[~ Private RP with NukaKun ~]

[Applejack]

Nuka chuckled softly as a look of relief crossed his face when she pulled the termite off. "No payment necessary. Just doing something kind," he said softly. As they walked next to each other, he noticed as she goaded Baya, but he diddn't say anything. Finally, when they were out of earshot, Tupa started to talk to him, explaining what it had been like, growing up, and how she could have been killed at any moment by him, but she'd lived. Nuka dared to venture and make a comment.

"I really dont see how anyone could want to kill you," he said, averting his eyes. "I mean, besides y'know, me trying to kill you yesterday." Nuka flashed her a toothy grin and shover her with his shoulder as they walked, attempting to push her out of stride. He snickered and kept walking, then turned around to notice she'd fallen. He quickly trotted back to her and offered her a paw to get her back up. "Sorry for that," he said, chuckling still.

As Vitani stalked away, she found more and more tears flowing steadily down her face. She broke off into a run, dashing for the river, and found a grove of dead trees. One by one, she slashed and slashed, taking her anger, rage, frustration, and pain out on the trees. By the time she was done, she stood, panting, the fur of her cheeks now wet with tears, and all of the trees around her shredded. Bits and pieces of wood lay everywhere as she flopped down onto the ground, sighing, and buried her muzzle into her paws.

[Baya]

[I just don't get why she's so mad with Baya xD]

Tupa smirked as she gripped his paw and pulled him down into the dirt as well before getting up. "There are plenty of reasons to want to kill me. You just don't see them because you aren't from the desert." Tupa muttered. "Everything from rejecting mating to food. All of that sort of stuff would lead to me having to fight." Tupa pointed out. She then snorted as she raised an eyebrow at Nuka.

"You? Kill me? You couldn't even if you tried." Tupa said with a smirk. "I may not be as strong or cruel as Baya, but I'm still a tough girl. Don't let me looks deceive you, I have done things to males that would make your worst nightmares seem like pleasant day dreams." Tupa said with a dark cackle. She walked alongside Nuka, not liking the uncomfortable silence.

"So, do you happen to know why your sister is vengefully brutal with Baya? Well...he is a mindless brute. Though I don't see how that's a problem. After all, he's hired for the sake of murder..." Tupa pointed out.

[Applejack]

Nuka laughed as he was pulled down onto the dirt next to Tupa. There was something different about Tupa that he couldn't place. It stood out like a sore claw, but he couldn't pinpoint it exactly. He picked himself up and started to walk next to her again. He nodded slowly as he listened to what she had to say before carefully choosing his words. "I do know what it is like to have to strive to make yourself worthy. I try everything I can, but I'm just not worth Mothers' energy or time anymore. All because I can't do anything right." Nuka's eyes narrowed as he listened to her jibe and he looked at Tupa, snickering.

"Doing and trying are two separate things. I may not be able to do anything right, but I can always try and do them right." His curiousity sparked as she mentioned that she'd done things that would make his nighmares seem peaceful, but he stiffled it and continued to walk, sure that it would do him more harm than good to venture to ask such a question.

"I don't believe she harbors hate for him. I think that she believe he is like a child. He is without a mother, in a sense. She wants him to have something to fight for. Its like she says, if you dont have someone you care about to fight for, then fighting is pointless. There is never any need for unnecessary death." Nuka rubbed his temple for a second and kept walking. He attempted to change the subject.

"So, why did you want to talk to me?" he asked, stopping and sitting down. They'd reached one of his favorite spots, a crest that overlooked the pridelands, showing the stark contrast between Outland and Prideland.

[Baya]

Tupa let out a small sigh as they stopped. "I just wanted to talk. Nothing particular, really. It's a nice change to have someone around you can exchange words with. You think Baya is talkative? No. Not at all." Tupa said with a roll of her eyes. "Hours upon hours spent talking to him, and no response. This is just refreshing." Tupa said with a shrug. Then she smirked. "And you seem sort of interesting. Not exactly the most...developed male I've seen." Tupa said as she tugged on a strand of his messed up mane. "But intriguing all the same." She cooed as she pinched his cheek again.

"Though you aren't complaining right? Then I could just kill you." Tupa joked, while kind of holding a serious face. She looked to the contrast of the pridelands and outlands frowning slightly. How could lions who had food and water, hold it back from lions that did not? Tupa had experienced many cruelties and wrong doings, but this was senseless distinction. This was beyond madness.

"I can see why your mother wants the lands. They are beautiful." Tupa murmured. She was hoping Baya didn't move on after the war. She was hoping he'd come to his senses in his time in the outlands, and stay when they defeated the pride landers. This way, she wouldn't have to leave either.

