Click on the sides, space, or arrow keys to move forward. Let me know in the comments if it's too blurry and / or too small to read (full screen recommended). Also how you want this to end (I know how it's going to end in the book but the second part is most likely going to be an AU) Ooooh boy, there's so much context I need to give for this... Y'know what? I'll start writing it down, and in the meantime you guys tell me what you could figure out from just this scene. Kay? Good. Don't read below for the first read-through, 'cause that's where I start to give ~context~. Okay, let's start out with a little dictionary (words appear in order of use): lut'enuk -- from the words for 'mother' and 'motion' -- grooming ibetki -- [I honestly forget what this came from and it's too late at night rn to look it up] -- essentially, the age when a kitten is mature enough to go on their first hunt without an adult cat neek -- from 'nanik' -- a queerphobic slur. Though it's derived from a slur for gay people, it's meaning changed as it became shortened and it became a slur for any and all non-cishets. scou -- no particular root (aka I just made it up instead of piecing it together from a dead language) -- slur for trans people nanik -- no particular root (aka I just made it up instead of piecing it together from a dead language) -- as I said, a slur for gay people nama'lep -- from 'nanik' and the words for 'many' and 'love' (in the sense of partners / spouses) -- slur for bi-umbrella peeps (is there a shorter term for people who like multiple genders?). Yeahhh, this one's nasty. It stems, if you couldn't guess, from the idea that bi people are cheaters and / or that all bi people are poly. setlosa -- from 'no' and 'soul' -- slur for aspec people. This one... I honestly died a lil inside when I came up with this. It's implication is that if you can't have and care for kids, or if you can't romantically fall in love with someone, you don't have a soul (I'm aware that some aro people fall in love and some ace people have kids but if you're calling someone a setlosa you're not gonna care about that). . Kayli and Snapbranch (the latter is the POV character) were forced to adopt Copperslayer when he joined their group. They are gmitkis (my original species. They can switch between human and cat forms. The rest of the clowder doesn't know they're gmitkis); everyone else in this is a cat. As you can tell, the clowder they are part of is very queerphobic. That’s all the context you need for this. .
