[Closed] Little Stranger (Taraji Chapter 1)

[Lodrill]

"Tssss!" Laini let her breath out with a hiss to calm down Daxis. She moved her leg on his back and softly pushed him to the ground so that he would not dart off and start a fight. "Did you have two have a fight?" she asked and licked Daxis muzzle to calm him down. It was surprising for Laini how fast she had somewhat fit herself into the role of caring for this cub.

[SinChei]

All of Lainis actions calmed Daxis down. He Sheathed His claws again and stopped growling only sometimes when he heard the cubs again His throught vibrated of growling but He did it quite and with closed muzzle. And when Laini licked His muzzle He calmed nearly completely down and Even if He wanted to Attack the other cub anyone would stop him because laini pushed him softly down and ir wa impossible for daxis to run fast to the mosi. But everytime the Ice Blue eyes cub talked about the unknowm cub He got angrier.
But...but don't you See He is stealing friend!! When i See him After this Meeting then...! He stopped and Bit in the air to Show her what He ment to do.

[Lodrill]

"No you won't!" Laini said with a stern voice. Her hate of brutality was stronger than her dislike of confrontation and also she was responsible for Daxis right now. "Almasi is allowed to have more than one friend, or not?" Laine caressed the head of Daxis. "Why don't you become friend with her new friend as well?"

[JaguarOne]

“Yeah, I would imagine that missing an important meeting wouldn’t get on Simba’s good side,” Santiago replied with a chuckle as Vitani told him about the reaction that she had received from her failure to appear at one of the pride meetings. Sometimes one had to just grin and bear it when it came to things such as unnecessary pride meetings.

“Sounds like a plan,” Santiago replied in time for Kovu to walk into the den and let them know that the meeting was about to get underway. Having turned his attention to the lion that had treated him with hostility earlier, Santiago was unable to see the expression that was on her face, but looked right over to the lioness when Kovu told her to knock it off. He had managed to look over to Vitani just in time to see her sticking her tongue out at Kovu in defiance, an action that caused Santiago to roll his eyes as he shook his head and sighed while Vitani spoke.

The lion chose to wait until Kovu had left and was out of earshot before he looked over to Vitani. “Real mature,” He said before turning and heading out of the den himself, knowing that he would be able to find his way back to Pride Rock since he had left there only a few minutes ago.

------------------

Caine just sat there and contemplated what he was being told by Shani, the lion who didn’t appear to let what he’s been through weigh down too heavily on his shoulders. In fact, the lion knitted a brow in thought as he realized that unless one were to hear his story, then it would be extremely hard to think that the lion had had such a troubled past. He also realized that some of the things that he had been told up to now didn’t sit too well with him, namely the comment about how Simba doesn’t seem too concerned about having allowed some not-so-trustworthy individuals to stay and reside in the Pride Lands. To Caine it seemed like the lion was hiding something.

“Well I wouldn’t be so sure as to say that. Simba may not seem to keep too close an eye on his subjects, but that’s because he has pride members like me. He may not know it yet, but quite a few of us make it a point to know what newcomers are up to,” The brown-maned lion explained in a tone that hardly seemed to convey his suspicions. He was onto Shani. The lion may have only shown up recently, but that doesn’t mean that he’s managed to go completely unnoticed.

“We should probably head inside. The pride meeting’s going to be starting soon,” Caine said as he motioned towards the den as he saw a few of the pride lionesses making their way inside, noting that the sun was starting to descend from the sky. Without waiting to evaluate the other lion’s reaction, Caine got up and followed the lionesses into the den, eager to get the meeting over with. It was only natural that everybody would be lying with his or her mate at the meeting, something that only seemed to serve as a reminder of how lonely he had felt recently.

[Mike]

Kovu, having left Vitani and Santiago after getting an acknowledgment, arrived at Pride Rock in time to see a few stragglers such as Shani and Caine entering the den. He followed them inside and looked around, seeing with a twinge of guilt that everyone seemed to be lying around or staring into space, completely at a loss for what to do. Fetching Vitani and Santiago had taken longer than he'd planned for, and he saw one or two resentful glances mixed in with the greeting he received. Amid this, Shani took up an unobtrusive position across from the main personalities in the den where he could listen in peace, and speak to every member at once if he decided to intervene.

