Freedom Without A License (Open)
Dec 24, 2020 13:55:36 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2020 13:55:36 GMT -5
"Good?!"
Janja frowned as the dark furred lion cub seemed annoyed and even the tiniest bit miffed at the hyena's own admission of being one of the good guys now. The hyena king nodded. "Well, yes I'm one of the good guys now. Um, that's not a problem for you or anything, is it?" the hyena casually answered. He looked the cub over again. Honestly, he wasn't sure what he was expecting! Still, he was really hoping that the cub would be at least a little bit more excited than this in the positive sense not the negative. The Outlands King couldn't understand it though! He felt certain that Kovu would be pleased and even relieved by the idea of his reformation since well he seemed like one of the good guys as an adult! 'Hm, perhaps as a cub he wasn't so nice due to Zira's evil influence?' Janja groaned. Of course that had to be the whole reason behind Kovu's disappointment! Why didn't he think of that sooner? Thankfully though Zira is dead, so no need to really worry about her finding them! No, no they were safe! Kion said so and since when has that know it all cub been wrong about anything?
Kovu then proceeded to tell Janja about what he has heard about him. When the lion cub compared him to Banzai, Janja couldn't help smiling a bit! The original hyena trio were considered legends throughout his clan and prior to his clan's reformation everybody strived to be more like them er well more like Shenzi and Banzai anyway. Yeah, nobody wanted to be like Ed mainly since he couldn't or wouldn't speak. But still, all of the hyenas in Janja's clan heard of the original hyena trio's adventures! So Janja considered being compared to even one of them something of an honor! Still, he had hoped for Kovu to compare him to Shenzi instead since in Janja's mind at least that would make more sense! After all, they both were leaders who led their own clans and they both liked being in charge and telling others what to do. So comparing him to Shenzi would have certainly been a fair comparison. Who cares that he is male like Banzai? Banzai wasn't the leader! Still smiling he wagged his tail a bit. "Oh wow, really? Other animals told you that I reminded them of Banzai? Oh wow kid, you have no idea how much of an honor that is for me! Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed were all considered legends throughout the surviving hyena clans; their stories passed down through generations. Still, I would have thought I was more like Shenzi than Banzai. Oh well close enough I suppose! Go on tell me who else I remind you of," the young Hyena King responded geeking out a bit! It was obvious from the way he answered Kovu that Janja either forgot that the hyena trio were considered evil troublemakers by most everyone or he simply did not care.
"Most of the details came from your songs, they travel great through the Outlands."
The hyena wasn't sure if he should be flattered or creeped out by this. Still, if this was even remotely true then that meant that this kid would have heard all of his songs and Janja wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. Then Kovu said something that made him sweat, his heart skip a beat, and made his blood run cold.
"Your newest one was a big hit, but I guess the plan failed. It would have been great to see the great Scar."
Janja snorted in total disbelief. Kovu honestly thought Scar...great! He was great alright! A great liar! It was really all Janja could do to not yell at the cub.
It was particularly chilling the way the cub was humming his Bring Back A Legend song. Talk about having your own words coming back to haunt you! Well, in this case technically not words since the cub was merely humming the tune, but still unnerving to say the least. And it did serve as some proof that Kovu really did know his songs or at least this one.
Janja's smile was the first thing to go as it was quickly replaced with a frown and his tail stopped wagging. 'Wait, so this kid and his family somehow never found out about Scar's fiery return? But how? I mean a large flaming lion's head living in the volcano of the Outlands is kind of hard to miss. Even some of the dumbest animals soon became aware of Scar's ghostly return. Well regardless of how or why, the kid obviously missed out on quite a bit and maybe all things considered that was for the best.' Still he couldn't keep just standing there mouth agape. He had to say something to the cub and fast! As he struggled to find the right words his mouth went dry and it tasted like sandpaper. His mind raced. There was no question about it this time he had to lie. No matter what he cannot ever allow Kovu to learn that he and his minions actually managed to summon up evil Scar's spirit! Which shouldn't be too difficult! After all, who would believe such a ridiculous thing anyway? If Janja hadn't seen an evil lion's face made entirely out of fire for himself he'd probably have trouble believing it too! 'Focus. Come on Janja, get a grip and focus,' he scolded himself.
Taking a deep breath he recollected himself. Contorting his face into one of disappointment he nodded. "Oh so you...heard about that, did you? Oh darn! Yeah, the plan failed majorly! I was really hoping that nobody overheard my attempt! In hindsight, I cannot believe I actually thought such a ridiculous, crazy plan would work. I suppose I was just so desperate for Scar's help and his...slick advice that I was just hoping it would work. But the plan failed. Oh well. You live and you learn. So um did anybody else learn of my attempt to summon up Scar or just you?" the hyena lied through his grinning teeth. Mentally he was cringing the whole time! Oh he so did not want to compliment Scar. But what else could he do? He had to lie. He couldn't let Kovu know what he did. In the hyena's paranoid mind, Kovu discovering the truth of Scar's return would be horribly bad! It was all he could do to not break character!
“Sounds like the kid doesn’t get it, though. I was hoping that he would.”
Still snickering Janja nodded at the dog. "Yeah, I was too! I don't want to be the one having to point it out to him either," the hyena admitted wiping tears of laughter from his face.
Toughy then came to the conclusion that their young human visitor was none other than a jungle boy whatever that was. Having come from a place without any humans at all, Janja had never seen a jungle boy before, but he supposed that's what this under dressed, scrawny human boy was according to Toughy anyway.
Janja began to close his eyes as he imagined the young Indian boy's warm wolf den. "Oh that sounds nice. Um what's a wolf?" he inquired the boy having never seen a wolf before. The hyena found it very surprising that the young human didn't know how to make fire. He kind of thought all humans knew that or at least that's what his mother told him. For a human who couldn't make a fire would be like a grown lion not knowing how to roar. Just made no sense to Janja! The hyena didn't think the human lying either as he found no traces of deception about him. "Oh how come you don't know how to make fire? I thought all humans knew how to do that," the hyena asked out of curiosity.
When the human admitted to having been around animals a lot longer than his fellow man, the hyena began to regret his initial outburst towards the poor human. After all, it wasn't the boy's fault for being unfortunate enough to have been born a human. Still, it was enough to spark Janja's curiosity. "Soooo um sorry about earlier when I snapped at you like that. And uh also what was it like being raised by wolves? Were they nice to you? Did they treat you as one of their own pups?" the hyena apologized. And even as he asked the final two questions he rather figured both answers would be a resounding, 'yes.' He must admit he got a bit excited and curious about what it must be like being raised by members of a completely different species The hyena waited in quiet anticipation for the human boy's response...