Chapter 17: brought to you by an inferiority complex

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He's hot, he's fine, he's Winston! With all the inferiority complex of a midget on a basketball team! So he's only of some use against Yogi and da dog when he's around. So come on, Boo Boo, let's go get dem picanic baskets (aka, crazy stupid fine gurl).

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Neara shoved the fruit away and the corners of her mouth tightened. Shuu stopped by every day this week with fresh fruits, more meat, and different flowers. Their adventure to the meadow had not gone unnoticed and every female in the City demanded their houses smell as fragrant as Neara's. Some males slept outside when the weather permitted since their rooms had been filled to the brim with as many different blossoms as they could find.

Winston, meanwhile, had been hard at work gathering cotton blossoms. A brief conversation about the seasons in this world scared her enough to start preparing and he brought back armloads every day. He assigned himself the nightly task of, after tucking her in, cleaning the seeds from the cotton blooms.

"Neara, I am needed by the Ape King this afternoon. I will return before nightfall." He said after preparing the meat for lunch.

She looked up from fiddling with some strips of bark. She'd never been good at boondoggle and attempted to weave a fishing basket. The results looked as hideous as the women here. "You're going to leave me alone?"

"Your estrous cycle has finished, so you're in no danger from the beastmen for another year. The Ape King has requested that I appear alone."

"I'm not really comfortable being by myself." She pinched the bark between her fingers and let the rough edges bite into her skin.

"If you desire company, there is no shortage of males." His voice flattened against the walls and crushed her, leaving her unable to speak until he left.

As the pressure left the room, she whispered, "Don't leave me."

When he didn't return, she picked up the bark and brought the long strips into the bedroom. As she wrapped herself in the fur, she repeated to herself, "I'm not alone. I'm not afraid. Shay is coming home soon."

None of the leopard court had asked about her whereabouts, or come to see her, and she suspected they wouldn't care until Parker returned with Shay. Parker wouldn't even care unless Shay told him to. The homesickness settled in her intestines and stilled her hands. "What if we never go home? What if we never leave? What if we're trapped here... what... if..." She fiddled with the bark again and finally threaded a piece through. "I wonder if I'm supposed to soak these first..." Once she got it started, the rest of the basket came together quickly. Shaped like a tube, the idea was for fish to swim in, but not be able to swim out. That would be the next design choice. Winston never caught her fish, but she suspected fishing poles hadn't been invented yet and the lack of woven baskets made her think it was a specialty they had to import from another Clan. Eve had one for her cubs, but she never saw them used for anything else.

She fitted a leftover strip of bark through the narrow slits. "Maybe if I could just... Oh snap, I could make it like a pit trap." She hurried outside to cut more bark with the sharp rock Winston gave her after noticing her struggle with the trees near the river. She'd insisted on the tool when she pointed out that he wouldn't always be there with her. Pressing the stone against the bark, she pushed it outward until it curled like a ribbon, then she rolled it tightly and sealed it with tree sap. The tube held strong and when she submerged it, the sap did not dissolve. Success!

A large beastman approached her. He was taller than Winston, and maybe taller than Shay's kidnapper. "Hello, little female."

She jumped and almost dropped the stone into the river. "Ah! Um... hi?"

"I see you are industrious. What are you making?" He bent down and tried to meet her eyes, but she kept them on the basket.

"I'm making a fishing basket."

"Fishing basket?" He chuckled. "Fish aren't any good to eat. There are too many bones. Even I will only eat them in winter."

Summoning her inner Shay, she faced him defiantly. "And who exactly are you?"

"I'm Tony from the Bear Clan. You interest me."

Neara shook her head. "I don't have... um, Winston is really jealous and likes to keep me to himself."

Tony smiled. "I know! He takes you everywhere! That's why I was relieved to see you were alone today."

"Just for a few hours; he's gone hunting and should be back soon." She squinted at the sun. "Any minute now."

Tony didn't look convinced and squatted beside her. "What if I keep you company until he arrives then? Surely you wouldn't begrudge me that."

On the one hand, unwanted attention. On the other hand, maybe nobody else would bother her today. "O..."

"Tony." A low hum came behind him and the large beastman turned. Shuu stood in front of him and glowered.

"She is busy today. It's in your best interests if you come back another time."

The beastman sized up his opponent and smirked. "You don't scare me, two-mark."

Shuu lifted his bangs to expose a third stripe in the middle of his forehead. "I should."

Tony paled, his olive skin washing out. He backed away from Neara fast enough to fall into the river. He didn't stop backing away until he disappeared behind a house.

"Shuu." Neara stood and clutched the basket.

"Neara." He smiled. "I'm happy to save you from his company." His clothes seemed different today although she couldn't see what prompted the change. Most beastman had a single set of clothing, usually a skirt, they changed into when in public. Not that beastmen seemed to have a problem with public nudity, but their females did, so they covered up. Winston was unusual in that he sported shin wraps under his skirt for formal occasions, but something had changed about Shuu's appearance.

She decided the hemline was shorter and his legs were wrapped in dark leather, but not quite pants. Royalty seemed to wear more clothes than the normal beastmen and she attributed this to their decreased need to change into their animal forms. A royal beastman didn't need to hunt much, she thought.

"Did you enjoy the fruits I brought you this morning?" He stood so close the fishing basket brushed his hips.

"Yes, they were good." She held the basket at arm's length. "Winston particularly liked the prickly fruit."

"Yes, I thought he might. They're a favorite of the leopard queen. She grows them in her garden." Shuu held up a small package of leaves. "I have more for him here if he hasn't discovered where he can find them for himself yet."

"Thank you." She accepted the package and tucked it into a pocket in her cloak. One of her projects.

He looked at her cheeks and a blush crept across his.

"I'm working on my fishing basket." She gestured to the strips of bark on the ground with said basket. "These are poles that go inside and keep the fish from swimming out."

Shuu took the basket from her and looked inside. He held it to his eyes, passed his arm through, and returned it. "Why do you want to catch fish?"

"I'm tired of eating red meat all the time; I know how to cook fish." Her hair stood on end, though she couldn't say for what reason.

Shuu seemed to have the same reaction, although he had more hair so it was noticeable. "I... need to go."

"Wait, Shuu!" He was already gone.

"Well, that's enough socializing for one day." Neara scooped the bark into her basket and poured more sap into the tube. She'd work on it inside to avoid attention. Thunder rolled across the sky and forest, echoing through the stone houses. The scent of ozone filled the air and Neara inhaled gratefully. Rain comforted her and brought a sense of peace and although she knew she shared that opinion with almost everyone else, the sound, smell, and atmosphere perked her up after the weird fight with Winston. Fight? She didn't know if it could even be called that, but something changed between them.

The rain slapped the roof and reverberated through the house. If she squinted hard enough, she could see the river rising outside. Doors in the city slammed shut as beastmen hurried home. The sky leaked silence into every corner of the city; not even the birds in the forest screamed in this weather. Shouldn't Winston have been back by now? The rain shut out all light, but her rumbling stomach suggested dinner time.

She stood up and clung to the door frame against the heavy rain. It freckled across her face and misted her eyelashes. "Winston?" she whispered into the deluge.

"Winston?" She said it louder and crossed her fingers into the darkness.

"WINSTON?" A thunderclap drowned out her cries.

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