[PRP - Central] Daddy and the Girls

[wooga Paes]

Usiku had a problem. Rather, he had four little problems. Four little problems he found he absolutely adored but… they were little problems. For starters, he had no idea it would even be possible to have cubs with Zyanya, and he had no clue how to be a father. To his surprise, though, Zyanya seemed rather fine with it all. He sort of envied how well she was handling this, wishing he could keep the same cool.

He particularly had trouble relating to the girls. Usiku had never even been around female children of any species, which is why Zyanya had decreed that today he would spend the morning with his daughters. Xun Li and Zhenzhen, small, fuzzy little things. So he led them off that morning with some sort of promise that they’d find something fun to do.

“But be careful! This land can be a little tricky sometimes…”

Zhenzhen didn’t really seem to listen to her father, happily pouncing through the grass. Usiku greatly regretted that they had chosen a den so high up, they should have found something lower.


She didn’t really understand why her father worried so much. He was silly, there was nothing wrong! Maybe she should take it upon herself to get him to relax, or something. The dark cub flicked her tail and glanced around for her sister.

“Xun Liiii!” Having been born here, she was already quite accustomed to the whole name thing. Actually she was more used to calling her siblings by their proper names than their common ones. “Xun Li! Come here!” She demanded, trying to figure out how she could possibly have lost her sister, who had such a bright yellow coat!
 

[Dame NightFury]

Xun Li watched Daddy's tail flicker back and forth, back and forth as Zhenzhen bounded ahead of them. Daddy was a bit of a worriwort, but he was the best worriwort ever! And mommy was right, sometimes he was cute when he worried. But his tail was crazy. Xun Li grabbed her tail in his mouth and bit, not too gently, but not enough to draw blood.

She heard Zhenzhen calling for her in front of Daddy. "Here!" She called back around a mouth full of Daddy's tail that she had no intention of letting go. "I'm here, Zhenzhen, behind Daddy."  

[wooga Paes]

Some time ago, Usiku might have flinched or maybe kicked out at something biting his tail. But now that he had children, and this was a common enough occurrence, he just winced and forced a smile as he gently tried to pull his tail out of their tiny little jaws (filled with sharp little teeth).

"Nice catch." He said back to his daughter, but didn't quite have the heart to scold her.

Ah! So there she was! Zhenzhen turned and dashed between her father's legs. At first it looked like she might pounce her sister, but skidded to a stop right in front of her. "Xun Liiii!" She usually dragged her sister's name on a bit, because she liked the sound of it. "There you are! We need to plan!" The darker cub declared happily, a bit of a purr in her throat.

"But we need to go over there, so daddy doesn't hear." She didn't mind that she was announcing to he father that they intended to plan something that he wasn't supposed to hear. Zhenzhen was still very young and didn't think ahead too much, after all, they had only begun to leave the den a couple weeks ago!  

[Dame NightFury]

Xun Li tilted her head and looked at Zhenzhen as she came at her full speed and stopped. "Nice," Xun Li commented on Zhenzhen's stop around Daddy's tail. She looked to the spot where she had indicated. It wasn't very far away. Daddy would probably still be able to hear them, but that would mean she'd have to let go of Daddy's tail and it would go crazy again, flickering madly with his worryingness.

Xun Li teetered on her decision and finally let go of Daddy's tail, determined to catch it again at her earliest opportunity. Maybe when he was sleeping. "Ok. Xun Li bounded out under Daddy's legs, skidded to a stop and looked up at him. "We'll be right back, Daddy, don't easedrop!" Xun Li turned back to Zhenzhen and nodded as she made her way over to the the spot Zhenzhen had picked out.  

[wooga Paes]

Usiku frowned slightly, regarding the two suspiciously. But in his own selfish way, he was pleased, because it meant that his tail might have a few moments rest. "Okay." He said, though it didn't seem like the duo really needed permission from him before they bounded off.

"But don't go too far!"

While her sister pondered, Zhenzhen was already looking for an ideal place to plan, that wasn't far enough for their father to decide to look for them. Eventually, she found a little bush they could both squeeze into. And so she did, but at the same time tried to make sure there was plenty of room for her sister.

Once Xun Li arrived, Zhenzhen got right to the point. "I think we need to surprise daddy!" She declared, with a nod to accentuate it. "He's all nervous! I think maybe we can get him to relax!"  

[Dame NightFury]

Xun Li nodded slowly and agreed. "His tail was twitching crazy behind him. Like it had a mind of it's own. What did you have in mind, Zhenzhen? I don't think Daddy would like flowers or anything really sweet smelling. Since he's a Daddy and all." Xun Li snuck a peak back at Daddy and then around the area that they were prowling on. "Do you think we could catch him a hare? Or a small animal? Or should we take him on an adventure?"

Xun Li asked tucking her head back into the bush after surveying the terrain. There weren't alot of sweet smelling things around that weren't already in their den so even if that was an option it was out. Xun Li really like sweet smelling things, so it had been an option in her mind. She focused in on Zhenzhen again waiting for her ideas.  

[wooga Paes]

Zhenzhen considered this a moment, raising a paw to thoughtfully touch her chin. Yes, Xun Li had a point, daddy probably wouldn't care much for good smelling things. And she didn't think he'd care too much about them catching anything, since he could catch things himself. Besides, she wasn't so sure they would be able to catch anything just yet.

"I think take him on an adventure! Maybe we can find somewhere cool and take him there." She decided, and wondered what kind of cool place they could find. "But then we might have to sneak away first." Which could actually be good! Maybe if they vanished, but then showed up again fine, he'd learn to worry less!

