WHICH DISNEY PRINCESS ARE YOU?

18 FEBRUARY, THURSDAY, AFTER DINNER

Sabre was quite adament about gracing tomorrow's dinner as a mermaid. Some nice lady in our pack had bought her a mermaid tail blanket.

"You won't be able to walk down the stairs or anything." Savy told her.

"Maybe I can live in the pool room." Sabre suggested.

Maybe she could have my clamshell bed, but of course I didn't make the suggestion aloud. I didn't actually want Sabre to sleep in my room tonight. As much as I've grown fond of the little human, it was still MY SPACE.

I'm not sure how the discussion for the logistics of a mermaid princess in our house led to this, but Savy decided, "Maybe I should dress like a Disney Princess too."

Wait, what?

When we were pups, we used to dress up a Disney Princesses... which was mostly wearing the unique color combi of the various princesses. (Nobody gave us mermaid tail blankets back then, I don't even think it was a thing.)

Okay, the dress up thing was mostly me. Even as pups, I distinctly remembered Savy telling me that it was lame.

And then later I found that certain color combinations also invoked other characters, like power rangers, ninja turtles, avengers, ninja(go), Pokémon... I watched a lot of cartoons as a pup. I was told it was the only time the adults got any peace.

"Maybe I could be Elsa?" Savy counter-suggested, "And you can be Anna."

Sabre's eyes lit up at the idea. Suddenly the mermaid tail was forgotten. Clever Savy.

"Our hair is the right color." Savy pointed out to the little girl. I guess she was right. Savy's hair was only shoulder length, but it was the same shade of blond as Elsa. And Sabre's copper curls really could pass off as Anna's - with a perm. Hey, wait a minute!

"What about me?" I demanded, "If you're Elsa, and you're Anna, who am I?"

It's not fair there were only 2 sister princesses!

Savy smirked a little, "You're Olaf, of course."

"Yes, of course." Sabre nodded.

Sometimes I think Savy is a bad influence on Sabre.

I sulked at that, "Why am I the snowman?"

"Okay, fine! Which princess do you want to be?" Sabre asked, hands on her hips. I couldn't decide if it were cute or scary when Sabre acted like a perfect little copy of Mum.

"If Sam were a Disney Princess, she would be Mulan." Savy informed Sabre.

"Not Rapunzel?" I asked. You know, with the magic hair and all.

Savy rolled her eyes, "No, I mean, you're totally Mulan, hopeless with the usual girly things, really good at fighting... even your mate is a hot guy with an army."

Bell is Captain Shang? Hahahahaha....

I happened to be drinking from my glass and ended up snorting on the water. 

Mulan, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. The first time I watched it, I teared when Mulan sang "Who is that girl I see...Staring back straight at me~" I didn't find her humiliating mess up with the matchmaking lady funny either. It was more painful to watch at the time. (But I was young then, I much older now. I don't cry over Disney movies anymore.)

So when Savy looked at me, she saw Mulan?

"What about you? What Disney Princess are you?" I asked her.

"None, but if I have to choose, then probably Jasmine." Savy answered, "Cos I'm always stuck at home, my only companion being a big tiger."

And then she patted my head. Grrrr.... wth. Who's your tiger?

"Yeah, then if your prince ever comes to your window on a flying carpet, you better make sure he's not really a street rat." I quipped back at her.

Mum and Dad was silent (probably in private mindlink), but what I said caught Mum's attention.

"Why a rat?" Mum asked. She didn't like rats. Something about its tail.

"That's what they called Aladdin." I said.

"No they don't!" Sabre said, "They called him Prince Ali!"

She was thinking of the song, but I was far wiser when it came to Disney Princess things.

"A fake prince." I corrected Sabre, "Remember, he was really a poor orphaned commoner in the first place."

"There's nothing wrong with being poor, or an orphan, or a commoner." Mum said, "As long as Savy's mate is a strong and good wolf, I will be happy."

Urm... I'm going to guess here that Savy hadn't told Mum about her mate being human. Savy shifted uncomfortably. 

"What about you Mum?" I quickly changed the subject, lest Mum and Savy had another disagreement, "Which princess would you be?"

Although Mum had ever watch Disney Princess movies with us before, I didn't think she would actually be able to answer.

"Hmmm... I'm a little too old to be a princess." Mum thought aloud.

"You're my queen." Dad said aloud.

"Please, parents, say this kind of thing over your private mindlinks." I said.

Mum laughed. Dad looked bemused, and went back to his dinner.

They were definitely on mindlink just now... and probably flirting again too. I had always thought they were talking about important adult things, but now I knew better. (Unfortunately).

Anyway, Mum decided, "Probably Beauty and the Beast."

"Belle?" Savy asked.

Mum nodded, "Yes, I remember I used to love reading when I was young. My mother often complained that I either had my head in the clouds or my nose in a book."

"Oh." I said, "I thought it was because Dad was King Kong."

My parents paused. Mum looked embarrassed for a moment. Savy cackled. 

"Bell is a Princess?" Sabre looked confused.

"Oh, you haven't seen Beauty and the Beast yet." Savy realized, "We'll watch it tomorrow."

"But Bell is a boy." Sabre said.

This was when we realised the misunderstanding. We all laughed. Sabre's face crumpled into a frown.

"No, not Sam's mate, bell. A princess, Belle. She's the princess in the yellow dress." Savy explained.

"Like with Tarzan?" Sabre asked.

I laughed out loud, "Yeah, that would work out too. Dad is still King Kong in that one."

