Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 119: brought to you by first world problems

It occurred less often now that she was out of rabbit hole hell, but one day Shay thought about first world problems.

Like while she was checking out the den Curtis had made for the girls beneath their bedroom.

Man, I'm glad I don't have neighbors to call child protective services on me.

Heaven forbid anyone find out she'd had a dark, rock lined hole built for her toddlers in their bedroom, where they could trip or fall into it at any time.

Or while she was watching Parker and Miur build their respective houses, Miur's being an intricate nest in a large tree overlooking their homestead.

Man, I'm glad building codes or land zoning isn't a thing.

She remembered one of her aunts wanting to buy a cheap piece of land to build a house one, since renting a house had gotten expensive and there weren't any houses available that she could afford. It had seemed the perfect deal. But because the local government had zoned it for agriculture, they wouldn't allow her to build a house on it even if she did own it. It didn't matter that the specific zone they'd put on the tiny five acres needed 40 acres to be legally allowed to have animals or, well, agriculture on it, it was agricultural zone. No houses. So what could it be used for? Driving your motorcycles or ATVs on. And that's it.

Oh, and the local laws that say you can't have more than one family living on a plot of land. Or laws that say you can't have more than one home.

Oh, and taxes.

It definitely made the lack of electricity, books, and pastries a bit better.

Playing her harp or telling stories helped with the lack of books. Various treats made of honey, fruit, and ground rice helped with the pastries. And having five strong men with freakish levels of stamina helped with the electricity. And if she wanted alone time she would just bark everyone away from the bedroom and take a snooze in Curtis's den, which was her second favorite place after her little patch beneath the perfectly leaning tree next to the orchard, where she went to take naps with all her babies. The last day of the week, when all the boys came home, quickly started a tradition of having at least one nap with all the baby snakes--and Asher, who didn't seem to know any better anymore.

The rainy season coming on in full force put an end to that. Though Shay set up a new nest in the living room so everyone could fit around her.

The curious thing about rainy season by the coast compared to inland in Beast City, was that, while it rained every day, the rain was a fine mist that got heavier closer to the night, rather than raining cats and dogs on and off constantly. Shay found she enjoyed this as well, as she got to fall asleep to the sound of it pattering on the roof. Listening to it also reminded her how glad she was that the babies she had sleeping outside, deep in the forest and around the bay, were snakes. Far from getting a cold or hypothermia, they loved the water. That aside, however, when the boy snake of the day came home they came slower and spent a good deal of time in front of the fire before they set out for the day. Even the girls were slowing down, which was actually quite the relief in the mornings when everyone was still waking up. They whined for the warmth of Parker or Miur, but now that the two had their own shelters outside of the main house, Curtis and Ryan had set down their territory within the house walls hard core. They could visit if invited in by Shay, but sleeping in there was a hard no.

Through Shay's industry, the house quickly became stocked with baskets, medicine, lines of drying fruits and herbs, and even a few attempts at a crude loom. Curtis and Ryan had combined forces to come up with some stone counters, shelves, and even a porch to hang over the entryway to the house, which, again, went into the ground, so steering water away from the steps only helped. Though Curtis banishing the ground with land splitting waves of his tail sure worked too, but he could only go so far before he'd ruin the fields and orchard. Thus...roof.