The Staredown/The Business Arrangement, and The Confession
Scar (Taka here in the story), decided unwisely to sass a lioness. :P I had fun with the expressions in this piece.
The Business Arrangement, and The Confession
by Roaming Tigress
It was in the wee hours of the morning when Scar returned from Pride Rock. Taka was there, asleep in a heap in the corner of the cave that he designated his. He supposed he felt comfort there, with his scent. He dropped the Duiker carcass in which he had taken from a poacher’s snare on the way and placed it down before he came over.
He spent a moment watching Taka with a look of ridicule. He looked as innocent as a cub, instead of the rogue criminal that he was, sprawled out, . He sighed and brought his head down to his chest to wash the drying blood over those four perfect puncture marks from Sarabi’s bite. He was rather surprised it hadn’t killed him. In all likelihood she probably cracked a few more ribs. What’s a few more cracked ribs when they were already probably damaged?
A sliver of green and yellow eye of Taka’s opened, and he moaned lowly in pain. He looked up at Scar, sleepily, trying to register who it was that was grooming him. He had been dreaming of his mother grooming again, fond memories in place of the usual bad ones which he had been getting recently. He slowly registered Scar’s voice, hanging onto his words as best as he could.
“For ‘killing’ you, this part of the land was given to me, and that makes it part of your land at all. We are entitled to whatever food we need in this area. I couldn’t secure a lioness, unfortunately but that’ll come in time, I’m sure. ”
It sounded promising to the sleepy Taka, but --
“But Sarabi nearly killed me,” Taka frowned, looking away, and for once, swatting away Scar as he resumed grooming, rather a big surprise to him.
“Nearly sucked the air out of my lungs! And you stood there, not doing a thing!”
It had been the first time since Taka had been angry at Scar, beyond their catty little disagreements, and he was at once astonished and perhaps, impressed. But there came that pang of guilt again and he growled when he felt that feeling. He tried to keep this arrangement strictly business, without letting himself become attached to Taka. After a moment, he folded his ears back and padded away, to where Taka usually slept.
“Do you have anything to say?” Taka questioned, and for the first time, demanding, as he sat up with a pained grunt, watching him.
Scar didn’t answer for a moment, his posture hunched as he sat, looking down at the ground. He was about to argue that it was Taka’s plan all along, that it had gone awry., but he didn’t say a word until he heard Taka limping up to to him. He looked away from him.
“Taka, I . . . “ He sighed, still looking down at his paws.
“I’m a coward. You and I, we’re intertwined in that way. I don’t judge you for it. But when she seized you and you looked at me like that . . . I froze.”
Taka said not a word as he looked away, and tiredly padded back to Scar’s side of the cave. He laid down, his back towards the other lion. His silence spoke volumes to Scar.
“It was your idea, Taka. And while our raid didn’t turn out like neither of us wanted, our plan is in motion.”
Scar shook his head with a growl when Taka continued to give him the silent treatment, frustrated. He paced, as best as he could on travel sore feet, still recovering from burns.
“I saw her from my vantage point, and tried to get down to you as fast as I could, as soon as I saw her.”
With no word from Taka, Scar’s temper grew, his voice echoing in the cave. “It was your idea to do this, it was your idea to raid their cache.”
There was still no response from Taka, as he laid his head on his paws. Scar stood over him, feeling like he should cuff him for behaving like a seemingly insolent cub. But what good would that do? He’d only continue to not speak to him and it was important to communicate in a coalition. And he need’n’t feel more . . . Guilty.
Why must I feel guilty? Why? It was him that stole from my food when I had my back turned and asleep, and he had the bloody nerve to beg me to spare him, in that . . . Flirtative way he did. It was him that pushed with this idea for a coalition. Why should I care if he never says a word to me again?
Scar dug his nails into the cave floor, as if stopping himself, his feelings, from going further. It was now foreign for him to not have Taka fawn over him, for him to not rub his bony head against his, or to have him flop by his feet, willingly exposing his vulnerable underside to him and sometimes, to his annoyance, even flopped ontop of him in the mornings. Secretly, as much as he thought about how ridiculous Taka’s displays of affection were, Scar had begun to like having someone fawn over him. This gave him power; for once, he was being treated like a king, in a way the lionesses never did during his reign.
And now, Taka wasn’t saying a word.
“Why must you be a diva?”
