[PRP] A Pad and His Family [Vu, Mollie, Zarha, Afsar]

[Feral Mule]

It had been a few weeks since her whole birthing experience, and she'd spent almost all of that inside with the cubs, weening them, making sure they were healthy and happy. Vu often brought Mollie more than she could really eat; she had to keep milk in her body for the babies until they were old enough. Like any good mother, she taught the to talk, walk, watched the play around in the den floor. Ah, she loved being a mother so far. Even through her first two daughter's bickering back and forth; she had to say it was well worth everything she went through. Including the first fight.

Thinking back on it, Mollie and Vu were really just scared to become parents. Neither really had a good experience with it. In Mollie's opinion, she didn't want to become what her mother was; didn't want to just leave her children with a father that didn't interact with them. But that was partially because Mollie didn't want to.

Now as she stepped out of her den and stretched, glad to be thin again. She'd grown during that pregnancy, and not just across her stomach. She was becoming so much closer to an adult. Though, Mollie didn't notice until she looked at Vu just how much they'd changed. Blinking, she felt a tugging at her tail and turned about to face her first born, Afsar.

The pale little lioness followed her mother as she left the den, claws attaching themselves to the tuft at the end of her tail. With a giggle and a grin, she moved under her mother, still little enough to do so and nuzzled against her ribs. Extracting herself, Afsar spun around in a circle in front of her mother before looking out to the pride out of their den. Blinking at the bright sun reflecting off rocks and sand, she whined a bit and sat down. "Momma, it's too bright! Turn off the sun!"

No, she didn't realize just how ridiculous that sounded. As far as Afsar was concerned, her other and father could do anything because she knew they were both warriors. She'd heard that from momma when momma told them stories. Slowly, she opened her eyes and let them adjust to the change. No doubt her younger sister would make fun of her for complaining about something so late.  

[Sergeant Sargent]

Zarha followed on her sister’s heels, swatting at Afsar’s bright golden tail and bearing her baby teeth as her sister slipped out of her grasp again. Their rivalry seemed to have no beginning and no end. Before their eyes had opened they pushed and shoved each other at every meal time. They might have well kicked each other in the womb. So far Vu had done nothing to discourage it. He thought it best they developed thick skin while they were young. Ukuucha’Walafme put a lot of expectations on females. Vu worried for his daughters, truly he did.

She pounced on her sister, wrapping her forelegs around her shoulders and putting her weight on her, just to be an annoyance. “I think it’s a pretty day!” Zarha proclaimed, squinting her eyes.

If anything the experience brought them closer. Vu never said anything to the effect of “I love you.” After the past few weeks bringing up the family, those three little words seemed like an unnecessary nuisance. If Mollie taught him anything it was that words are worthless. Actions speak louder. He almost seemed to glow with happiness when he saw her with their cubs, playing the role of mother like she was born into it, a mother from the moment her paws touched the ground. Watching their family grow was an amazement. All their cubs were so smart; he could hardly believe how lucky they were. Achal was right.

He padded out of the den at her side and shook his mane in the sunlight. The experience of fatherhood seemed to have calmed him down a little. Sometimes he missed the freedom of their adolescence in the rogue lands. He would have missed it more often if life weren’t so busy. His life was full of new experiences, every day a new challenge, usually in the form of cubs.

When Zarha tackled Afsar he wore a soft smile. To see his cubs playing like this, it was so strange. Life was always so serious and structured under Imara. Maybe they would find their own structure eventually, but for now he was content in reletive chaos.  

[Feral Mule]

Watching Vu slowly take the father role warmed Mollie's heart. It was cemented inside that she'd made the right choice in going after him when she did, even if it brought children when they both weren't ready. In a way, it brought the closer together; overcoming that obstacle with virtually no help and no knowledge of family raising. Even the female she met, O'tep, knew very little of family raising and she helped raide cubs before!

Still, looking to the bickering sisters, Mollie shook her head and wanted to separate them. Last time she did that, Vu brought up the fact that if the females didn't get their share of fights in, they'd never defend themselves fro the more abusive pads or even the little boy cubs in the pride. They'd end up losing the girls before they knew it.

"You two, calm down, OK? Not so rough outside. What if the sultan walks by?" Honestly? She didn't know what to think if the sultan were to walk by right now. The only time they'd met him was when they'd first joined.

Afsar whined when her sister tackled her and then attempted to flip them over so Afsar was on top. She'd then chew on her nose and go for her ear, tugging and biting, trying to be gentle. Sometimes all she wanted to do was give Zarha a good smack to the nose with her claws when she was being this annoying.

