1/1 update for July 24, 2022.

Like that, Jenny passed her second week in the city and almost three weeks in the beast world. Bai Qingqing had yet to return and neither had Winston. Jenny was collecting various herbs and plants with Mestor and Simon for company when she felt a very unfortunate feeling. Knowing the sliding, wet sensation, Jenny bolted upright ready to run back to the den if necessary.

Of course, the two men with her noticed immediately. Not liking how their pupils dilated and nostrils flared, Jenny wished she hadn't gone out today. She took her lack of PMS for granted and now she had to deal with this situation.

"Jenny, your cycle," Simon said with barely contained elation.

"You need to go back to your den," said Mestor curtly.

Fortunately, there were no others around her currently. Nodding her head, Jenny was already on her way back. Simon shifted and started bouncing and yipping around them. Feeling anxious, Jenny increased her speed to a light jog. She tried to control her muscles by will to keep anymore from spilling out. Naturally, that wasn't a logical or achievable practice.

As she passed some strangers, their heads turned dramatically towards her causing her to swear. Jenny felt like a freak show and cursed that this world was too period crazy. Feeling suddenly weightless, Jenny panicked and almost punched Mestor.

"This is faster," Mestor said tensely.

Although Jenny understood that logic, it didn't mean she liked it. Feeling like she was on a bouncy scooter, Jenny hoped that they would get back any second. She was not used to being carried and would never live it down if she got blood on the man carrying her.

Their trip back was quick, but a few beasts tagged along. Mestor growled at them as Jenny ran inside. Jenny went to grab the cotton immediately, but felt a weight on her back as she hit the floor. Panicking for the second time today she gave Simon's snout a solid punch.

He backed off and sneezed. Jenny bolted up from her knocked-down position and stared wearily at Simon. For the first time, she felt some fear towards him. She had already told him that she got her cycle more than once a year, though she didn't specify how much.

Still, Simon got excited enough to tackle her and that did not make her feel good at all. She watched him and hoped her one hit knocked some sense into him. His pupils dilated and his tongue hung from his mouth.

"Simon," Jenny started cautiously. "Are you okay?" Jenny wasn't asking about the hit.

Simon approached her still in his beast form and Jenny shouted, "Harvey!" She knew the that he wasn't here, but still called for him.

A flash of red sent Simon tumbling into some of her baskets. Jenny cursed and watched a massive red fox pin down Simon. The black wolf stopped growing and whimpered. When the fox released him, Simon flashed his belly up and whined.

The fox gave her a quick look before shooting a glare at Simon. Simon shifted and his gaze would meet neither of theirs. Satisfied with the response, the fox left.

"Simon," Jenny started cautiously. He flinched and nodded. Sighing, Jenny knew he was back in control.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Simon whimpered. Jenny swore she could even see some tears in his eyes. Jenny realized that she was crying a little herself. She wiped off the couple of trails quickly. She always got more emotional around her period time.

Jenny didn't answer immediately. If anyone had the right to cry right now, it was her. She might not have trusted him with everything, but she had trusted Simon with a lot. She hadn't expected him to jump her like that. 'He wasn't even in his human form, what would he have done?' Jenny shivered at her own thoughts. She wasn't willing to go there.

"Why?" Jenny asked. The answer wouldn't have mattered much to her right now, but she still found herself asking.

"I... I got too excited I'm sorry. I hadn't been so close to a female on her cycle before," Simon said with his eyes still on the floor.

Realizing an important point that she hadn't taken into consideration, Jenny asked his age. "Never? How old are you?"

"No, I just matured last rainy season. I will have lived 21 rainy seasons soon," answered Simon.

Jenny sighed in relief. She didn't know what age counted as mature here and was scared that Simon looked much older than his age. Saving her curious question about beastmen for later, Jenny sent Simon outside so they could both calm down. Once he was out, she took care of her situation.

Jenny cleaned up her underwear as well as she could and pulled out her new, makeshift panties. She was glad she thought ahead to make something like this. Feeling better that her problem was taking care of, she got rid of the evidence. The rag she used to clean up was thrown into the smoldering pile of ash. That was where all her used cotton would end up too. Her other option was to have it buried deep underground, but this way was easier.

