Who're You, Pridelander?

[Kovu]

(September 2nd, open to Kiara, Kovu & Vitani.)

"I. HATE. THIS STUPID. UNIFORM."

Kovu tripped on his face as the tie got caught beneath his large paws for the fifteenth time that day. His ears dropped as he angrily swatted at it with extended claws, trying to get it out of his way. His emerald eyes narrowed darkly as he stared it down before pulling out of it and tossing it with his head to the side, throwing off his shirt. "Stupid thing. Animals wearing clothes."

He grumbled, ears folding back as he tilted his head to the side to the door, hearing it creak. He caught his breath before jumping behind the couch, crouching to catch his prey off gaurd. When the body entered the room, Kovu let out a roar and lept onto the critter who entered.

[Kiara]

What was with this place? The Pridelands Princess frowned to herself as she entered the tower that served as home for her and the other members of the air circle while they were here. Though initially she had completely missed it, so caught up had she been in the exhileration of being out from under her father's overprotective paw, it had been steadily dawning on Kiara over the course of her second day here that this school wasn't all fun and games the way she had first thought. Aside from a couple of particularly gruelling classes, something one of her classmates had said had rudely awakened the young lioness to the possibility that some of them could actually die here.

It was a sobering thought, and it was due to this that Kiara didn't seem quite her usual cheerful, bouncy self as she padded up the stone stairway and, reaching the doorway, pushed it open.

"Ooof!"

She was greeted by a flying mass of brown fur that bowled her clean off her paws and sent her skidding a little way across the room's floor on her back with her assailant planted on her chest. Dazed, Kiara blinked twice, shook her head, and stared up into a very familiar face - a face she would never in a million years have expected to run into here, of all places. Her previous train of thought completely derailed, the young feline's amber eyes seemed to light up.

"Kovu?!"

[Kovu]

Kovu's snarling muzzle relaxed and unwrinkled as he stared at the pile of golden fur beneath his paws. "Kovu?!"

"Kiara?!" Kovu lept off the princess and grinned, tilting his head towards her with a laugh. His ears flicked upwards, tail whipping behind him to show his delight. To see the golden princess of the pridelands filled him with joy. He thought he'd never see her again. Maybe his mother was wrong and his initial idea was correct; they could possibly be friends. Maybe even best friends!

"What're you doing here?" he asked, "I never thought they'd give you one'a these invitations! You know you gotta fight, right?"

[Deleted]

One young lioness cub clearly stood out from the other two present. While their uniforms aligned them with the wind circle, Vitani was sporting a uniform decorated with red. Being the young warrior that she was, Vitani thought it rather fitting. Why Kovu had invited her to the wind circle dormitories was beyond her, though. A friendly visit in a school like this didn't seem likely. On the other hand, Vitani didn't know what this school was really all about. All she'd known was that she heard there was going to be fighting and, naturally, that was much more up her alley than any dumb old studying ever would be.

As Vitani approached, her ears perked a bit at the sound of voices. One she recognized as that of Kovu, and the other...?

"Oh-ho... This is going to be interesting," Vitani chuckled. She padded forward, following the sound of the voices, and soon came to a stop when she spotted a mass of brown fur ahead of her. That was Kovu, all right, and the other cub was sporting golden fur like her own. Blue eyes grew wide for a moment and, as they returned to their normal size, a smirk formed on the rough and tumble cub's face.

Her sister was there.

"Hey, Kovu. Looks like you're still not that hard to miss," Vitani greeted, feigning casualness as she took one final step forward to join the two. Then, her gaze settled on Kiara for a moment. Vitani almost wondered if the girl would recognize her, but didn't dare ask. She'd toy with Kiara for a while, if it was at all possible, before dropping the fact that they were actually sisters.

"And Simba's precious little princess is here, too? Oh, mother would get such a kick out of this if she was here," Vitani laughed.

[Kiara]

Kiara grinned back as she scrambled back to her feet. She was vaguely aware that her tie had been pushed askew during Kovu's unexpected tackle and that the knot was now plainly out of line with her collar, but not used to wearing clothes, she even think to try and straighten it; and besides which, her appearance, honestly, wasn't high on the feline princess' list of priorities. "I kept trying to sneak out and find you again, but my father wouldn't let me," she explained hastily - and a moment later could have kicked herself as she recalled Kovu's taunt from their first meeting: 'You always do what daddy says?' Her grin turned a touch sheepish and her ears flicked back in embarassment, almost expecting him to recall that just as clearly as she did.

