Tragic Unity (AC & SH)

[Simbaholikov]

'Run! Run away and never return..'
These words reverberated in Simba's young mind as he ran far away from his home and life.
Simba had been dwelling on those events for the past few hours so much that he didn't notice the massive storm building up above him until it hit him in the face.
"Oh great.." Grumbled Simba silently to himself. "Now it's raining.."
He runs off into the growing darkness of the storm in search of shelter, soon finding a rocky outcrop in the midst of the plains.
Simba ducks inside and shakes himself off and rubs his furry face, not sure if the water on his face consisted more of tears or raindrops.
He looks around, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings and suddenly freezes.
3 pairs of eyes were staring at him out of the darkness.
"I.. I.. please don't hurt me.." He whimpers.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga glanced outside as he heard another lourd thunderclap, the young adolescent lion rubbing a paw through his short, undeveloped black mane. "Well, looks like we're gonna be stuck here for the night," he commented dryly to the two cubs currently in his company. One, a pale-furred, energetic bundle of fur often mistaken for a lioness due to his looks, was Juhudi, and was also Tanga's younger brother by a few months. The other was a darker-furred cub, with uniquw dark 'socks' on his back paws, and tufts of hair on his ears, called Mikhail. Tanga and Juhudi had met Mikhail during their travels, but the trio had only been together for a short time, and Tanga still knew very little about Mikhail's past as of yet.

The yellow-furred adolescent, essentially the 'leader' of the group by virtue of his age, and therefore greater size and strength, was just about to find a spot to get settled for the night when the meager light provided at the entrance of the cave faded, a sign that someone had just entered the cave. Wary, Tanga slowly turned around, not quite sure what to expect. He certainly did not expect to see a young, gold-furred cub shaking the rain out of his fur, looking very lost and dejected. His shock kept him still and silent long enough for the new arrival to spot him and his two companions, Tanga frowning as the cub practically begged to be spared. He was clearly in a bad way, his voice hoarse, and Tanga could see his eyes were red and puffy...he'd been crying recently.

But before Tanga could say anything, Juhudi jumped in, the energetic little brother spotting a potential new friend, completely missing the new arrival's depressed and frightened state as he stepped forward. "Hurt you?" he asked incredulously. "Come on, we're cubs, just like you! We'd never hurt you! Well, Tanga here's a bit older," he added, gesturing to the yellow adolescent, who waved casually. "But he's my brother, he's cool. So...what's your name? Where'd you come from? Why are you alone?" Juhudi asked all those questions in rapid-fire succession, not even pausing for breath in between each one.

"Alright, Juhu, that's enough," Tanga said firmly, managing to quiet Juhudi before the cub could fire off any more questions, and possibly overwhelm the new arrival. "This cub's been through a lot, I think, let's just give him a few moments okay?" he asked, waiting for his little brother to nod, before turning back to the new arrival. "I'm sorry, my little brother tends to be a little, well...full of life, shall we say? And we're not going to hurt you, okay? You're welcome to stay here out of the storm if you need to," he added gently, trying to be as gentle and non-threatening as possible for this cub.

[Simbaholikov]

Mikhail was lying down with his head on his paws thinking about past events while listening to the storm raging outside and sighed a little when he heard they'd most likely be stuck there for the night.
"I don't wanna be stuck here, I wanna keep moving.." He thought to himself, although he didn't know where they were going..
He reached up with a paw and scratched one of his furry ears before putting his head on his paws again with another small sigh.
His thought was then disrupted by a noise at the entrance to the cave, he looked over and saw a sodden young lion cub around his age stumble in. He immediatedly sat up and silently studied this newcomer with curiosity but also wariness, he didn't trust strangers all that much though he knew he had to stay with these 2 to stay alive, although this one was just a cub like him..

Simba was completely not prepared for this bouncy cub to be so energetic before the larger one was able to silence him, which frightened him even more, he collapsed to the floor and quivered and looked out from between his paws with teary eyes,
"M-My... N-Name's.. S-S-Simba..." He got out finally, before passing out from sheer exhaustion and shock.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga tried to keep a reasurring smile going as the cub, who identified himself shakily as Simba, seemed to grow more and more paniced with each passing second, until he finally passed out, his mind clearly going into overload. Whatever had happened to this cub was bad, if it left him in such a state. Sighing, Tanga moved closer, figuring he might as well take a closer look at this cub while he was out. "Juhudi, stay back with Mikhail in case this one wakes up again. I want to take a look, see if anything's wrong with him."

As Tanga turned back to Simba, though, he paused slightly. The cub's fur was dirty and rough, clearly it had not been cleaned in some time, unless the cub had just been through a dust storm or something. His body was also covered in various small bruises, and even a couple of small cuts, clearly he'd been through some nasty incident lately...perhaps the same incident that had forced him way out here, on his own? Aside from that, Tanga could find a lot physically wrong with him, although he did look like he'd missed his last couple of meals, telling Tanga he'd need to hunt something down in the morning for the cub to eat.

As Tanga looked over the new arrival though, Juhudi had moved back to Mikhail's side, still looking over at Simba. "So...we got a new cub in the group, huh? This'll be awesome, don't you think?! Someone else to play with, and maybe help Tanga lighten up a little, too! Don't get me wrong, I mean, you're pretty cool, but, the more the merrier, right?" he said, one sentence seeming to blend into another as the hyperactive cub went into full excitement mode.