#predator animation

Clan name: Volcanic Hunter Clan

Clan info: The Volcanic Clan, is established on the north east of Yautja prime. A mountain range of magma and fire. The Yautja there live amongst active volcanos, rivers of lava, storms of smoke and soot. The Yautja of this Clan are more resilient and built heavier tan most other Yautja. A notable marker of this clan are the decorative volcanic glass and soot markings on their heads and head thorns. They have a more reddish hue in their skin as well.

Rank in Clan: Elite Huntress, Occasional Enforcer and Cleaner on command of the Clan leader.

Body: much like all other female ayautja she is more brightly colored, a reddish brown with orange stripes that make her more intimidating and dangerous than the more stealthy and camouflage colored males. She is the tallest Female in living history and towers over even the biggest females. She is heavily build and very muscular, with no physical indication of her being female.

Parentage: father: Ma'Uteb (Piercing Spear ) a well respected, experienced elite with four xeno queen kills. Mother: Twauyou (Burning Blood) the Matriarch of the Volcanic clan.

Childhood: She was born twice the size of a newborn Suckling. Bigger and heavier with fangs already battle sharp. She was the pride of her father and honor to her mother.

For many years in her training camp with the rest of the Sucklings she was always the biggest and strongest. She was twice even the females and towered over them. She one every fight and one every race. As such, she was never tempered with defeat, she was never humbled or reprimanded. She grew to be an arrogant, self assured wild little one. She was even more aggressive than most kids, arrogant in her size and reckless in her confidence.

This led to her to break some of the biggest and most important rules of the honor code. When she was only 15 years of human age, she stole her father's helmet and sword and sneaked off camp and boarded the ship of a few young bloods.

A group of five young bloods where going off to their first unsupervised hunt for Xenomorphs and unknown to the inexperienced hunters, there was a Suckling hiding in their ship. It became a disaster.

The hunters discovered their uninvited guest far too late as they were alredy deep inside the Xenomorph nest, where they saw a young little one wearing a helmet too big for her head bobbing as she ran recklessly at a Xeno drone. It was an impressive sight seeing one so young alredy killing Xenos with vigor and skill. She would have been an amazing hunter if not for the fact that she was breaking so many honorcodes. And that she was barely old enough to be allowed away from her father.

The hunters had to make a choice. Continue their hunt and forsake the Suckling and their honor or risk everything to make sure the child would be returned to their planet. Of course the choice was obvious, the child must be protected. The hunters made strong endeavor to get that protesting child back on the ship and return home world but since their attention was divided between the child and the Xenos they were all one by one killed. Only one, mortally wounded managed to drag the child back into the ship and return home.

The young hunter who nearly died on his journey back as a result of loosing both arms and a gapping wound in his side, had managed to send out one last massage to the elders and reported the incident.

When the ship crash landed near the Clan residence, the elders and enforces prepared for the worst. What they expected was a barrage of Xenos not a half dead young blood dragging an equally injured and scratching by his mandibles.

Dor'Rak was emedietly detained and the young blood taken to the medical center. A council meeting was called to oversee the crimes of Dor'Rek and see to her punishment. She was accused of breaking honorcodes and was deemed disgraced. Some deemed her bad blood and to be executed.

But she was all only a child, an ancient argued, and she was allowed some leniency. She were to be punished for her crimes and then offered the chance to redeem herself.

She was accused of: 1. Unauthorized escape from training 2. Stealing an honorable hunter's equipment 3. Unauthorized boarding of a vessel 4. Joining a hunting party authorized 6. Breaking the privacy of a ceremonial hunt 7. Unauthorized hunting of xenos 8. Causing the death of other honorable hunters in arrogant pursuit of a blood. 9. Attempting a blooding hunt without supervision and prematurely.

She was whipped in the public battle arena 900 times for her transgressions as punishment. The whipping was performed by her father and her mother -the Matriarch- personally made sure she was not offered little leniency. Then, injured and brutalized she was taken to be re-education in the honorcodes of her clan to be educated in the importance of her realizing her mistakes.

