A quiet early afternoon finds Lysergia relaxing on his sofa, idly browsing his socials on his laptop. It's been quite a relaxing morning, and after his lunch, he's more or less keeping to himself, not having anything better to do right now. After a few minutes of scrolling and becoming annoyed at things posted, he logs out and puts his computer aside, stretching out softly.

His attention is caught, though, when he hears a buzz from his phone. Curiously, he checks the notification and finds it from his friend Leroux. He opens the message and sees

-hnbjred87ygu klpioj

Ly tilts his head, then tentatively types back

-Leroux? Are you alright?

A few seconds later, the lion responds

-hyu7dswrxadzs kuimjk opllklmjn

A momentary pang of worry runs through the feline's mind, and he thinks of getting in touch with a medic – Until he remembers something and rolls his eyes, typing

-I can't read it when you type with your paws – Can you call me please?

Almost as soon as Ly sends this text, his phone buzzes with an incoming call from the lion, and he answers it. "Hey, everything okay?"

On the other end, Leroux answers "Hey! Yeah, everything's good – Just, ah… Can I ask a big favor of you?"

The feline looks at his phone and tilts his head, tentatively replying "Uh, sure; what kind of favor are you in need of?"

A deep breath sounds from the lion before Ly hears "Well… I made reservations for taking Bea out for our anniversary, right?"

The cat blinks. "…your anniversary isn't for another four months, I thought?"

"That's our anniversary of becoming mates – This is the anniversary of our first dinner date together."

Ly stares at the device for a moment, before chuckling and shaking his head. Leroux and Beatrice are happily mated, and honestly, the cat finds it quite adorable how they share their love with each other – From grandiose displays of heartfelt affection, down to silly moments of playful banter and teasing.

"Okay, okay, I get you. So, how does this involve me?"

"Well… We had asked Agatha if she could watch Paige for us, and she agreed. But she got an emergency call from Orion and had to visit him for a checkup, and she said she didn't expect to be back tonight."

This time, Ly rolls his eyes. He knows full well what a private house-call from Orion really means. "Riiight, sure, alright. But you still-" The feline cuts himself off, asking almost incredulously "Wait… You want me to watch Paige?"

Leroux's voice comes through almost desperately. "Could you, please? We can't leave her alone, and it would really be a big help to us…"

Lysergia asks "What about Aspen? Isn't he around?"

There's several seconds of dead silence, and the feline's expression falls as he imagines the big lion glaring unamusedly at his phone in response to the suggestion.

"…fair enough." He takes a deep breath, then responds "Alright… I'm not sure what all I could do for the cub, but… I'll be there as soon as I can. Shouldn't be more than half an hour."

Ly hears Leroux let out a sigh of relief before responding "Thanks, Ly; you're the best!" There's a click as the call disconnects, and the feline shakes his head again.

"What did I just sign up for…" he mutters to himself.

----------

About twenty minutes later, Ly steps out of the taxi at the clinic where the resident giant lions receive treatments and checkups. The feline walks around the side of the building while dialing Leroux's number on his phone. Once the call connects, Ly tells him, "Hey, I'm here."

The lion responds "Oh, good – I can see you; we'll be right over."

As Ly hangs up, he indeed spots both the large male lion, as well as his young daughter; she seems quite excited, and the feline can't help but smile at the sight. He's heard about Paige but hasn't yet had a chance to meet her for himself.

Approaching the lions, Ly waves happily to them, calling out "Hey, Leroux! And you must be Paige!"

Leroux smiles and proudly tosses his mane. "Hey, buddy! Thank you so much for coming out on such short notice!" Turning to his daughter, he says "Paige, this is Lysergia, or Ly; he's gonna be watching you while-"

But the cub interrupts, looking at the tiny feline suspiciously. "You're not Miss Agatha! You're… You're a boy!" Paige turns away with an exaggerated expression of disgust. "Ewww!"

"Paige!" Leroux says sternly, blushing at her behavior. "I already told you Agatha couldn't come tonight – And show some manners! You'll hurt his feelings!"

However, this notion falls quite flat, considering Ly had fallen to the ground, roaring with laughter – The sight of which makes the cub chuckle, and then laugh as well.

