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mask-of-prime · 7 months

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VG: Something in the Water - PART 1

One month into Simba’s Reign… In the long-abandoned Lion Guard Lair, Rafiki was refining an old painting of his just before being called over by Simba for a very important ceremony. In the rush to get ready, he had forgotten his Bakora Staff, and therefore without the pigment he needed for the ritual.

The rattling sound of the gourds roused a certain toddler’s attention.

The toddler, along with her brothers, mother, and close pridesisters, had been residing in the space as an exclusive hideout ever since Scar's Reign. It had been and idea of her mother's as a way to feel superior to the lionesses who resided in the main den above.

Vitani squirmed and mewed nonstop in the arms of a younger Zira. Zira, deep in a talk with a fellow close lioness of hers, ignored the infant cub's mews for a good while. Eventually, Zira gave into Vitani's squirms, and let her free. If it meant Vitani would stop disrupting her important conversation...

The toddler waddled over towards the wall. Not knowing her small size, Vitani tried to reach for the pretty gourds with her paw, but missed. Instead, the entire staff slid down the wall.

Suddenly, something on the wall began to glow. Vitani looked to see that the painting on the wall had come to life.

The animation showed four creatures flying away from a roaring creature. The roaring creature seemed to resemble someone she vaguely remembered. A scary lion who was unsettlingly quiet, or frighteningly loud. The lion that Mother said was gone, now.

The toddler watched the pretty moving painting play over and over again in absolute awe, babbling in entertainment.

Vitani’s vocalizations got Zira’s attention. The mother looked up to see her daughter watching Scar lose his Roar, over and over again.

Taking offense to the visual of one of Scar’s humiliating failures that Rafiki dared depict, Zira pulled her cub away. She would not let her children watch these lies. She ripped Vitani away from her focus, grabbing her by the scruff, with just enough room in her mouth to still be able to speak.

"Put me back..." Vitani quietly and feebly protested, a slight speech impediment from few teeth growing in.

"We don't go over there." she deadpans, "We don't look at that monkey's propaganda..." ____

24 lion years later, present day... Zira's words echoed in Vitani's mind was lost in thought, staring into Rafiki's cave paintings. She had looked the frescoes of Scar's loss of the Roar many times before, swearing every time that she had seen them much longer ago, long before volunteering to lead her very own Guard.

She gave this painting in particular another look today due to a dream featuring the image, a dream she'd jolted awake from. Last night, her subconscious had given her more clarity on this mystery: She must've seen it before...

She sighed, still not quite knowing. Hearing Zira's voice for the first time in a year after her passing viscerally stuck with Vitani the past few hours she'd been up. She was awake hours before the rest of the Pride, admittedly rather shaken up from the ordeal.

Thunder roared outside the cave, drawing Vitani's attention away from the wall. She sighed again and promptly made her way out into the pouring rain. ____

Hours later, Tiifu hummed as she made feline stretches, hoping to spot a heavily sleeping Vitani next to her.

No luck. Again...

Tiifu huffed, perplexed. Vitani had been getting up early for weeks, now. Instances of this had been happening since the recent enemy of the Pridelands, Ngurumo, lost his life in a fatal fall. This time Vitani was gone.

Looking all around the Ponya, then the remaining sections of the Lair -- careful not to wake the rest of the Guard -- Tiifu went up Pride Rock and searched the Royal Den, until she spotted Vitani outside on the lintel. She was soaking wet and seemingly in a daze. She also seemed to be talking skyward, as if in full conversation with someone.

"Vitani..." Tiifu called.

The Fiercest heard her, but she took a long time to turn around, struggling to get out of her trance.

"What are you doing...?" the spotted lioness scrunched her face.

"I don't know, really, just... wonder if she's out there..." Vitani trailed off, "Ridiculous, I know. But... I sometimes wonder if she's trying to talk to me..."

"...Who?"

"My mother."

"Oh..." Tiifu looked at her love, "Have you ever done this before? Talking to her? Do you know if she might even be up there?"