Jenny peeked out her door and looked around. Things looked calm enough. She caught sight of Simon and the fox from earlier. Given its reactions, she believed that it was Mestor. She waved Simon back in and Mestor stayed outside.

Since things were much calmer than earlier, Jenny tried to have a talk with Simon. He deeply regretted his actions earlier, but Jenny wasn't able to rest assured. A seed of doubt had been planted and Jenny couldn't remove it easily. Despite that, she did not kick Simon out. She needed him around. If he had difficulties controlling himself, Harvey could stay with her while she bled and Simon could hunt.

Simon had a hard time meeting Jenny's eyes for the rest of the day. Although he would have never hurt her intentionally, he might have made things much worse had Jenny and Mestor not stopped him. He underestimated the scent of estrous. He didn't dare bring up cubs now. He knew that Jenny would get her estrous again this year and felt a little better.

Simon knew that Jenny and Harvey were not mates and had no intention of becoming such. That left him as the only contender for Jenny's affection unless he included the fox outside. He knew the fox left Jenny gifts, but did not volunteer the information. He might not be able to stop the courting, but he didn't want to speed it up either.

Simon felt dirty. Who was he to try and manipulate things? He was weak and Jenny had no mates. Her only other protection was Harvey, a no-stripe like himself. Honestly, having Mestor around relieved him. He just had hoped that he would be accepted by Jenny first.

Jenny noticed Simon's pessimistic mood. He practically had a storm cloud hanging over him. She didn't say anything though. She had forgiven him somewhat, but she didn't want him to know that. What happened today could never happen again. It was necessary for Simon to brood on his actions. That was the conclusion she came to, even if it stung her heart to watch.

Turning her thoughts elsewhere, Jenny assessed the busted up baskets that Simon had crashed into. She got to work picking the fallen things up and mending the broken ones. Simon joined her hastily and they both worked until Harvey got home.

Once Harvey was back, Jenny explained what happened today. Simon looked like like a dying slug and Jenny minded her words as much as possible. Simon filled Harvey in the rest of the way after Jenny stepped outside.

Catching a glimpse of red, she called quietly, "Mestor?" A moment later a very large fox was staring at her curiously. The only difference Jenny could see was his dilating pupils. At least he had some control. "Thank you. For earlier."

Jenny felt the words were too shallow. She was pretty damned scared and he saved her bacon. She wasn't sure how far Simon would've took it, even if she wanted to think the best of him. Her gratitude was sincere.

Mestor yipped and gave her a fox smile. His fluffy tail swished back and forth twice before he turned around and left. Jenny said goodbye and went back inside.

For the next four days, Jenny only left the house to go to the sandbox. If she needed a bath, Harvey and Simon would bring the water to her. She didn't know when they got to making a stone basin, but she was very happy. Her period made her feel extra gross and dirty.

If she could, she would've gone back in time and thanked herself. She had cotton galore and a huge bamboo stack to work with. She had plenty to do.

Harvey had made her an array of simple hand tools from both bones and stones to use. That was very helpful since her knife couldn't do everything well. Harvey stayed with her the whole time and she heaved a sigh of relief. She hated that she couldn't trust Simon, but he was the one that blew it.

Harvey made a great crafting buddy. He taught her how do things better and even commented on how far her weaving skill had come along. Feeling giddy at that praise, Jenny worked hard on several new projects. Her period drained her energy and motivation so she had to practice self-discipline often. It wasn't easy.

Her first project was a bamboo mat. She didn't want to sit on the stone floor all the time as it wreaked havoc on her back muscles and posture. She would love to work her way up to a proper chair one day. It took most of her second day of bleeding to make, but she made it big enough for her to lay on. Her 5'4 self just barely fit, laying down on it length wise. Her and Harvey could sit on it without knocking knees. It would do nicely for now.

Her second one was carving cooking utensils and cutlery. She finished these and also made a large pooper scooper from the biggest bamboo piece. Jenny had shuddered when Harvey told her how the sandbox was cleaned. She lectured him about hygiene and was ashamed to learn that he was already practicing hand washing and some other basic hygienic habits. Feeling stupid, she asked Harvey to tell Simon the same and he agreed.

