Puzzled {Mel, Aimee, Joshua, Drew}

[Joshua Silvera]

Josh didn't really have time to think or react. One moment, Aimee had been standing there, and then she'd stormed off. He assumed that she didn't want any part of what was going on any further, and he couldn't blame her. He stood up slowly, and turned with a sigh to go after her. "Aimee..." he began. Really, he was having mixed feelings about this, suddenly.

That was all he got. She hit him square in the nose, and with a muffled sort of cry, he fell backwards and into the chair. The momentum, however, was strong - Josh and the chair both landed end-over, and he kicked it from on top of himself before letting out a low grunt of pain. He looked down at his hand, which he'd drawn to his face. His nose, thank fuck, hadn't been broken, but he bet if he'd been moving at any greater rate of speed they'd be taking a ride to the hospital.

"God damn!" he hissed. He squinted as the pain set in, followed shortly by the warm sensation of blood coming out of his nose. He grabbed the overturned chair and used it to pull himself up, and then, literally, stumbled into the kitchen to grab a paper towel.

Wes actually flinched when he heard the hit connect. "You hit him harder than I did," he commented lightly, only moving to further aggravate the situation. He didn't smile, though, but rather readjusted himself on the couch so that he was stretched out, facing Nick and Aimee.

"And then we were one, big, happy family," he said, holding his hands out in a little 'ta-da' motion. He looked pointedly at Nick. "I think we might have it covered from here, but I may need you again for Drew, unless Silvera wants to find a way to infect him when nobody's looking. As much as those two scuffle, it wouldn't surprise me if he did it accidentally-on-purpose." He raised his eyebrows, and then stood, straightening his shirt a little before covering the length of the room to Nick.

"It's really good to see you again, though. I want to meet this wife of yours, considering you were the 'never get married' type when I knew you. She must be amazing, if a little out of her mind, to have tied you down." He smiled, and he was all fun and games now, the serious tone leaving his voice. "Plus, I need to see the baby with my own two eyes to believe it. Are they both lions?" he asked.

[Aimee Forsyth]

Mixed feelings?  Too late!

"I did not!" she argued, looking a little upset by that.  She hadn't meant to hit him that hard!  "You knocked him out cold, and I didn't even break his nose!  Besides, it's what he gets for asking to be hit!"

She was standing by that one.  Josh wouldn't ask to be hit ever again, though she really hadn't meant to knock him over a chair like that.  It DID make her feel bad.  These guys were driving her NUTS!  She never hit people!  "Damn it.  Josh!" she called, following him into the kitchen so she could help him with his nose.  She needed to wrap her hand in something until it healed up, too. 

"Josh, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to hit you so hard.  Let me see."

Wes wasn't the only one who flinched, but Nick was fine with letting Josh and Aimee figure things out on their own. 

"Having this whole mess again is going to be ridiculous," he pointed out.  It might almost be better if Josh infected his friend in a scuffle instead of going through telling him and making him accept it as they'd done with Josh.  At least if Drew was infected first, he'd have no choice in the matter.  "No male lions, got it?"

Just in case.  He didn't want Wes tempted to just do it himself.  "Make sure the girl knows.  She can't do it, because that's a mess we don't want."  He could just imagine what Jaime would think of a new male in the area.  He was already going to hate Wes.

"Actually, you have to meet her now.  She said so on the phone," he offered with a grin.  He was totally dragging Wes over for dinner.  "No, Skye is actually a hyena, but Nico is a lion, amazingly.  Got it from me," he informed Wes, unable to avoid sounding a little proud.  "Who would've thought, huh?  I actually met her on a job, honestly.  It was the last place either of us expected."

[Joshua Silvera]

Josh frowned, and then obligingly removed the paper towel so she could see what she'd done. "I'm tired of being beat up," he moaned. "As soon as I'm a leopard, I'm going to beat Wesley's ass. I can't really beat your ass, though. I did ask you to hit me. I didn't think you really would!" he added though, moving away from her to throw the paper towels in the garbage.

