[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme felt somewhat bad for confusing Muroki so much, so she leaned over and nuzzled him. "Come on now, do you really think I would do that?" A part of her was quite pleased at how well she was able to pull the prank off, but she was also a bit worried that she pulled it off too well. "You know I would never do something like that to you." She rubbed her head against his until he started purring in contentment.

She leaned back soon after, smiling at him. "Of course I would let you raise our cubs together with me. What kind of parents would we be if we didn't raise them together?"

---

Mentally, Delano winced at how excited Kato was. Of course, the didn't know what was going on, but it would still have been nice if Kato did not seem so... happy about it. "Well, Kato... the truth is... I need your help." Delano was beginning to feel his nerves failing, and he wanted nothing more than to run off. But he already started, and he also knew that if he didn't go through with this, he would be kicking himself soon afterwards anyways. "It's related to what happened yesterday..."

As soon as he mentioned this, Kato instantly looked afraid, which Delano found somewhat amusing for some reason. "No! It's not like that! Well, kinda... I don't know how much you know about the whole deal, but it started when I was locked up..." Quickly and quietly, Delano forced himself to explain to the prince about his nightmares. Often, he found himself needing to force himself to continue, but now, more than anything, it was too late to stop. Finally, he got to the end. "... and after yesterday, they... just came back. I don't know what to do, and I was wondering..." Delano looked at the prince, pleading silently that Kato would know something. "I was wondering if you know how to... to make them stop. Make the nightmares go away."

Telling the story felt like it took a lot of energy out of him, and Delano found himself feeling very tired after that. He stared at the ground, unable to look at Kato while he waited for the younger lion to say something.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki had to admit; he did not think Umeme would ever do something like that to him. That was why he'd found her fake seriousness so confusing just a minute earlier. "Bad ones, I suppose..." he said sheepishly, his purring fading away as Umeme leaned back. The important thing was that she hadn't really meant it, so he didn't bother hanging on to his previous state of annoyance. "Still, you pulled that off well. I'll give you that." he added with a chuckle, leaning over and nuzzlig her again. Perhaps he would find a way to get back at her later.

~~~~~~~~

Narurally, Kato became somewhat discouraged when Delano mentioned the events of the previous day. But, as he listened to what the older lion had to say, he felt his discomfort slowly go away as it was replaced by the desire to somehow help Delano. The prince didn't know why Delano had come to him out of all lions, but that wasn't important. "Dreaming can be fun, you know." he said with a smile.

"It's almost like you have your own little world and you can do anything you want in it. I always like to turn any bad dream into a good one by imagining something good into it..." He fell silent, shyly rubbing the back of his head with a paw. "That sounded really immature just now, huh?" Kato doubted that what he had just said to Delano would be of any use to the older male, but he couldn't think of anything else rhat might help.

Spoiler: show

I should be able to post again before leaving.

[DGFone]

Umeme was glad that Muroki realized that it was all a joke, and was able to let go of his annoyance at her. "I'll try not to pull it off so well next time if you want," she added, but then she chuckled. "However, seeing how seriously you took it, now it really is quite funny. You so completely fell for it!" She playfully nudged her mate. "How did you not possibly get that I was joking, huh? It's just like old times again! Not everything I say with a straight face I actually mean."

---

Delano could only stare at Kato in disbelief. After all the effort of explaining what was wrong... after having to swallow his pride in order to spill his fears to this cub, and that was his response? He knew Kato was younger, but he never imagined that the prince would be so sheltered as to only be able to come up with that! Letting out a low, but very frustrated, growl, Delano stormed out of the cave, not even stopping when he moved past Lina. He needed to find a place that was far away from here, and somewhere where he can try and get some rest.

As for Kato... Delano didn't know what he wanted to do with the prince, but right now, all he knew was that he was extremely angry, and the less he saw of Kato, the better it would be for both of them.

[TheWhistlerify]

Spoiler: show

Lol, poor Kato. There appears to be something broken with our canon thingy. I'm gonna be up for a long time...

Muroki chuckled as Umeme continued laughing at his predicament by stating that he should see these jokes coming by now. He knew that. "You know, I saw your parents the other day," he said as he got an idea. It was a very stupid one, but he didn't care. "I asked them when they thought the stork would finally visit us, but they just looked at me as if I was an idiot." he continued with a completely innocent look on his face. "And they've been avoiding me ever since."

