Little monsters!

[Inu]

Inu wakes up with a start at the warm, wet pressure on his face.

"Mmmnuah! Gedoffa me..."

He blinks and looks to his left, where he expects to see his wife staring at him with a cheeky grin. He's met with another scene entirely.

"Bee! Bee!"

His son Hiro is sucking on one of his fists and poking his face with them. His daughter Kalia is sitting on his chest and tugging on his hair, babbling a mile a minute. Their message is clear; Daddy, get UP!

"Stop pullin' m'hair..."

Gently he pries Kalia off of himself and reaches blindly toward the bedside table for the clock, but instead encounters a slip of paper.

Went out early for shopping. You'll be alone with the cubs until after dinner, so make sure you take good care of them and watch them closely! I love you. --Sorreessa

[the cubs]

Kalia batted lightly at the piece of paper while her ears twitched since she was unable to see daddy behind it. She reached up and pulled it down before laughing.

Hiro was not really too concerned with anything, chewing on his fingers now. His eyes flitted to the side as he saw some movement, his sister's tail! He batted at it, caught it then chomped down. His sister's yowl was music to his ears.

[Inu]

Inu sits up, yawning widely and fumbling with Hiro's slimy hands as he pries the cubs apart.

"Stoppit...is too early to fight," he mumbles. He kisses Kalia to make her feel better and scoops them both up, careful not to trip over the disheveled sheets as he makes his way into the living room. He places them into their pen and stumbles into the kitchen for some breakfast.

[the cubs]

Hiro muttered a few curses in baby before looking to his sister, trying to figure out the best way to bug her next. He craned his neck up to look for daddy, good, daddy was off in the kitchen, perfect for getting his sister, the only question was how? He looked around their playpen, noticing the many toys there. A wild grin that would match his father's crossed the young cub's face. He lifted them with the force, the power he rarely tapped into for unknown reasons and floated them at his sister, not actually touching her with them but getting them really close to her.

Kalia growled and raised some of her own but bapped him with one of them, a hard one, his toy truck. Hiro's ears went back, he growled before bawling, that had really hurt.

[Inu]

Inu holds out one hand and lowers it, quelling his children's Force abilities with his own. Their mother's Cizerack blood makes their Force abilities considerably weaker. Later in life they may even neglect it entirely. But at the moment, their animosity towards one another has their powers moving against one another. Inu pours himself a glass of milk and takes a piece of bread, buttering it before setting it aside and getting two bottles for them both.

"Here, calm yourselves. Once you've had breakfast you'll feel better."

The father pops the two bottles into his children's mouths and goes back for his own food.

[the cubs]

Hiro started on his bottle but still glaring at his sister, how could he get her back for that? Daddy would drop the toys now so he did it the easy way and simply bopped her over the head then giggled.

Kalia again bested him though by bopping him with her bottle before putting it back into her mouth quickly before daddy would see.

[Inu]

The small thunks of fists and bottles doesn't escape Inu's hearing, but he lets it go for the moment. At least they're not throwing toys anymore. He butters up a few more slices of bread, neglecting to toast them and seats himself on the sofa, with the cubs between himself and the holovision. Inu turns it on to find cartoons. That should keep all three of them entertained.

[the cubs]

Both cubs ears turn towards the sound of the tv, watching in awe as they drink their bottles. After a bit, Hiro finishes and pulls himself up on the pen before dropping his bottle over to get daddy's attention. He didn't wanna stay in here.

Kalia watched calmly and mewed softly, echoing the fact that she wanted out too. Fluttering her ears, she wondered where mommy was, she disappeared after she dropped them of with daddy.

[Inu]

Inu has hardly finished his first slice of "un-toast" before both cubs are mewing to get out and dropping their bottles on the floor. Inu isn't finished with his breakfast and would rather not put it down. He pokes the corner of his first slice into his mouth, freeing one hand to move the bottles into the kitchen sink. Next he lifted the cubs with the Force and settling them on either side of him.

