A Little Sit-In In the Cand- er, Coffee Shop (Zeke

[Vaan-kun]

Walking down one of the main roads in Dotado was Zeke, simply taking a stroll down to clear his head (and because he wasn't doing anything today. As he walked by the coffee shop, he turned to it and smelt the aroma of coffee and tea mxing with one another... for some reason, it sounded really good.

He walked into a busy froom, with about half the tables filled with people, about half of them were drinking down coffee and a donut or two, and some simply came for conversation, with a little drink on the side. He wandered over to a table just outside, that way, e wouldn't blend in with the crowd and not get an order (at all).

An exhausted waitress almost ran over to him, breathing in small gaps to catch her breath. "Would... like... anything?" She attempted to say, but dreadfully failed. "Could I possibly get a mix of coffee and tea?" Zeke asked her. She nodded slowly and began to drag her feet to the other side. Before she left hearing distance, Zeke said, "No rush, okay?"

He looked towards the door as more people were beginning to crowd into the cafe, and Zeke was half suprised everyone could still fit, let alone hear above each other's voices...

[Tiff'blz]

"But why the coffee shop?!" A young boy whined at an incredibly loud tone. He lagged behind, eying a candy store that had most definitely caught his eye. The rows of delicious treats just waiting to be devoured by a more than willing ten year old Eric Nichols, seemed a delight to daydream about, and he only wanted to make that dream a reality. "Why cant we go thereee?" He asked, again with a nasally whining tone.

Jason looked back, for the first time in years, he had walked into the town of Dotado..as a human. He had been so suspicious that the war could happen again, that he had kept his identity a secret. Now, of course, not everyone greeted him like they greeted the familiar big cat that he was famous for. He thought he somewhat liked the peace and quiet, no one asking him questions, trying to rope him into debates about the town's problems.

He had been a leading role in the creation of Dotado, instead of the rebuilding of Cassis. He found that his idea had been not only accepted, but admired by some. He shook his head. Now he could be safe in knowing that him, his wife, and two children could walk the streets of Dotado free of strife and worry.. Until that is, one of the kids was the one causing that strife.

"No. I told you we were going to the coffee shop. I want a hot cup of coffee. I love your mom, but she just doesn't have the best coffee in the world. Breathe a word of that to her and you will regret it." He said, pointing a finger at his son playfully, but a little serious as well. He smiled at the restrained half smile on his son's face, as his worries about the candy shop were detained by his father's silliness. Jason turned back, taking a right to the coffee shop to which he was headed, and sighed heavily. No fast service today. It was the lunch rush apparently and they were packed. He found that there were a few unoccupied seats outside the corner, and instead of trying to push his way in, and possibly get crushed, he meandered over to a table with one man sitting at it.

The table itself was rather large, a metal meshed into a design that had matching chairs. There was a hole in the middle of the table, accommodating an umbrella that was now spread wide against the weight of the sun's rays. "Umm..excuse me.. There don't seem to be many seats left.." Jason started, a little uncomfortable intruding. " Do you mind if me and my son join you? I mean..we'll sit over here, I will try not to bother you." He fixed his sentence quickly. Eric popped his head up over the table. "Yeah, can I sit here?" He asked in a way that was hardly asking, and proceeded to pull himself up in the chair without waiting for an answer.

Jason pulled a hand wearily down his face, eying his son disapprovingly and mouthed a silent, "I'm sorry." to the man. "I'm Jason Nichols. This pretentious boy is my son, Eric." He said holding out a hand to greet the man and introducing himself.

[Vaan-kun]

Zeke, even though it was pretty loud, realized the boy and his father the second they came in... was it the whine, or was it just him looking over there the EXACT MOMENT when they walked in... option one, please. The little kid seemed a bit cute like that, but, at the same time, can be a burden... maybe that's why there's a hint of a frown on the father's face?

It wasn't until they walked over and asked if they could sit down with him. "Oh, I don't mind at all; after all, who doesn't like company?" Zeke answered with a warmish smile. "Please, sit down." Zeke gladly took the hand the father gave him. "My name is Zeke Nemphis, I only moved here not too long ago. Nice to meet you both."

The waitress came over with Zeke's cup of... lesee, coffee plus tea = ... teafee? coftea? coteaf?... Zeke would think about that later. Zeke thankfully took the cup and placed it in front of him on the table, holding it with both hands. At the sight of the other two, the waitress collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. "Um... no hurry getting up?" Zeke said, about to help her up, but two waiters came up, picked her up by her hands and feet and lifted her off the ground. "We'll get someone to replace her shortly." One of them said before carrying her off. "So this is what busy days look like..." Zeke said with a chuckle.

