Meaning and Purpose [Closed to Julie_Skywalker]

[Carl]

Vitani had actually laughed out loud at the look on Kovu's face when Baya had "returned from the dead." She'd laughed at all of the shocked and horrified looks across all of the pride, and she'd felt a cold joy in knowing that she was the cause of his "rebirth" and return. In fact, she was pretty sure it was that very fear of his supposed immortality that had caused Kovu to decide to make the agreements with them. He was bitter, and very angry with Vitani for having stuck with Baya, but she didn't care. She had the upper hand, and she got to do what she wanted. As she walked alongside Baya on their patrol thinking about it, she grinned darkly at the thought that her mother had taught her well.

'Oh Mother, you didn't get what you wanted, but you taught your daughter to do that for herself...' she thought, but then frowned, as another thought occurred to her. 'But would you be proud of me, knowing that I am exploiting your Chosen One...'

She shrugged. It didn't matter what Zira would think her squabble with Kovu. Zira was dead. And besides, Zira had been angry with Kovu when she'd died. If she had lived, she'd have had to leave alongside Vitani, and she'd have been proud of her for using her brother like this when he was treating her this way. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Baya spoke.

"Stay on your guard. I have a bad feeling." Baya murmured.

Vitani looked up, catching a good whiff of the scent of the rogue on the wind. Then she chuckled lowly.

"You're not really concerned over some rogue are you? Hah! No one can take us both on," she pointed out matter-of-factly. But she could plainly see that Baya was rather unsettled, and she kept on her guard, not like she ever didn't, just to be safe.

"Whoever you are, feel free to come on out!" she taunted in a voice slightly raised from her previous lower one.

[Baya]

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[Carl]

"Yeesh what an arrogant bastard," Vitani murmured as she approached Baya. She looked at him in the sorry state he was in and wondered what she should do. She sat down in front of him, looking at him curiously. She wasn't sure how to proceed. On the one hand, she wanted to comfort him, but on the other hand, she felt he needed to, well, man up. It didn't matter who that old lion had been, she could see in him that he was weaker than Baya, and she knew they could have taken him out. It wasn't like her companion to wither in cowardice and let someone who affected him so go on living.

"What gives?" she snorted at last, while gently placing a paw atop one of his, "You're Baya, Demon of the Desert, you cower before no one. You know together we're practically unstoppable." She sighed and began running a paw through his mane, "It's obvious you two had history," she said quietly, "It's obvious well... that you have daddy issues. But the way I see it, he's no different from any of the other rogues we've faced out here."

She pulled her paw from his mane and scoffed, staring down at him.

"He's cocky and arrogant, but he would fall if we chose to strike him down, and I personally think we should have. I wanted to. I don't know why I didn't. Maybe because it was obviously your fight. What I do know is, you shouldn't let anyone get to you like that. Someone as powerful as you should never look so weak." She scratched her chin as she paused for a breath.

"I never had my dad around growing up, and my mother was pretty harsh. But not even she was like that. We knew why she was hard on us, and we weren't so deathly afraid of her. Whatever he did... he deserves to be punished for it."

[Baya]

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[Carl]

Vitani merely snorted as the two continued on. Then she stopped for a moment, as it occurred to her that maybe her brother should be alerted to this rogue's presence. She'd, of course, obscure the extent of her knowledge, and fudge a little on why he was alive still, but she felt it would be the decent thing to do, and on some level she still felt the need to at least attempt to be decent. Besides, she figured Baya would like some time alone for a bit to calm down, and she certainly didn't want to piss him off anymore with the sorts of comments she thought to make.

So she said simply, "Hey, I just remembered there's something I need to do. I trust you can finish the patrol alone." It wasn't really a question, and she didn't even really wait for him to reply. She just turned and started to trot away, making her way by memory back into the Pridelands and towards Pride Rock. On the way, however, she happened upon Nala and Kiara, and a few of the other lionesses, whose names she'd forgotten, lazing about in the shade of some trees.

