Burying the Past [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini wasn't relieved, realising that the huge wave of questions would probably arrive later. "He was here, and then he went back to your den." She said simply, stretching a little and laying back down. She couldn't help but wonder where was Kijamii standing in the whole story, but figured that she probably had an easier time moving on comparing to her sibling. But at least she had managed to knock some sense into Tanga, hopefully he left it all behind for good.

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When Tanga came to a stop, Lina was still laughing, despite the fact that the adolescnt had stopped running. She never had fun like this before, since it was her first ride ever, and she eally enjoyed it. "Yeah, that was so awesome!" she yelled, before calming down at long last and again cuddling herself up in Tanga's mane.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii was about to ask Marini something further...since she was being far too mysterious, when she suddenly caught faint voices...one of which she recognised, although she almost fell over when she heard the happy, carefree mirth in it. "Tanga?" she whispered, mostly to herself, before wandering after the voices, unable to believe that some of his old personality was showing itself again.

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Tanga was still chuckling as Lina cuddled in his mane, and as he lay there in the grass, he could not help but smile at the cub's carefree attitude. Despite his problems, she had taken to him so well...and Tanga had always wanted a friend or two. "Friends, Lina?" he asked, trying to look at her, but unable to with her position in his half-grown mane.

[TheWhistlerify]

Dakari also caught the faint voices, and recognised Lina's voice along with a one he never heard before. But when he saw Kijamii walk in the direction in which the den was, he figured that the other voice was probably Tanga's. The wierd part of all of that was the fact that Tanga appeared to be rather happy, unlike how Dakari had expected him to be, which left him really confused.

He wanted to follow Kijamii and meet Tanga like he promised he would have done, but his curiousity kept him where he was as he looked down on Marini, who was still laying down in the grass. She obviously had something to do with this. "What exactly happened here?" he asked, and Marini answered rather quickly.

"We talked and he's fine now." she said, looking up at him only to see an even more confused expression. "Shouldn't you be coming with her?" Dakari seemed like he was about to ask something else, but he actually turned around and followed Kijamii.

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Lina was still laughing,untill she finally took control of her giggles, and lay still on the adolescent's head. She, like most cubs, was always looking forward to making new friends. "Sure!" she said with excitement, but she was still slightly tired from all the laughing.

[AustralianChaos]

After a short time, Kijamii came across her younger brother lying in the grass, an ecstatic grin spread across his face, looking happier than Kijamii had seen him in weeks. The sudden shift in his mood caused her to freeze, as she barely noticed Lina cuddled in his mane. "Tanga?" he asked softly, scarcely able to believe that this was the same lion in front of her from this morning, he seemed to have completely changed.

Tanga looked up at her upon her hearing her voice, and his grin slowly faded away as he remember what he had said to her when he had last seen. "Kijamii..." he replied with the same soft tone she had used. His first instinct was to run up and hug her fiercely, but he remembered Lina on his back. Slowly getting up so he would not jostle her too much, he padded over so he was standing in front of his sister, a guilty expression on his face, although Kijamii could tell his sorrow and grief seemed to have vanished.

But before she could say anything, Tanga slowly moved forward and wrapped a forepaw around her shoulder, hugging her as tightly as he could with Lina on his back. "Kijamii, I...I'm sorry for what I said before. I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I know you were just trying to help."

After standing there, completely stunned by Tanga's actions, Kijamii softly hugged him back. "It's okay..." she said gently, letting Tanga know she did not hold his actions against him. She was just about to ask him whether his new mood, and his apology, had anything to do with any sort of acceptance of their parents' deaths, when she noticed the golden-furred cub on his back. "Oh, why hello there," she greeted, smiling at the cub. "And who might you be?"

[TheWhistlerify]

When Dakari began to follow Kijamii, she was already out of sight. But he knew according to yesterday's events that Kijamii was heading toward the private den on the other side of the field. When he got there, a slight smile climbed to his muzzle when he saw that Tanga appeared to be fine. His grin widened when he saw Lina on the adolescent's back and realised that she managed to be-friend with this one rather fast.

Lina suddenly felt Tanga get up, and when she looked up she saw Kijamii, and had no idea when she was when Tanga pulled her into an embrace all of a sudden. She still knew nothing about who the lioness was and what happened to the two, and so found their dialog rather confusing. When the lioness addressed her with a smile, Lina smiled back. "I'm Lina!" she giggled, standing up on Tanga's head before noticng Dakari standing behind Kijamii. "Dakari!" she yelled, jumping from Tanga's head onto Kijamii, running down to her back and hopping on to Dakari's head.

Dakari couldn't help but laugh when Lina jumped onto his head, but nearly slipped. He caught her in his paw, and brought her back to his head. "Hey there!" he said, rubbing the little cub's body with his large paw before letting her move around freely on his head.

Lina giggled untill Dakari let go of her, before standing up and suddenly remembering the lioness that talked to her a moment ago. "Who are you?" she asked, looking down at Dakari, "Is she your girlfriend?" she asked, giggling and lying down in the golden furred adult's black mane.

Dakari blushed, and was quick to deny Lina, "What? No." he said, before looking at Kijamii withj an apologetic look, "I'm really sorry... she can be a little... over-energetic sometimes..." he really liked Kijamii so far, but he didn't want things to happen so fast.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii could not help but giggle as Lina jumped off Tanga onto her, before running along her back and jumping onto Dakari's head. This cub...Lina, she had said her name was, was really cute. "Hi, Lina...I'm Kijamii," she replied, before her giggles turned into full-blown laughter as Lina asked if she was Dakari's girlfriend.

