BOOGIE WONDERLAND

Pumbaa: I guess you're mine too.

She huffed a little, watching the meerkat clearly get tired with her, accidentally hitting riiiight in the little girl's biggest insecurity: being a bother. Quirking an eyebrow with a pout, she was tempted to raise a veritable barricade of leaves and tree trunks and forbid Timon from seeing her big sister out of pure spite ! But ... Elsa was waiting, and she didn't want her to be angry with her ...

With a resigned sigh, she dropped her shoulders, looking a bit down, but relenting.

❝ I can't really let her know ... oh, I could ask Gale. Best I could do though is bring you guys to her - she's in the gardens. ❞

And the gardens were kind of her whole thing, truthfully. Revitalized, she skipped over to a window and pushed it open, leaning dangerously far out of it with her arms to the ground, focusing on the trees below ... which began to grow, and grow, and reach the window, to which she puffed up her chest, gesturing.

❝ Guests first ! Don't worry about the uh ... ❝ What animal even was he ?? ❞ ... big guy, I made the moss extra big to catch him, too ! You, me, and Olaf will climb down. ❞

This was beginning to feel like a test, one Timon had not signed up for and was taking way too long. Ughhh, he was starving. He knew he should've eaten something before they made the trek over here. Pumbaa had mentioned there were leftover worms but he passed them up, figuring they were in for a big meal at Elsa's place.

He really wasn't in the mood for this and he made a face, wondering when the kid--Elsa's sister?--was gonna stop giving him a hard time and take them to the queen. He motioned for Pumbaa to come along and he started to pick up the pace, Olaf trailing along beside him, still rambling about something or other.

"Oookay...whatever gets us there faster..."

He looked out the window, doing a double take at the tree, suddenly backing up into Pumbaa. Nope, he was not doing that. Not only was he tired from all that walking but with his luck, the branch would probably snap and he would wind up eating dirt.

"Ya know what? I've got a better plan!"

With that, Timon poked his head out the window and inhaled sharply.

When it's not good, it's...OOF.

For a few seconds, Timon's reply was only met with ... a very, very confused face. Then, a raise of eyebrows, and the girl looking at her hands, then Timon, then her hands, then Pumba for good measure, then back at Timon.

❝ Holy mackerel ... I can understand you ? I- I can under- I understood what you said ?? Like, for real, or am I going nuts ?? ❞ Maybe living in the woods really took a toll on her ...

TImon then claims to be a good friend of Elsa's, and Fly grins as if she won a contest, one little fist on her hip as she pointed at him.

❝ Well ! I'll have you know, I'm also Elsa's friend ! Well ... okay, maybe not - I'm her sister ! That's like ... better than a friend ! Wait- you were invited ? ❞ she rambles quickly, as fast as a child could without tripping over their words. ❝ That's not fair, how come she can invite animals over, but I got told off for smuggling in the squirrels .. ❞

"Look, we're kinda in a hurry," he said, shaking his head and glancing back at Pumbaa, hoping he was all caught up with Olaf. They had promised Elsa they would be there around lunch and the time was ticking away and he was getting a bit hangry...

It wasn't every day the Arendellian castle had visitors. Well ... it was more often than in the past, from what she'd heard from Elsa and Anna, but still ━ people didn't usually randomly come by for a health visit. Certainly not ... weird orange giant rats.

Timon's visit to the castle, today, was interrupted before it even began, by a small human girl, maybe around 12, staring at him with confusion and a stern determination to stand in the middle of his way. Then, after a few minutes, she spoke;

❝ Okay, so ━ I don't know if you can understand me, but. You gotta go back to wherever ya came from, okay ? I promised Anna I wouldn't drag random animals into the castle, and that's what you're doing ! You're random animal ... ing, all over the carpet ! I'll get in trouble again ! So, if you understand me ... shoo ! shoo ! ❞

Timon gave the little girl a deadpan look, shaking the snow out of his fur and shielding the flowers that he brought for Elsa, making sure that they didn't get ruined. Meanwhile, Pumbaa wasn't too far behind, chatting away with Olaf who had just bumped into him and was so ecstatic to see him again.

He didn't know what kind of day Jasmine had, (he could only presume that it stunk), but there was no reason to come at them like that. It wasn't like the bugs were crawling all over the place and even if one or two of them escaped, so what? He and Pumbaa could take care of them, no problem. It was then Timon noticed his companion was still flinching, as if he expected to get another earful, and he drew closer to him, nudging him again as if to say, Hey, I gotcha.

He didn't care if Jasmine yelled at him. Well, okay, he DID but it wasn't like he couldn't holler with the best of them. (Aside from Iago, Timon was probably the loudest fella that ever set foot in this palace.) Pumbaa, though? No, he wasn't gonna stand there and let him get chewed out in such a way, especially when he hadn't done anything wrong. ...What? The plants were already wilting before he got here. Besides, they were easy to replace. Maybe.

He started to climb up Pumbaa's head, ready to give his ears a tug and make a dramatic exit, pausing as the princess spoke to them again. Her voice had lost its harshness from before (at least for a moment there) and she seemed pretty remorseful. It didn't take a genius to figure out she was dealing with a lot and the incompetent guards were just the cherry on top but still...

Cue Mal and Evie singing Space Between and Timon and Pumbaa walking past the set.

Pumbaa: Awww... 🥹