"Melisande is going to wonder what the hell happened in her absence," he grunted. "What will we do about Drew? I don't really want to hit him in the face, not after all the shit that he just had to go through." Joshua frowned more, before sitting on the counter.

After a moment of thought, he pressed for more information. "So, is it just cats? Lions and leopards? Or are there more?" Oh yeah, now that he was aware of his situation, he was going to be like a fifth grader at a science fair.

"I got it. I don't know that I want another male lion around, anyways. One is enough," he said, smiling at Nick. "I can't believe I never knew you were around, though. Maybe I just don't pay attention. I don't know how, but I guess if I'd never smelled one before, I wouldn't really know what, in fact, it was." He raised his brows a little, folding his arms. "We're going to find a better way for Drew. Aimee mentioned syringes. Maybe we could fool him into a routine physical or something."

"A hyena? And Nico? I'm guessing that's short for Nicole, eh? Hahaha, what an ego you have," he teased. "I can't believe you ended up with a hyena of all things. I bet you've got a fairly interesting 'how we met' story, especially if you're saying you met on a job. Is she military,  or...?" he trailed off. The Guilds didn't cross his mind, because - well, Wesley knew that to be Nick's wife you had to be perfectly capable, but he just figured... something else. Especially from the fact that they had a kid and everything.

[Nick LeCroix]

Aimee frowned right as Josh did, giving him a sharp look when he complained about being beat up.  He'd asked for it!  "I got tired of beating around the bush, and you guys make me crazy.  I figured now was as good a time as any," she told him simply, shrugging her shoulders and then wetting a new paper towel so she could get back to cleaning up his face.  She HAD hit him harder than she planned.  "I AM sorry, though."

Oh, he wasn't kidding when he said that Melisande was going to wonder what had happened in her absence, but Aimee was pretty sure she could fill in the blanks and try to make sense out of things.  At least Melisande couldn't smell things the way a lion could yet, or she'd never miss Nick's presence.  He had a VERY attention-getting way about himself, and that showed in his scent.

"No, it's not just cats.  There are snakes, wolves, hyenas, birds, and plenty of others.  As for Drew, I guess we're going to wait and see what Melisande says.  She wants him to recover from one mess before he gets into a new one, and I can't say I blame her.  Hopefully, by the time he's better, she'll know what to do with that," she said honestly, sighing and still trying to be gentle with his face despite the way she'd wrapped a paper towel around her knuckles.  It would take a little while for the infection to actually start healing him, so he'd still be sore.  "I'd prefer it if it didn't have to be spread through violence, personally.  That was your choice."

Actually, knowing these guys, it'd be Drew's, as well.

"One?  You're forgetting my brother," Nick remarked, cocking an eyebrow up.  "My younger brother works in the NYPD, and he's an even bigger lion than I am.  I can still kick his ass, but he's no pushover.  If you run into him, I suggest backing off.  He's a little more 'animal planet' about other male lions than I am."

That was an understatement.  Jaime was more the sort to chase other male lions out of the area, while Nick would work with people and tolerate it.  It was surprising, given their usual way of dealing with things, but that was just the way it was.  A lot of things were unusual about them, especially Nick having a wife and family with how much Jaime loved kids.  Nick loved HIS kid, but most children just weren't a big deal to him.

"Actually, that was Skye's doing.  I didn't name her Nicole, but I sure as hell wasn't arguing," he explained with a grin.  No, he wasn't, at all.  "Yeah, she was trying to steal my kill, ironically enough.  We were both on the same assignment without being told we'd have competition, and I intercepted her before she could take the guy out.  We both took credit for it, and ran into each other again later.  She works with one of the Bruja guilds."

[Joshua Silvera]

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, ceasing his fussing to let Aimee blot at his face. It was still sort of numb from where she'd clobbered him, but he was sure that it would wear off into that familiar throbbing sensation he was used to. He wondered why he didn't just have metal implanted in his face for all of the hits he took. Josh was the first person in a fistfight, always.

