#Look percedal family means tristeva in the background

[randomramblingtidbits]

The Issue of Admirers

Summary: Eva helps a teenage Flopin deal with the fact that among the Cra he is quite the target of admirers. Post-Season 3  A/N: It’s fun to think about what Elely and Flopin would be like as teenagers, as well as how Pinpin and Eva would react to it. I also really like the theory of Eva being the next Cra matriarch, so add that in and image how much attention the kids would attract. 

“Mom, help.”

The ‘help’ was enough for Eva’s parental instincts to immediately pipe up, but the way Flopin said it wasn’t in distress, but more of a whine. It was akin to when he would get into fights with Elely and rush to tattle on her.  

Evangelyne looked up from her desk to see that her son was not in trouble. His hair was rumpled, with a few sticks and leaves stuck in it and one of his hair ties missing. Leaves and sticks also stuck to his cape and pants as well, which additionally were splattered with dirt and mud. He looked disheveled, but more annoyed than actually hurt.

“Flopin, what happen?” She asked as stood up from her chair and gestured for him sit down.  

Flopin sat, taking off his cape and remaining hair tie as he began talking. “I just wanted to practice at the firing range and before I knew it all these girls were swarming the area. And when I tried to leave they kept trying to give me things and ask for dates. And then when I tried to bolt someone grabbed me and I ended up falling in a mud pile.” He shook his head, sending some leaves and sticks flying from his hair. “I only managed to escape because they began turning on each other over who dared to trip me.”  

Eva nodded as she picked up a hairbrush and comb and stood behind his head. “Look forward,” She said as she began trying to comb out the mess in his hair. Flopin grumbled as he looked over his clothes, and winced as a particularly tangled stick was dealt with. “Sorry. I’ll try to not pull too much.”  

“It’s fine Mama,” Well, if he was back to calling her that instead of ‘Mom’ he must already feeling better. It amused Eva how easy she could gauge her son’s mood by how she called him. “But if you want to outlaw girls from throwing themselves at me, that would be great.”

“You know I can’t do that, my wolf.” At least Flopin gave her a smile at that, making clear that he was joking. The smile soon disappeared as he held up his dirty cape and look at the damage done to it. At least it wasn’t white like his father’s, so it wasn’t as bad as it could be.  

Wearing a cape wasn’t the only way Flopin emulated his father. Once he hit puberty, he began looking more and more like a Cra-verson of Tristepin. Like his father, he chose to forgo a shirt, though he still wore shoes since he never could get use to running around barefoot. His chest, as toned and muscular as Pinpin’s had been at his age, was also splatted with dirt and leaves, a hazard of going shirtless.

And that wasn’t the only hazard of it, Eva thought as she kept combing his hair. She would be lying if she didn’t say that part of what sealed her attraction to Pinpin was how toned and muscular he became when he returned from his self-imposed exile. Most Iops she encountered were too muscular, but Pinpin’s physique had been just right for her taste, so she really appreciated the free view he allowed. If other Cra girls’s tastes ran in the same directions as hers, she understood why her son attracted so much of their attention.  

Then there was how quickly he made a name for himself among Cra city. It wasn’t just that his parents were members of the illustrious Brotherhood of the Tofu, or that his mother was the hand-picked successor to the Matriarch and his father one of warriors who were responsible for Ogrest’s defeat. Cra’s took pride not just in their bloodlines, but also their personal achievements. And to that, Flopin was able to stand on his own regardless of his parentage. He always had a knack for inventing, and after some mechanical lessons from ‘Grandpa’ Ruel he was able to better realize his ideas and began revolutionizing bows and beacons, as well as even fighting styles. He fought with a style born from years of being taught by an Iop father as well as a Cra mother, and honed during battles with his twin. Like his mother, he could fight entirely without a bow if necessary, but he was far more comfortable with switching between switch long range and close-quarter combat than her. 

 All this -the looks, pedigree, and battle prowess- easily made Flopin the most eligible bachelor among the Cra.  

Eva’s other children didn’t attract as much attention.  Grant it, her youngest son wasn’t even ten yet, and he was making friends just find, despite Eva’s intiatl misgivings she had when she moved her family to the city. It was just that, like his sister at the same age, ‘romance’ and ‘love’ was just all the ‘grosser than the gross’ kissing and hugging that his parents did. And speaking of his sister...

Just like how Flopin was a Cra version of Pinpin, so too did Elely become an Iop version of Eva. She blossomed into young woman just as curvy as her mother was, and with a similarly cut sleeveless, spandex black outfit as well. But with Elely, her parentage did end up working against her. Just in Cra city alone there were plenty of young men who seemed interested but feared making a move. It wasn’t just that her mother was their future Matriarch, but that fact that her father was one of the warriors to defeat freaking Ogrests! That was enough to put the fear of Cra in the boys about dating ‘daddy’s little girl.’

But Pinpin wouldn’t have any issue with his daughter dating. He was still such a romantic, who told their love story as a bedtime story to their children and voiced his desire for them to find their own true love. He approached his children growing up not begrudging, but with excitement that that may experience the same joy with their true love that he felt with his. 

But his stories also came with hard earned advice about how you should treat your love, about all the lessons he learned about love and respect during his courtship with his Eva. This mobbing Flopin endured? This was something neither Pinpin or Eva could accept, especially given their own history of dealing with unwanted suitors. The girls would do good to fear reprisal for violating their son’s personal boundaries.

Eva combed the last of the foliage from his hair. “You could always direct the girls towards your sister”  

“By Cra, no!” Flopin jolted, his hair tie falling to the floor as he swirled to face his mother, looking at her in horror. “We may still fight sometimes, but I can’t do that to her! If she wants to date girls, fine, but I am not subjecting her to those-those harpies!”  

“Oh Flopin,” Eva shook her head with a smile, “I didn’t mean like that. I was thinking that you could establish that if they wanted to date you, they had to defeat Elely in a fist fight first.”

Flopin turned the idea over in his mind. The score was pretty much even when it came to him and Elely sparring, but that was because he could use his bow. In a straight up fist fight, the tally was much more in her favor. And he doubted his fan girls would have an easier time defeating her.  

He gave his mother a grin. “You know what Mama? That might just work.”