But, when momma spoke, the tan lioness got off her sister and snorted at her before moving over to her father, nuzzling against his legs. "The sultan, momma? But we don't see him lots, do we?" Of course Afsar knew of the sultan. Everyone in the pride did! So, their momma taught them of him and how they'd met and allowed momma and daddy into the pride and start a family.

"Zarha starts it, you seen it, huh, Daddy?"  

[Sergeant Sargent]

“Come on, Mollie. They’re just being cubs. You should have seen the way my sisters used to fight,” he chuckled, forgetting that it was Imara who encouraged that.

Zarha growled and nibbled at Afsar’s cheek while she tried to push her off. She was disappointed when Afsar stopped after mama scolded them. She wanted to keep playing. They were just being cubs like papa said! She shook herself off and bounded over to her parents.

“Mama and I met the sultan once, didn’t we?” Vu grinned at Mollie. As for Afsar’s question he knew better than to take sides with his children. If he played favorites it would only make their rivalry worse.

“How come we never met the sultan before?” Zarha asked, looking at her parents. Surly they wouldn’t have gone to see the sultan without her.  

[Feral Mule]

"They can go see the sultan without you, Zarha." Afsar's tone was sarcastic and full of disdain. Why the two hated each other so much was a mystery to most of the family. Tilting her head to the side, the lighter of the two wanted to listen to the encounter with the sultan. "Can I be a Banu to him one day, momma?"

Mollie answered Vu's question with a nod an chuckled, drawing her daughters close to her, nuzzling both of them. With a little noise to the second question, the mother shuffled back and forth a bit from paw to paw. How was she to answer that? Only certain few got to be with the sultan. "Maybe one day," she whispered to her, licking Afsar's head a bit.  

[Sergeant Sargent]

Zarha scoffed. She glared at her sister and said, "What makes you think you're good enough for the sultan?"

"Zarha," Vu said. He fixed her with a stern look. "Stop that. Same goes for you, Afsar. Families are supposed to look after each other, not make enemies."

Their play fighting was one thing. Vu wanted his daughters to be able to defend themselves, not from their pads but from strange pads and rogues that might try to take them away. The world was a dangerous place. Even the security of a pride was no garentee. As for their pads, at least Vu had that choice firmly in his paws. He would make sure they went to a harem where they would be safe. But as long as they were part of his harem he expected them to love and look out for each other, even if they didn't always get along.

"But papa!" Zarha whined. She looked up at Vu with big orange eyes, ears flat and lips pursed. Maybe if she looked cute enough she wouldn't get in trouble.  

[Feral Mule]

Afsar, however, would not do like Zarha. If she got in trouble, she'd 'man' up to it. Nodding when her papa told her to stop, she watched her sister act like an idiot and rolled her eyes, moving to lay down on her belly, ears flicking carefully. She wanted to know about the Sultan! Or at least his family.

"Momma, will you tell me? Tell us," she corrected herself, "about the Sultan and his family? They have to be good to take such good care of the pride!" She beamed a bit at that thought and looked to her father, wondering what he was going to do about Zarha.

Watching Zarha, Mollie smiled a bit. She doubted a cute face would melt her father's heart. It didn't do much good for her, at least. She didn't think so. Looking to Afsar, she smiled a little bit more and chuckled.

"Of course he's a good lion. When we met him, though. I was wary. I didn't know who he was, at first. He seemed very nice, but concerned. I didn't want to be in this pride at the beginning. Or part of me didn't, and he picked up on that. He thought I would be a runner." She gave a sad smile at that and then looked to the side.  

[Sergeant Sargent]

Remembering that day still put a knot in Vu’s throat. Back then he still thought the pride might be dangerous. While his opinions had changed, his worry for his daughters had not. Many males in the pride mistreated their females. Fortunately, the abusive pads seemed to be in the minority, at least as far as he knew. There could still be abuse going on inside darkened dens that even the Sultan wouldn’t know about. In spite of that, Vu felt glad they’d come.

Stupid goody-goody. Zarha thought lightning bolts at her sister to no avail. Afsar’s fluffy sweetness shielded her from Zarha’s powerful electric attacks. Giving up, Zarha dropped onto her back and stuck her feet in the air, staring up at Mollie. She swatted at her chest without reaching fur. “He must not be very smart then,” she joked. “He should have known mama never runs away from anything. Why would anyone wanna run from a nice pride like this anyway? It doesn’t make any sense.”  

