Author's Note: Hello readers, I apologize for the delay, I hope you enjoy this next chapter. During the testimonies sections, anytime you see three dots between phrases in this chapter, that means that a different person will be giving their testimony after the person mentioned before the dots. Also this is my longest chapter yet so I apologize if this causes any inconveniences, I hope you enjoy.
Third Person P.O.V:
The group of humans and hybrids was walking down the hallway while continuing their conversations from the time before the announcement, including a conversation between Jasiri, Makini and Rani.
"Really?!...a tranquilizer gun?!..." Rani said.
"Yeah, when Edwin first discovered about us being hybrids and realized it wasn't a hallucination or practical joke, he thought he walked into some classified government experiment and ran. He was too fast for Rafiki to get his tea so he basically had to get a tranquilizer gun he had for some reason, and we had to drag Edwin's unconscious body to Rafiki's office so that we could explain the whole thing to him." Jasiri said.
"Yeah, I remember that you initially thought that it was a real gun and freaked out when you first saw Edwin unconscious." Makini said.
"In my defense, it looked similar to a real gun and I freaked out because it reminded me of a few of the random killings that first occurred in the Outlands in the early days of the droughts." Jasiri said.
"Okay, that's fair…..I went more smoothly when my colleague Pete first found out, we just invited him to Rafiki's office, let ourselves transform in front of him, while Rafiki gave him his famous tea to help him calm down….Wait...Rani….does your colleague Henry know about...you know…." Makini said in a curious tone.
"Oh yeah….he found out about my lioness form a while ago and let's just say when he first saw my anthropomorphic lioness form...let's just say he fainted out of shock which was slightly awkward because we basically just finished this School Improvement day event and I had to wait for him to wake up to explain the whole thing." Rani said.
"Yeah, I noticed that humans always act so strange when we first show them our hybrid forms." Jasiri said as the group continued to walk down the hallway.
Edwin P.O.V:
We were all walking down the hallway until we ended up in front of a tall gray door, through which we entered into a lecture hall in which there were almost two dozen rows of seats, but only like four of those rows will be occupied since there is only about fifty of us in the entire group, I guess there was limited availability in lecture halls tonight.
All of the seats seem to have red cushioning, and in front of these seats is a stage which stands below a white screen from which I assume was left over from the last lecture in this room. There is also a wooden podium facing the front of the stage with a small microphone attached to the top.
As we came into the lecture hall, Rafiki basically numbered us off so that each human will sit between two hybrids and each hybrid will sit between two humans. Unfortunately I did not get assigned to be next to Jasiri…..but I did get assigned next to Vuruga so at least I know one person next to me. The other hybrid I sat next to was an anthropomorphic white bird in a security guard uniform, I read the name tag of his uniform and I saw it said Ono, and I recognize the name as that of a security guard that frequents the second floor. As I looked behind me, I noticed the Jasiri was two rows behind me between these two people whom I don't know, so they are probably from other departments.
After five minutes of getting settled in, I saw Rafiki get on the stage and walked towards the podium and tapped the microphone in order to test it. After a couple of taps, the crowd became silent.
"Hello friends, colleagues and guests...welcome to the first meeting of the Field Museum's Human-Hybrid Alliance. I am Rafiki Mwongozo from the Human Resources department and I am forming this organization in order to improve relations between the human and hybrid workers of this museum, which I hope can help improve the perception of hybrids in human society, as well as help gain a better understanding of both sides experiences so that we will be a better community for each other." Rafiki said, which was followed by applause from everyone in the audience, including myself.
"Let us start off with this….today, July 30, 2019….it has been twenty-one years since the day we first became hybrids and entered human society. Whether our previous homes, friends and family were brought down by a coup, chaos or months of long drought, we all ended up facing the obstacles that we endured in experiencing life as humans while we transform into two-legged versions of our species every single night. During tonight's session hybrids will come up to share some of the obstacles they have faced either in our previous homelands and our obstacles adjusting to the human world. Humans, you will share any emotional or personal life obstacles you have faced and discuss why you have joined this organization. Before we start, let us have a moment of silence for those who have passed during the Tree of Life coup, and as a result of the Great Drought that afflicted the Outlands and Pride Lands…" Rafiki said, then leaning his head down towards the podium as part of the moment of silence and everyone else in the audience, including myself did the same.
The room was silent for the first two minutes until Rafiki began to speak again.
"Okay, now let's begin today's meeting with personal accounts of our personal lives, would it be okay if I go first?.." He asked, which was followed with most people saying Sure or That's fine with me.
Third Person P.O.V.
"Okay, I'll go first...So as you know my name is Rafiki Mwongozo and I work at the Human Resources department here at the museum but before my transformation into a hybrid, I used to be a royal Mjuzi of the Pride Lands. What was a mjuzi to be exact….we you can say it was an advisor to the Royal family of the Pride Lands, but I was also what you would call a master of ceremonies, a historian, a healer and a spiritual advisor for the entire Pride Lands. Ever since I was young, I saw being mjuzi as my life's duty and desire….but when the drought came, I honestly felt hopeless and felt as if there was nothing I can do to fix the situation and when I transformed into a hybrid...I realized that my role as Pride Lands mjuzi permanently came to an abrupt end. When I was adjusting to the human world at first, I had no idea what to do because I had previously invested my entire life in being a mjuzi and now at my age, I'm starting from square one. It was difficult at first because before working for the museum's human resource department, I had a total of nearly thirty jobs over a span of twelve or thirteen years. So I guess I became interested in Human Resources because not only am I closer to my personal friends but I get to help fellow employees and visitors improve their experiences, so in a way, I felt that I have regained part of my old self from this job since I get to work with colleagues and other people on a daily basis….." Rafiki said.
...
