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

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga nuzzled her. "I won't let him come near you again...I promise," he said, his voice hard and serious. He fully intended to keep his promise...by any means necessary.

As he lay there on his back, his thoughts turned to the creamy-furred lioness beside him, as he once more pondered the possibility of them becoming mates in the future, and the advice his father had given him on the issue.

----------

Nala nodded, but her sad expression showed she was not convinced, and was still worrying. "I hope so...Scar's already done so much to all of us. I just...I can't help feeling this sense that something going to happen...that someone isn't going to make it through this, you know?"

She cuddled her head deeper into Simba's mane. She had been experiencing this sense of premotion in the lat month of so, as it had begun to dawn on her that they were going to have to fight Scar for the throne. She just had this nagging feeling that someone they knew and loved was not going to make it...that someone was going to die. And to Nala, she feared it might be Sarafina...she was the one in the most danger at the moment. But her fear was also for everyone else...Simba, Marini, Tanga, Sarabi...even Tanga's family. All of them were going to be in the thick of a battle for the future of the Pridelands, and she knew, in every battle, there had to be casualties.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini purred at Tanga's nuzzle, moving closer to him so they were now laying close to eachother. Tanga's words made her feel better, even though she was probably going to be able to defend herself easily soon, she enjoyed the fact that Tanga cared about her so much.

-

Simba sighed at what Nala said. He knew what she felt like. The day Sarafina began pretending to be Scar's puppet, Simba was sure that his mother was going to be killed that day. Losing one parent was enough for him as it was, and he didn't know if he would have beared losing another one close to him. He knew Nala was probably the one most worried about that subject. Her mum was now in danger more than any of them, and since Nala only had her mother as a parent, he didn't want her to lose that parent

[AustralianChaos]

Soon, the sun was beginning to set, and Kali ended her sunbathing session, nodding to Sarabi as the former queen also rose to her paws. As Kali stretched, she turned to her mate. "You want to come, too, dear? Or do you just want to relax this evening?"

As Kali prepared for this evening's run, she thought on how long it had been since she had done this. She used to do runs like this every day, but once her pregnancy with Uhuru had devoloped to the point where it was too awkward to run, she had left the training, just as she had when she was carrying Tanga in her belly as well. The difference was that, with Uhuru, she continued to neglect her training afterwards, as her focus turned to raising her healthy baby daughter. Now that the oppourtunity had presented itself, she was ready to return to her conditioning and fitness program.

[TheWhistlerify]

Busara as busy in his sun bathing that he didn't realise the sun was already beginning to set and that it was already evening. He opened his eyes so he could look at his mate, trying to decide whether he should join them on this run. "I think I'll stay here this evening." he said smiling at her. He wanted the group to focus on their run and thought that is he also attended the run, they might be distracted

[AustralianChaos]

Kali nodded, giving her mate a quick lick across the cheek. "I'll see you when we get back, then," she said, before heading down the hill with Sarabi, meeting up with the sunbathing children.

"Alright!" she called to the younger lions to get their attention. "It's sundown, time to go for our excercise session!"

----------

Tanga opened his eyes, finding himself still lying on his back, realising he had drifted into a light nap while sunbathing. His mother's voice brough him back to full alertness, however, as he rolled over and stood up, smiling at her. "Okay!" he said, rather excited at the prospect of being able to, in some small way, start their training.

----------

Nala also got to her paws as Kali called to them, telling them that the time had come, looking down at Simba in the process. "Up you get, lazy...we've gotta go!" she called to him teasingly, giving him a few nudges in the process.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini got up a few seconds after Tanga did. She was eager on trying to do her best on the first run, even though she didn't know how long were the three laps so she wouldn't know which speed she should run at. She might be the fastest of her group, but the fact that she runs so fast causes her to tire up quickly, allowing to who ever reserved their energy to out run her easily.

-

Simba didn't feel like getting up, he felt like laying down there with Nala for ever, but as she moved away to get it he got up as well.

