While Lena's parents have always respected her wishes, they were usually aware of what those wishes were. They had expected Lena to return home after she had finished acclimating to being a lion Animalian. They didn't quite expect her to get a new boyfriend so soon. True, Lena dating another lion Animalian was an inevitability, even if Lena started off dating a human guy first. What they hadn't expected was that said boyfriend already had a girlfriend and Lena was ok with sharing him. It took Lena, Jeff, and Zoe explaining the legal polygamy in Animalia and the polyamory instincts of lions in particular to calm Lena's parents down. However, they didn't fully trust Jeff and didn't want their daughter to be another collectable in his harem.
However, they were able to put aside their suspicions for the holidays. Jeff's father, Andrew, had invited them over to spend Christmas with them and they didn't want to be separate from Lena during this time. Anyways, this may give them a better look into Jeff's character and how a lion household works.
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The Christmas celebration wasn't exactly at Jeff's house, though Andrew promised they could go there soon. The main celebration was happening at the city hall's Christmas Feast. There were plenty of other Animalian families there, including other lion prides. It was there they learned that Jeff and Andrew didn't have what was considered a full pride yet. Their family group was more like a sub-pride or a 'dynasty'. It was considered a bit odd that Jeff currently had more mates than his father, though his stepmother was proud of that. "If my mate's son is any indication, our own cubs will be very strong and virile," said Kinjara affectionately.
"Er, what if we have daughters?" asked Andrew.
"Then they'll take after me, of course," said Kinjara. Jeff carefully avoided looking at his stepmom when she was this flirty. He still had erotic dreams about her. Even Zoe and Lena couldn't completely curb his leonine hormones. Maybe when Kinjara had her cubs, Jeff would be able to stop thinking of her sexually.
Lena's parents were also feeling awkward. Lena's father couldn't help but feel incredibly overshadowed by the male Animalians around him, particularly the lions. Her mother was feeling rather flustered by those same males, though also insecure next to the curvaceous female Animalians like the amazon her daughter has become. Trying to distract herself, Lena's mother said, "So, Zoe, have you had a good Christmas with your parents?"
"Well...we kinda aren't speaking to each other," said Zoe.
"Why's that?" asked Lena.
"Well, a few years ago, they suddenly decided that I was growing up too fast, even though I had already double-dosed, I had a modeling career, and I was getting ready to graduate high school," said Zoe.
"Surely you're not still fighting over that," said Lena.
"No, but it did make things a little shaky before the real argument came up. The COVID-19 pandemic didn't hit this place as badly some others. But when the vaccines for it became available, I find out that my parents willfully didn't take them. They said that any vaccines that were made that fast had to be a scam. And they said that the polio vaccine was a scam until I got polio. We...kinda had a big argument. I pretty much told them that if they weren't going to take healthcare seriously, then I won't take them seriously," said Zoe.
The others were giving Zoe a shocked look. "Surely you didn't stop speaking to them since then," said Andrew.
"Oh, we exchange some words, mostly catching up on small things," said Zoe, "They seem to think I'm too good for them now."
"You really should try to reconcile with them," said Lena's father, "You don't really want something like their health to come between you."
"It's not their health, it's how they're endangering others," said Zoe, "They can't just assume their own stubbornness isn't going to affect anyone else. It caused me to catch polio and they're risking everyone with COVID."
"If there's one thing I've l-l-learned here, it's how much people can ch-change," said Lena, her stutter getting noticeable as she got more emotional. Jeff put a comforting hand on hers and she relaxed. "And I don't mean just how much they can change physically. I mean, look at me, I was so much more nervous and stuttering when I came here. I didn't feel like I belonged in this body. But having Jeff around really helped me out. And I think it should be possible for your parents to change their opinions too."
"And if they really are irreconcilable in their choices, you know you'll always have a family with us," said Kinjira.
Lena's parents were a little surprised by this unexpected revelation. Though it did raise up their opinion of Jeff a little. If nothing else, it at least showed he had good taste in women. And Lena did seem to benefit from being with him. The only real concern was they weren't sure how it would work with Zoe. They were told it wasn't that difficult with lions, but it was still a little hard to wrap their heads around. Not as though they were interested in becoming lions themselves. They liked their varied diet too much to consider becoming strict carnivores.