Friendly Guidance
By Limewah
Patron Reward for Moggers (October 2023)
SNEAK PEEK

You know you’re being stalked. You’ve heard the tell tale scrape of scales against bark, the rustle and shift of the trees above. As soon as you noticed it, your slow wandering became a more purposeful one - you had no idea where you were going, but you were going to act like it. Confidence would scare the creature off. Besides, you were too bony to make a good meal, even for the most desperately hungry creature. 
When you cast the beam of your heavy flashlight towards the tree-tops, you only catch glimpses of fat, black scales. 
You listen out even as you walk, and hear a third sound with the others. A very soft hiss. Yes, definitely a snake… maybe they’re just curious, or maybe they’re waiting for you to sit or linger so they can creep down and coil you up. Not a chance of that…
“Hey!”
The voice makes your head turn sharply, and with it, the beam of flashlight. The source of the sound yelps and flinches, caught off guard by the dazzling beam and covering their eyes.
“Aghh…” they look like… a red panda? A little shorter than you, tubbier too, with long hair cascading down behind them. They look like they’ve been here a while. “Careful with that thing!”
You hiss at them to quieten down, and tell them there’s a predator stalking you.
“Oh… oh gosh, okay,” the wah says, their voice hushing to a whisper to match yours. 
“You’re lost, right?” The panda asks. “So am I…”
“How long have you been out here?” You ask.
“I’ve lost count,” they say, sighing softly. They’re sort of huddled behind some shrubbery, everything below the belly obscured to your eye. 
“Uhm… are you naked?” You ask. 
“Yeah, ehhehm…” their paws go down to their un-seen crotch. “Yeah. Sorry. I forgot about that. Let’s uhm… see if we can retrace your steps. That snake up there? He’s just curious. Doesn’t mean anyone any harm, from my experience.”
You notice a very slight lisp to their voice, and they seem to be making a conscious effort to hit those ‘s’s in a particular way.
You don’t see any reason not to trust them, so you wheel around and start to walk. They follow close by, still obscured by the brush and keeping a slightly respectful distance. You still notice the rustling and sliding, though it seems to be receding…
“So, what’s got you out here?” The panda asks. “I run into a lot of hikers like you…”
You respond that, yes, you’re just out on a hike with friends, and you went for a wander and lost track of-

…hang on.
If they’ve met hikers before, but they’re still in the forest…
“Sssomething on your mind? Oop-“

You caught it in the flashlight beam. A forked tongue flitting out from between the pouty lips of the panda’s muzzle. They don’t seem too perturbed by you noticing - in fact, they’re beaming with a fanged grin.
“Oopssie… sssorry, I think I’m done playing around with my food.”
They lift up slowly. Just below their belly, where their crotch should be, is pearl-white belly scutes and vantablack scales.
“Sssso, let’sss cut to the chasssse, ssssnack~!”

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