[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Watching how calmly Kato dealt with Marini made Delano feel slightly jealous. The prince was the younger lion around, and yet it was him who was having trouble with the new cubs! Still, at least he was not forced to be the one dealing with a cub now, so he at least can do what he came here to do and watch and learn. Even if it was... Kato who was going to basically teach him how to behave.

Umeme was quite impressed by Kato's behavior as well. She did not expect the prince to know what to do, but he was handling Marini quite well. In fact, he was dealing with her much better than Delano had. "So how old is Desta's brother?" she asked, curious, "Marini is only a day old, and yet you seem to know exactly what to do."

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato continued to stare at Marini with a smile as the cub tried to make up her mind as to whether she should investigate this new lion further and whether she was even interested enough to begin with. She looked so much like her father and the prince found the resemblance to be really adoreable. "He was born around the time I first met you guys." he replied, thinking about it for a few moments. "I don't remember just how long ago that was, but I think you became pregnant like 2 months later or so, then another 3 months... I think he's getting close to half a year now."

While Muroki was quite curious to see what his daughter would do, he was also quite surprised that Kato out of all of them knew how to act around cubs. It's not that he didn't think the young lion was capable of it, but with Kato being the way he was the thought never occurred to him before. "So do you cubsit for Desta's parents often?" he asked, chuckling as Marini decided to accept the prince's paw. "I'd imagine you don't have the time to do that very often..."

"Oh, um... Not really..." replied Kato somewhat hesitantly, occassionally moving his paw about a little so that it would match the little cub's movements. "If Desta has to watch him and I'm around then I help her out a little, but... No." In fact, unless his love interest was there, the prince didn't see a reason to even come near her family's den. If her parents' behavior made him uncomfortable when Desta was there then he didn't want to be around them when she wasn't.

[DGFone]

Remembering that Kato did not really like Desta's parents, and noticing the prince becoming somewhat nervous, Umeme quickly changed the subject. "So where is Desta right now anyways? More hunting lessons?" Truth be told, Umeme would rather not have any new visitors show up on the cub's first day outside, but she was still rather curious as to why Kato did not arrive with his girlfriend.

Next to them, Delano figured that Kato wasn't doing anything particularly engaging with Marini, so he lay down next to Lina instead. The ordeal of having to quickly figure out what to do with the cub had left him rather spooked, and now that turned into fatigue, so he wanted to catch a quick nap. Lina wouldn't mind, would she?

[TheWhistlerify]

Still using his paw to Marini's content, the prince looked up at the cub's parents and nodded. "Yeah. She said she doesn't know how long they'll last today." Now he kind of knew what his girlfriend must have felt like whenever he was out with one of his parents on lessons himself. Since both of them had things hey had to do now, they were seeing less of each other. "But she did say she'll be free tomorrow." he added in a slightly more cheerful tone, chuckling as felt Marini force her way under his paw and just lie there while purring peacefully.

As soon as Delano lay down next to her, Lina could immediately tell that her mate had the intentions of taking a nap. She giggled, knowing how much he appreciated those as well as finding it somewhat amusing how she was able to tell whenever her mate wanted one. "Was the little hairball too much for my big, strong lion?" she qsked quietly, giving him a quick lick across his cheek. "All she did was rub her head against your paw, you know." she added in a somewhat teasing tone, leaning her head into his mane.

[DGFone]

Umeme nodded. She knew what it would feel like not to be with Muroki when she wanted to, and knew that Kato was having it much worse. "You know, I think Desta might also want to see the cubs as well. I won't mind if you bring her here tomorrow. Right, Muroki? You won't mind?"

Delano groaned at Lina's teasing, for he really did not want to deal with it right now. "I don't want to hear about it," he complained as he closed his eyes. "You know I didn't want to actually do anything today. Besides, you heard Kato. She's going to be trouble." Especially considering how interested Marini seemed in him, Delano anted to be ready for whatever trouble the little cub could bring.

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato was slightly surpriaed when Umeme told him he could bring Desta over the following day. He knew that his girlfriend had also developed a friendship of some sort with her and Muroki but didn't know if it would be okay to just bring her along without asking. After all the cubs had just been born, and when he arrived earlier that morning he told himself to be on the lookout for any sign that might indicate the two parents would rather have some space and time alone with their children instead of having anyone around.

Muroki smiled and shook his head. "Not at all." he said, grinning as Marini let out a mewl from underneath Kato's paw. The younger lion then slightly moved it so that it was resting only on the cub's back instead of over her entire form, which allowed her to get more fresh air. This seemed to calm her down. If Kato could so easily tell what a cub so young wanted just from helping Desta keep an eye on her little brother then he was certain that Desta knew just as much if not more.

