Setsuna snored. She was nocturnal and all this running around in the day tired her out.
Haruka just kept lookout.
When the Senshi re-enchantment had occurred, all of them had been submerged more in their animal identities. This had very little effect on Ami, but was more a problem for everyone else.
Dogs are pack animals. Though far removed from wolves from thousands of years of domestication, they were still biologically close. Much of their behavior hearkens back to the wolf and the Pack.
Haruka was a greyhound, which was a running/chasing dog. While a wolf would eventually outrun a greyhound in terms of endurance and could take one in a fight, the greyhound was quite capable of bursts of speed that would outpace a wolf in anything less than crosscountry runs. Still, there was the same instinct for the Pack that sung in Haruka's new form(s) that was in a typical dog.
Ranma was Pack Alpha. In all matters she deferred to him. She'd play with him, guard him, and back him up without a thought as to dignity or pride. She was also a bit "whiffy" as she'd rolled in some things aboard the ship, again obeying ancient instinct - this was how one brought a scent back to the Pack.
Her position with the others was less certain. Hotaru was stronger, but less dominant. Setsuna was physically weaker, but more dominant. Usagi was at the bottom of the Pack, being neither particularly dominant or strong.
They'd eventually settled into roles that "felt" right. Haruka was a guard/scout. She patrolled outside the Pack, looking for dangers and food.
She listened with half an ear (literally) to the fox-girl's report. She didn't worry about the future. That was not the way of Dog. Dog, like Wolf and most animals, lived in the eternal Now.
Ship not usable meant nothing much for now, so Haruka merely sniffed the breeze and catalogued the many odors. That smelled like... turtles?!
Hotaru was in her near-human catgirl form and judging her strength. High. Much higher than you'd expect from her short height and thin build. Not nearly as high as in anthropomorph form.
She playfully set the tags on her collar jingling with a swipe of her nails. She wasn't as agile as Ami, nor have that cat-claw attack of Minako, but she was very very strong.
When the Senshi re-enchantment had occured, things had changed in Hotaru's mind. No longer was she Hotaru - girl who had been reborn in the form of some kind of small tiger hybrid. She had become Hotaru, the cat who had been one of several animals rescued by Ranma and who had bonded with him over the years.
She was Ranma's. That was it and that was that. There was no negative emotion and it was not slavery. Ranma was hers as well.
Sitting on the roof of the bridge of the ship, Hotaru lifted her head and looked over at where Ranma was trying to get driftwood together for a fire. Putting aside the iron bar she'd practically tied in a knot, Hotaru watched her Ranma and unconsciously licked her lips.
Tigers had a hiearchy in the wild, just as dogs had their Packs, so too did a tiger have her pride.
Ranma was Pride Alpha. She was one of the top females in the Pride, but she might have to fight for position soon. While these were all her friends - when the need hit she would want her time with the male uninterrupted.
Hotaru felt her heart beat faster just at the thought of that. She had grown up with Ranma, knew him as well as she knew herself. She had watched over him for years, and as she had grown larger had cuddled less and guarded more.
Hotaru's eyes narrowed as she saw movement in the jungle.
The group had broken up after Michiru's announcement.
Minako caught sight of Haruka and Hotaru on guard duty, and was reassured. Relying on Usagi to keep watch wasn't recommended.
Minako, for her part, remembered being a kitten. Remembered being dumped in a pit. Remembered Ranma. He had smelled of another cat, Ami, but that just meant sharing a human.
The love of a cat for a human was not a slavish thing, but he owned her completely anyway. Now that she was human (mostly), looking at him kicked off feelings that were atypical of the cat owner/cat relationship.
It was all quite acceptable. It was the way of a Cat to accept situations with cool pride and perhaps a little smirk.
Minako blinked, not sure that she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. It was:
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(Posted Sun, 09 Mar 2003 11:20)
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