"...So yeah, after Hadithi disappeared after our last 'conversation', things in the Pride Lands just started to get even worse in the Pride Lands, whether it is chaos from the dwindling resources and populations or the pressure to try to maintain peace when I myself am secretly stressing my mind away. A few days later, we decided to begin the search for more fertile lands, we met the guy we came to know as 'the shaman' and gave us the injections that changed our lives forever. After I woke up to first see myself in my human form, you wouldn't have believed the shock I felt because suddenly in my sleep, my physical appearance changes, my feathers beak and talons are gone, I can no longer fly and I have grown taller. I also noticed that my voice was slightly higher than I remembered and 'the shaman' told me that for some reason I transformed into human age 10, which I didn't know was a juvenile stage for humans. Why was I transformed to a human of that age, I didn't know, but I still had all my memories as an adult eagle. I was made to live with my assigned guide, I experienced my first transformation into the anthropomorphic form of my eagle form. The first few minutes I was just plain confused and wondered what this shaman did to my body, but then I felt this sense of euphoria as a possible return to my old life. So one time I tried to see if I could fly again by jumping off the bed that was in my room but all that did was sprain one of my ankles. I was pretty disappointed to find out that even when I will transform into an anthropomorphic version of my old self, I cannot fly like my old self. Then came my next obstacle...my guide told me I have to learn some new stuff for this thing called 'school' human juveniles go to, and let me just tell you, my first year of school was a whole new level of awkward for me…" Anga discussed.
...
"...During the drought, I lost basically half of my elephant herd from complications of dehydration or starvation from the drought. Several others just abandoned our former homelands, not being able to emotionally understand everything that was going on around us and a few were hunted. When I became the only living elephant left in the Pride Lands, I just remember feeling an immense amount of guilt because I felt that I let my entire herd down and when I transformed into a hybrid, similar to Rafiki's experience, I was confused of what I was going to do with my life, so I began to take night classes when I had the free time and I began to develop an interest in the sciences because it was the study of the formation, functions and behaviors of the natural and inorganic phenomenon present on both this planet and the universe. When started to learn more about cells, molecules and genes, it made me curious about the molecular basis of our daily transformations and made me thought that perhaps when I have the resources, perhaps I can further explore my curiosity whether it might be finding the molecular basis of how our transformations were possible to a deeper understanding of some of the molecular or natural phenomenon on this planet. I guest you can say that even when I was working other jobs at first, I was drawn to science because it offered investigations and explanations of concepts or items I didn't even know existed. I stayed in Tanzania for two years, after which I moved to the United States under my friends' suggestions and let's just say it first took quite some time to fully adjust to this change in location…" Ma Tembo recalled.
...
"...The next several weeks after my transformation mostly consisted of my guide teaching Makuu and I skills that we needed in the human world such as learning how to read, write, do basic math, chores, teaching us about what exactly money is, and teaching us certain concepts of society and human interactions. Eventually, since I was transformed at human age 7, my guide told me I had to go to a place called school. I was placed in what humans called second grade after paperwork was completed. In my mind, the classroom was a safeplace for me because I was in an environment in which I was able to nurture the curiosities I had of my new world and my search for what I might want to do for the rest of my life in this world. Even when my teachers seem to have sympathized with me and my situation, most of my classmates were not, many of them called me names or always picked on me for being the so-called weird girl who always read in the corner during our recess period rather than playing in the courtyard like all of the others. With my lack of major social life, I mostly just read during my freetime as I was gradually adjusting more to the human world, which actually helped me excelled in school. Around two years after that, my guide was offered a work position in Milwaukee in the United States and soon Makuu and I also moved there from Tanzania and let me say that it was difficult to adjust to the winters there and sometimes I still have trouble adjusting to the winters here in Chicago. Soon after moving there, I began fourth grade in the US, even when I still excelled in my classes, I still had many difficulties trying to form new friendships. There were several occasions where there were school events in the evening or night and many of my classmates and teachers saw my hyena form, and even when the teachers seemed sympathetic about my situation, that did not stop the name calling from my classmates to get worse than it was than my old school in Tanzania. Everyday I was called names like werewolf, dog-girl, freak, and many others. I didn't really make a close friend or so until I reached high school, which was also where I ended up with another obstacle….what am I going to do after I graduate ..." Jasiri said.
...
"...Throughout the duration of my first two years of living in human society, I kept feeling some sort of guilt because I was supposed to be the future Queen of the Pride Lands and with the many deaths or departures that took place during the drought, I just felt that there was something I could have done even when I know there was nothing I could have done to stop the drought. It was difficult adjusting to human society because for all my life I was training to be the future queen of the Pride Lands and now all of the sudden, I can't do that anymore and I needed a new plan for my life. There was just so much to navigate for me in the human world ranging from school, social interactions and basic life-skills. Even when I was doing emotionally okay in school, more obstacles came when my family and I came to the US because that was the summer before I started sixth grade, and that was going to be my first year of something called middle school and after that began, my time in middle school were the three most awkward years in my life. Even when my mate Kovu and I ended up in the same city, we had different guides so we went to different middle schools, but we ended up in the same high school. It was a little difficult to emotionally go through because my mate was at a different school, I am at a new school in which I knew nobody, and I felt I almost had no one to confide to because my younger brother went to a separate elementary school, and my parents were still trying to figure out their new lives, so I guess you can say I felt trapped and isolated during that time…." Kiara said.
...
"...I was confused at human society at first because back in the Pride Lands, I was used to being the one to keep track of things and do my best to try to maintain order or settle certain matters with the best of my abilities. When I first experienced human society, I was just confused because there was so much chaos and disorder on this entire planet and human society itself and sometimes it bothers me that in many cases, I cannot really have any direct control over it. I had particular difficulties when I ever saw something about politics because I didn't realize how sporadic world politics can get. I was already confused on what to do for now since I cannot be a majordomo anymore since my position no longer exists. Sometimes it was a little confusing to navigate my new life in a world I knew absolutely nothing about, that confusion seemed to have amplified when I tried to find a job while also attending night school classes to catch up with the average education of a human adult..." Zazu said.
...
