Lions and Tigers and Bears [Midori & Tory]

[Devon Wentsworth]

[Backdated to 7th July]

The phone call had gone about as awkwardly as Devon had expected it to. In truth, he had half expected he would just hang up halfway through and not even bother trying. Somehow though, probably at least in part thanks to the Dutch courage he'd had beforehand, he had made it through and eventually been able to very awkwardly and probably confusingly ask Midori if she and Tory wanted to go to the zoo sometime. Because he needed to take his new car out for a long drive. And wanted to try out his new camera lens. And because it's boring to go alone. And because Tory might like it. Yes. Definitely.

Devon had picked Midori and Tory up early that morning to drive to Bronx Zoo, as both Roman and the internet had ranked it as a thousand times better than any of the nearer zoos. Oh, Roman. Devon was never, ever going to let him live this down. All the discomfort and awkwardness were his fault. There was absolutely no way Devon was going to bring him back a souvenir, unless he managed to grab a bag full of camel shit to dump in Rome's shoes or something.

Surprisingly though, the drive there was actually pretty pleasant and not quite as awkward as Devon had imagined it would be, though admittedly there were times when he struggled to find words to say beyond 'that field of flowers looks pretty' or 'I'm sure Tory'll love seeing the owls' or thanking his satnav when it told him to turn left or right. Tory had napped in the back most of the way there; he didn't know where they were going and it had been early when they had left. Devon was glad that he'd slept. He'd put lots of colouring books and such in the back for Tory to play with, but he figured that grumpy kids on road trips did not make for much fun for anyone.

Eventually, thankfully, Devon had pulled up in the huge parking lot of the zoo. He'd been smart enough to book the tickets in advance so they could skip the queues, and he checked for the seventh time that they were in his wallet after he got out of the car and stretched out his poor complaining shoulders. Damn, he wasn't used to longer drives like that any more. Heading around to the boot of the car to get out his bag, Devon was glad that the weather seemed to be on their side today. Sunny but with enough cloud cover to stop it getting too hot. Hopefully. “I'm so surprised I didn't get lost gettin' here. Satnav's here seem to work better than the ones back home. We didn't end up in a river or up a tree or anythin'.”

[Midori Hawkins]

The phone call had come out of nowhere. Quite literally. Midori had been in the process of unpacking and re-organizing from her last recruitment trip when her cell had gone off. The conversation had been completely out of left field, but after a bit of confusion, as well as some justification on Devon’s part, they’d arranged a day to take Tory to the zoo. It had been a nice gesture, and Midori hadn’t read too far into it. Devon was a friend, after all, and it was nice to him to think of them in his plans to play with both his car and camera.

Given the weather, she’d dressed to keep herself cool, especially given that zoos would involve lots of walking. Tory had also been dressed to keep the heat back, with shorts and a t-shirt, along with sturdy sneakers and a hat. In her bag she’d packed sunscreen as well as a few small snacks for Tory. It never hurt to be prepared. She’d also added a small digital camera to take her own photos.

Getting Tory dressed when he was tired had been a small feat in itself, but at least he’d been too sleepy to do much more than do his best impression of a limp noodle. Even better was the fact he’d dozed on the way out to the car, and most of the way there. Somewhat oblivious to the slight awkwardness during the drive, Midori had happily engaged in conversation and flipped through her phone for the information on the zoo, mentally and verbally making plans as they went.

Tory had woken up just before they had parked, much to Midori’s delight. He was heavy when he wanted to be, and when he was tired? Dead weight, right on her hip. His eyes had widened as he’d taken in the surroundings. He’d started learning to recognize a few words, and one in particular caught his attention.

“Zoo!”

Midori smiled and untangled herself from the seatbelt, coming around to collect him before stretching herself. “Yep. Devon invited us to the zoo!” Tory twisted around and beamed up at the art teacher.

“Thank you!” At least he remembered his manners without prodding. Satisfied that he wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry, Midori took a moment to settle her bag on her back before holding her hand out for Tory’s. The toddler took hold of it, bouncing slightly in place as he rattled off a list of zoo animals he was excited to see.

“You did good,” she said with a little grin at Devon. “Everyone’s alive and the car’s still in the same condition we left with.” After a moment, she tipped her head and looked up at him. “Thanks for inviting us. You’ll have to tell me how much we owe you for the passes.”

“Mommy!” Tory tugged on her hand. “Monkeys! Please?” Clearly, Tory was busting to get inside the gates. “Pleeease?”

