Bittersweet Freedom

[Ruka]

The two keepers seemed reluctant to chase the animals without a weapon of some sort. After all, one of them was obviously feral, and liable to attack them out of fear. The dog wasn't tagged, so it was probably a stray... Which meant it might bite them if they came too close. But they couldn't just let Elliot run away into the town.

A few more men arrived. These keepers were armed with tranquilizer darts. Of course, Danny didn't recognize them as such. All he knew was they had guns, and said guns were trained on him and the other shape-shifter. He quickly pulled back and hurried after Elliot, easily keeping up with her this time around. He didn't get to enjoy the pride in keeping up with the fastest land animal on earth for long, though.

He could tell rather quickly she was going slow on purpose so she didn't leave him behind. How thoughtful. The exit was just up ahead. Daniel could already see it. It was a good thing the African cats weren't in the very back of the zoo. The sooner they escaped, the sooner they could shift back to human form and get away without being stopped.

A strange noise reached him, and as soon as he realized what it was, Danny let out a yelp and sped up. They were closing the front gates. Paws burning, he charged around the few people that hadn't evacuated yet. He just barely managed to slip through the gate before the opening became to narrow for his shoulders. He paused for a moment to figure out where Elliot was. Even if she didn't make it to the gate in time, it wouldn't be hard for her to just jump over it. It was a good few feet lower than the fences of her old enclosure.

[Jisa]

Elliot fought the need to go faster and stretch her legs, even though guys with guns had joined in on the party. Whether they were just tranquilizers or not failed to make it any better. To Elliot, they were worse. Her sharp eyesight found the gates of the park, a few hundred meters up ahead. Then the dog beside her yelped and sped up. Elliot looked back at the humans behind them, trying to catch up and carefully sighting the tranquilizers. But that wasn’t what the dog had been worried about. Elliot turned to look at the gates, as they were closing. It would be too tight a squeeze for Elliot to get through now, so she jumped, clearing the fence in one bound and hitting the ground lightly.

Now what?

She thought to herself, but partially to her guide. Maybe he could shift back, but Elliot certainly hadn’t figured that one out yet. She growled in annoyance at herself. Why couldn’t her parents have kept her? It would make life so much easier, they might have known how to help her. But no, they’d given her up. Sometimes, Elliot wished she could have a normal life.

[Ruka]

He could hear the frantic yells of the people working at the front desk of the zoo, and he knew they were calling the authorities. Danny tore his gaze away from the gates and started looking for cover. There was a small clump of trees a little ways away from them. It was crowded with bushes and other types of vegetation. Though there wasn't much greenery to hide them, it would still suffice. He let out a low yip and ran down the road, passing the band of trees. Using the remaining cars in the parking lot as cover, he made his way around to the trees.

Before he even thought about resting, he put his nose to the ground and started sniffing for any other beings. Voices drifted across the parking lot. They would be fine as long as they only stayed in the trees for a few minutes. And hopefully that was all the time Elliot needed to change forms.

While he waited for her, Danny shifted back to his human form. With a grumble, he swept as much of the long black-and-white dog hairs off of his white shirt and blue jeans. Since the weather was warming up a bit, his fur started to shed when he was in animal form.

He waited a moment longer before speaking. "You're going to need to change back, too, or they'll catch us anyway," he began, stretching and rolling his shoulders. "You know how to do that, don't you? You just have to concentrate on your human form."

There was another short pause as a thoughtful look crossed his face. This might be trickier than he had figured it would be. "Well, easy for me to say. You can probably turn into any animal you want, not just a cheetah. Thinking about your human self might be hard."

[Jisa]

Elliot followed, without protest, as her guide took off toward some low vegetation and a sparse tree line. The past events of the morning had worn her out, and she only managed to keep pace behind him. Three years seemed like a very long time all of a sudden, and all Elliot wanted to do was have peace and maybe sleep somewhere safe and warm. It wasn’t asking for much, but it felt like asking for a plain miracle. The human voices assaulted her ears, making her head hurt.

The dog stopped and sniffed around, Elliot guessed that he was making sure they were alone before he ‘changed back’. What was this anyway? It couldn’t be normal, it so obviously wasn’t. If Elliot wasn’t human, then what was she? She felt like everything was starting again, she’d never had time to question what had happened to her.

The dog mix started to grow taller, and change, until he was the man at the fence just five minutes ago. He spoke to her, telling her that she should change back. A low rumble started in her chest, irritated that she didn’t know how. He then explained, and Elliot couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that.

So, with that, Elliot fought her thoughts for purchase on the memories of being normal and human. It was harder than she’d thought. What had she acted like? Or even looked like? It was nearly impossible to remember ever not having paws and a spotted fur pelt. However, she persevered and waded through her memories. The man spoke again, which really didn’t help her concentration.

