[PRIVATE: AustralianChaos & TheWhistlerify]

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba usually didn't like it when Tanga acted more royally towards his family and him in particular, but when Tanga asked about Nala Simba got completely distracted from that. "I... She's still asleep, and I was thirsty..." he said, hoping that the excuse was good enough to keep Tanga from asking any further. He hated not telling the truth, but he also didn't want anybody knowing about the fact that he was avoiding Nala on purpose. Surely he would have felt more open to talk to Tanga about it if he had known that Tanga was avoiding Marini for the exact same reasons.

When Tanga somewhat described the reasons for what he was doing all out on his own, Simba wasn't even suspecting that they were both pretty much in the same situation. But since he wasn't figuring that out yet, he couldn't help but wonder what was disturbing his friend so much, and more importantly why was it making him become so distant from his best friend. "Anything you feel like talking about?" he knew that Marini and Tanga could sometime be even more inseparable than him and Nala, until recently at least, and that Tanga would feel a lot more open when he was talking to Marini, but right now he was avoiding her.

---

Marini, despite having been waiting for Nala to wake up, was so deep in her thoughts that she failed to notice Nala quietly walking over to her. "Oh, uh, hey Nala." she said looking up at her friend with a slight smile. "Simba? I almost never wake up before he does... Maybe he's with Mufasa?" but normally whenever Simba knew he was going to spend a day or part of it with Mufasa he would inform Nala about it, and since Nala didn't know where he was, then he had either forgotten to let her know or he was somewhere else.

Marini hoped that her growing depression wasn't too noticeable, but she knew it was. As much as she wanted to talk to someone about it and maybe finally get some answers, she also felt the other way around. She never felt more alone since the first few days after her mother died, right before she and Tanga became friends. Now that he was so distant from her, it was like experiencing the same thing all over again, and she hated it.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga gave Simba a skeptical look as he made some excuse for seperating from Nala. He didn't believe for one second that the prince was telling the truth, but at the same time, he figured it was not his place to ask, anyway, and so kept silent. But when Simba asked further about his own problems, Tanga hesitated. Normally, he didn't like confiding in Simba and Nala...but right now. Maybe, since Simba was alone, talking to another male his age might help him.

"Well...I, uhh...I guess it's my fault, really," he said softly. "But I can't help it, and I don't know what to do..." he felt terrible even thinking about his habit of avoiding Marini lately, but every time he tried to hang out with her, he just grew shy and distant, until one of them grew frustrated and left on their own, at which point Tanga would start cursing himself.

----------

Nala nodded slowly. "That's what I thought...yeah, maybe he just forgot to tell me or something, I'm sure I'll see him later," she said, managing to put Simba's behaviour aside for now. She did, however, notice that Marini had been looking worse and worse over the last couple of weeks, something that troubled Nala. Normally the young lioness was very bright and energetic, but lately she seemed off, almost ill.

"Marini...have you been okay, lately?" she asked softly. "I know it's probably none of my business, but I noticed you haven't been quite yourself recently. Are you ill or something?" She certainly hoped it was nothing, but was worried for her friend. Simba may be her best friend, but she still considered Marini and Tanga as good friends as well. Now that she thought about it, Tanga seemed to be similarly off lately, too.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba doubted Tanga had anything else to feel bad about beside the way he was avoiding Marini, but he didn't want to sound too pushy with his questions. "What do you mean?" of course that he knew, but if Tanga was to talk about it any time soon it would probably be best if Simba didn't let him know how obvious it was, even though it was more than just obvious, and not only to Simba, Nala and Marini, but to most of the pride.

Simba didn't have the slightest clue that Tanga's behavior was the result of his developing feelings, nor would he be able to connect that with why he himself was avoiding Nala all of a sudden. Nala was his best friend, and to suddenly realize that he was falling for her after the way they both disagreed to their betrothal rather strictly would be very strange.

---

Marini shook her head, because as far as she knew she was not sick, at least not physically. "I don't think so." she was able to walk or run like she always did, and Sarafina was even starting to slightly get her into hunting practices, which she found no problem to perform. The only thing was that she felt bad while doing all of those activities. She didn't know what it felt like to carry an actual illness, but she doubted if was any worse than the way she was feeling now.

It was just the way that Tanga, despite his shy and quiet personality, had always been completely open around her. And for him to suddenly close up around her again was just too confusing. Not to mention that lately she felt like she was growing into liking Tanga as more than just a friend. Sarafina a few days ago had made her realize that she just might be falling for her best friend, and it made sense to her and even cheered her up a little. But with the way he was avoiding her, she remained in a position where she could do nothing about it.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga sighed. "It's about Rini. I just...I feel so stupid, avoiding her like this, but...I...I'm scared..." he finally admitted. In truth, he was completely terrified of losing Marini should he reveal his feelings to her. That was why he avoided her, because he was scared of how she might react if he made his new feelings obvious enough that she could work it out for herself. He did not know why he was telling Simba, but figured having another guy to talk to might be helpful in a way.

