[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Moto grinned back at his mate. "Hey, I did not say that they are bad," he nudged her playfully, "besides, you know how proud it makes me feel to know how good ou- my daughters are." He was about to say 'our', but stopped himself, making sure to give himself all the credit for Umeme and Lina, despite being the one who only taught them the basics about hunting.

---

Delano frowned when Lina moved away from him, but soon realized why. "Oh, yeah, good idea." With Lina with him, he forgot that he too was hungry, but now that she brought his mind back to it, he also dug into the meat.

Umeme looked up at Muroki and allowed him to finish cleaning her off. "I would have gotten to those places you know," she said, "but thanks anyways." It felt good to have him clean her, better than if she was doing it herself. "Did you go anywhere interesting?" she asked, wanting to learn more about how Muroki spent a day alone.

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili raised an eyebrow at her mate in a 'oh no you did not just say that' kind of way. "Really?" she knew that he was just kidding with her but decided to play along. Moto helped her teach Lina and Umeme how to hunt up to the point where it came to actual practice because his mane made him stand out. "Well, I carried them for more than 3 months, I gave birth to them, which wasn't easy, and I nursed them until they could eat on their own." she looked at him with a grin, "Remind me what exactly you did?"

---

As they are Lina became curious abut how Delano had spent the day without her. "So what did you do while I wasn't here?" she asked, hoping that Delano didn't end up doing nothing and wasting his entire day just because she wasn't there to spend it with him like she usually was.

Muroki chuckled after finishing cleaning what Umeme had missed. He knew that he would have gotten it herself at some point but it didn't really matter. "Not really, just wandered around looking to see whether there was anything I've missed until now." he paused for a moment, "There wasn't much though, I was hoping to find spots like the waterhole Lina and Delano stumbled across."

[DGFone]

Moto flashed a grin at Fadhili, enjoying their little game. "Well... I taught them stuff," he replied, "like how to hunt. If it wasn't for me, they would still be relying on you." It was only half a lie. He did teach Lina and Umeme the basics of hunting, and he was using that as the basis for his argument.

---

Delano motioned at Kasi, who wasn't aware of what he and Lina were talking about. "Spent the day with Kasi, and two of his friends," Delano replied, "it was rather fun, but it would have been better if you were there as well." He looked at her. "I was wanting to spend tomorrow with you," suggested, "but if you want, we can hang out together again, but with you as well."

Umeme leaned back slightly now that Muroki finished cleaning her off. "So... did you find anything like it?" she asked, noting that with the tone he used, Muroki sounded like there was something he found. After all, he would not have mentioned it if he came up empty.

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili grinned back at her mate, "Or maybe I would have taught them myself." even though it was clear who was winning the argument so far, it was still fun. "Still, don't feel too bad... There was that one thing I couldn't have done without you. What was it exactly?" she licked his cheek once before noticing that they had arrived by the dead zebra. Delano and Lina were busy in their own conversation so Fadhili decided not to interrupt them. "Come on, let's eat."

Lina was quiet for a moment, "With Amuza and Shrike?" she and Umeme used to spend time with Kasi and his friends when they were little. It was quite a while since they really talked to any of Kasi's friends. The idea of seeing them again sounded nice, and with Delano there it was going to be even better. Well, except for Kasi's third friend who got murdered all this time ago. She had to admit that Kasi dealt with the murder and what happened to his mother shortly afterwards quite well. "Sounds like a nice idea."

Muroki shook his head, "Not really, it wasn't as better." he didn't want to lie to her, even about something of little importance as a lion living outside of their pride who wasn't looking for trouble. "Found this small waterhole and den when I went outside the border, but there's a lion living there already. We talked a little and he's nice, but I kind of promised him I wouldn't tell anyone so to not end up getting him into trouble. Still, I don't want to keep secrets from you. I can trust you to not say anything to anybody else right?"

[DGFone]

Moto grunted, pretending to be insulted by Fadhili's comments how he was only good for one thing. "Without me, you wouldn't even be here," he replied smugly, before reaching down and beginning to eat, signaling that the conversation was 'over'.

Delano nodded, glad to hear that Lina liked his idea. "Yeah, those two. Quite a rowdy bunch, I would say..." He was still debating whether or not to tell her about the race they forced him into. As he though about it, a moment of slight panic swept over him as he realized that all the careful conservation of energy he did today could easily be all for nothing if he and Lina will go with Kasi tomorrow as well. At least Amuza and Shrike will get a good laugh out of it.

