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

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga's face fell as he saw Marini's reaction to his words...he had been hoping to give her some small consolation about her mother, and in the end, it seemed to have had the opposite effect. "I'm sorry, Rini...I shouldn't have brought it up..."

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Nala smiled, settling herself as close to Simba as she could. "Tanga's right, you know," she said softly. "He would be proud of you, for how strong you've been through everything. I know I'm amazed...I'm nearly in pieces, and my mother's still alive."

She sighed, burying her cheek in Simba's mane, closing her eyes. "But we'll go back soon enough...and she'll be just fine...we'll all be just fine..." She said it more in an attempt to convince herself rather than Simba, as her mind kept casting up doubts.

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Sarabi smiled as she watched the adolescents interact. Leave it to Tanga to make a comment about Mufasa that would cheer everyone up, she thought as she curled up, starting to drift off. And you should be proud of him, Mufasa, she thought, still smiling as she drifted off. I know I am...

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini hurried to look at Tanga, "No, no, it's okay, really." she said, laying her head down next to Tanga's, drawing comfort from the contact.

-

Simba noticed the tone Nala had ocne she spoke. It sounded like she was trying to mostly reassure herself, and she had every reason to be worrid about her mother at the moment. But however she might need his support, he'll be there for her, for every one of his friends, like they were there for him after Mufasa died

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga smiled, giving Marini's cheek a soft lick as she waved aside his apology, before settling himself down and closing his eyes. He hated the way her mother always seemed to be a sore point in her life...he just hoped she could move on a little better with time.

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Nala snuggled even closer to Simba, purring lightly as she started to drift off as well, her thoughts going out to her mother, praying she was alright.

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Kali watched the adolescents, smiling as she managed to catch most of the quiet conversation between Tanga and Marini, which ended with Tanga licking her cheek. "They really do love each other, don't they?" she said to her mate, not really posing it as a question.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini began purring as Tanga licked her cheek. She just felt perfectly happy by his side, even if she did miss the Pridelands or her mother.

-

Busara looked from Tanga and Marin to his mate, realising that she also caught sight of the conversation. "Yes," Busara said simply, remembering the talk he had with Tanga, [b]"They do."

[AustralianChaos]

Kali sighed as she lay her head down, staying close by her mate's side. "He's managed to build this entire life for himself without us...it makes me realise how stupid it was to have decided to leave him behind. He's a lot stronger than he lets on, it seems. But at least he's found happiness...although it makes me feel so guilty for leaving him like that."

The lioness closed her eyes, wondering how different things would have been if she had decided not to leave Tanga...to perservere with the little cub, and try and get him to survive. What difference would it have made? But Kali soon pushed the thought aside...the past was not going to change, so there was no point wondering...Tanga was back in her life now, and that was what mattered.

[TheWhistlerify]

Busara agreed with what his mate said. Even though she had a bigger part in the desicion of leaving Tanga behind, that didn't remove the guilt from his mind, because he left as well.But he was proud of his son, he turned out to be alot stronger from both the outside and the inside, and it seemed like he was going to live a happy life.

[AustralianChaos]

((Moving ahead 1 week))

Tanga was the first to rise that morning, a week after they had started their 'conditioning' for their training. Yawning and stretching, he, as usual, did not move, extremely unwilling to pull himself away from Marini's embrace, as they both lay in what had become their private nook in the cave system they had picked as their sleeping area on Kali and Busara's hill.

Even though it had only been a week, Tanga was already noticing the effects of the runs they took every day. While his legs were now almost constantly filled with a dull ache from the cramps the running generated, there was a highly noticable improvement in the distance he could make. If he set himself at a steady jog, and maintained that pace, he could now keep that up for almost three full laps of the hill...although that distance dropped dramatically if he increased his pace to a run.

Eventually, Tanga decided he had to do something, and pulled himself slowly from Marini's embrace, as usual determined not to wake her. As he pulled himself to his paws, he rubbed a paw idly across his wounds, feeling them. The last week, with sporadic applications of that fluid Busara had shown them in his lesson on healing, had done wonders for his wounds. The scratches across his right cheek were now completely healed, not even leaving scars behind. The wounds on his chest were shadowy traces of their former selves, but Tanga could feel the stiff, badly-healed flesh that now covered the wounds...scars, a permanent reminder of the price of his poor fighting skills. His ear was in a similar state, healed over, but the outer lobe was almost completely gone, never to grow back. A strange side-effect of the missing ear had occured in his mane, however, the lack of ear making the right side of his mane hang lower than the left. As his mane continued to grow, Tanga knew it would eventually grow further out, and probably have the interesting effect of obscuring his right eye when he was fully grown.

But Tanga ignored all this as he walked out of the cave system, deciding to go for a morning jog, smiling as he left. With his wounds healed as far as they had, he figured today was the day they could begin their training for real, and he could not wait to get started.

But he paused as he made his way out of the ravine, spotting Simba sitting on the hillside nearby. Deciding his run could probably be delayed for a little while at least, he changed course, heading over to Simba's side. "Hey, Simba!" he called as he got closer, coming up beside his friend. "You're up early as usual!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba was just finished with his dayly jog, which he preferred to do in the morning while the other's were not yet awake and it was not hot yet. In the past week he did the same as they did the first night they began doing those, every time he decided to push himself slightly further than yesterday, and within every day, making the first two laps in the exact same way as he did the first time became alot easier and he continued to improve. Their training was to start soon, even today, but he didn't know for sure, because he hadn't asked Kali about it at all.

He smiled and looked around at Tanga as his friend came to his side, "Good morning." he said and looked at his friend. "What are you doing up so early?" he asked, not because he felt anything wrong about that. It was jsut that Tanga usually preferred staying by Marini's side untill she woke up, so finding him awake quite early seemed wierd.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga smiled as he sat down next to Simba. "I'm usually up this early...I just don't leave Rini's side," he replied with a sheepish smile. "But I felt like going for a morning run this time around, particularly since I doubt I'll have the energy this evening." He moved his paws so Simba could see the scars on his chest. "I think my wounds are healed enough to let us all train now...I hope."

He turned and looked back out across the pains, towards the west, where the Pridelands lay beyond a group of trees. But his thoughts, rather than drifting to their homeland, instead turned to the two lionesses still sleeping back in the cave. "You and Nala have certainly gotten a lot closer since we got here, huh?" he asked casually, smiling at his friend. He was definitely happy for the two of them.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba looked at Tanga's chest scars, they definetly looekd alot better than a few days ago. His wounds seemed to have almost healed completly, and alot faster than Simba had anticipated. He was now certain that their training was to start very soon. Simba also glanced at the cave, his thoughts wondering to Nala, who was still asleep at this early time of the morning. "Yeah, I guess so." Simba said, before posing a statement, "I would have said the same thing about you, but you and Marini... I don't think you can get any closer than that." Simba added, smiling back at Tanga. Even though he believed in what he just said, there was still one thing that the two of hem haven't done yet; becoming official mates. But Simba knew that they were both still too young for that, but he felt like the two would become mates eventually