The missmatched pair traveled downstream for a fair distance, the ground so saturated with rain that the snakes smooth body created a muddy trail behind him, though the fox was still light footed enough to barely leave tracks. They reached a right slanting curve in the bank, when the black figure came to an abrupt stop, turned, and submerged himself into the water, head first, swimming out until just a few feet of his tail remained on the shore. He brought his great head back out and looked behind him. Shuule tilted her head, thinking she would much prefer to swim herself, as it wasn't that far, but she also had her bag with her, that was waterproof enough that her clothing was probably still dry, but not if she submerged it. The fox gritted her teeth, and climbed onto the snakes' tail, ready to leap off if attempting to drown her or something was part of his plan. Nothing of the sort happened however, and when they reached the other side, there was just a very swift walk that broug
--- Shuule woke up the next day, in the dark as the candles had been blown out in the night, with just the sunlight coming in through the rock opening. Her eyes quickly adjusted, looking around for her roommate. Set was a large snake, curled up to sleep in the opposite corner, motionless. The hair on the back of Shuule's neck stood up a bit at the fact that she had shared a den with a snake overnight, but he had kept his distance. After settling in the afternoon before, she decided to cut the awkward silence with a nap, and ended up sleeping like the dead for twelve hours straight, not realizing how much she missed a soft place to lay and four walls to keep her safe. She stretched her arms over her body as she got out of bed, quietly walking to the opening to peek out. Even just putting her head outside into the open let the air hit her like a brick. It was hot, the humidity oppressive. Usually the dry season was hot, but the unusual rain had made the air so heavy you could drink it
It was far too humid to do much of anything, it was decided. Sure, like the men, Shuule was capable of forging through the weather, but with no reason to, bachelor males would even take a day like this to conserve themselves and not overheat.Set had shifted back into his full snake, and was entirely submerged into the water, his head elevated just enough that he could breathe, dozing off. Shuule had decided that she was going to stay human for now, sitting on the edge of the water, legs submerged up to her knees. With her almond skin, getting sun burnt wasn't much of a worry, but she was already regretting the decision. After four weeks of playing fox, she actually just wanted to test out being somewhat normal around a male, but she also was considering leaping out of her clothes so she could burrow under something shady.When she sighed, the snake opened up one of his eyes slightly, rolling it back to look at the girl sitting on the rock. The water rippled as his massive black body
Though Set decidedly did not care at all how Shuule ate her food, as it was clear she was uncomfortable with this one particular aspect- eating uncooked dead prey, as a woman, in front of others; They did not do it again. Snakes didn't need to eat every day anyway, and as the time went on and it was clear to Set that Shuule was, pleasantly, sticking around, he didn't even leave the cave every day. Some days he would lazily slither down to the stream to sun himself, Shuule tagging along. Other times Shuule would shift into her fox and go hunting for the smaller prey she was used to, like rabbit, mice, and birds, but would never bring it home. She would often come back with some token of whatever she had captured, though. One day, she came home with a neatly stacked and washed handful of bright green bird feathers, which reminded her of a peacocks but were significantly shorter. Delighted with them, she showed Set, who that night while she slept, carved out a little wooden vase with hi
Set reached out and grabbed both of Shuule's hands like he had the first time she showed him her beast fingernails, but this time it was with desperation, and taken by surprise, she didn't retract her claws. As she was still sitting, he had to lean over her, his long red streaked hair falling down in front of his wildly wide eyes. "I've wanted to be your mate since the first day I met you." Shuule furrowed her brow in disbelief. "You tried to EAT me Set -" And as she went to argue her point about their first encounter, for the third or fourth time since they had been living together, she squeaked as Set pulled her up from the ground into his chest, wrapping his arms around her small body as her own limbs hung to her sides, her toes barely touching the ground. It was in that moment that Shuule became truly aware of how much strength laid in this man, and how little he had not only not used against her, but not even shown her. Meanwhile, he didn't know if he should tell her the tru
After she had calmed down, Set brought Shuule back into the cave, even helping her undress and dry off before she laid down for a nap. By the time she woke up, the sun was beginning to die, and he had to push back intrusive thoughts that her outburst was because she was upset that her first spouse was a serpent. He knew, he was sure, it was bottled up emotions, but to then need to sleep for so long during the day felt like a mourning process. Unnerved, he hadn't woken her, but rather slithered up the outside of the caves' rocks to settle on the top to watch the sunset, alone in his thoughts. It was flat up there, and a good place to pass the time if you weren't afraid of being seen, but with it being the peak of the dry season, he hadn't thought to show Shuule as it could be incredibly hot during the day. "Set?" She called out quietly, hoping he would hear her, tugging on the very end of his tail, which he let hang over the doorway so she wouldn't wake up and think she was alone. I
Set barely let her finish the thought, emotions swelling in his usually steady, if not brooding demeanor. He didn't know one could feel such conflict inside of them. He was heartbroken for his friend - his spouse? His future mate, but above all, he was terribly angry. He seethed, wanting to swaddle her in the blanket she was in, hide her from the world, and then level the fox clan to the ground. By her description that village was facing extinction as it was, he may as well quicken it. How dare anyone treat a female this way? Let alone the terrible mate, the entire village had done her wrong. What kind of backwards society had she found herself in? At this point, he had forgotten how unnatural Shuule must have been to others. As a snake, he was equipped better to know how it felt to be on the outside, rather than the community choosing to exclude. He was only a two striped beastmen, but he also was only the same age as Shuule - seventeen - and so was formidable considering he had al
The moons had now hung in the sky for quite a while, and normally, Shuule would have been considering crawling into the cave for bed. But she had slept half the day away, and the scorching sun setting had cooled the air so much that not only did it seem like a pity to go back to sleep now, it seemed strange she hadn't chosen to be nocturnal through the summer months. She also hadn't eaten anything other than a half bowl of berries today, since she decided to have a meltdown halfway through her meal. As if he was a mind reader, Set decided their next activity."You should be hungry," he stated.Shuule wanted to deny this, but her stomach gave a small growl, giving her away. "You don't have to feed me, I can go find something -""I know I don't have to feed you. But you can't go out hunting on your own in the dark - don't - I know you'll think I'm wrong, but I'm not, you're stripeless and you're not an apex predator."Shuule huffed, knowing he was skirting around "It's not because you'r