Shuule pranced up to Set, jumping up to peck him on the cheek. "Thank you" she breathed. "Again."Set hadn't stopped grinning since Shuule had undressed in front of him, to be clear, but he still was elated, yet another emotion he didn't think he would feel in his lifetime. But he still couldn't help but poke at her. The moment wasn't perfect, yet."Wait here."He left the cave, a bit precarious with his legs, and though it took him a little longer for the same reason, he returned momentarily with a wooden vase full of water. Shuule tilted her head in question, and Set put the pitcher down, then sat down cross legged and patted the ground in front of him."Sit."Shuule did as directed, sitting in front of him with her back to him. Set cupped his wide hand into the vase of water, bringing the water up over her head. Instructing her to tilt her head back with a touch to her chin with his opposite hand, he started to wash her hair of the sweat and worry of the day."Do you really want to
Shuule was up bright and early the next morning, not typical for her as she rarely had a reason to bother. She laid in the coils of Set for a while, waiting patiently for him to wake up, but the snake was dead to the world. Patience wasn't her strong suit, and she finally started to shake him, even poking him in his eyelids until he shuddered awake with a hiss. He should have waited until today to tell her his plans for dinner, he thought with a groan."Wake up or I'll find another spouse" Shuule chirped, starting to crack open a few large nuts she had stored, to eat before her adventure."Good," Set yawned, turning into his half-beast as he couldn't help responding to her threat. Shuule shot him a death glare, but kept busying herself with her breakfast."Where are you going to get salt?" She asked, picking up her conversation virtually from where they left it when she fell into sleep the night before. Set gave her a sideways glance, and then shrugged. She waited, ears pricked, for a
"So how did you find these? Did you find Xunsu?" Shuule had dressed herself in her new snakeskin dress, and the two of them were now on the top cliff of their cave. Set had cleaned up the area thoroughly, laying down some animal skins to keep the area clean after being used to process smoked meats. In front of the skins was a small fire, with two stones on either side. Shuule was kneeling over the cleaned and skinned Shortwing bird carcasses, getting ready to show Set how to cook."No," he answered. "I just followed the stream back to where I first met you. I didn't find the horse, but - I've seen her. She's around."Shuule's ears shot back, looking up at Set in alarm. "She's near?! Why haven't I seen her?! I want her to come back!"Set stared at his mate, wondering why someone he felt to be so capable sometimes asked him such stupid questions. ".... You're living with a snake four times larger than her."Shuule snorted, baring her fangs at Set half heartedly, before brushing off the
It was only a few minuets walk to where Shuule wanted to perch and wait for something to shoot at, even in human form. Grabbing an apple-like fruit off a branch, she crunched into it, not considering that such a fruit was only starting to ripen at the end of the dry season. Soon it would be the rainy season, when the world would cool down and be replenished, but the sky would remain dark and deary, before the cold season set in. The clearing was on the edge of "their territory," as Set saw it, but still within it, and not a place she was unfamiliar with when she would hunt as her fox. Finding a tree with enough low branches that she could climb it as a human, she settled in, sitting motionless and listening to the birds around her.Shuule also started to think about how she would be going into heat in the rainy season, rolling her eyes at the thought. Female beastmen went into season annually, usually around the colder months. Fertility was not a strong suit of the species as a whole,
Set quickly made it back to the cave, laying her down on the ground inside. He wanted to scream. He wanted to bite something. He wanted to destroy the entire world; his mate was dying. His perfect spouse. The woman who decided against all odds to live in a dark cave in the woods and didn't even dream of leaving it."Shit" he barked out loud, lightly smacking the side of her dirt stained face as she had fallen out of consciousness again. Shuule sputtered twice as Set frantically filed through his Legacies. Nothing prepared him for this. Death was everywhere. Nobody had fixed something like this before. Spiraling into despair, ready to give up and cradle her in death, Shuule spoke."You have to stop it. Tie it off."Without hesitation, Set pulled out the remainder of his snakeskin, zipping off a strip of it and wrapping it around Shuule's shoulder."Tighter," she gasped."You'll lose the arm" Set hissed, but did as instructed."I'll lose the arm anyway," she sobbed. She knew it was usel
As Iro sprinted towards the field clearings, his mind raced nearly as fast as he was running. It made sense that this could be a descendant, but he also assumed the day would never come that one would bother coming to the city. And, what the hell could be happening that none of the eagles could talk the damn snake down? It was probably because they were incompetent, he concluded. It never made sense to him to just have birds scouting the perimeter. They escalated tempers faster than the lions. It was one of many things he would change if he managed to become King, over his spouses' father.He had superb far vision, and as the scene before him came into focus, Iro had to hold himself back from trying to run faster and overheating himself. It was, in fact, chaos. In front of him, there was a swarm of eagles, diving and screeching at a gigantic black and red snake, who had turned himself into a tornado of scales, circling and snapping at the birds. As
The black eagle flew into the city, screeching, which made everyone on the main street look up. Women and other beastmen started to look around wide eyed for the danger that the bird must be carrying on about, but other eagle beastmen, walking around in human form, started to communicate that it wasn't danger, but rather, an emergency that needed the head doctor. After several minutes, another black haired man ran out into the middle of the road and returned a screeching call up to the eagle circling the skies. In tow was a leopard male, with blond hair that was customary of the clan, but it was long and kept in a single braid. His clothes were also long and draping like a summer robe. He had no true stripes of a warrior, but he did have a deep blue, intricate tattoo design that was a long stripe on his chin, and also between his eyes and up his forehead. It was a special mark that was given to him by the King; to show his value to the tribe, even though he wasn't a fighter.
