Lions and Tigers and Bears [Midori & Tory]

[Midori Hawkins]

“I can imagine. I mean, I wasn’t even that far away from my brothers, but I missed at least one of them like crazy.” She tilted her head and smiled. “Actually, being away from Zach was kind of a godsend, but I really did miss Corbin.” It wasn’t a country away from them, and her parents had come to visit, as well as her going home at holidays, but the weeks between had always been a little tough. Clearly not as tough as Devon had it now, of course.

The recruiter perked up a little at the idea of playing as otters again. It had been fun, minus the panic she’d had over swimming, and the consequential climbing up Devon as he saved her. It she hadn’t been so scared she might have been embarrassed about it at the time. “We should. Before the snow hits, for sure. Unless you feel like running around outside while it’s cold.” She had a few forms that could handle the cold, though her most used one was the arctic fox. It was remarkably fun to jump around in the snow as one. “I promise, no enclosed areas. Big, wide open space to play.” She was oddly excited about the idea. There was a distinct lack of shifters around she could actually play with, but she was glad Devon was one of them.

Of course Devon waved off her attempts to reassure him. Now she was at a loss as to what to do. She liked his company, and she knew that Tory would be happiest staying with the art teacher... well, that was probably her answer right there. Tory probably wasn’t going to want to go anywhere without Devon. Which settled it. “Oh, stop it. You’re more than the driver,” she teased. “You’re also Tory’s hero. And mine, I suppose, after the near-drowning incident.” As Tory continued to trot ahead on the way to the monkeys, she shrugged back. “I could foresee Tory asking for you to come see the dinosaurs too. So we might as well stick together.” Avoiding toddler meltdowns in public places was always a plus.

Said toddler seemed happy to go along with whatever everyone else wanted to do now. He’d gotten the monkey joy out of his system now, and the other animals were waiting! Beaming up at Devon, he lifted his hand and wiggled it in a clear, but silent, request for the art teacher to take it. “Leeeeeeemurs! .... What’s a leeeeeemur?” He vaguely remembered hearing the word before, probably on one of the National Geographic Kids DVD’s his Uncle Eli liked to put on for him.

Midori fell into step beside the boys, keeping a wary eye on Tory in case Devon tired of the toddler clinging to him. Yes, he was an absolute star for letting Tory do it, but she knew that enough was enough sometimes. Hopefully, she’d catch him before it got to that point. There was no need to ruin the day by letting Tory glom all over Devon.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon gave a small nod of his head as Midori spoke about her brothers and how difficult it was to have been so far away from them. “Yeah… As much as I grew to like the school, I always kinda resented it. Still do, a bit. I didn’t even get chance to say a proper goodbye. They just turned up at the hospital and said I was goin’ with them.” He gave a quiet breath of a laugh. “I thought mum was gonna punch them, I really did. I never heard her yellin’ so loud…” Devon knew that the schools were right, that some of the kids were potentially dangerous and had to be kept safe while they were learning how to handle what they were. But yes, he still resented them for the way they tore families apart.

As Midori said that she’d like to go swimming again too, a grin split the art teacher’s lips. He had genuinely enjoyed that time in the pool, and it had been fun being able to just mess about with another shifter for a while. It was hardly something he got to do often, and once she’d got over that initial fear he liked to think that she enjoyed it too. “The cold isn’t really a problem when I’m shifted. ‘Sides, I tend to use those shapes more in winter anyway; they’re better built to handle the cold than I am. If you’d be happier goin’ sooner, while it’s still warm, that works great though.”

Giving a laugh of genuine surprise as Midori mentioned him being a hero, Devon shook his head quickly. “I ain’t a hero. I just hand out colouring books, and I wouldn’t be much a friend if I let ya drown, ey? Who’d I go swimmin’ with then?” He did however give a nod when Midori suggested sticking together to go see the dinosaurs, for Tory’s sake. “Sounds like a plan.”

“Lemurs look a little bit like cats and squirrels. They climb trees and have long tails.” Devon saw the wiggling hand and smiled down at Tory. It all still felt a little… odd. He’d never really had any experience with small kids and having one who obviously liked him quite so much was a nice feeling, but it was also slightly weird and, he had to admit, slightly worrying. He wasn’t entirely sure what the hell he was supposed to be doing half the time, but he was fairly certain that hogging all of Tory’s attention wasn’t right. Midori should be getting the most of it. Devon’s smile was bright and kind as he knelt down next to Tory to whisper to him, gently ruffling the toddler’s hair. “I think your mum wants to hold your hand for a bit. You don’t want her feelin’ lonely, hmm?”

