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

[AustralianChaos]

"...Six...Seven...Eight..."

Tanga, despite the fact that his eyes were shut and covered by his paws, was still trying to keep his senses alert as he listened for his friends. His ears picked up footsteps running off in three different directions, which caused him to curse mentally. He preferred it when they all ran off in the same direction, as it gave him a good starting point...when they scattered like this, it became easier to find the first one or two, but harder to finish the game off.

"...Ten...Eleven...Twelve..."

But he kept on counting, and kept his senses alert. Several times he had been duped into thinking they had gone one way, only for them to double back and hide somewhere else...he was not going to let that trick work this time.

"...Fifteen...Sixteen...Seventeen..."

----------

Nala ran straight for the den she and Simba had stayed in this morning, initially thinking of the fact that the trees concealed it from view. But as she spotted at the den entrance, she realised that it would not do...Tanga would likely explore this place early on, drawn in by the mystery of the trees, and the den was too easy to spot once inside the shelter of the trees.

Hearing Tanga's count pass fifteen, she realised she had to hurry up, and so darted off, moving further up the hill, knowing that there were a few cliffsides and shallow ravines higher up that might hold a good spot.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba kept running up the hill, as he reached the top he stood there for a few seconds, looking for a good spot he could hide behind. He needed a good place, but also a place which Tanga would come to last, after finding the others.

Marini and Uhuru arrived at the bushes. There were plenty of them, like a tiny forest. The plan was simple, Marini was to hide in the part closer to where Tanga was hiding, while Uhuru hid in a aprt where the bushes were tangled. The fact she was smalled allowed her to hide there, basicly it was too small for anyone else to go to and as long as she kept quiet, no one would think about checking there. Once Marini was caught, Tanga would most likely not dearch the same place again, automatically making Uhuru victorious. Marini didn't mind losing, she wanted to get well with Tanga's little sister more than winning the game

[AustralianChaos]

"Twenty...Twenty-One...Twenty-Two..."

By this point, Tanga had lost track of where everyone had gone, since they were now too far away, and Tanga realised that he should probably have lowered the count to roughly thirty or so. But it was too late to back out now, and his sense of fair play did not allow him to peek or count faster.

"Twenty-Four...Twenty-Five...Twenty-Six..."

As he continued on, he tried to think of places where he should start looking. Right on Nala's predictions, Tanga had seen the small collection of trees, and even though he did not know of the den that was inside them, he thought that would be as good a place to start as anywhere else.

"Twenty-Eight...Twenty-Nine...Thirty..."

----------

Nala stopped for a moment as he wandered higher up the hill, noticing Simba as the very summit, looking for a place himself. Doing her best to ignore him, she darted off towards a cliffside that was barely twice her height when rearing on her hind legs, but still took a look, thinking there might be some nook or something that would work well.

The cliff held no hiding places for her, but it did offer her a view of a gloomy ravine that looked much more inviting. Smirking, she darted off towards the small crack in the hillside, hoping that there was something in it that would aid her cause. She could heard Tanga's count now moving into the thirties, and hoped this would prove useful. If not...then she was most likely going to be stuck out in the open when Tanga began his search...which was far from desirable.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba kept on searching for a good place. By the time he heard Tanga get to thirty, no one was in sight. He ran down the other side of the hill and slowed his pace once he was out of Tanga's view. He noticed a small wall, which spereated the top of the hill from it's other side. He tried to look past it, but it was impossible to see anything. He decided that if he went past it and hugged the wall, then Tanga would most likely be unable to find him without climbing to the other side as well. It was almost two times his height in case he was standing only on two of his legs. He jumped and got hold of the top of it as he dragged himself up. Once he was there he jumped off to the other side.

Marini and Uhuru were now in the bushes. Marini motioned Tanga's little sister to be quiet as she began to giggle, probably excited about playing for the first time. Uhuru then went quiet and went into a deeper part of the bushes. She found a bush in which she could hide in and then lay completly silent. She smirked slyly at the thought that Tanga would never think about looking there.

[AustralianChaos]

"...Thirty-Three...Thirty-Four...Thirty-Five..."

Tanga's count continued, as he slowly formed his plan of seeking, smiling the whole way.

"...Thirty-Nine...Forty...Forty-One..."

He wondered how Uhuru was going to do on her first round of hide-and-seek, although he was willing to bet that one of the others had helped her.

"...Forty-Four...Forty-Five...Forty-Six..."

He figured Marini was helping her, but knew she was smart, and would find a way of making sure that Uhuru was going to be difficult to find.

"...Forty-Nine...FIFTY! Here I come, ready or not!" He called challengingly as he opened his eyes and got to his feet, ready to start the hunt.

----------

Nala made her way into the shallow, but dark ravine just as Tanga entered the forties, but smiled despite the strict time constraints. She had found her place!

