[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano shrugged in reply. While he would have preferred not to have his ears being chewed on the moment he woke up, he supposed that in the end, it wasn't a really big deal. "No, it's fine. Just didn't expect it I suppose." Besides, it was giving him time to wake up a bit more before Akili would get bored with chewing on his ear and would want to start actually playing something.

Looking around, he saw that Umeme was still watching over her own two cubs, while Muroki was still asleep next to her. While his brother looked fairly peaceful right now, Delano hoped that it wasn't only a temporary thing.

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt Akili slide off from on top of his head and to his paws. "So, finally decided that I am not going to be your dinner tonight?" Delano asked, sounding amused.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina playfully rolled her eyes at Delano's response. "I did." she said, licking his cheek. After all, who knew Akili better than her and his father? The lion must have not seen it coming because his ear was assaulted by the cub so shortly after he'd woken up. Talk about a surprise attack...

The way Akili then simply slid off of Delano's head and then landed on his paws as if it was no big deal was quite amusing, and the way he then stared up at his father with his large, innocent eyes was absolutely adorable. "You're not tasty, dad!" he said, losing his balance and ending up on his back. "Your ear is squishy!" His mother giggled at that.

[DGFone]

Delano grinned as he looked down at his son. "That's the whole point, Akili," he said, "I don't want you to eat me, do I? So, I don't taste good so that you won't decide to bite a bit of me." Out of the corner of his eye, Delano could see Lina trying not to laugh as he explained to their son a made belief reason why he wasn't as appetizing as the meat that they normally hunted for Akili.

In the end though, Delano also found it amusing that Akili would actually try to eat his ear, or even to attempt to. While his son would nibble on his ear or tail from time to time, Delano always thought that it was Akili testing out his growing teeth, not to actually try to eat something. Although speaking of eating... Delano realized with some guilt that while he himself was quite hungry, with Lina looking after him, it meant that no one had gotten any food for Akili for just as long, and the cub can't go as long without food. He glanced at Lina, but didn't know if it would be a good idea or not to ask her to go hunting or not. He was in no state to help her, and it was getting late as well. Umeme had to watch over her own cubs, and Muroki was of no use right now either...

Looking back down at Akili, Delano just had to hope that the cub wasn't that hungry yet.

[TheWhistlerify]

Watching her son and mate interact was quite fun. Akili being so young often made his conversations with his father silly and funny, not to mention that he way Delano often teased the cub added to that effect. In addition, Lina couldn't help but notice that Delano was in a much better mood now that he was talking to the little hairball. Of course, how could one not have Akili's natural joy rub off on him?

Chuckling, the lioness gave the little cub a quick lick, causing him to groan in annoyance and immediately stand back up. "Mom!" he whined, hopping over to between his father's paws.

"I'm going to get some food." said his mother, ignoring his cute frown as she looked at her mate. It would be too dark to hunt soon and she didn't want to postpone this to the following morning. Akili hasn't eaten since the morning and it was a surprise he wasn't complaining yet. "Get along until I get back..." added Lina with a teasing giggle, licking Delano across his muzzle.

[DGFone]

As much as Delano didn't want Lina to go, he knew that she could take care of herself when it came to hunting. It was almost like she had read his mind, the way she decided to go and hunt now. "Sure hun, we will," he replied as he licked her goodbye.

There was no better time for her to hunt, really. He was finally in a good mood, so he could watch over Akili while she was gone. Delano didn't know if she was afraid that his mood might worsen again, but he was certainly afraid of it, at least at the back of his mind. And if that were to happen, he didn't want to be alone with Akili then, so if Lina had to go and hunt... now was the time.

Watching her walk off though, Delano still hoped that she would be back soon.

[TheWhistlerify]

"Daaaaad! Gross!"

Giggling at her son's very immature and anything but unexpected response to when Delano licked her, Lina briefly ruffled their son's head with a paw. "Quiet, you." she said teasingly. Honestly, while she was so used to his comments already, they still often ruined the moment, however small and brief. "Oh, I can't wait to rub this in your face when you get older..."

"As if!" Retaliated the little hairball, sticking his tongue out at the lioness. There were times were his parents were more busy with each other instead of him, yes, but when it came to random, small displays of affection, his mother did those far more often than his father. So, naturally, it was even grosser whenever Delano was the one to do it. Chuckling to herself, Lina turned around and took her leave.

Quickly growing bored, Akili stared up at his father with his wide, adorable eyes before crouching so that his little butt was cutely sticking up into the air and pouncing upwards, grabbing onto the lion's nose for a moment before losing his grip and falling back down onto Delano's paws.

[DGFone]

With his mind thinking about Lina, Delano was caught off guard by Akili's complaining. He was about to ask what was the matter when he figured out what, remembering that he too reacted much the same way when he was younger. Deciding to ignore the cub, he watched Lina as she walked off in search of food, at least until he felt Akili try to latch on to his nose and falling back down when the cub didn't get a good enough grip.

Looking down at his son, Delano let out a small sigh, but was already grinning. "Alright, alright. What do you want to do?" On a normal day, he would have been able to take Akili out for a nice run or something, which he knew Akili loved, but right now he wasn't even able to walk yet, so that was out of the question.

[TheWhistlerify]

Something was telling Akili that riding on top of his father's head on one of those high speed runs he loved so much was out of the question. But, surely enough, the cub couldn't think of a reason for them not to be able to play as they were. Delano definitely couldn't run, but he was still capable of very basic movement. He should still be able to outwrestle his slightly over 2 months old son, for example. Growling in an anything but threatening manner, the little hairball pounced at one of the lion's paws and began trying to so much as slightly move it.

[DGFone]

Delano wasn't really sure what Akili was going to do, he was somewhat surprised when his son started to try and wrestle one of his paws. Well, that at least, he was able to play along with, and Delano wondered just how much Akili was aware of his injuries, or if he simply chose to play in a way that he was able to go along with out of sheer chance. Perhaps Lina had talked to the cub when Delano wasn't aware of it, or perhaps Akili was far more observant than Delano was giving him credit. Whatever the reason, it struck Delano as odd, but not in a bad way, since he didn't mind not having to tell Akili that there wouldn't be any runs today.

Unable to hide a grin at the cub's attempt at a threatening growl, Delano moved his paw around, slowly enough so that Akili still thought that he had a chance at catching it, but quickly enough so that the cub only thought that he had a chance. At least for now, while Akili wasn't getting bored with chasing after the paw, Delano felt content enough to cooperate, despite the fact that just a few short moments ago, he was still sleeping soundly and comfortably.

[TheWhistlerify]

Akili seemed more than content with simply chasing his father's paw all over the place, even during those moments where he felt absolutely certain it was within his reach only to suddenly find himself falling behind again. The last few days were quite unusual for the young cub. First of all, it's been a few days since he'd seen the den that was their home. Secondly, this was the first day since they'd located in the royal den that he actually felt like he and his father were interacting as if everything was ordinary.

Akili was only somewhere over 2 months old, but he was so used to always having both of his parents there that the short period of time following Sanders's death up until today had been so different for him. His mother was still there alright, and as attentive to him as ever at a time like this, but it fwas really great to feel as if Delano was back to normal. The way the cub saw it, at least, his father had been anything but himself recently. But now he was able to forget about that.