Third Person P.O.V.
It was a cold Thursday in early January, it was the first month of the new year and people were returning to work after their day off on January 1. The early morning staff, custodians and security were preparing for the rest of the museum staff and visitors of the day to come. Soon researchers and other employees started to clock in and check in through the security desks.
Edwin and his colleagues from the genetics lab entered the lab and prepped for the tasks each of them was going to perform that day. As they do their tasks in proximity to each other, they begin to chat with one another about random topics such as life and current events.
"I can't believe it's both a new year and a new decade already! I wonder what surprises the year 2020 will bring us." Makini said.
"I know right, so much time has passed by and now our year has the same name as that TV show." Bupu said.
"Although I've been reading and watching the news recently, I saw some stuff about how a new strain of coronavirus has been found and it has infected several people in Wuhan, China." Edwin said.
"Oh yeah, I heard of that, it's terrible that the people got infected, but I hope that they are able to contain the virus so that there won't be any future infections, or else it could potentially spread all over Wuhan, which could spread to other regions of China or even to other countries." Vuruga said.
"Yeah, I would not like to see that happen." Makini replied.
"Me neither." Pete said.
"Let's hope that it is able to be contained." Ma Tembo said.
"So, the weekend is coming soon, do you guys have any plans outside the Human-Hybrids Alliance meeting tomorrow night?" Makini asked.
"Well, as you know, for Jasiri and I, Saturdays are our date nights and we are planning to go to this new Chinese restaurant. Then on Sunday, I plan to catch up on some of my grocery shopping. How about you guys?" Edwin replied.
"Well me and a friend of mine are checking out this movie theater that mostly plays international films on Saturday." Ma Tembo said.
"I'm going to try out this new gym that my neighbor recommended to me." Vuruga said.
"I'm just planning on relaxing at home and having a casual weekend." Bupu said.
"Yeah, me too. I've been behind on household chores and I don't want to place that burden on my wife since her work has been busy and stressful for her recently." Pete said.
"Cool, and I am planning to meet up with one of my old high volleyball teammates for coffee." Makini said.
"Those all sound like interesting plans, plus I checked the supply cabinet, we are running low on TRIS. We might need to order more from the supplier." Edwin replied.
"Okay, I will take note of that." Ma Tembo said.
They then all continued their work in their lab until their lunch began. The rest of that day was pretty routine for that group. Then the next day, Edwin and Jasiri decided to do something different and went out for coffee after work but before the Human-Hybrid Alliance meeting. They mostly talked about stuff that went on at work, along with recalling a New Year's Eve party Kendall threw a couple of days prior that they went to. Since it was darker outside, Jasiri was in her anthropomorphic hyena form.
"So I was looking all over my workstation to find the specific brush I need for my specimen. But then after twenty minutes of looking all over the fossil lab, that was until I felt something in my lab coat pocket to find the brush that I was looking for. So I wasted twenty minutes of my day looking for that damn brush." Jasiri said, which caused the two to share a laugh.
"Yeah, all of us have those moments one time or another. Remember at Kendall's New Year's Party a few days ago, that friend of Kendall's was looking for where they dropped their house keys only to realize that they never were outside their pocket." Edwin said.
"Oh yeah, I remember that, they also tried to see if we accidentally grabbed their keys by mistake. That was a great party, it was nice meeting all of those new people and just having a good time." Jasiri said.
"Yeah, and it wasn't one of those crazy parties like in some night clubs in the Gold Coast. It was lively but it wasn't excessive." Edwin replied.
They continued to talk with each other for about seven minutes about random topics.
"This coffee shop is very nice. How did you find it?" Jasiri asked.
"Well before the first meeting of the Human-Hybrid Alliance, Ma Tembo asked me to join her for coffee and take her order for her as she went to order flowers for the shrine for the deceased that was set up that day. And while I was taking both my own and Ma Tembo's coffee orders, I bumped into Beshte who also ordered something from the cafe. We ended up talking to each other about a lot of stuff, including stuff from my personal life, his experiences in the army and other stuff. As you know, after that Beshte and I kinda started this tradition of getting coffee once in a while to just talk about life and things going on within each of our lives, in a similar way that we talk to each other. But don't worry, I would never tell anyone anything that you would not be comfortable with me ." Edwin said.