"Sorry that this took longer than I expected Simba. Kovu said as he crossed the den "I hope you haven't all been getting too impatient, the others are right behind me.

As he moved across the den he saw his beloved mate cuddling Taraji, the two of them as always picture perfect. Nala hovered nearby with Simba in a prime location for discussion. Kovu spotted a few new faces as well, but decided that introductions could definitely wait. He waited for Simba's acknowledgment before lying down, feeling that it would be improper to apologize to a king and then turn one's attention away from them.

-----------

"There are some languages from childhood that never die between a brother and sister." Vitani replied lightly "And I don't know if Kovu would understand anything more subtle."

The two lions made good time as they covered the ground between the waterhole and Pride Rock, though Kovu had sped off a little ahead of both of them, like a good little future king Vitani thought to herself with affectionate sarcasm. In spite of the verbal fencing that they regularly engaged in, nobody could argue that there wasn't a powerful bond between the former oulander siblings. In may ways it was just an evolution of the more physical battles they'd experienced at a much younger age. Their sibling relationship had survived that, and was hardly likely to be broken now by a few ribald jokes.

The pair arrived at the bottom of Pride Rock just in time to see Kovu disappear into the man den above them, and followed him up.

[KiarasMate]

Almost at the brink of giving up on waiting for the missing members, Simba was quite relieved to see the remainder of his pride members, slowly starting to trickle in at the last minute. Listening to Kovu’s apology and managing a smile, Simba replied in a half hearted manner as he gave a nod to his son-in-law to take a seat.

”That’s fine Kovu. I appreciate you gathering everyone and better late than never I suppose.”

Waiting a few moments before he would begin, to allow everyone to comfortably situate themselves, Simba took one last glance around the den to make a mental note of who all had shown up before he spoke up in a loud enough tone to grab everyone’s attention.

”Good evening everyone and thank you for coming to this Pride Meeting. Since we are starting exceptionally late tonight, I’ll keep things as brief as possible, as I’m sure you all have better things to do with your time than listen to a long winded speech from myself.”

”Agreed.” Kiara stated in a playful tone, flashing her father a joking expression as she did so, invoking both her parents to laugh light heartedly.

”Yes, I see. Well, without further ado then, let me address the main topic for tonight’s meeting.” Simba stated. ”Recently, Nala informed me that she had a few important matters that she needed to discuss with me in private and as busy as things have been around our lands lately, we haven’t found the appropriate time to actually discuss said matters. With so many new faces showing up and the troubles with rogues and what not as of late, this little discussion seemed to fall by the wayside, so Nala and myself have decided to take a few suns off, to go over these matters together away from the pride. We will be leaving at first light tomorrow and shouldn’t be gone more than two or three moons at most. We won’t be far from The Pride Lands and Kiara knows where we will be at, just in case something important comes up that requires our presence to deal with.”

Pausing for a second to gauge reactions from everyone present, Simba turned to Kovu and Kiara before he continued.

”With both Nala and myself being absent Kovu, this means you will be filling in for me. All responsibilities and rights that apply to myself, will now fall upon your shoulders. I hope that isn’t a problem for you now. This will give you some good practice for when I’m no longer here permanently.”

Waiting for her mate to finish speaking, Nala chimed in as she smiled over at her daughter.

”The same goes for you Kiara. While I’m gone, you shall be in charge of everything that a queen is expected to do.”

Smiling happily at her mother, Kiara nodded as she replied in a cheery voice.

”You got it mom. I know my job. Make Kovu look good and help out with whatever matters pop up, right?”

Giggling softly, Nala nodded as she answered back in a humorous tone.

”To put it vaguely, yes Honey.”

Turning her focus towards where Vitani had placed herself within the main den, Nala addressed her friend in an equally kind voice.

