A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 149: Confirming A Date (2)

"You want to have the cubs spend a day by your hut?" Wilma questioned, checking to make sure she had heard right.

"Yes. Kiro’s keen to show them the wild birds again, so I thought they could perhaps also spend the day there." Serena explained. "Give you and your mates a bit of a break for the day. I’ll watch them for the most part, but Theo will also be around."

Serena had arrived at the oak tree early the next day with Kiro, wanting to get confirmation about the brown strips from Emma and see what the other beastwomen thought about her play date idea.

Once she got the details sorted with Emma about the brown strips - exchanging her leftover pile for one basket of food - Serena had brought up the other topic. Which had left the other beastwomen a little surprised by it.

"If you’re against the idea then it’s fine." Serena added after a moment of silence. "I’ll just show them the wild birds like last time."

"The idea is not the problem." Emma finally said. "We’re just a little surprised by it..."

"Not to mention it’s a little earlier than usual for stuff like this. Plus we normally do it for seven days rather than just one day. But I suppose one day also works." Wilma mused. "Though we’ve never really tried that before..."

Now Serena was the one confused, having no idea what they were talking about. Well what they were referencing anyway.

"I think you’re going to need to explain this to me." Srrena finally said.

Wilma glanced around them to check where the cubs were. Seeing they were out of earshot, she turned back to Serena. She then said, "Basically we do weekly sleepovers at each others’ huts during the rainy season. Mostly so we can deal with our cycle without the cubs around if you know what I mean.

"It helps that our cycles are at different times so we can alternate with the cubs and give each other the space they need. Plus our mates don’t have to fight about caring for the cubs."

"Though it usually is the father who watches them." Emma added. "That being said, one day sounds interesting. I guess it gives the cubs a change of pace and a new place to play. Playing in the same spot does get boring for them after a while."

Serena found the idea quite interesting and smart in a way. After all during their estrus cycle, beastwomen were completely out of it. At least according to the book and the original owner’s memories.

Dealing with their cubs would be the last thing on their mind. Unless they had newborns in which case their cycle didn’t really happen. However this was rare because cycles only came once a year and by then the cub had been weaned.

Of course in the Leopard Tribe, cubs would be taken away by their father like Emma had said or if the family was lucky grandparents would watch the cubs, so all the beastwomen’s mates could be with her.

But that was normally if the grandparents had a strong relationship with the family. Or they just cared for their son greatly.

Strong males however weren’t really keen on the chance to miss mating, so if the grandparents weren’t involved they would sometimes fight other males within the family to have them care for the cubs instead.

And if there were multiple males with cubs, they would gang up on the weakest male so less would miss the chance because they were caring for cubs. Serena personally thought it was dumb, but it was considered normal in some families.

Especially because many within her former tribe believed it would cull the weaker bloodlines and only keep the strong ones.

Thus Wilma and Emma’s method solved both issues while allowing the cubs to think they were having fun by staying over with their friends. And reduced the inner fighting among males.

"Hmmm." Wilma nodded her head in agreement. She then got serious and said, "The only thing I’m worried about is handling all the cubs on your own for one day. We typically rotate between ourselves and our mates throughout the day... But it’ll just be you and Theo."

"You don’t have to worry about that." Serena stated. "We’ve already spoken about it and are prepared for the work ahead of us. The only thing is asking for your permission and planning a date."

Wilma and Emman glanced at each other for a moment, seeming to communicate with each other. After some time, they then turned their gaze back to Serena.

Emma then said, "Alright then we don’t mind them spending the day at your hut."

"Glad to hear that." Serena smiled.

They got to working out the details, Fay appearing as they spoke. After chatting for a bit, they planned to do it in two days’ time.

Serena didn’t worry about the timing too much knowing that Theo was fine with any time as long as she told him beforehand. Which she planned to do anyway.

Once everything was confirmed, Serena landed up chatting with the rabbit beastwomen for a bit before heading back to the hut to help with lunch. She would go foraging in the afternoon, needing to prepare one basket for Emma and finalize Finn’s.

Then it was just a matter of collecting more herbs and finding some extra vegetables to test out that vegetable dish. If it was good, then she planned to prepare it for the festival.

When she got to the hut, she found Theo was already there preparing the meat he had caught. Today it seemed they were having deer.

"Back already? What did they say?" Theo asked as Serena walked over to him.

"They’re happy to let the cubs come over for the day. Said we can do it in two days’ time. Emma and Wilma also said that they’ll give some vegetables for the cubs meal at lunchtime." Serena informed Theo.

Originally, Serena was against the idea of Emma and Wilma contributing to the cubs meal, but the rabbit beastwomen were not having it. They didn’t want Serena getting overwhelmed and were fine with Serena just making sure their cubs got fed.

Plus this was how they usually did things and it was something they were not going to budge on. Thus Serena agreed to their request, knowing it was a losing battle.

"Sounds good to me." Theo mused. "We might need to prepare some meat dishes beforehand though."

Serena nodded her head in agreement. "Probably for the best."

She could do the vegetable dishes on the day, but it was better if they did the meat dishes before the cubs arrived. They were all herbivores and she didn’t want the dishes accidentally mixing.

The two felines soon got to work preparing lunch, Serena testing out the herbs on the long, orange squash while Theo cut up the meat. He also used some of the herbs on the meat before he roasted them.

Once the food was roasting on the fire, Serena went to check on the wild birds, taking a few fresh vegetables with her along with the vegetable scraps. Mostly because she wanted to make sure that they got the right nutrients.

Sarah squawked at her as usual, running to the furthest corner of the garden. The other two wild birds, meanwhile, just kept perking at the ground.

Serena noticed that one of the beds was lacking some mulch and made a note to get more. That way the cold wouldn’t damage the roots of the crops they were growing.

She moved to the coop, refilling the food bowl and saw that the water bowl was still half filled, so she only needed to change it tonight. After checking the bowls, Serena checked the nesting area for any eggs, but didn’t find anything.

She then went about nesting the coop and adding more wheat stalks to the nesting area, removing the dirty straw. She then tidied up the coop before heading back to the hut.

When she got there, Serena went to wash her hands before moving to the fire area. She checked on the vegetables to see how they were doing.

And from the smell of it, they were going to taste as great as the other vegetables. Even Liz had appeared to enjoy the smell, the system loving the addition of herbs to the food.

Kiro soon arrived just as the food was finished cooking. Serena sent him to get bowls and Theo dished out food.

They set Kiro’s food to the side for a moment before giving it to the cub. Because they didn’t need the cub burning himself while eating.

After a quick meal, Serena and Theo cleaned up while Kiro ran off to go play. Once they were done cleaning, the two rested until Finn arrived.

Once Serena was sure everything was fine, the two headed to the forest to forage for more vegetables and herbs.