"Afternoon, ladies," she said as she trotted right up into their midst and plopped down on her rump, grinning at them all like old mates. Many of them didn't understand what had all gone on between her and Kovu, and so her presence made them obviously uneasy. That made her grin even wider. Nala and Kiara actually looked composed. She was proud of them.

"Hello Vitani," Nala said pleasantly.

"What brings you into the Pridelands without your pride?" Kiara asked quizzically.

"Actually, there's something I need to report to Kovu. Do any of you know where he is?" she asked.

"He was out dealing with some issue with the wildebeest," Kiara said helpfully.

Nala added, "They are still stirred up from the time when those 'strange' lionesses attacked them..."

Vitani held back a snicker, and instead, bowed politely to the two royals, the tuft on her head bouncing a bit as she did so, and then rose to leave.

"Thank you for the intel," she told them before making her way towards one of the more favorite hangouts for wildebeest. The gorge.

[Baya]

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[Carl]

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said in reference to "her lionesses causing a stir." That had been a while, so she figured it was reasonable that she could have forgotten in the time since then. After all, they mostly fed on the animals that roamed nearer to the graveyard ever since they'd officially moved out there, and that usually amounted to kudu and zebra.

When he agitatedly went on, pretty much ignoring her response, Vitani shrugged and rolled her eyes, not wanting to get into this with him right now. Instead she went straight to the point of her coming here.

"There's a new rogue in the lands. He's older, but potentially dangerous. Baya and I caught wind of him, but he got away," she said in a mild voice.

"I came here to report him to you. He seems to be cruel and extremely aggressive, but his aggression seems to lie more in the direction of taking advantage of females. He came onto some of my girls," she lied as she followed him along. If she told him what had actually happened, he'd blame Baya for the rogue's presence (as it was his father) and then he'd likely go on a rampage if he knew that it was she the rogue had really been interested in.

The scruffy lioness saw no harm in fudging the details a little bit. She'd relayed all of that information to him in a bored tone that made it seem distant from her. Almost as if she deemed it completely irrelevant.

[Baya]

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[Carl]

"Baya..." Vitani said, glancing at Kovu. Then she sighed and finished, "Let him talk. I'm interested to know how he thinks he's related to us. This should be a good laugh."

The reality was, she didn't think it would be a laugh at all. This lion, whoever he was, certainly looked like a relative of theirs. And it was true that Zira would not have had a reason to mention a cub from before to them, not if he wasn't around... and she wondered quite a lot about him. She approached the stranger, Mrithi, was it?

"Why should we believe you? Where have you been all this time? You obviously weren't allowed to stay with the Pridelanders, and you weren't banished with us. If you were our sibling, mother would have used you to our advantage when she was plotting against Simba," Vitani said, trying to sound smug. It didn't come off that way. Her voice had sounded... confused, unsure, questioning.

No. He couldn't be related to them. It couldn't be true. Zira would never have needed Kovu if she'd had a son older than Nuka who seemed to be so capable. It just wouldn't have been necessary. In fact... everything would have been different if she'd had another son. Especially considering... if he was older than Nuka he had to have been born in Scar's reign. Which meant that Simba would have had to spared him for him to still be alive. Her mother had been a bit loopy, but Vitani couldn't image her wanting Simba dead so badly if he'd let her son live. She'd known Simba after all, he had been a nice guy, wise and kind, and above all, forgiving.

She'd made a role model of him. But... if what this lion claimed to be true really was, then no matter what Simba had or hadn't done to Scar (the Pridelanders had told her that the fire and the hyenas had killed Scar, not Simba himself, she wasn't sure which version of events was true) then there was no way Zira should have been so hellbent on killing him. She shook her head.

"I think you're just some rogue who's heard the legends of this land and thought it would be fun to come and spook the king. Well, dense as he may be, my brother won't fall for it," she said, not really noticing that she'd actually referred to Kovu as being the king.

[Baya]

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