“Yes, yes, monkeys,” she promised. “Patience, remember?” Tory gave a small sigh, but to his credit he stopped begging and seemed to settle down a little more.

[Devon Wentsworth]

When he had seen just how Midori had dressed for the day, Devon had been a little discomforted at the fact he'd made pretty much no effort and just worn loose jeans and a clean (and not covered in paint) band t-shirt. Of course, that hadn't been the very first thing that he had thought upon seeing her in the floaty dress, but he had been very quick to cut that thought off before it had a chance to develop and make today even more awkward and uncomfortable than it was already seeming set out to be.

Devon was just fervently hoping that his awkwardness and discomfort with the situation wasn't openly apparent to Midori. She seemed relaxed and okay enough about things, but it was so difficult to just... talk to her like a normal person. Why was it so difficult now, when before they had been able to chat just fine. Devon partly blamed it on the situation. Before they had been at work or he'd been babysitting or some other semi-official type of occasion. This was... just... going somewhere, with intent to be going somewhere. It didn't just feel like two friends hanging out, and that was very unsettling for Devon. The rest of it he was entirely blaming on Roman. His friend had spooked him on that phone call with all those words so heavily laden with meaning. Of course he would never let Roman know that, but it didn't make it any less true.

Fuck, that was it... He was actually afraid...

Devon hooked his bag out of the boot but didn't shoulder it yet, but he looped his small camera bag over his shoulder out of the way. Smiling brightly as Tory thanked him, Devon gave a nod of his head. “You're very welcome, mate. Thought you might like a day out here.”

After locked up the car, Devon laughed softly at Midori's words and patted the little car on the roof. “Yep, I think this one's a keeper.” He was beginning to settle a little now that he was out of the car and no longer confined in a small space, which was no doubt aggravating his already tense state even though cars didn't usually flare up his claustrophobia much. He gave a dismissive wave of his hand at the mention of how much they owed him. “Eh, just get me an ice cream or somethin' later. Call it thanks for keepin' me company on the way here and not screamin' when I nearly went on the wrong side turnin' onto that road.” He had of course passed his US driving license a few months ago, but old habits died hard and a momentary blip in concentration had caused an almost-turn on the wrong side. Thankfully there had been no real danger, but it had still been a slight clenching moment.

Tory's obvious excitement was a joy to see, and Devon was smiling brightly as he opened up his bag and pulled something out of it. “Here Tory, I got you a little present to use today.” Devon handed over the pack of little disposable cameras; good enough that he should be able to get some nice pictures with them after a bit of practice and guidance, but cheap enough that if he accidentally dropped and broke one it wouldn't matter much. “You can take some pictures too.”

[Midori Hawkins]

Devon’s jeans and t-shirt were hardly offensive for a friendly day out at the zoo. Nor was it entirely Midori’s fault that she liked to dress like a girl from time to time. Especially when it was warm. If Devon was uncomfortable, it was entirely his own fault. He could have sent her a dress code or something if it was going to bother him that much!

Thankfully, any distress the art teacher was experiencing wasn’t obvious in the slightest.

He might have seemed a bit off during the drive, but she had chalked it up to having to concentrate on the road, especially if he’d never driven the route before. She also found it hard to maintain a conversation when she was concentrating, which was sometimes hard when she was recruiting. New students had questions and while she did her best to answer them, driving in an unfamiliar city often made her answers a little shorter than she might have liked. Any other time, he was just fine for conversation.

Tory continued to beam up at Devon, clearly thrilled with the surprise outing for the day. He even tolerated his mother giving him a quick reapplication of sunscreen from her bag. Why? Because animals! Wild animals like monkeys and tigers and monkeys and lions and more monkeys!

... No, he wasn’t excited to see the monkeys. Of course not.

When Devon mentioned the only real trouble on the drive over, Midori smiled easily at him. Yes, it had been a little scary, but no one had gotten hurt and the car was still in one piece. “It’s okay. And ice cream is doable. I don’t know if anyone else we brought would want one, though...” She had a knowing look in her eye as Tory tugged on her hand with hope in his eyes.

“Mommy I like ice cream!” The announcement was so innocently spoken, yet so laden with hope that she had a hard time not laughing.