"Wow, that sure is a lot of different types," he said, genuinely surprised. "How does... how does it happen? I mean, where did they come from? How long have they been around? Wow, I wonder if I know a few and don't even realize it," he said to himself, sitting back a little as she hit the center of the cut. He winced a little, but didn't move any further.

"He probably will, too. Drew will want to throw one of us against a wall after this episode, anyways, I'm sure of it," he muttered.

"Huh? NYPD? How could I have never seen him, or even smelled him?" Wes asked, dumbfounded. "I guess we never really talked about your brother at all, so I didn't think you had one. I guess it's natural to assume he'd be a lion, too, but I don't know how that could have gotten passed me. As for me 'staying away from him', Nick, that's all well and good, but nobody affects my job. If we've gone this long without running into eachother, hopefully it'll stay that way. I've been through a little too much bullshit to let someone try and run me over," he said, and he meant it. Wesley wasn't above a lot when it came to standing his ground, especially since he didn't go looking for fights.

He switched back to the subject of Skye, raising his eyebrows when Nick mentioned that she was a member of Bruja. "Wow, how about that. Two peas in a pod, huh? I hope she's not in Frost; I've heard those women are a little brutal," he joked. "I still don't see how she managed to produce a lion. I thought if she'd been carrying it'd be a hyena... You guys must've had a pretty good doctor," he mused.

Wesley didn't know, of course, that Skye had seen Mitchell and Garrah almost exclusively in order to see that she was in good health and particularly Garrah to make sure she couldn't shift, but then again, it wasn't common knowledge.

[Aimee Forsyth]

"Honestly?  I don't really know for sure.  We've found that shapeshifting is transferred from parents to children through genetics, but that it's not a scientific sort of thing.  Shifters can be made through science, or at least, the breeds can be adjusted using science, but there's an aspect of magic to it that just can't really be explained.  My boyfriend's been working on it for quite some time," she explained, not really thrilled to admit that she didn't know for sure how it all happened in the first place, but they were working on it.  "There are stories, of course, but nothing we can take for certain.  Shifters have been around for a very long time, though.  I really wouldn't be surprised if you knew some and didn't realize."

Wow, if only she knew what the NYPD looked like.  Wait until Josh realized.  That'd be a hell of an awakening.

She couldn't help looking a little surprised, and perhaps putting a slight bit more pressure on his cut than she intended, but she recovered quickly and offered him an apologetic look, after he mentioned Drew wanting to throw one of them against a wall.  "Wow, he really doesn't strike me as the sort to do something like that, but I guess...he is SWAT, and didn't you say you two were in the Marines together?"

It was possible, and actually probable, but she just hadn't pegged him for it.  His personality seemed so laid back and...safe.  She had only seen him around Melisande, however, and that could make a hell of a difference.  "Hopefully, we can do this for him without violence.  Are you planning on telling him everything I told you before he gets infected?"

Nick regarded Wes pretty evenly, not really letting on what he was thinking, and he accepted what Wes had to say.  Basically, if there was an issue between Wes and Jaime, he was going to have to settle it for them.  "Let me know if anything comes up," he said, and that was all.  There was nothing else TO say on it, and he wasn't going to deal with 'what if's.

Skye and Nico were a much brighter topic, particularly here and now, so he turned to them, instead.  Much better.  "No, she's Crimson.  I don't think I'd have the patience to deal with some of the Frost women on a regular basis," he explained easily, back to the more amused expression, and planning on sticking with it.  "Honestly, I was expecting Nico to be a hyena.  Can't say I'd have preferred it, but I expected it.  It makes sense, with Skye being a hyena, but you're right, we had good doctors.  Otherwise, we probably would have lost the baby."

NOT something he wanted to consider.  It was true, mixed breed marriages like this were tough for that reason, since the wrong breed child could be harmed if the mother shifted, or harm the mother.  He'd been worried, and that was why they went to Nero Garrah.  He wasn't going to explain that unless the information was ever needed, however, just in case.  Garrah didn't seem to want fame where these things were concerned.  Fame brought attention, and it wasn't always good attention.