"So, what brings you hear? I take it when you came you forced your son through the door?" Zeke said, laughing on the inside... he just couldn't help but bring it up. "I was once in that SAME situation... only, it was my mom."

[Tiff'blz]

Jason shook his hand, sitting down in a chair not but a foot and a half away from his son. Eric was busy poking his finger into the holes of the table, and whimpered for a second when his finger didnt immediately come out of the hole. Jason fought the urge to tell Eric to keep his hands to himself, folded in his lap and be a good boy. He realized that Eric was feircely independant, and needed to not be reprimanded so publicly, but when they got home... Jason shook his head. " I dont know, some people prefer to be alone, and do not require company to be happy. I didnt know if you were the same type, or if we would not be a burden on you." He said very diplomatically as he saw the waitress, the poor poor woman, collapse from utter exhaustion when seeing that her table had not been completely served due to the two new guests.

He smiled sympathetically at her and the two men that lifted her up. "Yes, replacing her would be best." He said softly. Eric's eyes got really wide as the woman was being carried away. "Did she forget how to stand Daddy?" He asked in simple childish curiousity. He didnt know that she had been serving a multitude of tables, all filled to capacity, being sent back and forth into and out of the kitchen and shop to tend to the customers if not just once, then three or four times by the same person that felt their food and drink should be served absolutely first no matter how upsetting it was to her and the customers that put in waiting. He shook his head sadly. "No, she was just really really tired." He rustled up Eric's hair playfully as the waiter that had replaced the woman appeared efficiently next to their table. " What can I get for you both?" He poised his pen over a notepad and waited for an answer.

"I will have a black coffee, 100% Colombian if you do not mind, and I would like a warm, but not hot, cup of tea, sweetened for my son. Thank you." Jason ended his order and turned to Zeke. "So Zeke, new to town, what brings you here?"

"Yeah, why come here?" Eric piped up. Again, Jason's hand ran down his face, but this time pulled through his hair as well. He shook his head and propped on elbow up on the table. "Kids." He muttered as he apologetically looked at Zeke.

[Vaan-kun]

"Don't worry, it happened when we all were kids, and I'm pretty sure it will stay that way." Zeke said with a smile. This reminded him of childhood... well, the childhood that he actually liked. High School... pfft, forget it, and college?... well, then you're just kidding yourself. Middle School, though, those were probably the better times... they were also the times when his parents were less busy, so that was a bonus.

"I'm new in a way, but at the same time, I'm kind of used to town. You see, I'm a biologist, specializing in animal behavior. For awhile, I've been working elsewhere, but I'd been transfered to a different facility, which happens to be near this town." Zeke explained. "I didn't exactly leave anything, next to a small apartment... I was used to apartments and small places, so it suited me... and the guy above me who thought playing the music all they way up was alright..." Zeke laughed at this a bit then took a sip of his... whatever... drink and put a smile on his face. "This isn't half bad..."

"Animals are so easy to work with,"... unless you're attacked by some of the predators, of course "I guess because they all just love me," although rats bite more than they should... "... or maybe it's the other way around?" Zeke said, his thoughts breaking in as he said them. Zeke lifted his shoulders in question before taking another sip. "So what do you do for a living?"

[Tiff'blz]

"Sounds interesting.." He said thoughtfully , watching Eric sip gleefully at the sweetened tea. He loved everything with sugar. A wistful smile, ah yes.. what it was to be a child. That innocence, that uncorrupted state of absolute bliss at the merest slight of anything of interest. To be amused so easily, to change moods so easily, to trust completely. That state of mind is the only thing Jason missed about being a kid. Jason was so lost in his silent musings that he almost missed the question being asked.

"Oh me? Well Im on the Council. We create new laws, appoint church leaders, oversee budgets.. the like." He said shrugging easily at this description of his job. He was the head of the council, and passed and denied any and all offers, laws, or budget cuts and increases to correctly oversee the well-being of all the people of Dotado. Zeke's description of what he did absolutely peaked Jason's interest. "You like animals?" He asked, his eyes showing a pleasant light. He smiled warmly. "What's your favorite animal?"

Eric slapped his cup on the table, a grin on his face. Maybe it was the sugar rush that was impending, or the fact that he knew where his dad was going with this line of questioning. The thought made Eric jump around in his seat. Or was that the sugar? One will never know.