[Feral Mule]

Oblivious to her sister's attempted mental attacks, Afsar just giggled and grinned a bit. "I bet you was just scared, Momma. 'cause you was intimidated by the Sultan. I bet he's a big, huge lion!" The pale one couldn't think anything bad about their sultan, oh no. To do so was like saying something bad about a God! It just wasn't done. Simple as that. An unspoken rule, even.

But as her sister insulted the Sultan, Afsar's eyes went wide and she whined a bit, moving to put a paw over Zahra's mouth. "Don't say that! He's good!"

Children were so niave. Mollie looked to Vu and noticed he'd gone tense. Shifting towards him, she nosed his cheek in question more than in affection. What was going on inside his head to make him look so scared? With a frown, she turned to look at her dark daughter. "He's a very smart lion. I... was tempted to run away. I didn't want you dad to have another female. I wanted to be his only, but then he made me his Beybanu. ..And I got pregnant with four bundles of energy. So things worked out in the end."  

[Sergeant Sargent]

Zarha pushed Afsar’s paw away. “I never said he was bad. I just think everybody should know how brave mama is, especially the sultan, cause he’s supposed to be so smart.”

“He just didn’t know her very well yet. I’m sure the Sultan doesn’t think that anymore.”

Zarha opened her mouth and nodded. “Oooh, okay.” She furrowed her brow. “He still shoulda known, though. That’s how special mama is. I guess… some people just don’t see things the way we do, huh?”

“That’s right. It wouldn’t be bad though, if we had another banu,” Vu added. He had been thinking about this a lot lately. “Mama would be in charge of her and she’d be just like a nanny. A special nanny. If we had someone else to help out around the den, do some of the hunting, then we’d all have more time for each other. We’d just have a bigger family.” He glanced hopefully at Mollie. “Right?”

Lying against Mollie’s foot, Zarha looked conflicted. She saw males with big harems all the time but the idea of bringing a strange new female into their den made her nervous. “But mama would always be our mama, right?”  

[Feral Mule]

Satisfied her sister wasn't going to do anything stupid again, Afsar gladly took her paw away and used it for balance instead. She rolled under her daddy's face and looked up at him as he talked. Another Banu? Momma would be in charge? The concept was weird for her, but not all together unconceivable. "I don't know... Maybe. But of course momma would always be momma. Daddy wouldn't change that!" She didn't have any doubts about that one.

Getting back to all four paws, Afsar puffed out her chest. "I'm the oldest, I could be another Banu for you, daddy!"

Mollie ahd been thinking upon that too, another Banu. It was the simplest salution to their family problems. Meaning, two brand new parents, not yet adults themselves, tying to raise four unruly little cubs. Looking to Vu, she nodded and gave a little smile before doing to shame to Zarha.

"Naturally I would stay your mother. But this other Banu, you could call her mother as well. It would be respectful."  

[Sergeant Sargent]

Vu chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll make a fine banu one day, but what we really need is another grown-up. All the other families have more than one mama.”

Would he be able to sleep with a new banu? In this pride it seemed expected of him to produce cubs with multiple females. Mollie might not like that. Even Vu wondered if he’d be able to get intimate with another female after all the time they’d spent bonding, unless he was thinking of her. Times had changed.

“That’s confusing,” Zarha complained. “I think we should call real mama mama one and new mama mama two. That way nobody gets confused.”  

[Feral Mule]

"Better yet! Why don't we call the new momma, anutie? We don't got no aunts to speak of, soooo! It makes it easier that way, right?" Her tail wagged at the thought that her idea was better than her dark siblings own. Of course it was, Afsar was always better than her sister, even if she didn't understand their rivalry. She yawned widely and whined a bit, getting comfortable against her father. It seemed it was past her nap time.

Mollie watched her daughters with amusement and looked to Vu again. She gave him a look that read 'we'll discuss this later'. Scooping Zarha up by the scruff of her neck, she expected Vu to do the same with Afsar, and padded to the den. Though they'd not woken up to long ago, it seemed just talking wore out her new little ones. It was cute because she used to be the same way.  

[Sergeant Sargent]

Vu caught Zarha giving her sister mean looks and rolled his eyes. When Mollie picked her up by the scruff of her neck he resisted smiling as he watched his daughter squirm. Zarha hated naps. She didn’t tire out as easily as Afsar, had the same kind of spunk he did as a cub, and would probably bother Neha to play while her sister rested. He picked up Afsar and trotted into the den after Mollie.

((Fin~))