Puzzled {Mel, Aimee, Joshua, Drew}

[Aimee Forsyth]

She understood, really, she did, and that showed in the sad, pained look she gave Melisande.  She wished Wes wouldn't have jumped the gun and done that, either, but she also didn't think it was the end of the world.  Melisande and Drew could still make this work. 

"Honey, I know it sucks, but I'm sure it'll work out no matter what Drew chooses.  I'm partial to cats for obvious reasons, but I'd suggest staying away from snakes and birds, which basically leaves wolf or hyena.  I somehow doubt that it would really be a problem, but hyenas and lions do a lot of competing in nature, so that may not be a good idea.  Besides, I'm pretty sure they're matriarchal, which may or may not affect his personality.  I don't think you want that."

Personally, she'd have been pissed if her boyfriend was a hyena who took shit from other women and was totally whipped by the hyena matriarch.  She didn't think Melisande would be okay with that, either.  "I would probably suggest something feline, or wolf.  If you don't want him to be a leopard, I can talk to Nero and see what he could manage, or we could jump Drake and steal some of his blood," she offered with a little smile.  She'd help, however she could.  "That gives you the option of cheetah, though I think Drake might have a canary if he found out you infected someone.  'Not pure!' and all that jazz."

Drake was a freak, they all knew that.  At least he was a cute freak.

[Melisande Theroux]

"Yeah, no hyena," she agreed, frowning a little as she thought. "Cat is really all that appeals to me. I know he won't say wolf - Drew hates dogs with a burning passion. Can't say I blame him much, with the exception of Marius, I mean. Especially now. And anyways, I already feel like shit. What is this, time release? I felt fine before I went to bed," she complained. She felt like she had a slight fever, and her body was aching a little.

"We can wait and see. I don't think I like cheetah all that much; what if Drew's ego gets as big as Drake's does? I'd have to kick his face in myself," she commented. She loved Drake, but she knew his pride would be something Drew wouldn't wear well.

She yawned a little, resting her elbows at her knees and bending down to put her face in her hands. "Can't I take some Tylenol or something?" she asked Aimee. "If I'd have known this would happen, I'd never have gone to sleep. I'm going to have to turn the A/C down so I don't wake Drew up with all the warmth I'm putting off."

[Aimee Forsyth]

Aimee smiled as Melisande went down the list of potentials, including dissing on dogs and Drake's ego.  "I don't know if it works like that.  I'm pretty sure Drake's ego is the way it is because he was raised that way, not because it's a breed characteristic.  I really think that the biggest problem regarding his personality would end up being lion, simply because of the way they react to each other.  Any predator may make him a little more aggressive, and something smaller and less dangerous might have the opposite effect, but you already said that cat is really all that appeals to you."

Poor Melisande.  She already felt bad for the girl, which really meant that Josh wouldn't be all that far behind.  Why had he left?  The way things were looking, Aimee was going to end up taking care of both of them, so why hadn't she made Josh stay?  "You can take some, but I don't know how much good it can do.  It can't hurt, I guess," she admitted, moving to grab Melisande something that could hopefully make her feel a little better, and by the time she returned, she'd had time to consider the Drew predicament.

"I may have to kick Drew out for this, you know.  He's going to be worried about how sick you are, and we can't take you to a doctor," she pointed out.  He wasn't going to like that, but the alternative was telling him what was happening.  He wouldn't like that, either.

[Melisande Theroux]

"I don't know," she said, taking the bottle of Ibuprofin, which was the only thing she really had available in her kitchen that Aimee would find with virtually no trouble. "I kind of want him around, but I guess if he's going to get in the way, you can just tell him that I'm highly contagious. Heck, we can say Josh caught it, too. You could even 'fake sick' if we needed to be convincing," she said thoughtfully, before swallowing down two tablets. Inwardly, she knew they wouldn't help her.

"I don't know what to do about him," she sighed. "I guess we're just going to have to wait and see. What else can we do? I wonder what I'm going to be like after this. Do female lions have any striking traits I don't know about? I've never even seen one before." She looked at Aimee expectantly.

It was sort of funny that everyone was using Aimee as the shapeshifter encyclopedia at the moment. In other circumstances, she might have been pleased to share the knowledge, but in such a.... left fielded situation, Melisande felt that they all could have done with a little more normal circumstance.

