Subject to Study (Naga!Brothers x Reader)

Chapter 47

I sat in the early afternoon sun as I roughly rubbed the towel against my hair and head, drying it off as much as I could before letting the hair rest in the sun's warmth. The pile of wet clothes that I had discarded brought my attention back to them as I looked around the small clearing around the spring, wondering what I'd use to wash them and how I was going to let them dry.

I'd have to find a natural cleaning agent that I could make or simply use raw herbs to get the clothes clean, but I wasn't the botanist that was assigned here. Tell me to look for fauna and I'd have at least fifteen species by the end of the day, but tell me to look for flora and I'd find a common houseplant.

The sun warmed my skin and soaked into my dry clothes, spreading the warmth to where the sun wasn't touching. It felt nice to just sit in the silence after a refreshing bath in a natural spring, even if there were six other beings that clearly wanted me to be with them in a more intimate fashion.

I lowered my eyelids in thought, taking in a breath before slowly releasing it.

Mating.

How the hell would that work between a naga and a human? I didn't even know if they were more snake-like or human-like down there, or where their down there even was. Was it closer to the end of their tail, just like a snake's was, or was it close to their waist like a human?

I had made myself not focus on those details when I was initially looking them over back at the zoo because it wasn't something that was a focal point, but I couldn't recall if I saw anything that looked similar to a cloacal scale, or vent, that hid their genitals. If the nagas had a more human anatomy, then maybe it'd be okay...

A blush swiftly formed over my cheeks as an image of one of the nagas was 'locked' with me, shaking my head hard to get rid of the imagery before slapping both of my cheeks to bring my focus back to where I was currently. There was more than enough that I had to do before even thinking about that kind of thing.

I still had to finish my house, find a way to survive with the local food options, possibly rig up a drying rack for clothes and meat, and take a detailed tour of the island with each naga, finding the ins and outs of their territory and where I needed to avoid going on my own. This island was their home, and I'd do myself no favors by just hoofing it on whims and guesses.

My thoughts paused as I stood up, gathering the damp towel and wet clothes before heading back to the rough circle of trees that I called home.

----

"Are you sure that you want me to walk you there?" The viper naga raised an eyebrow in confusion as he lowered himself to the ground in front of me, "That's...going to be a bit longer of a walk to Todo's territory if we go through my area."

"That's fine, Kara," I gave a small nod of my head, "I didn't want to ask Jyushi because he and Todo had a fight recently, but I still want to go to his territory because..."

Kara patiently waited for me to finish my thoughts.

"I feel like I reacted in the wrong way to what he was trying to do."

"I could smell your fear from my den, (y/n)," Kara moved his hand in a wide sweep, offering to walk next to me as we spoke, "It's not unreasonable to think that any of us would react as strongly as Jyushi did."

"It's just that I thought Todo would take my negative answer to his offer with grace, but he seemed to be offended by it and tried to find a workaround where he could still get his way," My left hand rubbed the tender skin of my right forearm lightly, "I want to see if there's a way to talk to Todo, to see if there's an option of us having better communication without either of us assuming something."