"...There were some things about human society I still haven't adjusted to at that time. I got picked on a lot because to several of my classmates, I was this creepy loner kid. Which meant that I spent a lot of study halls and lunch periods in the library, which was where I started to read out of boredom and I was particularly fond of the books the school had on the history of ancient human civilizations, archaeology and even the occasional physical sciences book. So I guess you can say all of that time in the library was how I first got introduced to the field of artifact conservation. So yeah, I basically spent a large chunk of my free time in middle school in the library. So I checked a few books out once in a while and read them during my free time, usually after I finished my homework. Other than that, before Kiara and I were reunited in high school, middle school was pretty much three years of torture since I basically got either picked on me for being a loner or for those who have seen my lion form….afraid that I would some how get mad and claw them to death. Despite that, I have really been involved in two physical altercations at that school and let me tell you, even when my mother trained me how to fight as a cub, those techniques did not do a damn thing for me in the courtyard. When I don't have sharp claws and teeth, all my mother's fighting techniques only helped me get two trips to the nurse's office. There was one moment where I came close being involved in a fight in my lion form, but after I transformed that particular night they basically just ran away. Now let me tell you about when I got to high school….." Kovu recalled.
...
"...I was in a similar situation, about half of my herd died from the drought or just plainly abandoned me. I was confused because I had no idea what to do and there was nothing I could do to stop the drought in any way. After my transformation into a hybrid, I remembered that my first human job ever was as a custodian at the village's high school. I think that helped sparked my initial interest in science because as I cleaned the science labs in that building, I was mesmerized by the equipment I saw in the laboratory. Of course no one was using them because I clean the labs after school hours in most cases but anyway I became curious about these unique pieces of equipment I have never seen before in my life. After my shift ends, I try to look up more information about these pieces of equipment, whether it is through books or online. This also enabled me to get to explore the fields that each piece of equipment was associated with. I particularly became fond of the biological and molecular sciences. When I moved to the US, I was trying everything to keep up with my goals towards my new goals in my human life because after earning my GED, I had to shift between community college classes during the day and custodial shifts at night. Some of my obstacles changed when I briefly lived in Florida to complete my undergraduate degree…." Bupu discussed.
...
"...I was still trying to fathom the massive betrayal from Surak and Nirmala because they helped me gain my sight back and find a place at the Tree of Life...but to cause all those lives lost and forced my friends and I out of the places they helped give us, I was just heartbroken, devastated and hurt that two lions that helped me in the past just forced me out of the life I grew to love. I was still trying to get over the loss I experienced in the Tree of Life when the drought in the Pride Lands hit. There was so much death, at times I wish my eyesight didn't return to normal so that I can avoid seeing all the misery and death around me, but it was too late for that since the images were already implanted in my brain. In particular, there was a bird that I personally knew that I was close to, who was helping feed her daughter amidst the drought. She was probably one of the most humble birds I ever met because she tried everything to keep her daughter alive with dwindling resources, but she also reduced her own food intake for her daughter to survive longer which eventually contributed to her death from starvation. After the mother died, I tried my best to try to take care of her daughter but with continuously dwindling food sources along with a sporadic patrol schedule, it was still not enough and within a week or two of her mother's death, her body just gave up from a combination of starvation and dehydration. Witnessing all the death I saw was one of the toughest obstacles in my life and those memories created impediments after my transformation into a hybrid when it came to adjusting to the human world. In my first year as a hybrid in the human world, I had trouble associating with most of the non-hybrid humans around me because I was just afraid of the unknowns of the results of such communications…." Ono said.
...
"...After a few members of my herd left the Pride Lands, I ended up losing the rest of my herd to starvation or dehydration and I was basically all alone from there. When the last member of my herd died, I was not only depressed over the loss of my friend, but I was also angry, confused and just insecure because I was wondering what I was going to do since I no longer have a herd. Once I transformed into a hybrid, I was facing a whole new set of obstacles because along with adjusting to a new life, I also had to find out my purpose in this world since I can no longer be a herd leader or even a herd member. In the village I got a job working at a local market helping customers with their merchandise or being the cashier part of the time, while taking night classes after each of my shifts. I used to listen to the radio frequently and I usually have it tuned to the news station where I listen to discussions about current events. I was particularly interested in the science discussions and I remembered the discussion that peaked my interest in genetics was one on the molecular basis on genetically modified organisms. That discussion peaked my interests in genetics because it made me curious on how alterations in a genome can affect the long term health and physical impacts of living organisms, which made me more curious about the role of genetic alterations in my own transformation. Eventually, I earned my GED, moved to the US and got a job as a night cashier at a supermarket while taking community college courses during the day and now I was struggling to juggle all those for my first two years in this country….." Vuruga said.
...
"After all of the death I saw at both the Tree of Life ad the Pride Lands, I felt that I have completely failed my duty as a Mjuzi in both of those land because I fled the first land out of pressure because I would have been executed if I stayed, while a series of catastrophic climate events damaged the land and residents of the second location. After my transformation and first adjusting to the human world, I was totally confused because like Rafiki said earlier, I was also destined to be a mjuzi and had no idea what to do after that. As I was trying to figure myself out, I just decided to focus on school and learning life skills. I was confused about which direction I was heading to with my interests because i was enjoying what I am learning from my lessons in art, history and science but I can't really decide which area of study I liked best. This lasted both my first two years as a human in Tanzania and my first year in the US, but then I reached what humans called fifth grade. One day, I was running away from this classmate who used to pick on me and they eventually stopped following me when recess ended and we had to get back in the building, which the period after recess was when my class had library period that day. I was sitting against some shelves one day and a book fell from one of the shelves and fell on my head. It didn't hurt and I wanted to see what was the book that fell on me and the cover of the book was an image of the alpha-helix structure of DNA and the title 'Introduction to DNA, RNA and the World of Genetics'. I never read the book before so I got curious and checked the book out for a week and read it during my freetime and let's just say that book basically changed my life because it introduced me to a whole new world of possibilities for my life. I feverishly read that book whenever I had the freetime to do so, which eventually fueled my interests in genetics and the molecular sciences ..." Makini recalled.
...
