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Patton was having a fairly normal day. Just wandering around, enjoying the day. Fall had settled into the kingdom, and the near laziness of summer was starting to wear off for most. A fresh breeze pulled the smell of the last rain through the kingdom. The sun warmed his back with a golden glow. The wash of the river filling his ears. Even some of the animals of the forested grove took time to greet him out of their busy days.
Patton trotted along the riverbed, greeting the busy creatures and occasionally helping them collect their winter needs. He didn’t particularly need to do anything in preparation for winter, his plans would stay the same as they were last year and the years before.
His ears flicked up and toward a loud ruckus of movement. He let out a huff of a breath, frowning. A human or two, most likely, were running through the forest and causing a mass exodus of wildlife. Patton shook his head and weaved further into the treeline as his precaution and continued along. He kept careful attention to his footing as he moved.
“Stop!” came a shout. Patton whipped his head towards the voice. The snap of branches and twigs underfoot seeming to echo through the nearby clearing.
“Roman!” the voice shouted, “Stop!”
A shout rang out as a slide of rocks tumbled down into the river waters. Patton watched the human in a blur of white attire crash into the water, apparently not stopping fast enough before he hit the riverbed, and disappear under the waves. He was moving before he could think and dived into the water.
Shapeshifting, at this point, was normal for him. He was vaguely aware his form had changed, that, instead of hooves, a pair of webbed paws pushed through the water. It was normal, nearly instinct at this point.
He let the momentum of the water pull him toward the individual in white and collected him with his mouth before his form was changing again and he stood, belly deep in water. He tilted his head up, holding the human by its coat, and tried, as careful as he could manage, to get out of the rushing water without slipping.
The climb back up was awkward and made him heavily aware of his hooves and ankles, bending in awkward directions from the rocks. He pushed himself up and carefully set the human down before shaking himself off.
He huffed out a breath and glanced down at the creature that was wet and tired looking, and… He pushed it gently with a hoof. Asleep. He could distantly hear the sounds of the other human and it did not sound happy. Patton frowned at his new human and picked it up, throwing the creature somewhat haphazardly onto his back. He trotted along and hopped when the human woke up that it wouldn’t be too distressed.
Roman groaned, a jostle of movement plaguing his senses.
“Wha-” Roman’s eyes finally let him take in the sight of a horse’s forelegs, while his ears began to register a voice chattering away.
“I haven’t met many humans, however, so maybe you’ll be the nice kind! I wonder if we could be friends! Oh, you might want to go back home though. I don’t think I’d do too well in the settlements you have. Perhaps I could visit.”
Roman sat up and stared at the horn protruding clearly from the animal’s head.
“Oh, you’re awake!” Patton announced brightly, turning his head to look at him.
Roman screamed. Patton abruptly jolted, and Roman was on the ground before he could register he’d been bucked off. Patton froze and turned around, facing Roman with sympathy in his wide eyes.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry! Are you okay? You just startled me, that’s all. I hope I didn’t hurt you!”
Roman took in frantic breaths as he watched the unicorn (A real-life unicorn!) lean down to look at him. Talking to him! “You- what- How?”
Patton smiled, which was an odd expression on a horse (unicorn)’s face, but somehow seemed reassuring. “I assumed you were running away from the other human-person and you fell into the water and I think you hit your head, which should have healed ok by now, and I decided to take you with me until you woke up!”
“You’re talking. A unicorn- is talking to me.”
Patton laughed and the unicorn’s large form shifted into a human one, “Is this better?”
Roman’s eyes only widened, “You can shapeshift?” he screeched, scrambling backward.
Patton smiled brightly and nodded, glancing down at himself, inspecting the fabric of his shirt. He glanced at Roman, “Yep! It’s kinda fun!”
Roman shook his head and let himself fall onto his back, covering his eyes with one arm, “Am I dead?”
“No?” Patton said, leaning over him, “I’m fairly sure you’re alive.”
Roman let out a heavy breath and blinked a few times. He nodded, head bobbing faster as he began to sit up, “Okay, okay,” he swept his hands out as he let out another breath, “Alright, I got this. I’m cool. Cool as butter.”
Patton tilted his head, brow furrowed, “Feeling okay?”
Roman nodded and stood up, feet wavering under him. He held out his hands as if pleading for the ground to allow him to stay standing. Roman glanced up at the face of the- “Oh my gods you look kinda like me.”
