After a long pause for thought, Crisis was on her way back to Milly’s hut. She didn’t really want to face Beth, but the fact remained that Beth needed her. She worried a bit, hoping nothing had gone wrong. She knew Milly wouldn’t eat Beth, but… Milly really wasn’t fond of nekos(except as snacks), she knew. Things could turn bad if she decided to mess with Rose. Or if Rose ate one of her tomthumbs. Or if Milly brought home another prey and Beth got bent out of shape, tried something drastic-
Yeah. She really should get back there soon. She quickened her pace a little. However, she was suddenly distracted as she saw a neko in her path. Instinct took over. The neko cried “What the-” and tried to run, but it didn’t get two steps before she lunged and caught it. She opened her mouth and… and…
She remembered her worries, remembered what Shelny had said. She stopped, closed her mouth, and took a closer look at the neko in her hand. He was wriggling, screaming, pleading for help, much as they always did. It made her want to just-
But she restrained herself, or the time being. “Hey,” she called to him. He continued struggling, seeming not to have heard. “HEY.” He froze, looking at her in confusion and terror.
“W-w-what!?” he sputtered, trembling in fear.
“Calm down. I’m not going to eat you right now. I just want to talk.”
The man’s shaking subsided a bit. “Y-you’re Crisis, aren’t you. We thought you were gone for good. But now… I have to warn them, I have to… but… you’re going to eat me anyway, aren’t you? That’s all you do. You’re the monster that always eats us.”
Although the man had insulted her, Crisis didn’t hear any anger or malice in his voice. Instead she heard only hollow despair. For the first time, she felt the need to defend herself after being insulted by prey.
“I’m not a monster! I’m just living the way I know how!”
“Tell that to my parents,” growled the man. “Ow wait, you can’t, because you ate them. You probably don’t even fucking remember.” A tear appeared in his eye. “Damn it! Don’t make this longer than it has to be. We both know you’re going to eat me. So FUCKING DO IT! GET IT OVER WITH!”
Tears flowed from Crisis’ eyes. She couldn’t imagine how horrible a situation she’d have to be in to beg to die like that, or to jump to her death like that man had, but now, right in front of her, was a man in such a situation, because of her. She could hardly deal with the thought of causing this kind of despair every single day.
“No. I won’t eat you. I can’t do this anymore.” The man stopped talking, looking up at her in shock. Crisis had even surprised herself. It still didn’t seem quite real.
“But I’m not a monster. I was just doing what I knew how. I’m sorry about your parents. But you have to understand that, right? You eat neeras and tomthumbs, don’t you?”
The man’s eyes widened. “That- that’s not-”
“What?” Crisis snapped. “That’s not the same? They’re people just like you! My friend Milly, she has good friends who are tomthumbs!”
A horrible thought struck Crisis. “You know, Milly has been protecting a tribe of tomthumbs beneath her hut. But now that more of you nekos are here, she’s having a really hard time! She told me her tomthumbs kept getting stolen, and she was counting on me to thin out your numbers! Part of me doesn’t want to keep eating nekos, but maybe I have to, or else she’ll accuse me of letting her tribe die!”
Now Crisis understood why Milly had argued so passionately against her. She had been trying to protect her own.
The neko squirmed as she talked. “Wait!” he cried. “Wait. I that’s the only reason you’ll eat me, I have a better idea.
“What?” She was a bit suspicious. She’d heard plenty of “clever” arguments before. But this time, she supposed, she wanted the argument to work.
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“I- I think you’re right. I’ve always been a little bit uncomfortable with eating neeras. When I was a kid, I didn’t like how they would scream and fight, I didn’t want to hurt them, but… it was only the normal thing to do, it was what my tribe taught me. I guess I just grew to accept it. That must be how it was for you too. But I think you’re right. If you can stop eating nekos, I can damn well stop eating neeras and tomthumbs.”
“That’s all well and good, but I don’t think most of your tribe would agree.”
