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1.18. First Impressions

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Hop. Hop. Hop.

With little wriggles of his hindquarters, Mufasa jumped from pawprint to pawprint, following along after his dad while Zuzu flew in loopy circles overhead. But while it might have looked like he was enjoying himself, the cub’s face wore a petulant expression and he was obviously not very happy. Finally, he paused and sat down, sighing, pout growing deeper.

“I don’t see why I have to come.”

The almost-whine in his voice set Agano’s teeth on edge. “Because a few nights ago you showed me you need to start leaving behind childish things. It is time you start shaping yourself into a king, and so you are going to accompany me most days from here on out. So you can learn.”

“Why couldn’t Shauku come?”

“He’s not the future king.”

“You said he’d make a better one, so maybe he should be.”

“That’s enough! I don’t want to hear your complaining anymore, do you hear me?” Agano snapped, glaring back at his son, who only pouted more at his tone. “Shauku will never be king, and that’s final!” With a final huff of breath, he started to move again. “So come along and no more of this nonsense.”

He could tell his father meant it, so Mufasa kept up his bouncing along behind, but he kept up a constant mutter of dissent. He didn’t see why he had to go boring places to talk to boring people about boring things when he could be back at the dens, playing with the other cubs. This was no fun.

Sensing that things were not going the way he had desired, Agano glowered to himself. After a few minutes, though, the usual cunning glint returned to his eye, and half a smile curled onto his mouth. He glanced over his shoulder. “Just think: you’ll be able to tell all your friends about the adventure you went on today. None of them has ever gotten to go to the border or meet another pride.” The smile grew wider. “Of course, since you’re so unappreciative, maybe next time I should take Wema – now there’s a cub who knows how to be proud of his accomplishments.”

Just as he’d suspected, the mention of his friend and rival’s name caused Mufasa to become veritably indignant. “Hey! You can’t take him! He’s a whiny snot-fur!”

Agano feigned indifference. “Well, you’re whiny, too, but at least he’d enjoy being the future king, hmmm?”

“Course he would,” Mufasa said snarkily, bounding to catch up to his dad, “he loves to pretend he’s always King of the Rock, even when I knock him off!”

“But you’d rather be playing – so I should take him with me, yes?”

“Nuh-uh! I’m gonna be the king! Me!” And Mufasa leapt up onto a nearby rock, puffing up and mashing his face up into something he probably thought of as fierce. “See? I’m bigger than him, and I bet I can roar better, too!” With that, he sucked in a deep breath, and mouth wide, let out a sort of mewling raspy yowl.

“Most impressive, young one.”

The unfamiliar voice startled Mufasa so badly he fell off his perch and scrabbled about in the dirt before flinging himself to hide behind his father’s legs. Peeking out, he saw a lighter-coloured adult male lion standing some distance away, not close enough to be a threat, but close enough to set this Prince’s heart pounding.

“This is my son, Mufasa,” Agano said to the other before lowering his head to look between his legs at the cowering cub. “Mufasa, this is Prince-Consort Otlela of the Vyo pride. He isn’t going to hurt you.”

Mufasa sniffed, trying to pretend his tail wasn’t tucked as close to his belly as it could get. “Oh. I knew that.”

“He’s grown up quite a bit since I last saw him.”

“Well, he was in infant then. I suspect your daughter isn’t still sporting spots, either,” Agano laughed.

Mufasa’s ears pricked forwards. His dad knows how to laugh? It was mind-boggling. Except he’d spotted more lions in the distance and the thought was instantly forgotten, because some of those lions were cubs. In fact, most of them were – there was just one adult lioness with three of them!

“Ah, look at him already seeking his other half,” Otlela said, voice full of chuckles.

“Other half? What’s he mean, dad?” Mufasa asked, looking up at Agano.

The King laughed again, pushing at his son to make him fall over. “Don’t you worry – when you’re older you’ll understand. For now, why don’t you go make friends, eh?”

He didn’t have to be asked twice. With a happy noise in the back of his throat, Mufasa darted across the intervening grasses, tail held high like a flag. The blue-eyed lioness gave him a look as he came closer that wasn’t exactly welcoming, but he didn’t notice it as he came to a sudden halt… nuts, these cubs were all girls! He tried to back up, but they clustered around him, penning him in.

The boldest of the three had a long horsey face and she stuck it right into his. “I’m Diku. Ever played Pride? Want to play it now?” she asked, belligerent face daring him to say no.

She looked like she might slap him silly, so Mufasa made a sort of spastic gesture that could be interpreted as a yes but at the same time clearly telegraphed ‘no’. Diku ignored the subtext and nodded her satisfaction. “Good. We play Pride here, and since you’re the only boy we’ve ever had, now we can play it properly. You have to be the male and you sit there and babysit Dwala, because she’s always the baby. Sarabi doesn’t have to be the daddy anymore, so she can be a huntress with me.”

Dwala was a smaller striped cub who never met his eye, and Sarabi had ears too large for her head and eyes too big. Mufasa disliked all of them on general principles and shot his father a pleading look. Agano, though, was in deep conversation with Otlela and the lioness, who had left the cubs to go over and talk with them. No help from that quarter.

“Hey! Pay attention! I just said you have to go sit on that rock and wash Dwala, because she’s the baby!”

Crud, it was Diku again. With a face of abject misery, Mufasa was dragged off by the three girls, their prize for the day. Oh, how he would take great joy in going home! He couldn’t wait!

And hopefully he’d never have to see any of them ever again.

______

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Artwork & story, characters Wema, Otlela, belong to me. 
Elements from the story relating to The Lion King including its associated characters (Mufasa, Zuzu, 'Agano', 'Shauku', 'Nyake', Diku, Dwala, Sarabi) (C) Disney.
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© 2015 - 2024 Kirroc
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CyberWolf09's avatar

Looks like Mufasa is still in his “Girls = Cooties” phase.