[Midori Hawkins]

With what Devon was saying... clearly Kocher had once needed to revamp their recruitment techniques. From her own experience, James made all of the recruiters go through training so that they could treat each situation as an individual, and make the transition as smooth and easy on everyone involved as possible. Her own recruitment had been somewhat no-nonsense, but there was very little argument that could be made when her own brother had witnessed her first-ever shift. “I’m sorry it was like that for you. The last thing I want to do is make people feel like their families are being torn apart, as hard as that is some days.” There was a reason they were allowed as much time as possible to ease families into the idea. It was always easier if an alumni was in the same family, but that didn’t always happen. “I know Hammel’s developed some really good training programs for recruiting, so hopefully Kocher’s done the same thing.” If any of the sister schools had, it was Kocher. The others... well... sometimes the less said about them, the better.

Truthfully, with her suggestion to play in shifted forms before the cold hit was mostly for Devon’s benefit. Quite a few of her forms were well suited to the cold and the snow, and either would suit her fine. Especially with the knowledge that Devon was okay in the cold too. “We could do both, you know. If you wanted. I mean, snow is just so much more fun with four legs and warm fur.” Having someone to play with that wasn’t Zero would actually be a lot of fun. “We can figure it out later, but I’m in, either way.”

She had to giggle over Devon’s protests. “Hey, I think a girl drowning, even a girl otter, counts as a damsel in distress, and the person that rescues them is always the hero. Ergo, I’m right. Deal with it.” She was hardly serious, as told in her tone that was still quite... well... giggly. “You’d just have to find another shifter to swim with, then. I recommend one that floats this time, as we already established that my otter form has the same buoyancy as a rock.”

As the adults bantered, Tory trotted between them, camera still in one hand as they made their way to the lemurs. At least now he had an idea as to what they looked like. Kitties with extra long tails that climbed. He was truthfully picturing something akin to Uno and Bliss with tails that dragged on the floor and trailed behind them as they scaled trees. His pre-school mates would be so jealous he got to see long tailed kitties. And monkeys. And dinosaurs. He’d even have the pictures to prove it for show and tell! As long as he was very, very careful with them, like his Mommy had asked him to be. His toddler attention was quickly turned from the pathway to Devon, eyes wide. Devon always had the best ideas. Of course Mommy was lonely without him holding her hand! She could even get lost. He didn’t want anyone separated, so after carefully tucking his camera in his pocket, he grabbed at his mother’s hand, beaming up at her. “Hi Mommy!” Midori beamed down at him and squeezed his hand. “Hi, Tory.” With a bright grin, Tory half jumped sideways and tried to catch at Devon’s hand, too, happily announcing to both adults the reason why. “Now no one gets lost!” At that, Midori’s face colored, and she had to strongly resist bashing her head into her hand. Trying to catch Devon’s eye, she mouthed an apology and nodded to Tory, who was merrily keeping up with them. Toddlers. Sometimes they were wonderful, and sometimes... they made their mother want to drop kick them. And Tory’s antics were slowly moving him to the latter end of the spectrum, no matter how sweet he was being about it. It was embarrassing.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon gave a small nod as Midori spoke about the recruitments at Hammel and how they were handled. “Yeah, I’ve seen that. The kid’s seem to come in a lot calmer than they did when I was back at Kocher. I mean, they might’ve changed how they handle things over there by now.” He gave a small shrug, glancing around. “I mean… I think it was so rough ‘cos none of us had ever been through it, y’know? I was the first in our family, an’ we didn’t exactly expect someone turnin’ up at the hospital wantin’ to take me away to another country while we were still tryna come to terms with me turnin’ into a badger.”

It wasn’t often at all that Devon spoke so honestly about his recruitment and just how much it had affected his family, but he felt like he could trust Midori to not tease or torment about it. However, his slight discomfort about discussing it was probably evident in the frown creasing his forehead, and he gave a small shake of his head. “Sorry, you probably don’t wanna hear all that mopey stuff. Today’s for awesome things only.”