"I totally get it babe, sometimes I do the same thing when Makini and I are both would just talk about life and such, similar topics that you and Beshte probably talk about." Jasiri said in an understanding tone.
"Yeah, outside of each other, we all have that friend or two that we tell everything to." Edwin said.
"Although Ed, even when this place is great, they did get my name wrong on my cup." Jasiri said as she held her cup towards Edwin which had the word Josorry on it.
"Yeah, sorry I didn't warn you Jas. This place is notorious for getting names wrong. Look….." Edwin said as he grabbed his cup and turned it towards the side with the word Edward written on it.
"I've ordered from here several times, and they still can't get my name right. They wrote my order as Edward instead of Edwin even when I corrected them a few times." Edwin said before the couple both shared a light laugh with each other.
"We should probably start heading to the meeting now, we are going to be featured in tonight's main discussion panel." Jasiri said.
"Oh yeah, Rafiki is doing that thing about couples and we're part of it." Edwin said.
The two then exited the cafe to head back to the museum for the Human-Hybrids Alliance for that night.
Jasiri P.O.V.
For tonight's Human-Hybrids Alliance Meeting, Rafiki set up this discussion panel where it featured three couples. The couples included one consisting of two humans, another consisting of two hybrids and one consisting of one human and one-hybrid.
Edwin and I are the Human-Hybrid couple featured, Kiara and Kovu are the hybrid couple, and then the human couple consisted of Bonita, a Digitization Project Coordinator, and Otha, who is a curator who specializes in Mesoamerican and Central American anthropology. Essentially in this panel, each couple discussed their experiences as couples, our obstacles and opened the room to questions and answers from both the audience and among the couples in the panel.
So each of the couples, including us, were discussing our experiences including our individual early lives, how we first met, first dates, when we started developing feelings for each other, current obstacles and experiences, along with some other details about our personal lives. When the question-and-answer part occurred, there were a surprising amount of questions for us regarding the intimate parts of our the initial awkwardness of some of the questions we were asked, it was interesting to learn about the different perspectives of different relationships. In fact, there were even times where we got some advice from Anga and Timon who are both hybrids in romantic relationships with humans.
Overall, it was a pretty good discussion, after which we then completed our usual discussion activities that we do in our meetings. An hour or two passed by before Rafiki made his concluding remarks for this week, after which we all got up from our seats, grabbed our coats and started heading out to our cars.
This time, we are taking Edwin's car home. As the two of us were walking down, we bumped into Kiara and Kovu and started to converse about our time in the discussion panels earlier that night.
"Yeah, so I can't believe how many questions our discussion panels got." I said.
"Me neither, but your guys' panel had a particularly large amount of questions. I guess a lot of people are curious about romantic relationships between humans and hybrids. But to be fair, the two of us were also a little curious." Kovu said.
"Yeah, though I admit we also got some questions regarding our….intimate life. But I also saw that your panel also had a lot of interesting questions. A lot of people were curious about how you guys and other hybrids adjusted to dating in the human world." Edwin said.
"Yeah, it was interesting to see how curious our colleagues and fellow attendees were. Do you have any plans this weekend?" Kiara said.
"Well tomorrow is our date night so we are checking out this Chinese restaurant that we found online. What about you guys? Anything interesting in particular that you are planning for this weekend?" I asked.
"Well, we are actually planning to meet up with my mother tomorrow. She said that she wanted to talk about something important. And for some reason, she also requested that Vitani come meet with us too. I don't know why she requested that all three of us come, but all she told us was that it was something important." Kiara said.
Edwin and I looked at each other intently knowing that we both have the same hypothesis of what their meeting with Nala is going to be about. I guess that based on the context of what they said, Nala is now ready to come out to her close family members. Based on what Edwin has told me, since Nala came out to us nearly a month ago, she seem to slowly started to further make it know to people she knows that she is gay, including most of her coworkers at her job in the Art Institute, but she still hasn't really told any of her former colleagues from the Field Museum. Edwin and I were the first people from the museum she came out to. Both of us were curious about how it will go, but it is Nala's life so I don't think it would be appropriate for us to bud in without her permission.
