Concept Scene (consider It Semi Canon For Now) For My AU, My Idea For This Thingy Is That It Will Sometimes

Concept scene (consider it semi canon for now) for my AU, my idea for this thingy is that it will sometimes switch settings from the “modern 1920s” era to the eras of Cornelius and later his son Milo. Mainly because I like the idea of creating parallels between characters and exploring why things are the way they are by the time the “1920s” era starts.

For context, I based Lake’s role very loosely off of Heloise from Escape from planet of the apes and as such she’s become pretty jaded throughout the years and has a strained relationship with Cornelius’s son Milo and his son’s wife Lisala (paying homage to the original Caesar’s wife Lisa)

Again this is mainly concept so it’s a lil messy 😭

“Lisa. Quit your sniffling, get up,” Lake rather bluntly ordered the much younger female, unbothered by the fact that the little queen was practically curled up in the fetal position.

Lake stood at the entrance to the royal couple’s home, even with the indifference she felt towards the two she still couldn’t bring herself to disrespect them by fully entering without permission. For now, she was perfectly content with waiting for the bonobo get up and follow her outside, there was to be a funeral for the late prince after all.

When it looked like the queen wasn’t even going to stir from her spot, Lake briefly considered getting one of Lisala’s few friends to drag her out of her nest before Lisala finally spoke, quietly but loud enough for the older female to make out, “I do not want them to burn him, it will hurt him even more.“

Lake sighed while rubbing her forehead in growing frustration, “He is already dead, Lisa. It does not matter anymore.” The fact that the queen still couldn’t understand sign fluently made this conversation even more aggravating, especially since Lake hated the way her throat ached with each word she forced out.

Finally, Lisala shifted from her spot and Lake was able to notice the dark stains on the fur pelts that made up the nest—likely being dried blood, and it was that exact moment where a foul stench permeated the air around them.

She couldn’t hide her gag and had to slap a hand over her muzzle to avoid vomiting; was that ape insane?! The bonobo would be lucky if her fur didn’t reek of death once they finally managed to pry the tiny corpse from her arms. “Sorry. Got used to it,” Lisala murmured while gently rocking her son in her arms, seemingly unfazed by the smell of rot around her.

Lake hiccuped as she felt bile hit her throat and immediately had to step out to swallow it with a grimace, she hadn’t signed up for this. Milo had simply ordered her to retrieve his wife and child for the funeral pyre; that was it.

After spending a few minutes outside to clear her head and nose from the smell, she knew she had no choice but to drag the queen outside if she had any hopes of finally getting the prince away from her. Lake had been told earlier that day by one of the elder females that in the old days, it wasn’t uncommon for mothers to carry around their dead infants as a coping mechanism.

She could sympathize with that concept but that didn’t make it any less unnerving to watch the mourning mother coo at her son like he was still alive. They didn’t follow the traditions from the old days anymore for good reasons most of the time, and this was becoming another reason why.

The healers had explained to her and Bark that there was nothing they could do for the child, he had been long dead when they inevitably found him; in a crumpled heap next to a bloodstained boulder, it had been clear to everyone that the poor thing slipped from the branches above and cracked his skull on the rock. According to the lead healer, Fisher, the prince likely died on impact or passed while he was unconscious.

Instead of having him be cleaned up by the healers in preparation for the funeral pyre, Lisala had snatched him up and darted to her home without even saying a word to anyone there. She wasn’t the only one who was hurt over the prince’s death and that was another thing that frustrated Lake.

Lisala always seemed to carry the belief that she was alone despite being surrounded by apes that waited on her hand and foot without a single complaint, what right did she have to claim that they didn’t care for her?

And it had been nearly a whole week since Lisala holed up in her and her husband’s nest, not coming out once even to eat or drink; Lake suspected Milo had been sneaking her both of them to allow her to wallow in her misery away from everyone.

She wished she had just sucked it up and begged one of the queen’s friends—all bonobos, of course—to drag her out themselves but she didn’t have the patience to deal with their annoying behavior either! So she wasn’t just left with the option of being even more firm about this, even if it came off as being cruel for no good reason.

“Stop crying.”

“Why?” Oh great, here was that annoying habit of Lisala questioning literally anything and everything coming back at the worst time.

It felt like she was talking to a toddler at this point, “You can not show weakness. For your husband’s sake.”

“Why?”

Was she really that dense?!

Lake couldn’t stop herself from snapping, “Stop asking why! You are the king’s wife, that is why!”

“But why?! This,” Lisala practically shoved the still bloodied corpse of the little prince in Lake’s disgusted face, “was my baby too! Why is Milo your only concern, you hate my husband, almost as much as you hate me!” She immediately pulled her son back close to her chest, gently stroking the fatal wound on his head while looking down at him with watery eyes.

Lake stared at the trembling bonobo, and for the first time was really hit with just how young Lisala looked; that was right, she said herself awhile back she was only thirteen. Milo was almost as young as her but didn’t have to go through the anxiety of pregnancy, the indescribable pain of birth, nursing that infant with the knowledge they’d have to be weaned one day, just to be holding their cold corpse not even a year later.

She could remember how ecstatic Lisala was when she first realized she was pregnant, and had pleaded with the midwives to allow her to seek out her original clan so she could give birth with her family. Of course, they had refused to let her go off on her own, it would’ve been too dangerous so she had instead given birth to her first son while surrounded by females she barely knew. According to Milo, she had later sobbed over not being with her mother during such a sacred time in her life.

It was almost like looking at a younger version of herself. The way she had spoke to Lisala was the exact way she would talk to herself when she first discovered she was pregnant with her late love’s child, degrading herself for wanting to breakdown and cry because traumatized little Cornelius was the one who needed comforting, not her. And here she was doing the same thing to a vulnerable little girl with her dead child in her arms.

Lake felt sick to her stomach.

More than anything she wished to have her former mother-in-law’s guidance and kind way of handling situations like this but… she was long dead, and so was her beloved Blue Eyes. Her eyes stung with tears and the only thing she could choke out was, “just please come down before sunset… Lis—Lisala, please.”