[PRIVATE: AustralianChaos & TheWhistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini, as the seconds went by, managed to push her sudden and awkward nervousness aside. She was basically starting to experience the same thing Tanga was, but being the less shy cub that she was, she had an easier time dealing with it and acting normally. "Well, at least we're safe in here..." she said, looking towards the mouth of the cave and gulping as she noticed the tiger was still there.

The tiger just sat there without doing anything, and it didn't look like it would be leaving any time soon. "What are we going to do?" Marini was about to suggest that they continued following the tunnel, but they were already deep in the jungle. While they will be able to find their way back if they left the tunnel the way they entered it, they might end up getting lost if they followed the tunnel. Also, there was no guaranteeing that there even was an exit on the other side, and as Marini looked deeper into the tunnel she noticed that at some point it would be too dark for them to see anything. "Well... Someone will come looking for us, they have to..." but how long will it take until that happens, and how will anyone be able to know where the two cubs were?

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga turned to Marini as she asked what they were supposed to do. Trying to find another exit to the tunnel carried its own risks, but Marini's suggestion that someone would come looking for them was wishful thinking. The adults would have no idea where to look, and despite this jungle being Pridelands territory, he doubted they would come here until much later.

"There's not much we can do, Rini. We just...stay here, and wait for that, thing, to leave. but if it's still there tomorrow, we'll try exploring and finding another way out...otherwise we may starve," he added, trying to come up with a plan that would hopefully work best for them. "The only problem is...what do we do until tomorrow?" he asked.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini sighed, "I think that boredom is the least of our worries Tanga..." but he was right, while the adults will end up looking for them eventually, she and Tanga were only cubs, and could not hold out without food for as long as a grown up lion could. And even if the tiger did leave, there was no way for them to guarantee that he wasn't hiding outside and waiting for them to come out.

After thinking about that, Marini realized that their only options were to either follow the tunnel, or wait for someone to come look for them. Both options weren't very good choices and they both carried rather big risks. Marini then understood that their chances of making it back home were very slim and it was letting itself show in her expression. She just sat there, shaking and not saying a word.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga nodded at Marini's point, conceding her point, they were stuck in a really bad position here, and things could get worse if they didn't think of something fast. But Tanga knew that every option they had was laced with its own inherent dangers, and one way or another, they were going to have to risk their own hides to save them. He highly doubted the rest of the Pridelanders would expend an awful lot of effort to look for them. They were two orphaned cubs, with no true family to worry about them.

"I...I'm sorry, Rini," he said softly, looking at his paws. "If I...none of this would have happened if I wasn't behaving so stupidly the last couple of days." He truly did feel terrible. If he wasn't acting so strangely, they would probably have never come here and gotten stuck like this, both their lives on the line. "I'm such an idiot..." he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.

[TheWhistlerify]

If Marini could hear Tanga's thoughts, she would have insisted otherwise and say that he was mistaken. While not all of the lionesses of the pride cared, there were Mufasa, Sarafina and of course Simba and Nala. She looked at her friend upon hearing what he said, her ears flattening against her head. "No... Tanga that's not true..." obviously he couldn't have anticipated something like the situation they were now stuck in. While she thought he wasn't to blame for their current position, she still knew that they were in a lot of trouble. Looking at the entrance of the tunnel, she saw that the tiger was still there and gulped, wishing that the strange creature will actually leave them alone. She was actually more scared than when she got lost and afterwards found her mother dead.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga shook his head, clearly he didn't believe Marini's assertions that his statement held little truth to it, but was distracted when the tiger growled at them, making him jump a little. He was trying to stay strong, but in reality he was terrified...he still had no clue what to do.

Looking around, he turned his gaze back towards the tunnels depths, once more trying to see if there was something further down...but all he could see was empty darkness. Heading down there could actually put them in a worse situation than the one they were currently in. Growing frustrated, Tanga smacked a rock with his paw, sending it skittering off into the darkness. "I...I don't know what to do," he said helplessly, feeling completely useless and lost, and not just about the dangerous situation, either.