"I've been finding that out," she replied, trying not to look as intimidated by the prospect as she felt. Still, it was hard to stay down, even about this, in light of this unexpected reunion. "Still, we're in the same circle, so we won't have to fight each other. Maybe we could work together; we made such a great team against those crocodiles, remember?"

The sound of another voice caused Kiara to turn. Another lioness stood there, this one wearing uniform colours that proclaimed her to be in the fire tribe. And... Kiara squinted for a moment. Did she look vaguely familiar? If she did, the princess didn't have a clue where from; but she was sure she had at least seen the older girl before. She frowned as Vitani's words registered. "Wait... are you and Kovu siblings?" she asked, taking a wild guess at how the two knew each other. It sort of explained the sense of familiarity - maybe it was just her resemblance to Kovu's scary mother that had struck Kiara.

[Kovu]

"Still, we're in the same circle, so we won't have to fight each other. Maybe we could work together; we made such a great team against those crocodiles, remember?"

"Oh heck yeah I do," Kovu said brightly before stealing a slick grin at Kiara and mocking her. "Oh man did you see the size of those teeth? They were going all roar roar roar." He flipped on his back to keep the charade going as he finished his chuckle. Truth be told despite the teasing he was pleased to have Kiara with him. But Vitani's voice his his ears shrilly and caused the male to roll over and take notice. He swallowed as his adopted sister slunk onto the scene.

"Uh...h-hey Vitani," he mumbled, "Uh...Kiara's here to fight now too so...no hard feelings I guess...right Vitani?" He turned to Kiara. "Sort of?" He said softly, "I mean Mother says we are sort of I guess."

[Kiara]

Kiara tried to glower at Kovu - an expression completely ruined by the fact that she was still grinning from ear to ear. She didn't think anything - even his teasing - could quite eclipse her joy at seeing the male again. Dad would be so mad if he found out that she was seeing Kovu again, she knew; though she didn't understand why. What was so wrong with the Outlander cub, anyway? She remembered that she wasn't aloud to turn her back on him, for some reason, but she really didn't see the harm in hanging out with Kovu, or even his sister.

But then... Daddy wasn't here, was he? Nor were her 'babysitters'. What they didn't know, Kiara decided, wouldn't hurt anyone.

Her brow furrowed, however, at Kovu's fumbled attempt to explain Vitani. "'Sort of'? How can she only 'sort of' be your sister?" She looked between the two Outlanders, hoping for a clearer explanation.

[Deleted]

Oh, so she didn't remember. That made it all the better for Vitani. If she could get under Kiara's skin, mess with her at every possible opportunity, it would be all the better for her. She'd be able to really enjoy taunting Kiara with the information she had. So, for the time being, she'd agree that she was Kovu's sister and Zira's daughter. Her tail swayed a bit and she offered a nod, the smirk still present on her face all the while as she took in Kovu's greeting and his inevitable answer. Of course, Kiara asked what the brown male had meant when he'd said 'sort of'. Vitani would provide an answer, but it wouldn't be a straightforward one. She'd keep the information still dangling above Kiara's head a while longer.

"He means that mother took him in as her own. It's just easier to call each other siblings instead of worrying about blood and stuff. So, basically, he's my brother. That's all you need to know," she said. Her smirk broadened a bit after a moment, thought.

"I'm probably the tougher one between us, though. Guess we'll find out whenever it is we have to fight each other, huh?" Vitani asked. She knew Kovu and Kiara were in the same circle, but it didn't bother her. Kovu wasn't her brother, so she had no qualms about fighting him. She'd always thought herself capable of besting him without a problem, anyway. As for Kiara? Well, she was the slightly older of the two girls, and she had Zira's training under her belt. Vitani had little doubt that she'd be able to hold her own against her sister.

[Kovu]

"Hey! She's MY mother too!" Kovu huffed. Not that he was SO proud of that fact but the male still didn't want to be disowned. Especially since he'd been told the lion who chose him as his successor wasn't even his father. He raised his head and gave Vitani a death glare. She was not only embarrassing him but also challenging his status. AND in front of his new friend.

"You are NOT," Kovu scoffed, "I'm the toughest one! Tougher than you AND Nuka. And Kiara and I beat a whole river full of crocodiles!" He turned and gave a cocky grin to the princess. She'd seen his whiny side he'd presented in front of his siblings. Now she needed to regain her confidence in his...well confidence.

"We'll wipe the floor with you!"

