#Warrick oc | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

melpomenelamusa · 4 months ago

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OMGGGGG, AAAAAAHHHHHHHKASJDHKASHDKASJD fangirl mode on 💜💜✨💜✨💜💜✨✨💜✨✨ This was AMAZING!!! I never thought I'd read a fic of a story of mine, I feel so honored!!! This has been such a complex story that I've been fascinated and wanting more!!! The first thing I thought was "Noooo, my poor baby Elafi ended up in a zoo!" (which I actually found super interesting); and I'm glad it had a happy ending and he was able to return to Warrick!!! I LOVED the other chimeras!!! Faroon especially was my favorite. I would love to write about an adult chimera, which I haven't been able to do because the plot I have planned hasn't left me the space to do so at the moment, so being able to see this was something that surprised me and I loved so much!!! 😍😍😍 Also, I really liked the detail that the chimeras spoke through ASL, it reminded me of the time when I studied ASL in college. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift!!! And please, tell me if I can add these chimeras as part of my story someday (and if not, that's also okay, no problem 😉). And again, thank you so much!!! 💜💜💜

Happy holidays, @melpomenelamusa!

Elafi groaned, feeling slightly like an idiot.

Warrick wasn’t home. He’d gone to some town for supplies or something- Elafi had been distracted by the fresh autumn rain and hadn’t listened very well. It was ten hours away, and Warrick had taken the pickup truck, and would be back in three or four days. That was yesterday.

Today, Elafi had gone for a walk. He’d found some berries that looked quite similar to the poisonous ones he’d eaten before. Not quite the same though. Confident that he wouldn’t get it wrong twice, and quite hungry, he’d eaten a ton.

Of course, after an hour or two, Elafi felt sick. Very sick. He’d stumbled back to the cabin before remembering that Warrick wasn’t home. Painfully, he’d tried to remember what Warrick had said last time. He’d only had a few then… didn’t Warrick say something about them being deadly in larger amounts? Or was it that they weren’t deadly? His mind had been foggy, and he couldn't remember. Somehow, in his nauseous state, he’d made his way to the hospital in the nearby little town.

Elafi looked around. His skin was still clammy, and his stomach felt weird, but he was definitely feeling better. He was on a rather uncomfortable hospital bed, in a hospital room with the privacy curtains drawn. He fumbled around a bit, looking for the call button, but two guys in white coats walked in before he found it.

“Oh, hi! Uh, can someone explain to me what.. happened, exactly?” Elafi’s excitement quickly dulled as the men entered the space. Something about them felt just slightly off. It was a feeling Elafi had gotten used to when in public, and living in the woods with Warrick had almost made him forget. His ears lay in his neck, and he imperceptibly shifted, slightly away from them. They might not be dangerous, but they probably wouldn’t be pleasant.

The two men exchanged a glance before one spoke, in a slightly condescending voice.

“You arrived here delirious, upsetting the patients, talking about berries. We pumped your stomach and did a quick check-up. Asides from the cut off antler, which seems to be an old injury, you’re in great health. Any other questions?”

Elafi slowly shook his head, indicating no other questions. “I’m dismissed?”

That wasn’t technically a question, right?

The other man, the one who hadn’t said anything yet, spoke up. “We’ve contacted the proper authorities and arranged for transport early tomorrow morning. We’ve also agreed to host you here for the night until the transport guys get here - “

“Transport? What do you mean, transport?”, Elafi hesitantly interrupted.

“There’s a suitable place for people like you. You’ll be transported in the morning. There is a guard outside your door, for your information. That’ll be all.”

Cold shivers fell down his spine as he realised what was said. Before he could process enough to respond or ask more questions, they left. Fuck, not again. Transport? What did that mean? Elafi silently resented the vague wording.

Warrick didn’t know where he was, he realised with a shock. He hadn’t left a note or anything. Would Warrick be able to find him? To get him back? Elafi didn’t wanna be transported anywhere. He wanted to live in the woods with Warrick. He enjoyed living in the woods with Warrick. Why couldn’t everyone else just leave him alone!?

