[PRP] Finding Balance (Karamele Harem)

[Painted Moose]

Shaushka primped herself by the waters edge, and leaned back to get a look at herself. Most days she didn't bother with her appearance beyond the basics, but today she wanted to look especially lovely. Today was going to be the first day in a very long while that her entire harem would be together. For Shaushka, there was no better treat after working a long week than seeing all of them again.

Her blessed Elthia, her dashing Usoa, her seductive Shira...and the boys. Oh, what was she doing to do about the boys? She loved Shiro and Esti so much, but they fought like hormonal hippos. Shaushka knew it was part of their unique attraction to one another, but...honestly!

Usoa and Esti were returning from a visit with their parents when they spotted the lovely Shaushka. At first Usoa had been enroute to approach her, but Esti held out a paw. "No no, brother, just watch~" The way she primped and preened...it was honestly one of the more innocent things to come out of this harem. Esti couldn't help but to grin. If she knew they were watching she would puff up like a little bird, cheeks as gold as the sun itself and just as warm. But that did bring up the question....why was she fussing so much? Surely she knew by now that she was pretty enough without trying?

Usoa pushed his brother's paw away from him. His eyes traveled to his mate, who was now scowling into the water. Evidently she was having some sort of inner turmoil, and that made him frown in turn. Shaking his head, he gave Esti a stern look before moving closer to her. "Something wrong, love?"

"Oh-!" Jumping back, Shaushka placed a damp paw on her chest. "How many times have I told you not to do that, Usoa? One of these days I really will faint."

"Sure you will." He attempted to roll his eyes on a little grin, but game up short when she surprised him by licking his cheek. When he looked back at her, Shaushka was all smiles.

"Did you forget about today?" The way she said it was like a child expecting a gift. There was no disguising that amount of eagerness.

Usoa paused a good, long while before drawing up to the conclusion. By the time he had it figured out Esti had joined them and was chatting with the pale yellow female. Today was the group "date"...outing?...trip?...Whatever it was, this was going to be an "adventure" alright. Today would either be amazing or disastrous, depending on when and if a fight broke out.
 

[Sabra Knight]

Painted Moose

I can't believe it's already today. As nervous as a lone antelope in a pride of lions Elthia bounced around on her paws. Would she look alright? The normally timid healer was still adjusting to the fact that she had went from being alone with her Shaushka to being in this harem. Not that she minded! It was just....they were all so beautiful. She really felt like clump of dirt next to them.

Both sets of twins set her heart a flutter, but when she thought of one spotted male in particular Elthia felt her face warm brilliantly. Oh, he was going to be there wasn't he? I'll just stick next to Shaushka. She always felt so safe next to her old friend. Especially if Esti and Shiro began fighting...she truly didn't know what to do then. Still, she was excited to see everyone. I better hurry...

On the other side Shira found herself running through the grasses. Even without being primped there was something lovely in the wild way the tomboy raced over the land. She truly was a wild spirit yet to be tamed. Her blue gaze shined with energy as she whipped past Elthia who had been slowly making her way towards the rest, "Hurry up Elthi! They might forget you~"

Unlike the petite blue lioness Shira felt no fear of tumbling into the group, "Hey!" Bouncing through the others the lioness splashed through the shallow waters before twisting with a splash to lay there on her side. Letting out a sigh of relief Shira smiled up at Shaushka and the twins through her now wet mane, "That feels amazing." She pawed up towards the leader with a laugh, "How come you guys are just standing around? It's hot, splashing around a bit makes it so much better." Somehow with the sunlight glittering on the drops on her fur the lioness still managed to pull of a seductive look, "Or are you guys afraid of gettin' a little wet?"

Trailing behind his twin Shiro had just shaken his head at her playful antics, "She'll always be a forever cub." He commented to Elthia who froze at his approach, "Come on though else we might be forgotten." Unaware of the other female's heated face he nudged her forward. The sooner he could get over there the more time he could keep his twin from getting into too much trouble.

Ever since Shira had gotten him to agree to this craziness Shiro had constantly been on his paws. Honestly staying in the rogue lands would have been much less of a hassle....still as he saw his sister's happiness the lion had to give in. Couldn't be that awful, right? Plus Elthia and Shaushka weren't too bad. Grinning at the thought he gently bumped hips with the blue lioness who went stumbling forward towards the group with a squeak.
 

[Painted Moose]

Sabra Knight

A chorus of shouted noise came up around the three as Shira burst through the water. Usoa was one of the first to recover, and despite not being the more impulsive twin, gave in to leap in after her. He gave into a challenging growl, playfully swatting the spotted lioness with a pawful of water. "Maybe we were just waiting for you." Usoa smiled down at her, and leaned down to give Shira an affectionate n** on her ear. His pale coat took in the sun's heat and expelled it with the all the radiance of a star on the sand.

