" Hello mother.." Azu spoke in cool tones, not normally her way of greeting. Unlike her mother, she was a kind, loving, and friendly lioness who still saw good in the world, regardless of the start she had been given.

The only similarity between the lionesses were the orange orbs, though Azu's were a touch darker than her mothers, otherwise the only thing they shared were slight color similarities but Azu thought herself more her fathers daughter than her mothers. Which was a price she was constantly paying for, the failures of her father which fueled the hate of her mother.

"So bold are we Azu?" Cora willed herself to be controlled, it was not the time to strike..not yet. She kept her claws sheathed and turned and stared into her daughters eyes, and felt nothing. Not a single warm emotion, nothing but seething fury burned within her, she was so close, so very close to achieving her goals.

Azu's chin tilted, as she shook her head. "You'll never change..and Im not going to run anymore." She had cubs now, and they deserved a stable home and life, and Azu would defend them til her last breath, she would do whatever it took to keep them out of her mother's clutches.

With a sneer, Cora eyed her daughter. "Well, it seems you didnt grow to fat with those little bastards did you?" She laughed now, "Even their father knew how worthless you were and fled before your belly even began to show!" She had been watching her daughter for a long time now, and had made note of her daughters failed romance, which had resulted in 4 b*****d sons.

Azu growled, her mothers pride within would not tolerate her sons being spoken of in such a manner! "Watch your tongue Mother dearest.." She said between her fangs, her jaws clutched tightly. "Those are my sons, and your grandsons...Your unwanted line grows, and will further branch out with them." Azu tossed back at her, her boys would love, and have families.

"Not if I kill the lot of them first." Cora said with great amusement to see the fury deepen her daughters eyes, pity she wasnt worth a thing. Maybe she could have had potential but Cora knew better. "Kill off your little babies, and leave you...with the blame, the guilt, knowing that you failed them. That you FAILED again Azu." Cora clicked her tongue.

Fury lashed out as Azu gave her mother a sound smack across the maw, growling her fur was bristled. "Dont you DARE threaten a hair on them!" She snarled, this was so very unlike her. She didnt like the feelings bubbling within her, but she would not let her mother threaten her cubs. "I have never failed mother, it is you who is the failure here." Azu shot back, her father had been kind, loving, from what she could remember, barely older than her boys were now when she found her mother covered in her fathers blood, standing over him laughing wildly.

Cora was shocked, that sound smack had a good sting to it. She lifted a paw and rubbed at the spot, controlling her response to attack and give Azu a sound beating, how sweet it would be to hear her daughter cry out in pain, the thought of it alone began to soothe the temper rising within Cora. "Tsk tsk Azu, seems that you might have a touch of me within you after all." Cora gave her daughter a wicked grin. "Shall we see how much of me you have within you daughter." Oiy, she almost choked on that word, Azu wasnt a daughter, she was a parasite that had yet to be removed.

"I am NOTHING like you!" She shouted, she was nothing like her mother. She relished in life, enjoyed the company of others, a laugh, a story to be shared, there was so much beauty in the world, so much love and happiness and Azu wanted to be apart of it all. Of course she knew she had been cursed to never have a love of her own, but she enjoyed basking in the love of her boys, the love that motherhood had brought. She would always be grateful to their father for them, sadly she had never run into him again though she hadnt really sought him out either. "Stay away from my boys Coracao Caotico." Azu said in a cold mothers tone, using her mothers full name, in their family it was an insult to use ones whole name without permission and of course Cora would have never allowed Azu to use it. Azu herself still followed the tradition of her father, even her sons followed in their wobbly paw prints, never sharing their whole names.

"How dare you." Cora growled out now, "I could kill you where you stand right now Azu, and then raising your little bastards as my own, turning them into everything you hate and that I love. Have them hunt down and murder their own father...and any little gits he may have now with his mate." Cora sneered. "Thats right, he has a mate now, and you were nothing but a night to get warm..No one will ever want you Azu. Your nothing." Cora hissed out.

Azu did her best to hide that shock, that twist of pain. Instead she took a deep breath and smiled into her mothers snarling face. " I have them, and that is all I need in life. I love my children..You couldnt say the same could you? Are you even capable of love mother?" There was a touch of sadness in her voice now, was her mother unable to love? Was that why she was such a twisted monster?

Cora laughed now, her body shook with it as she smiled. "Oh yes, I love. I love the feeling of life escaping from another as I torture them. I love everything that brings you terror, everything that hurts you. I love it..hell! I relish in it." Cora's eyes danced at the images within her own crazy mind. "And I will explode with love when I rid this world of you and those little b*****d." She said with a sweet smile.

"I will kill you before you have a chance to harm them." Azu said, she knew that this had been pointless, the lioness before her cared nothing for her bloodline and she knew she was wasting her breath. "Good bye Mother." Azu said, turning away from the laughing lioness, she would gather her cubs and move on til nightfall, she would do whatever it took to keep them safe, and out of the paws of the grandmother who only wanted to hurt them.

WC:: 1122

- This rp takes place before Azu's cubs are adults -