Accidental Encounter [Kopa]

[Nala]

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NALA
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The sun had risen on her beautiful Pridelands hours ago, and it was no surprise that her King arose with it to patrol the Lands' parameters and address his other daily duties. Sitting atop Pride Rock, Nala took a moment to simply bask in the warm rays the sun provided and couldn't help the resulting smile as she saw a few of the animals below doing the same. To think that Scar had almost taken this away from them forever...Thoughts about Scar and his rule, the betrayal against his own brother, and then the fact that because of him both she and Simba were deprived of a childhood together always angered her, but she'd learned a long time ago that what was done could not be undone. Life moved on; the great Circle of Life continued.

Hm...I wonder where Kiara and Kovu have ventured off to this time…

The idle thought elicited a soft chuckle from the Queen. It seemed like only a short time ago Simba was unable to not send Timon and Pumbaa to watch over their daughter, but now..."We are one." It was a lesson that withstood the test of time and even now she saw the truth of those words not only in their extended Pride, but especially when she looked at her daughter and her mate and future King, Kovu.

Deciding it was time to get out and enjoy the day to the fullest, Nala stood and stretched before making her way down to the grasslands below. She didn't need to rally the lionesses to hunt until later, so that gave her more than enough time to do as she saw fit. Considering the hunt was in her blood however, it wasn't surprising that of all the things that came to mind, scouting for an ideal hunting ground for later was at the top of the list. All it took was a sniff of the air, and then she was off. Passing a few animals grazing in the vicinity, a quick nod of acknowledgment was all she could give so as not to lose her momentum. Most were even used to it by now.

Her pace slowed only upon approaching the borders of the Pridelands and immediately she was one with the tall lush grass and the soil beneath her paws. The skills that made her the excellent huntress she was came into play as she became one with her surroundings while venturing into the Neutral Lands. With the scent of the herd now overwhelming her olfactory senses, Nala knew she was close to their grazing ground and ultimately her lionesses’ hunting ground as well.

[kopa]

Kopa had long since left the little oasis that he'd shared with the Cheetah Rao. The pair had gotten along well in the time they'd spent together but in the end Kopa had told the Cheetah that there were things he needed to do. He had to confront his parents, he'd wrestled with the idea over and over again but in the end he'd come to the same conclusion. If he wanted peace then he would have to confront them and settle the score between them, set the record straight. More troubling than his thoughts was the fact that he found himself unable to remember their faces or even their scents anymore.

It had been so long since he'd felt his mothers love or seen his fathers face that he could no longer remember what they looked or smelled like, or even what their voices sounded like. All he could see were vague shapes when he dreamed of them and even then they were just faceless lions with teeth ready to tear him apart in his dreams. The nightmares were disconcerting to say the least but he was Kopa, he wasn't afraid of anything, especially something so cubbish as a dream.

He'd woken early this morning and headed towards the direct he knew would take him to their lands. It was a direct route but he'd taken his time, he'd hunted along the way already, picking off something small for himself and taking his time eating. He'd even stopped to laze around a waterhole to put off his return to his home, after he'd cleaned himself for the thousandth time so his coat shone like gold and his mane like pure copper he couldn't make any more excuses to stop. He'd directed his clear blue gaze at the ground and was arguing with himself so fiercely that he didn't even notice the herds ahead of him.

Unfortunately for him it wasn't gazelle he startled but a group of water buffalo. The creatures were merciless when they started to chase him snorting, they were too big for him to take on and he started off at a sprint with them hot on his heels. Their bellows of anger made him push himself hard so that when he entered the borders of the Pridelands he didn't even notice. He wouldn't have stopped running likely until he reached Pride Rock if not for the sudden body in his way. The long cream form tripped him up and he tumbled over the female doing his best not to crush her while they tumbled.

He managed to roll them out of the way of the stampede into some long grass and stood hastily. He knew where he was now and this had to be a Pridelander, not his most graceful entrance or the one he wanted. He swallowed hard and sized her up before taking some steps back suddenly speechless, "I...water buffalo..." his eyes darted everywhere when he settled on the large male water buffalo's that was turning their way again. He lunged forward bumping her side to help her up, "Run!" he yelped and turned tail making sure she was at his side. Just one he could handle but three or four he could not, he was brave but he wasn't stupid.

[Nala]

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NALA
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Their scent grew stronger with each cautious step towards the herd and deep inside she couldn’t help the excitement starting to grow. Tonight’s hunt would be amazing and also have the Pride set for at least the next couple of days. Just a little closer and then— Suddenly her body became rigid as she stopped where she was. Being one with her surroundings at the moment, she could sense the subtle changes. Glancing down at her feet, the vibration in the soil was the first thing noticed and then her ears twitched. They were on the move? “NO!” Her exclamation came between gritted teeth as she suppressed a growl, ready to take off running once more to see just who or what was responsible for scaring away her prey.

What happened next was too fast for even the lioness to react, and before she realized it she was being attacked by what appeared to be a large cat of some kind, perhaps even one of her own kind. Even in their tumbling she could tell that it was a male, and was already growling fiercely by the time he was off her. Baring all of her canines as she got to her feet, her blue eyes narrowed on his. Simba and Kovu were the only male lions in the Pridelands, so who was this lion; an outsider? Considering his first action was to attack their Queen, she was willing to bet anything that he was. Yet, he wasn’t attacking…She watched him size her up and did the same. She could tell that he was young but that was hardly enough to get her to relax.

His next words however…Nala raised her head suddenly and saw exactly what he did, one upset large male water buffalo. Her ears flattened against her head as two others in his herd turned as well and when the male lion bumped into her again, there was no objection. She took off behind him and was soon at his side, heading to anywhere that got them out of the path of the wild beasts. Borders of the various lands didn’t matter currently. “You couldn’t have just angered a small herd of deer, instead?” The rhetorical question was asked loud enough for him to hear over the sound of the angry hoofs hitting the soil behind them, but she kept up her pace for now. She could take down at least one of them on her own, but the element of surprise had been lost and she had no idea how good this lion was or if she could count on him to have her back. After all, she still thought their initial ‘encounter’ was an attack of some kind.

We…can’t keep….running…

“Tell me you…at least…know how…to hunt?” She meant no disrespect to him, but hunting was a lioness’s job after all.