Taka

Taka’s mother noticed it first. Many of the animals that she and her hunt party encountered recently had been dead. Rhinos had had their horns cut off. Elephants laid dead next to their mourning children. Sometimes even a zebra would have its coat stripped off its body, leaving it to bleed out and bake in the hot sun.

Taka’s mother begged to stop the hunts temporarily, and to move to be safe. But the King of Taka’s old pride remained stubborn. He droned on about how this was a sacred land and they must defend it with their lives. But that’s when the first bang went off. Humans arrived in their metal, moving hunks.

They carried long metal things that resulted in a large bang. Taka stood in fear as she watched red liquid drip down the old kings face, and him collapse to the ground. And it wasn’t much later that the rest of the bangs went off.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Cara. Micheal. Vibra. All lying on the ground. Pain in their expressions. Taka was frozen. It was a dream, it had to be. A human came up to her with a knife. Taka’s mother jumped in front of her. And the human, laughing, swiftly cut through her mom’s neck as if it were soft tree bark.

It happened in slow motion. Her beautiful, kind mother collapsed. And the twinkle that lived in her eyes faded in an instant. Until they were simply blank. Taka ran. Ran behind trees. She couldn’t run far- this was her home- but- Taka looked at the bloody mess of a battlefield. The humans cut started cutting off her mothers beautiful fur.

All of a sudden it became so real… her mother was… gone. No goodbyes or warnings. Everyone she knew was… gone? Lost to blood and eternal sleep. No, to eternal pain. Taka ran. She cried. She clawed at her face to try to stop it. Nothing worked. Even a dead beetle, sitting on the ground, reminded her of where her family was. The happy days full of laughter were gone, only a memory. A fantasy. A wish.

Taka now spends a lot of time with Ambrosia. She understands grief and pain. She doesn’t say much, but… Taka knows she understands. Or hopes she does. Taka needed to cling onto hope. At this point it’s all she has left, along with faint whispers of what used to be that linger, hovering over her grief.
(The above was written by the lovely SplotchyBeet484)

Taka was welcomed into the pride after Dian found her wandering into his territory. The young adolescent was searching for a new pride since her old one was killed off by poachers.