[Applejack]

"Killing me wouldn't gain you anything," he said, matching her joke with a joke of his own. On a more serious note, he took the opportunity to get a closer look at her. She definitly was different than the lionesses he was used to. Her form was slender, but filled, and she carreid herself with an air that spoke of power and gentleness in the same moment. He found it rather awe-inspiring, and attractive. When she grabbed a strand of his mane and pulled it, he let her without complaint.

"I'm developed, you know. Just because I can act stupid doesn't mean I dont think!" He chuckled and looked at her, locking her eyes with his own. "Just because my mane is a little messed up doesn't mean I'm not a lion." His eyes shifted a little, a questioning glance rising in them. "Interesting, you say... I wonder how that could be?" As she ignored his question, he sighed. Following her eyes, he saw that she was looking at the sheer difference between the two lands before them.

"We used to live there, y'know. Loyal and faithful. That is, until Simba came and killed Scar. After that, they never looked at us the same. And then we got rid of Simba's son, and they exiled us." He sighed inwardly and let himself drop down, laying. "An eye for an eye, you could say, but they still think they got the last laugh. Well, we'll see who's laughing when we kill Simba and take back the Pridelands!" He's tarted softly, but his small speech ended in a roar as he slammed a paw down onto the hard earth under himself.

[Baya]

Tupa sighed as she looked to Nuka with a look of distaste. "Politics. Talk about fighting for no reason..." Tupa muttered bitterly. "I've been to the lands of other prides. Lands with barely any lionesses left, and the lands themselves have begun to wither and die. All because one brother wanted what the other brother had." Tupa muttered as she closed her eyes. "Creatures look down on us rogues. Creatures say we are goal less, mindless and heartless. Then they turn and slice the throat of their kin for power." Tupa muttered.

She looked to Nuka for a moment. "You intrigue me because of your reasoning. You claim you fight for your mother, and would tear my heart out for her, but you wouldn't be able to. That is something I can hold as a reason to fight. It's not senseless to care for someone that you'd kill to make them happy. Though kill for land? Kill for water? Kill for food? In the desert I HAVE to do that. Here, it isn't as necessary..." Tupa muttered looking out to the pridelands bitterly. "I'll help you get your pride lands, and if I should stay I want you to promise me that you'll stop the killing." Tupa said, her voice low and stern. She knew she was asking too much of someone who didn't have a big part to play.

"Listen to me." Tupa cackled. "Talking about peace when I was raised by the biggest advocate for violence. You know what I'm trying to say, right?" Tupa asked, her face showing confusion as she looked to Nuka.

//

Meanwhile, Zira was among the other lionesses who awoke during the mid-morning, when the sun hung over enough of the termite mound to let its rays through the holes. She looked around, and noticed many of the lionesses were growling and snarling. Every leader knew that if she could deliver nothing but promises, the tides would turn against her eventually. They needed food, a source that would last them for a few weeks.

Zira looked over to Kovu's sleeping form, and frowned slightly. Sending him to hunt would be a risk too high for a scrap of food. She looked around for Vitani now, knowing she was strong enough to partake in hunting in the pridelands. Though she was not there. Zira growled in frustration as she jumped down and walked outside the den, looking around.

All she could see was Baya, laying in the sun and harassing some termites. She figured he was going to be good at hunting, being a scavenger from the desert. She approached him, a menacing look in her eyes. "What are you doing lying around? Where is Vitani?" Zira growled, noticing her daughter's scent faint in the area.

"She had a little tantrum and strut off. What else is there to do, but lie around here?" Baya said in monotone, as he looked up to Zira.

"Well for one, you can go find her then the both of you can go get us food. We need expert hunters to get us a kill from the pridelands, and drag it over here...sending too many of our lionesses at once would cause suspicion to arise." Zira pointed out. Baya snorted as he stood and stretched.

"As you wish." Baya said with a slight cackle as he began to walk in the direction that Vitani had run off in. She probably wasn't going to be pleased that she had to hunt with him today, but it was on her mother's orders so it wouldn't be too bad.

[Applejack]

Nuka nodded slowly, looking back at Tupa. "I know exactly what you mean, Tupa." It was the first time he'd called her by her name, and admittedly, it felt good. He ducked his head away, kind of embarassed at thinking such things. "I really dont care if you're a rogue or an outlander, though, I'd rather it be that second option. Hestretched and sighed, looking closer at her, his muzzle inches from hers. "I'd actually like it if you'd stay, y'know." He scratched his head for a second. "If we can get the Pridelands back, and and you do decide to stay, I'll do everything I can to stop the senseless killing. For.. you." He looked away, then back at her.

"If you stayed her with us, you wouldn't have to fight for all of those after we take back our home." He inched a few paws closer and pinched her cheek like she had him earlier. "You could live peacefully, like we will. I can kind of see it in your eyes. You want peace, even if you are a fighter. You want a life where fighting isn't necessary, but happens every once in a while." He let her cheek go and stepped a few inches back, afraid that he'd overstepped his boundaries, and scratched his mane once.

