B 3 C 9: A TEMPORARY DETOUR

I awaken to Lil growling at several catlike individuals. There are cat spheres, there are several like Linti. There are also creatures that look quite similar to actual wildcats from my broken memories, these ones happen to occasionally stand on their hind legs. Their torsos and hips are more humanoid than the ones from my memories though. Linti and several others are similar to Laomati and Agwai in that they’re recognizable as the creatures they evolved from, cats, but they’re utterly humanoid, bipedal, furred, furry-eared, animal-faced, and tailed, but humanoid nonetheless.

Ah, there is a sharp hot pain in my neck. Someone appears to be trying to solder my artery back together, to little effect. That would be my thermal resistance training backfiring on me. Still, I’ve got what seems like a bit of a coconut intravenous attachment. They don’t have rubber tubes. Instead they’re using what appears to be a tiny bamboo reed jabbed directly into my arm straight from the fruit’s shell. I’m not sure that’s safe or sanitary, but I applaud their ingenuity.

The one attending to my neck hisses in a way that I’m certain is swearing angrily, and Lil hops onto my chest protectively. Eventually I feel something melt into place between sections of my venistructure. That might not be the right term, but what do I know, I’m a cryptozoologist, or something, not a phlebotomist.

Linti, seemingly in reply to my doctor, speaks up, “No, I’m certain, they are not scalekind, and their party is hundreds upon hundreds of folk, otters, pigs, camels, apes, and more. The little dragon seems to be their constant companion, a beloved friend apparently.”

Lil shouts, “You bet we’re beloved friends! That’s my buddy! I’ve been with them since a few days after they spawned! I. I don’t want to lose Reggie. I’m sorry for shouting. Please save them.”

My eyes wet as they well with tears and I smile. I’ll be fine, I’m sure. I carefully raise my right hand to stroke Lil. My breathing is a bit difficult, but I’ve got my mana back now, I can probably find a way out of this. If nothing else, I can drink the potion.

Lil blubbers, “Reggie-ie-ie, why you gotta keep getting hurt paaaalll!? Bwahubhublahwuhuh”

I joke, “Sorry buddy, I’m just a danger magnet. Maybe that should be my middle name, Reggie Danger-Magnet Shellcracker.”

Linti actually chortles and raises one of her hands to clamp her lips shut. She’s an incredibly impressive specimen, and one heck of a dangerous woman. Yet her laugh is fantastically pleasing to hear. I’m glad that we managed to break through the hostilities. I don’t imagine we’ll ever be on affectionate, let alone cuddling, terms though. Mostly because she seems all warrior, all business, no pleasure. Other than the small laugh that she had let slip.

Just viewing Linti’s taut musculature is reminiscent of Teuila, but even more intense. It’s as if she never stops hunting or training, and right now is a wild exception to her norm. There’s a tenseness, an itch beneath the surface of her expression, it’s the desire to leave and resume her hunt, I’m sure of it. Still, I’m glad she took this moment, both to save me, and to have that tiny laugh.

I try to glance out of the corner of my eye to see who it is that’s operating on me, and I almost laugh myself. That face is straight out of angry cat imagery available on the internet in my glitchy memories. Gray, voluminously fluffy fur, and a permanently brachycephalic grumpy expression. This can’t be real. I think the more famous one has short hair and a bicolor pattern of brown and white or something, but this still feels surreal.

I may as well use my recovery time to get some answers. I ask, “Linti, can you hear me? Would you mind telling me about this place, your job, your family or tribe, or whatever? Your hostilities for scalekind. Basically just talk at me to keep my mind occupied, please? Anything you’re willing to share.”

Linti hems and haws for an instant. I unintentionally cough which rips whatever stopgap plug had been made to connect sections of my artery. The feeling is excruciatingly agonizing. I end up gasping in pain as my operator has to start again with melting something into place. Linti’s face adopts an expression of dismay at my pain, so she seemingly resolves to answer me as fully as she can.

Linti begins describing her kin, “I’m the Lightning Hunter Linti, as you can tell, I’m a jaguar, my job is to protect and provide for my kin. That is elder End of Winter, call him Winter. He’s, I believe, a short tailed lynx. He’s the most knowledgeable on those ‘of blood.’ Over there is Gentle Ice, call her Ice, her pure-white hair is the envy of some in our brood. As is her apprenticeship to Winter.”

Linti motions out the doorway of the hut we’re resting in, beckoning others outside to enter. She then continues, “This is Fawns at Sunsets, call her Fawn, we haven’t met anyone new in a long time, she’s our current matron, and an inveterate flirt. Don’t take it personally. She’d glom onto a sentient twig if it could rub her back or belly. I think her subspecies is somewhere along the lines of cougar, maybe puma.”