He let himself drop to the bed he was sitting on, ears twitching as he quietly sobbed. Why did he have to eat those berries? He didn’t want this. Why did he have to go to the hospital! Why did he have to forget to leave a note for Warrick!? Wherever they were taking him in the morning, it would be at least a day before Warrick would even know he was taken. The cheerful tune stuck in Elafi’s head only served to increase his desperation.

The next morning, he warily eyed the fellows that had walked in. They were wearing overalls, with grime stuck under their nails, and a build that suggested trying to put up a fight would be futile. Elafi swallowed. He could try to run, or struggle, but… it wouldn’t help. He didn’t know where he was going… he would end up going even if he struggled or tried to run. Maybe it was better not to do something rash that might result in punishment later.

Even as all his instincts screamed at him, Elafi held still as they approached him with the type of disinterest and caution one would show a wild dog.

When they cuffed and collared him, it became much easier to hold still. The flashbacks running through his mind held him quiet and, mostly, compliant. He didn’t notice much of his surroundings, eyes glazed. Then, a sound startled him back into reality. He drew a sharp breath of air and blinked, ears perking up in alarm. A cage had been locked. A cage that he was in, elevated from the ground. Outside? No, he was… he was in the back of a van.

In a cage in the back of a van.

…

Shit.

“Yeah, it was more docile than expected, headed over to y'all's now, we should be there by nightfall.”

The low crackle of a walkie-talkie startled Elafi, and his ears turned to the source before his head did. His antler got caught on the top of the cage, so it took a second before he could turn to look at the man standing beside him, outside of the car. It was one of the guys from before, in overalls. He only got a glimpse before the man shut the back doors of the van with a resounding thwack. Elafi flinched, which once again got his antler stuck in the top of the cage. The back of the van had no windows, and he could barely see. The cage wasn’t very large, but luckily, neither was Elafi. After using his hands to figure out what was wrong with his antler and getting it unstuck, he carefully laid down sideways. He shuffled until his hooves hit the back of the cage on one side, so that his antler would be as far away from the other side as possible. Curled up, he sighed and sniffed, allowing himself a moment of-

The engine started, and a momentum that hadn’t been there before had his hooves pressing uncomfortably into the metal squares of the cage. His arms shot out to the sides of the cage as he yelped involuntarily. The van turned around before starting to drive normally, and Elafi squeezed his eyes shut. Not that it had much of an effect, just trading one pitch black for another, but it let him wish that he were back at home with Warrick. It was gonna be a long… however long he’d be stuck in this small cage.

It had been… hours, probably. Hours of the van driving, speeding up and slowing, even stopping sometimes. Had it been hours? Not days? Not minutes? Elafi couldn’t tell the time much, other than that he was hungry, and that his legs were cramping from being pulled up for so long, and his whole body was aching from lying on the hard wooden plank in the bottom of the cage. He was grateful that it was there, at least. Lying on top of the cage itself would have been worse. It had been hours and hours when finally, someone opened the doors again.

The daylight, all the sudden sensations & sounds, shocked him after hours in the dark with only the pur of an engine. He saw trees, people, a pathway, a phone- a phone, shoved into his face. Held by a hand that was attached to an arm that was attached to a girl, maybe about his age, with an overly cheerful voice and dark blonde hair. She was wearing some kind of green and orange uniform, like an apron but not quite. It had a name tag that he couldn’t read. She was speaking, he could tell, but it took a second for him to hear words instead of sounds. He looked at the other people. A girl and two guys, a bit older than him- early to mid twenties? And another guy, clearly in charge, about double their age from the looks of it. Clearly not their father, they looked too dissimilar. What then?

Suddenly, his eyes fell on the rest of the scenery. They were all decorated with natural elements, and rather large, so he hadn’t noticed them at first. His blood ran cold when he saw the smooth metal that had been left uncovered.

Cages.

The sounds coming out of the mouth of the girl with the phone sounded like words, now, and he tried to pay attention.