~~~~~~~

Kato knew that what he had said couldn't possibly be of any use to Delano, but he didn't expect that sort of reaction. After all, he'd only tried to help. After a few moments of simply sitting there, he noticed Lina had come up to him with a concerned look on her face. "I'm fine..." he said with a somewhat forced smile. "But seriously, what did he expect? Some magical mystery cure?"

Lina offered him a smile, made some apologetic comment about how Delano hadn't meant to be so rude, and then headed outside. She couldn't see Delano anywhere, and since she hadn't a clue as to where he had gone, decided there was nothing else she could do but go back inside and wait for him to calm down and return on his own.

[DGFone]

Spoiler: show

Well then. Time for me to derail the RP even further...

Umeme realized right away what Muroki was getting at. "Now did you really see them?" She had a hard time believing that, because she knew her parents would say something to her if Muroki would ask such a question. Still, she decided to play along. "Well I don't know when that bird will visit us. They tend to behave very poorly when it comes down timing."She grinned at Muroki. "We'll just have to wait and see now, won't we?"

She motioned at Muroki's shoulder. "But if I were the stork, I would wait until you can provide for your family first."

---

Delano didn't know where he was going. Along with feeling terrible at having his hopes of finally ending his nightmares, he was starting to feel mad at himself as well, knowing that the chances of Kato helping him were always low, and that he shouldn't have reacted so negatively. He stopped walking, trying to clear his head. No doubt Lina would be mad at him as well when he would get back. Could the day possibly get any worse?

Some far off motion caught his eye, and he turned to see a lone lion wandering about. He was about to dismiss it as just another resident when he took a second look. And identified the lion. Unintentionally, he let out a small whimper of fear. "No..." Crouching low to remain hidden, he watched Sanders going somewhere.

He thought of following the lion, but realized that, since Lina did not catch up to him already, that most likely no one knows where he is. If he got himself into trouble, there would be no one to help him. Crawling backwards, he moved to where Sanders was out of sight before finding his path back, and broke into a run. He had to tell the king that Sanders was in the area. Lions were in danger.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki frowned. It was clear right from the very beginning that Umeme wasn't falling for his rather miserable and pitiful attempt. What was he thinking? Sure, he could be flighty and gave Umeme plenty of justified reasons to call him a doofus, but the stork? Really? Surely no lion or lioness his age still believed in that. "That was a bad attempt..." he admitted. "If I were to really ask your mother about the stork, I'd never hear the end of it." Nothing could be more embarrassing than having your mother in law give you that kind of talk.

"Well I'm sure I'll be perfectly okay soon." he added, seeing how he was already in a much better condition. He had to admit, though, that he didn't mind that kind of teasing from her. "Then we'll see." Unable to help himself, he nudged her shoulder with his own (his good one, of course), smiling at her as he did.

Spoiler: show

Hmm, where could you be going with this? Sometimes I forget that Sanders is yours to control <_>

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled back at Muroki. "Yes, it was a very, very, very bad attempt," she told him, followed by a quick lick across his cheek. "But a very cute one too." Sometimes, she liked this about Muroki. Their endless back and forth teasing or joking was sometimes when they would get very important messages across, and today was no exception. When they would return to their den, she would want to talk to him more about their plans of stating a family once he would get back on all four feet.

They remained leaning against one another for a very long time. Umeme was thinking for most of it that perhaps they should indeed go back home when all of the sudden Delano came running back in the cave. She frowned, not remembering him ever leaving, but what caught her attention was the frantic expression on his face as though he had just seen something horrible. What was going on? She was about to ask but Delano had already ran into one of the smaller adjacent caves.

