Ch 3 First and Last Day

~An obscene about of time in a plane later~

The plane had finally landed and even with the breaks in between, Mwezi's behind was sore. Her knees popped more often than she would have liked. Everyone made their way off the plane and had gathered their bags from the storage compartment. "Alright everyone. Good news, bad news! Bad news, we have another hour of travel time. Good news, it's on a helicopter!" Irdum said and everyone groaned knowing full well that was not such great news. "Aw well I've never been on a helicopter before so it should be fun" Mwezi said mostly to herself but Irdum caught what she said. "Ah Mwezi there's the spirit!" he said with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes and giggled herself as the helicopters approached from the distance. "Alright everyone, get your things, anything non-essential will go on the secondary copter with the rest of the security team. Once the helicopters landed, luggage was sorted appropriately and everyone was on their way.

The ride passed a lot faster than it seemed since Mwezi was excitedly taking pictures most of the time or intently listening to Irdum's stories about the village and lands they passed over. "And here we are ladies and gentlemen, the forgotten mines of Mesopotamia." Irdum announces. There were hills of stone and sand as far as the eye could see in varying shades of brown and gold. There was a warm breeze blowing the sand around creating small funnels here and there while the locals hired to help had already begun setting up equipment that had clearly been sent ahead of time. "Now I will turn it over to Irina, our resident mine exploring badass." He joked and everyone chuckled. "Alright everyone please understand these basic rules and it will make my job of saving your lives that much easier. All of you will have what we call a Firedamp whistle. It will track the gases in the air around you as you travel through the tunnels of the mine and measure the different gases in the air. Should, for some reason, you are in an area where there is a dangerous gas that is flammable, like methane and/or dangerous to you by simple inhalation, it will go off like a smoke detector. Immediately hightail it out of wherever you are and utilize your walkie to let us know so we can avoid that area or acquire proper gear, depending on the gas that is detected." Irina instructed. "Please wear your luminescent vest and hard hat at all times. Use your chest mounted flashlights at all times. Any issues please contact us!" she added and everyone gave an okay.

"I guess you get to sit pretty and have fun." Mwezi joked with Irdum and he laughed. "Nonsense. It wouldn't be a proper gentleman if I left a beautiful lady such as yourself go alone." He retorted with a cheesy grin. She groaned and laughed, "Hey Dr. Gundua can you show me on the map where the gems were found?" Mwezi asked desperately trying to get out of an awkward situation. "Oh yes of course!" she replied pulling out a map and unrolling it over a storage crate. "Alright so we're here and the offshoot shaft we need you in is here." she said pointing to a dead end that was a few turns into the tunnel. "I can take her, I've been there a few times." he offered and Dr. Gundua nodded. "Then it's settled. Mwezi you have your guide and we have work to do! Alright people let's get on with it! I want everything photographed and documented. Now let's go make history!" She gave a pep speech and everyone scattered to do their jobs.

"Welp this way, beautiful lady." Irdum said playfully as he put out his arm for her. She giggled and hooked her arm into his following him down the paths to her future jackpot. 'I'm doing it mom, dad, memaw…' Mwezi thought to herself, holding back her tears of remembrance and joy. "Hey you okay?" Irdum asked, tapping her hand on his arm. She nodded, "yeah just silently praying to my parents n grandma. Letting them know I made it." she replied. He nodded with a sad smile as they made it to the cave.

"HOOLY SHIT!" she whisper yelled. "This is like. The greatest find ever but also super wrong." she said her hands gently caressing the stones. "What do you mean?" he asked. "None of the stones here should have formed here. They're not native to this area and this mine wouldn't have been enough to produce them."she replied, getting to the back wall. "BISMUTH!?" she squealed. "Heyheyhey. Be careful you don't know where that's been." Irdum warned. "In the dirt…" Mwezi replied. "Okay yes but seriously at least use gloves." he retorted. She sighed and put on her gloves as the bismuth popped out the dirt wall easily. "Jesus it's super warm." she said tossing it between her hands like a hot potato. "Hey you heart that?" she asked as she started hearing an unknown language on the wind. 'Wait. Wind!? In a mine!?' she started to panic. "Hey Mwezi just drop it!" Irdum called out grabbing her arm. There was a strong gust of wind nearly knocking them over and then it stopped as if it never was. Once mwezi fixed her hair she looked over at the entrance of the cave to see a bright light.