"Be still and let me eat. Watch these silly cartoons."

[the cubs]

Hiro was content to do that for the moment but Kalia wasn't, daddy's hair was in reach, she never could resist that. Hair wasn't as fun as ears but she wasn't high enough to get at those. She grabbed a handful and yanked, watching to see what daddy would do.

[Inu]

Inu tilts his head to the side and keeps eating. Now there's too much slack in it for her to pull and make it hurt. He takes a sip of his glass and tears half of his next slice of bread at one go.

"Dnm't puww m'hur."

[the cubs]

Hiro looks up and grabs from the other side, yanking down on daddy's hair, if he couldn't get Kalia, why not Daddy?

"Bee! Bee!"

[Inu]

Inu stuffs his face with the rest of the toast and pulls Hiro's hands off, then does the same for Kalia.

"You two stop or I'll put you back in the pen without your toys."

They know the words "stop" "without" and "toys". They know what it means, and knows Daddy will make good on his promise.

[the cubs]

Kalia put her ears back in fear of that and hugged her daddy. Hiro watched the display and babbled at her, along the lines of faker in gibberish.

[Inu]

They've stopped...that's good. Inu begins on his final slice of buttered bread, changing the channels over from cartoons to the morning weather. Seems it'll be perfect weather all day long. If he can get the cubs to take a nap today, he may get some training in.

[the cubs]

Both cubs notice the change and mew softly at their daddy.

"Beh!"

"Bee!"

Asking simply for the cartoons to come back, they didn't know what the news was but they didn't like it.

[Inu]

Inu hadn't thought they were paying it any attention, but he knows all he needed from the weather station, so he obligingly switches it back.

"You two behave."

Inu ruffles their hair and gets up to pour himself some more milk and consider his plans for the day. He needs them to nap so he can practice. He could take them to the park, but that may backfire on him. Plus, he'll hafta give them baths, but that's inevitable anyway. The big question is how does his wife keep them from fighting constantly?

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

Sorr was walking the isles of one of the few supermarkets on the planet, Obasan talking while the Tano halfling tried to find what they needed. She tuned Obasan mostly out by folding her ears back, she hated how Obasan insisted on coming every time Sorr shopped. She looked briefly over at a bit of red that caught her attention out the corner of her eye, wondering how Inu was handling the cubs, she hadn't left him alone with them until now.

[the cubs]

The cubs watch their daddy wander to the kitchen before returning to their cartoons, laughing as a character fell off a cliff, for now they were happy but their attention span was short.

[Inu]

Inu rinses the glass and knife he used for his breakfast and puts them into the dishwasher. He refills the bottles and stores them in the refrigerator to spare himself some time later. The father turns back to his children to check on them.

"Are you two ok in there?"

[the cubs]

The cubs peek over the couch, ears fluttering like their mother's would.

"Beh!"

"Bee!"

Their attention drifts back to the tv as a character gets slammed by an anvil, the cubs laugh loudly even though they don't get it.

[Inu]

They seem occupied for the moment. Inu decides it's safe enough to risk making the bed and actually putting on some clothes. He hastily straightens the sheets and gets a set of clothing that Sorr bought for him. It's his favorite one; the whie shirt with long green sleeves, black, loose pants, and a pair of socks. He walks back to the living room with the socks rolled up in his hand. He can put them on once he's checked on them.

[the cubs]

Two sets of ears flit back at the sound before standing on the couch to see better, peering over at daddy. Tails swish lightly back and forth, wondering if park is in the plans for today.

[Inu]

"Hey there," Inu says, seating himself on the couch and unrolling the pair of socks. "Are you guys ok?" He puts them on before shifting the children into his lap. "You guys ok? Say 'We're okay, Daddy'!"

[the cubs]

"Beh! Bee!"

The cubs answer, either has yet to say a real word but they are a bit young yet, so they hug their daddy and just say it their way.

[Inu]

"Yeah...you're m'li'l babies. I love you guys."