“I know, Tor. Don’t worry. We’ll get ice cream later, okay?” He nodded, only to let go and dash over to where Devon was digging in his bag when a present was mentioned. His eyes widened at the sight of the animal-themed cameras. Cameras were generally not something he was allowed to play with, so the package was taken gently and looked over before he set them delicately on the ground and firmly attached himself to Devon’s leg in a toddler-hug.

“Thank you Dev’n!” He hugged for a few more moments before untangling himself and picking the camera pack back up and bringing it to his mother. “Mommy look!” Midori crouched down to look at the package herself. Devon really was a nice guy. “Pictures!”

“Wow, Tor. Are we going to take pictures of the tigers?” A nod. “And the giraffes?” Another nod. “What else are we going to see?”

“Monkeys!” Tory danced impatiently as Midori fished one camera out of the pack, putting the rest in her bag in case they were needed. After familiarizing herself with it and making sure the film was ready, she gave it back to him and looked back up at Devon.

“I think we need to see some monkeys over here, or someone might explode. You ready?” Tory was good, but his patience still only lasted so long. “And thank you for the cameras. Really. He’s going to have so much fun with those.”

[Devon Wentsworth]

In truth the actual drive itself had been a rather pleasant one, ignoring the one short yawn-induced swerving moment. The areas they had gone through had been gorgeous in the early hours sunlight, and he made a mental note to explore more of the country outside of Pilot Ridge now that he had a car with which to do so. Maybe he could even look and see if the American festival scene was anything at all compared to the UK one. Probably wouldn't even come close, but still, it'd be interesting to find out at least.

Devon's camera had been a birthday present from Cade, and he wasn't lying when he said it was one of the most precious things he owned. Well, in his eyes at least. In reality it could probably do with being swapped out for a newer model but that thought never once occurred to Devon. He'd rather get rid of the drum kit than get rid of the camera, despite the fact he took photos far less often than he played music. He was excited to get to try out the new lens in a setting other than the park in Pilot Ridge, and despite the awkwardness, he was quietly happy he'd invited people along and not just gone on his own.

If nothing hammered that point home more, it was the absolutely adorable way that Tory exclaimed that he likes ice cream. Devon had a hard time holding back a laugh at the completely innocent, hopeful tone of the kid's voice as he adjusted the strap of the camera bag so that it hung down from a slightly less aching point on his shoulder. “Maybe they'll have ice creams in the shape of animals.”

The look in Tory's eyes let Devon know that the disposable cameras had been well worth it, and he grinned and knelt down to hug Tory properly as the youngster went to cling around his leg. “You're very welcome, mate. I want to see the pictures when they've been printed, okay?” As Tory went to show his mum the cameras, Devon fastened his bag back up and hooked it over his shoulders. He was so very glad he'd remembered to take some painkillers before going out that morning, and to have brought some with him. He'd need to top up before the drive back home at least.

Laughing softly as Tory squeed about the monkeys again, Devon knew that this had been a good idea. He'd never admit that to Rome, of course, but if nothing else it was worth it to see Tory so excited. Devon double-checked to make sure the car was locked before giving a nod of his head. “Ready whenever you are. We can skip straight past the queue.” He fished around in his wallet, pulling out the tickets and handing two over to Midori. “That way we can get to see the monkeys quicker.”

Smiling easier at Midori than he had done in the rest of the morning so far, Devon gave a small shrug of his shoulders. “Don't worry about it. I just hope he gets some good pictures with them.” Devon made a mental note of roughly where in the car park his car was located, then started leading the way across to the zoo entrance. He gave an amused smile to Midori. “What about you? Which animals are you looking forward to seeing?”

[Midori Hawkins]

Midori was fortunate enough in her job to have seen a great deal of the country in her travels to recruit for Hammel. A lot of it involved early mornings, whether by car or plane, and while she hadn’t always been tremendously fond of mornings, Tory had changed a lot of that, as had her job requirements. They really were fortunate in how pretty their country was.

Now he had the camera in hand, Tory was clearly even more thrilled to get going. He could take his very own pictures and maybe if he was lucky his Mommy would put some up in his room! He was also going to try to be very, very careful with them. Cameras were delicate. The notion of animal-themed ice cream made him look up from his new toy, though. “Really? We have one?” Midori grinned down at him.

“Yes, Tor. Later. We have to get in the gate, first.” The little boy just nodded his agreement, eager to start in the adventures. Of course, the idea of getting in to see the monkeys faster just fueled that excitement. “Monkeys monkeys monkeeeeeys!” With that he was merrily trotting closer to the gates, clearly done with the patience nonsense his mother kept asking him to have.

