stories about travelers and their 'reserves' made Vigilant worry about the thoughts of what would happen if she ever found herself in that way, but forgot about it as she knew that she never would have to run that risk of becoming a traveler.

Wild and Watchful passed away peacefully at old age when the girls were all older and a young lion named Merry became their king. Vigilant was happy alongside her sisters, aside from Vicious, and loved seeing her sisters happy. Careful and Clever managed to have cubs with their new king which seeing her sisters as mothers made her want to see what it would feel being one, so Vigilant attempted to have cubs with Merry, but for an unknown reason, she was never able to conceive. Nonetheless, she instead became the cub-sitter for when Merry was busy and her sisters were hunting. Vigilant loved her nieces and nephews with all of her heart and would share the stories that she knew from her own parents.

But one day, when Merry went out on patrol and never returned, Vigilant and her sisters fought to protect the cubs as best as they could when the Cacklers became bolder each day. Sadly, Clever had to send away her cubs for their safety which Sunny joined them, reassuring his own mother that he would be okay. Wanting to give her sisters a sense of peace, Vigilant volunteered to become a traveler and go with her niece and nephews and protect them. And with that, the four of them set off together. During their journey, Bold mysteriously died and Vigilant accidentally was separated from Cheerful and Sunny.

After searching tirelessly for her family, Vigilant gave up and returned to the Golden Grove where she met Jasper, who was the new king. Jasper would've chased her off, but reluctantly let her return to the pride when he knew that Careful and Vicious couldn't do the hunting and cub-sitting alone due to the death of Clever and Quiet, and the disappearance of Adamant. Vigilant was heartbroken to learn that Clever was dead and was even more heartbroken to hear that the pride lost many lions. Despite the grief, Vigilant became a subject that helped with the cubs and the hunting, especially when Vicious had her third litter of cubs and remained highly suspicious and vigilant of Jasper.

## Trivia

* Name meaning:
	+ Vigilant: *"Keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties."*
* When Vigilant became a Traveller, she never took on a Traveller name.
* If Vigilant was...
	+ ...a Traveller, her name would be "Bushfire."
	+ ...in Red Stone, her name would be "Sundew."
	+ ...in Thundering Mountains, her name would be "Tourmaline."
	+ ...in Edge's Kingdom, her name would be "Bask."
	+ ...in Kingblessed Coast, her name would be "Current."
* Vigilant is littermates with Vicious and is only a few minutes younger than her.

## Gallery

Reference artwork of VigilantVigilant and Prosperity embracing (Base by @CalicoPikachu)