[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Sitting down next to his mate, Delano felt content to simply watch Lina for now. While he didn't want to handle the cubs yet, he felt that he could at least watch Lina and slowly get his confidence up by seeing what Lina would do. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her as she rubbed her nose on the cubs, delighted at the noises they made from the contact.

He also thought that, knowing just how much Lina was looking forward to be a mother, Delano figured that even if he wouldn't be completely ready by the time their own cubs would be born, that she would be able to guide him into being a good father.

Umeme also found it cute at how quickly her cubs took a liking to Lina, but was also a little worried about it. "But Muroki," she whispered, "they're only a day old! If they're already this adventurous, what are they going to be like when they grow older?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina continued to interact with her niece and nephew, either nuzzling the two cubs or just running her paw through their fur. All their signs of content at what she was doing only encouraged her not to stop, but they were too cute even without these in order for her to even consider it. At some point, to her confusion, Marini began to mewl for no apparent reason. "Is she hungry?" asked Lina with a somewhat curious expression, looking at the cub's parents.

Muroki looked down at his and Umeme's daughter, also a little confused. "No." he eventually said. "She and Ubawa fed just before the two of you got here."

"Am I doing something wrong?" asked Lina somewhat worriedly, looking down at the two little hairballs that were resting between her and Delano. Ubawa appeared to be completely calm, unlike his sister. Surely if she weren't gentle enough then Ubawa would have started to complain as well. It looked like the little lioness cub was trying to crawl her way towards her uncle, though without much success, as if she was curious as to what that other scent could possibly belong to. Maybe she wasn't too nervous because his and her aunt's scents were somewhat similar. Lina chuckled. "It looks like she's interested in you, Delano."

As Muroki watched with interest to see how things would turn out, he briefly looked at Umeme at the corner of his eye. "Hmm, I see what you mean..." Umeme's point seemed to have been emphasized when Marini showed such an interest in Delano. "I don't want to call it right away, but it seems like Marini's going to be quite energetic..."

[DGFone]

Delano glanced nervously between the other adult lions. "What do you want me to do then?" To his dismay, his question was answered with laughter. His ears lowered in shame. He wanted to watch and learn, not be tested straight away!

Umeme took a few moments to calm down. "Try doing what Lina just did, dummy!" she teased, "it's really not hard! Just don't be scared when you do it, and it will all be fine." With a smile on her muzzle, she watched as Delano reached out insistently with a paw towards Marini.

Still unsure if reaching out towards the cub was a good idea or not, Delano held his paw in front of her nose so that she could smell it. He was all too aware of the size difference between the two of them, and was deathly afraid of accidently harming the small thing. "Uh... hi..." When the cub didn't retreat after getting his scent, he tried to pull his paw back, but Marini only began to mewl in protest. Bringing his paw back, Delano set it on the ground in front of her, still too nervous to do much else.

[TheWhistlerify]

Both Muroki and Lina couldn't help but laugh slightly at Delano's reaction to his niece's attempt at gaining his attention. There was something amusing about how a lion of Delano's size was afraid of coming near a day-old cub. They all watched intently as he slowly brought his paw over to the intrigued little ball of fluff, allowing her to smell it. His scent's was somewhat of a mixture of Lina's scent and her father's, which was obviously one of the reasons why Marini was drawn to it.

Lina couldn't help but giggle as the little cub began to mewl in protest when Delano attempted to withdraw his paw away from her. If her mate being nervous was cute, then him being nervous while actually trying to interact with one of her sister's cubs was even cuter. The lioness and her brother-in-law continued to observe hopefully as Marini clumsily closed the small distance between her and her uncle's paw. The tiny cub continued to smell it and eventually leaned her little head forward, slightly withdrawing as her small nose made contact with Delano's soft fur. She mewled once more, rubbing her head against his paw while purring in content.

"Aww, that's so sweet!" said Lina softly though with obvious enthusiasm. "She likes you!" she placed the paw she wasn't caressing Ubawa with over her mate, licking him across his muzzle.

[DGFone]

Delano blushed furiously, finding himself stuck between Lina's embrace of him, and of his paw being taken hostage by Marini. "Well, uh... that's uh... that's good then." He again tried to bring his paw back, but once more, the cub refused to let him do so. Giving up, he allowed himself to lean on Lina in a way so that he can keep his paw in relative comfort. "Since when did newborns ever get so clingy?" he complained, "I'm not even her father!"

He looked over at Muroki for help, but the amused face he got back was telling him that to his dread, his brother was not going to come to Delano's help this time around. Looking over at Umeme, it was the same story with her as well.

