Uncaged Cat 6 - (Pre-RWBY, SI)

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It's been twenty nine years since the Great War, and Remnant is still that uneasy chaotic place that was my gamefield.

Menagerie had risen up to become a major player in international politics, we were the second most-developed country after Atlas, and we had solid relations with two of the four kingdoms. While some whining remained in regard to our 'lack of status' as a fellow 'kingdom', it was common for those supporting the status quo to rebuke we didn't need that as... we were more.

In fact, silly titles hardly mattered since we had beaten well above our weight more than once. Deeds spoke louder than what a few words on official papers say, and Menagerie was regarded as the 'sunny sister' of Atlas. It goes without a saying that tourism from the uppermost north was a common sight as the SDC grew more connected with drilling efforts, and the riches shared between our two countries created an incredibly tight bond.

That didn't mean, obviously, that racism didn't exist. Some of the business tied to mining projects entertained the use of sidelined classes that were desperate for work, and this mostly centered around the Faunus community in the north. When I pointed that out to Nick, he admitted that the laws in Atlas were deeply against people that were, regardless of their community, exploitable. It was a constitution born on a more militaristic need for society from when it was needed during the Great War, quite elitist but overall one that allowed for rich folks to invest and implement their own 'lenient' laws around their workers.

Atlas was paradoxically our best friend and also the source of much irritation among some of the more warhawkish politicians in Kuo Kuana. Investments tempered the annoyance, but I predicted that a few crises would ultimately ensue if changes were not implemented.

Despite all of that, however, business was booming, the housing system was expanding at a reasonable pace and the population was growing intensely all thanks to the work opportunities. The Energy Sector was, by far, the one I wanted to invest the most about. Rapid technological achievements thanks to the Atlas-Menagerie joint effort had led to some advances in regard to solar-powered machines.

Transportation vehicles were constantly perfected and soon well-adjusted trucks that employed low-intensity Dust engines were moving through the main roads of Menagerie. Likewise, ships and airships were improved as airplanes were now becoming a possibility thanks to some tentative steps in expanding aviation to include scout planes.

Finally, the Arms Manufactory had expanded considerably. While dust was seen as the finest and most-used method to produce bullets, the employiment of gunpowder had been introduced as a counter to over-reliance to Dust itself. We had mines and all for that, and shortages were not going to be a worry for decades, but I wasn't going to make my country addicted to such a finite resource in the long run.

Still, this peace held some 'shortcomings'. The migrations from Mistral had shaken up the previously limited minority of non-Faunus people, and while representation was granted to those people, there were, as expected, some people that wanted more than they should get. Demonstrations were peaceful, and no violent action was taken to handle the protesters. Debates were allowed between civilians and local politicians to iron out any potential issues that were not taken under consideration by the local administration and... reforms came along.

Workers' rights were by far the closest thing to a double-edged sword. While the introduction of satisfactory work hours, a minimum wage, and even pension-related benefits, there was also a decline in productivity that was slowing down the growth. Some had complained that reforms could be rolled out at a slower pace, but the truth was that this sort of 'growing pains' were necessary to create a system that was accustomed to a more sane view of popular rights while also restraining the economic sector from influencing social life too much.

During this time of peace, around a year ago, Jaya took a month to do a trip around the domains beyond Kuo Kuana. A bit of a PR effort on her part, plus her getting a break from work and kids so she could unwind. One would think that was all of her plan but... she returned with two people on tow. She said that both were her apprentices, and I was willing to recognize that one of them was indeed a student of hers - and that was the only face I recognized, a young 15 years old Maria Calavera that wished to train away from the chaos of Mistral.

The other one was another woman who was new to me. A faunus woman sporting husky-dog features with black and grey hair and fur, bright blue eyes and a tail that seemed to wag a bit too much when around me. Her name was Sasha and she introduced herself as a sort of 'apprentice/guard' to Jaya. The reason why I was so sure that Sasha was not meant to be Jaya's second student was tied to her age and her current skills- she was a good fighter, and hardly required any training.

Despite that puzzling amount of details, I raised no issues in the sudden hiring, but I made a point that Jaya had taken the trip to relax rather than return with more work on her back. The big lady took this with grace and apologized for making it hard on herself and the rest of the family, but I saw no point in 'punishing' her as life resumed as... 'normal'.

Where I could say that young Maria easily grew accustomed to her surroundings and seemed to expand her social circle almost immediately - you know, like one would expect from someone that was focusing on living her life and training for combat - Sasha took a sudden liking towards me. Even played around with the kids at Jaya's own request. I am not an idiot, and I didn't let this go disregarded beyond a single month as I had a private conversation with Jaya.

"What's going on with Sasha? And I want the full truth."