"Sounds interesting, I hope your meeting is about positive matters." I replied.
"Yeah we hope so too." Kiara said.
"Though we were a little curious as to why she also wanted Vitani to come to the meeting." Kovu said.
We talked for a couple more minutes until we reached our cars in the parking lot.
"Well, I hope you two have a good evening." Edwin said.
"See you later guys!" Kiara said.
"See ya!" I replied.
Soon Edwin and I got in his car and we drove to head back to our places.
Kiara P.O.V.
It was a Saturday afternoon, Kovu and I were driving to pick up Vitani for our meeting with Mom. It was a cold day and it was lightly snowing outside. Kovu was behind the wheel and I was in the passenger seat. We were both in our human forms since it is day time.
"So what do you think this meeting with your mom is about?" Kovu asked me.
"I'm not sure, she said it was about something important. I just hope it's not bad news." I replied.
"Yeah, me neither. I hope she's doing alright because we haven't really talked with her in-person for weeks. I wonder what she has been up to recently." Kovu said.
"Yeah, she has been pretty quiet in regard to her social life and such, but she tells me she enjoys her new job at the Art Institute." I said.
"That's nice to hear." Kovu said.
We were talking to each other for a few minutes until we finally pulled up near the sidewalk alongside the building Vitani's apartment is at.
After about seven minutes of waiting, Vitani came out and approached us. She was in her human form and wearing a black coat. She soon got in the back seat of our car, took her hood off and unzipped her coat. Soon we began to start driving again.
"Hi Vitani, how's it going?" Kovu asked.
"I'm okay…It's so cold out there. Again, why does Chicago have to be so cold during this time of the year?" Vitani said while still trying to recover from the cold. This caused us to let out a light laugh
"I know right? I always wondered how I survived even this long with this weather." Kovu said.
"Same, back in the Outlands this kind of weather was unheard of. We've known hot and dry, but when we became hybrids and moved to the US, I could not believe temperatures could get so cold." Vitani said.
"Yeah, I was having initial trouble adjusting to these temperatures as well." I replied.
"So what is this meeting with Nala about anyway? Cause I don't know, nor have any clue what it's about." Vitanti said.
"No clue, the two of us were wondering the same thing." Kovu said.
"Yeah, she only said it was about something important, but never specified whether it was positive, negative or any specifics of the topic. So I guess we are all on the same boat. She just told us to meet at this cafe for the meeting, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see." I replied.
On the way to the cafe, we just continued to lightly converse while some pop music played on the radio. A few songs by the artist Post Malone played, I guess he got pretty popular recently.
"Man, they have really been playing Post Malone a lot recently." Kovu said.
"Well….at least it's better than a constant replaying of All I Want For Christmas is You. I'm glad they stopped playing that for the rest of the year." Vitani said.
"Oh, you don't like Mariah Carey?" I asked.
"Actually no, that's not the thing. I'm okay with Mariah Carey and her music, but in the winter months in particular, that Christmas song plays in every car radio station, store or commercial that I can't use Spotify to escape. And besides, in my opinion, All I Want For Christmas is You is not even Mariah Carey's best song." Vitani said.
"Okay, which song do you like of hers?" Kovu asked.
"I was looking through her older stuff and I like this song, I think it was called uhh….Emotions…yeah that was it, Emotions." Vitani said.
"Oh yeah, I heard of that song." Kovu said.
"Me too, but one thing I'm curious about is how can a human voice even reach that high of an octave? I think I would be in a coughing fit if I even tried to do half of those octaves." I replied.
"I looked up when she did that song, and it was made in 1991…before any of us were actually born." Vitani said.
"Man, I still can't believe how young we actually are compared to most people in our peer groups in this society." I said.
"Me neither, though my legal papers said I was 'born' in 1989, I am actually between six to eight years younger than people in my human age group." Kovu said as he drove.
We drove for a couple more minutes, until we reached a cafe that was in the Edgewater neighborhood. We parked a block away from the cafe, got out of the car, paid the parking meter and walked towards the cafe. We entered the building which was mostly empty with a few customers and employees in sight.
