Burying the Past [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Dakari wasn't sure whether Kijamii's 'friend out of the familly' thing was even a possibility, but in his own mind he was still sure that Tanga only needed more time than she needed. "He'll be fine eventually." he said, his mind already trying to bring up ways with which he might stand a chance in cheering the adolescent up.

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Marini waited patiently and hopefully to see how Tanga would react. When he did no attempt in arguing with her again, she was relieved. But when he went into another sobbing fit, Marini grew nervous as he leaned against her for comfort. She'd never been this close to anyone before, and it felt nice desite all the fears and paranoias that she carried. She made no attempt in pulling away, knowing that Tanga needed it and deciding to think about all that was happening right now later.

When he stopped crying, Marini looked at him rather akwardly, hoping that this sobbing fit was the last to come in a long time. When he finally spoke out, apologising to her for everything that happened in the last few minutes, she smiled slightly at him, a small blush climbing to her cheeks without her noticing. "It's fine. Everybody needs that at some point. That's what mom always told me..." she didn't have problems talking about her, unless someone pushed her too far with questions that were too personal.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii nodded once more, as they left the cave behind, wandering back out into the grass, back towards the den she had set up in with Tanga. "Thank you, Dakari, for listening to me through all this...I may not have known you for long, but you're a good friend, and a good lion...and ever let anyone else convince you otherwise." There was firm honesty in her voice, along with a softer kindness, Dakari was a really nice lion, and Kijamii could only hope that she would get to see a lot more of him.

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"I guess..." Tanga replied, noticing a flash of something at Marini's mention of her mother. Putting the pieces together rather quickly, he suddenly felt a little guilty. "But you've had problems of your own with your parents, haven't you?" he asked gently, before sighing. "Here I am, heaping all my problems on you, and you're already dealing with enough on your own. You must think I'm a real jerk now," he said, before turning away from her, standing up and walking a couple of paces.

"But I can't thank you enough for helping me today. I won't ask anything of what happened with you, but...if you ever need to talk about it as well...I'll listen, no matter what." As he finished speakign, however, he suddenly remembered Lina, and smacked a paw to his forehead. "Oh, Great Kings! Lina! I just left her there!" he cried, turning and making his way back towards his den, hoping she wasn't upset by his actions so far.

[TheWhistlerify]

Dakari smiled at Kijamii. He never thought he would hear such a thing from anyone, especially someone like her. But right then he hoped that they could both talk some sense into her smaller sibling, he hated seeing her this worried. "It's nothing." he said, giving her a genuine smile. He was glad that he managed to cheer her up, and hopefully, they would be able to improve Tanga's mood somehow.

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Marini hurried and spoke up, "No, it's fine, you didn't know. I'm glad I could help." She really meant that, interracting with him wasn't as terrible as she expected it to be. When Tanga mentioned Lina, Marini grinned at how he just spoke out the fact that he WAS hiding the cub before, but she decided to let him talk to her. The way she knew Lina, the cub was probably staring at a wall or something.

She instead lay down where she was, before beginning to think about what Tanga said before mentioning Lina. Both her and him had been through quite the same tragedy, making Tanga someone who would probably understand how she felt. Maybe it was time she finally told someone what happened and how. But not right away at-least, she still wanted to think about it a little longer.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii just smiled back at Dakari, before settling into a comfortable silence, walking along beside him, heading back towards her den. At the very least, she could introduce Tanga to her new friend today, and get them started on the right paw. Once Tanga began to trust Dakari, hopefully he would start opening up.

As the neared the den, the two of them came close to Marini. Spotting the young lioness, and realising that this was probably the adolescent Dakari had talked about, she decided to stop for a brief moment. "Hello, there," she greeted happily, sitting down a short distance away, as it stopped her from becoming too energetic, too fast...she was actually rather amazed at how calm she had been during the walk back from Dakari's paradise.

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Tanga quickly trotted back into the cave, finding Lina practically where he had left her. "Lina, are you alright?" he asked, sitting by the den mouth, silently praying she was not angry with him...although he would not blame her if she did. "I'm sorry I just ran out like that...I haven't been myself the past couple of weeks. If you want, I can make it up to you somehow, okay?" he asked, hoping she would at least accept his apology...she and Marini were his first friends outside the family, and he did not want to lose them so soon after meeting them.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini just lay silently in the grass. The more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea of sharing her past experience with someone like Tanga became. He promised he would listen to her if she ever needed to talk, and he would obviously understand what she would talk about if she ever told him. She was so busy in her own thoughts that she didn't hear Dakari or Kijamii approaching.

Her mind was disturbed when Kijamii finally spoke up, causing the adolescent to nearly jump when she didn't recognise the voice. But when she saw Dakari and recognised Tanga's sister, she calmed down and smiled at the older lioness. "Hey." she said, looking at Dakari for a brief moment, who didn't seem like he was about to say anything, "You're Tanga's sister." she said, placing it more as a statement rather than a question.

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Lina was still standing at the exact same spot when Tanga came back. When she saw him, she smiled at the adolescent and her playful spirit came back. "You're totaly wierd." she said, grinning and climbing into Tanga's back, deciding to 'go for a ride'.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii nodded. "Yes, I am," she responded enthusiastically, even if Marini had posed it more as a statement. "And from what I can tell of you, and what Dakari has told me, you must be Marini, right?" she asked, her tail flicking behind her, showing her barely-contain excitement and energy at meeting yet another member of the pride.