I made it clear this wasn't doubt or a supposition. I knew shit was up as I could see how much Sasha spent more time around me and less around Jaya. Hell, Durga had noticed and then told me how much Sasha was assigned to take care of the kids when it was previously a Durga-centered duty. And Jaya had enabled this sort of behavior. I wasn't planning to cheat on my wife, so I wanted to know what she was trying to do with that sort of plotting.

Despite her best attempts to lie and deflect (something that she was absolutely bad at), my big buff wife finally told me the truth and, as I had presumed, it was as wrongly-planned as it could. This goes back to when we had Ruhi, or even further back when Ghira was born: Jaya could not go for a third child without actually risking her life. This detail had severely impacted our intimate life, and while we still shared the bed to do things, it never felt the same as Jaya felt guilty over it.

I thought we had reached a compromise that two kids was fine, but Jaya kept on nagging about wanting a big family and... her idea was to hurl Sasha at our relationship. She wanted Sasha to be my mistress and take over the duty of producing children for our relationship, something that, as much as it pained me to admit, was legally acceptable and, to some extent, even morally fine by Menagerie's standards.

With more people, there was a clear difference in the male:female ratio, with more women born than men and the law meant to just populate fast Menagerie which allowed for polygamy soon became a fixed solution to the problems of handling the difference. It was all done via regulations as polygamy was treated as a 'one man and multiple women, but they all are equal' sort of deal. Some still tried to fulfill their 'harem fantasy', but there's enough 'mechanisms' to deal with that sort of people.

Medical visits turn mandatory in regard to people that were in such relationships without an official documentation, mostly due to the chances of some using the lack of legally binding papers to try and enforce their will on those women. Still, this wasn't a matter of powerplay, not as far as I was able to discern when talking with either Jaya or Sasha.

The former had given me her point of view, but it was ultimately Sasha that expanded on why she agreed on this. She came from one of those tribes targeted by Mistral for merely being Faunus. Anti-banditry was a topic of controvery beyond Mistralian borders as some tribes were sheltered over others. Faunus were targeted a lot due to the 'easy racism' around them, but also because a lot of human-dominated tribes bribing their asses of the troublesome gaze of the law enforcers. Which left the police with their 'hands tied' in attacking the faunus communities.

Now, Sasha's tribes had dwindled away until it was her, several women and a few men. Polygamy on a more crude manner was entertained and Sasha had tried many times to refuse being forced into one of the groups only for her to be set up to be claimed by one of those and... then Jaya came along. And I was surprised to learn that some pricks made a move on her, only for them to lose the ability to move for a few months from the way my wife took care of them. One of those so happened to be their chieftain, and while this would justify a takeover, Jaya had a single request: Sasha would join her journey in Mistral and then come with her to Menagerie.

That was the first idea on how this was gonna work, but as the month went on and Jaya confessed on her plight, Sasha felt compelled to offer an alternative. And that alternative was now being debated after I heard them both.

"I believe that your role as a 'lesser mistress' is not acceptable as this would be morally wrong and very illegal," I pointed out the earliest, something I already discussed about Jaya beforehand. She had tried to put a 'leash' on Sasha to try and not be subverted as the main wife. That was a stupid move, and it made me feel less trusted by her. I definitely trusted her a little less for going over my back and I made it clear by really limiting contacts for the next two weeks between us - the couch may have met me many times as a loser, but I visited it now as a winner. "Which is why you will be 'upgraded' to second wife, and we will go through dates to properly ease up the idea of you being part of this relationship. Likewise, you shall go on dates with Jaya to further reinforce the idea that this is not a competition and that I will not accept any sort of shenanigans of the kind around the kids."

The girl was baffled by this positive outcome for herself, but she looked apologetic towards Jaya for the kind of hurt she was going through. It wasn't enough to make her cry, but it definitely was felt like a slap by her as she seemed to take more time to think about her choices from that event onward. Especially big ones.

Nonetheless, it was... actually easy to get the kids to accept the situation. In Ruhi's shockingly 'wise words': "Well, we already had two moms with mama and Auntie Durga. So, that means we have three moms- three times the hugs!"

Ghira was somewhat less inclined towards that sort of definition, but rolled with it after his mother and I told him that it was a mutually planned decision and that no one was getting 'replaced' as he had mentioned fearing. The boy could be so clever despite his age, but I knew that he still had a big exposed heart I had to somewhat toughen up once he was older.

And as I tried to make it work with my family, I got an invitation from Nick himself to visit him for his birthday and... meet the rest of his family.

AN

So, I had been asked to get the 'harem' rolling, so I decided to play it 'safe' and kind of add a touch of realism about it. If you know who Sasha's ref pic is... you're cultured. And I'll leave it to just that.