Strangers in A Strange New Place

[Dhall]

There’s a gentle nod to the quadrupedal princess, and a strange look of... understanding. It seems the strange creature may have more knowledge and comprehension than the princess first gave her credit for.

Her attention is drawn though, by a certain phrasing. ‘Your Highness’.

“You can just call me Dhall, Dear. I’m not your queen, or the queen of anyone around here. To be frank, I believe that might just be the thing these soldiers need right about now. Though, I don’t know if I’m willing to strike that deal... Captain, if you grab his legs, I’ll grab his arms? We could force him to relax.” Glowing lips part in a wide, playful grin towards the Ursid, an obvious sign that she’s only joking.

“How about this, Mister Rider. I could use an extra set of hands weaving and medicating bandages. Have you ever operated a table loom before? You get to rest, and still assist the medics. It’s a win-win.”

[John Silver]

"You're right, Captain, Your Highness. People are dead, and I'm still alive. I feel ungrateful if I didn't use every chance I had to help others."

The ursid says nothing just arching a brow wondering where the man would go with this “Now lad...” Silver starts after a long moment trying to get a word in.

"I mean, you try spending more than a few weeks with Rapunzel and NOT want to save every lost animal or give all the orphans a home, even in your darkest hour."

“Can’t say I had the time to lad” Silver gives a soft chuckle before turning to Dhall as she speaks giving her a returning grin at her words.

“Aye, ma’am” He purrs, shifting to his clamp attachment just to show.

“How about this, Mister Rider. I could use an extra set of hands weaving and medicating bandages. Have you ever operated a table loom before? You get to rest, and still assist the medics. It’s a win-win.”

“Sounds like a deal to me laddie” he shakes his head with a smile before looking over the other soldiers around him pausing to look on the massive shape of The Gourmand his stomach giving a sudden jolt as he realizes what the war lord was wearing.

“Bleeding hell” Silver hisses, disgust etched in his tone which translates to what is that daft fool thinking? “Someone should take that away from him before the lions see” The ursid tuts, eye glowing an orange tint as he frown in the creatures direction

[Afua]

"Hey, crazy few days, huh?"

“Mmmhm, I guess” Afua sighs glancing over at his best friend tiredly “How are you taking this? All of it” he gestured with a paw to the barn, soldiers milling about, in the far corner of the barn lay a few lionesses, their numbers unknown familiar yet worn out faces of family and pride-mates. To Afua, they were all that’s left of the only home he ever knew. The young male fell silent again as he gazed around the barn before zeroing in on the massive creature that was the Gourmand.

“Kopa...” he trails off voice ending in a crack as he takes in what the thing, the monster was wearing.

“It’s Kinyezi”

[Shani]

Shani didn't give herself any time to grieve.
She knew if she stopped for even a moment, if she let grief envelope her, she wouldn't be able to get anything done. 
She could grieve later, right now there was far too much to be doing to be sitting around wallowing in sadness.

That wasn't to say it wasn't plainly obvious she was hurt. Loosing another parent figure only months after loosing her mom, a loss that could have been prevented at that, of course it hurt. Anyone who knew the adolescent cub long enough could see the pattern here, Shani busying herself with work was part of her grieving process.

Carrying her medic bag, which no longer fit around her body, in her jaws she made her way from group to group that were settled in the barn, checking on the injured.
Dropping her bag onto the wooden, straw strewn floor, she turned her attention to the only remaining members of her former pride.
"Afua, you need your bandages changed,"
Her voice sounded flat and tired. She turned to the direction of Flynn's voice,
"Flynn, when was the last time you took pain medicine? I have some here if you need it. You really should take it easy."

[Kopa]

Kopa sighed. "Honestly? I'm angry and tired. I'm sad and confused. I'm not sure what's happening anymore." he admitted with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes suddenly as his name was called. "What is it..?" he trailed off as he saw where Afua was pointing at. Was that... a lion skin wrapped around the Gourmand?!

