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Cassie had always been afraid of large animals. She was small, and even though she could fly she was a never a strong flier and the risk was too great. She'd been betrayed enough times, accidentally hurt even more, and so she kept her space from larger shifters. Whenever she shifted she was either alone or with another small shifter, and even then she preferred being human. She had more control with hands then feathers, and she got tired of being belittled for her shift.
Until she came to the Library that is, and found a comfort in the largeness of the shifters around her. She was small, to the point she was used to being the smallest, used to that being a negative aspect, but here that wasn't always the case.
Ezekiel shifted rarely in the beginning, something about trust issues and not wanting to be judged for having a "dirty" shift(to which Cassie responded that she'd always found raccoons cute and Ezekiel had had to excuse himself. She caught his smile as he rushed away, though), but soon enough they began to feel less like strangers brought together by circumstance and more like a family. With that change came Ezekiel shifting more often, and he was hesitant to let anyone touch him but Cassie kept talking about how soft his fur looked and eventually he gave in, something that made everyone happier as Ezekiel would find his way into the lap of anyone he could, often latching onto the back of Jake's shirts and letting himself be carried through the Library.
His shift was average as far as the size of raccoons go, but it was still a lot larger than a robin and so Cassie remained hesitant to shift around him still, especially when during a few missions he showed just how dangerous his shift could be. Eventually though the long stretches of not shifting caught up to her, and she longed to stretch her wings more than she feared being hurt, so she shifted and flew through the long halls of the Library.
It was exhilarating; she had known gliding through that much knowledge would be but this was unprecedented. It was exciting and yet also so peaceful, for a moment she wondered why she’d never thought of doing this before.
That was until Ezekiel, shifted, spotted her flying and chittered loudly. The sound shocked Cassandra so much she faltered, and losing the momentum she’d built up, began to tumble to the floor. She would have broken a lot of bones, maybe even died considering how far up she’d been, had Ezekiel not run up and softened her fall with his body. She was too scared to think rationally, and so she flapped her wings wildly, trying to get away, and Ezekiel couldn’t understand why. He hadn’t even known she was a robin, and now she was freaking out trying to get away from him.
He chittered, softly this time, and rolled over just enough for Cassie to slide off. Once on the floor she began hopping away frantically but stumbled and fell onto her face. It was frustrating, being this small and clumsy all at once, and she wanted to cry.
Ezekiel walked up to her slowly, trying to make himself smaller by huddling to the ground and pulling his tail close to him. He rumbled softly, not wanting to spook her again, and the sound made her turn back to face him once she’d finally got back on her feet.
She was scared still, deathly so, but hearing that rumble reminded her that this was Ezekiel and as much as he was a reckless, selfish thief who currently possessed more than enough opportunity to harm her, he was also her friend. And for all of his faults, she trusted him. So she froze in her spot before slowly taking a small step towards him.
At this point Ezekiel had fully paused, not wanting to ruin the moment, and allowed Cassie to slowly approach. Eventually she was right in front of him, beak almost touching his nose, and she reached out that final bit to peck ever so gently at his nose, waiting for him to lunge out in anger. But he didn’t, and after a while she started to get closer. He was fully laying on the ground now, pressed as close to the floor as he could be, anything to seem less threatening to the small bird before him.
It surprised him how much he didn’t want Cassandra to be afraid of him in that moment. How much he genuinely-honest-to-god-cross-his-heart-and-die cared . How much he wanted her to feel safe.
When she finally got close enough to peck at his cheek, he started purring, trying not to scare her. Luckily, it seemed to relax her even further, until eventually she sat down next to him. They weren’t quite touching, but it was close, and it was comfortable. Slowly, trying not to disturb the bird, Ezekiel shuffled just close enough to press the barest amount of fur to Cassie's feathers. Cassandra responded by also shuffling closer until she was nearly entirely enveloped by his soft fur.
That was how Jake eventually found them, calling their names and getting a soft chitter from Ezekiel in response.
“There you are, Ezekiel,” He sounded like he’d been looking for them for a while when he finally spotted them. “Me and Baird have been looking all over for you. Do you know where Cassie is?”
Ezekiel responded by gesturing his head to where Cassie was pressed into his side. Jake looked confused before he looked closer and noticed the soft red on the other side of Ezekiel.
“So you’re a robin, huh, Cassie?” Jake said as Cassandra shuffled away from Ezekiel enough to be able to shift back without squashing the poor raccoon.
