[Closed] Kopa's Captivity

[TheWhistlerify]

After a short silence Marini decided to start a talk. "So..." she said glancing at him, "zebras, antelopes, hippos? What do they look like?"

[KiarasMate]

Giving Tanga a confirming nod with his head to indicate that his request was both understood and would be followed without question, Kopa hung back where he was, still standing next to Marini as he observed the black maned male intercepting the path of one of the lions to whom Kopa himself was still unfamiliar with. Examining the lion in question from afar, Kopa took note of his brown fur and even darker brown mane. The size difference was noticeable as Tanga stood in front of him, yet the stranger still would tower over the youngster if he were in Tanga’s place. Meeting with the brown furred lion’s green orbs for a split second, Kopa’s attention was thankfully drawn away by the sound of Marini’s voice. Pivoting his paws so he was now staring face to face with the cream colored lioness cub, Kopa looked a little bewildered by what she had just asked him. It took the young male’s mind a minute to actually realize that Marini had probably never been outside the confines of the enclosure, there for, would have never seen what wild herds of animals looked like. Now having an understanding of where the young lioness was coming from, Kopa adopted a friendly smile as he politely answered Marini’s question with both words, as well as actions, just to add a little visual display to his definitions.

”Oh, well zebra are really cool looking Rini. They have these stripes all over there fur and when there are a lot of them grouped together, it looks really strange. Sort of makes you confused if you stare at it too long. They are really fast too and make weird noises sometimes." Kopa stated, doing his best impression of a zebra call, which wasn’t very close at all but sounded quite amusing nonetheless. ”Antelope look sort of like zebra, but they don’t have stripes. Their fur looks more like the dirt and they aren’t as big as zebra are. Hippos though, they are HUGE!" Kopa exclaimed, puffing his chest and belly out as if to try and match the sheer volume of a hippo’s size. Failing quite miserably at this task, Kopa exhaled heavily before finishing his explanation. ”They mostly live in the mud and water though and they can open their mouths SO WIDE, like this Rini.” Kopa said before prying his muzzle as wide as it could go.

Feeling rather tickled by his own examples of the creatures he had just imitated, Kopa started to laugh openly at his own antics as he pounded a fore paw upon the ground below him to punctuate his laughter. Needing a minute to pull himself together, Kopa let out all of his giggles before grinning playfully at the cream colored lioness. Figuring that it was his turn to ask a question now, just to pass the time until either Tanga would beckon him to come and meet the others, or would return to where he and Marini were, Kopa spoke up to his new acquaintance in a curious voice as his tail bounced eagerly off of the grass below him.

”So what’s life like living in these lands Rini and what do you do for fun when you’re bored?”

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini sat down and listened, laughing slightly as Kopa tried to sound like a zebra. "That sounds funny." she said laughing slightly, happy for seeing a happier side of him.
"Really?" she asked sounding very interested, "how big?" and then she laughed again ag Kopa attempted to show her how wide can they open their mouth.
"Life here is pretty much the same..." Rini answered, stopping her giggling, "I wake up in the morning, that's when we get the morning food supply, I usually walk around all day and get my parents worried about me by coming back late." She paused, "Tell me more about the life you had... she said smiling slightly, but then the smile faded "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to do that... I just never seen what's behind these walls..."

[KiarasMate]

Taking a seat next to Marini as he listened to her response to what he had inquired about, Kopa tilted his head in confusion from the way the cream colored cub spoke so openly about worrying her parents. It wasn’t something Kopa himself was used to hearing and behavior such as what she was describing to him would have surely gotten him a firm talking to by his mother or father at the very least. Still, knowing that everything seemed to operate differently within this pride’s lands, Kopa simply assumed that this was just the way things were and didn’t bother to question it further, even though he would have liked to. Getting the overall impression that life in the enclosure was very laid back and relaxed from what he could tell, both from his own personal observations and Rini’s portrayal of her everyday activities, Kopa nodded as his little ears swiveled to pick up upon what the young lioness asked him next. Feeling a slight twinge of sadness coursing through his being from what she had stated, Kopa held strong, refusing to relapse back into his former status, especially not after Tanga had blessed such words of praise upon him. Keeping his friendly smile plastered upon his muzzle, Kopa replied to Marini in a steady voice.