”Tani, it’s a no brainer for me that I should leave The Hunting Party in your paws. I know you won’t let everyone down and hopefully that paw of yours is healed enough to get back on the hunting grounds. You may assign any lioness or lion for that matter, to the party while I’m gone if need be. I leave everything in your paws my friend.”

Chuckling to himself, Simba couldn’t help but to add in a small comment, if only to lighten the mood.

”You hear that everyone. Be sure to be extra nice to Vitani, since she’s the one who will be filling your bellies while we’re gone.”

Letting things die down once more, Simba looked over towards Caine and Shani as he addressed the pair next.

”While there are plenty of able bodied members who could easily take up Scouting Duties while Nala and myself are gone, I decided to appoint both Caine and Shani to the task, Caine, for being a staple member of our pride for as long as he has and knowing that he knows the lay of the land just as well as anyone else around here, and Shani, for his past experiences of ruling over lands himself. I think these two will make an excellent team and perhaps even after Nala and myself return, and if you two find your new jobs to your likings, we can consider making you two our permanent Scouting Party of sorts, since Kovu will surely have more responsibility with the upcoming seasons.”

Taking a break at this point, Simba looked about the den before he stated.

”Are there any questions, concerns or issues that anyone would like to bring up before I continue?”

[SinChei]

Daxis stopped everything what shows his anger after Lainis first words. She spoke more stern then Daxis ever herd it from her. He layed his head quickly in his neck again to look at her. Daxis knew she was right with everything she said but he was just jealous and now a he acted offended. He could just accept everything what laini said to him but he did not he acted like a childish and offended cub now.
Daxis layed his head on his white paws and looked away from Mosi and Almasi. The first question was answered with a low No... shes not he mumbled the words into his forelegs. Everyone would agree the golden furred female but for Daxis was everything what Laini said the exactly opposite. After the second question the Royal Voice of the King echoed through the den but Daxis mumbled the answer of the second question in his forelegs anyways. No don't like him he is a dumbhead and worse. Listening to Simbas speech now but still waiting for any reactions from Laini, Daxis gnawed on his paw to calm more down. Lainis caressing calmed him down enough and he loved it but when he thought of Mosi again he had to do this.

[Mike]

Kovu did his best to act like a future king listening to an important speech, but on at least two occasions he had a sneaking suspicion that his jaw dropped open in shock. He wouldn't have been any more surprised if Simba had announced that Rafiki had been his mate ever since he returned to cast Scar down. The Pridelands without Simba would be like pridelands without a sunrise everyday. It just didn't happen, and if it did you could be sure as punch that something was deeply odd about the world. At the end of Simba's speech Kovu had a number of questions, the most burning of which was what Simba and Nala had to discuss so desperately alone together. However, since Simba hadn't answered the question himself, it would be inappropriate to ask. Besides, the most likely topics would probably be Nala's pregnancy and Kopa's blood status.

He was completely off balance at the prospect of taking over Simba's duties, but Kiara's presence and warm support encouraged him to take a firm and confident position. First impressions were important, and acting like a fool now would play havoc with his future standing in the pride. He gave a slightly ceremonial nod to Simba, approaching a bow.

"Don't worry Simba," he said "I'll keep the pride in line no problems."

The minute the meeting was over, Kovu fully intended to ask Simba to come outside for a moment to ask for some guidance, but for now he sat up proudly beside Kiara, as interim king and queen of the pridelands.

-----------------------

Shani had kept a close eye on each pride member as their name was called, as he knew that Simba would be a strong yet casual leader. Guaging each member's reaction was far more interesting. Shani had to keep from launching as Kovu received news of his new duties. That duffer was nowhere near ready to lead a pride, and clearly he knew it. In Shani's experience Kovu was good at taking care of himself and talking a big game, but not too much else. To be fair though, he recovered quickly enough to give an answer that overcompensated by being just a little bit too staunchly reliable.