“As you can tell, he seems a bit nervous, but no matter! Here at the zoo, we have ways around that! We’d never want a chimera to lash out because it’s scared- TherianPaws42, your input is not appreciated, we do NOT abuse our chimeras. Each chimera has their own spacious plot tailored specifically to it’s environment. Which is why it’s so great that we’re getting a new deer chimera! As most of you probably know, we had our deer chimera die last year after six decades in the zoo. Her cage is still tailored perfectly to a deer chimera’s needs, so this little guy won’t have to wait for us to set up a plot for him! Okay hold on, I’m gonna see if I can coax him out of there…” The girl was animatedly speaking to her phone, holding it up like she was taking a selfie…. Was she live? Was she an influencer or something?

It was then that Elafi realised the cage door had also been opened. The couldn’t get out of the cage fast enough once he realised, worming his way out, cringing as he bumped his antler for the so manieth time in however many hours.

“Oh wow, look how excited he is! Now let’s hope he doesn’t kick up a fuss while we get him to his plot… luckily, D is up pretty high in the alphabet, so it’s fairly close to the entrance. Oh, have I never explained about the alphabet system here at New Jersey Chimera Zoo?” The girl- ‘Luella’, he read the name tag- was looking at her phone in between speaking, responding to things she saw on the screen. Comments, probably.

She continued to talk about how chimeras were assigned plots alphabetically in a U-shape after the entrance of the zoo. Elafi wasn’t listening.

He tried to keep himself from hyperventilating as he looked at the others. They were all, with the exception of the older man, wearing the same uniform as Luella. They each wore a slightly different shirt beneath it, though. The older man wore a casual brown suit, with plain dark jeans instead of… whatever type of pants people normally wear with a suit. The woman, the one that wasn’t Luella, seemed a bit older than he thought at first once he looked at her. Not old yet either, but just… early thirties, maybe? She might’ve been wearing makeup. She looked… kind. Elafi turned his eyes away.

The guy next to her definitely looked young. Maybe even Elafi’s age. He looked a bit… otherworldly. His skin was bronze, and his hair was longer than most mens’. There was a blue bandana in his hair, covering his hairline, that matched his striking eyes almost perfectly. He seemed… Middle Eastern, maybe? He had broad shoulders, and visible relaxed muscle on his thick arms. The glint in his eyes though… predatory, and far too intense. Elafi suppressed the urge to run away, breathing deeply. The fresh dusk air seemed to help.

The last guy wasn’t particularly remarkable. He was tall, and bulky, but he seemed like a relaxed enough guy that he didn't nearly worry Elafi as much as the other one.

It’s only when he instinctively stopped walking, because Luella stopped and he was following her for some reason, that he realised he was in a cage. ‘Plot’. His eyes widened, but he was a fraction of a second too late. Luella had stepped outside, and the gate closed.

The overstimulation reached a peak. Luella was still yapping at her phone, people were breathing, the air in his lungs was too crisp, too fresh and it was making him nauseous. The light had dimmer considerably once he got used to it but even just having vision seemed too much for him right now. He scrunched his eyes shut, reaching up for his antlers when one hand grasped air, and he fell down a hole of hyperventilation.

“Aww, I think the poor thing’s nervous… Don’t worry about him too much, we’ve got qualified zookeepers to calm it down, look- my amazing colleague is already working with it. I’m sure he’ll acclimatize to his new environment very soon! It usually only takes a few days. In fact, why don’t we ask the zoo manager about it? It’s a very rare occasion to find Mr O’Ryan outside of his office, but he came especially today to make sure our newest chimera settles in okay! Mr O’Ryan, you wouldn’t mind answering some questions for my followers, would you sir?”

His senses overworked themselves until they dulled to almost nothing, and Elafi felt like he was floating. It was peaceful, actually. A steady hand on his shoulder broke through the daze. He wanted to see who it belonged to, and whined when he realised he’d opened his eyes.

His ears turned towards a soft, calming shush. Following with his eyes, he found the other woman. The one that looked kind. She had large eyes, almost like him, and with one soft exhale, most of the panic left his body.

“Hi”, she whispered. “I’m Karessa. What’s your name?”

