[PRIVATE: AustralianChaos & TheWhistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Mufasa smiled, "And now that you know what's causing it you don't have to be so upset. Remember that love is a good thing after all and that there's absolutely nothing negative about it." or at least that was what the king was thinking about how Tanga would see things from now on. He was completely unaware of the fact that it was completely the other way around in Tanga's point of view. Now that he was thinking about it, he wouldn't be too surprised if the same thing would happen with Simba and Nala sometime soon. Sure, they found the idea of being betrothed disgusting, but right now they were still cubs and they were best friends just like Tanga and Marini were.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga nodded again at Mufasa's words. "Thanks for the help, sir. I...I appreciate it, a lot," he said softly. "I...but I think I'll stay here for tonight. Take some time to think things through, okay?" he asked softly, wanting to be alone to think for tonight. Besides, he doubted he would get much sleep tonight, and didn't want to disturb the rest of the pride with his restless tossing and turning.

He just hoped things between him and Marini would settle down soon. She was his closest friend...if they grew distant, Tanga knew his life would turn miserable. He doubted his sanity would last long without Marini there by his side, and was frankly scared of his own emotions betraying him, despite Mufasa's advice.

[TheWhistlerify]

Mufasa nodded, "Of course." he turned to leave but looked around at Tanga one more time before exiting the den, "If you need me, I'll be at the main den." with that he left, hoping that in the morning the two will just go out and play like they did every day. Back in the normal den, he could see that Nala and Simba were back already, and were like usually busy talking to each other about what they played earlier that day. Marini however was still in her corner, it didn't look like she even moved since she got back.

(( Want to skip to the next day or is there something else you want done before that? ))

[AustralianChaos]

((Next day sounds good))

The next morning found Tanga pacing in the grass near the access path up to Pride Rock's main den, wondering what on earth he could say to Marini to explain what was happening to him. It was all just so confused in his mind, he had no idea what to do. Telling her his feelings straight up was out of the question, he was simply far too nervous right now with everything else...he needed time to gather his wits and courage.

But he couldn't lie to her, either...and more to the point, could he swallow his nervousness today and try and get things back to normal? He was worried, but he knew he had to...he couldn't abandon his best friend just because he was nervous, but Tanga knew there would be no hiding his new behaviour. One way or another, the bubbly, bright Tanga Marini was used to would not be making any more big appearances. He just hoped she could live with him being a little more shy and nervous than he used to be around her...he didn't want to think of the alternative.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini, unlike previous days, didn't wake up early in the morning as she usually did. Whenever she woke up Simba and Nala were obviously gone, Tanga was either waiting for her outside of the den or just waking up and most of the adults were still asleep. Now that she looked around, she could see that the den was almost empty. She sighed as she remembered how long it took her to fall asleep last night because of how confused she was about Tanga's odd behavior, that was probably the reason to why she woke up quite late.

Finding Nala and Simba at that time of the day was considered impossible even for Zazu who could fly. For some reason she felt like it might be a better idea if she and Tanga were with them instead of on their own. But it would take her the whole day to find those two, and maybe Tanga had already had his chance to calm down from whatever he went through the other day. Leaving the den and going down pride rock, she found that her friend was there like he was whenever he woke up before she did. "Hey Tanga..." she said, walking over to him, "Um... How are you feeling?"

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga looked up as Marini approached him, managing a warm, genuine smile at her...the evening they had spent apart had been rather horrible, and he was glad to see her again. "Hey, Rini. I...I'm feeling a lot better today. I'm sorry about yesterday, though...I guess I was just...I don't know, I can't really explain it. I feel better today, and I hope I can get back to normal soon enough." He spoke with obvious sincerity, but also nervousness and a touch of fear. He knew getting his behaviour around her back to what it used to be was nigh on impossible now. But he would try.

Shuffling his paws a little, he turned to look out over the plains. "So...how can I make it up to you for yesterday?" he asked, knowing full well that Marini could come up with some exhausting, nasty, or just plain embarrassing ways to earn her forgiveness. But he figured after yesterday, he probably deserved whatever she came up with...and she never had been too nasty about these sorts of things before.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini could tell that Tanga was still a little nervous, but she figured that it was probably because he was feeling a little bad about his behavior yesterday. She was slightly confused about Tanga mentioning something about getting back to normal, and again the feeling that there was something he was not telling her came up. Despite the urge to demand an answer, Marini asked nothing about that nor made it noticeable that she knew he was hiding something from her.

Whenever Tanga wanted to make something up to her, she usually came up with something embarrassing or amusing for Tanga to do. But that was whenever she caught him not playing by the rules or something else that wasn't of too much importance. Now she more wanted to know what was going on rather than have him do something she would find funny. "You could..." asking him what caused him to act the way he did directly was probably not a good idea. "You could... Try to explain what happened?"

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga waited for the inevitable...and was surprise that she wanted an explanation of what happened. For a brief moment, he stared at her, as if expecting something more from her, before staring at his paws. He had no clue how to explain this to her...Mufasa had explained it to him last night, and the longer he thought about it, the more he had realised its truth. He was falling for his best friend, and didn't know how to explain it to the very subject of his newfound affections.

"I...I don't really know how to explain..." he started lamely, fully aware that this would not satisfy her...but terrified of telling her the complete truth. He scrambled desperately for some half-truth to tell her, but each one he came up with was lamer than the last, too easy for Rini to see through. He refused to lie to her, though, and that really only left him with one option. "I just...something was different about me that day, and I didn't know what. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't understand why I was so shy yesterday...why I still am now..." he looked back up at her, silently pleading with her not to pry further, even if his word choice and tone suggested to her that he knew the reasons for his behaviour now.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini, just as Tanga was expecting, was not even close to being satisfied by his answer. This was something new to her, because whenever one of them had something bothering them they both felt as if the other would understand them the best, even when it wasn't about their missing or dead parents. The fact that he was unsure about telling her what was bothering him only showed that it was something serious. It being something serious only made Marini want to know what it was and as a result try to help Tanga, but she could also see how much Tanga was pleading not to tell her. If it was as serious as she thought, then maybe it would be best to not push her friend for answers.

Sighing, she looked back at him and said, "Alright... But you know you can always talk to me if you want to..." she knew he did, but she wanted to remind him that she was always there if he needed her. "Do you want to go out and do something?" she and Tanga always enjoyed playing together, or even just being around each other while not saying a word. While she could not give Tanga advice or comfort him because she didn't know what was bothering him, maybe hanging out would make him feel better and help cheer him up.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga managed to stop himself sighing with relief when Marini dropped the issue, but his relief still made itself apparant in his body language, even as he gave a nod to her reminder that he could talk to her whenever he changed his mind. "I know...and thank you," he said softly as she asked him what he wanted to do. "I...I don't know, really," he answered sheepishly. Clearly he was better than yesterday, but his growing feelings were still making themselves apparant, even if Marini only saw the shy behaviour it was producing.

"How about we do some exploring? We still haven't explored those woods out that way yet?" he offered, pointing out towards the sunrise, where a small forest could be seen, still within sight of Pride Rock, but in the outlying part of the Pridelands. Tanga loved exploring new places, but he had yet to find time to go there. Maybe the curiosity of an adventure into new lands would help keep his mind off his new predicament?