Robert Watson & Marah

When Bobby and Marah were young they wanted to be astronauts, superheroes, or pirates. It was their dream to be somebody strong, amazing, and adventurous. As with all children, they honestly wanted to just be somebody. Somebody others looked up too, somebody who was successful…somebody who definitely were not exactly like their parents.

In most of their games, Marah would take on smaller forms to be able to fit in pockets and tiny spaces. Normally she would take on the form of a mouse or gerbil, but sometimes she would be more creative. One of her favorites was a Sugar Glider, but Bobby never liked anyone to see her in such a form. It was 'too cute and girly' he told her. But secretly he loved her more when she took the shapes of cute animals, and though they both knew it, neither was willing to admit. Other times she would be big and fierce as they play fought with the neighbors.

In the games Marah would be a dog in one form or another. When asked, she would only say that she felt most comfortable as a canine, or some other shape that allowed her to have all feet on the ground. While imaginative, Marah never took the form of a bird, bat, or anything with wings as she was afraid of heights.

No one was surprised when she settled as an English Springer Spaniel. The Watson family had always had canine dæmons, aside from the occasional fox (and the estranged Great Uncle Charlus Watson who no one talked about as his dæmon settled as a wolf). It was unseemly and never discussed in polite company.

Although it is not always the case, those who's dæmons settled as a wolf usually experienced a deep trauma, a twisted childhood, or were found lacking in the emotional and moral areas of the brain. Charlus was none of those, he was only eccentric, and both he and his dæmon loved the attention.

Most people viewed those with dog dæmons in two ways: the bigger, fiercer hound was met with caution for they - and their humans – were commonly military, police, or government. As for those whose dæmons settled in the form of a gentler breed were typically part of the serving class. Though it was considered an old world view, it was nearly impossible to ignore the ingrained instinctual reaction to someone's dæmon. And even when considered part of the serving class, Bobby was content with life and proud that his dæmon settled as a dog.

At twenty-two, he married the love of his life, Katelyn O'Connely, an Irish lass from Acton. Marah was absolutely besotted with her African Swallow dæmon, Varro. They settled in Bobby's family farm house in Studland, Dorset and started their own family.

When little Harriett and Titus were born, Bobby thought himself the luckiest man alive. The birth was long and complicated. Bobby and Marah paced the halls for hours as Katelyn screamed and Varro cursed at the doctors' dæmons like a sailor. After eleven hours of labor finally the room went silent before a baby's wail broke the quiet. When he rushed into the birthing room, Harriet was the only thing he saw.

She was a tiny thing, eyes bright green and golden hair. Titus was a curious little dæmon, always getting into places where he needed to be rescued. But all the same, they were well loved, and if Katelyn encouraged them to be a little more bold and adventurous…well, Marah was good at rescuing dæmons.

He showered his princess with gifts and spoiled her rotten. She was the perfect daughter, and when she was four, her brother was brought into the world. Compared to Harriett's birth, Katelyn could almost say John's was boring.

Katelyn's water broke in October exactly on the day they were expecting, and Bobby packed up his wife and daughter into the truck and drove to the hospital. John Hamish Watson was born right on time, with little fuss and no drama at all. It was rather unremarkable, but Katelyn glowed all the same as she presented her husband with their first born son.

Bobby cradled John close to himself as he crouched down so Marah, Harriett, and Titus could see. Harriett screwed up her button nose as Marah nudged the infant naked mole rat dæmon. It bleated pitifully before burrowing closer to its human.

"Look, Harriett," Bobby called softly as he smiled at his daughter. "It's your baby brother."

Harriett scrutinized her 'brother' as Titus leaned closer, long nimble fingers poking at the baby's dæmon as the monkey inspected it. "Is it supposed to look that way?" She questioned innocently and Bobby chuckled softly at her.

"'He', little princess, and yes, babies normally look this way."

Harriett's expression clearly stated that she was not impressed, but her attention was quickly pulled away as Titus yanked at her hair. "Harry, Harry look," the Macaque pointed at the baby.

