[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Grinning at Lina, Delano watched his mate and son leave the den again before allowing himself to lie down on the den floor again. With Lina and Akili now outside, he once again began to feel the fatigue and general bad feelings because of the morning.

Once again covering his eyes with a paw, Delano allowed himself to drift off to sleep, finding it surprisingly easy to do so this time. Perhaps the fact that the previous night was spent almost entirely awake had a lot to do with it. Whatever the reason was, he had only just begun to hear from outside the excited playing of Akili and Lina before falling into a deep slumber.

[TheWhistlerify]

The thing about Akili, being the tiny fluff ball that he was, everything he did looked both adorable and silly for various reasons, be it the fact that he was so little or that he often tripped over things that weren't even there. Lina took great pleasure in their little game; her son chased her for a while until she let him catch her and then they would switch places and she let him run around a little as well.

Then, whenever she caught him, she'd pin him down onto his back, savor the cute, helpless look he'd give her, and then either tickle him a little or display some affection in a different manner. Then the whole thing would start over again, from the beginning. They could easily go like that for hours and they did, easily failing to notice the passage of time.

[DGFone]

When he woke up again, Delano didn't know how much time had passed, only that it was still the day, and based on the light entering the den, still rather early. He could faintly hear Akili and Lina playing together somewhere nearby. Deciding that he was still feeling rather tired, Delano got up so that he could continue to rest outside of the den.

Blinking at the bright light hitting his eyes as he left the den, he lay down just outside the entrance. Quickly spotting his mate and son, he was content to simply watch them for now, not choosing to make any noise should they notice him and have him join in. Sure, the idea sounded nice, but the idea of resting for a bit longer sounded even nicer still...

[TheWhistlerify]

Sure enough, it was only a matter of time until Akili spotted his father by the entrance of their home. Lina had obviously seen him sooner, but she knew her mate well enough in order to know that he wanted to stay on the sidelines a little longer. But, now that their son had seen his father himself, there was no stopping the cub from rushing over to the lion and nuzzling his cheek affectionately. Chuckling, his mother also came to Delano's side and lay down beside him.

"Doesn't the sun feel very warm today, Akili?" she asked quietly and with a soft smile, getting a nod in response from the little ball of fluff. Well, Akili had ro learn about sunbathing sooner or later. He was still very young so it was possibly going to be a pointless attempt. "Why don't you lie here with us for a little while?" Delano definitely seemed like he would appreciate a few more minutes of quiet. "There's nothing more relaxing than the warm sun combined with aome warm fur."

Her son seemed a little confused by the idea. Obviously. He was an energetic little hairball. "Come on... You know you like some warm snuggling!" The lioness giggled as Akili finally settled down and huddled up between his parents' paws. She looked at her mate with a smile, licking his cheek softly and nuzzling their cub for a brief moment before placing her head down next to Akili as he decided to occupy himself by continuously licking her muzzle with his tiny tongue.

[DGFone]

Delano was already starting to fall asleep when Akili noticed him and excitedly ran over. Letting out an annoyed groan, albeit quietly of course, he lifted his head slightly when the cub arrived. "How's it going?" He grinned at Akili before letting out a rather loud yawn, he placed his head back on his paws, "why don't you let your father rest a bit longer?" Without waiting for an answer, he already closed his eyes.

Luckily, Lina came over to save him, and somehow managed to convince Akili settle down with them, even though it wasn't even close to being night time yet. Delano couldn't help but grin as she licked his cheek, and he tried not to laugh as it tickled slightly. "Aw, come on now, Lina!" he complained dreamily, "let me sleep in today!" She must have turned her attention to their son, because he no longer felt her licking, but it did sound like Akili was now the target of his mate's affections. Although this time, the cub wasn't even complaining too loudly, which while odd, was a nice change of pace.

