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
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
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
It was the first time she had felt real, true fear. Growing up, Shuule thought she had, of course, but now, the deep, rumbling exhaled hiss of the serpent slowly stalking the girl was the first time she knew, truly, that she was in danger, and that nobody else was around to protect her. Shuule paused her barefooted steps on the thick jungle floor, desperately trying to be as quiet as the fox she was, but her fatal flaw was her pet - the pack horse her mother begged her not to take along. The poor thing was purely animalistic, and a prey animal at that. While Shuule didn't move a muscle, not even to breathe, Xunsu kept shifting her weight, stamped a foot, snorted, drenched in sweat and ready to flee. But Shuule knew they could not outrun.... a snake. ...SSSSSSsssss... The 'horse,' a short, green pelted creature with horns, exploded the same time the serpent did, ripping her braided vine reins out of the red haired woman's hands, bolting into the thicket. But the snake was not here f
Shuule was not discovered until her 10th week of life.She was born in a small village, with three other siblings. Male siblings, kits, as expected. Nobody would have considered to assume she wasn't anything other than a boy kit, as nothing else existed.In this world, beastmen had two forms; that of an animal and that of a human. Women, however, did not. They could not shift to an animal form, and for the most part could be mistaken as an average woman walking down the street. The boys were born as animals, in litters growing up as such until around their sixteenth birthday, when they were able to transform back and forth as they pleased. Girls, however, were far more rare, being born as single children, and always human. They were treasured, begged for, blessings, protected at all costs and the pride of their communities. Fertility being scarce and annual, and female pregnancies being even more so, if Shuule had been normally born, she would have been celebrated in the womb for nine
There was no easy answer to this, an unprecedented discovery. The four adults stood in a circle, their faces lined with worry, staring down at the baby fox who was curiously looking up at them with her bright new eyes.Aaron, who was the oldest out of all of them, often took a sense of control because of it. He sighed seeing the stalemate. "Tell the tribal head I guess. If he wants to get rid of it then it's not our fault."Instinctively, Iris snatched her child back and rolled her into her arms possessively, as low growl hummed in her throat and her eyes narrowed on her spouse. Just because she couldn't shift to a fox didn't mean she wasn't a fox, and she wished she had the fangs to bite him suddenly. He had inadvertently made the decision, snapping her motherly instincts back from her shock."WE WILL NOT BE GETTING RID OF HER" Iris barked, baring her teeth even though there wasn't anything threatening about them."Then you'll want to keep your voice down before the whole village hea
The Beastworld had a reputation of not being adaptable except, in the rare example of the second Great City, and only with the help of the Earth Woman. In reality, that wasn't entirely true. Like any other civilization, survival was key above all, and learning to highlight your strengths was an asset. Some species of beasts were lucky; many of the large predators could be entirely sufficient on their own. But there were many other types of Beastmen, and the fox were ones to find themselves often disadvantaged. While a Beastmen male transformed into his animal form was far larger, faster, and capable than a wild fox, they were still smaller and weaker than an angry beastmen lion of similar skill. Likewise, Peacocks found themselves even more in peril - they were large, had large claws, and above all else, could fly. However, they were not the fighters and killers that hawks, eagles, and owls were, and their heavier build did not make them as fast. The neighboring Peacock and Fox vill
"How long have you known? Or. I don't know why I'm asking you that." Cain sat on a stool, which was up on a platform, the way he formerly held meetings in his house to seem more imposing. The large man leaned over onto the wooden table next to him, holding his temple in his hand. It was clear the family knew for years. Iris wasn't a new mother, yet she acted like she was possessed when it came to her kits. She had a previous litter when she was a very young mother, and as soon as those kits could fend for themselves, they were allowed to pack up with the others as was normal. Her peacock young were also already sparring with the other males their age. And yet, this litter of four were kept under lock and key, like they were frail eggs. She had turned in on herself, not being nearly as personable, and while females always relied on their spouses, Iris had become insistent, needy; paranoid. These weren't uncommon adjectives for difficult wives, but she was far from difficult until ...
---- As a fox, she was fast. Faster than a snake, if she tried with all her might. Heart pounding out of her chest, she pushed her feet as fast as they would carry her. She was a weak beast, with no stripes, but that was because she was young. She had trained for this. She felt more alive in her animal form, which seemed common among the males as well - the difference being she more often stayed human than them. In truth, that was a large part of why she left. She was tired of projecting, protecting, keeping up appearances even if her hometown insisted they accepted her as she was. Being chased by a two striped feral was not part of her dream, but using her natural given skills of swiftness of both body and mind, was. In a split second, Shuule made a hard 90 degree turn, attempting to throw the predator behind her off her scent, off her direction. Every time that large serpent had to change direction, she would gain some ground. Eventually, she would shake him off her trail, she fi
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