Burying the Past [PRIVATE: AC & The Whistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini once again found herself holding back a giggling fit. The way he expressed his nervousness each and every time was simply too adorable. When the shy, nervous male's muzzle completely stopped responding, she smiled and sat next to him. "You're so sweet when you're nervous around me." After a moment of looking at him, she found herself unable to stop staring into his eyes. She kind of couldn't believe herself. She opened up to him, told him her deepest secret and she felt like she could trust him with her life. Was she growing feelings for this lion? It was opposing to everything she believed in ever since her mother died.

After a moment of silent, she managed to speak up again. "I'm not mad." she said with a sweet smile, before getting a little distracted by a rather loud thunerclap. It seemed like they were both going to be there for at least another hour. She hesitated for a moment, not because of herself being nervous, but because of the fact that she had no idea how Tanga was going to react to what she was about to do. After deciding that Tanga will be fine, she slowly lay her head on his shoulder, purring at the contact.

[AustralianChaos]

Marini's first comment did absolutely nothing to help Tanga's nervousness, the fact that his stuttering and blushing seemed to make him sweet in her eyes doing nothing more than embarrassing him further. His blush increasing, he simply kept his head down, staring at his paws, not trusting himself to say anything more than he already had.

But when Marini assured him she wasn't mad, he slowly, tentatively looked up, hoping she wasn't just toying with him. He admitted, at least to himself, that he liked her, but could not see how she could like someone like him back. But when her muzzle showed sincerity, he managed a shy, nervous smile, a sort of silent 'thank you' for understanding.

But when she placed her head on his shoulder, purring, Tanga had to fight the urge to jump and shy away. Here she was, the lioness he had a not-so-secret crush on, almost nuzzling him! In the end, he lost all sense of hesitancy, and nervously placed his own head atop hers, unable to stop his own purr. "I'm sorry for all this," he said softly, still feeling guilty for being completely clueless to Marini's suggestions. "I promise, I'll make it up to you, okay?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini's purring only increased when Tanga finally overcame his shyness and returned the gesture by placing his head on top of hers. She found the touch of his fur and half-grown mane very soothing and warm, mainly because of the heavy storm and cold weather outside, but also because of the growing feelings she had for the male at hand. After a few more seconds, all the warmth caused her to feel sleepy, "Could we..." For some reason she was the one having a hard time producing the words, "Could we maybe lie down? I'm feeling a little tired." She however enjoyed the contact so much that she was only going to move after being completely sure that she wasn't going to have to give up the contact that was created between them in order to do so.

[AustralianChaos]

Marini's increased purrs brought a smile to Tanga's face, that simple, dreamy look showing his feeling more than any words could. It did not fade at all as Marini voiced her simple suggestion, and neither did his low purr. "Sure," he said, just managing to fight off a yawn of his own...it had been a very long day for him so far.

Moving slowly, sensing that Marini didn't want to step away from him, Tanga slowly helped settle both of them on the floor of the little piece of paradise they had found. Once Marini was comfortably on the ground, Tanga settled beside, hesitating briefly, before scooting closer, letting their sides gently touch, giving Marini all the time she wanted if she decided she wanted some personal space again.

But a thought reached Tanga's mind, and before he could think on it, it went straight to his muzzle. "So, uhh...what does this mean, Rini? For us, I mean?" he asked nevously, before inwardly cringing as he realised what he had just said, firmly shutting his muzzle as he blushed brightly, cursing his runaway mouth, hoping Marini would take the mild implication of his question well.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini slowly moved from sitting to lying down so that she wouldn't have to shift her head off it's cozy place on Tanga's shoulder. She was quite surprised when Tanga was the one who suhffled closer to her after they had both completely lay down, but it only caused her purring to become even louder as she too cuddled up to him. It felt like they were the only two living things in the entire world; the coldness, the darkness and all the noises caused by the storm were literally impossible for her to pay attention to.

As Tanga asked what did all of what had just happened meant for them, she thought about it carefully before doing anything. She pulled her head up from his shoulder and stared into the male's eyes for a few seconds, before putting her head back down, this time placing it under Tanga's chin. "I guess... we are... dating?" she now knew for sure that she had increasing feelings for Tanga, and she really didn't mind calling the two of them boyfriend and girlfriend.