[Vaan-kun]

Now, when you look at a kid jump in his seat after eating something sweat, you'd at first think "Yeah, okay, he'll be fine. He's just got extra pep"... or they've got the hiccups. But, in their minds, they're saying the exact opposite: "This is going to go bad". Now, since he had no kid, he wouldn't know what being a parent dealing with a super-pepped kid would turn out to be... he might have BEEN one, but how to deal...

He shook it off in his mind, realizing he'd gotten off track. "Well, I cant say I have a real favorite, but I like a few of the more carnivourous animals, more partuclarly, ones who can not only create a great offense, but use their surroundings as a defense by hiding themselves... and, I guess in some cases, use that defense for offense." Zeke stated. "I sometimes wonder if they know they're doing it, or they just simply just do whatever and think of it as just a convenience... I'd like to believe the first one, but I guess in a way, they it's kind of a mix... they can know, yet not care and just go with it... actually, I like that one better. Let's go with that." Zeke tried joking around a bit, since even when he was a kid, watching and listening to someone blabber on about whatever was the most boring thing in the world, and wanted to be fair with Eric.

The question seemed somewhat like somone might ask him if he talked about work, but still, some thing in his head told him "This is going somewhere", but he wasn't paying attention to it as he couldn't help but still smell the warmth of his drink. He took a short sip of it. "But if you want a simple answer, I kind of like, no type specifically, the tiger... take my advice, you NEVER want to get caught walking around at night looking for one... actually, I guess daytime isn't that safe either." Zeke began to think in his head really quicks. "Would LOOKING for a tiger seem crazy?" He shook it off on the inside; sure, crazy, but what can you do? "Do you have a favorite?"

[Tiff'blz]

Jason listened with interest, knowing sometimes that the animal's instinct took over, and that carnal need to hide to protect oneself was not only programmed, but so deeply rooted in the animal's basic instinct, that the animal itself took no note of its course of action, and did what was natural. The idea of the fact was enough to make Jason all jittery.

Humans had that reaction as well, but most had become so self assured as to be downright pompous enough to believe that they had no reason to fear. Still, nature would not give up that easily, and still whispered warnings to us in our ears. Like a subconscious to those who listened, and paranoia to those who could not understand.

Jason nodded, sipping his coffee, reveling in the thick bold taste. He smiled. This man not only liked animals, but knew a lot about them. He sat his cup down and listened intently as the man said his favorite animal was any species of tiger. Jason guessed then that he and the man were meant to meet, seeing as the white tiger was the absolute favorite of his. He stood up, and Eric, who had been bored to tears, opened his eager eyes and focused on his dad.

This is the first time he saw his dad transform in public. In the blink of an eye, Jason disappeared from view of anyone on the other side of the table. A few people screamed, and pushed their seats away from that direction. They were still trying to get used to the fact that they were in a town of gifteds it seemed. For they thought that Jason was no longer a man at all. Indeed, though his appearance had changed, he was still the same person in his head.

A massive white tiger rolled its shoulders and lifted its head, slowly tracing its lethe body around chairs, until he faced Zeke. "So, is this what you had in mind?" He sent to Zeke, being unable to speak through his mouth in this particular form, as the tiger really had no lips, he sent messages via a pyschic link of sorts. He sat down, his great big chartruese eyes gazing upon Zeke with a patient excitement. Eric jumped out of his seat and jumped on the tigers back, digging his hands gently into the tigers fur. "Isnt Daddy the greatest??"

[Vaan-kun]

Zeke did not expect this to occur, since, well, he didn't really expect it to happen. As he watched Jason suddenly become a white tiger, a rather rare breed, what you could call 'accident' in a way, its white striped semi-visible to the naked eye. As it stood there, many people were either under tables, behind chairs, backed up against the wall of the cafe, and, probably one of the smarter ideas, ran out of the cafe like a bullet.

Zeke had only seen one other white tiger, and he'd found it captive in a zoo as one of the main attractions. It was actually pretty popular, and sold well at the gift shops... he bought a T-Shirt... sadly, that was the only time he'd actually seen one. Either the other zoos he visited didn't have any tigers with that certain gene, or were petting zoos... what? You'd let a tiger be in a petting zoo?

Zeke looked at it, a smile on his face... seeing a tiger up close and personal.... yes, a tiger will walk up and let you pet it and take pictures of it all day (see the sarcasm in this post? lol). "Not to ruin the moment, because I really am liking this, but... well, we have people half scared-to-death on the other side of the cafe." Zeke stated as he pointed to the scared look on the people's faces. Personally, Zeke wanted to shift to a tiger too and compare, but then a few people might resort to the window, and, well... he decided against it. "So I take it you two are shifters as well?" Zeke asked both of them, a smile permanantly planted on his face. "Small world, small people, but I couldn't imagine this small..."