Tiifu bit her lip awkwardly, she wasn't trying to say Zira didn't belong in the stars and the clouds, but what she got to know about Vitani's mother, the little time they had coexisting in one place, chances looked pretty slim. She didn't like Zira, from what she saw from her. But she knew Vitani lived with her, and likely knew more about her, being her child.

"Wouldn't hurt to try, I guess..." Vitani stared onward.

"You know, I didn't think you'd be one to really talk to the sky, I never see you do it. Usually a leader can talk to the Lions of the Past if they have the Roar..."

Oh, she had no idea. Vitani thought to herself. She hadn't yet told anyone she did have an advisor in the form of Nuka. She feared revealing sacred knowledge would revoke her privilege to speak to spirits -- let alone one of fire who's in purgatory. But she internally digressed, and suddenly shrugged.

"I don't know," she answered aloud to Tiifu, "It just feels like she's here every time it rains. Like she's fighting for revenge, even in death..."

"Vitani, you lost her in the rain. This time of year, too. Rain is thought to bring back pain from old injuries, y'know... Maybe it's doing that to you, but like, emotional pain."

"It has been a year, hasn't it?"

"Think so. I remember the trees losing their leaves like this, and the air smelling kinda moldy, too."

"But it hasn't rained this much. This is weird." Vitani fretted, "Hasn't stopped since I made that raincloud to put out those fires..."

"I mean, the Pridelands hasn't got a good rain like this for years, not even when Simba was king. What's wrong with quenching the earth a little with your Roar?"

"Well, this might be too much rain. As much as I like the rain, I'm starting to see why Kion never made the clouds do that again out of fear of breaking the Circle of Life. Sinkholes, mudslides, and mosquito overpopulations have been crazier than they need to be."

Tiifu was blown away. In all this time she knew Vitani, she remembered a time when she saw the leader treat non-lion animals as something other than alive, but now she spoke like Kion, with regard over the Circle of Life, something she almost never talked about. Vitani was growing, and Tiifu could see it.

The spotted lioness brushed her cheek on Vitani's shoulder, "All storms eventually have to pass, Vitani. I'm sure it'll stop soon."

She wasn't only referring to the literal weather, but Vitani's mood.

Vitani sighed, "We'll see..."

"...and while the storm is still going, we should head inside. Might catch something out here."

Vitani gave the clouds one last glance as she turned to follow Tiifu. ____

The pride had spent yet another night cooped up in the den.

Vitani stealthily padded her way through the Lion Guard Lair. Sporting a subtly energetic demeanor. She entered the Ponya and happened upon a curled up Tiifu. She lightly tapped her arm and head.

"Tiifu."

Stirring, the straw-colored lioness groggily awakened, only to have a boost of energy shoot right through her as she was jumpscared by Vitani staring directly at her, their faces close together.

"The rain stopped."

...

Tiifu followed Vitani's lead out the den, the latter seemed unable to contain an eager smile. Tiifu gasped at what she saw.

"A rainbow! Oh, how pretty!"

Vitani smiled all the way, happy to please Tiifu with the things she loved. She knew Tiifu was all about beautiful mornings, vivid cloud colors, things like that.

The two found a ledge on the side of Pride Rock to sit and gaze at the rainbow on the other side of the sunrise.

"Didn't know these happened after rain. I've heard about them, but I've never actually seen them."

"Really?" Tiifu looked up at her.

"Didn't rain much in the Outlands. There's like, always an awful drought there."

Tiifu nodded. Vitani never saw much hope in dark times, if she's never seen a rainbow...

She then pressed her head against Vitani's neck, "There's a rainbow at the end of every storm, Vitani..."

Tiifu, again, meant more than what literally happened before them. Vitani admittedly took a bit, but it eventually dawned on her.