“Thanks again,” she said to Devon before looking back to make sure Tory wasn’t too far ahead. Falling into step beside the art teacher, she shrugged. “I always like the zebras and the giraffes. Just, uh, promise me if there’s giant spiders, we don’t have to go near them?” She couldn’t remember if there was or not, but she figured an advance warning might be nice as they headed in. “Other than that, I’m up for just about anything. You?” After all, Devon was the one that had issued the invitation. It was important they saw what he wanted to as well.

[Devon Wentsworth]

It had been a very long time since Devon had been to a zoo, and in truth he was actually really looking forward to it himself. The last time had been to Twycross Zoo with his brother and a bunch of their friend around eight years ago or so. They'd just gone as a day out somewhere a bit different... but had ended up getting barred after a game of dares go out of hand and Devon had ended up accidentally scaring a group of people who were rather taken aback to see a wolverine running around outside its enclosure.

Oh, happy days...

It was nice watching Tory and Midori interacting. So often he'd be in a store or the park or some other public place and he'd see red-faced women yelling at their kids to behave, with the spoiled little brat yelling back just as loudly that they wanted this toy or that sweet or whatever. Whilst he didn't doubt that Tory and Midori had their moments, there seemed to be more respect and less resentment between them than what he'd seen between most mother-kid relationships. It was refreshing, in an odd way. He smiled and gave a quiet laugh, his tone lightly playful. “You should stop sayin' thanks or I'm gonna run out of ways to say 'you're welcome'.”

Devon set a reasonable pace across the car park so they could keep up with the excited child and make sure he didn't get himself into any danger. “I'm not a great fan of spiders myself, so no worries there.” He wasn't afraid of them or anything, but he wouldn't complain if he never saw one again. Besides, in zoos he'd been to before the spiders tended to be in a part of a reptile house that was all dark and closed in and very much not the kind of place he ever wanted to be. He smiled easily. “As long as I see the tapirs and ring-tailed lemurs I'm happy. Anyway, if you wanted to go off and do your own thing and meet up later, that'd be all right with me. Whatever you guys want to do works.”

[Midori Hawkins]

Thankfully, Midori had never had the urge to go gallivanting around a zoo as a wild animal. Even if some of the enclosures looked akin to the animal version of a theme park. That wasn’t to say her brother hadn’t tried to convince her now and again to pull something like that. It wasn’t worth the trouble, in her mind. (Though if Devon told her that story, she’d find it hilarious.)

Tory certainly had his moments that he didn’t want to cooperate. He was capable of being stubborn and throwing tantrums, but Midori had tried hard to instill some kind of good manners in him. They had their methods, and Tory was slowly learning that tantrums got him nowhere but a time out and a talk about why he was there in the first place. There was a tiny lingering concern that he might get into a mood if he was restrained too much from running wild in the zoo, but she could hope for the best. The worst that could happen was that he’d have a meltdown, and she’d have to deal with the embarrassment that came with dealing with a flailing, yelling, crying toddler. Devon usually saw Tory at his best, so she clung to the hope that he’d stay that way.

“Well, maybe you just need to learn some new languages. If teenagers can learn how to swear in eight different languages, I’m sure you can find new ways to say you’re welcome.” Her tone was light and teasing as they headed in, hoping Devon wouldn’t take her too seriously. At least his point was taken. She wasn’t thanking him anymore. Not at the moment, anyway.

“Well that’s good. When we were kids our parents took us to one of the smaller zoos, and my brothers dragged us into the reptile house. They had the biggest, hairiest spider I’d ever seen, and right as I tried to move away, Zach ran his hand up my back like a spider was walking on it. Never screamed so loud in my life.” She shook her head at the memory, not willing to relive it in any way at all if she could avoid it. “Oh, lemurs! They’re gorgeous.” Tapirs she wasn’t as bothered about, but the point of zoos was to see everything you could. “I wonder if you’re allowed to feed any of the animals. I remember trying to feed elephants peanuts when I was little, but I always dropped mine when it tried to take it. I think the trunk scared me.”

She considered his offer, watching Tory dance up the path a few paces ahead. “I don’t mind sticking together for a while if you don’t.” He’d asked for company, after all. She didn’t mind giving it to him.