Her father told her she was lucky, that she was not charges with the murder of the five hunters she caused the death of. She would have been killed then, with no chance of a redemption. But she is lucky, once she is re-education and actually old enough to be taller than a spear, she will be allowed to win her honor back. Until then, she will live alone in a cave away from her clan, in disgrace and without honor. Her father had taken her away and joined her in her dishonorable exile to teach her honorcodes again since he believes it was his failing that he raised such poorly disciplined Suckling.

Once she was old enough to be blooded, she was tasked by the council to try and compete a set of trial in an attempt to bring back her honor. 9 Xenomorphs nest must be destroyed for her 9 transgressions and at least 5 Xenoqueen skulls must be obtained to honor the 5 hunters who she indirectly killed. Until then, she is not allowed to return to Yautja prime, until then she is honorless, with no markings, no advanced weaponry, no name, no clan and no trophies. If she survived this task than she will regain her honor.

....

Adulthood: she has reached adulthood now. She has survived her impossible task given to her by the council and she was given her honor once again. She is now an adult, 350 yeats old and already a killer of many queen. Her back is a ruined mess she covers with her tendrils and her long spines of trophies.

She is now an elite huntress, she chooses to spend time away and hunting as many monsters as she can find. Occasionally when the need arises the colossal red beast of Yautja prime is used as an enforcer to eradicate bad blood.

Because of her childhood and the events that occurred, now as an adult bearing a new adult name, Nakkai is aggressive, violent, hateful and solitary. She has spend many yeats away from other hunters, other Yautja and even other sentient species and she is now just not used to people.

Being 14" tall makes a beast even the Matriarch now avoids conflict with. She is effectively allowed and encouraged to be off world as to avoid whatever conflict she might cause within the clan hierarchy.

She is now highly disciplined, stiff and rigid un upholding the honorcode and has finally understood the gravity of her arrogant behavior she did as a child. Now she is dedicated to upholding of the honorcode and she will go out of her way to hunt and violently kill bad bloods.

She is surprisingly more tolerant than all other Yautja towards weaker and smaller Yautja. It is because at 14"tall everyone is smaller and weaker than her.

She is temperamental and easily annoyed. Her residence, on the occasions that she returns to Yautja Prime, is furthest away from her Clan and is avoided by most Yautja like the plague.

Once she was allowed to own trophies she went all out and made a point to go hunting just to make up for lost time. Aside from the 5 queens she killed as a part of her punishment, she now wears 5 Xeno spines and bones of many more species.

She wears minimal armor and even partakes in her Hunts more decked out as a warlord rather than a huntress. (Partially because she only has one armor and doesn't want it broken since getting clothes and armor and weapons for her size is a hassle.)

Secretly she feels a bit lonely, because she is not very well integrated in her Clan and she knows that if it wasn't for her size many would challenge her out of disrespect. She know her past as an honorless unblooded has made her a rather unlikeable yautja. Also, because of her size she intimidates and threatens other yautja even when she has no intention of. And now, when she is at an age where she want some company (mate) she is finding it hard to accept that she might never find a good match.

She went to earth once, but got bored and came back without killing anything. She wanted to kill a giraffe once because it was so large but she found the goofy long legs so amusing she didn't want to kill it anymore. ( no one can know this.)

....

It had been a year since she return home. Most hunters would return after every hunt, which would last about a month or so but she preferred to avoid her planet. It wasn't that she was unwelcome in her clan, rather she simply preferred the solitude of her ship and the reassurance of her sword. But it has been too long now, and she needed to return, for repairs if for nothing else.

She needed to put in a new order for armor and weapons. Her size made it very difficult to use any weapons laying around. Normally for a Yautja, getting your hands on a sword or spear would be as simple as plucking fruit from a tree. But once you are twice the size of a normal Yautja, you need to put in an order to the forge masters. A pain in the ass if you were a solitary huntress like her.