"...So during the drought, everything was going downhill for everyone in the Pride Lands, not only in the losses of resources but the devastating loss of lives too. Several friends and acquaintances I knew died in the course of the drought, while a few straight up abandoned us. I once knew a lioness named Zuri, and two of us were best friends since we were infants. I remembered when we were cubs, she, Kiara and I used to hang out with each other all the time, talking about how Kiara was going to be queen of the Pride Lands and we will act as her advisors and such. Eventually when we grew up, Kiara started to spend slightly more time with her mate Kovu, but I was alright with that because she really loves the guy and even if we slightly grew apart, we still found time to talk to each other and plus I still had Zuri to hangout with. When the drought began in the Pride Lands, our friendship became much more strained. We started to argue more frequently, practically once or twice everyday, they first started out as small heated discussions on the dwindling resources and malnourished populations but within a week or so they became full on screaming matches ranging on topics such as the deaths around us, which include both of our mothers, as well as the distribution of resources to its residents. I used to get so mad because she was acting so arrogant and seemed to try to act on what is going on around us. One night, we had one of our worst fights yet, basically she was accusing me of being a bad friend, being inconsiderate to 'her needs' and refusing to see her side of the story in certain situations. I responded to her telling her that I was listening to her, but she just denied claims and ranted about some of the most pointless shit. I just had it there and basically called her an arrogant, inconsiderate and manipulative lioness who only seemed to care about the things that pertain to her life and did not even give me an ounce of empathy when my mom died when I basically gave her all my condolences when her mom died. Sure there might have been times where she was still grieving but reflecting back on those arguments we had, noting she seemed to briefly mention Kiara in each of the arguments such 'if Kiara still hanged out with us then so-and-so' or 'I wish that Kiara were here'. This made me realize that she still hasn't gotten over Kiara and us growing apart and I told her that I can try to be there for her as best as she can but she snarky replied that I wouldn't provide the royal family benefits Kiara did. The argument went on for several minutes with me continuing to call her out on being egoistic and just plain inconsiderate. After that everything between us became silent for the rest of the day...it was the worst argument we had. The next morning me and the other remaining lions and lionesses in the pride woke up, and to our surprise we found that Zuri completely disappeared, no scent could be tracked, no one could find her or have seen her since last night….she just ...disappeared. We don't know how or where she was going, but all we knew was Zuri most likely abandoned the pride and hid her scent so no one from her old life could find her. I was just devastated that this was the manner in which our friendship ended and this haunted me during both my last days in the Pride Lands and my adjustment to the human world. Even today I'm still curious about where Zuri goes off too. Knowing the average lifespan of a lion, she is definitely dead by now, but I can't help wondering how and where she died and was there anyone for her before she died…." Tiifu recalled.
...
"...Yeah, so after my dad died, I was beginning to gradually lose hope that things will get back to normal. I was still trying to get over the massacre at the Tree of Life and the deaths I've seen so far . I started to spend more time with this elephant named Mtoto, who used to practically idolize me when I was in the Lion Guard. We used to help with relief efforts to combat the drought in the Pride Lands...but I eventually saw that the drought was starting to get to him emotionally. He seemed to have become depressed and distressed about the whole situation of the drought itself, ranging from the deaths all around us to the desolation of a once fertile and prominent land. This went on for a while...but the final straw for him was when his mother succumbed to to dehydration a few weeks after he joined me in relief efforts...he was never really the same after his mother's passing. He basically became much more emotionally distant, more depressed than usual and it became much harder for him to handle since he was also suffering from moderate malnutrition and dehydration from the constant decreases of resources. One day, I noticed that Mtoto was more distant or seemed more distressed than usual and he basically had this expression of destitute on his face, I felt bad for him and told him that he could take the next few days off because along with emotionally detached, he seemed to been lacking a lot of physical energy at the moment and it almost appeared that he was on the early stages of emaciation, he thanked me for the offer, told me goodbye and that it's been a pleasure knowing him and then just walked away. About two days later, I was on one of my daily patrols and I was walking around this dry area of the Pride Lands and I saw Mtoto was lying underneath a tree. I wanted to check on him, so I approached him and decided to say hi to him and see if he was okay...there was no response and I was going to leave them alone...but as I decided to pat his back to wish him a good rest….I felt that it was colder than usual and I felt no movement from his body, so I decided to try to wake him up but nothing happened so I went to get Rafiki and Makini, brought them to Mtoto and the checked on him...and the say that he was dead and has been so most likely for around two days...Of course I was saddened by the death of my friend, but what saddened me the most was recalling the last time we spoke to each other and how he told me 'goodbye' and 'it's been a pleasure knowing you'...which was about two days prior to that….This made me realize that the last day I spoke to Mtoto was most likely also the day he died. I felt both depressed and guilty because I let him die all alone. So Rafiki and Makini went along to tell Ma Tembo the bad news. Even when it was sad that he died but in his last few weeks alive he was distressed emotionally and physically, so I am at least relieved that he finally found peace now….." Beshte recalled.
...
"...At that moment, I was devastated and stressed because not only were there decreasing resources in the Pride Lands growing scarce, but my mate also died from starvation. So not only did I have to go through the grief of losing my mate, but I had a son to take care of as well to both help him navigate the drought but also help him deal with the grief of losing his father. I was also juggling those tasks with running my herd. Unfortunately, the drought seemed too much for the rest of my herd because a quarter of them died from conditions related to the drought while every day since the drought, and of the ones that didn't die, at least one zebra abandoned my herd per day. Eventually the last zebra in my herd died, my son Hamu and I were the only zebras left in the Pride Lands and what was only one day before Rafiki gave the announcement that we all had to leave the Pride Lands due to lack of hope for the lands to return to its original state. When we first transformed into hybrids, Hamu was transformed to human age 5 so he had to go to elementary school with humans that were also new to the school. Even with him still pertaining to a large chunk of his memories of the Pride Lands, I have seen Hamu grow up again in the human world while I was juggling work and classes at the same time as that. He's now in grad school studying to be a psychologist. He lives in New York now so sometimes it can be lonely at home. Even when I am proud of what he has accomplished, there are some cases where I also feel sad because with all the information he has taken in from the human world, his memories of the Pride Lands seems to be dwindling, particularly those involving his father. Even when Hamu and I totally moved on from his passing a long time ago, I don't want him to be totally forgotten and sometimes I'm concerned Hamu might be heading on that pathway….." Muhimu said.