“Yep,” She responded brightly as Jake leaned down to pick up Ezekiel, letting the raccoon position himself comfortably in the cowboys arms.
“You have lovely feathers,” Jake complemented as the three began heading towards the door to the annex. Ezekiel chittered in agreement, tail reaching out to affectionately brush against Cassie’s arm.
“Thank you,” Cassie responded, sounding a bit more choked up then she probably should have, given the circumstances. It was a cheap line in all honesty, but it still meant a lot to her.
Even as Cassandra began shifting more often in the annex she still found herself uncomfortable around the others when shifted. She was most comfortable with Ezekiel, given their previous interaction, but even then it was mostly when Cassandra was allowed to make all of the moves.
She would fly onto Jake's shoulder occasionally and he always smiled a softer smile than usual and scratched gently under her chin with a single finger. Sometimes she would hop onto a table Jenkins was working at and he would spare her a glance before returning to his work, and they would enjoy each other's company in comfortable silence. With Eve it was usually her landing on the Guardians head whenever her hair was down and resting there, Eve rolling her eyes even as she made sure to be extra careful not to throw Cassie off. She spent time flying around Ezekiel, taking delight in his annoyed huff whenever he couldn’t catch up to her, and delighting even further in his boasting when she slowed down to let him catch up.
But whenever the others shifted she tried to keep her distance unless she was human. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them, or love them, she just didn’t want to risk it.
And yet the temptation was always there. Whenever she saw Eve and Jake sleeping in the corner, or Ezekiel and Jake yapping on even as animals, or Eve picking up Ezekiel by the scruff to redirect him when he got too close to a particular artifact. She wanted that, more than anything, but she also didn’t want to get hurt.
In the end, she decided to approach Jake the same way she had approached Ezekiel, though hopefully this time with less tumbling. She trusted him, and her desire to be close to her makeshift family when shifted was more than her current anxiety at the prospect of being shifted around an enormous dog. He had shifted, and was resting in the blanket corner he and Eve shared. He wasn’t really all that big, not compared to an average border collie, but compared to Cassandra he was huge .
She wasn’t going to back down though, not now, and so she shifted quietly and began hopping over to him. Eventually he roused enough for Jake to notice her approach, and he froze, clearly taking a similar approach to Ezekiel in that he didn’t want to scare her. Unlike Ezekiel, who teased Jake endlessly for his lack of control over his tail compared to the raccoon, his tail began softly wagging against the blankets, revealing his excitement. It soothed Cassie in a way, to see that Jake was really just an excited dog, not a bloodthirsty beast ready to snap her in two.
Her approach was slow but quicker then it had been with Ezekiel; she was still anxious but it was a more controlled anxiety. Soon enough she reached his muzzle, and she pecked at his nose lightly. He scrunched up his nose for a moment before relaxing once more, a testament that even if she annoyed him he wouldn’t snap. Emboldened, she moved closer, eventually butting his cheek with her head, and still he remained relaxed. She let out a small chirp, and hopped to his side, nestling into the blankets just at his shoulder.
Turning his head back a bit, he let out a huff and nosed her slightly, a comforting gesture as Cassandra nuzzled closer.
Ezekiel came bursting through the back door an hour later, out of breath and with an artifact in hand. When he saw the two of them curled up he exclaimed indignantly;
“Seriously? Not only did I have to get this back by myself,” He gestured to the ornate cup in his hand, “But I also come to find Stone’s stolen my spot? This is unfair.”
Jake responded with a smug bark, and Cassandra chirped excitedly, her feather fluffing up.
“Is that an invitation, Cassandra?” Ezekiel blinked in surprise, as if he couldn’t understand why she’d want him to join if she already had Stone.
She flapped her wings in response and looked at him expectantly, Jake wagging his tail as he too looked at the thief with an expectancy.
“Let me hand this to Jenkins first,” Ezekiel disappeared into the lab, reappearing moments later as a raccoon, barreling closer with a recklessness that both Jake and Cassandra found familiar. He practically rammed into Jake's side, who just huffed in response, turning his head to nip lightly at the raccoon's tail as he burrowed further into the border collie's soft fur. They were both used to Ezekiel's antics, especially when shifted.
The raccoon began purring, Jake responding with his own soft rumbling, and Cassandra offering a small chirp every once in a while.
Cassandra was still scared of larger shifters often, but she also knew that large didn’t have to mean scary when it came to her fellow Librarians. Besides, how could be that scared when she had a ruffled owl, a reckless raccoon, a strong golden retriever, and a protective border collie right behind her.