Finally a proper character ref for this lady. I first doodled her a few years ago during class, and i liked her so much she became an oc. Body of a lioness, human hands, exposed ribs, a human-ish face, and painted-on eyes.

Sphinx's father was a god who took the form of a lion, and her mother was a human. The resulting child could shapeshift between a normal human form and this lion/human form. At around 11 years old Sphinx decided to stay in this form, and live like a lion. He changed her name to Sphinx because she had heard about the Greek mythological beast, and thought it was an appropriate name. Her behavior is mostly like a normal lioness's, with a few adaptations made for the sake of her unusual anatomy. For example, her hands aren't suited for running and bringing down large prey like paws and claws would be, and she doesn't have big teeth for eating large animals, so she sticks to small, easily caught prey like birds, eggs, reptiles, rodents, and fish. She still feels connected to humans, so she likes to hang around the outskirts of small human settlements and drive away other predators, and sometimes she guides lost humans back home. She also ages like a human, so her lifespan is much longer than a normal lion's. Her eyes in this form are squinted nearly shut, so she only sees in blurry light and dark shapes. She paints huge eye shapes on her face every day, and always wears the hoop earrings and wooden hair band her mother gave to her when she was a child. She's never seen without these ornaments.

Quiet, calm, helpful, focused, introverted.