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

[AustralianChaos]

Some hours later, Tanga slowly returned to consciousness. At first his awakening was slow, but then he felt the still-present pain his wounds were causing, causing him to yelp and whimper as his eyes snapped open. His memory of that day was fuzzy, and he looked around wildly, not really seeing anything, although he did try to determine the source of the pain.

He raised a paw towards his right ear, where the pain was the most severe, although he could his right cheek, chest, and left foreleg were also in pain. His eyes widened in horror as an attempt to clutch his ear was met with nothing but air. Feeling around, Tanga eventually found his cheek, and the base of his ear...but as his paw moved up, he found that over half of his ear was gone, dried blood covering what was left. "What...?" Tanga's hoarse, weak voice faded away as the day's memories suddenly returned to him. "Oh, Kings...my ear..." he started hyperventilating as shock started to settle in, with no life-threatening situation to hold it back any longer. He could also feel the severity of his other wounds, and his shock intensified, verging on a panic attack.

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At the same time Tanga was waking up, Ganya was far away from the forest he called home, skirting around the Pridelands as he headed for the Elephant Graveyard. He had a friendship with the hyenas there that dated back a while, and if he wanted to get revenge against this group of lions, he would need help.

Heading into the mass of giant bones, crevices and steam vents, Ganya slipped through the hyenas lair, taking note of just how few hyenas there were here now. He had no idea that Scar, since taking the throne of Pride Rock, had let the hyenas into the Pridelands, although he had seen the way that the land had started to degrade, with the trees now half-dead, and the grass starting to follow them.

Finally, Ganya came across a familiar face in Shenzi, and slinked over to the hyena. "Well, well, well...Shenzi, it sure has been a while."

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini hadn't noticed that she had woken up. She noticed Tanga was awake, but he seemed to have noticed his missing ear. "Tanga, how are you feeling?" she asked, inching closer to him

Shenzi noticed the leopard, "It's been a while." she said, wondering what was the reason for the leopard coming to see her

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga's panic-striken mind calmed marginally when Marini spoke to him. "Rini...I'm..." he said, his voice still panicky. Needing her comfort and support right now, he crawled forward, actually giving a weak roar from the pain the movement caused, but refusing to stop until his head was in her shoulder, at which point he burst into tears, the shock of his missing ear and the pain of wounds causing him to suffer a huge breakdown.

"It's hurts..." he sobbed quietly, his voice muffled by the fur of her shoulder. "It hurts so much...and my ear...I just..." he finally gave up trying to talk, weeping quietly as he got over the shock of what had happened to him before he lost consciousness, clinging onto Marini like his life depended on it, which to him...it felt like it did.

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Sarabi watched from the sidelines. She initially thought of trying to stop Tanga when he crawled into Marini's paws, but refrained when she saw the lost, terrified look on his face. Tanga was in pain, and in shock, and really needed Marini's comforting embrace right there and then. So Sarabi simply sat back and watched the two of them, in particular making sure none of Tanga's wounds had reopened during his short crawl.

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Ganya sat down in front of Shenzi. "You're just the hyena I've been looking for...my home to the south has had some rather...problematic visitors...and I could use some help evicting them...permanently."

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini did her best to try and comfort Tanga. "I'm really sorry..." she said, "Don't worry, We'll get you back to the den tomorrow."

Shenzi turned around to look at the leopard, "What kind of visitors?" she asked curiously, "Other leopards?"

[AustralianChaos]

With each word Marini spoke, Tanga calmed down a little more...she just seemed to have that effect on him. "Tonight..." he finally whispered shakily. "I want to go back tonight...I don't want to stay out here for the night."

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Ganya shook his head at Shenzi's words. "No...a bunch of lions have settled in near my forest. They know I live there, and they'll be working together to protect themselves now. Two of them have already hurt me." He showed Shenzi the various scratched and cuts he had sustained, before continuing. "Could they possibly be part of the pride that controls the lands between us...could they possibly be expanding?"

Ganya had absolutely no idea what had happened in the last four months...no idea that most of the hyenas were now living in the Pridelands under Scar's rule, and no idea that the group he had encountered were actually believed to be dead.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini sighed, "It's too risky for you to move... We can't afford having one of your wounds reopened, it could kill you." She then sighed again, "I'll stay here and we will get you back tomorrow once your wounds are better."

Shenzi looked at Ganya and understood that he had no idea of anything happend in the last 4 months. "Not possible." she said before explaining the events of the past 4 months. Once she was done with that she thought that the lions were just a small group without a home. "No lion has left the Pride Lands ever since Scar took over."

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga hated to admit it, but the encounter with the leopard had left him terrified of the forest...he just wanted to leave, and as son as he could. "I don't want to stay here, Marini...I'm scared," the last two words were spoken in an extremely small voice, showing his complete fear and vulnerability. Despite being midway through his adolescence, like the others, he felt like newborn cub in the forest, in his current state.

His eyes darted around fearfully, although his head never left Marini's shoulder. "What if...what if the leopard comes back? What if he's not alone?" he pulled his head back, and looked into the eyes of his girlfriend. "I don't think I can take spending a night in here...not after everything else."

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Ganya frowned as Shenzi explained the last four months, and all the events that had transpired. "Well, then, that means you have a young rogue family sitting on your southern borders...a family that is becoming a nuisance. Perhaps we could get some of Scar's pride to help us eradicate this threat to their territory?" he asked, not really caring how the lion group was dealt with, so long as it happened, and soon. He always got his revenge as quickly as possible, and his body seethed with anger and injustice every moment Marini and that male were still alive.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini looked at Tanga, "I wont take that risk." she said and nuzzled Tanga, but she knew that it was dangerous to stay there, even if the leopard said that he was the only one living in the forest. "Maybe in the evening. The longer your wounds rest the better." she said and sighed

Shenzi sighed. "Then go and talk to Scar." she said, in the past 4 months, there was nothing else for her to do, Scar was already king and there for he didn't need her or the hyenas help at anything else. She got used to doing nothing all day.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga sighed, shifting slightly as his wounds stung. His panic attack was starting to fade, and while he was still scared, it was no longer overwhelming. But Marini was making sense. "Okay...we'll see what happens. And Rini...thank you, for being here...the pain doesn't seem so bad when you're here."

Thinking on his wounds brought Tanga to think about his ear, as he twitched it experimentally. It hurt terribly at the point where it had been cut off...but above the severing point, he could still feel a tingling sensation coming from where the rest of it used to be. But once again, a quick check from his paw confirmed the facts. "My ear's really gone," he said in resignation. "It still feels like it's there...but I can tell it's not." He pulled a deep, shuddering breath, amazed the loss of part of his ear was affecting him so badly. "It's just...it's going to take some getting used to."

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Ganya shook his head. "I may be willing to entrust this task to lions, but I'd prefer it if you helped...I know you, therefore I trust you to help me with this." He then smirked, reading the bored look on Shenzi's face. "Besides, you look like you're bored out of your mind...how long has it been since you killed something for sport, anyway?"

Ganya turned, beginning to walk off in the direction of the Pridelands. "But if you want to sit here and stare at bones all day, then you go right on ahead," he said, baiting her.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini sighed, if there was one thing which Tanga shouldn't be doing was thanking her. "Everything will be fine." she said before taking some moments to examine his wounds. Those who might pose a problem when taking Tanga back where the ones in his leg and the ones in his chest. "Is there anything I might be able to do to make those even a little better?" she asked looking at his leg and chest.

Shenzi sighed, "I didn't say I won't help. But the hyenas are under Scar's command, you'll have to talk to him before we do anything."