----------

"Hmm..." Nala mused, clearly trying to find other reasons, before her earlier thoughts about Tanga made it all come together in her mind. "Marini...this is about Tanga, isn't it? About his behaviour lately?" he asked gently, her voice telling Marini she had devery option of turning around and saying she didn't want to talk about. But Nala hoped that would not be the case, hoped that Marini would feel like talking this through. "If you want, we could talk about it for a bit...I'm sure we can find an explanation. I've seen Tanga a few times, and trust me, he looks miserable."

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba looked at Tanga, a little surprised at what his friend had just said. "Avoiding her? She's your best friend." that was something that every single member of their pride knew more than well. Simba already knew that Tanga was avoiding Marini, because that was obviously the reason for her hanging out with him and Nala a lot more often. What he was trying to figure out was why Tanga was avoiding his best friend, but he wasn't going to push Tanga for answers if Tanga would say that he didn't want to talk about it.

------

Marini wasn't too surprised that Nala knew why she was so depressed. Anyone could easily tell by the way Tanga was avoiding her recently. "He does?" she asked as Nala said that Tanga was looking miserable. But then again, it was Tanga who was avoiding her and not the other way around, which made Marini confused at what Nala said. "But he's the one avoiding me all the time... I'm confused." she said, placing her head on her paws and just staring at one of the walls.

[AustralianChaos]

"I know!" Tanga replied. "It sounds so stupid. But, I...I..." he faltered, before looking at Simba, his expression both desperate and pleading. "Simba...I...you can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, okay? Your dad's the only other lion in the pride who knows this," he begged softly.

He so desperately wanted to tell Simba what was wrong, about his feelings, in the hopes that the prince might be able to help him work things out. But at the same time, he was scared of the prince telling someone else, especially Marini. "Please, Simba...I need you to sweat you want talk about this."

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Nala nodded slowly. "I know, Marini. It doesn't make much sense to me, either. But look, he's miserable, too...that means, at least the way I see it, that he doesn't want to avoid you, he just believes he has to, for whatever stupid reasons he's come up with. I know it doesn't make sense, and that he should talk to you about whatever problem he's got, but remember this is Tanga we're talking about."

Nala knew of Tanga shyness and tendency to keep things to himself...and something told the young lioness this was beyond anything they had ever seen before. She was about to suggest Marini confront Tanga, demand answers from him, but stopped herself. In Tanga's current state, there was every possibility that might just make things worse.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba was a little confused, "My dad?" he shook his head. "Tanga, you know I wont tell anyone if it's really important to you." whatever was the cause of Tanga's behavior, it was affecting him so much that he was acting in a way that was even weird for him, which is why Simba had no intention of telling what Tanga was about to say to anyone. If Tanga wasn't willing to talk about it with Marini, his best and closest friend, then it was obviously something serious.

---

Marini sighed as she continued staring at the wall, "Yes, this is Tanga we're talking about." the same Tanga who was her best friend and was no avoiding her, giving her the loneliest feeling she had ever experienced. She had considered confronting Tanga many time before, but always ended up not doing it, because Tanga's recent behavior was not only making him avoid her, but was also making her feel a lot more distant from him, which is why she hardly talked to him nor had the courage to demand an explanation for the way he was acting.

[AustralianChaos]

Tanga nodded. "Thanks," he said softly, before drawing in a deep breath. "You see...the things is, I..." he paused, looking around a little, making sure they weren't being eavesdropped on, before finally ducking his head and admitting. "I think I'm in love, Simba...I think I have been for a while now. And it's Rini...she's everything to me, but...I don't know if I can tell her."

Part of Tanga was relieved his secret was finally out in the open to some extent, but at the same time, he waited for Simba's reaction. Considering his past reaction to anything romantic, one could believe to expect a scoff or something similar, but Tanga knew Simba had grown up in the last few months, and just hoped he'd approach this in a better way.

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Nala nodded softly. "Look, if you want, maybe I can talk to him, or get Simba to or something? Get this whole mess cleared up before it gets worse," she suggested. Marini did look particularly miserable...and Nala knew she was going to struggle to stop herself from launching a raging tirade at Tanga for his stupidity later.

[TheWhistlerify]

Simba was silent for a few moments after he was done listening to Tanga. Normally he was someone who would be anyone's last option to talk to when it came to anything that was romance - related, but when he was thinking about it Tanga and Marini were more inseparable than him and Nala. "Tanga... Is that it?" he said, actually staring at Tanga for a few moments. "And here I am thinking that you're losing your mind, but all of this is because you're in love with your best friend?" He stopped talking for a few moments. "Tanga, if not you, who will she fall for, me?" he asked, not really aiming to get an answer. "Come on, be logical with yourself. Look Rini misses you a lot. Whenever we convince her to go outside a little she's still never in a mood for anything."

---

Marini doubted Nala's idea would be any good. If he refused to tell her what was wrong than what were the odds of him telling anybody else? "Well... You can try..." she said softly, not wanting to seem rude by saying that personally she was finding the idea as a rather bad one. Maybe Tanga didn't want to be her friend anymore? She soon pushed the negative thought out of her mind, for there was no way that was true.