...
"...So after Pumbaa died in the drought, I was both devastated and confused because even when I still had Bunga with me, I felt alone for some reason. I initially only thought of my relationship with Pumbaa as a strong friendship but after his death I felt it was something more than that. Eventually, after I became a hybrid, I started to explore more about myself on certain aspects of my life which range from my goals in life to personal relationships and even my sexuality. As I continued to adjust to my new life in the human world, I began to realize that before the drought, my relationship with Pumbaa was more than just a friendship...I eventually knew that the relationship I had of him was one between two lovers and part of me felt that I always knew this. This realization really helped me when I came out two years into my human life. I eventually started dating and let's just say it was rough for the first three years because I was still getting used to the whole concept. I then got a serious relationship with this guy, which lasted for like five years, but then it was no longer working out since he got a new job in Atlanta and we broke up after a failed year of a long distance relationship. I was back on the dating scene for another two years with a few very brief relationships within that period of time. There was another guy for about three or four years, but then I caught him cheating on me so I dumped him. Five years ago, I met my current boyfriend, Gary, and suddenly I've felt something that I have not really felt before in any of my prior relationships….a sense of comfort and familiarity that I haven't really felt in a relationship in a long time….not since before Pumbaa died. So yeah the two of us have been together ever since….." Timon discusses.
...
"...Sometimes I still can't believe how much my life has changed over the past twenty one years. I initially thought that the transition from Outlander to leader of the Lion Guard was impossible, so this would have been nonsensical to my former self. When the drought occurred I was trying my best to help everyone in the Pride Lands and my guard but the drought was just too powerful and even when my guard and I originated from an environment lacking in resources but this time the lack of resources was taking a toll on both me and my guard. For example, there was a member of my guard, Kasi, could no longer handle the death, gradually decreasing resources and the stress around her and involved in her job as a Lion Guard, and she eventually flat out left the Pride Lands for more arable lands. Shabaha and Tamaza both died due to combined factors of starvation, dehydration and exhaustion that ended up taking extremely bad tolls on their bodies. Imara eventually did become a hybrid like the rest of us, but unlike the rest of us, she preferred to stay in Tanzania and moved to Dar Es Salaam. We still stay in touch despite being in different continents, and she eventually married a human and I think they had a son together. Anyway, sometimes I still can't believe how much my life has changed because I went from being a fighter in the Outlands to the leader of the Pride Lands' Lion Guard, which evolved to human/hybrid middle school student, then high school student, college student and the museum tour guide. It is also strange to think of what I can do now because when I was a full lioness all I did was fight, negotiate and moderate conflicts, but when I became a hybrid I gained these skills that I never thought even existed back then. For example, back then, I never thought that I will proficiently be able to speak six languages because even when I have pretty much always understood English and Swahili, I never expected that I would eventually learn and pick up French, Spanish, Mandarin and Tagalog. Yeah...sometimes it's crazy where life can take you…." Vitani said.
...
"...Yeah so when we were escaping the Tree of Life coup and I have noticed that my mate Azaad was starting to show signs of exhaust on our way to the Pride Lands...I initially thought that this exhaust was just fatigue from the fight we put up in escaping the coup earlier so I was not suspicious, but then I began to notice that along our journey, he began to take more frequent breaks in which he has prolonged coughing fits during most of those breaks. We were about a week away from the Pride Lands when I noticed that his symptoms were getting worse noting that he was starting to develop a bad fever, he was walking slower than usual and he had more frequent cough breaks. Two days before we arrived back in the Pride Lands, now I knew something was wrong because now he was starting to cough out blood and he could no longer walk or run frequently anymore and Beshte had to carry him from there while Makini checked on his vitals. By the time we arrived in the Pride Lands, Azaad was passed out on Beshte's back and we immediately took Rafiki to see if he could be treated. After a day or two Rafiki and Makini tried everything but they said that nothing could be done and the next day Azaad passed away in his sleep, allegedly from combining factors of a respiratory infection and some unknown illness that Rafiki was never able to figure out. I was devastated, which increased when the drought happened and every death during that time just reminded me of Azaad's last days and sometimes I still had trouble getting over it when I entered human society. But eventually, I did get over it when I began sixth grade because I was too focused on the new stresses of starting middle school and getting used to a newer school even when I have been in the United States for around two years at that point. It was pretty lonely because I had to get used to changing classrooms every hour while also trying to find out more about myself. While heading off to study hall, I was looking at a bulletin board and saw a flyer indicating cross country tryouts and I asked this random student passing by what exactly cross country is and they told me that it was a form of running on open terrain instead of a track in most cases. I was intrigued because I used to run frequently when I was in the Pride Lands so I thought that I can try to run slightly more so a few days later I went to cross country tryouts, tried out and after a few days I saw my name on a list that indicates that I made the team. I was surprised because I thought that I ran slow during the tryouts. I guess that even when I am no longer a full cheetah, I can still be pretty fast in human standards, which is pretty slow compared to cheetah standards. So yeah I started going to cross country practice and meets and I generally get along with my teammates, even when there was that awkward night where I transformed into my cheetah form in front of them before one of our overnight meets, but that's another story. I actually excelled on that team and when the fall season ended, my coaches and teammates recommended that I tryout for track and field during the spring. Honestly I got to say that I enjoyed track and field more because I am able to sprint more frequently. I did cross country and track and field for the rest of middle school, all of high school and all of college, while I was also conquering other obstacles in adjusting to the human world….." Fuli recalled.
...