No duh it might be harder, I’ve been stuck-

Elliot didn’t realize that as she was answering him in her head, highly spitefully, that she was changing.

“-in that body for over three freaking years, of course it’ll be more difficult for me to change back, whatever that even means.”

The sound of her own voice frightened her, threw her off guard. It was shaky and raspy from disuse, but still held full sarcasm and venom in it. Elliot looked down at her hands: human hands. An auburn strand of hair fell into her face.

“My god.”

Elliot gasped under her breath, staring at her hands. The world was off balance, or maybe she was, because standing on two feet was suddenly a very precise science. The past three years felt so far away, like a bad dream that she’d only just woken up from. The world felt different, more two dimensional but so much more difficult to understand.

[Ruka]

Danny watched her behavior, pouting a bit when she growled at him. He was only trying to help. The cheetah was certainly an interesting character. She managed to be very expressive, despite not being able to speak. Then again, she didn't strike Daniel as much of a talker, even in human form.

Her words as she changed back made him pull back slightly, as if she'd physically taken a swing at him or something. But he recovered quickly and took a couple of steps toward her. With one hand he patted her on the shoulder in congratulations. "Ta-da. It gets easier over the years. You can turn into any animal you want, as long as you've got a clear picture of the end result," he explained, heading off toward the parking lot again. He'd come from that direction, and retracing his steps was the only way he knew to go home.

He paused after a few seconds and glanced behind him. "Nearly forgot. My name's Daniel." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, thinking over his next few words. "If you don't have anywhere to go... I've got an extra room. You can use it, if you want." Now that he'd said it, he felt he could have worded it a bit better, somehow.

Oh, no, what if she thought he was some sort of creeper? In this day and age, any guy that invited a girl to his house that wasn't related to him was assumed to have an ulterior motive. He'd forgotten the world was different than it had been in 1940 or so, when he'd actually been in his twenties. Daniel hoped he hadn't offended her or anything.

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[Jisa]

Elliot was slightly satisfied by the way the man seemed to stumble back, as if her words had hit him full force. She hadn’t meant to speak so openly outside of her mind, but it had happened. Oh well. Unconsciously, she felt her body shrink away from his touch, but Elliot forced herself to hold her ground. It would certainly be difficult to get over her animal instinct. Even before all the… strangeness, Elliot hadn’t really had any friends. Daniel’s easy going attitude threw her off balance.

“Good to know,” She answered, eyeing him stonily and crossing her arms in front of her, “But what exactly am I? Or you?”

In response, the guy, whose name she still didn’t know, walked away toward the parking lot. Disgruntled, she jogged after him, totally unused to being disregarded like that. Who was this guy? Elliot’s world no longer made sense, everything was backwards and upside down, she just didn’t know how to deal with this level of dysfunctional. She almost ran into him when he paused, and halted herself.

“Well, my name’s Elliot.”

She replied, her voice still not quite as strong as she’d have liked. His next polite suggestion had her all turned around again. No one had been so generously nice to her before. Mostly, they tolerated her because she was hard to ignore, but no one had ever gone out of their way to help her. She doubted her name was anything more than two words, occasionally mentioned when associated with her supposed tragic demise.

However, his offer tossed Elliot into a new light. The rest of her class had graduated, which meant, technically, she had too. She was legally an adult, and couldn’t go back home, if home was still there. What was she going to do for the rest of her life? Striding level to him, Elliot threw a confident grin at Daniel.

“I think I’m better off with you than in a zoo cage, or the other places I’ve been for three years.”

Confident was just about the last thing Elliot felt at that moment.

[Ruka]

With a smile, Danny set off again. "Alright then, off we go!" He wasn't alone anymore. Well, at least for now. Elliot might decide to leave after a while.

He tried to move quickly, but without drawing attention to himself. The people at the zoo were still frantically searching for Elliot, and they were beginning to near the little thicket they had taken temporary refuge in. Once he reached the sidewalk, he slowed to a causal walk. It seemed no one had spotted them leaving. Or if they did, it didn't matter. After all, a wild animal was loose.

That's when he realized she'd asked him a question before, and he hadn't noticed. Whoops. "Well, to put it simply, you and I are shape-shifters. But my mom was human, so I'm only half," he explained quietly, hands in his pockets. They were the only ones around that he could see, but it was better safe then sorry. If someone overheard him, he'd be in trouble.

If Elliot thought her world was strange now, she was in for more oddities. Silverthorn Crossing looked like a normal little town on the outside. But inside the city limits dwelt the creatures she probably grew up believing were myths. He knew there was at least one werewolf, and from what he'd overheard while exploring town as a dog, there were other supernatural beings as well that he had yet to meet. If he'd known such a place existed, Danny would have come to Canada decades ago.

