Rank: Lesser panda shifter/candidate
Gender: Male
Age: Looks 17
Family: Twin brother, Rilytu
Height: 4'11-Short
Build: Average
Skin: Red tan
Hair: Dark red, to ears, straight
Eyes: Brown
Other form: Jaremas and Rilytu both turn into lesser pandas; small creatures (About the size of a housecat) with russet fur that look more like reddish colored raccoons than their larger black and white cousins. Jaremas is larger than his twin, and his marking are also slightly thicker than Rilytu's.
Rank: Lesser panda shifter/candidate
Gender: Male
Age: Looks 17
Family: Twin brother, Jaremas
Height: 4'8-Very Short
Build: Average
Skin: Red tan
Hair: Dark red, to nape of neck, straight
Eyes: Brown
Other form: Rilytu and Jaremas both turn into lesser pandas; small creatures (About the size of a housecat) with russet fur that look more like reddish colored raccoons than their larger black and white cousins. Rilytu is slightly smaller than his brother, and his black and white markings tend to be thinner.
"Mommy, lookit the red raccoons!"
At least until visiting hours. Rilytu woke grumpily as a white rolled up paper hit him on the nose. The little kids were throwing discarded candy wrappers into the habitat again.
He yawned, opening his mouth wide to reveal broad, pointed teeth. Apparently, he looked rather cute, because it drew several cooing "Awe's" from the audience. He sat up on his branch, where he had been sleeping, and wondered why they always insisted on waking him once he'd gone to sleep for the day.
Rilytu was a lesser panda. Rather from being large, black and white-patterned and overall bear-like in appearance, like the better-known giant pandas, he was in fact about the size of a housecat, brownish red with a black belly and legs, and white markings around his face. His long, bushy tail alternated rings of dark red-brown and tan. He looked more like a raccoon than a panda, really.
"A red raccoon? How strange!" One of the zoo visitors below exclaimed. Rilytu growled in exasperation. I'm not a raccoon, you idiots! Read the signs, L-E-S-S-E-R P-A-N-D-A!
There were, of course, informative signs all around the pandas' habitat, listing basic information about the species. The visitors apparently hadn't bothered to read them.
As it became obvious that the human tourists couldn't understand, or indeed even hear him, he gave up.
He jumped onto an adjacent branch, and soon came upon another, slightly larger panda. His black-furred belly was rising and falling slowly as he breathed, and it was obvious he was still asleep. Jaremas. Psst, hey, wake up. Rilytu poked his twin brother with one paw in an attempt to wake him up. Jaremas continued sleeping and rolled over.
Keep in mind, of course, that he was on a fairly thin, round tree branch at the time. Got a mental image? Right, then you probably know what happened next. Jaremas yelped as he plummeted onto the dirt ground below. It was only a short fall, nothing serious, but still rather painful. The amused tourists let out several short guffaws of laughter as they spotted the second panda.
Rilytu blinked dark chocolate brown eyes, and scurried down the tree trunk to meet his brother. Hey, Jaremas, are you awake? He asked plaintively.
Of course I'm awake now! What'd you do that for!? Jaremas hissed irritably at his brother as he climbed to his feet and shook his entire body.
I'm bored. And the humans are throwing stuff into the cage again. Rilytu stated.
So? Move to another branch out of their reach. Jaremas answered.
It's a field trip. Little League baseball team. Rilytu pointed out.
Jaremas winced. Ouch. The lesser panda turned to the staring spectators. Oy! You lot over there, the humans. Quit flippin' throwing stuff, would ya!? It's bloody annoyin', and rude to boot, and...you obviously don't understand our highly advanced form of communication.
But for the first time the panda twins had ever seen, someone actually did heed their words, to their great surprise. A young, dark haired man standing off to one side cocked his head for a moment before glancing at the herd of children.
"Hey! You probably shouldn't be throwing stuff in there, I don't think the...raccoons, would like it very much." He told them.
