[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme had a feeling that she and Muroki were being watched, but she couldn't care less. Most of the time busy caring after the cubs, moments like these where she got to be with Muroki and do whatever they wanted (well, for the most part) were very rare. So even as she herd even Hatari begin to complain about her and Muroki, she simply ignored him.

Even with Marini trying to explain why Umeme and Muroki behaved the way they did, Umeme somehow doubted that the lion was able to understand. Not that she particularly minded. At least right now, she didn't even feel too bad about dumping the trouble makers onto that lion so that she can go ahead and nuzzle up against Muroki while he had to deal with the little guys. It was a nice change of pace for a bit.

---

Delano felt ashamed of himself. He knew that what Lina was saying was true. However, at the same time, he was still struggling to see Hatari as a changed lion. Even after Hatari helped him save Muroki, Delano still didn't trust the lion enough, always feeling like Hatari might turn on them at any moment. That he was simply playing them for fools and lowering their guard. Ge still often wondered if it was a smart idea to have introduced him to Akili.

But logically, he understood that Hatari had more than proven himself. That there were so many opportunities to hurt someone and get away with it, that if Hatari had harbored any feelings like that still, he would have acted. So why was Delano finding it so hard to accept it as such with his feelings?

"Lina... I just don't know what to say... I can't help how I feel." Didn't see that it was enough that he didn't act on his feelings and didn't attack Hatari? For some reason, he felt a little bit betrayed when she didn't seem to acknowledge this, instead only warning him not to do so. Still, he returned Lina's nuzzle, glad that she was still being patient with him about this, but also wondering for how long more she would tolerate him not accepting Hatari for who he was now.

[TheWhistlerify]

While Muroki and Umeme carried on doing... that, which involved a lot of giggling on the Umeme's part, Hatari did his best to ignore the lioness's girly reactions to whatever affectionate gesture her mate made and once again walked over to the cubs. As always, Ubawa was still going at his sister, who was having more than just a blast avoiding him, while Akili himself seemed to have grown tired of trying to keep up with his cousins. Heck, even Ubawa had a hard time keeping with Marini, and Akili was smaller!

Chuckling as the younger cub once again decided to go look at his tree, as well as noticing that the little fuzzball's parents were a bit far away and too caught up in their own conversation to notice what their son was about to do, Hatari walked over to Akili and stopped him by gently pinning his tail to the ground with his paw. "Didn't your mother tell you not to try to climb this tree?" he asked, looking down as the tiny lion stared up at him with that adorable face of his. "Twice?"

Akili pouted and tried to walk, which only resulted in him staying where he was. It was a bit of an amusing sight. "But I wanna!" he complained.

"It's dangerous. You're too little."

"Who're you calling little?" The little cub turned around with a frown that, while it did look annoyed, also had a playful hint to it. "I'm gonna be big and strong like dad one day!"

Hatari once again chuckled. It was kind of hard to believe that cubs eventually grew up to the size of a fully adult lion or lioness. The last time he'd seen a newborn was... a long time ago, but he knew that Akili had once been smaller. Every lion and lioness had. "I know." he said with a smile. "You told me so. You also told me that you'll have a cool mane like his." The way the little cub looked up to his father so much was cute, but that was the case with many male cubs out there.

"I will!" Noticing that the little one seemed to have forgotten about the tree for the time being, Hatari released his tail. Akili growled at him playfully before rejoining his cousins, looking quite glad that Hatari had made the right choice not to mess with someone as mighty as him.

*

Lina obviously knew that Delano had no control over the way he was feeling. Like she'd told him, there wasn't anything anyone could do to change his opinion in an instant, not even him. But that didn't alter the fact that his emotions could eventually lead to him getting injured. In fact, knowing that it could take such a long time for him to change his views, if at all, was what made the possibility of him being hurt all the more worrying.

"I know you can't help it." she said quietly and with a soft sigh as they nuzzled each other. "I'm not blaming you... I just want you to be safe..." She doubted her mate thought otherwise, but still. "I'm sure that, if we give this a little time, you'll be able to feel comfortable enough." Surely the more time went on without Hatari doing anything bad the better the situation would become, right? It only seemed to make sense. "I'm not saying you have to find it in you to forgive him, just... Just to be calm enough whenever we come here..."

