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~Newborn cub dialogue~
When Kuongezeka was born, the pride was in such disarray over his mutation that they got into an argument about who should be the one to tell his father of his arrival. It took the immortal lionesses checking on him, dodging the aggressive paw swipes of his common, Vile-eyed mother, and then Mjuvi and Sababu both retrieved King Isiphepho. The babe was still so young and small that they didn't suspect him of any evilness in his soul yet.
The storm-colored sabretooth was no less surprised than they were, but Isiphepho had grown accustomed to a constantly angry face, so he appeared to be scowling with displeasure down at his son despite his feelings otherwise. He had to convince the mother three times that he was more than glad to see him. So happily proud was he that he automatically made Kuongezeka the heir, the youngest and fastest ever born in the pride. For this to happen before the king had reached five years of age was unheard of. The Felis prince was indeed a sign of changes to come.
Vuka asked the spirits for guidance more than once while he was weaned, but the answers were vague and unhelpful. All she had were warnings. That was the first sign that something was already going wrong with the little cub that pretended to be so helpless and unassuming.
~Cub dialogue~
In the place where the sun seemed split by the tree, the prince often wandered alone when he wasn't up to his devious tricks. He liked to boss around the other cubs and belittle them because not only were they common, but even a regular primal cub would be put down because he was "special" with his rare mutation. He was going to be the first Felis king ever in the line of Isikulu! In the meantime, he practiced his laziness, argued with adults, ran away from home and taunted animals much larger and stronger than him. Sometimes he deliberately crossed the border into another kingdom, seeking out the rulers. He liked to wait until they were in the act of mating with another, and then he would scream at the top of his lungs, revealing himself and calling them weirdos before running home.
This was how Kuongezeka gained the reputation of a perverted little troublemaker. Lunga personally rescued him on more than one occasion. She wished she could give him an unholy amulet or something to let him roam free and safe, but such a young soul would be an easy target for the demons. The last thing she wanted was to lose her chance before he was ready. So, the prince grew into the spoiled brat that got away with virtually everything. Not only did he never get hurt or reprimanded for it, but Lunga herself was never harmed. The less someone was injured, the better the chance he could do it all over again.
You came by once to see the prince, and he was very rude and demanding. "How many lionesses do you lay with in a day?" he asked boldly. "Don't give me that crap about wrestling being good exercise! I'm not some dumb kid! Lunga says that one day, I'll have to do that a lot--like, a lot of times--and Father doesn't care, so...neither do I." He shrugged. "Find somewhere else to steal lionesses! The queen already has a king, for now, and the pride girls are off-limits. And you can't touch me either."
With that snobbish remark, he stuck out his tongue at you and sauntered off lazily, not caring that you could easily knock him over with a paw and he'd squeal and start bawling at the unexpected show of strength. Then again...this little shit isn't worth it. Come back when he's an adult and kick his ass!
~Adult dialogue~
The prince barely pays you any attention when you arrive to see him in his personal spot, where the dead tree seems to strike the sky and split the sun in two. The grass here hides him well, as if to give an advantage if he wanted to ambush you. But he doesn't so much as twitch an ear to listen for you. No, he's busy on patrol, not bothering to approach and speak. You can see how alert he is, the glint in his vile eyes as he stalks the perimeter before making his rounds. It seems that he's busy preparing for his eventual rise to the throne, and that means not taking the time to chat with visitors.
He doesn't seem either friendly or rude right now, but you'll see some true colors when he ascends and takes his father's place. That's assuming someone better isn't born before that time, however, which is a constant thought that leaves him paranoid...
~Coronation dialogue~
The day the prince took his place as king was the coldest ever known in the history of the territory. It was as if Tanzania was dropped into an icy nightmare, with snow and frost forming where it never had before. Some suspected Lunga had a part to play in it, where her fires of Hell had overturned and frozen over instead, escaping the pit where she could be found to infect the kingdom. Despite the extreme change in temperature, the newly ascended king wasn't bothered. He had "hunting" to do.
His first act as king and dominant male was not to banish his nonmutated family members, but to spread the word that only mutants would survive if they crossed into his kingdom. He longed to spread fear and terror in the hearts of his enemies while seeking respect and admiration from his own family. He quickly took his queen and almost frantically began the plans and preparations for an heir, for Kuongezeka had ascended at a later age. Time was of the essence. If he didn't have his Smilus son before all was said and done, he would have no choice but to remain the monarch, the first ever in the entire history of Isikulu's bloodline.
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King Isiphepho's first son and unexpected heir, "Kuongezeka" is the Swahili word for surge or increase, earned by his father's extreme luck in having a Felis cub within the first two litters in the pride. Automatically the heir and given two additional markings to complete his coat, Kuongezeka had all the makings of a leader within months of being born. He was easily the strongest, fastest and most determined cub in the pride, rarely failing his training and forever looking up to his father with pride and devotion. In his mind, Isiphepho was the strongest sabretooth in the world, so he felt entitled growing up. Within a year's time, he was making trips to Jugram's and Levi's prides, only to bully the cubs there because he felt that was "only natural" for someone as outrageously strong as he was.
Things seemed to go from bad to worse in a hurry. When asked why his mother, a vile-eyed common lioness, had been chased away instead of being allowed to stay, his father had responded with distaste, telling him, "Your mother was a bitch who acted like you were the answer to all her problems. She's gone for your own protection. I won't have anyone lay a paw on you." While this might have seemed like strict, overprotective parenting, Kuongezeka genuinely felt lost without his mother; he couldn't explain why he was so brutal, except that it had been natural when it came to her.
By the time he was grown, the prince was a constant menace that the territory didn't miss when he went out on patrol. He stole away into other king's territories, not even to attack them or steal their lionesses but to abduct their cubs, run into other kingdoms, and deposit them there, completely unharmed. This, in turn, would lead to conflict because some of those cubs were killed. Before his father even understood what was happening, there were full-scale wars breaking out between prides, and his son acted coy and innocent before starting the same schemes all over again.
When Kuongezeka was king, he immediately moved the entire family from their familiar territory of Tanzania far to South Africa in Lesotho, where they occupied the cold highlands dusted in snow. It was as if all the trickery and curses employed by Lunga had backfired in the worst way possible; Kuongezeka also strictly banned anyone from leaving the territory for any reason, carefully monitoring the communication between Malachi's pride and his own. Because he wasn't as large as his father, most of his "conversations" with the pink-colored sabretooth were laughable. It was obvious that the bully in the younger cub he used to be never fully died, and so this arrogant attitude carried over into his adulthood. If he wasn't harassing other lions and primals, he was obsessing over his "masterpiece" of an heir--the elusive Smilus son.
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