Taka frowned, otherwise no response, not even looking at him.
With a sigh, Scar took the initiative. As he turned over onto his side, he bent down and started to lick Taka’s bite mark again. He tried to get away, but for a change, he was patient with him and simply held him down by a paw.
“I don’t want to be groomed!“ Taka complained like a cub who’s mother had picked him up and started to groom him, when all he wanted to do was to play.
“Shhh . . . “ Scar murmured, resuming his grooming after he got another good grip on him underneath his paws as he squirmed. He got an idea, and started carefully kneading his side.
“Would it make you feel a little better if I told you that I have been thinking of this idea of a coalition with Bakonga and Syann? Now that we have our piece of territory and all, we could expand it . . . I invited them to come for a chat tonight.“ Aside from the addition of a lioness, there would be the added benefit of physical protection for them both, should such an alliance would form.
Taka made some half hearted attempt to squirm free of him again, before succumbing once Scar reached halfway down his body. To Scar’s amusement, he cocked a leg to expose his belly, without needing to physically turn him aside, he rolled over.
“Yes, oh, maybe . . . “ Taka whispered out a neither a yes or a no, but was now like putty in Scar’s paws.
The two had been so occupied in their little reconciliation, that they didn’t realize they were being watched from the mouth of their cave. A pair of glowing eyes stared at them, menacingly, their large figures lit up under the moonlight. It was the female figure that spoke first, a teasing, biting tone it was.
“Who would have thought that the evil Scar not only survived, but also had himself a male ‘companion’?”
Then the other voice added. A mocking, haughty, masculine tone. “With his reputation, I suppose he couldn’t get a lioness. Had to settle for this mangy beast.”
“Who are you calling mangy?” Scar demanded with a roar, standing over over a shocked and embarrassed Taka now, who remained on his back, underneath him, disappointed that his grooming had been stopped.
“And he is not my lover.”
Inwardly, those words stung Taka. He recovered quickly, though and slipped underneath from the other lion. He felt a little sassy, and he rubbed himself up against Scar, subtly telling him he had this one under control.
Quite boldly, just as he had greeted Scar in the cave, Taka came up into Bakonga’s space, teasingly flicking the tip of his tail underneath the large, tawny, heavy maned male lion’s chin. He was as large as Mufasa, with every much the same presence as him.
“Ah, Bakonga. Still with Syann, I see. Does she still smack you upside the head when she sees you eyeballing those svelte creatures?”
Bakonga snorted as the tail brushed against his nose, and also at his catty little comment. “Not advisable . . .”
Syann, indeed not caring for Taka’s sass and maybe feeling a bit jealous for flirting with her companion, got into his personal space and forced him away from Scar. She was a large lioness, rich tawny in colour and formidable built, and indeed some ways more resembled a maneless male than a lioness. Scars marred her coat, from years of living as a vagabond with Bakonga. She was the brains of the operation, and Bakonga let her take care of Taka as he stepped aside to speak to Scar.
“I beg your pardon?” Syann demanded.
Syann growled, her eyes meeting his as she backed Taka up further away from Scar, who watched as he conversed with Bakonga. Earlier he already was put in his place by them, caught in the act of swiping a Duiker from a poacher’s snare. They had absolutely all intentions of taking it for themselves. A very brief scuffle errupted that ended quickly, with, when Scar wisely surrendered, he offered a deal to them to spare his life, which would gain them more bites of food than a mere Duiker.
Taka grinned nervously, looking over at his companion, for backup, but did not get it. He backtracked, realizing that perhaps, he ran his mouth; he last time he did so was when he betrayed the hyenas who nearly took his life.
“I was just merely commenting on your physical strength. You’re a fine lioness, Syann. A fine hunter.”
Syann leaned in, her stare hard. Being the leader of this planned coalition, she wasn’t going to suffer fools gladly – and wanted to send the message to Taka that she was boss. She wasn’t going to let any lion sass her, no matter what their reputation.
“Get back . . .“ Taka snarled, defensively with his head tilted to one side, but his body language was one of fear, despite flashed teeth.
Seeing his body language, Syann remained unfazed and stared Taka down, forcing him against the back wall of the cave. She simply sat before him, her tail switching in a circular motion in residual irritation. She was confident that she had put Taka in her place right away, and calmed, licking a paw. Taka as well calmed, but he avoided eye contact.
