[Private: SDC and AC] Future of the Pridelands

[Simbadacub]

Plot:
Kopa runs away along with his best friend Afua and they are found by two wanderers Tanga and Kijamii.

Characters:
Simba: AustralianChaos
Nala: Simbadacub
Zira: AustralianChaos
Kopa: Simbadacub
Afua: Simbadacub

OC's:
Tanga: AustralianChaos
Kijamii: AustralianChaos
Jasiri: Simbadacub

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Kopa and Afua padded along side eachother. Kopa looked down in greif, He'd never thought his own aunt would try to kill him? He couldn't help but think of that same reason. He missed his family and his home, but he still had his best friend by his side. They stopped by a small tree, Kopa sat there in the shade fiddling with the savannah dirt in his paws. He drew a small drawing in the dirt with his claw, of priderock, then lay down and sighed. "Kopa, Where are we gonna go?" Afua asked heplessly. He knew his friend would have no clue, after all they couldn't go back.

[AustralianChaos]

A short distance from the tree Kopa and Afua were currently using for shelter, two older lions were roaming the savannah near the borders of the Pridelands, unaware of the company close by. Kijamii, the older of the two, was her usual, energetic self, acting like a cub in an adult's body as he pranced around her younger, quieter brother, Tanga. "Come on, Tang! I'm dying of boredom here!" she whined, continuing to prance around the gold-furred, black-maned lion playfully, trying to draw him out of his usual, quiet shell. "Just one quick wrestle, for old time's sake, huh?"

Tanga sighed. "Jamii, please," he practically begged his sister. "I'm trying to find us some food for today, can you just let me focus?" Despite his refusal to appease his sister's requests, Tanga was in no way irritated with her. He loved Kijamii, as he believed any brother should love a sister...but he felt that there was a time and a place for his unstoppable gray-furred companion's limitless energy, and now was not the time.

But soon, Tanga stopped, raising his head and sniffing the air, as he picked up a strange scent on the air. "Do you smell that?" he asked, still trying to determine exactly what the smell was. "I can't be sure, but I think it might be..."

The next words were pulled from his mouth as Kijamii, her boredom taking over, pounced her brother, catching him while he was distracted, grappling with him as the two of them rolled down a hill, Kijamii laughing all the way as Tanga tried to determine exactly what was going on. Finally the two of them crashed to the bottom of the hill, Kijamii managing to pin her brother's small, lean frame down, grinning down at him. "Ha! I win! Come on, Tanga, when I wrestle you will you at least try to beat me?"

But even as Tanga made to answer, he stopped, spotting something out of the corner of his eye. Looking over, he spotted a small tree that they had landed right next to after their roll down the hill, and it was here that Tanga found the source of the mysterious scent he had picked up...two young cubs sitting in the shade of the tree. "Kijamii," he called, quieting his sister down, and getting her attention causing the older, larger sibling to also notice the two young companions they had stumbled across.

"Oh..." Kijamii breathed, loosening her grip on Tanga so he could get up. The brother back away a little, a result of both his general shyness around strangers, even young ones, and his attempts to avoid scaring the cubs, even though it was probably too late for that. Kijamii, on the other paw, took a slow step forward, putting a calm, bright smile on her muzzle. "Hello there," she said kindly to the two cubs, hoping a kind, calm approach would avoid scaring them, her emerald eyes brimming with curiosity as she waited for the cubs to say or do something.

[Simbadacub]

Afua noticed a voice and the two cubs turned and faced a lioness. Kopa folded his ears back a little, Afua looked at him, noticing that he was scared he nudged him softly. "Its okay, she seems nice, she might be our only way to survive too." he whispered. Afua turned back his interest towards the lioness. He slowly smiled back and anwsered her. "Hello." Afua sat there for one small moment then spoke again. "May I ask.. but who are you?"

-----

Kopa looked around and noticed the lioness wasn't alone, there was a lion too. He shuddered, he hoped no trouble had fallen onto him again, after what Zira had done to him. He slimped back a bit to try and make sure the two would not notice the cuts, so that he didn't seem more easier to attack. If they did attack him, he'd have nothing to do.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii smiled as the darker-furred cub spoke up, while the other pulled away shyly, his ears pinned against his head, further highlight the tuft on top of his head, a trait both cubs seemed to possess. She gave the scared cub a comforting look, hoping to calm him, not noticing the small wounds he had, since her attention was devoted almost entirely on the cub that was talking. "Oh, sorry!" she said as the cub asked her name. "My name is Kijamii," she declared happily, before turning and waving a paw towards Tanga, who was still hanging back. "And this shy, scrawny excuse for a lion is my brother, Tanga," she smiled, humour lacing her voice, making it plain to both Tanga and the cubs that the implied insult was actually just a joke.

"Oi!" Tanga quipped back, speaing up fully for the first time as he shoved Kijamii. "I'm small...not scrawny!" Smiling as Kijamii laughed at their usual banter. "Well?" she questioned to her brother. "Aren't you gonna say hi?" Sighing at Kijamii's usual, overly energetic approach to everything in life, Tanga nevertheless stood beside his sister and nodded in the direction of the two cubs. "Hello, there," he said politely, although his shy nature still came across in his voice.

Kijamii sighed at Tanga's hesitant reply, before turning back to the cubs. "Don't worry about him, he's always like this," she said, before turning back into her usual, bubbly self. "So, what are you two doing out all alone?" she asked, looking around, fully expecting to see some parents coming along soon. "Do you live here? Where are your parents?"