[Devon Wentsworth]

The truth was that Devon didn't really regret his escapades. Sure there was one or two where things had gotten a bit out of hand and someone had gotten accidentally hurt or upset, but thankfully those had been few and far between, and usually forgiven pretty quickly. The good times though were memories that he held dear, and no amount of getting kicked out of zoos would ever change that.

Of course, he hadn't told his mum about that event; she'd have smacked him with a ladle.

The gentle teasing about languages caused an amused smirk to curl the corner of Devon's lips, and he racked his brains for a moment. “Bitte schön, Fräulein Hawkins. Il n'y a pas de quoi.” He gave a quiet laugh. “Aaaaand that's not far from the limit of all the German and French I can remember from livin' in Switzerland.” Kocher had been a long time ago and Devon hadn't really had need to practice the other languages he'd picked up bits and pieces of during his time there, but he could still remember the odd little phrase when the need called for it.

Wincing slightly as Midori told her tale about the spider, Devon gave a sympathetic nod of his head. “Yeah, I bet that was hardly fun. You handled it better than I'd have done, though. If Cade would've done that to me, he'd be wearin' a black eye for a while after.”

Smiling as Midori wondered out loud about feeding the animals, Devon got his ticket checked and stepped through into the zoo proper, picking up one of the little maps as he went by. “I'm sure it'll tell us in here” he said, handing it over to Midori. His smile brightened as she said she was okay with them hanging around together for a while, and he nodded again, getting much more comfortable and settled now they were out of the close confines of the car and he could focus on... other things. “Awesome, sounds like a plan. Hey, Tory? What do you wanna see first?” It wasn't hard to predict what Tory was likely to say.

[Midori Hawkins]

Midori had been privy to many a prank, especially in the halls of Hammel, not to mention growing up with Zachary. Participation hadn’t been common from her, but sometimes she was roped into pranking Corbin alongside Zach. Granted, that had been when she was too young to know better. As she got older, it became much more fun to mess with Zach alongside Corbin. Give him a good taste of his own medicine.

Not that she was vindictive or anything. Ever. Zach just tended to invite trouble.

She honestly hadn’t expected him to come up with... that. She hadn’t known he knew any other languages. Well, now she knew better. Midori laughed breezily at his response. “I really hope that wasn’t anything bad.” Kids liked to pick up all the swear words they could in other languages, it seemed. Heck, she’d even learned a few as a teenager. “You attended Kocher, didn’t you? I forgot about that. It’s kind of easy to slip into the idea that Hammel is the only meta school when you attended it as a student and wind up working for them, too. Still, I like my job now better than I ever liked my last one.” She made a small face. “Secretary for what turned out to be an openly anti-meta boss. It didn’t take long for me to quit.” There had only been so much she could take before quitting. He’d just been lucky she hadn’t shifted into something with teeth as she headed out the door.

At least he wasn’t making fun of her for the spider incident. It wasn’t like she bolted from a tiny spider on the wall or floor... much. But a big, hairy one? She’d had grounds to be slightly terrified. “Zach was bigger than me, and our mother was big on keeping us from physically killing each other. I’m pretty sure Corbin sucker punched him later, though, when Mom wasn’t looking.” Always the peace keeper, that was her oldest brother.

Taking the offered map, she flipped through it to get a better idea of a game plan. “Oh! There’s camel rides, which is kind of close to feeding... and you can watch the penguins and sea lions get fed!” Nothing like what she remembered doing, but society had changed so much. Someone could easily slip an animal something, which was probably why it wasn’t allowed anymore. “Looks like it’s just about impossible to get bored here.”

As she looked over the map, Tory came running back at the sound of his name. Peeking up at Devon, he grinned and ducked behind his camera, snapping off a shot of what he was clearly hoping would be the art teacher. Giggling, he peered back above it. “Monkeys! Please please please please please monkeeeeys!”

“Tory,” Midori reminded him gently, her usual prompt when he was veering off into whining territory. “We got it the first time, kiddo. Monkeys. Which...” She consulted the map briefly. “Look like they might be close to the lemurs.” If they were going to follow the demands of a three year old, she could at least try to plan so that their trip host didn’t lose out on what he wanted to see, too.

[Devon Wentsworth]

It was incredibly rare that Devon used the other languages that he knew. This was mainly due to the fact that he never really had a need to use them (beyond trying to impress women any way) but also in part because he never really had anyone to speak them with. If pushed he thought he could probably muddle his way through a basic conversation but beyond that he would be stumped. He had never been fluent, but what little he had known had gone by the wayside over the years since he had graduated from Kocher and moved back to England. "Nothing bad, I promise." He gave a soft laugh. "Well, I don't think so anyway. I could have asked you where a bus stop is, for all I know."

