Jacques and Ruben were born in the early fall, when the leaves were just beginning to change color. They were born into an idyllic little family, with a loving mother, a hard-working father and an older sister that acted as their guide in the ways of the world. They had all the toys they could ever want, a large yard to play in and nothing stood in their way of what they could do but their own imaginations.

Being twins, Jacques and Ruben were closer knit than most siblings. They did everything together right from the moment they were born. Even the first day of their life, Jacques curled around his brother for warmth in the crib and Ruben held him like something that needed to be protected.
No one said a thing about Jacques slit pupils or the odd shapes of the marks on his back, because nothing needed to be said. It was clear what he was.
The fact that Jacques' mutation was so obvious, made his parents keep a closer eye on him than they did on Ruben. And with good reason, too. About the time Ruben even learned how to hold his head properly, Jacques was already snailing around on his belly and by the time Ruben started getting into crawling positions, Jacques was already climbing up trees. However, by the time Ruben learned how to walk, Jacques was still crawling and showed no interest in standing. He did not walk until he was nearly three years old.
But still, every night, Jacques would curl up next to his brother and Ruben would wrap him up like something precious that needed protection.

By the time the boys were ready to start school, Jacques had already begun transforming. He could become a pig, a cow and a chicken. As soon as his parents had realized what it was that made him able to change, they stopped letting him try new foods and thanked all sorts of deities that had not yet served him anything exotic.
School was tough. Jacques had a hard time concentrating about all the new things he needed to learn. He longed to be outside; running around and – doing something. He was not quite sure what it was he felt he needed to do, but sitting still and listening to a teacher drawl on about math was not it.
Two years later, he was expelled for attacking another student and his parents thought it best to home school him, where he could get the perfect mix of work and play that he needed.

As Jacques' control of his powers grew greater, his relationship with his brother grew weaker. Every day they spent apart, with Ruben going to school and getting smart and Jacques staying home and running wild, they drifted further apart. Within a year, sleeping was all they did together. Jacques would curl up next to his brother and Ruben would loosely drape an arm over him, like something he was allowing out of habit.

When the boys turned eight, Jacques' animalistic tendencies had grown so strong that their father felt he needed something more. That was the first time he took Jacques hunting. It was great. Jacques learned to concentrate, focus and wait. His patience improved greatly and his need to be outside and run wild was sated for longer periods. His instincts to hunt, maim and kill whatever seemed like suitable prey almost vanished and he did not wrestle his brother against his will quite as much.
While Jacques and their father was out hunting, Ruben was left alone with their mother, who took it upon herself to try and fill that emptiness she saw in her son's eyes and taught him how to draw and paint. It quickly became their thing and they did it every weekend while Jacques and their father was away.
The brothers got a bit tighter again. The divide Jacques' power had created started to crumble away and before another year had passed, Ruben again held his brother like something precious to be protected.

Life went on and Jacques even got well enough to go back to school during the week and spend the weekends hunting with his father. Ruben helped he as much as he could in understanding all he school stuff he had gotten behind on and the boys grew as close as they had ever been. Even on the weekends, Jacques asked his father that they return home at night, despite the fact that it would be much easier to camp out, in order to spend the night curled up at his brother's side.

A couple of years later, just before the boys turned eleven, their parents got divorced. The strain that keeping Jacques in line put on their father and the worry that Ruben's hollowness instilled in their mother grated on their relationship and eventually tore them apart. Despite the fact that the twins were technically the reason behind their divorce, the parents assured them that they were not at fault.
There was a lot of negotiation on where the children would live. The oldest was old enough to pick herself that she wanted to live with her mother, but the boys each wanted to live with the pother parent; Jacques wanted to keep hunting with his father while Ruben wanted to keep drawing with his mother, but they did not want to be separated. Eventually, it was decided that it was more important that Jacques stayed with their father than that Ruben could draw with his mother.

That was when they moved away from their home, their country and everything they knew. Aside from their own belongings and their father's clothes, everything they got was new. The boys got separate rooms for the first time of their lives, but Jacques made short progress of moving his bed into Ruben's room, which greatly annoyed their father, but a low growl torn from his son's throat made him rethink his idea of moving it back.
With their mother no longer around to watch and entertain Ruben while Jacques and their father went hunting, they now had to find an activity for the quiet boy to enjoy and the idea came to their father as soon as he found Ruben dismantling a radio car in order to see what was going on inside of it.
During the week, the boys went to school, did their homework and played like regular children. Jacques was never exposed as a super to the school, instead having his peers think he was merely weird and he saw no reason to change that. Every other weekend, they went hunting and while Jacques and their father murdered innocent animals, Ruben sat and drew. The other half of the weekends, they worked on cars they bought from the junkyards, got driving ready again and sold. Jacques got a guitar to pass the time with while his father and brother worked and found that he quite liked it.

After his power was triggered, the relationship between the twins were never the same. The roles had switched. Where Ruben had been the protective one before, Jacques now loomed about his brother like a bodyguard, ensuring that nothing bad ever became of him. Guilt was gushing through him much stronger than his instincts ever had before. Ruben, on the other hand, felt stronger than ever before – and rightly so. He was trying to detach himself from Jacques and become his own person. After only a year in a wheelchair, he had built his prosthetic leg and started working out to better allow his body to handle the surge of power that his mutation causes.