“Perhaps we overheard a certain bird named Zazu about him sending trackers out to find you. You should be thankful we gave you the head’s up. We could have lead them right to you. We should have, we know well of your reputation, and it would be less competition on the thieving front for us.”
Taka growled at the mention of that hornbill, of trackers. “Sending the dogs out after us . . . And Simba judged me for having hyenas as failed allies.”
He kept his head as low Bakonga blocked off Scar from any chance of protecting him as he stepped over, and Syann turned and left to distract the other lion, to pull him away from any chance of being Taka’s body guard. It was time for him to face Bakonga, one on one.
“Yes, hello there, Scar. It’s me again, you rneighbourhood pirate, Bakonga.”
Taka rolled his eyes. “Just what I had wanted . . . “
“Testy, are we?” Bakonga mocked, getting some sort of thrill out of intimidating Taka into flinching when he raised a paw, as if to strike him and placed it back down when he got the reaction he wanted from him.
“Thought so.”
Having already been cowed by Syann, Taka truly didn’t need further intimidation, but he wanted to send the message home further. He calmed, and pulled the smaller, thin lion in close against him with a mighty paw. Taka initially struggled but gave in when he felt his claws keading into his hide of his shoulder. If he made a move he thought would be an escape, they would dig in.
“We were intrigued by this idea of a coalition that your companion had spoke to us about. You are a coward, who truly doesn’t deserve to live, but if there’s one thing I could say to you, is that you are cunning and your intelligence could be of help to us. You don’t live through such a thing on luck alone.”
Taka took this as a compliment, and looked over at his companion, who dropped the Duiker carcass before Syann as if it was a gift of sorts. He looked up at Bakonga, his tail curling up around himself.
“Then, I suppose . . . A coalition has been born,” Taka nodded, offering a paw to touch with, the lion’s equivalent of a hand shake, but he placed it back down before Bakonga could touch it.
“Under one condition.”
Bakonga sighed, his breath moving through Taka’s patchy mane and he could smell the scent of carrion from it.
“What might that be?”
Taka pointed a paw over to Scar, talking to Syann as the two looked out of the cave together, as if planning. Now that he had calmed down; he took Syann’s warnings about trackers to heart.
“If . . . He can go with me. He is very clever, just like me, he’ll be of great help. Needn’t worry about the trackers. We’ll work something out, if you two would be of help.”
Bakonga looked over at him, head tilted in thought. He twitched the tip of his tail, before glaring down at Taka again.
“I suppose -- “ He leaned in, his voice a mocking growl as he spoke. “Your lover can go with us. After all, the more we have together the stronger chance of success and survival we’ll all have.”
For as much as the big male intimidated, pried him, Taka couldn’t deny it – he adored Scar. Deeply. He originally had only intended on using him to get food, to have someone protect him, but found himself looking at him differently. Defensively, he got into Bakonga’s face with a snarl, knowing he had to tell Scar, but was terrified to do so, and Bakonga’s prodding had brought that fear out in him.
“He’s not my lover, you buffalo headed ninny!”
Bakonga held him down, without much effort, using only one paw. As with Syann, he wasn’t the least bit threatened by the testy Scar.
“When I saw him tickling your belly, you had much the same look as Syann does when I groom her. It happens in lions sometimes, often when they can’t get a mate. You were enjoying it, I saw your expression. Pure adoration and dare I say, for such a lion of wicked reputation, total innocence. Who would have thought?”
Just as Taka opened his mouth to retort, Bakonga cut him off. Going off on his defensiveness, it was apparent that Taka hadn’t told Scar about his feelings.
“I’m a thief, I steal kills whenever I can and killed my own father and two rivals who sought my Syann. I’m not one to judge on morals, I’m just calling it what it is.”
“It’s not that! It’s not like that at all!” Taka defensively hissed, only causing Bakonga to laugh a deep, chesty laugh, and attracting Scar’s attention who was having a one on one conversation with Syann. He saw them touch paws in the corner of his eyes and might have seen a bit of flirting between them.
Bakonga quietened his tone, seeing the fear in Taka’s eyes, perhaps taking a smidge of pity on him.
“Then, what is it?”
“Why must you know?” Taka whispered, still feeling that edge of defensiveness for his prying. “Why does my feelings towards my coalition partner matter to you? It’s a personal issue.”
