Cadenza [openish?]

[Edgar Christopher]

He meant to take a quick jog, and that's exactly what he did. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, so why not? Once around the block and back wasn't too far after all, and he had nothing else to do until the evening. So, onward he jogged, once around the block just like he'd planned. He hadn't planned on it being just a touch warmer than he was used to. Edgar had just gotten used to a Miami 'winter', too. It usually took him a while to get used to the change in seasons, even after living in the city for that long. He was built for colder temperatures. His beast was not. This was the closest they'd get to a compromise.

Although with a little effort, he could get a bit closer to comfortable. A little effort went a long way after all. Once he'd returned to the building he unlocked the door of his flat, and chucked the jacket he was wearing inside. With a bit of an embarrassing little moment of bouncing around on one foot he did the same with his shoes and socks. Edgar wouldn't need them for this idea of his, of course. With a fiendish little grin and a quick glance about, his shirt hit the ground and it's owner became a very pale streak for a second before he cannonballed into the pool. He was wearing shorts, of course. It was Miami, it wasn't like he was wearing leather trousers to go jogging.

After about thirty seconds or so after he'd hit the bottom of the deep end, he re-surfaced. The pale reptilian's hair was quite a bit straighter when it was wet, and he instantly pushed it back out of his eyes before paddling to the edge of the pool to hang onto the side. Just floating there was actually pretty relaxing. He enjoyed it, even if he did sometimes pick up a bit of a sunburn doing it.

[Hank Thompson]

Oh. Um. Okay. Wow.

So. Hank Thompson would admit that he could be a bit... odd.

...Okay, more then slightly a bit on some days.

But it really wasn't his fault this time!

It wasn't his fault that one of his neighbors was amazingly attractive and endlessly fascinating and very nice to watch while Hank was stuck as a chinchilla.

And this...

This really, really wasn't his fault.

Elinore had wanted him to get a bit of sun, because apparently he was... well... looking like a sick zombie.

So he'd been heading out to sit by the pool.

...Well. Not 'by the pool'. He was going to sit in the courtyard, as far away from the pool as he could manage, with the latest Terry Pratchett book.

He hadn't even been expecting... this.

'Ummm... ummmm... ummmmmmmmmmm...' His brain seemed to have broken. 'Wet'. 'Shirtless'. 'Oh my god oh my god, I'm pretty sure I'm going to faint and then hit my head and die, but oh, that would be an entirely decent reason to die...'

"...Um..." He finally managed to get out. Well. Sort of got out.

As soon as the funny little squeak managed to get out of his throat his body decided that 'human' wasn't a good setting for this particular encounter. ...So it opted for the other setting available to it. Chinchilla.

[Eva Isaachar]

Swimsuits understandably made Eva somewhat nervous to prance around publicly in, but she knew some good tricks by now. That trick was mainly a one-piece with a bottom that had an attached ruffly skirt. She would love for it to be a two-piece, but the little falsies she'd sewn in to the chest might be a little more obviously not-really-part-of-her in a bikini top. So the style overall looked kind of little-kiddish, but she was a young gamine who could pull that off, and pulling it off she indeed was as she approached the apartment poolside and saw a...a...

"Eee!" she dropped her towel and pool bag as her hands slapped up to her cheeks, causing the sunglasses perched on her head to shake off and drop to her feet,

"How cuuuute!"

Leaving her things on the ground, she dashed over to the chinchilla and scooped it up in her arms, gushing,

"Is he yours? What's his name? Oh how cute! I love chinchillas, they're just so precious! Oh wow, he's even softer than I thought they'd be! Was he going to swim with you? Can they--"

She had just noticed that she had scooped the chinchilla out of a pile of clothes. She looked at him...and then at Aggie...

"Uh...are those clothes yours..." she looked back to Hank,

"Or, er, is this not really a chinchilla?"

Oh gawd oh gawd oh gawd please let the clothes belong to the guy in the pool please let them belong to the guy in the pool...

[Edgar Christopher]

Edgar knew he'd have that kind of effect on someone eventually. Then again, there were people that were into some pretty weird stuff. 'Wet-greyhound thin' wasn't... too weird. A jest on his own part really. Sometimes he called himself a scrawny idiot, other times he was the most handsome fella that side of Brando. It all depended on how self-absorbed and vain he was feeling on a certain day. That day, he was more of the self-depreciating tone.

