[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano allowed himself to relax when Lina declined to do anything. He didn't want to do anything that will require moving around a lot, but he was afraid that if the others would start, he would be forced into something he didn't want. But Lina declined, so he didn't have to worry about it.

Amuza nodded, understanding. "That's alright," he said, "but it does sound kind of weird. Talking... like grown ups." While it was true that they were young adults now, he never used the term 'grown ups' to apply to him and Shrike.

Shrike was fine with just talking, but he did find it odd that, now with Lina here, he did not really know what to say. Thinking fast of how to start a conversation, he then asked, "So Lina... how's Umeme doing? She's not here, so I assume she's with Delano's brother, right?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina was somewhat relieved when Amuza and Shrike didn't insist on doing something silly, thinking that they really were too old for that sorts of things and slightly fearing that Kasi's friends would not listen to her and carry on with whatever they had in mind just to get a good laugh out of it. "Umeme's fine." she said, smiling at how the two showed interest about her sister who they haven't seen for a really long time as well. "She and Muroki were still asleep when we came here with Kasi. We thought about waking them up and asking them to come with us to see you but we didn't want to disturb them or make them cancel whatever they might have planned for today."

[DGFone]

Shrike nodded. "Right, Muroki, that's his name." He was kind of disappointed to know that the only reason Muroki and Umeme did not come as well was that they slept in. Because he figured that if Lina came here, it would have been nice to see Umeme and Muroki as well. "What's he like?" he asked after a while, looking at Delano. "Is he like you, or...?"

Delano looked back at Shrike, not knowing what to say. "Well, we look similar enough. But other than that, we, uh..." His gaze fell on Lina, hoping that she can help him out. As Muroki's brother, he didn't exactly compare himself, so now that he was asked, he realized how much he was ill suited to answer that. But Lina on the other hand always told him how much she liked him over Muroki, so maybe now was a chance for Delano to learn exactly why - something he himself never asked before.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina didn't really know what to say when Delano passed Shrike's question to her. Pretty much every sane lioness wanted to find a lion who she not only took a liking in but also a lion who would be a good mate and father one day. Muroki filled those conditions and so did Delano. Why she liked Delano over him then she had no idea. She never compared the two brothers and it was something she never really looked into. "You guys are pretty much the same. I never really compared you two before." If there was anything she did notice was that Muroki wasn't short tempered while Delano could sometime end up raising his voice, even if he didn't mean to. She didn't want to bring up the few arguments they had though so she didn't say anything.

[DGFone]

Delano didn't really know what to make out of Lina's answer. He supposed that it was a good one, because he and Muroki did just about everything together for most of their lives, it would only be natural for them to act alike. "I guess you two might be able to meet him some day, and Umeme as well," Delano said, "just depends on when they will decide to come down here instead of what they usually plan to do."

"And what do they usually do?" Shrike asked, much to Delano's amusement and slight annoyance.

---

Umeme followed Muroki past the edge of the territory, something that she never did before. "I think that with you growing up alone with your family, you don't really see any reason in stopping where you are going just because you reached the edge of our lands," she said, "but for me, this is my first time going this far in this direction." She looked back behind her, but the lands looked exactly the same. "How far is it to that water hole where you found the lion from here?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina raised an eyebrow at Shrike's question. "I don't know." after a few moments of silence she caught onto the rather teasing tone he used and knew what he meant. "Jealous?" she asked with a grin. Sometimes it was fun to just give it back to someone when he / she made a stupid comment. Well, except for when it came to her mother, because that was just impossible.

---

Muroki thought about what Umeme said for a few moments before realizing that she was right. "Don't worry, there's really nothing to be worried about." he didn't really know whether she was nervous or not but he still felt like he should reassure her. "Beside, I'm here with you." He then looked around, trying to estimate how far away they were from the waterhole where he met Gakuru at. "I think we'll be there in another minute or two. You should be able to see it and the small cave next to it soon."

[DGFone]

Shrike grinned. "Nope," he replied cheerfully, "just wondering if Umeme also became as passive and boring as you did." If Lina will want to tease him, he will tease her right back. "I mean, what happened to the Lina that used to run around and tackle us all the time? I hope Umeme did not change to someone who sits around and talk all day too..."

Delano did not like how Amuza was teasing Lina. But as long as she didn't take it too offensively, he didn't see any reason why he should. "Implying that sitting around and talking is not what you're doing right now..." he muttered under his breath.

---

Umeme followed Muroki, and just as he said they will, soon afterwards she spotted the cave he talked about. A short while later as they came closer to it, she saw the water hole. While smaller and not as hidden as the one Delano and Lina found, this one was nice as well. Umeme continued to look around, hoping to find the lion that Muroki said lived here.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina doubted that Shrike was telling her the truth by saying that he wasn't even a little jealous, but it would be more fun to let him think that she believed him. "Well, that Lina grew up. I think we're a little old to run around and tackle each other." she didn't think that she had to say that now that she had a mate it would be even more appropriate, but since Shrike didn't seem to think about it her tone definitely implied it. Umeme, who even as a cub was not too excited about wrestling, would have probably resisted the idea more than Lina had.

---

As they neared the small cave Muroki looked around to see whether Gakuru was anywhere nearby. "Hatari?" he called out, using the name Gakuru used to hide his identity. After a few moments the lion in question walked outside of the cave, looking excited at first that his friend came to visit him again so quickly but stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Umeme. Muroki saw his expression and smile, "Don't worry. This is my mate, you can trust her." he looked at Umeme, "Umeme, this is Hatari."

Gakuru was never worried that Umeme might tell anyone that he was there, believing Muroki when he said that they could trust her. What he was worried about though was that Muroki's mate would turn out to recognize him by appearance. Her expression indicated that she did not, so Gakuru allowed himself to finally calm down. "Hello. I'm Hatari, it's nice to meet you."

[DGFone]

Shrike frowned playfully. "Too old? Or too lazy?" He was trying to goat Lina into tackling him, just to see how much she changed, and to see if she still had her fighting spirit was in her, but so far she was proving to not be willing to move.

Amuza knew what Shrike was trying to do, and tried to help him out. "Yeah, come on, Lina," he taunted, "how do we know that it's because you two grew up, and not because you're afraid that we will win for once?"

---

Umeme grinned at Hatari, making sure not to look hostile. "Hello. I'm Umeme," she said, "Muroki told me a little about you, and we came down to visit." She motioned around the waterhole. "Nice place you found here. She stood next to Muroki, wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to move closer to Hatari, who still looked quite nervous at seeing her around. But from what Muroki told her, she thought that he will take a long time to get used to visitors.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina knew that Shrike and Amuza were only trying to bait her into engaging one of them in a wrestling match, but she still believed that they were too old for those sorts of games already. She couldn't help but laugh as Amuza finished talking. "For once..." it was funny because it was true, and she was quite sure that there wouldn't be any difference now because since they stopped hanging out she learned to hunt and after that hunted many times, while Amuza and Shrike probably just sat around all day with Kasi.

---

Gakuru felt much more comfortable after he was sure that Umeme did not recognize him. While he didn't recognize her, he still felt like there was a slight chance that she would. "Oh, uh, thanks... Yeah, it's really great... Took me a long time to find this place." he would hate ending up being forced to leave, not only because the spot was great but also because he knew that the closest place to him that was appropriate to live at was more than a few days' walk through the desert.