Her hunt had been plentiful. Many new skulls were added to her mantle and she reeked of blood and gore. She had killed a particularly valuable prize this month and the possibility of dragging it across the streets of her clan home made the pain of returning less apparent.

Nakkai was not a sentimental Yautja. She was not burdened with weaknesses like sadness or regret. Yet whenever she had to return to her home, her back ached and itched like something was clawing her from the inside and threatened to tear it's way out. It was only her back injury. Her mark of shame and brand of punishment.

Clicking her mandibles in annoyance, she punched in the coordinates for Yautja Prime and leaned back as the ship shook and rattled into a launch.

Once safely out of the atmosphere and well into the space, she got up to check on her mantle room. Were she kept her trophies.

Any other hunter would be ritualistic in the way they cleaned and mounted their prize. But not Nakkai. No. She had so many, her mantle had no more room left to hang the skulls and so she ended up just tossing uncleaned bones with rotting flesh stuck to them around. Now, after an entire year of hunting, the room had barely any space left to step in.

But that's alright. She will be home soon and she will have time to clean and carve and mount the skulls as she desires. It is not like she has anything to do at home other than to either wait or sulk around until her equipment is ready to be used again. And what difference does it make if it is going to be "that time of the year" when she returns.

It never made any difference for her. Yet another year of siting at her vantage point and watching the Yautja beneath. Busy with wrestling and combat and parading in bones, competing for mates. Things would not have changed from all the years before. Her father would be peacocking for the Matriarch. The Matriarch would drag him by his tendrils to the temple and that would be the last she sees them for the next month or so and the rest of her clan would not be any different.

She hates the mating season. It's a fuckfest. Everyone is peacocking, everyone is challenging everyone, everyone is wrestling. Everyone will have a mate. Everyone...exept her.

Yautja is meant to choose strongest and most powerful mate. A mate with many trophies, many kills. But who will she find? She who is the biggest? The strongest and with most kills. Who will she have?

And who will peacock for her? She who was once a badblood? She who was a killer of other Yautja? Who would fight for her interest when she is their death? Who would be wrestling for her choice?

The answers is the same as it was every year. No yautja would risk being killed by the hands of the Red Mountain.

She is fine with that, she knows her reputation. She know her history.

While it is accepted that females are more aggressive and a few male casualty during mating season is nothing to be surprised about. No one is foolish enough to attempt mating with Nakkai. Her attention is not sought for. Her attention is avoided.

But alas. The law is the law. And she knows better than amy Yautja that the laws are obeyed.

The law says all hunters return to Yautja prime during the season of cradles and so she will obey them.

The Yautja gods know she will never break a law again. 900 lashes to her tender back, marring her striped skin made sure each and every law and tradition was carved into her bones. She will never disobey.

Doesn't mean she will be a pleasant company while doing it.

She yawns and stretches, the ache of fresh injury lulling her mind into sleep. She sulks trough the halls of her ship and reaches the room where she stores food and other necessities. Hard, chewy, red meat of her kill paired with some fruits with a sour taste. A fit meal for a killer of many.

Once she's had her full, she opts to sleep. Her return to Yautja Prime will be exhausting and filled with noisy screaming males in near rut. She needs to be ready, to endure unending posturing and flaring tempers and not break the neck of the clicking vermin.

She blames the elders for this. Even though she understands her exile was her punishment, but her forces solitude then is the reason why she hates being around people. Even more than most other females. She lays flat on her chest as she lays on her fur covered bed. Times like these, when the vast expanse of her back itched and ached she hated to lay on her back, in fact, she hated anything touching her back at all.

...

She was near. She could see the large dusty planet fill the view as she walked to her control panel. She dreaded the landing but was otherwise meticulously prepared. She had bathes despite the itch on her back, the cold water burning her like xeno blood. She had forgone her armor again. Not that there was much left of the dented, torn up peaces. Instead she wore her crown. He father had helped her make it the first time, since her own fingers were still too clumsy and unrefined back then.

