The sun shone brightly through an opening in the tent, the light flickering across my eyes as the rustling leaves hindered its path through the canopy. Slowly I raised my hand to shield my eyes. The new tent still needed some work, its canvas tarp hadn’t been able to be repaired the day before. While walking through the woods the day after our encounter with the alpha by the lake, we’d come across an old campsite filled with the tattered remains of what was once a tent and other supplies. We’d been able to repurpose and repair the canvas tent cover but it seemed that we’d missed a few holes.

I sat up slowly, stretching my arms and back. The stiffness in my limbs slowly worked its way out and I was able to roll myself onto my stomach. I laid there for a while enjoying the comfort that came with having a space all to myself. We’d drawn straws to decide who got to take the new tent for themselves. Up until yesterday we’d all been sharing the one tent we’d brought with us, which albeit was a bigger tent, but not big enough for three people. Perhaps we’d be able to use the camp fund to buy the materials for an actual building.

I thought of all of the amenities we might be able to afford. With my basic knowledge from earth I’m sure I could explain how to build indoor plumbing to any competent person who specialized in construction. My thoughts drifted towards being able to sit in a warm bathtub again. This thought made me think of my own cleanliness and I looked down at the condition of my fur. Dirt and mud matted it down and cracked each time I moved. Until now I hadn’t really thought of how my life here had affected my hygiene. Now that I thought of it, not a lot of people I’d seen over the course of my time in this world had been very clean at all. Both Orion and Shiza were covered in dirt too thinking back on it.

With this revelation I got up and put my armor on. Walking out the door of the tent I saw that Shiza and Orion had already gotten up and started cooking. I walked over to the fire and sat down, the smell of cooked fish filling the center of the camp, “Morning guys.” They smiled and returned my greeting as they handed me a fish. Between bites a conversation began about the general tasks for the day.

At one point, I brought up heading to the river to wash up. Shiza’s head cocked as she looked at me, “That’s a great idea! I haven’t washed my coat out in a long time and on top of that it would feel really nice to go for a swim!”

Orion looked less enthused. I wasn’t surprised, Shiza had a lot of otter-like traits so I’d assumed that a love for the water was one of them. Orion on the other hand seemed perfectly content to avoid the water, “Why wash up when you’re just going to get dirty again in a day or two. It’s a waste of time and it spooks the fish when someone jumps in the water.”

I smiled, of course he’d come up with any excuse to avoid bathing. Bathing was a lot of work when you let yourself get as dirty as we were. But there were some very good reasons behind bathing, “Orion I get where you’re coming from but back in my previous world we discovered many benefits to staying sanitary. For one, keeping clean prevents infection if you happen to sustain some kind of wound. Second, it calms you down in the right context and can even help you to relax in some situations. Finally, and I mean no offence by this Orion but, you reek man, we all do. Right now, the combined stench of all of us might cause someone approaching our camp to keel over and die from the stench alone.”

“Hey, I don’t stink!” He said as he lifted up his arm to sniff his own armpit before pulling away violently, “Ok maybe I’m a bit ripe but I still don’t think it’s necessary.” In the end the debate came down to a vote. When Orion saw that he was going to lose he conceded and we all headed off to the river.

Upon reaching the stream I took my armor and tattered underclothes off and laid it over a few rocks near the riverbank. I looked down at myself, I still wasn't used to all of the fur covering my body but as I waded into the water and felt all of the grime was away my muscles began to relax. I started scrubbing the grit out of my fur, dislodging mud, dirt, and dried blood that had been caked on over the course of the past few weeks. It was hard to believe that all of the crap flowing downriver had come off of my body. As I washed off I saw that my coat was starting to regain a bit of the sheen it’d had on my first day in this world.

While washing I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the flowing water. Curious, I waded over to a spot where the water was more stagnant. Staring back at me, my reflection was still quite alien. No longer could I see the face of my human body, instead my eyes were met with those of a being with a long snout and pointed wolf-like ears, a face covered in black fur staring back at me through the water. I cocked my head slightly and the figure in the water moved with me, its ear twitching as I contemplated my existence.

My thoughts as to how strange my experience had turned out was interrupted by two loud splashes behind me. Turning around I saw that both Orion had Shiza had jumped into the stream behind me completely void of clothes. I quickly averted my gaze, blood rushing to my cheeks, “Guys! What are you doing!? We said that we were going to take turns. I told you about how I used to bath in my other life. Why are you two in here!?”

