"I have nothing but older and larger brothers." Skye explained. He'd come back to the house roughed up from Winston. "I can handle myself."
Still Chiaki was cleaning the shallow scratches. "What if these got infected?"
"What's infected?"
"Uh, you know... the skin will turn red and puss will form in the wound."
"I've never seen infected."
Chiaki looked at him. Surely with all the fighting males did, some of them ended up with infections. Now that she thought about it, none of her mates had come home with any serious wounds. Curtis had even hunted meat eating colossal beasts, whatever they were, and had returned unscathed.
"Don't waste your medications on us." Bai Di said. "Unless it starts out life threatening, males heal from everything very quickly."
"I'm not using medication, I'm just cleaning his scratches."
Skye scratched at the top of his nose. "Eh, these'll be gone by morning."
Chiaki face-palmed. Males. They were inhumanly healthy! "Oh! Skye, you know how to read and write, yes?"
The black panther male blushed. "Ah, yes?"
"Can you teach me?"
Skye looked at her. "You... don't know how?"
Chiaki shook her head. "No, the letters are completely different than the ones I learnt on Earth."
"Oh, right... you came from another world." Skye sighed.
"Typically, only the offspring of a powerful family, like the city leaders are taught who to read and write." Bai Di looked at Skye.
Skye pinned his ears back. "Well... you see..." Suddenly he bowed with his hands over his head. "Don't tell my family, but I sneaked into the houses of higher ranking families!"
Chiaki blinked. With the way he was going she thought he was about to say he was actually from some panther noble family or something. She started laughing. "We would never!"
Skye uncovered his head and watched the female laugh. It was such a wonderful sound! He brightened. "Uh, I think I can teach you... I never tried before."
"That's wonderful! Oh and Kimba can learn too!"
Bai Di's ears twitched. "Your are going to have your cub taught too?"
"Of course! Learning to read and write are really important skills!"
Bai Di took her hands in his, his eyes sparkling. "Would you have any cubs we have be taught also?"
"I want all my children to learn."
Bai Di teared up. "Knowing how to read and write is impressive to females! Our cubs would have a better chance at finding a mate if they knew how."
Skye blinked at the tiger male. "Really? I never thought to let others know I could read and write."
"What do we need?"
"Uh... just a shallow tray filed with sand and a stick you can hold comfortably in your hand?"
"I'll find them right away!" Chiaki hurried off, leaving the two males alone in the room.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
Chiaki twirled in the newly completed Winter outfit. Curtis could stitch them together so tightly that the seams let no air slip through. The outfit was made from deer hide, leaving it a soft tan color. She was covered head to toe and would easily be able to stay outside in the colder weather without problems.
"I'd ask how I look, but all of you are drooling so I know the answer!" She teased the six males watching her show off the new outfit.
~Mama is pretty!~ Kimba announced as he stood up on his back paws and licked her face.
"Oh! Such a sweet little man!" Chiaki said as she scratched him behind both ears at once. All the males wished it were them that had gotten to complement their female. If only for the ear scratches and nose bloops. "Okay, the next time I want to go outside, I'll be sure to wear this."
Curtis sat rubbing oil into the tanned side of the wolverine fur hood. It would complete the outfit and cover Chiaki's head from the cold. Beside him were the foot coverings and hard leather cutouts to sew to the bottoms of them. Qianhuang was putting together a meal for the family, the scent of cooking meat filled the room as it drifted from the Kitchen. Bai Di had scooped Chiaki up into his arms, the sight of their mate showing off bringing out a playful moment in the male.
The three males had returned home to find the house smelling strongly of sex and a female in heat. The nude form of Chiaki headed for the bath clicked the events together quickly. Once she'd exited the bath, she showed them the new marks... or mark, they weren't sure if the three mate symbols around her bellybutton could be considered a single entity or not. Maybe because she'd accepted the three males at the same time it had placed them the same distance form her heart?
Bai Di was still more attentive by the time Kimba had fallen asleep and took to his room. Chiaki pulled him into the furs with her. She sent a silent 'thank you' to the Beast God that their sex didn't trigger the other males to join in.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
The first snow of Winter came early that year. Along with it an event Chiaki hadn't seen before- Ice Fall. "Shit!" Chiaki cursed as the large chunk of ice impacted in the yard. "What the hell is going on?"
"Ice Fall." Curtis said. He was slowly slipping into hibernation as he instinctively began to eat less. He was trying to last long enough to be there when his offspring hatched.
"That is a deceptively tiny name for the ice-balls of epic proportions that are raining down outside!"
Qianhuang pulled her back into his arms. "Don't go outside until it passes, it's dangerous for males, but deadly for a female."
Chiaki nodded as another chunk of ice smashed into the yard, sending up a wave a snow that pelted the shuttered windows. It looked like everyone was stuck inside for the day. "I think we need some games to pass the time."
~Games? Like hide-and-seek?~ Kimba asked.
"Hm, no. I was thinking about a board game. Something simple I can teach everyone to play. Hey Skye?!" She called out. "Bring down your carving stuff!" She looked over her shoulder at Qianhuang. "And can you get a few bits of wood?" She held out her hands. "About this big for one of them, and another chunk that can be carved and oiled like the wooden bowls?"
"I can find that in the cellar with the dry fire wood." He let her go and headed down to gather the requested wood.
"Yeah, I have some half-carved things." Skye said as he came down the stairs with several tusks in his hands.
"I want a white piece, one you aren't using for something else yet."
"Ah, let me switch then." He headed back up into the bedroom.
It didn't take long for Chiaki to walk the two males through creating the flat game board and several handfuls of flat disks. "I'm going to teach you all how to play checkers!"
