kiara shauku

“i’m not just a princess, you know. that’s only half of who i am.”

inspired by: kiara ( the lion king 2 ) / added inspo: shuri udaku ( black panther ), juliet capulet ( romeo and juliet ), tba.

full name: kiara taraji shauku. faceclaim: zendaya coleman. dob: 30th of november ( twenty-one ). zodiac: sagittarius sun, aquarius moon. occupation: lab assistant/ta. birthplace: kingdom of pride rock. orientation: unsure. song: put your records on, corinne bailey rae. education: probably has the equivalent expertise of a few degrees, pursuing a phd in engineering. temperament: sanguine. mbti: enfp. alignment: chaotic good. abilities: genius-level intellect, some combat training, proficiency with her own technology. hogwarts house: gryffindor. emoji: (🦁🧡)

🦁 ⠀  ⠀ ⠀  ⠀ ───────────   simba gave an amused smile and held his hands up in faux defense.  “ do you want a list ? ”  he teased setting his hands down.  “ it’s called teasing, kie. you’ve heard of it right ? ”  simba added with a small laugh.   “ so that’s where my shit went ! ”

🦁

“you’ve heard of it right?” kiara mocked, because apparently she’d been spending too much time with kion. “which one of us was the child genius and while the other spent all his time running around making heart eyes at nala, huh? don’t ‘it’s called teasing’ me.” she wrinkled her nose, suddenly very self-aware of her lack of sleep because she was really stuck on kion level responses which was kinda embarrassing. still, there was a spark of fondness in her eyes. “and, yeah, obviously, which means you’re insulting your shit. why do you dress like a homeless guy, sim?”

º❍｡

“ oooh, did i strike a nerve ? ” admittedly, kiara already did seem a little more intimating than she did a second ago, but brynne could guess that was the point. she giggled anyway, the idea of butterflies drinking blood but humorous and terrifying. but got lost at the mention of chaos theory.

“ what’s that ? ” she inquired, an immediate tone shift as she leaned in with interest. “ i don’t think i’ve heard of chaos theory. ”

“shut up,” kiara replied, rolling her eyes and playfully punching brynne’s arm. the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth was probably undermining any intimidating she would’ve been able to pull off, though. that, or her eyes lighting up at the girl’s question.

“oh! it’s, like, the ‘butterfly flaps its wings and causes a tornado on the other side of the planet’ thing, you know? like, even if something appears completely random, there’s still some minute, deterministic detail that rippled out through the whole system to cause it. it’s a whole branch of mathematics. it might also be a philosophical thing too? it’s a pretty interdisciplinary theory, i think.”

where: kiara’s apartment.

kion knows something’s wrong the moment they’re home. kiara smiles and laughs and pinches his cheek the same way she always does, but he knows. and she knows he knows.

✫⌒

she didn’t like how emotions slowed her down. beatrix was always about the movement. figure out the next move, do the next thing, say the next joke. next, next, next. but now, stuck on the steps of a random apartment building, it was difficult to decide what possible ‘next’ there was. at least the stranger was making the decisions for her.

“nuh-uh, we can’t,” she quipped back, “your murder probably won’t make my brain feel any better today. not very self care of me.” her lips twitched with a smile. beatrix watched as the bags — or rather, the girl — hesitated. once they were offered, she picked them up with ease, holding them in the perfect angle and height so the bags wouldn’t rip from being swung around.

as they walked, whenever she felt the girl wasn’t looking at her, her smile dropped, the usual post-cry exhaustion creeping up on her. though the further away she stepped from the scene of the crime (someone could take the banjo and the box for all she cared), the better she felt.

the termites joke, as silly as it was, broke the dam of her laughter and the sound echoed around the hallway. then beatrix made a groaning sound, fed up with herself. “uuuggGGGgHhHhH, jesus, i really couldn’t have said anything more realistic like … hey, the building’s closed, they’re — performing an exorcism!”

“i’m beatrix. utonium,” she added. then she pulled a confused face. “hey, don’t take this the wrong way because i am really super grateful and i’d honestly promise my first-born to you at this stage — but do you bring strangers up to your place often? like, not in the sexy way but in the doing-good-things way? 'cause it’s really nice of you but it’s also kinda sus,” she couldn’t help but tease. 

🦁

“couple’a people’d probably be pissed at you for jumping the murder line, anyway, so better safe than sorry.” the words spill out a little too easily considering, well. everything. they’re light and breezy, though. mostly joking. a morbid part of her wonders what the hierarchy of wanting her gone would actually be - is scar at the top? zira? vitani? kovu? - before she shuts that shit down.

the girl’s laugh is a pretty good distraction, and kiara can’t help laughing along with her because - “an exorcism? that’s what you call realistic?”

she frowned in thought, wrinkling her nose as she considered the question (and putting the recognition that lit up at utonium in her back pocket for the briefest of moments). “i mean, not often? in a sexy way or otherwise. but most people i talk to aren’t sitting on the buildings front steps looking in desperate need of some company and ice cream.” she paused, turning to study beatrix with a considering tilt of her head (in blatant disregard for the not looking at her thing, whoops), before adding, “plus, i reckon i’m a pretty good judge of character.”

“but back up - did you say utonium? like brynne utonium? i’m doing that romeo and juliet play with her - that’s gotta elevate us from strangers to at least acquaintances.”

🚐 ⠀  ⠀ ⠀  ⠀ ───────────       “   if   you   replace   it   with   another   fake   sword   i   don’t   think   they’d   get   mad   or   even   know!   they’re   never   gonna   know   !   ”

🦁

“okay, but that leads me to another issue - where do i get another fake sword? and what’re the odds i’d wanna give that up too? might just wind up with a collection of fake swords at that rate.”