Dad raised a brow. Unlike Mum, he had NEVER seen a single Princess movie in his life. I'm not sure if he even watched movies.

So anyway, tomorrow I was supposed to wear something red. Mum was going to wear yellow. (I'm still surprised she agreed so readily.) Savy had to wear light blue. And Sabre was going to wear her mermaid tail with her purple swimsuit.

"Wait, didn't you say you wanted to be Anna?" Savy tried to salvage the situation.

"Yes, but you're Jasmine. So I'm Ariel." Sabre's logic was foolproof imao.

"Oh, but I wanted to try playing Frozen." Savy tried again.

"Is Sam going to be Olaf?" Sabre asked.

"No." Mum and Savy answered.

"Yes." I agreed at the same time, "I'll wear a white dress."

"Then, yes." Mum agreed.

"I'll braid you hair like Anna." Savy promised.

Sabre thought about it, "I don't think Sam would look much like Olaf."

Sabre was a pretty smart kid.

"Okay, fine. If you want to be Ariel, you need to come to the dinner tomorrow in your human form." I told her, "And you can't use a fork to comb your hair in front of the guests."

Because that would totally be what I would do.

Sabre giggled, "Silly, Sam. Forks are for eating with."

I told you Sabre was a smart kid.

"Okay, I'll wear a pink dress and be Ariel with legs." Sabre agreed.

So that's how we decided on the dress code for tomorrow. When the Lorents come tomorrow, they were going to be attending a Disney Princess themed dinner party, whether they knew it or not.

{Mate!}

I was distracted at once. I tried to check our mating bond, but he had it well blocked as usual.

Captain Shang showed up in training gear with Ki a while later.

"Luna Bell is here." Ki announced without enthusiasm.

"Good evening, Alpha, Luna." Bell intoned in his usual deep and quiet voice. He even made a polite bow. It felt serious and automated.

It's like they were both having a serious argument and accidentally walked into our dining room.  

"Hello, son." Dad smiled. Smiled.

"Oh, Bell, you're here." Mum smiled her welcome too.

"Have you eaten?" Dad asked. All this smiling and inquiring was seriously out of character for Dad... except that Dad really liked Bell a lot.

"Yes, thank you, Alpha." Bell answered politely.

"Why are you calling me Alpha again?" Dad frowned, "I told you to call me Dad."

Bell managed a small nod and a very quiet, "Dad."

"Good, good." Dad said, wholly satisfied.

Now that my Mum and Dad were appeased, Mate approached me.

{Mate!}

I jumped. Mate caught. Then he put me back down on the ground and leaned forward, bringing my head closer to him for a moment before releasing me with a low growl.

I breathed him in the moment he got close, just as I was sure he was breathing me, but he was dream travelling, so all I could smell was his training gear that he changed into when he got here. The usual smells of our household laundry. But the frustration was on his end too, since he couldn't smell anything at all.

Mate let his hand linger on a lock of hair, then he let it slide out of his palm, through his fingers.

Mum sighed. She was wearing one of those smiles - the kind she wore when watching sappy dramas and the male lead did something mushy.

This was when both of us realized that my entire family was just watching us. And did Mate even do something mush-worthy? I hadn't felt it... But the way my family was looking at us? I felt the heat crawl up my face and quickly turned to leave, "Time for training. I'm going. Bye!"

Ki had disappeared for a while but was back now with our water bottles on a silver tray. He stood at the sliding door, so we could take it as we passed him.

It's was like something Batman's old butler would do, but it was being done by Ki, who had the longs of his hair tied up in a man bun, and was sporting light grey gym clothes, with his pants hung too low as usual.

"Thank you." I said, picking up the blue bottle automatically.

Savy took the red one, "Thanks Ki."

And we left the house leaving Ki and Mate behind.

Five steps out and I was already totally regretting stepping away from Mate - I blamed my family for the momentary bout of embaressment that chased me out of my own home prematurely, but Savy was now pulling me on my arm. She seemed to be running away too.

"What?" I asked. Mostly I was annoyed that I was being dragged further away from Mate.

But it wasn't like Bell was rushing over to join me or anything either. He was lagging behind with Ki. I was sure they had resumed whatever intense discussion they were having.

"Sam, remember, you can't tell Mum and Dad about my mate being human, okay?" Savy reminded me.

"I won't, you can tell them yourself." I said.

"How can I?" Savy's mouth turned down bitterly, "They're obvs expecting me to mate a strong wolf, like your Bell."

"Then whatcha gonna do? It's not like they wouldn't notice that he's a human!" I said, "Just tell them now and get it over with."

Which was usually my method of dealing with this kind of thing, but Savy was a far more complex wolf than I was.

"No, Sam. What they don't know won't hurt them." Savy told me in her firm voice, so I knew she had already decided on this course of action.

"We're not telling them anything. I still have 4 more years before I'm 18." Savy reasoned.

"It's not like he would change into a wolf by then." I argued.

"No, but who knows, I might not even meet him." Savy shrugged.

Which was worse right? And then I realized, "Are you just going to hide it from Mum and Dad until it explodes in their faces?"

Savy shook her head, "I'm just going to hide it from Mum and Dad for now."

"They're going to find out eventually." I warned her, "When it explodes in their faces."

"It's NOT going to explode in their faces. By the time they find out, it'll be alright." Savy said, "It's all about the timing." 

Okay... Like I said, Savy was complicated.

"Fine, but if he makes you cry, I'll make him cry more." I told Savy.

Savy cackled softly and hugged my arm as we entered the packhouse, "Good tiger."