Jaremas growled in irritation, but the children didn't seem to heed either of the warnings, and continued unabated. Jaremas hissed in agitation and turned back to his brother. Right then, time for plan B.
Right! Uh...What's plan B? Rilytu asked.
Jaremas scurried over to the door to their habitat that the zookeepers used, skillfully hidden from the visitor's view by particularly tall ferns and bamboo. "Aww, the raccoons went away!" They dimly heard some of the kids say as they moved on.
Rilytu groaned as much as he was able. Aww, not that, Jare'. I hate that.
His larger brother ignored his protests, and beckoned him over with one paw. Come on, Rily', I need to stand on your shoulders to open the door. Jaremas insisted.
Rilytu groaned and moved over to the metal door, bracing himself as Jaremas climped onto his back to reach the handle and turn it. Oof! Perhaps you should lay back on the bamboo, Jare'. You're heavier than me, anyway, why don't you stand here and I'll open the door?
Jaremas snorted in reply. No, now shut up, I've almost got it. With a click, the door swung open, and Jaremas fell forward onto the floor beyond, dragging Rilytu down with him.
Rilytu sat up and shook himself like a dog. Next time, I open the door. He glared at his brother.
The two pandas pawed their way into the wide aisles beyond, used only by the employees of the zoo. Fortunately, there were no workers near them, and they were easily able to sneak past the few humans they did see, who were for the most part oblivious anyway.
Rilytu dashed ahead of his brother, but stopped short at the end of the aisle. There was a single glass door, then beyond that, the zoo proper, which was swarming with visitors. Rilytu estimated that it was probably close to noon by now.
The red panda turned his head to look at his brother. We can't go out there, there's too many people. We'll be spotted!
Jaremas almost seemed to grin. Well, there's one way we definitely won't be noticed...
Rilytu shook his head furiously, backing away from his twin quickly. Oh, no. NO! I am NOT doing...That, again.
Jaremas stared at his brother, dark eyes bright and pitiful as he whimpered.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no-Rilytu broke off his tirade as his ears perked. Jare', someone's coming!
Right then, where's the place that they keep all the unclaimed lost and found stuff at? Jaremas glanced around before dashing off. Rilytu groaned, but didn't argue any more and just raced after his brother.
C'rin stopped where he stood in a narrow, whitewashed hallway. He frowned, he could have sworn he'd heard something back here, and it had been hard to get away from the crowds of native Terrans long enough to search for the 'supposedly candidates-to-be' that Rigelth had heard.
The blue dragon, not having had the luxury of the strange human-turning portal that the residents of Cy had found, was currently hidden away a short distance from the zoo, out of sight so as not to cause any trouble.
Even so, he'd plainly heard a mental shout near the cage holding two creatures, known on Terra as 'lesser pandas'. He'd sent his rider C'rin to go find out what it had been.
Rigelth, are you sure they're back here? It's going to cause a lot of trouble if I'm caught back here with no good explanation. C'rin questioned his dragon mentally. Are you sure you heard someone?
Yes. The blue dragon answered tersely. They told the children to quit throwing stuff at the pandas. You must be near them now.
The searchrider rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Rigelth." He muttered under his breath. Completely unaware, he bumped into someone just exiting a room to his right. He looked up, startled. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He apoligized hastily.
The person he'd bumped into shrugged. "'s okay. No harm done." The boy was young, probably no more than seventeen, and he looked strangely relieved. His red hair was straight, reaching just to the nape of his neck, and his dark complexion was reddish tan. His nearly-identical brother exited the room just behind him, looking up at C'rin with dark, chocolate brown eyes. They were both dressed in typical Terran garb, like that worn by most of the visitors to the zoo. In other words, they looked like tourists.
The boy's taller brother (Though that wasn't really saying much; they were both rather short, even for Terrans) pulled him away silently. The first boy yelped as he was pulled away by the hood of his sweatshirt.
C'rin stared after their disappearing shapes, perturbed. Blinking bemusedly, he hurried on, trying to find the source of the mental yells.
