Raised by Lions

Chapter 21: New Friends?

Another year, another day at school and another attempt from other animals trying to befriend them. Legosi and Louis had agreed that morning before school that they would give it one last go and if one failed, then they could just join up with the other again.

That's how Legosi ended up where he was now. Jack had, once again, approached him during lunch, with the usual puppy eyes. It was odd to see a 13 year old doing puppy eyes. "Would you come play with us today?" Jack asked. Legosi pretended to think about it and then rolled his eyes, "Sure, why the hell not."

Jack barked happily and grabbed Legosi's wrist to drag him over to the rest of the group. The same group that Jack has been with the whole time. They were all too happy that he agreed and introduced themselves. Legosi learned their names pretty quickly.

Collot, Jack and Miguno were the most hyper of the bunch and Legosi enjoyed throwing the frisbee between them and occasionally talking to them. Durham was sitting to the side, strumming a guitar the whole time. Legosi had no idea how the coyote managed to sneak that into the schoolyard, while Voss was someone he hadn't noticed until he'd been close to them and saw the fennec fox on Collot's shoulder.

Speaking of shoulders, when Collot decided to make a mad dash after a tennis ball that flew over the group, Voss had been wise enough to jump over to Legosi's right shoulder. It had been an odd sensation, having someone standing on your shoulder, but he was light and his shoes somehow didn't track dirt all over his uniform, so Legosi didn't mind. He did, however, make up some excuse that his left shoulder hurt a bit to keep Voss from moving over to that side. Truthfully, Legosi was just nervous the fox would notice the concealed throwing knives he hid along the inside of his shirt there. Voss was kind enough to listen though and stayed on his right shoulder.

Legosi had noticed their differences very quickly though, even if it seemed like they didn't. They were a lot more energetic than he was. They ran around constantly and didn't stop once. When he was younger he could do that too, but he didn't have such outwardly busy energy anymore. He noticed that despite them being the same age as him, he already towered over them in length and his teeth and claws were way bigger than theirs. Not that he showed his teeth, but they smiled so wide that theirs were obvious.

He also noticed that they were very expressive, while his own emotions were more muted in how he expressed them. He chalked everything up to not being around canines much and growing up among reptiles, who were known to be less expressive and energetic. The group of mixed canines didn't seem to think much of it though.

At some point they started playing tag, Voss occasionally switching between their shoulders in the middle of the game and clinging to their ears to not fall off in the process. Legosi was a lot faster than them, whether his training or lineage was the reason for this, he wasn't sure, but it did make it more difficult for them to tag him.

At some point, they all decided to be "it" and team up against Legosi. Legosi took this as a challenge and grinned closed mouth at them as he took off at full sprint. Miguno split off from the group and Jack and Durham moved out wider. Legosi chuckled as he took a sharp turn that effectively made Collot slip when the sheepdog tried to copy his movement.

Jack appeared from around a corner and Legosi gracefully sidestepped him, much to the labrador's surprise. Durham was trying to help Collot up, who was laughing so hard he could barely stand and Voss had seemingly disappeared. As Legosi ran on, Miguno appeared out of nowhere and tried to tackle him, but Legosi ducked, successfully causing the hyena to go over him and roll onto the soft grass, tripping Jack in the process.

Voss suddenly dropped down from a tree, but instead of the successful sneak attack he hoped for, Legosi caught him instead and threw him at Collot, who caught the fennec easily enough. Eventually the group of five, all still laughing, cornered Legosi against the building. Legosi was panting but smiled anyway, even if their excited demeanors were a bit overwhelming, this was fun.