Bakonga sighed, and stepped back after letting Taka go. “For the sake of the coalition. I can’t have this thing started, only to lose members of it drop out because of personal issues with each other.”
Scar smirked in the corner of his lips as he came over, stepping next to Bakonga, looking at both lions. There appeared to be some sort of heated debate amongst each other, before the dust settled. Taka sought refuge behind Scar, glaring at the two rogues.
“Getting to know each other, are we?” Scar teasingly questioned, curious as to what had gotten Taka’s hackles up and required him to be held down.
Bakonga laughed, giving Scar a little shove of acknowledgement with his shoulder to the other’s annoyance.
“You can say that! Seemed I touched on a touchy subject. “
Scar rolled his eyes, looking over at his coalition partner sharply. “Ah yes. He has been a bit touchy today. Something didn’t quite turn out at first and was entirely my fault, apparently.”
“Diva!” Bakonga whispered to him, leaning in.
“That’s one word for him . . . “ Scar muttered under his breath, watching as Taka glumly padded away from him to sit in the back of the cave.
“Ah, well. Welcome to the coalition, ‘Aelurus’,” Bakonga gave Scar a knowing eye, touching his paw against Scar’s raised paw. “Syann and I will take our leave as you two “lovers” get back to your private time.”
As he started to follow Syann out, he looked back at the two males. “We’ll meet again, mid day, same place.”
Something bothered Bakonga, and after Syann left the cave, he turned back to glance over his shoulder at them.
“But do work out whatever issues you two have with one another, for the sake of our coalition, us outcast lions mustn't be held down by internal struggles with each other.”
Scar gave him a nod of acknowledgement, and when he left, he sharply looked over at Taka again.
“What did you say to him? What is he talking about ‘internal issues’? What set you off? I need answers now!” Scar demanded, the tone sending Taka shrinking back to him like a scolded cub, his head low.
When he sat down next to Scar, Taka simply looked down at the ground, pawing idly at a scrap of bone, until Scar put his paw down on it and flicked it away. He looked at once shy and vulnerable when he looked up to him, his posture slumped.
“He . . . He called us lovers. He caught us grooming as you know, both of them did, but he implied that it was more than just . . . Coalition bonding. It was about the expressions I had.”
Scar, stared ahead, looking out at the stars, the moon light reflecting upon his face. Taka looked out at with him, his head rubbing against his. It seemed like the right atmosphere to him, almost romantic .
“Yes, I clearly heard that myself, my hearing is just fine” Scar scoffed. “My question is, why did it set you off? Why did it care what he thinks? He came here, throwing his weight around, like his mate . . . ”
Taka fell quiet again, once again looking down on the ground as Scar stood before him, blocking a clear path to the mouth of the cave, should Taka walk away from him to avoid talking to him again.
“Well?”
Taka’s heart raced, preparing to run as fast and as far as he could possibly run in his condition, should he lash out. He wouldn’t be able to go too far, Scar would surely catch up to him, even if he wasn’t too better off. He felt very small as Scar stared on, silently pressing him to speak.
“The truth is . . . “ He swallowed, his eyes flitting around nervously and he looked for an empty space in which Scar didn’t block him, and not finding felt himself abruptly shut down, unable at the time to come up with some snarky retort to protect himself.
Scar saw the look of utter fear in Taka’s eyes. What could he be possibly be so scared of? That pesky guilty feeling was sneaking up on him again.
“I’m not letting it go, Taka. Talk to me. If it’s about Sarabi’s attack -- “
Taka shook his head, waving his paw for emphasis. “It’s not about that . . . “
“Then what is it?”
Feeling defeated, Taka pulled himself out of that slouched posture and pressed his forehead to his, gently nuzzling. Scar closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “His” Taka had returned to him, the one who was flamboyant and flirted with him to try to get his way, who sassed him at every opportunity about everything from grooming to manes to the annual count of migrating wildebeest, but would always be deeply, annoyingly affectionate. He didn’t like the Taka that sulked in the shadows, who didn’t speak to him, who didn’t feed his ego. It reminded him to much of his father, too much of . . . Himself.
There was a frightened shudder to Taka’s voice, with a cautious paw, he placed it ontop of one of Scar’s.
“I . . . I love you.”
Scar/Taka/Sarabi are all © Disney, Bakonga and Syann belong to me.