Elafi opened his mouth to respond, and found he couldn’t. Like something was blocking his throat. He realised slowly that the hand on his shoulder belonged to the woman- Karessa. Belonged to Karessa. She flicked her eyes to the rest of the zookeepers, and Elafi did the same. They were judgmentally staring at… him, or Karessa, or both of them. He couldn’t tell.

She nodded at him with those kind eyes, before retracting her arm through the bars and swiftly getting up and going back to the other zookeepers. Except for the older man, he was gone- and so was Luella. Elafi didn’t care much.

With that, all the people that had been staring left. As soon as Karessa had gotten up, Elafi had almost felt sick. He closed his eyes, imagining his little room at Warrick’s place. He focused on his breathing, deep and low. Tried to ground himself. He’d been surprised to feel dirt and earth, supple under his hooves. He brought his hands to his sides, feeling the ground. Wait, when had he sat down? During his panic attack? Had Karessa-

He banished the thoughts, and focused on calming down. He was okay. He had ground beneath him. There was a tree in the far right corner of the large cage, and grass to the left. A plant he didn’t recognise crept across the bars, disguising them. The feeling of being caged in was unavoidable, but the cage seemed pleasant at least. He had been in much worse situations, as little as less than an hour ago even. The vine-covered bars formed a space that was about the size of a small living room or a large bedroom. The cage included bars overhead and to all sides, but not across the ground, luckily. Past the bars, to his right, was another enclosure. Elafi couldn’t see who was in it, but it seemed to have some kind of water and dark sand. The bars of the cages were connected. To his left, beyond the bars…

There were bars, and they connected to another cage, but the cage wasn’t decorated like a habitat. Instead, there was something smooth, cold, transparent… Glass? There was more, but Elafi couldn’t see it. Curious, he eventually got up. He hesitantly made his way over to the left side of his cage, before a voice from behind startled him.

“You talk?”

It was an old voice, slightly raspy, like a well-working zipper that had rusted over the years without losing it’s ability to keep your things in your pockets. Elafi turned towards it, startled. His ears twitched when he forced himself to answer a small “Yes”.

“Well come over here, kid. I don’t bite… What’s your name, then?”

After a second’s contemplation, Elafi decided to temporarily abandon his exploration of the left side of his cage, and made his way over to the right side. In the last light of the evening, he could more clearly see the man that was talking to him. A chimera, with green scaled skin and a thick, fleshy tail. The palms of his hands and his head could almost pass for regular human, if it hadn’t been for the clearly inhuman green eyes with a slit pupil. He had some wrinkles, and bags under his eyes, and streaks of gray scattered through his beard and hair. His face matched his accent, something Arabic or another.

“Elafi”, he hesitantly offered. “You?”

“Faroon.” The man did something with his right hand as he spoke, before stopping. “Right. You still need to learn. I guess that’ll be my task this time.”

“Learn what?”, Elafi hesitantly asked.

Faroon smiled, not unkindly, in a somewhat nostalgic way. “Sign language. It’s how we talk to each other here. Uh, it’s kind of a tradition, I guess, to teach the new ones. Also, never talk out loud in front of humans. And try to limit the signing… you never know who might speak ASL. Although I’m not quite sure how much our sign still looks like modern ASL… one of the original three chimeras of the zoo was Deaf. I guess there’s some stuff for me to teach you, huh? It’s been a while. I’m sure you have questions, though.”

Elafi, overwhelmed with the new information, latched onto the first thing he’d been thinking. “Are you an alligator or a crocodile? I can’t tell. I’ve never really met another chimera.”

Faroon chuckled, crossing his arms. “Crocodile. Or at least, that’s what it says on the information panel outside my plot. If I was an alligator, I’d be closer to the entrance, over by.. heck, in front of Rini and Aleda and them, even. They’ve got the zoo on their weird type of alphabetical system- “

“Rini and Aleda?”

