A trip to the zoo was meant to be a relaxing day off from school, enjoying the beginnings of spring weather. It was not supposed to be a life altering experience for anyone, let alone four normal humans whose claim to fame was being bullies.
"What ya doing, Lance?" Tor Hauer taunted the smaller boy, who was drawing pictures in a notebook. His girlfriend, Heidi Barrie, grabbed the notebook out his hands and examined the pictures.
"Monkeys, must be a family reunion." She joked.
"No, that would be the beavers." He muttered.
"What was that?" Kyle deFours asked. "Are you insulting my friend under your breathe, monkey boy?"
"No, I'm not. Give me back my notebook please."
"Hey! What are you kids doing?" Principal Flutie demanded. "Lance, are they hassling you?"
Lance kind of wished Principal Flutie hadn't come over and interrupted. He knew it was just concern, both as the Principal and as a fellow Wesen, but honestly, didn't he understand? Bullies would only pick on him more if he ratted them out to an adult. So he lied. "No, sir. They just wanted to see my drawings, that's all. No big deal."
Bob Flutie wasn't a fool, he knew the situation wasn't what Lance said it was, but he also knew these bullies could make things worse. He just hoped they'd back off and leave Lance alone. He reluctantly accepted Lance's explanation and left with a final glare at the four bullies.
"Well, there's hope for you yet, monkey boy." Rhonda Kelley, Kyle's girlfriend said.
"Hey, I think he deserves a reward for not ratting us out." Tor suggested. "We were going to check out the Hyena House. You up for a little fun, monkey boy?"
Lance was getting tired of being called monkey boy, he was an Eisbieber, damn it! But these four didn't know that and not wanting to be picked on anymore agreed. A bigger mistake he couldn't have made. But the four bullies mistake would end up cost them far more.
Lance came racing out of the Hyena House a few minutes later, more terrified then he'd ever been before. He'd managed to get away and he wasn't sure how, because one minute those four idiots had been threatening to toss him into the enclosure with the hyenas and the next he'd managed to kick free from them. When he looked back at them they were smiling, but it was a nasty smile that reminded him of a predator. The only thought in his head was to get away as fast as he could, so he ran and didn't look back.
Xander and Cordelia were enjoying a slow dance at the Bronze and Jesse and Amy were talking to Buffy that evening when they all became aware of the four teens who had just entered the Bronze. Mostly because they were sniffing people.
"They're sniffing people." Buffy was confused. "Do you think they're high?"
"They're acting like it." Jesse agreed, watching the four work their way around the Bronze sniffing people. And occasionally scratching themselves. Definitely weird. And then they passed Cordelia and Xander and seemed to find their scent offensive or something because they abruptly decided to leave. The two headed over to the quiet corner table their friends were occupying.
"That was weird." Xander stated. "I've never seen them behave like that before. Normally they just hassle people, they're not known to be druggies or anything."
"Well, they're certainly acting like it." Cordelia muttered. "It's rude to just sniff someone like that, I mean, I can smell you guys just standing here, but I'm not sticking my nose literally in your space and sniffing you. Rude much."
"You can smell us?" Buffy asked. "I swear I took a shower before coming!" She joked.
"I know, I can smell your shampoo."
"Cordelia, I know Xander said it was a personal thing if a Wesen tells a carrysite - ."
"Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen." Xander corrected, amused at Buffy's mangling of the term.
"Yeah, that. I don't want to be rude, but when you make a comment like that, it makes me curious."
"I am." Cordelia decided to trust Buffy with her biggest secret, after all Buffy had her own secret identity. "I'm what's known as a Fuchsbau, a fox Wesen, half since my father is a normal human."
"Her other face is just as beautiful as the one you can see." Xander told her, smiling at Cordelia.
"I thought it was more cute." Jesse said, cluelessly. "Like a puppy, sort of, because of your nose."
Cordelia growled, startling Buffy. "I take it you don't like being called that?" Buffy swallowed a grin, what girl would.
"I'm not a puppy! And Jesse, as a Fuchsbau, my sense of smell is one of the strongest, but I've got a better than a human bite force too. Keep pushing your luck and I may demonstrate it."
Jesse blinked. "Is she serious?" He asked Xander.
"You know how dedicated to being honest as much as possible she is, what do you think?" Xander swallowed his own grin as Jesse squirmed.
"Why are you so, well tactless, is the best word I can think of." Buffy asked.
"Because Fuchsbau have a reputation as liars and there's even an expression that advises a person to count their fingers after shaking hands with a Fuchsbau." Cordelia snarled. "I no more want to have the reputation of being a liar, than Xander wants to be known as the boogie man of the Wesen. So I try to be as honest as possible and he tries to be as not scary as possible."
"Well, both are good policies to live your life by." Buffy agreed.
"I think I'm going to call it a night." Amy decided. "Walk me home, Jesse?"
"Whither thou goest." Jesse answered, with a dopey grin. Amy shook her head and smiled, enjoying the sentiment. And with that, the rest decided to call it a night as well.