Otterly Refreshing [Kam]

[Devon Wentsworth]

Ever since Devon had first set his eyes on the lake he had been itching to go for a swim in it, and after spending a long morning stripping the ghastly old wallpaper down from his new house he had decided that he had earned the reward. The dated and cigarette-smoke stained floral wallpaper of the living room was completely gone, as was the equally hideous wallpaper in the stairway, and after firing off a quick email to Cade and throwing some snackables and a bottle of water into a bag Devon made his way down to the lake.

It was ridiculously warm out and Devon was somewhat relieved when the crystal waters came into view. A few small boats tottered around on the water and a group of people were swimming in the main designated spot with the docks and rope swings, but Devon let his feet lead him around the lake to a quieter spot. Rocks lined the lake shore here, a quieter and more secluded spot tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the main bay, and he made no attempt to calm the bright smile that danced on his lips. It had been far, far too long since he had swam like this.

Back home the closest lake to his crummy little flat had been Caversham, and he was fairly certain that had he ever gone paddling in it there would have been a good chance of his legs dissolving. This was completely different, the water crystal clear and so very inviting on this swelteringly hot day. Peeling off his shirt and trainers, Devon put them into his bag and tucked it under a bush out of sight before heading to the water in his shorts. Standing on the river bank the water lapped lazily at his toes, and after making sure no one was watching him, he focussed his mind and stepped into the water.

It was bitterly cold but felt wonderful after labouring all morning, the cool currents carrying him easily as he paddled through the shallows, powerful tail pushing him along. His eyesight under water was near perfect, Devon exploring the rocks and watching the interesting fish that shot away as soon as they realised he was there. After fifteen minutes or so of playing in the shallow waters near the lake shore, the European Otter that was Devon rolled onto his back on the surface of the water, relaxing and letting the sun warm his belly as the soothing motion of the water eased his aching muscles and joints.

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia told her gramps she was leaving to go to the lake, and that she was bringing along Star, her puppy rottie. She knew it was unfair for her to bring only one of the pups, but she could only carry and look after one. Looking after one pup was a chore in and of itself, especially since she had ADD. With everything she needed, her skateboard, herself, Star, a bag with munchies, and bottled water for both her and the pup, and a few play toys for Star, she thought she had everything.

Once leaving the house, she grabbed Star, to hold her, even though she had the dog on a leash she still wouldn’t keep up with Kam on her skateboard. Ridding her skateboard took much longer than it would have if she drove a car, but she wanted the exercise. She was used to skateboarding to most places, so skateboarding to the lake wasn’t a big deal for her.

Now that she had arrived at the lake, she went to a stop away from other people. She was in no mood to deal with people, because she knew she was going to have to because everyone would want to fuss over Star. Most times that would be fine, but today she wanted to spend most of her time with Star. The dog had gotten depressed because she thought Kam wasn’t spending enough time with her, so she was trying to change that; obviously. Kamillia didn’t want any of her pets to feel ignored.

After setting her bag down near some bushes, she stripped off her shirt, shorts, and shoes. She then picked Star back up and made her way into the water, to do some swimming.

[Devon Wentsworth]

With the warm sun on his belly and the soft current causing him to gently drift and rock in the water, Devon may have snoozed a little as he relaxed on the surface of the water. It had been quite a while since he had last shifted and a very long while since he had swam like this, and he found he had rather missed the feel of cool water against his bristly brown fur. It was rather soothing and put him at ease, helping lessen some of the tension and strain that had been weighing on him of late. As he floated on the surface his mind wandered to the future, thinking about plans he had yet to set in motion and the best way to go about them. Never one for prolonged periods of peace and quiet, it was high time for some thrills and adventure and if he had to get the ball rolling, then he damned well would.

Floating on his back on the surface of the water, Devon was blissfully unaware of the arrival of a girl and her pet. The water rippled slightly beneath him, pointing to a disturbance nearer the lake shore, and a grey eye slowly opened and glanced in the direction of the shallows. What he saw nearly scared the life out of him.

The dog may have been a pup but it was still a lot larger than him, and even though Devon had never had a massive amount of experience with canines he knew that Rottweilers tended to not be the friendliest of the pack; stubborn and demanding and hard to handle. Oh yeah, and quite often aggressive to smaller animals, too.

With a splash the otter disappeared under the water, swimming a way out to some rocks before Devon concentrated and shifted back to his human form. If the girl had seen him it would no doubt have been a very odd sight, but there was no way Devon was going to risk becoming a snack for a wayward puppy. After making sure his shorts had re-materialised exactly where they were supposed to be, he surfaced and took a deep gasp of air. Pathetic human lung capacity. Long fingers ran through his hair, pushing the dark strands off his forehead, and he addressed the girl from the safe distance. “Ummm... Hi. Sorry if I'm in your usual spot.”

[Kamillia Engel]

The water felt so good on a hot day like today. She really did have to go to the lake more often. It beats taking a cold bath. She stayed in waist deep water, because she wouldn’t be able to swim and hold Star at the same time. Kamillia saw the otter not too far away from her, well Star spotted it first because she started barking and Kam was trying to see what it was. “Hey! Star, knock it off.” The puppy tried to argue with her back Kam wouldn’t have it. “I don’t care what it was, shut up.” Kamillia knew otters didn’t live in this state, at least not that she knew anyways. She figured it had to be a meta, and if it wasn’t, then maybe someone’s pet? Either way it looked like she was going to have to get into her people mood.