[TheWhistlerify]

Her head still on the ground, Lina couldn't help but chuckle as Akili continued licking her muzzle, hugging it with his little forelegs as he did. She obviously didn't have a problem with letting the cub do that, both because it kept him occupied and quiet and also because she rather enjoyed his tiny displays of affection. Everything her son did was absooutely adorable in every way, even if what he was doing was holding a moth in his mouth in a way that made it look like he was about to munch on it for breakfast.

The lioness then gently shoved the cub aside with her nose, causing him to roll onto his back in a silly looking manner. He simply stared up at his mother with his innocent eyes before beginning to squirm about while reaching upwards with his paws in an attempt to grab onto her nose again. Snickering, Lina slowly lowered her head closer to her son, allowing him to hug her muzzle tightly. She nuzzled Akili's tummy as he did that, using her tongue and nose to tickle him as he giggled. But, despite what she was doing, he didn't let her go.

They weren't being completely silent, but they weren't being loud either. It was the best one could get from a cub as young as Akili, really.

[DGFone]

Even with Lina and Akili still playing right next to him, they were quiet enough that Delano wasn't annoyed by the noise they were making. In fact, in many ways, warmed up by the sun and with his son and mate right there, it was even better to rest here than back inside the den. Smiling slightly to himself, Delano allowed himself to slowly drift off to sleep to the sound of Lina's and Akili's games.

---

When he woke up, Delano now felt much more rested and awake. Opening his eyes and looking around, he saw that Lina and Akili were not next to him anymore, rather they were once again playing with each other in a more noisy and energetic manner. Grinning, Delano waited until Lina had her back to him and was distracted by Akili before he very quickly pushed himself up on his feet and ran over to her as silently as he could, as though stalking prey. Before she could turn around, he lunged himself at her, sending the two of them rolling around before coming to a stop.

"Surprise, Lina!" he declared cheerfully.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina was rather enjoying messing around with Akili and taking advantage of his tiny size in order to do as she pleased with him, be it tickling or whatever else. So, when Delano suddenly interrupted their game, she was obviously annoyed (in a good way, of course). "Oi!" she exclaimed, looking at him with a playful frown for a brief moment before licking him across his muzzle as their son laughed excitedly in the background.

The little cub was obviously delighted that his father had come to his rescue. "Mom's being mean to me again, dad!" he complained, giggling as he did. While he greatly enjoyed playing with his mother, there was a small part of him that was annoyed with how she took advantage of her bigger size (even if it only made him more playful). So, now Lina was definitely in huge trouble! His mother simply rolled her eyes playfully as he said that, seeing how it wasn't the first time.

[DGFone]

Delano looked up between Akili and Lina, whom he still had in a pin. "Gee, I don't know, Akili," he said, making himself sound uncertain, "I didn't see Lina being mean to you. What I did see was that she wasn't exactly being fair though.." He looked down at his mate, grinning ear to ear. "What do you think? Should I make the games more fair? Make them... a little more interesting?"

Now that he actually felt rested, it would be quite a lot of fun to play around with Lina and Akili. Of course, it would be even more fun if, pretending to help Akili like his son wanted to, he would suddenly "switch sides" and help Lina out instead. Not long enough for Akili to start feeling bad about it though; just long enough to let their son know that it's a joke and be able to laugh about it. Other than that, it would be much more fun to help out Akili and chase Lina down instead of helping her out.

[TheWhistlerify]

While Akili seemed a little annoyed with his father not believing that his mother was being mean to him, he immediately seized the alternate opportunity that was then given to him when the lion mentioned that the game didn't seem fair. "Yeah, mom's cheating all the time!" he exclaimed, causing the lioness in question to laugh a short laugh. It's not like she had control over how big she was. But it was correct that a cub was no match for a grownup, even if she did let her son have his way most of the time.

Besides, what Akili seemed excited about the most was the fact that Delano was willing to play with them, so Lina was obviously just as willing as the cub was. It wasn't all that often that the little fuzzy maraca got to play with both of his parents at the same time. "Interesting how?" she asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow in a slightly teasing manner. Sometimes it was amusing just how alike her mate and son were, especially if she could tease Delano about it. The playful gleam in their eyes was rather identical.