[Open] The Winds of Change

[SimbaKovu]

Vitani had never felt such a peculiar mixture of emotions towards Tupa before. On one paw, Tupa had just saved her from being painfully injured for the sole purpose of settling Baya's violent nerves for the remainder of the day. On the other paw, that feeling of begrudging gratitude was almost entirely canceled out by the fact that Tupa had just given an order to her. Tupa knew how Vitani felt about taking orders from others, especially from her. Tupa was slightly older than Vitani and while she was in her courtship with Vitani's brother Nuka, Zira had chosen her as a sort of temporary right-hand lioness while Vitani was still in adolescence. During this time, Tupa made Vitani's life a living hell in ways which Vitani had largely repressed any memory of.

In hindsight, it was quite obviously a twisted attempt on Zira's part to provide some sort of motivation to Vitani, given that Tupa was publicly and utterly inept at performing the responsibilities the position entailed. So much so that by the time Vitani had reached the appropriate age to be able to challenge Tupa for the position, public opinion in the Outlands was well on Vitani's side. Nonetheless, Zira still insisted on Vitani defeating Tupa in battle to become her right-hand lioness. And Tupa put up more of a fight than Vitani had expected. When all was said and done, Vitani was the victor, but not without both of them suffering several broken bones and receiving several battle scars which to this day served as a reminder of her and Tupa's longstanding and simmering rivalry.

Despite all this, Vitani made the conscious decision to take no umbrage to Tupa having given her an order, so as to not fan the flames of that rivalry. After shooting a look back at Tupa, she turned to Baya and grinned mischievously in response to his offer. "Well, I do need somebody to go to Kovu's sequestration den and wake him up, if you wouldn't mind," she responded, and thus beginning her quest to determine how hard and fast she could hold Baya to his offer to help before he snapped.

[Baya]

Baya tilted his head, and a smirk spread on his muzzle. "Oh, you want me to wake him up? You sure?" Baya asked. Tupa looked at Baya with a look of worry. Wake up Kovu? He was going to scare him half to death to wake him up! Tupa could remember waking up to Baya staring down at her with a sadistic smirk on his face. She was afraid to sleep again for an entire week.

"Uh, I think it would be alot safer if I went and did that..." Tupa murmured as she slowly stepped backwards into the den. The last thing they needed was for Kovu to have a heart attack on his wedding day! Baya's smirk faded and he looked to Vitani again.

"What else do you need done? There has to be more to do...you look so stressed." Baya grinned as he stepped towards her.

[SimbaKovu]

Vitani smirked and raised her eyebrows at Baya as Tupa made her way towards Kovu's den. She stood back up on all fours and began to walk towards the path which lead to the base of Pride Rock, saying as she walked by Baya, "Stressed? What makes you think that?" slapping his face lightly with the tip of her tail as she accentuated the word "that".

[Baya]

"Well, I stand corrected then." Baya said his smirk still standing strong. He walked alongside her, confused as to whether she really was stressed or not. She seemed to be masking it pretty easily though, with that teasing tail swat. As they walked, Baya looked to the many clouds and the sun. His smirk slowly faded as memories of desert life flooded him.

Seldom did they have the mercy of clouds and Baya had never witnessed rain in the desert. All that rained was blood, and all that hit the floor was rogues. Being away for it for this time, Baya believed, had made him softer. And perhaps this softer side was the one that was so attracted to Vitani. If they had encountered one another in the desert, would it have been different? Definitely.

"Where are you going?" Baya asked after awhile of walking at her side. It confounded him why he was following her to begin with.

//

Meanwhile, Tupa made her way through the pile of lionesses, hoping that she didn't fall over. The cub she carried now was the last piece of Nuka she and most of his family had left of him, so she was going to make sure it came out healthy and normal. She finally got to Kovu, who was still sleeping. Tupa rolled her eyes, wondering how on earth Zira could've pampered him so much!

"Hey! Hey! Groom to be! Wake up!" Tupa whispered. No response. Tupa growled as she bit Kovu's ear, as a sort of wake up call. She didn't want to draw blood, just wake the lazy king to be up!

