[PRIVATE] A Rogue's Light

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga almost lost his tune as Imani joined in with his song...but managed to regain his composure and continue, pouring his heart and soul into a song he loved...and one he knew his mother would have loved, too. The words held meaning for Tanga...Kali and Busara were gone from his life, but he was still here, still alive...still going strong. And with Imani, he had a new start to his life awaiting him...a new future.

He blushed as Imani complimented him on his abilities when the song finally drew to a close. "So do you," he replied. "But how do you know that song? It was one of my mother's favourites, she used to sing it to me all the time. I've never heard of any other lion singing, let alone knowing the same songs I do."

He looked back at his family's remains one last time...before looking to the sky, and smiling, feeling a sense of peace and contentment inside him that was not his own. He sighed, although unlike his usual, heavy sighs, this one was happy, and free. "They still watch, i can feel it," he whispered. "But they're at peace now...ready to wait for me...however long it takes."

He hopped down fron the rock, taking a few steps back towards Mufalfa's den. "Come on...the others are probably wondering where we went." He said, before a sudden thought occurred to him. "Uh, Imani...I just realised. What...what do we tell the others, about...well, us?" He gestured at the two of them, wondering what exactly they should do. Remembering what Ra had said to him when he had promised her that he would watch over Imani, he knew that the sister would most likely approve...but what about Auni and Mufalfa? How would they react when they found about what had happened between the two of them?

[VitanisMate]

Mufalfa awoke still not sure if he was ready to meet Imani again but he was good enough for the moment at least. He came toward Ra laying down over by a tree and said, "Ra are you feeling alright? I am...ready to see the rest of them." He gulped knowing that there was always a calm before the storm. He noticed Tanga, Imani and Auni before him and decided to go to Auni first. "'Spy' I have no will to hurt anyone anymore. I wish to only 'chat' as you said when we first met."

[Nakisisa]

"I... I'm fine" Ra said unsure of what was to come. When Mufalfa spoke, ra was happy. "Ill go and find the other two" as Mufalfa went over to Auni. Sniffing the air, she picked up Imanis scent, and went towards it, shouting "Imani, Imani, are you there?"

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga's head snapped up as he heard a shout coming from nearby...Ra. He flashed a quick look over at Imani, and seeing that she was a little distracted...probably with the question he just fielded to her, he decided to answer Ra's calls before the lioness got too worried. "It's Tanga, Ra!" he called back. "Imani's with me!"

But as he made the call, his nervousness came back to him...what did he tell her? How would she react? He knew there was pretty much no way of hiding his newfound feelings for Imani...the lioness he loved might have some skill in hiding her emotions, from what he had seen, but Tanga knew his face always gave away everything...he could not hide his feelings from anyone.

All he could do was wait for Ra to find them, and pray that she did not react negatively to the emotions spread all over his body.

[Skittakallista]

Auni's eyebrows shot up in suprise that Mufalfa wanted to speak to him first. He seemed a completely different lion know to the ruthless killing machine he had been, that personality seemed long gone. With a bit of help he would be perfectly amiable and, he thought, looking over at Ra, a great father.

"My name is Auni, Mufalfa." He replied, laughing. "And I'm really not stealthy enough to be a spy. I'm very clumsy, really. What would you like to tell me?"

[VitanisMate]

Mufalfa looked at Auni and not knowing the proper socialization skills of what things are appropriate to say he said, "I uh see you like Imani over there. I have known uh since I first saw you eye her. Are you going to...uh tell her how you feel." He then looked back at him finally using his name. "Auni did you ever think about killing me? I mean did you want to kill me?" He did not realize such topics of conversation might be uncomfortable to the other lion. "I uh...remember all the horrible things I have done."

[oXButterflyKissesXo]

Imani looked behind her and saw the older mirror image of herself coming towards her and Tanga. Her eyes looked to Tanga who was starting to tense up once more at the sight of her sister, but she had no idea why. "Tanga, are you alright? What's wrong?" She asked the male beside her. She didn't know if they were mates or not yet, or what was going to happen from this point on, but she was sure there was going to be something that was going to happen between them both some time soon. Or, was he too nervous to let anything be known?

