preface: shout-out to Anon for the kind review. I have a rant on OC's at the bottom just for you!
Hyena politics
Kuzinga woke up to a great clamor. Judging by the sun, it must've been a bit before noon. All around him was a great bustle of hyenas coming and going, and little groups forming and dissolving. He heard the echoes of a few clanmates play-fighting, and fragments or a raunchy conversation.
It was strange to see everything so crowded all of a sudden - the last thing he remembered before falling asleep was seeing the surroundings of the den nearly deserted, in the dead of night. He'd been so tired he'd simply slept through the noise others made upon arriving or waking up. He yawned the last of his sleep away, and started walking around to see if he could recognize anyone of note.
It wasn't long before he came across Nyeusi. Not exactly someone he relished seeing right then - chances were Mizuri had already had a talk with her about Kuzinga's ill-conceived confession the day before. Then he noticed someone he wanted even less to do with that morning, sitting right next to Nyeusi: an older, heavy hyena with a pale coat, stiff copper-colored manes, and a surly air about her. He would have slunk away, if not for the fact that both of them suddenly noticed, then approached him.
Running away would have been really bad form, yet he gave it serious consideration.
The older hyena addressed him first: "I suppose you're that Kuzinga-fellow I've been hearing so much about."
"Yes, ma'am." He bowed down politely, trying his best to act as formal and oblivious as possible. She wasn't impressed.
"Don't get cute with me." She squinted, seeming to carefully study him for a while, "I guess it could be worse; a bit plain, but you do look like you could stand your own in a fight. Guess my daughter has better taste in guys than I did..."
Kuzinga breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like nobody had told old Nene that her daughter Mizuri had had a falling out with him - yet. He cast a quick sideways glance at Nyeusi, who looked back a bit icier than usual. So Mizuri had probably told her... but maybe asked her to keep it a secret? Nothing to be done about that now...
"You're an awfully silent one, though - lions' got your tongue?" Nene's gruff voice pulled Kuzinga out of his rumination.
"Eh, no, ma'am. I just don't want to say anything wrong, 's all."
Done plenty of that yesterday.
"Smart move. You're not scared of me, are you?"
"A little bit, to be honest, yeah."
"That's probably about the right amount," she grinned. Kuzinga didn't dare smile along, "I'd stick around and scare you a bit more, but there's a Meet going down at high noon, and I being the big deal that I am, have to attend."
So that's why it's so crowded, Kuzinga realized, there was going to be a Meet. All the high-ranking females would formally get together to bitch and moan to the matriarch, and one another, about whatever struck their fancy that day. A public airing of grievances. To be sure, they didn't need a special occasion for that - half the conversations on any given day were of that nature - but at a Meet, it all happened in plain view of everyone of significance. Gave it a more formal cachet.
Nene didn't seem to think much of it.
"Of course I don't enjoy it, but I don't think I can afford not to attend today; Kato has been in a foul mood for a while, and I'll probably have to get between her and Shenzi to stop them from ripping into one another - but why am I telling you this? You're a guy, you probably don't understand half of it..."
Kuzinga nodded agreeably.
"Anyway, I wanted to have a word so I could give you a little pat on the back - Hasira told me you agreed to look after my son Noki, to see if you can make something out of him yet..."
Although he was pleasantly surprised by how Hasira had ingratiated him with Nene, Kuzinga felt like she might have oversold his offer a bit.
"... and if you get down to it, Mizuri's got the same problem, really. The both of them, they're just too nice - you can't be everyone's friend, and every once in a while, you really need to go for the throat. Now, my Mizu, she carries it fairly well, and if she plays it smart, she can have her friends look out for her - you know, have punks like you do the dirty work behind her back. No offense, of course, you seem like an upstanding fellow, helping my Noki and all, but you do look rough around the edges. You been in any fights recently?"
Didn't she have somewhere to be?
"... but it's not that easy for my little Noki - at some point, he'll be out on his own, looking for a new clan, and he has to be able to stand up for himself, not shy away whenever someone looks at him funny. They both take too much after their father, he was a dreamer too - what can I say, I loved the guy. Good thing Mizu's tastes are more conventional - though you shouldn't get your hopes up yet, she's still a bit young after all..."
To Kuzinga's great relief, Nene's ramblings eventually abated, and she hurried off to the Meet. Kuzinga was left behind with Nyeusi.
"So Mizuri has her father's temperament, huh? Two guesses where she got her mouth..."