"...So the rest of the Night Pride and Lion Guard showed up and asked about some group of rogues Nirmala and Surak brought to us…..but we were confused because we told the group that we saw neither Surak, Nirmala nor the supposed group of rogues they mentioned. All of the sudden we heard some growls and screams and the rest of us headed towards the source of the commotion and I cannot forget what I just saw….there were several bodies mostly of deer and even a bird, with a group of four unknown lions and we had a heated exchange of words and found out that they were involved in a group planning some new order. We then heard another commotion from somewhere and I told a few guard members to try to handle those four ions while me and a few other guard members went to the source of the second commotion. We approached the tundra region of the kingdom….and I could not comprehend the massacre that we have seen. There were just several bodies, including those of a polar bear, several penguins and several other animals who reside there. There were four more lions...assuming the rest of the group of rogues among the now blood-stained snow. They began to approach us to attack and we fought them off for several minutes, and they suspiciously gave up in a short amount of time and ran off who knows where. We began to tell people to take cover since there was the first group of rogues that are still to worry about as well as concerned about the rogues we fought off ever coming back. So we ran towards the Tree of Life to see if we could meet up with the rest of the members and then we started to hear many more screams around us…..As we ran we noticed that none of us had seen either Surak or Nirmala in a while and wondered what was happening to them. We came back to the Tree of Life and met up with the other half of the guard and they said that the rogues they handled put up quite the fight until they ran off into the forest. While we were talking we were surrounded by nearly sixteen rogues and soon after another exchange of words, a fight ensued and we were able to hold them off for a while and soon half of them decided just to move on to other parts of the land to continue what they started as we fought the other eight. This conflict went on for a little longer until we managed to escape...except a honey badger, Binga, who was with us at the time said she wanted to fight them off to avoid them from chasing us, which eventually led to her demise. As we were running we found out that there were much more rogues than expected. There were bodies scattered all over the place while survivors are trying to run for their lives to leave the land...practically being forced to leave. We were running and we happened to run into Surak and Nirmala who were surprisingly calm and not reacting to the chaos around them. They claimed that they went out to settle a few affairs, and then my brother, Baliyo started to ask more questions and the pair's answers started to become increasingly suspicious to us. Eventually after several moments of exchange they eventually made a signal after which a large group of rogues surrounded us, with the two of them joining the circle, which was our first realization that Surak and Nirmala are involved in this attack. Eventually they revealed all of their planning they did over a period of several months, noting that they weren't just involved but were the main orchestrators of this attack, which I now realized was a coup. We tried to lead with them to try to see if we could make a compromise between us and their newly formed army of rogues...but they were going and as my brother Baliyo….. finished his last pleas and critiques on the whole situation….Surak said that he was disappointed on how 'naive' he was and then...proceeded to pin him down and and bit on his neck until it made and unsettling crunch sound and Surak ripped the insides of Baliyo's neck out with his teeth…..I basically couldn't do anything but scream and even when I tried to go and fight Surak over Baliyo's death but Nirmala pinned me down before I could do so and then another fight ensued between us and the rogues and this time we were starting to feel more exhausted of fighting and these rogues clearly weren't giving up. During the struggle we were able to kill one of the rogues and then after several minutes of fighting we came at a standoff. Surak and Nirmala told us that they ruled that lands now and control an army of dozens of rogues that will do anything at their beck and call for their 'new kingdom' to be realized. They then told us that we basically had two options, one leave the Tree of Life in a state of exile or stay and be executed with more slaughter to come to the land's remaining residents. I was having trouble to decide at first but I looked at my then mate and the guard and all of them are starting to get worn out from the fight which we were probably going to lose if we continued...I then looked at my brother's dead body and the rest of the bloodied bodies that were littered across the land and the last thing I wanted was for more innocent people to be killed. It was a difficult decision but then it became unanimous between me and the rest of my group….we had to leave. Surak and Nirmala seemed satisfied with my decision and basically said that they will have two of their rogues watching behind us to make sure that we leave. So the group and I began our trek out of the land I was born and raised in and we have seen a full extent of the slaughter and devastation they caused, it was one body after the next while we ran with others who were forced off the land and running for their lives. For example, I saw the body of a tigress that I once helped with the bodies of two of her cubs, while the other cub survived. I saw that she was crying and looking over the dead bodies of her mother and siblings and then a musk deer ran over to her and told her to get on his back because they needed to leave to avoid death, so the cub complied and they ran out going to who knows where. My mate, the rest of the guard and I decided to go to their former homelands, the Pride Lands...and...and...I'm sorry Rafki is it okay if I stop here? I guess there are some things I would rather save for another time…" Rani said while trying to hold back her tears.
"Okay...sure no problem…." Rafiki said with an understanding look on his face as Rani walked back to her seat.
...
"...So yeah I was going through something similar to what Muhimu said earlier, I also lost my mate during the drought and I was also taking care of my daughter while I was navigating through my grief. Then we left the Pride Lands, met 'the shaman' and transformed to hybrids. I was pretty shocked when I first saw my human form after the shaman's injections, and when I saw my anthropomorphic giraffe form that night I was surprised that my neck, even when long in human standards, was nowhere near the length it was when I was a full giraffe. So after that year, I pretty much went through a similar thing as Muhimu and we were even roommates for a couple of years with both of our kids. Along the process, I watched my daughter grow up again in human society and sometimes I cannot believe that she went from being a giraffe in the Pride Lands to a violinist in an orchestra in Los Angeles. Even when I am proud of her achievements, I got concerned because she has a good memory when it comes to what she learns in the human world , but she seems to be forgetting many of the memories from her life in the Pride Lands…." Twiga said.
...
"So yeah, my name is Makuu Mamba, I work in the fossil preparation department and I was part of the crocodile float in the Pride Lands...That's all I need to say." Makuu said as he was about to leave.
"Wait Makuu...aren't you going to share anything else about your experience or answer any questions some people might have?" Rafiki asked, leading to Makuu letting out a slightly irritated sigh.
"Fine….anyone have any questions?..." Makuu reluctantly asked.
A human woman who had red hair, a black shirt and skirt raised her hand.