He shot up in outrage. "WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT?!" he screamed out suddenly. He was in shock in outrage as he glared at the Gourmand. Rage returned in his blue eyes.

[Mulan]

  In the... transition from Africa to Canada, Mulan had kept herself occupied. It helped. She found that it didn't stop her from thinking about what happened, and in a way, she was glad for this. Rather, it helped bring things into focus. Without the steady stream of work to do, Mulan felt she would be left alone to overthink, and to blame herself for what happened. With it, she could see the situation more clearly. The outcome had been horrific, but... inevitable. Madness had overtaken the unfortunate lioness queen, and she would have brought the entire army down with her. Unrest had consumed the Peacekeepers, and in their wrath they had set upon each other. Mulan's brows furrowed. She lifted a crate of supplies - one of the few they had managed to salvage - and carried it to its new home.

  Her steps carried her past Dhall, Flynn, and Silver, though she hardly acknowledged them, throwing herself into her work. In her distraction, however, she still found comfort in their lighthearted tones. We will heal, came the steady, assuring thought amidst her musings. Slowly, but we will heal.

  Mulan dropped the supplies off with the rest, collecting a modest pile in the back of the old barn. It had been a lucky find to happen on this abandoned shelter out in the wilderness, but they would need more than this if they were to make a permanent base here. This and the ships made do for now, but only for so long. Mulan looked out over the small crowd of survivors, and her gaze fell on the lion cubs, huddling together for warmth. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow for them. Everything they had known had been stripped from them. Their pride had all but turned against these children. She couldn't imagine--

"WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT?!"

  The sudden outburst had ripped Mulan from her thoughts, and she followed Kopa's accusatory glare towards...

  ...Ah.

  Mulan couldn't accurately say she didn't understand the Gourmand's actions. She had come to understand that his grisly trophy came as a direct result of the same lion trying to kill Huela. On the one hand, she respected his statement to protect those he cared about, even if this was a violent way of showing it. But on the other, it couldn't possibly be helping matters with the cubs. Mulan kept a respectable distance. She would intervene if she felt it necessary, but for now she wanted to see what the Gourmand would choose to do on his own merit.

[Dhall]

Molten gaze follows Silver’s, only for molten lips to lose their smile. There’s a.. strange noise of recognition from the stone creature, and broad arms cross in front of her.

“I don’t know... It’s grim, yes, but it’s not wanton. It looks like a reminder, a victory, or a threat. That little creature he’s always with is around here somewhere, broken up on one side and completely missing a leg. Not to mention any other soldier he might have had any respect for... We can’t just sweep what just happened under the rug, lest we repeat it ourse—“

”WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT?!”

Dhall is swiftly interrupted by the yelling, bubbles rolling up in the thick mass of her ‘hair’.

“That’s enough!” She hisses through stone teeth, “If you’re going to scream and yowl about something, do it outside! This is a place of healing, not fighting, and I won’t tolerate it! Don’t you think these people have been through enough as it is?!”

[Deleted]

Shivering with grief, Kanzi kept their gaze fixed on the barn floor as their selfless sister went to get a blanket. The siblings had been rounded up by the surviving Freedom Fighters and driven from one place to the next like cattle. Kanzi went without complaint and had remained under Kiara's watchful eye for three days. She was doing her best to make them feel better in spite of her own grief. Kopa only seemed to care about Afua.

"WHY ARE YOU WEARING THAT?!"

It was Kopa's shrill wail that jolted Kanzi from their stupor. The cub blearily followed Kopa's eyes and found that Kinyezi was unquestionably dead - her skin hanging unceremoniously from the Gourmand's massive shoulders.

Kanzi's neck fur bristled. The Gourmand's "cape" was off-putting but not for the reason Kopa did. Kanzi had lost all feeling for their pride. The lionesses had all seen what Nala did to them, yet not one of them denounced her. Kanzi's well-being meant nothing to them. Tears came to the cub's eyes when they remembered nostalgically the time when they thought their mother really loved them.

