The True Endgame

“Look!” Olly whispers, tugging Corwin and Fenrir closer. “Deer.”

“Are they your long last family?” Fenrir whispers back to him.

“Wait… does it make me a cannibal if I want to eat venison?”

“I’d say so. I mean, you’re a deer, and they’re deer, so… yeah, you’re a cannibal.”

“But I just have the antlers since they’re cute!”

“Fine, you’re a cute cannibal. What do you think, Corwin?”

“I would rather not think of my dearest as a cannibal, but… I find myself agreeing with Fenrir,” Corwin says.

“I’ll eat you if you call me a cannibal again!” Oleander loudly whispers at his boyfriend while pouting and smacking his arms.

The commotion causes the deer to look up, look straight at them, and run away.

“Guess you won’t be eating any venison,” Fenrir says.

Oleander’s stomach grumbles. “See, I can’t be a cannibal even if I want to be,” he says.

“You admit that you wish to be a cannibal?” Corwin asks him.

Oleander answers with a pout and some more playful smacking.

The deer are not the only life that the forest has to offer. Plenty of birds sitting high up in the trees are chirping, bushes are rustling and twigs are snapping as smaller critters scurry about, the strident calls of insects can be heard from all around, and—in general—they feel as if the spawn rates in the area must be cranked up given just how abundant with life the forest is.

“Lots of food,” Fenrir says. “I hope there are some wild turkeys around.”

“Why turkeys?” Corwin asks.

“Because I love turkey. It might not be as juicy and fatty as duck, but – wait, we should go check out the river. I hope there are ducks there.”

“Are you two only thinking about eating these animals at the moment?”

Both Fenrir and Oleander look at Corwin and nod.

“Very well, then let us examine the river,” Corwin says.

Meanwhile, Rock is happy just eating rocks and apparently tree bark as well.

And so, the group heads over to the river.

What they find causes both of the hungry men’s stomachs to growl in desire.

Fish jumping from the water, shellfish on the riverbanks, ducks floating around and pecking at any fish that venture close to the surface, and there are some other wild animals hanging around to drink from the water.

“Duck,” Fenrir says. “I want a roast duck. Now.”

“I want deer and fish… hey, Fenny, can you use your fishing rod to catch ducks and deer?” Oleander asks.

“I – I think I might feel kind of bad trying to hook a duck or a deer, but… I’m really hungry now.”

In response to Fenrir and Oleander salivating at the sight before them, Corwin flicks them both on the backs of their heads and says, “I did not know that you were both so ravenous. There is food back on the vessel if it is so important.”

“I’m a wolf. I’m supposed to get hungry when I see animals.”

“That makes you sound like a total furry, but I feel you right now,” Oleander says.

“That’s because you’re touching me.”

“I know. That’s why I said I feel you.” Oleander strokes Fenrir’s arm.

Corwin sighs and flicks them both again. “Even Rock and Shogun are better behaved than you two are right now,” he says.

“Listen, if those ducks were made out of rocks, she’d be charging over there,” Fenrir says.

Rock lifts her head and looks around for any ducks made out of rocks. Unfortunately, she fails to find any and goes back to hardly paying attention.

As for Shogun – well, he just stays with Rock. Sure, he’s interested in flying over the water to try and snatch up a duck for himself, but he knows that he wouldn’t be able to share it with Rock and he doesn’t want to leave her side.

“Anyways, all we have on The Shoebill is carbs. Wolves need meat. Not dry bread,” Fenrir tells Corwin.

“And deer need… deer and fish!” Oleander says.

“You are both ridiculous. Now, let us return to The Shoebill. We have done enough looking around, haven’t we?” Corwin suggests.

“Actually… how about you two head back with the dogs,” Fenrir says, lumping Shogun in with Rock as a dog. They’re both canines, so Shogun is an honorary dog by default. “I’ll just swim back from the river. I want to see how deep it is, what’s in it, and what’s in the water off the beach.”

“Very well, Fenrir. We shall see you back onboard the boat.”

“You just want to have all the fun by yourself!” Oleander says with a pout. “But… if you take your time then me and Cor will have some more privacy.” Oleander’s predatory eyes look up at Corwin. Those eyes that were previously hungering for deer are now hungering for a different kind of meat.

