Dongo paced back and forth, ever nervous. Ever since Huong had told him she was pregnant... He was worried. What kind of father would he be? What kind of mother would Huong be? Sure she'd handled it very well, it just didn't stop his worry. As he continued to pace, he wondered what they would look like. Would they look like them..? Or maybe relatives. Come to think of it, he had no idea what Huong's family even looked like! What if one came out... Wait... He'd seen his own family, there wasn't exactly much left to show up out of the blue. And Huong added pink to the mix, so they could literally be ANY color. They could easily have a rainbow-colored cub!
A soft call from the den soon attracted him back to it, and he carefully crawled in. "Huong...? Is everything okay...?"
The dark lioness had been a bit apprehensive at first, about the whole having a family thing. But then she'd gotten used to the idea, and welcomed it. She had looked forward for weeks to the moment she would see her cubs - And she knew there were at least two, she'd felt them moving. When they'd finally come into the world, in their own rushes of fluid and blood, she'd greeted each with joy. Four in total, they were each different from one another. First a cream-and-pink girl, followed by a white girl with green hair, and then a girl all pink. The last had been delayed, but she'd still welcomed the tiny ball of brown fur. Now, after they'd been cleaned up, she welcomed Dongo into the den, smiling at him. "Look at them, Dongo... Four beautiful little girls..." She leaned over, licking each one in turn. That brown one had rather long hair, though, she had to think...
Dongo smiled, looking at them all. Four beautiful little gi- Wait... He leaned over, then used his paw to roll the last one over. "Huong... Love... Um... This one's a boy..." He didn't know TOO much about cubs and the like, but he knew when he saw a very MALE cub. "We have a son..." His smile grew. He had a son! He had... Three daughters and a son. His poor boy... He'd be doomed in SOME manner with so many girls around. Now he had a new worry - How was his son going to turn out? And... Come to think of it...
Huong's ears went back, as she lifted her chin. "No, Dongo, that's a GIRL. And she's just as pretty as her sisters." Granted, she'd never actually SEEN a male younger than an adolescent. But that didn't stop her from being convinced that she only had daughters. "And they all need names..." She paused. "And... Our FAMILY needs a name..." What would they call themselves? The Hodge-podges? Not a one of them looked directly alike, though they still had many cases of looking similar. The youngest girl looked a lot like their father, after all, as well as the oldest girl having a strong resemblance. She could only assume the green and blue came from Dongo's side... Though she didn't know her own family beyond her sister...
Dongo's own ears went back. "Huong... I'm pretty sure that's a boy..." He looked at his son - And he knew it was a son - then back at his mate. "Though... You've... Never seen a male this young, have you...?" It WOULD make sense, that she'd confuse their son for a daughter due to never having seen a male cub that small before. "As for a family name... Um... Well, there's so many girls, and I bet they'll be as sweet as you... So something on that vein..." Like... Sugar.
She shook her head, rolling the cub back onto its belly. "All girls, I assure you of that. End of discussion, Dongo." She nuzzled the cubs, smiling at them all. "They ARE sweet, too... Just look at them all... Like... Little fruits and flowers... And a nut." Two fruits, a flower, and a nut. Or a seed. Either way, they all looked like something that could be eaten. "How about... Kalisetsi? I've heard some of the older-blooded members mention it when saying how sweet something was... And it's fitting of how sugary sweet they are!"
There was just no reasoning with her... Dongo could only let out a sigh, smiling at his mate. "Okay, fine, fine..." He crawled in better, laying down to form a full wall of body around the cubs. "I'd say Kalisetsi sounds good... It rolls off the tongue in a pleasant way, too..." He nuzzled Huong, a rumble in his chest. "But they still need individual names..." He looked at them, watching as they wiggled about, full from eating. "I'd say this first one..." He gently moved the cream cub with a paw. "We should call Luyu... And the white one... Nova..."
Huong purred, smiling at the cubs. "I like those names..." She ran her tongue over the pink cub. "This one.. A'nu... She looks like a little strawberry!" It made her giggle, despite how sore her body still was. "And this little one..." She pulled the brown cub close, grooming it. "Little Rajeev..." She noticed Dongo's confused look. "What? There's nothing wrong with calling her 'Lotus'! Her hair's white like one, after all, so why not?"
Dongo could only sigh, smiling. "Alright, Rajeev it is... Because of hi-- HER white hair..." He took his turn grooming over the cubs, smiling at them each. When he got to Rajeev, he decided in his mind... He'd make sure that his son grew up without being gender-confused and gaining an identitiy crisis. Or at least try to. "So, how's it feel to not have a belly full of cubs anymore... But instead a den full of them?"
She gave him a daring look at the gender slip. None of HER little girls were going to be called boys! She smiled, though, nestling her forhead into his dark mane. "It feels... Wonderful. And yet, I'll miss having them there... But I look forward to watching them grow, and thrive... And find loving mates of their own.. I hope they're handsome... I wouldn't want my children to have ugly children..." She paused. "Though come to think of it, if two very pretty lions united, they might cancel each other out and have ugly children... On second thought, I just hope they find mates that make them happy."
Letting out a laugh, Dongo nuzzled his mate. "I just hope they find mates, period, love!" His wishes for his children were simple enough. Grow up happy and healthy, and find their own mates, and then raise their own happy and healthy families. Simple, right? Right. Letting out a sigh, he groomed Huong's forhead, watching her finally sleep and rest. As he settled with his family, he gave his mate a last lick on the cheek, whispering, "I love you..." before slipping off to sleep himself.