Vitani on the other hand, just listened with a piercingly attentive gaze, and nodded briefly when her name was mentioned. Now that's someone who's ready for leadership he thought to himself. Vitani wasn't without her own thoughts though Shani saw, and he wouldn't be at all surprised if she voiced them before the meeting was over.

When it came his own turn to be mentioned Shani betrayed no surprise, and nodded graciously. Simba must really be hurting for trustworthy pride members if he chose a smooth talking newcomer to officially take over scouting duties, even if the responsibility was shared with a core pride member. Shani found himself wondering why Kopa hadn't been chosen for that duty: he was clearly not an incompetent lion, even if his personal skills weren't in tip-top shape.

Upon reflection he decided that it was probably because Kopa was drowning in the responsibilities of caring for more than one cub. Hadn't he just lost track of that little brat early that morning? Taking on anything in addition to that would probably break Kopa's back. Shani toyed with the idea of offering to take care of the cubs to get on Kopa's good side, but dismissed the thought almost as soon as it entered his mind. He couldn't stand cubs.

[Lodrill]

Laini sighed silently to not disturb Simbas speach. She just threw a stern look at Daxis and did not answer. The meeting was not the time to have a discussion with the cub. Maybe later in the den she would try to bring him to sense. She continued to caress the head of Daxis to keep him calm. The worst thing that could happen now would be Daxis rushing over to the cubs and making a mess during the meeting. Also the lioness who was with the two cubs did not seem to wait long until she would give Daxis a good spank if he would really dare to attack them.

Laini looked into the face of Rahina. The lioness watched the cubs with her black eyes and her facial expression looked pretty relaxed and friendly but it was also visible that she was very protective. She did not even let them out of her eyes once. Also her appearance and the aura that came from Rahina were clearly telling Laini that this lioness was the fighter type. The worst possible opponent for Daxis.

It was not only for Rahina that she wanted to stop Daxis to attack any of the cubs but also because Laini did not like fights. But with Rahina there Laini was really worried what would happen if Daxis really would attack them like he showed the interrest to a few minutes ago.

[hr][/hr]

Rahina followed the speach of Simba but never let the eyes from the cubs. She looked to Simba time by time but ever had one eye on the cubs to check that they were okay. Maybe it was just her overprotective self that showed. She had ever been overprotective of those who were under her care. Kopa, Almasi, long time ago the cubs in the oasis she grew up with and before this her brother....

Rahina forced herself to concentrate on Simbas speach as she started to drift into her unhappy memories.
Rahina was a bit shocked as she heart that Nala would leave with Simba for a few suns. She looked a bit lost to Nala because the queen had been her only friend here so far and the only lioness she could ask for help with her problems regarding her pregnancy and so on.
She was about to speak up as Simba asked for concerns but then she decided to stay silent. Speaking up would not change them going away for a few suns. Also it would maybe make Kopa suspicious.

So Rahina just snuggled her head against Kopa in urgend need to ensure he would not leave with Nala as well and purred softly while her eyes were fondly directed at the cubs. They were so sweet. She just hoped her own cub would be as sweet as these two cubs. She had to decide on names too very soon. Rahina chuckled a bit. Here she was thinking about names or how her cub would be like and yet she did not even find the right time to tell Kopa about the cub to come.

[hr][/hr]

Taraji did not hear anything of what Simba was talking about. She was in a deep and unpleasant dream. In her sleep she whimpered one time very silently and after a while the small body began to shiver slightly. But if this was from the cold breeze that came into the den or from her dreams was not noticable from any other lion.

[SinChei]

Daxis Began to close his eyes as he noticed Simba was talking about things he didn't know he was new in the pride and didn't know some pridemembers Simba talked about. Daxs kept his eyes close but still listened to mosi and almasi and was ready to attack everytime just when the new one would do something what wasn't ok to Daxis.
Daxis had no problem to be with so many lions in kne den like Laini but when he didn't know them he wasn't really well with it too. He continued gnawing his paw when he thought about mosi and now almasi too. The res maned cub was now waiting and begging if any cub would do or say something wrong that he could attack.