Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Tighnari lived a very simple life. As a Forest Ranger in Sumeru’s Gandhara Ville, his usual day to day duties were quite simple. Check in with the other rookie student Rangers, send them out to patrol certain routes, train these students, go to the forest and study the biology of the different plants and creatures residing in the area, and manage the Ville’s medical bay.

Other people would call this sort of daily business “tedious” and maybe even say that it was overworking the poor man, but Tighnari begged to differ. This was his life’s work, this was a career to him.

Being able to keep the forests safe and understand the heart of the greatest rainforests in the country made Tighnari feel a sense of accomplishment and motivation that nothing else had given him. Being able to train these new Forest Rangers also helped him a lot, he was able to demonstrate and teach his expertise to the next generation of Rangers.

Besides that, he also did have what many people would call a family. Well… this was pretty much true after all. He was basically raising this girl as his daughter and his student.

He had started lived with the General Mahamatra about 7 years ago when Cyno had brought the little child Collei back to their residence when they were still college students at the Akademiya.

Cyno had been 21 at the time and Tighnari was just barely 19. After agreeing to a contract to become flatmates with one another to help ease off some student loan debt, the two started becoming closer. At first it was a little tense since Tighnari felt a little intimidated by the other man’s strong gaze and Cyno would always be extra cautious as to not speak about ears or tails around the fox.

Often times Cyno would usually be out in the desert on missions since he was training to be the next General Mahamatra. Usually he would be gone for about a week or so and sometimes Tighnari wondered how he didn’t get kicked out of the Akademiya from his poor attendance.

But whenever he came back, he always gave the Valunka Shuna gifts and treats. And if Tighnari seemed to be a little on edge from his intimidating composure, he would always tell his “jokes.” If you could even call them that. But most importantly, despite his intimidating first impression, Cyno also had an incredible love for Genius Invokation TCG.

This slowly became their routine for the next year or so. But one day after Cyno returned from his mission to the desert, he came back carrying a young girl on his back wrapped in a shawl.

The girl seemed to be around a maximum of 12 years old, precisely Sumerian, short green hair, and wrapped in so many bandages that Tighnari had thought she was a mummy. But by the looks of the flesh underneath, he had immediately deducted this to be none other than Eleazar.

It had been a chronic illness that called the hardening of “scales” on skin. Not only was it horribly itchy, it also caused other physical symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, and also dizziness. Tighnari recalled constructing several mobility aids for the young girl had especially severe flare-ups.

At her worst, Collei would be completely dependent on her canes to walk around, always in pain, but too physically exhausted to do anything else. At first the solution was giving her painkillers and apply ointment to the affected areas but after the Ranger decided that it was not the best for her and she was probably growing too dependent on these medications, had immediately withdrawn them cold turkey.

Even to this day, despite Collei forgiving him for it years later, the memory still haunts Tighnari to this day. He remembered that she had ran away from home that night which caused both him and Cyno to search across the entire nearby area to find her. They eventually found her all the way in Lokapala Jungle at the edge of one of the big mushroom leaves, it took much convincing from Cyno for her to come back.

Afterwards, the two had brought Collei to Birmastan Hospital where she had stayed in a pediatric unit for about three weeks. Despite tensions settling and easing up over the course of many years, Tighnari still couldn’t forgive himself for this grave mistake.

But slowly things started to get much better. Despite Collei’s Eleazar still being a huge hurdle in her day to day life, Tighnari and Cyno found many other alternative ways to help her with her chronic pain and fatigue.

As she grew up, Collei started finding solstice and hope in forest ranging with Tighnari. She grew to enjoy Cyno’s terrible jokes and Genius Invokation TCG. Collei learned how to read and write and after her 15th birthday, she went to Mondstadt and stayed there for about a year.

But despite this newfound care, Collei had to drop out of her first year of College due to a severe flare up which left her feeling horribly depressed. Tighnari decided to start properly training her to become a Forest Ranger, assigning her shorter routes that he was also familiar with and she slowly started to recover a little.

Collei had worked hard all year and by some random miracle one evening, she found that her Eleazar had mostly cleared up. After discovering this incredible news, she had re-enrolled back in the Akademiya. Although she was a year behind compared to some of her peers, she still that that fondness to learn and study.

Tighnari did feel quite relieved that the Eleazar thing was now a thing of the past, but sometimes he just couldn’t help but worry about her whenever she left early in the mornings for her classes. Cyno often liked to poke fun at him a little for those troubles.