[Deleted]

"Doesn't matter whose mother she is. She's raising both of us," Vitani scoffed. It really didn't matter which of them had been the adopted one in the end. One way or another, the two had wound up in the same family and Vitani wasn't making any bones about that fact. She really was just trying to mess with both cubs at that point, and knowing she'd gotten under Kovu's skin just made her day. His defiance of her saying she'd been the tougher one just made her laugh, too. It was far too amusing to imagine Kovu the tougher of the two, even if he was the chosen one. Golden-furred female's smirk grew again and she snickered a little.

"Sure you are, Kovu. That's exactly why you were shaking like a leaf when mother was chewing you out for going off on your own," Vitani said. She kind of thought the image of Kovu and Kiara as a pair against her would be humorous more than anything else, but she wouldn't say so out loud. Instead, she wanted to see just how tough the two were. She crouched down, tail swaying tauntingly above her and claws sliding into view.

"If you two think you're so tough, why don't you show me now?"

[Kiara]

Kiara had fallen silent a moment while Kovu and Vitani bickered, watching them with interest. She'd never had any siblings (so far as she could remember), so this type of relationship was something new to her; though when the blue-eyed lioness began demeaning Kovu, Kiara decided she wasn't about to stand for it any longer. "Kovu is tough," she retorted, jumping to her friend's defence and glaring Vitani down. The fact that he apparently trembled before his mother did nothing to change Kiara's opinion of him; Kovu's mother was downright the most terrifying animal she'd ever seen, so she could hardly fault him for that. "He's really brave, too. And he's right, we can take you!"

The princess mirrored Vitani's pose, and after only a moment's hesitation, extended her claws, too. Mom had always told her never to use them except for self-defence, not until she was older, and this was only a friendly brawl; still Kiara didn't intend to be the only one present not using her claws. Mom didn't need to find out, right?

For the initial moment, however, she didn't go straight for an attack; instead she glanced across at Kovu, expecting him to make the first move.


(Vitani, just a quick question; you said Vitani's currently in the uniform, so I just wanted to check if she was wearing a tie or not? Just because if she is, Kiara's probably likely to try and use it against her at some point in their brawl)

[Kovu]

"Mother's different! She's weird!" He glanced around as if she'd pop up somewhere before turning back to Vitani. His fur prickled between his shoulder blades before staring the older cub down. His cocky smile turned on when Kiara spoke to him, spoke about him being brave. He wasn't a coward, no way. He growled and took a stance, nodding his head towards Kiara. Kiara was thicker (not fat no way) than the lean Vitani. His bulk plus Kiara's would work to bring Vitani down.

"RAHR!"

Kovu took a chance and lept at Vitani's shoulder, claws extended.

[Deleted]

(ooc: I imagine Vitani wouldn't wear the tie, mostly because I feel like she wouldn't be able to figure it out. xD)

There they came, just as Vitani had hoped they would. True enough that two against one wasn't fair, but Vitani didn't give a damn about that much. She wanted to see how well her brother and sister actually worked together against her. Kovu moved first and seemed to be making a move to go for her shoulder. Predictable? Not entirely, but Vitani had been trained to keep on her toes in a fight. So, as Kovu leaped, Vitani rolled to the side in an effort to dodge his attack. This left her open to anything Kiara might throw her way, of course, but the blue-eyed female could ignore her second opponent's line of thinking for the moment. If they tried to gang up on her, which she had little doubt would happen, she'd try to be ready for it.

[Kiara]

(okay, fair enough XD Makes Kiara the only one wearing one right now, I guess XD)

"Grrr!" As soon as Kovu went on the attack, Kiara acted as well. While she could see him aiming for his sister's shoulder, the princess circled Vitani with intent of going for her opposite flank. Not being quite completely clueless in the ways of combat, Kiara figured there was a good chance Vitani would dodge away from Kovu's attack; so if she aimed for where the older female was now, she stood a good chance of missing. Instead, Kiara held off her attack until she saw the other young lioness beginning to move.

As soon as Kiara realised that Vitani's roll was going to take the blue-eyed lioness in her direction, the younger feline pounced. Paws extended in front of her to - ideally - drive into Vitani's side and shove her off her feet; if this was successful, Kiara would jump on top of the other female and try to pin her down. With Kovu's help, at least, Kiara figured that if this worked, they'd have subdued Vitani easily; though in reality, the other lioness was unlikely to make it anywhere near that simple.

[Kovu]

"Crud!"

The male flew past his sister and rolled onto his back, skidding on the floor on his back. If he'd have been wearing his uniform he'd have ripped it in two. He gasped before shaking his head. He was NOT going to let Vitani win this one. Not in front of Kiara. His eyes narrowed towards his sister, claws drawn as he barreled close to her, hoping to catch her if Kiara's attack took effect.