[SRP] Mommy Doesn't Look Like Me

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Emiko looked around the den and wondered what she was going to do. Her father had brought her into this pride, to his den, his family, but she had these siblings that weren't her siblings and a mother that wasn't her mother. It made her happy and sad at the same time. She liked them, they were fun to play with even the new mommy liked to play and was very nice. But she missed her own mommy. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if Yofiel had looked even slightly like her, but she didn't.

Yofiel was purple, black, and gold with those silver eyes. Emiko was brown and tan with a bit of her father's grey fur on her and her bright green eyes. She wondered what it would mean for her to be here. Would her new mommy not like her as much for this reason? So far Yofiel had treated her just like one of her own litter and Etihad had treated the other litter as if it was his own. It both pleased and confused the cub.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Yofiel was worried about all her cubs. The fact that Etihad's and her cubs were getting along was a wonderful sign, but it did not change the fact that there was a war and that cubs were being taken. She did not want any of her cubs to go missing even if they were not from her own body. Seeing Emiko sitting to the side of the den brought this home all the more. She worried and fussed over them all because they were all hers. She had gone so long without having cubs and now she had all these wonderful ones.

The fact that someone might threaten them or try to take them away infuriated her. She wanted to be the best mother possible and if Emiko's reaction to her was any indication she must be doing well. The other cubs from that litter, were adjusting, but she couldn't say for sure if they really liked her yet. She was going to have to take the time to get to know them all. Hers and his, she was going to have her paws full, and she loved it!  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Emiko padded over to Yofiel and looked up at the lioness. It was always so tempting to play with the dangling beads on their little strings, but Yofiel seemed so attached to it, that the cub could not bring herself to pounce on it. What if she hurt it? Emiko took a deep breath before speaking to the lioness. "Mommy?" It was still hard to think of Yofiel as mommy, but she was trying. When the lioness looked at her, Emiko continued. "Why don't we go out much? I want to go outside."

The cub did not understand what was going on outside or why they had been pretty much trapped in this den since coming here with their father. She wanted to go out and she just did not see the reasoning behind staying in ALL the time. Okay so they did go out every so often, but it was always within sight of the den and always close to Yofiel and Etihad. They were not allowed to venture forth on their own at all and they were not allowed to travel away from the den.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Yofiel was looking at the entrance of the den trying not to jump at every sound when Emiko came over to her and spoke. The lioness looked down at the cub and listened to what she had to say. Even if it was something silly, the lioness wanted to make sure she gave the cubs the attention they deserved. Play for a cub was just as important as seriousness after all, especially in a pride tainted by war. The question made the lioness sigh. She did not want to have to explain it to them. They were too young to understand it.

The lioness could not let the cub without some explanation, but it would have to be simplified. "There are bad things happening outside the den right now. When they stop you can go out more... it may be a long while before that happens, though, dear one. But it will happen eventually, I promise." She was not sure if that promise was going to be able to be kept in her lifetime, but Yofiel had to comfort the cubs as much as she could right now, as much for her own peace of mind as for theirs.  

[Kathryn Dragonna]

Emiko looked up at her "mother" and purred, more to reassure herself than being happy. It scared her a bit that her mother was worried about these bad things all the time. She was an adult, shouldn't she be fearless? How bad did something have to be for one of the adults or even more to be worried about it. It made the cub very uneasy and more than slightly scared that something bad would happen. That was more than enough to get the cub to decide she needed to stay inside if Yofiel said so, though. "If you say so mommy..."

Emiko looked at her sleeping step siblings and wondered if they were as worried about what was outside as she was. Emiko had come from outside with daddy and now was here. She knew there were bad things, he had said so, but she did not understand just what was so horrible. Maybe it was that water they had come across? Maybe that was the source of the bad things? It hadn't seemed so bad, though it was a little frightening to get on a piece of wood and have to hold on to go across the water. There was so much of it.