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

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru began to struggle as Tanga trapped her between, laughing and growling cubbishly the whole way. She managed, eventually, to set herself free and landed behind Tanga. She looked 'down' at him, laughing before turning around and running towards the hillside, "Bet you can't catch me!" she said, so busy in their game that she hadn't even noticed Kali

[AustralianChaos]

As Uhuru escaped his playful hug, Tanga rolled over, watching as she turned and ran, challenging him to catch her. "Oh, I bet I can!" he called back, before leaping to his paws and taking off, chasing after her. He did not try his hardest, though, since his larger size gave him an advantage. He ran fast enough to keep Uhuru challenged, but deliberately held off actually catching her...he was enjoying this far too much to just let it end straight away.

----------

Kali giggled...something she had not done for a long time...as Tanga and Uhuru bolted off, chasing each other across the hillside. The sight of the two siblings having so much fun was heart-warming for the mother, and she watched them for as long as possible. Once they were out of sight, she stood up, intending on heading back into the den to rest a little more before calling the rest of the group in for their next day of training. She fully intended on having this training session in Simba and Nala's nook, so Simba would not feel left out.

But as she stood, Kali noticed Sarabi out of the corner of her eye, and as she turned to look at the lioness who considered Tanga an enemy and threat, she saw that she had made a kill, and was dragging it back to their usual eating spot, just downhill from her den. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the though of what Sarabi had done to Tanga yesterday, but she brushed it aside after a few moments...nothing would be solved by making Sarabi angrier, and she did not want to give the lioness an excuse to refuse to share her kill.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru kept laughing the whole way. The way she knew Tanga, he wouldn't run too fast for her, but at some point he was going to run faster and faster. She looked around at her brother, who was running slightly faster than her and brought her spped up so that he wouldn't catch her too quickly

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga and Uhuru's little game continued for several minutes, before Tanga decided it was time to end it. Suddenly picking up the pace, he quickly close in on his little sister and pounced. Tackling her playfully, he wrapped his forelegs around her and rolled, onto the ground back-first, keeping her from getting crush underneath him. Still laughing uncontrollably, he simply lay there with his sister, his morning almost perfect. "That was fun!" he said breathlessly, grinning at his sister.

"I don't believe this! Get away from her!"

Tanga's joyous mood was shatterred as Sarabi's voice reached his ears. Reacting instantly, he quickly, but gently, pushed Uhuru off his belly, jumping to his feet and backing off, using his tail to keep Uhuru behind him. He was frightened of Sarabi, but that would not stop him from trying to protect her, as he deliberately placed himself between them. "N-no, Sarabi...i-i-it's not like that..." he stared feebly, knowing what Sarabi had made of his previous tackle.

----------

As Kali sat in the trees, Sarabi's furious yell cause her to snap her head around. Finding Sarabi confronting Tanga and Uhuru, clearly enraged, Kali realised that something had set her off, and it was likely that, in a matter of minutes, she was going to become violent. Running back into the den, completely forgetting Marini's presence in the den, she went straight to her mate's side, nudging his head in an attempt to help wake him up. "Busara! Busara, wake up, hurry! Sarabi's gone after Tanga again...and Uhuru's with them!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba sighed out of boredom, before deciding that he could still walk on three of his legs if he wanted to. He thought that maybe some fresh air and a few moments outside the cave would be good for him after being in there since yesterday's morning. He slowly edged away from Nala so that he could have enough space, and after a few more seconds managed to stand up. The paw didn't hurt unless he touched it, so he didn't have any problem keeping his balance this time. Carefully and quietly he went outside of the nook and headed for the exit

-

Uhuru kept running, and like she anticipated Tanga decided to catch her at some point. She kept laughing as the two of them just lay there, "Yeah, it..." she started responding, before Sarabi burst in. It seemed like she was ignoring the fact that the two of them were laughing a moment ago as if they were playing a game, and was only looking for a reason to go after her brother again. "We were just playing a game!" Uhuru protested, though her brother's tail kept her from doing anything besides peeking with her head.

-

Busara sat bolt upright as the words reached his ears. "Uh, not again." he said and motioned Kali to lead the way. What was more concerning was the fact that Uhuru was there too. What could have gotten the lioness angry this time he didn't know, but he decided that both him and Tanga had had enough.

