Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jake sat in the back of a transport van, his arms bound behind him with rope. There was a collar around his neck that prevented him from shifting to his true form, and a chain attached to the collar. He didn't really understand why the guards had gone to this extreme just to transport him; unless he was protecting someone he'd come to care for, he wasn't a particularly dangerous slave. He sat in the van in silence, wondering what his new home would look like. The guards had told him that his mistress had a small child living with her, but other than that, he knew nothing about her. He assumed that since she had a small child, she'd purchased him to babysit and protect the child. That was fine with him; the shield charm on his collar would tell her that he was a protector. When the van finally stopped and the doors opened, Jake got his first look at his new home. It was small, but it would be just the right size for him and his mistress and the child. He grunted as the guards pulled him out of the van, stumbling a bit as he landed on his feet. The guards marched him up to the front door, and one of them knocked on the door while the other released his wrists and removed the chain from his collar.

Jake rubbed his wrists when the rope fell away, then blinked and let his hands fall to his sides when a pretty young woman with a baby boy in her arms opened the door. He returned her smile when she waved at him, and he immediately knew he would like living here. He didn't take his eyes from the young woman and little boy as the guards left, leaving him standing on the porch. "Hello, Mistress," Jake said, bowing respectfully, then straightening up again. "My name is Jake."

Jake noticed that his mistress seemed relieved when the van left, and he didn't blame her. He didn't like the guards any more than she did. He nodded when she introduced herself and the child, saying that her name was Nicole and the boy was Don. He smiled when Don tried to say his name, and he wondered how old the boy was. "Thank you," he said, entering the house when she moved to one side. He looked around as he walked inside, taking note of where things were in the room. He looked at Nicole when she spoke. He realized that she was asking if he wanted his collar removed, and he nodded once. "Yes, please," he said. "It is rather uncomfortable."

Jake nodded when Nicole asked him to hold Don, taking the boy and holding him carefully in his arms. He smiled when Don spoke, saying 'Mama.' Jake didn't move when Nicole moved toward him to remove the collar. "The collar is set so that only my owner is able to remove it," he told her. "There's a clasp at the back that will release it."

Jake held still as Nicole removed his collar, then watched as she threw it in the kitchen garbage. He nodded when she said she could take Don back, and he handed the boy to her. He heard her speaking to herself, and blinked when she said she wasn't Don's mother. He wondered what had happened to his birth mother, but didn't ask, feeling it wasn't his place to do so. Instead, he reached up and rubbed his neck where his collar had been, glad that he no longer had to wear it. Now that the collar was off, he could feel himself itching to shift, but he suppressed the urge, not wanting to frighten Nicole or Don.

Jake listened as Nicole spoke, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise when she said he could use his powers if he wanted to. She warned him to be careful, since she didn't know how Don would react. "The only true power I have is shifting between this form and my true form," he said. "I don't have any magic that I know of. But before I shift, I must ask if either of you are afraid of big cats?"

Jake breathed a silent sigh of relief when Nicole said neither she nor Don were afraid of big cats, then told him he could shift if he wanted to. Nodding once, he took a few steps back and closed his eyes, then began to shift to his true form. Spotted fur started growing over his exposed skin, and his tail appeared behind him. He started to shrink until he was standing on all fours. A moment later, he had fully shifted to his true form, and he opened his eyes and sat down on his haunches, then looked up at Nicole and Don to see how they would react.