Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-28718853-20171029012154/@comment-33398500-20171031144759

Able to see the distinct form of the smaller white horn raising her rifle in my direction, I took half a second to realize:

I was being hunted!

Trying to drive the irony of being hunted by a deer out of my mind, I turned and started to make a break for it, as a hill merely a foot from me showed the obvious impact and dirt scattering from a bullet. As I took off, I could see in my peripheral vision two small figures now following me. However, no further shots rang out at all.

As I thought maybe, that they might have moved on, I managed to get back to my cabin, about to open the door when all of a sudden, a shot rang out, able to feel... something enter my back. However, the expected blinding pain didn’t come, instead, I went down like a sack of potatoes, barely conscious as two figures approached me, not really able to tell what they were, though managing to catch “I got him, mommy~”

Later, as I came back to consciousness, I looked around what looked to be an inn with a rather homey style, laid out in front of a large fireplace with two beings now looking at me. As my eyes came back into focus, the forms of the two heavily-clad white horns now became clear “He’s waking up, mommy!” the smaller of the two, now easily visible as a child, roughly half the size of the adult.

“Good morning, sleepy~” the mother then responded, amused.

“What... what the hell...? You SHOT me!” I found myself starting.

“Actually no... SHE shot you...” she then corrected me, the child beaming at me “This is gonna be the best birthday ever~!”

“Wait... what? Oh, God...” I started, realizing what this might mean “Please tell me this isn’t some kind of weird idea of courtship...” the idea of being paired with a child off-putting to me.

“Oh, dear~ He’s got the wrong idea...” the mother then started “...no, you weren’t brought here to mate with my youngest daughter... she wanted to learn to hunt... and made me proud~” she continued, bright red at the moment, still flush with pride at her daughter’s achievement.

“Oh, okay, good... no offense to you... but there is such a thing as too early... Wait... why did you specify ‘youngest’...?” I then realized she had been more specific than she had to be.

“I’m home...” a voice then called from the door, the howl of the wind outside coming through the door before closing quickly, a snow-covered white horn, looking just about the same size as the mother, stepping over to where the three of us were gathered “What happened here...?” she then asked the two of them, confused.

“Welcome home sis~” the child then answered “We went out hunting, and caught that guy you were watching~ Happy birthday!” looking rather proud of herself as I finally managed to get myself to my feet.

“Well, don’t just stand there, you two! Get to know each other~” the mother then started, pushing the older girl toward me.

“Yeah... THAT’s why...” I then started, finally able to see what was going on, the apparently embarrassed white horn now stepping toward me. “You’ve been... watching?”

“Well... yeah...” she admitted, embarrassed “I found you... curious. A human coming all the way out here and surviving on your own in this tundra for so long... normally we have to guide people through areas like this...” as she continued to advance, she had an aura of warmth she was projecting onto me.

<p class="MsoNormal">Walking over to her, I sighed somewhat to myself as her lower body was still covered in clinging snow, something making me want to help her clear it off, starting to brush off the snow “W-what are you doing?” she asked, confused.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Helping you clean up...” I answered her, trying to delay any more embarrassing conversation, I asked “Sounds like the wind is worse... is there a blizzard outside?” while continuing to clear stuck snow from her lower half.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah... it’s pretty bad right now, actually... was later than I thought I would be...” she answered plainly, the child chiming in “Yeah! She was supposed to be home before you woke up!” “Now, now, this seems to be going well, let’s not whine about things...” “O-okay...”

<p class="MsoNormal">As I heard their family back-and-forth, I found myself feeling rather warm, though that might be the combination of the fire and the three flush white horns in the room. The older sister, smiling at me as I finished clearing the snow from her, then asked “Did you... want to see the rest of the station?” sounding somewhat awkward.

<p class="MsoNormal">The idea of getting away from the continuing gaze of her mother and sister sounded like a good one to me, so I answered “Sure...” walking slowly away from the other two with her “...I’m a bit slow at the moment though... still recovering...”

<p class="MsoNormal">Sighing heavily to herself, she then answered “I’m sorry they shot you... I was actually planning to come talk to you later...” as we went into the other room, she closed the door behind her, a very large bed made for centaur-type mamono prominent in the room, a heater already hard at work warming the room.

<p class="MsoNormal">There was something downright... enthralling about the more mature white horn standing there with me, as she brought me to the bed, asking “Would you be able to accept... someone like me?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Able to feel the heat in my face as this got embarrassing quickly, I had to admit, “Despite how I got here... Yeah, of course I could. To be honest... I’ve been living alone for a really long time... was actually worried no one would accept ME if I went looking...”

<p class="MsoNormal">Hearing this, she sighed slightly to herself, now pushing me back onto the bed and climbing on after me “Don’t worry... you’re not alone anymore...”

<p class="MsoNormal">Well this certainly hadn’t been what I expected once I got shot...