"Irdum, why is there a bright light at the mouth of the cave?" Mwezi asked. "I, I don't know. But it's clearly a way out." He said and put his hand out to her. She realized the bismuth had disappeared from her hands and didn't have time to worry about it. She took his hand and they walked out into broad daylight in the middle of a jungle. "What the fuck?!" they both asked in sync looking at one another in confusion.

~

They had been walking around for some time trying to find anyone or a good place to rest. It was getting dark so they decided to set up camp. "This looks like a good spot. I'm gunna find some firewood if you wanna find something for us to eat." she offered. "Yeah sure. Don't stray too far and come right back in 5 minutes even if you don't find anything." he said. She nodded and walked off in one direction while he walked off in the other.

She had been walking for a few minutes and managed to find dry and reasonable pieces of branches and wood. "What's that?" she said as she heard some rustling in the trees above her. She sucked her teeth and grabbed the last piece of wood at her feet before turning around and hightailing it back to the campsite. She had this nagging feeling she was being watched and it made her highly uncomfortable.

"Hey, any luck?" he asked as she walked through the tree line into their clearing. "Yup. Plenty of wood to burn but I heard some trees rustling about… and now that I think about it I don't hear any insects.." she replied and he nodded. "If you wanted to cuddle with me all you had to do is ask." he said with a smirk and winked at her. She scoffed, rolling her eyes as he piled the wood and got a fire started. "I'm serious. I spent a lot of my childhood in the wild hunting with my father or looking for gems. If the bugs run, so do you." she retorted seriously. He nodded in agreement, "Sure but we don;t even know where we are. Where would we run to?" he replied. She signed knowing he was right.

~

The fire had kept them warm but Mwezi still had an eerie chill that kept her up. Even as the sun broke through the tree canopy, Mwezi wrapped herself up in her light shirt to try and keep warm. Had something actually been watching them and stalked them all night? She woke to the chattering of Irdum's teeth. "Aw shit Irdum, sorry. I'll add some more wood to the fir-" Mwezi had started to apologize but she and Irdum were awoken by the sounds of loud hissing above them. Both their eyes grew massively wide as they looked up to see a man with a 40 yard long snake tail hanging from the tree above them. From the torso up he looked human with tanned caramel skin although his eyes were gold with black slits like a snake and his sclarea were black. His hands were normal as well except for the sharp talon like nails that seemed to extend at the tip of them. His long black hair hung from his head since he was practically upside down. His full beard and mustache were the same black, perfectly cut, shaped, full and healthy. What stood out the most to her though was the 4 yellow and brown marks, 2 on each side, on his waist that matched the scale pattern of his tail..

He eyes Mwezi intently as he drops from the tree slowly and starts to approach her. Mwezi backed up slowly, not wanting to trigger him to attack her. "Please don't hurt me…" she whispered, her eyes tearing up with fear. He looked at her confused. "Why would I hurt a woman? Do you think all us "ferals" are the same?" he asked, seemingly offended. Mwezi took a few seconds to register what he meant and her eyes grew wide with fear. "I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. It's just-I um- I've never seen anyone like you before so I'm quite frightened, naturally." she apologized, finding her normal confidence shot. "Never seen someone like me…" he said more like he was thinking to himself. "Ah yes, we're not from around here so naturally everything is a bit new to us." she informed him. "I'm Mwezi." She introduced herself and stuck out her hand for a handshake.

He grabbed her hand for what she thought was a shake but pulled her close to his body."Are you not afraid anymore?" he asked, his face impossibly close to his. She pushed at his chest and surprisingly he gave her some space. "Ah well, if I know you aren't going to hurt me then I don't have a reason to be afraid, yes?" she retorted. His eyes glazed up and down her body as he took a deep breath and puffed his chest a bit. "Then you can be my mate." the snake man stated simply. Before Mwezi could react he slid over to her to reach out and carry her. Irdum however reacted a bit faster and ran between them grabbing Mwezi's hand, "RUN!" was his only warning as they took off.

It was difficult for Mwezi to keep up with him to the point where she was tripping every few feet. "COME BACK WITH MY MATE!" the snake man hissed as he lunged at them. Mwezi fell on the ground as the snake man slithered in between her and Irdum. "You'd try and take my mate from me?!" he asked, enraged, like he had some claim to her. "Mwezi run!" Irdum screamed. As Mwezi got up to run the snake man turned to her to try and catch her but Irdum had tossed a rock at his head making the snake man refocus back to him.

