I never thought it would become necessary for me to update a story I finished nearly 6 years ago now, however having just logged into my account for the first time in a while and seen the sudden surge of anonymous reviews from a variety of people I think I would like to clear things a few things up:
1. The anonymous reviews signed as Flaming-Bee are not me, and I would really appreciate it if whoever is doing them would refrain from repeating this in the future. I appreciate that the gesture may have come from a good place but if I have an opinion or a response to things I would like the opportunity to vocalise that for myself, rather than have anyone act on my behalf. Hence this new chapter :)
2. This is a fanfiction story I wrote 6 years ago. I have in no way tried to say this a canon or definitive version of events, I have not said anything regarding my thoughts on VitanixKopa, BogaxKopa or any other pairings that can crop up from the fandom apart from a possible occasional bit in the author's notes, which again I wrote 6 years ago. This is a story based on one particular pairing that I enjoyed at that time, my manipulation of the characters is artistic license and as fanfiction writers we tend to take artistic license, to take a fresh spin on stories or to see 'well what if it had been like this instead'. The Lion King itself is a work of fiction, open for interpretation and I think it's wrong to judge anybody on their own personal interpretation of a story they enjoy. Which leads me to…
3. If you don't like VitanixKopa, don't read a story about that ship. The story is clearly tagged Friendship/Romance with the characters Vitani and Kopa, but even if you did just happen to click and start reading and realise this story isn't your thing or about the ship you enjoy just stop reading. I've not forced my views or this story on anyone, if you enjoy different pairings that's great - I enjoy a whole host of pairings and characters, including Boga, across a huge number of fandoms. If you're looking for a BogaxKopa story to entertain you then this isn't it and I won't apologise for that because the creative choices I make in my own work is my choice alone. I write and always have written for myself, with other people's enjoyment as a secondary thought.
4. Thank you for all the positive things that have been said. I have skimmed through all the copious reviews left and whilst a lot of it seems to be negative in some form, whether at each other or the story or myself, there are a few of you still saying lovely things about being fans of my work and asking for more etc. I really do appreciate every kind word from the bottom of my heart. I have no immediate plans to write anymore TLK work in the future, but I love some of the ideas that get sent my way and definitely encourage you all to perhaps explore writing them yourselves! I'll happily answer any inboxes if you guys wanted any help with writing yourselves (although do be patient as I have a hectic life and don't get online often) :)
5. I completely support your right to say your opinions on this story. I do not support it being phrased in an abusive or rude fashion. I have noted there are a handful of you who, although you disliked the story, managed to phrase this opinion in a polite way, and I would like to thank you for that. Authors will never please every reader, or even a majority of readers, all the time and it is important for us to acknowledge this, and I personally think it's important that you as readers feel able to put forward your thoughts if you so please, whatever they may be. I do not condone abusive language, or rude comments designed to hurt or attack the author of stories. Please re-think the way you act on sites such as this if you go about spouting hate on any story you dislike or disagree with, that's is certainly not what the creators of intended for the site.
6. Please refrain from using the reviews section of this story as a message board. It's incredibly tiresome and irrelevant to the content of the story, if you want to discuss ships and such there are plenty of spaces designed for that elsewhere online.
Hopefully this will all be taken on board, if not I will probably have to close anonymous reviews for my stories which I would really hate to do as it limits feedback only to those with an account when I know from personal experience that guests want that opportunity too. All the best to everyone reading!
Flaming-Bee