Devon nodded his head as Midori clarified which school he had attended. "I did, yeah. I kinda knew about Hammel when I was in Switzerland, but no-one ever really talked about it. Honestly, I kinda forgot it existed until I sent my resume to Kocher looking for a job there. They didn't have any vacancies, but Hammel did, and voila." Now he was thousands of miles away from his family in a country he still didn't know, going to the zoo with an attractive woman (with no end goal involving a bed) and her young son. Voila indeed.

It was funny just how much one year could change a life.

Devon's nose wrinkled slightly in disgust as Midori explained about her last job. "Meta-haters are just the worst. It's good you got outta there when you did." A fair amount of Devon's own family didn't know what he was or what he could do. It was interesting how elderly people were 'just old-fashioned like that' when anyone else would be 'a bigoted prick'. His uncle was the worst. At Christmas it had taken Devon every shred of what little willpower he possessed to not shift into a badger and launch at him over the turkey and mashed potatoes. Then again, Lorraine would have only smacked him with a spoon anyway for spilling the gravy...

As Midori looked over the map Devon got his own camera out, double-checking that the batteries and SD card were in place before fitting the new lens. It wasn't really anything too fancy really, just an upgrade of his previous one, but Devon was still excited to take it out and give it a trial run. Especially since he now had more interesting subjects to capture than rocks by the lake in Pilot Ridge. He chuckled softly. "I'm not ridin' a camel, but sealions are always interesting to watch. There's a dinosaurs exhibit thing too, if Tory wants to see that."

Devon smiled and waved when Tory took a picture of him, and then took one back in return. He made a mental note to get Midori's email address from her so he could send over the best of the pictures once he'd had a chance to edit through them. He laughed to himself at Tory's obvious excited enthusiasm. "I think someone wants to see the monkeys." Giving a small nod of his head as Midori mentioned that the monkeys were near the lemurs, Devon said "lead the way, boss" and took another picture of the excited child as he bounded off in the direction of his beloved monkeys. Well, at least Midori could relax in the knowledge that Tory would likely be out like a light tonight.

[Midori Hawkins]

Midori grinned playfully up at him at the mention of a bus stop. “Just think of the pick up lines, though! Ask someone where the bus stop is and claim it was something incredibly pretty instead. If Zach could speak another language, he’d exploit that no problem.” Granted, anything that would earn him female attention was something Zach would exploit. It was no wonder he’d never had a lasting girlfriend. Too busy chasing the next skirt and heels to bother to stick to one. “But if you really need to know, I think I saw a bus stop in the parking lot. Just in case Tory decides to take the car for a joy ride.” With that she grinned down at her son. He loved keys, yes, but he also knew his place in a vehicle was absolutely not behind the wheel. Not even for fun.

“Yeah, the meta schools are all fairly networked with one another. I know the trainers do a lot of emailing back and forth about special cases, usually with Kocher. I’ve talked to them now and again as well, mostly before I had Tory. I did a lot of helping out in the office.” All of the staff there always seemed very pleasant to deal with. “I’m glad Hammel had a space for you, though,” she admitted. And she was. Devon had turned out to be a fantastic friend. “I’d never know what it’s like to be an otter otherwise,” she teased.

As Tory trotted merrily ahead, occasionally glancing back to ensure his mother and Devon weren’t far behind, Midori just shook her head. “I can understand being nervous around us if you haven’t bothered to educate yourself about metahumans, but outright hatred is...” She honestly didn’t know how to finish that, so she simply shrugged and sighed wearily. “He said some pretty terrible things.” Things she wouldn’t dare repeat. She was just glad to be out of there without succumbing to shifting into something akin to a wolf and biting him. But it would have been worth it. So very, very worth it.

With hearing like a bat sometimes, Tory stopped dead before bounding back to Devon and peering up at him. “Dinosnores?” Dinosaurs were one thing Eli had started exposing him to, and he loved them. Midori couldn’t wait until he was old enough to see The Land Before Time, even if the beginning was downright tragic. “Can we see the dinosnores too?” Apparently, Tory was going to dictate the entire visit, which Midori was just a touch worried about. Devon had invited them, so they should really be doing the things he wanted to... but then again he’d brought it up... ugh. This really shouldn’t have been so complicated.