"Okay….you with the red hair?" Makuu said reluctantly, in which the red-haired woman stood up.
"Okay, so when the drought occurred in the Pride Lands, what did the leader of your crocodile float try to alleviate the damages of the drought?" The woman said.
"What did my leader do?...Actually I was the leader of the float...and to answer your question, I tried to alleviate damage to my float by trying to set up a food ration system to make sure that we don't spoil all our resources on one meal. The system worked out at first...but that was until the resources of the Pride Lands further decreased. It was already unusual for us because we crocodiles usually hibernated during the Dry Season but we had to stop that early because Simba said that with the increased heat and decrease in resources, we could risk dying of heat stroke or dehydration in our sleep if we hibernated. Also the cave we usually slept in for the Dry Season needed to be used as a place to treat those who might suffer severe cases of dehydration. Despite following it, I initially was irritated by Simba's request…..but that irritation wore off incredibly quickly as I saw the effects of the drought on its residents...and it did not take long for those impacts to reach my float. Despite the initial success of the rationing system, it failed quickly as available resources started to decrease. Soon as each day of the drought passed by, I saw the bodies of each member of my float degraded in a slow, devastating process and then one-by-one they started to die. Even when I was devastated by the loss of the majority of my float at that time, my spirits were maintained by a gecko named Hodari. Despite being a gecko, we considered him an honorary member of our float and he tried his best to try to lift our spirits amidst tragedy. But one day, while me, Hodari and the remaining crocodiles of my float were walking to try to hunt for our food rations for the day….and we then saw this large bird and it was one date we had not seen before, so we were a bit surprised. Initially I thought that they were approaching us to ask for directions or something like that…..but in a matter of seconds, the bird flew close to us and grabbed Hodari for some reason and just flew away with Hodari still screaming in the air...We tried to follow the path of the bird, but the bird was flying so fast and we lost so much energy from the lack of food and water we have recently been experiencing. We went to both the Lion Guard and former Lion Guard to help with the issue and after like an hour of searching...we finally found Hodari's body with his internal organs ripped out after the bird finished eating them. Things only got worse after that, because within days of Hodari's death…...the rest of my float died due to the effects of the drought. After the last remaining member of my float died….I was now completely alone. A day after the death of that float member I was deciding on whether or not to just leave the Pride Lands since I no longer have anything to keep in the Pride Land. In my mind I decided to leave and was preparing to do so….until I heard that Simba had a special announcement for all the remaining Pride Landers. It turned out to be the announcement which said that everyone including the royals must leave the Pride Lands, stating that there was no hope in the lands returning to their original state...so we all left from there….." Makuu said, after which there was a thirty second pause and the out of nowhere...he slammed his hand on the podium, grabbing the attention of many in the audience.
"...Even when I have mostly moved on with my life since my transformation….but sometimes...I can't help but think that there could have been something I could have done to prevent some of the tragedy that fell upon my float…..because you know…..I was their leader…..I just wished there was something I could have done to save at least one of them….I know there were many aspects of the drought I couldn't control….I just wished there was SOMETHING I could have done to save one or at least diminished their suffering by a little bit….I JUST WISH THAT I COULD HAVE BEEN THE LEADER MY FLOAT NEEDED….SOMEONE TO SUPPORT AND COMFORT THEM WHILE STILL TRYING TO NAVIGATE US THROUGH THE DROUGHT….IF I COULD HAVE MADE A CHANGE TO MY LEADERSHIP STYLE THEN, I WOULD IF IT COULD HAVE SAVED AT LEAST ONE OF THEM OR AT LEAST DECREASED THEIR SUFFERING...PERHAPS I COULD HATE MYSELF LESS FOR MY HANDLING OF THE DROUGHT ON ITS IMPACT ON MY FLOAT….." Makuu said, practically yelling and on the verge of tears.
Makini soon went up to the stage to lead a now sobbing Makuu off the stage to the hallway and after that, Rafiki went back to the podium.
"Okay now….thank you Makuu for your share. Okay let's move on to the next part of tonight's meeting. Now it is time for the humans to also introduce yourselves and discuss why you joined our alliance let me just start reading the names off this sign up sheet…..Okay first up is….Camille Ashmore…" Rafiki said while looking at a clipboard.
Ten minutes later
Edwin P.O.V:
So far this conference seems to be going well and the hybrids' testimonies were quite interesting. Even things might have gotten a little awkward when Makuu broke down during his testimony, but he was just letting some feelings out. So far I have seen two human members of the museum faculty have given testimonies already and so far this event seems to be going in a good direction from what I can see so far.
"Okay….thank you John for your share. Next up on this list is….Edwin Mariani." Rafiki said, looking at the clipboard.
After he called my name, I rose from my seat and headed towards the stage, after which I went to the podium and tapped the microphone to see if it works.