Leroux sees this and whispers to the feline "Come on, Ly, don't encourage her…"

"Sorry, sorry," Ly says, clearing his throat and standing, dusting off his fur. "Like I said, I'm not sure what all I can do; it's been forever since anyone asked me to sit for them, much less for a giant lion cub… But I'll do what I can for you and Beatrice." He smiles, before tilting his head and musing "…Still need to meet her properly sometime…"

The big lion chuckles. "I know she'd love to meet you, and you'll get along well with her. We're actually scheduled for a checkup next week; perhaps after that, we could arrange something!"

Shrugging softly, the feline replies "We can figure something out for sure another time – Right now, isn't she waiting for you? And I've got this little one to look after – Well, as much as 'little' applies here, that is."

"I'm not little!" Paige protests. "I'm a big girl!"

Ly looks at Leroux with a smirk, then responds "…I suppose I can't argue with that."

Leroux leans his head down and gives the smaller feline a grateful nuzzle, before hugging his daughter. "Alright, you two take care – Paige, remember; Ly is in charge, so listen to him."

Again, the cub gives the striped cat a suspicious look. "Hmpf, why do I gotta listen to the icky boy?"

A snort sounds from Ly, who quickly tries to cover it with a cough.

"Paige, please! He has a name, and I want you to use it!" The large male sighs, shaking his head. "He's doing your mother and me a big favor, and the least you can do is show him some respect, okay?"

To this, Paige sticks her nose in the air. "No tiny is gonna tell me what to do. 'Specially not a boy. Nuh-uh. I won't listen."

Leroux's eyes narrow as he softly growls "You will if you don't want to be grounded for a week, missy." He raises an eyebrow at his daughter, practically daring her to talk back again. "Now apologize to him."

This gets her attention, her head slowly lowering, and she mumbles "…okay…" as she looks down in defeat. "I'm sorry, Ly… I promise I'll listen…"

Lysergia nearly shakes his head dismissively, but realizing the cub needs to understand what her father is telling her, he softly nods. "I forgive you, Paige – Just please don't do it again." He glances up at Leroux, who gives an approving nod.

A buzz sounds from the lion's green mane – His phone, Ly presumes – And he groans and shakes his head. "Gah, I'm running behind – Thank you again, Ly. I'll text you when we're on our way home; call me if you need anything. See you!" He smiles and nuzzles both cub and housecat before hurrying off as Ly waves bye-for-now.

Paige shouts "See you, Dad!" before she looks at her tiny caretaker again, her brilliant fuchsia eyes narrowing as she pokes him with a paw, making him yelp as he stumbles backward, falling onto his butt. "So, like… What do tinies like you do for fun?"

Lysergia huffs softly as he pulls himself up and dusts himself off again, looking up at the sixty-meter-tall lion cub. "I mean, there's lots of different things people my size do, Paige… Me personally, I like to take walks, or play video games, or sometimes I do puzzles, or-"

"Boring!" shouts Paige. "C'mon, you gotta have something fun you like to do!"

"Erm…" Faltering from the outburst, Ly clears his throat. "I uh… I guess I like to go swimming, or… Well, I've not flown a kite in a long time, but I could do that, or play ball, or-"

"What about tag? Do you play that?" Paige's eyes light up. "I bet I could catch ya real easy!" Without waiting for a response, she quickly jabs her paw against him and shouts "Tag, you're it!"

The impact, though, makes the feline yelp as he's knocked back several feet before landing roughly on his rump, harshly coughing and clutching his abdomen as he lies there for a few seconds to catch his breath. "Ack… Oof… Kah…"

By the time he pulls himself up again, Paige has dashed somewhere out of sight, and Ly shakes his head before shouting out "Paige, I can't play tag with you like this; it's not even close to a fair game!"

From behind the trees, the cub peeks her head, looking at the feline with a grin. "Giving up already? Ha, I knew I was better than some tiny boy!"

At this, Ly shakes his head and calls back "Paige, you're thirty-two times my size – How could you possibly expect a fair game with that kind of advantage?" He groans softly, rubbing his gut as he adds "Especially after you knocked the wind out of me…"

This last part catches the cub's attention, her ears lowering as she steps over to him. "I… I'm sorry, Ly; I didn't mean to hurt you…"

Stretching for a moment, the feline replies "It's okay; I'll be alright. Just remember, I'm not as big as you are; we have to think of something good for both of us, you know?"

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

Ly thinks, before suggesting "How about a flying disc? Wanna catch one if I throw it for you?"