Project number three was a new set of clothes for herself. All of the bigger pelts were used for the bedroom door/curtain and the bed itself. She worked with what looked like a goat pelt and made herself a top. She made it baggy, but airy. Like her current top, but much longer. It was a very short dress that barely covered her behind. She had seen women wear a lot less in public back on earth, but that didn't mean she wanted to do the same here. This would be an outfit to sleep in, she decided.

Her last idea involved turning cotton into thread. Keeping her expectations low, Jenny tried her best. She figured the first part was turning the cotton into thread. She had no clue how looms worked, so she could only think of something by hand. If she could get it looking like yarn and wrap it around a spool-like thing, she could try to crochet.

Her grandma attempted to teach her how to when she was a kid. She wasn't interested at the time and quit after learning how to create a single chain. She wished she paid more attention now. Thinking about it, she was getting ahead of herself. Jenny wouldn't have to worry about how to crochet until after she had yarn to work with.

Jenny concentrated on her task. She stretched the yarn out and rolled it up. looking at the coil, Jenny was reminded of pottery. Pottery would be something else to consider in the future. 'Ah,' she was getting off track. Taking her coil, Jenny proceeded to twist and twist until she got something that looked like string. It wasn't even and Jenny knew she wasn't doing a great job, but at least it resembled what she was trying for.

Harvey carved her a spool and Jenny rolled up the string. She hit her first real dilemma; combining the thread ends. She might have to just tie it in knots for now. She played around with knots until she found something that worked. Sighing in exasperation, Jenny felt in over her hand.

Even if she succeeded making the yarn after god knows how long, she would need to turn it into something. There was no way that would be a quick and easy task. Deciding that it was too much to try now, Jenny set it aside. Instead she worked on some more baskets and mats.

On her fifth and final day bleeding, Harvey helped her build a chair. It was more of a stool actually. It creaked when she sat on it, but Jenny felt like it would hold up so long as she didn't drop herself onto it.

Since goals had been achieved, Jenny asked Harvey to gather any information about Winston and Bai Qingqing's return. He was reluctant to leave by herself, so it was another task for Simon. Jenny was sure that Bai Qingqing and Winston had to show up soon. It was unlikely that the plot was off balance already.

Excusing herself to the sandbox, Jenny used the opportunity to check her saturation level. Her bleeding was pretty light this time and she was almost done spotting. Other than a few strong cramps, her period was pretty merciful this time around. Thanking the universe and her body for the small favor, Jenny went back inside.

She told Harvey that she could go out tomorrow and requested an investigation into the aforementioned individuals. Harvey saw no reason to refuse and accepted. Jenny felt nervous over Winston and had to remind herself that she practiced for both rejection and acceptance. It was a matter of beating Bai to the punch so to speak. Jenny had two or three opportunities at the most on the day he returned. She couldn't hope to catch him before the show of him being rejected by the fox female. That left her with interceding before he left the stage, chasing after him as he left, or catching him early in the bonfire.

There was no way she could appear on stage which left her with options two and three. She would go for the second one and if that failed, move on to the third. Feeling steadier with an actual plan in mind, Jenny relaxed and told Harvey. Gaining his approval was easy.

Once Simon was back, she explained her plans to him. He at least deserved some transparency after all he's done for her. Simon looked a little upset, but he didn't say a single word of rebuke or objection. He just agreed sadly.

Jenny scratched her head. Winston was an essential family member for her. Despite all of her recent triumphs, she was in a dangerous position. It couldn't be good to have so little protection, but she couldn't make herself sleep with any random guy who fancied her. If she couldn't do that, then she had to pick quality over quantity. She couldn't do better than four stripes in terms of power right now, making Winston ideal.

That was only if she looked at this from a calculative perspective. Jenny liked Winston's personality and was sure that he would be good to her. She would be good to him as well. It might take a while to actually sleep with him, but she felt he would respect her choice to wait.

The goal had not changed and now she had some level of planning. After cooking some food and settling down, Jenny fell asleep faster than she expected.