Edwin P.O.V:
It is a night after that meeting and Jasiri and I took upon Kendall and Jamal's offer to meet up again, this time Jamal and Jasiri will be sharing their own high school yearbooks and photos.
Jasiri offered for us to meet up at her place. I arrived first, with the Uber dropping me off in front of Jasiri's building. She let me in her apartment, we embraced for a little bit, we casually talked for a little bit and then Kendall and Jamal soon arrived and they gave Jasiri a bottle of wine as a gift, after which she placed it on her kitchen counter, as we walked towards a coffee table. We were wearing more business casual clothes compared to the formalwear a week before. We talked a little bit about work, our lives and what not. Jasiri was still in her human form, and it was about to get dark outside, so it was almost time for her to transform into her anthro hyena form.
"So wait? The CEO of the museum actually commissioned someone to make bronze busts of his dead father, and himself in his lion form?" Kendall asked while looking both surprised and trying to hold a laugh.
"I swear it's true, he gave a whole speech, mandatory meeting of all staff and everything." I said while we continue to laugh about it for a little bit.
"Yeah, I was there for the whole thing too. If you ever visit the museum at any time, you can actually see them and you will know where they are." Jasiri said.
"Man, what an egotist, and I thought that the CEO of the company I work for was bad because whenever he visits our sector, he calls dibs on anything in the fridge even when none of the food is his." Jamal said.
"Man, that sucks. You should really file a complaint about that." I replied.
"I actually did a week ago and I still have not heard back from that department yet." Jamal said.
"Hopefully they respond, the CEO of Whole Foods almost never comes to our department, the only time they do is just inspections and just gives paperwork and orders to my boss." Kendall said.
"It's funny, though the CEO works in the same building as the two of us, I have never seen him once visit nor pass by my genetics lab." I replied.
"It's the same thing with the fossil lab, I could recall him making a visit to our lab only twice since I began working at the museum. Sometimes I wonder if he even cares about any of the other departments other than the business sec- urrghh!" Jasiri was saying until she started to groan and hold on to her abdomen and started to grasp one of the arms of the chair she was sitting in.
"Jasiri? What's wrong?...Is it time again?" I asked with concern, and she nodded.
"Okay, let me help you to the bathroom if you would like." I offered as I grabbed her hand as she was walking.
"I can help if you want?" Kendall asked as she was about to get off her seat.
"Oh no it's fine...agghh. I can go on my own...Agghh! Actually I don't think that I will make it to the bathroom…" Jasiri said as she tried to walk fast towards her bathroom, but she ended up collapsing on her kitchen floor, still groaning in pain.
"Jasiri!" I said going closer to the kitchen as Kendall and Jamal got out of their seats to approach us.
"Jasiri! Are you okay?" Jamal asked.
"It's fine..ughh! .I go through this every night for the past twenty one years- AGGHH!" Jasiri said as she let out another groan to the pain.
Then in front of us, we saw Jasiri transform into her hyena form. Her gray fur began to grow in every part of her body and on her back side, there appears to be her tail growing, though some of it is still covered by the outfit she is currently wearing. We also saw the paws starting to form on her hands and her nails were starting to become more claw-like. She was screaming in pain throughout the whole thing. After a few minutes later, the screaming and the pain….just seemed to stop.
Jasiri got up from her kitchen floor and just walked towards us as if nothing happened. She was still the same person, wearing the same clothes as moments earlier, the only difference was that she was in her anthro hyena form.
She walked towards us in a casual manner as we looked in expressions of surprises. Before tonight I have only seen parts of her transformation process during our first second dates, but I never seen the whole thing before.
"Okay, it's done for tonight. Hey Jamal, perhaps we can see some of those high school photos you brought?" Jasiri asked as we walked back to the chairs we previously sat in.
"Sure, I get the photos and yearbook from my laptop bag?" Jamal said as he started to grab the beige laptop bag he was carrying.
"So Jasiri, do you go through this transformation process every night?" Kendall asked.
"Yes, I have been going through this process every night for the last 21 years of my life, and every morning to change into my human form" Jasiri said.
"So wait, you've been going through this transformation twice a day for twenty one years?" Kendall asked.
"That's correct." Jasiri replied.