[Tiff'blz]

Jason watched the people scatter, wondering how long they have lived in Dotado if this freaked them out. "Yes, I am guessing that leaving my be the best thing.." He said mildly. He was somewhat annoyed by their reaction, but was pleased by Zeke's calm assessment. " We both are, but as alike as our powers are, so are they different." He said cryptically, and upon hearing this Eric wrapped his arms around Jason's neck and disappeared.

A thick diamond collar was now wrapped around the thick neck of the white tiger, glinting light off in refractions that shone on the windows in a shower of rainbows. In stragetically placed patterns there were rubys and emeralds, and upon seeing the strong cascades of red and green, Jason gave Zeke a sardonic look. " He has always had an eye for beautiful things." He said in responce to the glittering collar. It shone with an inner light that was Eric's joy.

Jason stretched his front legs out in front of him, slitting his eyes toward the terrified group. He shook his head at them and walked out the door that was surprisingly held open for him. He nodded his head at the man, who gasped and hid behind the door. Jason stifled a sigh. The collar flashed with lights that were not originated outside of the jewels. As if he was listening to a tune, and syncing the lights up with it, the diamonds flashed in a sequence only a ten year old could think of.

" Me and my son are both transformers yes. I transform into animals. There is no limit to what animal I can change into, just the size of said animal. I need to know the workings of the animal, or else I will be stuck in a body that I dont know how to control. My son, however, can transform into absolutely any inanimate object. We havent found anything that he cannot change into. He just needs a description." Jason shrugged and chuffed as the collar warmed up. Eric was easily embarrassed by praise. The rubies seemed to glow brighter and the diamonds took on a pink tint. "What is your gift Zeke?"

[Vaan-kun]

Zeke somewhat chuckled to himself as they left the cafe, not before paying for their drinks, mostly because the people had then suddenly gone back to whatever they were doing as if nothing had happened, chatting on about whatever. "When I see something horrific, I don't forget it that easily... weird, scared people..." Zeke commented as the door closed behind him.

Zeke looked at the collar a little more. "It would look great a shade of blue, but I don't think making Eric sad would do any good." Zeke said, bearing the same smile. The street people, for one reason or another, didn't seem to mind the tiger... maybe these people were used to this sort of strange happening?

"I have the gift of tranformation as well, but it is not limited to animals, just simply things of which I've seen yet before. For example..." Zeke paused in thought before closing his eyes. His body shrank down, his body thinned, and his face and phyical features formed until there stood Eric, every detail in place, from eye color to the clothes he was wearing. "What do you think?" Zeke said, only standing there as not to insult the real Eric. "I could do insects, too, but on a city sidewalk..."

People weren't even paying much attention... maybe they just didn't care? A man walked by and dropped a silver dollar for him. Zeke picked it up, an stared at it in inquiry. "Hm.. I think I'll later give it to you, Eric... it's only fair." Zeke said, smiling a smile, but could easily be told apart from the real Eric's smile.

[Tiff'blz]

"You transform as well? Why then, what a small world." He almost asked what he meant when he said that it was not limited to animals, but his sentence was paused when he saw his son standing in front of him. He could tell, just barely, that it wasnt Eric, for Eric's personality shone in his every movement. This was still decidedly Zeke, but the resemblance was spectacular. Eric, seeing this of course had transformed back into his former self. He had been in the form of a diamond and sapphire collar, changing colors after Zeke's suggestion.

He stepped up to the other him, Zeke in his form, and poked his cheek in a child-like curiousity. "You. Are me." He said slowly and in a tone hinted with awe. If he didnt have a twin, maybe the coolness of it would have fully hit him. Even though Erin was a girl, she resembled him greatly. Eric circled the copy, for who knew Eric best? Eric of course. He looked and saw nothing greatly out of the norm for him. "You really look like me.. You're good.." He said happily with a lop-sided grin. "You wanna know something about my powers?" He asked, jumping up and down with excitement.

He touched Jason's neck, just a tiny little portion of it with the tip of his finger, and when he transformed, he was again around his dad's neck. He reappeared again, this time on the other side of Jason with his arm extended as far as it would go with only a finger touching his dad's fur. " I trannn..trannnss.. I move." He said finally, not being able to remember the word his mom used for it, teleportation. He grinned at this cool aspect of his power, something he got from his mom. "I can only go so far as I can reach, but I only have to touch it just a tinsy bit, and I can go there. I can only go when I change too, but thats just fine by me!" He pointed a small finger to his chest and took a deep breath to show pride.