[DGFone]

Ubawa was rather disappointed when Akili decided to try and climb a tree again. He still needed his help to get Marini! Right as he was about to remind his cousin that he wasn't supposed to be climbing trees, when Hatari beat him to it. It was probably better that way, as Ubawa was sure that Akili would not have listened to him, but he did to the older lion.

When Hatari let Akili go again, Ubawa motioned for his cousin to follow him. "Akili! Come on!"

---

Delano continued to nuzzle Lina, starting to feel better again. "I'll try, Lina," he said, "I just don't know why after all this time, I still can't relax around him. I was so certain that I would get used to it eventually, but I don't feel much different yet... I still think that he might do something to us... or to Akili." He shook his head slightly. "I don't even know why."

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini giggled to herself as she saw Akili rejoin their little game. Having 2 boys chasing her meant twice as much sillyness which meant twice as much more fun! Ubawa and their cousin were still too upset about her earlier stunt to notice that she was leading them over to her parents again. This time she remained quiet, though, so to not accidentally alert the two adults. She stopped right next to the lion and lioness, turning around towards the two male cubs and crouching in a way that made it seem like she was going to take them head on for a change.

But it was all a bluff. As soon as her playmates swallowed the bait and pounced, she instantly jumped aside and dashed off to safety. Ubawa and Akili both ended up headbutting Muroki's leg. Yes, out of him and Umeme, they had to bump into him. "Oi!" This time they weren't that quick to get away. Muroki picked both of them up with one paw, gave each of them a big, slurpy lick he knew they would hate and then let them go. They immediately scampered. "That's right! Come close to me when I'm busy and I'll shower you with love!"

Chuckling at how silly his threat was, he looked at his mate and grinned. "Didn't you hear?" he asked jokingly, once again pulling her close to him. "Well, I suppose I have to deliver on my threats or else the cubs won't take me seriously anymore... You are close and I am busy..." They may have been interrupted a 2nd time, but he doubted his son and nephew would bother them again any time soon after this... "Now, where were we?"

*

Lina would have said that she was also certain that Delano would get used to it all eventually, but there would be no point in repeating him as well as herself on the matter. "Well, he just talked to Akili for at least an entire minute by himself and nothing happened." True, it might have looked like she was caught up in talking to her mate, but she was keeping an eye on her cub the entire time. It was something she did regularly and not only when they went to Hatari. Even whenever she and Delano were busy cuddling up or something in the den while their son chased a moth in the back she still watched him.

[DGFone]

Umeme just rolled her eyes and giggled at her mate's antics. "So who's the cub around here?" she teased, referring how he too would start playing games and generally try to get things the way he wanted them to. "But yes, where were we before you decided to show the cubs just how much you love them..."

With the two of them being left alone once more, she returned to nuzzling Muroki, hoping that at least this time they will get a more proper time period to enjoy themselves together for without any further rude interruptions from anyone.

---

That's what Delano was really afraid of: he knew that all signs pointed towards that Hatari meant no harm. But he still wasn't able to convince himself of that fact. "I know Lina... I know he changed, and that... I know what you're trying to tell me..." He let out a frustrated sigh. "...But I can't get myself to feel it."

Pulling his head back, he looked at Lina. "I want there to be a way for me to be able to finally relax around him, and not... get jumpy. But I don't know what I can do. Waiting, well, it doesn't seem to work. I... I don't know what to do." He leaned his head back on Lina's, feeling frustrated at himself.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki purred softly as he and Umeme nuzzled each other. "They're tiny, so... Yeah." What made the cubs all the more adorable was that helplessness of theirs. Sure, he obviously never did something that might be considered as abuse, but it was fun to tease them every once in a while. Also, he wasn't really angry and, as such, didn't really punish Akili and Ubawa for their interruption because he knew how easy they could get carried away in their games. "I believe we were somewhere... here..." Smiling, he began to gently nibble on her neck.

*

Lina slowly nodded at what Delano was saying. She'd started to figure as much. It seemed as if the fact that her mate had to wait only made him more nervous because he felt as if waiting wasn't working and wasn't going to work. "Perhaps you could try talking to him again?" she suggested. "Just a normal conversation about, um... I dunno... something..." Maybe giving this whole interaction thing another go was the key. Delano wasn't going to ever feel comfortable if he kept avoiding something as simple and basic as that.

