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Athena crept after Zenobia, watching her tail and feeling quite amused as he followed her. The cubs were all in the paws of Athena and Zenobia's adult offspring for now while the two of them wandered off being as silly or not as they pleased. Zenobia rarely came out like this away from everyone, or at least not this far from everyone. Athena had just felt the urge to follow her today and now he was happy he had. She found a nice little watering spot to enjoy and the big male lion was thinking that perhaps he would join her, if she would let him of course.

Athena kept creeping until he got to the edge of the water and then into it. He had seen no sign of any predators of any sort and the water was shallow enough that he was pretty sure that those dumb lizards weren't going to find it good hunting ground. Too easy for creatures to see them and all that. Athena waded in as silently as he had crept along the shore and took a small drink before submerging himself and then pawing at one of Zenobia's legs. This could end badly if he scared her, but at the same time, it could be very very funny. The big flufball would see soon enough.

Athena caught Zenobia's back legs to the top of his head, as he dropped it to protect his eyes. He had been lucky that he was down low in the water, so he did not get a lot of damage from her kick, but had he been a predator trying to eat her, he likely would have been way too close to avoid getting one hell of a sore spot from that. The big lion pulled his head back up and shook his now soaked mane out of his face. "I suddenly wonder if I should have just belly flopped you." He grinned broadly and purred at the lioness that was his almost constant companion, or as close as anyone got to it.

"Well, I see this big white and brown fish in the water, I did try to tickle it onto shore, but it has quite the tail flop." Athena smirked right back at Zenobia and then dunked himself down into the water to do as the lioness had earlier. He was going to kill a few bugs with mud. He rolled and had to come up for air and roll again. It took about three rolls to get the mud into even his mane and tail tuft so that the little critters would die, but if he swam for a while, most of it would come back out again. Athena came up looking very brown. "Oh look another mudfish."

Athena ducked his head at the splashes and splashed back at Zenobia. He loved playing almost as much as his cubs, so the splashing suited him just fine. The usually fluffy lion, did not like the fat that he was less than fluffy and dirty right now, but there was a necessity to it, that he could not deny. While he did groom himself very well and it kept most of he bugs off, he could not ever get them all. There was also the fact that if he did miss any loose fur in his grooming, the mud was going to help by getting rid of that when it came off. Of course the coming off part was not going to be pleasant, but eh, one did have to do such things sometimes.

Athena poked Zenobia's nose when she came close to him. "I would hope I am that fluffy, but I doubt very much that I am." He grinned at the female. "I know I should not mess with species I do not know, but you are too much fun to pass up, beautiful fish." If she wanted to tease, he certainly could play that game as well. He was the big fluffball after all, though not so much fluff in the physical sense right now. He chuckled and headed for the shore as Zenobia nudged him. He was such a push over of a lion that it really was funny.

"You look rather scrawny yourself, my dear. I guess the females will just have to wait until I am dry, clean, and fluffy to play with this fish." Athena climbed up onto the bank and stretched himself out on a rock to sun himself and dry. When it was good and dry, then he was going to scratch all the mud off and be done with it. He would ignore the itch until it was dry. He was good at ignoring itches. "I am out and starting on that drying thing you speak of. Does this please you?"

Athena smiled at how Zenobia seemed relaxed and enjoying herself. The fluffy male was always happy to see the females around him happy and content. It showed that he was doing right by them to keep them that way. His offspring always seemed easier to keep content, than the ladies he entertained. He worried about it more than he probably should considering how many offspring he had produced by different ladies. Obviously he was doing something right if they were breeding with him and trusting him to raise the cubs, but still he worried. "I can do more with the cubs, Zenobia..."

"For that matter so can Zenoba, and my older children. You have plenty of paws to help if you need more rest." Athena looked at her hopefully. He wanted to make her happy. Of course, he also was trying to keep his mind off the itching of the mud as it dried in the sun. "And when Marinette comes to visit her cub that she has left with us, you could always get her to help too." He grinned at the thought, more so because he thought Mari might actually agree to it. It was rather amusing to think about how nice the 'demoness' really was to everyone.

Athena chuckled and stretched. "He does not seem at all concerned with finding a mate of his own, so perhaps watching the cubs will inspire him to find one?" He could hope. He teased Zenoba about finding a mate because he wanted his adopted son to be happy and have cubs of his own. There was also the matter of wanting to be a grandfather and have more cubs underpaw, but that was just one of the many quirks of Athena. He wanted a huge family around him, and he was working very hard to make said family.

"I love spending time with the cubs, Zenobia, and so do many of my offspring. Perseus and Coeus both adore cubs, I am sure either of them could be of great help if you simply ask. They likely think you do not wish the assistance." The fluffball of a male looked smug as he reminded the female of how much help she had at paw. Just because Zenobia did not mind watching the cubs, did not mean that Athena wanted her to tire herself out by doing all the work when there were others like himself to help.