[Simbadacub]

Afua Chuckled slightly at Tanga, then turned back towards Kijamii. "Well.. Kopa was chased out.. We have no where to go.." Afua folded his ears back helplessly then looked towards Kopa. Kopa closed his eyes and got lost in the thoughts of his aunt and family. "I miss my family.." He sadly replied with a strand of tears forming around his eyes. Kopa licked his wounds, still trying to hide them from the two Lions, he didn't really trust anyone anymore, except Afua.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii's expression turned horrified as she turned her attention onto the lighter-furred cub, Kopa. "Oh, no!" she cried sadly, taking a quick step towards the cub, stopping when she noticed two things. One, that he would most likely be scared of her, and not want her to approach, and two, she noticed the cuts on his body, which he was presently trying to clean.

But before she could say anything more, Tanga, whose shy nature was fading significantly at the sight of two injured cubs, came up beside her and put a paw on her shoulder. As she looked at him, they had a brief, but silent conversation, using a series of facial expressions and vague gestures to communicate, a habit they had built over their years as close companions.

In the end, Kijamii sighed, relenting into letting Tanga take the lead in trying to figure out how to help the cubs. She might be highly energetic, but she was not recklessly so, most of the time, and knew when she needed to take a background role, and let Tanga gentle, calm nature handle to situation instead...and this was one of those times.

Tanga, noticing Kopa seemed intent of keeping his distance from the two adult siblings, decided not to approach any closer than he already was, sitting down in the grass to show that he was not trying to be a threat, crouching his head low to make his already small frame even smaller. He just hoped that his bright, pure blue eyes would not be as unnerving to them as they were to many others, an effect that only seemed to be enhanced by the way a few bangs of his black mane tended to hang over his left eye, obscuring it.

"Look, Kopa...I don't want to hurt you, neither of us do," he said sincerely to Kopa, before turning his attention to the other cub, who he realised he still did not have a name for. Since this cub appeared to have no issues talking to them, he though his best chances were with him. "I won't ask what happened, as I'm sure you don't want to talk about it...but is there anything we can do to help?" He could see the tears forming in the cub's eyes, and knew that whatever had happened must have been bad.

[Simbadacub]

Kopa looked towards the lion and unfolded his ears, though still keeping quiet. Afua then thought for a second. "I really don't know sorry.." He sighed. "Can you help us find our way back..?" Kopa softly spoke out. He knew he didn't want to go back home, but he'd be more wary of his aunt at times and stick to his father like glue on paper. Afua was quite surprised that Kopa had spoken. He seemed less afraid now that he started to talk, then they waited in response.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga turned his attention to Kopa as the young cub made his request. "Go back?" he repeated, before finally giving in to his curiosity. "Listen, you two...you said you were chased out. I'll help you find your way back, if you know the way, but...listen, if you don't want to talk about it, then don't...but why were you chased out? I'll be able to help you better if I know what went wrong in the first place. But if you don't want to talk about it, I understand."

He wanted to help the two cubs, but Tanga also did not want to make them talk about things they might not be ready to talk about. He continued to keep his stance low as he sat in front of them. Kopa seemed to be getting used to him and Kijamii, and he did not want to scare the little cub by making any sudden movements.

At this point, though, Kijamii just had to speak up. Ever since she had seen the cuts on his body, she was horrified that he was injured, and curious as to what could have caused them. "What happened to you, Kopa? I can see you've been hurt...do you want any help?" Ignoring Tanga's silent pleas for her to not do something stupid, Kijamii took a few steps forward, coming up beside her brother, indicating to Kopa that she wanted to take a closer look at his wounds, but was waiting for his permission first.

[Simbadacub]

Kopa looked down, he didn't really feel like telling them about what his aunt did, but he did. "My aunt, she.. she, hates me.. not only that but she wants to kill me!" Kopa sighed and looked at Kijamii and saw that she wanted to look at his wounds. "Sure, If you please.." He Said.

-----

Afua pondered for the moment. How could they go back? Zira obviously wanted to finish what she had done with Kopa, if he returned, he would not stand a chance, even if his parents were around.

[AustralianChaos]

Both Kijamii and Tanga stared at Kopa in horrified shock at his words. His own aunt wanted to kill him?

In the end, Tanga was the first to respond. "But...why?" he asked. "She's your aunt...part of your family...why would she want to kill you?" He quickly realised what he was saying, and pinned his ears back apologetically. "I'm sorry I'm prying so much...if you don't want to talk about it, then don't."

He then looked to Afua, although he still did not know his name. "Look, err...I'm sorry, I haven't got your name yet...but if you want to go back, I will swear to do everything to protect you...both of you...from anyone who might want to hurt you. Your home is a place where you should be safe, not attacked and driven away like this. But whatever happens, both me and Kijamii will do what we can to help you, okay?"

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As Tanga talked with the other cub, Kijamii smiled at Kopa, before slowly coming up to the cub, making sure no to make any sudden movements that might scare him. She gasped softly as she saw all the cuts and bruises his body was covered in, barely managing to stop herself from roaring in rage at the mysterious lioness who had harmed him this way. "How could someone do this?" she said softly, her own horror and anger clear in her voice.

After inspecting all the wounds, she determined that while nothing was life-threatening, Kopa's hurried escape had left them dirty, and risking infection. "Kopa, these wounds need to be cleaned," she said gently. "May I clean them for you? I don't want to see any get infected. You should be fine in a few days...although you may have a couple of scars," she said. She wanted to help assure the cub that he was going to be okay...but at the same time, she would not lie to him. Honesty was a virtue that had been drilled into both Tanga and Kijamii since they were young.