Inu delivers a kiss to each cub's forehead before sitting them back on his knees and bouncing them lightly.

"What're we gonna do?"

[the cubs]

"Beh!" "Bee! Bee!"

The cubs say but of course it just gibberish again, it'll be awhile yet before either can do it, let alone pick the right word. Kalia batted lightly at her daddy's face.

[Inu]

Inu dodges slightly and catches her hands in one of his, tugging her forward to nuzzle her.

"Silly Kalia..."

[the cubs]

Kalia giggled, mommy did the same thing when batted. She saw that the ears were close and grabbed one but didn't pull, she had since learned that it hurt a lot with her brother. Hiro watched quietly, tail swishing lazily back and forth.

[Inu]

Inu draws a deep breath, but blinks with surprise as she doesn't pull his ear.

"Hey...you learned finally. Let Daddy go so he can sit up."

Inu is bent almost double, and his back is hurting him.

[the cubs]

She didn't understand but she let go anway as daddy looked at her. She yawned softly before batting at his shirt. Hiro mewed and looked up at him, wondering if they were gonna play something today.

[Inu]

"Aw, what's wrong, buddy?"

Inu's attention shifts to Hiro. He doesn't quite understand what the boy wants and reaches out to stop Kalia's batting as he ruffles his son's hair.

"Something the matter?"

[the cubs]

"Bee! Bee!"

He says, looking up at him still, he wanted outside or something, the house was boring and where was mommy?

[Inu]

"Hm...let's see what we can do."

Inu puts his shoes on and gets the cubs some play clothes, changing them into clean diapers as well.

"Now let's go out and play."

He scoops them up and takes them out into the park, dragging their buckets with the Force.

[the cubs]

The cubs giggle and babble a mile a minute at him, they loved the park. They fidget a bit too, urging daddy to get there faster so they can play faster. Kalia sings softly to herself like her mother would.

[Inu]

Inu deposits the pair into the sandbox and hands each a bucket and shovel.

"Play nice."

The father fades back to his usual position on the bench to watch them and sighs, trying to find something to occupy himself.

[the cubs]

Nice and play never applied to the cubs playing for long.. They of course played in the sand for a little bit but the usual fighting was soon to be. Today it was to start with the favorite shovel, the blue one, Kalia reached for it at the same time as Hiro did and soon a tug of war insued.

[Inu]

Inu likes the red shovel himself. He feels silly admitting it, but it's true. The question is how to fairly solve this argument. If he gives one cub the favored shovel, the other will cry and be jealous. If he simply takes it away, both will be upset and fight for the remaining one. Neither cub likes to dig barehanded, so he must think of something...

"Here," he says as he approaches. Watch me."

In addition to the buckets and shovels are the rarely touched plastic cups. Inu takes the shovels to get their attention, then scoops dirt in one of the cups to fill a bucket, upending it to create a loose mound. He packs the dirt tightly into the cup and creates a few spires atop it, then sits back.

"How's that?"

[the cubs]

The cubs watched interestedly each movement made, tails swishing lightly. When he was done they tried it for themselves, making their castle a bit better than usual with this new way. They played nicely this way for a bit before both started yawning, seemed nap time was upon them.

[Inu]

The hours go by quickly for the father. He almost falls asleep on the bench, the cubs are so uncommonly quiet. Seems his idea worked after all. A soft mew grabs his attention. Hiro is rubbing his eyes and Kalia is yawning widely. He gathers their things and lifts them, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet to rock them.

"Poor babies played all they could in the sand. Got dirty and had fun and didn't fight. Yeah...they're good babies. They need a bath though..." Inu says, as much to the cubs as to himself.

[the cubs]

The cubs mewr softly at the mention of bath, they didn't like baths. They yawned as daddy walked, they didn't want to sleep but they were getting tired.

[Inu]

"Such poor babies..." Inu says softly, brushing some of the sand from them. "Such poor babies."

