A/N: I have been watching and rewatching the miniseries to make sure I stay on course with Tin Man Vignettes...and one scene got me to thinking…
Have you ever wondered what would have happened over the gorge if Toto was as stupid as Cain seemed to believe?
I do not own even this tiny scene…
Toto – Tutor, he corrected silently in his head, cursing DG for coming up with that stupid moniker – gulped and whined nervously as Cain gripped him tightly under one elbow. The Tin Man's other hand was gripping the zip line as they flew through the air over the Crack in the OZ. In his doggy form, Toto (Tutor) contemplated the apparent loss of some of his higher reasoning skills.
Useful skills like the ability to understand why he was tucked safely under another man's arm or the more interesting conundrum involving why said man automatically imagined Toto (Tutor) to be so painfully dense when he had never met him before their impromptu escape from the Tower. The Royal Instructor of Princesses should not have to take constant degradation and contempt from a lowly Tin Man. Lost in contemplation, Toto (Tutor, damn that girl, it was stuck in his head) very nearly missed the Tin Man's words as they flew through the air with the greatest of…speed.
"If you shape shift, I swear, I will drop you," The belligerent ex-cop growled as the strain of holding onto a zip line one-handed with a dog in the other made him even more grumpy than usual. This was not saying much in Toto's (TUTOR's) opinion. The freakin' man was a badly wired nurture unit with one setting – pissed off.
Several dizzying moments later, T-U-T-O-R felt a minor shift in the Tin Man's precarious hold on his little body. For a tiny canine, the ex-Royal Instructor of Princesses had a rather massive panic attack as the change in grip set off his danger alarms. Thinking the Tin Man was going to drop him anyway, self-preservation kicked in. The tiny terrier barked sharply before shifting into human form.
In some convoluted way that choice had made sense prior to his shift, Toto (Oh for Ozma's sake, it is TUTOR. Must I spell it out for you – wait, that is right. I already did) thought he would be more help to Cain if he could get a grip on the zip line as well. Of course, the shift in form also brought back the lost reasoning behind why that was a remarkably stupid idea.
Cain gave a shout of surprise as a rather rotund, black man appeared by his side on the zip line. The sudden weight change on the line snapped it in half like a frayed rubber band and the Tin Man just barely managed to grab one end of the rope before they both began to free fall through the air with the greatest of...ease?
Due to the bizarre irony of most fantasy stories in which the characters have nine (hundred) lives and cannot die even with massive amounts of blood loss and internal organ damage (caused by bullet holes that turn characters into human/animal/creature sieves, impressive falls from great heights, and other random accidents the producers decide is necessary to move the plot along) both Cain and Toto (I give up) do not die…
Wyatt –cool as a cucumber in any situation – Cain glides gracefully through the air and crashes into the other side of the gorge still hanging onto the frayed rope. There he is dutifully hauled up by DG – you jump, I jump – Gale, Glitch –the annoyingly optimistic headcase who still manages to grouse a heck of a lot for an optimist – and Raw who instantly heals all fatal wounds and restores Cain to the pristine Tin Man we all know and love.
Toto on the other hand…well his life flashes before his eyes as he falls straight down the gorge. It was actually pretty mundane, come to recall. In another ironic twist of fate, he somehow manages to shape shift once more into his doggy form thinking that cats might not be the only creatures that were able to survive a long fall by landing on their feet.
Right before he dropped into the middle of several Longcoat patrols who had, until that moment, forgotten rule number 4688.02, subtext 91B that stated one simple warning.
Never forget to look up when you are on patrol. Flying enemies are rare, since the Mobats are on OUR side, but they do still appear on occasion.
Suddenly, Toto was wishing for death instead.
Needless to say, the former Royal Instructor of Princesses became a furry little mascot for Longcoat Brigades ten and nineteen while Wyatt Cain and company finished their mission and saved the OZ without the witch tracking them.
When found several weeks after the events of the Double Eclipse under Longcoat supervision, Toto promptly bit Wyatt – I am no longer belligerent because DG saved the day but my new smile still creeps out Glitch – Cain's hand before shape shifting into his human form.
Somehow, in the weeks since his capture by the Longcoats, it seemed that the ex-Tin Man and the ex-Royal Instructor of Princesses had managed to switch personalities.
Toto formally resigned his post as Royal Tutor and founded a Survivor's Group for shape shifters affected by the Longcoat invasion.
He was the sole attendee.
A/N: I want to thank animegus farmus for the inspiration behind Wyatt and DG's nicknames…