The Magical Journey Home from School

[Feral]

Apollos had a special assignment today. Anna was busy and needed him for it. He felt proud to be needed for something, and the house work was getting to be a drag on him.

The more time he spent at Redencion House, the more he realized it was more important for him to be there for the residents than to do things for them. Ronnie appreciated the time spent playing a game more than the new toilet and the bathroom door that actually locks.

And so it was with nearly everyone. So he was taking an extended break from fixing up the house.

It was for that reason that Feral was taking care of one of those "Being there for" tasks today. He had to pick up Jamie from school.

Feral walked: he feared none of the gang members of Los Santos. His natural bearing made him a person no one really wanted to mess with. He was not worried for him or for his small charge.

Apollos stood on the sidewalk outside of Jamie's school and checked his watch. The bell would ring soon and any second that sweet little girl would come rushing out. He just hoped she wouldn't be too disappointed to find him rather than Anna waiting.

[Jamie Morrigan]

The whine of the electronic bell was just audible through the school's walls. It wasn't half a minute before the front doors burst open to disgorge a flood of children rushing down the sidewalk to the waiting school buses. Others emerged at a more leisurely pace; some of the buses hadn't arrived yet, and some of the children had to wait for parents or older siblings to pick them up. They milled around in animated clumps, talking, playing, joking, teasing.

Five minutes passed, and Jamie was nowhere in sight.

[Feral]

Feral looked out over the tops of all the little children to see if the one he was after was among them. Plenty of redheaded little girls littered the front of the school, but none of them seemed to be his redheaded little girl.

Resisting the urge to get annoyed and go hunting her himself, he stood in one place to see if she would eventually find him. He didn't want to be accused of not being where he said he would when Jamie tried to find him.

Still, he worried. So at last when he could no longer withstand the wait, he found a teacher who was supervising children on their way to their buses and asked, "Have you seen a little red headed girl? Her name is Jamie and she has a uh, over-active imagination that sometimes gets her into trouble?"

The woman kept her eyes on the kids, but acknowledged the man's question. "She's the mutant girl that attends here?"

Feral nodded. "That's right. I'm her guardian and I just want to make sure she's not in trouble at all."

[Jamie Morrigan]

A look of recognition dawned on the woman. "Oh! I'm sorry, Quita had told me to look for Miss Fernandez. Go on into the office and ask for Quita Suarez, she'll be able to help you."

[Feral]

Feral nodded and entered the building. Luckily the school's office was right by the door. He entered and looked about before addressing the woman at the desk.

"Excuse me, but I'm Apollos Apatmos. I'm here to pick up Jamie in the place of Anna Fernandez. I was instructed to ask for Miss Quita Suarez?"

The woman directed Feral to Suarez's office. He walked down the hallway with apprehension and mistrust. If anything happened to Jamie, it would not turn out well for whoever did her wrong. He resisted the urge to unsheathe a spike and knocked on the designated office door. Apparently Miss Suarez was the guidance counselor.

The door opened to him and the woman in question looked at Feral's intense features and perfect posture with some surprise. "We were expecting--"

"Miss Fernandez, I know. Unfortunately she is busy and has sent me for Jamie. My name is Apollos Apatmos and anything you have to say about Jamie can be addressed to me directly. What's the deal?"

Feral was having a hard time staying civil. He was well aware of the discrimination several organizations placed on mutants, and he was not about to fall victim to whatever prejudice this woman had. Jamie ought not have to deal with it.

"Why is Jamie here?"

[Jamie Morrigan]

Quita Suarez was a petite woman with a round, worried-looking face, and she quailed momentarily under Feral's impatient glare, but she stayed in the doorway almost protectively.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe you're on record as Jamie's guardian, and we can't release her without--"

"Is that Apollos?"

Jamie's voice was unmistakable. Miss Suarez leaned back from the door to look, which gave Feral enough room to lean in. Jamie was seated at the other end of the small room. She held a towel-wrapped ice pack in her hand, and her face was reddened from the cold. There was a darkening bruise on her right cheekbone.

Another woman sat with Jamie, a very pretty, impeccably dressed young woman with a smile that was almost too bright, especially considering the state Jamie was in. She quickly thrust herself in front of Apollos, all but barring the way, and extended a hand.

"Hello, I'm Sandra Baumgarten - Mr. Apatmos, was it? I'm sorry, we didn't know you were coming. I'm afraid there was an altercation earlier today."