"He's not mine, no. Lizard my size probably wouldn't be able to keep anything like him around. Not sure if there are laws against it, though."

Said with a grin, of course. Everything the croc said was with a grin. Well, ninety percent of the time. Still counted though. It wasn't an eerie grin, just a normal, everyday 'good mood' kind of expression. Because he was exactly that. In a good mood.

"I'm pretty sure he's the small bookish fellow from that flat over yonder."

He'd nod in that direction, treading water at that point instead of hanging onto the pool's side. Small and bookish were the only adjectives Edgar had to go on, really. They hadn't quite interacted enough for him to gain any more to use in a conversation. Well, other than slightly insulting ones, but this was a polite conversation and the fellow was right there, so he'd abstain from being completely nasty. He fit that description himself most of the time.

[Hank Thompson]

Hank had been trying to figure out how to get out of this situation without any more embarassment. Admittedly, randomly turning into a soft, furry mammal was very very embarassing, but maybe he hadn't been recognized? Most people didn't know who he was...

...He hoped he hadn't broken another pair of glasses.

His plots to scramble to a safe place until Elinore managed to find him were cut short by a sudden gleeful squeal.

It wasn't the first time he'd gotten that response. He knew he was vastly more attractive in this shape after all...

'Um, thank you?'

He was rather used to the sudden changes in height, provided by people scooping him up and he lifted himself up, wriggling his nose and giving her a little paw wave.

'Um, hello? I'm Henry Theodore Thompson, but most people call me Hank. You know, like Hank McCoy? From X-men?'

...Oh. Apparently she'd just realized he spent some of his time as a human...

'Oh, don't worry. I'm quite harmless and I don't mind being picked up at all. You can talk to my roommate if you like?'

And then... Well... he couldn't be blamed for scrambling up Eva's arm and huddling on her shoulder, doing his best to hide his head in her hair.

Admittedly 'small and bookish' was far from the worst description someone had ever given him (To date, his least favorite was 'snack') but it still wasn't a very good thing to hear from... well... someone who wasn't small or bookish or... well, was about as un-Hank-like as possible...

[James Grayson]

There was a voice from the sole empty apartment in the complex, a nasal voice a few moments after someone opened the back door. "And this, Mr. Grayson, is the deck and the pool," the red-coated realtor said, gesturing towards the waters. Grayson ducked out of the apartment, glancing around before heading towards the deck's edge and the view beyond.

"So I see." The accent was unmistakeably English, albeit blurred by time in the USA. The tall, slender man looked down at the scene below. "It's definitely an interesting view, I'll give it that." He lifted a hand to wave at those already there, with a faint smile - until he saw Aggie, at least. That was when his eyebrows lifted, though the surprise wasn't allowed to show for long. Instead he looked from person to person to chinchilla to heap of clothes on the not-in-the-sunbed. "Please don't let me interrupt... whatever's going on," he said, his hint of a smile starting to grow; he turned back to the realtor. "So, how would I get down there, Mr. Derby, if I wanted to go for a swim and didn't feel like abseiling?"

"Ah - over there, Mr. Grayson..."

[Eva Isaachar]

Oh augh it was just so cute lookit wiggling its nose and waving its little paw and eee now it was chirping and chittering and making other chinchilla-noises-whatever-they-were-called and it was all so precious she could barely listen to the guy in the pool saying that--

"Oh. Um. Ack. I guess I should put you down, huh? Sorry!" she placed the chinchilla back down upon his pile of clothing and then back away a respectful two steps with her hands up as if ordered to by a policeman. Being able to barely listen was still being able to listen, after all, and thus be informed that she was cuddling her neighbor she'd never met instead of a small cute furry animal that was a small cute furry animal *all* the time.

At this point she basically just wanted to jump into the pool to escape embarrassment (and to keep herself from picking the chinchilla right back up because despite Aggie's answer she knew that she JUST WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HELP HERSELF AAAH) but there was a new person all of a sudden and her inherently social mode took over in a welcome as she put a big smile and a hand up in his direction,

"Hi! Are you checking the place out? It's pretty sweet! The pool is awesome--no chlorine, isn't that awesome? So like if you have allergies or are just worried that if you dye your hair blonde it'll turn green after a dip, this is the swim spot for you!"