”It’s okay Rini. You were only curious. Your dad said that he’d help me get home though, so maybe when he does, you can come and visit my dad’s lands. We call them The Pride Lands and they are so cool. There’s Pride Rock, which is this huge..Um…" Kopa said, unable to place a paw upon the right word to use in order to explain the majestic looking structure in a way that was understandable. ”Well, it’s this really tall thing that’s made up of lots of huge rocks and there’s this place you can stand on it and look over the whole Pride Lands. There’s also a cave in there that we use as our den. That’s where me and my mom and dad sleep…”

Kopa’s voice started to falter slightly at the mention of his parents, resulting in his words beginning to fade. Hoping that his answer was enough to curve Marini’s curiosity about his homelands, Kopa fell silent as he took a momentary glance back towards where Tanga and the nameless lion were still conversing with one another. Turning his focus back to the cream colored lioness, Kopa kept the conversation going as he posed another question for Marini.

”What kind of food does your Hunting Party bring you Rini?” Kopa inquired, still being blissfully unaware of the true nature of how the pride was provided sustenance and remaining under the assumption that there was a hunting party just like the one back in The Pride Lands, that kept everyone fed.

[TheWhistlerify]

"Hunting party?" Rini asked curiously, "I don't know... our food is brought to us by those hairless creatures. she said noticing Kopa sitting next to her, "I'd love to see Pride Rock someday, it sounds really cool She said smiling again, but she didn't know whether escaping the enclosure was possible

[KiarasMate]

Adopting the same puzzled expression that he had sported moments ago when Marini had asked him about the various animals she hadn’t seen before, Kopa didn’t understand what exactly the young lioness was talking about. Her words seemed sincere enough that Kopa knew she wasn’t joking with him, yet he hadn’t seen any other creatures around the lands during his time spent here, especially none that fit the description that Marini was speaking of. Needing another moment to try and comprehend what the cream colored feline was talking about, Kopa thought back to the strange dreams he had experienced before he ended up within the enclosure. Recalling the looks of the odd beings that had surrounded him, things slowly started to fall into place as the young male realized that his dream, was in fact, a reality and had actually happened. Upon recognition of this fact, several new questions surfaced within Kopa’s mind, some of which, could probably not be answered by Marini herself and were probably better suited for the likes of Tanga or Heshima. As he spoke up in a hesitant voice to Marini, Kopa’s eyes began to wander, perhaps looking for any signs of those weird creatures now.

”Are those hairless animals dangerous Rini? Do they ever come into these lands? Where are they right now?”

As much as he’d never admit it, Marini’s words had put Kopa on edge once more as his senses heightened. While nothing in the dreams he had witnessed that involved these strange creatures, was enough to justify fearing them indefinitely, the fact that they might have been the ones responsible for bringing him to the enclosure was more than enough reason for Kopa to despise them. Worse yet, if they had so easily transported him to his new location, perhaps they could just as easily take him away and send him to an even more foreign land. Shivering from thinking such thoughts, Kopa quickly looked back towards Marini, no longer wishing to catch sight of the hairless creatures. Hoping that he was still safe from them and that Tanga’s words would hold true that he and his pride would protect him, Kopa forced himself to relax once more as he fielded Marini’s latest remark.

”I know you will get to Rini. You’ll love The Pride Lands too. I’ll show you around and you can meet all my friends.”

[TheWhistlerify]

"They never harmed any lion from here, not that I know." Maraini answered, noticing Kopa's stress growing more evident. "Sometimes you can see them on this walls, they just stand there and look at us all the time..." She paused and looked at the walls, "They bring us food twice a day though. Sometimes they take a lion from here away for a period of time, a few hours or days, but they always bring him back."
After the short silence, Marini couldn't help but ask Kopa something, after hearing Kopa was so sure about him geting back home. "But... she said and stopped, "How can we get out of here?"