"Hi, my name is Dr. Edwin Mariani and I work at the genetics lab on the upper floor. I joined this organization because I want to aid in improving relations between humans and hybrid employees and faculty so that communication can improve among staff members whenever any potential issues or conflict may come up during our work here, as well as to try to thin the division and communication among the two groups….Okay, here's a little about my life, I was born and raised here in Chicago- ACTUAL Chicago, NOT the suburbs. So yeah, I grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood with my parents and younger sister and to human standards most would consider a standard childhood...except that my parents used to argue with each other constantly. They would argue at least every three days, so my sister and I were figuratively walking on eggshells everyday. I remembered that when I was a kid, whenever my parents started to argue, I basically just went to furthest corner of my bedroom and start reading any book that I had in my bedroom and if the corner wasn't good enough to avoid the sound, then I just grabbed flashlight and read under the covers of my bed. Sometimes, my sister would come into my room to join in to avoid hearing the arguing. If my parents were still arguing by the time either my sister or I stopped or finished reading, we would just turn on the television set in my room to see if it could drown out the sound. On the bright side my interests in reading back then really helped me academically in school….so yeah I received good grades in school. Even when I did well in school academically, that did not translate to my social life at school because when it came to interacting with my classmates, I was left out most of the time because I preferred to read or go on a computer rather than play sports or any of the other typical stuff kids did at the time. Even when I did have a few friends, we were left out my most of the so-called 'popular kids' in the school and there were times my friends got busy with other stuff and I ended up alone during our lunch period. You can guess that my favorite place to go in elementary school and middle school, during my recess or study hall period was the school library. Out of all of the books in the library, I took a particular interest in the science books since their content helped nurture my curiosities of the natural world and universe around me. I remember that I used to checkout at least one book per week. My curiosity further blossomed when I reached middle school and we got to complete more intricate labs and it enabled me to explore the execution of several of the principles I read about in textbooks and library books I read. Soon I eventually started to join science-based extracurricular activities, and this continued into my high school years. I even made a few more friends in high school, even when I was still kind of an outcast in my high school's social circle, but I didn't care about social stuff like that and besides most of the popular kids were assholes anyway. Even when I started to get a better sense of my identity and what my plan would be for life, I still had some emotional obstacles such as my parents' arguments getting more frequent, and there was also the loss of my grandmother to cancer, which was particularly devastating since she helped my sister and I cope when some parts of my parents' failing marriage got rough. Even when those obstacles occurred, I still managed to live my life and pursued what I needed to do academically and otherwise. As I got to college, it was a little boring because my university was located in the middle of a corn field in Indiana, everyday was essentially a routine for me and I didn't really make a lot of friends, but on the bright side my undergrad research experiences helped me get into my first choice grad school. During my four years of undergraduate studies, I experienced my first kiss,and I also learned how to drive when I went home for breaks and holidays. Then like two weeks after I officially got my driver's license at age 20, I got a phone call from my mom in which she first told me that she and my dad finally split up. Some would initially think that I would be shocked to find out my parents were getting a divorce, but I was actually relieved and my mother told that she was also relieved of the end of a bad marriage. She told me it happened when she and my father were having one of their usual arguments and then they both stopped for a moment to think what about what they were doing at that moment and what they've been doing for the past 21 years they have been married at the time and thought about why they were still doing this. They asked themselves why would two people, completely incompatible with each other, still married? My mom revealed that they initially had thought about separating several times over the course of the marriage, but kept using the 'stay together for the kids' excuse to justify them staying together...but at that point my sister and I were legal adults already, with my sister a month or two away from graduating high school, so their old excuses were no longer valid. They eventually realized that they did not want to spend the rest of their lives together….and that was when they finally decided to split up, my dad even moved out of the house a few days later. It was not a bad divorce, they basically divided their assets and whatnot and there was nothing major after that. My dad stayed at a friend's place for a while, until he found a place in Florida and moved there a week after my sister's high school graduation. So yeah, time passed by, I graduated college, went back to Chicago for grad school and I really started to improve my relationship with my mother. A few years after my parents split up, my mother confessed that after her divorce from my father, she started to think more deeply about her experiences in life and began to notice a part of herself that was hidden since she was younger due to pressures to conform to this close-minded perception of what society expected of her. She then decided to follow her own path and follow her own pursuit to build her true self….and one day she asked me to meet up and she came out to me as a lesbian. I was happy for her, I told her that all I cared about was her happiness and that I will love her no matter what. Ever since she came out, I saw a new side to my mother, one that is full of life and just happy just to be her truest self. Eventually I got my PhD, quit my previous job at Genico Pharmaceuticals and got a job here, so I guess you can say that is my story and all that I want to share tonight, sorry if it may seem a little long." I finished and then I quietly walked off the stage and returned to my seat.
"Thank you for your share Edwin….Next up is...Samuel Encinas." Rafiki said, looking at the clipboard.
The rest of the humans that shared were also interesting. It was interesting to get to know people thatI have not even seen since today, as well as getting to know more about the colleagues I do know. For example, I learned about how Pete had crippling social anxiety as a kid. I also learned about the experiences of a custodian who navigated the grief he felt when they lost their first spouse in a car accident, a tour guide who survived growing up with abusive parents, a security guard who used to be a star volleyball player in high school and college until a wrist injury placed a permanent hold on their former olympic prospects, and then there was a museum administrator who lost two family members due to gun violence. After the rest of the human employees shared their own life experiences, Rafiki went back up on the podium and tested the microphone.
"I would like to thank everyone who came here tonight and we hope to see you more in future meetings. The basic structures of meetings in upcoming Fridays will basically be sharing any experience or obstacle that is on your mind that day and then we will just try to do some activities so we can get a chance to know each other better as individuals. Again, thank you for coming to this meeting and I hope you have a good evening and rest of the week and if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me." Rafiki said before he turned off the microphone and left the podium.
We all started to get out of our seats, and even when I would like to stay and chat like some people are doing, I need to get something from my dry cleaner and I want to get there before they close for tonight. So I exited the museum and went to the parking lot. I started to approach my car.
"Hey Edwin!" a voice called, I turned around to see it was Jasiri who seemed to be walking towards me.
"Oh Hey Jasiri! what did you think of that meeting?" I asked.
"I thought it was pretty interesting and I liked what you shared by the way." Jasiri said.
"Thank you! I liked yours too! I was kind of thinking that our experiences in elementary and middle school had few similarities to one another." I replied.
"I know right? When you were discussing some of your childhood experiences, I was thinking that if we ever were in the same school or city, we probably would have been friends back then. I guess we were just at the wrong places at the time." Jasiri said, after which we shared a small laugh.
"Yeah, I wish I could stay to chat longer but I need to get something from my dry cleaner before they close. I'll see you later Jasiri!" I said.
"Alright, see ya! Oh and I am excited to see what Saturday night has in store for us." Jasiri said as she walked towards the other side of the parking lot.
I got in my car, started my ignition and started to drive out of the parking lot towards my dry cleaner. As I do, I could help but further think about what might go on during my date with Jasiri tonight. Will it go well? Will it go horrible? Will it lead to a potential relationship? Would we still be friends or even still talk to each other? I really hope it doesn't end badly….I guess I have to wait to find out.