[DGFone]

Giggling as Muroki gently nibbled her, Umeme had to push his head away slightly when he started to tickle too much. "I'll admit, you really do know how to get the little guys to cooperate," she added, then let out a yelp when he touched a particularly sensitive area. "Stop! You're tickling me!"

Unfortunately for her, this only seemed to give Muroki an even better idea of what to do as he now started to actually try and tickle her on purpose. It took him no time at all to turn Umeme into a thrashing lump of fur as she tried to desperately get away from his paws, hardly able to get enough air due to her constant laughter.

---

Delano looked at Lina, confused. To him, it sounded like she had lost her mind. Him? Talking to Hatari? "But... talk about what?" It wasn't that he didn't have what to talk about as much as he was so hesitant to try talking that he wasn't exactly trying to come up with anything to talk. "Lina... you can't be serious! I can't talk to him!"

He stared at his mate with an expression of horror, as though she was asking him to go and do something much worse, such as trying to take over the king or something.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki couldn't stop himself from chuckling heartidly as he realized that he was actually tickling Umeme. He also couldn't stop his more cubbish and playful side from making him forcefully tickle his mate on purpose, and the way she squirmed in his grasp while laughing uncontrollably only encouraged him further. He was bigger than she was at the end of the day, not to mention that trying to escape while being tickled so viciously was even more difficult, so it was easy to keep the lioness at bay as he carried on with what he was doing.

At some point, though, the lion decided to give Umeme a little break and lay down next to her. He snuggled against her lovingly and held her close. "I love hearing you laugh..." he said softly, giving his mate an affectionate lick across her forehead to let her know that, for the time being, she was safe from any further tickling. Knowing her, she had her ways of getting back at him if she would want to anyway. If anything, that would make it much more fun.

*

Lina had to stop herself from chuckling at the absolutely horrified expression Delano was giving her. Talk about overreacting... "I dunno what you'll talk about..." she said with a soft sigh. "You can discuss politics for all I care. If you ask me, the reason you're still so uncomfortable is because you're not even trying." Surely her mate would never reach the sort of comfort zone he was aiming for if he kept avoiding trying to get there. After all, Akili and his cousins would begin to question the lack of interaction between his parents and Hatari at some point.

[DGFone]

Finally given a break from the tickling, Umeme took the opportunity to get some much needed air. "You might love the sound," she gasped out, "but I really don't enjoy creating it like this. Don't do this again!" In reply, Muroki again tickled Umeme, but this time stopping soon afterwards as she protested loudly, including trying to get his head with a paw, which he was luckily able to dodge. "I warned you!"

Rolling over, Umeme sat up off the ground. "Okay, so it was rather fun," she admitted, "but seriously: never again." She playfully glared at her mate, hoping that he would get the point that she really did not enjoy being tickled like that.

---

Delano's ears flattened on his head when Lina saw right through him. But then again, she was his mate. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked quietly, "I can't just approach him and say 'we need to talk', but I can't think of any other way of well... talking."

He was rather secretly hoping that either Lina would drop this matter entirely and let him free, or that she would at least be with him if she would insist that he go and talk with Hatari.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki, barely dodging Umeme's paw, let out a short laugh and sat up as well. "Okay, okay!" he said, unable to keep the grin off his face. "I'll never tickle you so forcefully a second time." He would obviously tickle her again at some point jn the future, but he'd make sure to allow her to be able to breath better, of course. Chuckling, he gave her a more apologetic lick, his ears flattening against his head as he looked at her with his big, puppy dog eyes. "I pwomise!"

*

Lina blinked a few times. "That's a brilliant idea!" she exclaimed. That was usually how regular lions started up conversations, at least. "You can come back here and do that tomorrow." It would be impossible for Delano to have a proper chat with Hatari with the cubs around, not to mention that the interaction would be more fruitful if her mate did it on his own. That way, he would see that there was nothing to worry about more effectively.

She felt quite certain that Hatari wouldn't kill Delano or even hurt him in case he ended up lashing out, so she wasn't too worried. The possibility of the former member of the underworld causing any damage was very unlikely even if it did exist. After all, Delano was Muroki's brother.