Author's Note: Hello readers, I apologize for such the long delay but here is Chapter 11 of my story. This is the longest chapter that I have written so far and I apologize if there maybe to much detail. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Jasiri P.O.V. (5 minutes earlier)
The situation is now getting tense since we all went to our animal-hybrid forms. I hate seeing Edwin this flustered and freaked out about this. There is basically no option, we have to tell him everything but then I got distracted by Beshte yelling towards a frantic Edwin.
"EDWIN WAIT!" He yelled, while Edwin was running down the stairwell eventually disappearing from sight.
Beshte then practically ran to our table, now in his hippo form.
"Okay guys! We really need to tell Edwin everything! And I mean everything! The Pridelands, Tree of Life, the coup, the droughts, the transformation, EVERYTHING! But I need your help to get Edwin back here so some of you just follow my lead!" Beshte yelled. At that, myself, Ma Tembo, Makini and the others at the table stood up while we just followed Beshte's lead.
While I was running towards the stairwell, I heard some additional footsteps coming behind us. I just assumed some other people came from other tables just out of sheer curiosity.
It took me a little longer than expected to go down the stairs..Why did I choose to where heels tonight?... Even after all of these years, I still don't get why human women would wear these things.
We then arrived at the lower floor hallway and we were running down the hallway for a minute until we reached the area by glass doors ...and that's when I really got concerned.
We just froze in shock when we saw Edwin lying in the middle of the floor, lying still as one of the specimens in the nearby display cases. And the we see Rafiki in his mandrill form...just standing there...WITH A GUN?! I just took a few steps forward ...and lost it.
"WHAT THE FUCK RAFIKI?! Please tell me you didn't- You didn't have to kill him! Why the hell would you do-" I just bursted out in sheer rage and shock, as if I was living the great drought all over again. But Rafiki then just pulled up his finger and just tried to shush me. Several of the others were also ready to curse Rafiki out as well, but he then he just placed out his hands to give out the "calm down" gesture.
"Woah! Woah! Woah! Hold on! Shwari my friends! I didn't kill Edwin. I have no intention to kill him. I'm still the same Rafiki from the Pride Lands twenty years ago and you guys know that I would never kill anyone. I just knocked him out for a bit, he'll probably just be out for a bit." Rafiki said while maintaining the same calm tone that he has had ever since I've known him.
"Knock him out? What do you mean knock him out?" Beshte asked in curiosity.
"Yeah! When I found out, you guys just gave me some tea to relax my nerves and you can't give a panicked geneticist tea while he is running." Pete chimed in.
Then Anga walked to the front, now in her harrier eagle form while wearing her purple dress. She then picked up a small gray capsule with a point at the end.
"I think whatever was in this dart knocked this guy out. What was in this dart?" Anga asked while gesturing her head towards Rafiki. ...Which was the one question we were all asking.
"Please don't tell me you poisoned him." Beshte said, with his expression more and more concerned. Rafiki the held up the gun he was holding.
"Oh relax! It's just a tranquilizer gun! He will only be out for about an hour." Rafiki said in a nonchalant tone.
"Wait a minute! Where did you get a tranquilizer gun from?" Ma Tembo chimes in.
"Amazon. You wouldn't believe what you can buy from there." Rafiki said while giving off a light chuckle.
Ever since we left the Pride Lands, he seems to get a little bit crazier every year. Makuu then leaned to whisper in my ear. "And I thought that he was crazy before the drought hit." While I just gave him a short nod in response.
Rafiki then turned to Edwin's unconscious body and then faced towards the rest of us.
"I'm sorry to leave the festivities so early but I think that I should bring Dr. Mariani to my office to check on him and explain the whole situation to him when we wake up...Beshte? Can you grab his legs for me?" Rafiki said while he approached Edwin's upper body.
"Sure! No problem!" Beshte said as he walked towards Edwin's legs. As the two started to lift the body Makini started to approach them as well.
"I can help you carry one of his sides." Makini said.
"So can I!" Ma Tembo pitched in. As soon as Ma Tembo approached the body. I thought I should probably go with them because I could probably help explain this whole situation to him when he wakes up.