But first, monkeys. As the two adults followed close behind, Midori gently guided Tory until they arrived at the monkey enclosures. Tory seemed fascinated with the chimpanzees and the smaller species in the same area, happily racing from one enclosure to the next making monkey noises at them between snapping pictures in a rapid-fire way. At this rate, he’d run out of film in all three cameras pretty quick, but at least he was having a good time. Once he seemed to have exhausted his monkey noise making abilities, he scurried back to Devon and threw his arms around his leg enthusiastically. “Thank you Dev’n!”

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon would not be the one to admit to her that he had indeed exploited that particular trait in the past – or tried to at least, anyway. He had never quite been able to pull off the level of confident arrogance needed to bluff speaking another language while actually spouting gibberish nonsense. Hell, he had tried though. He’d always found it slightly odd just how dramatic an effect a French accent could have on a girl sometimes. He also certainly wouldn’t point out that her brother seemed to have a lot of sense in that regard. Devon laughed, quite content to change the subject. “Tory wouldn’t take my car; he’s got far better taste than that. I think I remember seein’ a blue Mustang in the car park. That’d be far more his style, I think.”

Nodding idly as Midori explained about how the schools networked, Devon looked over his own copy of the little map, mentally noting where everything was. His stomach did that weird knotting thing again as she said she was happy he’d come over to Hammel, and a faint colour clouded around his temples before he could quite get in under control. Damnit, what was wrong with him lately? Still, despite the sudden return of his awkward discomfort, Devon managed to give her a warm smile. “Yeah, I’m glad too. It’s hard, sometimes, but… I’m happy here now, I think.” He chuckled softly as he took a picture of Tory trying to read one of the signs lining the pathway. “After all, us over-sized rodents have to stick together, right?”

Even Devon had brain capacity and sympathy enough to realise that Midori was saddened and uncomfortable talking about her anti-meta boss, and he could easily enough understand why. To this day it both upset and angered him that within his own family there were those who would shun him if they knew; it was a sickening feeling and sadly one that all too many young meta’s were exposed to. Places like Hammel and Kocher were great second-homes for those with powers, but even those schools couldn’t always prepare the kids for the bigotry they might face in the outside world. “But you got away from him, that’s what matters.” Devon struggled to think of a way to gently change the subject onto something brighter, something to better reflect the happy mood he had hoped today would hold, but thankfully Tory came to the rescue when he overheard mention of dinosaurs.

As Tory bounded up to him and asked if they could see the dinosaurs, Devon glanced sideways at Midori. “I think that one is up to your mum, mate.” In truth Devon did quite want to see them, purely to see how they compared to the dinosaur exhibits the zoos at home always had. Everyone always went on about how everything was better in America; amusement parks, sealife centres, zoos, cinemas, and he was curious to see if they managed to do that with the robotic dinosaurs too. Granted, it wouldn’t be very difficult to beat the dinosaurs they’d had at Blackpool zoo about eight years ago. A cow with plastic Triceratops horns stuck to its head would have been more believable than the turquoise monstrosity they’d had on display.

It was refreshing to see Tory running around with all the innocence of youth, madly snapping photos between making monkey noises at the apes. Devon’s focus was mainly on the baboons and he managed to get a few decent pictures with his camera. One of the baboons was skulking in a corner, eating some fruit on its own while all the others ran around playing and exploring. Devon used his phone to catch a picture of it, sending it to Ferris and Rome with a note saying ’Who does this remind you of?’. Devon was just sliding his phone back into his pocket and chuckling to himself when he felt a small person latch around his leg. The surprise quickly faded when he saw that it was just Tory, replaced by an odd warmth he never could have predicted. Smiling softly, he gently ruffled Tory’s hair. “Hey, you’re very welcome, lil’ man. Are you enjoying takin’ lots of photos?”

[Midori Hawkins]

While Midori wasn’t one that had fallen all over herself over a pretty accent in the past, there was always a hint of appreciation for them. And while Devon’s was certainly nice, she wasn’t about to trip all over herself just because he was speaking to her. Besides, to him, she was the one with the funny Amercian accent. “Right. We just need to get him some of those aviator style sunglasses and he’ll be ready to cruise.” Tory was completely oblivious to being the butt of the adult’s jokes, happy to simply trot along ahead and take in everything the zoo had to offer.