Kamillia watched as the otter swam away, then reappeared a man, she knew it the otter was a meta! “No you really aren’t. Can I ask why you changed into a human? I’m sorry if I scared you… I really didn’t mean to interrupt your swimming…”

[Devon Wentsworth]

The water came up to Devon's chest and he stood on the rocks on the lake bed, skin prickling slightly as it tried to adjust to no longer being covered in a thick coat of fur. That was one of the major benefits of his animal forms, all of them were pretty resistant to cold; in fact, some of them were built for it. His real shape, not so much. It wasn't even like he had much in the way of body fat to keep him warm. Offering the girl a polite smile, Devon spoke. “Nah, it's okay. I'm just a little...” he indicated to the barking puppy in the girls arms. “Wary of critters that might fancy a bite sized snack.”

Devon laughed softly, hand fidgeting with his earlobe. A frown wrinkled his brow as he found the lobe lacking in a stud. Ah, bollocks. It must have materialised in the wrong spot. Another one lost, and it had been a favourite too. With a quiet sigh his hand dropped back down into the water. “It's a great day for swimming, anyway.” Devon pondered for a moment before speaking again. “You didn't seem too shocked. By me changing, I mean... You seen this kinda thing before?”

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia stood in waist deep water, with Star in her arms. The pup was pretty relaxed for being in water, most dogs tried to swim, even if their owners are holding them. Maybe Star just wasn’t the brightest dog… Kam looked at Star and blinked, “Star wouldn’t hurt a fly…” She had to think about that one for a moment, “Okay she actually would hurt a fly, but she wouldn’t hurt anything that isn’t a insect… She is very well behaved…” It was easy for Kam to train, and discipline her animals because she did have the ability to talk to them.


If his earring materialized in the wrong spot, than where was it now? Kamillia nodded to his statement, “yeah, it’s nice and warm. I’m still sorry for ruining your swim…” She felt bad for interrupting it. She smiled “If by ‘thing’, you mean metas than yes, I do. I attend Hammel, so the whole shifting thing I see a lot.” She always wondered if her power would work on shifters in animal form…

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon gave a soft smile as the girl spoke about her puppy being well behaved and gave a small nod of his head. “So I see. She's remarkably calm for one so young. I didn't mean to cause any offence; just some people can't control their dogs so well and, y'know, otters are the perfect size squeaky toy.” He was speaking from experience of course. The creatures he could shift into were all predators in their own right, but they were hardly grizzly bears or lions. A lot of the animals he could change into could easily hold their own against a dog – but Devon would rather not put himself to that test.

The smile brightened as the girl apologised again. “Really, it's okay. I was mostly just floating and being lazy anyway. Besides, it's not ruined anyway. It's always good to meet someone new.” And he was completely sincere with that, there were few things he loved more than socialising. Devon gave a small tilt of his head as the girl explained why she was so calm about seeing him change, understanding dawning on him. “Oh right, that explains it! I haven't seen you around the campus before. I'm Devon Wentsworth, the new art teacher.”

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia smiled “I will take that as a complement! And you didn’t offend me, I was just stating for your comfort. I know Rotties have bad reps.. But really it’s bad breeders and owners.” She didn’t believe animals were the one to blame for their bad behavior. Just like children shouldn’t be blamed for theirs either, it was the parents fault for not setting boundaries for the child. She also blamed the people who originally bred Rotties to be fighters… She didn’t think it was fair, for any animal.

Smiling at Devon’s words, she was starting to feel better. Even though at first she really hadn’t wanted to interact with anyone. But this guy seemed okay, as long as he wasn’t a pedophile. “I’m glad.” She really hadn’t came here to swim, so it wasn’t like that had been ruined for her either. “Yes, I can talk to animals. Art teacher? That’s probably why.. I don’t take any kind of artsy classes. I’m Kamillia Engel.” He might even know her as the trouble maker, but who knew.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon nodded in agreement as Kamilla explained about her opinions regarding Rottweilers. “I agree. I mean, I don't know a whole world about dogs but I know how they're raised has a massive impact on how they turn out. No animal is born evil. I'm glad you seem to have a good handle on things with your pup.” Though had she voiced her opinion regarding children he might have been inclined to disagree. He and Cade had been brought up exactly the same and they had turned out worlds apart personality wise. There were some things that even the most loving and caring of parents couldn't control. Neither of them were evil or aggressive in any way, but Devon knew he had hardly been the poster-boy for a well behaved child.

Devon gave a curious head-tilt, a smile on his lips. “Talking to animals, huh? That's a really rare gift. No doubt it makes training your dog a hell of a lot easier.” He hadn't come across anyone with animal communion since he'd left Kocher, and that particular talent had always fascinated him. How could it not; what wasn't to be admired about the ability to communicate so easily with a completely different species? “It's a pleasure to meet you, Kamilla.” He resisted the urge to ask why she didn't take any art-based classes; it was her day off in the sunshine at the lake. Who wanted to discuss school matters when there was swimming to be done?

