A Novel's Beast World

36. Hank

Third and final update for update for today, April 29th.

A week passed quickly. Shuu always seems preoccupied with chasing off some hawks. Harvey focused on stuffing me with nutrients. Qingqing and Parker visited after getting settled in their new home. Both Shuu and my faces had cleared up and Qingqing put fake freckles on. How that made her ugly was a mystery.

"I have to look ugly to keep the males away." Yeah I don't get it.

"And you think freckles are ugly?"

"Uh, well it's not pretty." Oh, boy. Our conversation on that topic went great so I dropped it.

Shuu got his third stripe at some point and I used the excuse to celebrate. I drew a picture for both Shuu and Harvey. Qingqing looked like she wanted one. I decided to draw a sketch of her back and gave it to her. I didn't feel like drawing her face or putting in real effort. She seemed happy with it.

We put our brains together to come up with useful shit. I like to think I was providing moral support at least. Since I had paper and pencils, we wrote goals. Or we tried to anyway. Whatever magical power that was letting us understand and speak the language here, it did not apply to written language. I wrote English and she wrote Chinese.

I shared with her the secret of stretchy lizard skin. Not that she'll need it. She's got Curtis's skin. She already knows about eel shit ink, but doesn't want to put that on her face. Hey, it didn't kill me.

I really didn't want to hang out with her. I low-key hated her character and bashed her all the time in reality. Made me feel weird to be around her. Still hate how she beats around the bush a lot. She also is judging me for having two mates. I can see it in her eyes. I guess I judge her too. Fair is fair. But watch, soon, she'll have multiple mates herself. I can gloat then.

She's the only woman I can interact with right now. Her brain will be helpful. I brought up flour, since I'm dying for pasta, fried goods, and bread. Oh the bread. To bad I need yeast for that. You buy yeast in a packet. Unless plot intelligence strikes Qingqing for me, I don't think I'm going to get bread. She said we need to have the grains for flour. I know they will come up somehow, but didn't share my thoughts.

I showed her the short-bird I named Wank. She didn't appreciate my sense of humor and called it Hank instead. Close enough I guess. She liked it and its eggs. Parker immediately went to catch her one when she told him.

I didn't share my pregnancy status. We weren't close enough to bare our souls to each other. I could barely accept it. I'm not about to tell the fucking world. She'll learn later.

I would have liked to see less of her. She was clearly using me to keep Parker away from her. Shuu and Harvey wouldn't let him near me. I wasn't complaining. Me and Parker aren't exactly buddy material.

They were keeping me entertained, but sometimes I needed a break. I tried to go to the river more. I could stay entertained and away from Qingqing.

On my way to the river one afternoon, I ran into a certain woman. Shuu recognized her male and got excited. My bullshit sensor tingled and I tried not to interact.

"Bart, it's good to see you." Oh, shit.

"Shuu, are you on your way to the river? I heard from father. Congratulations on finding a female. You even gained a third stripe. Father will be proud." Double shit. I forgot about visiting his parents.

"Thank you!" Shuu wagged his tail. You're an open book. Never change puppy man.

"Is that her?" Anxiety has entered the chat. I didn't miss you bitch.