[Baya]

Tupa smiled as Nuka completely understood what she said. Her cheeks warmed up as he pinched her cheeks. "Developed or not...you've got alot more sense than alot of the males I've been around." Tupa said with a smirk as she was about to walk past him when she jumped at his head and tugged on his ear playfully. "I'll race you back!" Tupa said as she began to bound back the way they came, looking back to make sure Nuka was following. To have someone want her around for a change really did a number on her feelings. It made her feel like she had a value besides fighting and killing. Were they friends? Tupa saw it as such, even though she just met him the day prior.

/

Baya followed after her scent for a few minutes, looking to the sky every now and again. The scorching hot sun was not something that really bothered him, but the winds were a bit more of a nuisance. They whipped Vitani's scent around, making it difficult to track. Baya eventually found Vitani amidst a bunch of dead trees, covered in claw marks. He had no expression clear on his face in reaction to this, but was very much confused. He also knew, that Vitani was very upset. With him, he did not know, but upset none the less.

"Are you seriously sitting here and crying?" Baya murmured as he walked towards her. He wasn't the most sensitive lion, but he did not like seeing Vitani in particular sitting here and wallowing in her sorrows. He frowned slightly as he placed his paw under her muzzle, looking at her tear stained face. It angered him. It made him want to strike her for letting tears fall down in the first place. She was a fighter! She was a warrior! She had to hold her composure, no matter how difficult her life was. He rolled his eyes as he couldn't bring himself to look at her face anymore, and released her muzzle.

"Your mother wants us to go hunt. I'm not here to argue with you." Baya stated in monotone.

[Applejack]

Nuka smiled back at Tupa as he felt her cheek warm and giggled. "Thats a first," he said, and leapt up to his paws when she pulled his ear. He raced off after her, a large smile on his face. What could Tupa be thinking with that look on her face? He'd never seen that look before. It was a look of... of tenderness, oddly enough. Coming from someone that was supposed to be as tough as a stone, and as immovable as the desert heat, He shook his head and darted ahead, easily keeping pace with Tupa. Just what did she think of him as? She kept talking about how she would kill him, but, would she ever? She looked so happy, and it confused him, but he diddn't see it as a bad confusion. It made him happy, too.

\\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\ \\
Vitani slowly opened her eyes, her jaw clenched as she smelled Baya's strong odor coming towards her, and when he lifted her muzzle, she didn't resist. She stayed limp like a ragdoll, and when he released her, she picked herself up, her tail laying limp. "If mother asks it, I'll do it. For her. Don't expect me to enjoy it." She started to walk off towards the Pridelands, her tears stopped, and shook her head, attempting to get rid of the sadness and disappointment in her head. "Lets go," she said, flicking her tail.

[Baya]

Tupa stopped when she got back to the termite den, panting. "You lose! My, a desert lioness like me can outrun a warrior? Such a sad sight!" Tupa said, a grin of triumph wide on her face.

"Indeed..." Zira muttered from the entrance of the den, looking at Nuka as he too got to the termite mound. "Where did you two run off to in the morning?" Zira growled as she glared at Tupa. Nuka was already pathetic as is, and this lioness might just sabotage him further. The fact that she spared him sort of confused Zira as much as it would Nuka himself.

"Oh, just a bit of a walk. Nuka showed me the pridelands...and I can see why you'd want to fight for it." Tupa murmured. Zira chuckled darkly, shaking her head.

"Per usual, Nuka doesn't hit it on the dot. I want the pridelands because they rightfully belong to my family! I want to avenge my fallen love, Scar." Zira said the last part with a sigh of content. "I want Simba dead because he killed MY mate!" Zira spat bitterly. Tupa took a look of concern on her face for Zira's mental well being, but also for Nuka. Was she always so negative about him?

"Well, he did tell me why you want them...I just saw how beautiful and prosperous the pride lands were in comparison to this...wasteland." Tupa pointed out, a bit sternly to Zira. She wanted to scream at Zira, and point out how awful and selfish a mother she was, but she didn't think it would be good for her, Baya and possibly make Nuka scorn her.

"Nuka. Patrol the borders." Zira said simply as she turned her back on Tupa, disgusted by how she spoke and how she carried herself. Tupa might just become a threat, and Zira was ready to kill her when the time came. For now, no blood would be shed.

//

As Baya and Vitani walked in silence, Baya looked to Vitani with distaste. An adult lioness, growing up in such harsh conditions was crying? Seeing someone who spoke such strong words, and fought him so well with so little restraint! "I don't want to do this anymore than you do. I know you detest me for my brutality. You aren't the first, and definitely won't be the last." Baya pointed out. They began to approach a bordering section of the outlands to the pridelands.

"Before we get to hunting, why were you crying? Not that I care, I'm just curious to what can set you off to bawl like that." Baya muttered, giving Vitani a blank stare.