Out of nowhere, feeling a sudden urge to express affection, Tiifu began to groom Vitani’s jaw. Vitani still hadn’t gotten used to the sensation of grooming, at least, nothing as gentle and organized like Tiifu’s. Tiifu did not form a wall around Vitani, nor press down on her. There was pressure in her licks, but in a massaging manner, and she seemed to be careful not to let her comb-like hairs in deep enough to scratch Vitani's skin. Vitani never truly groomed for years since no one had ever reminded her to do so, growing up in a conquest-oriented pride, and the only kind she ever knew was a tedious burden to endure. Her fur only started looking cleaner and feeling less dry and itchy once the Pridelander lionesses were all over her. It's like they had some sort of radar when someone had the slightest case of bedhead. But, anywho, it was time to tilt her head a little. Tiifu needed to reach the other side of her neck.

They continued to gaze at the rainbow until it faded along with the moisture in the air. Vitani squeezed her eyes shut, feeling total security with Tiifu.

...

Throughout the remainder of the day, excited buzzing made its way throughout Pride Rock. Talks of Kiara and Kovu's coronation made a return, now that things seemed to be drying up for good. The imminent arrival of some valued guests could not be more perfectly-timed...

Vitani slept better that night. ____

Meanwhile, at Msingi Falls... A ghastly glow illuminated the steadily-flowing river. The flow was suddenly disrupted, spinning into a small whirlpool. The riverwater seemed to defy physics as drops at the epicenter of the whirlpool began to rise. Humming filled the air, turning into a cadence sung in a siren-like matter.

A nearby animal -- a lone buffalo -- had picked up on the enticing noise, breaking its grazing. He found himself staring off absentmindedly as he felt himself being pulled to the source of the singing.

A drink sounded nice. Yes, in this beautiful pool of water...

Before the poor bovine knew it, a strong wave forcefully pulled him in. He could've sworn it looked like a large paw of a lion.

The last sounds he made were prolonged, suffering moos as he tried to pull away. The water soon stopped bubbling. ____

((Author's Note: Celebrating Wet Beast Wednesday with some Wet Beasts in the form of a sulking Vitani and Tiifu lol. Also age reveal for Vitani 👏. I headcanon her to be the equivalent of a 24-year-old in the post-TLK 2 timeline. As for other characters, like Tiifu, Zuri, and Kiara, they're, like, 21 or so.

Fun Facts:

Many poses and compositions were considered for the first and second thumbnails, I'll post the unfinished sketches/unused assets at another time.

I would like to make future art/name reveals of Zira's closest followers. Another thing I'll post some other time.

I learned about the word "lintel" in my Ancient-to-Medieval art history class. A stonehenge, for example, is comprised of a arch system of posts and lintels, the posts being the vertical reinforcement while the lintel is the horizontal stone topping the structure. Come to think of it, Pride Rock is reminiscent of a megalithic structure since it seems to posses posts and lintels.

I headcanon Tiifu to be a master of metaphors, you're gonna see this a lot this season.

Vitani staring right into Tiifu's face after waking her up is very much based on a cat owner experience lol

IMPORTANT: If you see a change in the storytelling style, like full, proper fanfics or simple, short descriptions contextualizing the art between uploads, it's because I've thought long and hard about how I want to present VG. After an epiphany, I've come to terms that I'm not some corporate animation studio who pushes out full episodes of a show I desperately want to see exist, I originally made VG to jot down concepts of what I wanted to see, and I realize now that I work better when I draw concepts sporadically rather than gradually, slowly telling a suspenseful story in order. I realized this when I've been looking back and realizing how much I wanted to add to the story after releasing art. If you see me going out-of-order with my art at any point, it's because I'm adding bonus content. Yes there will still be a continuous main story and there's a subfolder for that, but there'll be extra sketches made randomly, which has its own subfolder. Lastly, I'm actually fiddling with the idea of maybe releasing art and concepts, and then releasing full fanfics on Ao3 or FF.net or something. But... I'm not a big writer so again, just fiddling with that idea for now 😅

EDIT: Extended the literature for the first and third illustrations/scenes))

#The Lion King #The Lion Guard #Vitani's Guard #TLK #TLG #Vitani #Tiifu #Zira #My Art

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