Edwin P.O.V.
Everyone walked back into the lecture room and sat down in the seats we sat in before. Rafiki then went back to the podium upfront and tapped on the microphone to get everyone's attention.
"Hello everybody, I hope you guys enjoyed our first activity. I heard a lot of active discussion around the room. Okay, with that in mind, here are the groups for the next activity on the next slide. For this activity, you and your group of ten will be assigned to go to a specific region or exhibit of the museum and you will use that time to try to further get to know each other for the next hour or two and we will meet back in this room at 10:30 to conclude tonight's meeting. If you guys are finished looking at your assigned exhibits, you can explore adjacent exhibits, but similar with the tourists don't touch anything even when it is in the exhibit you might primarily work in. Meet up with your assigned groups along the paper numbers against the wall. Hope you enjoy your time."
I looked up at the powerpoint side and saw the group I was in:
Group 1:
Exhibit: Nature Walk - Main Floor
Emma Austin
Raoul Barro
Engel Cashman
Jasiri Fisi
Kiara Furahi-Mgeni
Beshte Kiboko
Violetta Lanzit
Edwin Mariani
Kovu Mgeni
Makini Mjuzi
I got off from my seat and headed towards my assigned number. I waited a minute until Jasiri approached me.
"Hi Jas, looks like we're in the same group. How did the previous activity go for you?" I asked.
"Looks like we are babe! And my group's discussion was fine, though Anga and Timon kept 'welcoming me to the club', since I am now one of three hybrids in the museum who is in a relationship with a human right now. Other than that, my group's discussion went on fine. How about yours?" She replied.
"Mine went well, I actually was in a group with Makuu, I learned that apparently before graduating college, he used to work as a waiter in a couple of restaurants to earn income to pay bills." I said.
"Oh yes, I remembered when he used to be a waiter…..and he hated it. Most of the places he worked at only placed him on day shifts such as the breakfast and lunch shifts because they were afraid he would scare the dinner shift customers in his crocodile form because it has happened a couple of times. When he ever did work a dinner shift, it was usually on low traffic days such as Mondays and Tuesdays. I remembered seeing how happy he was the day he quit his last waiter job when he found a job with sustainable income where he didn't need to wait tables any more." Jasiri said.
"I can understand how Makuu felt during that time." A female voice said. We both turned around to find Kiara and Kovu walking towards us.
"I had a part-time job as a waitress during high school and college….hated every minute of it. Mostly just kept the job because it helped with getting extra money for savings, tuition and bills. I remembered the day I returned that uniform and handed them my two-week notice." Kiara continued to say.
"Hi guys, how've you been? And wait? The 'future queen of the Pride Lands' waited tables?" Jasiri said.
"Yep, she did. We went to the same high school and college, and Kiara complained about it all the time. Oh and we are fine by the way, thank you. You?" Kovu said.
"We are good, thank you." Jasiri said.
"Hey Edwin, looks like we are in the same group again." Kovu said.
"I guess we are, we just need to wait for the others so that we can-.." I was saying before Jasiri and I were both grabbed by two tight arms around us. Despite our initial surprise, we found that it was just Makini with her usually upbeat attitude.
"Hey guys! I can't believe I got grouped with the two known couples of the museum!" Makini said, soon letting us go and hugging Kiara and Kovu for some reason.
"Hey Makini, how's it going?" I asked.
"I'm great, I just had a fascinating discussion with one of the museum custodians, who told me about something on their recent trip to the bank, and used some colorful language to describe it though. Maybe they were just having a bad day. How did your discussions go?" Makini asked.
"They went well, it was mostly just casual conversation." Kiara said.
"Yeah, same." Jasiri said.
"Same." I said.
"Same." Kovu said.
"Yeah, my experience was pretty much the same." Beshte said as he approached our group.
"Hey Beshte, how's it going?" I asked.
"I'm fine, you guys all had good discussions in that last activity?" Beshte asked.
We all nodded and agreed in response.
"I'm not sure about you guys, but for me, being grouped like this kind of reminds me of elementary school field trips and the manner in which me and other students were grouped with chaperones or teachers before we left for our destination." I said.
"Yeah actually, I've been getting that vibe too!" Beshte said.
"Yeah Beshte, I think our fourth grade teacher used a very similar method." Makini said.
"Yeah, mine did something similar too." Jasiri said.