It was a crown of bones. Spikes and teeth delicately woven around her tendrils. Creating a cresent shape of spike, resembling horns. And bellow them was her iconic cape. Five long spines of xeno queens. Each also interwoven with feathers of predatory species she killed. Normally, those spines were big enough to drag on the ground but she was tall enough that they barely reached the ground. With each step, she carried a rattling of bones with her.

She has a lot of those, she thinks. Too much if she's being honest with herself. It's not like Xenomorphs are her favorite pray. No. They are gross and spawn around like little critters. Roaches aren't this annoying. And the queens? Yes they are formidable opponents. But even they loos their glamor after the first five. For all the honor and glory it is to hunt them, Nakkai hates the ugly egglaying bugs.

Avian creatures. Now they are a prized pray she enjoys pursuing.

She remembers it like it was yesterday. When she told her Matriarch, her mother, that killing any being on this ground was easy for her. She had told her, in her wise stern and somewhat condescending tone that all Matriarch Yautja have: "then find something that is not bound to the ground." And she had. She finds Avian pray much more entertaining. Why bother fighting with something on the ground, when you can struggle and challenge yourself trying to kill something that can fly. That, is a true thrill.

That, and also, the first time her avian pray took flight once she was on it's back she was so amazed and joyful. It was the happiest she had ever been. That pray was her most prized trophy and it's full skeleton on display in her private home with it's feathers honorably woven into her crown.

Her thoughts are broken with the beep of her machinery telling her to prepare for landing. She straps in, decked out like a peacocking warlord - and with her reputation she might as well be one- and began her manual piloting of the ship.

The landing was a bit rocky on the account that her ship was battleworn and damaged but it was safe enough that none of the welcoming party flinched.

With a sigh of exhaustion and resignation she opened the entrance of her ship and sets foot on the hot stony ground of her homeland.

"Greetings, honored Matriarch. Honored elders. Honored father." She says as she uses one of her many knifes to bleed her palm. It's a sign of respect. She does it without thinking.

"Greetings to you as well, honored daughter." The Matriarch says.

"Has your hunt been plentiful?" Her father asks.

"Yes. I have brought many honors to our clan." She says as she steps aside to show them the way to her trophy room.

They all walk pass her and into the long dim corridors of her ship.

"You need many repairs. Again." An elder clicks.

"This ship has seen many hunts." She explains.

"You return is ill timed. It is the season of cradles. Many will be busy with more natural activities than repairs." Another says.

"I am aware of the timing." She offers with a bowed head.

They reached the trophy room and she opened the door. She was given the expected clicks of approval but what she did not expect was her Matriarch side eyeing her. "What a mess...." she clicked and snarled. "You have raised great huntress. Sadly, she seems to enjoy living like a trash-bug" the large and menacing Matriarch nudged her mate.

"Mother!!" Nakkai exclaimed, her mandibles flared and her voice deepened into a roar.

"You could have cleaned some of these." Her father chided looking over some of her bones. "There is rotting flesh on this one." He said.

"I have plenty of time to clean them now at home." She said reassuringly.

"I take it this means you have no interest in this season as well?" The Matriarch flares her mandibles in annoyance. "It is distressing how adamant you are in never joining a season. A huntress such as yourself.... you have to birth more warriors at some point." She says. Much like any mother, she worried cycle after cycle about when her daughter will choose a mate. Especially Nakkai, from all of her 50 children she has had in her long life, Nakkai is the her pride and honor.

She could choose any elite, any warlord from any clan. But no. That overgrown suckling only wants to hunt all year round.

"When the time is right. When an honorable and worthy male presents itself." Nakkai says. She's trying to be reassuring and while she is not lying there's little hope for her. At 14 feet tall...how can she ever find a worthy male? Nevermind finding one who would be brave enough to weather her strom.

"Well you have to try at least." Her father says. "You are never going to find any worthy mates in your little cave." He said.