"Well, if you say it's alright..." said Kato with a small smile, running his paw through Marini's fur as she stretched her tiny limbs and let out a yawn.

Lina couldn't help but chuckle to herself. "You know, when somebody says that a cub's going to be trouble they usually mean that the cub is going to be very playful and what not." she said, nuzzling her mate for a brief moment. "It just means she'll be a little more difficult to keep in line at first, that's all. But all cubs grow out of it in the end." As she said this she once more rested her head in Delano's mane. "I'm sure you and Muroki also used to give your parents or aunt a hard time every now and then, but you turned out alright."

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled and nodded at the possibility of Desta coming over tomorrow. She glanced a little nervously down when Marini let out a sudden noise, but relaxed again when Kato gently moved his paw and the cub fell quiet again. "I do wonder though, when they will get older..." she began to think, "if Marini and Desta's brother might get along well in the future. Although, will placing two such adventurous cubs together be a good idea in the first place?" She grinned at Muroki. "I do suspect that we will get very good at running around in the near future."

Delano shook his head on his paws to tell Lina that no, he and Muroki were not that eager to get into trouble. "Sure, we did do some stupid things as cubs," he muttered sleepily, "but they never told us about us crawling towards strangers the first day after we were born either..." He rolled onto his side and hoped that she would finally leave him alone for now and let him get that nap he so desperately wanted.

At the same time, he also stated to think: what if he and Muroki were not so curious? Would they have stayed closer to their parents, and possibly prevented their murder? Not wanting to think about it, he rolled over once more and covered his eyes with a paw in order to block the light out.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki looked at Umeme, unable to not smile as his mate mentioned how likely it seemed flthat Marini and Desta's brother would get along. "I don't see a reason for them not to." However, he did seem to wonder whether it would be a good idea for their daughter to play with a cub who was older and bigger than she was. What if he accidentally went a little too rough on her? "Well I'm already back in top shape." he commented with a grin. It was she who had spent 3 months without moving too much.

Lina would have questioned Delano further about the time he and his brother were cubs because she was genuinely curious about what he was like when he was little, but she decided against it when her mate rolled over twice and covered his eyes with his paw, obviously wanting to get his nap already. She looked back over at her niece, raising an eyebrow as she began to suddenly mewl. "What's wrong?" she asked. It didn't look like Kato was doing anything wrong. On the contrary.

The prince only chuckled, smiling fondly at the little cub before looking at her mother. "I think she wants her mom." he said. Well, he couldn't tell whether the little ball of fluff was hungry or just wanted to be with one of her parents, but Muroki already had Ubawa in his paws as it was...

[DGFone]

Umeme just grinned back at Muroki. "We'll see about that." She was about to say something else when she was interrupted by Marini, who once again began to make noise. Figuring that her daughter wanted to be with her parents again as Kato also thought, Umeme walked over and picked her up before returning to Muroki's side. Sure enough, as Umeme placed their daughter down next to the sleeping form of Ubawa, Marini quieted down, and soon enough also began to snooze. Looking at the sight of both of their cubs sleeping side by side brought a smile to Umeme. "They look so cute together," she commented.

With the little crisis of a noisy cub over, Umeme once again was able to glance around. To her amusement, she saw that Delano was also asleep. "Way to go, Lina," she teased, "looks like you married an overgrown cub yourself. If I remember correctly, he was mewling himself not to long ago as well."

"I heard that!" Clearly, Delano was still listening in, even if he didn't look like it. This caused the others to burst out laughing. "It's not funny!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled warmly at the sight of Ubawa and Marini sleeping together like that. "They are..." he said softly, affectionately rubbing his head against his mate's for a brief moment. Delano's unexpected reaction definitely amused him, although he did frown when he repeated Umeme's words over in his head. "Wait... What do you mean 'you married an overgrown cub yourself'?"

"Sheesh, Muroki, I don't know..." said Lina innocently. "Delano doesn't talk to my stomach like you used to..." She couldn't help but laugh as her brother in law's cheeks turned completely red. With his cream colored fur it was impossible to hide something like that.

"You told her I did that?" asked Muroki with embarrassment, looking at the mother of his cubs.

"Nope. I did."

Muroki let out a fake gasp. "You of all lions, Kato? And I thought we were friends..." He was obviously kidding. The prince looked quite amused by this.