“Oh, some of the other chimeras here. I’ve never had a conversation with them, but we tell each other stories, cage to cage until it passes through the whole zoo. You can talk to the chimeras next to you, maybe even one plot over. And once you learn to sign, you can talk to the ones opposite from you, as long as no one else’s around. Which means sundays, early mornings, and late afternoons. There Isn't enough light to see each other at night. Well, early afternoons won’t be for long either, once the sun starts setting sooner. I think it’s almost wintertime.”

Elafi nodded slowly. “I.. am I stuck here? I mean, I know I’m in a cage… but, like.. has anyone ever..? Or do they… “

Faroon's face fell a little, taking on an empathic expression, like Elafi was discovering something he had already grieved for. He spoke softly, gently. “No, uh.. I’m sorry. This is.. this is your life now. I don’t think anyone’s gotten out, but.. it’s not bad. It can be.. a bit humiliating and stuff, but it’s a better alternative for a lot of people. You and I both know, chimeras don’t last long on the outside. In the zoo, we get to die of old age. It’s… it’s not all bad. It is what it is. Y’know?”

Elafi swallowed down his tears. He looked to the ground and nodded, feeling a little overwhelmed again. Still, he noticed a small shift in Faroon’s stance when the man spoke again, in a slightly enthusiastic tone. “Hey, look, your other neighbor just realised you’re here! Be a bit, uh.. She’s a bit young. Doesn’t really understand the world yet. It’s happened before, so… We’re all just waiting until she’s a tad older to explain things to her. She’s one of the lucky ones, though. Her parents visit, she’s even still in school.”

He quickly looked over to the left side of his cage again. He couldn’t see anything at all. Faroon’s crocodile eyes were probably why he was able to see while Elafi couldn’t. With his ears low, he hesitantly made his way over.

The closer Elafi got, the more he saw. Inside the cage was a huge, square, glass tank. Like for fishes. Behind the glass was a girl.

She looked young, barely a teenager. A bit long for her age. She had long hair, floating around her like a halo in the water. The lower half of her body was a tail, rather than legs. She excitedly waved at him. She made movements- ASL, Elafi realised after a second. He didn’t understand any of it, and it only took the girl a second to realise that.

She swam up, and then Elafi could hear her. “Hi! I’m Naia, what’s your name? You’re a deer chimera! Like Davina! How old are you?”

Despite himself, Elafi smiled softly. It was difficult not to get excited around such an excitable girl. “My name is Elafi, I’m eighteen, how about you?”

“I’m thirteen. And I get to live here all on my own! Did you just move out? My parents can’t get me a tank at home, so I get to live here. I’ve got a large piece of rock in the back though, for when I wanna be out of the water or for when I do school stuff on my tablet. I don’t get to have a phone though, which is so rude. And Arnelle said I can’t talk overday! That’s also rude. Anyways, I’m yapping… “ There was an implication in her silence, prompting Elafi to talk.

“That.. sounds very fun. Who’s Arnelle?”

“Arnelle is my other neighbor! She’s an eagle chimera, which is pretty cool. Although she can’t fly cuz there isn’t enough space. I like her though, she’s kind of like an auntie. I lowkey ship her and Faroon, but they can’t talk to each other directly because I’m in the way… but that’s okay! When I leave, they can talk through the empty plot, like I’ve been talking to Faroon!”

The conversation continued for quite a while, before Naia decided to go to sleep. Elafi didn’t quite know what to think of her. She seemed… happy, almost. There wasn’t a bed in his cage, but the tree in the corner had comfortable enough roots, and Elafi fell into an uneasy sleep soon enough.

The next morning, Elafi was woken up by the insistent shining of sunlight over his eyelids. He frowned, blinking. Overhead, he saw autumn leaves on hefty branches, and green-leafed vines wrapped around metal bars. Hmm. That was decidedly not his room.

The confusion dissipated as he sat up, remembering the events of the past two days. Great. He could see more now, in the morning light, than he had been able to in yesterday’s dusk. Looking to his right, he could see Faroon, still asleep, with the lower half of his body in the shallow pool of water that seemed to take up the middle of his cage, and the upper half of his body laid across the dark, dirt-like sand that took up the rest of it. He seemed at ease, lying on his stomach with his head resting on folded arms. Elafi had more questions, but.. they could wait until Faroon was awake.

