Sneaking About [Open]

After seeing who it was, Vitani felt the fur beneath her coat grow hot with embarrassment, and the bristling alongside her backside stopped. She supposed she hadn't been as sneaky as she would have liked - she'd have to work on that, she decided, as she retracted her tiny claws and hunched her shoulders slightly, curl tailing around her side in displeasure. She should have... calculated more. That was right. Been more aware of her surroundings, taken note of who was sleeping. Of course Aunt Faraja had noticed her.

Her stance got even lower as Aunt Faraja began talking - a lecture. Of course there was going to be one. Vitani had brought this upon herself, and was still internally scolding herself when her ears prickled at the talk of her father - and even more so, at the words following. Wait... was she? For a few moments, a somewhat wary expression passed over the cub's face. Was this some sort of trickery? Some sort of trap that if she followed through, she would get some sort of punishment? For a few heartbeats, Vitani stood still, trying to guess if it was. When she sensed no such trap, a small smile - rare for the young cub in the presence of anyone but her family broke out across her face replacing the disappointed scowl from before. "Thank you, Aunt Faraja!" And she wouldn't forget her manners after her previous mistake. While she didn't like most of the others members of the pride, being polite always paid off. In terms of getting out of punishment, or in terms of getting away from stares. And using politeness on someone she liked rather than someone she pretended to like... well it felt better.

Turning tail, Vitani nearly made the mistake of bounding out in excitement - instead, she took a small breath before stepping out carefully, tail wagging behind her. Her aunt's words reminded her that while it seemed like a silly rule that most no one could get out here, it was still dangerous. Plus, she didn't want to look too much like an over-excited cub to her aunt. Because she wasn't. And yet, Vitani turned to her aunt as she walked, a spark of interest in her blue eye's. "Did dad really never break this rule?" Having Aunt Faraja mention her father first... was admittedly also nice. Vitani always felt she had to step on eggshells talking about him to anyone else in the pride. Either they were uncomfortable - or her mom was going to look sad or go on a lecture - or she'd be reminded to not talk to Kovu about it, because he was the 'heir' of him. And so, Aunt Faraja approaching the subject... well, it made it so Vitani felt she could ask a question without feeling too bad about it.

She almost added on a line to her question - 'I always imagined him to be a rulebreaker' - before breaking it off, and deciding to wait for what Aunt Faraja had to say. She didn't want it to be seen as a challenging line. Plus... she didn't want to admit she didn't know as much as she would have liked about her father before his death. 

As she listened to her aunt, Vitani felt her paws slow slightly so she could pay extra attention to both her words and the steep rocky path upward, craning her head back slightly to peer at her with bright blue eyes glimmering as she took in the words Faraja was saying. It was definitely... nice to hear about her father from someone other than her mother, and it certainly gave her more perspective. Hearing that her father had been kind-hearted and that he obeyed the rules - well, it seemed a bit strange compared to other advice she had heard, about hardening one's heart. She tilted her head slightly, taking that in, though another thought crossed her mind. The Lion Guard... she had heard of it, perhaps once or twice from her mother, but nothing more than that. Ears prickling, Vitani decided to voice another question. "I think I've heard of it before but..." Vitani started, feeling a bit silly to even have to ask such a question. "What's the Lion Guard?"

As the trail grew steeper, Vitani let her own tiny claws dig into the gravel below paw while striding forward confidently - while she was grateful for her aunt, she still felt like she could have done it alone had she had the chance - and she wanted to prove she wasn't a small cub anymore. She was growing bigger and stronger each day and she was going to eventually prove herself. Just... not now, evidently enough.

"And... he sounds like it," Vitani declared, after a moment of listening, thinking on the most recent words, suddenly her confidence seeming to be put out like a flame in rain, as she stopped - finally seeing the top! But also... hesitating. He also wasn't accepted by the pride? Despite not having known him for long - just a distant memory in the back of her mind, Vitani's tail drooped suddenly. It sounded like he wasn't that different from her and her siblings - both her sisters and brothers, she decided. For a moment, Vitani looked up at Faraji, opening her jaws to ask one more question, before promptly shutting it again, thinking better of it once more. She had thought to ask something silly - something her mom would probably disapprove of also. Instead, she fluffed out her chest slightly. She didn't need the rest of the pride if they weren't going to see her as one of them!

"Thank you, for telling me a bit more about him." That was instead the line that Vitani went with, a smile on her face again before she took the lead again, bounding forward slightly - but still a good number of feet from the edge.


Already, Vitani felt... small, looking out, and she wasn't even at the edge. Sure, Pride Rock made her feel tiny enough already, but this was a whole other level. This was how big the Pridelands were compared to everything else - even Priderock that watched over it! And despite the stirrings of that, she looked around - eyes taking in the scene and nodding slightly as if to cement the place in her memory - and to hopefully enhance her first one of the place.

Yet, another question bubbled to the surface - this one, which she didn't have such trepidation about answering. "Why is almost no one allowed out here? This is such a cool spot!"