"Oh, now I'm all wet!" Shaushka squealed and tried to fix her mane in the reflection. She didn't look as pretty tousled as Shira did, and now...now there was no hope of fixing it.

Usoa sat down in the water beside of the spotted female, glancing up to see Shiro and Elthia approaching as well. Smiling, he gave the two of them a wave.

"And then there were five roses, and a thorn." Esti raised his chin as he looked over to Shiro. Perhaps it was his natural need to be dominant, or a hidden inadequacy, but the elder twin had always seen other males as a challenge. Even when said male was part of his own harem.

Out of all the males they could have picked... Did they have to go with this one? Everything about Shiro annoyed him, even the way that Esti secretly would do anything for the male. His own affections bothered him most. It was quite possibly the most annoying annoyance in the history of annoyances.

"It's not nice to talk about about others like that, Esti." Shaushka reprimanded kindly. She reached over to pat him on the paw while the other waved the last two members of her harem closer.

"We'll play, I can promise you that..." She gave an overly large, obvious wink. "But for now I just want to get a good look at you all. It's been so long since we've been together and I've missed you." And she did - more than words could ever say. Shaushka had grown very attached to her large family in such a short amount of time. Hopefully in years to come she would be able to let them go out on their missions without fretting so much.

"Is there any news that you want to share? Gossip? Concerns, questions?"  

[Sabra Knight]

Painted Moose

Laughing as she was joined by Usoa, Shira swatted back at him. It was nice knowing that the twin would jump in after her crazy antics. So refreshing compared to mister protector. Really she missed the days when he was a crazy, loud pirate...well those rare times that he was. I need to find more catnip and just watch him go at it. The n** on her ear broke her thoughts and the lioness purred, "Oooh? Good then! I guess I should have gotten here faster~" Boldly she looked up and licked his cheek before sinking back into the waters.

Raising a paw over her maw Shira peeked towards Shauska from the water, "My bad~" The lioness couldn't help teasing, "Since you're already wet might as well join us, right?" Playfully she twisted in the water until she was floating on her back. Now this felt nice~

Shiro rolled his eyes, "Obviously there's always a thorn when you're around." A personal pain in my side. While he tried his hardest to try to behave around the twins, Esti really loved to rile him up. While he really didn't like how easily Shira flirted around the other set of twins, especially with Usoa just now, something about Esti really made his fur stand on edge.

While Elthia moved forward to brush up against Shauska before sitting down Shiro took his sweet time walking over. The whole harem, mate thing was strange to her as well still but unlike Shiro the small female was rather content with it. Everyone was so nice here after all....well mostly. She hid a small smile as she watched the males shoot looks to each other.

"I've missed everyone too." Whispered Elthia happily before smiling shyly between the group members, "I have nothing exciting~" She worked closely with Shauska so the other female would know if anything exciting had happened.

Shira laughed from the water, "I have all the exciting news in the world~ But not enough time to tell." Winking she splashed in the water some more and floated back.  

[Painted Moose]

Sabra Knight

Usoa laughed a bit and brushed up against Shira, trying to knock her paws out from under her with a switch kick of a hind leg. Nothing to harm her, not by far, but just enough to cause some ruckus.

"Shaushka, you really should. It's very refreshing." At this point, with Shira floating, Usoa just stretched out in the shallows to look upon the group. They certainly were a motley crew, but he had hope for them yet. Something good had to come from this, even if it just meant that Esti had others to fall back on when he eventually passed.

"Better to be a thorn than a pansy a**-" Esti snapped, then he felt a gentle paw on his back. When he turned he saw Shaushka, who with her brow quirked up was more intimidating than most he'd met in his life. He stuffed it, if only because of her.

There was always friction with that guy around. Why couldn't he just join a different harem and leave his sister with them? Would that have been so hard? Shira could be hard to handle at times, but at least she was fun. He moved to make way for Elthia, giving the smaller female all the space he thought she required. It was odd, balancing his dominate attitude around her, but at least in that aspect he was trying.

Shaushka, unlike most of her harem, fell into this whole group mating lifestyle rather easily. She had a lot of love to share, and felt it easy enough to connect with everyone around her. In truth, she wanted to work on Esti and Shiro's dynamic a bit, but that could wait for another day.

"I was thinking that maybe we should all take a trip together! Go out into the rogue lands for a bit and see some of the sights. And then maybe you could share some of your exciting news, Shira." She gave the female a pointed look, though her sweet smile never faltered.

"What, like a date?" Esti quirked his brow.

"Exactly! We live with each other, but we're not a true 'harem'. We need to come together more for that, so I think that spending some group time together, as well as one on one time would be good for us. I mean, it's easy for me to say how much I love all of you, but if it's not going to be shared...then we might need to rethink our harem."

It was a potential bombshell, but one she meant whole heartedly. Shaushka wasn't going to keep them all together if they simply co-existed with each other. Harems were built upon poly-amorous love, and if that wasn't the case...  