I blush at the idea of being flirted with by the matron of a tribe. I remember my initial reaction to Laomati, and how I was intensely flush with embarrassment with confused feelings. I couldn’t tell if I wanted her affection because I desired her in some way, or if I was jealous of her being a motherly figure to the Shellcrackers. I’d rather not think of that brief moment of confusion. Laomati is like a mother to me now. If Fawn treats me in a motherly fashion, yet also flirts, I’ll probably suffer a brain meltdown in confusion.

Yeesh, my heart is fluttering. Quick, Lil, please distract me telepathically. Lil just eyes me suspiciously then starts laughing into our mental wavelength. Come on buddy, it’s not funny.

Lil, unable to contain their telepathic laughter, sends back, “It is too pal, you’re already twitterpated for half of these cats, hehe. It’s all over your aura and they can all see it. Hehehe.”

Ugh, ugh, just ugh. Thanks buddy. Just great. I’m going to just let this neck wound bleed out so I don’t have to die of embarrassment.

Lil telepathically calls me out, “Drama queen, you’re fine, they’re flattered, except Lightning, she’s scary. Fawn is eyeing you up for cuddles, the only thing keeping her back is your neck wound. Well, those two over there aren’t flattered either. I think that one of those two is thinking of you like a meal. A, uh, snack?”

Fawn begins to object to Linti’s description of her as a flirt, and I swear that something she says equates to it’s not a puma. However, Linti speaks over her, “This is my protege Spring Blossom, we call her Spring, but she might like it if you called her Blossom. She’s a cheetah as you can tell. She hasn’t yet unlocked her magic’s full potential, but I’m certain it will be wildly powerful one day. That over there is Dream of Days, call her Dream. She’s End of Winter's other mentee. I believe she’s some sort of hyena. She’s our storyteller at the moment. Ignore her misgivings and aura of dislike. She doesn’t like anyone.”

Linti gazes around and ushers several others to rotate in and out of the small reed hut. She indicates two new members of the family, “This is Six Wind, Spring's younger twin by a few moments. Anything or anyone Spring is interested in, Wind is interested as well. Three Thunder over there is less friendly and less interested. You’ll forgive him. His copper fur is something of an anomaly and he feels ostracized for it.”

Awe, his fur is a bit similar in color to Teuila’s, that’s not fair. I wonder if the others treat him differently, or if he just feels different due to how odd his coloration is.

Linti coughs and pauses for a breath before finishing, “The spheriforms among us are the following. There’s Merry Canvas. Call him Merry. He’s a cheetah like the twins. He loves to paint, though it’ll remain a tad difficult until he reaches at least feraform. Even then it won’t be easy until he reaches humaform. If you ever manage to spy Art of Shadows, Arty, then it’s probably too late. Arty is mischievous as hell, and black as night. There’s also Curious Branch, Branch is inquisitive as all get-out, another of our brood with dark fur. Finally one you should hope not to meet is Ice in Summer, unlike Gentle Ice, Ice is aloof and a bit snooty. Rather than white fur, her fur is pigmentless, she’s albino.”

I try to digest all I’ve been told. Not only about Linti’s family, but Linti finally gave me terms for the stages of evolution of all the critterkin. Spheriforms, feraforms, and humaforms. They’re pretty accurate descriptions. I’m guessing that a feraform would be like the feral versions of creatures in my broken memories. In those memories, they certainly don’t generally have the ability to stand on their hind legs and talk however. Nor can they use their pawed hands for much of anything. Feraforms in our world can do both of those however. Take Teuila for example, she would be a feraform stage, and she’s fairly humanoid in general, though her face is more snoutlike than Laomati’s, or even Luni’s. Luni is an odd feraform, she’s ridiculously close to humaform. Honestly, I can’t really think of any differences in form structure between Luni and Laomati. They’re both bipedal, both have tails, both have full fur covering their whole bodies. Lu’s face is ever so slightly more snouted, but not as much as Teuila’s. Lu does have whiskers though. Lao doesn’t have those. Luni’s curves are also, um, a bit less curvy than Laomati’s. They’re both gorgeous women, Lao just has, uh, thicker curves I guess. For some reason, the phrase “with two C’s” comes to mind. I have no idea what that means.

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I wonder if Linti knows that people can take side-evolutions from any given stage. She didn’t react too surprised by Lil and my transformations up and down the scale, but she was already fairly shocked at her prey, me, being friendly while bleeding out.

