[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

While Umeme did feel the sting of Lina's comment, she didn't feel like Kato's cheer was warranted. "At least we're old enough, princey," she teased, "besides, if I weren't all over Muroki, how would I be able to explain this?" She motioned at her belly. She might have felt embarrassed, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight!

"Anyways, speaking of Desta, where is she?" Umeme had already gotten used to the idea that Desta would be almost everywhere where Kato would be, and that the two of them were hardly ever separate from each other.

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato once again frowned at Umeme's comment. There wasn't anything he could say to retaliate to that, really. While Umeme was kind of fine with the teasing because she was determined to put up a fight, Muroki was still looking down at the ground, his face red with embarrassment. If anything, what his mate had just said only made him blush even harder. So, in a way, both Kato and Lina did have a small victory over the pair.

"Desta's out on a hunting lesson with her mother." explained the prince, welcoming the opportunity to change the subject before he ended up getting teased again. Being a lioness, his girlfriend obviously had to start learning how to hunt at her age. He too was getting lessons from his own mother, but not as many as a lioness would most likely go through. True, he wished he wouldn't have to wait until later in the day in order to spend some time with his love interest, but if Desta could put up with him being occupied because he had to learn things then so could he.

[DGFone]

When Delano heard that Desta was getting hunting lessons, he remembered how his and Muroki's parents had giving him and his brother lessons as well, but they didn't exactly cover much more than the basics. He wondered if it was because they were both males, or because their parents were killed before they got into the serious lessons of hunting. Either way, he was really glad for one thing. He turned his head towards Lina. "Good thing I have you, considering how much better of a hunter you are compared to me."

Sure, if he needed to, he could get something for himself, just as Muroki was able to catch that antelope, but they very much were worse off than Umeme and Lina individually.

Umeme was thinking of something else about hunting. "Oh, how much I miss the thrill of the chase," she muttered dreamily, "being stuck in a den certainly has its downsides..."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina couldn't help but chuckle at Delano's comment that she was a much better hunter compared to him. "I suppose I could always give you a few lessons..." she said with a flirtatious smile, nudging her mate's muzzle with her nose. She heard her sister's comment about missing the thrill of hunting and had to resist the urge to tell Umeme that she had other thrills to keep her occupied, but decided it would be a little too much. "Don't worry, you'll be hunting again once the cubs are born." she said reassuringly.

Kato meanwhile seemed like he was back to his curious state. "What is it that keeps you from hunting, exactly?" he asked, aounding intrigued. "I mean, there's still plenty of time until the cubs come around, isn't there?" Umeme's stomach wasn't that swollen yet, so it did strike him as odd that she couldn't hunt already. Of course, the prince didn't know that pregnancy had more effects other than that.

[DGFone]

Delano grinned at the thought of of getting hunting lessons from Lina. "Yeah, that will be quite nice." He doubted that he would ever get as good as Lina, but getting lessons from her would be a great way to spend time together as well as improving his hunting skills.

Umeme glanced at Muroki quickly before looking back at Kato. "Well, it'n not that I can't hunt," she told the prince, "if I really have to, I can get my own meals, but it's far better if I don't risk it. And then there are some other problems that mean that I would much rather let Muroki hunt for me than going out and helping him." She grinned at her mate. "Not that I always want to help him. At least Lina and Delano help a lot as well."

[TheWhistlerify]

Something made Lina feel like Delano hasn't really gotten her drift, but she decided not to bother much because of it. He really could use some hunting lessons, and she did need something to distract her a little. She couldn't help but hold back a snicker as Umeme decided to refer to things like nauseas or sudden waves of dizziness as 'other problems'. Thinking about it, Lina figured it would be funnier if Kato would only realize what she meant once it became relevant to him.

While Kato definitely did not know what Umeme's other problems could possibly be, he appeared to be satisfied with her answer. The part of not taking any unnecessary risks was obviously a good enough reason for any lioness to leave the hunting for her mate. "It sounds like everything's going really swimmingly for the two of you." the prince said with a smile.

Muroki, now that they were no longer shamelessly talking about, well, that thing he'd rather not talk to anybody but Umeme about, found it easier to join the conversation. "Yeah, everything's great." he said with a smile of his own. Of course, Kato has never seen Umeme when she was in a really bad mood yet. What sometimes worried Muroki was the way his uncle and father in law kept telling him that that would only get worse as time went on. The fact that his aunt was now very close to giving birth kind of made him believe his uncle.

[DGFone]

Looking at Lina, Delano got the feeling that something was going on that he wasn't aware of. However, she soon swapped her attention to Kato and the others, so he figured that it wasn't important. Left feeling confused, he walked next to her in silence.

Umeme grinned as well. "So far things are going quite well," she reassured the prince, "but things have only started, so we have yet to see how they will get. We still have the long climb ahead of us, and we didn't cross the ridge just yet." She rubbed her head on Muroki's. "But we can handle it."

[TheWhistlerify]

Despite Umeme telling him that she and Muroki had a long way ahead of them, Kato seemed to be very optimistic. "I'm sure you'll both be perfectly alright!" he said with a smile. "I mean, you're okay now, and you're really confident about this, so what could go wrong?"

Muroki, after rubbing his head on Umeme's, looked back at the prince with a smile. "Thanks, Kato." He kind of agreed with every word the younger lion had just said. He really was feeling very optimistic and it looked like Umeme was too. Or maybe it was thanks to how excited they both were. Perhaps both. And no matter what, Muroki told himself, they had each other. He was going to support his mate as much as he could, even if she'd threatened to rip his head off because she'd be really angry for some reason.

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled at Muroki and Kato. "You know, I feel like running for a bit." Sure, she would need to be careful, but she felt like she could still run for some time. Better run while she still can. "Catch me if you can!" Before the others can react, she tore off away from them to get the biggest lead she could before they woke up and chased after her.

Delano suddenly found himself alone as the others began to run. He blinked in surprise before leaping forward to get some speed up. "Hey, what's going on?" He ran after the group, and caught up to Lina before slowing down a little so that he can run next to her. "Don't leave me like that," he complained, but was grinning to show her that he didn't mind the chase.

[TheWhistlerify]

Even though Umeme clearly warned them that she was about to break into a run, both Muroki and Kato ended up falling behind quite a bit before actually realizing what had happened. Kato laughed and followed, while Muroki quietly grinned and took off after his mate as well. "Wait for us!" said Kato as he and Muroki chased after her, slowly closing the gap because Umeme was being careful and not running too fast.

Lina also took off after her sister, becoming quite amused upon finding out that it had taken Delano an especially long time to start giving chase as well. Silly him... She smiled as he arrived by her side, giving him a quick lick across his muzzle before giggling and increasing her speed, engaging him in a chase of their own.