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 Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:23 am
 Hantan's life had changed a lot since he met Sas for the first time. Outwardly it might not seem much different since he still spent a lot of time wandering. The leopard still hadn't claimed a specific territory as his own, and instead he covered large stretches of land, rarely staying long in the same spot. The largest changes weren't visible to an outside observer.
Being a father had changed his motives for wandering. Before Sas he had been driven by curiosity and wanderlust, but with a family he could call his own he also wandered for them. His travels were no longer entirely random. There were a few places he tended to gravitate back to. The territory occupied by his friend Tia (she always had the best stories) and the Kitwana'antara pridelands. He brought news, small gifts and as many stories he could remember to his leopon children.
He wasn't entirely comfortable with the large number of animals occupying the same space, but he was getting used to it. The scouts and guards along the pride borders knew him by now and allowed him to enter without much more than a nodded greeting. It had been some time since his last visit, but hopefully he'd find either Saskiranel or one of the kiddos near her den. They would probably be considered full adults in the pride by now, but hopefully they wouldn't have moved too far from home. He could have asked someone, but it was more fun to see if he could surprise them!
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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2012 9:48 am
 Hashiel was, at the moment, near his mother's den. Attempting to round up far too many cubs in fact. By the Goddess, why on earth were there so many of them!? The fact that he and Divy had cubs at all had to be one of life's great ironies! His own mother had said she'd heard of (and seen) many other leopons in her travels, but never heard of any that had children. At least, none that had children of their own bodies - adoption was perfectly acceptable, and he knew that the pride's own Queen had two adopted children. Not that those two were anything remotely like cubs anymore, they were both adults in their own right. But neither of them had yet experienced the joys of parenthood which Hashiel was finding to be a mixed blessing. "There you are!" he sighed in exasperation as one paw reached out to pull his daughter closer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mstari wasn't that upset about being found by her father. Indeed, that was half the fun of hiding under the brush the way she had been! Of course her dark blue coloration meant she wasn't hard to spot behind the dusty green plants, but she hadn't gotten to the point of taking that into consideration. The cub giggled as the large paw found her and effortlessly brought her back to the leopon. "Here I are Daddy!" she replied with another giggle. "And there are a leopard!" the cub went on, pointing one paw out in the direction of the approaching striped male.
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:33 pm
Hantan stopped for a moment and watched his grown son. When he was little he had almost looked like a large leopard cub, but with the mane completely grown in It wasn't too much of a surprise to see Hashiel herding cubs. He had talked about his apprenticeship as a nanny last time Hantan stopped by. And he supposed he shouldn't be too startled that the cub called him "daddy" either. Hantan had heard a lot about the practice of adopting orphaned cubs. Now, what really threw him off was the cubs eyes. Just like... Did Sas have another litter? Or?
"Hashiel," he called in greeting, "There's no sneaking up on you I see."
He eyed the little lion cub with obvious interest. No... He must be imagining things... He might have misheard the "daddy" part too...
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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2012 4:38 pm
The leopon had been completely unaware that he and his daughter were no longer alone until she cheerfully pointed that fact out. Green eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the leopard coming towards them. He hadn't seen his father in moons, but there was no mistaking the leopard for anyone else.
"Dad!" he exclaimed in surprise. He skillfully used a paw and a tail to keep Mstari in line while bringing them both closer to the approaching leopard.
"I hadn't expected to see you any time soon," he offered diffidently. Then smiling sheepishly, he used a paw to push the young lioness forward...just as Saskiranel had once done for him.
"This is Mstari. Mstari, this is your other grandfather," the leopon told his daughter softly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blue lioness had been amusing herself with poking the overly large paw and tail moving her around. To her disappointment, her poking didn't seem to have any real effect and they effortlessly turned her to face the stranger leopard. She listened to her father speaking to the the other for a bit, before returning her attention to the wonderfully large playtoy that she called a father. She didn't entirely understand what was being said, so obviously it wasn't interesting to her.
Then her daddy started pushing her towards the leopard and he said her name. Then he spoke to her. This was a grandfather? She knew her one grandfather, Sliabh, a little. He was a big blue lion. And of course she knew her grandmother, Saskiranel, who was a brown lioness. But, as she herself had said, this was a leopard.
"You're not a lion!" was what the cub pointed out. Aloud. She knew already that her parents weren't quite lions or leopards. But in her (admittedly small) experience, grandparents were lions.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:31 am
Wow. This was new. Being a father was one thing, but being a grandfather... He hadn't really expected this day to come since hybrids didn't usually get cubs of their own. She could be adopted, but those eyes. He took a few steps closer and sniffed her properly too. She smelled like family.
"Hello Mstari," he said, after what must have been a long awkward silence from him, "I'm Hantan, and last time I looked I was a leopard."
