"So, you visited the realm of the Beast God when you slept?!" Qianhuang reacted to Chiaki once she finished telling he and Curtis what she had learned that afternoon.
"That's what I was told." Chiaki nodded. "In any case, the Beast God Voice said to help the people of this world. I'm not sure what I should really do though."
The three of them sat looking at each other. Neither male had any ideas of what helping the people of the world really meant. Qianhuang had watched Chiaki show others how to store meat for the cold season and types of plants that could be eaten. They had tried to make a smoke-house, even if it had collapsed in less than a season. Between he and Curtis they would be able to make a better version for this next cold season.
Chiaki was the first to notice the slight blue glow that emanated from Qianhuang. Her eyes widened as she recognized it as the same color the overlay of the world gained when she had seen the status screen. "Key, what are you thinking?" She asked.
Qianhuang looked up at his mate, pulled from his thoughts. "About what you have already done to help others." The blue glow was gone by now, but Chiaki was sure she had seen it clearly.
"Hmm." She frowned. What had caused that glow? Could Curtis see it? She glanced at her second mate and found that he too was deep in thought. There was no blue glow around him. She wanted to test this new thing, but there were too many variables right now.
"Are you full?" Qianhuang offered her a meat skewer.
Chiaki took the offered food, eating while still in thought. What could they do to advance the world? The market was bare of nearly anything that wasn't simply aimed at survival. And it did seem that there was no formal schooling. But the people were building large cities while still hunting and gathering... So better agriculture would be needed very soon to keep up with the food demand. Winters were harsh with little preserved foods. Yes, she knew lots of things that could make peoples lives better.
Chiaki stretched out on the sleeping furs after dinner. It was light outside from the glow of the town around them. Even on the outskirts of the City of Beasts the countless cooking fires kept it from truly ever being fully dark outside. The whole city had a warm yellow glow that could be seen for miles around. She was full from all the fresh meat and preserved vegetables. Qianhuang had become very good at cooking the mixed skewers, fully cooking the meat without burning the peppers and onions to a crisp. The short winged birds had been stuffed with lemon grass and their eggs and left cooking in a dugout ground oven. They would be done the next day. She felt lazy and happy. She'd finally made it to the City of Beasts! She had an idea of why she was brought to this world! She has a direction!
She also had two wonderful men who loved her deeply and a beautiful, smart, active child. Even if he was a lion. Chiaki glanced at the stairs leading down to the first level of the house. Kimba was sleeping in his own room for the first time in his life. She wondered if he'd come running up the steps at any moment. He'd been so excited to have his own room. Qianhuang and Curtis had put down soft grass and a few sleeping furs for the cub in the room and Kimba had jumped onto the center of it right away, claiming he was tired even though it was early.
She felt hands slide up her bare back. Chiaki rolled over, finding herself looking into Qinahunag's blue eyes. His pale skin was flushed. "Could we-?" He asked softly.
Chiaki glanced around the room and caught the last few feet of Curtis's red snake tail slipping off out the window. She was surprised he and Qianhuang hadn't argued about this. She paused. She was due to start her period any day now, so they could probably tell she wasn't in her 'heat cycle' and well...
She cupped Qianhuang's face and kissed him as her answer.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
The next morning Chiaki found herself pressed up between Qianhuang and Curtis, both in their human forms. She didn't remember Curtis returning to the room, so he must have came in after she had fallen asleep the night before. Qianhuang was spooning her from behind, an arm wrapped around her shoulder. Curtis had his face buried in her breasts and an arm around her hips.
This was new. Before winter Curtis never slept in the same room as Qianhuang and her. After winter they had shared the bedroom for a short time before they left for the City of Beasts, but Curtis had stayed in his snake form and curled around the whole room. On the trip both males had stayed in their beast forms for most of the time. She couldn't help feeling a little odd. She had two 'husbands', two 'mates' as they called it. That was all well and good on paper, and one at a time. Being in the sleeping furs with both of them felt a little... embarrassing. She was glad she didn't feel dirty or ashamed, after all she wasn't a young girl with fantasies of a while knight or prince charming.
No she was a girl in her twenties with a winged white lion and a red corn snake! She snorted at her thoughts causing both men to wake up from the sudden sound and movement.
"Uwa?" Curtis said into her chest.
Chiaki giggled. "That tickles!" She tried to scoot away, but with Qianhuang spooning her she couldn't get away at all.
"Tickles?" Qianhuang sat up to look over his mate. Finding the other male intimately holding Chiaki he couldn't help the annoyed look that crossed his face.
Curtis just pulled her tighter to him, breathing in her scent. His eyes blinked open as he sniffed again. Chiaki smelled delightful this morning. Even the lingering scent of the lion male couldn't bother him.
Chiaki briefly wondered if she had started bleeding in the night. She shifted, but couldn't tell if there was any slickness between her legs. "Please don't say you smell blood." She said dryly.
