[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano frowned at Lina's remark. He shuffled over to her and sat himself down next to her. "We might not be living up to it now, but I'm sure we will eventually..." He didn't like the sound of living with Lina, and not doing anything excited. Amuza and Shrike might enjoy it, but he didn't, and it sounded like Lina wasn't very excited about such a prospect as well. If he was thinking properly, he wouldn't have to worry about Lina forcing a dull life on him, or him forcing one on her.

---

Umeme nodded slightly, although she also wished that Muroki would say something that can change the topic of their conversation. She would do so herself, but now she was worried that whatever she will say, it will cause Hatari to grow worried enough to force them to leave, something she didn't want to drive their new friend to. Carefully, she nudged Muroki slightly, giving him a quick glance that told him that she wanted him to say something as well while Hatari wasn't looking.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled slightly as Delano sat down beside her. "What I'm saying is that nothing too interesting ever happens around here even if we don't spend most of our time just hanging around." She found her life less boring than Amuza's or Shrike's, but it's not like she was living a life that was full of excitement. Then again perhaps a calm life is the best option.

---

Noticing Umeme's glance, Muroki went ahead and said "Yeah, there isn't anything for you to be worried about. Everybody's relieved that everything's over that no one will be wondering around outside the borders too much any time soon." Gakuru would have asked what he was talking about but he knew more than well what he was talking about. Instead he gave a nod of approval which was accompanied by an uninterested expression.

[DGFone]

Delano grinned. "Well we don't have to spend our lives 'just hanging out', unlike these two over here..." He ignored the glares he got from Amuza and Shrike, "we can always do other things, exciting things together, with or without them." He was already beginning to doubt that he and Lina would return here tomorrow. Perhaps they might, but he doubted that such visits would be on a regular basis.

---

Deciding that Muroki wasn't going to of much help, Umeme tried to change the subject again. "So, uh, would you like to show us around your home? We haven't been here before and are quite curious as to whey you chose to live near this waterhole." Even though she already saw somewhat the appeal of living here, even their den was better in her opinion than this place in her opinion. Waterholes offered too much attention to themselves, as life of all forms would come to them for a drink, and Umeme was never excited to be woken up by thirsty elephants.

[TheWhistlerify]

When Lina explained herself to Delano earlier she made sure not to mention the whole 'just hanging around' thing in a way that might upset Amuza and Shrike, so when the two glared at Delano she shot them a short and apologetic look. She didn't have a problem with the way they were living their lives as long as they were happy about it. "We could." she said, looking back at him. If he had any idea for something new they could do she would be more than happy to hear about it.

---

Gakuru was slightly surprised at Umeme's request to be shown around, seeing that there wasn't much to see to being with. "Well, there's the waterhole of course, the den which is rather small..." he paused, "There's this tree," he pointed at the tree Muroki found him sleeping on when they first met. "oh, and there are some bushes." There was a short pause. "I'm not complaining, but this is the only place I found that has water." It's not like he had a variety of choices.

[DGFone]

Delano smiled slightly when Lina gave him the apologetic look in response to the glares he got. "I have some ideas already," it was almost as if he could read her mind, but it was because of something he wanted to do for quite some time now, "I can tell you all about it when we head back home today." Judging by the sun, they still had a good portion of the day to do what they wanted here before they will need to leave.

---

Umeme let out a small laugh. "Where we live, it's not right next to a waterhole, so I think you have a rather nice place," she motioned around the area, "what I meant was would you mind showing us the area around here? Seeing as you live here, I imagine you're quite familiar with the lands here." If he will show them around, she hoped that they will be able to talk more freely and with less of the nervousness that they had now.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina looked at Delano for a moment, wondering what it was that he had in mind. However there was no telling just by looking at him, and it seemed as if she would have to wait until later in order to find out. "Alright." she said simply before once again becoming silent. The same feeling of awkwardness from before took over her again as she realized that once again there was nothing to talk about to Kasi or his friends. Kasi had been silent the entire time, and she didn't know whether he was enjoying watching the wierd and even unnatural interaction or whether he was silently regretting having brought her and Delano to see his friends to begin with.

---

Gakuru thought for a moment. "I guess I could show you around, but there won't really be much for you to see. There's this area," he pointed towards where the pride he was hiding from lived, "I've taken some time to carefully figure out where the border is, which I try to never cross, but you already know that... Uh... I guess I can show you where I hunt. It's not within the border and if I'm able to find anything to hunt there then there's no need to cross the border. Although I do have to be a little careful if a patrol comes wandering around..."