“Oh do I?” Patton patted his face and frowned, “I don’t usually think too much about it- Should I-”
“Don’t change it-” Roman yelled, voice squeaking. He held out a shaky hand, “Just-” he let out a breath, “I’ll adjust easier to- this- than to seeing you do that again.”
Patton gave a gentle smile and shrugged, “Alrighty.”
Roman then began to inspect the area around him. Eyes flickering over the terrain, brows furrowed in concentration.
“I’m Patton. By the way.”
“A pleasure to meet you Patton,” he said distractedly, kneeling down to touch a plant.
Patton leaned down next to him, “What’s your name? Can’t keep calling ya’ ‘human’.”
Roman turned, eyeing him, “You understand how strange that sounds, correct?”
“Well, I don’t have anything else to call you!” Patton said, pouting as he put his hands on his hips.
Roman sighed, “You may address me as-” he paused, eyes focusing on the ground. He stood and dusted off his pants. He glanced at Patton, “Ah. Roman. Yes, that will suffice.”
“Oh, right, that was what the other hu- I mean person,” Patton corrected himself slowly, “-was calling you.”
Roman forced a smile of sorts and nodded, “Yes. That’s my name.” Roman let out a laugh and inspected a leaf with far too much interest.
“I’ve heard it before that too,” Patton muttered, tapping his chin in thought, squinting over at Roman.
Roman stiffened. “Where are we?” he complained loudly, twirling to look at Patton.
“Uh-” Patton glanced around, “A forest?”
“You brought us here!”
Patton made an uneasy laugh of a sound, “I- get lost easy.”
Roman trudged along the path, kicking dirt and twigs as he walked. He cringed at the sound of Patton mirroring him and giggling.
“Why?” Roman shouted, turning to face him, “May I ask! Are you following me?”
Patton looked up, “Do you prefer walking alone?” He tilted his head like a puppy at the question.
Roman raised a finger, opening his mouth with an indignant sound. He let out a huff and turned back around. Patton smiled and jogged over so he was next to Roman.
“Where are you going? Home? Where do you live?”
Roman folded his arms around himself, fingers running over the raised patches on his shoulders, “Nowhere.”
“You can’t go nowhere, and surely you don’t live ‘nowhere.’ Even I live somewhere.”
“And where is that?” Roman said, turning slightly to look at Patton.
“Home is wherever I am!” Patton announced cheerfully, “Today, this forest shall be my home.”
“What about your family?” Roman said quickly, brows furrowed, “Friends?”
Patton blinked, “I make friends easily. Everyone can be a friend if you treat them like one!”
Roman glanced back down at the path, “Not everyone,” he mumbled. Patton tilted his head, concern written on his face. He took in a breath to speak before deciding against it.
Roman looked up at the sky and flickered into a smile, “Alright, I think we better get some food and shelter before the night falls.”
Patton smiled brightly, “I’m great at finding food!”
“Alright,” Roman announced, “Then I’ll collect things for a fire and some shelter.” Roman turned to find Patton replaced by a very excited unicorn, and he yelped.
“Warn me next time!” Roman complained.
Patton gave a sympathetic smile, the horn on his head glowing brightly. He bent his head down and glanced up, “Ooh, perfect!” he announced and with a flick of his tail, began to trot through the forest.
“Just remember to come back here!” Roman yelled after him.
“Okay!” Patton yelled back.
Roman rolled his eyes. “He better not bring back grass.”
He let out a heavy sigh and glanced around, “Alright. How the hell do I make a fire?”
Roman had collected himself an assortment of wood, moss, leaves and various other items to set up a shelter for himself and his new friend. He frowned at his collection. It was not enough to cover a horse. Roman let out a frustrated huff and let it all drop. He brushed down his jacket, the white of the fabric turned green and brown in several areas.
A buzz of sound. Like the wing-beat of a rather large insect. Roman frowned, eyes darting over the region. For a moment, he was certain he was siking himself out. In the corner of his eyes, a blur of motion. Roman froze, eyes watching for whatever it was.
He heard it again and shifted quickly to find himself face to face with a fairy. The winged being looked rather offended by Roman blocking his intended path.
“Don’t turn me into a frog! Please!” Roman cried quickly. If there was one thing he knew about fairies and fae it was that they were not to be trifled with.
The fairy’s stoic and annoyed expression turned into one of confoundment.
“Turn you-” Roman’s eyes widened as the fairy lifted his arms, wings a flurry of motion as he hovered in front of him. Roman took an instinctive step back.
“How!” he shouted, “Do you understand the scientific impossibility of such an act? It’s essentially shapeshifting! It makes no sense!”