.

beckham nodded in understanding. “ahh, stabbing yourself when your young is all part of life. leads to having the best stories at parties.” he said with a wink. beckham was full of stories from childhood to now. his personal decision making was not always the best but it led him to good laughter in the long run. “nah, no sword guy. just one i don’t need anymore.” he chuckled, “so, you really into all this make believe stuff?” he asked curiously looking around the stage. 

🦁

“really? care to share any of your stabbing stories?” she leaned forward a little, as if that would get her the exciting stories he was hinting at faster.

she took a moment to actually think about the question, humming in consideration as her eyes drifted around the stage. “yeah, guess so. i dunno if i’d call it make believe but i like the people. the backstage stuff. and i like... telling a story. the whole performing thing. i know romeo and juliet is kinda overrated to some people but i think it’s still worth engaging with. and this -” she gestured around her to indicate, vaguely, acting and theatre in general, “- is something i’ve kinda always wanted to try but never really got the chance to, y’know?”

⍋*:･ﾟ  

he didn’t think hanging around the stage door was an actual thing, but here were all the actors and crew standing around and mingling. nick had already had a few people sign the playbill ( sans brynne for obvious terrible-date reasons ), but here was mercutio. “ yes, absolutely. there will be tears. but that’s why you do it quickly and quietly. ” he mimicked putting something into his jacket sneakily. “ and i’d suggest not doing it in front of whoever made it, that would be straight-up cruel. is the prop guy around ? that’s like stealing their first-born and they never like that. ” 

🦁

“hey, at this point it’s basically shared custody, right? i’m the one that’s been actually using the thing!” she insisted. “you’re totally right, though. i might have to make a heist out of it. don’t think anyone guarding the props likes me that much.” which was why she’d have to be more involved in the props next time - for ease of heisting. “so you got any experience taking props from poor prop guys? ‘cause it sounds kinda like you do.”

✫⌒

mustering the last remaining braincell she had, beatrix went to work trying to neaten the explosion of pink powder everywhere. she couldn’t do anything about her clothes, so she took off her jacket and tried to fold it inside out, so at least her top half was relatively clean. she used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe at her face and neck. when she saw the girl sit next to her, her eyes widened and she felt her ears heat up. “you’ve gotta be a whole other species of human to be okay with your food going bad, man,” she had to say, shaking her head.

about to disagree and say, yes, she could leave her here — she was struck again by the kindness being offered to her. “i…uh…” she struggled. usually she would say no. the great beatrix ‘motherfucker’ utonium? relying on a stranger’s help (no matter how gorgeous they are)? unheard of. but she didn’t have the strength to say no. and she knew that if she was left alone there on the step, she would feel worse. 

so she gulped, licked her lips, and her lips lifted to a slight smile. “…i guess that doesn’t sound entirely terrible. but as soon as you look at me, we will be fightin’ to the death,” she joked weakly. beatrix stood up slowly, and then remembered the bags. “can i carry those for you? least i can do?” she dusted off her hands so they were free of pink powder and showed them to her.

🦁  

kiara rolled her eyes, graciously not pointing out that, if the food hadn’t gone bad on her walk home, it could probably handle being not being refrigerated for a little longer. looking upset meant you were spared from snark - at least, if you didn’t count the aforementioned eye roll.

she propped her chin up in her hand, elbow resting on her knee, as she patiently waited for the girl to make a decision. the other hand was occupied holding the groceries in place as she tried not to fully stare, lest her gaze make the girl implode or whatever. she was mostly expecting a no, but who would she be if she didn’t hope for a yes anyway? her expression slipped from pensive back into a grin at the agreement, accompanied by a chuckle. “we can’t have that, can we?” she joked back, grabbing the bag handles again and standing up just as quickly as she’d sat down. she paused at the offer, eyeing the offered hands more out of some combination of politeness and a deep ingrained independence insisting she could carry her own bags as opposed to any kind of real distrust. “alright. since you asked so nicely,” she answered after the hesitation, handing the bags over. maybe doing something helpful would help her feel better.

“c’mon. and watch out for the termites!” she called over her shoulder as she finished making her way up the stairs, making sure to hold the door open. “we should probably get introduced before we actually get inside my place, right? i’m kiara shauku,” she said as she began guiding them to her apartment. at least if she knew the girl’s name before they actually got inside, she’d have plausible deniability if someone found out and decided to lecture her about being too trusting, right? at this point they weren’t really strangers. at least acquaintances, surely.

º❍｡

bright eyes scanned the room as brynne immediately started working out a how to this new task. sure, someone might get upset - that was the unfortunate reality of the situation - but that was fine. ❛ we’ll be out the door before anyone even notices it’s missing ! ❜  she was convinced, especially with the piles of clutter from breaking down the stage. 

speaking of, they had been at it for what felt like hours - and brynne decided then that they deserved a break. ❛ come on, i say we go hide it somewhere and deny deny deny if anyone asks. ❜

🦁

“i’m so glad you’re here to back me up!” kiara grinned, eagerly abandoning the work they’d been doing in favour of this new priority. really, if they didn’t want them to go rogue, they shouldn’t have left them alone.

“oooh, is there anything you want? if anyone deserves a souvenir, it’s our resident juliet.” she gave brynne a playful nudge,bumping their shoulders together as her mind kicked into gear. “i bet there’s a closet or something that no one opens we could use to stash ‘em ‘til the heat dies down.”