“That’s what I was getting to,” replied the man carefully. He didn’t like this idea, but he had to think of something, and this was the best option he could see. “Instead of eating our tribe, you negotiate with us. Demand that we stop eating tomthumbs, and feed those who do anyway to you, and in exchange, you won’t eat us. You’ll be on our side! Then you can do the same with every neko tribe around here! It might be hard at first, but once you eat a few nekos who break the rule, I think they might actually do it! Then we have a lot less to worry about, and Milly has a lot less to worry about! Everyone wins!”
Crisis considered the idea. She liked it, not least because she wouldn’t have to stop eating nekos immediately and forever. She could slowly adjust at the same rate the nekos did. And she thought she could sleep easier, knowing that she was only hurting those who hurt others in the same way, giving people a fair chance, and that she was helping to stop the cycle that way.
“That’s… actually a pretty good idea!” Crisis smiled at the man, who seemed a bit disconcerted at this. “Oh, I guess I forgot to ask for your name, huh?”
The man sighed. “I’m Falcon. I’ll be honest, I don’t trust you enough to actually lead you to my tribe, but I doubt that matters. You predators are so damn good at tracking us.”
Crisis concentrated for a bit. “Yeah. I can already sense them. They’re not exactly hard to spot.”
“Then I suppose now’s as good a time as any. Please, please don’t tell me you’ve been lying about all this and you’re just going to eat them all.”
“I wouldn’t lie. Why would I need to? If I was going to eat them, I would just do it.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” sighed the man as Crisis slithered towards the gathering of nekos. She could sense a few starting to run as they began to see and hear her through the forest. But they weren’t fast enough, and she easily pounced on them, wrapping her tail around most of them much as she had for the previous neko tribe she’d encountered. The crowd predictably panicked, scrambling around and trying fruitlessly to climb over her tail.
“No need to worry!” she yelled at them, smiling brightly, as she saw a few shakily grab their bows. “I’m not going to eat any of you!”
“Yeah, right!” yelled a young man in the crowd, drawing back an arrow. “That’s all you ever do!” He screamed as Crisis reached forward and grabbed him, yanking the bow out of his hand and setting him back on the ground. “What-”
Crisis rolled her eyes. “If I was here to eat you, I would have just done it. You couldn’t stop me. I have no reason to lie.”
The panicked crowd calmed down a bit as she set down the man she was holding among them. “Why are you here, then?” asked a woman cautiously.
“I’m here to make peace.”
“Really?” shouted the young man from before. “Why have you trapped us here, then?”
“Because otherwise you would just run instead of listening to me! So listen! I’m here to say I won’t eat you anymore. Ever. On just one condition. You stop eating neeras and tomthumbs.”
“That’s ridiculous!” he yelled. “That’s what we’ve always done-”
Crisis picked him up again. “Of course, you can always refuse this offer, but…”
She trailed off and licked her lips. The young man screamed and flailed. Her point had been made loud and clear. “Alright… alright. I’ll try, I’ll stop. Okay? Just put me down!”
Crisis obeyed. “And another thing that’s in it for you,” she added. “I’m friends with Milly. She has a tribe of tomthumbs she’s protecting. If she sees that this is helping to protect her tribe, I might be able to convince her to make the same deal with you. And I’ll do the best I can to protect you from the other predators around here. But you have to be committed to this. If too many neeras disappear from your lands, start blaming you, and you won’t tell me who’s doing it… well… we may have to rethink the deal. Who is your leader?”
An older man spoke up from within the crowd. “I am.” He paused in thought for a while. “I have to say, I don’t like this. You’re asking us to betray our own to you, simply for doing something we’ve always done. But… I suppose it’s better than being eaten. We accept your ‘deal’, if you can even call it that. It’s not as though we can really refuse.”
Crisis smiled apologetically. “I am sorry this had to be done this way. But I hope we can become better friends over time. Would you be willing to come with me, so we can work out the details?”
The man grumbled. “I suppose so. If you were going to eat me, you would have already done it, right?”
“Right!” she said brightly. She addressed the crowd. “Goodbye for now! I’ve got to go check up on my other friends! Sorry!” She released them and slithered away, continuing her journey to Milly’s hut.