"Forgive me if I'm prying, but what are you doing out here? I would assume you were sunbathing, but you don't seem too relaxed, that's all..." she continued, having no idea about what had just transpired between Tanga and Marini. She did notice that Marini seemed to be a little troubled by something, and hoped she was not being too forward on the adolescent. She understood that many leonines had trouble adjusting to her excessive energy and curiosity.

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Tanga just smiled...the first completely genuine smile he had made in a very long time...and chuckled a little at Lina's remark. "Yeah...I guess I am," he admitted softly, before freezing in surprise as the little cub jumped on his back, obviously wanting him to carry her. "You like rides, huh?" he said, a playful edge reaching his voice...venting all his emotions with Marini had helped considerably, and his old, playful side was re-emerging...with a vengeance. "Alright, you wanna go fast, or slow?" he asked, crouching slightly, tensing his legs in preparation, ready to take off out of the den if Lina said she wanted him to run.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini completly ignored her curiousity of where were those two and what were they doing, and decided to push Dakari for answers later, he could be very easy to persuade sometimes. "Yeah, that's me." she said, smiling at the pretty big amounts of energy the lioness was showing, though she seemed like the exact opposite comparing to what she had seen of Tanga so far.

When the lioness spoke out the fact that Marini wasn't really relaxed, Marini didn't know how to answer exactly. She remembered the conversation between Tanga and Lina which she heard, and the possibility of Tanga 'liking' her. He seemed nice, and Marini was thrilled about the fact that she now had someone that could undestand how she felt about her past. "I'm fine. I just met your brother by the way." she said, hoping that bringing Tanga up would help change the subject.

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When Tanga asked Lina whether she wanted a ride, Lina moved from his back and onto his head, cuddling up in his mane. "Of course I do." she said, purring at the warmth she recieved by being in the adolescent's half-grown mane. But when he asked whether she wanted to go slow or fast, she got up, and embraced herself by grabbing his mane hair with her tiny paws, "Fast!"

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii smiled as Marini confirmed her identity to her, turning and smiling at Dakari, too. But when Marini pressed on, saying she had met Tanga, Kijamii's smiled faded slightly. "Oh...you did?" she said softly, not exactly sure how to respond. "I, uhh...normally I'd be happy, but Tanga, well...he hasn't been himself lately," she said softly, hoping Marini tense, thoughtful posture was not due to something Tanga had done in his depressed, moody state.

Having no idea at the healing process Marini had helped Tanga go through, Kijamii pressed on, determined to correct any issue Tanga might have cause. "I hope he wasn't too moody around you, Marini," she said slowly. "Normally Tanga's readlly kind, almost playful at times...but he's going through a rough time right now. If he did anything, I'm sorry."

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Tanga chuckled as Lina climbed into his half-formed mane, finding the feeling of the cub climbing all over him completely odd, but ignoring that...this was going to be too much fun. When she cried that she wanted him to go fast, he felt her grab onto his mane, obviously getting ready to hold on.

"Then hang on tight!" he called, giving her a couple more moments, before launching his tensed-up body off, taking off out of the den. He did not go into a dead sprint, not wanting to risk showing off his fastest speed with a cub on his back, but he did go fast enough to give Lina quite a ride, dashing through the grass, turning every now and again to make sure he did not run too far from his den and get lost.

Very soon, Tanga was laughing as he ran, revelling in new feeling of...he could only call it freedom, now that he had vented all his grief and put his past behind him. His parents still lingered in his memories, but rather than remembering the harsh time of their death, his mind was better able to focus on the happy memories they shared, letting him know that Marini was right, they still lived on...in his heart.

[TheWhistlerify]

When Kijamii started to apologise for what Tanga probably have done in his bad mood, Marini already began to think of how to tell Kijamii what happened a moment ago without being overwhelmed by quetions from the energetic adult. But since she couldn't really find one, she just psoke up. "Who, Tanga? Don't worry about him. He's fine now."

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Lina, having never been on a fast 'ride' before, followed Tanga's advice and steadied herself as much as she could. When he did take off, Lina soon found herself laughing. This was huge fun, and she was obviously going to pursuade a ride out of Dakari or Marini once Tanga got too tired.

[AustralianChaos]

Kijamii breathed a huge sigh of relief when Marini said Tanga had done nothing stupid, as she had feared. "That's good...where did he go, by the way? I need to talk to him." She asked, knowing it was time for Dakari to meet her brother. She did not ask about Tanga's condition, figuring that when Marini he said he was fine, she meant that he had not done anything mean to her, and had simply left to continue his brooding in private. The thought of Marini already managing to get through to him never crossed her mind.

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Tanga grinned, still laughing as Lina joined in with him, dashing around his den with her on his back, obviously having an absolute blast. But Tanga had already worn himself out with the emotional turmoil of the day, and all too soon he slowed to a stop, once more near his den, gasping in an attempt to catch his breath, still chuckling every now and again. "Well...that was fun!" he exclaimed, grinning uncontrollably, as he lay down carefully, giving Lina room to jump off if she wanted. "Thanks, Lina...I haven't had any fun that like for a long time...we'll have to play again sometime," he added happily.