[Joshua Silvera]

"Wow," he muttered. Boy, would he be in for a surprise when he went into work in about two weeks. He'd be in Zoo York Police Department according to his nose. Too bad Aimee didn't know just how many of them were supernatural, or she could have warned him. As it was, he would probably be blowing her phone up every five minutes to ask if things were normal, et cetera.

"Drew? When you push him hard enough, he'll push right back," Josh said matter-of-factly. "We were in the Marines together, yeah. He's relaxed and cheerful because that's just how he is, but I wager if he'd have been down there when that vampire attacked me, that sumbitch would have bitten off way more than he could chew," he said. He meant the vampire, of course. "He's not a little guy, we're just both dwarfed by catzilla in there."

Wesley nodded. "Okay, fine," he said. It was all that needed to be said on the matter, really; if Nick implied that he would handle it, than Wes had every reason to believe him. Nick was a man of his word, if nothing else - it might not have surprised Wesley as much to learn that he was a mercenary for hire, really. Then again, not much did surprise Wesley these days.

"Crimson? Intel and recon, hahaha. That sounds right up your alley. I bet she's one of them gals that looks about as threatening as a potted plant until you get close enough." She'd have to be to put up with Nick, he thought to himself. It wasn't a negative trait. Here was a group of men who desired women that could hold there own in the ring; take that oppressive chauvinism! These men liked women who could kick ass! "Well, then that's all the more reason to suggest that lions, naturally, have the best genetics," he said, half-joking, half-serious.

If you asked Wesley if he'd rather have been anything else, despite all of the internal conflicts he had over it, or external given the latest situation, he'd still take lion any day of the week. He could have ended up something worse, anyways. Like a sparrow.

[Aimee Forsyth]

Too bad Aimee didn't know a lot of things, like how he was going to be calling her all the time to make sure everything he was going through was normal, and how it would be to have a male leopard around.  One that she wasn't related to.  She hadn't yet thought that it might be a mistake, and hopefully, she wouldn't think so later.

"Well, I'm sure we'll get to see just how much trouble he is eventually," she admitted, though she still had trouble imagining it.  She believed him, especially because this was the guy's best friend talking, but it still seemed to out of character for Melisande's 'Drewbear'.  "He's sure to throw a fit when he finds out about all this, either before we infect him or after, depending on when he's told.  Fortunately, you and 'catzilla' should be able to handle him without a problem, especially if the other lion is around."

That, she had no doubt about, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that she and Melisande would be around.  Drew wouldn't want to hurt either of them, more than likely.  That gave them an advantage.  "So, would you prefer to just show off your cuts until the infection sets in and they heal, or would you prefer I find some bandaids?  I think Melisande has some with the Flintstones on them in the bathroom," she offered teasingly, turned a little smirk on him.  Oh, she'd love to crack out the Flintstones, and probably should have done it without telling him, but he probably would have noticed, and she wasn't as bad as his friends. 

Wes really had no idea on the subject of Skye.  Really, he didn't.  "Get 'close enough', and she'll still look harmless, right up until she jams a gun up under your chin.  Or I tear your arms off, whichever comes first," he offered lightly, knowing that it was the general 'you' and not specifically Wes.  Wes would know better than to get too close.  "Skye can definitely take care of herself, even if I still try to do it for her.  She's one of the most capable women I know, and still normal enough to keep a home-life that consists of something other than cleaning guns and building bomb-shelters."

That was a big deal, believe it or not.  He required just a few things, and that was the ability to hold her own (at least until he could get there and kick ass on anyone that dared touch her), and the closest thing that could pass for a 'normal life' that was possible for them.  Skye was all that, and he loved it. 

"Of course lions have the best genetics.  Anyone that tells you different is jealous," he agreed easily, and he mostly meant it.  Not completely, but that was because he wasn't THAT egotistical.