The Business Arrangement, and The Confession
by Roaming Tigress
It was in the wee hours of the morning when Scar returned from Pride Rock. Taka was there, asleep in a heap in the corner of the cave that he designated his. He supposed he felt comfort there, with his scent. He dropped the Duiker carcass in which he had taken from a poacher’s snare on the way and placed it down before he came over.
He spent a moment watching Taka with a look of ridicule. He looked as innocent as a cub, instead of the rogue criminal that he was, sprawled out, . He sighed and brought his head down to his chest to wash the drying blood over those four perfect puncture marks from Sarabi’s bite. He was rather surprised it hadn’t killed him. In all likelihood she probably cracked a few more ribs. What’s a few more cracked ribs when they were already probably damaged?
A sliver of green and yellow eye of Taka’s opened, and he moaned lowly in pain. He looked up at Scar, sleepily, trying to register who it was that was grooming him. He had been dreaming of his mother grooming again, fond memories in place of the usual bad ones which he had been getting recently. He slowly registered Scar’s voice, hanging onto his words as best as he could.
“For ‘killing’ you, this part of the land was given to me, and that makes it part of your land at all. We are entitled to whatever food we need in this area. I couldn’t secure a lioness, unfortunately but that’ll come in time, I’m sure. ”
It sounded promising to the sleepy Taka, but --
“But Sarabi nearly killed me,” Taka frowned, looking away, and for once, swatting away Scar as he resumed grooming, rather a big surprise to him.
“Nearly sucked the air out of my lungs! And you stood there, not doing a thing!”
It had been the first time since Taka had been angry at Scar, beyond their catty little disagreements, and he was at once astonished and perhaps, impressed. But there came that pang of guilt again and he growled when he felt that feeling. He tried to keep this arrangement strictly business, without letting himself become attached to Taka. After a moment, he folded his ears back and padded away, to where Taka usually slept.
“Do you have anything to say?” Taka questioned, and for the first time, demanding, as he sat up with a pained grunt, watching him.
Scar didn’t answer for a moment, his posture hunched as he sat, looking down at the ground. He was about to argue that it was Taka’s plan all along, that it had gone awry., but he didn’t say a word until he heard Taka limping up to to him. He looked away from him.
“Taka, I . . . “ He sighed, still looking down at his paws.
“I’m a coward. You and I, we’re intertwined in that way. I don’t judge you for it. But when she seized you and you looked at me like that . . . I froze.”
Taka said not a word as he looked away, and tiredly padded back to Scar’s side of the cave. He laid down, his back towards the other lion. His silence spoke volumes to Scar.
“It was your idea, Taka. And while our raid didn’t turn out like neither of us wanted, our plan is in motion.”
Scar shook his head with a growl when Taka continued to give him the silent treatment, frustrated. He paced, as best as he could on travel sore feet, still recovering from burns.
“I saw her from my vantage point, and tried to get down to you as fast as I could, as soon as I saw her.”
With no word from Taka, Scar’s temper grew, his voice echoing in the cave. “It was your idea to do this, it was your idea to raid their cache.”
There was still no response from Taka, as he laid his head on his paws. Scar stood over him, feeling like he should cuff him for behaving like a seemingly insolent cub. But what good would that do? He’d only continue to not speak to him and it was important to communicate in a coalition. And he need’n’t feel more . . . Guilty.
Why must I feel guilty? Why? It was him that stole from my food when I had my back turned and asleep, and he had the bloody nerve to beg me to spare him, in that . . . Flirtative way he did. It was him that pushed with this idea for a coalition. Why should I care if he never says a word to me again?
Scar dug his nails into the cave floor, as if stopping himself, his feelings, from going further. It was now foreign for him to not have Taka fawn over him, for him to not rub his bony head against his, or to have him flop by his feet, willingly exposing his vulnerable underside to him and sometimes, to his annoyance, even flopped ontop of him in the mornings. Secretly, as much as he thought about how ridiculous Taka’s displays of affection were, Scar had begun to like having someone fawn over him. This gave him power; for once, he was being treated like a king, in a way the lionesses never did during his reign.
And now, Taka wasn’t saying a word.
“Why must you be a diva?”
Taka frowned, otherwise no response, not even looking at him.