Noticing Delano's pleading look, Umeme giggled. "You're on your own this time! Come on now, it's not so bad once you relax and just go with it."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled and giggled again at Delano's still lingering discomfort. She was sure it would go away soon enough once he relaxed and just went along with everything. "Oh, you worry too much!" she said, giving him a quick kiss. "This isn't that bad, is it?" All Delano was doing was, well, nothing. His niece was actually the one performing all the interaction and, since his paw was perfectly still, there was no reason for him to worry about accidentally harming Marini. "Admit it, you think she's super cute with the way she snuggles her tiny little head against your paw."

Muroki was obviously finding the situation very amusing. There his brother was, looking as nervous as he's ever seen him simply because of a tiny little lioness who was so much smaller than he was. "You really aren't her father." he said with a frown, doing his best not to grin. "I just might get jealous!" With a fake pout, he went ahead and gently picked Ubawa up by the scruff and placed him down between his own paws. "I guess I'll just spend some time with my son. At least I know he loves me!" Lina couldn't help but chuckle at her brother in law's antics as he started to bathe the little cub, pretending to be hurt.

[DGFone]

If anything, everyone's games and laughter was making Delano feel even more uncertain. "But Lina, she- I -ughh..." He let out a sigh, giving up. "All right, all right. I admit it!" Well, Marini was quite adorable like that. But did she really have to go and claim his paw like that? "I still only wanted to observe," Delano added, "I didn't want to get involved so... early on."

By Muroki's side, Umeme found her mate's antics very amusing indeed. However, as he was busy giving their son a bath from pretending to be jealous of Delano, she didn't say anything, instead simply watching him as he busied himself. When he eventually decided that Ubawa was clean enough, she placed her paw on Muroki's. "The perfect dad," she teased, "you don't have to do everything for them you know."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina couldn't stop herself from giggling and giving Delano an affectionate lick across his muzzle as he finally conceded defeat and admitted that he actually liked Marini's company, even if he wasn't willing to show it too much. "I know." she said with a hint of understanding in her voice. "But I'm sure you can see that this isn't bad at all and that there's nothing to worry about..." She smiled and chuckled as their niece let out a soft mewl, though it was out of content rather than complaint this time around.

After he finished giving Ubawa a very thorough bath, Muroki looked at Umeme and smiled sheepishly, his cheeks turning a little red as he rubbed the back of his head with a paw. "Well..." The lion chuckled as he heard their son mewl in content when the cub snuggled against his remaining paw. "They can't walk on their own yet, somebody has to carry them. They can't see, clean themselves and they definitely can't hunt. They can't even chew on meat yet..." He grinned at his mate. "For the time being we kind of do have to do everything for them."

[DGFone]

Delano grumbled about having to get involved, but he still smiled when Lina licked him. "So all right, it's not all that bad," he admitted to her, "but I would still rather, you know, have watched rather than being forced into this." He gave his mate a slight grin. "But as far as a first time goes, this isn't so bad. Apart from the paw which I guess is no longer mine."

Umeme rolled her eyes playfully at Muroki's explanation. "I know that, dear," she replied, "but it's we that need to do all of that. Not just you." She gave him a quick nuzzle. "I don't want to see you burned out because you wanted to do everything. Only a few short days ago, you were having trouble staying awake. I'd rather not see you do that again to yourself now that I am in a position to help out as well."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina giggled as she affectionately rubbed her head against Delano's. "I know, but it looks like your niece had other plans..." she said in a joking tone. After all, the reason Delano ended up interacting with Marini was hecause she wanted to get his attention. Lina and he other adults wouldn't have otherwise pushed him into it. So, in a way, the cub had forced him. "You know..." she added a little cheekily. "You could get your paw back if Marini found something else to cuddle with..." She motioned with her head in their nieces direction, suggesting that he leaned over. "Only if you feel ready, though. There's no rush." She let out a short laugh as she saw that Marini's little forelegs were hanging onto Delano's paw. She really had taken it as a prisoner.

Muroki grinned and chuckled at his mate's comment. "Oh, don't worry. I have no intention of pushing myself like that again if I don't have to." True, he hadn't complained at the time, but that didn't mean he was enjoying the lack of sleep and what not. Now that Umeme was no longer carrying their cubs, Muroki knew that she could either already hunt again or would be able to very soon. Smiling, he looked back down at heir son. Ubawa appeared rather peaceful. "They're just wonderful, Umeme... Both of them..."