Today was by no means different from any other day on the job but the Forest Ranger had to go camp out in the Forest for a few weeks to study the behavior patterns of Fungi in less humid-climates compared to more humid ones. This was not an unfamiliar task as Tighnari had completed such studies before but he still couldn’t help but worry a little.

With Cyno being dispatched to the desert to help resolve some tensions between a few Eremite Camps and check on their statuses, Collei was therefore left mostly on her own.

Although Collei’s reassurances were nice and Tighnari had believed her, he still couldn’t help but worry a little in the back of his mind. He hoped that Cyno would return a little sooner.

Tighnari had set off to the forest with his camping bag and supplies. He’d already told several other forest rangers in the Ville to take over and cover his routes for the next few weeks before he left. Tighnari had traveled to the northern branch of Lokapala Forest for the first week.

Usually his routine during this time consisted of patrolling the area, documenting new discoveries, and observing patterns between fungi and the wildlife in the surrounding area.

Animals in high humidity areas such as Lokapala forest exhibit more nocturnal activity to avoid heat.

Adapt— Burrows, water-dwelling and bathing, shelter.

Fungi in this area tend to grow in a more rapid manner, although typically smaller, these ones are more hyperactive.

More fungi with fan shapes heads over circle heads. Thoughts: The Fan shape helps to block out the bright sun better while the circle head can retain more moisture.

After the first week was up, Tighnari had traveled all the way down towards Ardravi Valley in the South.

It was a little less humid over there, but the climate still remained the same. Nonetheless, his research only continued further.

Nocturnal activity to avoid heat. They have shelters. Lakes and rivers help with heat.

Burrow underground. Physical characteristics such as large ears and cooling patches on birds.

Fungi have more circle shaped heads over here. The circle heads retain more moisture.

After a day of researching and observing, Tighnari had went back to his little cave for the evening to just settle down.

The temperature outside had cooled down, but for some reason Tighnari still felt quite hot and bothered.

He grimaced, trying to pinpoint this feeling when he had a realization. He had been so caught up in his research that he had completely forgotten about his own Estrus Cycle starting up again.

Damn it, this was not good.

As a descendent of the Valuka Shuna species, Tighnari knew of the common signs and symptoms of his Estrus Cycle, or his “Rut”.

This usually occurred about once every month for about two to four days. Tighnari noted that during this part in his Estrus cycle, he always grew more horny and to deal with this would always go to the bathroom or to the forest to take care of it himself.

He always noticed that his own emotions would fluctuate a week or two prior to his cycle beginning with him being more on edge, snappier, and a little less active than usual.

Whatever the case may be with his own cycle, Tighnari was at a dilemma. It was either he took care of the problem here and now in the wild or he suffered through the unbearable “pain” for two days.

Pain made it too hard to do anything else, so Tighnari sighed and did the only thing that he knew could help. Reaching into his pants and letting the outside world cloud away.

There was barely any research done within the next few days, Tighnari was in too much of a stressful dilemma to even head back out to the forest. This was especially bad since he promised Collei that he would be back home within two weeks and now it was about to be three.

Tighnari had gathered some herbs and berries in the meantime to keep himself alive, but this pain made doing anything that wasn’t relieving himself so uncomfortable.

He wondered if Cyno had came home yet. He sure hoped that he did, otherwise he would keep on worrying about Collei in the meanwhile.

It was getting dark outside, and Tighnari’s abdomen still ached with his raging hormones. The man sighed, reaching into his pants to take his dick out, lazily stroking it as he usually did before.

But why did it feel so different this time? Tighnari glanced down at his vision which was glowing, his eyes widening at the sight of Dendro vines wrapping around his body.

Losing control of his vision was something that Tighnari was not unfamiliar with during his Estrus Cycles but usually he would always take medicine to help ease his symptoms.

Why did he always forgot that his symptoms got so much worse on day 2 and 3? This unbearable pain couldn’t even let him remove his vision or even control himself anymore.

Oh this was bad… Tighnari couldn’t stop himself from collapsing on the ground, glancing up to see a shadowy figure with familiar big ears rustling through the leaves before his vision went black.

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The sound of beeping started to fill his ears, Tighnari groggily opened his eyes to see where he was was. His body was still in pain from his Estrus Cycle but it was at least a million times more manageable than before. He sat up, taking a good look at his surroundings.