[Sabra Knight]

Painted Moose

Letting out a small 'eep!' Shira went under the waters. However, her history of being raised in the oceans meant that the lioness could easily twist through the waters. So instead she dove deeper and reemerged behind Usoa where she splashed and latched onto him with her front paws, "Look~ I found some strange rock to float on!" Hugging onto him, the lioness reached up and licked his cheek. "Mmm, a tasty rock~"

Shiro's fur rose in challenge. Yet as Shaushka interfered with Esti, his attention was brought to Elthia who had a gentle paw of her own on his. Sighing, the lion sat down on his hunches with a frown. Shira had asked him to behave more, but really this situation was just so frustrating. He just wanted to go back to fighting and to marauding others...Elthia's gaze stilled his heart. Alright, fine. At least her gentle spirit was good for his wild one. It was calming to say the least around this crazy group.

"That sounds fun!" Shira's tail waved in the water behind her, "I've been itching for something outside of this place. To go with all of us sounds even more exciting." Her gaze brimmed with excitement as she glanced around the group. Her twin, despite being a pain was still dear to her, and the boys...well were very attractive and fun to play with. The other two lionesses were also pretty and she enjoyed sharing space with them. To explore together now that would be a nice bonding experience.

Worst case scenario the boys could at least finally fight it out.

Perhaps all they needed was a good tumble...

"That sound nice." Elthia spoke up, her voice a quiet ripple through the air. "I hope...that we can have a good time." Her cheeks darkened in a flush as she looked towards her paws, "I mean...everyone here is so great and I don't think we should give up on each other. I like having a family here..." And Shauska had always been so dear to her, even when they were cubs. Shiro too...she would have never met him. The thought made her gaze brim with tears. She didn't want to separate from any of them! Even Shira had been so nice to her along with the twins. She wasn't loud or confident like the others, but she enjoyed watching how they all handled life. With them she felt safe and loved. She really didn't want to give up on that. Definitely not!

"Don't worry, sweetie." Shira called out from the waters, "I'm sure an outing will help release some tension and we can figure things out. If all else fails we can get some fights out of the way." She glanced towards her twin and the other pair of twins, "If not I might have to throttle someone myself." Just like that the threat was replaced by a goofy grin, "We can hunt and feast under the starlight and as the cold of the evening settles over us we can all cuddle for warmth~"

Shiro could only sit back quietly. Even he didn't know what he wanted anymore. Yet, the girls were nice...not that he could love his sister. That would be a strange situation. He honestly didn't think they would ever be the normal type of harem. Who else had twins in pairs like this? They had loose threads for certain, but for him there was still a sense of family. Just a little bit and even then he wasn't loathe to admit it. Even the other twins he enjoyed....at times....the rarest of times especially with Esti....maybe even when he was sleeping so that he couldn't talk. The thought brought a small grin to his face, "As it is I suppose we should go and see then. We'll work with what we have and see what the future holds, alright?"
 

[Painted Moose]

Sabra Knight

Usoa let out a surprised shout that instantly turned into an amused chuckle. He leaned forward to help balance out Shira's weight, craning his wet head to stick his tongue out at her. The lion stilled when she licked him, but he wasn't surprised by it; not now. Rather, he returned the playful lick with one of his own.

Ah, sweet Elthia, always coming to the rescue when Shaushka needed her most. She mouthed the other lioness a quick 'thank you' before turning a beaming smile to the rest of her harem. With all that testosterone flying around it was hard to remember what she was talking about!

"Doesn't it, though? Sounds like the perfect idea to really bring us together." And that's all she wanted, really. Shaushka had already grown so attached to all of them, and the mere thought of letting them go ached. "Oh Elli, no one's giving up on anyone. It was just a thought; I'm sorry to have worried you."

She stepped away from Esti to come to her dear one's other side, framing her with Shiro on the other side. Shaushka looked up to him, then back to Elthia, whom she snugged up to.

"Getting out will do us all a load of good." Usoa knew of his brother's tensions, and hated that he was the reason for it all. It was something the others would have to be told soon, especially if Esti was going to keep taking his frustrations out on Shiro...

He chuckled a bit at Shira's 'threat'. "I'd listen to her; she means it."

While not entirely sure if he liked the sound of this, the soft look his twin gave him told Esti all he needed to know. Not only did this mean a lot to Shaushka, his twin and other harem members seemed to need it. Even Shiro, grumpy old b*****d that he was.

"Usoa and I can alert the Matron that we'll be leaving while everyone else gets ready." It only made sense, after all, since she was their adopted mother. He wasn't entirely sure how she would take to an entire harem leaving for a trip, but his mother knew the importance of maintaining bonds. It shouldn't be hard to convince her that this was a smart move.

"Does anyone have any idea where they want to go?"