Mwezi ran for dear life. She didn't know how long she'd been running or for how far but she kept going to her legs and lungs gave out. As Mwezi was wheezing to catch her breath a large animal jumped out of the tree in front of her. She started crying silently as she eyed the black jaguar before her. "Is this really how I die?" she cried. Through teary eyes she noticed as the jungle cat shifted before her into a naked man. "FOR FUCKS SAKES!" she yelled covering her eyes.

"I don't think I've ever seen a woman as pretty as you." he said and he kneeled to her level and put his finger under her chin to make them look each other in the eyes. "You don't have any marks on you, so that means you're unmated! Oh you can be my mate!" the man exclaimed excitedly. "I what?!" Mwezi asked but before she could react he had her up in his arms and he ran off to parts unknown.

Mwezi tried to get him to stop and listen to reason but for some reason he was too excited and wouldn't stop until they made it to a small village. He took what she assumed was the long way around and slipped into a hunt on the edge of the village. "And this is our home!" he explained excitedly, putting her down. "Whomst the FUCK do you think you are to just KIDNAP me like that and then assumed that I'd LIVE with you or be your, what did you call it?" she asked. "My mate?" he replied. "Right, that! She retorted. "Who are you anyway!?" she asked. "I'm Paka!" he exclaimed with a smile and puffed his chest with pride. She face-palmed and shook her head. 'Dis nigga' she thought to herself as he grabbed some clothes of the couch and dressed in a simple loin cloth that looked to be made of deerskin.

"Okay Paka. I have been attacked by two shifters in the span of a few hours and I cannot. I have a migraine." She said, fed up while rubbing her temples. "Attacked?! Who were they! They dare touch my mate?! Wait, your head hurts?! I'll take you to the doctor right away!" He said, picking her up again, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck as he picked up her and ran out the hut.

He took a path through the village this time and stopped at a large hut that had weird smells coming from it. "Hey doc, you there?!" Paka called out and he pushed the door open with his foot and set Mwezi down gently. "Why are you being so loud Paka? We both know I can hear you." A man came out the back giving Paka a look like he was bored of him already.

While they were bickering, Mwezi took the chance to take them both in. The only similarities they shared were the yellow and black eyes, jaguar tails and the cat ears on top of their head instead of human ears. Paka was sunkissed. Melinanted but lightly so whereas the doctor had ivory skin. Paka had black hair that was in locs in his human form and the doctor had straight dirty blonde hair. 'Okay so if Paka is a black jaguar then maybe the doctor is a regular jaguar…' she thought to herself. Paka had full lips, a wide nose and a muscular body. The doctor's lips were thinner, he had an angular nose and was very lean.

They turned to look at her and she realized they were probably talking to her. "What, sorry I spaced out?" She said, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad does your head hurt?" The doctor asked, kneeling down to her level on the bed as he felt for the pressure points on her scalp, temples and back of her neck. "Ah, maybe a 3. Nothing serious." She said with a soft smile. She had to remind herself, she couldn't be mad at the doctor. He didn't kidnap her and he was only trying to help. "I'll get you some tea leaves. Paka can brew them for you and it'll help with the pain. You can add some honey if you like to sweeten it." The doctor offered with a smile before walking into the back.

Paka sat next to Mwezi on a stool and held her hand. She went to yank it away but when she looked at Paka's face, the regret and worry she saw in her eyes made her relax. "I'm sorry about your head. I'll be more careful I promise. I never want to be the cause of your pain…" he apologized with sad eyes and cupped her cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb. Against her better judgment, she leaned into the touch. It felt simple and nice. He was warm and kidnapping aside, he seemed to really care. "Okay. I accept your apology. But I'm not from around here. So I have a lot of questions I'm hoping you can answer for me." She replied and he nodded excitedly. "Anything for my mate." He replied. She sighed inwardly as the doctor returned.

As the doctor explained how to brew the tea properly and add the honey to Paka, she noticed they had marks like the snake man but theirs were black and looked like leopard prints. However, Paka only had 2, one on each shoulder and the doctor had one on his left cheek. She made a mental note to ask about those too. As she finally came out of her head space she shimmied in on their conversation to hear the doctor say "...beautiful woman. She's not marked yet, but you said she's your mate." She said to Paka with a disapproving look. "I literally just found her. Come to think of it. What's your name?" Paka asked, turning to Mwezi.

Mwezi felt the 'black mom vein' thunder in her neck and forehead before she turned to the doctor and completely ignored Paka. "Doc, I don't mean to be a bother but it seems my pain is getting worse. Do you think I could have some tea now?" She asked politely, with a soft smile. He nodded and got some water in a kettle before putting it over a fire to boil. Paka winced when she said worse as he realized it was a jab at him. "Mwezi." She said curtly, finally answering him but not bothering to look at him.