We walked around for about a minute until we found my mother in her human form, wearing a green sweater with a small cup of coffee in front of her….and next to her was this other woman who looked about the same age with brunette hair that has some gray parts of it, which was tied into a bun, and she was wearing a turquoise shirt.
"Who's that lady with your mom?" Vitani leaned in and whispered in my ear.
"Yeah, I've never seen her in my life. Is that her divorce lawyer or something?" Kovu also whispered.
"I have no idea. I know that is not the lawyer she used for her divorce. I don't know who this woman is." I said curiously.
All of us were curious about who this mystery woman sitting with my mother was. We approached the table, my mother noticed us and she got up and started to approach us and give each of us a hug.
"Hello honey, it's been a while since I have seen all of you. I hope all of you have been doing well." My mom said as she was hugging me tightly.
Shen then loosened her grip on me and went on to hug Kovu, during which I noticed that mother was extremely cheery and positive compared to times in which we have seen her both before and shortly after the divorce.
"We are all doing well as I know of. How have you been?" I replied as she was still hugging Kovu.
"I'm doing fine, just living my life to its fullest and trying to be the best me that I can be." My mom said as she loosened her grip on Kovu and started to hug Vitani.
"Wow Nala, you seem awfully cheery today." Kovu said, a little surprised by my mom's boost in positivity.
"Well, I just want to view life through a more positive lens. Since I divorced Simba to be honest, I have never been so free in my entire life." My mom said.
As we walked towards her table and approached the mystery woman, we also noticed a transition from a calmer to a slightly more nervous and serious tone. But first she started to introduce us to this woman, who then started to approach us and shake my hand.
"Hi there, I'm Julia, I've known your mother for about five to six months. I figure that you must be Kiara. Nala has told me so much about you, though she never told me you were this pretty." The mystery woman said, giving out a warm and endearing energy.
"Nice to meet you Julia." I replied, turning her head towards Kovu.
"And this young man must be Kovu, the charming and devoted son-in-law who works with old artifacts, who is also not afraid to express his nerdy side, kinda reminds me of my own son. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kovu." Julia said while shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you too Julia." Kovu said.
Julia then started to approach Vitani when Vitani lifted her hand to initiate a handshake.
"Hello Julia, My name's Vitani. I'm Kovu's sister and I also work at the Field Museum with Kiara and Kovu, but I work as a tour guide and assist with staff and tourist relations." Vitani said as she shook Julia's hand.
"Nice to meet you Vitani." Julia said as all of us sat down.
As we sat down, my mother pushed forward a tray that contained three coffee cups. This didn;t surprise us since along with scheduling a meeting, she asked if we would like her to order anything for us. It was a little weird that she was willing to pay for all of us.
"So Mom, I am a little curious about what precisely this meeting is about?" Kiara said.
"Yeah, and is Julia a friend from the Art Institute or is she your lawyer of some kind?" Kovu asked. After which, Julia let out a light laugh at this question.
"Oh no, I don't work at the Art Institute, nor am I a lawyer. I'm actually a bank teller." Julia said.
"Okay, so how did you and Nala meet then?" Vitani asked.
My mother started to visibly become more nervous and Julia started to look at her and give her a light nod.
"Well….that is part of why I wanted to meet with you. Kiara…Kovu…Vitani, there are somethings that I have not been completely honest with you about….in fact before a couple months ago, there were some things I was dishonest with myself about, but I am now tired of living a lie to myself and everyone I know…" My mother said nervously in a serious tone.
"Wait Mom?...What specifically do you mean that you have been living a lie?" I asked curiously.
"Sure, your father's multiple affairs and lack of honest communication was definitely PART of why we divorced, but there was another thing that also played a role. After I tell you this part, I really hope that you know that I am still the same person that you know and that you can still respect and love me as I love you no matter how I live my life….okay uh….so here it goes…..Kiara…..Kovu….Vitani…..I'm gay." My mother said, taking a breath after the last two or three words.