Oh wow, she sounded like *she* worked for the real estate team, didn't she?

[Edgar Christopher]

"It's probably not what it looks like, depending on what... it looks like. Versi makes everything interesting doesn't it?"

He had his eyes focused on the chinchilla until after he spoke. That's when he looked up to spot their potential new neighbour. He sounded like a nice bloke at lea-

What.

What. ...Well more importantly, how. And who and why and- Obviously the gears in his head had screeched to a halt. Seriously, what was going on. Billions of other folks in the world and apparently five others that looked almost exactly like him if that theory was to be believed, and two of them, himself and this taller fellow, had ended up in the exact same place at the same time, and had even been born in the same country by the sounds of things.

He was staring blankly ahead for a few minutes until he realized his state of complete and absolute confusion was enough to twist his skin into scales and start moving his insides around. That hadn't happened in a while. Honestly he thought he had more control, but apparently his mind had other ideas.

"...Shit, not now."

Luckily enough, it was hard for a crocodile to look embarrassed. Awkward, yes. Especially since half of the twelve foot long, probably near three-hundred pound lizard was in the pool and the other wasn't, but he didn't look as embarrassed as he actually was at the moment.

Damn it.

[Hank Thompson]

Um.

Um.

...Um.

...Ummmmmmm...

'Elinore? Elinore, now would be a really really really good time to show up to save me! This is very much time for a Big Damn Heroes moment!'

There were two Aggies and he didn't know what to do...

And Suddenly Giant Lizard.

Hank knew he was small.

Hank knew he was fuzzy.

Hank knew he was a snack for any predator who wasn't too picky.

'AHHHHHH! I'M GOING TO DIE I'M GOING TO DIE SOMEONE SAVE ME I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!'

He scrambled under his clothing, in a desperate attempt to stay hidden until he could find a way to sprint for freedom.

And then...

'Oh. That's probably Aggie.'

Followed by...

'Aggie is a giant lizard.'

And after that...

'Oh god, I'm about to get eaten by my very attractive neighbor who I'm pretty sure doesn't know my name.'

...

'ELINORE! SAVE ME!'

Unfortunately chinchillas weren't exactly loud...

...Maybe the woman who'd just put him down. She thought he was cute. Surely she wouldn't let someone eat him?

A distant part of his brain added 'Admittedly, that won't help. Having two Aggies here will just give me a heart attack and I'll die anyway. Or faint and fall into the pool...'

'PLEASE SAVE ME PRETTY LADY! DO NOT LET THE CHINCHILLA GET EATEN BY A GIANT LIZARD! I'LL SHARE MY RAISINS WITH YOU FOREVER!"

[James Grayson]

"Over here, Mr. Aaaaaaaaah!"

The realtor had looked back and seen the crocodile. In an impressive display of speed for a man who'd required a double-sized blazer, there was only a realtor-shaped blur left behind.

"Don't be silly," Grayson said resignedly to empty air, "It's only an enormous lizard big enough to eat you." He sighed, turning back to face the pool. "Now for a much more important question - are you a crocodile or an alligator?" He put one hand on the edge of the rail, peering over. "And do I have a brother no-one told me about? Hmm."

In a blur of movement, he jumped over the edge of the balcony, landing easily in a puddle of black coat before pulling himself slowly upright. It was almost as though he'd done it purely for effect.

"Hello, my dear," the Englishman said to Eva, though without letting the crocodile out of his peripheral vision. "I don't think I need to worry about bleach-blond hair, but I suspect that you and your cute little friend down there might need to worry about the crocodile - and by the sound of it, so does your cute little friend. On the bright side, it seems that I'm not going to get turned down on the lease for Versi?"

[Eva Isaachar]

...and then the guy in the pool was a giant gator. Okay then. No, Eva didn't know the difference between a crocodile or an alligator, so sue her. And while the crocodile might be really a guy, the chinchilla-dude was also just flipping out so much she had to pick him up, poor thing. For all she knew, they had the instincts of animals to some degree or another, so maybe the little guy had reason to be flipping his lid, or couldn't help it when the scent of a predator reached his itty-bitty wiggly-iggly nose. So she scooped him up, hoping to cuddle him into comfort so his panicked chirping stopped, and tried her best to stop herself from holding him too close like she would if he really were a precious bundle of fuzz for real. Well, he was real, but you know what she means!