"Hey guys, is it okay if I come with you to check on Edwin; we have hung out a couple of times and I think I could help explain things to Edwin." I said.
"Sure, no problem Jas!" Beshte said. I then approached the group as we started to go to the elevator to head to Rafiki's office.
"See you guys later! We are really sorry to leave the festivities early!" Makini said.
"Oh no problem Makini! We completely understand Edwin's reaction earlier tonight, many of our human employees had similar reactions when they first found out. Besides, it was starting to die down when he freaked out anyway." Nala replied with a calm tone and a gentle smile.
We then proceeded to carry Edwin to the elevator, but I was still having a little trouble walking in these heels. Why did I choose to wear these things tonight?
Edwin P.O.V. (1 hour later)
From the pitch black, I see that there is a little light peaking above, growing brighter and brighter, starting to blink a little more each time. I was starting to wake up...but for some reason I'm hearing voices.
"Oh guys! He's stirring ...stirring...stirring!" I heard someone's voice echo.
"I think he's waking up...up...up!" I then heard a female voice echo.
I then fully opened my eyes to see a light above me..but it was not a light in my apartment's ceiling. I guess I had a little too much wine at the gala and perhaps that animal-thing and the tranquilizer was just a hallucination?
"Oh, I see you're waking up, are you okay Edwin?" I heard Jasiri's voice ask. I began to turn my head towards her voice.
"Oh hey Jasiri, I just had the craziest dream. We were at the gala and I swore that you guys all turned into wild anim-AAAAAAHHHH!" I said as I turned around to see that Jasiri and a few others were still apparently anthropomorphic animals.
Through the clothes I remember them wearing, I deduced that Jasiri was the hyena, Beshte was the hippo, Ma Tembo was the elephant, the mandrill with the brown fur on their head is Makini and the mandrill with white fur on their head was the human resources guy, Rafiki
Now I am worried for my life and I tried to get up from the couch I was laying on, but I was yanked back by something and I looked to see that one of my hands is hand-cuffed to a nearby cabinet. I'm trying to yank it loose but I can't get it loose.
"Please let me leave! If I intruded in some kind of government testing, I swear not to tell anyone! I swear you don't even have to pay me, I swear not to tell just lea-" I was yelling in fear but I was cut off by Jasiri interjecting while she places her hand..or paw...on my shoulder.
"Edwin? Edwin please! I swear to you that this is not a government experiment! This is not a hallucination! And you're not going insane! This is one hundred percent real and we are still at the Field Museum!" As Jasiri said this, I started to look around to see a familiar desk and copier. I realized that I'm in the human resources office.
"Okay, if you guys are still who you say you are then I have three questions: A. Why am I hand-cuffed? B. Why do you guys look of a different species from earlier today? And C. what is going on here?!" I asked with a combination of nervousness and a little bit of irritation.
"Well to answer your first question, the handcuffs were a precautionary step to make sure that you won't runaway again before we explain our situation to you. Like you just did an hour ago, ...and a minute ago." Makini said.
"Yes, that is why I shot you with my tranquilizer gun. It was not my first choice, I used it because I couldn't give tea you in that frenzy and I couldn't hit you with my cane because last time I hit someone with it; I almost gave them a concussion. Ahh, I miss my bakora staff in the Pride Lands, it was hard but just light enough to carry around and knock some sen-" Rafiki continued to ramble until Ma Tembo cut him off.
"Rafiki! You're straying from the point!" Ma Tembo said irritantly.
"Wait a second? What are the Pride Lands? And can you please explain to me what exactly is going on?" I continued to ask.
Beshte slowly began to walk up towards me.
"Oh yeah, right. So that's why we brought you here, Edwin. You know how I told you that many of us came from the same community?" He asked.
"Oh yeah, I think you mentioned that to me a couple of times." I replied with a sense of hesitation.