He only realized how bad it sounded once it was out. Not that it was some great insult, but all the same - why on earth would he be making jokes at Mizuri's expense, to her friend no less - a friend who most likely hated his guts? He'd spoken without thinking again.
Then, the weirdest thing: Nyeusi started giggling, though she was obviously trying not too.
It wasn't even a good joke.
"I shouldn't have laughed," she said once she'd regained her composure, "And you're still a jerk. Come on, let's go have a look at the Meet."
"Say, Nyeusi, you don't happen to know where Mizuri..."
"She's not here. It's none of your business anyway."
One of the reasons the hyenas had picked this particular place for a den, was that part of the surrounding rock-formation created the perfect forum for a Meet. Irregularly stacked rocks lined the inside of an indentation in the hill, with a flat floor at the bottom, so the sides could accommodate about two or three rows of hyenas looking over one another down at the floor, or at the other rows. The Elephant Graveyard had offered many locations like that, but this was the closest fit they could find in the Pridelands.
By the time Nyeusi and Kuzinga got there, they could see about a dozen big and fierce hyenas occupying the rocks, with many more looking on from the sides or the bottom. Only those hyenas sitting on the rocks would have a say in the Meet, though - they were all the matrons of the clan, representing their younger descendents and relatives. Kuzinga recognized Nene, and in the middle of the bottom row, Shenzi. He thought she looked lost without her two hangers-on.
Normally, there'd be a lot of shouting to and fro, a chaotic affair with a lot of sound, resolving nothing. Not today though. Unbeknownst to Nyeusi, Kuzinga, and pretty much all hyenas of lesser stature, it turned out to be a bit of an extraordinary Meet - one subject, one speaker. Such an arrangement didn't come natural to hyenas; it had to have been fixed in advance. A large number of the clan elders shared a concern, and they'd use the Meet to lay it at the paws of their Matriarch in dramatic fashion.
And Shenzi knew it - that's why she was anxious, not because she had to go without Ed and Banzai for a bit.
Unannounced, Shenzi suddenly got up and addressed the gathered crowd - that was the beginning of the Meet. Hyenas aren't much for formalities.
"Allright, you're all here now, so let's hear it. Anyone got anything they want to say?"
The chatter all around fell away, and silence hung thickly over everyone. Shenzi gnashed her teeth in anticipation. Then, the hyena to her left got up. She was the striking image of Hasira, only bigger- same bristly brown manes and dark, squat snout. The only thing to mar the comparison was a hideous scar - deep clawmarks going right across her right eye, white and dead.
Kato, Hasira's mother, and second in command of the clan after Shenzi, her niece. If Nene scared Kuzinga, Kato absolutely terrified him.
"Maybe, before we begin, a few words for someone who can't be here today..." Her tone was as severe as her look.
To Kuzinga's, and pretty much everyone's surprise, she asked that all gathered would spare a moment to think of Toka, Nyeusi's mother, who had been banished from the Pridelands for disrupting Scar's formal coronation ceremony. After his little run-in with Mbili earlier, she'd of course been fresh on Kuzinga's mind, but he suspected the same did not hold true for many of the others. Kato carried on.
"Strange, I still haven't gotten used to it. Banished by the lion Scar, our - King." She almost spat the word. "That's how it is now, we have a king. For those of you who are confused - when it comes to deciding on matters of life or death, on where we can and cannot go, what we can and cannot do, it is not us that have the final say, or our Matriarch. It's the king who gets the final say. A boy king, a lion king..."
It went on like that, a well construed rant on the outrage of having a lion rule over them hyenas, the injustices they'd suffered at the lions' paws in the past - Kato took pains to note how she'd lost an eye to them - and how noble their own customs and ancestors were in comparison to those feline brutes.
Kuzinga wasn't stirred, and he could tell Nyeusi was less than thrilled at having her mom used as a prop to liven up the speech. But others would be of a mind with Kato - hyenas like her who were too proud to suffer the thought of a lion above them, or who felt wronged in some way or another, like Mbili.
Kato stopped short of demanding they do away with the lions entirely and take the Pridelands for themselves, but only just barely. Likewise for doing away with the Matriarch that had subordinated them to the lions. If Mizuri had been with Kuzinga, she could have told him this was what's called a naked power-play: "I should be the Matriarch, not Shenzi - she's just a lion's paw."
Nene suddenly interrupted Kato's ramblings, sneering: "Kato, girlfriend, what a stirring speech - you obviously worked very hard at it... If I could just get a little word in?"
"I don't know, can you?" Kato retorted, obviously annoyed at the interruption, "We all know, if Nene puts in a little word, we might all be here 'till sundown."