Paige's expression brightens again with this suggestion. "Ooh, sure! I know Miss Agatha has one when she looks after those little dogs that come here; I think she said she keeps it in the break room?"

"Sounds good; I'll go get it."

Ly walks around to the front of the clinic and enters the security code he had been given in case of an emergency, walking into the empty building. He tries a few doors, making a mental note as he finds a few offices as well as the medical rooms before he eventually finds the employee lounge. Going through the closet and various drawers, he finds a red and white disc made of a rigid plastic, with noticeable teeth marks in it. He chuckles, washing it off quickly, before heading back to the front door – Until he pauses, realizing something.

There's no way Paige could play with a disc this small – She might accidentally swallow it, or worse, choke on it!

Thinking for a moment, Lysergia remembers Agatha has a device that can change the sizes of the giant lions to make it easier to x-ray them, and he wonders if it might work on inanimate objects as well. Backtracking to the medical lab, the feline looks around the various devices until he finds what he's looking for, and thankfully, it seems pretty straightforward to use. He places the disc in front of it, then sets the machine to grow it by a factor of thirty-two, before activating it.

It fires a brilliant red flash of light at the plastic toy, and over the next few seconds, the one-foot-diameter disc expands until it's nearly ten meters across – And Ly realizes his mistake as it easily dwarfs his height of six-foot-one.

"Ah," he mutters, "…Maybe it'll still work?"

He tries to move it, but it's far too heavy to budge.

"Gah…"

Going back to the machine, he decides to shrink it by a factor of three; another flash brings it down to about eleven feet across, and now, he's just able to lift it from the ground.

Huffing and struggling, he barely manages to carry it to the hangar-like rear exit of the facility, bringing it outside, before collapsing and panting from the effort. "Hahh… Man, that's heavy…"

Paige, who had been idly batting at the grass, hears the clinic's rear doors opening and spots the feline with the giant disc, and she excitedly runs over. "Ooh, you made it big for me! Awesome!"

Ly chuckles, standing and nodding. "Yeah, I figured it'd be easier than trying to catch something you could barely see, heh. Here, let me try to…"

With a groan of exertion, he struggles to lift it again, and Paige dashes to the other side of the clearing. "Go on, Ly, throw it to me!"

The feline rears back as much as he can, before attempting to throw the massive disc – And it promptly flops onto the ground, barely a foot away from him.

"Come on, stop messing around – Throw it!" Paige calls out impatiently, poised to pounce.

But the cat is panting again, hunched over with his hands on his knees. "I… I tried to… It's too heavy."

The cub audibly whines before coming back to the smaller feline – But before she can complain, Ly has an idea. "Hey, Paige… How about you lift me to the top of the building, and I'll try throwing it from there, alright?"

Paige's eyes widen at this idea, and she exclaims "Oh! Sure thing!" Carefully, she takes the disc in one paw and lets Ly hop on as well, then she reaches up to the top of the tall hangar-line section of the clinic, dropping both toy and caretaker off, before again running to the far side of the clearing. "Alright, Ly, I'm ready!"

The feline readies himself before again lifting the disc, and this time, he starts spinning himself around to build up momentum, much like a hammer throw. One, two, three, four, and five rotations he spins, before finally grunting as he lets go – In completely the wrong direction. Paige and Ly both can only watch as the disc immediately nosedives and crashes into the paved parking lot, shattering like glass; without a stable spin, the disc had little aerodynamic stability, and the rigid plastic was far too brittle to support its weight.

"…oops…" Ly says.

Paige shakes her head as she steps over, looking at the mess of splintered plastic on the asphalt. "Good thing there weren't any cars or tinies there, huh?"

The feline nods. "Yeah… Here, help me down so I can clean this up."

The cub does so, and she does her best to sweep the mess together for him. It takes a while, but they eventually get everything scooped into the dumpster, at which point Paige sighs. "Aww, man… I wish there was something we could do together! I'm so bored!"

Ly shakes his head softly. "I'm trying, Paige… I really am…" It's clear he's feeling disappointed too; he doesn't want to see her upset, and he feels like he's letting her down with his inability to play on her level. He tries one last suggestion. "Look… Why don't we go to the lake and swim for a bit, alright? It's been a warm day; I bet the water will feel nice…"

Paige sighs again, mumbling "I guess so…" before setting off for the lake.