"Well the Pride Lands was that community. Well..except for Jasiri here. She came from a place called the Outlands. They were both located in Western Tanzania, but that's not the point. The point is that we were not humans all our lives. As you can see, I was actually born a hippo, Jasiri a hyena, Ma Tembo an elephant and so on for many of the employees of this museum and a few outside the museum. For twenty-one years we lived as part-human and part-our-birth species, transforming between the two every day and every night." Beshte replied. Still leaving me curious.
"Transform? You mean like a werewolf or something? And I have two more questions. Why did you become hybrid? Was it some choice to see what the world outside these "Pride Lands" are like? Also, I'm not sure how this transformation works, was it a genetic mutation or is it some kind of medication you take?" I asked. Jasiri looked at me with a slightly uneasy look.
"Oh no, it's not a werewolf kind of thing and Is it okay if we do not use the term "werewolf" again, I have some bad memories associated with it." Jasiri asked
"Okay, no problem. Sorry if I offended you." I replied.
"That's okay, you're new here. So anyway, you could say that it is a permanent genetic mutation caused by this "serum" we took. Also, we did not really have much of a choice when we took it...It was essentially our only option after both our lands fell into ruins." Jasiri said
"Wait? In ruins? What exactly happened to your home?" I asked.
"Okay, but this is gonna be a long story, so Rafiki, I think you should start off." Makini said while looking off towards Rafiki.
"Okay, Edwin my boy. So I was the royal Mjuzi of the Pride Lands, which was kind of a healer, historian and adviser rolled into one position. I started out in the Pride Lands under the leadership of the Lion King Ahadi and after he passed, I started working under King Mufasa, Simba's father." Rafiki said.
"Wait? Simba as in Simba Furahi? The president of the museum? He was a prince of some sort?" I interrupted.
"Well yes, after Mufasa's brother, Scar killed Mufasa to get the throne; he exiled a young Simba where he was eventually raised by a meerkat and a warthog named Timon and Pumbaa. While he was with them, the Pride Lands were in ruins and his future mate Nala eventually found Simba and tried to convince him to return. But after her attempt failed, I had to pitch in and after doing a little convincing, he along with Nala, the meerkat and the warthog returned to battle and defeat Scar and his army of hyenas to take his rightful place as King of the Pride Lands." Rafiki continued.
"But despite this victory, all the surviving hyenas we exiled to the neighboring Outlands and were never allowed to return, even for a visit. That was how I was born in the Outlands. It was a barren existence with barely any food or water. Many hyenas were forced to survive those conditions because of one king's period of paranoia. But Simba eventually got over the paranoia, but he still has not formally apologized after all of those years." Jasiri said.
"So anyway, while Simba and Nala were ruling the Pride Lands, they had two cubs, Kiara and Kion, who you met earlier today. While they were cubs, Kiara spent most of her time training to be the next Queen and Kion spent his time leading group called The Lion Guard, which was to protect both the Circle of Life and other animals such as me and my herd at the time." Ma Tembo said.
"And I was actually a member of Kion's guard, I was considered the Strongest member. It was initially supposed to be all lions but we proved them wrong when my friends Bunga, Fuli, Ono and I joined the guard and proved our critics wrong. But one of our toughest challenges was our time fighting against a group of our enemies called the Army of Scar, which was a group of our enemies cooperating with each other under the control of their new leader. Jasiri even formed a resistance group with her clan to help us fight them. But after our final battle with the group, Kion and Ono both get injured and we had to travel to this place called the Tree of Life to get the necessary treatment. Since Ono was not capable of performing his duty as a Lion Guard member, Anga, a friend of ours, took his place in that department. The journey there is a story too long for one sitting, but any way we get to the Tree of Life for Kion and Ono to receive treatment and Kion also falls in love with the princess and eventually queen of the area, Rani." Beshte added.