Set found himself in the center of the city, beastmen and women leaping back from his path as he followed behind Iro. This was not how he had planned to enter civilization for the first time. He had never discussed it with Shuule, as she was so against it, but he had been preparing. They would come with their belongings, with him in formal dress, with his legs, and of course, most importantly, they would have been mated.Instead, as if holding up the age old tradition, he was simply a feral among men, everyone fearful that he would launch himself at them, and they weren't sure if they should attack him first. He was barely holding it together, and when they got to the doorway where he could smell Shuule and he wasn't allowed to enter, all he wanted to do was smash the building to the ground. He knew it, his instincts flared. They were stealing her. They would steal her and kill him. They would take her and cast him off. Better they all be dead, Shu
She stared at the young man, dutifully organizing the furs around him, who hadn't had anything else to say about the matter. Shuule thought that sentence was the beginning of a deeper conversation, not a statement."I don't understand," she finally said, sitting down on the floor across from him. Ukko kept his eyes low on his work silently for a few more moments, before clearing his throat."Well, it didn't happen to me, so..." he started. "But just because you can shift doesn't mean the spousal mark works differently, apparently. So when you were getting slammed around by that tiger, Set was put on alert like he would have been if you were at home and being attacked, or whatever. Whatever it's supposed to do. So when you're training, we'll uh, if you really want to train, we can't deal with you with kid gloves. So he's going to have to figure out how to turn off his lizard brain."Shuule tilted her head in question. "Lizard Brain?""You know, like stupid
Ukko gave one hesitant upwards glance back towards the tree, before jogging off after Set. "Hey!" he called out, the snake acting as though nobody was there. "HEY," Ukko yelled again, catching up, turning and blocking his path. "What the FUCK was that?!" The male was standing square, arms out to his sides and ready to strike a blow if Set went off again. But, instead, chest heaving, the half-snake gave a heavy sigh, and though he snarled, he didn't strike. "You need to understand something," he hissed, still catching his breath, pointing at his chest. "You can feel it." Ukko tilted his head, his guarded stance loosening. Set jammed his pointer finger at his own chest again. "When she gets injured, you can feel it. I never thought about it before." "Ah, shit." The two of them stood, staring at each other in the rain, the courtyard's slightly uneven stones, settled in the earth after twenty years pooling wa
Set didn't answer Shuule's question, turning into his half beast to hurriedly look her over."What were you thinking? The bird and I would have been fine," he scolded, panicked.Shuule bared her fangs, her claws out as she shoved Set away from her, to his shock."DID YOU JUST KILL HIM?" she yelled again. "Go give him the antidote!"Set scowled. "It was a dry bite," he said, stiffly."AND DON'T TELL ME I CAN'T FIGHT" she shrieked again, wanting to burst back into her beast form.By now, Ukko had easily swung himself into the second story with his long arms, smirking at seeing the two of them bristle at each other. The snake may have her heart, but at least he now knew they weren't always pawing at each other like star crossed teens."We can train you," the eagle offered, quietly from the corner of the room."You won't," hissed Set, considering biting this annoyance also.Shuule just about had it, swiping at him with a cla
Shuule let out a barking noise, half in protest, half in surprise. She thought the trio of them would touch base with each other and devise a plan. Living with three separate species not practiced in communicating was already proving difficult, but she had no time to mull this over. As the fox clawed her way down the trunk of the birch, the harpy eagle flew as fast as he could at such a short distance to the top most entrance. If Set was going to ambush from below, Ukko would crash the party from above.Before Shuule could reach the tree, three yelping roars could be heard from inside. With a small hesitation, the fox puffed up her chest and scrambled up the giant tree's thick bark. She had never tried to climb one of these great houses before, and she found the bark was different than a regular tree's - it was easier to find places to hold onto and grip, one wouldn't even really need claws to do so, just the strength. Darting into the open entrance of the second story, she h
