Chapter 4: A Breakfast Gathering
As Simba enters the lobby, he notices a meerkat with red hair and a red warthog in summer casual attire cracking jokes to each other while lounging in one of the sofas. As they are chatting with each other... "Good morning Timon and Pumbaa," Simba greeted the duo. "I hope you?re not up to some mischief behind my father?s back." "No way Simba," Timon chuckles "We?re just killing some time before we head out to the beach." "That?s good Timon," said Simba "but I?m going to show two canines around the city after we get some breakfast." Simba takes a seat next to Timon and whispers to his ear "I tell you what kind they are if you don?t cause a big scene. The last thing I need from you is unwanted drama." "Okay, what kind of hounds are they?" Timon asked his friend "They?re not hounds," Simba responded "but they?re not going to eat you and Pumbaa either. One?s a grey wolf and the other is a Labrador whose friends with Louis in the penthouse." "Wait," Pumbaa joins in the quiet conversation Simba and Timon are having "You don?t mean the same Louis that scared Zazu earlier is..." "Simba, Simba, Simba," a voice is heard that caused the trio to stop whispering to each other and Timon and Pumbaa to show a shocked expression. "I expected you to be above spreading gossip about your father?s affairs."
Louis, clad in a white short-sleeved dress shirt with a pair of green slacks and black leather shoes began walking towards Simba, Timon and Pumbaa. "But I do admire the care you have towards someone in your service like Zazu." "Don?t worry about it," Simba replied to Louis?s comment "we were just waiting for Legoshi." The moment Simba said his name Legoshi and Jack walks into the lobby dressed up and ready to take a walk around town. "Hey Louis," Legoshi greeted his Drama Club superior. "I didn?t know you were also having a vacation here in Pride City." "Well now?s a great time for me to see you Legoshi," Louis responded "I was about to head out to get breakfast, but now that we got a chance to meet I want to give you a warning. The same rules we must abide by in Cherryton Academy apply in this situation as well. One of those rules include that you two stay away from the local Black Market." "No wonder you would warn your friends," Simba said "my uncle Scar runs the Black Market here and the top three Hyenas on his payroll are meat addicts." "You mean Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, right?" the deer questioned the lion. "Yeah, Nala, Zazu and I had a run-in with them when I was a young cub." "What are you sitting around for Simba?" the voice of a lioness calls for Simba, ``we?re going to miss today?s special.'' "Oh, c?mon guys," Simba calls for his friends "we?re going to miss out on today?s special." "And what is today?s special?" Legoshi asked his new lion friend as the group bolt outside of the hotel to follow the lioness with Louis walking behind them. "It's a rather fruity dish that will perk you up for the day even if you had Jet Lag coming here." Pumbaa explained to his new wolf friend as the lioness enters the restaurant a kilometer down the street from the hotel.
"Morning, brought some new friends over this time of the morning Nala?" an alligator chef greets Nala as Legoshi and the others (with the exception of Louis) enter the establishment "Yeah," she responded "we would like a table enough to seat a party of seven please." "You can put anything Legoshi and Jack order on me." Simba told the antelope waiter. "Very well," the waiter acknowledges Simba?s request "right this way everyone." The group of six follows the waiter to a round table that is meant to seat eight people "I don?t think everyone here?s ready to order yet," "Nala tells the waiter. "Can you give us a few more minutes?" "Of course, Ma?am," the waiter bows after the party sits down at the table. "Please take a look at our menu in the meantime." The waiter walks away from the table. "You guys haven?t told me what?s in this special this restaurant has yet." Legoshi reminds the lions and their friends. "Oh," Pumbaa remembered "I guess we forgot to mention what?s even in this special when we were running the whole way over here." "Okay," Timon began to explain the restaurant?s breakfast special "The special this acclaimed establishment offers varies between herbivore and carnivore customers. Since you and your bestie Jack are carnivores, the special for you includes a fruit salad that contains watermelon, strawberries, mango, pomelo and bananas; scrambled eggs sandwiched between two pieces of toast and bean sausage links on the side. Herbs like Louis on the other hand, will enjoy toasted tofu, and a smoothie bowl with watermelon, strawberries and bananas, blended together and topped off with apple slices, mint leaves and cucumbers."
"That doesn?t sound like something Louis would be interested in," Legoshi mentioned to Timon. "He?d just ask for the cucumbers to be replaced with celery." While Timon and Legoshi was talking about the breakfast special, Louis arrives and takes his seat on an empty chair across from Legoshi. "We?re not here to talk business," Louis reminded the group "But I am grateful for you refraining from making orders until I arrived. You might have a bright future in the business world if you keep up this pace Legoshi." "I just wanted to wait until everyone was here," said Legoshi "that?s all." "By the way Louis," Simba mentioned to Louis "I heard you gave Zazu a pretty rough time earlier this morning." "It was just to rush your father to meet with me," Louis explained to Simba "Nothing more." "Well that rush of yours almost tore a feather off of one of my wings." Zazu scolded Louis as he takes the last empty seat of the table. "Zazu..." Simba called out his caretaker. "As for you Simba," Zazu turns his attention to his master?s son "What on Earth are you thinking befriending two strange mutts who--" Simba closes Zazu?s beak with his hand before he could say another word "These two canines are Louis?s classmates," Simba sternly whispers to his caretaker while staring directly at his eyes, "so you may want to show them the same respect as you showed to Louis earlier instead of trying to cause a panic." Simba releases Zazu?s beak "Excuse my caretaker guys," he says to both Jack and Legoshi who were shocked at the hornbill?s reference towards them as mutts. "I think it?s time we made our orders," Zazu suggests to everyone seated at their table "don?t you think so?"
