Private: DGFone and VitanisMate

[VitanisMate]

Nzuri looked up at Delano and was not exactly sure how to answer him at first. She gave him a depressed look and then talked as pleasant to him as possible, so as not to make him even more scared of her, "Delano, let me tell you truthfully. Those two males are from my pride and underlings from my father so obviously he knows where to look for and find me." She looked at him through truthful eyes, asking for mercy and pity from her eyes also. Truth be told, all she said was a huge lie: she did not know those males at all; but she would use this story to her advantage to make Delano feel pity for her. "Delano I am sorry I have put you in this much danger."

As she said this, she pointed to them and said, "They and my father abused me so that is why I got carried away with killing them. You don't know what it is like to go through that experience Delano and I hope you never do." She paused and said to him, "I am an open book Delano you can ask me any question and I will happily answer it."

As she said all of this she was hoping in her mind that what she said was absolutely perfect. Truth be told, she needed this male for her own devices in killing her father and she cursed the other two males on the ground dead for destroying any remaining trust that she had built with Delano thus far. As he gave her a critical look Nzuri added, "Are you going to be like my father and those two and abuse me too Delano?"

[DGFone]

Truth be told, Delano was really having a hard time believing Nzuri, no matter how much or how little he wanted to. "No," he replied in answer to her question, "I'm not like that..." He trailed off, still thinking hard. "But that's not the point!" he burst out loud, "the point is... even if you ran away, why would they be so persistent in their search?" He continued to pace around, struggling to organize his thoughts into any meaningful manner. The fact that he killed another lion just now, even if in self defense, still weighed heavily on his mind.

"And another thing," Delano hesitated, unsure where he was going with this, but eventually decided to simply go with whatever he could think of. "Now that these two lions are gone, what's to stop more from showing up? And now that my scent is all over one of them-" he grunted in annoyance, "well, Nzuri, you can consider yourself lucky. I can't say that I trust you, not yet. But if both of us are going to be on the run from the same pride, then it's best to stick together." As he said this, he had to glare at the lioness in order to prevent her from looking too hopeful. "What you did just now, that's not normal. It's not right. So if I get the feeling that you might try something like that again, I'm warning you right now: I will leave you behind and make sure it stays that way."

Personally, he didn't feel like being on the receiving end of one of her savage moments like what he just saw, but what choice did he have? At this moment, Delano really wished that he was brought up to prioritize survival above all else - it would really be easier to just leave Nzuri behind. But he wasn't willing to do that, not yet. He wasn't ready to leave her to die just like that. "Prove to me that I can trust you. By your actions, and not your words, and I will help you. But slip up even once, and I'm gone. But for now... for now, we need to get moving again. The more distance we get between us and these two, the better." With another annoyed grunt, he motioned for Nzuri to follow him before he turned back and walked off into the savanna, knowing that she would be able to keep up, but not bothering to check and make sure.

[VitanisMate]

Nzuri watched Delano start pacing around, still frustrated by both her and his own actions. 'What a weenie! What a wimp!' she thought to herself before she got to the more important task at hand of trying to make Delano trust her again. As he mentioned the issue of others showing up and trying to look for Nzuri, she immediately told him, "Delano if such a thing happens again you can get rid of me at once. I don't want to be a burden to you or anyone and I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

She said this to immediately reassure him that nothing else would happen, and hoped what she said was the truth and there would be no other incidents. As he told her that he would agree to bring her along, she dropped her hopeful look and told him, "Delano I can understand your concern but you don't know what it is like being a female on her own having to protect herself from the lustful looks of other males. I had to do what I did to protect my innocence, not just in that circumstance but throughout my whole life. You male lions have it easy, you never have a lioness force you into anything. Well, we lionesses get it all of the time from you male lions." She paused and said, "But I see you are different and would never hurt me or take advantage of me and I appreciate that greatly Delano. You have been the best lion I have ever met, I mean that." She paused and awaited for his response as she looked down at her paws and tried to think of what to say next.

As he told her that if she slipped up even once Nzuri felt a little nervous for the first time as it seemed he was quite serious and was going to leave her behind if she tried anything. She said to him, "Alright...alright Delano. I will prove I am loyal to you by my actions and not my words. And...you were great back there. You were a real warrior. I know you feel guilty about it but I just want you to know that any male lion would be in danger if they crossed you." She paused and shook her head and said, "I apologize, I will say no more. Delano...please, it is still me, the same old Nzuri. I am sorry you see me as someone different now but I promise I would never hurt you. But...I will show you by my actions and not words from now on." As he said they needed to keep moving Nzuri nodded her head and followed him and stayed silent for the time being. To show a depressed look, she held her head down and was completely silent as they kept walking together. She decided that for the time being she would let Delano do all of the talking from now on. As she walked she saw how far away it was to get this male to kill her father once and for all.

[DGFone]

As much as he hated to admit it, but Delano couldn't bring himself to care about Nzuri at the moment. As the two of them walked, he was more than content to remain in silence. Perhaps it was due to being used to being alone and not having anyone to talk to, but especially considering how chatty the lioness was, he found this respite in conversation to be rather welcome. A lot of things were running through his head, most of them revolving around two things: Could he really trust Nzuri, and what they were going to do next?

The latter was easy to answer. For the immediate future, they had to get as far away from the two dead lions as possible. As for what to do afterwards, it was something Delano felt much better addressing when that later showed up. Plans had a nasty tendency to be ruined by others, so he always found it much better for himself to think on his feet and adapt to the current situation, rather than lose his mind when a plan inevitably failed.

