It was an early morning during the Alterisian Renewal festival (a week-long holiday nationwide) celebrating the coming Spring season. Meara was viewing the stalls and spending some quality time with her dad, Felix. Meara was viewing the stalls and spending some quality time with her dad Felix, who was enjoying sharing the interests that both of the shared. Some of those interests included ducking for apples (Meara excelled with some natural advantages – her fangs), quick cooking/baking stalls and some shooting galleries. Felix took Meara to shop Nina recommended to dress her properly for the festival much to Meara protesting which he ignored. “Ugh…dad…you don’t have to do this…I can just wear my normal outfit.” spoke Meara sheepishly as she came out of the dressing room wearing a yukata.
“Nonsense…We can’t have you sticking out like a sore thumb here and beside I think you look beautiful in it. I’m sure your mum would agree…Jeez that’s still hard to believe…” replied Felix giving Meara a big hug, prompting her place his hand on one of her ears for scratches. “Mmmm…It’s lovely to experience this just the two of us…don’t tell mum though that I like you doing… you know the ear- she might get jealous…I’m not here proper yet remember!” exclaimed Meara in a shy tone scratching her cheek. “I did it right though?” asked Felix as he paid the clerk for the clothes, “Hehehe…yep…still what I remember” laughed Meara taking the bag of clothes from Felix.

Meanwhile…on the other side of the plaza…” Are you feeling any better Mari? You’re not feeling sick anymore?” asked Nina in a concerned tone. “Urgh…I think so…being bedridden for a week wasn’t on my bucket list” moaned Marihea who was a bit light-headed. “I bet it’s because you had too much to drink and let’s face it Mari it doesn’t take too much to get you wasted.” questioned Kartharina in a sarcastic tone. “That’s rich coming from you who couldn’t even eat all her dinner the after a few Vixenkicksin’s you lightweight, guess your all tail and no bite Karina!” replied Marihea smacking one of Karinas tails. “H-Hey wtf?! Those are sensitive, you big meanie tigress! A-also I’ll have you know I had Vixenkicksin and some of that snep stuff Nina had, thank you very much! That stuff is lethal…I know it’s fruit based and healthy but it’s worse than alcohol!” continued Karina staring at Nina in disbelieve.

“What? I only had a few and some of food you guys didn’t want. Also I was looking after Felix when he was out for the count with all the excitement that day with seeing everyone and getting word you have a DAUGHTER TOGETHER! It certainly wasn’t something I expected to hear then while I was keeping him warm that night, remember girls?” questioned Nina before taking a large bite out of a toffee apple. Both Karina and Marihea looked at each other in disbelief and nodded. “It’s definitely the tail” they both replied in unison causing Nina to choke on her apple.
“Hack! Hey that’s not fair! I try very hard to watch my figure! It’s not my fault I’ve a large tail…at least Felix doesn’t mind…” huffed Nina sticking her tail in her mouth. Marihea started taking a big drink of her hot chocolate as Karina answered. “I don’t know…Felix is bit weird in general. Not in a bad way or anything, it’s…is it a trust thing or is he really a human because some of the situations he’s been in…he REALLY shouldn’t be alive from! You’ve been living with him for months now Mari, what the heck is he?” asked Karina sitting down a bench eating a brownie from Nina’s bag. “You’d best be replacing that Rina, that was for later…” growled Nina in an uncharacteristic tone which shocked the other two girls.