"I also came along to help guide them since I've been to the Tree of Life once before that time, but after Kion and Ono were healed, Jasiri and one of the newly reformed enemies came to tell us that the Pride Lands were in danger so we all came back along with another cheetah named Azaad that Fuli met along the way. When we returned, we realized that we missed a whole lot while we were gone. It turned out that one of the old enemy prides led by a lioness named Zira, tried to conquer the Pride Lands to avenge the death of Scar. She manipulated her son Kovu, not to mention her entire pride to think that Scar was the rightful heir and that King Simba should die. But that all came downhill when Kovu fell in love with Kiara and they eventually stopped what was going to be an all out war between the Prides. When the rest of her pride abandoned her cause, Zira just couldn't get let go of her hate, which lead to her falling to her death in a gorge. Kiara and Kovu eventually became mates and his sister Vitani and some of her former Pride mates became the new Lion Guard. But Kion was finding it hard to accept the changes, but he also missed being with Rani. There was eventually a contest to see who will be the Pride Lands' Lion Guard and Kion eventually forfeited thus giving Vitani the new responsibility of the guard. Kion eventually made the new decision with his guard and myself to leave the Pride Lands for the Tree of Life to protect it. Eventually Kion and Rani became mates and became the new monarchs of the Tree of Life…" Makini recalled in detail, but I still wanted to know how they transformed.
"Okay, that seems like a very interesting story, but I'm a little confused on what this has to do with the transformation." I said, with a hint of confusion.
"Oh yeah, I was getting there. So after two months everything was going smoothly at the Tree of Life, but that was until the coup. For almost a year, Rani's uncle Surak, the healer Nirmala, a few other predators and this army of rogues were planning a coup d'etat to force Kion and Rani from the throne. When they put their plan to action...It was bloodshed. I wish I could forget but I can't erase those memories. Many innocent animals were killed and slaughtered, while many others were forced into exile. I still remember the expression Rani had when she saw her own uncle killed her brother. We tried our best, but they were just too powerful and Kion, Rani, the guard and I eventually had to escape with our lives. We decided to take refuge back in the Pride Lands to help its residents prepare for the upcoming dry season. It was going pretty well to be back home with our family and friends...but disaster was not finished following us yet." Makini said in a more serious tone.
"When Dry Season came, we experienced the worst drought in Pride Lands history. For nearly two months, we have seen the entire Pride Lands dry into an arid wasteland. It came to the point where the once lush soil became hard as stone. Within two months, nearly a quarter of the Pride Lands died from either dehydration, starvation or preying on each other. Many other Pride Landers ended up abandoning us for new lands. Many of us suffered severe losses because of that drought in both family members, friends, and homes. Jasiri here actually lost her entire clan when she came to us since the Outlands were hit hard by the drought." Beshte continued in a more depressed tone after each sentence.
"I eventually tested the soil for the king and queen and to my disappointment, the soil became so dry that there was essentially no hope in restoring the land to its former state. We knew that we had to leave to find new lands. After a day or two of voyaging outside the Pride lands, the royal family, the former guards and many other of our remaining Pride Landers with us could not find a piece of land suitable for all of us. We eventually bumped into this human who claimed to be some type of shaman for this village. At first, we were flabbergasted that he actually understood us trying to speak to him. We eventually followed him because he claimed to have a solution to all of our problems. He lead us to some secluded hut with a lot of space around it. He told us to wait while he grabbed something out of the hut-and that is when he took out those three canisters. Boy I will not forget those canisters, they were in these brown bottles that weren't exactly clear but weren't exactly opaque either. They were each the size of a lion cub and we saw they contained this liquid in it and we were not sure what it was." Rafiki stated, while his expression hardened to a more serious one.
"Along with those canisters, four or five other people came out with a handful of syringes while the shaman pulled out a syringe of his own. He claimed that he was going to help us with our situation. Since the lands we previously lived in were now uninhabitable, he claimed that his serum will help our bodies adjust to our new lives in "the human world", which we had no idea what was that a time. He explained that after he injects us with the serum, our bodies will go through a painful transition and we will become something that he called a "hybrid", which was supposedly half our own species and half human, which we had no idea what a human was at the time. We were nervous at the time but we ended up getting the shots injected into our bodies with particularly long needles. That was the first time any of us got a shot, and the pain was unbearable, like ten times worse than a bee sting. So it took us an hour to recover from that pain, but it was nothing compared to the second pain we felt later that day." Jasiri recalled.