Ly follows along, doing his best to keep up with the cub, but she soon disappears from sight through the trees. The feline rolls his eyes and keeps walking, slowing to an easier pace; he'll just catch up once he reaches the lake, he reasons.

But when he steps past the trees a bit away from the water, he pauses, seeing no sign of the lion cub! "What the-?" he mutters, walking towards the water and peering out, the surface mostly undisturbed. "Where'd she-"

The water ripples at the edge; subtle at first, then it grows stronger. Soon after, Ly feels a trembling from the ground, and tilting his head, he looks around, before turning behind himself – Having only a half-second to duck as Paige sprints from the forest and leaps over him, diving into the water with a tremendous splash!

"Ack!" yelps the feline as he's suddenly knocked over with the resulting tsunami!

Paige giggles happily, and it's clear she's finally having fun. "Hehe! Hey, Ly! I bet you can't catch me out here!"

Sputtering as he stands up again, Ly shakes the water from his face, then chuckles softly. "Heh, remember trying to play tag, Paige? Besides, I'm a bit out of practice for long-distance swimming…" He reaches down and picks up a flat rock, throwing it and watching it skip across the lake's surface. "I think I'll let you play in the water; I'll just stay here and watch you, alright?"

But his refusal to play directly with her makes the cub whine again. "Aww, come onnn! At least try to swim out to me!"

The striped feline's expression falls slightly as he pauses, his thoughts wandering to his sofa back home, resting comfortably under a blanket with soft music playing. He doesn't want to interrupt Leroux's night out… But the thought is certainly tempting him to…

"Fine, alright, I'll come. Just please be careful." Sighing, Ly steps into the water and wades out a little way, before laying on his belly and starting to swim out towards the cub.

The distance she had cleared in a single leap takes the smaller feline a good four or five minutes of nonstop swimming to cover, and by the time he reaches Paige, he's huffing and panting, completely winded. "Gah… Paige… I'm… Hahh… What do… You…"

Grinning, the lion answers his question by grabbing him in her paws and shouting "Dunk time!"

The feline's eyes widen in shock, and he shouts "No, Paige, don't-!" before he's suddenly forced under the water!

Paige giggles with a smirk as she reaches her paws as far down as she can, holding the cat there for a few seconds, before bringing him back up again. Her smirk, though, disappears immediately as he screams the moment he surfaces. "Aaagh!"

Coughing and choking, Ly's face is contorted in apparent intense pain, and a second later, Paige yelps as the feline starts bleeding heavily from his nose and right ear.

"Ly!" Almost hysterical at the sight, Paige shouts "What happened?! I-I didn't think you hit the bottom!"

But Ly doesn't answer, still hacking and moaning in agony; he's only barely able to gesture for her to get him to shore.

She hurriedly brings him to the lake's edge, at which point he collapses, holding his temples while heaving and coughing harshly, more blood dripping from his nose as he lies in deep pain.

"L-Ly… What happened to you? I didn't feel the bottom; did you hit something? Did I squeeze you? What's going-"

"Paige!" Ly shouts, abruptly cutting her off, his expression pained and angry. "I told you to be careful! I can't-" He pauses, coughing a few times, spitting up some blood, before continuing "I can't dive like that! My body isn't meant for it!"

The cub's expression turns horrified at this. "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't know-"

"That's why you ask first!" The feline winces, coughing as he manages to pull himself onto his hands and knees, before he heaves and then vomits a stomachful of lake water. Panting to catch his breath, he weakly says "Gah… Good thing that wasn't in my lungs, Paige… My sinuses feel like they've imploded… I can't hear out my right ear…"

Paige looks down, huffing heavily. "I just wanted to have fun, but I can't play with you no matter what. It's so boring…"

But at this point, Ly finally snaps. "Would you quit it about being bored already?! I didn't ask to be here, Paige; watching you was not part of my evening plans today!" Holding his injured ear, he shouts "And being crushed under two hundred feet of water wasn't exactly any kind of fun for me either!"

The feline's tone falls as soon as the words leave him, but he can only watch as Paige's ears lower while she stares, stunned by what he said.

"Paige… I'm…"

But before he can say anything more, the cub turns her head and mutters "…I'm sorry…" before running away, audibly crying, hurt by his words.