“S-sorry Nina! Jeez you’re a different person when it comes to sweets…” spoke Karina handing some money to Nina. “It is ok all is forgiven…It’s still early Spring so my blood sugar needs to stay high otherwise I get ratty this time of year, kinda like Mari when she’s a horn ball around Felix.” Exclaimed Nina before chomping down on another bit of her toffee apple.
Marihea choked on her hot chocolate at the remark, ‘Cough’ ‘Cough’ “You’d be like that too when you’ve a male around you all the time! After all I’m been sharing flats, rooms beds and whatnot with the man! Human or otherwise…he’s male and human alright…and after everything I certainly wasn’t expecting to get a visit from my FUTURE DAUGHTER!” she shouted. “Felix and I had talked about adopting recently too…PLUS I even went to checked and got told 100% that I couldn’t get pregnant from him! Argh…it’s actually quite frustrating Nina, Karina…” continued Marihea taking another quick sip rubbing her belly.
“Mari did Felix know about…you know?” questioned Nina nervously as she set a hand on Marihea’s shoulder. “Nope…I never told him about the miscarriage when we got started dating. It would’ve broken his heart back then Nina and I didn’t think too much about it, I had a feeling something like that would happen eventually. You know how some species of Alterisian can’t conceive together the likes of some feline, canine and scaltan but they still get phantom pregnancies?” smiled Marihea meekly. Nina and Karina sat beside their friend, listening intently to what Marihea had to say. “I…I got so excited that first time I found out when Felicia, that lovely Inn keeper lady got me that test and vitamins. It certainly wasn’t something I was expecting! I mean a kitten is a massive commitment, with my history and circumstance with the imperials, how could we have coped?”
Marihea let out a deep sign and continued as her friends remained silent. “When the bleeding happened, I passed it off to Felix it was a wound from a fight with one of the imperial squadrons at the time. I went to see that physician Nina mentioned when-“ Marihea closed her eyes in deep thought, Nina continued for her “When we found out you had a miscarriage and it was a common occurrence among incompatible species. The physician said it was unusual for a human and an Alterisian to mate but it had been seen in slaves before….It took a while to explain to them that Marihea had a fling with a travelling companion back then and wasn’t enslaved.” “I-I’m sorry Mari…I didn’t mean…to bring up such memories” replied Karina hugging Marihea with tears in her eyes.

“It’s ok Karina…I’ve accepted it for while now. What gets me is I WANTED a family with him a few months after that even when I was sure we were drifting apart. Funny thing is he goes and asks me why I’m still with him knowing that he couldn’t give me a child as I always talked about having a kitten of my own. Of course then he said he’s open to adoption and well…” giggled Marihea laughing. “You…did unspeakable things to him didn’t you?” answered Nina and Karina narrowing their eyes. “Ehh…I might have jumped him a few more times over those two weeks than I’d like to admit…eh heh heh” laughed Marihea nervously rubbing her belly. “Are you feeling sick again? It might’ve been too soon to have that….” asked Karina taking away Marihea’s hot chocolate. “No…I’m fine…just cramps.”

Nina dropped a bit of toffee after a brainwave hit her. “Mari…you know the way you KNOW your going to have a daughter. Do you think you could…you know maybe….” Spoke Nina poking at Marihea belly. “Huh…How come I didn’t think of that Nina… you could check Mari” continued Karina. Marihea wasn’t too happy to comply “I doubt that very much so…but if that’s the case it explain a lot why you too were as bad as I was…” replied Marihea narrowing her eyes at the two girls. “W-what are you insinuating? I mean…sure we all had a round with Felix because SOMEBODY GAVE HIM TIGERSBANE!” hissed Nina. “Look…I doubt that’s the case. Felix is my Alpha still and I didn’t want him to be in pain, but it’s because of the drink that his GIRLFRIEND PURPOSELY SPIKED HIS DRINK WITH BY THE WAY! That I had to be physical with him…not that I minded…it was pretty nice actually….” shouted Karina holding her tails close while puffing her cheeks out.

“…Did Meara say anything about having any siblings?” asked Nina nervously looking at the other two. “Sure, Meara said we were like aunts to her and we were always around when she was growing up and…. uh oh…” Karina broke into a cold sweat as thoughts began to invade her mind. “Oh fuck…. this might be my fault…ehh heh…oh dear….” Laughed Marihea sheepishly as all three-woman got up off the bench and began moving briskly towards the nearest chemist shop.

Meara and Felix strolled through the plaza with several bags that contained little gifts from the festival for Marihea, Nina and Karina. “Do you think mum, aunty Nina and Karina will like these?” asked Meara holding one of the bags close to her. “I think they’ll love it my little swirl, especially if it’s something from you.” Replied Felix pulling her into a hug causing loud content purring to come from her. “Hehe he ha…I hope so! Oh, look is that them? It is! Mum sure looks like she’s feeling much better!” beamed Meara as Marihea approached and gave her a hug. “Mrrgh…purr…how’s my cinnamon swirl doing? Oh, did you dad get you a new set of clothes? You MUST let me see later on!” beamed Marihea with a radiant smile on her face. “I will mum hehehe…what’s wrong with Nina and Karina?” questioned Meara quite perplexed at their expression behind Marihea.