[Jisa]

Elliot trotted after Danny, still trying to discern his strange tendency to take everything in his stride, without even questioning it. Thoughts of the zoo and the life she’d led for the past few years dissipated, leaving her feeling weirdly vulnerable and lost. Instead of drowning in her mind, Elliot focused on Danny, the man that had saved her and was so willing to take her in. She wondered how long she’d feel like she owed him. Probably for a long time, seeing how much he’d done for her already, most likely without even knowing how much it really meant.

People were still rushing around, speeding out of the parking lot. The zoo would be in complete chaos for a while, until it was clear that there was no cheetah to be found. Danny started to address her first question, so simply said, as if it were a normal concept. It was another blow to what Elliot thought was possible and what wasn’t. Did the universe have rules anymore?

“Shape-shifters?”

Elliot replied, accidentally phrasing it as a question. Myths, fairytales, fables… was nothing fake anymore? The word was foreign in her mouth, and barely convinced her, but she’d have to accept it. What else could explain her change of body? Unless she was in some kind of coma, or she was certifiably insane- which might not be such a stretch, then a shape-shifter was what she was. She noted how Danny kept his voice low, so that only they could hear.

Of course. Being a… shape-shifter… wouldn’t exactly be great for a person if anyone else found out. Elliot felt anxiety well up in her stomach. As if her life hadn’t already been hard enough, she could be in even more trouble if a- a- a human found out. She took in a breath and quelled her instant panic.

“What else?”

Elliot asked, her voice once again stoic and confident. Her mind was in chaos, but she shoved that in a box to deal with later.

[Ruka]

Her disbelief was understandable. Had he not grown up as a shifter, he probably wouldn't believe it either. The monsters most children had their parents check under their beds and in the closet for were very real, and in some cases, very dangerous. Daniel couldn't even remember a time when he didn't know what was out there.

Temporarily lost in thought, Danny wasn't paying attention to the ground in front of him and tripped over a broken, raised bit of sidewalk. He managed to save him self from falling though, laughing over his clumsiness.

"Ahh... Well, you're immortal. You should stop visibly aging in a year or two." He explained, looking thoughtful. Danny didn't think he'd forgotten anything. Being a shifter was easy, at least compared to being a vampire, who was forced to feed on blood, or a werewolf, who had to transform every full moon. "That's all, I think," he added with a shrug.

A few minutes passed before he realized he really had forgotten something. There were a few rules their kind was expected to follow, but they were mostly common sense. Danny closed his eyes for a moment while he remembered the words his father had him commit to memory. "Oh, wait. Obviously you aren't supposed to shift in front of humans. And you can't tell anyone what you are unless they're not human, like us. But there are a few exceptions," he added, opening his eyes and giving her a another friendly smile, "Like if the human already knows about shape-shifters and stuff. Then it doesn't matter."

Hopefully, he'd never have to tell her about the consequences of telling a human her secret. That person would be put in a lot of danger. Everything from fairies to mermaids would want them silenced for fear of being exposed.

[Jisa]

Elliot stared ahead of her, trying to absorb everything he was telling her, but it was like her mind had formed a mental block against such ridiculous notions. This is real. It’s not ridiculous. Daniel tripped over the pavement, and her quick reflexes forced her to reach out to grab him if he went down, but he saved himself, so there was no need. Straightening, she listened to what he was saying.

“Immortal?”

That was a good thing, right? Looking back on the life she’d led, Elliot never thought that it would go past the average eighty years. Even that seemed like a long time. What would forever be like? For a while, she’d thought her life was over, just because she’d wasted three years. Boy was she wrong. Elliot found herself laughing at his next statement.

“That’s all? It’s okay, I’ve just found out I’m some twisted species of… thing, that isn’t actually supposed to be real and that because of it, I’ll live forever.”

The sheer relaxed nature of Daniel’s explanation, hit the hysterical part of Elliot’s mind. It was all too much to learn. For years, Elliot had thought that she could handle anything. Yet here Daniel was, telling her the truth, and she was bordering on hysteria. She clapped a hand over her mouth and cut her laugh short and took a deep breath. Daniel carried on, and Elliot made a note, through her slightly frantic thoughts, to remember those rules. Not that she would ever try to explain this to anyone, when she could barely handle it herself.

“Okay, it’s not like a have anyone to tell, anyway.”

She hadn’t meant it to, but her voice caught on the end of the sentence. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Here she was, acting like a confused little girl, nearly having a mental break down over something she knew had to be true.