"What, Titus?"

"Its dæmon," the little monkey shifted into a ferret in its excitement. "It's male!"

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When Harriett was twelve, her dæmon settled as a Robin. Though disappointed, Bobby was not at all surprised. His princess was simply too much like her mother to be anything other than a bird. Light and carefree, jubilant and flitting, just like a bird. If he was being honest with himself, he knew long before the settling that Titus was fit to have wings.

John on the other hand at eight years old was much like his dear old dad. If Bobby had known how much the next few months would have changed his son, his family, he would have never taken the promotion. As it was there had not been a witch in his family in over seventeen generations, and Bobby could not see the future.

Two weeks after Titus settled, Bobby accepted the promotion and relocated his family to Venezuela. It was a beautiful country full of life and culture. Overseeing the plans to map the new railway system while taking into account ground stability, economic differences, and protected forest lands took much of his attention, leaving him little time for his family.

Harriett and John joined a nearby school and Bobby could not have been more proud. Though they were behind do to the language barrier, Katelyn took the four month relocation period to tutor them in Spanish instead of finding a job. Becoming a stay at home mom was less of a vacation than she thought, but her and Varro loved it all the same.

The trip went well for just over a month and then disaster struck.

Bobby and Marah could remember it as if it were yesterday. It had been a Friday and Bobby had taken the day off to be with his family as he saw so little of them lately. After much deliberation, it was decided that they were going to be classic vacationers and join a guided tour with twenty other foreigners through a small protected section of the Amazon Rainforest.

The storm that had caught them by surprise had come out of nowhere, and in seconds Harriett and John were obscured behind a thick downpour of rain.

The children had been ahead of the group, giggling as John's dæmon, Kato, entertained them by shifting forms. Katelyn smiled as Kato morphed between a green tree snake and a monkey only to flit into a dog and bark at the wildlife. Titus had darted about throwing suggestions and criticism like only an older sibling could.

The heavy rain created flashfloods and landslides. Eight went missing in the initial chaos, three were found almost immediately after they had regrouped. Their guide had dragged them back to the visitor's center where Bobby and Marah found themselves alone. He had been so sure Katelyn had been next to him, but in the initial chaos she had run after the kids, Varro soaked and clutched to her chest as she stumbled though the underbrush. It had only taken a second, and then he had lost sight of her completely.

In a daze, Bobby allowed himself to be led to a side room, hand fisting in Marah's fur as he took a seat in the pastel blue chair. Moments later a teenage boy and an elderly lady joined him. The boy had a haunted look in his eyes, his cat dæmon sitting listlessly in his lap as the boy dried her with a towel. His movements were mechanical, as if he was not consciously aware of what he was doing. The old lady just sat alone, fingers twitching occasionally as her badger dæmon lay beneath her chair.

It was in the early hours of the morning when several Venezuelan officials came with news and the elderly woman was guided out of the room in tears, her badger following behind at a sedate pace, grey muzzle pressed to the floor. Marah whined pitifully at the badger, but the dæmon did not look up as he trailed after his human.

A few hours later two more officials came in. They separated at the door, one heading for the child and the other for him. Marah cowered against Bobby's leg as the man told him about the bodies that had washed up near a village, Katelyn among them. Marah wailed as Bobby sat there in silence, shock settling over him. She drowned, he told them. I'm sorry for your loss, they consoled.

The boy left the room an orphan, cat dæmon clutched to his chest as if it were going to disappear if he loosened his hold. Alone, Bobby and Marah waited for news of the children. Harriett and Titus were found the following day, screaming hysterically as they learned of their mother's passing. They would wait a lot longer to hear of John and Kato.

One day slid into the next, Bobby and Harriett waiting by the phone of their condo as they waited for news. One week slid into two as they packed Katelyn's things to be shipped back home, the condo quiet as the television drowned out the silence left in her wake. One month slid into the next when the phone finally rang and Bobby wept in joy for the first time.

The Venezuelans had given up on the child. The Amazon Jungle killed older, stronger, and wiser men, and the Watson boy was only eight. But somehow, against all odds, the boy and his dæmon survived.