"Holy shit! That must feel extremely painful, based on what I saw and heard two minutes ago." Kendall said, which provoked Jasiri to let out a small laugh.
"Oh yeah, it's definitely painful for the first two or three minutes of it, but the pain decreases in the later stages of the process. It also felt worse during my first year of being in the human world, but as years passed by, I've grown used to it." Jasiri replied.
"Interesting…" Kendall said with a look and tone of curiosity.
"I have to say, you are a much stronger person than I am, I would not be able to handle that much pain every single day." Kendall said.
"Me neither, your strength is absolutely incredible. That's one of the many reasons that you will always be attractive to me" I said. This provoked Jasiri to let out a little laugh.
"Oh Edwin...you're making me blush." Jasiri said as she shot a friendly gaze towards me.
"What can I say, I cannot deny the facts." I cunningly replied, which caused all of us to share a light laugh.
Soon Jamal took out a bulk white rectangular envelope and alongside it a yearbook that was mostly a deep sky blue, which had a pale green sketch of a compass with green letters above it that says Nikola Tesla Magnet High School and with the year 2009 written below the compass.
"Okay guys, I found my yearbook. Want to start going through it?" Jamal said.
"Absolutely, you've seen photos of me during my awkward years; it's only fair that I get to see photos during your awkward years." Kendall enthusiastically said.
"Okay, fair enough" Jamal said as he opened the book.
We looked through the pages to find club photos of him involved in his school's National Honor Society chapter, along with finding out that he competed in his school's math team, table tennis team, computer science club and he was also the founder of his high school's coding club. Along with the photo of all the members of the club, there was also a photo of Jamal with two other club members, flexing their arms while wearing a black T-shirt with the words "HACK CLUB: Get a Load of these Pythons" with a sample of Python code written in white. This photo caused us to share a laugh with each other.
"Really Jamal? 'Get a load of these pythons' What made you think that T-shirt was a good idea?" Kendall said while she was laughing.
"Because I thought it was a good idea to get more school-wide publicity for the club, and it did to some degree. Also, I thought it would get attention from a girl I liked at the time. I was wrong about that last one because when I showed the shirt to her, she just got confused." Jamal replied.
"Now a decade later, her loss is my gain." Kendall said as she placed her arm around Jamal's shoulder.
We continued to peruse through the yearbook, and we saw Jamal's senior portrait which was essentially him wearing a black suit jacket, a white button-down shirt with a grey and blue striped tie. Other than his age in the photo, the only other thing that looked different from him now was that his glasses had dark blue frames back then when his glasses are frameless now. And when we looked at his high school yearbook quote we found that...of course "Get a load of these pythons...Coding pythons". This provoked another laugh from us, including Jamal himself
"Seriously Jamal! You made it your yearbook quote?" Kendall said between laughs.
"I guess you must really like that particular phrase." I said.
"Are there ever times now that you have said it?" Jasiri asked.
"Oh come on guys, that quote is good. It will live on past me and yes Jasiri, I still use it at work all the time, and it never gets old." Jamal said with confidence.
We continued to browse through the rest of the yearbook, along with some photos Jamal brought that were not a part of the yearbook.
After we finished we just talked for a few minutes longer.
"Hey Jamal, it was fun looking at your high school photos. Thank you for showing us." I said.
"No problem." Jamal replied.
"Yeah, but that 'Get a load of those pythons shirts' is probably one of the most embarrassing photos I've seen." Kendall said jokingly.
"Oh come on Kendall, you'll get used to it eventually." Jamal jokingly replied. This exchange caused Jasiri to raise an eyebrow.
"Trust me Jamal, I've had much more embarrassing photos of me in the past. And I also have a few of Edwin if you want to see." Jasiri said in a devious tone, which immediately made me turn my head.
"Wait what? How did you-? What do you-? Either way, I don't think Kendall and Jamal would even be interested in seeing some photo of me." I said in both surprise and a slightly evasive tone.
"Are you kidding me, yes! You guys saw my python shirt photo, I want to even out the score with somebody." Jamal said enthusiastically.
"So am I, I've been Edwin's friend for 14 years, I think I have a right to see every damn embarrassing photo that exists of him." Kendall replied, also in an enthusiastic tone.