"Later that night, we were all sleeping in the lands around the hut and many of us started to feel this stabbing pain in our backs, and I thought it would never end, we didn't get any sleep that night but it shrank down after each hour of that night. When morning came, we felt a weird sensation in our backs. Many of us went to the shaman's hut to talk about it and he just told us to try to stand up on our back legs. We were shocked at the proposition, but we then followed his directions and we were shocked to find that we could now stand on two feet instead of four...but that was just one of many biologically altering transitions that we went through. The next day, the larger animals became shorter in height while the smaller animals became larger in height. Two days later, we developed human appendages with our newly altered hands and feet. But a few days later, we woke up one morning and we walked to a nearby pond to get some water, we looked at our reflections to see that ...our appearances completely changed. Our noses were larger and dryer, most of our fur was gone except for the top of our heads, some lost their claws or hooves to their new fingernails, our tails were gone and don't get me started on the body changes. After we noticed each of the changes, we soon pieced together all the clues and realized...we were human now." Makini said.
"After noticing these changes, we were all frantically walking towards the shaman's hut and he was actually waiting for us already with six other humans that have trunks in front of them. After bombarding him with questions, he told us in a way we did became human,but that is only half of the 'hybrid' that he mentioned, he tells us that as hybrids, were are humans twelve hours a day, while at nights we will return to anthropomorphic versions of our native species. We were also told that we will have a longer life span because of our 'new human ages' to compliment how our bodies have transformed. There were two people who were assigned as young as age five, Jasiri, Beshte, Makini and others of that age group were assigned age seven, while Kiara, Kovu and a few others were assigned ages nine or ten since they all were transformed to human kids for some reason. The rest were assigned to varied adult human ages, some as young as eighteen and Rafiki was assigned the oldest at age forty five. For example I was assigned age thirty three at the time." Ma Tembo helped Makini continue from there.
"He then told us that we were that we were now going to be living in the human world, in which everyone below the age of eighteen will be going to school and the others will be trying to get jobs either in the village we will be going to live in or in towns near by. We were also told that we need to choose a last name to fill out legal documents because one name is no longer enough. He told us that we also needed to learn a new set of social protocols and skills, we have to refer to our new home by the name of the village in the Simiyu region of Tanzania. We were told to measure time through dates consisting of words and numbers. I still remember that he said 'You will begin your new lives as today's date is July 30th of 1998. You will be divided into groups to live with one of my six friends who own land and some of the larger houses around the village. They will also help you in learning basic skills for human society, such as reading, writing, and basic math. I wish you luck with your adjustment to human life.' I actually remembered asking him about what was in the serum, but all he said was its ingredients were capable of the genetic mutations associated with our transformations and that was all he was willing to say. That just developed more questions in my mind because I didn't know what genetic mutations were at the time." Beshte said.
"We were eventually assigned groups to live with each of his friends and in each of those trunks were a few sets of clothes that each of us had to own and wear since wearing no clothes in public was considered taboo to humans. We eventually followed our guides to their houses in the village and that was the last time we ever saw that shaman. It was honestly difficult at first but after some time, we started to adjust to our new lives as hybrids, though many of the villagers kept getting scared when we transformed at night. We lived in that village for around two years, but then our guides have told us about moving to the United States because they saw potential for us to enhance our human experience. We eventually applied for work and student visas, along with a few who participated in the green card lottery and each of us at different times left Tanzania for the United States. We were enrolled in schools or found work, the adults studied for their GEDs, and we soon went to college, some of us grad school after that. We lived separate lives from each other for nearly ten years, but through social media we eventually found each other and we started group chats." Rafiki said.
"About five years ago, before he became the museum president, Simba was telling us of how he got this job working in the Field Museum's marketing department and persuaded us to move to Chicago to get jobs in the museum, but some of us were still in grad school so we had to finish that before we could go there. Within two years of that, all of us eventually came to Chicago who had not already lived there and that is how we all ended up working at the museum. Well except for Rani, she worked here for a year but she left to become an elementary school teacher." Jasiri said while her expression started to lighten up a little bit.