As we talked, a few more people, who I presume were the remainder of our group approached us. One was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, with shoulder-length red hair and blue eyes, wearing a sky blue T-shirt and navy blue pants. Another was an older woman in her early to mid-sixties with short brunette hair, lavender-framed glasses, green eyes, wearing a turquoise blouse with blue fractal like patterns on it and a long dark purple skirt. Then there was a man that looked like he was in his mid-thirties, had short black-curly hair, brown eyes, wearing a long-sleeve green shirt and some jeans. The last was a man who looked to be about 70 years old, short gray hair, blue eyes, a light goatee, a tan shirt and brown pants.
"Hello, my name's Emma, I work at the gift shop on the main floor. How about you guys?"
"I'm Jasiri, fossil preparation department." Jasiri said.
"Edwin, genetic research lab." I said.
"Makini, also the genetics lab." Makini said.
"I'm Beshte, I work in the security department." Beshte said.
"Kovu, artifact conservation lab." Kovu said.
"Kiara, the General Counsel, and I think I met you before. You work with Tiffu right?" Kiara said.
"Oh yeah, I think you've come by the shop a few times to talk with Tiffu." Emma said.
"Hello guys, my name is Raoul, I work in the Information Technology Division." the man in the green shirt said.
"Oh yeah, you were in my discussion group earlier." Jasiri said.
"And I think that you were in my discussion group." Kiara said, gesturing to the older woman with the lavender glasses.
"Yes, I was. I'm Violetta. I'm a coordinator for the museum's cooperation activities with organizations that help with habitat conservation efforts and even the occasional observational studies abroad that some museum staff are a part of." The woman replied.
"Hello, My name is Engel and I work with the museum's learning center, which helps with educational opportunities offered by the museum. Also, I think I was in your group..uhhh...Mankini?" The older man asked.
"It's Makini and I think you were in my discussion group from earlier." Makini said, looking somewhat annoyed.
I then looked at the PowerPoint slide with the group and location assignments.
"Okay guys, looks like we got assigned to go to the Nature Walk….wait the exhibit with the animal displays and the taxidermic figures?" I said.
"Aw man...those figures give me the creeps, as if they were staring into my soul if I look into their eyes." Kovu said.
"To be fair, most of those animals have been dead for around a hundred years and those eyes are not real, at least for the mammal figures." Jasiri said.
"I guess Rafiki assigned these at random because I don't think there would be a specific reason for us to go to the Nature Walk." Kiara said.
" Yeah, and I think all of us have been through that exhibit once in our life, so I guess we won't be really that creeped out by it. Though still, it is disturbing to think of the extent species were hunted down in the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries." Makini said.
"Yeah, it's also disturbing thinking about the extent of habitat destruction and climate change related disasters happening in the world this century. Although there is probably nothing we can do now to completely stop climate change, we all just need to do our best to contribute to methods in controlling climate change and our carbon footprints." Beshte said.
"Yeah, you're right Beshte. I guess we have to try our best to control the impacts of climate change and monitor our carbon footprint." I said.
Everyone else nodded in agreement, and then we all exited the room to head towards the staircase to the main floor. We all had some casual conversation as we walked and then climbed to the main floor. When reaching there, we walked across the main floor, and walked past the diorama of the two elephants.
"I wonder how Ma Tembo feels about those two elephant figures on the main floor." Kiara said.
"Oh yeah, she told me that she has mixed feelings about it." I said.
Makini, Jasiri, and Kovu nodded in response.
"Man, I could not imagine if I had to walk past a dead and stuffed human every day. It wouldn't really help my mood working in the gift shop all day every day." Emma said.
We then walked into the Nature Walk exhibit and walked into the section that contained mostly bird specimens.
It was interesting because even though I have not been in this section of the museum in a long time, I still remember it from prior visits and school field trips from years prior. I noticed that the others were looking at the specific specimens. I saw Jasiri looking at a vulture specimen fastidiously and Makini looking at the passenger pigeon specimens. I began to approach her more closely.
"I see that you seem to have an interest in vulture figures." I said. She turned her head towards me.
"Yeah, this kind of reminded me of the vultures that I've known in the Outlands. I remembered their leader, Mzingo,who for a while used to be Janja's spy and information source. Janja considered him a friend for a while. Some friend he turned out to be….a little after the early days of the drought, he and his entire parliament abandoned the Outlands without even a goodbye." Jasiri said.