He gave Hashiel a questioning look. Sure, he hadn't been here for a few moons, but he hadn't expected this. How was it even possible? It was... His knowledge of hybrids was rather limited, and he hadn't met many other than his own children.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:53 am
Hashiel saw Mstari frown and open her mouth to protest again, so he decided to quickly take the reins of the conversation and redirect it. He also cursed himself for not explaining some of these things sooner...though he honestly hadn't though it would be necessary until the kids were older.
"Mstari, you know your mother and I are leopons, part lion and part leopard. That means that one of each of our parents was a lion, and the other was a leopard. It just happens that only our lion parents live in the pride, so you've only met those two before." She didn't look like she understood.
"Just trust us we we say that this is your grandfather, okay sweetheart?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Having strangers come up and sniff her was not entirely unusual. But for them to supposedly be grandparents was! And he admitted, he wasn't a lion! The little lioness opened her mouth to protest but then Dad started lecturing. Mstari shut her mouth and tried to make sense of what he was saying. Leopons were from lions and leopards. Her parents were both like that. The grandparents she'd met were lions. But Dad said this leopard was also a grandparent...
Well, she supposed she had to trust that her Daddy knew more about these things than she did. Seeing as how she wasn't allowed to go very far from the den and all.
"Okay Daddy," she pouted at last.
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 12:04 pm
The cub, his granddaughter, didn't seem all that impressed by the explanation, but it did save him some awkward questions. Another leopon, huh? What were the odds... Wow... He decided that it was best not to ask if the little girl was adopted or not. It really didn't matter, after all. He wondered if Mstari liked stories, and if she'd be able to learn how to climb trees. He knew a lioness who was an avid tree climber so it was possible she'd take after her old granddad. Wow... His thoughts went to his own mother, and how she'd feel about great grandchildren. Very lion-looking grandchildren...
"So.... uh," he coughed, "How's Sas taking this grandmother thing?"
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Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 1:12 pm
Well, at least she wasn't throwing a temper tantrum or anything. Yet. Hashiel wouldn't put it past his eldest daughter in the least. But his father was talking to him and he should be paying attention!
"What? Oh, Mom's been pretty happy, overall. She just wishes that we'd given her more warning," he admitted sheepishly. "Then again, 'Divy and I...well...let's just say that being parents wasn't exactly what we were expecting either."
Luckily his fur was far too dark to show a blush. Because it was sort of embarrassing. Not the fact that they had had no idea this was coming, but the fact that it was even possible. It was just so...strange.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mstari loooked from one adult to the other. She could definitely see how Daddy shared similar colors with the leopard, and how some of her brothers had markings similar to him as well. She supposed that that was why they kept saying the leopard was her grandfather. Even though he looked nothing like Grandpa Sliabh.
They seemed to have forgotten her. Well, that was fine, she didn't want to be here and all confused anymore! The little lioness went and hid behind one of her daddy's forelegs.
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:50 am
Hantan nodded, becoming a father hadn't exactly been the plan for him either. He knew where babies came from, he'd just... Well. It was... Perhaps not something he wanted to discuss with his son or granddaughter. Moving on!
"Well, they can certainly come as surprises," he settled on, "And it's the best gift you can get."
That's it, he was officially growing soft. But Hantan found that he didn't really mind. It would take some time to digest the fact that he was now a grandfather, and not just a father. He had never met his own grandparents, but he was prepared to try to take an active part in his granddaughters life. He winked at her, but it would probably take more than that to coax her out of hiding.
"I'm not really going anywhere anytime soon," he said, "Perhaps you could help me catch up with the rest of the family?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:12 am
Hashiel grinned. He was glad that Hantan'gang was taking this unexpected surprise so well. And the fact that he had virtually volunteered for babysitting (true, he might not have meant it that way, but there was no other way to help him "catch up" effectively) had assured the leopon of the next few days, at least.
"That sounds promising," he replied. "Why don't we go back to the den and I can introduce you to the rest of your grandchildren?" There was a mischevious glint in the leopon's green eyes. However surprised he and 'Divy had been to find themselves parents of five, he was sure that the leopard would be even more stunned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mstari was hiding behind Daddy's foreleg when it moved and a large paw gently propelled her back towards the den. The little lioness dug her own paws in - all four of them! - in a futile effort to stop the forward motion. But the large paw could not be stopped.
Finally the blue cub stopped fighting and leaned back against the leg to glare at her father. The effect was spoiled by her having to yawn. Curses! Apparently meeting leopards and learning that not all grandparents were lions was very exhausting. Mstari settled into a pout as she was borne inexorably towards an afternoon nap.
She'd have to work on figuring things out further after she woke up again.
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