He was back in Gandhara Ville? Specifically the medical bay? This couldn’t be possible, he was all the way down in Avidya Forest just a short while ago, there was no possible way that he could’ve traveled such a distance unless…

He threw the blanket off of himself, seeing the I.V. attached to his arm as he sighed in annoyance. He got back onto the bed and laid there hoping that someone would come back and check up on him.

The sound of the door rustling had caught Tighnari’s attention, his ears flickering towards the source of the sound as he saw Cyno walking into the Medical Ward.

”You’re awake.”

Tighnari watched as the General Mahamatra sat down across from him, purposefully avoiding eye contact as the Forest Ranger grew a little nervous.

”I found you in the forest, you were passed out and Dendro Vines were wrapped all around your body. I carried you all the way back here, it was miracle that Collei was around.”

Cyno crossed his arms, his expression serious as Tighnari’s ears twitched. “You were on the brink of dehydration, and you were gone for over two weeks now. Are you sure you weren’t ’trip’-ping?”

The memories of what had occurred had slowly started to come back to him, realizing that Cyno must’ve saw that he was trying to get himself off earlier. His ears drooped a little, not even bothering to acknowledge Cyno’s bad joke.

”Oh I see… thanks for bringing me back.” Cyno glanced away, awkwardly nodding his head as the tension in the room grew. Maybe this had been a lot more serious than he had expected, he thought that maybe a joke would’ve lightened up the mood a little. Oops, looks like he needed to use his backup plan.

”Mhm.. I need to leave on another trip. Mahamatra’s orders.” Cyno suddenly stated, getting up as he left the room right away leaving Tighnari feeling a little bewildered.

He was seriously leaving him like that? Tighnari almost felt offended in a way, but remained on the cot as he remembered what he had been in the forest for. He really hoped that Cyno had collected them and brought them back home.

He was about to lie back down when he heard someone coming up to the Medical Bay, Tighnari turned and saw Collei skipping into the room.

”Oh! Collei, you’re here.” Tighnari greeted, trying to sound as natural as possible. The girl’s face immediately saddened, the trainee forest ranger immediately sitting next to her teacher as she stared at him.

”Master where have you been? You told me you would be gone for two weeks and it was nearly about to be three weeks! Where were you? We were all so worried about you!” Collei tearfully said, shaking Tighnari’s arm as the man gently cupped her hand to comfort her.

”I’m sorry Collei. I was in the forest doing my research as promised and I got too carried away with my studies.” Tighnari half lied, although Collei was aware of the Estrus cycle that Tighnari had to go through, he would much rather completely keep that part about his life a total secret to the girl.

Collei gulped, “O-okay Master. I just don’t want you to get hurt or get in trouble or anything.” There was a moment of silence between them as Collei thought of something to say.

”Your vitals are stable and you don’t seem to be in a state of dehydration anymore. Everything looks fine, I think I can take you off of the I.V. system and discharge you today. But please promise me that you won’t go on super long research trips again and not tell us.”

”Haha, I won’t I won’t.”

Tighnari chuckled a little, watching his “daughter” scrambling around the medical bay to disinfect her hands as she started to get to work.

He truly taught her well, watching as she cleaned up his arm and helped him back to the house even though he was fine to be walking on his own.

”Also Master— your research papers are in your room. Mister Cyno brought them back with him too, although they’re kinda crumpled.” Collei suddenly stated, watching Tighnari’s ears perk up as he grinned.

Oh that’s incredible! I’ll have to send him my thanks once he gets back from his trip.”

Sometimes Tighnari loathed how long Cyno’s desert trips would last. He knew that the length of these trips were work based and also due to the fact that he was the General Mahamatra, but he wished that Cyno could be at home a little longer.

His Estrus had ended yesterday and despite what had occurred in the forest a few days ago, the thought of Cyno seeing him like that still lingered in his mind. He wanted to know just what Cyno was thinking of him now that he saw him that vulnerable.

Did he still see him the same way? Did he find that to be completely disgusting? Tighnari just couldn’t rest about it.

So he did what was best and invited Kaveh to Lambad’s that night for a drink, but really he just wanted to consult him for some advice.

”So… he caught you jerking off and you passed out.” Kaveh repeated, sipping on his drink as Tighnari’s ears flattened a little.

”Yep. I don’t think he knows about my Estrus, god this is such a bad look on me. What if he sees me differently when he comes back, what will happen to our living situation then? And Collei?” Tighnari ranted, his head in his hands as Kaveh thought for a moment.

Although Lambad’s was full of people, Tighnari was glad that nobody around them could hear any part of this conversation. He peered up at the Architect for a response.