With a sigh, Scar took the initiative. As he turned over onto his side, he bent down and started to lick Taka’s bite mark again. He tried to get away, but for a change, he was patient with him and simply held him down by a paw.
“I don’t want to be groomed!“ Taka complained like a cub who’s mother had picked him up and started to groom him, when all he wanted to do was to play.
“Shhh . . . “ Scar murmured, resuming his grooming after he got another good grip on him underneath his paws as he squirmed. He got an idea, and started carefully kneading his side.
“Would it make you feel a little better if I told you that I have been thinking of this idea of a coalition with Bakonga and Syann? Now that we have our piece of territory and all, we could expand it . . . I invited them to come for a chat tonight.“ Aside from the addition of a lioness, there would be the added benefit of physical protection for them both, should such an alliance would form.
Taka made some half hearted attempt to squirm free of him again, before succumbing once Scar reached halfway down his body. To Scar’s amusement, he cocked a leg to expose his belly, without needing to physically turn him aside, he rolled over.
“Yes, oh, maybe . . . “ Taka whispered out a neither a yes or a no, but was now like putty in Scar’s paws.
The two had been so occupied in their little reconciliation, that they didn’t realize they were being watched from the mouth of their cave. A pair of glowing eyes stared at them, menacingly, their large figures lit up under the moonlight. It was the female figure that spoke first, a teasing, biting tone it was.
“Who would have thought that the evil Scar not only survived, but also had himself a male ‘companion’?”
Then the other voice added. A mocking, haughty, masculine tone. “With his reputation, I suppose he couldn’t get a lioness. Had to settle for this mangy beast.”
“Who are you calling mangy?” Scar demanded with a roar, standing over over a shocked and embarrassed Taka now, who remained on his back, underneath him, disappointed that his grooming had been stopped.
“And he is not my lover.”
Inwardly, those words stung Taka. He recovered quickly, though and slipped underneath from the other lion. He felt a little sassy, and he rubbed himself up against Scar, subtly telling him he had this one under control.
Quite boldly, just as he had greeted Scar in the cave, Taka came up into Bakonga’s space, teasingly flicking the tip of his tail underneath the large, tawny, heavy maned male lion’s chin. He was as large as Mufasa, with every much the same presence as him.
“Ah, Bakonga. Still with Syann, I see. Does she still smack you upside the head when she sees you eyeballing those svelte creatures?”
Bakonga snorted as the tail brushed against his nose, and also at his catty little comment. “Not advisable . . .”
Syann, indeed not caring for Taka’s sass and maybe feeling a bit jealous for flirting with her companion, got into his personal space and forced him away from Scar. She was a large lioness, rich tawny in colour and formidable built, and indeed some ways more resembled a maneless male than a lioness. Scars marred her coat, from years of living as a vagabond with Bakonga. She was the brains of the operation, and Bakonga let her take care of Taka as he stepped aside to speak to Scar.
“I beg your pardon?” Syann demanded.
Syann growled, her eyes meeting his as she backed Taka up further away from Scar, who watched as he conversed with Bakonga. Earlier he already was put in his place by them, caught in the act of swiping a Duiker from a poacher’s snare. They had absolutely all intentions of taking it for themselves. A very brief scuffle errupted that ended quickly, with, when Scar wisely surrendered, he offered a deal to them to spare his life, which would gain them more bites of food than a mere Duiker.
Taka grinned nervously, looking over at his companion, for backup, but did not get it. He backtracked, realizing that perhaps, he ran his mouth; he last time he did so was when he betrayed the hyenas who nearly took his life.
“I was just merely commenting on your physical strength. You’re a fine lioness, Syann. A fine hunter.”
Syann leaned in, her stare hard. Being the leader of this planned coalition, she wasn’t going to suffer fools gladly – and wanted to send the message to Taka that she was boss. She wasn’t going to let any lion sass her, no matter what their reputation.
“Get back . . .“ Taka snarled, defensively with his head tilted to one side, but his body language was one of fear, despite flashed teeth.
Seeing his body language, Syann remained unfazed and stared Taka down, forcing him against the back wall of the cave. She simply sat before him, her tail switching in a circular motion in residual irritation. She was confident that she had put Taka in her place right away, and calmed, licking a paw. Taka as well calmed, but he avoided eye contact.
