Well this was awkward... In truth, he wasn't totally sure where he stood with Naiche right now... He was determined not to show favoritism for either of Asla's children, regardless of their actual paternity... he'd long suffered under the "pure-blooded" Kleins as a child and it had wrecked his entire concept of self-worth and he was not about to subject each of the two precious lives he was tasked with taking care of to that. Obviously, he had been deeply moved to see his daughter when he'd first met them but her brother was just as worthy of that adoration in his mind. But Naiche hadn't exactly been too keen on the idea of them sharing fatherly duties equally, and it rankled him somewhat. It would have been so much easier for them to just both agree to even unofficially adopt the child that wasn't their blood child but no... It only made him more frustrated to see Naiche act so protective of Tira when he wouldn't extend the same courtesy for Mo to be in his son's life the way he was inserting himself in Mojito's actual daughter's life. If some part of him wasn't afraid that the yellow man would attempt to keep him away from both of them he would have probably pushed harder...

But that didn't mean he couldn't go to visit or even take the pups out to play and with them just recently out of the den Mojito was eager to do just that. He knew he didn't visit them as often as Naiche did... His tasks keeping him busy but he had made sure to come and visit the pups as much as he could, bringing little presents of moss balls or materials for them to chew on, a little act of defiance to make sure he couldn't be muscled out of their lives and today he had every intention to take them both on a little adventure around the plains... Though it was still awkward... He had been introduced to Tira as her father but had no such easy word for who he was to the boy, though he would obviously still show his affection for him, Naiche's jealousy be damned. He had a sneaking suspicion he was being blamed for Naiche being kept from Asla's den, which only soured him further, especially considering he'd explicitly told Asla not to kick Naiche out for his sake. But he also trusted her to know when, if ever, would be the right time to invite him back in. Ultimately he'd been tasked by Sirius to be a good father to whichever pups were born regardless of if they were his or not and for all he was intimidated by Naiche he feared the warlord more.

Mojito shook his head to clear his thoughts and he approached the den he knew his new small family was housed in, a soft bark announcing his presence and he settled himself outside the den, dropping the tight bundles of wool he'd been allowed to take from Hoa to offer to the pups to play with or to put in their den to pad it out some. He'd wait patiently for them to arrive.



Speech

Art by Rivaah

Much to her disappointment, their mother had forbidden them from exploring anywhere outside of the den without some sort of escort. Satira knew Mom was protective and the best warrior in the Armada, so rightly she would want to keep them safe, but this felt more like house arrest than growing up. Still, she took every opportunity to explore with whoever was with her at the time when she could get it, especially if it was with her dad or Grandpa Sirius. Mojito was much busier than Naiche was for some reason, and while it made her sad that she didn't get to see her father as often as she liked, Satira enjoyed every second she could get with her sire. She looked up to Mo for his quiet reverence for his duties and his skills with medicine. She wanted to be a ferocious fighter like her mother and a talented doctor like her father.

Satira was lying beside the den entrance chewing on a piece of stick to sharpen her puppy teeth while enjoying some fresh air and sunlight when the familiar form of her father approached from somewhere off in the plains, his stark white coat contrasting with the green grasses that surrounded the den. He barked for them and Tira immediately dropped the stick, rushing out into the warm sun and all but throwing herself at Mojito's legs to embrace him with her flopped ears bobbing as she ran. "Daddy!" Satira squealed with joy, nuzzling his ankles and beaming up at him with pale blue eyes that matched his. "I'm glad you're back, Dad! I missed you thiiiiiiis much!" Tira stretched her paws out as wide as she could to emphasize how much his absences felt.

Almost immediately, Tira noticed the bundles of wool and stared wide-eyed at them. "Oooooh, soft!" she cooed and leaped onto the wool. She threw her tiny body across the wool, rolling over it like she was savoring a fresh bed. It was plush and soft and she loved the texture already. "Are we gonna do something fun today, Dad?" she asked while staring up at Mo, still on her back with small paws kicking and flailing wildly in the air.

"Satira Fatalis"

Arcturus was just in the middle of rolling around the den and wrestling with mom's leopard when he heard a bark from outside that sent Satira bolting out and screaming about her dad. Mo was always really nice so he liked when he came to visit too - enough so that he was willing to let Ashur win their little wrestling match so that he could wiggle out from under him and go running out of the den behind his sister. He found her flopped over on a pile of wool and he reeeeeeally wanted to jump on top of her and tickle her, but he didn't want to get in trouble with Mo so he resisted for once. Mo brought them gifts and he didn't want to miss out on gifts! "Hi, Mo!" He didn't really know what to call his kinda also dad or stepdad or whatever he was, but "Mo" was easy and fun to say so he just went with that.

He leapt and pounced on the other bundle of wool that Mo had brought and immediately saw what Satira was talking about when she was cooing about how soft it was. He "oooooh"ed and pawed at the downy fluff, mushing it together and stretching it out again with a grin. When his sister asked about doing something fun he perked up and looked at the floppy eared pair with interest. "I wanna do something fun!" he agreed, wriggling around on the wool until he was facing them. Although, knowing Tira, her idea of fun would be like sun bathing or picking flowers or something. Dumb girly stuff!

"Arcturus Fatalis"