Inside the ravine was a small cave, and the cave held plenty of well-concealed nooks and crannies that were hard to spot from outside, making it an excellent place. Diving into one of the nooks, Nala got herself well-hidden and comfortable just as Tanga bellowed his challenge, and informing everyone that the seeking had begun.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba walked closle to the wall when he noticed a small hole. Smirking, he began quietly walking towards it, just in case Tanga was already in a hearing distance. Since he was on the other side of the wall, he was sure that the hole he was just entering had only one entrance, this one. As he walked in he noticed he had found a cave. The cave held many nooks on its walls, and even one in the ceiling. He walked into one that was just to the side of the entrance. Meaning that if you came from the entrance but didn't look around, you wouldn't see it, but if you were heading out of the cave the same way, you would most likely spot it. So he was basically to sneak back outside as soon as Tanga came in, IF he ever found it. But Simba didn't know that the cave he entered had another entrance and that Nala was also hiding somewhere in the cave. He was sure he heard something moving, but he didn't know it was Nala so he kept quiet

Marini made sure Uhuru was unable to be seen. It seemed like the little cub found good shelter inside the bush. It's leaves were very close to eachother and the bush was a little bigger than the little cub. So as long as she kept quiet, finding her would be next to impossible

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga's first move as the seeker was to turn to all the adults, seeing if they were going to provide any clues. Sarabi was just smiling slyly at him, while Kali and Busara were harder to read...but no-one was willing to give up any secrets, even though he was certain they knew where everyone had run off to.

Giving up on that plan, Tanga ran for the hillside, and the trees that hid Kali and Busara's main den. He did not notice Marini and Uhuru's hiding place, his focus too narrow as he ran into the trees. He was surprised when he found a den in the collection of trees, but was not surprised when he found it empty...it was too obvious.

"Come on, guys...where are you?" he whispered to himself as he moved on, before catching something on the air...Nala's scent was amongst the trees. Knowing that she had been here, Tanga tried to figure out where she went next, but in such a new location, the smells of the environment were blocking his ability to track any of his friends by smell...something he new he would have to learn to block in the future.

Moving, deciding that a move further up the hill might help, Tanga travelled upwards, inadvertantly following in Nala's tracks as he looked for a higher vantage point, where he could scan the hillside for more good places that might conceal someone.

As he neared the summit of the hill, Tanga noticed a set of ditches, ravines and cliffsides nearby, all very small, and decided to investigate those.

----------

Nala could hear Tanga's footsteps coming closer, obviously exploring the ravine her cave was located in, and tried to keep quiet, despite the urge to fall into a fit of giggles. She had not played any games like this in months, and she was having a wonderful time.

But as she heard Tanga's footsteps come to the entrance of her, Nala's urge to giggle gave her away as her paw twitched uncontrollably, kicking a rock and sending bouncing off with a series of loud clacks. Freezing, Nala's prayers that Tanga would not notice this were in vain, as he wandered into the cave, and soon found the concealed nook. "Found you, Nala!" he declared happily, a grin plastered onto his face as Nala reluctantly came out of hiding, deciding to join Tanga on the rest of his seeking, even if she was not going to actually look for anyone else.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba was sure he could hear foot steps, but they weren't coming from the direction he had come from. Staying quiet and waiting patiently, All of a sudden he heard the sound of a rock hitting the floor a couple of times. It echoed through his ears, making him realise that he was not alone in the cave. Simba then grinned as Tanga declared his search for Nala was complete, but was also a bit confused. He didn't know where did the two enter the cave, but decided that he would find out later.

Marini in the meantime walked closer to where Uhuru was, before peeking into the bush she was hiding at and again telling her to keep quiet no matter what. Uhuru again nodded and Marini went back to her place. Tanga had probably finished counting by now and the fact that she has seen no sign of him so far meant that he was looking for the others. Hopefully he would find them first

[AustralianChaos]

It was only after Tanga made his first find that he and Nala both noticed that the cave system delved further into the hillside than either of them had previously thought. Tanga gave Nala a look, silently asking if anyone else had gone down that way, but Nala simply teased him with no answer, even though she believed no-one else was in here with her.

Getting a blank response from Nala, Tanga decided to just move on on and explore the cave a little further. He rounded a couple of corners before he spotted another exit to the cave system. "What the...?" he wondered aloud, amazed to find that the cave was actually a short tunnel. Because of this, it took him a few moments to notice the presence of a third adolescent in the cave. "Ah-ha!" he cried. "Gotcha, Simba!"

----------

As Tanga continued his quest, Sarabi got up and walked over to Busara and Kali, deciding to talk with them. She decided to address Kali first, having seen the wat she reacted when Tanga accidentally scared Uhuru. "Don't worry about what happened just before. Tanga's wounds caused him to do that...and I've been around him constantly for months now...I can tell you with absolute certainty that he would never deliberately harm another lion, especially a cub."

----------

Kali nodded slowly at this. She had seen Tanga's profuse apologies, and the way he helped her up and tried to cheer her up afterwards, and had realised that she had made an error of judgement when she had threatened him before.

The lioness then turned to Busara, silently asking him with nothing more than a look if it was time to discuss their idea for helping Sarabi with her.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba gulped as he heard the foot steps come closer. Suddenly Tanga was infront of him and was looking around the cave. He wanted to try and sneak past but it was too risky. When Tanga found him he sighed and walked out of his nook and then he noticed Nala. He gave her a confused look, asking how did she get in the cave and why he hadn't seen her before he began following Tanga.

Busara then saw his mate's look, and decided to ask Sarabi if they could help. "Sarabi... Tanga told me about everything that happend to you lately... he said and sighed as the lioness looked at him. "Soif you don't mind..." he added and took a glance at Kali to let Sarabi know that she was also a part of this, "We want to help."