To the left, the sunlight filtered through the water of Naia’s tank, leaving pretty patterns in Elafi’s cage. He could see some small fishes darting about, but the girl herself was… asleep. She was vertical in the water, with just the top of her head poking out. How on earth was she breathing? Her hair, floating on the top of the water like it didn’t care much for the head it was attached to, was vibrantly red. He hadn’t been able to tell her hair colour last night. Not that he’d paid attention.

Across from him, Elafi could see slightly larger cages. Some of the chimeras were even awake. The one directly across from him was asleep, curled up on themself. She almost looked like a regular human, if not for the eyes. He stared, watching as she woke up. She waved at him. He waved back. Her eyes darted to something he couldn’t see, and she straightened up, seemingly already haven forgotten about him.

Elafi got up and walked closer to the bars, trying to see what the snake girl had looked at. He couldn’t quite see any- Oh. He gulped. A young couple, with a toddler swinging from their arms, laughing, were walking along the cages. Visitors. Right.

He didn’t realise how erratic his breathing had gotten until something made the bars of the cage vibrate, loudly. Elafi startled back into reality, ears turning down to cover from the sound. To his right, Faroon looked at him with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, kid. It’s… it’s your first day, it’s overwhelming, but if you’re gonna have a breakdown or panic attack like that, don’t do it right in front of the bars. You’ve got a tree, go hide behind it. You can sleep through all of today if you want to. I’ll, uh”, he shot a look at the visitors, swiftly approaching, “I’ll teach you how to spell in ASL tonight, if you want. You’ll be able to talk more overday that way.”

Faroon moved away then, going to lie in his shallow bit of water. Elafi stared nervously at the giggling child and their parents, now in front of Naia’s tank. Naia seemed to have woken up at some point while he wasn’t paying attention, and was doing somersaults underwater, to the great amusement of the small child. And then they were in front of Elafi.

The kid waved at him. This was ridiculous- they were harmless. Elafi had no reason to be in such a flight-or-fight mode, absolutely frozen and feeling like hunted prey. And yet..

More visitors trickled in as the day continued. Most briefly paused in front of Elafi before continuing. Some didn’t look at him at all. Some stayed for a while longer, reading the little sign and taking pictures. Embarrassed as all hell, Elafi hid behind the tree after the first time someone took a picture of him, like Faroon had suggested.

He stayed behind the tree for a while. He couldn’t really tell time. At some point, he realised just how hungry he was. Elafi hadn’t eaten in.. three days, or so? The last time he’d eaten, he’d had his stomach pumped. Everything that had happened had put off his appetite, but.. surely the zoo would give him food? He peeked around the tree into Faroon’s cage.

Faroon was eating a chicken leg off of a plastic tray. Elafi’s breath caught for a second when he saw Faroon’s teeth- sharp like a crocodile’s. The question remained; Where had Faroon gotten food?

He got his answer quickly, when a loud knocking made him flinch. “Chow time!”, yelled an unruly voice. Elafi scrambled to the front of his enclosure, and was met with the sight of the two male zookeepers from yesterday. One had a cart with trays in it, like a flight attendant in a movie. The other- wearing a red bandana this time- was holding one of the trays, standing inside the cage. The door was open. “Hey, deer boy! Ain’t you hungry, newbie? I wouldn’t want this gross shit either.”

Elafi cast a nervous glance over at Faroon, who was sending a death glare at the two zookeepers, but not saying anything. Elafi took that as his cue to stay silent as well.

“Well? We could throw this shit out, yknow.”, he taunted.

Elafi was really hungry. Not knowing what else to do, he reached his hands out for the tray. They’d understand his meaning, right?

The guy laughed with a sneer, and dropped the tray right on the ground. Some things fell off of it, but most of it seemed fine. Elafi did his best to ignore the staring visitors and the way his cheeks heated up as he shuffled over to look at the food. It seemed like the type of mix that’s mass produced for pets, but a specialised version. Oats, all kinds of nuts, dried peas, some chunks of dried apple… Elafi hesitantly ate some. Loud laughter above him caused him to flinch.

