Kylin Oryn's Story

It was Val's turn to laugh, though unlike Lyle's his was cold, empty of humor. "None of that matters! We're not rivals and you, boy, you're not on the college campus. You're complaining like they give a damn about your comforts, that's the best joke I've heard and I've had to listen to this guy day in and day out."

"If I have to listen to you banter with him all day as you slowly come to terms with the fact that your freedoms are gone I'm going to do them a favor and tear my own ears and eyes out. Racism...you have food in your belly and all your limbs and both your eyes work fine...for now. Your best bet is not to look any more interesting than any of the other bats you get to hang around with in there."

Val shifted back into his cheetah form and carefully lay down, his movements like that of an old dog with bad joints his long back pressed up against the side of the glass each spot on his coat like a smudge of ink. He faced the opposite of them both but he shifted partway back as he rest his head against the glass. "Instead of wasting our time with complaints why don't you tell us where you came from? I myself am South African, as is chuckles over there. He has absolutely lost his mind so try to take what he says and does with a grain of salt."


Elsewhere:


Roland was not in his forest.

This sole fact managed to drip past the haze of tranquilizer and fall like a solitary eyedrop into cold, sharp realization. The things he'd been watching glide past like bright sunbeams were lights, similar to that which you'd find at a hospital. He had been staring listlessly as they past, glaring into his dark bleary eyes before they disappeared behind him. His captors, wheeling him through the halls hadn't noticed or assumed he was still in a heavy drugged stupor. He hadn't moved yet and couldn't focus enough to think of an action or a word to say so he relied completely on instinct. His breathing quickened and he began to writhe and struggle, each exhale becoming the characteristic huffing of a wild and pissed off grizzlybear. He thrashed and grew in the stretcher, fur sprouting through his sleeves as they ballooned with fat and muscle, causing it to rattle and creak as his weight doubled and tripled. The scientists exclaimed and scattered yelling for a tranquilizer, fighting to push each other out of range of his swinging claws thick and sharp enough to carve slices from their flesh. He got his paws free in no time once the straps snapped and swung to one side crushing several ribs of a man against the wall. He bellowed, beady black eyes glazed as he swayed into motion, first rolling against the broken and screaming man before using him to pull himself past the wreckage of torn bedding and bent metal supports. Rolan moaned and made a beline towards the nearest sign of fresh natural light. All at once he headbutted his way through the heavy doors leading outside just as adart was aimed at his back, footsteps tromping loudly down the hall behind him.

Val seemed to be busy, he was between two of his forms his arched back coated in a trail of the thick dark fur that came down from the nape of his neck his spots were just barely visible against his drawn skin tight and near colorless against his skeleton. "Did they shock you?" He asked.

A spark jolted in the edge of his enclosure abd the door to the outside jerked open. Val let out a grimace but set the panel back into place. "Maybe you ought to let yourself enjoy it, I hear they treat people who are into that sort of thing differently."

"If anything do it for my curiosity." He slipped out through the hatch and shifted fluidly into a leopard as a gust of cool evening air rushed in. Things had settled down since the ruckus of the bear's arrival and he wondered vaguely what kind of inhumane explorations were being done to him. Roland wasn't lucky enough to awaken calmly on an operating table pleasently hazy on drugs. It took a lot to sedate him and even more to restrain him so his welcome was done behind the thick bulletproof glass walls pf his enclosure. His stay wasn't to be in the nocturnal house with the others, the bear enclosure was elsewhere but he was temprarily being held there while they set things up.

Beyond the massive wall marking the zoo from the rest of the world Kylin observed his entryzone and studied the mildly unreliable brochure map he had procured on his visit. With some rough calculations and some overconfidence he chose a pathway that wrapped around the big cat enclosure. If he dug for the garden he could appear right on the pathway. The soil would be soft and pliable there as they changed plants out regularly. Once the hole was dug he could use his rabbit form to drag his satchel through it. It would work perfectly. He just had to make sure he didn't dig past his strike zone and into one of the habitats. He was sure next to the big cat was a hyena exhibit. He genuinely didn't want to get eaten.