Burying the Past [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Dakari was about to protest to the fact that somebody thought of him to be cool, but his mind was taken off that immediatly when Tanga posed his question. Kijamii didn't seem to want Tanga to know about the cave they've both been in, and Dakari also didn't want to tell about the place to anybody. "I just showed her around a little, and we came back after a few minutes." Dakari said, hoping that he didn't look as nervous as he felt, despite the fact that Tanga didn't seem to ask that question in order to tease either him or Kijamii.

When Tanga asked about Marini, Dakari caught sight of Kijamii's smirk. The arguement between Tanga and Kijamii a moment ago was pretty funny, but he himself wasn't the teasing type. "She's still somewhere over there in the grass." Dakari said, gesturing with his head to the directon he and Kijamii had come from. Was she okay? Now Dakari knew for sure that Tanga at least cared for Marini, but he didn't know how Marini would ever react to such a thing.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga nodded at Dakari's assurance that they had just gone for a wander...Kijamii certainly did look like she had done some serious exploring recently. When the lion then said that Marini was still back in the grass, Tanga looked to where Dakari had gestured towards, considering going back to see her. She had been nice to him so far, and he wanted to start to make up for his rather poor behaviour earlier.

Kijamii, still smirking, noticed Tanga's longing looks, and jumped forward, nudging him with her nose, making him take a few stumbling steps into the grass. "Go on, you, go hang out with her for the day...I'll be fine with these two," she said, gesturing to Dakari and Lina, smiling at both of them. Tanga glared at her sister, pausing to check if there had been any sign of teasing in her voice or actions. Deciding that, even if there was, he'd let it go...this time, he gave her one last, half-hearted scowl before turning and heading into the grass, soon smiling once more as he headed back towards where he last saw Marini. "I'll see you later Lina, Dakari!" he called over his shoulder, pausing long enough to throw the cub a happy, friendly smile before turning back to the grass.

As he left, Kijamii's smirk turned into a full-blown grin as she turned back to Dakari. "I'd bet all my portion of the next meal we have that those two will be going out by the end of the week," she said softly, so Tanga wouldn't hear, a note of joy filling her voice. "And as long as Marini likes Tanga as well, I'd be really happy for them. Me and Tanga have only really had each other for company, and even if we came across another friendly rogue, Tanga's never been a really social type...I hope him becoming friends with Marini changes that."

Kijamii then turned to Lina. "So, Lina, what do you think of my brother so far?" she asked the cub, her energy reaching her voice once more...like Tanga, she loved cubs, and could happily play with them for hours on end.

[TheWhistlerify]

When Tanga began to walk into the grass and find Marini, Dakari gave the adolescent one last smile before turning back to Kijamii. When the lioness however started talking about how great it would, he became a little nervous. It wasn't like Marini would shut her jaws on your throat or something, but Dakari never knew whether she would ever be able to trust anyone this far, she never seemed like she would. But then again, untill now she was the only adolescent in the pride, and now that there was another one, who seemed to like her, who knew? Might as well not start worrying himself or Kijamii over nothing.

Lina however, was smiling the whole way, and when Dakari said good-bye, she waved her paw, "Bye Tanga!" she said with a smile, before listening to what Kijamii was saying, which made her smile become even wider. "I'm sure they will! It's pretty obvious." she said, before an idea came to her mind. "We should totally spy on them!" she said, jumping off from Dakari's head only to have her tail grabbed in his paw before she ran anywhere.

"You're not going anywhere young lady." Dakari said with a grin, before pulling her back and grabbing her in his paw. The cub began to struggle, but it was no use.

"Let me go!.." she whined, looking up at Dakari with her big glassy eyes, which didn't really work. "You're worse than my dad."

"You feel like spying? Don't you?" Dakari asked, trying to think of something for the cub to do. At some point, Lina would probably do what she wanted to unless she ofund something better. "Juhudi should be up by now." he said, throwing her one of his mischevous grin. Lina looked at him with a confused look for a moment, before realising what he was talking about. When Dakari saw that Lina understood, he slowly let her go. "Now seriously, don't go spying on Tanga and Marini. Go ask Juhudi if he wants to play to keep yourself busy if you want." Lina loved to play with Juhudi, but you could never tell what would she choose to do.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii could not help herself, and starting laughing hysterically when Lina and Dakari started arguing over going and spying on Tanga. It was so typical of a young cub to spy on two lions who appeared to have a crush on each other...well, it was either that, or becoming completely grossed out by the idea. But even so, Kijamii could not but find Lina's actions incredibly amusing.