"Oh yeah, I think I had a few encounters with vultures when I was living in the Outlands. My brother used to bother them sometimes….boy were those encountered mistakes" Kovu said from a few feet away.
"Oh yeah, I remembered him. I remembered when Janja's clan used to be bad, they used Mzingo to lure me into a fake peace talk to try to attack and eat me until my brother's guard had to save me." Kiara said.
"Wait what?!" Raoul said, turning his head from the crane figures he was looking at.
"Wait, I never heard that story before. Janja almost ate you?" Kovu said in a surprised tone.
"Yeah, but that was when I was a cub sometime after we first met and lost touch. And that was when Janja was in his old trouble-making behavior." Kiara said.
"Yeah, I remembered that 'old trouble-making behavior', my guard and I had to deal with it a large chunk of the time. I don't miss those days. Man, I still can't believe it's been over 21-22 years since my Lion Guard days." Beshte said while looking at an adjacent display case.
"Yeah, I can't believe all that time has passed now. If I told my old self where I was going to be in twenty something years, she would have thought I was crazy and that I hit my head somewhere along the way and hit my head along the way." Makini said.
"Yeah, my old self back then would not comprehend the concept of me dating a human. My old self probably would ask me 'what is a human?' because I have never seen a human during that point in my life." Jasiri said.
"Hey Kiara, even though I was never surrounded by a pack of hungry hyenas before, about thirty years ago I got mugged and stabbed while walking under a bridge. I still have the scar and the person took two hundred dollars from me." Engel said as he looked at some specimens.
"Oh my! I'm sorry to hear that." Makini said.
"It's fine, it was thirty years ago and I'm fine now. Though occasionally the memory still pops up." Engel said.
"Yeah, I get that too sometimes. When I was in Afghanistan eight years ago, I felt that my experience there and in the army was just getting too much for me and I literally shot myself in the foot to get discharged. Although, after the mental evaluation, they said that I should have been discharged a long time prior to that. That day, I found out I have PTSD not only from my experiences in the army, but also those from the Tree of Life coup and the events of the Pride Lands drought. Even though I am better at managing my stress and emotions now, the memories still haunt me, including the scar on my foot where I shot myself." Beshte said.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Emma said.
"It's fine, I contact my psychologist at least once a week so I'm better now." Beshte said.
"I can understand how you feel, Beshte. When I was younger my eldest brother fought in Vietnam and when he returned…... he was never the same. Along with a permanent look of exhaust cemented on his face, he became distant from everyone that once loved and cared for him. Sometimes even becoming temperamental on occasion. He never talked about what he experienced in the war and I guess he was never ready to fully discuss the details. About five years later, his inner demons took over and he was alone when his car rolled down that cliff….taking him away from us. The official report said that he might have accidentally slipped off the road….but all of us in his friends and family suspected that it was no accident….he meant for him and the car to go down. His inner demons from the war probably took over and he couldn't handle the world anymore, so he probably made a final step to take back control of his life somehow….by ending it on his own terms." Violetta said in a saddened tone.
"Oh my goodness, I am really sorry to hear about your brother Violetta. That must have been horrible to see him in that on my experience with it, PTSD is a curse to whoever it inflicts itself upon. Even when I am able to better manage with it, there are still occasions in which dark thoughts and flashbacks creep back into my mind. Whether it is from my military experience, the Tree of Life coup or the Pride Lands. I remembered that when I first came back after being discharged from the army, I was in a particularly dark place and for a while I had thoughts about taking my own life as well, but fortunately none of them were strong enough to actually attempt it. Thank goodness I was able to meet my current psychologist because I couldn't imagine where I would end up without them. I've also seen some of my old friends and acquaintances from the army also struggle readjusting to life after they were discharged or when their tour ended. Though there are some friends I still keep in touch with, the others I lost touch with and there was one acquaintance I knew who had a case similar to your brother and unfortunately took a similar path to your brother, except not with a car on a cliff, but with a gun in a motel room. And there is this other guy in which we were friends back in the Pride Lands and we came to the human world, but both after sometime in the human world and after the army, he just became this horrible person that I don't even recognize anymore." Beshte said
"I'm sorry to hear about this Beshte, but I am glad that you seem to be doing better now. I admit, it was a little hard accepting that my brother was no longer in my life, but life continued and I needed to move forward and you seem to be doing the same. I wish you nothing but good in your life" Violetta replied.
