[PRP - East] A Matter of Devotion ((COMPLETE))

[demon_pachabel]

Yua had never expected lordship over any size of a 'pride', if the house could be described as such, to be an easy thing. Nor had he expected fatherhood to be any such thing either. Constant complaints from Cadenza always reminded him he was doing poorly to meet her needs as a child, unfortunately. No, she was displeased with the idea of possibly being the lady of the Southern house one day, and he wasn't sure what to do about it at that point.

Other than take a rest from wandering the lands to watch after the borders - oh watching their little home grow in numbers was definitely a pleasure.

But sometimes, like that day, he just needed to go back to the den to curl up on the pelts that littered the bottom of it - a remainder of when little cubs needed a soft surface to crawl on because they were learning to walk. Oh, he ...
...
...

Actually missed having little paws underfoot to go out on 'adventures' with him. A strange admission, but what else could he say about it? No, he wasn't about to try and bring up the POSSIBILITY of more cubs to Tui - she'd nearly killed him birthing the first six - but..
...
...
No. Inappropriate. Ha ha.. Siiigh. It had been too long a day.  

[Twiddle]

Tui had been wandering the lands they now called home, but the same thoughts as her mate had been traveling her own mind. She needed some time to rest.

She walked back to the den she and Yua called their own, and as she neared it she could see his form in the doorway and she smiled softly.

"Hey you." She said as she walked inside, laying beside him and nuzzling him affectionately. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" She said with a smile, looking up at him with big eyes. She had been thinking about the same thing as he was, cubs. Though she wouldn't bring it up to him, she knew he didn't want anymore. Or at least she thought she knew. He had been so sad that the past litter had inherited his 'traits' and she didn't want him to feel guilty about another litter of cubs.  

[demon_pachabel]

Well, seemed he had a lovely little visitor to keep him company! One that he was oh so pleased to see (even if it hadn't even been half a day since they'd last seen each other), returning the nuzzle of affection before shifting to accommodate her position at his side.

Uhh... thinking about. AH HA HA. Well, he was thinking about how.. unusual their litter of girls were - not ALL of them had gotten his 'traits', just.. a couple. Three? Four? Something like that. Some of them were off playing so much he wasn't even sure at times - but they were his girls and they were beautiful just like their mother.

Then again, he was biased.

"Things. Our children, for example. Cadenza is very much unhappy with the idea of being wed to Tama's son, and I'm unsure if I should go and speak with the lady of the South and see what possible solution there is, or if it would offend her to break it off now."

Y'know, after the kids had thought they'd be TRAPPPEEEDDD together for all of forever.

Poor things.  

[Twiddle]

Oh so he had been thinking of the children as well? But she doubted that he had been thinking of having MORE kids, as she was. She tried to put the thought out of her head, though it remained there, gnawing on the back of her mind like a tick she couldn't get off.

"Oh? Well, I don't really know what to do, honestly. Part of me wants to do what's best for the pride, but the other part wants my daughter to be happy." She said sadly, thinking of all their daughters. Unknown to either parent, Tari'alla had had a baby herself, though she had done it secretly. The boy had grown and his mother had no idea where he had gone, and she had become very distant from her family. Tui had of course noticed it, though couldn't get it out of her daughter.

"What do you think, dear Yua?" She asked, looking up at him with her pale eyes.  

[demon_pachabel]

"I wish that they'd been old enough to choose before any of this had been forced upon them." Yua answered, frowning a bit and laying his head upon his mate's paw. It seemed that they were both uncertain as to what to think on this matter. While it had seemed reasonable that the houses were keeping peace between themselves, it was strange to him that it was in a method were the unhappy ones were the ones warring with their 'other halves'.

Like Cadenza... and possibly his other daughters.

Nnngh.

"I think I may need to speak with Lady Tama about Cadenza for the sake of both parties sanity. Perhaps she too is having this problem with the potential of offending the other party if the request to let the children have their space."

Not to mention that sudden space had an odd method of suddenly making parties latch to each other -- not that it was his intention to cause any such 'clinging'.

Just.... here he was, supposedly some 'pot' of wisdom while Miliki was having to deal with the wandering Deiwei and his mysteriously appearing 'troupe' (who so far had been a decent lot) and Cadenza was screaming 'DO NOT WANT' at her own situation.

"I feel like I've failed our daughters in a way."  

[Twiddle]

Tui laid her head on her love's neck, sinking into his deep mane. She couldn't help but smile at that, although it quickly faded as he began to speak. "I agree. I can't imagine that her children are any more excited about it than ours, she's probably having the same exact problem." She snuggled deeper into his mane.

Tui looked down at him with a sad expression. "You haven't failed anyone." She set her head beside his so she could look into his eyes. "You've given them a place to live, protection, and more love than they know what to do with." She licked his cheek softly.

Damn. She still couldn't get the idea of cubs out of her head! And at such a serious moment, too!

"Hey." She said suddenly, smiling at him. She wanted to get his mind off of things, and this way perhaps she could sneak some kind of hint into the conversation as well, about cubs. "Remember when the girls were just cubs? They were so young and innocent... I loved hearing their little footsteps on the ground. They were so sweet." She smiled as she reminisced, looking over at him again. "Don't you miss that, Yua?"  

[demon_pachabel]

And Tui's words were really what his restless mind needed to hear, sighing contently as he pressed his nose against the side of her maw to return a nuzzle before the new thought was passed into conversation -- one that earned an odd enough expression from Yua.