Ly watches this, his heart sinking at the sight. He's in a lot of pain and feeling some strong emotions, but he didn't mean to take it out on her in the heat of the moment…

The cat sighs, weakly pulling himself to his paws and dizzily stumble-walking back to the clinic. He enters the lab again, and after a few self-scans and some treatments with the high-tech equipment, he's feeling more or less recovered; his collapsed sinuses and ruptured eardrum healed, and his hearing and balance restored.

After taking a moment to clean his fur, he sighs and steps back outside, finding the trail of lion cub pawprints leading into the other part of the forest. It takes about forty minutes of walking, but eventually, the feline spots the telltale mass of white fur ahead, and he slowly approaches.

Paige is lying on her belly, her tail tucked along her side and her head down in dejection. Audible sniffles come from her as she uses a claw to sadly scrape at the ground.

"Paige?"

The cub's paw pauses for a second, before it resumes idly scraping the ground. She doesn't look over or acknowledge him at all.

But Ly continues anyway. "Paige… I'm sorry I yelled at you." He sighs softly. "I was in a lot of pain and frustration… But I know that's no excuse for what I said."

Paige's paw stops scraping the ground and slowly lowers. She still doesn't speak, but Ly can tell that she's at least listening.

"Your dad kinda called me out of the blue and asked me to watch you. And I mean… I don't necessarily mind it, but… I don't do well with sudden changes of plans, especially on short notice. But he was in a tight spot with Miss Agatha bailing on him like that. And I get that he feels I'm the next one he could trust with you, and if I had said no, he and your mom would have had to cancel their plans instead…" He pauses, shaking his head. "I just wish I could have been able to mentally ready myself for such a thing, is all."

He steps around to the cub's front, looking at her apologetically. "I promise, Paige, this situation isn't your fault. And I'm deeply sorry that I took it out on you." He lowers his head softly. "I know I can't take back what I said… But I want to at least make it right for you."

Paige's fuchsia eyes look at Ly, regarding him for a moment, before she sighs and lowers her chin onto her paws, mumbling "…I just wanted to have fun…"

"I know you did, Paige, and I don't blame you. And I would love to have fun, but…" His expression lightens as he looks up at her again. "…maybe, we just need to think about how to play first, before we do it, you know? Come up with something that'll work for both of us, so neither one feels left out."

The cub tilts her head a little, asking "Like, what could we do?"

Ly briefly hesitates, before replying "We can figure that out later, alright? Being honest with you, I don't think either of us are really in a state to try playing anything right now"

"Oh…" Paige says softly, lowering her head again. "Okay, I guess."

"Paige, please… Just bear with me for a bit, alright?" He thinks for a few seconds, before having an idea, asking "Hey… Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, hm?" He smiles softly. "Your dad hasn't really told me much – I feel like I don't really know you beyond the basics one would expect of a young cub."

This question visibly takes her by surprise, looking at the feline with another tilt of her head. "Oh, uh… I mean… Well… I like playing and having fun…"

"I gathered as much, heh…" Chuckling, Ly probes further. "How about… Oh! What do your parents like to do with you?"

Paige thinks, looking upward as she muses "Well, mom wants me to learn hunting, but I don't want to hurt anyone. Even though she says I should be a predator… I don't know; it doesn't seem nice."

The feline nods and speaks reassuringly to her. "You shouldn't have to hunt anyone if you don't want to, at least that's my thought on it… I mean, it's not like you need to hunt, necessarily – Orion seems to be doing pretty well for himself, and he never eats meat."

The cub chuckles at this. "Mom and Dad think he's weird for that. They call him a-"

"A plant-eating dingus," Ly says along with her, causing them both to laugh.

"Yeah, that, hehe… I mean, I like pepperoni on my pizza, but like… I don't want to hurt anyone alive, you know?" She shudders softly. "Because then that would be like… Like…"

Ly cuts her off so she doesn't have to think about the huge, monstrous lion on her mind. "I think you should be free to eat what you like, Paige. Obviously, I'm not your parent, so I don't have a say, but that's just my opinion. You've got morals, and I feel you shouldn't have to compromise them because of what someone else wants. Even your mom."

Paige tilts her head in the other direction at this, saying "Huh, I never thought of it like that."

The small cat nods. "Again, I can't overrule what your mom says, but… I'll never tell you to hunt anyone while you're in my care, okay? I promise."

The cub nods. "Thank you, Ly."

Nodding, he then asks "What about your dad? What do you two like to do?"