[Aimee Forsyth]

"We'll see how he takes it all.  If he gets too obnoxious, I'll chase him off, but otherwise, we'll let him stay.  I have a feeling he's going to sleep for awhile longer, anyway.  Otherwise, we can wait as long as Wes will allow, but I think he's going to start getting pushy about it once Drew is well enough to leave the apartment, and it's not going to take him that long to recover.  He's not well, but sleep and food is going to fix that quickly.  It wasn't like he was badly injured," she pointed out.

The problem there?  Melisande and Josh were going to be sick for at least a week, and Drew was going to be better sooner than that.  What happened when Wes got pushy about Drew?  Melisande would end up having to make a decision through a fever, which wasn't smart.  Otherwise, Aimee wouldn't push for this discussion now, when she was starting to feel nasty. 

"I just don't want it to be an uncertain answer while you're feverish if Wes gets antsy about Drew returning to work," she continued, then hesitated to think about the question asked of her.  Female lions?  Really, she wasn't an expert on this, but she didn't know of any particular traits they had.  "Well, I don't think I display any traits specific to a leopard.  I think the only thing you're going to have to worry about will be not stepping on the toes of the male lions in the area.  Since Nick seems to be the top lion, he's the one you'll really need to get along with, but he appeared to be a reasonable, decent guy.  I don't think your personality is going to change all that much, though you might feel a little more aggressive.  I worry for Drew if he's not something big enough to hold his own," she teased.

[Melisande Theroux]

Melisande shrugged a little. "I hope he doesn't get too pushy. I'll just beat him up, now that evidently I might be able to." She wrinkled her nose a little. "He might be big, but I'm spry, heh. I'll just have to watch out he doesn't flatten me. I bet he's huge as a lion," she muttered. Even she was a little nervous about how things would be when they changed. "Who is Nick, again?" she asked. The fever might have been setting in, or it could just be that she was dog ass tired, too. "And, I don't know about aggressive. I guess I can see myself being more protective, but I'm not a very aggressive person at heart. I don't want to change," she said, more or less to herself. She didn't.

"Let me deal with Drew. Wes won't come in here without someone letting him in, or I'll make his life very hard," she threatened. "I imagine Josh could come over, but I bet he won't want to get out of bed. It's pretty much how I feel, now. Like I have strep and the flu at the same time, ugh," she moaned.

"You're lucky. You were born this way. I bet it's easy when it's second nature," she teased.

[Aimee Forsyth]

Melisande talking about beating Wes up was amusing, but Aimee worried a little about a case where Wes wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer.  She wasn't stupid, and she knew that if Wes wanted to do something, neither she nor Melisande would be able to do a whole lot about it.  She hadn't seen him in lion form, either, but she was pretty sure he'd be massive.  Short of having Nick around, she didn't think there was anyone in their little 'group' lately that could stop Wes if he had his mind set on something.  Hopefully, he wouldn't make a decision like that any time soon.

"Nick is Wes' friend, the lion who originally infected him.  We ran into him when Josh made his jailbreak earlier.  He's even bigger than Wes is, and like I said, he seems to be the lion in charge around here.  I'm sure he'll want to meet you when you're feeling better," she told Melisande, not really thrilled with the idea that the girl had forgotten already.  She had to be getting ill already.  Aimee just hoped Josh made it home alright, and where was Wes?  Had he gone with Josh?  She wouldn't have blamed him.  "Take it easy on Wes, Melisande.  I know you have every right to be mad at him, but he means well.  He just doesn't want any of you getting hurt, especially with what happened to Drew."

Was she really defending Wes?  After going all Spatula Ninja on him?  Yes, she was.  She understood his predicament, even if she disagreed with his solutions for it somewhat.  She couldn't really argue with the results. 

"Don't worry, it'll be second nature for the rest of you before long.  It's not nearly as difficult as you think," she assured her friend with a smile, wanting to reassure her.  Really, it wasn't bad.