"Wait up!" Ukko waved his hand as he jogged out the door behind the fox, who turned around expectantly. As long as she didn't bolt, it made more sense for the man not to change into his eagle, since they wanted to end up at the tree at the same time."I know which one she's talking about, follow me. Unless - if you want to lead that's fine. I didn't mean to tell you what to do."Shuule chirped again. If she was human, she would be laughing at the boy's fear of irritating her. This was the first time she had been alone with Ukko, and in honesty, thinking back as the two of them trotted in the rain, she wasn't sure if they had been in the same room as each other for an hour total. With her conscious, at least. This was an awkward first date, going to pillage a house. But either way, relieved, she could tell this was going to work. A love connection? Who knew, but as far as males went, he seemed alright.Rain could be tricky for scenting. On one hand, the smells of
"The food didn't matter at all," Shuule answered, sighing in relief. "Thank you. I mean it, Ukko, thank you." For the first time, Shuule opened up her arms and hugged the young male, who could have been knocked over with one of his own feathers as a result. It took him a moment to even move his limbs, gently wrapping them around the girl in return. He eyed the snake, who was pointedly ignoring them, but was still too nervous to do anything more, such as pull her in tighter or drop his neck around her shoulders."Y-you're welcome. Of course." He stammered.Remi interrupted the reunion. "So you all can leave now, right?"Anna rolled her eyes "I apologize for my asshole of a spouse with no patience," she growled.Shuule shook her head. "No, he's right, we should be leaving. We can figure out where to move today." She shifted her weight out of Ukko's arms, looking between him and the snake - her two, now, spouses. "I want a tree house. How do I make that happ
It was well past noon now, though the darkened gray skies made it hard to tell by the angle of the sun. Shuule had long since removed her rain gear, hanging it to dry on wooden pegs that were bolted next to the front door. Anna and Remi were sitting with each other on a brown animal fur couch, fingers intertwined, barely paying attention to Shuule and Set as they fawned over each other.Remi was built much like Ukko was, a long legged, somewhat narrow man, but with broad shoulders and muscular arms. Though the bird men could easily pass as regular humans if they needed to, they were, once examined, top heavy in bulk, which made sense given their ability to fly when transformed. As a black eagle, Remi's hair was jet dark rather than silver gray - much more common in the city, and the world in general that they knew of anyway. With no means of communication other than word of mouth, the city and its surroundings only knew of what was in the world in about a half year's travel r
"What do you mean, 'how'?" Asked the bear, gruffly. "Rarities like jewelry I'd need something in return, but if it's basic needs, I just give it to you. Unless you're planning on leaving the city with it. Then that's stealing."Shuule and Set both starred at the three striped man, slack jawed."It's a trap," Shuule said, plainly.The iron smith's stubbled face first twisted into a scowl, then broke into a hearty laugh. "Uh.... what? No? Everyone here gets what they need unless," He shot a warning glare to the serpent man, "they truly act terrible or useless. Especially the women, you would never go without. Come back when you have your home set up and I'll give you what you need."Set nodded in understanding, putting his hand on the small of his mate's back, ready to turn and leave. Though this isn't what was in his legacy memories, most of the way the city now operated wasn't. It had clearly changed since he hatched.The bear then pointed to the w
As the skies overhead finally gave way, both girls shrieked, then laughed, running inside. Shuule shook her head vigorously to get the water off her ears and hair. They were met swiftly with the smell of wet fur in the house, muddy paw prints on the stone floor."KITTENS!" Screamed Anna, while twisting her hair into a knot on the top of her head. "IF YOU ARE IN THIS HOUSE I SWEAR"Shuule couldn't help but stifle a laugh under her hands, remembering her own mother scolding all of them for the same reason. A pang of guilt ripped through her at the thought - she missed her mother. Shuule was an adult now, and should be off on her own, but it would have been good to at least have a proper send off, the unknown now starting to spiral in her head."KITTENS." Anna paused to listen, no response being given."I don't think anyone is in here," Shuule offered, being able to hear better. She paused, sniffing the air. "I think Remi is upstairs?"A broad smile c