[DGFone]

The future king groaned when he felt a sharp prick in his ear. "Alright, I'm up! I'm up!" He mumbled in complaint. Zira never let him sleep in, due to the constant training. So he enjoyed this new freedom now as a Pridelander. He didn't always, but now was the last day he wanted to have to get up early. Finally opening his eyes, he saw Tupa glaring at him. "I'm up, quit staring at me!" He complained and got up.

"Why'd you have to wake me up anyways? Everyone else are still asleep!" He motioned at the other sleeping lions and lionesses in the den.

[Baya]

"Probably because you have to get ready, and it was either me or Baya waking you up. You should be thanking the kings above it was me..." Tupa said with a shudder. Oh those days in the desert! She was surprised Baya hadn't killed her! "I'm sure Vitani or someone probably told you why you have to be up so early, I was just following orders." Tupa murmured as she sat down. She looked around the den at the others, and sighed. She had gotten so used to staying awake for hours on end, that she could've believe she had the luxury of slumber now.

She placed a paw on her stomach for a moment, thinking of the cub's well being. "Baya and Vitani are walking, if you want to go out and find them for your answer...I'm tired." Tupa murmured as she laid down on her side.

[SimbaKovu]

Vitani, confused as to why exactly Baya had begun to follow her, replied, "To help Rafiki gather the lower species for the wedding. There's been a lot of trouble brewing with the prey and I figured Rafiki could use some help in herding them in case something were to go wrong." To be honest, Vitani hated the vernacular of calling non-predator species "lower" and "the prey". This was a recent trend that had developed since the immediate aftermath of the battle with Zira, as Simba had begun surrounding himself with loyal supporters and appointing them to important positions to oversee the maintenance of the Pride Lands. Many former Outlanders (save for Vitani herself) had been excluded from these new positions and many of these new advisers (most of whom were male) had a very..."simple" way of viewing the business of the Pride Lands, to put it mildly.

In fact, when Vitani thought about it, the entire Pride Lands seemed to have developed relatively quickly since the defeat of Zira into a powder keg ready to explode once more. However, instead of the potential conflict being among the lions, this powder keg had the potential to envelop the entire Pride Lands, and Vitani seemed to be the only one in the ruling pride who seemed to notice, or at the very least openly acknowledged having noticed this.

"Do you want to help?" Vitani continued, stopping in her tracks and looking back toward Baya, knowing full well that he wouldn't pass up an opportunity to abuse some prey species.

[DLFix]

Nala wearily opened her eyes. The chattering voices from a couple of lions had woken her up. She slowly raised her head to see who it was that'd interrupted her in her peaceful sleep. She smiled when she saw who the guilty ones where. It was the pregnant lioness Tupa, and - of course - Kovu.

Poor thing, his nerves for this big day must be killing him! she thought with a slight smile. She couldn't remember herself being that nervous for her wedding, but then again, she had been living in the Pridelands all her life, and was accustomed to the life and traditions here. And when she first ran, literally, into Simba that day in the jungle after chasing that warthog friend of his, she knew that that day sooner or later would come. But for poor Kovu, on the other hand, this whole thing must have come as a huge surprise.

She slowly stood up and strolled over to the somewhat tired lioness and the nervous husband-to-be.

[Baya]

"Gather the lower species? I am no gatherer, I'm a fighter. Now if you had me kill one or two of them..." Baya suggested with a grim smirk. He knew he'd only annoy Vitani further with his reluctance to do the things she needed help with, but he had been deprived of battle for a long time. Heck, even during the time of war, Vitani managed to cut it short with her switching sides. "Now, if you have any jobs that involve strength I'd be more than willing to help. If not...well I suppose you are on your own." Baya murmured as he sat in the spot he was in.

[SimbaKovu]

Vitani shot Baya a grave, threatening look. If there were one thing she simply could not stand about him, it was his incessant blood-lust, and his overcoming desire to fulfill it, even if it meant harming members of prey species for reasons which had nothing to do with obtaining food. He simply had no respect for the fact that the lions were vastly outnumbered by prey species, and could be overrun by them any moment of any day, if the mood struck them.

"Baya...." Vitani began in an exasperated tone, and then stopped. She didn't quite know what to say to the jarhead.

"Baya, if you want to help, this is what I need you to do. And I do not want you killing any of them," she said forcefully, knowing Baya's response would not be one which she was hoping for. She knew he would not respond well to the tone in her voice, which rang of contempt for him.