The three of us were surprised, all of us including myself raised our eyebrows because none of us expected this from my mother. Don't get me wrong, I greatly respect my mother's bravery in coming out, it's just never would have expected that my mother was gay out of all the time that I knew her. I am proud that my mother had the bravery to now share this part of herself with us, but also I was feeling a little guilty because I felt as if I didn't support her in times when she needed it back then. But the best thing to do right now is to give her my full support and let her know that I will always love her and be there for her. But before I could, my mom interrupted my attempt. She and Julia started to hold hands and I could see that her face was starting to turn a little red and I thought that I saw a tear starting to develop in her eye.
"Wait…wait….wait…wait…there's another thing I want to tell you. Guys this is Julia….she is my girlfriend…We have been dating for about five months….Plus I have been living with her since I moved out of your dad's place" My mother said.
We were also surprised to find out that she was dating someone ,she never really discussed much of her dating life with us post-divorce.
"I just want to say that Julia has been my rock and guide that has helped me come out as gay and helped me come out of my shell to help me live my life as my honest self and stop living a lie…..And I am really sorry that there were some aspects of my life I did not tell you about… I….I guess I was afraid of how you would react because I love you guys and I wasn't sure how you guys were going to react to my true self and I'm sorry that I have been dishonest with both you and myself all these years and..and…I..just…just" My mother was saying while trying to hold back tears from her eyes and visibly nervous. I have no choice but to hug her and show her that I still love her.
I got up from my seat, walked towards my mother and gave her and allowed her to cry on my shoulder. While Julia was holding her from the other side, gently patting her back and holding onto her shoulders.
"It's okay Nala…..you're doing great honey." Julia said to her empathetically.
"She's right mom…you're doing great. It doesn't matter whether you're gay, straight, bi or anything. You are still my mother and I will always love and support you like you have done with me throughout my life. I am so proud and honored that you want to share your honest self with me. You are a strong, brave and loving individual who teaches me to be strong, independent and determined. I want to know that I will always love no matter what your sexual preference because you would and have done the same for me in every accomplishment of my life, and now its my turn to return the favor because thats what family does for each other." I calmly said to her with a little bit of tears starting to come from my eyes.
My mother then started to look towards me, started to smile and we embraced each other for a little longer.
"Thank you, Kiara, I really appreciate your support right now." My mom said as we slowly broke our embrace. Then Kovu started to approach her and gave her a hug.
"We will always support you, Nala. Like Kiara said, that's what family does and we will always be here for you, no matter what. We love you and we are honored that you trust us in expressing your true self." Kovu said as he embraced my mom.
"Thank you Kovu, I love you too. I am very lucky to have a son-in-law, you really are like another son to me." Nala said as she looked at Kovu, eventually leaving their embrace.
"Thank you, Nala, I really appreciate it." Kovu said as he headed back to his seat.
Vitani quickly walked towards my mother to give her a warm hug and I'm not sure if it was just me, but I thought I saw a tear in her eye while she hugged my mom.
"You were there for me when I came out as bi, now it is my turn to be here for you since you are coming out. You will always be brave to me and nothing will ever change that. For a while I was in the same position as you. " Vitani empathetically said to her.
"Thank you, Vitani, I appreciate the support right now." My mom replied.
Vitani soon went back to where she was sitting before.
"Based on what mom said to us earlier, thank you Julia for helping my mother finally come out and help her be able to express her true self. I am glad that you and my mom are happy with each other and that your guys' relationship is going well." I said.
"Awww…..you're welcome I guess….but it wasn't just me, your mother is a very strong woman who took the steps upon herself to come out. I might have helped a little bit because like your mother, I was also married to a man and had two children while I was still in the closet. Since I was in a similar situation to her before I came out, and I didn't come out until a year or two after that divorce, I wanted Nala to avoid the same mistakes I did. Don't get me wrong, I still love my children and they supported me when I came out of the closet. I guess there were some things in my life I would have done a little differently in my life if I came out earlier. But again, I still love my kids dearly, and Nala talks to me about you all the time, including your guys experiences before, during and after the drought in the Pride Lands, and how you were in adjusting to human society….in fact she said really positive things of the strength, determination and bravery of all of you. I wouldn't be surprised because they looked up to the bravest lioness of all." Julia said as she soon grabbed my mother's hand and stared at her amorously.
We thought that their relationship was cute based on first impressions, though we raised our eyebrows when we heard her mention the drought, the Pride Lands and that she's a lioness. We guess that she knows about our background as hybrids.
