Hybrids: No Longer Human (The Story Thread)

Mornings were times for sleep. Especially summer mornings full of a list of nothing to do that day. These were the days you were supposed to sleep in and enjoy yourself.

At least, that's what they were supposed to be.

"Cupid...Cupid....Cuuuuuuupid," Alistair gently prodded at her as the fox hybrid mumbled out something incoherent. "Cupid wake up, Knox wants to go surfing...whatever that is, and he told me to wake you up, everyone's already up!" He exclaimed and the fennec fox opened her brown eyes to stare at the younger hybrid.

Alistair had been with them for about two weeks now and Cupid had already decided to adopt him as some sort of baby brother slash pet, he got along great with everyone and was already coming to terms with the whole fox thing. He had even nicknamed them the fox gang since everyone was at least part fox.

The only problem was that he always woke up at seven, there were no exceptions, he always woke up at seven, and he needed someone watching over him or else he would get in some sort of unintentional trouble. So they all usually kept turns waking up at seven or slightly before as well.

Which was usually followed by them all having to wake up so they could do something. As soon as school started up, they were sending that kid to school, along with Vinny and Flint, no exceptions there either.

"I'm up honey, just...give me a second to accept it, go make sure Knox and Maia know what they're doing, taking us all to the beach," she ordered as she slowly sat up and Alistair nodded happily before he tumbled out of the bed and back out to the others.

Ugh, that boy was going to be the death of her, she could feel it.

-

Alistair waited impatiently for Maia to stop spraying him with the sunscreen. They were actually at the beach, in a more secluded area away from most people. They couldn't hide their ears or colorful tails, like they apparently were supposed to, but Maia had said just to call it the newest fashion in Japan and then rave about how real they looked.

Knox was going to teach them how to surf, and he even had enough boards for everyone, Alistair was actually really excited for all of this. It was all so new, and as much as he hated to admit it, he had started to block out all thoughts and memories of Abrial, those were painful and he would rather focus on the now with the fox gang.

"Okay you're done, but you have to wait a few minutes before you get in the water," Maia explained as she finished spraying him down and moved on to the next person.

Alistair grinned happily and looked longingly at the water. Flint had been teaching him to swim in the local pool when it was closed...Alistair was just assuming that was something people did, and plus sometimes some of the testing at the labs would include swimming, so he had to know how. Though he wasn't all that great at it.

"Excited?"

Alistair paused and turned around to see Vinny with a playful smirk on his face. "First time out at the beach then, is it?" He asked in that smooth accent of his and Alistair nodded, still just a tiny bit memorized.

Vinny chuckled and looked over to the water. "I'm excited too, it's not often that I've gotten to go to a beach like this, though I actually already know how to surf, maybe I can give you some pointers when you learn," he suggested and Alistair smiled.

"I'd like that."

Right then Knox came over to them, smiling. "Alright you three, lets hit the waves while we have some, we had to travel quite awhile for this, I'm not about to let it go to waste, grab a board and lets go, don't worry, I'll make sure to focus on teaching too," he promised and had already started to the water.

Alistair walked over to where they had placed the surfboards and picked one out that looked interesting, a nice purple and blue one. He really enjoyed the colors...maybe he could ask about changing his tail to the colors, like how the others had fun colored tails.

"Hurry up Al!" Flint hollered out to him and Alistair had to take his focus away from the surfboard and how the sand squished between his toes, he had already decided that he liked the sand, it was squishy and warm.

"Coming Flint!" Alistair yelled back, grabbing his surfboard and holding it close as he started over to the water where the others were. Glad to have a family.

-

The day at the beach had been really fun, they had surfed and built sand castles, played volleyball, and just when Alistair thought it couldn't get any better than this, Vinny and Cupid came back over with some sort of...swirly white thing placed in a brown upside down triangle.

As he was handed his, Alistair sniffed it before looking over at Vinny. "What is it?" He asked and Vinny raised his brow, sometimes it was easy to forget how truly little Alistair actually knew.

"It's called ice cream, try it, its good," Vinny explained, sitting down on his towel next to Alistair's to enjoy his own treat.