I was just sitting there, trying to process what I just heard from them. I'm still having trouble believing them, it still sounded like something from a sci-fi fantasy novel. But I also remembered what Jasiri's paw felt like and how it felt the same texture as the paw of my parents' deceased dog, Kassie. It would have been impossible for a makeup artist to do that accurate of a job when I was in the bathroom for only five minutes, so I'm starting to accept what is going on in front of me.
"Okay, so let me guess this straight. So you were originally animals that lived in the wilderness of Tanzania in places called The Pride Lands, the Outlands and the Tree of Life. Beshte, you, Makini and your guard had to leave Tree of Life to the Pride Lands after some coup, but then the Pride Lands and Outlands were involved in some drought, which made the place uninhabitable. Then you ran into some guy claiming to be a shaman who can understand talking animals for some reason, gave you a serum that mutated your genomes into hybrid genomes to adjust to human life in a village and went to the United States two years later, and then you guys eventually came to the museum after Simba got a job there?" I asked. Now feeling slightly exhausted after saying all of that. They all began to look at each other.
"Well...yeah! Now when thinking about it we could just said that." Beshte said with a hint of realization.
"Maybe, but Edwin would be missing a lot of the subtext if we said that. So Edwin, does that help you understand our situation?" Makini asked.
"I think so, but it might take some time to process the entire thing." I slowly replied.
"Fair enough, it takes a while for many of the humans to really understand us when we tell them this story." Rafiki replied.
"I am so sorry that I acted so unprofessional out there in front of all of those people and I can totally understand if you want to suspend me or even fire me for my behavior." I said in a guilty tone.
All of the sudden Ma Tembo just went up towards me and placed her hand...which some parts resembled a hoof ...on my shoulder and looked directly in my eyes.
"Edwin...why in the world would you think that we would fire you over this? You did nothing wrong, sure it might have been a little bit of an excessive reaction, but practically all the humans we know have reacted in a similar way once they saw us transform for the first time. But trust me, some people had worse reactions, so don't feel bad about ?" Ma Tembo said in a much more calming tone.
"Okay, but I do have a question, why didn't Pete transform when we were at the gala?" I asked in a curious tone.
"Because Pete is not a hybrid. He's human just like you; he found out a few months ago, as you knew he originally came from California." Makini said.
"Oh okay and another question.." I said as I began to try to move my hand that was handcuffed to the wall, "Can you please take this handcuff off my wrist?...it's starting to feel numb." I asked.
"Oh yeah! Sorry about that." Beshte said as he took his key ring out and walked towards me. He placed a small silver key into the keyhole and within five seconds, I heard a click and I freed my hand from the cuff while Beshte took the handcuffs and placed them in his belt.
"Thanks, and I promise that I won't tell anyone." I said while standing from the couch.
"Thanks for the notion, though many people actually already know and unfortunately there have been times where we have been tested by a few labs, most of their tests ended up inconclusive." Makini said in a more depressed tone.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that, but trust me, I'm not one of those scientists who put a bonus above ethical concerns, that's kind of why I left that pharmaceutical company that I previously worked for." I said while I was taking out my phone to check the time.
"Woah, 10:45, it's pretty late, well thanks for telling me that story, I wish I could stay longer, but I need to find an Uber that could bring me home." I said while trying to open my Uber app.
"An Uber? Don't you have a car?" Ma Tembo asked me in a curious tone.
"Oh yeah, I do but it's in the shop right now because it had some engine problems, but it won't be ready until tomorrow so I still need a ride home." I said while pressing on the app on my phone.
"I can drive you home, my car is parked right outside in the lot." Jasiri offered.
"Jasiri I appreciate the offer but I don't want to be a burden on you in-" I replied until Jasiri interrupted me.
"Oh no, I insist. It's the least I can do for not telling you over the course of knowing each other." She replied in a humorous tone. Knowing what I know of Jasiri over the past few weeks, she will not give up until I say yes. I let out a light sigh of defeat.
"Alright, I'll come with you. Thanks for the offer." I said, while turning my head towards the rest of them.
"I'll see you guys Monday and I hope you have a good weekend!" I said.
"Likewise to you Edwin!" Ma Tembo replied.