Umeme looked back to where she could just barely see Delano and Lina. "Not even them?" she asked, at which Muroki nodded, "Yeah, I can keep a secret." She turned back to Muroki. "So what are you planning to do? Want to take me there, or do you think it will be better to leave the lion alone?" Lions were not solitary animals, and she didn't know how much that lion Muroki found enjoyed being all alone.

[TheWhistlerify]

Despite the fact Moto began to eat, Fadhili went ahead and said, "But I was born here." she chuckled, "Beside, you know what I meant." only after saying that she agreed to stop their fake little argument and began to eat herself.

Lina chuckled at Delano's comment about Amuza and Shrike being a rowdy bunch. Having spent many days of her cubhood with them she knew just how they could be. "Well, they were worse as cubs." she said in a joking manner. It was going to be quite interesting to spend some time with them again, especially seeing whether Amuza and Shrike were still as immature as they used to be or whether they had somewhat grown more mature.

Muroki didn't feel too comfortable about having more than two lions knowing a secret, because then it wasn't really a secret. "I prefer not to tell them... I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone and I don't want to risk having somebody who shouldn't know find out." he paused for a moment, thinking about what Umeme asked him, "Well we talked and got along quite well. I kind of promised him I'd come back sometime soon because he's quite lonely there. I tried convincing him to come here with me because if he's with me they might let him in but he doesn't want to take any risks."

[DGFone]

Moto grinned at Fadhili as he ate. He enjoyed having such childish arguments that never ended, but simply stopped. It was fun poking fun of his mate, and to have her poke fun at him back.

Delano put on a playful frown. "Even worse? They were bad enough today." Now he felt glad that he grew up with Muroki, and didn't have to deal with other cubs and their games, which could get quite violent and rough. "Well, I guess we can find out tomorrow," he added after a while, "and then you can really tell me how they compare to before."

Umeme found it odd that a lion would willingly live alone outside the kingdom's protection. "Alright, I won't tell," she said, "but if you are going to go back to him... what if I go with you?" she asked, "unless he won't want me to know as well, but how bad can it be? What is he so afraid of here?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina chuckled at the frown Delano put on, "Seeing as you look quite clean and... whole... yes, they were worse as cubs. They were the ultimate prankster." but since Delano seemed quite alright, she figured that no pranks of any sort really occurred. Then again maybe they went easy on him because he had just recovered from a broken leg, so she wasn't sure.

Muroki thought for a moment, "He might be a little nervous to suddenly see you there, but he'll calm down once he realizes you're with me." he thought for a moment about Umeme's question. It really was odd for a lion to want to live on his own. "Well he told me that he made attempts to join prides before, but it didn't work out well. After a lot of time he found the place he lives at now, which is not in our territory, so he doesn't want to risk losing that as well."

[DGFone]

Delano sighed and shook his head. "That makes me glad that I wasn't around to suffer their worst," he said, grinning, "they were bad enough today." He tried to think of what kind of pranks they might have pulled on him if they were like Lina said, but his mind came up empty.

Umeme found it hard to imagine why a lion would willingly want to live alone. "Whatever works, I guess," she muttered, "just that you would think, living all alone... It can get rather lonely, won't it? No one to talk to, always having to do everything yourself. Hunting will be had... It will be better for him to move somewhere where there are others." Now that Muroki mentioned it, she wanted to meet this lion, and see why he would want to live separate from anyone else.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina became curious when Delano said that Amuza and Shrike were bad enough today. "Really?" she asked, her tone showing that she was curious. "What did they do?" whatever it is that they did, she doubted that it was even half as bad as anything they used to do when they were younger.

Muroki nodded at what Umeme said, "I agree with you, and I know he doesn't enjoy living on his own. But after failing to join a pride a few time and finding a place that was not occupied by one he doesn't want to risk it. If he gets rejected he might end up losing the place he has as well if they begin patrolling outside the borders..." he paused for a moment. "I tried convincing him to come with me, but he hesitates. I don't know, maybe after getting rejected so many times he's right... I have a feeling that when he said 'rejected' he didn't mean it in a very pleasant way."