She said nothing. Settling for only a low purr of acknowledgement.

She was right. Dragging the carcass of her kill through the streets of her clan home was truly enjoyable. To be stared at with awe and fear by the little Sucklings barely reaching her knees as they ran and hid behind their keepers as to not disturbed the giant huntress. The look of respect and acknowledgement by the other females from where they sat under a shade. And clicks and chirps or congratulations as all gazes fell onto the pray she dragged back home.

She had an entourage of slaves behind her carrying crates of her hunts to her home.

Captive badbloods with their dreads cut or ripped off, runts too small and weak and even a few humans wearing collars and chains. As the youngest female child of the Matriarch she was doted on. Meaning, she did not have to make multiple trips to her ship and back. And the slaves would work day and night to repair her hunting gear since they are forbidden to join the mating feast.

She never understood this custom of her people. Why let the badbloods live? Why have such contempt for the runts? Perhaps she didn't understand the latter because everyone, even the great Matriarch, was small and short like a runt to her.

If something was so weak that it would die, then why bother killing it? There is no honor in that. Why kill something that is already dead? Why beat someone that is already down? Why hunt a being that has mo winning of winning. A Yautja runt is no different than a defenseless weak pray. No honor in killing it. She will not comment on this to her elders of course. She know better than to start a conflict.

Reaching home is a bittersweet feeling. Her home is a large hut built in a modest and traditional fashion. With little technology and mostly carved into the side of a mountain and decorated with carvings, bones and volcanic glass shards. It's in the outskirts of her clan home, up the mountain with a clean vantage point of the clan beneath. She can already see the people bustling about downbelow. She over sees the captives drag and carry her crates to the overflowing trophy room which had leaked out to the rest of her living space.

She can see the two humans looking around with fear and curiosity. The badblood was clearly beaten into submission long ago as the pathetic creature doesn't dare to look amy higher than Nakkai's ankles. And the four little runts each sporting an injury of their own huddled together like rats.

Xhor'Nakkai was not a gentle female. She was not kind or nurturing. She was beastly, she was violent and brutal.

But she was fair. And she has no hatred for the weak. That was the one thing she had that made her a less monstrous Yautja than the rest.

She clicked her mandibles as she opened her food storage. She grabbed small pieces of meat. "You two, and you four. Come here." She said cold and clipped.

The humans and the runts looked up with doubt and worry. As if expecting her to lash out in violence or hatred. "Move. Fast." She snapped.

It was one of the runts that shuffled first. He was a small, all runts were small really but he was thinner rather than shorter, his face was gaunt. His lower mandibles were undeveloped and seemed to habe not grown from his Suckling days. Their range of movement was less, they looked like little nubs and has only the smallest sign of fang. "What's your name." She asked. And the runt only wiggled his mandibles in what seemed to be the most pathetic way of trying to make clicking noises.

"He can't talk." Says another. She looks up at the second runt. This one was sickly ash color and seemed to have limp as he came next to the fangless one.

She sighed. Honestly the runts were such a hassles to deal with. She pointed at the fangless one: " you are...fangless." then she turns to the limping one "you are....ash." then she grabbed a small piece of meat and tossed them in their hand.

The two other runts came closer. One was surprisingly a female. A small and petite little one white and bluish. She seemed so strongly un-ayautja like. "You are a hybrid." She accused.

"Yes. Yes i am....my father was...human. my name is spearhead." she says meekly as if expecting Nakkai to react violently towards this news. She then turn and grans the arm of the last male and pull him closer.

"This is Battleborn. He was a youngblood. But then...." she gestures to the missing leg of the angry growling Yautja. He had a metal pole working as makeshift prosthetic. "Those have their own names too... that's, Trapper. But I guess Ash is a good name too. And that one's name is Bonebreak. He can't talk but he is really good at ....."

Spearhead's sentence was left unfinished as Xhor'Nakkai shoved a piece of meat in her mouth.