"Yes, Ra?" She replied to her sister's calls, waiting for her to stop running and come over to them. What did she have to say?

[Nakisisa]

Hearing Imani, Ra felt at peace, but why had Tanga answered first? Later, she told herself. "Imani!" Ra shouted running and pouncing her sister playfully, licking her cheek. Still on top of Imani ra spoke softly, "Imani, Mufalfas awake, and he's speaking with Auni, but he wants to see you, all." she said raising her voice to allow Tanga to hear. "Would you let him speak to you..." looking into her eyes, and seeing how her and Tanga were standing, she knew she had interupted a 'moment'. Yet she felt she needed to annoy her sister, and her mate, so she started scheeming, and realising she hasent finished her sentence she continued "...and you're mate. More importantly would you hurt him?" she asked, knowing she would defend her cubs father if she had to.

[oXButterflyKissesXo]

She laughed as she was bowled over by her older sister, and started to wrestle with her until she heard Ra had something else to say. At this point, Imani was on top of her, but she was making sure to be careful of Ra's stomach because of fear that she would harm the cubs. Ra spoke about Mulfalfa being awake and she sighed out, "joy" she sarcastically responded. Getting off her sister, she walked back over to Tanga's side, as he was still stunned and she giggled a little.

"Mate".
It didn't seem too bad to Imani to hear Tanga was that. Though she knew her sister was only teasing her, she acted like it was just normal to hear Tanga was her mate and thought of her response to her sister's question. She saw the protective look in Ra's eyes. Imani, herself, had no plans on harming Mulfalfa...just yet, if it came down to the last straw she had to take with that two-faced lion.

Her other side came into play and her eyes showed it, "as long as he doesn't annoy me". Almost with an eye blink, she returned back to 'normal'. "Nah, he seems like a good guy, I guess...". With that, she turned her body and walked on towards where Auni and Mulfalfa were apparently conversing. Already knowing that Ra would follow, she looked over to Tanga and smiled, "come on then, mate" she joked with a giggle before bouncing off, knowing she was being cheeky, and headed forward.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga simply watched with amused interest as Ra and Imani played, wrestling and laughing with each other, a smile creeping onto his face. He saw how Imani was being careful around his sister's stomach, and remembered several mentions of cubs being inside Ra. Cubs... the thought had a certain interest to Tanga. In his brief stint with that pride not too far from here, the cubs had been the only members of the pride to really accept him, and as such, he believed he would do well around Ra's cubs, by extension.

Then Ra went and said the word 'mate' in context of him and Imani, and his brain snapped back to reality hard and fast. Wasn't Ra looking too far into things? Or did they really look like that? He looked at the ground nervously shifting slightly as he listened to the rest of what Ra and Imani had to say.

"Yeah...yeah, I'll go speak with him, I guess," he finally managed to stammer out, following Imani back towards where Mufalfa and Auni were currently talking. But his mind was on the whole concept of being Imani's mate. He could tell Imani referencing him as her mate was a light-hearted joke, and part of a game of sorts she was playing with Ra, but the idea was now bouncing around his head, unwilling to leave him alone. The only reason he did not bring it up was because, to him, at least, it felt like it was too soon.

He had just started 'going out' with Imani, for want of a better term, and he was not sure how to proceed. Havign spend his whole life in the company of no-one but himself and his parents, the idea of finding a mate had crossed his mind very little. But as he walked with Ra and Imani, he suddenly realised that the idea of Imani as his mate seemed...right.

Looking for a way to distract himself from his confused thoughts, Tanga decided to catch up with Ra, who he had not talked so since...well, basically since he had made his promise. "And how are you doing, Ra?" he asked politely, still a little unsure of how to behave around the sister of the lioness he had completely fallen for.