Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 146: brought to you by bread crumbs

Insert funny episode summary of choice here, because Tyndali's still working on her divorce. Do we have any suggestions? Let your funny FREE!

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After a week of making signs and hanging them wherever they thought a snake or panther or leopard would find them, (some of them at chest height to catch the attention of any wandering babies... what she was most interested in) they arrived at the ocean. She finished hanging the last sign, which read, 'Neara is here' by what Orson deemed 'an adequate spot'.

Some of the spelling for the signs had been... creative, but she hadn't corrected it because she didn't know how far along Shay managed to get in her reading lessons and it seemed unfair to expect new readers to get 'o-shun' from 'ocean'.

"This is my garden!" Orson loudly proclaimed, pointing to a weedy patch sheltered from the ocean breeze by tall dunes and trees. "So don't go pissing in it or I'll use you as fertilizer!"

"How will other beastmen know it's our territory though?" Tony pouted, having already 'marked' several of the trees along the way. She hadn't minded too much since it wasn't in her direct space but dammit if she didn't miss the smell of... not-urine.

"Winston's walking around with five stripe aura; who's going to come near?" He jerked his thumb at Winston, who stopped digging the foundations for their home long enough to nod. "So don't even think about it!"

Tony's ears wiggled as he bent down to shovel through the sand again.

"I know you're thinking about it, so stop!" Orson barked, causing Tony to drop the sand he was holding.

"Sorry," he yelled, then turned to Benedict and whispered, "Can he read minds?"

"Yes!" Orson bellowed.

Tony, thoroughly convinced, went back to digging with Winston and Benedict.

"How will the clay stay firm if we use it in the salt ponds?" Ethel's questions continued nonstop as she seemed to find strength from the proximity to the ocean. Neara couldn't have been further from comfort, but she knew this was the most likely place to find any of Shay's babies and mates that hadn't gone running for the City of Flames.

"We have to mix clay and chalk from the cliffs into the mud, let it harden, then we can fill it with water. It will keep the water in it forever, and we can scrape the salt crystals from it when they form."

"Sounds like a lot of work. Good thing we have Benedict!" She laughed and gestured to the wriggling Snow Leopard tail sticking up from the ground where Tony accidentally buried him in a pile of dirt.

"Yeah." Neara laughed with her friend and waited for the natural pause in conversation. "So, do you like him?"

"Benedict?" Ethel laughed. "I guess he's alright. Not exactly what I'd call a hero in gleaming fur, but he's ok."

"Does that mean you might mate him sometime?"

"Ha! No. I think I might be done mating for a little bit. Losing... I don't want to get into it. Benedict is just a good friend."

"I agree, and that's something I never thought I'd have to say about the males in this world."

Ethel nodded, then brought a long strand of seaweed to her mouth. Despite Neara telling her multiple times about the dangers of bacteria and mold, she still nibbled on anything she could get her hands on. "You know, I think we could probably chip the chalk without the guys' help. You have that stick thing Winston gave you, right?"

In response, Neara held up the oddly shaped spear with a chunky head, almost in a cube shape. She'd thought it was weird, but Winston showed her how sharp the tip was, even encased in wood, and insisted she take it for protection. Even if he was always there, she couldn't count on his strength always and he wanted her to feel secure.