"I appreciate it, Violetta." Beshte said.
After several more minutes of conversation, we then proceed to go down the hallway out of the birds section and into the section called "Messages from the Wilderness". This is the hallway where they display the taxidermic figures species endemic to the Americas. Most of which our hybrid friends never saw when they were back in the Pride Lands and Outlands.
Each of us were looking at separate specimens in different pairs. Jasiri and I were looking at a Bighorn Sheep specimen.
"I've seen pictures of this ram many times in books, photos and displays, but I still do not get why they have horns shaped like that. Sure, back in the Outlands and Pride Lands, I've seen the occasional Kudu pass by with spiral horns, but I do not understand how the hell this came to be?" Jasiri said as I was reading the plaque next to the display.
"According to this, male rams have horns as an adaptive trait to defend themselves against potential threats, including other male rams trying to establish dominance for access to mates." I said.
"Oh okay….huh. I understand the purpose of these rams having horns but I still don't get why they are curved? Wouldn't long sharp horns do more damage when fighting in defense rather than curved horns on the sides." Jasiri said.
"I'm not sure, maybe curved horns are favored by natural selection in their particular environments?" I replied.
"Maybe, but it's still a little unusual." Jasiri said.
Jasiri and I continued to talk as the others looked at the other specimens. Kiara and Kovu were looking at the musk oxen specimen.
"Hey Kiara, this musk oxen seems pretty large, but on the other hand this fur seems to weigh them down so I doubt they run very fast. They would probably be nothing like the rhinos we ran from that time we took a break from your 'hunting lesson'." Kovu said.
"Yeah, if a musk oxen came up upon us back then, we would probably more focused on asking 'what the fuck is that thing?' to even focus on running." Kiara replied.
"We might run if there were ever polar bears in the Pride Lands. Luckily the Pride Lands were too warm for them to inhabit." Kovu said. Beshte, who happened to be looking at the polar bear, then headed towards Kovu.
"Makini and I actually knew a polar bear when we were at the Tree of Life. He was a pretty nice guy to talk to." Beshte said.
This made me curious because even when Beshte mentioned the polar bear got to south Asia because in the wild they are usually endemic to the Arctic Circle. Perhaps they came from somewhere in northern Russia.
"Hey Beshte, just out of curiosity, how did your polar bear friend get to the Tree of Life, because many polar bears are endemic to northern Canada, Greenland, or Alaska, yet I highly doubt polar bears have the energy to swim that extensive distances in oceans. Did they come from northern Russia or something" I asked.
"Well, I remember he told me that he did walk to the Tree of Life from his native sleuth, so he was probably from somewhere in northern Russia. It took him a while to adjust to the warmer climates he experienced during his journey, but he was desperate to get there since he was escaping a bad situation in his former sleuth and looking for a place to settle in. He tried a few other sleuths but they did it work out for him, so he went to find a new place south, so that is how he ended up in the Tree of Life and ended up joining a sleuth there." Beshte said.
"That's 's nice that they eventually found a better place after his initial situation." I said.
"Though as you know eventually, two of the lions that helped him get back on his feet also orchestrated the end of his life." Beshte said.
"Oh yeah, I remembered you discussing it in one of your shares. Sorry to have heard about that." Emma said.
"It's fine, though sometimes I still can't believe it has been 21 years since then." Beshte said.
We spent a few more minutes in that hallway until we walked down the next hallway which shows the specimens of species endemic to Africa.
I noticed that many of the hybrids seemed to first have blank expressions on their faces. I guess seeing these specimens brought back memories somehow because they are either of their own species or those they have known in Outlands and Pride Lands.
We first looked at a cheetah specimen, which depicts two cheetahs with a piece of prey with two cubs. Though I am not surprised about the frequency of taxidermy and hunting over 100 years ago, it is still pretty disturbing for me that they killed cubs to make this display back then.
"Though I am not surprised by the extent of hunting over a century ago, I am still disturbed that they killed cubs just for a display." I said.
"Yeah, it is quite disturbing when knowing about the extent of what humans did back then, along with the current atrocities that still go on today." Jasiri said. I nodded my head in agreement.
"Yeah, I remembered going down here on a shift with Fuli one time, she did not like that specimen. Along with the dead cub thing, one of the cheetah's reminded her of the mate Azaad and seeing the two cheetahs and their cubs kind of reminded her of the future she never got to have with Azaad since he died. I thought I might have seen a tear on her face when looking at that specimen during that time." Beshte said.