He opens the door quietly and lowers them into their pen, tossing sheets over them and tucking their favorite sleeping dolls under their arms. Time for him to practice.

[the cubs]

The cubs rested quietly for a bit, Kalia hugging her stuffed animal tight and Hiro snoring lightly nearby. Both sets of ears folded contentedly back in blissful sleep but it would rest them up to be little terrors for their father later. Kalia rolled over but lost her toy in the process and felt around for it before getting it and purring softly. For now, the cubs were peaceful in their dreams.

[Inu]

Inu steps out into the yard, taking a practice dummy he built of discarded scrap from it's position behind the house. With a bit of focus, the dummy takes the image of the Jackel's creator, and with this image comes the anger and hatred that has always been buried in his heart. Inu raises a hand and blasts of lightning issue forth, arcing toward the dummy and slagging it's metal surface. When he is strong enough to explode it, he will defeat his tormentor.

[the cubs]

Kalia sneezes and wakes up, poking at her nose to make the tickle stop, her brother is still asleep, dreaming away about chasing something. Kalia's tail twitches and she sits up, looking for daddy. She mewed softly, where had he gone?

[Inu]

The quiet cry breaks Inu from his angry reverie and brings a soft smile the Jackel's hardened face. He comes back in quietly so as not to wake Hiro and picks up the crying child, rubbing her back soothingly to guide her back to sleep.

[the cubs]

Kalia yawned and sniffed the air, still no sign of mommy coming home, her ears fluttered annoyedly at that. But the back rubbing was soothing so she curled up against him before closing her eyes, maybe mommy would be back when she woke up again.

[Inu]

Kalia curling into a ball is Inu's cue to set her down. He tucks her toy in close to her and replaces the sheet, but now he's worried that if he tries to go out and practice more, he will be interrupted again. The father lies out on the couch, eyes shut but ears perked to the cubs. He'll watch them well enough.

[the cubs]

They sleep quietly for about an hour before Kalia rolls onto Hiro's ear. The young boy wakes with a start and growls before poking her. Kalia mews and wakes up as well, blinking at him, wondering what was up. Kalia sat up, still no mommy, she mewled softly at this.

[Inu]

"Aw...wha'sa matter, sweetie?"

Inu walks over and crouches down, looking in on his children and ruffling their hair. He takes his thumb and carefully wipes the little smudges on Kalia's face from her previous crying bout and smiles.

[the cubs]

"Beh!"

She fluttered her ears, missing her mother but lacked the words to say it. Her mind was beginning to wonder if mommy was going to disappear for several days again.

[Inu]

"Aw..."

Inu reaches to his daughter with the Force, and can feel the longing for Sorreessa. Hiro's heart feels the same.

"Am I really that bad, guys?"

[the cubs]

It wasn't that they didn't like being with Inu, it was just that they missed their mother, she was a part of their everyday lives. Both remembered when she had disappeared and it had been a few hours before Obasan had found them then mommy had been gone for a week.

[Inu]

"C'mere you two...time for a bath."

Inu picks up both cubs and carries them toward the bathroom.

[the cubs]

The cubs start to wiggle, they know bathroom means bath. They both mewl in annoyance. No bath!

[Inu]

Inu hugs them tighter as the kick and arch their little backs trying to get away, pushing him anywhere they can put their hands. Inu can't help but laugh. He walks in and shuts the door, then sets them down and starts to take the dirty clothes from them.

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

OOC: crudola....delete me....

[the cubs]

They still struggle as much as they can, Kalia gets loose and hides behind him, Hiro just yowls in annoyance.

[Inu]

Inu finally manages to get the little shirts and shorts from them and gets their soiled diapers before starting the water. It doesn't take long for it to get to a suitable temperature and the father plunks the kids down into the bath, rolling up his sleeves and getting a pair of washcloths.

"First we'll wash our faces..."

Inu soaks the cloths and begins to gently clean the cubs' faces, laughing quietly as they try to dodge his hands.