Her laughter only increased as Dakari hurriedly denied the rumour, blushing furiously, obviously embarrassed that Lina had evens suggested such a thing...even if Kijamii was not adverse to the idea. Dakari was nice, and if things kept going they way they had so far...who knows? But as she brought her laughter under control, she turned to Lina. "No, Lina...I'm not his girlfriend." She then turned to Dakari. "It's fine Dakari...we both know I can be over-energetic as well." She then turned back to Lina...maybe a touch of revenge was in order, especially if it thoroughly embarassed Tanga in the process. "You're cute...I can see why my little brother likes you...although you're probably still too young to be Tanga's girlfriend, yet."

As expected, her comment got a yell of protest from Tanga, causing her to fall into another giggling fit. "Oi!" The gold-furred lion cried. "Come on, Jamii...I make my first friends ever, and you just have to tease me about them being lionesses!"

Unfortunately, Tanga's mild slip of the tongue did not go unnoticed by his sister. "Friends? Lionesses?" she repeated, full of amused curiosity. "Am I to take it you've met two girls around here? Although, I did see Marini just before, and she did say she had met you..." she trailed off expectantly, looking between Tanga and Lina, waiting for one or the other to explain things.

[TheWhistlerify]

Dakari couldn't help but giggle as he listened to the talk between the two siblings. They might not look alike much, but once you saw the two interract there was no doubt that they were somehow related. He was glad for both of them that Tanga was okay now, for he knew how harsh things might have been for the two in the past two weeks.

Lina also laughed, not taking what Kijamii said about her being too young for Tanga seriously at all. But when the lioness asked about Marini, Lina couldn't help but grin, remembering Tanga's behaviour around Marini a few minutes ago. "She's not too young..." Lina said and trailed off, looking at Tanga and waiting for him to somehow become embarrased

[AustralianChaos]

Lina got her wish almost instantly, as Tanga's muzzle grew bright red at Lina's words, blushing furiously, which caused Kijamii to start laughing again. "Oh, Tanga, you are so adorable sometimes!" she said, earning herself a glare from her younger brother. "You're barely out of the den five minutes and you've already found a crush!"

Tanga, for his part, simply gave her a pout, his blush only increasing. "Come on, guys, please..." he begged, although Kijamii took his lack of protest as an admission.

"Ha! See! You won't even deny it, Tanga! Ohh, you must really like her! Have you asked her out yet?" Kijamii's playful, teasing nature was coming out in full force now, and Tanga was the target.

Tanga, for his part, was about to made some pathetic come back when he noticed how she was sitting close to Dakari, and gained a smirk of his own. Having to live with Kijamii his whole life, he had learned that often the best way to get her back was to hit her with her own medicine. "Alright, if you wanna play that way, then what about you and Dakari?" he demanded, his smirk widened as Kijamii's eyes widened. She obviously had not expected him to pull that one on her. "Look at you two, since you came back, you never moved more than a paw's reach from each other...something you want to tell us, sis?" he asked innocently, although his grin gave away his glee at getting his sister back so thoroughly.

The roles had now reversed, and Kijamii was the one going bright red as she fought to salvage the situation. "I met Dakari out in the plains today, and we've gotten along really well so far, that's all there is to it," she said, deliberately being vague.

Tanga nodded. "Well, I've only just met Marini, really, and we've had a small talk, so that's all there is to that too," he said firmly, his eyes giving his sister a chance to call the teasing off here, while she still had her dignity mostly intact.

Kijamii finally sighed. "Alright, Tanga, I'll call a truce...for now," she said in a mock long-sufferring tone, shaking his paw, essentially agreeing that she would not tease him about Marini for the rest of the day, provided he returned the favour.

Tanga nodded, accepting the truce, before turning to Dakari. "Now that that's over with...hi, Dakari. I'm sure Kijamii's just about told you my life story, but in any case, I'm Tanga."

[TheWhistlerify]

Dakari now thought that even though these two looked nothing alike, if you haven't figured that they're related in less than 5 seconds, then you must be an idiot. He couldn't help but feel Lina moving aroundon his head and laughing hysterically as the arguement between the two siblings continued. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" he asked with a smirk, looking around at Lina who was now somehow on his back instead of his head.

Her answer was a perfect match to what he had expected. a "Yes!" followed by another laughing fit as the cub continued moving around on top of him. Lina, despite how annoying she could be, was probably the most adoreable and cute cub he ever met. He was never able to get mad at her, he couldn't remember even talking to her in a tone which was even a little serious.

At some point, which seemed like a really long time, Tanga and Kijamii called it a truce. Though it seemed like the two were far from done with their teasing of each other. Lina was still running around from his head to back when Tanga addressed him. "Hey Tanga." he said, putting on a friendly smile at the adolescent, which slightly vanished as he felt Lina slip and nearly fall of his head. However, he caught her and brought her back up before she hit the ground.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga gasped and made to jump forward as he saw Lina begin to slip from Dakari's head, but stopped, relieved when the lion caught her easily...almost like it happened all the time. Smiling up at the cub, Tanga turned back to Dakari, though. "I've heard a little bit about you from Lina, and what she says seems to suggest you're pretty cool...but where've you been with my sister?" he asked.

Despite the potential for teasing the question offered, Tanga made no suggestive tone with it...he truly meant it as an innocent, curious question. Remembering how the conversation had shifted to Marini multiple times, Tanga realised that she was not with them. "Where's Marini?" he asked. "Is she okay?" He never noticed the small smirk that Kijamii sported at his question, even if she upheld her truce and refused to tease him about it, she could tell that Tanga already cared for Marini, and he didn't have a crush on the adolescent lioness...he would soon.