Meaning and Purpose [Closed to Julie_Skywalker]

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

"Hey Sauda, look, he's already got a fan club you can join," N'gora taunted as the buzzards continued to circle and Vitani showed no signs of acknowledging them.

The darker lioness narrowed her eyes and swatted N'gora's rump, the only place she could reach from this position. The two lie on a single sunning stone not far from the one lioness they respected, while the tear sisters were sprawled out in the midst of some of the Pridelanders. As for Vitani, she was asleep, or at least pretending to be, as images of the battle played through her mind. It had been invigorating, and she'd re-accustom her body to battling each day in only a few days. It would give her something to do other than laze around here with the other lionesses and gossip.

"I'm not taken with him," Sauda hissed back at N'gora, her eyes narrowed.

"Sure you aren't. You were drooling over him because of the heat."

"I wasn't drooling!"

N'gora laughed, a very cruel sounding laugh, at her pridesister's protests.

Vitani rolled her eyes. They were taunting each other, sure, but the Pridelanders had weakened her pridesisters. They never got physical in their disagreements anymore, not really. There was the occasional swat or bite, but no actual fighting. No challenge. Nothing but utter laziness. After all, these girls had complained of not getting to fight, so why weren't they fighting each other? Just for fun, they didn't have to fight to the death or anything.

She rolled over onto her side to avoid watching them. She needed to rest so that her injuries could mostly heal before her next battle.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

Vitani stretched lazily. She felt tired, and would have like to sleep longer, but she had an agreement to honor. She shook her head to clear away the tiredness and then rose on her paws. She looked around her, but found that several of the lionesses who should be around here were goneㅡ including Sauda. She groaned and rolled her eyes. Kovu would get his mane into knots if she went alone and the dark lioness had wanted to watch anyway. Now she'd have to find her wayward squad-mate before making her way to the elephant graveyard.

She padded around to the den and peered inside, but only saw the ailing king and his mate. No sign of anyone who'd know where Sauda was. She let out a rather low growl of annoyance and then turned, descended the rock, and trotted away from the capital of their lands. The missing lionesses were out hunting, that she was sure of. For where else would they be? She made her way towards the favourite hunting spot, but found it absent of her kind as well. There were zebras and impalas, but no lions.

Becoming frustrated, she decided to forget her brother's fear and Sauda's interest in tagging along and just go. She angled in the direction of the graveyard, moving at a medium pace. As she trotted along, her ear flicked to the side, detecting movement in the tall savannah grasses. She looked over in that direction and spotted a group of lionessesㅡ some of her lionessesㅡ sparring in the shade of some trees around a waterhole. She padded over, fixing a stern gaze on them.

"What are you idiots doing all the way out here?" she demanded, flattening her ears to her skull. She'd only wasted hours looking for them, for that one floundering in the pond in particular.

"You know how those Pridelanders look at us when we spar," one of them drawled.

"We thought it would be nice to cool off while we were at it, so we had to find water and shade away from the rock," N'gora said, scratching at an ear from her perch on a stone above the water.

"Look I don't care what you lot do, but you, Sauda, you're supposed to be coming with me. To placate my brother and yourself," Vitani growled, swatting the soaked lioness. "You're out here with them acting like a cub when you have duties."

"I didn't realize we'd be leaving so early, leader. Forgive me," the dark lioness said, bowing as she emerged from the water.

"Just come on."

With that, the duo made their way to the elephant graveyard to await the scarred rogue.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

At his compliment, Vitani snorted. She noticed the cub as she rose on her paws, striding towards him and away from her companion. When the rogue reported on the cub's mother, the lioness barked a surprised laugh.

"And you didn't end the little runt to put her out of her misery?" Vitani asked, assuming her own battle stance, "Why, you must be going soft. Or perhaps you saw some of yourself in her."

The lioness spared a glance at the cub, noticing how hungry she looked. She decided she'd have to bring food for these two when she came out to battle. It was what a good lion would do, what her brother and the other Pridelanders expected of her. Wasn't this perfect though? She could report back that the rogue wouldn't cross them for fear of what would become of the cubㅡ they'd never want a little cub to suffer, so she'd be allowed to take food to it, and she should have no more complaints about her decision to battle the rogue. In fact, if necessary, she could just lie and say that she wouldn't be fighting him anymore, just tending the cub like any caring lioness would.

At the thought, she laughed, a long, high laugh. Considering the circumstances, it made her look totally mad. Hell, maybe she was. That wasn't important. What was important was that she could get her battling in, she could keep herself entertained as well as keep her body in top form. It was perfect.

As she stopped laughing, she lunged viciously at Baya, her eyes glinting with violence. She deliberately fell short of him, skidding in the earth and sending dust towards his eyes as she nipped at his forepaws. There was no reason to go all out at the very beginning, not if she could tire him out first.