Thankfully for Devon’s sake, Midori didn’t notice the flush at his temples, too busy keeping an eye on Tory. “Oh, I can only imagine how hard it is. I had a hard enough time being just a few cities over from my family when I was at Hammel, so an entire country and ocean can’t be easy.” Still, she offered him a bright smile. “And you’ll forever be my hero for preventing a drowning incident. I’ve got to be the only otter in the world that can’t manage swimming without trying to drown.” A little laugh just underlined the fact that she was joking.

But seriously. She had to be the only otter that swimming didn’t come naturally for.

The recruiter was rather happy for the distraction of her son and dinosaurs. It was so much easier to just pretend that the world was full of people that embraced, or at the very least, accepted metas. At least Tory was growing up among them, so he would never have a reason to dislike or fear them. Exchanging glances with Devon, she smiled down at Tory. “Of course we’ll see the dinosaurs, Tor. Promise.” She looked back up at Devon with a look that was akin to guilt. “If you don’t want to see them, I can take him on his own and meet up with you later. Don’t skip out on things you want to see on account of us.” They had the full day, yes, but sometimes trying to fit everything that everyone wanted to see in one trip wasn’t really feasible. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case today.

In the monkey exhibit, Midori kept a wary eye on her son as he dashed to each enclosure at warp speed. His enthusiasm for everything was infectious, and while she didn’t make the noises, she still took her time with each exhibit. Well, as much as Tory allowed for as he ran around. He would be out like a light on the way back home, that was for sure, regardless of what time they left.

As Tory rounded back to Devon, Midori couldn’t help but smile as he latched onto Devon’s leg again. It was a good thing that Devon didn’t mind contact, because Tory just about lived off of it. At least he was remembering his manners. Coming up behind him, she watched as Tory nodded enthusiastically. “Yip yip yip!” Now that the monkey excitement was satisfied, he started up at Devon, eyes wide. “What aminals do YOU wanna see?” Because sharing was nice, and he’d gotten to see monkeys. Now it was Devon’s turn.

[Devon Wentsworth]

As Midori spoke about how tough it must have been being so far away from his family, Devon gave a small nod. “Yeah, it was pretty rough. I mean, I grew up pretty much attached to Cade’s hip, so it was hard learning to get by without him there all the time.” An experience that repeated itself when Devon had moved over to America. It was easier now, sure, but there were still times when he pined massively for his big brother. He didn’t tell anyone that, of course, but he did suspect that Ferris knew.

Devon was at least able to match her bright smile with one of his own though, and he laughed as she spoke about being the only otter in the world who couldn’t swim without almost drowning in the process. “You got it in the end though. That was a fun afternoon; we could do it again some time, if you wanted?” It had been a real joy to just get to hang out and play with someone else in shifted form. It was something he got to do nowhere near often enough. “Don’t feel too bad about it, anyway. I’m sure I’m the only ferret in the world that can’t go into an enclosed space without having an anxiety attack, so we’re both pretty broken on that front.”

Giving a small shrug of his narrow shoulders when Midori reassured that she could take Tory on his own to go and see the dinosaurs, Devon smiled softly. “I’ll see everything I want to, don’t worry about that. If you want to go with Tory and explore together and see the dinosaurs and stuff on your own, please do. You’ve not got to stick with me or anythin’. I’m just the driver.” He laughed light-heartedly. “If you want to you can, that’d be great, but I wont be offended or anythin’ if you want to wander off. We can always meet up for lunch or somethin’ if you want to have an explore on your own.”

Devon could kind of understand why some people found monkeys and apes so fascinating due to just how close they were to us – the grumpy one in the corner reminded him of a certain chef, at any rate. He had however always been far more drawn towards the weird and wonderful animals; the ones that had something strange and otherworldly about them, or that were just odd in one way or another, like tapirs and jellyfish. Quite what his fascination with ring-tailed lemurs was, he wasn’t sure. Maybe it was something to do with their tails…

The Brit had certainly never been one to refuse hugs, especially ones as enthusiastically given as Tory’s. He smiled brightly as he gently ruffled Tory’s hair, looking down at the clearly overjoyed toddler. It was an oddly pleasant sight for the man who’d never really had many interactions with young kids before, and that grin and those wide eyes almost made the long drive and the stupidly early start worth it. “Well, if we go around that corner there and follow the path,” Devon said, indicating with a nod of his head, “we can get to the lemurs that way. I’d quite like to see them, if that’s okay with you, Mr Decision-Maker?”