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia nodded “right! I’m kind of glad too.. Or else what I just said would make me look like a bad dog owner...” And considering she now had five dogs, being a bad owner, was not good, well it wasn’t good in the first place, but it would be really bad for her. As for the children, she would say it had been the different life situations that they had been through. But she was by far from a psychologist, so it wasn’t her place to really say.

“Yeah… It does.. Then again, I don’t know if I would be much of an animal person if I didn’t have my ability…” She really wasn’t sure what she would even consider as a career if she didn’t have her power… The only reason why she wanted to be a vet was that she could talk to animals and wanted to help them. “I can only talk to mammals though… So no fish… No birds… and no platypuses..” That was kind of the reason why she also had no problem eating fish… Because she couldn’t talk to them.. She didn’t eat things she could talk to. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too!”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Giving a small smile, Devon indicated to the pup in the girl's arms. “Well, she certainly looks healthy and happy enough. Well adjusted, too. I don't think many would sit that patiently.” Devon quite liked dogs when they were friendly and trained but he didn't have all that much experience with them. He knew more about cats and tended to get along better with them, which most people seemed to find rather odd considering his personality. “Is it okay if I say hi to her?”

Nodding as the girl explained her ability, Devon's smile brightened. “That's so interesting. A girl I knew when I was at school could only talk to rodents, so it's great that you've managed to get a wider net.” His head gave a curious tilt as she explained the limitations. “Not platypuses? That's fascinating. I mean, I know they're biologically weird, but they're still mammals, aren't they?”

[Kamillia Engel]

Kamillia nodded, “yeah, she’s very happy right now.. I have four dogs including her, so she was upset earlier because I wasn’t giving her enough attention. Now I’m all hers, so she is happy right now.” She was sitting patiently because she was in Kam’s arms, if she was on the beach, the pup would be everyone. That was alright though, she was still a puppy after all. Kam didn’t have any cats, She really wasn’t sure why either. “Of course! You can totally pet her, she loves attention.”

“Yeah, it seems like a lot of people only get a type of species. I was lucky enough to it being all mammals.” She smiled at Devon, that was an understandable misconception, a lot of people thought they were mammals. She shook her head, “I’m not really sure… Some people say they aren’t because they eggs, and other people say they are for whatever reason…” She shrugged, she hadn’t cared enough to do research on it. “If I ever meet a platypus I’ll let you know if I can talk to it or not.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Smiling brightly, Devon nodded and slowly approached the pair, holding his hand out palm-down for the pup to sniff. He knew better than to just rush right in and try to pet an unfamiliar animal. “She seems happy enough. I can't imagine being able to just talk to one of my pets like that... I'd be too paranoid they would say something bad about me.” He laughed softly, moving his hand to gently pet the puppies back, speaking to her softly. “Hey there, girl. Sorry you couldn't chase me before.”

Nodding as Kamilla spoke explaining her ability (or lack thereof) with Platypuses, Devon gave a small smile. “You should go to a zoo some time, find out. I think that'd be the first thing I'd do if I had a power like that, go see just what I could do with it.” Ever curious, he spoke again. “Can you talk to shifters? When they're in their animal form, I mean. I know that some can and some can't.”

[Kamillia Engel]

Star sniffed the man’s hand excitingly, the human seemed fine to the pup. Nothing wrong with him, he didn’t smell weird. Kam nodded “Yeah, she is happy, she just likes being a diva. Just don’t tell her I said that.” She smirked a little at the teacher. “Yeah, they’re like children in that way.. When you yell at them they say your mean and everything. But they get over it after awhile.” Kam chuckled at his statement “I really don’t think she wanted to chase you… I think she was just trying to show me you were there…” She was like a guard dog in that way, she barks every time something was out of place, or someone was somewhere that she thought wasn’t supposed to be there.

“Hmm, I should. But I don’t like going to the zoo.. I feel like if I talked to them they might say they are miserable and want out, it would break my heart to know that…” It was a tricky subject, zoos. Some people thought the animals were happy while others didn’t. “I don’t know. I don’t have any friends who are shifters, so I haven’t gotten to experiment with my power in that way.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Smiling as he pet the Rottweiler pup, gently rubbing behind her ears, Devon nodded as the girl spoke. The dog did seem genuinely happy and it was lovely to see; all too often he'd seen dogs being dragged around looking dejected and miserable and like they had lost all sense of the joy of life. “I can imagine how useful it'd be, especially if they got sick or something. To have them be able to tell you exactly how they're feeling and what's wrong.” Devon gave a small smile as Kam explained what Star had been doing. “Ahh, I see. Good little warning alarm.” He laughed softly. “Stopping the nasty otter man from getting too close.”

As the girl talked about her opinions on zoos, Devon nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I hadn't thought of it like that. Sometimes the animals in zoos don't look so happy, the big cats especially. I probably wouldn't want to know what they were thinking when they were pacing up and down.” Devon nodded again. “That's a shame, maybe some time you'll get a chance to.”