"Good, let me just search for them from my phone." Jasiri said as she took out her phone.
"Uh Jasiri...I'm just curious, what photos do you exactly have of me that you would be considered embarrassing?" I asked.
"Remember that gala in which you found out that me and many other of our colleagues at the museum were hybrids and we had to shoot you with a tranquilizer gun so you would be calm enough to explain our past and our current beings of being hybrids?" Jasiri said.
"Yeah, I remember, what does that have to do with...Wait?! Did you take photos of me while I was out from the tranquilizer?!" I asked.
"Yeah, Rafiki and some of the others that brought you to his office thought it would be a good idea to take some photos just to commemorate it." Jasiri said as she went to the Photo Library of her phone.
Jasiri pressed a photo, which was revealed to be a photo of me lying asleep on the couch in Rafiki's office with my hair a bit of a mess, my suit slightly wrinkled and my left wrist handcuffed to the filing cabinet. I widened my eyes with shock and embarrassment.
"Holy shit, I looked terrible!" I said while I was starting to laugh a little bit.
"Wait! Let us see!" Kendall said as Jasiri brought her towards Kendall and Jamal so that all of us could see the photo.
Jamal and Kendall started to laugh loudly at the photo, Jasiri and I were laughing.
"Oh Edwin?! This photo makes you look like a shady businessman who had too many drinks and then got robbed by his date." Kendall said between laughs.
"Yeah, this basically looks like a trip to Vegas gone horribly wrong." Jamal said while laughing.
"That's exactly what I was thinking, that does look something like that." I replied.
"Let me scroll through the rest." Jasiri said.
She then scolded me for a few more photos with me in the same position and then some more photos came up but this time it included some of the colleagues that brought me to the office. For example, there were a few that included Jasiri in what she wore at that gala next to me sleeping on the couch, along with some of Beshte, Ma Tembo, Rafiki and Makini in their respective hybrid forms.
"Okay, so I remember that the female mandrill was your colleague Makini who I had that encounter with in high school, and that from what you said about 'Human Resource mandrill', that was the older one who you guys said was Rafiki. But who are the hippo and elephant?" Kendall said.
"Well, the hippo in the photo is Beshte, he's a security guard at the museum and the elephant is Ma Tembo is the lab manager and co-researcher in the genetics lab I completely research in, also known as my boss." I replied.
"Really, So this is your boss! You mentioned them a few times and I was wondering what they looked like." Kendall said.
Then we scrolled to a few photos of the entire group around my unconscious body. Although Kendall, Jamal, and I were surprised at the next few photos in which I saw Rafiki with what looks like swinging a wooden cane...towards my head?! And then there was a photo with the others holding him back.
"Wait...What the fuck?! Jasiri, did Rafiki try to kill me in my sleep?!" I asked.
"Oh no, he would never kill anyone, not even a fly. He thought that whacking you with a stick would help you wake up because that was what he did to 'knock some sense' into people going through a distress of consciousness, but in the few times he tried to do that in the human world, he just ends up nearly injuring people, so he stopped trying that for the most part." Jasiri said.
"Okay, at least we have some photos to commemorate the moment not only I found out about your past but when Rafiki almost killed me with a stick." I replied, after which we all shared a little laugh.
"I guess since all of you guys have shared photos and memories from your high school experiences, I guess it's now my turn to share mine. Let me just grab the box I have in my closet." Jasiri said as she got up and went to a hallway to get this box.
"So guys, anything interesting coming up for you guys at work?" I asked.
"Not really, just some of the stuff that occurs on an average week." Kendall replied.
"Actually, an administrative assistant for the coding company I work for is retiring this week and we are planning a small get-together for their last week of work. Other than that, mostly just the usual stuff as well. How about you, Edwin?" Jamal said.
"That sounds cool. Anyways, my day tomorrow will be mostly the usual stuff. Hopefully we get protein expression this week and of the proteins we already expressed, I have to compare them to the reference sequences available on GenBank." I said.
"I'm sorry, but what is GenBank?" Kendall asked.
"Well GenBank is a virtual data that contains recorded sequences for DNA, mRNA and protein alignments of various recorded sequences of particular proteins in molecules. We frequently use it to compare our obtained and query sequences to reference sequences on this database." I said.