In the meantime, as the girls plotted, Usiku obediently sat where they had left him, pondering what kind of horrors could come.

"Or... if that doesn't work, we could lure him into a trap, and tickle-attack him."  

[Dame NightFury]

Xun Li's eyes sparkled in glee! "Yes! Why not both? Lure him to the cool place that we need to find, and then tickle attack him there! We can see a lot for the pride's territory from up here, so really all we have to do is spot the coolest place while we're still this high up and then make our way to it quicker than Daddy." That didn't seem out of the realm of reality to Xun Li.

After all Mommy was a Cheetah and Daddy wasn't, so they should still be able to out pace him. Maybe. Well at the least they could hide quietly if he got too close before they made it to where ever they decided to lure him too.  

[wooga Paes]

"Okay!" Yeah, because Zhenzhen actually really liked the idea of tickle attacking her dad. She wondered if deep down that was something she had always wanted to do! But she did have doubts about them being able to outrun their father, after all, half cheetah or not, they were still just little cubs and he had much longer, stronger legs.

"Maybe we should split up. We can find the place, and I'll run straight for it. And you distract dad for a bit, then come over! And then we can ambush him!"

He was beginning to get a little worried. "Um, Xun Li? Zhenzhen? What are you doing in there?" Still, he continued to respect that he shouldn't eavesdrop on them. But Usiku was already preparing himself for... something.

"We should be quick!" Zhenzhen popped her head out of the bush to search for a place to take their dad. Ideally somewhere they wouldn't accidentally roll off a cliff.  

[Dame NightFury]

Xun Li nodded. "Let's go over to him and when you see a place that you think is good, give me a sign and I'll distract Daddy." Xun Li peaked at Daddy and shook her head, muttering under her breath, "His tail is flickering too much again."

"Oh! I'll start the distraction now and try to miss lead him!" Xun Li nodded, rubbed against Zhenzhen's side in encouragement and support and then bounded back to skid sit in front of Daddy. "Daddy?" Xun Li asked, blinking up at him with wide eyes, "What's your favorite sweet smelling thing?"  

[wooga Paes]

"Okay!" Zhenzhen nodded and put on her best determined face. She waited for her sister to successfully obtain her father's attention before slipping out of the bush and heading in a different direction.

When Xun Li came out alone, Usiku was naturally suspicious, because he had been suspicious for quite some time now. But his daughter came and asked him a very simple question, and it seemed innocent enough. So he looked down at her and away from the bush.

"My favorite smelling thing? Well..." He had never thought about that before. If he were really honest, he liked curling up with Zyanya and she smelled nice, but it's not the sort of thing kids liked to hear, he bet. He knew he didn't like it when his parents got mushy, way back when. "I like how trees smell." Nice, like bark. By the time he looked back at the bush, Zhenzhen had already snuck away, but he had no way of knowing that for sure, so he loked back at Xun Li. "Why do you ask?"

It didn't take long for her to find the ideal spot for their ambush. It was a way down, but it was a small area that had more plants and rocky walls surrounding it on most sides, like a great lion had reached down and cooped out a little hole with his paw. It had enough plants for them to hide in until ambush time, too! So, from behind her father, Zhenzhen signalled her sister before hurrying off to her destination.  

[Dame NightFury]

"Dad!" Xun Li whined, sagging as Daddy wasn't cooperating. "We can't carry trees! How are we going to bring the trees with us? Or back to the den? Come on Daddy!"

When Zhenzhen gave her the signal, Xun Li ducked under Daddy's body and bit his twitching tail again and tugged just a little bit, growling at it. "Stop going crazy, tail!" She growled around the tail in her mouth pulling Daddy away from where Zhenzhen disappeared.  

[wooga Paes]

Usiku was confused. Why were trees a bad option? Why did she want the good smelling things to go with them? Hadn't she already brought a lot of good smelling things to the den? "Ouch!" He said when she got a hold of his tail again. What, his tail was crazy? He lowered his head to peer between his legs at his youngest cub.

"What is it with you and that tail?" He asked, slightly amused... Her, where was that other cub? "Xun Li, what's going on?"

It didn't take much longer for Zhenzhen to reach the spot she had chosen and find a good place to hide until her sister arrive. To let her know they were good to go, she let out what she hoped was an inconspicuous chirp.  

[Dame NightFury]

"It goes crazy, like it's trying to twitch itself off of you!" Xun Li admitted around Daddy's tail. "It just never stops!"

Xun Li cast a look around for Zhenzhen. "Hide and Seek Daddy!" Xun Li smiled letting gor of Daddy's tail and started for the place that Zhenzhen had disappeared to before Daddy could turn around. She dashed between bushes and plants and rocks to get to the spot without Daddy stopping her. Hopefully.  

[wooga Paes]

What a strange observation! He wondered why his tail twitched so much, then, but he immediately discovered why when Xun Li dashed off. Yes, that was why. Children. "Wait!" He called after her, but was still a little slow on starting after her, probably because he was a little confused. Usiku felt he had once been a much smarter, cleverer leopard. Children made him dumb.

When he did finally start after the cub, he also was a little slow, worrying that he might trip her and cause injury. So the yellow cub safely made it and vanished among the bushes. Usiku skidded to a halt and began to nose through the grass. "Xun Li, where are you?"

He remembered too late that he had another daughter.

"Now!" Zhenzhen cried as she shot out of the bushes somewhere to her father's left, latching onto his neck and kicking her hind paws around to tickle his chin. Surprise, Usiku fell on his right side, seemingly unsure of what to do.

This, of course, just made it all the more easier for Zhenzhen to tickle him.