[BlitzRogue]

"You coming?"

Reality check, Arria. Time to wake up! "Huh...? Ohh, right! Coming, coming."

Shani's words, though not particularly harsh or commanding, were enough to snap Arria back into the present. Though with the banishing of her previous train of thought, so also went her serious-thinking streak. Poof! Gone with the wind. Welcome back, Arria the airhead.

"So we finally get to meet the new guy, huh?" she cheerfully inquired of no one in particular, "I wonder what his name is..."

It was then that Arria noticed Tanga coming to intercept herself and Shani's progress towards the new cub. She also noted that he appeared to be more interested in making sure he stopped Shani than her; though at the same time she noticed possibly the most brilliantly colored butterfly fluttering past her. Unable to help herself, Arria swapped her attention from following Shani to meet up with Tanga to doing everything in her power to keep her eyes on the beautiful insect.

Being only several steps away from Shani and Tanga, Arria was able to determine that they were talking to each other without having to avert her attention, but she was was unaware of the actual words they were speaking. When the butterfly finally disappeared from sight in front of the overpowering light of the sun, Arria once again noticed the clouds drifting about overhead.

"Say... I could swear I've seen you somewhere before..."

And she was off again. Still vaguely aware of the two conversing lions' presences, Arria allowed her mind to saunter off into the inner machinations of her enigmatic mind.

[Mike]

"Yes, I-" Shani began, but was distracted by Arria's distraction. He shot a glance at her as she watched a butterfly make it's way through the Enclosure. "I think we lost her." Shani said instead. "There goes the only thing that made this trip worthwhile. By the way, can I stop calling you 'Sir' now as well?" Shani was joking of course, but he delivered it with a straight face. There was no way he'd have called Tanga Sir. Fortunately for all concerned, their Leader didn't put much stock in titles like that, and Shani was able to consider Tanga to be just another lion.

He glanced over Tanga's shoulder where the two cubs were plying, or talking, or bickering or whatever it was cubs did. Occasionally one of them shot Shani a glance, which Shani chose to ignore. So rude of lions to look at someone without announcing or introducing themselves... Except when Shani did it.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga chuckled at Shani's remark. "Since when have you ever called me 'sir', Shani?" He knew that Shani was joking, and that this dry sense of humour was Shani's specialty. It could get a little irritating at times, particularly since he seemed to have no idea what the phrase 'enough is enough' meant...but Tanga tended to go along with it.

But when Tanga noticed Shani glancing over his shoulder, to where Kopa and Marini almost certainly were, he grew serious once more. "Look, Shani, I know what you're like. Not only that, I understand it, and generally let it go, for the most part...we have to have something to break the monotony of this place, right?" He smiled at his light-hearted jibe, but quickly jumped back into 'leader mode'. "But this cub's just been seperated from his homeland and his family...he's still coming to terms with this place. I must ask that you at least take it easy around him for a few days, just until he gets settled. The last thing he needs is someone with your...blunt...nature, coming along and bringing him down. He's had a very rough day, and I'm sure he has not told me everything about the circumstances of why he was taken from his home."

With that last statement, Tanga looked back at Kopa, noting with a smile how easily he seemed to be getting along with Marini. They'll be good friends soon, he thought happily, knowing how much it would please Marini to have another cub to mess around with around here. But at the same time, Tanga knew that, while Kopa had not revealed much about what had happened to make those hairless creatures bring him here, there was something the little cub was avoiding at all costs...something to do with his home...the Pridelands, was it?

Pushing the thought aside for now, he turned back to Shani. "I'm just asking you to be nice to the kid, that's all," he said, before looking over at Arria who was currently staring up at the sky, obviously cloud-spotting again. Smiling at how the lioness could be so easily distracted, and how care-free she was...almost like a cub in an adult's body, he finally called over to her. "Hey, Arria, you coming to greet our new guest, or what?"