[Melisande Theroux]

Unfortunately, Melisande was on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to Wesley. She knew she couldn't really kick his ass, but she'd bet she'd make him sorry for whatever he did. It was her natural ability as a female to make men feel guilt, regardless of their species, if they were of the sort that were capable of feeling it. She was betting Wes was, given how things had been happening thus far, and some of the stuff she'd heard him saying.

She glanced up as Aimee told her who Nick was for the second time, and frowned. "Wow. I remember you telling me that, now. Maybe I should go lay down," she muttered. She leaned back in her chair again before standing to try and shuffle to the cabinet for a cup so she could get some water. When she sat back down, she had a nice glass of ice water, and she felt a little better.

"I sure hope so. I bet Eden will be thrilled, though," she said coarsely. "I was the only human at All Hallows, and now I'm not. I feel a little unspecial, although now I'm the only lion, which is still kind of interesting. I wonder how Nikolas and Marius will react?" she ventured, smiling a little. She must not have been feeling terrible yet, to be able to joke.

Wesley finally came back to the apartment around that time, giving a soft knock on the door before he opened it. He poked his head in, making sure that Aimee wasn't crouched with another kitchen utensil to try and attack him with - noting that the women were both in the kitchen area, he came fully in, shutting the door behind him.

"Josh is safely on his way home. I caught Nick out on the street and talked to him about dinner. Mel, as soon as you're sorted, he wants to meet you. I'm sure his wife will, too," he said. He thought about pulling up a chair, but he opted to stand instead, situating his massive form next to Aimee.

"I miss anything?" he asked.

[Aimee Forsyth]

"You should probably go lay down soon," Aimee agreed, but she wasn't at the point of chasing Melisande off just yet.  She was still functioning and talking, so she might as well enjoy it while it lasted.  The next few days were going to be less than pleasant, to say the least.  "Do you want me to warn Marius and Nikki, or would you rather surprise them?"

Really, she was cool with either, though the idea of two vampires being that shocked was entertaining.  Of course, Melisande was a lion, and obviously not infected by anyone those two knew.  That was asking for trouble from them, so it'd take some fast explaining to keep them from looking for lions in the city.  They put a lot of work into keeping Melisande safe.

Fortunately for Wes, the Spatula Ninja was comfortable in the kitchen, and no longer quite as angry, though she'd had to bend Melisande's spatula back into its usual working order afterwards.  She was hoping the girl would never noticed.  "Well, that solves the Nick issue for you, Melisande.  I promise, he seemed to be a really nice guy," she assured her friend, not wanting her to stress over something as silly as that while she was starting to get sick. 

"I think we've established that I'm calling Nero to see what shifter blood samples he has in the lab for Drew, actually.  Melisande is partial to feline, and it's been brought to my attention that Drew dislikes canines," she explained, summing the conversation up pretty quickly.  "She wants to wait until she's better, am I correct, Melisande?"

That pretty much meant keeping Drew out of trouble in the meantime, which was why she brought it up.

[Melisande Theroux]

"You may as well warn them. I don't want them thinking something really bizarre happened - like, you know, what actually happened. Just tell them that I was infected by accident. I don't really feel like trying to do more damage control than I have to," she said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose a little. Headache was fail, and that medicine had done fuck all for it. She got up to go turn the air conditioner down a little, and then came back and sat down, looking pointedly at Wesley.

"I want to wait until later. Understand me?" she asked. Her eyes were wide and serious, though her voice was a little strained due to feeling like shit. Aimee might be proud of her, though - she was definitely not afraid of him. Not that she had a reason to be, but Wes was intimidating with his size alone - the fact that he was the one who'd tried to take control of the situation only made Melisande more wary of other male lions. Were they all so damn pushy? She hoped not.

"Okay, then. I wonder what other specimens he has?" he said aloud, though he was thinking to himself, really. "I've only seen the basic handful of breeds. Heh, maybe Drew will end up a bobcat and Melisande can roll him every time they get into it. Lions, even females, aren't precisely small. You may want to find something that still leaves a little of his manhood in tact," he pointed out with a small smile.

He looked at Melisande as she spoke, and narrowed his eyes a little. "I said I would leave it alone, and I am. Don't start getting into my shit about things I haven't done," he said. He wanted to snap at her, but he knew that most of this was primarily his fault, so he left it alone. Still, he was getting sick of being told the same thing over and over again.

