Twilight Rogue Presents: The Cries of The Capital

POV: Ashely

It was nice feeling the spring breeze in the air, I didn’t think we’d be visiting the human’s territory, but Leon thought it would be great for us to get out of the mainlands of the Capital for a few days. Besides, he was meeting with the mayor for their monthly meeting; an open floor talk about what’s been going on within our lives and communities. I managed to drag Jazz with me while Rico was out of state with my Uncle and her wife, Sage was out of town working on a project with a friend. She jumped on the chance to leave the empty house with Ferdinand to a new location. All the kids were on Spring break for a week, and it was a perfect day to visit the Zoo.

“Look, Toro, the monkeys are waving at you!” Jazz yelled pointing at the monkeys swinging from vine to vine

“Julian, stay close to me, alright?” I asked

Julian was making silly faces and expressions in front of a monkey that was imitating him, “Okay, mama but look at this,” He said with a giggle

I leaned down with him, watching as the monkey looked at me before directing his attention to Julian, imitating his actions like he was being controlled. As Julian danced around, so did the monkey reflection every action from the smile to the feet movement. It seemed unusual the way it even started to walk like him when we moved on to the next animal after a while; I looked back at the monkey, shaking its head going back to normal.

“Look, ma! It’s dad!” Julian shouted

“Where!?” I asked as my ears and tail popped out wagging

“He’s talking about the lions clam your pheromones, Bea,” Jazz said

I couldn’t help but softly whine, “It’s not my fault he’s our lion,” I said

“What about me?” Julian asked

“You’re my cub pup, Juli Juli and I love you so much,” I said hugging him and kissing his forehead

He softly growled hugging me back, “I love you too mama,” He said

“I’m hungry!” Ferdinand shouted

“Okay. Okay, little bull, let’s get you something to eat. I think I saw a playset up near the sea animals and since we haven’t gone over there yet we might as well,” Jazz said

“Sounds like a plan. When did you get so organized?” I asked

“When your wife is a wedding planner you do everything to help when she’s stressed about a client who hired her last minute,” Jazz said

“Mama, can we play in the playground? Please?” Julian asked with Ferdinand

“Sure boys, we’ll let you know when everything is ready and set up for lunch,” I said

“I’ll race you!” Ferdinand shouted

“You’re on!” Julian said

“I’ll send you off,” Jazz said, “Ready. Set. Go!” She yelled as the boys took off towards the playground

“They are so beautiful,” I said

“Yeah. They are and while little Julian is in touch with his inner wolf already more kids are half shifting even Toro has his tail popping out sometimes,” She said

“Really? Oh, that’s so cute. I bet he’ll look just like Diablo, speaking of the Rough Romantic, how is he?” I asked

“Happy. His lower back is aching a lot, and you know he always tells Sage and me not to worry about it, but overall since we agreed to co-parent Nico and got into this polygamist relationship, he has never been happier,” She said

“And Cleo? I’m sure your inner wolf is a happy puppy,” I said

Jazz’s ears wiggle as her tail popped out, wagging blushing, “She’s very umm happy,” She said, unable to hide her excitement, “Wait. Who is that man with the balloons?” She asked

“I...I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s okay,” I said looking at the some of the kids gather around him following him, “I’m going to check on the boys,” I said walking over to see them gone with the crowd

I gulped a little nervous, following up behind the group of marching kids trying to get a balloon as music played from the cart. The man eventually stopped near a performance area where he finally passed out all the balloons. A magician popped up on stage in a flurry of sparkle glitter and smoke. As he pulled a roll out his coat pocket and popped it out into his top hat, kids of all ages took to the stands for a seat.

“Mama! Over here!” Julian yelled with a yellow balloon tied around his wrist

I sighed a breath of relief, calling for Jazz to come over and join us while the boys were pushing against each other. We were all together enjoying the show as the balloon guy was leading more people over. We enjoyed the show Ferdinand even helped with one of the magic tricks pulling an endless scarf trail out of his wrist and finding a toy action figure at the end. Jazz was worried a little knowing the action figure was the one he recently lost at the fairgrounds a day or so earlier. As the magician tussled his hair, letting him keep the toy, he ran off stage with his red balloon on his wrist to Julian. The magician stared at Julian for a moment before continuing with the show. We ate, and when the show finally over, we walked around a bit more, but Ferdinand and Julian wanted to go back, saying that the magician had a surprise for them. With Jazz reassuring me that everything was going to be just fine, we let the boys go up ahead.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" I asked

"Your anxiety is through the roof, just please try to relax. You know being attached isn't a bad thing, but being a helicopter parent is. I'm sure the boys will be just....." Jazz started

"MOM! MOM! HE TOOK JULIAN!" Ferdinand shouted running into her arms

"WHAT?!" We shouted

Jazz kneeled, looking at Ferdinand in the eyes, "What happened?" She asked

"We...we...we went to him, and he said we could go to his candy shop, and I was trying to pull Julian away, but he grabbed him an...an...and I ran before he could get me and I'm so sorry," Ferdinand studdered through starting to cry as he held onto Jazz, "The called himself the Grayman," He mumbled

Jazz held on to Ferdinand, "I'm calling the police!" She yelled

"JULIAN!? JULIAN!?" I shouted looking around

"ASH WAIT! DON'T...Run off," Jazz said trying to reach the police as I was already running after Julian

"JULIAN?!" I shouted

"MOMMY!? MOMMY!? MOMMY?!" Julian shouted

I ran through the crowd pushing them out of my way as the yellow balloon was my only indicator of where to go, "JULI JULI!?" I shouted

"AAAAAA! You Little....!" He shouted

I half shifted running through the people; eventually, I was on my hands and feet climbing over the habitats. I saw as the man struggled to keep Juli Juli still as his wolf form was more unstable without Leon or me around. I jumped from the top of the food stand on him. We both fell on the ground, and while Juli tumbled out of his grip, I was about to claw his eyes out until he blinded me with some kind of spray. I felt him punch me off him before stumbling up to his feet; I managed to pull something off him as he ran away. I crawled on my hands, cracking open my eyes to Julian, reaching out for me with tears in his eyes. I was disorient by the spray giving in to my instincts; I chased after him in full wolf form biting off the bumper to his truck as he drove away. I dropped the bumper looking around howling, trying to hear him again. I shifted back normal, "JULIAN?! JULIAN?!" I cried out as my tears burned my face

"JULIAN?!"