But as for Nzuri, sure she said that he can trust her, but Delano really wasn't sure about that. For someone who insisted that she was harmless and useless, she really did kill off that lion in a very quick, and especially very gruesome, manner.

After what felt like hours, Delano finally felt comfortable enough to talk to her again. "Listen, I want you to be square with me," he informed her firmly, hoping that his tone of voice conveyed enough stress that he wasn't ready to listen to more of her elongated but useless explanations. "Since you don't want me to just leave you alone, you will need to tell me this: what do you want out of me? I know its not just simple survival - if that were the case, you would have left me back there the moment I expressed hostility towards you." He let out a sigh, his voice softening. "You are right about one thing - lionesses do have it harder. Especially those who are on their own, I have no illusions about that. And yet, you decided that you can trust me. So... why is that?"

[VitanisMate]

Nzuri continued to be silent, truly worried that her actions or words had made Delano extremely angry with her at that point. She continued to keep her head down and refused to say anything. For the first time, she saw her mind as not that smart, figuring an intelligent lioness wouldn't have this much trouble with a pea-brained lion like Delano. As they continued to walk, Nzuri began to imagine just breaking free of Delano and finding some other male to try to lure into her grasp. Before she could however, he decided to speak.

As he asked her what she wanted from him, Nzuri paused and tried to think of the best words to use in such a situation. She decided against using flattery and decided to be sincere for once. She needed Delano to trust her again and for that she needed his absolute loyalty eventually, gained only by her absolute truthfulness to him.

She decided to speak up, "Delano, I want you to protect me. I want to survive as a team with you. I also want to be free of my father. I am all alone out here and I have no one. I know I am asking too much of you and I will leave if you ask me to Delano."

As she paused she said quickly, "What I mean is, I am tired of being all alone. I know you don't care for me Delano and I won't ask you to but all I ask is for teamwork so that we may survive out here. I should warn you, my father will come and track me also. But I will show you how to evade him so that no more life is taken by either of us. He is old, not like his two followers we just killed- so he won't be able to keep up with us. He is old and frail. I don't want to lose your trust in me again Delano so I will never show you again that horrible killing I did back there or do it ever again." She paused and said, "I trust you Delano because you are so nice to me. You are the nicest, kindest lion I have met. I know my words mean nothing to you but I just want you to know the quality of the males I have met before in my past. I trusted you because you were the only male lion I have met that is real."

[DGFone]

Nzuri's words echoed inside of Delano's head as he tried to figure out what she was saying. A part of him was certain that part of, if not most of what she was saying was simply so that he won't walk out on her, but even then, that was only a minor part of the greater meaning that he was getting to. What was first a quiet voice at the back of his head steadily grew louder the more he thought about it, but at the same time, no other explanation made any sense to him, especially due to the things he was told just now. The way Nzuri talked about her past, and her father specifically, meant that what Delano felt was initially just paranoia was the only correct interpretation at this point.

"So what you're saying..." he hesitated, but ultimately decided that if he was wrong, she would correct him. But if he was right, than that she would finally get out and admit it, and he wouldn't be left in the dark while being given a lot of riddles and empty phrases. "Your father," he finally said. "You want me to kill your father. Is that what you are saying?"

Delano stopped, staring at Nzuri as though daring her to contradict him. "And if I don't do that, there's no running from him, is there?" Surely, eventually her father would run out of lions to send after them, but it will only take one who is more powerful then them to end in their own demise. Not to mention that the idea of running, while knowing that they were marked targets, did not sit well with Delano.

[VitanisMate]

Nzuri continued to stare at Delano, trying to think of what she would say next before just coming right out and saying it. "It is not what I want Delano. It is what is necessary to make us both survive and be able to live in peace. I will not tell you what to do, I am confident that you will know what to do when the time comes." She again stared down at her paws and said, "I want you to kill my father because I fear of what he will do to us if we don't kill him. But as you said earlier, it is up to you what to do and I trust your judgement. I am only your servant and I will not try to influence your decision." She paused, "I don't want you to feel any guilt over this, so while I do want you to kill my father I only want you to do what you want." As she looked back at him in the eyes, she tried to show him she was sincere.

As she looked back down she noticed his other comment and said, "There is no running from him. If we do not finish it once and for all he will keep sending lions after us until we have to finish him off eventually anyway." She again stared in his eyes, trying to show she was sincere. As she awaited his answer she decided to stretch out and release the tension on her back.

Who knew that putting her head down walking the whole time would hurt her back so much? Once she was done she then decided to look towards the savanna and said, "Life is so hard and cruel..." She decided to only say those words and let Delano do the rest of the talking from now on, unless he asked her another question again.

[DGFone]

Delano didn't know what to say at this point - now that Nzuri did confirm what she really wanted from him, he wasn't sure what his next course of action should be. "I never set out to be a murderer," he finally said, "killing in self defense is one thing, but to purposefully set out to kill someone?" he shook his head. "I don't know, Nzuri. I really don't know."

Everything he could think of that they could do did not sound like a good idea. For that matter, he couldn't think of anything that could even be remotely considered a good idea. But that was just it, he suddenly realized: if there was no good course of action to take, what if the best course of action was then to do nothing? Unable to think of anything better, Delano felt that he had arrived to the best conclusion.

"Listen," he finally said when he made up his mind, "no matter what, you are in no condition to help me out in going after your father. And I'm not crazy enough to go at him alone." He let out a sigh, "so you will get to stick with me for now. Learn how to hunt, fight, survive. We'll learn soon enough if your father really will go after us or not. Based off that, whether we actually go after your father or not, I'll leave it up to him." He glanced at Nzuri. "Ideally, I don't like the idea of killing another lion. But I am not going to make any promises in either direction."