HOME | DD

Description
And here are my two sons of Vitani and Tiifu, Taalin (leftmost boy) and Jata (sleeping boy).

A good few years after the reunion of the prides, when the lands are lush, the united prides are prospering, and there is complete harmony between the various animal groups within the Pridelands, Vitani finds that she no longer has a plausible excuse for not indulging Tiifu's desire for a family. While Vitani definitely felt the same way, she had far more inhibitions stemming from her own dysfunctional upbringing, lack of parental role models, busy schedule, and inner demons. Tiifu, on the other hand, had only known a full belly, loving parents, and a stable pride her whole life. The worst things that Tiifu could remember about her childhood/adolescence was that King Simba kept a rather strict eye on the borders (which made it mildly difficult to sneak off with Vitani) and that sometimes she had to eat gazelle. Vitani, on the other hand, could remember starvation, beatings, and an ever-constant sense of fear. Besides, what if they had the child and she didn't want it? What if they had a child and neither of them wanted it? What if the pride split?? What if the child(ren) (oh my god what if there was more than ONE?) were just plain difficult or born into sudden strife or worst of all didn't want to belong to Vitani??
Despite the depth of her fears, Vitani loved Tiifu. Which was why she was willing to undergo the trek (veryyyy long trek,) to the Tree of Life for some long-awaited counseling sessions when visits to Rafiki's tree failed. What she didn't anticipate was that they would find more than counseling at the Tree of Life, they would also discover two willing donors: Kion and Baliyo. (Baliyo was unmarried, Kion was taking a mutually agreed-upon break with Rani.) When they made the journey back to Pride Rock, both were pregnant.

A few months later, the cubs were born. To Vitani's dismay they now had multiple cubs. To her consternation, they were both boys. (She had seen enough of Nuka's vicious bullying of Kovu to know what to fear.) To her horror, Tiifu's boy Jata had been born sickly and weak. It took months for him to catch up, during which both new mothers fretted, took *more* time off of Lion Guard duties and hunting, and lost more sleep than the average new parent did, but he pulled through. He was never as strong during his cubhood however, and tired pretty darn easily, even as his brother was thriving.

When he was younger, Taalin was a playful young cub who resented his younger brother's weakness, as his mothers insisted that he look after Jata and make him feel just as included as the other cubs. While this came from a place of motherly concern (in both cases, they wanted their Jata to experience normalcy), Vitani very much heaped it on because she worried that Taalin might somehow inherit her "selfishness" (a trait only she could see in herself) like other cubs might inherit their mother's eyes or their father's paws. In her case, she worried about a "stain" from Zira, to her, to Taalin. So whenever she saw bad behavior (even if it was perfectly normal cub behavior) in Taalin, she was quick to squelch it. As a result, Taalin went from a playful young boy to a quiet, mature, almost parentified young cub. The two cubs never displayed any Scar/Mufasa-like dynamics, as both mothers were loving to each other and their cubs, and Taalin could often be found watching his sickly brother while Jata carefully groomed his brother's wayward mane, telling him stories of long ago, and warming his brother's tawny pelt while he slept on his shoulders.

I wanted these guys to parallel Uru/Ahadi and their sons Mufasa and Scar a bit. Only in this case, the parents are in a completely loving relationship, and Vitani pressures her children into loving each other instead of hate.

Description
And here are my two sons of Vitani and Tiifu, Taalin (leftmost boy) and Jata (sleeping boy).

A good few years after the reunion of the prides, when the lands are lush, the united prides are prospering, and there is complete harmony between the various animal groups within the Pridelands, Vitani finds that she no longer has a plausible excuse for not indulging Tiifu's desire for a family. While Vitani definitely felt the same way, she had far more inhibitions stemming from her own dysfunctional upbringing, lack of parental role models, busy schedule, and inner demons. Tiifu, on the other hand, had only known a full belly, loving parents, and a stable pride her whole life. The worst things that Tiifu could remember about her childhood/adolescence was that King Simba kept a rather strict eye on the borders (which made it mildly difficult to sneak off with Vitani) and that sometimes she had to eat gazelle. Vitani, on the other hand, could remember starvation, beatings, and an ever-constant sense of fear. Besides, what if they had the child and she didn't want it? What if they had a child and neither of them wanted it? What if the pride split?? What if the child(ren) (oh my god what if there was more than ONE?) were just plain difficult or born into sudden strife or worst of all didn't want to belong to Vitani??
Despite the depth of her fears, Vitani loved Tiifu. Which was why she was willing to undergo the trek (veryyyy long trek,) to the Tree of Life for some long-awaited counseling sessions when visits to Rafiki's tree failed. What she didn't anticipate was that they would find more than counseling at the Tree of Life, they would also discover two willing donors: Kion and Baliyo. (Baliyo was unmarried, Kion was taking a mutually agreed-upon break with Rani.) When they made the journey back to Pride Rock, both were pregnant.

A few months later, the cubs were born. To Vitani's dismay they now had multiple cubs. To her consternation, they were both boys. (She had seen enough of Nuka's vicious bullying of Kovu to know what to fear.) To her horror, Tiifu's boy Jata had been born sickly and weak. It took months for him to catch up, during which both new mothers fretted, took *more* time off of Lion Guard duties and hunting, and lost more sleep than the average new parent did, but he pulled through. He was never as strong during his cubhood however, and tired pretty darn easily, even as his brother was thriving.

When he was younger, Taalin was a playful young cub who resented his younger brother's weakness, as his mothers insisted that he look after Jata and make him feel just as included as the other cubs. While this came from a place of motherly concern (in both cases, they wanted their Jata to experience normalcy), Vitani very much heaped it on because she worried that Taalin might somehow inherit her "selfishness" (a trait only she could see in herself) like other cubs might inherit their mother's eyes or their father's paws. In her case, she worried about a "stain" from Zira, to her, to Taalin. So whenever she saw bad behavior (even if it was perfectly normal cub behavior) in Taalin, she was quick to squelch it. As a result, Taalin went from a playful young boy to a quiet, mature, almost parentified young cub. The two cubs never displayed any Scar/Mufasa-like dynamics, as both mothers were loving to each other and their cubs, and Taalin could often be found watching his sickly brother while Jata carefully groomed his brother's wayward mane, telling him stories of long ago, and warming his brother's tawny pelt while he slept on his shoulders.

I wanted these guys to parallel Uru/Ahadi and their sons Mufasa and Scar a bit. Only in this case, the parents are in a completely loving relationship, and Vitani pressures her children into loving each other instead of hate.