"Well… Dad and I like to chase each other around – That's why I like playing tag!" She smiles. "Sometimes we go swimming too, and he dunks me… I…" She trails off as her expression falls. "…I thought we could play like that too… I thought that's what boys like to play…" Looking apologetically at him, she quietly says "…I'm sorry I hurt you, Ly…"

Ly softly responds "Paige…" before taking a breath, choosing his words carefully. "Paige, I forgive you. You made a mistake, but now you can learn from it. Like me with my mistake."

The last part of this makes the cub look up at him, taken by surprise. "You… Your what? Your mistake?"

He nods. "Lashing out at you. You didn't deserve that. And I shouldn't have taken out my frustration on you. I made a mistake, Paige, and I'm sorry I did. But now I can learn from it and do better moving forward."

She's almost speechless for several seconds, tilting her head towards the left and then towards the right, before she finally admits "…I didn't think grown-ups made mistakes…"

Ly chuckles. "Oh, no, we do… A lot, actually." Smiling, he elaborates. "Everybody does. Cubs and grown-ups alike. I mean, do you think me throwing that flying disc and breaking it was intentional?"

He laughs softly, and Paige can't help but chuckle as well. "Heh… I guess not, huh?"

The feline nods. "Where I came from, they tried to tell me that adults never make mistakes and are always right and that I always had to listen to them. My parents said that to me too…" His ears lower as he says this, his voice trailing off, but he shakes his head to come back to reality. "Needless to say, they were lying to me. And while I know your parents would never have said anything like that to you – I know them better than that – It's still quite a revelation for a cub to find that out."

Paige nods. "It really is…"

Ly continues. "Being a mature grown-up isn't acting like mistakes don't happen. It's admitting when they do happen, and learning from them so the same mistake doesn't happen again." He smiles and asks, "You're not going to try dunking me that deeply again, are you?"

The cub shakes her head. "No, Ly, I won't. I promise."

"There you go." Smiling, he gives her nearest paw a gentle pet. "You've admitted you made a mistake, you're taking the lesson to heart, and you're promising not to repeat it. That shows a lot of maturity, like I said – And I'm proud of you for it, Paige."

The young lion's ears lower as she takes in his words, and she hesitates for a few moments before quietly saying "…Thank you, Ly."

The feline smiles. "You're a good cub. Enjoy yourself, alright? I know it feels like grown-ups get to do everything and be cool and all and that it seems like we know everything, but I absolutely promise you that's not the case at all. Heck, I'm still confused by a lot of stuff I thought I'd understand when I came of age. I'll spare you the dissertation about how public education taught me nothing useful, but basically, neither graduation nor my birthday-of-age changed anything for me, other than I suddenly had bills to pay and needed to move out on my own. I didn't know how to do any of that at first…"

He trails off again, looking into her fuchsia eyes and chuckling. "My point is, being a grown-up isn't all it's cracked up to be. Enjoy being a cub while you're able, alright?"

Paige nods softly, but then, she asks "Does that mean I'm not allowed to have fun when I grow up? Or that I have to do the boring stuff and call it fun?"

Ly thinks for a few seconds, answering "That's not the case, really – People say you 'have' to do things and that you're 'not allowed' to do other things when you grow up. Stuff like not playing with toys or whatever. Listen, I'll tell you a secret…"

He makes an exaggerated gesture of looking to the left and then to the right, as though making sure nobody was eavesdropping on them, before he whispers. "I still have my plushies at home, and I still hug them and keep them in my bed. I play video games. Sometimes I air-guitar when I put music on. I doodle and color, and I play with those little plastic building blocks. I still like going to the zoo, to the amusement park, and to the science museum, even just by myself."

Smiling, Ly says "Nobody should be able to tell you what to do in your private life. As long as you're having fun and not hurting anyone else, then you should be free to do what you like. And if that happens to be playing with your toys when you're a grown-up, then by all means, keep playing with them. If that means making silly faces in the mirror and laughing, then do that too! If you want to talk in a funny voice, or pretend to be somebody else, or call your bed a ding-dong if it squeaks, you absolutely should. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't have fun if it isn't hurting anyone. Even when you're a grown-up."

He again lowers his voice as he adds "The people who tell you not to have fun because you're 'too old'  or whatever, probably are just jealous because they don't know how to have fun themselves. And I say, keep having your own fun to rub it in their face." The cat playfully sticks his tongue out at this, making Paige giggle cutely.