---

Delano ran past Muroki and Umeme, barely even realizing that he found his way back. He immediately ran into the last place where he saw the queen, but only saw Kato and Lina, and not the queen not the king. Before either one of them could ask him what was wrong, he was already out and looking at another place, almost running head first into the queen herself.

She looked at him with a mixture of amusement as well as confusion. "It- It's Sanders! I saw him not too far from here!" He hoped that the queen knew who Sanders was, and that he wouldn't need to explain what was wrong. Not that he waited for the queen to react, for he already ran straight back to Lina. "Lina? Where are you? Lina! Are you alright?" He grabbed her and pulled her into a deep hug, both needing the comfort as well as in order to check and make sure that she was indeed fine.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki chuckled when Umeme called his attempt cute, purring as she licked his cheek. He was about to say something else but eventually didn't, not finding it necessary as the two of them remained sitting close to one another, silently enjoying each other's company. His somewhat sappy thoughts about their future was interrupted when his brother came dashing back into the cave, looking like he'd seen a ghost. "When exactly did he leave?" asked Muroki as his brother vanished without a trace.

Lina and Kato were also surprised to see Delano run directly past them. Lina became especially confused at that, seeing how it usually took him much longer to calm down. Still somewhat upset by Delano's reaction to his attempt to somehow help him, Kato didn't look too comfortable when the older lion suddenly came back. He couldn't help it, but being growled at by a male that was almost twice as large as he was after almost being murdered by 2 lions wasn't very pleasant. "Of course I'm alright." said Lina, sounding confused as he almost choked her to death. "But are you? You don't seem too good..." As she said that the queen dashed past them with 2 other lionesses at her side while saying something about calling the guards to them.

[DGFone]

Umeme didn't like how Delano looked, which was only reinforced when the queen ran out, escorted by a small group of other lionesses. "What's going on?" She asked, but not receiving an answer. Nudging Muroki towards the section where Delano ran into, the two of them went inside to find out what was going on.

There, Umeme found Delano clinging onto Lina like his life depended on it. She frowned in confusion and concern. Noticing Kato next to an opposing wall, she saw that the prince looked rather uncomfortable to be there if not even a little scared. "Kato, what's going on?"

---

Delano shook slightly as he held on to Lina. "I saw him..." he managed to mumble out. "Sanders... I saw him. He was so close..." The last time he had seen Sanders, he was still undercover, and it was from a distance. This time, Sanders was much closer, and Delano was not prepared. But what frightened him the most was that it wasn't far away anymore, but in their own home. "Lina, I don't know if we can, but at least for tonight... I want you to remain here, where it is safe." Still clinging onto her, he turned towards Muroki and Umeme. "I want you two to stay here as well... We can't go home now. It's not safe." With Sanders this close, he didn't know if their den was already being watched by someone waiting to ambush them when they would come back.

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato simply shrugged his shoulders, letting Umeme know that he hadn't a clue. Lina, for a moment, thought that Delano had simply had another nightmare, but Delano looked way too scared. Just as she was about to ask him something, and mainly protest to him askng all of them to stay there while he went who knew where, the queen ran inside. "Mom, what's going on?" asked Kato, looking somewhat concerned. He remembered Sanders's name from when Umeme had explained everything to his father.

"Don't worry, dear," said the queen with as encouraging a smile as she could muster. "I'm leaving many guards here by he den, you'll be perfectly safe." She then looked at Delano. "I'm going to need you to show me and my searching party where exactly it was that you saw him."

"Delano, are you sure about this?" asked Muroki, hoping that Delano had somehow imagined everything. And did Delano really think that his brother would let him go on his own? "No way, I'm coming with you."

"The only reason your brother is coming," said Kato's mother, "is because he knows where to go." She wasn't too fond of the idea of letting her subjecs walk straight into danger. "Once we have Sanders's trail you will return here at once." She looked at Delano with an impatient expression, not in the mood to hear any protesting from any of them. "Is that understood?"

Spoiler: show

Cya!