[DGFone]

Delano grinned back at Lina. "I think you'll like what I have in mind," he added quickly, "it's going to be much better than um..." he eyed the others, hoping that only Lina will hear him. "...better than this." He fell silent, not knowing what else to say. While he was eager to tell Lina of his plans, he wanted to leave Kasi and his friends first.

Looking at his cousin, Delano saw that Kasi was already busy talking with his friends, the three of them laughing at some joke. Delano frowned, feeling like it will be rude to interrupt them, or to try and join in. "You know," he looked at Lina, "it might be a good idea if we just go." He pointed with his head away from the tree they were next to. "Come on!" He started to grin again, realizing that the two of them did not have to stay here unless they wanted to.

---

Umeme did find it odd that Hatari would try so hard to stay beyond the border. After all, what did he have to fear? But clearly, he had his reasons for choosing not to cross it, so she refrained from suggesting to hunt inside the border, where the patrols were generally rarer. "Well, maybe the area is not very large, but it's still quite a nice place." Hatari's mention of patrols did strike her interest in another way. "So what do you do when a patrol comes in this area?" She wasn't sure if patrols did go here, but this place was near the border, so it wasn't unlikely to happen.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina looked at Kasi and his friends again when Delano mentioned that it might be a better idea to just go ahead and leave, seeing that the three were already rather into a conversation. Becoming even more curious about what Delano had in mind now that the opportunity to leave presented itself, she looked back at him and smiled. "Alright, let's go." from the looks of it, Kasi and his friends wouldn't mind if they left. They might raise an eyebrow upon noticing the sudden disappearance, but other than that she doubted there would be any further attention paid to the fact that they were gone.

---

Gakuru fell silent for a moment. "Well, if a patrol comes by I just hide in the grass and remain silent. They can see me from the border if I don't take cover but they never don't ever go anywhere further than the border itself so there's nothing more to it than just staying low. Kind of like when hunting I guess." So far it hasn't happened that a patrol left the pride's territory and came close to where he lived, and he hoped that it would remain that way.

[DGFone]

Delano smiled and got up, walking away from Kasi's group with Lina. He waited for some time before explaining what he wanted to do. "So Lina, I was thinking... I think that we should-" But before he can actually say what he was thinking, he got interrupted by Kasi, who had just ran over to them.

When Kasi had noticed Delano and Lina walking off, he felt like he should at least say something to them before they left. So before they walked away too far, he got up and chased after them. "Hey! Delano, Lina!" He stopped next to them. "So you're going now?" They both nodded. "Alright, well... do you have any plans of doing this again? I mean, I know it was kind of awkward, but I'm sure it'll get better over time."

Delano looked at Lina briefly. Spending more time with Kasi and his crew was not what he had in mind. But at the same time, he didn't want to upset his cousin. "Well, it's not what I wanted to do tomorrow, but I think Lina and I will try this again some time in the future. Just that you know... now that I can walk properly again and all that, there are some things I would like to do with her. But afterwards, I think we can try spending a day or two with you again." Kasi seemed to agree with this and gave them a playful nudge before telling them a goodbye and running back to his friends.

Turning back to Lina, Delano was glad to finally tell her of his plans. "So I what I wanted to do is that I would like to be able to run very well again. So I was thinking... what if the two of us would spend the day together. Running around and stuff. Perhaps invite Muroki and Umeme along." He grinned. "I wouldn't mind being able to outrun everything in the savanna again, and I'm sure you wouldn't mind being able to do that while hunting. So what do you think?"

---

Umeme looked at where she thought the border might be. Hatari was right, as long as the patrol didn't actually leave beyond it, the chances of being spotted if she was hiding were very low. "So you really did find a great place to be!" She prodded Hatari with a paw. "Devilish idea! Profiting off our patrols, without actually having to be part of them. That's a good one!" It was an added bonus of the patrols: hostile lions quickly learned to avoid the border, which meant that even this place was quite well protected, solely due to how close it was.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled, "I think it will take more than one day in order for you to get back into shape like you used to be before all that mess happened. But I like the idea, and you have to start from somewhere, so why not?"

---

It took Gakuru a few moments of thinking before he realized what Umeme meant by what she had said. "Oh, yeah, that's true. I never really thought about it like that." It's not like he had a variety of places to live at to choose from, and if he did have another option he would have probably taken the place as far away from the border as possible. But Umeme was right, he really did not see any rogues during his time of living there so far, in fact Muroki and Umeme were the first lions he had talked to in months.