"Ice cream...." Alistair repeated slowly and watched Vinny to get an idea of how he was supposed to eat it before bringing it closer to his mouth and taking a cautious lick.

Now, later on in life Alistair would surely experience many great things, but nothing would ever compare to the amazement that surged through him as he tried ice cream for the first time. It was as if explosions had gone off in his head, nothing would ever quite compare to the first time he tried ice cream.

Vinny watched him for a few seconds before letting out a few chuckles. "Well, what do you think?" He asked with a tilt of his head, waiting to hear Alistair's response on his he felt about the frozen dessert.

"This is the best thing I have ever had in my entire life, is this what Cupid meant when she was talking about soulmates?" Alistair asked, still in utter awe at the ice cream in his hand, and needless to say, he ate it very fast after that.

Vinny chuckled again and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, you'll give yourself a brain freeze at this rate," he informed and Alistair didn't seem to hear him, or at least if he did, he wasn't paying attention to him. Vinny shook his head and turned back to look over at the others, Knox was falling asleep on his towel, Cupid and Maia were sharing a cone, and Flint was biting his-weirdo. "Looks like we've all been replaced," he joked, gesturing his head over to Alistair.

Cupid giggled. "Maybe you have Vin-Vin, but I'm irreplaceable, even by ice cream," she said happily and looked over at the rabbit hybrid. "You should slow down though hon, you'll give yourself a brain freeze."

Alistair wasn't listening...though he did have to stop eating as his brain began to hurt and he let out an upset animal like noise. "My brain hurts..."

Vinny could only laugh. "Well, we did try to warn you, you just refused to listen to reason."

-

It was late by the time they all got back home, and it took even longer for everyone to get all cleaned up and ready for bed, even if it would still be awhile until they all fell asleep. Knox was planning something with Maia in the kitchen, Flint was working on a puzzle, Vinny had already turned in for the night, and Cupid and Alistair were on the couch as Cupid brushed Alistair's ears, why? She wanted to and Alistair really couldn't refuse.

"So if ice cream...can't be a soulmate, well then what can?" Alistair asked as he focused on memorizing the alphabet. He really had left the labs knowing next to nothing and the fox gang had taken it upon themselves to teach him everything they knew.

It was lucky he caught on to things so fast because they had given him a lot to learn, like how to read and write, speak French and Spanish, pick locks(which he had actually picked up extremely fast, already getting better at it than the others) and also how to sing and do what Cupid called "a box step" dance. He wasn't all that great at any of it yet, since it had only been two weeks, but he was learning.

Cupid gave a small laugh. "A soulmate is a person, Alistair. They're someone you feel connected to on a different level, they're that person who you love more than anything else, and you are always there for them. A soulmate is the person who will forgive you and all your mistakes, and in return you forgive them of all of theirs and both try to do better," she explained with a smile as she cast a glance over to the kitchen. "When you're with your soulmate, you just...know."

"Oh, so you mean someone like a second rabbit!" Alistair piped in in realization, sounding far too happy to have made the connection.

Cupid looked at him curiously. "A second rabbit? Ali I'm going to need an explanation behind that, especially if you're going to compare it to a soulmate," she said, sounding a tad bit offended at the comparison so far.

Alistair nodded, which disturbed the rhythm of the brush before letting his head stiffen again. "Rabbits bond with each other, making an inseparable bond, where you can't even be away from your other rabbit without hurting, A-someone used to tell me about them, said finding a second rabbit would be good for me, you know, rabbits are naturally social creatures. I don't think I'd do good on my own..." he confessed with a small shrug of his shoulders.

Cupid smiled warmly as he spoke. "I guess in a way, a soulmate is a lot like a second rabbit," she agreed as she finished brushing his ears and hair. "Alright, hop on off to bed, you're probably tired and I have to talk to Knox and Maia about work," she explained, getting off the couch and sending Alistair on his way.

The rabbit didn't object and instead gave her a hug goodnight before he walked down the hall and into his room...which he actually shared with Vinny, the other fox hybrid was already asleep, so Alistair had to be quiet as he made his way over to his bed and snuggled in, looking up at the ceiling and letting the silence fill the room before finally dosing off.