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[url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/8858/posts/ooc?page=2#post-181316]Alan Mason[/url][/center]

Life was looking sunny. Literally. It was very bright out, which was funny, considering he was usually up with the sun, not using it as his alarm clock. Still, it had been a good sleep, and he didn't have to be anywhere until 1PM rolled around. That, at least, wasn't for another few hours. Quite a few, unless he'd needed the sleep more than he'd thought when he went to bed. Go to bed at 10, wake up at 5, or whenever his mind decided to ooze towards the waking world. It took him far too long to actually wake up, he never had been a morning person when other people were concerned, but set him up on his lonesome and he'd settle right into watching the sunrise. It was a good routine when the rest of his life was never quite so certain. And here he was breaking it on a day when he should have been all over nerves and unable to keep his head to the pillow in case he... Well, in case he slept in. Wouldn't have thought he'd ever manage that, but it seemed life wasn't going to let him forget that surprises always surprised you. Heh.

He'd arranged with his parents to set up a skype call, checked to make sure there was a local library that wouldn't mind him using their space or their internet. It was lucky, sometimes, that he had the benefit of not needing to make noise to have a conversation. Just bring a pair of earbuds and he was set. They'd asked him to limit his time, but that was fair, since he wasn't paying. He [i]did[/i] have a membership though, made him feel a little less opportunistic helping himself to their things. Funny how that worked, here he was, a part of the public, wanting to use a public amenity and he felt bad about it. Well, never mind, he'd solved that and now all he had to do was dress himself up and get his ass over there. He had 5 and a half hours to finish that checklist. He figured if he couldn't manage that, he'd put 35 years of practice to waste. Proper use of his time, that was. Snorting at his thoughts, the man finally rose from his cot and stretched out, rubbing at his beard and combing it a moment with his nails. Warm last night, he needed a shower. With a grimace, he collected his things and headed for the bathroom, blessing all his mother's advice about always trying to stay somewhere that had running water, even if it was a stream. She might not have travelled half as much as he had, by now, but she knew what made the difference between a good day and a bad one. Starting out with a shower was always encouraging. 

Showered, dressed, hair braided out of his eyes and bag packed properly, Al was out the hostel door and picking up breakfast at Tim's with a cue card. Saved paper if he just kept the one he always used. Hadn't changed his order in years, no reason to think he'd be starting now. So until it got illegible, he'd just keep putting it back in his bag for reuse. There was plenty of talk while he ate his toasted bagel and drank his coffee, double milk and no sugar, seemed the folk who had time to stick around over breakfast had enough words to fill that time easily twice over. This time though, it caught his attention for a few minutes longer than usual. And he found himself listening in on a nearby table’s conversation about rampant wildlife sightings and people getting a little too attached for their own good. Sounded a bit farfetched, in all honesty, but he couldn’t deny that he’d seen a snake just the other day, in the middle of a city. Sure as hell wasn’t where you normally saw them. He didn’t think it had lasted long, not trying to cross roads like it had, and definitely not when it looked like a rattler. Pity, but that’s what happened.

Still, Al finished up and headed for the library earlier than he’d planned, avoiding the unscheduled stops he’d thought to fit in on his way and skipping straight to getting on the internet and looking up the local news. Only, it wasn’t local, it was national, international even. Wild animals forsaking the rural for the urban and plenty paying for that choice. But the second bit was even stranger, and more interesting. The ones that did survive seemed to be making friends of the most unlikely sorts; magic, the media was calling it. This was the sort of stuff you heard about in fairy tales and forgot about after growing up. A moose in Lethebridge. An alligator down in Florida. Black bear, caribou, elk, cougar, hare, red tail… The list wasn’t extensive, but it was long enough. And didn’t seem centralised. There were some names and faces of well-known people. One senator, a talk show host, business owners, employees, homeless. All different sorts, but it was strange, only one or two of the interviews was with the person who’d… bonded with an animal. The rest were second or third hand. 

Warnings were being issued, methods and procedures… They were a little vague on that score, though one youtube video of an old man hanging out with a pelican was getting a few views. And another showing a wild cat of some cat protecting a woman was getting even more. Not all of it good publicity. Scrolling through the comments scared him with the amount of vitriol dripping down the screen. Al didn’t know if he was skeptical or disbelieving or just plain shocked, but he finished that bout of research with a far more subdued skype call than he’d been waiting for. They were all happy to see each other, new wrinkles included, though he thought his parents were looking older than he remembered. And they ended the call telling him to be careful. They always did, but there was an added threat now. His mother thought the animals were rabid. Even the ones that he didn’t think [i]could[/i] get rabies. Even doubting an onset of sickness, he still wouldn’t want to get bit by any of them, so he assured her he’d look after himself and stay away from any wild beasts he saw. 

He would too. Didn’t take a genius to know wild animals weren’t pets, and that even pets could hurt you if you didn’t know them. But if this was making the more violent side of humanity pop out too, he figured maybe it was best to get away from it for a while. Wait for things to settle down. He’d been planning on going out to Toronto, catch up with his folks, spend the summer along the East Coast, but maybe he should just turn right back around and skip out of town. No one would miss him. His parents might worry, but he’d told them not to expect his company. They hadn’t liked that, but it made more sense than travelling just now.

One more week, that was all he had the money for, see if things escalated, it was only just getting into April, he had a few more months of warm weather to live through. If everything settled down and someone figured out what was going on, soon, he’d move forward with his plans. If things didn’t settle… He’d have to figure out what plan B was. Maybe the Parks were hiring, or at least open to room and board volunteers.