[Feral]

Feral raised an eyebrow at Jamie's face and turned to the two women who seemed to insist on keeping him from her.

"I didn't know I was coming myself until an hour ago. Now I find Jamie has been hurt."

Feral fought back the urge to make himself even more intimidating. It was simple really. He didn't have to show any blades or spikes, only to sharpen up the bones in his face to give himself the look he was named for.

"I want full details. What happened, when, and where. I also want to know what you will do about seeing to it that she is not hurt like this again."

Feral entered the room, using his sheer presence to back Suarez into the seat behind her. Miss Baumgarten was likewise placed under his severe, penetrating glance. His expression softened only when his eyes rested on Jamie.

"Are you ok, little one? Nothing broken?"

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie was certainly more subdued than normal. Her legs kicked gently forward and back under her chair. "I'm okay," she said, and she lifted the ice pack again to cover her bruise.

"We're trying to find out exactly what happened, too, Mr. Apatmos," Mrs. Baumgarten said, giving Apollos what room the small office would allow. "There were other children injured as well. But Jamie seems to think it was by accident?"

Jamie caught the question mark at the end of the sentence and shrugged. "They pushed me around and then they ran away. I guess they were clumsy."

You couldn't miss the note of defiance in her voice.

[Feral]

It was with great effort that Feral didn't smile his biggest and laugh his loudest. Jamie probably gave the kids a scare and they tripped over themselves to get away from her. Such was the majesty and power of the mutant race.

"They did, did they?" Apollos asked. He squatted next to Jamie's chair. His face softened still more and the smile he finally gave was more low-key. He took the little girl by her free hand and gave it a light squeeze; an unspoken signal that things were going to be all right and he wasn't going to let these women push her around.

He would help her through it. He would keep her safe.

"So, Miss Baumgarten, let's be clear," he said. His face was now stone and his voice took a strictly business tone. "These children that pushed Jamie around are not in your office. Is it because of the lack of space, or have they already been handled for bullying Jamie? Or," his voice hinted at accusation, "are they not going to be punished for their rude behavior?"

[Jamie Morrigan]

Mrs. Baumgarten's smile tightened. The effect was not altogether pleasant.

"Two of them are in the nurse's office," she replied evenly. "The other two are on their way to the emergency room. I assure you, Mr. Apatmos, we have zero tolerance for any kind of bullying."

"Sandra." Miss Suarez gave the counselor a cautionary look.

"Of course, I'm not saying Jamie's in any sort of trouble," Mrs. Baumgarten added, her smile returning. "We want to find out what happened before we make any decisions. Of course we take this sort of thing very seriously."

[Feral]

Feral shifted in place to better look at Miss Baumgarten. He kept back. When he leaned forward it placed him in a mindset to pounce on a person. He also kept his back straight.

"Indeed."

Feral looked over at Jamie, then back at the guidance counselor. "What happened is plain and simple: the bullies tried to attack Jamie and the poor girl defended herself because the teachers and administrators at this school were either unable or unwilling to stop it. Now if you are finished, I would like to take Jamie home and take better care of her injury."

Of course, Feral was going to take Jamie home no matter what they said. He stood to his full height. "Jamie, where are your things?"

[Jamie Morrigan]

"We'll have to place a call with Anna just to be sure," Quita said.

"It's okay, I know him," Jamie broke in.

Quita smiled warmly. "Of course, dear. We just can't take any chances. Why don't you go gather your school things while I make the call?"

Moments later, Jamie was gathering her books and school supplies from her locker and piling them indiscriminately in her backpack. Once she was done, she gave the locker door a shove, but it bounced back open, wobbling. It bounced on the second try, too. Suddenly, she balled up a fist and slammed the door shut with a crash.

She stared at it as if wondering why she'd just done that. Then she shouldered her backpack and meekly said, "I'm ready."

[Feral]

Feral watched Jamie deal with her things and then slam her locker shut. He knelt down in front of her and brushed her hair back out of her face.

"It's been a rough day. But before we go back and check with those ladies about whether or not I actually can take you home, I want you to know how proud of you I am for being brave and facing those mean kids who tried to hurt you. I'm glad you fought for yourself."

Feral scratched at his beard. "I'm afraid you are learning all too quickly that you are sometimes going to be the only person who can fight for you. But just so you know, as long as you're with me, I'll make sure things are ok."