Rilytu rubbed at the back of his neck with one paw...hand. He looked up, glaring at his brother as he shifted the hooded neck of the sweatshirt. "What did you do that for?"
Jaremas rolled his eyes. "Well, you didn't want him to figure out that we're not supposed to be here, did you? We'd get kicked out, and then where would we be?"
Rilytu grumbled under his breath. "Well, it didn't exactly look like he belonged here either. Why do we have to shift into human form, anyway? I hate being a human!"
"Oh, quit whining, Rily'. Would you rather be stuck in the cage, being bored out of your skull while little brats threw stuff at you?" Jaremas answered patiently.
Rilytu aquienced, reluctantly, as they entered the main part of the zoo.
"So!" Rilytu said brightly as soon as they had purchased outrageously overpriced drinks and maps. "What do we do now?"
Jaremas sipped the straw of his drink and shrugged. "Dunno, but remember, we have to be back in the cage before the zoo closes."
Rilytu scowled. "Do we hafta? Why?"
Jaremas' chocolate brown eyes fixed on his brother's. "Remember the lions, Rily'?" He shuddered. "I remember the lions..."
Rilytu waved him off with one paw...hand. "Alright, alright, so that wasn't one of our better ideas, but still-"
He stopped suddenly, and just stared, jaw gaping. Jaremas stared at his brother for a moment, perturbed, then turned to see what Rilytu was looking at. He quickly adopted a posture quite similiar to his brother's.
The large, blue creature in front of them blinked back at them with rainbow eyes, staring curiously. Its paws were tipped by sharp, curved ivory claws, its long tail by a spaded blade. Overall, it was reptilian in appearance, looking rather like a pale blue komodo dragon, except with a pair of large, leathery wings folded to its back.
"So, uh..." Rilytu murmured to his twin, careful not to make any sudden movements. "D'ya suppose that's one of the humans' pets that they're not allowed to bring into the zoo?"
Jaremas turned his head, ever so slowly, to stare at his brother. "Are you suggesting that that is a dog?"
In reply, the creature snorted. Most certainly not.
They both jumped at the sudden alien voice in their minds. The creature continued, heedless. I am not a 'dog', I am a dragon.
"Right, dragon, whatever you say, Mr. Dragon." Jaremas said placatingly.
The 'dragon' sniffed indignantly, studying them carefully. Behind them, the dark-haired man from before burst past the trees that were concealing the large creature. "Rigelth!" He snapped at the 'dragon', "You were supposed to stay hidden, so stuff like...this, wouldn't happen!"
The 'dragon' sniffed contemptously, fixing his whirling eyes on the human. Oh, it doesn't matter anyway, C'rin. You two were the ones shouting earlier, weren't you? By the habitat for the...raccoons?
Rilytu bristled. "Lesser pandas..."
"Well, we had to do something." Jaremas shrugged. "I mean, how were we supposed to sleep with those little brats thowing stuff at us all the time? Not to mention it's just plain rude."
The man did a doubletake. "Wait, you're-but-you're human!"
"Don't remind me." Rilytu grumbled.
"Huh? Oh that." Jaremas said boredly. "It's just a trick we picked up a while ago, not entirely sure how we do it, but anyway..."
The human sighed. "You still want to search them, Rigelth?"
Rilytu blinked, confused. "Huh? What d'you mean by 'search'?"
The human, C'rin as they found out he was called, launched into a hasty explaination of dragons and bonding. "You'll understand better if you come with me." He offered as he finished.
The panda-shifter brothers glanced at each other inquiringly, and shrugged. "Alright then." Jaremas agreed. "Sure beats going back into the cage."
"...Right." C'rin said. "Rigelth, what do you think, Terramania?"
The twins blinked in confusion as the dragon nodded sharply. "What-" Rilytu started.
"Never mind." C'rin said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "You'll be going to the Terramania clutch, apparently it's located right here in Calienta, too."
Jaremas rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He muttered as they followed the rider.