Hearing Midori’s obvious enthusiasm about wanting to meet again in other forms sometime was actually a bit of a relief, but for the life of him Devon couldn’t work out why that was. Sure it was cool having someone to hang out with that wasn’t Ferris or Rome, but it wasn’t like him to be actively looking forward to meeting up with someone when there wasn’t drinks, a party or sex on the menu. It was a slightly disorienting and uncomfortable feeling, but he still smiled brightly. “I’m lookin’ forward to it!”

Devon couldn’t help but laugh as Midori clarified her reasoning behind him being a hero. The teasing was warm and friendly, and after a moment he smiled and gave a small nod. “Fine, hero it is. I guess that means I gotta get a cape and a white horse, right? Hmmm, that means learnin’ how to ride a white horse.” He chuckled and then quickly shook his head. “Nah, definitely not. Will ya settle for ‘helpful bystander’ rather than ‘hero’?”

When Tory seemed to take his suggestion seriously and went to hold his mum’s hand Devon smiled, but that smile soon turned into a slightly worried look as Tory tried to grab his hand too. For some reason Devon couldn’t explain, the thought of them all walking along holding hands like that spooked him and for what felt like an eternity (but was probably closer to five or six seconds) he just stared down at the offered hand. He would never be able to explain or admit just how much that simple, innocent gesture unnerved him. However, the overjoyed and expectant look on Tory’s face let him know that the kid would be unhappy if he didn’t hold his hand, and despite how he sometimes came across, Devon wasn’t that much of a dick.

Mustering up as much cheer as he could manage, Devon took Tory’s hand gently, not meeting Midori’s eye through fear of whatever weird… whatever this was getting worse. “So, lemurs, then?”

[Midori Hawkins]

Midori could easily relate to Devon’s situation. “Yeah, I was the first one, too. Shifted right in front of my brother. I was chasing after our family dog at the time. I guess my body just sort of went ‘hey, that looks like fun.’ Scared the heck out of him when there were suddenly two dogs instead of one dog and a sister in the yard.” She hadn’t actually told anyone about the incident, and had sworn Corbin to secrecy. Sadly, it hadn’t worked all that well, as a routine blood test just weeks after had flagged her as a manifested metahuman, and the recruiter had come. At least Hammel had only been a few states away, rather than another country. Maybe she’d ask James if he knew what Kocher’s recruiting policies were now. Just for peace of mind.

But Devon was right. Now was not the time for heavy conversations about recruiting stories. It was time for animals and ice cream and fun. “I don’t mind the mopey stuff, but you’re right. Let’s go have fun.”

Playing with another shifter was definitely reason enough to be enthusiastic. It was one thing to play with another animal in animal form, but it was altogether another to play with another shifter. As awkward as it had been with Kitrana, it had still been sort of nice to be a cat around another cat. Being otters with Devon had been fun, though, even if she’d displayed that she had all the grace of a drunken hippo in the water. Well, maybe the next time would be better. It had to be. “Me too.”

Devon’s description of a hero made Midori also start laughing. A cape and white horse sounded more suited to someone like Prince Charming, but she’d let him have his moment. For a minute, anyway. “All right, all right. Helpful bystander. You win. But if you want help with upgrading to the white horse, I could probably teach you the basics. Get you up to hero status.” She’d been indulged with a few lessons when she was younger, when her brothers were running around doing things like soccer and baseball. Eventually she’d graduated from pony lessons to dance classes, however, but she still remembered the basics. It was sort of like riding a bike. Well, hopefully.

Tory didn’t seem to mind the wait, though Midori wanted to... do something with him. Honestly, she felt bad for Devon. Tory clung to him at the best of times, and this was just getting silly. But there really wasn’t much she could do without calling him out in the middle of the zoo and possibly facing a toddler meltdown. Well... maybe Devon would be okay with it? It took the hand, which made Tory beam like crazy. Thankfully, he didn’t hold on for long. As soon as they neared the lemur enclosure, he let go and took off running as fast as his little legs would carry him. “Kitties!”

Now her hand was free, Midori adjusted her small backpack and chanced a glance at Devon. “Sorry about him. Eli and I taught him ages ago to hold hands so no one loses each other. I didn’t think he’d actually do it here.” It made sense, though. The zoo was a busy place. “I swear, if he’s not saying something to make me cringe, he’s doing something to achieve the same thing.” The joys of parenthood. Sigh.