Looking at them now, Bobby and Marah debated this fact with a heavy heart. John and Kato may have survived the jungle, but not all of them came back from it. Something was missing from the both of them, and it left the boys a little less.

The reunion was heartfelt and full of tears and surprises. John greeted them with wide haunted eyes as Bobby grabbed him up into a hug that Harriett tried to weasel in between before he enveloped both of them. But when Marah went to greet Kato, the young dæmon shifted into a large brown Doberman, baring his teeth as a low rumbling growl filled the room. Marah tucked her tail underneath her belly and her head dropped as she whined pitifully, shuffling back to her human as Kato stood guard over the sickly thin boy.

Bobby quit his job, becoming a stay at home dad that soon turned into a stay at home drunk. He drank to forget Katelyn and how she looked as he identified her body, pale blue and bloated from the water. He drank to forget that horrible desperate feeling as they waited of news for his son. He drank to forget that the son he got back was not the one that had left. Mostly he just drank because he could.

The company gave him a large severance package, enough to set them for years. In exchange he never talked about what had happened in Venezuela. It was not until much later that he learned that the company had never even bothered to file a report. It was as if it never happened, would not want to look bad after all. After much deliberation, the plans for Venezuela's new railroad system was scrapped all together. Bobby drank to forget that as well.

John and Kato never talked about what had happened to them in the jungle, but then again the never talked about much of anything to anyone anymore. Spoken only when spoken too, John became a distant child, hiding in his room or running about into the small wooded area near the house. Kato rarely changed forms, choosing to hold a single shape for months. When he did shift it was always into a predator. Kato became John's protector, standing away from other dæmons, even family.

Their great aunt Judith called it post-traumatic stress disorder. With a minor in child psychology, she visited them often throughout the following years keeping the whole incident within the family in order to leave them their privacy. She told Bobby that one day it would get better. John would work through it, kids always bounced back, he just needed time. And it did get better to an extent.

John became more carefree and Kato began to let other dæmons approach him once more. It was not the same, John and Kato would never be as innocent as they once were before becoming lost in that jungle. But they were recovering, bit by bit. And Bobby continued to drink.

Kato settled when they were ten and no one inside the family was surprised that he took the form of a predator. They were mostly surprised that it was not a dog or anything in the canine family. Instead he took the form of a feline. The only thing that startled Bobby and Marah was that it was such a small feline.

A clouded leopard, the smallest of all the big cats, less than two feet at the shoulder. Kato was smaller than even Marah. He was short and stocky, with overly large paws that Bobby knew served some sort of function but made Kato look like a cub that was still growing.

Although cute, Kato was a predator. It became more obvious when he walked. His body seemed to flow silently across the floor, the furred paws muffling the sounds of his steps. The claws were curved and sharp, just over and inch and half long. The eyeteeth were nearly three inches in length, the skull to tooth ratio larger than any other living animal. A sabretooth some called it, the last of the sabretooth cats in all of creation.

He gained a lot of attention in class when it was discovered that he had settled. The children's dæmons fawned over his exotic and cute form. Kato was polite, but he did not appreciate the attention.

When John and Kato were twelve, Harriett and Titus dropped out of school. Bobby did not notice, he did not notice a lot anymore. Harriett drank like her father and moved in with her girlfriend. John and Kato were left alone to deal with their family that was slowly but surely falling apart. Bobby rarely left the house anymore and Marah could be found most days staring listlessly into the fire place, eyes glazed as her human drank himself from one drunken stupor to the next.

When John and Kato were thirteen, they lied about their age and got a job at the grocer's two towns over. The money they got was just enough to keep the important bills paid and the employee discount helped with the food. It was not a lot, but John did not need much, and Bobby drank more than he ate.

On their sixteenth birthday, John forged his father's signature and left to study medicine at King's College in London. Later he joined the military and trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. After John and Kato left, Bobby and Marah were truly and utterly alone. Bobby drank to forget that as well.