Sienna saw the apology post Elias made. "Cute and cuddly," she muttered and scoffed. In no universe, would Elias ever think of her like that. Aside from bear beast men and other types that had natural fat, most beast men were fit and they liked their partners that way.
She ignored the post and adjusted the drone which Liman had delivered that afternoon to replace the one Elias broke. Aside from livestreaming herself working out, she also planned to share her meals. Because she had been trending all day, thousands of viewers tuned in to watch her.
Servants stood to the side in the kitchen, watching her curiously. The head cook watched the clock, wondering when she would get her territory back.
Sienna cleared her throat, "Hello babies," she waved at the camera with two hands. "Thank you all for tuning to SiennaFit. If you are looking to lose weight, tone the body, or just become fit without having to leave your house, you are in the right place. Another secret to weigh loss is the diet." She slapped her stomach and it made a drum like noise.
Someone guffawed.
Laughing small beast head emojis floated over the screen.
Sienna laughed as well. "Where I come from, a sound like that means the fruit is ripe." She leaned forward and whispered, "But I am not ripe, so nobody should try to eat me."
Then she leaned back. "Okay, let's cook some nourishing carrot soup for lunch. The ingredients include of course...carrots, a large potato, an onion." She lifted every ingredient as she named it, as well as the available spices, which were not many. "This soup is good for the waistline and the spirit." She joked.
The chat exploded, with a sudden influx of rabbit beast men. It was as if someone had personally called and invited all of them.
"Finally, something without meat."
"Carrot soup! Is that even possible?"
"Forget the soup, why did you call the fox lord terrible?"
"Is it true or false that you ignored your kids?"
Sienna's smile twitched. "Welcome, more babies that are here for the right reasons which are carrots, greens and waistlines." She had an automatic slicer that did the hard work. Her role was to toss the ingredients into the pot with theatrical flair.
She made jokes of course, to keep the viewers entertained. But they were not fooled, they wanted that gossip like hungry men wanted a handful of rice.
"Sienna, is it true the fox lord is bad in bed?"
"Did you jump out of a bush and demand for conjugal rights?"
Sienna stirred furiously, muttering, "I wish I could jump."
Meanwhile, in Meadow city where most rabbit beast men lived, a group was gathered around the Rabbit Lord, Tito Red, scribbling noted like monks copying scriptures.
"Carrots, greens, vegetable broth..." one whispered. "At the next Beast cup cook off, we are getting our vegetarian dignity back."
They ignored the marital gossip entirely, treating Sienna's livestream like a sacred culinary doctrine.
***
Back in the kitchen, Sienna sliced an apple, which was unrelated to the carrot soup which was cooling down. She did not realize Ali was creeping closer, fluffy ears trembling, eyes locked on the bowl of soup Sienna had set aside. She tried to look casual, touching cabinets and other things, but her tail betrayed her. It was wagging with greedy anticipation.
Lady Cadelaria, standing in the corner, and watching like a hawk, narrowed her eyes. She'll bark my granddaughter, the woman thought. If she dares, I will not show her mercy.
But then--plot twist. Sienna grabbed Ali by the waist and sat her down on the counter. "Greedy little thing," she touched Ali's nose. "If you drool anymore, we will all drown in your saliva."
Ali turned red.
Sienna picked up a spoon, scooped some coup and blew on it. She held it out, "Open your mouth, don't blame me if you don't like it. There is no meat in here."
Ali froze, stunned. One time, she had tried to take a piece of meat from her mother's bedroom. Not only was she barked at, she was also shoved away. Was this a trick?
"I guess you don't want it." Sienna said, diverting the spoon.
Ali bit down on the spoon suddenly, slurping greedily. A bit of orange soup dripped down her chin.
The comments came in steadily.
"Fox beast men eating carrot soup!"
"What does Elias think of your soup?"
Lady Cadelaria almost had a heart attack. "She...she fed her?!"
Even the servants were astounded. It did not end at one spoon, Sienna continued to feed Ali, while taking every opportunity availed to touch and fondle and the little one's ears. The viewers were loving it because the little one slurped soup like a starved beast.
"It can't be that good." The head cook said. She marched over. picked up a ladle and scooped just a bit. One taste made her eyes widen. "Mmm, not bad at all. It's not meaty but I can see myself having it on the side, with some bread that is stuffed with meat."
"I want a taste too."
"Me too."
Eager voices filled the kitchen, all forgetting that there was only too much soup to go around. Sienna had cooked three bowls at most, and Ali was about to polish off one on her own.
The sweet moment was broken as Eli burst into the kitchen. "Bad woman, are you trying to poison my sister?" he shouted.
Just like that, drama returned to the livestream.
Before Sienna could respond to Eli, a woman walked into the kitchen and got on her knees. It was Patience Murchison, tears were streaming down her eyes.
"What is this?" Sienna looked around, very puzzled.
Patience blurted out, "Sienna, I am sorry. Everything that has gone wrong in your marriage, blame it on me. Years ago, I heard Elias and Liman talking about how you had come to see him and claimed you were pregnant. He was worried about your intentions because you helped him through his heat but made some conditions. Financial ones." She raised her eyes, a ruthless coldness passing beneath and then it fizzled out, replaced with pretentious regret. "I did not mean to make you seem like a stalker that deliberately got pregnant. I was just worried that you wanted to extort him."
"Liman." Lady Cadelaria screamed.