A Change of Plans [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini sighed at what Kali what saying. She wanted to believe it, but as things coninued to develop, it just didn't seem like Sarabi was ever going to come to her senses, and she couldn't help but worry about Tanga's safety. "I hope so." she said, before cutting off some meat for Tanga in case he was just lying about being hungry so that he wouldn't have to see Sarabi. "Can I take this back to him?"

-

Simba sighed, "Is it as bad as it sounds?" he asked, and looked at Nala, but dropped it when he noticed that she really didn't want to speak of it. "Okay... fine." he added after a short silence, deciding to drop this whole subject. It wasn't doing him any good to worry about all of htis

[AustralianChaos]

Kali nodded. "Of course, Marini. I'm done anyway. Shall we all go back and see how he is, then?"

----------

Nala's pained grimace only worsened when Simba asked how bad it was, unintentionally showing him it was almost certainly worse than he feared. But then he agreed to drop it. "Thank you," she said, slightly relieved. "You'll definitely hear about it tomorrow, but I'd rather you sleep well tonight, at least."

she slowly settled down beside Simba, careful to stay away from his injured paw. "What did we do to deserve such a horrible day?" she asked vaguely.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini nodded slightly, the meat still in her mouth. She didn't mind at all, though she already got used to everyone calling her Rini.

Uhuru also agreed, having already finished eating the much smaller amount of food a cub her age could swallow without throwing up and climbing onto her dad's back

-

Simba then became curious about what it was again, but he already said that he would drop the subject, so he didn't say anything else about it. [b"I don't know..."[/b] he said at her vaguel question, again remembering that all of this started because of Scar. "Why did all of this happen?" he asked, using the same tone she used

[AustralianChaos]

Kali smiled, before leading her mate and the two young lionesses back towards their den, having absolutely no idea just how Tanga was coping.

----------

Nala sighed, but did not answer, knowing there was no way she could. Instead, she simply cuddled closer to Simba, again careful to stay away from his paw, before deciding to try one last, morale-boosting remark. "Well, I guess we could look at it from the view that tomorrow is almost certainly going to be much, much better," she said softly.

----------

In Kali and Busara's den, Tanga was coping...barely. He was still shaking uncontrollably, and becoming badly frightened at the slightest sign of movement outside the cave. So when he saw the silhouette of a lioness - Kali - fill the cave mouth, his instinctively released a roar of pure fear, backing right up against the far wall of the den. "No!" he cried, terrified it was Sarabi coming after him again. "Please, I'm staying away...what more do you want?!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini was quiet the entire way back, since it would be pretty pointless to try and talk about all of this. The day had been hard enough for everyone of them without her trying to cheer herself up by trying to talk things out. She however ran ahead of Kali when the mother reached the mouth of the cave and Tanga's cry came out. She dropped the meat by one of the side walls, and saying quietly to Kali, "This sounds like someone evil to you?" she asked sarcastically, again showing that she did not believe Sarabi one bit before running over to Tanga's side, "Tanga, calm down, it's just us." she sad as soothingly as she could at the sight of him backed up and shaking against the wall

--

Simba sighed, he didn't know if Nala believed what she just said, but he did wish that he shared her optimisim at some occasions. "Yeah, I hope so." he said quietly

[AustralianChaos]

At the sound of Marini's voice, Tanga's paranoia faded enough for him to see that the lioness he was frightened was not Sarabi, but Kali. "Oh, thank the Kings," he breathed in relief, although his body still would not stop shaking, as he hung his head. "Sorry, Kali...I thought you were..."

----------

Kali smiled at Tanga, even though he couldn't see it. "It's okay, Tanga, I understand...there was a big argument over you at dinner. None of us believe Sarabi, and Uhuru has helped explain everything...you can stay here, along with Marini, for as long as you need."

----------

Nala smiled, nuzzling Simba gently, before resting her head on her paws. "Goodnight, Simba," she said sleepily as she closed her eyes, the long day finally catching up with her.

[TheWhistlerify]

Busara picked up the meat Marini brought back for Tanga, "Here, you can have this." he said, placing the meat next to Tanga and Marini so that he could take it if he wanted to.

--

Simba sighed, hoping that tomorrow will really turn out to be better. "Goodnight Nala." he whispered back, before placing his head back down o the floor since he couldn't use his paws for that

[AustralianChaos]

"Thank you," Tanga replied as Kali explained everything to him. When Busara placed the meat in front of him, he hesitated before thanking his father and settling down against the back wall of the den, tearing into the piece of meat with little enthusiasm. He was not really that hungry...his confrotnation with Sarabi having driven away any appetite he may have had, but he decided to at least be polite, since they had taken the effort of bringing the meal here.

As he ate, he noticed Uhuru in her usual spot on her father's back. A genuine smile formed on his muzzle, even if it was weak, as he managed to unconsciously distract himself a little. "Do you have your own little den hiding in dad's mane, sis? I certain see you up there often enough for it," he said jokingly.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini grinned slightly at Tanga's words, also realising that Uhuru was hiding in Busara's mane quite often. She again though of her dad, who she'd never met before, and probably never would. But she wasn't bothered by that anymore, she had everything she needed right now and her life was moving on well without him.

--

Uhuru nodded at Tanga, not quite aware that it was probably too dark for him to notice it, "Yeah, it's really cozy up here." she said, purring on her father's head

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga grinned at Uhuru's response, happy to hear her purring. As he turned back to his meal, his mind returned to his incident with Sarabi, although he did his best to put on a brave face. He would occasionally look nervously at the mouth of the den, though, and shuffled slightly away from his family, slightly nervous in the presence of the two adults as his shaking returned, although it was a good bit milder now.

Part of him wanted to tell Marini that she was free to leave him if she wanted, and head back to her favourite nook in the tunnel system, but realised it was pointless. pretty much ever since they had started going out she had slept by his side, and Tanga doubted that was going to change...besides, her presence was comforting and soothing...and he needed some comfort and stability more than anything right now.

----------

Kali picked up on Tanga's nervousness, and as her son shuffled away from her and Busara, she quickly figured out that, after today's incident, he was going to have trouble staying calm in the presence of adults for a few days yet...especially lionesses like herself. Turning to her mate, she gestured to Tanga, before speaking softly. "Come on, let's give him some space," she said, before moving closer to the mouth of the den, finding a comfortable spot and settling down, keeping an eye on her son, hoping he would be okay.

She was worried, although she did not show just how badly. She knew that Tanga had been through a rather traumatic event, being so thoroughly betrayed by someone he looked up to, and knew that such trauma could leave a lasting...sometimes permanent...impression on the victim. She just hoped Tanga could bounce back and recover from this...he had shown some surprising recovery skills in the past, and hoped this would be the same.