14 Chapter 13

Cal woke up slowly to the sound of a tiny bell moving around the room. Taking a moment to wake up fully he shifted out of the bed and got dressed in his usual off white shirt and thick cotton pants. Leaving Tanen to sleep in as he could use the extra sleep.

Outside of the room, he saw that the main hallway empty not even the sound of Ryan frantically cooking could be heard. Must be earlier than he thought. 'Could go on a walk I guess.' He thought as he walked to the front door.

" Cal wait for me." He heard Vayle say as her frantic light footsteps coming down the stairs. Looking at her he notices a much different outfit on her. Tight black cloth pants hugged her thicker thighs and wider hips, and he could barely make out a high collared white shirt under the sleeved red furlined poncho she wore overtop. "Heading for a morning walk are we?"

" Yeah, didn't realize how early it was actually."

" That's fine, we can enjoy the fresh breeze before everyone else wakes up then," She smiled, already halfway out the door. " And get you some new clothes while we are at it."

He shook his head with a small laugh in response as he followed her out the door into the surprisingly frigid air outside. No wonder she was dressed that way. " Is it always this damn cold here?" He asked shivering.

" It might be summer but we get a strong breeze from the northern mountains actually," She replied, white puffs of air coming from her mouth. They moved quickly to a small store that was always very conveniently open early in the mornings. The store held more winter-themed items then the rest of them did. Trying on different jackets Cal eventually settled on a black hide parka, it was simple but it would keep him warm enough to function in the current weather. Before they left they even grabbed a pair of gloves each and officially began their walk.

The ground was frosty and frankly quite dangerous. Cal and Vayle slipping and nearly falling every time they weren't careful, while funny to watch the other flail their arms it wasn't fun when they would nearly fall over just the same.

" So, Cal tell me about Earlstone," Vayle said as they paid for coffee at a street vendor in the park.

" Take it you want the full story, yeah?" She nodded in response as she frantically blew on the hot beverage. " Alright so, I wasn't actually born in Earlstone. My parents and I moved there when I was very young, they never did tell me why no matter how much I pushed and begged them. They always said, " It's for your own safety." And I just accepted that I guess. As a kid, I didn't show many hybrid traits, unlike my two parents. My mom has a full-on tail if you can believe that." He said with a hearty laugh. " I must have been around six, lets say when I met Tanen who's a few years younger than I am. He must have been around four, just barely able to be by himself for longer than an hour at a time. He wouldn't leave me alone, not that I minded, of course, he was the only kid to not treat me like the outsider I was,"

" Wow, so you two really are childhood friends,"

" Yeah, now let me continue," Vayle nodded mumbling a sorry as he began talking again, " Tanen and I got into a lot of shit like all kids do, but because I was weird for having amber eyes compared to everyone else's brown or blue I was often punished separately. If we just caused some mischief Tanen would get a slap on the wrist while I was often hit for what I did. Doesn't do well on a kid's mental state. I did eventually fall into line as punishments got severe and my traits showed more. They started as thin marks, almost scar-like on my body, before long they thickened and some darkened in colour drastically. Now at... 24ish, I'm practically wearing a suit of armour on my back. Only found out how thick they got when I was being foolish with my dad in the forest. I didn't see which way the tree was falling and it landed on my back, my dad of course freaking out and lifting the tree off of me thought I was dead, but thankfully my scales saved me. Must have been in my teens at that point and I haven't had an incident like that since."

" Cal, what happened to your parents?" Vayle asked in a soft voice, in case it was a sensitive subject.

His fists clenched around the paper cup holding the still scalding liquid, " They left me in the night, leaving nothing but a note for me to find, leaving off to find a lost friend," He said through gritted teeth.

A small gloved hand placed itself on his and lightly loosened his fingers so they wouldn't potentially squish the cup. He didn't notice her move but now Vayle sat on her haunches in front of him, a light sad smile on her face. Looking into her eyes he saw no lie or potential threat allowing her to take the cup and place it on the ground so she could properly hold his much larger hands.

" Cal from what I heard they care for greatly," She said, " And you have many others who care about you just as much, you have Tanen and everyone at the Oasis."

" Sorry didn't mean to vent a bit there," He replied lightly squeezing her hands.

She slowly lifted back into a stand, still holding his hands. Still smiling she let go of one hand to pass him his coffee before grabbing hers. " Its all good actually, we did agree to be friends didn't we? And friends listen to each other's pleas when they have too."

" Yeah, I don't think friends hold hands as they walk through a park."

" Um, well," She stuttered as she fell for a complete loss for words. It was true they were acting a bit like a couple but that wasn't possible Cal was clearly gay. right?

" A bit of skinship never hurt anyone," Cal said with a laugh, " If anyone asks we just say "It ain't your business" ya hear me?"

" Yeah, who cares, friends can hold hands and all that."

The two continued their walk through the town. Vayle showing him her favourite stalls with the plan to fatten him completely upon their delectable dishes, all the while Cal found an odd interest in the local bookstore with more books than he could even imagine. From cookbooks to history, to a genre called fantasy where they wrote about places with moving metal vehicles called cars and ways to talk with the person instantly over "phones" instead of writing letters or finding a telepath. Vayle promised that at a later date they would go back and pick out some books for Cal or Tanen to read.

Slowly reaching the front door of the Oasis they saw Theodore standing to attention, quickly noticing the two hybrids he opened the door for them, " Just in time for Ryan's late-week brunch you two."

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