"Yeah." (Jack)
"I?m almost starving." (Legoshi)
"Let?s not waste any more time then." (Simba)
"The special?s waiting for us." (Timon)
"I?m so hungry I can eat both specials." (Pumbaa)
"That would be for the best," Louis commented after everyone made the unanimous agreement as the waiter returns to their table "I wouldn?t want the carelessness of his caretaker to tarnish Mufasa?s reputation." "Is everyone ready to order?" the waiter asks Nala. "Of course," she responded causing him to open his ticket book and remove the cap on his pen. "Can we have five carnivore specials, four herbivore specials and eight glasses of water?" "Of course, ma?am," the waiter acknowledges the order Nala made as he writes it down in his ticket book "is there anything else?" "Could you replace the cucumbers in one of the herbivore specials with celery?" Nala asks the waiter "Certainly," he replied to the lioness?s request "I?ll have your order ready in just a few minutes. In the meantime, I?ll get your water ready." The waiter leaves the table to deliver the ticket to the chef and prepare the drinks for Legoshi?s party. While they?re waiting for their meal, Legoshi begins to mingle with his fellow students and his new friends as the waiter delivers eight glasses containing ice-cold water to their table.
``You're going to be the lead actor for your school's enactment of `Adler'?'' Nala asked Louis as the deer takes a sip out of his glass of water. ``Yes,'' Louis answered Nala's question ``It's only fitting that the Actor's Team Lead plays the role of the grim reaper himself. Failure on stage when it comes to dramatic performances is the equivalent of death.'' ``Sounds like you really are determined to perform at your peak,'' Simba commented on Louis's beliefs when it comes to the drama club. ``Unlike a specific duo I know.'' ``Hey,'' Timon scolded the lion when he and Pumbaa were compared to Louis as the waiter was delivering two trays to their table. ``Here's your carnivore special breakfast order,'' the waiter told the group as he places the tray with the carnivore specials on the table before Nala, Simba, Legoshi, Jack, and Pumbaa take a plate from the tray ``Here's your special with celery Louis.'' The waiter told the deer as he places a plate decorated with celery stalks instead of cucumber slices ``Thank you,'' Louis expresses his gratitude to the waiter. ``And here's your herbivore specials for this morning,'' the waiter told Timon, Pumbaa and Zazu as he places the herbivore special plates on their areas of the table. ``May we have a round of orange juice?'' Louis asked the waiter. ``Of course sir,'' the waiter acknowledges Louis's order as he gathers the empty trays and leaves their table. After the waiter leaves, Legoshi takes a knife and cuts a small piece off one of the links before he takes a bite using a fork.
``This sausage doesn't feel nor taste like the bean proteins I ate at Cherryton Academy,'' Legoshi thought to himself as he examines his sausage links, ``It looks and tastes a lot like real meat, yet at the same time, it's not meat at all. I don't even feel guilty about chewing it nor am I getting meat drunk by eating it.'' ``You okay Legoshi?'' Simba asked the confused wolf ``I-I'm okay,'' Legoshi nervously told the concerned lion ``I feel great now actually.'' Legoshi then tries the fruit salad after he takes the first bite out of the egg toast sandwich. ``This tastes like somebody was lying about the `bean sausage','' Jack suspected Timon of being dishonest when he described the food the carnivores and Pumbaa where eating after he took a bite out of one of his links. ``But I feel like I've gone to canine heaven after the first bite.''
``Even though you and Legoshi are enjoying your first meal in Pride City,'' Louis complements the pleasure Jack and Legoshi are feeling while they eat their breakfast specials. ``The dishonesty your meerkat friend displayed when he described the specials sounds highly suspicious.'' Louis also turns his attention towards Simba before he takes a bite out of the first piece of celery after he takes a scoop of the smoothie with the stalk. ``Hey!'' Timon yelled at Louis when he and Jack suspected him of lying. ``Timon,'' Simba called on the offended meerkat. ``You still lied them about the sausage links.'' ``As if I were to let you or any of these kids get near any Black-Market meat.'' Timon retorted before he resumed his meal. ``If your intentions were to keep the carnivores of my club from committing a crime,'' Louis told the annoyed Timon, ``then is dishonesty inherent in meerkats?''
``Your orange juice sir,'' the waiter returns to their table to place the glasses of orange juice Louis ordered for the group. ``Thank you,'' Louis told the waiter ``And could you get me a to go box?'' ``Right away sir,'' the waiter bows as he walks towards a stack of opened to-go containers and picks up a green one signifying an herbivore meal. ``Legoshi,'' Louis calls the grey wolf who is still eating his breakfast. ``You should have Simba give you and Jack a tour of the city since this is your first time traveling abroad.'' ``So where are you headed?'' Legoshi asked Louis as the waiter brings a green to-go box in a plastic bag to their table. ``I have some personal matters that I must attend to.'' Louis told Legoshi as he places his smoothie bowl into the box before wrapping it using the bag. ``You should get to know the locals of this city in the meantime.'' Louis takes the bag and leaves Legoshi and Jack to finish their breakfast along Simba and the other locals.