I heard two laughs behind me as I noticed two more streams of grime flowing down the river, “Your way is a stupid way to bathe. Why make this any longer than it needs to be?” Orion was thoroughly enjoying my discomfort.

“Yeah Alyx, how you described it, everyone was the same species in your last life so I can see how bathing together might be weird. Here though, we really don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff given we’re all a different species.” Shiza was so matter of fact.

I heard another splash and noticed a sleek brown form swim around me before disappearing out of view again. A moment later I heard a gasp behind me as Shiza broke the surface, “Ok, hey! Listen this is uncomfortable alright I’m going to get out if you keep it up.”

“Oh come on! Loosen up, it's not like you have anything you need to be ashamed of.” Shiza replied with an air of mischief.

If I still had a human face, it would be completely red right now. It’d slipped my mind for a moment that Shiza could probably see perfectly fine underwater due to her other striking similarities with that old world species. My hands moved to cover my improper regions, “ALRIGHT THAT’S ENOUGH I’M OUT!”

I waded back to shore and grabbed my clothes utterly defeated as the two beastmen laughed at my anxiety. After walking down the stream aways, I found a quiet area to clean my armor and clothes. It wasn’t their fault, they had grown up in a world that didn’t have the same social norms as the one I was used to. On top of my preconceived notions of proper behavior, the new and unfamiliar body I found myself in was still foriegn to me and that only added to my anxiety.

Embarrassment flowed through me. Really, Wrorines suppressed empathetic thoughts but were still subject to embarrassment? I sighed, just my luck… After they were clean, I slipped my soaking wet clothes on and left my armor on a rock to dry. This world was taking some getting used to. Its unwritten rules were so foriegn from what I was used to but there were times when I forgot that I was in a new world. It made it all the more shocking when those differences reminded me where I was.

For the first time since I got to this world I felt tears streaming down my face. My fur covered hands came up to cover my eyes as I failed to stop the waterworks. For the first time I really thought about my death.

I hadn’t wanted to die, I was planning so many things. My life was on track to be fantastic and I had worked so hard to get where I had been. I would never see my friends again, I would never see my family again. I reflected on all that time I spent rejecting Jess even though I knew she liked me. Now I’d never see her again and she’d blame herself for my death. I sat there and cried, my quiet sobs reverberating through the small opening by the stream. The tears that dropped off my face, falling to create ripples in the current.

I heard the bushes shift behind me. I quickly wiped my eyes, trying to get rid of any evidence that I’d been upset and sniffed up the mucous that had made its way to the end of my snout. I took a breath as I lifted my head to stare at the stream as If everything had been normal.

“Hey, Alyx… we didn’t mean to make you upset.” I turned my head. Both Orion and Shiza were standing at the edge of the clearing, Argu standing next to them.

“Heh, what’re you guys talking about? I’m not upset.” I sniffled again, unwillingly giving away my lie.

They both approached me, their clothes and fur clean and dripping wet like my own. I turned around again to stare at the water, still unsuccessfully trying to hide my emotions. I felt two arms wrap around my neck and heard Shiza’s voice in my ear, “We heard you crying and we’re really sorry. We didn’t know that it was that big of a deal to you.”

I turned to face them as she let go of me, sniffling again while trying to stifle more tears. I steadied myself, “Ok you caught me, but I wasn’t upset because of you guys. It just brought up some memories of my former life. My death was pretty tragic. That situation just made me remember how many people I left behind and how many people I let down. I’ll never see any of them again or be able to tell them how sorry I am for the decisions I didn’t know I’d made.”

Tears had begun to well up in my eyes again and Orion and Shiza hugged me. I leaned into them as they let me resoak their drying clothes. I sobbed while telling them about all the people I’d let down by dying so foolishly. I told them about the opportunities I’d missed to find happiness and the sadness I’d caused in my passing and they listened quietly to it all.

While a river of tears flowed down my face and I realized that the memories of my past life would haunt me forever, I realized something else…

As my friends tried to reassure me I realized that through all the pain and suffering I’d caused, through my death, I ‘d also been lucky enough to meet them.

Orion

Ferrin (Level 4)

73/400 Experience

40/40 Health ----

70/70 Stamina ------

30/30 Mana --

20/20 Spirit ---

‘0’ Stat Points Available

Racial Ability - (Impossible Evade)

Skills: (Fishing G) (Spear G) (Botany G) (Barter G) (Stamina Regen G) (Execute G) (Spear Throw)