[the cubs]

Both cubs growl but they get mommy back all the time, soon they splash water all over their father and everything else nearby.

[Inu]

Inu ignores the water. When Sorr comes in he's due for a bath himself. He lathers up each cloth with the bottle Sorr keeps for the babies and starts scrubbing their backs and arms.

"Dirty, diiirrrty babies, I've got!" he says, trying to distract the kids from their grumpy attitudes.

[the cubs]

The cubs giggle but still splash water about, if they have to be wet, so does daddy besides it's fun. Soon their efforts have most of the bathroom soaked.

[Inu]

Once he's got their bodies clean, it's time to go to work on the mop of hair each child has. Inu gets some more of the all-purpose baby soap (Where does Sorr FIND this kinda thing?) and begins to wash their hair, being careful of their eyes and washing the little ears atop their heads.

[the cubs]

The cubs wiggle a bit, they didn't like their ears touched besides water and soap was going down them. Hiro yowled softly in annoyance, fluttering his ears and splattering soap about while Kalia just growled softly.

[Inu]

Inu finishes quickly as he can and carefully rinses their hair, being careful not to get their ears too waterlogged.

"You don't like it, do you, kids?" he asks as they squirm away. "I know...Mine are sensitive too."

[the cubs]

Both cubs giggle, they knew that both mommy and dad winced when their ears were pulled. Mommy was the funnier of the two, she would mewl in pain.

[Inu]

Inu drains the tub and pulls the soaking cubs out onto the equally soaking floor, seating them in his soaking lap and taking the few dry towels that are left and drying them as best he can.

[the cubs]

The cubs mewed softly as they were dried off, tail swishing back and forth but shivereing slightly at the cold air.

[Inu]

Inu reaches for something to clothe them with when he realizes he neglected to bring clothing in for them. A good thing, probably, seeing how the place is soaked. He gathers the babies into his shirt, wrapping them in the deep folds and hugging their shivering frames to his body.

"Hang on, I'm getting clothes..."

He carries them to the bedroom and deposits them on the bed, turning to get some fresh diapers and their cover-all pajamas. It's impossible to spill their bottles, so they should be fine with those. Inu doesn't forsee a mess anytime later today.

[the cubs]

The cubs giggle a bit, daddy was soaking and his hair looked funny to them. They looked around a bit, still no mommy, where was she?

[Inu]

Inu takes the clothes and carefully tips the children onto their backs, getting them dressed with fair ease, considering the difficulty of his previous tasks.

"There we go. Nice and clean."

[the cubs]

Kalia giggles, daddy is still sopping. Hiro points and giggles as well.

"Bee!"

They flutter their ears, what's next?

[Inu]

Inu throws his wet clothes aside and trades for his traditional red outfit, taking the babies with him back to the living room and settling them with him on the sofa.

"I can't think of anything to do," Inu says with a yawn.

He turns the holoprojector on, but can't seem to find anything.

"You kids wanna play some more?" he asks with a frown. "Doesn't look like anything's on for you."

[the cubs]

"Bee! Beh!"

Both cubs clap their hands and giggle, play was always good.

"Beh! Bee!"

[Inu]

Inu puts them into their pen and stretches lazily, folding his arms behind his head with a contented sigh. Today has been a good day. He's enjoyed the time spent with his children.

[the cubs]

The cubs look up at him for a moment before looking around for toys, they reach for a toy which just happens to be the same one. Hiro growls softly while Kalia bares her teeth as a tug of war insues.

"Beeeeeh!"

"Beeeeeeeee!"

[Inu]

This toy is one that he had enough foresight to buy two of. The second one, a small, red car, rolls up and bumps lightly against Hiro to get the boy's attention.

[the cubs]

Hiro makes a confused mewl and turns to look. He giggles softly, another one! Kalia falls over as he lets go but only laughs, unhurt.

[Inu]

Inu lays back on the couch with a sigh, turning off the television so that the cubs' laughter is the only sound in the room. Everything's at ease. The wind blows quietly outside, making the wind chimes ring soothingly in the afternoon air. A perfect day, that could only be improved by the prescence of his wife in his arms.