Addressing Grayson, she continued to play Perky Tour Guide Barbie, since she had no idea how else to react to all of this,

"And we've also got our very own resident shifters, as you can see!"

It probably sucked for them to be outed like this she imagined, speaking as someone who worried about it herself, but she supposed at least now they'd know immediately if he was an anti-shifter bigot. Better than it happening after he actually moved in, right? And if he was a shifter too, then he would know immediately the place was shifter-friendly! Two birds with one stone! See, there was a bright side for everyone!

"Are you a visitor for Mr...um...the fellow in the pool?"

Given their resemblance (prior to pool-guy going reptile), she was guessing a relative, if not an identical twin.

And then, yup, it turned out he was indeed Versi-positive!

"Nope! Nice jump, are you like a kangaroo or something?", she asked, bouncing Hank like a baby in her arms,

"That was cool."

[Edgar Christopher]

Oh. Uh. Oops? Was that something to say 'oops' to?

And was that a chuckle coming from the large lizard's throat? ...He loved it when people ran. Natural reactions to predators were always so interesting to watch. With an easy push backwards, the scaly bastard was completely in the pool. It'd be easier for him to change back there, plus he had to head to the bottom of the deep end in order to retrieve his shorts anyway. Luckily he'd managed to slip out of them before they stopped being the right size.

Down he went, and by the time he came back up, he was... well, mostly human. His eyes hadn't changed back at all. Not to mention the fact that there was still some slight scaling running down his back. Or the claws. Or the sharp-looking grin he had on his face.

He really shouldn't have tried that so soon. He was exhausted, and now he was clinging to the side of the pool and panting like he'd just run a marathon or five.

"Nile."

An answer to the question of croc vs. gator. Not that it was much of an answer at all. Didn't want to say much, because he was still biting back the pain of changing from warm blooded to cold and back again so quickly. Literally biting it back. His lip was bleeding where he'd caught it on one of his teeth and clamped down.

"And not that I know of."

[Hank Thompson]

Hank did the sensible thing when Eva picked him up. He clung as tightly as his tiny little paws could manage, snuggling as close to her as possible.

'Thank you thank you thank you. I don't want to die, I really don't want to and if you could just keep cuddling me and keep me faaaaar away from the... um. I'm not going to think about that. Just... please snuggle me until Elinore gets here and then she'll let me hide in her shirt and glare at them... Um. Yes. So. Um. ...If you get me a bit of paper and some ink, I can tell you what apartment I'm in? And where the spare key is...'

He was rambling, he knew he was rambling, but it wasn't like anyone could very well understand him...

The cuddling was easing his shaking, and carefully, affectionately, patted her hand.

'Um, thank you. When I'm back to being me, I'll make you dinner if you like? Um, not like that! I just cook for people and I like cooking and I'm good at it and I can make allll sorts of stuff and you can tell me what you like to eat?'

...Oh, why couldn't she have long sleeves? He'd love to have burrowed into one of them...

[James Grayson]

"Thank you," Grayson murmured to Eva at the compliment. "No, I'm not a kangaroo - but I do prefer to look good."

And if you stand still for two more minutes, Jim, maybe your shin will stop hurting. Looking cool does come with a price, after all.

"I hadn't intended to be a visitor for the gentleman in the pool, but it's not every day that a man gets to meet someone he could shave in front of." His pale eyes turned to the pool as Aggie surfaced again; his eyebrows lifted at the word, and then he nodded, his tone of voice amiable. "Crocodile, then. I knew a chap a few years ago whose claim to fame was that his grandfather's business partner had fed his grandfather to the Nile crocodiles."

He didn't seem to have blinked yet, but he did turn that gaze away from Aggie and down towards Hank; a glimmer of amusement surfaced, and with it a gleam of teeth that likely wouldn't do much for the fight-or-flight prey reactions already invoked in the chinchilla.

"Do you think he's actually trying to nest in your cleavage," he remarked to Hank, then looked up at Eva's face again, "Or has he honestly just not realised?"