CHAPTER 50: JUST A BIT PUSHY

Serena spent the next hour or so being dragged around and introduced to various people from the village. At first, she thought the other beastwomen were going to only introduce her to single beastmen, but nope.

They introduced her to quite a few others, including some of their family and mates. They even gave her little knacks of information about everyone. Who to avoid and who was the best as what.

So, while her head was spinning a little from all the information, she took it gladly. It would make things easier having all this intel about everyone. She could put it to good use.

Eventually the group circled around the giant bonfire raging in the clearing area of the village center, so they came to a stop to grab some water being offered out.

After all, the heat from the fire along with all the walking had them tired. Well, at least, five of them were.

"Alright, my fellow beastwomen!" Wilma suddenly exclaimed excitedly as they were all drinking water. "It is time for Fay to shine!"

"M-me?!" Fay squeaked, almost spitting out the water in her mouth and moving to hide behind Grace. "C-can’t I not... d-do this?"

"Come now Fay." Grace glanced over her shoulder to the younger beastwoman. "Didn’t you say you liked James? Why are you hiding away now?"

"I... I do..." Fay murmured, ears drooping to hide her face. They barely reached her eyes, but it was easy to make sense that she was hiding away. "B-but what if..."

"You promised you’d do it today, Fay." Ria, the second youngest of the rabbit beastwoman, said. "Plus, there’s no way he’d reject you. That beastman likes you. We’ve gone over this and we won’t let you back out now."

The other three rabbit beastwomen nodded their heads in agreement, making Fay whimper as she hid further behind Grace. Meanwhile, Serena watched this whole thing confused about what was going on.

However, she opted not to ask what was going on in case they made her join their schemes.

Though I’m likely already a part of it standing here. Serena mused to herself as she quietly sipped on her water. Guess I can just silently watch this whole thing from the sidelines and figure it out myself...

"If you don’t want to do it in a crowded area we can get him alone for you." Emma proposed. "We’ll make sure no one is nearby... Either way you’re going to have to do this sooner or later."

"Yeah..." Wilma nodded her head. "Macy has been eyeing him too."

That was all it took for Serena to piece everything together. Fay had a crush on a beastman and there was competition. Her guess was the other beastwomen were trying to give her the courage to confess her feelings.

Or something similar to that.

Fay lifted her head a little, peeking from behind Grace and murmured, "M-macy... I-I guess... that works b-bet-"

"Fay!" Wilma cut her off before she could finish speaking. "Stop holding back alright. We’ll help you, so you don’t have to fear anything."

"I-I guess..." Fay sighed.

"Good then, Serena and I will get James while the rest of you clear the area by the tree. Not many beastmen should be around there." Wilma commanded. "You can confess your feelings alone okay."

The others nodded their heads in agreement while Fay let out another whimper. Meanwhile, Serena wondered aloud, "Why am I coming with you?"

She was hoping to stay out of this, but Wilma seemed determined to drag her everywhere and get her involved in some strange things. Honestly, she would’ve preferred if someone else went.

"Because I need muscle." Wilma stated like she was telling someone the weather. "Come on. Let’s go fine James."

Yeah, there was no winning with this one. Give Wilma an inch and she would take a whole mile with that stubbornness. Although, perhaps the pushiness was something Fay needed.

The young beastwoman was very much trapped within her own shell of shyness. That was one thing Serena had picked up since they started interacting.

"Fine..." Serena said, giving up. "But I’m not doing anything against someone’s will."

It was one thing to set up a meet up, but another to forcefully make someone go somewhere they didn’t want to go. And considering Wilma’s words, Serena decided to make it clear where she stood.

No way in hell was she helping them with the latter. Even at the cost of possibly damaging Kiro’s friendship with their cubs. Some lines were best not crossed and he was better off making other friends then.

If others would even be willing to befriend him after a fallout...

"I doubt that will happen." Wilma said as she led them through the crowd to look for James. "You’re here in case he runs upon seeing me... So we can explain the situation."

Serena gazed at the rabbit beastwoman deadpanned and shook her head, thinking dryly, I wonder why he would run from you...

Aloud she murmured, "I see..."

"Yeah." Wilma turned to look to the side, searching for James, before turning back to Serena. "Thanks for helping out with this despite only knowing us for one day...."

"Did I have much of a choice in the matter?" Serena finally asked, making Wilma chuckle.

"Of course, you could say no.... Actually you should say no to me more often. I know I tend to get pushy sometimes..." Wilma went quiet for a moment before she sighed, "Although, I guess I’m just worried for Fay. She tends to deny her wants. Thinks everyone should step on her."

Serena stayed silent as Wilma spoke, not sure what to say about the information she had just learnt. What could she even say to that?

"But I guess you tend to hate yourself when your mother blames you for her abandoning your father." Wilma muttered dryly. Before Serena had a chance to process what the bombshell she just dropped, Wilma suddenly exclaimed, "Oh there’s Davis! He should know where his brother is!"

She ran off to Davis’ direction to ask him about James, leaving Serena standing in the middle of the crowd, wondering what the rabbit beastwoman had just said so casually.

Serena definitely needed more context to that, but first she decided to catch up to Wilma before she lost the other beastwoman in the crowd. When she finally got over to Davis and Wilma, they were already talking.

"... be by the food area." Davis said to Wilma. He then noticed Serena and smiled, "Evening Serena."

"Evening." Serena politely nodded back. She turned to Wilma and asked, "Have you figured out where James is?"

"Yeah I know where." Wilma nodded her head. "We should get going now before they start serving food. Thanks for the help Davis."

"Eh... no problem." Davis said. "I can help you-"

Before he could finish, Wilma was already off, dragging Serena away. She waved Davis a goodbye before following the rabbit beastwoman.

As they walked to the food area, Serena couldn’t help, but ask Wilma, "About what you were saying about Fay’s parents..."

Wilma glanced over at her and mused, "Oh that... Let’s just say that her parents had a fight and since her mother couldn’t abandon her like she did to the father, she took her anger out on her instead."

"And no one stopped this?" Serena asked curiously.

"They did when they found out the truth." Wilma sighed. "Elder Samuel kicked them out of the village, but by then they messed Fay up good. That beastwoman knew how to hurt others without it showing. It’s only because Grace and Emma accidently stumbled across it that it was discovered."

Serena fell silent again. She couldn’t imagine what kind of messed up thing Fay went though that was enough for the village to willingly kick a female out. And a part of her didn’t want to know.

But it did explain her unusual shyness in a world where a lot of beastwomen were prideful or arrogant.

"Oh there he is!" Wilma declared before suddenly running off.

Serena had to snap out of her daze and chase after Wilma once more. The rabbit beastwoman was quick, grabbing a young looking beastman before he had the chance to do anything.

He was similar looking to Davis, given they were brothers, however, his ears and hair and spots of white in them instead of being fully brown.

"What?!" James cried out, gazing at the two beastwomen in shock. "Wilma, you-"

"Fay needs you." Wilma interrupted before he had a chance to protest. "You need to come with us and meet her."

James’ face went through several emotions as he processed Wilma’s words. Finally, he sighed, "But I can’t just leave..."

"Hey Matthew!" Wilma turned away from them and yelled at a nearby beastman. "I’m borrowing James here quickly. We’ll be back soon."

The beastman grumbled back, "Make sure he’s back before we start serving food."

Wilma turned back to James and smiled, "There. You’re sorted. Now you need to come with us."