Kanzi would have told Kopa to shut up, but the effort of speaking had left them breathless. Fortunately, Dhall was having none of that today. Kanzi sniffled, allowing their neck fur to lie flat again. 

[Kopa]

Kopa wanted to argue, wanted to talk back, but all his anger seemed to drain out of him in sheer exhaustion and frustration. He wanted to believe it wasn't justified for any of his pride to be dead... but they hadn't done anything when Kanzi was pushed off a freaking ledge by Nala. But nonetheless, it made him sick to the lion hide around The Gourmands neck.

"That isn't right, no matter the person... that isn't right," he kept mumbling with closed eyes, trying to contain what was left of his anger. His eyes then flew open, icy cold blue eyes stared at Dhall. It was a quick flash of hatred. Then his eyes turned to normal very quickly and sighed. "Yeah..." he grumbled. He wasn't scared nor intimidated by Dhall, but he didn't want to further himself in deeper trouble.

He took a quick glance at everyone around him, his eyes landing on Kanzi. He tried to read their expression, but he couldn't. He quickly moved his eyes back to the ground.

[Kiara]

Kiara let herself fade into the background for a moment, simply listening to the creatures around her talk while her gaze travelled from person to person. It was strange to hear jovial tones from the adults when her own world had been completely overturned, but logically she knew it made sense. While the events of Pride Rock had been traumatic not everyone in the army had been affected by loss the way her family had. For some it was just... An unfortunate bout of misery. It affected them the way a storm might shake the trees and destroy the landscape, but the impact would be brief and its effects passing.

Still the emotion-driven part of her mind couldn't comprehend yet the joking tones. It felt like a betrayal to the lost to listen to someone else's happiness rather than cling to the pain that their absence brought.

Mom...

Kiara winced, eyes narrowing slightly. She'd danced around thoughts of her mother the past few days. Whether she was alive or dead... Which option was actually better suited as reality. Brief memories of her family, whole and happy and sane juxtaposed to the expression of spiteful malice as Nala had shoved Kanzi off of Pride Rock. The news that her father had been going mad. That he had been murdered not just through ambush but through betrayal from his own wife. The thoughts, bleak and dark as they were, that maybe Nala had never loved her children at all. Could she have and still pushed Kanzi from the ledge?

The teen turned away with a lip curled through some internal pain, brushing past Shani without a breath of recognition as she returned to Kanzi's side. She remained silent still as she pulled a blanket from the load on her back and rested it upon her sibling, using her paws as she'd seen other animals do to tuck the edges tight and trap more warmth. Only when caring for her younger sibling did Kiara seem to soften a bit and lose the sharpest edges of her wariness. "Does that feel okay?"

Any immediate answer would have been interrupted as their brother shouted out, drawing the attention of the barn. Kiara's fur spiked with adrenaline as she followed his gaze, instinctively reacting to his raised voice. At first she thought he was simply reacting to the presence of the large water-creature that sat prone across the room from them. Kiara couldn't fault him for being upset -- she too felt uneasy knowing he was about after the debacle he'd started by opening fire on Pride Rock. It had only been Jasper's quick paws that had saved her from his trigger-happy finger.

But that wasn't the cause for dismay. It took a moment for the lioness to recognize that the blanket he wore was one of fur rather than felt, and to identify the shape of the skull perched on his shoulders. The noise Kiara made was involuntary, a horrid sound that sounded like the child of a choke and hiss.

He... He'd taken one of her pride as a trophy?!

Kiara's muscled bunched and twitched with the urge to run and scream. This was just... Too much. The horrifying icing on trauma cake. To know that one of her pride members, who she'd grown up knowing, who'd guarded her and her family since Kiara's birth, had been skinned to act as some... Some sick symbol of victory...

She felt sick.

Hearing the warning in Dhall's voice Kiara remained where she stood, though the paw that shifted to rest on Kanzi's back shook with stress. It wasn't that she was shifting to calm the younger cub in this instance -- though it could appear that way. In this moment, Kiara was drawing what reassurance she could from the other.