(Like) Adding (some kind of) wings to a (sort of a) tiger (shifter)

''A lot of people express the same sentiment'', Samael said, his mind buzzing with questions about different worlds, Combat Games that were wars and another planet called Equilibrium. He had heard a few rumours here and there growing up how some students at the Academy, both present and past, had actually come from different worlds, whether that meant they were alien in origin, or coming from different, parallel dimensions through some kind of portals. He had never given them much thought, though, not because he didn't believe them exactly, but simply because he had never met such person before who would confirm such rumours, and there was no way to actually deny them completely, was it? Also, during the years in which he had actually been in the age group which actually spread and listened to rumours he had had much hotter head and a completely different set of priorities then caring about any of that really.

The change of subject came soon though, too soon to be anything but intentional, and Samael bit his tongue harder this time, reeling his questions in. It was obvious now that the man did not want to talk about it, so he wouldn't ask. He shouldn't have asked at all, probably, but some parts of him were still a child and thus uncontrollable and curious about things such as this.

''Yes, it does, though I am actually a mix between two blood lines, so we have two tigers and two lynxes in my family'', he answered the man's change of subject question with ease as he himself didn't mind talking about his power. ''Our family reunions aren't all that interesting, though, considering that it is just us four'', he said, though that was not exactly true. There were more, he knew, a lot of cousins in both of his parents' clans, however, he had never met them, and he doubted he ever will, his parents not being on the best of terms with their families due to marrying each other and choosing to stay on the Island. ''It used to get a bit wild during the years though, especially around meal times'', he said. His brother has had a phase during which he refused to eat vegetables by turning into a tiger and claiming tigers eat only meat. His mother was not pleased.

''You'd be surprised how many people would want to have an ability to be able to turn themselves into something else'', Samael said as he jumped over a fallen tree which had appeared on his way, though it did seem to him that his companion wasn't all that interested in taking that area of conversation anywhere further than that. Instead, he seemed much more interested in his family right now.

''Wild like a lot of screaming'', he said, remembering how loud some of the meals could get when both he and his brother were younger, ''a lot of growling too'', he added, for there were times when nothing else but a nicely placed grow from their mother could calm them down, ''and fighting'', which usually stopped once it became growl worthy, though nothing said it wouldn't continue later, ''and turning into animals which are not really meant to ever see the inside of a second floor apartment'', as that was something their fighting often lead too, and had worked well into his favour until his brother grew into his other form, becoming at least twice as big, and twice as heavy as he was. Fighting had simply kind of stopped after that. Or at least physical fighting did. ''Wild like that'', he finished in the end, with a small smile on his face. Those were all nice memories now.

''And it might be cool to you, but to me it used to be a source of endless frustration'', he said, laughing a little. ''He was younger, yet when he turned quite bigger than me. It used to irritate me very much.'' It didn't any more, though. He had grown to accept it, and to like his lithe, quick, lynx body very much.

''The only people who care about that are my parents families'', he said, his tone growing a bit more sullen as he spoke. ''They do not look well on mixed blood either. Nobody else knows, really, or would care if they did, especially not here.'' Academy wasn't a place where a prejudice like that could really grow, he thought, or at least in any serious capacity, and he was truly glade for that as a thought that he had a vast amount of cousins he would never meet just because his parents had married each other didn't really sit well with him sometimes. He didn't bother thinking about it much, though, as there was clearly nothing to be done about that.

''It was'', Samael said, nodding his head with a small smile still gracing his lips. It had been fun, or at least it seemed so in retrospect, though, like many things that once became fond memories, many of these didn't seem as fun while they were happening. Many have however, though not all of them have been done with 'this will once be a fond memory' in mind. Sometimes, both his brother and he just made a mess of things.

''Yeah'', he said at the man's quiet 'I see' feeling a need to explain a bit more how really nobody was really like that any more, except for his grandparents and rest of their clans, but they weren't here, and here nobody would care, for the friend wasn't always a friend. The man might be some kind of mix breed himself perhaps?

