Jenny and the Beasts

3. What Can Be Done?

Original upload: July 17th, 2022. Edited: February 17,2023.

Jenny spent the rest of the time studying Harvey's goods without touching them. She knew the cultures were different, but didn't know if his culture would also find it rude to rummage through someone else things. Since Jenny felt it was, she did not in spite of her curiosity.

She wandered back outside again and caught the attention of a leopard. Jenny hesitated briefly. Based on its size, it should be a beastman, but that knowledge didn't stop the fear from flaring up. Predators were predators and they should be treated cautiously. At least that's how Jenny felt until it changed into a man.

"Female? Do you need something?" He looked friendly enough to Jenny, but she still hesitated. In the end, she decided to chance it and ask which direction and how far the river was. Jenny pointedly avoided looking at the male's lower abdomen and focused on his face as he gave her the information. She thanked the male who paused in a daze, but he still left.

Jenny thought to leave a message and realized how stupid that was. She was pretty sure that written language was not a thing here. Still, she drew an arrow pointing at a poor dirt-drawn river. She didn't know if Harvey would understand her meaning. Maybe she could beat him back and erase it before he sees it. She was never good at drawing and it made her self-conscious.

She scraped some of the dirt out from under her nails and looked for a stick and rock. She was no survivalist, but she had read several books with main characters who were. Given her cruddy sense of direction, she thought it necessary to mark the trees along her way and draw arrows in the ground for her to follow back.

Jenny did not run into anyone else as she made it to the river. She looked around one last time and stripped off her shirt, pants, socks, and watch. Her watch was supposed to be waterproof, but she never trusted that just in case.

Her sports bra made her feel covered enough on the top, but her black, bikini-cut panties made her wish she wore a different pair. She submerged herself into the cool water. It made her shiver and the goosebumps rose all over her body.

Jenny scooped up some silt, for lack of anything else, and scrubbed her body. She avoided scrubbing her privates with the stuff in case she could give herself an infection with it. There was no medicine to deal with that kind of thing here. She opted for a quick hand scrub and made sure to clean her panties as good as she could. she pulled the bra away from her skin to scrub up and under it. The silt did not feel good on her sensitives nipples, but she endured.

Once she was sure that she was as clean as she could be, Jenny carefully undid her braid. She rinsed and massaged her sweat-soaked scalp. She couldn't recall if Bai Qingqing discovered a shampoo substitute in this world, but she really hoped she did.

Once her hair was as clean as she could make it, Jenny looked at her clothes. Her pants would take ages to dry once they were wet given their thicker fabric, but her shirt would dry quickly.

Jenny washed her shirt and socks, but left her pants dry. It grossed her out, but she didn't have the luxury of being picky. If she could make herself another pair of clothes, she could wash them later. She laid her shirt and socks out over a large rock to dry and leaned against it.

After confirming that there was no one around her, that she could see, Jenny started fussing with her hair. She squeezed out some excess water and used her fingers to work through the few tangles that developed. She then deftly braided her hair back into the single, long braid before securing it with her hairband.