He looked back to Aimee. "Are you going to really have the time to take care of both of these two? I guess I can understand keeping them company, although it'd be easier if we could get them into one spot. I don't think there's any lie we can tell Drew that would make that happen, though," he admitted with a small laugh. He glanced back to Melisande.

"Listen. I had the same thing happen to me. It'll be over before you know it. Hell, I just slept the entire time with a damn IV stuck in my arm. They thought I had some weird sandbox virus, so when I got better, they figured they were regular geniuses. How about that?"

[Aimee Forsyth]

Nodding, she made a mental note to fill Nikki, Drake and Marius in on the fact that Melisande wasn't really human anymore, so they wouldn't try to kill Wes for it, even if he deserved getting his ass kicked for jumping the gun like that.  She didn't want to see him hurt, not really.

Unless it included a spatula.  She was all for that.

"Well, I know he has a tiger sample that's from an actual tiger shifter.  He's found a way to scientifically engineer just about any kind of animal into a breed of shifter, but it's not quite the same as what we do.  For one, there's less 'magic' to it, so clothes and jewelry don't shift.  I really don't think you want to do that to Drew, but it makes anything Nero can get his hands on a possibility.  He recently saved a kid from losing his leg after a bad car accident by infecting him with one of his engineered breeds," she said proudly, before winking at Melisande and adding to the thought.  "Housecat.  He's absolutely adorable and super fuzzy."

Not that she EVER expected Melisande to do that to Drew, of all people, or for his friends to EVER go along with it.  She was just hoping that it'd draw a smile out of her friend before moving on to dealing with how to take care of both Melisande and Josh.  "I think it'd be easier to have them together so that I don't have to run all over the place, and I'll probably need help between school and work, but I'm sure Eden will understand if I have to get a few shifts covered this week," she offered. 

[Melisande Theroux]

Melisande smiled a little. "Tiger sounds nice. Too bad I couldn't be one, too. Then we'd match." She paused a little, and glanced at Wesley. "I'm not going to start acting all strange around you, am I? Because that would be really awkward," she guessed, slouching a little in her seat. She felt awful.

Wesley laughed. "I don't think so. I've never met a female lion before, but I think we're both old enough to be okay. It's not like we're hyenas or anything," he said, putting his arms behind his head as he reclined back in a chair he'd taken to.

He glanced at Aimee incredulously when she mentioned a housecat. "Really?" he asked. "Because, I don't know if Drew'd like being the smallest guy in the bunch, however hilarious it would be." He frowned as Aimee mentioned the scientific shifting types not being able to come back with their clothing. "Where does it go?" he asked, bewildered.

"I think he will, too. Besides, not like there aren't enough girls and guys there to cover it for you. Maybe he'll convince Nikki to dance," she said with a chuckle, though it hurt her brain to laugh. "I think I might turn in again, though." She stood and walked towards her bedroom, turning to them. "Feel free to camp out, if not, lock it on the way out. G'night," she sang.

[Aimee Forsyth]

Well, the unfortunate thing for Melisande was that she just wasn't going to be able to match Drew, no matter what they did to him.  Lion just wasn't a realistic possibility, and anything that even came close just wasn't going to match up.  A cougar looked almost similar, but Melisande would be much, much bigger than him, so that didn't really do him much good.  If Wes wanted something that could handle a lioness, a tiger was perhaps the only real option.  It was good for Drew that his friends actually cared about what he'd think of it, because otherwise, she could see Drew opening his mouth to Nero and getting a nice dose of 'housecat'.  Nero could be like that if he was irritated, especially if he didn't have instructions or plans that demanded that he do otherwise.

She actually stared at Wes for a moment when he asked his question, not really sure if he was serious at first.  Melisande was already talking by the time she realized that he wasn't kidding, so she smiled and said her goodnights (time of day being unimportant) before addressing that subject.

"They don't go anywhere.  As a housecat, that teenager just shifts right out of his clothes, then doesn't have them when he shifts back to his human form.  They don't stay with him like ours do," she explained.  She supposed it wasn't such a silly question, since most shifters seemed to take it for granted that their clothes went right along with them when they changed shapes.  She hadn't really thought about it until it happened, either.  "I actually feel bad for him, since having that kind of a problem as a teenager is pretty awkward.  I'm sure it'll make him more comfortable with nakedness, though."

