[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano just stared at Muroki for a little while. "Okay," he finally said, "I guess that can work." He waited for a little before adding, "Muroki... Thanks." Not really wanting to, but Delano felt very glad to know that Muroki would be with him. As much as he told Lina that he would be safe and watched after, he was also aware that there would be at least a little bit of time when the lion would be alone with him, and possibly close by if not right next to him as well.

If the king agreed to the plan, and the lion got close to Delano, he liked the idea of having someone else being with him and acting as protection as well. Even... even if it was Muroki who would also be risking his life to do so. Delano can watch over his brother as well, even if he won't be as much help as Muroki would be for him.

"Well, I guess then, let's go back to the others?" Personally, Delano didn't want to spend much more time sitting near his little mess, and he was rather eager to get back to Lina and Akili. Besides, Kato might be awake now and they might be able to finally go to the king and propose his plan. With Muroki with him, Delano was sure that the king won't as readily decline on the plan.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki gave his brother a small smile and a slight nod. "No need to thank me." In his opinion at least, him coming with his brother to help on something like this was obvious. "Of course I'd go with you." This was a threat to both of their families, and even if it wasn't they were still siblings and he was going to look out for Delano no matter what. It's certainly what their parents would have wanted. "Yeah, let's go back."

[DGFone]

Feeling glad that at least Muroki was agreeing with his plan, Delano nodded and got up, feeling rather eager to get back to Lina. However, as he made his way back from behind the bush, he saw that Kato was awake once more and, largely because of what he had just talked about with his brother, as well as the fact that he had waited for Kato to wake up for a long time now, he decided that he might as well talk to the prince now instead.

"Kato?" Delano approached slowly, for some reason feeling as though now was in fact a bad time to talk to the lion. But now that he already started... "I don't know, but is it a good time to try and talking to your father?" He felt rather foolish for most of what he said to Kato for most of the day was simply asking when the king would be free, but at the same time, Delano felt like it wasn't a matter that can wait, nor was he in much of a mood to talk about much else, even if he now did feel slightly better after his conversation with Muroki.

[TheWhistlerify]

It was easy to figure out what Delano was going to talk about to Kato as he saw his brother approach the prince, but Muroki figured he might as well stay with Umeme and the cubs rather than join them. He wanted to hear what the two would say, obviously, but he had promised Umeme he'd be back soon. Besides, if he went with them, Umeme might get suspicious, and he wanted to tell her about what he's decided to do on his own terms. Soon, but not yet. Perhaps tomorrow morning.

Kato, meanwhile, feeling very much refreshed after that long nap, gave Delano a sleepy nod before standing up and stretching his numb legs. His father was bound to have returned by now given the sun's location in the sky. "There's a chance he's back. he said. "We can go check if you want."

[DGFone]

Trying not to look too eager, Delano nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let's do that." He looked behind him, only to notice that Muroki was no longer there. Instead, his brother already had returned to Umeme and his own two cubs. Delano hesitated, unsure if he should drag his brother away from his family or not. He thought that it might be better if Muroki came with him to talk to the king, but at the same time, he felt that he will be able to explain that his brother agreed with him if the king asked about it.

Choosing to not have Muroki go with them, Delano nodded at Kato. "Ok, let's go then." He could see Lina watching him from where he had left her and Akili, but he hoped that she understood what he was doing. She already knew what he wanted to talk about, but a part of Delano felt like she still might try to stop him from actually trying that.

When she didn't, he quickly went after Kato, who had already began to slowly make his way back to the caves. Catching up to the prince, Delano didn't say anything as they went inside, his mind focused on what he was going to say, as well as fighting off the nervousness he was beginning to feel.

[TheWhistlerify]

To Delano, it might have seemed as though he'd woken Kato up just a few moments ago, but the truth was that the prince had already been in the process of waking up on his own. Because of that, he'd seen the older lion return with his brother from their conversation. "So," he said quietly as they walked. "what did Muroki say?" It seemed very likely that Delano had told his sibling about what they were planning to do. He couldn't think of another reason for the two to go talk by themselves. But he could be mistaken.

[DGFone]

Delano stopped when Kato asked him the question, not having expected to have known that he had just talked with Muroki. After all, hadn't the prince just been asleep? He doubted that Kato actually heard what they had said, though - they had been too far away and talked too quietly for him to hear. Deciding that it might be better to say what they agreed on, Delano nodded and began to speak.

"Muroki agreed with the plan. I told him about it," he said, "but... he wants to go with me. Not even as part of the ambush team, but also as bait, so that he can stay close to me." As he said this, Delano once more felt glad that his brother wanted to go with him. "But if we will have the plan work, we still need your dad's support," Delano added quickly, "the two of us can't do it on our own... and we don't want to sit around either."

[TheWhistlerify]

At first, Kato wasn't entirely sure that having the two brothers both serve as bait would be just as effective. But, thinking about it, Delano's injuries made him quite incapable of doing anything that would threaten the lion they were after, so it shouldn't make a difference. However, he was surprised that Muroki had agreed to it. The prince had expected, especially in light of his brother's condition, that Muroki would refuse. Muroki did insist on sticking closely to Delano, though, so he clearly was bringing things into consideration.

Now, the fact that the two siblings couldn't carry out this plan on their own was pretty obvious. It was the main reason why they would be both be able to act as bait. Kato himself was also determined to help and they could always ask Hatari for assistance as well, but going in such small numbers could be very risky. It's not like they were going to ask Lina and Umeme to help fill in that gap, not to mention that having the king's help on the matter was their best option.

"I still don't know just how much dad will be against the idea of having the two of you put yourselves at such a high risk..." he said at some point. Knowing his father, it would probably be the older lion's initial reaction to the idea, even if the two brothers went together. The king had taught his son that they were the ones who needed to help protect their subjects, and this plan would be going entirely against that ideal. But the prince was already taking that into account.

[DGFone]

Delano let out a somewhat annoyed sigh. The last thing he wanted was for someone else to stop the plan dead in its tracks because they would be worried for him and Muroki. "I'll just tell your dad that we both know the risk," he replied, "we both- we both met this lion before. And Muroki especially... we know what we're getting ourselves into."

However, there was another reason why Delano wanted to get on with it all. He was afraid that if they waited too long, that his confidence in the plan might waver, and with it, his courage to actually carry it out. He himself won't allow Muroki to do it instead of him, but he was not going to risk going in only half hardheartedly - doing so would guarantee that he would cause a mistake and most likely pay for it with his life.

So before that, he wanted to get everything ready and set up. Sitting around and discussing what might or might not happen wasn't going do help in any way, and there was also the fact that the longer they didn't do anything, the more time the lion got to do his own thing instead.

So when Kato finally stopped at another cave, Delano waited rather impatiently as the prince went inside, not knowing that the future would hold.

[TheWhistlerify]

The thing was that Kato knew how his father wasn't really going to care that Delano and Muroki knew the risks. They could know more than him and they could be absolutely clueless, but the dangers would remain the same and, at the end of the day, subjects were the last ones who needed to be put at risk. But the prince doubted him explaining himself more thoroughly would cause the older male to change his mind, so he simply remained silent until they arrived at the designated cave before going inside.

It didn't take him very long, even if he didn't return all too quickly, but Kato eventually came back out with his father following closely behind. Having told the king that there was something Delano wanted to tell him before they emerged from the cave, there really wasn't anything else for him to say. After all, this wasn't his plan, so it was up for Muroki's brother to do the talking. Instead, he simply readied himself for the way he felt absolutely certain his father would react and to trying to convince him to support the plan regardless of that.