The Animalia

Chapter 4

I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure as Hell was not an underground room with a ticket booth and a ferret. Nor was I expecting the entrance to turn me into a wolf immediately. And when I looked at Jay, I was even more confused, because I thought he might have been joking before, but now I knew that he was actually a mockingbird named Jay. Odd.

Jay transformed, but I decided to stay in wolf form for the tour. It was more comfortable, and nothing intimidates people like a six-foot-long timber wolf. Even Jay looked uneasy, and he knows I don't bite, at this point. I would tell him I don't eat birds, just beef and venison, but I can't talk in wolf form. Not in any human tongue, anyway.

We walk through the doorway, and people stop and stare at the large wolf that has just walked into their community. I smile as much as I can, making people look even more uneasy. I see a girl turn from a moose into a human. I've never had moose before... I shake my head to control the animalistic urges. That's the biggest downside of being an animal. If it weren't for the fact that staying in wolf form for too long would allow the wolf to take over, I would probably stay in wolf form for the rest of my life. As we walk through, all of the prey animals immediately change back to human form and back away from me. I see a deer and growl at it. It made a sound that I think was supposed to be a growl. Did that deer just growl at me? 

I was so confused, I almost didn't notice the Strawberry tiger walking up to me, with a bear close behind. I rose to my full height of 2.5 feet, rather than the stalking crawl I was moving in. She was still bigger than me. I hadn't realized how big tigers were until I was face to face with one. She wasn't colored like other tigers though, she was much lighter, without black stripes, and had much more white.  She was the most beautiful animal I had ever seen.

"This is Janet, the leader of the Biosphere. Janet, this is a new animal, her name is Artemis. As you can see, she's a timber wolf.", Jay said, punctuating the last sentence by petting me behind the ears. Somehow, my instincts didn't tell me to bite him. Actually, I kind of liked it, and barely stopped my leg from kicking like a dog. Janet walked around me like she was inspecting me. She looked at me in shock when I growled, but as I held her stare, it turned into a sort of grudging respect. She turned into her human form, which wasn't nearly as beautiful. She had a pointed nose, pale skin, yellow eyes, and her hair had obviously been dyed to match her fur color. She was probably beautiful once, at least, she looked it. Though, I guess living underground would probably affect your skin tone.

She looked at me expectantly. It took me a moment to realize that she wanted me to transform into a human. I did so reluctantly. By the look she gave me, I could tell that she already knew I was going to be a handful. I would try my best. "As wolf, you will be staying in the Forest biome. Jay will show it to you on the tour.", She said before walking away. She walked away. Wow. 

                                                                           ~~After the tour~~

 Jay showed me to a cave in the Forest Biome section. I get my own cave. Wow.  The Forest Biome was huge. It had different sections for each kind of forest. The coolest part was the giant tree in the entrance. There was a river snaking around it and into one of the sections of forest. There were animals everywhere, the moose standing beneath the branches, a squirrel in the tree, an otter laying on the riverbank, and the deer that growled at me was watching me. I turned back into a wolf, trying to startle it, but I just scared the other animals, so I changed back into a human, earning weary looks from the other animals. I walked over to the deer and said, "Who are you?" 

She turned into a human. She was wearing a gay flag shirt, overalls with a gay flag heart pin that said, "Love Wins", and hair that was cut short and shaved on one side. She was obviously gayer than a double rainbow. I almost laughed at the use of Diana's saying, often used to describe Diana herself, but I remembered who was standing in front of me. "What're you smilin' at? Likin' what you see?", The girl said, smirking. 

"Oh, no. I just remembered something my friend used to say.", I said, smile falling at the use of past tense for my best friend. 

"What'd they say?", she asked, smiling.

"Oh, well, she's a lesbian, and she always used to call herself 'gayer than a double rainbow', it just came to mind.", I said, still stuck on the past-tense.

" Double rainbow? Please! I'm gayer than a triple rainbow!", She said, face completely serious, no hint of amusement anywhere but her eyes. I hoped I would see more of her, then at least I might have a friend, if not just to remind me of Diana.