“AWH, HAHA, LOOK, IT’S ACTUALLY EATING OFF THE FUCKING GROUND.”, he howled with laughter. Elafi’s ears drooped as he desperately wished for a hole in the earth to swallow him up.

Then, a sharp voice cut through the laughter. “Seth! Ethan! Don’t you guys have better things to do than bully the new chimera? Fuck off, go feed the rest.”

Elafi turned his head to the voice, slightly recognising it. It was the kind woman from yesterday. He’d… he’d forgotten her name. Seth and Ethan- he didn’t know which was which- left, muttering complaints. The woman crouched in front of him, and gave a quick nod to the right. “Faroon.” She acknowledged the crocodile, and Elafi spun his head just in time to see Faroon nod back at her. Bewildered, he looked back at the woman, then back at Faroon. Faroon noticed his confusion, and moved closer to the bars so he could speak quietly.

“Karessa is the only one you can talk to. She’s cool with us. The other two, Seth and Ethan, are assholes. Seth, the one with the hair covering, he’s Kemetic and thinks we’re some blasphemous imitation of his gods. Ethan just kinda goes along with whatever Seth does. Luella just makes videos, she’s pretty harmless.” He had a pained expression as he spoke. “If you’ve got questions you can’t ask me, ask Karessa. She also keeps us supplied with outside knowledge.”

Right, that was her name. “Hi”, he said quietly.

“Hi”, she answered. “Don’t mind Seth and Ethan. They’re idiots. Are you okay?”

No, he wasn’t okay. He was locked in a zoo. He nodded, signaling that he was okay.

Karessa grimaced like she knew what he’d thought. “I know. Crappy situation to be in, but I’ll help you make the best of it. The food, is it okay? It’s what the previous deer chimera ate, but that doesn’t have to mean that it works for you.”

He nodded. “It’s.. I think it’s okay.”

“Alright. I’ll come check on you later. If Seth and Ethan, or any visitors, bother you again, you make sure to tell me, yeah?”

Elafi silently nodded. Karessa set him at ease in an odd way that he hadn’t experienced before. It was nice.

The day passed. And then another one did, and then a few more. Days turned to weeks, and weeks turned into winter, and he stopped being able to tell quite how long he’d been at the zoo. Faroon taught him the ASL alphabet, and after some practice, he could fingerspell. He’d had some small conversations with the snake girl across from him, and learnt that her name was Lini. He’d had short conversations with Naia while she was underwater. He picked up on some small signs. Yes, no, have, I, you, that, thank you. Elafi’s vocabulary grew until he was comfortable with small conversations, still heavily relying on fingerspelling. The grammar came to him surprisingly easily. Naia, Faroon, and Lini told him about the other chimeras. He learnt their names, their stories. Gossip was passed along, chimera to chimera, down the line, like a bad game of ‘broken telephone’. In turn, Elafi told them about his life before the zoo. He told them about Warrick, and the woods. He told them about what happened to his parents, and how he missed his stuffed animals.

Sometimes, Elafi got overwhelmed. Like when there was a school trip at the zoo, or when Luella was filming him. Luckily, Faroon or Karessa, or even Lini, were usually there to calm him down. And he had his tree to hide behind. Half the time, he just took a nap when he didn’t feel like dealing with something. He didn’t really have any responsibilities in the zoo. Seth and Ethan bullied him sometimes, and generally behaved rotten. Karessa was sweet, helping out where she could. Naia’s parents visited her a few times a week. Faroon was gruff, but kind. He kinda reminded Elafi of Warrick.

He wasn’t happy at the zoo, not by a long shot. He wished that he could leave, return to his life before. That Warrick would come rescue him, like he had last time. But the more time passed, the more it felt like that just wasn’t gonna happen. It was a nice daydream, but that was all. Besides… Being a zoo exhibit was humiliating and overwhelming sometimes, but they got fed twice a day, and he had friends, and he was mostly left alone by other people. There were worse places to be. He’d.. kind of accepted it.