ERR.

"Well... they were so small, I was afraid I was going to break the poor dears.." Yua replied, remembering that one morning of panic and practically petrification as he sat there with one of the girls latched to his paw obliviously in slumber while Tui had to convince him that YES he could move his paw without hurting her.

Such an awkward father.

"Though I will say that the wish for a son hasn't eluded me while watching the girls go off into their own lives. I only look over so much of them now."

This was followed by another sigh on his part before he laid his head back down.

"Yes, I do miss when the girls were young. I wouldn't mind a second chance."  

[Twiddle]

Tui's eyes lit up at his words. She always did feel bad that he had had to deal with seven girls in his life, and no son to play roughly with, to teach him how to roar, how to hunt and be a man. How to care for a family and be proud of his accomplishments. She smiled at him and nuzzled her face against his again.

She giggled softly at the memory of the cubs birth, when Yua had been so very... awkward with the girls. She had thought it so charming though, in his own way.

Tui laid her head on his again, near his ear. "Well, who says we can't have a second chance?" She said, smiling down at him, a sparkle in her eye. She lowered her head back down to eye level with him.

"Let's have another litter, Yua. I miss having children so much, and I want to give you a son." She licked his cheek and smiled softly, her pale eyes looking into his with love. She really did love the big, awkward and hilarious lion, more than she could even know.  

[demon_pachabel]

Yua's memory of the girl's birth was a little more terrifying (it involved a switch between displeased and 'WAITSTAYWITHME' in his beloved that wasn't something he'd been right on top of wanting to happen again) than Tui's, but they never really discussed it from the standpoint of who had yelled louder at the time.

Though there was an odd flash of just that image in his head when Tui suggested a second litter -- his face reflected this thought almost perfectly too, dazed and looking out into 'nowhere' (in a sense), before he forced himself to shake his head to get out of that little 'la la land' and back into reality land.

"Well, I supposed it can't be helped," oh yes it could be, but hell... a second litter of little paws to roam around underfoot of the other house members may have been what was needed at the current time...

And the prospect of a son (or two) wasn't anything to sneeze at either. "However, you have to promise me that this time you won't be yelling at me that it's my fault, alright?"

Because that 'YOU DID THIS TO MEEEEEEE' still vibrated somewhere in his head.  

[Twiddle]

Tui laughed softly, also remembering the birth. She had been so.... crazy during it. She felt bad for Yua, that he had to go through the mental trauma of her yelling at him, but she had been in physical pain at the time and couldn't have cared less what had been happening to him. She cared now though, and she smiled sweetly at him.

"I promise." She gave him another kiss, "I think I really won't be so emotional this time around, since now I know what to expect." She said with a nod.

But hormones can do some craaazy things, and Tui had yet to find out how crazy she really could be.

For now though, she cuddled against her mate and smiled warmly. "Thank you, Yua. For just... being you. I know I sound extremely corny right now, but I mean it. I never could have raised the children without you. You're an amazing lion." She bumped her head against his lovingly.  

[demon_pachabel]

Yua sighed contently and bumped the side of his head back against hers, shifting his posture so she could nestle her head right up underneath his (what? He liked that!). Huuuh.

How strangely comfortable he'd gotten with physical 'snuggling' times now, hadn't he? Not that it surprised him too much, given that over the last while he'd gotten used to cubs clinging to him like a playground as well as curling up in the den with his dear mate every night had definitely been factors in getting him over that poor 'stigma' he had.

Besides.

He was well enough to make sure the girls didn't 'leek' their odd little traits away to strangers. They didn't need the whole pride knowing. Otherwise, they were all fine.

Yes.

Everything in his world was definitely fine, and then some.

"You're welcome, Tui."  

[Twiddle]

Tui was at peace with the world again. Although her daughters still had problems of their own, she knew she couldn't solve everything, even though she wanted to make all her children happy with not a worry in the world.

But, she wasn't superlioness. And she now realized how bad her grandmother, Tana, must have felt when her father had been taken away and made into a slave. Tui thought about her grandmother a lot, and she wondered how the old lioness was. If she was even still alive.

But she pushed the thoughts aside, just glad to have this moment with her mate, and basking in the thought that soon she and Yua would have more cubs!

God help them all.  

[demon_pachabel]

God help them all indeed.

Yua had little to bask in other than the sheer horror in his mind that came with knowing he'd soon have to be careful not to roll over onto little bodies again as well as ..
...
...

Well, it was a second chance at being a father -- he'd just have to see how well he'd manage it a second go around (He could handle girls, so now he'd have to see how little boyss handled themselves!). However, he would have long enough to think about it.

It wasn't as though he'd be waking up to little fuzzy children-faces peering up at him (or so he hoped).

However, unsurprisingly, Yua found himself yawning, stretching his legs out in front of him before he slowly moved his head to rest it on top of one of his own limbs.

Mmm.

"I think we should both get some sleep tonight."  

[Twiddle]

Tui was excited, but when her mates big yawn escaped his equally big maw, she followed suit and couldn't hold back her own yawn. She smiled and rested her head on his unoccupied paw, cuddling close to him. She loved the feeling of him laying beside her, his warmth and the steady motion of his breathing.

The small built lioness gazed at her mate for a few moments, sometimes not able to believe how lucky she was to have someone like him. Tui's eyes closed softly as she drifted off, but she murmured "I love you, Yua. Good night..." Before being swept away into the world of dreams.