Hm, one more difference between me and other critterkin is that I don’t have a spheriform stage as far as I’m aware. Unless I was a spheriform and lost my memory when I hit feraform stage. That’s still unprecedented either way.

As I process the information, I mumble, “Thanks, Linti, um, Lightning? Or, uh, Hunter? Uh, what’s life like in this settlement? Are all scalekind enemies? Do you hunt them all down? I was trying to transform enough of myself to scales to be able to talk to the nagas. I want to make sure they won’t attack my family. We’re marching hundreds and hundreds of people near here as we try to find a new home. The lava destroyed our home just the other day. Our whole settlement, it’s, it’s gone.”

I gulp as my lips quiver, and Winter hisses at me to probably indicate to stay still, since my gulping moved my throat and neck around.

Linti replies, “Any of the three is fine, life is fairly idyllic, we’ve a few giant insect swarms to hunt for food. They aren’t much of a challenge, and we’ve penned off their hollow to prevent our spheriforms from getting injured. Scalekind are, hm, how do I put this. We tenuously tolerate one another at best. A single foot misstep can be met with death and either side must not retaliate, lest we fall into full-out war. By our unwritten agreement, I would have been fully in the right if I had slain the two of you. It would not have provoked retaliation from the scalekind.”

Linti pauses contemplatively, “Hm. But you don’t belong to them, and I fear it may provoke a retaliation from your enormous family. We do not want the blood of so many on our hands, nor the risk to our own brood. Similarly, the nagas vastly outnumber us, as do the chamelefolk. The naga are of course the far more hostile of the two, and their magics are far more advanced.”

Linti considers my needs, “Still, as you say, you tread a dangerous line to bring so many a creature into these lands. I may be able to at least point you in the right direction. Perhaps you should see the chamelefolk first. If you broker an agreement, some sort of peace, mayhap they will add some credence to your request of the nagas. I’m not entirely certain. The only thing I am certain of is that I do not envy your position. It seems you have both my role, and Winter’s role in your tribe.”

I make the gesture for iffy, or so-so, wobbling my right hand horizontally. She’s sort of right. I’m responsible for this family as a sort of leader, once again. Hopefully only temporarily. I’m definitely one of their four strikers or hunters though. I’m glad I’m not the most powerful. If I die, they’ll be able to continue on without me.

Lil interrupts my thoughts telepathically, “Hey! Don’t even think about going and dying on us pal! It won’t be fine, and continuing without you would, would, it would suck mega bad! Mega mega mega bad!”

I’m sorry Lil, I didn’t mean to think that way. I just meant that I’m glad the family has you three. Some day you’ll find a way to either permanently evolve into feraform stage, then tether yourself higher, or maybe double your own tethers to jump several stages. Then you’ll be the strongest among us. My great big dragon buddy.

Lil comes over to nuzzle my cheek, which means that, like so many times before, I end up with a facefull of dragon heiny. Winter hisses at and swats at Lil who hops out of the way and starts apologizing. Lil approximates an apologetic bow without having any body parts.

I question Linti, “Linti, would Winter be able to tell you if freezing my wound now would keep it closed? I can keep it frozen permanently. The reason I wasn’t doing it earlier was because it was obstructing blood flow. Now it feels like there’s a tube in place. I don’t have the patience or ability to sit still long enough for my neck or artery to heal. I sometimes get panic attacks or shakes, or trembles.”

Linti relays my question, Winter hisses, grumbles, and rips the coconut’s straw out of my arm. He sticks the bamboo straw at the fruit’s bottom into his mouth and stalks off. That can not be sanitary.

Linti, chuckling, says, “Apparently Winter thinks you should have said that earlier. If you can manage that as you say, then yes, you’re done, as much as we can do for you anyway.”

I use a prolonged FFS centered on my throat and neck area to enhance the density of the atomic structure of my various cells. In that region I draw air molecules towards my wound and slow them to a crawl. Everyone other than Linti and Lil leaves the hut.

I blurt out, somewhat inappropriately, “I really like when you laugh. You seem so serious, and I get it, when you have a job like ours, everything seems like life or death all the time. Do you want nothing more than the hunt in your life though?”

Linti glares at me. She huffs, rolls her eyes and begins to walk out. She pauses in the doorway to glance back at me. Her eyes speak volumes of jealousy of the bond that Lil and I share. Jealousy towards my lackadaisical attitude towards death, frustration at her inability to ask for more. She’s stuck, she’s saddled with this responsibility in a deadly precarious situation, and I just insulted her integrity and honor by asking her to betray that by expressing her own desire.