-

Marini also woke up, and managed to understand what Kali was saying desite the fact that she was used to getting up later than that. Once the two adults were out of the den, she hurried and followed them. She was getting tired of Sarabi already.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga stole a quick glance back at Uhuru as she challenged Sarabi's claims, reminding her that they were just playing. But Sarabi, it seemed, was not buying the story. "Right...and Simba and Tanga were 'just wrestling' yesterday. Uhuru, that is just what Tanga wants you to think."

As Sarabi spoke, Tanga continued to back up, trying to head towards his parents den, herding Uhuru behind him with his tail, trying to protect her. "Look, Sarabi, I..."

"SILENCE!" Sarabi's roar was accompanied by a fierce pounce, one that Tanga, even through his fear, had seen coming. "Look out!" he cried to his sister, turning around and pushing her aside in the moment he had to act, making sure she was out of harm's way. But the move to protect his sister did not give him the time to get away himself, and the next thing he knew, he was pinned on his belly on the ground, roaring with the pain in his back as Sarabi's paws held him down forcefully, her claws digging into the flesh of his back, drawing blood.

"I will not listen to your lies any longer, Tanga!" she cried, causing Tanga to cower, the fear returning in full force now that Uhuru was safe. "You are out to harm, and possibly kill, us all...but why?! Have you been in league with Scar the whole time? Was there some plan, that's now changed, meaning you have to kill us now? ANSWER ME!"

----------

Kali quickly lead the way back out of the den and to the hillside where the confrontation was taking place...just in time to see Tanga get attacked by the Sarabi, the adolescent throwing away his own chance of escape to make sure Uhuru wasn't hurt. At Sarabi's action, a snarl escaped from the mother's muzzle...someone needed to put Sarabi in her place, fast.

But a single though held her back...she did not want to alienate Simba, and even thought she suspected Simba did not agree with his mother's actions, he must still love her, and if she got into a fight with the former queen, Simba could look down on all of them, and never forgive her.

She looked to her mate, again missing Marini's presence entirely, silently asking him what they could do.

----------

Sarabi's shouts eventually woke Nala up, since the incident occurring was not to far from the ravine. But she not fully become aware of the waking world until she realised that Simba was not beside her...and his paw was still broken. "Simba?!" she called fearfully, before hearing Sarabi shouts. "What the...oh, Great Kings, no..." she breathed, before darting in the direction of the ravine. If Simba was aware of Sarabi's yelling, he was most likely going to be there.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru was stunned and terrified. She knew there was nothing a cub in her small frame could do to even help free her brother who was pinned underneath the former queen. She felt so hopeless and helpless, and the fact that she couldn't even force herself to move and try to call for help kept her from noticing either her parents or Marini approaching the scene.

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

Simba was still heading for the ravine for some fresh air, and was near the exit as he heard Sarabi's yelling, and the other terrified voice must have been Tanga's. He forced himself to move faster, despite how difficult it was for him to walk on three legs in the first place. He wanted to see what exactly caused Sarabi to loose her temper this time. Again he remembered what Nala said about standing up against her, but he didn't know if he could do it.

When he reached the opening, what he saw left him stunned, and he couldn't even speak. It seemed like he was right about what happend yesterday, and that Sarabi was taking her anger out at Tanga for the accident that occured the previous morning. He wanted to do something, but the two were too far away for him to reach with a broken paw, and he was still unable to say anything.

-----------

Busara also managed to come into view when Sarabi attacked Tanga, who waster the few precious seconds he had on getting Uhuru out of the way, and that only got him more furious about how Sarabi couldn't see how wrong she was. But he, like Kali, held himself back at the thought of how Simba would react to them and Tanga if he or Kali fought Sarabi. He was storming his mind for options, and didn't notice Marini as well.

-----------

When Marini saw what was happening, a furious snarl escaped her throat, a one Kali and Busara didn't seem to hear, since they were probably stunned by what was happening. She also noticed Tanga's little sister, who's small size and young age kept her on doing nothing besides standing there shaking. It was driving her mad, how Sarabi was just doing that to Tanga over and over again, and this time infront of his little sister.