"Mm? No, I just..." Curtis had removed his face from her bosom. His cheeks matched his hair colour. "The next... time..."
Chiaki kissed his forehead. "I will let you know." Untangling herself from her two mates took a moment, finally she could grab a wrap and head outside to relieve herself.
On her way back into the house Chiaki took a second to peek into Kimba's room. The cub was still fast asleep, laying on his back in the middle of the furs and snoring loudly. She closed the door softly. Qianhuang and Curtis had joined her downstairs.
"I'll check the ground oven." Qianhuang said as he headed outside to the filled pit they had used to bake the short winged birds.
"And I should go hunting for your live birds to keep-"
"Actually, Kurt, we need to build a coop to keep them in first." Chiaki said stopping him before he left the house.
"Coop?" He asked, confused. Her mates were often confused, she had so many ideas that they were lucky to keep up with them all.
"A small building to keep the birds in. Let me get a roll of leather, I'll draw what it should look like and together you and Qianhuang can gather the supplies to build it." A soft blue glow appeared for just a slit second around Curtis, but Chiaki still saw it. Now she was sure. Advancing the Beast World through the introduction of new ideas and technology was having some kind of effect. Only she could see the small amount of blue glowing energy it created, she hopped.
By the time Kimba woke up and wandered outside the main part of the coop was finished. It was a simple thing, just a large square wooden box raised about half a foot off the ground. With Qianhuang's sharp claws they could fell small hardwood trees easily. Plus the inner soft bark of young trees could be soaked in water and twisted together into basic rope.
Qianhuang was showing Curtis how to use thin wooden pegs to nail the wooden planks together. Chiaki had her answer to the lack of metal nails. It was slower going and many of them splintered due to Qianhuang and Curtis's lack of skill, but they worked well enough for now. Chiaki added looking for a cave to her list of things she wanted to do, maybe there would be some metal she could find.
The roof was thatched with grass, just like the houses back in the Leopard Village. Chiaki was spreading dry grass they had collected over the floor of the small shelter. Hopefully the birds would get the idea and use it to make nests.
~Wow!~ Kimba chirped at the sight.
Qianhuang looked up. "Hello cub."
~Father!~ Kimba greeted back. He ran over and spread his wings wide. ~Feathers!~
Qianhuang paused and studied his cubs wings. Indeed there were a couple of actual feathers beginning to grow passed the fuzzy down that covered most of Kimba's wings. "Yes, you are getting feathers!" He praised his son. "Before the season changes again, I will be teaching you to fly!"
Kimba fluttered his wings in excitement. ~Really?!~
"Yes." Qianhuang nodded.
"I don't want you flying off everywhere." Chiaki added. "If you do, I'll trim your wing feathers like I'm going to do to the short winged birds."
Kimba snapped his wings to his sides. ~No cut! Kimba no fly off! Promise!~ He said looking at his mother with large wide eyes.
Chiaki rubbed the top of his head. "That's good. I want you to stay safe."
~Yes mama.~
Chiaki shook her head. Kimba was growing so fast! He was easily forty pounds already and she knew in less than a month he'd no longer fit in the sling she carried him around in. Was he fast enough to keep up with the adult males when they were moving quickly? With a sigh she decided that not only did her child look like a lion cub, but was aging like one too. How long would it be before he was bigger than her? As big as Qianhuang?
"Would you like to help me take care of the short winged birds once we have caught them?" She asked.
~Can I?!~
"Of course you can!"
Beyond the boundary of the house several males had begun to gather to watch what was going on. The odd sight of the female helping her mates make an item was curious. The small building was also odd. It was only big enough for a male to sleep in while not transformed, maybe it was a place for the cub to stay? The house looked large enough to hold many many cubs though, and many more mates than the two that were here. The watchers were clueless to the new invention they were seeing.
The chicken coop, well short winged bird coop, was almost done by mid afternoon. Some males had wandered away, other had arrived to watch, a few had been there all day. These few tried to catch Chiaki's attention whenever the female chanced a glance their way. They play fought with each other, turned into their beast forms and posed, offered her foods they had hunted, gathered, or cooked.
Chiaki would ignore them or so they thought, but would smile at their antics when she looked away. Of course, she made sure to look at Qianhuang or Curtis when she smiled. None was the wiser. She had grown use to the males attention seeking ways and was no longer annoyed by it. She'd been in the Beast World for close to a year and saw it more as a custom than harassment. After all, they kept their distance and never became rude.
Curtis and Qianhuang were slightly different in opinion than their mate about the gathered males. On one hand another male in the family would lesson the overall strain of hunting, protecting and cub raising. On the other hand another male meant that Chiaki's attention would be more divided. It was a hard thing to balance, the desire for their mates attention vs the needed numbers to be a successful family group. Females needed at least two mates, one to go hunting while the other stayed at home to protect her and any offspring. Curtis knew he was unable to help for a whole one-forth of each year. So Chiaki needed at least three mates... and every one beyond that simply made life easier.