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

The blue-green eyes of Sorr come into his view as she plops down in his lap and hugs him.

"Werrre the cubs good forrr you dear?"

[Inu]

As if on cue...

"They were."

He hugs her to him and kisses her softly with a smile.

"They fought a little, but nothing terribly bad."

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

She smiled and purred softly, looking into his amber eyes.

"So what djid you do all day?"

She was curious since she had been gone for awhile and hadn't left him alone with the cubs before now.

[Inu]

"Took care of them. Couldn't do much else. Hiro gave me quite the wake-up call."

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

She chuckled softly, she knew Hiro had odd ways of waking them.

"And how djid he do that?"

Her gaze drifted to the cubs who were calling for her.

"Bee!"

"Beh!"

[Inu]

Inu lifts the cubs via the Force and floats them into his wife's waiting arms.

"The boy wonder popped his fist in his mouth, made sure it was nice and wet and slapped my face to wake me up. Kalia helped of course; she had a firm hold on my hair when I woke up and was shouting as loudly as she could."

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

Sorr grimaces, thinking of how that must have felt before nuzzling her babies.

"At least he djidn't knaw on yourrr earrr forrr a bjit, he djid that to me one of the tjimes you werrre gone when Obasan thought jit would be funny...betterrr than spjitup though."

[Inu]

Inu shudders, nose wrinkling at the mere thought of the stench.

"God no...not spit up...not spit up."

He shudders once more before taking Hiro into his arms.

"Little boy, you gotta promise me not to ever spit up again."

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

Hiro bats at his face, babbling a bit and Sorr nuzzles the side of the baby's face.

"He's past that now, doubtful jif he'll do jit agajin, the drrrooljing though he'll have a bjit longerrr jI wagerrr."

[Inu]

"It's because he's getting teeth that he chews everything and drools like he does. I know that much."

Inu carefully deflects the baby's batting fists to avoid getting a slobbery punch in the jaw.

"I can't wait for you to stop drooling, buddy."

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

"Yep, he does morrreso than Kaljia djid though but she seemed to get them jin qujick....huh?"

She nuzzled Kalia and the cub giggled and nuzzled back, both cubs seemed more content now that the family was all together.

[Inu]

Inu holds the whole family in his arms taking a deep breath and suddenly being reminded of something.

"I need you to watch them for ten minutes or so...I need a bath."

Hiro crinkles his nose, having sighed the same as his daddy.

"Blbbllb! Iii." The boy sneezes, punctuating his point; daddy smells like a foot from his practice.

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

Sorr chuckles softly and nuzzles Inu.

"Surrre you don't want help?"

[Inu]

"Yes, because if you're going to be helping me, no one's watching these little monsters."

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

"Guess you'll have to help me laterrr then..."

She winked at him before picking up the cubs and standing so he could get up.

[Inu]

Inu stretches and kisses his children lightly on their little noses.

"Be good for mommy."

He disappears into the back of the house to prepare his bath.

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

The cubs wave and giggle before Sorreessa sits back down. Hiro bats at his mother softly while Kalia babbles at her. Sorr smiles and purrs softly then hums for them. The cubs prick their ears forward and Kalia mimics her.

[Inu]

Inu can hear the soft humming from where he sits on the edge of the tub preparing the shower. She's always been better at keeping them quiet, Sorr has. Inu starts the shower, drowning her voice and stepping under the warm water. She's the perfect mother, he feels.

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

The cubs curl up with her, ears pricked to the sound of her voice as they begin to purr softly as well. Sorr's ears are folding back, listening to them and bit behind her for Inu, she loved it when it was quiet like this.

[Inu]

Inu finishes his bath as quickly as he can and sneaks back into the room once he's dressed, quietly slipping Sorr into his lap and reclining with her and the cubs in his arms. Perfect. Things aren't getting much better than this.