[Ruka]

At her question, he merely nodded. Danny was too wrapped up in paying attention to where he was going to answer. Better not step on any cracks. He turned his gaze down and concentrated on the sidewalk, carefully stepping over the next small rise. He took a moment to contemplate how badly overdue a new sidewalk was when her laughter began. He lifted his gaze and gave her a questioning look.

Her response clicked everything together in his head, and he began to regret dumping all of this information on her at once. "I'm sorry... I hadn't thought about how you'd take this. I've grown up knowing this stuff, so I never give it any real thought," he explained, attempting to comfort her. Normally he'd have patted her on the shoulder or something, but right now, Danny thought that might be a bad idea. Perhaps it was best to let her sort out her feelings for herself.

As her laughter ended and she spoke again, and idea popped into his head. She said she had no one... Well that's wasn't right at all. Everyone should have someone, right? Elliot sounded sad, too, and Danny didn't like it when someone around him was sad. Especially if he might be able to cheer them up. He was good at that.

"You can have someone, if you want." The words were out before he could think of a better time and place to speak them. Taking a breath, he added, "By the way you talk, you don't know where your family is. So if you want, I can be your brother." He chuckled lightly to himself. "To be honest, I've always wanted a little sister."

[Jisa]

Elliot waved away his apology, focusing on normal things that she knew to be true. I’m Elliot Martin. I’m eighteen. I was an honor student. I never knew my birth parents. Of course, that only worked for a little while. One thought led to the next and Elliot came to the realization that her birth parents must be… shifters as well. She slammed a lid over her thoughts, trying to block everything out completely. At some point, she knew the pressure would have to be released, but she wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

“It’s alright, I think I’m just a little on the strange side after all of that.”

Elliot shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. The irate part of her brain was yelling at her, telling her that, yes, it did matter. She imagined a bullet through that little voice. Soon after, it quieted. Good. Her head tilted to the side, as she looked back at Daniel, when he said that she could have someone. In the sudden clarity of her mind, she still didn’t understand. He took a deep breath and then carried on, in a better way. It took a moment to process, and even then she was wary.

Why was he being so nice, understanding… welcoming?

To Elliot, it didn’t add up. She was used to ulterior motives and cheap deception from one smuggler to another. Before the thoughts got too muddled again, she decided to go along with it.

“Let’s see how that plays out, Danny boy.”

Elliot smirked in satisfaction, that was where her personality had gone. It had been buried under the weird.

“Do we have a destination in mind, or are we just wandering?"

[Ruka]

Danny boy? he thought, laughing again. It didn't bother him, really. It was rather refreshing. His relatives never called him by any sort of nickname, expect for his mother.

Where were they going? That was easy. "Home," he replied simply, glancing over his shoulder at her as he turned the corner. He was following the marks he'd made as a dog closely to avoid getting lost. The signs were pretty simple, really. A couple pebbles here, a scrap of leaf stuck into a crack there. Small details you normally wouldn't notice unless you were looking for them. Danny was better at finding his way in dog form, but right now he wanted to avoid that if at all possible. For all he knew, the city was on the look out for a huge black-and-white dog that had helped a ferocious zoo animal escape. They'd take him to the animal shelter again if they caught him, or worse.

They were actually getting close to the house. They'd been walking for longer than he'd thought. In fact, Maplegrove was the next street over. After all the excitement of the day, Danny was ready for a nap. Well, judging by the sun, it was nearly five. If he took a nap, he'd be awake at three in the morning or something and miserable the next day, so what was the point?

Danny lead the way down the street, his pace quickening as his house came into view. "It's that white one there, " he called to Elliot, pointing the two-story out next to the others along the street.

[Jisa]

Elliot was easily satisfied with the answer of home. Her muscles were worn out and so was her mind. It was absurd to think that, just a few hours ago, she was just fine with being a cheetah for the rest of her life, sleeping on the floor, outside. Even a couch would be a heavenly upgrade from crates and straw. Stifling a yawn, Elliot rolled her shoulders, keeping pace just behind Danny. She just hoped she could keep composure and control long enough to stay human for… as long as she needed to. It would take a while before she’d try shifting again, that was for sure.

When Danny pressed his speed, Elliot jogged along behind him, hoping that they were close to the house. He pointed it out, and Elliot’s jaw nearly dropped. A two story house? She’d lived in a center, sharing rooms with sometimes five other people. If she wasn’t there, she was in a stiflingly small apartment, also sharing rooms. Two people in a two story house? That was beyond crazy for Elliot. That was assuming that there was only the two of them. Maybe there were other people living there. It would make more sense anyway.

“Maybe this sibling thing’ll just work out,”

She smiled at no one in particular.