[Joshua Silvera]

"Ah, I think I'll pass on the band-aids. Tomorrow is Sunday, so I'm off, thank God, and I'll probably just call in with something contagious like strep. Wesley can fudge my medical report, he's done it before - I'm guessing, of course, that I'll have to, since any hospital is going to not know what the fuck to do with me, right?" he asked.

Josh picked up kind of fast once he had a handle on himself.

"Drew will be mad for a few days, but I'm willing to bet that Melisande will do some girl trickery on him if he doesn't let it go after a while. She's got doe eyes, I'm sure she can make them work," he commented off-handedly. He knew Drew well enough to know that if Melisande behaved extraordinarily cute, he might cave - especially if she presented the truth in a way that didn't explode his brain.

"We'll see," he sighed.

Wesley laughed as Nick agreed with him. "Well, whenever you guys want me over, give me a call." He rattled off his new number quickly so that Nick would have it, and then unlocked all billion of Melisande's locks to let him out. "Better not let Skye wait too much longer. If the ice cream place closes, I bet she'll throw your clothes out into the front lawn after she eats all your dinner."

Maybe he did know her afterall.

[Aimee Forsyth]

Aww, too bad he was going to pass on the band-aids, but she wasn't too surprised.  What DID surprise her was hearing that Wesley could fudge his medical report.  That took some talent, as far as she knew.  "No, the hospitals would have a fit with you.  There are doctors here and there that know about shifters and vampires, but not many.  If you ever end up going to a hospital, try to make it NYU Med, and ask for Dr. Batten.  He'll know what to do with you," she explained, and hoped he'd remember.  If he ever ended up in the hospital, it would probably be bad, so a surgeon wouldn't be a bad thing to ask for.

"In the meantime, I'll come over and help you deal with being sick.  I'm sorry, it's going to be miserable, but  there really isn't anything a doctor could even do.  We'll get you through it," she promised, and she meant it.  She'd come over and play nurse to make sure he got through it alright, especially since she felt responsible for the fact that he'd be feeling horrible.

She nodded her agreement with what he said about Melisande managing Drew, which made sense.  She'd have the most luck, that much had to be true, but she could imagine him being mad for a few days.  She would just have to leave that to Melisande.

Nick took down Wes' phone number quickly, gave his own, then headed out the door, promising to call him for dinner sometime the whole way.  "Don't worry, Skye is going to want to meet you, especially after I explain this whole mess to her, so we'll be in touch," he promised, and then couldn't help laughing at the image Wes painted of Skye.

She was a sweetheart, but she had her moments.  At the very least, his dinner would be gone if he waited too long, and especially if he missed the ice cream place.  "I'm sure I'll manage.  Catch you later, man.  Stay out of trouble."

[Joshua Silvera]

"I can imagine, having the flu and not being able to take any painkillers for it. You said it lasts for a week? Man. It'll be like that time I got sick overseas. Talk about lack of medical care, heh. Drew was lucky I didn't infect him and everyone else, but I was pretty good about staying hydrated and staying away from them as much as possible. Damn desert. I bet I caught the plague," he muttered. "Guess I don't have to worry about that now, though, huh?" he asked with a grin.

"You sure your boyfriend won't get mad at you making sure I'm not going to die? I know I'd be a might jealous if my pretty girlfriend was playing nurse Betty with a guy I'd never met before," he said, brow furrowed. "I don't want to get you into trouble."

Well. Not anymore than she already was.

Wes laughed at Nick's departing comments, and then went into the kitchen to see what Aimee and Josh were gabbing about. "How's the face?" he asked Josh, nodding to the bump on his head. "Looks like she got you pretty good," he added, smirking a little. "Just think, in a few days, you'll be able to hit that hard - or even harder. There are benefits, man, you just have to look for them."

