Cool For the Summer

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 his nails to hold them in like a bouquet.

Another time she came home with a rabbits' foot - she felt like keeping it, she said, because the rabbit was purple, which was her favorite color and she hadn't seen a purple rabbit before - and Set took the rest of his afternoon to find a way to clean and dry cure it in the sun - before making a necklace out of it for her. Snake beastmen's hair was incredibly strong, as it was a product of their scales when they were in serpent form, and he had learned from his father how to braid it into string as strong as modern fishing lines.

When Shuule felt like foraging as a human, Set was much less relaxed, and would at least go outside and stay awake in case she ran into other men. He was afraid to hound her too hard and insist she not go out, as it was clear if she felt like she was a captor she wouldn't stay willingly. But he also knew all too well that it didn't matter how independent she wanted to be, or how much he agreed with her feeling that way, she was one male away from having her life metaphorically end. He would wade in the water while she took a shallow wooden bowl he had made, and weaved through the forest looking for food she enjoyed that wasn't meat. This was something Set also had lacked foresight in; he had no idea what to feed anybody other than killed animals.

This particular day was hot and aired, and when Shuule returned from berry picking, she found Set curled up as a full snake in a neat bun on the rock she liked to sit on next to the water. His eyes were closed, but she knew he wouldn't actually sleep when she was running about as a girl. Weeks had gone by, and any reservations about Set had long dissipated. With a huff, because he had taken her spot, Shuule sat down next to him, leaning on his black figure like a wall. The snake kept his eyes closed, feigning indifference.

Shuule was wearing her blue fox two piece, her orange hair loose laying messy on her shoulders, which made it more hot, but also kept the sun off her back. Around her neck was her rabbits foot necklace, one of her several gifts from Set. Somehow oblivious to this however, she had become increasingly frustrated in the last few days at what she perceived as the snakes utter disinterest in her. She had many brothers, she hadn't gone on her journey looking for another one.

Today she had found a few types of berries; little red seeded berries that were much like strawberries, blackberries, and a three larger three nuts with edible orange flesh, much like a mango. She casually sat popping the blackberries in her mouth.

"Do you want one? I know you only eat dead things, but the red ones, I think you'll like." She always offered him food, and he nearly never took it. "Plus, I picked it. It's dead now," she laughed at her own joke.

Still pretending to be asleep, Set made sure to not even flick his tongue at her. This had become a rewarding game for him; he found the less he interacted with her, the more she paid attention to him.

Snorting, Shuule stood up with a few red berries, and grinning, tried to pry open the black snakes mouth. It was very hard to ignore her at that point, though he kept his lids snapped shut. Eventually she successfully got a berry underneath his lip and he brought his great head up to shake it out, wincing at the sweetness.

Laughing again at her victory, Shuule settled back down to lean on him once more. She knew she was generally going to have a one sided conversation with him if he was insisting on playing snake for the day, and the loose atmosphere made her finally give in to saying her thoughts out loud while she ate.

"You know," She paused to pop another blackberry, "I'm starting to take it personal that you don't even want to be my spouse."

She started to pick at the flesh of one of the orange fruits, using her sharpened nails to cut them into slices, something most females would make their mates do for them. She took his silence, as usual, as his answer, until she felt the sun being blocked suddenly.

Turning around, she found Set's human half staring at her, mouth slightly agape, his arms down at his sides instead of crossed in front of him in mild annoyance.

"...You don't think..?"