"Okay Julia, so I guess you know about our….you know?" I asked.
"Yeah, I have known about that for a while. Your mother told me about that a long time ago." Julia replied.
"Hey Mom, is it okay if I ask you a question?" I asked.
"Sure, no problem sweetheart." My mother replied.
"I apologize if this seems inappropriate, but that was never my intention…..When did you first know that you were gay?" I asked.
"That's not an inappropriate question for me, but I'll have to tell you that it's a long story. So hold onto your seats you guys, we might be here for a little while….So it all started when I was a cub in the Mufasa-era Pride Lands and I was watching the adult lionesses hunt…." My mother began.
She then recounted her story in which she knew she was attracted to other females since she was young but the Pride Lands before and during the Mufasa reign were not as open-minded to same-sex couples, in fact she said that grandma Sarafina even called her "confused" one time for even suggesting that she was attracted to other lionesses. She also discussed her internal debate back then of whether she was really attracted to dad, or was it something from the excitement or heat of the moments when planning and executing the removal of Scar. Plus she discussed all the expectations she was forced to meet by almost the entire Pride Lands. I was also incredibly intrigued and surprised by the story of her encounters with this lioness Shani. As my mom continued to tell her story, some things actually answered some early questions I had regarding my parents' relationship before the divorce, but some parts generated more questions for me. Each part of her story enabled me to reexamine some parts of my life through a different perspective. It was interesting to learn more about my mother's life that was different from what I was told earlier in life. She started discussing her life after meeting Julia at a farmer's market.
"...So yeah, that is how Julia helped me come out and stop living the lie I did for all those years." My mother said as she finished her story.
I admit the story is a lot to process at the moment, and when I looked at Kovu and Vitani's faces, I saw that they were still trying to process some parts of the story just told to us.
"I know guys, that story was long and some parts may take time to process, but it's all true. I've been wanting to tell you guys these stories for a long time and I am glad I got it out of my system." My mom said.
"Yeah, I have some questions regarding one part of your story. So…..did you ever regret not taking Shani's offer to run away with her and start a pride of your own? Did either me or KIon hindered your chances of true happiness? If we did, I am really sorry if me and Kion indirectly contributed to that. So does that mean that Kion and I were both unplanned to some degree? Plus why have we never really heard of this other pride where this Shani originated?" I asked.
"No, don't think that, neither you or Kion impeded on trying to find true happiness. I still love you and did not regret giving birth to you. If I had it my way back then, I would have taken both you and Kion away with Shani and I. But since you were such a young cub at the time along with still being pregnant with Kion, I wasn't sure how two young cubs would be in the rogue lifestyle. Plus I admit, I would have been afraid that the Pride Landers would try to go after me if I took you and Kion along. Plus if I got caught, I was afraid of how Simba and others would take it out on Shani or myself. I thought that staying in the Pride Lands would be more stable for you and Kion, plus I was scared of potential repercussions not only for running away, but of the Pride Lands finding out that I was flirting and having with another female. That is because being attracted, let alone being a relationship with someone of the same sex, was still looked down upon in the Pride Lands back then, in fact it would have been considered incomprehensible to most individuals I knew back then…..And although yes, as mentioned, there have been times where I did think about what would have happened if I did accept Shani's offer, but then again if I did, it wouldn't have led me to the special relationship I have now with Julia. To answer the question about Shani's original pride, the diplomatic talks between our prides did not end well, so after those initial talks we didn't really hear from them after that. And to be honest….you were somewhat planned because your father always intended on planning to have an heir to the Pride Lands throne, but before that I initially didn't really plan on having children back then. Kion on the other hand was completely unplanned because after you, we didn't really plan on having more cubs and neither of us really desired a second cub. Plus I never liked forcing myself to be 'intimate' with your father, so I didn't want another kid so I didn't need to force myself to further love someone I wasn't attracted to or continuing to maintain this image of what everyone expected me to be…..but somehow it happened anyway and that's how Kion came to be. Again yes, there were some parts of my life I wish I did do differently, but there were some other parts I didn't since it led to you being born, along with eventually leading me to Julia, who I couldn't be more happy with" My mother said.