She eventually managed to calm herself down long enough to hear Dakari mention a lion called Juhudi. "Sorry about that...but Lina, you reminded me of Tanga when he was your age, always trying to spy on me...never could stay hidden, though, since he never could figure out how to stay quiet." She then looked at the two of them, smiling at the idea of meeting another lion. "And is this Juhudi another friend of yours?" she asked, posing the question to either of them. "Hey, Lina, if you're going to go find him, think I could come along and say hi, too?"

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After a short trek through the grass, Tanga eventually found Marini, almost exactly where he had left her. "Hey, M-uhh,Rini," he greeted hesitantly, remembering the nickname she said could be used only with friends. She had said he could use it, but had avoided doing so...he hoped she was still okay with it.

"Are you alright? I heard you met Kijamii earlier with Dakari...why didn't you come with them?" he asked, gentle curiosity in his voice. He simply wanted to understand why she would pass up an oppourtunity to hang out with his sister, and would accept if she did not answer his question.

[TheWhistlerify]

When Kijamii asked about coming with Lina to see Juhudi, Dakari also decided to do so, so that he could say hello to the little guy after not seeing him since yesterday. "He's another cub." Dakari said, and was about to speak up again when Lina cut him short.

"I always sneak up on him!" she said slyly. Juhudi never minded her playful spirit, nor the fact that she used to sneak up on him and pop out of no-where all the time.

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Marini's ears perked slightly as she heard someone approach, but she figured it would probably Dakari or Kijamii coming to ask her what exactly happened with Tanga. She was slightly surprised when the voice she heard was his, causing her to immediatly stop thinking on what she had been thinking about since Tanga left. "Hey Tanga." she said with a slight smile, pretending as if she was just simply sunbathing the entire time.

When Tanga ask why didn't she come along with Dakari and Kijamii, Marini completly ignored the more odd part of his words when he hasked whether she was alright, since she didn't know how to answer the real question. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to tell Tanga what exactly happened to her, and since that what she has been considering this entire time, she wasn't going to inform him that she was. "I figured Kijamii needed a moment with you... that's all."

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii grinned as Lina boasted about her ability to sneak up on Juhudi. "Well, why don't you show me just how you sneak up on him? Then you can introduce us, since Juhudi sounds almost as cool as you!" She bounced around in her excitement as she waited for wither Dakari or Lina to lead the way...she was still too new to this place to wander off alone just yet...unless she wanted to get lost. As she waited though, she wondered what this Juhudi would be like...Lina's boasting of her sneaking up on him suggested he just just as carefree and playful as Lina, if a little more clueless, but Kijamii was excited to meet another cub, nevertheless.

But it was at that moment that the cub in question...a young boy with pale fur, which often meant he was mistaken for a lioness by those who did not know him, and did not look too closely, was sneaking through the grass, moving completely silently. He had practiced for a good portion of the morning, planning on getting Lina back for all the times she had managed to surprise him, and often pin him, before he was aware of her presence.

He moved almost completely silently, any sound he did end up making too small for anyone but himself to hear. He was briefly distracted when he came up on the group by the sight of two lions he did not know, siblings or best friends, by their behaviour...but managed to bring his focus back as the adolescent brother left, using the noise the black-maned lion made to move quickly into a good position without any risk of being heard. And now, he was right behind Lina, just waiting for the right moment. When the grey-furred lioness made a comment about Lina's stealth abilities, the oppourtunity was too good to pass up...he could get Lina back, and impress this new lioness at the same time by showing that he was even better than Lina!

Smirking, the cub's rusty-red tail twitched once, before he couched down and leapt straight at Lina, paws outstretched. "Gotcha!" he cried as he landed on Lina's back, just as she did to him several times in the past, pinning her down, grinning triumphantly. "Who's the sneaky one now, huh?"

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Tanga nodded at Marini's explanation...it seemed true enough, and he smiled warmly at Marini. "Thanks," he said, appreciating her thoughtfullness in giving them the moment to make amends after the spat they had that morning.