I call out an apology, “Linti, I’m, I’m sorry, I guess I didn’t think that through, I. I didn’t mean to insult you, and you’re gone. Crap.”

I receive the message that indicates “Linti, Lightning Hunter has left the Shellcracker party.”

Ugh, that makes me feel like a turd. Fawn, the matron walks in and gazes at me quizzically. She asks something that I assume to mean what happened between Linti and myself. I can’t understand her of course, or reply, so I just flash her a sorrowful frown that’s part pout.

Fawn hesitates. She gazes out of the hut, glancing around, and apparently comes to a conclusion. Fawn closes the door to the hut, leaving her alone with Lil and me. I gulp with nervous apprehension as my heart races. My pounding pulse threatens to break free the temporary arterial aid. I do my best to slow my breathing by blowing my exhaled breaths through puffed cheeks and pursed lips. I really hope it doesn’t look like I’m trying to blow kisses like some sort of orangutan or something. Oh heavens, it probably does. Fawn’s eyes are sparkling as she approaches me.

I telepathically beg Lil, “Lil, Lil buddy, help me out here, what’s she saying?”

Lil mentally sends back nothing but uproarious laughter. Come on Lil, it can’t be that funny. What am I supposed to do here? We were going to be training, not, um, flirting with gorgeous cat people. Heavens to Murgatroyd, or Betsie, or some other name that I don’t know. Why is it so hot in here? I have over a thousand thermal resistance. Hoo boy, phew. I’m gulping repeatedly and resuming my breathing imitation of a pufferfish.

Lil, in between bouts of furious laughter, finally asks, “Buddy, do you want me to tell her you’re not interested?”

Blushing, I reply, “Well, I mean, no, not exactly, uh, but I mean, uh, oh wow, uh, phew, I can’t even talk to her, this is really weird when you can’t talk to someone!”

Fawn is stroking my cheek as she stands before me. Gosh, she’s really pretty, and very tender and affectionate.

Lil mentally exclaims, “Oh that I can totally fix for ya!”

Lil? Lil buddy, what do you mean by that, what are you doing?

I’m treated to somewhere around a dozen messages of the individuals from the cat brood members joining our family’s party. Oh, oh boy. Lil you are so mean.

Lil innocently telepathically claims, “Me? Mean? Never! To prove it, I’ll give you some private time buddy!”

Lil leaps out a nearby window that would be too small for me to squeeze out of. Lil! You butt! Dorky little dragbutt! Ah you’re so mean!

I start to hyperventilate as Fawn asks me about my wellbeing, “Hello, Reggie is it? You couldn’t hear or speak to us before? Are you okay sweet one? You’re such a curious creature, I’ve never seen the likes of you. I don’t know if this is normal behavior. Would you like to lay down?”

Gulping, I nod to my name, and shake my head no to the next two questions. I nod emphatically to the last question about laying down. I ramble, “Uh, ah, yes, down, lay, I, I should, yes, please.”

Fawn leads me back to the cot, and climbs into it, laying on her side, facing me.

I think towards Lil. Lil! Lil you butt! Where are you!? At least come cuddle with us! This is way too intimate all of a sudden!

Lil can’t stop laughing across our mental wavelength. Lil is such a meanie.

Fawn pats the cot but makes no moves to force me, she simply gazes at me with tender care in her eyes. Awe, she’s a sweetheart. That doesn’t make this better! Lil! Get in here please!

My heart racing a mile a minute threatens to blow my temporary artery patch, so I frost my neck repeatedly. I hear Lil bouncing around to the front of the hut as I climb into the cot with Fawn.

I hissingly whisper, “Finally Lil, get over here you booger!”

Fawn raises an eyebrow as I lay into her embrace. She rubs her cheek on mine, and coos about how cool the frost is, how nice it feels against her fur in our jungle. Her embrace is incredibly comforting, and I find myself rubbing her back with one arm that I’m able to wrap around her. Lil bounces up to us and snuggles between our bellies, causing us both to chuckle slightly.

I know I need to sleep for a while to heal up, I just didn’t think I’d be doing it while my heart was pumping so fast. I wasn’t even this worked up until Lil kept teasing me about it. Lil snorts across our telepathic wavelength while riding my thoughts.

I ramble, “I, uh, thank you, Fawn. I, uh, I should be healing, and um, oh this is Lil, I’m Reggie.”

Fawn laughs like the tinkling of a tiny bell, “Yes dear, I know.”

Fawn carefully strokes my cheek and then directs my arm by the elbow to reach further up her back to rub higher. She arches her back in the way felines do in my glitchy memories, and she actually purrs. I blush so hard that, coupled with all the difficulty with my artery and neck, I faint.