“Perhaps we overheard a certain bird named Zazu about him sending trackers out to find you. You should be thankful we gave you the head’s up. We could have lead them right to you. We should have, we know well of your reputation, and it would be less competition on the thieving front for us.”
Taka growled at the mention of that hornbill, of trackers. “Sending the dogs out after us . . . And Simba judged me for having hyenas as failed allies.”
He kept his head as low Bakonga blocked off Scar from any chance of protecting him as he stepped over, and Syann turned and left to distract the other lion, to pull him away from any chance of being Taka’s body guard. It was time for him to face Bakonga, one on one.
“Yes, hello there, Scar. It’s me again, you rneighbourhood pirate, Bakonga.”
Taka rolled his eyes. “Just what I had wanted . . . “
“Testy, are we?” Bakonga mocked, getting some sort of thrill out of intimidating Taka into flinching when he raised a paw, as if to strike him and placed it back down when he got the reaction he wanted from him.
“Thought so.”
Having already been cowed by Syann, Taka truly didn’t need further intimidation, but he wanted to send the message home further. He calmed, and pulled the smaller, thin lion in close against him with a mighty paw. Taka initially struggled but gave in when he felt his claws keading into his hide of his shoulder. If he made a move he thought would be an escape, they would dig in.
“We were intrigued by this idea of a coalition that your companion had spoke to us about. You are a coward, who truly doesn’t deserve to live, but if there’s one thing I could say to you, is that you are cunning and your intelligence could be of help to us. You don’t live through such a thing on luck alone.”
Taka took this as a compliment, and looked over at his companion, who dropped the Duiker carcass before Syann as if it was a gift of sorts. He looked up at Bakonga, his tail curling up around himself.
“Then, I suppose . . . A coalition has been born,” Taka nodded, offering a paw to touch with, the lion’s equivalent of a hand shake, but he placed it back down before Bakonga could touch it.
“Under one condition.”
Bakonga sighed, his breath moving through Taka’s patchy mane and he could smell the scent of carrion from it.
“What might that be?”
Taka pointed a paw over to Scar, talking to Syann as the two looked out of the cave together, as if planning. Now that he had calmed down; he took Syann’s warnings about trackers to heart.
“If . . . He can go with me. He is very clever, just like me, he’ll be of great help. Needn’t worry about the trackers. We’ll work something out, if you two would be of help.”
Bakonga looked over at him, head tilted in thought. He twitched the tip of his tail, before glaring down at Taka again.
“I suppose -- “ He leaned in, his voice a mocking growl as he spoke. “Your lover can go with us. After all, the more we have together the stronger chance of success and survival we’ll all have.”
For as much as the big male intimidated, pried him, Taka couldn’t deny it – he adored Scar. Deeply. He originally had only intended on using him to get food, to have someone protect him, but found himself looking at him differently. Defensively, he got into Bakonga’s face with a snarl, knowing he had to tell Scar, but was terrified to do so, and Bakonga’s prodding had brought that fear out in him.
“He’s not my lover, you buffalo headed ninny!”
Bakonga held him down, without much effort, using only one paw. As with Syann, he wasn’t the least bit threatened by the testy Scar.
“When I saw him tickling your belly, you had much the same look as Syann does when I groom her. It happens in lions sometimes, often when they can’t get a mate. You were enjoying it, I saw your expression. Pure adoration and dare I say, for such a lion of wicked reputation, total innocence. Who would have thought?”
Just as Taka opened his mouth to retort, Bakonga cut him off. Going off on his defensiveness, it was apparent that Taka hadn’t told Scar about his feelings.
“I’m a thief, I steal kills whenever I can and killed my own father and two rivals who sought my Syann. I’m not one to judge on morals, I’m just calling it what it is.”
“It’s not that! It’s not like that at all!” Taka defensively hissed, only causing Bakonga to laugh a deep, chesty laugh, and attracting Scar’s attention who was having a one on one conversation with Syann. He saw them touch paws in the corner of his eyes and might have seen a bit of flirting between them.
Bakonga quietened his tone, seeing the fear in Taka’s eyes, perhaps taking a smidge of pity on him.
“Then, what is it?”
“Why must you know?” Taka whispered, still feeling that edge of defensiveness for his prying. “Why does my feelings towards my coalition partner matter to you? It’s a personal issue.”
Bakonga sighed, and stepped back after letting Taka go. “For the sake of the coalition. I can’t have this thing started, only to lose members of it drop out because of personal issues with each other.”