That, or he'd get insanely paranoid about where he shifted, but she hoped he didn't take it in that direction.  That would just be sad for him.  Better that he feel confident in himself.  "So, you think tiger?  No matter what way you look at it, either he or Josh is going to be the smallest guy in the bunch, you know.  If you could think of another cat, Nero may be able to get it, but I don't have any brilliant ideas."

[Wesley Bishop]

Wesley couldn't help but laugh when Aimee said that the boy was either going to get comfortable with nudity or develop issues over it. If only he'd known the real story - about Dez, Dawn, Dirk, and Sebastian's mystery cat. He'd have laughed harder, and possibly liked to have met the brothers.

"Tiger would be nice. He'd be big enough to hold his own, but they're not as aggressive as lions are. Drew is an amicable guy, but he's very capable. I wouldn't want to see him crippled because he got turned into a labrat instead of a big cat. Besides, I really think it would be good for his ego," he said, dropping his voice. "Not that he has much to worry about, but look at it this way - finding out that all your friends are now bad-assed werecat things and you're either human or the size of a raccoon - and, if we end up having to use Nero for real - your friends have clothing and you don't..." he trailed off.

"Besides. Josh needs someone to wrestle with, and I'm just too big to play nice," he said with a toothy grin. He decided finally that he rather liked Aimee, and he wanted to keep her around. Not that it was a hard decision, but the fact that they'd gone through every emotion that evening and she'd managed to maintain both her composure and her temper... It spoke volumes.

"Melisande is very lucky to have had you around to watch out for her. I'm really sorry about what happened, Aimee. I acted on impulse, but it seems like it'll work out. Maybe with a female lion in the mix, we'll flush some more out of the woodwork. This city has three male lions in it, and I'm just thankful that I look to Nick as a sort of 'father' figure, or we'd have even bigger problems than crazy vampires."

[Aimee Forsyth]

If Aimee would have thought that Wes would have been interested for more than just a laugh, she'd have told him what she knew about Dez.  She actually thought it was very interesting, but she saw no reason why he would.  Who knew, in this city, Wes might accidentally run into Dez on his own.  She'd have paid to see that.

Wes made some very good points regarding Drew, and she could understand why the guy would have taken those things as blows to his ego, so tiger made sense.  Of course, a grown male tiger could be as big or bigger than a lion, even if the lion's mane made him look enormous.  Drew might still be too big to 'play nice' in wrestling with Josh, but she had a feeling it was his personality that would help in that department.  Given Josh's reaction to Drew's situation, she was willing to bet that those two were pretty close.  So, tiger it was, from the sound of things.  "Sure you're not just afraid one of them could beat you up once they're cats, too?" she teased, finding that image to be pretty amusing.  Josh might not be able to, just because of size issues, but Drew might as a tiger.

"Anyway, I'll call Nero in a little while to ask him about that tiger sample he has.  It's from our kind of shifter, so he'll be pretty normal, by our standards," she explained, and her thoughts turned more to the HOWs of the situation.  How they were going to break this situation to Drew, how they were going to infect him.  Were they going to have to do it the same as with Josh?

God, she hoped not.  That had been far too difficult.

Actually, asking JOSH to deal with it might be a good idea, though.  If anyone could do it, his best friend should be able to, though she could see Melisande being rather good at that.  Even so, he'd only been seeing Melisande fairly recently, and he'd been friends with Josh for years, through bad situations.  She'd be pitching the idea.

Wait, what was Wes talking about?  That was a sudden switch!  "Oh, don't worry about it all.  At least, where I'm concerned.  Melisande might be peeved for awhile, but I think she'll get over it since there isn't anything we can do about it now.  Personally, all of you lions seem to be nothing but trouble, but I suppose you'll all grow on me.  Just, warn me if you ever decide that Nick isn't working out as a 'father figure' anymore, so I can get anything I care about out of the way," she declared, still teasing, for the most part.  From the way those two behaved, she didn't think that was likely to happen, which was why her tone was so light.  She meant it if it ever came down to it, though.