It's A Hoot (mxm)

It's A Hoot

Shifters were prone to their instincts. They were creatures that followed their animal side and were more susceptible to it's needs.

It was easy, on occasion, to tell what a shifter was by their behavior, if the scent didn't instantly tip you off.
Wolves, for instance, were pack animals. They relied on each other and they valued family above all else. They were loyal and stuck together, not to mention they were more physical in their affection then some species.
Then you have bears, who were solitary and tended to stray away from crowds. They were often quite calm and dismissive, though highly protective of what was theirs.
And of course, Cats were often more laid back and mischievous. They didn't like to be cornered, in any sense of the word.

Toren was no exception to his instinctual tendencies. As an owl shifter he was quiet, observant, and often passed unnoticed. This gave him some trouble when he was younger, that along with his nocturnal habits.
He grew up an orphan. Most homes he ended up in wanted to take care of him, but with how rare owl shifters were, they found it too hard. They weren't equipped for it, nor prepared.
Toren was never really bothered by it. He found most families too loud and overbearing anyway.
Eventually he did find a home with an older human couple that weren't bothered by his behavior. They allowed him to maintain his owl habits, and in turn he compromised so they could spend some time together by staying awake in the evenings and cutting his nights shorter.
They adopted him and he was content with life there. Problems did arise from time to time, but overall, he couldn't have asked for more.

Because his family was human, he didn't interact much with the shifter community. That didn't bother him, though. He was complacent and easy to please. He was happy with what he had.

When he was old enough he got a job working the night shift at a gas station. Eventually he moved out to live on his own. He liked having his own space, but wasn't against sharing it if he needed to. He didn't mind people coming and going. He wasn't like a lot of predators where they needed a space to claim as their own and rule over.

He couldn't really say if that was normal owl behavior, having never spent time with owls before, but he did do some research and found it was more specifically the behavior of his particular owl species, the great grey.

Toren, in short, had a very peaceful life, but then everything he thought he knew began to change.
He lost the only family he ever had.