[Devon Wentsworth]

Devon gave a nod and a sympathetic smile as Midori explained what she had gone through when she changed for the first time. He sometimes wondered if any of the other powers were quite as dramatic and disorientating for the person involved as shapeshifting was. Sure it would be weird to suddenly hear another person’s thoughts or to cough up a fireball or something, but to have your entire body completely change into another shape, often many times smaller than the original? To this day there were still times it left him a bit dizzy and out of sorts. “At least you were at home that first time, I guess. It could’ve been much worse.” Like his own first time had been…

The Brit could definitely agree that it was fun to get to hang out with another shifter in their animal forms. It wasn’t something he got to do often, and whilst it was fun romping around the house with Bliss it just wasn’t the same, really. With heightened senses came all new sensations and experiences, and it allowed for silliness that would just be weird or dumb in his normal shape. A grown thirty-something man playing in packing peanuts was a weirdo and the game simply did not hold any appeal for the man, but a ferret doing the same thing was just about the cutest thing ever and it was an exciting romp for the ferret too. If there was someone else to romp with, all the better.

As Midori spoke about the white horse, and how she could probably help out with that, Devon smiled but shook his head quickly. “Nah, I’ve never even been up close to one, never mind sat on one. I’d probably be all backwards or wrapped around its neck, then I’d fall off an’ break my leg or somethin’.” He gave a soft laugh. “Knowin’ my luck, I’d get the horsey version of Uno and it’d love everyone but try an’ trample me. I think I’ll pass on bein’ a hero. Sidekicks get cool capes too though, right?”

Walking holding hands like that was incredibly uncomfortable for Devon and after a few minutes he was seriously considering calling a bathroom break just to end it. He didn’t need the loo, he just needed a moment to regroup and stop the rising panic that he couldn’t explain before it began to show too much from under his calm exterior. Thankfully though Tory soon lost interest and broke the connection, bumbling off to go and look at the black and white ‘kitties’. Devon let out a whisper-quiet sigh of relief, following him towards the enclosure.

“Nah, it’s okay.” A slight lie, admittedly, but one that he didn’t feel bad about telling. “It’s a good thing to have taught him; least this way you know he ain’t gonna go missin’ in the crowd.” Devon got his own camera back out, snapping a photo of Tory smiling and waving at a lemur that was eyeing him with curious interest. “Besides, it seems to make him happy, which can’t be a bad thing really.”

[Midori Hawkins]

“That’s true. Could have been a lot worse. I could have turned into a dog in the middle of the mall, or something.” Midori wasn’t generally a very attention-seeking person to begin with, and with something like that? She would have been confused and mortified. Thankfully, only Corbin had been witness to the event, and he’d thankfully kept his mouth shut. Not that it had helped any. She’d still been flagged as a meta and brought to Hammel.

She could certainly appreciate the difference in tastes when it came to being in animal form. As a dog there were endless smells to follow, and tails to chase if you were bored. As a cat, strings just had to be batted at. Even when she had tried being an otter, there had been a rather strong pull towards the water that had been difficult to resist, regardless of whether or not she had motor control over her tiny legs. The few times she’d been out in the snow as a dog, she’d discovered a great delight in rolling in the cold, wet stuff. It became even more fun (and tolerable) as an Arctic Fox – a form she’d found handy in the winter from time to time. This really could be fun.

Oh Devon. Midori was discovering that he really was funny. Despite trying not to, she started to giggle. “Yes, sidekicks get capes too, promise. Forget the horse.” She’d been on them a few times, and though she was no expert, at least she could get on and off without incident.

Hopefully, everyone would survive the zoo trip without incident, too. Midori was still internally cringing over Tory’s insistence that everyone hold hands. “That’s the thing,” she said with a little shake of her head. “He loves contact, so it really does make him happy.” Still, at least he was distracted with the pretty lemurs. The shifter glanced up at the one eyeing Tory and waved at it. Below, Tory giggled furiously, bouncing up and down at the barrier around the enclosure.

“Kitty monkeys!” Grinning, he looked up at his mother. “Unca Zack’s gonna be jellies!” Midori laughed and bent down to scoop up her son. Despite the frustration he sometimes brought about, he was still pretty amazing.

“That’s right. Uncle Zack and Uncle Corbin and Eli are aaaalllll going to be so jealous you got to see the animals today.” Tory beamed, then twisted around to look at Devon.

“Ice cream?” Now he had the monkey excitement out of his system, it was on to the next fixation, and he wasn’t about to lose hope on the ice cream front.