"That's unfortunate to hear about that. I hope Fuli is doing better now." Raoul said.
"Don't worry she is, since coming to the human world she dated several guys but I think she is single at the moment." Beshte said.
We then continued walking down the hallway and saw glass display cases containing Kudu specimens and then we stopped by the display containing the Tsavo Man-Eaters, the specimens of two lions who were hunted down and killed in the late 1890s because they were allegedly responsible for killing thirty-something railway construction workers near the Tsavo River in Kenya. The display consisted of a display of the two lions' skulls with the taxidermic models. One of them is standing, while the other is laying on a rock. Kiara and Kovu appeared to have raised their eyebrows, looking like they have seen this before.
"Oh yes….the Tsavo Man-Eaters. Two lions who happened to predate on humans sometime during the late nineteenth century was one of a couple of incidents that contributed to the connotation of lions being 'man-eaters', even when most of the incidences of humans being killed by lions were at fault of the humans. There are also more lion deaths caused by humans than lion-caused human deaths. Lions are just trying to survive and live their lives with their pride at peace. Actually, in my whole life, neither my pride nor I have even seen a human let alone eaten one. The most I have heard of them before my transformation was on very few occasional travelers, but we initially saw those as tall tales since no human has ever been seen in the Pride Lands." Kiara said in an elevated voice.
"Neither has there been any during my time in the Outlands. There have been many cases in which one or more of my human peers either ran away, made fun of me, or became afraid of me because they think I will have the sudden urge to eat them because I'm a same things have happened to Kiara, yet neither of us expressed any desire to commit violence. Even when there have been incidents of lions attacking humans, most of it was caused by humans encroaching or provoking lions, many cases on land that actually belongs to the lions. And then there are the monstrous assholes who hunted down lions and kept their pelts and other body parts as trophies, like the people who hunted down these two lions before they were eventually given to the museum in the 1920's and many others. Edwin I know this is similar to what we discussed in our table groups, so you have heard this already and sorry that this might be a repetition for you, but for the four other humans with us, I know you guys have no known intentions on harming animals, I'm just discussing of what I and some of the others have been through and my opinions on what I heard about the environmental and ecological atrocities committed by some humans." Kovu said, taking a breath afterwards.
"It's okay Kovu. I totally understand where you are coming from. I absolutely hate animal cruelty too and I hate people who hunt and keep taxidermy pelts. I had an uncle who did that with deer, let's just say that's one of the reasons I don't speak to him anymore, among others." Emma replied.
"Yeah, when I was young I was really into reading encyclopedias and books about animal behaviors, so I was aware of the behavioral patterns of different species, including lions. I am alarmed by how many movies and tv shows get these behaviors wrong or how much they exaggerate certain behaviors, particularly when I was younger." Engel said.
"Don't worry guys, if there are any similar incidents, you can talk to any of us if you want." Raoul said.
"Thanks Raoul, I appreciate the concern." Kovu said, then turned to the lion specimens in the display cases.
"No problem." Raoul said.
"Also in an unrelated topic, the standing lion figure actually kind of reminds me of my so-called mother." Kovu said.
"Now when looking at it, you're right Kovu…..this lion kind of does look like Zira. Do you think it's possible this lion might be some distant ancestor of hers?" Kiara said while also looking at the figurine.
"To be honest, I am not sure, she never told me anything about her past before Scar. I'm not sure where she was born or raised, whether she was always in what I know now as Tanzania or if her family came from Kenya or somewhere else." Kovu said.
"Yeah, I understand how you feel, Kovu. Both my parents died when I was pretty young, so I never really knew them. I think I actually only have one or two memories of them in total. Though Madoa had more memories of them, it's only by a slightly higher number. Also a few of the older hyenas in our clan shared some stuff but they were extremely vague stuff. But my sister did tell me that their names were Ashura and Banou." Jasiri said.
"Thanks Jasiri, I appreciate it. You are also lucky that you know your parents' names and have a memory or two of them. I cannot say the same for my parents." Kovu said with a more depressed tone and expression on his face.
Some in our group raised our eyebrows and had confused expressions on their faces, including myself.
"Wait Kovu, I thought you said your mother's name was Zira?" I asked with some of the others nodding. He then turned towards me.
