Lari was feeling old. Her cubs, her third litter, were now adults. She was a grandmother from Ili’ella, but thankfully no others that she knew of, but Giz had found females, so she was sure that there would be grandcubs from them eventually. She was proud of her cubs, they had all grown up beautifully but the idea of them having their own cubs…well that was terrifying. The young-at-heart female hated the idea of getting older, but she could feel her body aging every day, her muscles becoming weaker and her bones creaking just a bit more. Aging was one of her worst fears. She was just grateful for Aij and Sandalphon, for they kept her young.
She moved slowly through the pride, back to her den. She was definitely not sneaking back to the den for a mid-afternoon nap. That was what old people did. She was young, and vibrant. She yawned as she drew closer to the den.
Painted Moose
There was something about waking up in the middle of the night with a splitting migraine that eliminated all possibilities of a productive day. Sandalphon had tried to take a walk on the border to clear his head in the early morning hours, far beyond when his mates had woken, but it hadn’t eased the tension. There had been a few snippets of forced work before the grey lion had simply given up for the day. No one was back in the den; not at this time of day, anyway. All of the cubs were grown with work of their own, so who would be there to notice if he had a little nap?
Of course he hadn’t planned on being asleep for as long as he had been. In truth, Sandalphon was still stretched on his side when he saw the approaching figure of his lady love. He gave her a lazy smile. “Short day?”
Velveteen Angel
Lari felt better when she spotted Sandalphon sneaking in a short nap as well, and offered him a warm smile. She felt happy with her mates; there was something so comforting about knowing that she had two males who would protect and love her, even as she aged. “I thought I would come back and keep you company,” she lied, excusing her presence back at the den. She had no idea he was at the den, but it gave her a good excuse for a lie-down, while pretending to be a doting mate.
She walked over to him, and lowered herself graceful next to him at a comfortable distance where she could nuzzle his cheek affectionately. “Are you feeling alright?” She asked warmly.
Painted Moose
There was a little knowing tilt to his grin, but Sandalphon didn't question it on her. Lari's age wasn't a lost factor to him. He tried to be as accommodating as he could be without saying too much about it. After all, age was only how one felt, and Lari had enough energy for a young adolescent. Somedays he couldn't keep up with her!
He nuzzled the tuft of mane on the top of her head before drawing her closer with a paw. "Bad night." Sandalphon shrugged. It wasn't so unusual for him to be woken up with some dream or another, though the majority of the time he was able to walk it off the next day. "It's looking like a good day, though. I wasn't expecting to see you until later, but I'm not complaining. This is nice."
Velveteen Angel
Lari enjoyed the physical closeness of Sandalphon, she knew that she didn’t spend as much time with him as she wanted to, or that he probably deserved, but that was the good thing about harems. It wasn’t up to her and her alone to make him happy, there was a third member of their group that could keep him happy while Lari was absent. “Well I’m glad that your day is improving at least,” she said comforting, and offered him a grin. “Oh it better be nice to see him!” She huffed. “Else you and I would have some talking to do!” She pawed at him playfully, though she was gentle about it. She wasn’t sure if ‘bad night’ equated to ‘blinding pain in skull’, so she didn’t want to push him too bad and hurt him.
He was her mate, she didn’t want to break him…but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to mess with him.
Painted Moose
The rare moments that he spent with his mates away from the cubs were precious few. As of late he had spent more time with Aji than anyone, which was something of a small wonder. The male had Sandalphon utterly wrapped around his paw, but that wasn't to say that Lari didn't have her claim as well. If anything, spending time with Aji taught him certain techniques that he could show Lari as well...
Sandalphon chuckled and pawed her back with mock huff of his own. "Now I'm not so sure! It seems my lovely, enchanting mate has been replaced with a chuffing badger. Have you seen her, Miss Badger?" He was tired, exhausted even, but the pain for the most part had left him. Sure he wouldn't be running after his sons when they chose to play their games, but he also wasn't an invalid.
Velveteen Angel