She smirks, eagerly nodding as she says "Hehe, I will!"

"Thatagirl!" Ly responds, smirking right back.

The feline takes a second to check his phone – Surprised it's still intact and running, but not questioning it – And after spotting the time, he asks softly. "Why don't we head back to the clinic, alright? Get you washed off and order us a pizza, then I think it'll be time for bed."

Paige nods and stands, but before she walks, she asks her caretaker "Only if you promise me one thing."

Tilting his head, Ly asks "Oh? What's that?"

Paige smiles. "Stay with me until my parents come home?"

Chuckling, the striped feline nods. "I promise, you goofball." He giggles, sticking his tongue out again.

The cub laughs, and they walk together back to the clinic. Once there, he gets the power-washer started, but before he starts her shower, she says "Ly?"

"Hm?" He asks, looking up at her. "What is it, Paige?"

She leans down, nuzzling him softly and saying "I don't think you're icky."

----------

At the restaurant on the far side of town, Leroux and Beatrice are growing restless.

"Are you sure he hasn't called you?" asks the lioness. "I'm getting worried…"

Leroux shakes his head. "No, he hasn't, nor has he texted… I feel like he'd have said something if something was wrong; he isn't the kind who'd bother us over nothing…"

But Beatrice isn't reassured. "Dear, you know how Paige gets… He said he could handle her, right?"

"Yeah, he did." replies the lion.

Bea's eyes narrow. "You're sure that's what he said?"

Leroux pauses, answering "W-Well… He said he'd do the best he could…"

The lioness yells. "That's not the same thing! She could have stepped on him, or drowned him in the lake, or-"

"Honey, please!" he says in a hushed but firm tone. "Look, I don't think there's anything to worry about. If there was, he would have called."

"But…" Beatrice's eyes go wide as she suddenly thinks of something. "…but what if he couldn't call? You remember when we had Aspen watching her…"

Leroux shakes his head. "That was an accident; she didn't mean to eat him. And I doubt Ly would let… Her…"

The two lions look at each other, then quickly dash off at full speed – Much to the chagrin of the restaurant manager, who uselessly shouts “You didn’t pay for all that!”

About an hour later, they arrive at the clinic, huffing and panting. Ly hasn't answered their calls, and it's gone past midnight. They spot an empty giant pizza box on the ground, but no sign of either felid.

"Where are they?" Beatrice asks.

Leroux sniffs the air. "I don't… Wait… Hang on, I've got him!"

Quickly walking along, he leads his mate into the forest toward the lake, and just as they reach the edge of the trees, he whispers "Look…"

Lying on her back on a soft patch of grass is the young cub, smiling contentedly and fast asleep. Her tail flicks softly, and both parents smile; she's clearly having a happy dream.

But then, Beatrice spots something that makes her say "Oh… Love… Look at her…"

Clutched in her paws and held against her chest, they see the small striped feline snuggled against her like a little plush toy, deep in sleep as well, and looking every bit as happy as his charge.

----------

Two weeks later, Lysergia arrives at the clinic once again. He takes out his phone and quickly texts Leroux.

-Hey, I'm here.

A few seconds later, his phone buzzes, displaying the lion's response.

-yujnheu 84er 4e8u4eu8 98u 4r

The feline chuckles, stepping around the back of the building, where he sees the father and daughter coming over to greet him. Paige picks him up and hugs him to her chest, making Ly giggle, before Leroux says "Careful with him, Paige."

She nods. "I am, Dad!"

Nodding, the father turns to Ly, giving him a friendly nuzzle as well. "Thank you again for coming out on such short notice… It really means a ton to us."

Ly smiles. "Don't worry; I promise she's in good paws."

Paige nods. "Yeah, I'll be good for Ly, I promise!"

Satisfied by this, Leroux gives his daughter a hug and ruffles her spot of electric-green hair before heading off again.

As soon as he leaves, Paige looks at Ly with a smirk. "So, you wanna play tag?"

Ly doesn't respond as he turns back around the corner of the clinic – Coming back a moment later, wearing a helmet and driving a quad. "You're on!"

He revs the engine, though just before he takes off, the window of the clinic lowers, and out sticks the head of the red-haired, white-furred wolf named Agatha.

"Hey, the Jeffersons are bringing their dogs over later; have either of you seen my flying disc?"