Lion Papa

Namedaug
Only referred to as "Papa" or "Lion Papa" within the story.

Gender
Male

Description
A struggling artist who tries to raise his daughter. His specialty is sculpting and model making. Though many of the products he's been commissioned to model have been relatively popular, he still remains obscure as the payment terms and credit for his work is unfair.

His daughter is not his biological daughter. His childhood friend had gotten pregnant while in college and in her panic she had confided in him about this fact, afraid to face the consequences of her actions. Though he had urged her to have an abortion so she can live her own life, her staunchly Christian upbringing brought her immense guilt. With no further options but to finally face her parents, he agreed to "take responsibility" and marry her, so her parents would not find out about her sleeping around. Though her parents were upset about her having sex before marriage, they were indeed fine with him as they knew him well as her childhood friend.

He had some lingering feelings for her from their childhood but it refused to blossom into love in their marriage, and at that point even their relationship has friends had gone relatively sour. Within a few years she disappeared from his life, leaving him with her toddler daughter that was not his. Neither he nor her family knows where she went, but he hopes that she's happier being free.