That got her some laughs, but Nene shrugged it of: "I promise it won't take long. I just wanted to say it's strange to hear you go on about "lions this" and "lions that," giving darling Shenzi such a tough time of it for keeping in touch with Scar, while your own daughter Hasira has made a lion-friend of her own... I would know, my own Mizu is friends with her too, as is Toka's daughter Nyeusi..."
Nene's "little word" hit home. How could it not: here was Kato decrying the lions and the injustices they'd inflicted upon Toka... while both their daughters were making friends with those same diabolical lions? Hard to take her arguments seriously knowing that. The revelation was greeted with either laughter or indignation, all at Kato's expense. It left her fuming. As soon as things died down again, she made a reply through gritted teeth.
"My daughter has nothing to do with lions - I have forbidden it..."
"Before or after you decided on that little rant?" Shenzi suddenly quipped, "Good thing you forbade her, too, or you would have come across as a big hypocrite... or you know, a bigger one anyway."
She gave Nene a quick smile, now confident she had little to fear from Kato.
"I'll put in a word too - a little one, 'cause I can tell you're all growing bored... can't blame ya, Kato has that effect on a hyena. It's actually a question: is anyone hungry?"
That stumped the crowd. What was she on about? Kato took the bait.
"This is ridiculous, I want to talk about serious issues, life or death - and all you think about is stuffing your face? Can't you think about anything else for one second?"
"I admit it, I have a problem - food is always on my mind. I have a great need for it, can't go without it, I would literally die! Then again, so would you. All of us in fact. No risk of that now, though: I'm not hungry at all, I've got plenty to eat - in fact, I went hunting last night - zebra, my favorite! Still feel a bit stuffed.
"All your talk about how glorious things used to be, with no lion king above us, but you forget to mention one thing: going to sleep hungry. Because that was the choice: accept Scar as our king, or go hungry. For me, that's not even a choice. Think about that whenever your pride is a-hurting again...
"That goes for all of you. So you don't like the lions, fine. I know, they're a smelly, pushy bunch. Ugly, too. But you better pray you never have to fight one. And thanks to me, you'll never have to – you have peace, and you'll never go hungry again.
"All right, that's all, Meet over, now scram."
"Next time you want to challenge me, just come at me, so I can rip out that silver tongue of yours," Shenzi growled. Kato took it in stride.
"Better we settle it at the Meet than fight over every little thing..."
"Little, I'm so sick of that word! And it wasn't a little thing, you challenged me, in front of the clan! Good thing Nene took you down, so I didn't have to."
"Other hyenas came to me first. Everyone thinks it, I'm just the first to say it. Better that you know it's out there, Shenzi. The clan is worried, and I can't blame them – this isn't who we are! Ruled over by a lion king, what a travesty... only a fool would trust the lions..."
"Whatever, long as everyone's fat and happy, they'll deal. And as for you: if you pull a stunt like this again, I'll have your neck."
True to form, as a good subordinate should, Kato bowed her head before leaving the Meeting-place. On the way out, she passed by Nyeusi and Kuzinga, both of whom were quick to grovel before her. Kato had a tendency to viciously attack anyone who didn't know their place. They waited until she was out of earshot.
"So this is what it was all about, huh?" Nyeusi commented wrily. It took Kuzinga a moment to realize she was talking about him, and not about the Meet. So she knew he was there to tell Shenzi off - Mizuri did tell her, then.
"Yeah..."
Nyeusi didn't speak, but just motioned towards Shenzi, as a way of urging him to get on with it. Then she turned to leave.
"Hey, Nyeusi, wait - see you later?"
Without looking back, she shrugged: "Maybe."
Now Kuzinga was left alone with Shenzi, who still sat in the middle of the now deserted meeting place. She was lying down, eyes closed, with her nose buried in her forepaws. It was hard to tell what she was doing. She didn't seem to have noticed him. He hesitated to approach her.
"M-ma'am?" he stuttered, "Shenzi?"
"Yeah, who is it?" Her voice broke at the end, and she sniffed.
"I-it's Kuzinga..."
"Who?" Shenzi looked up at him. Her eyes were puffy. "Oh, it's you. I've seen you before, I think. Sorry if I can't quite recall how or when, I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment, if you can't tell."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..." Kuzinga swallowed, "I should go..."
"No, it's all right, stay... You pretty much ruined the moment already. That's the thing with you guys, you're all idiots when it comes to these things. Did you see the Meet?"
"I did. You were good, I mean, you had a good point..."
