[open] if i only knew what i know, any

[Chel]

c h e l Chel still wasn’t the best at controlling her shifts.  She was getting better, to be sure, but she certainly wasn’t as skilled as her mother slipping from skin to skin so easily.  Mama V said it would come with practice, but it gnawed at the girl that she wasn’t good at it now.  Patience wasn’t one of her strong suits, and after their conversation this morning, Mama V had sent her on her way to the playground. To make friends. Or something. So off she went, with Atzi in tow.  She knew she was supposed to be careful, but she hadn’t yet shed the body of the leopard and figured she might as well have some fun on her way. So the girl and her companion scrambled up the nearest tree and made a game of seeing if they could make it all the way to the playground without touching the ground. Three near-misses and a half-dozen broken branches later, the two sat on a wide branch that extended across the edge of the playground.  The girl let out a bored huff, stirring her ever-present butterflies. Atzi was the one who saw the boy first, and drew Chel’s attention to the scene below. The girl watched the boy from the trees with genuine curiosity.  She hadn’t met anyone her age who was, you know, like her. She waited until he shifted to his equine form before deciding come down from her perch.  Leopard-Chel leapt from the branch, while her ocelot companion took the safer route and slid down the trunk of the tree before rejoining her bondmate.  She allows herself a few steps to adjust before shifting back to her equine body and launching herself into a brisk trot to intercept the boy, tucking her wings to her sides as she goes. “Hi! I’m Chel!” She more announced than introduced.  Her mothers’ had been working on teaching her manners but instead of waiting for his name she launches into her line of questioning.  “Can you do other animals too?” she asks, wondering if he’d been experimenting as she had.

@[lumineer]