”I don’t think anything between you guys will change. I think he should know about your Estrus since you did tell him you’re a Valunka Shuna Descendent. And Collei? I don’t think she needs to be involved in any part of this.” Kaveh sighed, looking a little concerned at Tighnari’s ears pressed flat against his head.

Man he was gonna tease him a little but it seems like this weighed heavy on his mind.

”This is natural for your species, Cyno should understand that.”

Tighnari sighed, his ears still flattened against his head as he leaned back. “You’re right, I just wish he would come back from his mission so we could talk it out.”

Tighnari glanced over to the side, pulling out a small pouch of mora as he waved the waiter over.

”You’re paying and leaving already?!” Kaveh questioned, bewildered as Tighnari nodded. “Sorry… I have to be somewhere now.”

Kaveh watched as Tighnari got up and left after paying, sighing as he wished he brought Alhaitham along with him. He just hoped that Cyno and Tighnari would resolve things quickly so he could stop listening to Tighnari sigh and moan about it.

Tighnari arrived back in Gandhara Ville about 30 minutes later, he knew that Cyno was not back from his mission yet due to the missing headgear at the front of their house, but he still felt heavily disappointed by his absence.

”Oh Master! I was hoping you’d return now!” Collei glanced up from her textbook, watching Tighnari set his stuff down as he gave her a gentle smile.

”Hello Collei, studying I see. That’s a new one.”

Collei giggled at the joke, “Hehe, say Master. I kinda need your help on something.” Tighnari’s ears raised a little, this could probably take his mind off of Cyno for a while.

”Of course Collei.”

It had taken about one and a half weeks for Cyno to finally return back home from the desert.

He’d came home shortly after Collei left for classes that morning. Around the time when Tighnari had been in his room writing research papers and educational books.

”You’re back—“ Tighnari said, his ears perking up as Cyno made his appearance at Tighnari’s door.

”Indeed. It was quite the hard mission.” The man was still sweaty from the desert, although most of the sand on his body had been dusted off at the door.

Tighnari seemed to sigh at the horrible joke, something telling him that he was trying to mention what happened back in that forest a week ago.

”Go take a shower, and make sure to sweep up all the sand you left on the ground too.” Tighnari instructed, pointing at the bathroom as Cyno listened.

How was he genuinely going to start this conversation? He couldn’t just go up to Cyno and be like “sorry I was jerking off,” or “remember when you caught me cranking my shit in the forest, that was kinda crazy,” or “I pleasured myself so much in the forest that I nearly became dehydrated, thank you for saving me.”

He groaned, his head resting against the desk as he couldn’t think of anything else to help ease this strange tension.

But every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Cyno standing there. His body toned from years of grueling training, his beautiful dark skin, his curly white hair, why did it take Tighnari this long to realize just how attractive Cyno had truly been?

The shower had stopped and the Valunka Shuna’s ears briefly twitched towards the bathroom door to await Cyno’s return.

”Tighnari, do you have a moment?” Cyno came back to the study with a new change of clothes, his hair still wet from the shower as he stared at the Forest Ranger.

”Huh? I do, what do you want to talk to me about..?” The man’s voice trailed off, knowing just what he wanted to ask him about.

”You’re a Valunka Shuna hybrid aren’t you?”

Tighnari nodded, “Indeed, my kind originated from the desert but after centuries of living we slowly migrated towards more foresty regions.”

”And Valunka Shuna experience an Estrus cycle?”

Tighnari sighed, his ears flattening a little bit. This was going to be a long one to explain to Cyno.

”Yes. No matter if they’re male or female, all Valunka Shuna experience Estrus; which is a mating period where our hormones are increased and we want to—“

”—Mate more frequently?” Cyno questioned, sitting down on one of the office chairs as he spun around.

”Yes, that would be correct. But although the sole Fox species of Valunka Shuna only experience Estrus once per year, hybrid species such as myself experience Estrus once nearly every month.”

”Although males cannot get pregnant or have a functional uterus, we still experience these symptoms monthly. Think of it as Ovulation for humans.” Tighnari lectured, watching Cyno think for a moment.

”So males have a uterus, does it even have a function in the male Valunka Shuna body?”

Now that one Tighnari didn’t really know. “I’m not too sure about that one.”

Cyno leaned back, standing up as he sighed. “I will… study this further. But Tighnari, just know that I’m always willing to help you with your… Estrus.”

Tighnari’s ears perked up, did he just hear that correctly?! “Eh? What?!”

But Cyno was long gone before the man could ask him about this again.