"Just good?" Shenzi smiled weakly, "Dang, you sure know how to make a lady feel better about herself." She gave him another glance. "But at least you're nice to look at."
"No, I mean, you were right, and Kato was wrong - isn't that what matters?"
"Usually not, no." Shenzi frowned, and righted herself, "Now, what are you here for? It'd better not be to cheer me up, 'cause you're doing a lousy job at it."
"Eh, that's not it, no. I mean, if I'd known you... then I, eh..."
"Adorable. I'll give you another chance: what are you here for?"
"Spy. You asked me to spy on the lions, some time ago. Less than a year, I think. And... I ... I don't want to anymore. So I won't... And, you know, sorry about that, I guess."
Shenzi looked at him incredulously. After a while, she pouted her lips: "Sure, if you say so."
"You look like you don't you remember."
"I don't. I'm the matriarch, honey, I ask others to do things for me all the time - you can't expect me to remember all of it. I mean, you were at the Meet, weren't you? Did you see what I have to contend with? And that's not even counting Scar!"
"Oh..."
"Don't feel bad - it's not you, it's me. So, a spy! Look at that. Find out anything juicy? Why decide to quit?"
"It... it didn't feel right to spy on my friends," Kuzinga stuttered, with a mounting sense of embarrassment.
"Wait... didn't you just say you had to spy on the lions? You have lion friends too?"
"I do. But it's also about the other hyenas who hang out with them... I didn't want to be dishonest about why I befriended them in first place..."
"Man, I used to feel special because I was friends with Scar, but now everyone seems to be hooking up with the lions. What a bummer. I don't suppose you found out anything I should know about?"
"I don't think so... And if I told you, that would mean I'd still be spying for you, so..."
"You're exaggerating," Shenzi interrupted, "I mean, friends talk about other friends all the time, don't they? If you told me about your lion friends, it would just be that – a friendly chat, nothing to do with spying."
"... maybe." Kuzinga wasn't convinced. "But nothing happened anyway, so it doesn't matter..."
"Really, nothing? Not one interesting tidbit, nothing extraordinary? Just something plain weird, maybe?"
"Well..." Kuzinga hesitated. Could he tell her about lions who weren't actually his friends? That probably wouldn't be wrong, he didn't owe them anything. "I guess there was one thing, before I got to know Tuli... or was it the same day? I dunno. I didn't know what to do, so I just followed this suspicious looking lioness around for a bit, one day. I think she was called Ziri, or something. She was all on her own, and she chased me for a bit, which had me thinking she was up to something. But all she did was go rock-climbing. That's about the weirdest thing I saw."
"Rock-climbing? That's kind of unusual I suppose. Lions can do all sorts of things with those big claws of theirs. How high up Priderock did she get?"
"No, it wasn't Priderock, it was the side of the Gorge. She made it all the way out, too. I didn't think she could, but..."
"The Gorge, huh?" Shenzi squinted knowingly, but carried on in a conversational tone, "Well, if that's the weirdest thing you saw, count yourself lucky. I was with Scar this one time, and..."
By the time their little chat wound down, Shenzi's mood seemed to have significantly improved, mostly at Kuzinga's expense, and they parted amicably. Strange. Kuzinga had expected things to go differently. He went in thinking Shenzi would be livid at him for backing out on their deal, shout at him, threaten him, attack him, kick him out of the clan even. Turned out she hardly even remembered his face, and couldn't care less about what he had to say.
Truly, he should have been relieved, safe in the knowledge that he was now a permanent member of a strong clan, living in abundance and peace. But he mostly just felt confused, and cheated, somehow. He'd gone through all that trouble of making a confession, and possibly alienated Mizuri and the lionesses, gotten in a fight, sat through a Meet, and been entrusted with the education of some pathetic little brat - all for no reason, it turned out. He didn't even get a cathartic moment out of it. Doing absolutely nothing would have yielded better results.
Try as he might, Kuzinga couldn't see the humor in it.
author's notes: so, on original characters in fanfiction... I suppose you should keep them to a minimum. Too many of your own things, and it stops being fanfiction, you know? Also, keep characters to a minimum in general, so if the role can be filled by a canon-character, or you can condense two OC into one, do it like that.
… he said after two chapters with barely two canon-characters between them. So take that with a grain of salt. Looking at this story, I suppose if I really wanted to rigorously apply the above formula, I should replace Tuli with Sarafina, and condense Sarafina and Sarabi's roles into Sarabi... maybe replace Kuzinga with Banzai... I don't think I will now, though; I've growing too attached to the new cast already.
