Accidental Crossbreeding
 

Name: Calvin Brightfur
Age: 21
species: half human-half leopard
Appearance: 6 foot tall, slightly tan skin. Well built, but not overly muscular. Round leopard ears and a tail. Faint spots on his back that spread to his whole body when angry
~hair: Thin golden hair. Wavy and sometimes quite curly. To the bottom of his ears (human).
~eyes: bright green
Personality: Quiet most of the time, but also explosive when angry. He can be one feisty cat if he needs to be.

Name: Nona
Species: Half human, half tiger
Age: Eighteen
Sex: Female
Appearence: Short orange hair, cut between her jaw line and shoulders, and yellow eyes; tiger ears, cat-like pupils, claws, and a tiger tail she usually keeps wound around her left leg when resting it. Wears a black T-shirt, short jean skirt, and black boots.
Personality: A sweet, curious girl, who likes to learn things and see things.

Calvin woke from his nap in the shade, knowing it was time. He gave a little stretch and looked at the sky reddening with sunset. Right on time, two older men in long robes approached him.

"The ceremony is starting," one said and the other motioned for him to follow. Calvin just fell into step behind then, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach. Tonight his mate would be chosen, the one he would spend his entire life with. Everyone he knew who was already mated loved each other dearly, but there were tales of couples who did not work. A fluke of fate.

He tapped a blunt claw on his torn jean clad leg. A circle of fire came into view. As they got closer he saw they were torches set in the ground, a woman in front of each one. They wore clothes that completely covered them. So this was the ceremony. He swallowed nervously and stepped into the circle.

Nona had been feeling under the weather for a week, and the lack of sleep accompanying it wasn't helping her thinking skills. She moved towards the torches automatically as soon as she spotted them, and bumped into someone by accident.

Calvin had his eyes closed, the staff of choosing in his hands. The thing spun of some magic of its own, balancing easily on his palm. He supposed it didn't make much a difference whether his eyes were opened or closed, but he was so nervous that the spinning of the staff might just make him throw up.

Someone crying out had his eyes flying open though. A girl had stumbled into the circle and knocked one of the veiled women aside. Just then, the staff stopped spinning, its sharpened point resting right on the intruder.

"Um..." was all Calvin could manage.

Nona looked from the man in front of her, to the staff, to the woman she'd knocked. 'What...just happened?'

The older man rushed over to the intruder and grabbed her by the shoulders while Calvin stood there stunned. "Who are you? What are you doing here?!" he snapped, giving her a little shake. Never had something unexpected happening during a choosing ceremony in years.

Nona held up a clawed hand in defence. 'Nona. I've been--' she coughed into her free hand '-- sick for a while. I just sorta came here without thinking.'

The women dispersed in a fit--angry, relieved, confused, and ready to gossip. Soon, it was just the two old men, Calvin, and the strange girl.

"Do you have any idea what you have done? This...we can't talk about this out here." The old man said in a grave voice. He grabbed Nona by the arm and started to drag her towards a hut. The other man practically shoved Calvin after them.

Nona, guessing it was better to just go along with things, followed him, utterly bewildered.

Calvin and Nona were shoved together into the middle of the empty hut. The door was shut with one man blocking it. Not that Calvin had any plans on escaping. A quick glance at the girl, Nona he think she said, told him she probably wasn't either.

"You two are chosen mates," one man said. "I don't know how this happened, but it can't be taken back. Do you two even understand what's going on?"

'No,' Nona said in exasperation. 'I've been trying to ask that!'

Calvin looked at the girl curiously. "You're a tiger right?" he asked. "Don't you have a choosing ceremony too? I thought all tribes did it."

"Exactly," one old man said. "You interrupted Calvin's choosing ceremony and now you two are mates."

'No, we don't have a choosing ceremony,' Nona said. 'We don't even have tribes. Do I have to be his mate?'

"Yes you have to be his mate!" The old man yelled in exasperation. "It's magic and that's how it works!" He started pacing in the room, clearly annoyed. This wasn't supposed to happen at all.

Calvin just sat there and shook his head. "I'm so confused," he muttered. "Isn't this crossbreeding?"

'Well, has anyone ever tried not mating?' Nona asked, exasperatedly.

"It's impossible because we are perfect for each other. Now that the bond has been forged, it will pull us together no matter what. It's what all the books say," Calvin said.

'For all you know, the books are wrong,' Nona said, now clearly annoyed. 'Why don't you give it a try?'

"It doesn't work that way!" the old man snapped, hitting a fist against the door.

"You should just go with it," Calvin said. "You don't want to go against magic."