He felt awkward having this heart to heart with Redencion House's youngest resident, but at the same time it felt good to support her.

"Don't regret a thing you did today. Not in front of those two teachers. Not in front of anyone. It's not wrong to fight for the things that are important and good. Ok?"

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie's eyes moved from the floor to Feral's, back and forth several times. Finally she landed on Feral's eyes and nodded, but she didn't say a word.

Quita came hustling up the hall toward them. "I just got off the phone with Anna," she said. "She's stuck in traffic, but she's on her way home now."

Jamie looked alarmed. "She doesn't have to come back for a silly thing like this!"

"You're not in trouble Jamie," her teacher reassured her. "She just wants to see you. And, Mr. Apatmos, she wanted me to tell you to take care of her, and to call her if anything else comes up. She's still downtown, so it may be a while before she gets back. And..." Her face softened, and she looked as though she wanted to sweep Jamie up in her arms and hug her. "I really am sorry, dear."

Jamie looked down to the floor, then back up to Apollos. "I'm ready when you are," she said.

[Feral]

Feral smiled a bit easier than before. The school issue had been dealt with. They could go home.

"Come on," Apollos said. "Let's get out of here. If you want, we can just walk together, but if you'd rather," he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered to her, "You can ride on my back and make me look like a velociraptor."

He stood and held out a hand to her. "What do you say there?"

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie wrinkled her nose as she tried to decide whether he was being serious. Then she smiled slightly.

"Okay," she said, "but let's wait until we're outside."

She waved at Miss Suarez and led Feral back out through the lobby and the front doors. "You know, Velociraptors weren't as big as they were in the movies," she said brightly. "They were more like my height. You'd be more like a Deinonychus."

[Feral]

Apollos nodded. "Ok."

He got down lower and hoisted Jamie onto his back. "Ok, let's be a Deino-thingy and trek through the prehistoric rainforest on the way back to the cave."

Feral rocked forward onto his toes and took off at a run. She was lighter than most of the things he ever had to carry while running, even with her books. It let him move at a nearly unencumbered pace, which was pretty fast. At a relaxed jog Feral could make a 10 minute mile. Maybe he'd get creative with the route home.

[Jamie Morrigan]

She squeaked in surprise when he took off, but she wasn't scared. This was fun! And the bouncing gait seemed just right for a giant, bird-footed dinosaur...

Feral's toes splayed out on the concrete sidewalk like a roadrunner's, only on a much bigger scale, and roadrunners didn't have an upturned toe with a huge, wicked-looking sickle claw on each foot. His forward-leaning head became narrower and longer and covered in scales, and she gave him a brilliant crest of red and orange feathers, and feathers on his arms and on his long, swaying tail.

Oh, if those bullies could see her now!

Cars slowed down on the road and drivers craned their necks to see if that really was a brightly colored, feathery dinosaur running down the sidewalk with a little girl on its back. As they hurtled along, a patch of jungle seemed to travel along with them - ferns sprouted at Feral's feet, and carpets of moss crept up the trees and fencerows, only to fade again behind them as they passed.

[Feral]

Feral laughed, which he was sure would be translated into a reptilian screech by his tiny passenger. "Having fun, Jamie? Want me to go faster?"

Up ahead was the corner they turned to get home. It was a quick right. Apollos leaned into it and skidded a bit as he changed his course. Then he took off again. When he could he jumped up onto low walls and ran along them for a moment or two before jumping down again. Anything to give Jamie a little extra excitement and further pull out the sting of her last moments at school.

"Let me know if you feel nervous or scared."

He knew she wouldn't. She was such a brave girl. It seemed that almost nothing could intimidate her. And yet the situation at school had. He wondered what i was about.

It would keep for now he was a dinosaur, not a concerned parental surrogate. Feral jumped over a knocked down garbage can and continued his jog.

[Jamie Morrigan]

Jamie improvised as they went along. The stone walls became rocky ridges, and the trash can became a hollow log. A woman on the sidewalk seized her Pomeranian in her arms and jumped back against a wrought-iron fence in fright, then nearly dropped the dog when it turned into a stubby-legged, short-furred lizardy thing.

In a surprisingly short time, they were on Banyon Street with Redención House looming ahead. Jamie ruffled Feral's head feathers affectionately.

"Good boy! We're almost home!"