"I definitely will, I met someone on CraigsList who said that they will give me a hundred dollars just for washing their windows." Rafiki said. His response caused me to turn my head back towards him as I was about to leave.
"Okay, but you probably want to rethink that Rafiki, there are some weirdos on CraigsList." I tried to warn him but his expression remains unchanged.
"Oh don't worry, I'll be fine." Rafiki said. After that he just started to laugh for no particular reason.
"Okay...See you later." I replied in an awkward tone, just slowly stepping out of the office. I then turned towards Jasiri.
"Okay, lead the way Jasiri." I lightly said. She just smiled at me and continued to walk into the hallway while I followed next to her.
We have seen that most of the people have left already and it is mostly just cleaning staff that are still here. We walked through the hallway in which I ran through just hours ago and we went out the glass doors to the parking lot. We then approached a light gray sedan, and Jasiri took a device from her bag, which she used to unlock the doors to her car. I got in the passenger seat and buckled my seat belt. I noticed that her car had a lilac smell in it...or is it lavender? She then took her phone out and she tapped her screen a couple of times.
"Hey Edwin, can you give me your address so that I'm going the right way?" She asked me. So I told her my address and she typed it in her Google Maps app.
"Okay, but before I start, let me just put something in the back seat." She said. When she got up and took off her shoes for some reason and threw the heels she was wearing in the backseat and she brought a pair of flats to the front seat and started to put them on. While she was doing that I got to see the claws and parts of the paws on her feet. They seemed to have a similar shape to human fee, except they are covered in greyish fur, with black claws at the end of each toe, and black paw patterns, similar to the ones at on her hands.
"I'm sorry for the delay, I just couldn't stand wearing those heels for any longer today. I'm not sure how human women or the others wear these hours at a time, but all I know is that those shoes were not made for hyena feet." Jasiri said, letting out a slight laugh as she started her engine.
"No problem, I can understand. Sometimes I feel the same way about ties. I either tie it too tight or too loose, so either way I can't win." I said to try to lighten the mood as she began to drive.
"Sometimes, you humans are so weird, no offense." Jasiri said in a joking tone.
"Please, people have been calling me weird since kindergarten. I'm immune to it." I replied, letting out a laugh of my own.
"Yeah, some of the humans I've known called me weird, and other names but I'll explain that to you later." She replied.
"You can trust me that I'm not one of those humans." I replied, trying to reassure her that she can trust me.
The rest of the drive was pretty quiet from there, I just got distracted looking at the street lights that we pass by while Jasiri's car radio was playing in the background. As we pass by the Loop area of downtown, I still see that many people are still trying to hit as many clubs as they can, and I swore that I saw some woman in a bedazzled puke into their purse. Jasiri seemed to be more focused on the road. Though I think I got a laugh when I mentioned the lady and the purse.
We eventually made it to my neighborhood and I showed Jasiri where to pullover near my apartment building. She looked at the tan bricks of the building and the area surrounding the building.
"You were right Edwin, you do have quite the commute to work. So which floor do you live in?" She asked.
"Oh, I live on the third floor. Though there is an elevator, the stairs are much faster. Well thanks for the ride and I appreciate that you trust me to tell me about your…transformations. We should hang out more often." I replied as I began to open the passenger door.
"You're welcome and I agree, we definitely need to hang out more. See you later!" Jasiri said as I exited her car.
"See ya Jasiri!" I replied before gently closing her passenger door.
As I buzzed in with my fob to get in the building, I heard Jasiri's car slowly drive away and after five seconds, the car was gone. I walked up the stairs until I reached my apartment. Within five minutes, I took off the formal clothes that I was wearing, put on more comfortable clothes and headed straight to bed.
It might take me some time to process what I have learned earlier tonight about the transformations. Exactly how many of my colleagues or museum employees are hybrids? What were their lives like before coming to Chicago? What were their lives like in these Pride Lands or Outlands? How much did they lose from the drought?
Even when it was a little weird to see their anthropomorphic animal forms, they were still pretty nice people. Also, despite looking different at night, I have to say...Jasiri still looks pretty sexy as a hyena.