Marihea cuddled up to Felix and gave him a deep kiss which took him by surprise, “wow, that came out of nowhere…I take it you’re feeling much better now?” asked Felix wrapping his arms around the tigress’ waist. “Much better Felix and even moreso when I found out this…little surprise that you gave me…” answered Marihea glancing over at Meara and back at him before pulling out a pregnancy test from her a bag in her pocket – it had a positive sign on it. “You’re…really- “began Felix in disbelief. “Yip…little Meara’s on her way...but I’ll still not stop loving my big Meara though for as long as we have her” giggled Marihea which caused Meara to blush. The happy family were filled with joy when… “Ahem…congrats Felix but ummm…Meara may have forgot to mention a few…critical things” coughed Nina her eyes kind of cold and glassy. “It’s more than that Nina…how do we explain those!” blurted Karina causing all three tails to bristle out. “What’s wrong you two…are you guys ill again now…?” questioned Felix in a concerned tone.

“You better just show him girls, the mans not psychic…” sighed Marihea rubbing her brow. “Mum what’s going- AHHHH!!!!” began Meara as she saw Nina and Karina pull out a pregnancy test each from their respective bags, both were positive. “W-wait what how?! When?! OH NOooo…Marihea you didn’t…” asked Felix as hazy images flashed across his mind to vague times over the festive holiday a few months ago. “Ehh he he…mistakes…happen?” spoke Marihea nervously. “Urgh…it could be worse I suppose…I wasn’t expecting a snow kitten yet and I’m sure Felix won’t be too mad about another on the way…” sigh Nina staring at Meara with a gentle smile. “Y-you might be happy Nina but what about me? How the heck do I explain to my clan that I got knocked up by a human; Felix? Even worse do you KNOW how many kits a kitsune woman can birth?! Fuck…I gonna have to keep an eye on my tail count now…” complained Karina standing up as high as she could to Felix before her ears drooped down flashing a look of concern to him.

“Well, that was…an even bigger surprise you had going for us Meara huh sweetie…sweetie…are you ok?” asked Marihea before she saw her daughter’s expression change. Meara looked as though she was going to have a meltdown when she processed what she just saw and heard, “NO NO NO! THAT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!” she shouted in an anxious tone sweat dripping down her face. “Well how are we pregnant then Meara? You dad is the only one we’ve been with.” Questioned Nina. “NO NO NO FUCK…. I’m sorry dad for cursing! This must be a paradox because I’m here, dad was supposed to be shopping today which we did but I wasn’t with him in my timeline because you know?! Why did this happen?! This MIGHT CAUSE ISSUES! AHHH! I’m sorry dad this is my fault! Cried Meara holding onto her dad’s jacket while Felix tried to come to grips at the prospect of multiple paws on the way.

Meanwhile, amongst the commotion Marihea ordered a fresh cup of hot chocolate whilst everything continued…’Ahh…I’m such a bad person…Nina and Karina are fun to spend time with. Too bad they’re too dense to have known I swapped the tests with the other ones I tried before with a bit of magic when we all tested back at the chemist….hehehe…’ thought Marihea smiling deviously as she reflected on her plan when she saw her own test was positive. ‘Oh well…I’m sure they’ll figure it out eventually or maybe I should try and tempt fate…it might be good for Meara to have a few unexpected siblings…life’s boring if you play it by the script. Also to be fair our little Aibhlinn travelled back in time to change part of the script for the better, so perhaps I should change parts of that myself too’ thought Marihea as her smile turned into a smirk until she caught sight of Felix’s gaze. “Uh oh…surely he hasn’t caught on…fuck…” mumbled Marihea

“Cinnamon roll of mine…we need to have a little chat…and I’m sure you know fine well what it’s about…” spoke Felix as he towered over her in an ominous voice. “What would that be my love?” answered Marihea sipping her hot chocolate burning her tongue in the process… While Meara was being comforted by Nina and Karina “It’ll be fine in the end Meara…it is partly our fault but mostly your mother’s….” sighed Karina, “it could be worse Meara, we could no longer be here instead when travelled back in time…I’ll love you as you were my own when you arrive. At least we’ll get plenty of practice before our own arrive!” smiled Nina wiping away Meara’s tears.


*Special note - Marihea can be devilish at all times as can be read here and she’ll probably blame this occasion on ‘hormones’ to try and weasel her way out of this one. Massive thank you to the artist amarihel for designing this comical piece for me.


Characters from left to right Kartharina, Marihea, Nina and Meara ©  Mari274
Art  amarihel