Beauties and Beasts

Chapter 44: brought to you by manly contusions

In the next episode of "I Shouldn't Eat This, But I'm Gonna": Rugby played by OP toddlers, which goes as well as you expect.

_____________________________________________

"Do we have to wear these?" Two lines of males stood in the field, Ryan, Theo, Tony, and Orson on one side and Parker, Winston, Harvey, and Joseph on the other. Ryan's team sported loose hide shirts the girls had dyed bright red while Winston's team was shirtless.

"How will you know who's on your team?" Neara grinned, in high spirits despite the cloudy weather.

Orson raised an eyebrow. "There's only 4 of us, you meathead! And be careful with your babies!"

"Right, so the object of the game is to get the goat bladder from one end of the field to the other without getting it taken away from you. If you stop moving, the bladder switches sides. If you drop it, the bladder switches sides. You can't throw forward, only backwards or sideways. No tackling above the waist and you have to hug them to bring them down, but only if they have the bladder." Shay tried to keep the squeak of excitement out of her voice. "No punching, kicking, biting, scratching, or using your tails."

"And you can't change into your beast forms!" Neara yelled.

"Yeah, no beast forms. You guys ready?"

The two lines glared at each other so intensely smoke almost rose where they met. Shay laid the thick bladder down in the middle and ran off.

Once the girls were safely behind the forest, they yelled, "Go!" together.

The first few trial runs resulted in a field change. The dried grass became too slippery with blood. Rules went out the window when Ryan slashed at Joseph during a pass and Joseph retaliated with a kick to the face. Tony's attempts to impress Neara by taking the ball from his own teammate led to a punt that landed him almost in the river. Theo, in a bid to prove himself, tried to be everywhere on the field at once and only succeeded in tripping everyone. After one beastman went down, the other side was quick to pummel them.

Once everyone had washed most of the gore from their faces, they started again. Neara and Shay both frowned at their respective mates. "Come on! It's supposed to be fun!"

Joseph smiled. "I'm having a blast!" He'd escaped most of the serious injuries while Parker and Orson, still recovering, led the charge in most blood spilled.

"Seriously! Stop trying to hurt each other and just have fun!"

Orson rolled his shoulders and winced. "Fun would be making sure we have enough wood for winter. Fun would be cooking more food. Aren't you hungry, Neara?"

Her mouth watered, but she shook her head.

Shay scowled at Orson. "She's not eating until you guys play a decent game! Yeah, that's right. Think of the poor, starving, pregnant female with nothing to eat because the males can't figure out how to play a simple game." She pouted her bottom lip and put an arm around Neara. "Pretend to be starving," she whispered. "Poor Neara!" She raised her voice again, "If only they could play a game without trying to kill each other."

"I am hungry though. He always knows..." Neara whispered back.

Winston's stoic face let a small smile through. "I will play fairly for Neara's sake."

"I'll play fair too!" Theo piped up.

"Nobody cares, Theo," after catching the glare from Neara, "but I'll play fair too." Orson grumbled.

"When my team wins, Shay, I promise the honor of my win to you." Joseph smiled at her.

"When I win, Neara will let me be her mate!" Tony said with joy.