The Non-Human Society

Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen - Renn - The Animalia Company

      The woman swung in the air for a moment, thanks to how fiercely she had tackled Vim.

Vim held his arms out for her, not so much as to hug her... but to make sure she didn't fall and hurt herself. Vim turned a little, to let her fling around in the air for a moment. The sight made me jealous.

Why was she allowed to act like that and not me?

"Nice to see you too Reatti," Vim calmly greeted the woman, as unabashed and as unbothered as usual.

"Welcome back! It's been awhile!" Reatti said happily as her feet finally found the ground. She stood up straight, yet still held Vim in a hug. The woman was a little shorter than me, even without my ears into account... and looked very human.

"A few years," Vim nodded, and then someone else hurried up. I went still as another woman giggled happily as she approached.

This one looked a little older. And was definitely not human. Her ears were pointed a little at their tips, and her hair was a little too thick. "Welcome back Vim. Come, come inside, come on Reatti. Let. Him. Go," the new woman spoke kindly to Vim, and then her tone took a drastic change upon addressing the one clinging to him.

"Aww, don't be selfish Herra. The only time he'll let me hug him is when we meet and..." Reatti complained.

"Selfish!" Herra's pointed ears became a redder hue, and she stepped forward and grabbed Reatti by the back of her shirt. With a couple tugs the woman was able to separate Vim and Reatti, who whined quietly.

"Nice to see you're well too, Herra," Vim said.

The stern woman suddenly let Reatti go, and went red in the face this time. "Mhm," she nodded.

Reatti saw she had been let go and immediately stepped forward to hug Vim again. Before she could however, a new person arrived. This time a young man.

"Vim! How've you been!" he stepped forward, right before Reatti could get a hold of Vim, and went to shaking Vim's hand.

"Brom. I've been well, how's the ear?" Vim asked.

Brom laughed and scratched at his head, where his left ear... should have been. He had a very obvious scar there, which ran upward into his hair and even down his neck. Something had harmed him dreadfully.

Looking around for any more people approaching, I found there were none. Everyone else in the large room were staring at us, but not approaching... though...

Very quickly I tried to tell who was human and who wasn't.

A tall woman near the massive hallway to the right wasn't. She wore a loose dress robe, and I could tell by the way she stood that she was one of us. Something was hidden beneath her dress, like how I hid my tail. Other than her none of the rest had any obvious traits I could notice just from a glance.

"Gerald is here, Vim. Just got back a few hours ago, in fact," Herra said as Vim's hand was finally released by Brom. The young man was still smirking wildly, as if shaking Vim's hand was an honor.

Wait... he probably wasn't a young man. He wasn't human either. I could tell not just thanks to the scar from an injury that probably would have killed any normal human, but also because his nails were black. Solid black. Not something paint alone could have accomplished.

"Oh come on, at least let us visit for a moment and," Reatti stepped between Brom and Herra, to get her opinion in.

"Yeah, it's slow right now Vim, we could chat and," Brom agreed, interrupting Reatti.

"Slow? We have thirty nine appointments left today, Brom!" Herra interrupted Brom.

"You two do! I don't!" Reatti raised her hand, smiling in triumph. She looked the youngest of the three, and also seemed to act it... but something about her made me think it was the opposite.