"That sounds cool Edwin, perhaps I can check it out when I have free time." Jamal replied.
"Thank you and yes, sometimes I look up sequences I am interested in when I get bored." I said.
Soon after that conversation, Jasiri came back from the hallway carrying a cardboard box and placing it on the table we were sitting around.
"Okay, I found the box, now let's go through this- Oww!" Jasiri said as she sat down until she jolted back up for some reason.
"Are you okay Jas?" I asked.
"Oh I'm fine, I just accidentally sat on my tail again. Man, twenty one years of sitting in chairs and I still manage to sit on my tail in hybrid form." Jasiri said as she slowly sat back down and moved her tail with her hand to prevent her from sitting on it again.
She then place her hands in the box to take out a yearbook that had a deep blue cover that has a little black design of what looked like the claw of a bird of prey, it made more sense when I saw the words "Home of the Eagles" and below the design were the words Brynwood High School 2009.
"I see your school's team name was 'the Eagles', interesting. The school Kendall and I went to, Hemingway, our team name was Hemingway Foxes." I said.
"Oh yeah, I remember that." Kendall said.
"Cool, my school's team name was the Tesla Leopards." Jamal replied.
"Lucky, you guys had an interesting team name. At some point, I learned that Eagles is actually a more commonly used team name for schools." Jasiri said as she began to open the book.
We eventually went through the yearbooks to see photos of clubs and activities that she was involved in back then. For example, I learned that she did Model UN in High School, along with Academic Decathlon, an Animal Rights Club and her school's art club.
Eventually, we got to the senior portraits where we found hers, in which she was in her human form, wearing her hair in a similar pattern to the way she wears it now, except in this picture, her hair was slightly more wavy than now. She was also wearing a black dress with thin straps, while in front of a dark blue background.
We then found her high school quote, which stated "It has been a long and arduous journey, but I made it. We all may be different from one another but at the same time, Sisi ni Sawa, no matter how strong our differences may seem."
"Hey Jasiri, just out of curiosity, what exactly does 'Sisi ni Sawa' mean?" I asked.
"Well...Sisi ni Sawa was actually a common adage around the Outlands where I originally came from. It essentially means that 'we are the same' because even with our individual differences, we are all living beings trying to get through life in our own ways. Throughout a large chunk of that my early life and before that, hyenas such as myself and my clan were stigmatized as savages or monsters because of the altercations between Pride Landers and a small percentage of the hyena population, when most hyenas are just trying to survive the circumstances we were in. The stigmatization particularly grew during and after the Scar regime of the Pride Lands because a group of hyena's was involved in enforcing an oppressive king's policies, in fact for a while we were unable to even enter the Pride Lands while we were left with inferior and diminished resources. But eventually, we were able to make peaceful relations with the Pride Landers, ironically with the help of my ex-boyfriend Kion, who for some reason is now an abusive, impulsive and egotistical asshole. How he became that way, I have no idea, but that is not the point, anyway Sisi ni Sawa is supposed to point out that despite every individual's differences, we are all individuals who are trying to play our parts in life and surviving the best way we can. Although, there are of course selfish people that don't even care about the sufferings of other people and are even willing to destroy others to get their way, but that's a whole other story and conversation." Jasiri said, after which the rest of us mostly just nodded.
"Wow, that's actually a beautiful message." Kendall said.
"Yeah, I have actually heard some people suggest that human beings actually have more similarities than most people think." Jamal replied.
"Yeah, I heard that too...though I wish more humans would be able to reciprocate it. It did not exactly reciprocate widely at my high school once many of my classmates found out I was hybrid." Jasiri said as she turned to the pages that contained the signatures from her classmates.
"These are some of the things that some of my classmates wrote in my yearbook." Jasiri said with a slight frown starting to develop on her face.
We all took at the signatures...and we were disgusted at the extent of offensive and malicious language used against her and her hyena form.
"Woah, this one says 'Hey Jasiri, It was interesting to go to high school with you. I have never been to high school with a werewolf before, though it's strange that you changed every night instead of at the full moons. Anyway, I wish you luck after graduation, perhaps you will find a staffordshire terrier to keep you company, or marry. Anyway, I wish you luck in life. - Dave Gardner' Man, I can't believe this guy said that about you. This Dave guy sounded like a douche." I said.
