Mama Bear

A meal and a memory

'No my name is not Saesang. It's y/n for the last time.' She grumbles, eyeing the still obviously confused and fearful men.

The bravest ones, Tae who is sitting on the ground resting while they talk, and his soulmate Jimin (who is less relaxed with the way he's wrapped around Tae, possibly looking for security, possibly to protect him) are the closest to the now-woman. 

The rest are standing a bit of ways away, the two maknaes (JK and Jin) behind the other three.

'I'm really sorry about how rude they're being.' Tae says earnestly. 'It's just you're the first one to turn in to a human that we've ever met.'

She looks startled at this.

'What, do you guys live under a rock? Everyone has a second form.'

Tae is suddenly having a hard time breathing or moving with how tight his soulmate is wrapped around him from his instinctive reaction to her admittance.

****

By the time the guys finally are settled and sitting on the ground, actually listening rather than panicking, the sun is high in the sky, and tummy rumbles are getting louder.

'You guys don't look like the best predators I've seen, even if your eyes are forward. Can I help you fish for your meal today?' Y/n offers. 'I know the best fishing spots.'

Jin perks up at this.

Yoongi rolls his eyes.

JK is slightly offended at being considered anything other than the best.

Joon and Jimin wrinkle their noses at the idea of eating seafood, but they both are craving protein right now, so they stay silent.

Hobi is the only one to speak up with concern.

'How do we cook the fish when it's caught?'

Three of the guys pull lighters out of their pockets, holding them up to be viewed. Y/n, smelling the chemicals in it wrinkles her nose.

'I think we can do better than poisoning the wood to cook the fish. But let's catch it first, yes?'

****

The lessons in fishing with y/n start off hilariously, to Tae at least.

'Why did you expect y/n, a bear-woman, to fish using a pole when she's got bear paws?' He gasps at the offended Jin who dodges the fish flying at him from the river.

Y/n has decided the expedient thing to do was to bat the fish to the shore for them to catch and prepare to eat. In her bear form she's much better at fishing than any of them, and rightly so.

After a couple dozen medium fish of varying colors and species are flopping on land she climbs out of the shallows of the river to help with the process of making a midday meal.

Once on dry land she lengthens and stretches, molding her bear form in to her human one. The squeamish ones look away until she's done. The ever curious Joon watches, trying to understand how she changes, and the rest... well.

Tae: thank you for helping! We hadn't expected to go vegan before a couple of days ago, so this is a wonderful change from just plants to eat!

Jimin: how are you not naked when you change to human? Is your bear form wearing it and we just haven't noticed? (Tae slaps the back of his head) Hey!

Yoongi: ...can you show me how to do that? I wanna hibernate or whatever bears do during the winter.

****

'So you're saying that we don't smell like we have a second form?' Joon says, picking at his cooked fish.

Y/n nods, eating her fourth fish.

'Does that mean we don't have one, or that we haven't figured out what our second form is?' Yoongi asks.

'Most likely you don't have a second form. I know that babies smell like their second form from birth, even if it takes them a few months before they do their first shift. And their second form is human, the first form is their species. Like I'm bear, and my second form is human.' Y/n says, tossing the fish bones in to the fire.

'Damn. I really wanted to hibernate.' Yoongi grumbles.

As the sun sets she walks them back to the metal box they sleep in.

'Is it comfortable in there?' Y/n asks, curious as Yoongi unlocks it and opens the door to the driver's side.

'Yes and no.' Joon admits. 'We're used to sleeping in seats with how busy we were before you found us, but I think we all miss our beds at home.'

'I can look to see if there's a spare cave or something to sleep in nearby if you'd like. I don't even know how all of you even fit in there comfortably'

Jin sniffs at the idea of the cave, but Tae smiles widely.

'It's actually very comfortable if you sit right. Wanna feel the seats?' He offers as he opens the side sliding door. With her nod he waves for her to follow him as he climbs in and goes to the furthest seat in the front row.

'What is this padding that the seat is made from?' Y/n asks.

'Most likely it's a metal form with wire springs for support, and foam under the fabric  for softness.' JK says as he watches from outside the van. The shocked look he gets from Hobi has him grumbling 'Hey, even I get curious and look things up sometimes.'

'Metal and wire? Doesn't sound very comfy. I'm not sure what foam is besides the stuff that piles up on top of the smaller streams when the spring runoff happens, but if it makes it feel this soft maybe I need to try using it when the season comes around next.

'I don't think he means stream foaming like you're thinking.' Joon says, frowning. 'That's just water and air mixed up. The foam he's describing  was made specifically to create these seats. Kind of like making bread, there's a process to make the materials for these seats. I think it's why we keep coming back to sleep here. Even if we did find laying flat in a cave more comfortable, this is a connection to what we left behind when we found ourselves here suddenly, and it's what we would consider a part of home.'