"Oh actually, Zira was my adoptive mother…..actually no. I should stop describing my situation as 'adopted'...I was actually kidnapped." Kovu said while many of us started to form shocked expressions on our faces.
"Wait what?!" Makini said with a surprised expression on her face.
"Wait, what did you mean that you were kidnapped, Kovu?" Beshte asked curiously.
"Well when I was really young, Zira used to tell me that Scar was my father and I was his chosen heir. But then as I approached to adolescence both me and the other's in Zira's 'army' started to no longer believe in the Scar being my father thing, after which Zira 'admitted' that I was actually 'adopted' when I was only a week old, and my biological parents thought that I would have a better life with Zira than with them. That was the story that I believed until I became a young adult. About two days after our prides united, one of the older lionesses from my old outlands group revealed to me that the adoption story was also a total lie." Kovu said, subsequently taking a breath after words.
"Then how did you end up being raised by Zira?" Jasiri asked.
"Well, they told me that at some point during the later half of Scar's reign, Zira was frequently in charge of patrols during the time, during which the lioness were a part of. One time they stopped this couple for 'trespassing' on their territory. The lioness never got any names from the two lions but she remembered that the male had a dark mane, brown fur and brown eyes, while the female was more of a tan color with beaming green eyes. They were both carrying a small brown cub with them that had the same eyes as its mother. The lioness recounted that the couple begged for mercy because they only intended to pass through and that their old pride exiled them. The lioness didn't remember what they said was their reason for the exile, but it was either from committing adultery or from war, but no one knew for sure. As Zira and the team were interrogating the couple, she took a look at the small cub intently while others asked questions. The lioness remembered that after a while Zira began to smile, but not because she thought the cub was cute…..she had other things in mind. While the others kept guard on the couple, Zira went to discuss the matter with none other than Scar himself. She brought up that the cub the 'trespassers' had was a spitting image of him, along with looking like a strong and healthy potential heir to the throne. Although Scar and Zira already had two children, Nuka, who was their only biological child as a couple, Scar did not consider him anywhere close to an heir because he thought that he was too weak and scrawny. Then you guys know Vitani, she is the biological daughter of Zira, but not of Scar, but the story of who Vitani's father was is a whole other story for later. He did not consider her an heir either because he didn't think a 'bastard female' should be considered heir of anything. Before uniting the prides, some of the older members of Zira's groups still unjustly referred to Vitani as a bastard. But then this new cub from the trespassers seemed promising for an heir to them. Zira convinces Scar to take a look at the cub himself. The lioness remembered that when Scar approached the couple, took a close look at them, and then the cub. He stared at that cub intently and then….he grinned what was described as a shallow yet sinister grin. He turned his head back towards Zira and her lionesses, looking back at the couple and then back to Zira while gently tilting his head towards his right. According to some of the older lionesses, whenever Scar tilted his head to the right, that's an nonverbal signal for when he wants someone to be killed. Zira nodded in response. Scar then changed his manner and tried to be jovial with the couple. The lioness who was telling me this story, well she had a sister that recently gave birth at the time, so she was nursing at the time. Scar offered to take the couple's cub to the lioness's sister to nurse it because they looked 'tired and hungry', and he offered them some food from his pride's most recent kill. The couple took the offer and thanked them for their kindness. He led them to a cave with Zira and several others following them, while the lioness who was telling the story took the cub to her sister to be nursed. The truth was that there was no recent kill in that cave….the couple were about to become it. The lioness told me that while her sister was nursing the cub, she overheard Scar's jovial manner suddenly change back to that of the Scar that they knew. They overheard the change from 'please have some of our kill' to 'this is what yo pounds of skin get for trespassing on my land!' before the screams of horror and agony began to come from the couple. The screams from the attack lasted a long time before it transitioned to the sounds of them gurgling on their blood….. and then to dead silence. Scar, Zira and a few other lionesses came back to the nursing lioness's cave….all of them were covered in that couple's blood. Scar demanded the lioness's sister to give him and Zira the cub and that she was done nursing it. With Zira carrying the cub in her mouth, she and Scar faced the crowd of lioness and told them that 'his' kingdom finally has a worthy heir and they decided to make preparations to present them to the rest of the kingdom, taking the cub back with them to their dwelling. Shortly after that, the lioness told me that out of curiosity, she decided to peek into the cave where the execution took place….and she said that it was basically a blood bath. There was blood all over the cave floor, internal organs scattered around the place once Scar's troop of hyenas also got their share, and the two bodies with all kinds of wounds, bitemarks and exposed bone present. She told me that what were once two lions became mere piles of skin, plasma, tissue and bones. Scar and Zira decided to raise that cub as her own and a week later, Simba returned and Scar was killed by his own hyenas, leaving Zira to raise the cub with the two other children…" Kovu said, pausing for a minute before continuing.
