[PRIVATE: AustralianChaos & TheWhistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini also smiled as she looked around at the place, which truly was the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her life. Now that she was looking at this, both the jungle and the view from the top of pride rock seemed like nothing. The first thing she did after she was done being enthused with the place she went over to the small river and drank. At least they had some water there. Once she was done, she looked at Tanga, "Yeah, our own secret heaven, right in the middle of hell."

Tanga was probably so astonished by the sight that he had forgotten the way they nearly died getting to where they were now. Right now, they were still stuck there. Not that it was relevant, but at some point they'll be too big to fit in that tunnel, unless there were other tunnels that led to the cave. But looking around, Marini could see that the only entrance was the tunnel they used, which meant that they weren't going to find another exit. As long as that tiger was still in the jungle, she wouldn't even consider looking for another place like this, even though she had to admit that finding this place was a little worth it.

She sighed, "Well, at least we have water, that's something." she said, managing to slightly smile at her friend. "Maybe if we..." she stopped talking when she suddenly heard a growl from above them, and upon looking up saw that the tiger was looking down at them, and it was clearly angry. It's large form blocked most of the small amount of sunlight that was coming through and made it almost completely dark again.

Unlike the tunnel from which they entered, the hole in the ceiling wasn't too small, and despite the fact that it was a few meters from where the tiger was down to where they were, Marini could see that the tiger was about to go after them. "Run!" she said, nudging the tiger back in the tunnel's direction and breaking into a run. She could hear the tiger landing behind them after a few seconds, but the two cubs continued running back into the tunnel until it was again not wide enough for the tiger to fit in.

Because it was dark again, Marini eventually ended up bumping into one of the walls, which caused her to trip and as a result causing Tanga to trip also, because of how narrow the tunnel was. "Ouch!" she said, relaxing after a few moments once she realized they were back in the safe zone. "I can't believe it actually jumped after us from that high!" suddenly she smiled as she came to a realization, "We're saved!" she exclaimed, reaching out for Tanga and trying to figure out where he was. "Don't you get it? The tunnel's too narrow and the hole in the ceiling is too high! Whatever that thing is, it's stuck in there!" She then found her friend and hugged him close, feeling the greatest relief in her life.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga couldn't wipe the grin off of his face, looking to Marini as she mentioned their own secret haven. This was perfect, if they wanted to escape everyone else and just relax for a time, this place would be perfect...as long as they avoided attracting the attention of that tiger again...

As if summoned by his thoughts, Marini's nudge and sudden call to run puzzled Tanga, even as he moved...only for the tiger to land right where he had been not a second ago, causing him to yelp and run, right behind Marini the whole way, staying silent as he realised she was already heading for the safety of the tunnel.

Tanga breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the tiger once more fall back, frustrated by the narrow confines of the tunnel, before yelping as he crashed into Marini, both of them collapsing in a heap, Tanga suddenly glad of the darkness as he blushed and quickly moved a few steps away. "Sorry," he said softly. "Can't see where I'm going."

Then Marini yelled out in pure joy, Tanga catching on once she explain that the creature was stuck, but any reply he had was lost as she grabbed him and hugged him, Tanga taking a few seconds to get over his awkward embarrassment before hugging her back, feeling his own relief once the realisation settled in, turning back to where he could see the light of the tunnel exit, mostly blocked by the tiger's large form as it snarled after them, clearly frustrated.

Tanga awkward shyness eventually got the better of him, as he gently pried Marini's paws off of him. "Come on, Rini...with that thing stuck there, we should be able to get back home now. The others are probably starting to worry about us," he added, realising they must have spent a large portion of the day running around in this jungle.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini ignored the tiger's frustrated attempts to somehow get to them and smiled. It was stuck in there, so there was obviously no reason for her to be worried anymore. Even though Tanga couldn't see her, she nodded slightly at what he said. Only walking all the way from Pride Rock to the jungle must have taken them quite a lot of time, not to mention that their hiding in the tunnel felt like forever. "Also, we should make sure everybody knows not to come here..." just in case the tiger found a way out and if there were more creatures that could post a threat.

After a few moments the two cubs located one of the walls of the tunnel, and began getting out using the exact way in which they came in, with Tanga walking closely against the wall and Marini walking close to him. The two walked like that until they could see the exit. Marini was more than satisfied to not see the tiger and to know for sure that it wasn't lurking behind some bush or tree."To be honest, I thought we might starve to death there..."[/b] she admitted as the two walked out of the tunnel. But it was all over and they could go home now.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga fell silent for a while as they made their way towards the exit once more, thinking about everything that had happened lately. The thing he struggled to come to grips with most was his brazen, near-suicidal attacking of the tiger. He hadn't even thought about it at the time...he'd just been so desperate to keep Marini out of harm's way, that he'd jumped in a slashed at the creature, his own safety of little importance.

