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Description
“Look Kuk’, it isn’t that bad! Your eye will be fine by morning.” Two adolescents walked into the famed Lion Guard cave. Or, Lion’s Guard cave as the red maned lion had said.

”At least we get to sleep in here-“”Tawi! You don’t get it! We don’t get to sleep in here we have to sleep in here. That pride doesn’t trust us, and I’m pretty sure they’ll kill us when they get the chance.” The darker of the two roared.

”But still better than going back to the outlands, no?” A figure leaned against the entrance. He stalked further into the quarters, “and it’s not like anyone painted your picture onto the walls out there. Not with, well the starving and all”

Tawi licked his muzzle and jumped onto a large boulder, letting him see almost the whole cave.

”Don’t get us wrong Kion, it’s great being allowed to hunt someplace with actual animals. This whole ‘lions get first dibs’ thing is amazing and a… little too good to be true.” The wiry lion helped his sister up onto the platform.

Kion chuckled and lifted his tail, “It started with this old guy called ‘Taka’ or ‘Askari’ who then went and changed his name to ‘Scar’ or something. He’d been leader of the guard before me and blah blah blah killed everyone in the group, symbolically scratched the wall,” he kept rambling about the old leader which was keeping Tawi incredibly engaged but Kukimbilia incredibly bored, “but the point is he used hyenas, another predator mind you, to gain power. Those hyenas went and hunted every herd to extinction or made them refugees to other lands. So now, we’ve kicked out hyenas entirely and made sure the other hunters can’t grow their numbers to the same extremes.”

”Isn’t that a little extreme? I mean, purposefully starving others just so we can feel a little safer as apex predators?” Kukimbilia muttered away from Kion’s sight.

Kion sighed, “That’s not what we’re doing Kuk’, we’re making things safer with the guard. I get your still salty from that whole hippo incident earlier and Rafiki messing up on your picture but you’re needed here, and you get every need met.”

”Besides, it’s not like you can fight leopards without us… spotting you” Kion winked and chuckled, leaving the pair in the lair.

—

Let’s get our context on y’all.

So “the hippo incident” was the guard dealing with Beshte being mad about other herds being allowed in the hippo’s area of the watering hole. Kukimbilia (the lioness whose paw you can see) tried to go head to head with a huge, well-fed hippo while she’s a skinny, malnourished lioness. Yeah she got thrown onto some rocks and Kion tricked him into going onto his back which left his belly exposed and gave Kion leverage to force Beshte to suck up the new conditions. Yes this was a bad idea on their part but the zebra are easier to hunt down than hippos. Circle of Life who?

Kion decided to have Rafiki make the group’s paintings only about two days after the group was “officially” formed. As everything is a few (lion) years later than usual Rafiki is much older now, I used my magical story making powers to give him arthritis. So Rafiki only really finished Kion and Zuri’s pictures while everyone else’s was either unfinished, smudged or had too much paint in it.

I think I hit every box, all I did was forget to add the guard markings but I’m sure there’s a great story reason for why they aren’t there.

Description
“Look Kuk’, it isn’t that bad! Your eye will be fine by morning.” Two adolescents walked into the famed Lion Guard cave. Or, Lion’s Guard cave as the red maned lion had said.

”At least we get to sleep in here-“”Tawi! You don’t get it! We don’t get to sleep in here we have to sleep in here. That pride doesn’t trust us, and I’m pretty sure they’ll kill us when they get the chance.” The darker of the two roared.

”But still better than going back to the outlands, no?” A figure leaned against the entrance. He stalked further into the quarters, “and it’s not like anyone painted your picture onto the walls out there. Not with, well the starving and all”

Tawi licked his muzzle and jumped onto a large boulder, letting him see almost the whole cave.

”Don’t get us wrong Kion, it’s great being allowed to hunt someplace with actual animals. This whole ‘lions get first dibs’ thing is amazing and a… little too good to be true.” The wiry lion helped his sister up onto the platform.

Kion chuckled and lifted his tail, “It started with this old guy called ‘Taka’ or ‘Askari’ who then went and changed his name to ‘Scar’ or something. He’d been leader of the guard before me and blah blah blah killed everyone in the group, symbolically scratched the wall,” he kept rambling about the old leader which was keeping Tawi incredibly engaged but Kukimbilia incredibly bored, “but the point is he used hyenas, another predator mind you, to gain power. Those hyenas went and hunted every herd to extinction or made them refugees to other lands. So now, we’ve kicked out hyenas entirely and made sure the other hunters can’t grow their numbers to the same extremes.”

”Isn’t that a little extreme? I mean, purposefully starving others just so we can feel a little safer as apex predators?” Kukimbilia muttered away from Kion’s sight.

Kion sighed, “That’s not what we’re doing Kuk’, we’re making things safer with the guard. I get your still salty from that whole hippo incident earlier and Rafiki messing up on your picture but you’re needed here, and you get every need met.”

”Besides, it’s not like you can fight leopards without us… spotting you” Kion winked and chuckled, leaving the pair in the lair.

—

Let’s get our context on y’all.

So “the hippo incident” was the guard dealing with Beshte being mad about other herds being allowed in the hippo’s area of the watering hole. Kukimbilia (the lioness whose paw you can see) tried to go head to head with a huge, well-fed hippo while she’s a skinny, malnourished lioness. Yeah she got thrown onto some rocks and Kion tricked him into going onto his back which left his belly exposed and gave Kion leverage to force Beshte to suck up the new conditions. Yes this was a bad idea on their part but the zebra are easier to hunt down than hippos. Circle of Life who?

Kion decided to have Rafiki make the group’s paintings only about two days after the group was “officially” formed. As everything is a few (lion) years later than usual Rafiki is much older now, I used my magical story making powers to give him arthritis. So Rafiki only really finished Kion and Zuri’s pictures while everyone else’s was either unfinished, smudged or had too much paint in it.

I think I hit every box, all I did was forget to add the guard markings but I’m sure there’s a great story reason for why they aren’t there.