(Private) NM and Zeke's RP!

[NightmareMoon]

Taro followed Zeke out of the cave, trying not to look at what his old pride had done. He already hated them enough.

[Zeke]

Not too far away from the entrance sat Mila. She looked in terrible condition, obviously shaken up by what she just saw. Zeke approached her and decided not to ask if she was ok or what had just happened, for he feared he already knew. "Lets go Mila, we're getting out of here before the sun goes down. You ready?" He asked, hoping he didn't sound to insensitive in his words.

[NightmareMoon]

"...Ok..." Mila replied. Her voice sounded like she was about to cry, but it also sounded tough. It was a strange mixture of the two emotions. She was definitely not in the best condition at that moment, so she decided it would be best to go back home. "Let's go home." She said weakly. She started to follow Zeke, Taro following behind.

---

Taro said nothing as he followed Mila and Zeke. They probably thought he was some sort of monster, and he couldn't blame them for it. His old pride were definitely monsters. He felt guilty.

[Zeke]

After exiting the cave, it took a few minutes for the awful smell to completely exit Zeke's system, but until then he stood and enjoyed the fresh air. Once his system was refreshed, Zeke took a glance back at Mila and Taro. "Ok lets go," He said and began to run at a steady pace into the distance.

[NightmareMoon]

Mila followed as fast as she could. Considering the condition of her stomach and body, she did fairly well in keeping up.

After a long while of walking, the 3 approached the dens that Kiana, Hokori, and the pridelanders were. Mila and Zeke showed Taro to the den they stay in. Upon entering, Mila noticed Kiana and Hokori off in a corner, talking. She didn't pay much attention to them as she continued to walk over to another corner, where she plopped on the floor. She felt about ready to vomit once more, but fought it. She was weak now, and her wounds had blood stained her once glimmering golden/tannish coat into a blood-stained one. She proceeded to lick her coat clean of excess blood, and paid no attention to anyone else. She had no idea where Zeke and Taro were, or what Kiana and Hokori were doing. It didn't matter. She just had to focus on not becoming a sick dog.

---

Taro was shocked to see a lioness that looked extremely similar to Mila inside the cave. He wondered if they were related, but figured that now wouldn't be a very good time to ask. He watched as Mila ignored everything and went into a corner, and knew that it would be better off to not disturb the poor lioness. He felt bad for her. He knew that seeing his old pride do something like that for the first time had really gotten to him, so he imagined that the lioness was feeling the same way he had. He walked over to Kiana and Hokori, seeing as Zeke might want to go talk to Mila, or something of the sort. Upon reaching them, the two looked up at him, awkwardly. He introduced himself by saying. "Hello, I'm Taro. Mila and Zeke know me, and I guess I'm going to live with you guys now." He spoke in a uncertain voice. He wanted to become friendly with all of the pridelanders, and seeing as he had no good relationships with his old pride, wanted to make better ones here. He didn't need any more bad relationships.

---

Kiana noticed 3 lions come into the den. Who's that? She wondered as she looked at Taro. She watched Mila walk over towards the opposite corner, bloodstained. She was a curious lioness, and wanted to know what happened, but decided it would be better to wait until she was feeling better. She also noticed that Taro was bloodstained too, but thought better to ask him about anything. She didn't know him, after all. He approached Kiana, and Kiana looked at him, as she was a bit puzzled. He introduced himself, and she knew it would be for the best to acknowledge his presence and reply. "I'm Kiana, and this is Hokori." She replied, putting her paw on Hokori's shoulder. "It's great to meet you, Taro."

[Zeke]

Hokori looked in the general direction of Taro as to not be rude. He could smell the blood on Taro's coat and the lingering smell of death that hung around him. "Yes, its nice to meet you Taro," He said kindly. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you? You're covered in blood.

Zeke slowly padded over to where Mila was laying and lay down next to his mate, waiting for her to get done cleaning her wounds.

[NightmareMoon]

Mila didn't take too long to clean her wounds. As she finished, she didn't bother to look up. She didn't know that Zeke was laying right there, so she put her head down. She didn't want to have to run outside. The picture of that horrible scene earlier still lingered in her head. It was horrible. All of those poor lionesses, lions and cubs... slaughtered. It seemed like the pride Taro came from had no mercy whatsoever. She began to cry softly, the horror of the scene finally hitting her hard.

---

Taro looked at Hokori as he asked a question. "Mila got attacked by some insane lion... and I fought him off.... that's pretty much it..." Taro said, forgetting to mention the part where they found a sea of dead corpses and dried blood in a cave.

[Zeke]

Zeke looked over at Mila who was now quietly sobbing to herself and wrapped his foreleg over her shoulders gently, trying to not touch her wounds. "Its ok Mila," was all that he said, hoping to comfort her.

---

"Wow that's no good," Hokori commented as his eyes drifted slightly to the left of Taro's face. "So how did you come across our friends?"

[NightmareMoon]

Mila flinched a bit as she felt Zeke's powerful foreleg drape around her shoulders, but didn't attempt to get closer to him. The way he talked was as gentle as a peaceful river silently flowing through a jungle or rain forest. It managed to calm Mila down a bit, but not nearly enough to make her stop thinking about it. She stopped her silent tears, and just laid, with Zeke's foreleg around her. Her sick stomach feeling disintegrated and she began to feel a bit better. Zeke seemed to have a magic touch for Mila. Mila said nothing, and shuddered at the fact that Zeke might have been close to having that happen to him, as he was lost in the battle.

---

Taro responded quickly, reciting the story that happened not too long ago. He told them about Zeke's prison, his old pride, and how he followed the two. He didn't know how the lion would handle it, but was pretty sure that they wouldn't take it too well. He had to save Mila to earn the trust of Mila and Zeke, why would they trust him?

[Zeke]

Hokori listened carefully as Taro spoke. He could find no tone of aggression or anger in his voice so he found the newcomer's story to be completely credible. "Well welcome again, its nice to have another lion around here. I can't really do much in my condition, I'm pretty much useless at the moment," He said with no change in his friendly voice. "Make yourself at home."

Zeke just lay next to Mila, waiting for her tears to diminish and gently licked her muzzle, knowing his mate was still troubled by the past events.