"You talk to much." She snarled. Then turned to the humans and tossed a piece of meat to them as well.

"They are Steven and Eduardo." The surprisingly talkative spearhead continued with her mouth half full of meat. "And that one...he's name is Twinfang. He killed another Yautja that's why he's a badblood."

Xhor'Nakkai was known to be relatively patient and enduring when it came to runts. She was known to have no hatred for them and allow them some leisure. But she was also known for her antisocial and loner behavior. She was known to seek solitude and silence quite often.

She growled low and flared her mandibles in an uncommon aggression. "Shut the Pauk up runt."

That seemed to have shut the yapping runt up as she seemed frozen in place. The legless runt quickly grabbed her and pulled her back. All six slaves seemed to huddle together in fear of the crimson huntress.

"Your work is done. Get lost." She said. And they quickly shuffled away and out of her home. She growled and hissed as she watched the legless limping thing wrap his arm protectively around the yapper. The humans seemed to cling to the gray on in worry. How strange.

How sad for her.

It seemed that even runts and captives had a full life.

She stared at the empty space for a few more seconds before she was brought out of her thoughts by the looming shadow of her Matriarch.

"The hybrids are always talkative." She says as she cones to sit on a chair at her daughter tables. The Matriarch very aptly named 'Mother of fire' is one of the oldest female Matriarches on Yautj prime. Her skin a charcole black with specs of red and orange and flaming red eyes. She is a terrifying beast in her tribe. Crowed with bones and leather she is what many males would die trying to impress. And many have in fact. As she is very quiet literally the mother of many many Yautja. 50 female amongst the 300 children she has had in her long long life. And Xhor'Nakkai is the youngest of those 50. She was the last female child born by the Matriarch.  And a female to end all females. Nakkai has 200 older siblings scattered amongst the planet and 100 that are younger. The Matriarch was a breeding queen of their people.  Not many females care to devote that much of their time to the continuous growth of their clan.

"Why do we even keep this many runts around? Other tribes just cull them when they are born." She grumbled and and sat beside her mother.

"If you hate it so much, then you can challenge me for the title of Matriarch. Once you win you can establish any rules you want." She snaps happily as she begins to one by one take out every bone out of Nakkai's crown.

"You know i have no interest in that." Nakkai grumbles as she lowers her head.

The Matriarch laughs. "You will take your rightful position one day." She says. "You cannot pretend you are a youngblood for much longer."

"Mother......" she snaps.

"No. No. I won't hear any complaints. I saw the captives leave with meat. You are the only one that feeds them after they work....." the Matriarch smirks happily, having caught her daughter red handed. "You will make a fine mother."

"Mother...." is all that Nakkai can say.

"I will not have it." The Matriarch snarles this time. "You will attend this season. You will find a mate. You will breed. It is your duty. At least Pauking try." She growls yanking at Nakkai's  hair. "I have over 300 Sucklings in my life. One day i will leave to join the council of ancients. One day you will be the Matriarch. You will be mother of many. No other child of mine is good enough for this.  You will be my legacy."

"Yes mother." Nakkai finally gives in. She bowes her head and allows her mother to fully take off her bone crown.

"The temple is empty tomorrow. You will bathe and cleanse yourself for the mating season. For me...at least. For your clan, try to find a mate. When i was younger i too feared i would never find a mate, your father was an unexpected visitor, you know. He was from another clan, i have told you this. And i have not found any male as wonderfully  worthy. You too will find one. At least for this season. You will see many new faces...."

"What do you mean? I have met every male in this clan before." Nakkai says.

"The council was ecstatic to hear you will join this season. And...news was spread through many clans that a Matriarch to be is finding her first mate." She said with a condescending smug tone.

"Mother!!! I did not agree to this." Xhor'Nakkai all but shrieks in outrage. She had no interest in mating and breeding. Much less being put through a spectacle for horny needy males of multiple other clans she has never met before. Of course, its not like she's going to find anyone. At her height and built even the biggest female, her own mother namely, was smaller than her. She is not very optimistic in finding anyone that would make her instincts burn and her need to consume her the way it did her older sisters.