''It's a really idiotic and old fashioned way of thinking though'', he said, still slightly frowning himself at the thought. ''My parents' clans that are really stuck at the past for still practising it. Thankfully, they all live somewhere really far away where they can't bother anybody with their ways.''

Realising suddenly that he had not introduced himself again, as that was something that happened to him on regular bases for some reason, he took Drei's hand in his and shook it. ''Apologizes'', he said. ''My name is Samael. Samael Fein Carnige.''

''Thank you'', Samael said, nodding his head slowly, not in affirmation, but as a gesture of acceptance, thanks. He was used to hearing how his name was strange from people, not good, and though his friends liked him and his family loved him and his teachers probably though he was a blessing compared to some other students, nobody ever exactly came out and told him 'You are good'. It was surprisingly nice to hear, making him feel...warm and strong on the inside though he liked to think he was a person who could neither be brought up or down by other people's opinions. Apparently that was not so at least on one end of the scale.

What the man said next however made him frown. His mind completely bypassed the topic of his family though that was something he could argue about for ages, as has been proven before, focusing instead on story of his past that Drei suddenly shared with him.

''That's moronic'', he said in a dead, serious voice as the righteous anger that he thought he had dealt with when he stopped being a teenager angry at the world for not being just rose up within him yet again, making his mental vocabulary drop down as it did so. For some reason hearing that what happened here on Earth among his idiotic people also happened on other planets with some other idiotic people somehow served as some time of time machine, bringing back his old personality from back when he was seventeen and couldn't understand why somebody would beat another human being half to death simply because that person was gay.

''To hate each other even though you don't know why'', he said bitterly, ''and to keep people who can see past that bigotry from loving one another...'', his face rose up in a grimace as he gave a very cat-like snarl even though the characteristic of his other body weren't supposed to transfer into his human shape. ''That is just stupid. And to shun somebody for the love, like you said... For the love that happened despite all of that... Sometimes I wonder how the world still keeps spinning. Or, well. Worlds I guess'', he said somewhat more softly, his anger passing as quickly as it came as he realised that him getting righteously angry and ready to smite something didn't really help Drei at all.

''I'm sorry to hear about your friend's fate. Is he still...back there?'', he asked quietly, as he hoped with all his heart that the answer was no. Drei's friend should come here, he decided, and be with Drei. The Academy might not be perfect, but it was certainly much, much better than that.

''You're welcome, I guess'', Samael said once he was once again completely calm, though he could still feel the anger and resentment bulbing somewhere under his skin. It would take some time for that to go away. Or more likely, some time, and yet another long run.

''It shouldn't even be said though'', he added, frowning a bit at the forest floor, ''Everybody in the world... or worlds I guess...should just feel that way'', he said, sighing, as he dragged his fingers through his hair. ''They would be a much better place that way'', he huffed, knowing that what he was talking about was all but impossible.

''I'm glad that your friend got away though'', he added then on a happier note. ''The world is pretty big, yes, but somehow...most of the people like us end up here'', he said, thinking how even his own parents who had, in theory, protection and support of their own clans had in the end settled here on the Island. ''Especially those who don't have nowhere else to go'', he added softly as he guessed that a person from another world would have somewhat of a hard time adapting to a life here. ''The school finds them somehow, sends them letters inviting them to come here because it's safe. So, your friend just might really be here'', the cat shifter smiled. ''You could even ask in the Administration building, see if anybody with his name has signed in as a student yet.''

Somehow Samael hopped that was true. It would give hope to Drei and he was coming to like the man. Most of the students he guided back to the Academy from the forest never approached him again afterwards, but Drei was becoming his friend fast, or at least something more than a mere acquaintance, and Samael could see this weighted heavily on his mind.

''Don't be too hard on yourself for that'', he said, thinking about Drei had said he had been one of those who just stood back and watched. ''Everybody gets stuck in a place like that sometimes. You care though, right? I'm sure your friend will see and understand that'', Samael put a hand on Drei's shoulder as he said that, before removing it a few seconds later and pushing forward through the forest then.

''Come on'', he said. ''There is still a way to go before we're back at the campus.''