"Listen, uhh..." he started awkwardly, still not used to talking to anyone other than Kijamii. "My sister's probably going to be playing with Dakari and Lina for the rest of the day. Do you...do you mind if I, uhh...stay with you for today?" he asked timidly.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina was about to agree with Kijamii, when Juhudi landed on her back and she suddenly found herself pinned underneath her friend. "That would still be me!" she said, smirking all the way like she usually did during the rare times Juhudi beat her. "What about all the times I beat you? I won alot more wrestles than you did, which means I'm still better!" She knew Juhudi hated when she did it, in the playful way of course, and she waited for an opportunity to somehow get him off her back and then pin him.

------------------

When Tanga asked whether he could stay with her for the day, Marini raised an eyebrow, "You really want to?" she said, with her usual bored tone and expression. She saw his expression, and already guessed the answer. "Sure." she said with a sigh as she got up, and sat infront of Tanga. "So what do oyu have in mind?"

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii just looked on and smiled as Juhudi tried to get Lina to admit he was bested her, the pale-furred male pouting at her declaration that she always beat him, regardless of whether he won this time. "So?" he retorted defiantly. "Admit it, I got you today! I got you good! Really good!" Juhudi's voice was filled with self-pride, which made Kijamii smile. The playful innocence all cubs seemed to literally shine with never failed to melt her heart.

She turned to look at Dakari, whispering at him so they would not disturb the cubs. "Are they always like this?" she asked, her voice showing obvious signs of a restrained giggle as Juhudi shifted his paws on Lina's back, making sure he was not hurting her, but at the same time keeping her down.

----------

Tanga shuffled nervously, a forepaw tracing meangingless shapes in the dirt as Marini asked what he had in mind for what they could do. "I, uhh...I honestly haven't got anything in mind. I just...I've never really known anyone aside from my family before now...I just wanted to...get to know you, I guess," he said awkwardly, unable to meet her eyes, too nervous to really do more than stare at his paws as they continued to trace shapes in the dirt.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina tried to get up, though Juhudi didn't seem like he intended on letting her up any time soon. "Congratulations, you finally beat a girl." she said, laughing. At some point she was going to get free, and when she did she was going to remind Juhudi of all the times she won.

Dakari couldn't help but find the cub's arguement very amusing. "Yes, pretty much the whole time." he said, wishing to himself that he could have been like that when he was a cub. He couldn't help but laugh again when Lina denied Juhudi's request by saying that she was a girl.

----------

Marini's eye continued to move around from Tanga's nervous expression and down to his forepaws, which only showed how nervous he was. Eventually she sighed, an idea coming to her mind. "I don't assume you've had a chance to explore this place, have you?" she asked, getting up and gesturing at a random direction, giving the black-maned adolescent a genuine smile, "Come on."

[AustralianChaos]

Juhudi gave a greatly exaggerated pout at Lina's girl comment. "Come on, Lina...I beat you once and you can't just let me be satisfied about it!" he complained, before finally letting her go, jumping off her and moving away, watching Lina carefully for any sign of a revenge attack, which he knew would come at some point. Deciding to meet this new lioness that Dakari seemed to have become friends with, Juhudi wandered over to Kijamii, still watching Lina out of the corner of his eye.

"Hi, miss!" he said, as politely as he could through his excitement. "Are you a friend of Dakari?" he asked, looking between the two of them as Kijamii sent a smile in Dakari's direction. She liked this little one, and could see herself having along of fun with the three companions she seemed to have found.

Still smiling, Kijamii leaned down closer to Juhudi. "Yes, I am...and my name is Kijamii. You must be Juhudi, right?" she asked, getting a proud grin from the cub in question, which unfortunately caused him to get distracted from Lina's plots of revenge.

"That's me!" he cried. "Juhudi, the coolest cub of the pride!" he declared, causing Kijamii to giggle at the cub's antics, she really liked this one. Both him and Lina were going to be awesome fun to hang around with.

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Tanga looked up and shook his head as Marini asked about him exploring. "No, I haven't," he said quietly, still nervous and shy. When she pointed in a direction, indicating that they would explore that way, Tanga came up to her side, although he kept himself well away from any 'personal space' she might have, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, managing to smile back at her with a genuine smile of his own. "Alright...thank you," he said, meaning every word.