[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Staring at his son, Delano didn't know what to say. He was able to very clearly read the confusion on Akili's face. What can he say though? The cub won't be able to understand what was going on, and Delano simply didn't know what he could possibly say in order to calm the cub down. He himself was not calm either anyways.

Leaning down, he reached out for Akili, hesitating when the cub took a step back. Delano's lip quivered at seeing Akili again look afraid of him. Slowly reaching out with a paw, he finally was able to pull Akili closer to him, and embraced his son, hugging Akili close to his head. He didn't say anything as he held his son, shaking slightly from the emotions that were coursing through him.

Spoiler: show

Off to school now

[TheWhistlerify]

Unable to control himself, Akili took a nervous step backwards when his father leaned down towards him. Noticing Delano's lip quiver as he did that, it took him a few seconds to finally realize what this whole thing was about. So, when the lion then slowly reached out towards him with a paw, the cub held his ground and allowed himself to get pulled closer so that he was resting against his father's head. Feeling the adult quiver, he slowly leaned his head closer to his father's muzzle and licked it once with his little tongue.

[DGFone]

Delano was able to smile slightly at Akili's lick. He tightened his embrace slightly, but it was still very light because he wasn't going to risk hurting his son even for a little. "Akili... please... I don't want you to be afraid of me," he whispered to the cub, "I love you very much... so does Lina... and- I don't want to see you afraid of me."

While having Akili by his side did provide some comfort to Delano, the older lion was still overcome by emotion of seeing his son shy away from him - It wasn't a sight that he was simply able to forget. Lying down on the ground, he kept Akili by his side as he tried desperately to calm down.

[TheWhistlerify]

Delano's words confirmed his son's suspicions. Akili went ahead and fully leaned against his father's muzzle, purring as he felt his mother's paw run through his fur. Having Lina there was helping him overcome his own reservations, that was true, but the cub didn't seem to mind at all. "I love you too, dad." Noticing that his father was still far from calm, he licked his muzzle once more. "Will you stop crying now?" he asked quietly, the concern noticeable in his voice as he rubbed his little head against Delano's muzzle.

[DGFone]

Akili's last question caused Delano to let out a slight chuckle, despite how bad he was feeling. "Y-yeah, I can do that," he reassured his son, rubbing his eyes dry again. Sitting up, he allowed Akili to stay on the ground as he then nuzzled Lina.

Delano knew that it would still take him some time to get over the night's events, probably even a few days. But knowing that Akili also understood enough of what was hurting him, he felt that things could get better soon again.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina, unable to not smile at how things have turned out, happily returned Delano's nuzzle as he sat up beside her. Akili sure was quite smart for his age as far as she understood. It seemed as if the name her mate had suggested for him fit him well. Sure enough, it didn't take very long until an annoyed groan was heard from the little cub. "Mom!" he whined. "Dad! Stop it!"

"I don't take orders from you, young lion." said Lina with a sly smile, causing their son to shrink. He knew that look on her face all too well. It meant he had to watch what he was saying or else he'd be forced to endure a bath. His mother laughed a short laugh as he turned around and ran off, having decided that his break from goofing about was over. "That's quite a mouth he's developed. Now..." Chuckling, she nuzzled her mate once more. "Where were we?"

[DGFone]

Delano gladly returned Lina's nuzzle, but also stopped it fairly quickly. The past several days of hardly moving around, combined with that while much better, he still had yet to properly calm down, meant that he was feeling very restless. "Hey, Lina, how about we go on a walk?" he asked, "I feel like I really need to move around right now."

Quickly checking to confirm that his aunt and uncle were watching over Nyoka and Akili, Delano stood up slowly and then began to walk in a random direction, only stopping briefly to let Lina catch up to him.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina frowned when Delano put an end to their nuzzle, and was about to let him know just what she thought about his decision when, completely out of the blue. he suggested they went on a walk. The request surprised her a little, since she'd expected her mate to want to rest some more, but she liked the idea nonetheless. Smiling, the lioness stood up and quickly minimized the gap between her and the father of her cub, brushing against him as she arrived at his side. "See?" she asked, still smiling. "It looks like everything will be back to normal soon." It seemed as if Delano wasn't headed in any particular direction, but she didn't care. Some time alone with her mate that wouldn't be wasted on talking about their problems was what they both needed.

[DGFone]

While Delano did feel a lot better, he still wasn't so ready to be optimistic. "I don't know," he muttered, "well, I hope so, but... I don't know if I can just pretend that it will all be okay." On the other paw, how could he prepare for something like what had just happened? He wasn't awake, and as far as he was able to remember, he let go as soon as he was able to.

He didn't want to be so paranoid as to not let Akili sleep next to him in the den, but would he in fact need to? As much as Delano hated the thought and didn't want to really think about it, but Lina was right in that he could have very easily hurt or even killed his son. Is it a risk he was willing to take just for pride in thinking that he had the problem under control? Was it even a problem? So many questions that he didn't know, so as much as Delano wanted to feel like the worst was behind them, he simply wasn't able to.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina continued to smile regardless of Delano's lack of optimism. What had happened just a few minutes earlier made feel much better about the accident of the previous night. Akili was dealing with it all far better than she'd expected him to, not to mention that the fact that he understood how bad his father was feeling about it all was commendable. The fact that their son was so young made his mother feel even prouder of him.

"I'm not asking you to pretend as if everything wil be alright." she said softly, licking the lion across his muzzle.as they carried on walking. Lina knew more than well that, had she been in her mate's place, she'd have also found it more difficult to stay positive about the matter. Therefore, she knew that it was going to take him longer than it was taking her. "Just remember that your own distress is upsetting your son. But I can see that you're feeling better already." She felt as if Delano would be able to appear alright in front of Akili.