I can’t get the idea of were-tiger Rumi, monster hunter Mira and medicine woman Zoey out of my head so here suffer with me
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Zoey huffed under her breath, staring mournfully at her hands.
They were stained green up to the wrists, sticky, sharp-smelling pulp clinging under her nails. There was a smear across her cheek where she’d swiped sweat away without thinking, and flecks dusted the front of her tunic like she’d lost a fight with a hedge.
She trudged back into camp anyway.
Mira glanced up from where she was oiling her crossbow, one brow lifting slowly.
“You get in a fight with a salad and lose?”
Zoey rolled her eyes. “Ha ha. No, I just—” she lifted her hands helplessly, palms out, “—tripped and managed to waste an entire jar of pulp—”
She didn’t get to finish.
Rumi was suddenly there, arms locking around Zoey from behind and hauling her tight against her chest like she was anchoring herself to reality by sheer force.
Zoey yelped, half-startled, half-squished.
Rumi’s magical stripes were already thrumming, light rippling across her skin in visible waves. Her pupils were blown wide, ears twitching violently, tail lashing like it had its own emotional arc. And layered over everything—
The loudest purr either of them had ever heard.
It rumbled through Rumi’s chest and straight into Zoey’s spine.
Mira froze.
Slowly lowered the crossbow.
“…Oh no.”
Rumi pressed her face into Zoey’s shoulder, inhaled like she’d just discovered oxygen for the first time, and tightened her grip another inch.
“Why do you smell so good?” Rumi breathed, voice wrecked and reverent. Her stripes flickered with pulses of light, her eyes blown wide.
Zoey blinked. Once. Twice.
“…I smell like a disaster.”
Mira squinted at Zoey’s hands. Then the smear on her cheek. Then the green flecks dusting her clothes.
Her mouth twisted into a grin that promised she’d already figured something out.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Mira said, her tone tilting toward amused. “What kind of pulp was that?”
Zoey stiffened. “Just basic catnip—”
Rumi made a tiny, broken sound of happiness and nuzzled Zoey’s neck.
Zoey went rigid, her face flushing. “Rumi— Rumi, sweetheart, you need to—”
Rumi did not need to do anything except apparently imprint on her girlfriend like a deranged jungle cat.
Her tail curled halfway around Zoey’s leg like it was claiming territory.
Mira planted her hands on her hips, a smile curling onto her lips. “Congratulations, Zoey. You’ve chemically weaponized yourself.”
Zoey looked genuinely horrified. “I didn’t mean to!”
Rumi purred louder.
Mira leaned back against the log, arms folding smugly. “I give it thirty seconds before she tries to sit on you.”
“I am not going to—” Rumi started, and immediately adjusted her grip so Zoey was absolutely being caged against her torso, rubbing her head to the side of Zoey’s face.
Zoey squeaked. “Rumi!”
“…I might,” Rumi admitted faintly.
Mira cackled.