-

When Sauda had first seen the cub, she felt a jealous rage, but then at his words she brightened. It seemed this child wasn't his. He'd taken it in for some reason, and so, she could get in his good graces by doing good by it. She approached the cub slowly, her eyes focused on the youngster as her ears twitched and provided her with the battle sounds. It was not as good as seeing him fight, but it was a close second.

She stopped beside the cub and took a seat, her eyes going to the battle before her.

"It's hard losing your mother. Especially at your age," she said to the child, "And things will be hard on you, but you're in good paws." She silently added, 'I think.' She didn't look at the cub for a reaction, merely hoped that her darkish coat and the scars she bore, though minor in comparison to Baya's, would make the cub look at her in a similar light to the male she hoped to impress.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

Vitani simply snarled in response to his arrogance. She'd wanted to come and fight, but was she really doing it just for the fun of it? Or was she doing it for the kingdom and the sake of sparing this rogue? Or just to disobey her brother, the 'precious' Kovu? She wasn't really sure, and she didn't like that. She flung a rough smack to his face to knock his maw away from her flesh, and then knocked him aside. She was on her feet in an instant, her form dripping blood and eyes blazing like a demon of the night amidst all the bones.

Without warning, she launched herself into the air, twisting so as to create a rotating attack that briefly sliced at his sides before she was back on the earth. She let out a low hiss and bit down on the nearest body part to her, one of his hind legs.

"I don't live for the fight like you do," she growled around a mouthful of his flesh. But who was she trying to convince? Him? Or herself? She shook her head to clear it and focus on the battle, which also had the affect of shaking her teeth in the fresh wound on his leg.

-

"I meant good paws like, he'll be able to provide what you need, not that he'd be father of the year," Sauda hissed, slightly annoyed but trying to keep herself level-headed.

"As for the battle... all I know for sure is that they enjoy fighting one another, and made a deal she is now bound to uphold by participating in such battles. This is only the second day they've met like this, and only the third in their lives. He wants to fight her and she is honoring her word," the lioness said flatly, not wanting to think there might be something else more to this.

"He lives for battle and the peaceful, domestic life bores her. It's something to keep them both busy for a while, and let them take their minds off of other things," she went on, her voice slightly softer.

[Baya]

(Post removed)

[Carl]

Vitani snarled at his words and struggled with him for a while, her mind going over what those words implied. Zira had trained her to fight, only fight, and be strong, and seek revenge. Zira had raised her to hated Simba for killing Scar unjustly, something that wasn't entirely true. Zira had filled her head with violence and her heart with anger and rage. She had loved her mother, despite her harshness, but she was not like her mother.

She had turned on her mother in favor of peace, was that not proof enough? She had helped to plant the seeds of the union of the prides. She was not like Zira. And yet, to say that she lived for the fight meant that she was like her mother. She could feel the truth of that within her, but could not admit it. She wouldn't. But why not? Had her mother really been wrong? She only had the Pridelanders' word versus her mother's about what had happened to Scar, there was no reason to believe she could trust them.

But they were nice. None of them treated her the way she'd been treated in the Outlands by her real pride. They spared their enemies, as she was learning to do. And yet, they'd taken her mother from her. And that was her fault. What if she hadn't turned on Zira? Could the Outlanders have won? She'd never know, as she'd killed her mother by refusing to fight.

Her swirling thoughts ceased when Baya roughly pinned her and muttered his taunt. She growled.

"No! You're wrong about me!" she roared, pushing him away enough that she could slide out from beneath him and stand. She couldn't accept the fact that it could be her fault that her mother had died, and so she couldn't battle constantly to make up for not fighting that night. It wouldn't change a thing.

Panting, she cut her narrowed eyes at him, "I don't live for the battle. I fight to remember the past and take a break from a life I'm not comfortable with. I fight because it clears my head. I fight because if I don't stay strong then I won't be able to fight when I need to in order to help the ones who matter. I don't live for the fight, I fight to live." With that, she turned to walk away from him. She didn't want to think about these things any more.

"You don't know me. Not yet."

---

"She may want to fight him, but that doesn't mean they have a deep connection or anything if that's what you're getting at," the dark lioness hissed, her ears flat against her skull. Then she continued in response to the cub's questions, "Other things like her brother, the Acting King of the Pridelands, things like him trying to control her life. Things like the duties a strong fighter must assume within a kingdom. Things like that."

Her ears pricked up and swiveled around at the sound of Vitani's shout. She watched, wondering if she'd need to intervene for the sake of her leader. Just in case, she rose to her paws and got into a position that would make her better able to jump in in a second. And she'd sure like to jump right in there...