--- Shuule woke up the next day, in the dark as the candles had been blown out in the night, with just the sunlight coming in through the rock opening. Her eyes quickly adjusted, looking around for her roommate. Set was a large snake, curled up to sleep in the opposite corner, motionless. The hair on the back of Shuule's neck stood up a bit at the fact that she had shared a den with a snake overnight, but he had kept his distance. After settling in the afternoon before, she decided to cut the awkward silence with a nap, and ended up sleeping like the dead for twelve hours straight, not realizing how much she missed a soft place to lay and four walls to keep her safe. She stretched her arms over her body as she got out of bed, quietly walking to the opening to peek out. Even just putting her head outside into the open let the air hit her like a brick. It was hot, the humidity oppressive. Usually the dry season was hot, but the unusual rain had made the air so heavy you could drink it

Though Set decidedly did not care at all how Shuule ate her food, as it was clear she was uncomfortable with this one particular aspect- eating uncooked dead prey, as a woman, in front of others; They did not do it again. Snakes didn't need to eat every day anyway, and as the time went on and it was clear to Set that Shuule was, pleasantly, sticking around, he didn't even leave the cave every day. Some days he would lazily slither down to the stream to sun himself, Shuule tagging along. Other times Shuule would shift into her fox and go hunting for the smaller prey she was used to, like rabbit, mice, and birds, but would never bring it home. She would often come back with some token of whatever she had captured, though. One day, she came home with a neatly stacked and washed handful of bright green bird feathers, which reminded her of a peacocks but were significantly shorter. Delighted with them, she showed Set, who that night while she slept, carved out a little wooden vase with hi

After she had calmed down, Set brought Shuule back into the cave, even helping her undress and dry off before she laid down for a nap. By the time she woke up, the sun was beginning to die, and he had to push back intrusive thoughts that her outburst was because she was upset that her first spouse was a serpent. He knew, he was sure, it was bottled up emotions, but to then need to sleep for so long during the day felt like a mourning process. Unnerved, he hadn't woken her, but rather slithered up the outside of the caves' rocks to settle on the top to watch the sunset, alone in his thoughts. It was flat up there, and a good place to pass the time if you weren't afraid of being seen, but with it being the peak of the dry season, he hadn't thought to show Shuule as it could be incredibly hot during the day. "Set?" She called out quietly, hoping he would hear her, tugging on the very end of his tail, which he let hang over the doorway so she wouldn't wake up and think she was alone. I

The moons had now hung in the sky for quite a while, and normally, Shuule would have been considering crawling into the cave for bed. But she had slept half the day away, and the scorching sun setting had cooled the air so much that not only did it seem like a pity to go back to sleep now, it seemed strange she hadn't chosen to be nocturnal through the summer months. She also hadn't eaten anything other than a half bowl of berries today, since she decided to have a meltdown halfway through her meal. As if he was a mind reader, Set decided their next activity."You should be hungry," he stated.Shuule wanted to deny this, but her stomach gave a small growl, giving her away. "You don't have to feed me, I can go find something -""I know I don't have to feed you. But you can't go out hunting on your own in the dark - don't - I know you'll think I'm wrong, but I'm not, you're stripeless and you're not an apex predator."Shuule huffed, knowing he was skirting around "It's not because you'r

Shuule suddenly put her hands over her mouth, letting out a small shriek. "So all this meat WAS beastmen wasn't it!"Set groaned, closing his eyes and putting a muddy hand to his temple. Shit. He would prefer a less intelligent female at his side at this moment. It was taboo to females to eat their own kind - which in secret was not that big a deal to the predator males in famine especially. But, he hadn't actively sought out other males. Opportunistic hunting was something he hoped she would understand. And it was much more of a problem than she realized."Shuule, it's not like that -""What could it POSSIBLY be like?! You said you were different!"Now her eyes were hot with tears, even though she was leaning over the bank and scooping up red clay mud with her clawed hands, picking out debris. She was furious. But she needed to poultice the gaping wounds on his back. Beastmen healed incredibly fast - These wounds weren't life threatening, as long as she could keep them away from the