He flipped a chair around and sat down in it, looking up at them as they hovered by the counter. "You know, my brother still doesn't know about me. I debated on telling him so many times, but I figured it'd just create more trouble than it was worth. His wife is a wolf, so I figure if the fecal matter ever hits the oscilating device, he'll have her to hold onto. Nick went over the male lion thing with me one more time. I need to make sure Melisande understands, or Aimee, if you can, it'd be nice. Nick advertises that his brother, whom I've never met, is also PD, and is inclined to rip our faces off if there are a bunch of us. So. No male lions," he said. He sighed a little.

"I'd almost say he'd make a nice dingo because of his colouring, but I don't want to rob him of his masculinity like that. Melisande would be twice his size. Maybe he can be a tiger, heh." He chuckled at the idea of Drew as a tiger. "A leopard works, too. But - lions and tigers and... Josh, why couldn't you have been a bear?"

Josh chuckled a little. "Because if I'd had a choice, I'd have picked human - or at least mutant with really bitchin' powers. Like flying. Yeah, or pyrokinesis. Something like that. Shape-shifting is okay, though," he added, glancing at Aimee. "

[Aimee Forsyth]

She nodded when he asked about it lasting about a week, which was pretty typical for these things as far as she knew, and moved from cleaning his face up to running her knuckles under water to make sure there wasn't anything potentially unpleasant, like paper towel fibers, that would heal into it.  Not that it'd matter, since her body would take care of things, but she liked to be safe.  Marring herself up just wasn't an option at the moment.  "Nope, you don't have to worry about getting sick at all after this week.  We haven't yet seen a virus that can really do anything to a shifter."

Ah, too bad the 'boyfriend' issue wasn't as simple as science was.  She could answer questions about being a shifter all day, but when he brought Nero into things, that was when it got complicated, and then he had to say things like 'pretty girlfriend' and 'beautiful' like he had earlier.  It wasn't really that it embarrassed her, because it didn't, but she was used to getting comments like that in a drastically different setting, from people who really didn't mean it (or at least, who didn't care about her enough to REALLY mean it).  From Josh, it sounded different, and that was the part that mattered, that made her blush ever so slightly, even if she ignored it and pressed on as though he hadn't said it every time. 

"I don't see why Nero would get jealous.  You'll be too sick to be trouble, I'm sure, and it kind of is my fault you're going to be feeling so bad," she explained, but she didn't sound totally certain.  She'd tell Nero, and see what he said, but she was going to take care of Josh.  She felt bad, so leaving him to suffer alone just seemed wrong.

When Wes came in and started talking about benefits, Aimee took the chance for a chance in subject, laughing just at the thought of hitting harder being a benefit.  "Somehow, I feel bad for Drew in the next two or so weeks.  Try to take it easy on him, you two?  I'll talk to Melisande, and hopefully explain to her that there's a really large lion that says we're not allowed to have any other male lions, and hopefully she'll worry enough about his physical condition to avoid that."

Wes had a point about Drew's soon to be animal form, since it wasn't exactly decided.  He couldn't be a lion, so Aimee pretty much assumed that he'd have to be leopard, but if they had a better idea..."Josh, don't worry about offending me, especially when you would have preferred being one of the X-Men.  My pride can handle it," she teased him, shaking her head as she dab-dried her knuckles.  The cut was healing up just fine, even if it was sore in the meantime.  "I thought Drew was going to end up a leopard, since lion's out of the question, but if he's really against it, or Melisande is, I suppose I could talk to Nero and see if he has anything around the lab he can use.  I know he got a tiger blood sample in at one point, and he has others.  We'll have to talk to them when they wake up."

[Joshua Silvera]

"Okay," Josh said. "When should I start feeling like hammered shit, anyways? I want to try and get home before that happens. I hate driving with a fever, it makes my road rage that much harder to control," he said with a small laugh. No. Seriously. If Josh wasn't a cop, he'd be a serial killer on four wheels. He hated how people in the city drove, and his car wasn't parked that far from the apartment. He'd just have to get Wesley to walk him to it, which made him feel like a little girl all over again. He scowled.