Jason resisted a chuckle, though his son's performance was quite cute, he was indeed as proud of his son as Eric was of himself. He shook his head, watching his son show off his powers and wished that Erin was here as well to show off her own, that so matched Jason's. He would talk about her later, but he knew that Eric felt that Erin was too involved in his personal life, and for once, Jason would not mention Erin. He watched as Eric ran circles around Zeke, asking if he thought that his power was cool, and also if Zeke could turn into a tiger like Daddy was.

[Vaan-kun]

Zeke knew a difference was there between him and Eric, simply because his tranformations aren't exactly perfect. It would be very difficult to be exactly like someone, because memories, mood, body language, and personality are some of those things he himself cannot truly know or understand. Still, not to toot his own horn, he was pretty good.

Zeke clapped his hands at Eric's little trick, still amazing, even though limited. "It'll be even better when you grow up... your arms will get longer, so you can go farther then." Zeke said to Eric assuringly. "Too bad I'm not as lucky... I'm personaally a little jealous." Zeke meant this truthfully... what? Transporting is fun! Don't judge him!

"Can I become like your father?" Zeke said, returning the question. "Well... I've seen him right? Heck, I AM seeing him!" Zeke said with a laugh. Closing his eyes, his body shrank even more, to about four feet, his arms and legs shrinking along with his body. He then fell onto his hands, which them and his feet formed into paws. His body grew hairier, and his face formed to that of a tiger (This is happening faster than you think it miht be... just so you're aware...). Now instead of Zeke stood a white tiger, a duplicate of the one thatwhich stood in front of him.

He looked around them, seeing that few people paid any attention to them, and those people who did were already half across the street, running in sheer panic. Zeke shook his head; sure, it wasn't as much as before, bu it was still quite annoying. "Does this answer your question, Eric?" Zeke sent to Eric.

[Tiff'blz]

Eric frowned at his still small arms. He waved them around for a bit, "Yeah, they are kinda short, but Im short." He said self-assuringly. He grinned and wiggled his fingers in front of his face, just keeping himself occupied. That is, until he saw two tigers in front of him. He watched some people running in a mad dash to the other side of the street, and his smooth brow crinkled into a frown. He pointed and looked at Zeke and Jason, but they seemed to ignore it, so Eric decided to do the same.

Jason nodded. He was impressed. Human and animal transformations. Jason plodded up to him, ears twitching in curiousity, approaching the duplicate much as Eric had done previously. His head tilted left and right, and saw nothing wrong with the transformation. He chuffed in his satisfaction. One thing Jason wondered about Zeke's power was this: Did he have all of the natural powers of said animal? Like strength, and agility, and instincts, like Jason did, or was his just for looks? Jason sat back on his haunches and gazed at the look-alike. Before he could say what was on his mind, Eric ran by jumping up and down clapping.

"Yeah! That looks just like him. 'Sept you aint got the suspicious, "I dont trust what youre up to" look." He said truthfully, it was Jason's reprimanding look and Eric knew it all too well, the little trouble maker he was. He loooved playing tricks on people.

" Except, you don't have." Jason said in a measured tone, correcting his young son's questionable grammar. He shook his head and tapped his tail on the ground. " Does your power give you the natural abilities of the animal form you take, or is it just appearance?" His tone spoke only of curiousity.

[Vaan-kun]

Zeke laughed inside as Jason corrected his grammar; it was obvious that he didn't like slang simply because it wasn't grammatical. Then again, would any parent want to hear their children talking the hood?... Um, yeah, I didn't think so either. Well, to each their own... "I don't find people suspicious at all in my mind, that's probably why. Zeke said to him.

"You could call that a good question; yes, I do have most of the more natural abilities of each form that I take... it didn't take long to figure..." Zeke began. "The only thing that questions me is my own mind and the instinct of that animal. I have its natural instinct, but if there wasn't any resistance to certain parts of that animal's particular instinctive decisions... I probably would be banned to become something as dangerous as a tiger... or probably be near some type of garbage can if I were a fly..." Zeke kind of laughed on the inside again... him, flying around a garbage can looking for something good... scratch that, gross... to eat?

Zeke pushed his paws onto the cement, forcing his body back until his body was diagnally facing the sky, to stretch his back. "Sorry, my back's always so bothersome, and I just can't stretch it out very well, so... and this is so perfect..." He said as he then readjusted himself and let out a large, nearly silent yawn.