Roman furrowed his brow, tilting his head, the fairy continued, now pacing in the air, “I can comprehend the idea that shapeshifters themselves have some genetic flexibility wired into their DNA to the point that they can manipulate their genetic sequence to become that of another being.”
The fairy paused and turned to look back at Roman, practically livid, “But you are a human and I am a faerie. It would make no sense!” By then the fairy’s voice began to sound like high-pitched bells, either too high or too small for Roman to properly make out.
“‘M back!” Patton announced, with a mouth full of… something in a basket. (Where did he get a basket?) Roman looked past the fairy towards Patton. Patton dropped his basket and gasped. The fairy had turned, and the unicorn and fairy met each other halfway. Patton crouched down so that he was at eye level with the creature, a smile breaking across his face.
“Logan!” Patton announced happily, his tail swishing with excitement, more like a dog than a horse in Roman’s mind. Unicorns were beginning to confuse him.
The fairy’s voice was still unregisterable to Roman’s ears, but he could tell he was talking…maybe yelling actually. Roman frowned, the fairy was probably talking bad about him, wasn’t he? Patton looked at him with intent and interest before announcing, “Ooh! Ooh! I can do that too!”
Roman at first thought that Patton had entirely disappeared. Until he noticed the second small being flying in an excited manner. Roman leaned down only for Patton to grow in size, a sheepish smile on his face, “I think I surprised him a bit.” Roman glanced down, finding a small fairy lying limp in Patton’s palm.
“Did you kill him?” Roman announced loudly, pulling on his hair.
Roman watched Patton and Logan chat, voices too quiet or high or something for Roman to hear. He let out a loud sigh before muttering, “Excuse me. What is happening?” Roman asked, frowning down at the pair.
Roman gulped when the motions from the two blue-winged creatures paused and he could feel the color drain from his face as the fairy- Logan- was now much taller than him.
Logan tilted his head and looked Roman over, “Patton,” he said, voice sounding cold, yet casual, eyes still fixed on Roman. Roman glanced towards the unicorn (who was once again a unicorn, thankfully). Patton had a small smile on his face as he stood beside them, eyes looking between them. “Care to properly introduce me to your human?”
Roman made a series of noises and Patton smiled brightly, “Oh! Yeah! This is Roman, Roman, this is Logan. Oh hey, your names rhyme!”
A chill ran down Roman’s spine as Logan continued to stare down at him. The fairy’s lips turned up into a small smile. “Yes, it is quite amusing that our names rhyme. I quite like rhymes, don’t you Roman?”
He furrowed his brows, hoping his confusion didn’t show on his face.
“You are aware of what a rhyme is, yes?”
“Of course!” Roman announced, “I was just-” Roman swallowed down the rise in his voice’s pitch and let out a calming breath, “I- was just- put off guard. Is all. I didn’t know that Patton was friends with a-”
Logan quirked a brow and Roman wanted to fold in on himself.
“Logannnn,” Patton said chided playfully, “You’re scaring himmmm.”
“I am not,” Logan said, a matter of factly.
“Are too,” Patton said, pushing his lower lip into a heavily exaggerated pout. He stopped a hoof, punctuating his point.
Logan groaned loudly and readjusted his glasses. “My apologies, Roman, it appears I have frightened you in some manner and it was not my intention. I will not curse or harm you in any way, as I am sure Patton will ensure.” Logan turned towards Patton, “Does that suffice?” Patton nodded and Logan let out a huff of a sigh, shrinking and sitting on a twig Roman had collected.
“How do you know each other?” Roman gawked, looking between them with wide eyes.
Patton paused a moment before blinking and smiling, “Oh, we were kids. He helped me with some magical-ness and we just- pow- took off as friends!”
Logan furrowed his brow, giving the unicorn a small frown before he glanced back towards Roman.
Roman was looking up, the branches of the trees rustling as the cool winds fluttered through them. The moon rising overhead. “Uh… do you know how to build a fire?” Roman muttered, “I am,” he bit his lip, “mostly clueless as to the process.”
Patton shook his head.
Logan regarded Roman quietly before he stood up, balancing on his twig, “I am aware of the practical application of fire-building.” Logan jumped off the twig and grew to a larger size, “Would you appreciate my assistance?”
Roman looked the fairy over, “For what purpose to you?”
“The pleasure of teaching an individual such as yourself, practical skills?”
Roman glanced toward Patton. He sighed heavily and leaned back, “Finnee.”