"Well, as long as you are happy with your life now, that's all that matters. I am so glad that you have truly found happiness now. And again, wish Julia and you nothing but happiness and we will support and love you no matter what happens." I told my mother to reassure her that I love her no matter what.
"Thank you, I appreciate it, Kiara." My mother said as she looked warmly towards us.
"Yeah, we really appreciate the support." Julia said in the same tone as my mom did.
"So Julia, does anyone in your family know that you are dating Nala?" Kovu asked.
"Well, my daughter knows I'm dating someone but I haven't told her the whole hybrid, Pride Lands background and the other stuff, I haven't told her yet. My son, the other hand knows the whole story about us, but we didn't initially approach him about it…..he and his girlfriend accidentally discovered us and we then explained to them the whole thing and Nala eventually came out to them…It was also a little awkward because it was also the first time I saw my son's girlfriend in her hyena form." Julia said.
After listening to that…we then realized the last part of what she said about her son's girlfriend. We were all just shocked and I swore that Vitani spit and almost choked on part of her drink because we heard her coughing after hearing her cough next to us.
"Vitani, are you okay?" Kovu said looking at his sister as she started to slowly stop coughing and took a napkin to clean the drink she coughed out.
"Okay…yeah…I'm fine…..Julia, did you say that your son's girlfriend was in her hyena form?" Vitani asked.
"Yeah, that's right. Though I go by my birth last name Sala, before I came out of the closet and was still married to my kid's father and went under the married name Mariani. As I told you I had two kids, with my youngest being my daughter Katrina, and the oldest being my son Edwin." Julia said.
"Mariani?...Wait?...Edwin from the genetics lab is your son?" I asked.
"Yep, that's him, in fact that's where he first met his girlfriend…" Julia said before Kovu interrupted.
"Jasiri…..yeah, it's kind of funny because Kiara and I literally talked to them last night after our Human-Hybrids Alliance meeting. It's kinda interesting to think of how connected all of us in the world are to each other." Kovu said.
"Yeah, it's funny to think that almost all of us in the world indirectly know each other to some degree. It seems like a bunch of 'one person knows someone who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone….' you get the point, it's a bunch of 'know someones'. Plus I heard about this group Rafiki formed, and I think it's great that he is trying to get humans and hybrids to communicate with each other more." My mother said,
"Yeah, our meetings are quite interesting. There are typically a lot of discussion-based activities and on some occasions we even get to walk around parts of the museum's exhibits after hours as a way to try to get us to further communicate with each other." I replied.
"That sounds nice." My mother replied.
"But wait Julia, why were Edwin and Jasiri at your house when they found out about your guys' relationship?" Vitani asked.
"Well, I asked Edwin and Jasiri to house sit for me while your mother and I were on vacation, but they didn't know that our vacation ended a day early, and Edwin walked into our room finding matches while we were in it. And then Jasiri came in and that's how I first saw her anthropomorphic hyena form. It was even more awkward because I eventually learned that Edwin and Jasiri were…well….intending to get….well….intimate that night." Julia said.
We were all a little surprised there, and this time it was Kovu's turn to nearly choke on his drink, while Vitani was trying to stiffen a chuckle….but to be fair, so was I.
"Wait, they were initially planning on getting intimate at your guys' place when they thought you were gone?" Vitani said before she started to laugh.
"Man….I feel bad for both of them. That would be pretty awkward for them to reveal that Jasiri's a hybrid. Along with an awkward moment for you guys to reveal your relationship to them." Kovu said.
"Yeah Kovu, it kinda reminds me of that time back when we were home from college, that one weekend where my parents went to that job fair in San Francisco, Kion was sleeping over at a friend's house, and my guide was on vacation. I let you in the house that we had all to ourselves. We had some good times, didn't we? That was a pretty wild night, just the two of-" I was recalling, but then immediately stopped when I realized that I was saying this out loud to my mom across from me. I saw her raising her eyebrows while forming a shocked expression on her face, while Julia also had her eyebrows raised.
"Wait?! You and Kovu did WHAT in my house back then? So-wait? Is that how that lamp I used to have ended up broken? I initially thought that our cleaning person accidentally knocked it over. Man….I guess each of us had some aspects of our lives that we didn't know about the other person" My mom said, eventually letting out a small laugh after the last part.