Paka felt bad and leaned over resting his head on her lap as he purred in apology. Mwezi couldn't help but find his catlike behavior cute and she caved, running her fingers through his hair and scratching his scalp. He clearly enjoyed it because it only made him purr more as he rubbed against her softly. She giggled to herself.

Eventually the tea was ready and Mwezi drank it slowly. The doctor added the perfect amount of honey and it warmed her body just right. "Thank you so much doc." She thanked the man. He nodded with a smile. "Since Paka is asleep I figured maybe we could talk some?" He asked. She nodded softly, "sure what about?" She asked. "Well I know you have Paka, who can protect you but you may need someone to care for you when you're ill. I was wondering if you'd also let me be one of your males?" He asked with a soft, honest and caring look. Mwezi had to blink several times to clear the 'what the fuck did he just say' fog from her mind before asking him to clarify. "I'm sorry you want me to do what?" She asked sipping her tea to help calm her nerves. "I'd also like to be one of your mates." He clarified and she could only stare at him. "You said, also as if I could be in a relationship with both of you." She retorted with a giggle. "That's not how relationships work. One man, one woman." She retorted. 'These muh fuckas clearly never been to church' she thought to herself shaking her head.

It was the doctor's turn to look confused. "Why would you limit yourself to only one mate? That's not effective for living or reproductive purposes. " he replied. Mwezi realized he was serious but before she could reply Paka had lifted her in his arms. "If she only wants one then she has me. You heard her " he snapped at the doctor before walking out. "Thanks for helping my mate." He said over his shoulder, emphasizing the 'my'.

Mwezi waited till they got back to the hut and put her down before giving him a scathing look. "That was rude! And he literally just helped me from a pain you caused." she said wanting him to feel as bad as he made the doctor feel. "I'm sorry Mwezi. It's just. I just found you and I wanted to be your first mate, is all." he replied rubbing the back of his neck "Okay, question and answer time. Sit." she commanded as she sat criss cross style. He sat the same way in front of her with their knees touching. "Where am I?" she asked calmly. "Jaguar village." he replied easily. "What are those?" she asked, motioning to the marks on his shoulders. "They're my marks. It's a Kuhaman's rank. They tell how strong they are as a warrior. You can be born with any number of marks but you can always earn more. The most is five, but that's super rare and the only known records are all people who are born with them. Except for one. It's said he started at one and earned his way up to five but no one has ever seen him." he informed her.

"Okay… why is it that you, the doc and the other guy want me to be your mate?" she asked. "Well you know how it is. With the female population so low we have to keep up the population count. Plus that's just normal for a woman to have more than one mate. More males to protect and provide for you and the kids." he replied nonchalantly. 'Bruh they really only have polyamours relationships here…' she thought to herself. "I don't think I'm cut out for that or should do that. I was raised to believe that love is shared between one man and one woman." she tried to explain to him and he looked at her like she had twelve heads. "Well that doesn't make sense to me. You can love more than one person equally and care about them and be with them at the same time. You don't have to limit yourself, just make sure, like with any relationship, that you have healthy communication. Your mates should also communicate among one another to make sure they're providing only the best for you." he replied sincerely. Mwezi started to think about what it would be like to have both Stephan James and Jordan Liddell in her bed, at the same time or simply loving her and caring for her. "Okay but I still need to know I love them first before being okay with being their mates. That means courting n' stuff." she retorted.

"That's fair I suppose. No woman wants a rejected male anyway. It's like a stain on his reputation that he wasn't or isn't good enough to care for his mate so giving them a chance to prove themselves and not having to formally reject them after they've marked you is better." he agreed. "Well that's rough." she said. "I suppose but who wants to risk a male that can't be a good mate," he shrugged. She got his point but everyone deserves a second chance otherwise a plethora of men and women back in her world would be forever alone.

"Okay but why do you want to be my mate exactly?" she asked. He looked at her with a smile "Well you're beautiful. Your skin is flawless, you glow in the sun, you have a motherly face and great hips for baring young." he replied. She deadpanned but then remembered how shallow they are as people and understood why he felt like that. "Okay but perhaps we should get to know one another first. Like what if we don't get along and then you're bound to me. That's not fair to either of us. Then if we decide we like one another we can be mates." she suggested. Hopefully she would find Irdum alive and well and be back home before that happened. She could not afford to fall for anyone here in this strange land.