Remaining silent, Marini carefully moved to the line exactly behind Sarabi so that the lioness couldn't see or hear her. It was time for Sarabi to know that if she messed with Tanga then she messed with her as well. And if Tanga's parents weren't going to do anything to help their son, then she was going to have to do it instead of them. She just hoped that they wouldn't give away her position by telling her not to do anything once they noticed her, because she wasn't backing down this time.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga was terrified, and was once more on the verge. "I'm sorry, Sarabi!" he yelled in pure desperation, unable to look behind him, still pinned on his belly by the angry lioness. "I'm sorry about yesterday, I'm sorry for hurting Simba!" he heard Sarabi's disbelieving snort, and ploughed on. "It was an accident, I didn't mean to hurt him. Please Sarabi, I didn't mean it, and I'm sorry...you've gotta believe me!"

----------

Sarabi snorted again, before lowering her muzzle so it was right beside Tanga's missing right ear. "Why should I?" she said in a low, dangerous tone that was ten times more frightening than her fiercest yells. "Why should I believe it was all an accident? You don't just accidentally break another lion's paw, even if you were wrestling at the time." Her claws dug a little deeper into Tanga's back, causing a pained whine to escape his throat. "Now, I want the truth...and nothing but the truth, this time! My patience has run out!"

----------

Kali watched on as the situation fast deteriorated. She actually took a step forward when she heard Tanga's whine of pain, but stopped when she noticed Marini behind Sarabi. Knowing the young lioness was up to something, Kali stopped her enraged advance, watching carefully...but making no move to stop Marini from whatever she was doing. If anyone had an excuse to do something to the former queen for her current actions, the boyfriend of Sarabi's victim did.

----------

Nala eventually caught up to Simba, just in time to see the latest part of the confrontation. "No...not again..." she breathed, before turning to Simba. "Simba...she's going to kill him if this keeps up...we can't just do nothing!" she cried...not noticing Marini in her desperation to resolve this situation.

[TheWhistlerify]

Uhuru now had tears streaming down her cheeks, as she just watched the situation while knowing that there was nothing she could do. "Sarabi, please! We were just playing, I'm not hurt am I?" she asked, hoping she could make Sarabi see sense. It seemed that if this just continued on without somebody's interference, then Sarabi would just kill Tanga at some point.

---

Simba wanted to yell something at Sarabi, to try and make her stop, but his mouth just didn't obey him. He turned towards Nala as if he saw a ghost, but calmed down when he realised it was just his girlfriend. For some reason he managed to speak with her, "I don't know... What can I do anyways? My paw's broken." But as he turned back to face the scene, his lips didn't move once more. He turned to Nala again, "I don't know what to do..." he said in a panic

---

Upon hearing Tanga whining again, and Sarabi not paying attention to any of his begings, Marini became more enraged. She moved faster towards the former queen, but not too fast so not to alert her, she knew that she would most likely loose in a face to face with a grown up, and therefor needed to take her by surprise. Once she was close enough, using all the momentum she had, Marini leaped directly at Sarabi, knocking her clean off Tanga's back. Using the fact that Sarabi was probably still too surprised to do anyhing, Marini hurried and pinned the older lioness onto her belly. "You have thirty seconds to give me one good reason why I shouldn't finish you off and get this joke over with!" Her voice had no emotion at all, besides rage. She didn't see Simba and Nala were watching, and even if she did, she wouldn't really care. Sarabi had gone to far, and she wasn't afraid of actually hurting her. Despite having already said what she had to, Marini couldn't help but speak up again, "Why are you doing this?! He was staying away from Simba just like you said!"

[AustralianChaos]

Sarabi never saw Marini coming, and before she knew it, the younger lioness had her pinned to the ground, screaming her fury at her. But Sarabi remained perfectly calm as she answered. "Yes, Tanga has not come near Simba so far...but I saw him tackle Uhuru...you don't act that agressive towards a cub! I don't care what either of them say!" Despite her position under Marini, she refused to back down from her views.

----------

Tanga was startled when Sarabi's weight suddenly vanished from on top of him. Jumping to his feet, he was relieved and horrified at the same time to find Marini pinning Sarabi down, the two of them yelling at each other. Tanga could see the look in Marini's eyes...she was more furious than he had ever seen her. "Marini, wait!" he called desperately, although he had no idea why.

----------

Kali watched as Marini intervened, but continued to do nothing...this was something the group had to figure out on their own, and for the moment, Uhuru seemed to be safe. "Uhuru, come over here, quickly!" she called, wanting her daughter away from the violence, in case things fell out of hand again.

----------

Nala just watched as Marini tackled Sarabi, pinning her on the ground. She gave Simba one, wide-eyed look, before turning back to the impending chaos, wanting to stop it before it got way out of hand, but having absolutely no idea what to do.