After a while Mitzi had finished the twin's jewelry for their gems. Annette stared at her necklace in awe and Scott marveled at the craftsmanship Mitzi used to make his chain bracelet.
"You like them?" She asked. Annette looked up at Mitzi,
"Oh my gosh YES!! These are amazing!" She wondered, and Scott agreed. Mitzi blushed a bit,
"It's what I do. Now Elder Paw is going to give you the rest of today and tonight to think about what animal you want to be. So think hard because…." Scott cut her off,
"We won't be able to change it, we know. Thanks Mitzi!" Annette ran out of the cave to explore the camp a bit more leaving Scott with Mitzi. When Scott realized this his face turned a bit red,
"So do you have any questions?" Mitzi asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. Scott scratched the back of his neck,
"Um...well how does transforming work?" He questioned looking at his jewel before slipping it onto his wrist. Mitzi fiddled with some things on her worktable and answered,
"Well first you won't be able to use it now because Elder Paw hasn't granted that magic to the jewel yet. He'll do that at the ceremony tomorrow. But when you want to transform you have to think of your animal and feel yourself as the animal, if that makes sense. Here let me show you!" She turned around to face Scott and closed her eyes. She backflipped through the air and landed on four paws. She'd become a small Fennec Fox! She padded over to Scott, sat down at his feet and looked up at him. He crouched down,
"See? Isn't that cool?!" Mitzi squeaked. This surprised Scott and he fell to his butt. Mitzi giggled,
"Sorry, I should've mentioned we can still talk like this." She laughed. Scott smiled,
"No I should've assumed so. Fennec Fox though explains your big ears and fluffy tail." Mitzi stepped back and transformed back into her human form sitting criss cross right in front of Scott. Scott scooted back a bit but Mitzi continued to talk.
It is challenging to transform at first. Even though I have trouble transforming, but the key is practice and patience. Okay?" She smiled and tilted her head, making one of her ears flop down. Scott's face reddened, Why does she look so cute? He shook his head to clear the thought and Mitzi looked at him confused,
"I got it. It's just a lot of information to take in." He laughed nervously. Mitzi stood up,
"Well I think you're going to do great! Now I won't keep you if you want to explore camp a bit more like Annette. Go have fun!" She waved him off with a smile and Scott walked out of the cave. The sun was still high in the sky as Scott wandered the camp no longer getting strange looks from the other tribe members. Instead they welcomed him with waves and hellos. He just smiled back. Camp was in a clearing full of grass and Scott found the sleeping quarters for everyone else. Just off the clearing there was a small pond and den that looked like it was dug by the tribe itself. Just then Scott realized that Spot had taken his and Annette's backpacks! He was about to call for Spot when Annette came running up,
"Scott! Guess what?! I figured out why everyone's jewel is a different color!" Her brown eyes were energetic. Alpha jogged over next to Annette,
"Actually I told you remember?" Alpha laughed, her amber eyes sparkling. Annette ignored her and continued,
"The different colors are based on the rank or class you're in! Gold is Elders, Healers, and Jewelers. High Class is colored silver, Middle Class is colored coppery bronze, and Lower Class is colored black-ish gray." Scott understood and looked at Alpha's jewel more closely. Her jewel sparkled bronze which meant she was in Middle Class. So that's why they always showed their jewels off when introducing themselves! So the other person could tell which rank they were in.
"That's cool Annette! But have you given any thought to what you want your animal half to be?��� He asked his twin. Annette seemed to mentally slap herself,
"Oh right! That's tomorrow isn't it?" Alpha giggled, she seemed to have opened up a bit since they met.
"I'll let you be so you can decide. Don't tell me I want to be surprised!" And with that she ran off, probably to find Denice. Annette waved to Alpha before turning around to face Scott again.
"Have you decided what you want to be?" She asked, turning the conversation onto him. He put his finger to his chin and thought,
"I don't know...you?" Annette shook her head.
"Well how about we sit here by this pond all day until we think of what our animal half will be?!" She said and sat down by the edge of the pond. Scott laughed and sat by her staring at the water to think.
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Scott was thinking hard when water splashed his face. He jumped up, surprised, and spit out a mouthful of water. He looked at who splashed him and saw a Chocolate Lab 'smiling' with his tongue hanging out.
"Gotcha!" The dog laughed. Scott stared at him,
"Denice?" Denice nodded,
"Did I scare you?" Scott sighed,
"Yes! Why did you do that?" Denice crawled out of the water and shook his fur, making water rain down on Scott.
"Hey!" Scott laughed. Denice morphed back into his human form and pointed at the sky.
"It's getting late, we should get to bed. Come on I'll show you your spot!" Denice said a bit quieter and motioning Scott to follow. He followed Denice into the den. Denice turning into his animal form but Scott had to crawl on his hands and knees to get in. Denice turned around,
"It'll be easier tomorrow when you can transform. Your bed's over there by your backpack. Annette should be over there." He whispered and crawled into his own bed. The 'beds' were bundles of moss and ferns, unlike Mitzi's bed she had in her cave. Annette waved at Scott from across the den, he crawled over to her and sat on his bundle of moss.
"Cozy right?" Annette joked, laying on her backpack like a pillow.
"It'll be cozier when we have our animal forms." He looked at his jewel, it was white which he guessed meant he had no rank. Annette's jewel around her neck was also white. Scott brought his backpack under his head to form a pillow and after half an hour finally fell asleep.