Scar smirked in the corner of his lips as he came over, stepping next to Bakonga, looking at both lions. There appeared to be some sort of heated debate amongst each other, before the dust settled. Taka sought refuge behind Scar, glaring at the two rogues.
“Getting to know each other, are we?” Scar teasingly questioned, curious as to what had gotten Taka’s hackles up and required him to be held down.
Bakonga laughed, giving Scar a little shove of acknowledgement with his shoulder to the other’s annoyance.
“You can say that! Seemed I touched on a touchy subject. “
Scar rolled his eyes, looking over at his coalition partner sharply. “Ah yes. He has been a bit touchy today. Something didn’t quite turn out at first and was entirely my fault, apparently.”
“Diva!” Bakonga whispered to him, leaning in.
“That’s one word for him . . . “ Scar muttered under his breath, watching as Taka glumly padded away from him to sit in the back of the cave.
“Ah, well. Welcome to the coalition, ‘Aelurus’,” Bakonga gave Scar a knowing eye, touching his paw against Scar’s raised paw. “Syann and I will take our leave as you two “lovers” get back to your private time.”
As he started to follow Syann out, he looked back at the two males. “We’ll meet again, mid day, same place.”
Something bothered Bakonga, and after Syann left the cave, he turned back to glance over his shoulder at them.
“But do work out whatever issues you two have with one another, for the sake of our coalition, us outcast lions mustn't be held down by internal struggles with each other.”
Scar gave him a nod of acknowledgement, and when he left, he sharply looked over at Taka again.
“What did you say to him? What is he talking about ‘internal issues’? What set you off? I need answers now!” Scar demanded, the tone sending Taka shrinking back to him like a scolded cub, his head low.
When he sat down next to Scar, Taka simply looked down at the ground, pawing idly at a scrap of bone, until Scar put his paw down on it and flicked it away. He looked at once shy and vulnerable when he looked up to him, his posture slumped.
“He . . . He called us lovers. He caught us grooming as you know, both of them did, but he implied that it was more than just . . . Coalition bonding. It was about the expressions I had.”
Scar, stared ahead, looking out at the stars, the moon light reflecting upon his face. Taka looked out at with him, his head rubbing against his. It seemed like the right atmosphere to him, almost romantic .
“Yes, I clearly heard that myself, my hearing is just fine” Scar scoffed. “My question is, why did it set you off? Why did it care what he thinks? He came here, throwing his weight around, like his mate . . . ”
Taka fell quiet again, once again looking down on the ground as Scar stood before him, blocking a clear path to the mouth of the cave, should Taka walk away from him to avoid talking to him again.
“Well?”
Taka’s heart raced, preparing to run as fast and as far as he could possibly run in his condition, should he lash out. He wouldn’t be able to go too far, Scar would surely catch up to him, even if he wasn’t too better off. He felt very small as Scar stared on, silently pressing him to speak.
“The truth is . . . “ He swallowed, his eyes flitting around nervously and he looked for an empty space in which Scar didn’t block him, and not finding felt himself abruptly shut down, unable at the time to come up with some snarky retort to protect himself.
Scar saw the look of utter fear in Taka’s eyes. What could he be possibly be so scared of? That pesky guilty feeling was sneaking up on him again.
“I’m not letting it go, Taka. Talk to me. If it’s about Sarabi’s attack -- “
Taka shook his head, waving his paw for emphasis. “It’s not about that . . . “
“Then what is it?”
Feeling defeated, Taka pulled himself out of that slouched posture and pressed his forehead to his, gently nuzzling. Scar closed his eyes and let out a sigh. “His” Taka had returned to him, the one who was flamboyant and flirted with him to try to get his way, who sassed him at every opportunity about everything from grooming to manes to the annual count of migrating wildebeest, but would always be deeply, annoyingly affectionate. He didn’t like the Taka that sulked in the shadows, who didn’t speak to him, who didn’t feed his ego. It reminded him to much of his father, too much of . . . Himself.
There was a frightened shudder to Taka’s voice, with a cautious paw, he placed it ontop of one of Scar’s.
“I . . . I love you.”
Scar/Taka/Sarabi are all © Disney, Bakonga and Syann belong to me.
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fanart
Species Lion
Gender Multiple characters
Size 1280 x 776px
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