"That cub….was me. I was kidnapped, not adopted. I don't even have any memories of my birth parents, or where I was born, or even my birth name if I had one at the time. They gave me the name Kovu because it was another word for scar, and they wanted to raise me as almost a Scar-reincarnate. Scar and Zira murdered my biological parents and then raised me as their own because they were dissatisfied with their own children. That's how ended up being raised by a murderous, narcissistic psychopath who believed in the delusions of a mate that has murdered so much innocent life." Kovu said, then took a breath afterwards.
We were all just standing there with shocked expressions on our faces while Kiara went to Kovu to give him a hug. Although we heard some of the cruel stuff this Scar figure has done, including murder his own guard, murdered his brother, several others and led to the ruin of the Pride Lands. But I have never heard this story before, and based on the looks of everyone else in our group except for Kiara, neither have most of the others.
"Oh my goodness….I never realized that was how you ended up being raised by Zira. I knew she was a horrible lion but I did not realize that she went to that level of depravity to achieve some delusional goal. Just as I thought I already had a low opinion of her, she now set the bar even lower." Jasiri said.
"Yeah, I am sorry that this has happened to you Kovu." I rest nodded their heads and said similar stuff.
"Thank you, I appreciate your concern." Kovu said calmly.
"I'm sorry but I just had one more thing, did Rafiki ever know about this because when he went over the history of the Pride Lands during my mjuzi training, this was never mentioned." Makini asked.
"That was actually about the time he left to search and get Simba to return to the Pride Lands, but I remembered later telling him that story in private shortly before the drought. Even when the circumstances of how I ended up being raised by Zira were horrible, I was also kind of relieved confirming that neither Scar nor ZIra were my biological parents because first, I would not want to be anything like those two monsters, and plus if I was their sun, Kiara and I would be second cousins and that would have made things so much more awkward." Kovu said.
"I guess that is one way of finding the bright side of things." Kiara said.
We started to walk around more of the exhibit looking at figures of an african buffalo, aardvarks and warthogs. Then we encountered a figure with spotted hyenas that clearly caught Jasiri's attention. The display contained three spotted hyenas that were standing on piles of rocks. Two of the hyenas have their noses in rock crevices in front of them and the other one is in the back looking down at a rock. I saw that Jasiri paid particularly close attention to that model.
"Man, this model kind of reminds me of when I was back in the Outlands, at times when my clan and I occasionally search for mice through the rock crevices. There were some days where we got a couple of mice, and other days we got nothing. When I was younger, some of the other hyenas and I made a game out of it to pass the time by. Man time really has passed by since then." Jasiri said as she stared at the display recalling that memory.
"I see where you are coming from, Jasiri. When Vitani, Nuka and I were forced to live near the termite mounds, there were some days where we were so desperate for food that we ate termites. Zira used to call it a 'sacrifice for the cause'. Although Nuka was disproportionately asked to eat them more than the rest of us." Kovu said.
"Wait Kovu, are you saying that you actually ate termites at one point in your life?" Raoul asked.
"Yeah, it was just some points when we had virtually no food." Kovu said.
"Well don't tell Timon because if he finds out that you ate bugs, you might get a whole lecture on his specific tastes in bugs back when he was a full meerkat." Kiara said.
We then continued further along the exhibit to look at more figures of animals from Africa, and then some of the other figures in different sections of the exhibit, including the "what is an Animal Section. Then we got confused about where we were going. We forgot that this was the part of the museum notorious for people to get lost in.
We eventually go back on track when entering the Mammals of Asia section. We were looking at figures of animals such as orangutans, sloth bears, tigers, snow leopards, tapirs and several deer species. We were browsing and Beshe and Makini seemed incredibly tentative to the figures.
"Hey Makini, we have seen animals of these exact species both near and at the Tree of Life." Beshte said while looking at Makini.
"Oh yeah, I remember. Many are of the same species of individuals we knew personally. These figures and the settings of the displays that they are in brings back a few memories back then." Makini said while looking at a snow leopard figure.