-

Little Uhuru was the first of them to rise to her feet, she was very excited on starting their lessons, so the moment she heard her mother begin to talk, she opened her eyes and realised it was time to begin

[AustralianChaos]

Kali smiled as everyone got to their feet. "Okay, now...since we're at the foot of the hill, we can start right here. Here's how it works, I'll lead the way, and you follow on and keep up with me. I'll start slow so everyone can get into the feel of it. As we go along, I'll slowly pick up the pace, and push you harder and harder."

"Even if you get tired and want to stop, keep going as long as long as possible. Don't keep running to the point where you're going to pass out, but certainly push yourself. Go as far as you feel you are willing to go, and then try and go for a few moments more. The longer you keep going after you want to stop, the more your body will improve from it, but don't overdo it, or you can hurt yourself, and we don't want that."

"If after three laps, some of you are still going, which I doubt, but hey, surprises happen...you are free to keep going if you wish, or call it a night...it's just the first session, so I won't be too insistent. Tomorrow, however, we'll be working harder still, so keep that in mind as well." Once she had finished her little explanation of what she was going to do, Kali took her place in front of the group, looking over her shoulder at them. "Alright, kids...and Sarabi...let's go!"

With that, she started their first lap around the hill, starting them all off at a slow, but steady jog, something most lions could do frequently, and for long periods, just to get them warmed up.

----------

Tanga fell into step beside Marini as they began, a playful smile reaching his muzzle. "So...who do you think's gonna last longest out of all? Aside from Kali, of course," he asked casually. "Personally, I think it's gonna be between Uhuru and Sarabi."

----------

Nala gave Simba a challenging smirk as they set off. "I reckon I can last longer than you!" she boasted, practically daring Simba to make a contest out of this.

----------

Sarabi just kept stride with Kali, watching and smiling as the adolescents moved into their usual pairs, before slipping closer to Uhuru. "Hey, Uhuru...you ever do this with mum before?" she asked, deciding it was a good chance to get to know the cub a little better.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini jogged at Kali's pace beside Tanga. She wasn't sure whether talking was a good idea, since you should probably focus on breathing and running forward. But since they weren't running too fast nor she was tired, she answered back, "Guess we'll have to see." Marini said, making sure ran the exact same pace as Kali did.

-

Simba grinned at Nala's challenge, "Okay, we'll see about that." he said, but didn't run any faster. The goal was to last longer while keeping up the pace with Kali, so running any faster would just tire him quickly and will not help him at all.

-

For Uhuru, keepin up was robably going to be harder, since she was the smallest one of them, but she was going to try her best to keep up. She looked at Sarabi as the older lioness spoke to her, "No, I've never done this before."

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga nodded, before focusing on his stride and breathing, keeping time with Kali's pace, occasionally glancing over to see what Simba and Nala, or Uhuru and Sarabi were doing.

----------

Nala grinned at Simba. "You're on!" she declared, before focusing more intently on keeping pace with Kali, and not tiring herself out too quickly. She wanted to beat simba at this one.

----------

Sarabi gave Uhuru a curious look. "Interesting...Kali used to do this all the time back at the Pridelands. Every day, she'd go for a run around Pride Rock...I'm guessing she doesn't do that any more?" She smiled at Uhuru, before continuing. "I think Tanga picked up her habit, too...I've seen him go on morning walks on the odd occasion as well."

She wanted to ask more, but decided to leave the cub to focus on the run for the moment.

----------

Kali gave them all a couple of minutes to get settled in, before picking up the pace slightly, increasing her stride speed and length. It still was not a fast jog, yet...but no-one could accuse them of dawdling if they saw them.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba wasn't going to loose at this one. He incresed his pace slightly, making sure he wasn't running faster than Kali did while doing so. It wa quite simple, if he ran too fast, Kali woul get closer and if he ran too slow, the other's would probably pass him at some point and Kali's figure would get smaller.

-

"I never seen her do that before." Uhuru said, bringing her pace up sligtly as her mother and the rest of her friend did