"Oh yeah, he did not like me. He was in my AP US History course my sophomore year and he used to get pretty jealous that I used to do better on tests than him. I have also heard him talk about me behind my back to his friends, complaining of how he thought that the class was rigged because he thought that it should not be possible that he was being 'beaten' by someone who was 'part-dog'." Jasiri said.
"Wait, he actually said that? Did you notify your school's administration about it?" Jamal said.
"Yeah I did, but that did not change much, he just got better at hiding it." Jasiri said.
"That sucks, he shouldn't have written something like that in your yearbook." I said.
"Yeah he shouldn't have….on the other hand, it's not as bad as some of the other signatures I found here." Kendall said as she pointed to some of the other signatures.
As we looked at some of the other signatures, though there were some that were mostly neutral in nature, but then there were some that were shockingly blunt and direct on her being a hybrid or referring to her anthro hyena form.
Some of these quotes included:
Hi Jasiri, Although I know you never really dated or socialized with anyone that much, I just hope you find a neighbor's dog or a car as a dream to pursue. - Lainey Braun
Hey you, I think we had one class freshman year,but I've constantly heard you were some kind of dog or werewolf or something. Well I hope you have a good time in college or the next Twilight movie or whatever you do with your life. - Levi Livingston
Hey Jasami or Jasori, Is that your name? Anyway I hope you don't hurt yourself trying to hunt the rats in the street but I think you seem to be doing great with your good grades and sense of humor, though I never saw that in school because I read somewhere that hyenas laugh somehow. Anyhow, good luck with life or whatever. - Slade Clarke
Hey Jaz, I think we were in Model UN together or something like that, well I hope you are doing well, though I have heard about your "condition" that causes you to be a werewolf or were-hyena or something like that?...Anyway, I hope life after this will be okay for you, perhaps you can find a hobby or hunt something to cheer you up or something. - Jan Yu
"Aw man, I can't believe there are people who actually wrote these in your yearbook." Jamal said.
" I can't believe some of these people actually might have said some of these out loud." I said.
Then I noticed that Kendall raised her eyebrows a little bit.
"Guys, I think I might have just found the worst one. This one says: Hey Jasmine, or Jasorry, whatever. Man I can't believe that I spent four years with Brynwood's favorite bitch. I'm sorry that you didn't like my gift from prom, but if you want it, I still have it. I even went back to the pet shop to have the collar and leash bedazzled to spice it up a little. Well I wish you luck in whatever the world offers dog-girls like you. Perhaps a chew toy can keep you company after graduation. Best of wishes - Helena Jones. Holy crap, I can't believe someone actually said that." Kendall said, after which Jasiri sighed.
"Oh yeah...Helena. I absolutely hated her high school and she always tried to constantly repeat her thoughts that frequently associated me to dogs. For example, like the quote said, she actually gave me a dog leash and collar at my prom. She thought that it would have been a 'nice gift for graduation'. I did not even consider accepting it one bit." Jasiri replied back.
"Wait? The dog collar part actually happened?! That's messed up on so many levels." Kendall said.
"Yeah, but fortunately I moved on from that chapter of the past and I have not even seen or contacted her in ten years." Jasiri said.
"Good for you Jas." I said as Jamal was pointing to another quote.
"Hey guys, I found one that's actually pretty positive." Jamal said.
He pointed to a quote that read: Hey Jasiri, I can't believe we've been best friends since middle school. I still remember meeting you at Ms. Zaum's science class in sixth grade and we were assigned adjacent lockers from each other. After that, you'll always be one of the people that I trust the most, whether you are a hybrid or not, no matter the form you are in. I'm glad that even when we did not have as many classes together in high school as we did in middle school, I am glad we are able to keep our friendship. I know you have experienced a lot of hardship when you were a full hyena many years ago, and the verbal harassment you received from our classmates, but do not let that deter you from achieving your goals. You are a strong, independent and intelligent woman, and do not think otherwise. You are going to kill it in college, I hope we will stay friends for a long time and I wish you the best when you go to college. - Cindy Renjifo.