All of a sudden she felt a strong urge, and she then lifted her head from it's place against Tanga's chest and looked him in the eyes. His deep blue eyes, that were nearly identical to hers, were suddenly something she enjoyed staring into. She then put on the most playful, seductive tone she could, "If that's okay with you..." She wasn't too worried about Tana shying away, not after everything that had happened between them so far.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga's smiled happily as Marini accepted his closeness with a heavy purr, his own purr rumbling within his chest as he lay beside Marini. But his earlier words were given a reply, and the reply left Tanga stunned for a few moments. It wasn't that the idea of dating was much of a shock, more the way Marini said it...she was nervous, but Tanga could tell that there was something in her voice that meant she liked the idea.

When Marini's head came out from under his chin, and she added a few more words in a tone that literally seemed to give Tanga an instant bout of blushing a nervousness. "I, uhh...yeah..." he stammered, before clearing his throat and starting over. "Yeah...I'd like that, a lot, Rini..." but even as he trailed off, it felt like something was missing, and it did not take him long to figure it out.

He returned Marini's gaze, and his nervousness returned to some extent as he spoke up again. "I know you've pretty much answered already, but I have ask...will you be my girlfriend?" he felt so stupid saying it, and yet, at the same time, he knew he had to ask the question, with complete honesty and directness. He would not fool around with Marini's perceptions of where their relationship stood. His parents had taught him that, should he ever find a girlfriend, who could one day be his mate, that he was to treat her as well as he possibly could. It was a lesson he was going to obey as well as he could, if not for the memory of his parents, then for Marini's sake.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini, despite already figuring it out before Tanga had said it, found herself blushing deeply as Tanga asked her if she wanted to be his girlfriend. Despite the sudden nervousness around Tanga being really confusing because she never felt that way before, it was also a feeling she really enjoyed. "Yes Tanga, I will." she said, dropping the playful tone she used before and speaking normally this time.

She was now completely sure that she really liked Tanga, alot, and it felt like she was walking on air when he was around. If her feelings for him continued growing stronger like they had since she met him... who knew? It was another moment of silent before she pushed those thoughts aside, deciding that it was obviously too early to think about something which was obviously not going to be relevant for quite a long time. Deciding to just enjoy the moment for the time being, she licked her new boyfriend on the cheek before covering a yawn with her paw, obviously feeling tired.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga could feel his heart swell with joy, literally feeling like it wanted to soar as Marini agreed to his request as directly as he had asked. They were together. For the longest time, Tanga thought that he would have been able to live his life single, but now that he had a girlfriend, he knew...he did not want this feeling to ever go away, nor did he want Marini to ever leave his life.

As Marini licked his cheek, he blushed, smiling shyly at her, not able to completely meet her eyes, but at the same time, through his embarrassment, wanting to roar with sheer joy. Instead, he settled for nuzzling her cheek with his mane, unable to summon up the courage to lick her back just yet. Despite his joy, he was still nervous and unsure of himself, having never been in a relationship of this nature before.

But Tanga did notice Marini's attempts to stifle a yawn, and only then realised he was feeling pretty tired himself. Once again looking to the small skylight in this den they had found, Tanga noticed that the storm was still raging, stubbornly refusing to give them any peace. Sighing, he turned back to his new girlfriend. "You look tired, Rini...and this storm isn't going away anytime soon, it seems. You want to sleep here for a bit, at least until the storm passes?" he asked softly, still rather shy.

[TheWhistlerify]

For a moment back there Marini was about to say that they didn't really have another place to go to, but it didn't really matter now that she thought about it. Instead of that she walked over to his side and sat right next to him, "You mean, right here?" she asked with a smile, before placing her head on his shoulder again. The contact between them only caused her to realise just how tired she was, and she soon found herself yawning again. She went ahead and lay down next to his feet, figuring that he would probably lie down next to her if he wanted to.

[AustralianChaos]

As Marini replied to his question, he simply nodded. "Yeah...I mean, where else can we go with this storm?" he asked as Marini placed her head on his shoulder, drawing a small purr from his throat as he savoured the warm contact. He could definitely get used to being this close to someone, especially Marini.

As she lay down next to him, Tanga slowly settled himself as well, laying down beside her, before hesitating briefly, then scooting over, moving closer until their sides were practically touching, heaving a contented sigh as he rested his head on his paws. "Goodnight, Rini..." he mumbled sleepily as he closed his eyes, already drifting off as the presence of his new girlfriend, and the recent acceptance of the fate of his parents calmed him, slowly lulling him off into his dreams.