Of Cats and Dogs - rp

[Shmiley]

"Arik... Arik... Arik..." He tapped his chin in thought, he ran through all the names and faces he had seen in the army, until a young face popped into his head, "Ah! Him... her! The young cheetah. I haven't talked to her, but I have seen her around." He nodded, "Very clever of her, she is a great fighter."

--------

Aza shook his head, "No, she was a tiger. A white Bengal tiger."

[spirit_queen]

"Kayden, mind if I ask you something that might be... a bit personal?" Nedakh asked.

~

"Holy. Sh*t," breathed Lucius. "No wonder he wanted you gone."

[Miranda_]

Ulricha smiled at Kayden. "That's good," she said. "That way, you can both support each other as you settle down here. Despite what your King might have told you, we do not imprison those we take off the battlefield for healing. Instead, we let them live with us in our homesteads. I have found that it's always easier to adapt when there is at least one familiar face."

[Shmiley]

Kayden smiled brightly, "Alright, it would be nice to see a fellow cat here." He snorted, "I never really listened to what the King or what the people had to say about you guys. Personally, I see everyone equal be it Wolves, Cats, Birds or Dolphins. People thought I was crazy for saying such things, but my momma would tell me otherwise." He ran his hand through his hair, "Sure, ask away."

--------

Aza sighed, "B@stard."

[spirit_queen]

Nedakh got a little awkward, but went on ahead through it. "Well- uh- you're a lion I was told lions were only found in the royal line-" he cut himself off. He didn't want to tell Kayden that they could smell a lie, literally; wolves could smell subtle changes in the chemistry of a person, and people changed a bit when lying.

~

"I think you're royal," Lucius burst out.

Then, at that moment, came a thin, childish wail. A small toddler with white-blonde hair with streaks of darker blonde ran straight into Lucius. "Dadaaaa! Dadadadadadadadadaaaaa!" she wailed. Lucius sighed, picked her up, and placed the two-year-old on his hip. she clung to him and cried and held up her finger. "Boo-boo!" it had a little nick on it that barely bled, but to a two-year-old, it may as well have been a gash.

Lucius kissed it and then her forehead, then remembered that he had an audience, and blushed. "She's not really my daughter; I just- I found her abandoned in the streets at less than a year, so I took her in."

[Shmiley]

His tail swayed against the mattress and his ears twitched, "Ah, that. I am a lion." He grinned broadly, "Lions are found in the royal line.
"Once upon a time, the young king snuck out of the castle to get away from the responsibility set on his shoulders and met a white Bengal tiger. He fell for the young girl. That night they made magic happen and he left her there to return to the castle and the queen. The white tiger found out she was pregnant and tried telling the young king, but he acted like he never seen the likes of her. So, alone with only the help of her older sister she birthed and raised the illegitimate child of the king into what you see before you." Then he frowned, lips pulled into a tight line, "Sadly... my momma died after Kioren turned two."

----------

Aza's ears flattened to his head until they perked up at the sound of tiny feet and the cry for her father. He watched the scene before him, remembering when he brother did the same exact thing, he smiled, "Cute. You seem to be doing a good job of being a step-in father."

[spirit_queen]

Nedakh scowled. "I'm very, very sorry; we don't do that here. Here, a child is a child, born out of wedlock or not. In fact, my little Taka is 'illegitimate'... but hate that term, it makes you somehow sound like less than a person," he said. "You're more than welcome here, even if your lines doesn't acknowledge you.

Taka had wandered off to find her brother; she wanted him to meet the lion guy with the pretty blue eye.

~

"Thanks," blushed Lucius. "I- I try. I can barely afford to feed her, that's why she's so skinny... I- I do some... questionable things, but- but hat doesn't matter."

[Miranda_]

Phelan was around eight years old. He was drawing on a rough sheet of paper with charcoal.

Ulricha looked troubled at what she was hearing. "That's just awful," she said. "Any child deserves to be loved; it doesn't matter to us how a child was made."

[Shmiley]

"It's no big deal. I lived through it my whole life and couldn't care. All I care about is my family, my two little boys. As long as they are safe, then I'm happy. My children were born out of wedlock, in fact... I went off and asked two girls to bear me children. They were skeptical at first, but went through with it. Very nice girls, they would time to see them." He smiled fondly and chuckled.

----

Aza looked at him questionably, "Things? What kind of things?" He asked, his eyes looking over the small girl. "I could help you when I get better, if you want."

[spirit_queen]

"...you asked them? So you searched them out specifically to be a father?" Nedakh asked. It was unusual, to be sure, but he supposed there could be worse.

"Phelan! We gots new people, a girl cat that pretended to be a boy and a boy cat I overheard was a- what's it called? Royal!" Taka said, bouncing up to her older brother.

~

"Um, I- no, I won't let you do the things I do," Lucius said, shaking his head.