"Yeah, Cindy was my best friend in middle school and high school. We still keep in touch but she lives in San Diego now. She's the first nonteacher person that I have ever met who did not run away or made fun of me when I first showed them my hyena form. We hung out constantly and spent almost every other weekend with one another during middle school. We still hung out in high school, though the frequency in which we did might have decreased in the later two years of high school due to us not having as many shared classes and activities." Jasiri said.
"Well that's nice to know that you've had at least one friend back then who did not run away or make fun of you." Kendall said, after which Jasiri smiled in response as she closed the yearbook.
Jasiri then started to take some more items out of the box, mostly just some photos, papers and some other items.
"Are these photos from when you were in high school?" I asked.
"Yeah, the majority of them are, there are also some photos from my middle school years." Jasiri said.
We saw that it was mostly casual photos from her past, both of her in her human form and her hybrid form. I came across a photo which was dated to be 11/12/2004, what looks like a teenaged Jasiri in her human form, with her hair in a similar style to now, but shorter in length, along with also wearing mostly black clothing, black lipstick and a little bit of excessive eye shadow. Her arm also appears to be the one who took the photo. Next to her on her left is another girl who had long black hair, two blue streaks in her hair, black clothing, black lipstick, excessive use of black eye shadow and a black choker style necklace with what looks like a silver heart charm.
"Hey Jasiri, is the other girl in this photo that friend Cindy you've mentioned?" I asked as I showed her the photo. As she saw the photo she began to blush and laugh a little bit.
"Oh my goodness! Yes, that was Cindy and I during a goth phase we tried out in eighth grade. It did not last long, that eyeshadow and mascara frequently got in our eyes, particularly mine since it was one of my first times I used mascara. It used to constantly get in my eyes." Jasiri said, as she looked at the pile in front of her and grabbed another photo.
The next photo she grabbed was one in which they appeared to be in a bedroom, and Jasiri, in her anthro hyena form, in front of a mirror with a small wipe around her eyes. She had an awkward expression on her face. There was also a set of blue hair extensions on the counter in front of her. The photo also has the same date as the previous one 11/12/2004.
"What's going on in that photo?" Kendall asked.
"That was on the evening after that previous photo was taken, that was us removing the makeup and hair extensions from the goth look. That was me removing the make up I wore earlier that day and I was making that expression because I think I got some makeup on my eye or something" Jasiri said.
"So wait, the blue streaks in Cindy's hair were not real?" Jamal asked.
"Oh no, they weren't. She said that her parents would've murdered her if she dyed her hair. So yeah, after taking the extensions out, Cindy took that photo of me while removing my makeup." Jasiri said.
"Interesting.." Kendall said.
I then found a photo in which a younger Jasiri, looks like during her high school years. It was a photo of hers, in her hyena form in which she was in a black strapless dress with a pair of lavender high heeled shoes. She was with a woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late forties who had dark hair tied in a bun, glasses, along with wearing a blue T-shirt and black sweatpants.
"Hey Jasiri, I really like this photo of you in this dress, you look amazing in it." I said.
"Aww..thanks Edwin! That was a photo of me before heading to my senior prom before I realized that it was going to be one of the worst times of my life in the human world." Jasiri said, as her cheeks began to turn a little red.
"He's right, you do! But just out of curiosity, who is the lady next to you?" Kendall asked.
"Thanks, and that lady is Chausiku, she was me and Makuu's guide during the first ten to fifteen years in the human world. I guess you can say she and Makuu acted as my de facto parents when first navigating the human world." Jasiri said.
"Just out of curiosity, did Chausiku and Makuu ever dated while living with each other?" Jamal said.
"Actually they did date for a little bit, but it only lasted a little over a year and they realized that they would be better off as just friends." Jasiri replied.
Then Jasiri picked up another photo, with an intrigued expression on her face.
"Hmmm...I've never seen this photo before." Jasiri said.
She was looking at a photo in which Makuu was sitting on a green couch in his crocodile form, who looked like he was hugging and comforting a crying Jasiri, who had mascara leaking from her eyes, with her hair and dress disheveled and wrinkled.
"I guess Chausiku took this photo while we weren't looking." Jasiri said.
"Man, I didn't know that Makuu can have such a soft side." I said.