"Talk'a me about what?" came a voice from the opening where the kitchen led into the living room. Melisande stood, sleepy eyed, in a pair of flannel pajama pants and a light blue tanktop. Her hair was messy enough, and she yawned a little, rubbing at her eyes. "Drew needed me to get him some water," she said, moving through them to the cabinet with the cups. She pulled one down, and looked up at the lot of them.

"Well? Not everyone all at once, now," she said. She'd started to pick up Drew's speech patterns. It was disturbing.

Josh jumped off the counter. "That's my cue. Wes, can you walk me to my car?" he asked. "I'm not really feeling like having a repeat of earlier." He didn't want to verbally mention that he'd almost been hamburger meat, because Mel wouldn't appreciate not being woken up for that ordeal.

"...sure. I wish I had what you just asked recorded, though," he said with a grin, standing up. "Don't worry, I won't make too much fun of you for it. Aimee, Melisande. I'll be right back. I need to help Josh locate his car in one piece, now that we're all paranoid about being snatched."

He and Josh headed out the door after a few more words exchanged, leaving Melisande and Aimee in the kitchen alone.

"Dang. They sure left fast. Somethin' I said?" she asked. She plunked down in the chair Wesley had been sitting in - the right way, not backwards - turning it to face Aimee more.

[Aimee Forsyth]

"Probably not too long.  I'm sure Melisande's already feeling it or will be shortly," Aimee answered, though she honestly couldn't be sure.  She hadn't ever gone through it, though she knew how to take care of people when they were sick.  It was just the details, like timing, that she wasn't entirely sure on.  Maybe she would give Victor Batten a call, just to see what he had to say on the process.  She knew he'd seen brand new shifters, and those infected, in the past.

Speaking of Melisande, she popped up just in time to hear a little more than Aimee intended.  Even better, Josh and Wes decided to skip out and leave her to deal with it.  Great.  Just what she wanted, though it'd probably be easier that way, in all honesty.  Wes didn't exactly have great people-skills, or so she'd come to understand from this whole ordeal.

"No, it's actually something I need to say.  You missed a few things while you were sleeping, including Josh taking off and nearly getting eaten by a vampire.  The lion that infected Wes actually showed up, coincidentally, and saved Josh.  He seems to be the top lion in the area, and he's pretty dead set on no more male lions," she explained, watching Melisande.  "He and his brother both live in the area, and apparently, Josh, Wes and Drew work with his brother and didn't realize.  He's pretty sure that if any other male lions pop up around here, his brother is going to have a fit.  It might get violent, so I'm strongly suggesting, we all are, that you don't let Drew become a lion.  The last thing he needs after all this is to be thrown into a mess with a bigger, more experienced lion trying to kill him or chase him out of the city, and that's what I gathered this guy would do."

She was trying not to be too pushy, but she had to make sure that Melisande got the picture.  It would be BAD news.  "I could still make him a leopard, or Josh could, or Wes keeps talking about a tiger.  I could probably get Nero to get us tiger if you wanted.  I just think that lion would be a really bad idea, honey."

[Melisande Theroux]

She was silent for a few minutes, and then brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Glad I was sittin' down," she grumbled. "I wish Wesley hadn't have gone all psychotic and done that, then. I would rather me and Drew have been the same. I think it might have made things easier." She frowned. "You telling me is one thing - let me try to explain to Drew why he can't be a lion. Not that he's got his heart set on it, or anything for that matter at the moment, but I'm sure he's going to want to know what I am."

She sighed angrily. Wesley had put her between a rock and a hard place, and it pissed her off, but she was too tired to really express it. She just looked severely annoyed, which was enough. "I don't know what I want him to be," she said, her voice a little shrill. "You and Josh are already leopards. I figure if we're going to do this, we need to have a little variety at least. I'll just have to ask him. Who knows, he may not want to be a cat at all." She doubted that, though. Given the other choices, the cats were at the top.

"A tiger sounds interesting, but I wonder if we'll get along. What if whatever animal he chooses and the animal I am don't get along like we do?" she pressed, looking concerned. She obviously didn't know about Nick and Skye.