Winter was melting away into spring, and Elafi was grateful for the warmer temperatures. It was a monday. He could tell, because the zoo closed on sundays. No zookeepers or visitors yesterday, ergo, it had been a sunday. Which made today a monday. Elafi was wondering if he could keep track of the day for the whole week, vaguely staring ahead, when something quietly startled him.

He’d been staring at the crowd, looking at the people that were looking at him. Then he’d recognised one of their faces. And he’d frozen.

Warrick.

The man mouthed something. It took Elafi a second to realise what it was.

‘I’m getting you out of here.’

Elafi’s mind raced, but his body felt fixed in place. How would Warrick- But what about - but the others? And- How did he- WHERE would they..-

He sucked in a sharp breath. He tilted his head towards Naia, and carefully mouthed ‘what about them’. He saw Warrick’s eyes flit to Naia, then something next to her, then Faroon, before landing back at Elafi. He curtly nodded, and disappeared back into the crowd.

That Elafi was incredibly tense the rest of the day, and then the night. By morning, he started to doubt his memory. Had Warrick really just shown up for less than a minute? That didn’t make much sense. Elafi had already kind of accepted that he’d be at the zoo forever. Maybe he was just processing the loss of his old life with some kind of hallucination? He didn’t bring it up to anyone.

Tuesday passed, and so did Wednesday, and then Elafi lost track of the days again. He’d kind of come to the conclusion that he had somehow hallucinated Warrick. That is, until he was shaken awake at some unholy hour by two, strong hands.

That in and of itself was shocking, seeing as how the closest he’d gotten to human contact in months were the occasional pats or head scratches that Karessa would give him. Still half-asleep, Elafi turned around, only to be met with the sight of Warrick and an open cage door.

“Huh?”, Was the best he could come up with.

“Come on, kid. We haven’t got all too long. Sleep medication doesn’t last forever.”, said the gruff voice that Elafi had sorely missed.

“What? How are you here? How did you open- “

“There’s time for explanations later, kid. Gave the night guards some muffins they’ll be forgetting about. I’ve got the keys to help all of your friends too, but we can’t take them with us. Yeah?”

Instantly, Elafi was as awake as ever. “Alright yeah, hold up, let me… “ Looking around his cage, he realised he didn’t have anything to take with. “Yeah no, let’s go.”

Some had woken up from the ruckus, some had to be woken up. Faroon’s inhuman eyes were wide as he stepped out of his cage, bewildered. Some older chimeras, surprisingly, declined to go with. The zoo was all they’d known from a young age, the last thing they needed was to deal with microaggressions and taxes. Most were overjoyed to come along though.

Naia refused to come along. Warrick had brought a bathtub on wheels for her, and she eyed it suspiciously. Her caged tank was more comfortable.

Elafi hoped for her that, when she grew up and understood what the zoo really was, that she wouldn’t regret her choice too much.

“Tell Karessa.. tell her thank you?”

“I will”, Naia signed.

They all left in the dead of night. It was odd, seeing the chimeras he had heard about. Seeing so many chimeras in one place, many of them being older than most chimeras ever could be… Just, odd.

Warrick was just the best. For finding him, for breaking him out, for breaking out everyone else. Elafi turned to look at the zoo one last time.

He couldn’t wait to sleep in a bed again. It was gonna be weird, knowing a whole new language and not having anyone to sign to anymore. Elafi looked up at Warrick.

Of course he’d found him. He’d gotten him back last time he was taken by someone.

Elafi had been foolish to ever think he would be in the zoo forever.

#season’s beatings gift #season’s beatings #whump #whump writing #I feel the luckiest author ever #I need to know more about Faroon and the rest of the chimeras #chimera children #chimeras fanfic #Mysterious person who gave me this wonderful gift please reveal yourself so I can thank you properly #and if you prefer to remain anonymous I hope that at least my words of joy reach you.#thank you sooooo much!!!#Elafi oc #Warrick oc #chimeras universe

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