"Yeah, it might not seem that way, but he has actually mellowed down a lot since we came into the human world. If you knew him back in the Pride Lands, you wouldn't have even recognized the crocodile he was then compared to today." Jasiri said.
"Hey Jasiri, may I use your bathroom?" Kendall asked.
"Sure, just go down the hall and it is the door on your left." Jasiri said pointing down the hallway.
"Thank you." Kendall said.
"No problem." Jasiri replied as Kendall got up and walked towards the hallway, after which we continued to look at the photos.
Third Person P.O.V.
After Kendall finished using the bathroom, she was walking down the hallway and found several sketches and portraits of hyenas. She couldn't help but admire the incredible detail of the sketches of the anatomy and expressions of the hyenas featured. When she took a closer look at one entitled Our Clan and noticed that there was something familiar about one of the hyenas featured in the sketch. As she was looking at the sketches, she began to hear footsteps.
"Hey Kendall, is everything going alright?" Jasiri asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm alright, I'm just impressed by the detail of the artwork you bought, it is quite impressive." Kendall said.
"Actually, I didn't buy those, I sketched them myself. Though I did buy the frames I placed them in." Jasiri said.
"Wait? You made these, this is quite impressive! How did you get-" Kendall was saying before she paid closer attention to a female hyena in the Our Clan sketch.
"Wait, is this supposed to be you?" Kendall asked.
"Yes...That is what I looked like when I was a regular, full hyena, before I became a hybrid." Jasiri said.
"Cool and who are the other hyenas around you and those of the other sketches? Or are those just random hyena images to go along with a motif or something?" Jamal said.
"Oh those hyenas were members of the clan I used to be a leader of. As I have already told you guys before, I was the only survivor of my clan and consistent resident of the Outlands to survive the drought that affected us. Of course, there were no cameras or smart phones in the Outlands, so there can never be photos of my old clanmates. But I do not want my clanmates to be forgotten, so I decided to sketch what I remember they looked like so that they can avoid being forgotten. I initially placed them on a nightstand but I then decided to hang them in the hallway" Jasiri said as she started to look at the sketches.
"Wait, you sketched these from memory? You have quite the memory then because these are extremely detailed." Kendall said.
"Thank you, I put a lot of work into these. I still remember all their names as well. For example, there's my sister Madoa, my old mate Janja, my nephew and niece Tumu and Wema, along with Zalika, Jina, Chiku, Adea, along with many others in these sketches." Jasiri said as she pointed to hyenas in the sketch.
"There are some days in which I constantly think that if I did something different, I could have saved at least one member of my clan or one resident of the Outlands. But in most cases I just focus on my life now and live it as best as I can." Jasiri said.
"That's a good way to look at life, Jasiri. If you ask me, I think you seem to be doing great." Kendall said.
Edwin P.O.V.
"She's right, you are doing great, Jasiri! The drought that afflicted the Pride Lands and Outlands was beyond anyone's control. Based on what you and others have told me, you did not fail anyone at all, you did all that you could to protect your clan and the climate situation involving the drought was just out of control for anyone. You have also persevered through so many of the obstacles that you faced in our world, ranging from learning a completely new way of life, to being bullied by classmates, to a less-than-ideal ex-boyfriend. You have survived, persevered and worked hard for everything you have done and you have done great. You have a good life, a great job and people who care about you…." I told her as I began to hold her hands.
"And if there is any point in which you are doubting yourself, you can talk to me any time, and besides an important element to a healthy relationship is honest communication. So if you need to discuss anything just let me know and the two of us can get through it." I said. A few seconds later, Jasiri started to put one hand on my shoulder while the other was still on my hand.
"Thank you Edwin, I appreciate your concern about me and you can always talk to me if there is anything you want to talk about." Jasiri said.
We eventually started to hug each other and shared a brief kiss.
"Hey guys, I don't want to bother the happy couple over here but I'm wondering, where do I place the photos that I finished looking at?" Jamal asked.
"Oh you can just put them back in the box." Jasiri said.
Soon we just spent the rest of the night talking with each other, told some stories and looked at some more old photos. It does not matter whether we are just chilling at someone's apartment, in a restaurant or whatever, I'm just glad to be around people I care about.