Mufasa's talk last night rang back at him, and he felt himself blushing, even though it couldn't be seen in the darkness of the cavern. He'd always cared for Marini, but to face such a creature like that for her...he now knew beyond any doubt that Mufasa was right, he was starting to see Marini as a whole lot more than a friend. But that still didn't help him figure out what to do about it, how to approach the situation.

In the end, though, Marini spoke up as the re-entered the open jungle, Tanga giving her a reasurring look as she explained her fears. "We wouldn't have, Rini. We'd have worked something out, eventually, even if that thing didn't jump in and force us back out. Let's just get back home and rest," he suggested softly, before using their own scent trails they had left to backtrack and find their way back out of the jungle, back towards Pride Rock. "If it weren't for those creatures, it would have been great to come back here all the time," he said softly, clearly wishing they could have made that place their newest hangout.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini smiled. There was just something about Tanga's soft tone that always reassured her, despite the fact that he did look like the most uncertain and confused lion almost most of the time. "Yeah, that place was amazing... It would be great to come here again sometime..." she really wished they could, but they couldn't risk running into anything else that was this big and aggressive. That encounter with the tiger was way too close, and Marini again couldn't stop thinking about how she was still in one piece thanks to Tanga. If he hadn't attacked the tiger... she didn't even want to think about it, nor did she want to think about how she wouldn't have been able to live with herself if Tanga ended up getting hurt.

As they've left the jungle, Marini glanced around her shoulder and looked at it one more time, knowing that she wouldn't be coming back there for a long time. But the important thing was that they were both safe, out of harm's way and heading back home. They should make sure to inform Simba and Nala about that creature. Just because their curiosity hasn't gotten them to go there yet doesn't mean that it wouldn't, and they might not have such luck as Tanga and Marini had.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga sighed softly, looking back as Marini did, knowing that despite his wishes, it would be too dangerous to come back here...at least until they were older, by which point they would be too big to enter that haven ever again. They'd just have to make do with the memories they had, at least until they found some other, cooler hangout. Although Tanga doubted they'd find anything quite like that place ever again.

As they made their way back across the plains, Tanga noted that, despite leaving for the jungle in the morning, it was now mid-afternoon...they had spent basically a whole day in there. Amazed at how fast the day had disappeared, Tanga just kept walking, the pair eventually making it back to Pride Rock just as the western sky gained the orange tinge of oncoming sunset. It had been a long, trying day, and Tanga knew he just wanted to sleep.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini also noticed that the son was just about to begin to set, and doubted whether anyone would wonder where they've been, since this was usually the time in which they returned every day. Whether anyone would be interested or not, the two were still to warn everybody not to go there. Neither of the adults have ever warned them to not go there, so obviously they were not aware of how dangerous the place was.

When the two finally arrived back at the comfort safety of pride rock, they entered the den and Marini could see that even Nala and Simba were already there and asleep. That was only another indication to how quickly the time went by. "Wow, what a day huh?" Marini asked with a yawn as she and Tanga headed over to their regular sleeping spots. The pale-furred cub lay down in her and Tanga's corner and rested her head down on her paws, falling asleep almost right away.

(( Maybe a time jump now that Tanga's already noticed that he would actually risk his own life for Marini's safety? We could go to either to the middle of their adolescence or skip to where they're teens / almost young adults if you want to ))

[AustralianChaos]

((Sure thing!))

After the incident with the jungle, and the strange creature they had discovered, Tanga and Marini had warned the rest of the pride of the dangers there, letting them know it was a dangerous place, and how close they had come to death, which should hopefully be enough to even discourage Simba and Nala...thankfully, it was, and no-one seemed to have set paw in it since.

After that, the next several months passed with little of consequence happening, the four cubs all starting to show signs of their growing adolescence. Both Simba and Tanga had started developing their manes, though Tanga had mixed feelings about the incessant habit of his fringe to get in his left eye, something that nothing seemed to be able to correct.

But with Tanga's growing maturity, both physically and mentally, his relationship with Marini was far less progressive and stable. His newfound shyness had continued to make itself apparant, and try as he might, despite still hanging onto his friendship with the rapidly growing lioness, they were more distant now than at any point in their lives.

This newfound solitude was one of the reasons Tanga was up early, sitting right up the top of Pride Rock, watching the sunrise. He was so desperate to tell Marini his feelings, but so scared of what could happen if she didn't feel the same way. He was at a complete loss for what to do, but knew that if he did not do something, and soon, the continuing distance that engulfed their friendship would soon reach breaking point, something Tanga feared more than anything.