"It was agreed to by your Matriarch. That is enough." She says. "Look at you, 350 and still not a single suckling. When i was your age i already had 10 Sucklings at home, raised by 10 different males." Her mother flicks her on her head and clicks.

"I already know i am going to hate every moment of the next few months." Nakkai huffs and lays her heavy head on the desk.

"That's because you haven't had a male writhing under you. Wrestling a male who is fighting for his life with a broken leg and biting on your shoulder as you...."

"Mother please...." she shrieks again.

"What? You are not a suckling anymore. You are a grown female. Your sisters were running around chasing males when they were barely 200. It's just breeding instincts. It's perfectly honorable to pounce on any males that strike your fancy. I never let your father to leave...."

"Mother please.  Please. I get it. Ok. I will. I will go to the temple. Just stop talking about you and father." Nakkai hisses in annoyance.

"Why of ally children, the one most worthy is acting like some sort of neutered runt. Tomorrow you will go to the temple and the priest, you remember him his names was Yellow Tusk, yes he is still alive surprisingly. He will show you what to do. Since today, as per the laws of mating season you will refrain from wearing any armor. Tomorrow the priest and i will help you fully prepare but until then....just don't wear armor and don't carry any weapons."

"Yes mother."

"Ah... i almost forgot.  You should go and visit the nursery. And the training grounds. Your older sisters want to see you before they become too busy with the Sucklings. Same with the younger ones."

"Oh?? How is RedSand? Last i heard she had twins again." Nakkai asked about her older sister. Of all of her sisters, that is all 50 females birthed by the Matriarch, Red Sand was the second youngest and Nakkai's closest sibling. It was Red Sand that remained by Nakkai's side when she was separated from her peers.

She remembered those days when she cried and angrily threw tantrums demanding to see her siblings who where males. It was after she effectively bit off a few fingers and her mother grabbed her by the dreads and dangled her off a cliff that she sniffled into silence long enough to understand that the reason was, because she was bigger, meaner and more violent that she had to be separated. That all females were separated.

She knows she has many male siblings as well. Younger and older. But it is only with her sisters that she felt a close bond. Sadly enough, she would not recognize her brothers for anything other than their scent that deters her in mating season.

"She's fine. A bit cranky since she hasn't had any females yet. But she's just been busy, these two youngest Sucklings are annoying her. And her mate is....well, let's just say he will die soon."

"I'll visit the Training camps and nursery today the." Nakkai  rises to her feet and bows her head to her mother.

Her mother huffs and finally leaves her daughter alone to shower and eat but not before running her strong and aged hands between Nakkai's dreads and commenting on how 'appealing' their length has become. 

Xhor'Nakkai never thought or cared about mating much less about the process of beginning the mating season. The ritual cleansing at the temple, the symbols and writings, the ribbons, the rules and laws and the grueling process of being around so many prospects.

Years before, she would just hide inside her home and burry her head in her furs and bones deep enough not to hear the sounds of growling and clicks of mating. And luckily, she was infamous enough to never attract any unwelcomed guests.

But it seems that this year, she will have no chance to escape.

What was the poin? She thinks. To humiliate her in public? So that everyone can see that she has no males wrestling for her attention? Yes she can have any that she wants but still.... it's  embarrassing, that a runt would have mates amongst themselves and she would have to go looking across many clans to find one, only one, brave enough to approach her.

It's painful. It hurts in her chest, somewhere deep in her chest. It hurst like she has been stabbed. She knows the feeling. It's loneliness.  The deep aggression and desperation melting into frustration and gnawing at her bones like a chestburter xeno. It's that feeling of instincts gone ignored. Of a mating cycle left alone. It's a feeling of not having a mate. It's a mating rut. All females go through. Only Xhor'Nakkai's hurt like a wound to the gut.