"Hey guys, I think this species of bear is the same one that is within The Jungle Book." Raoul said, looking at the sloth bear figure.
"Oh yeah, you mean that Rudyard Kipling book?" Engel said.
"Yeah, I think I have checked out that book a couple of times from the library when I was a kid." Violetta said.
"Wait there was a book? I only saw the movie from Disney." Emma said.
"Oh yeah, I think I saw that once, it was okay but it wasn't the best movie I saw during my early years in the human world." Beshte said.
"Really, I thought it was pretty good back then. Even when I have outgrown them for the most part, some Disney movies still have some pretty catchy songs." Makini said.
"I understand how you feel, I used to watch Disney movies when I was a kid. But I also remembered how annoyed I was how much my niece sang 'Let it Go' over and over when that Frozen movie came out several years ago." Emma said.
"Oh yeah, there was a bunch of publicity for that movie when I was in grad school. To be honest, even when I was younger, I've never been a big fan of Disney movies. I always thought they were kind of cheesy." I said.
"Yeah me too Edwin, I've never really liked those movies. Even when I was younger, I've been more of a sci fi and fantasy person, even horror on many occasions. Disney movies just seem to have repetitive plot elements in my opinion and all those movies just seem the same to me." Jasiri said
"That's true. I was just thinking about how most of those movies seem to always have a happy ending. Although I get many movies from Disney trying to target a wider audience, with youth in particular, it wouldn't hurt for them to make at least one or more movies with some more realistic endings because in real-life not everything has a happy ending. In fact, some have incredibly tragic endings, even in other pieces of media and literature." Kovu said.
"I get where you guys are coming from, but I don't think there's that much harm in some happy endings. Did you forget the near war that was between both our parents? We were able to stop it after we realized what the phrase 'we are one' truly meant and we were able to live our happy ending. Despite Zira's suicide and the subsequent events of the drought and human world- related obstacles, we have been able to maintain our relationship for a long time. And we are in a loving marriage now. I remembered when I told classmates and friends about our relationship, they compared us to Romeo and Juliet from Shakespear." Kiara said while holding Kovu's hands.
"That's true, the two of us did have a happy ending. Though I still wonder why our old classmates kept comparing us to Romeo and Juliet because that play ended in double suicide and the two kingdoms were not able to make some form of truce until after Romeo and Juliet died. Though it's kind of weird how some events had quite some similarities to our story when I read it." Kovu said.
"That's true. Also when I read Hamlet for middle school once, I couldn't help but notice some of the similarities it has to my father's story. This included the whole noble killing his brother to become king, sending Hamlet to exile after Polonius's death and the whole Hamlet and Ophelia relationship. And the whole ghost of dead dad trying to get living son to avenge him was eerie to me because my dad claimed the exact same thing influenced him to take back the throne of Pride Rock. Although unlike my dad's case, nearly everybody dies in Hamlet." Kiara said.
We continued to talk for a while and then we left the exhibit to head back for the meeting room. We did a small discussion on our prior discussions and exhibit excursions, along with what we have taken away from them until we officially ended the meeting for this week.
We all went out of the room, Jasiri and I were riding in her car this week. We headed to the parking lot and we got in the car and we drove out of the parking lot and during the drive we are started to chat for a little bit.
"Hey Jasiri, you know how we were briefly discussing Disney in that exhibit?" I asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" Jasiri said.
"Well I read in an online article somewhere, and apparently Disney is planning to start a streaming network." I said.
"Really? A streaming network? Doesn't really surprise me though, it's 2019, streaming is extremely popular." Jasiri said.
"True, it doesn't surprise me they would go in that direction, it's probably losing views on its cable networks that target youth. Anyway I think they say it's going to be called 'Disney Plus', but I'm probably not going to watch it or get an account. I got a feeling it's targeted towards kids and such." I replied.
"True but wait….doesn't Disney kind of own Marvel now?" Jasiri said inquisitively.
"Oh yeah they do, but I think later they might try to start a separate streaming network for Marvel content. But actually, I'm not sure, I might need to read into it more, the article I read didn't mention anything about Marvel." I said.
We continued to chat for a little longer until we got to the front of my building.
"Well,, here's your place babe, I'll see you for our jog tomorrow afternoon." Jasiri said.
"And I'm looking forward to spending that jog with you sweetheart." I said.
We then kissed each other goodbye before I got out of the car and headed back to my apartment.