Corwin was showing a rare bit of assertiveness, but Oleander’s eyes have turned Corwin from assertive to submissive with a single look.

“I’ll leave you two to it. Rock, you head back with them. I’ll meet up with you all,” Fenrir tells Rock, giving her a pat on the head. He gives Shogun a few pats behind his ears while he’s close, too. Seeing as how Shogun is an honorary dog, that means he needs head pats and ear scratches as well.

With Oleander and Corwin heading back to The Shoebill, and Rock and Shogun having their heads patted and scratched, Fenrir walks up to the edge of the riverbank and looks down into it.

His ears are twitching with excitement and his tail swiftly wags from side to side. The fur of his ears and tail only recently finished drying off after swimming over from The Shoebill in the first place, and now they are going to get soaked once again.

Fenrir doesn’t mind that, of course. His girlfriends might, but he doesn’t. He can’t even smell his own wet dog scent after whenever he’s in the water. His nose has grown desensitized to it. Though, he will admit that it’s disappointing when his tail isn’t fluffy. A fluffy tail is a good tail and superior in every way over wet tails.

Cracking his neck, rolling his shoulders, and wearing a wide smile, Fenrir dives into the river!

He probably should have been more careful since he almost busts his face on the bottom of the river, but it’s just deep enough to not hurt himself. It gets deeper the farther he swims from the riverbank as well.

While he may partially be in the water for fun, his main goal was to find out whether or not it would be deep enough for The Shoebill and any larger vessels to sail through. Running aground is the last thing that they need. Fortunately, he discovers that the river is more than deep enough for any potential vessels as long as they stay away from its edges.

His secondary objective was to find out how many fish there are in the river.

The answer to his second objective is even better than he was hoping it would be. There are schools of fish of varying sizes and types swimming around within the river. Many of the larger fish are swimming upstream while the smaller ones tend to hang around in the same spots or swim out into the ocean. There even look to be hundreds of blue lobsters hanging around at the bottom of the river! Not only is the river deep enough for The Shoebill and has a plethora of fish for fishing, but it even has a ton of lobsters!

Fenrir just hopes that they taste good. He’s never had lobster in real life, but he knows that they’re supposed to taste even better than crab.

With the forest and river both being full of life, Fenrir’s dream of settling his future city here grows more and more concrete. He knew that having a place with a decent food supply would be important until they can become self-sustainable with farming, and now they have a location featuring an abundance of potential food without even taking into consideration the wild vegetables, fruits, and berries.

The closer the river gets to the ocean, the more life that he finds within the water. In fact, he notices something particularly amazing that he didn’t notice on his way in: a coral reef. A vast, beautiful reef featuring hundreds of different corals all colors of the rainbow extends into the river’s mouth from the ocean. The reef only grows wider and taller the deeper and farther out he gets into the ocean.

There are even more fish around the reef than there are types of corals. Smaller fish hide within hair-like tendrils swaying with the tide, sharks swim around looking for the next easy meal, crabs climb over top of each other, serpentine fish hide in nooks and crannies while waiting for tasty snacks to swim in front of them to lunge out at, and there are plenty of tentacles protruding from the reef’s many corals.

Yep. Fenrir loves this place.

“It’s hard to believe that Earth used to have reefs like this,” Fenrir thinks to Saya.

“Only in aquariums now, but that’s okay! We have this place to cherish now,” Saya thinks back to him.

“Yeah, I just hope that it’ll be a good place for a city – you know, with the actual building stuff. Like, maybe Rao will say the land isn’t good for building.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, baka Onii-chan!”

“You know, you don’t have to force random tsun moments in. It’s not like you have a tsun quota to meet for being a tsundere.”

“I’ll do whatever I want, including forcing it in! Hmph! Wa-wait…”

“Lewd.”

“Baka!”

“I didn’t know you wanted to force it into me. What a perverted little sister living inside my head.”

“Baka! Idiot! Hentai! Pervert! Jerk! Stupid! Hmph!” Saya gives him the loudest, sassiest “hmph” that he’s ever heard.