"So yeah, anyways, among you three, Jasiri and Edwin are the only former Field Museum colleagues that I have come out to. I have not told any of the others yet, but I am planning to tell them later." My mother said,
"Wait…just out of curiosity….does dad know?" I asked.
"Well, I haven't told him directly, but I think he sensed that I wasn't really attracted to him. Plus, he would probably still hate me whether I tell him or not because we have not been on good terms since the divorce and plus as you know, he is kind of homophobic. Like how he refuses to acknowledge Timon and Gary's, or even Timon and Pumbaa's relationship as romantic ones. And he did have some negative comments about Vitani since she came out as bi." My mom said.
"Oh yes. I remember…he did not do a good job in hiding his distaste of my identity. For example, when I have ever discussed my dating life in family gatherings, he had noticeable signs of displeasure during the times I was dating someone of the same sex. As you know, I pointed this out to him and he tried denying that he was homophobic and didn't mean to be offensie, but I can read between the lines." Vitani said.
"Yeah, that guy is terrible at hiding his irritation towards things he disagrees with." I replied.
"Tell me about it. I've known about that since we were still in the Pride Lands and he is quite a stubborn individual as well" Kovu said.
"Also, have you told Kion about it yet?" I asked.
"Oh yeah…..about that. I haven't told him yet but I plan on telling him through phone call, voicemail or video chat because knowing his recent patterns in behavior and our strained relationship, it would probably be the only range of options at this point." my mother replied.
"Yeah, that's understandable, Kovu and I don't really talk to Kion anymore. Haven't spoken to him in a while and I got a feeling that he doesn't want to speak to us either." I replied.
"Yeah, I have not communicated with him in months, but after what he did to Rani and then Jasiri in the past, I don't really have any intention of ever voluntarily speaking to him again." Vitani said.
"Yeah, I totally get how you feel. I haven't been in contact with him in a while, with the exception of silently walking past each other at work." I replied.
The five of us continued to talk with each other for several minutes until we eventually decided that it was time to leave.
"It's been really nice talking with you guys and thank you for being so accepting when I came out to you guys. I hope we get to spend more time together like this someday later." My mother said.
"Yeah, we hope we can do the same at one point or another." I replied.
"Anyway, we hope you all have a good day and we will see you at some point later." Juia said.
We all approached each other and started to lightly hug each other, say our farewells.
"See you later mom, I want to let you know that I will always love you and you are always my mother. You can always come to me for support for anything and I wish nothing but happiness for you and Julia. It doesn't matter what sexual orientation you are, all I want for you is to be happy." I said as I hugged my mother.
"Thank you sweetheart, I really appreciate your guys' support. I am so glad that I am able to share my true self with you. I've been wanting to tell you guys for such a long time and I am so glad I did. I will eventually tell the other former Pride Landers later." My mother said as we slowly loosened our hug.
We then said the last of our goodbyes from our meeting, exiting the cafe in different directions, with Kovu, Vitani and I heading back to our car to first drop off Vitani back at her place and then for Kovu and I to head back to our place.
On the drive home, I was deep in thought. I am incredibly happy that my mother came out and that she seems to be happy with her friend Julia. At the same time, a bunch of questions and memories came back to me. Some were guilty feelings for when I didn't help or didn't know something was wrong with my mother at the times she was emotionally suffering on the inside. Sometimes I start to think back to all the times in which I saw my parents interact, and how they interact with me. Some things started to make more sense. Some I still have questions about. But hey…life and living itself is complex. I'm just glad that my mom is able to find true happiness.
Though I am a little worried about how Kion will react to the news…Will he actually try to make up for his past actions? Will he get mad and be close-minded with her like in every interaction he does more frequently?...Will he get mad and try to take it out on her?...Wait…what will happen if he finds out that Julia is Edwin's mother?...Oh no…I got a feeling that Kion is not a huge fan of Edwin since Edwin started dating Jasiri…..Why do I have this feeling that something bad is going to happen in the recent future…..Should I be concerned…..or is it just a hunch…I really hope it's just a hunch.