Sighing, finding himself unable to enjoy the sunrise as much as he used to, Tanga wandered back down Pride Rock, moving out into the plains, intending on finding himself a drink, hoping the refreshing water would help clear his head as well as quench his thirst. He was so utterly lost in thought, he failed to notice he was being watched.

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini woke up around her usual time, sighing as she couldn't see Tanga in the den and sighing yet again when she looked outside and couldn't see him there either. Whenever he woke up before her and felt like being outside, he would wait for her by the exit of the den, but whenever he was nowhere in sight she figured she probably wouldn't see him at all until the afternoon at the very least.

Unknown to her, Tanga's growing adolescence and even hers were the reason to why he ended up avoiding her more and more often. Not that she had a problem with hanging out with Simba and Nala more than she usually did, but it was her time with Tanga that she missed the most. They hardly spent time on their own and in the rare cases in which she woke up before he did, he would say that he wanted to sleep a little more, but as soon as she would leave the den he would vanish.

Realizing that she was going to be spending another day with her two other friends, she looked over to where the two usually slept, and to her surprise found that Nala was still there. Every morning it was either the two of them were still there, or both gone, so this was yet another unusual change which she was not able to understand. She wondered whether Nala will be as confused as she was about Simba's sudden absence once she woke up.

---

Simba was outside on his own because of the exact same reason as Tanga. His shyness towards Nala came far later than Tanga's shyness towards Marini because Simba was a more open and less shy lion. But now that he was an adolescent, he was starting to become a lot more nervous when Nala was there. So far he was able to shrug it off because of Marini, who, for whatever reason, was hanging out with them a lot more often than she usually did.

However when he woke up in the morning, he just knew that he wouldn't be able to act normally around Nala and not make a complete fool out of himself. Making his way towards the waterhole, he suddenly heard the rustling of leaves and noticed that Tanga was the source of the noise. Since Tanga wouldn't be around Marini and Marini wanted to be with Simba and Nala, but Simba couldn't around Nala, he figured that he would be spending the day with Tanga if his friend was in a mood.

Simba smiled and walked over, hoping that being around Tanga will help take his thoughts away from Nala and his new urges to avoid her. "Hey Tanga." he said, arriving at his friend's side. "What's up?" Simba, being the curious lion that he was, hoped that maybe he'll be able to realize the reason to why he hang out with Marini much less often than he usually did. He had no idea at all that they were both avoiding their best friends for the same reason.

(( I dunno if this is what you wanted when you said Tanga was being watched, but I figured this will be a good time to bring Simba and Nala in. If you meant something else, we can do it later ))

[AustralianChaos]

((nope, this is good!))

Tanga looked up as he heard a voice, giving a small smile when he noticed Simba had joined him. He had managed to find days to hang around Simba and Nala on the odd occasion, and they were a fun bunch, but Tanga found Simba's status as the prince, and future king, of the Pridelands could make things awkward for him from time to time.

"Hello, Simba," he replied, a little more formally than was strictly necessarry between friends, a habit Tanga seemed to have developed around the royal family, particularly. He looked around, though, a little puzzled by something. "Where's Nala?" he asked softly. Simba and Nala had always been near-inseperable, and this was practically the first time he'd seen Simba without his best friend.

He was distracted, though, by Simba's further questioning, and something about the moment just made him blurt out a little more than he should have as he sighed heavily. "I just...I don't know, really. Lost, confused...I guess that about sums it up right now."

----------

Nala, stifled what would have been a very un-ladylike yawn as she woke up, stretching and looking around, noticing that the den was still full of some of the sleepier adults, but Simba, apparantly, was nowhere in sight. Looking around, she noticed that, while Tanga was gone, Marini had stayed behind, something that made Nala frown. She had noticed that the two had grown more and more distant, despite the complete lack of fights between them. Nala had sussed out that Tanga had very likely developed a heavy crush on Marini a few days ago, but had left them alone, hoping they could work it out between them.

But as she looked at Marini, she could tell the young lioness was missing the time with her best friend. And without Simba around...maybe it was time to nudge things along a little. Slowly getting to her paws, she walked quietly over to Marini, keeping her voice down so she didn't disturb the other sleeping lionesses. "Morning, Marini," she said softly. "You seen Simba anywhere?" she asked, looking around once more. It wasn't in his normal behaviour to leave without her...unless Mufasa had called him for something again. Thinking that must be it, she didn't worry over it too much, not realising how Simba's behaviour was a close mimickery of Tanga's own.