[TheWhistlerify]

It would be pointless for Marini to say that she was feeling just as hopeless as Tanga was if not twice as hopeless. Maybe if she tried talking to that thing who attacked them, it will actually decide to leave them alone? She sighed to herself, knowing that she was being stupid for thinking even for a slight second that it would work. "Maybe... maybe we can just run past it?" that was obviously a bad idea, the tiger will catch up to them in less than a few seconds if they actually do manage to get past it.

Looking at the entrance again, she couldn't see the tiger anymore. Cautiously walking over to the entrance of the tunnel, she peeked outside with her head and couldn't see it anywhere. However once she took a small step outside she caught movement in the corner of her eyes and, out of instinct, ran back inside. She was lucky to have done so, because the tiger was again sitting at the tunnel entrance, now sounding even more impatient. "I think the only choice is to go there..." she said, gesturing towards the deeper and darker part of the tunnel as she headed back over to Tanga.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga could only watch in shock as Marini went up to the entrance, where the tiger had now disappeared from. "No, Rini, wait..." he called as she took a cautious step outside, only to scramble back inside just as the tiger pounced, landing right where she had been a second, Tanga nodding when she conceeded the obvious fact. The tunnel was their only choice.

"Alright, then," he said, getting to his paws and slowly heading deeper into the tunnel, moving with careful, deliberate steps as the terrain got darker. "I really hope this works," he said softly, trying to listen out for any danger ahead of them, since he could not see anything.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini walked alongside Tanga, her steps becoming smaller and slower the deeper they went and the darker it got around them. She too tried to listen ahead and figure out whether they were going into bigger trouble, but the only thing she was able to hear was her and Tanga's footsteps and the tiger growing more frustrated outside. At some point it became too dark and Marini couldn't see anymore. "Let's just stay close to the wall..." she said, nudging Tanga aside a little to tell him that he would stick to the wall and she'll stick to him, just in case the tunnel would suddenly turn into a wide cave or just in case they were walking into a maze.

They walked for quite a while, and eventually could hear nothing but the sound their tiny paws were making as they kept walking. Until suddenly Marini's ears caught onto something, "Is that... water?" she asked, looking at where Tanga was even though she couldn't see him. Walking a little faster. she noticed that the noise was getting louder. Eventually she could see a small light in the end of the tunnel and rushed forward. However it wasn't the exit, it was like a wood clearing only inside the mountain, and as she looked up she could see a hole in the ceiling, which was the source of light. Now that there was light around them, she could see the source of the noise. A small stream of water 'which was flowing inside the hill.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga quickly followed Marini's suggestion, sticking close to the wall as he felt her move alongside him, feeling really self-conscious as he brushed his tail against hers, using the small contact to keep track of her and make sure they didn't get split up somehow. He kept his movements slow and deliberate, too, trying to watch for any stray rocks or sudden drops that might try and trip them up. But, miraculously, the tunnel seemed content to just scare them with its inky blackness, nothing of note happening until Marini picked up on the distant sound of water.

Pausing for a moment at her words, he listened intently, and sure enough, he caught it too, the faint, distant trickling. Feeling her tail slip from his own as she moved on, Tanga hurried to catch up with her, his protest dying unspoken as he saw the light. There was another way out! Rushing after Marini, he stopped dead as they reached the open clearing, almost like a wooded hole in the mountainside, completely secluded and protected...it would be nearly impossible to reach without using the tunnel that had been provided to them.

"Whoa..." he breathed, speechless at the small haven they had just stumbled across...one just for them. the soft grass, the tall, shady trees, the pebbled stream providing a gentle trickle of water. He always thought the Pridelands was meant to be a lion's paradise, but this...this was something else entirely! "This is...just...amazing," he stuttered, "Just...wow..." He turned to look back at Marini, grinning at her. "Our own secret haven!" he cried, knowing that they would be coming back here a lot from now on.