Chapter Text
A spirit is an animal representative of the human soul. Some are big and some are small. They can speak like humans, eat like humans, and need sleep as well when tired or unwell. They bleed black ink like blood when injured. When a human is dying, their spirit slowly or quickly fade away. Many studies on the spirit have been done. They learned much. Like how the spirit and human can't move far from each other or they feel a tightness around their hearts. Often times, the spirit's size and animal depends on the environment. Such as the more rural an area can be the bigger the animal can be. It explains why most cities have tiny animal and insect types. Though, there is always the odd birth of a large animal type.
The spirit animal sometimes can be born with unnatural coloring and markings. They show how special that the person is in their deepest core. Paula March was determine to collect them all. Over the years, she had mastered the way of obtaining the humans with the most odd and most beautiful spirit animals and keeping them alive and well with minimal trouble. Then one time to degrade or when the colors start to fade due to age or the unfortunate bout of sickness, she simply killed them and disposed of the human corpse. She's no fool though. She takes photos of her collection to add to scrapbooks when she wants to reflect on the past.
Her husband used to help her obtain her 'dolls' as she called them. He had a trusting face and his beautiful golden malamute charmed many to their fate. When he died, her two sons, one with a sparrow spirit and another with golden butterfly that he kept in a jewele frame case around his neck, began to help her.
She was with her sons when she saw her latest 'doll'. It was a breezy summer evening, and they were eating at a restaurant that had some tables located outside for those that wanted to enjoy the nice weather with their meal. The doll in question was a tall and very beautiful man with dark hair that curled around his ears with a leopard with a pure golden coat and silver-blue eyes walking gently by his side. The leopard's spots were so light in color that she could barely see them in the evening light.
They both would be a interesting new item in her collection. She did have a fondness for gold and it has been so long since she had such a large and majestic animal in her collection. Her sons will begin watching this young man this night, carefully learning his routine so they can obtain him safely and quickly. Paula's own silver-furred mink purred almost like a cat in her lap as they both smiled at the thought of the photo-sessions, they will have with this new doll.
*~*
The red panda was heavy in his arms, but the little fucker was being lazy as hell and was sleeping while the human male carried him from the parking lot to the FBI building and on the trip up in the elevator. Both human and animal shared the rust colored in fur and hair and gray-blue eyes. As well the fondness for video games and cartoons. Both were not, however, fond of early mornings. If the human didn't have to carry his lazy spirit, lucky fucker, he would have hands free to carry the largest cup of coffee with enough sugar to stun an elephant.
While in the elevator, and he was glad that he was alone so he can do this without judgment, He shook the lazy panda and hissing for him to wake the fuck up. “Oh yeah, so putting you on a diet, starting today!” He kept jostling the spirit, even flicked at his nose and pulled on the bushy tail. “Wake up, we can't start the amazing life as a profiler with one of us dead to the world!” Upon as last resort, he dropped the panda, feeling a slight discomfort on his person but smiling all the same when he yelped and bristled the rusty fur up in anger and shock.
The human yelped in turn when the spirit bit at his shin in revenge. “God dammit all, VEN!” He hopped on one foot while rubbing his poor bitten shin. The panda turned his furry little back on him in a snob-like matter and groomed his large ringed tail. The gray-blue eyes narrowed as he stomped his foot back down. He rose it back for a swift kick to the furry bum but the elevator’s doors opened, showing many men and women in smart suits that were waiting for the elevator. He awkwardly smiled and gathered up the red panda, roughly causing him to yelp again in pain and walked out of the cab.
“Nice going, Ven. I thought we agreed not to be total dorks on the first day.” He dropped the panda, making the lazy creature waddle-walk out of revenge beside him.
“Says the dork in the iron man shirt. Didn't know that jeans and boots were also FBI attire. Or maybe its a new trend to wear a belt buckle emblem of a comic book hero?” the rusty-furred animal said in a snit, still in a snobby attitude for an animal that looked like a walking and talking stuffed animal.
“You just hating that I took off that stupid batman harness before we left this morning.” The man used his foot to lightly poked at the flank of his spirit, causing the spirit to stumble a bit. He hissed at his human in return before they found themselves at the receptionist table for the criminal behavior floor.
The receptionist was a friendly old man, or he had hope that it was an friendly old man. In reality, it was a sour-looking fella in a blue uniform with an equally sour-looking toad that stared with so much dislike for the young man. Maybe he should have listen to his sister on the phone the night before and dressed like Agent Coulson of the Avengers, instead of trying to display a Tony Stark attitude. There was a reason why Miss Potts picked most of his clothes in the comics and movies.
“Um hi? I'm Tracey Graham. It's my first day and running a bit late.” Tracey smiled nervously as both man and toad kept staring at him. Ven pawed at his leg, whispering for him to showed Mister Toad-Man the paperwork that said that they were supposed to be there. “Here, SSA Agent Maxwell sent these just the other day.” he pulled out a manila folder from the worn and old messenger bag and flipped open to present the paperwork.
The uniformed man barely looked down to glanced at the forms before standing up, the toad hopped to an offered hand and was placed in the pocket on the front of the uniform shirt. He gave a grunt before he started to walked away from the desk. Tracey took it as an order to follow and quickly grabbed the folder and followed the hefty guard. He led the young man to large glassed doors that almost closed on Ven's bushy tail as they both kept on following the man to a closed office door. The area in front were full of people typing and talking among themselves, spirits ranging from big to small, mammal to insect looming behind their humans. There were even posts next some of the desks for those with bird spirits as well little glass bowls for insects and small reptiles and the like on the desks.
The uniformed man knocked on the door and opened it at the curt order to come in. “A Tracey Graham for ya.” Then he simply left Tracey to his fate as he went back to his desk out front. Tracey walked in after the panda pushed on his calves, the folder was held out like a shield in front of him as he spotted the large, oh fuck was it large, polar bear seated on the ground in the corner of the office. The large creature stared at the young new agent with a studious eye then down at the panda cowering behind the jean-clad legs.
Agent Maxwell looked up from the office computer, pausing in his typing for a minute before hitting a few more keys then standing up, pulling his brown suit jacket together at the waist. The man himself had olive skin with dark brown hair with bits of salt around the temples. The eyes that looked upon the new agent were green and serious.
“Um, Tracey Graham.” the younger man quickly and awkwardly shoved his hand out in greeting then pulled it back when Maxwell just looked at it. “We didn't get a chance to speak before now and I-I am sorry for that..”
“Please don't be nervous. You are here therefore you already proven that you may have the qualifications to be a member of my team.” The man spoke finally before walking out from behind the large dark wooden desk. The polar bear slowly moved to stand on all four great big paws but waited for Tracey and Ven to follow the older agent out of the door, before he started walking himself. Ven almost tripped his own human by trying to keep close to his legs and an eye on the bear.
“My team consents of five, not including you or me, and we share a tech specialist with two other teams who are out on cases right now. We won't leave on a case till tomorrow, giving you today to quickly get used to the office layout and meet your new teammates.” The team leader spoke, keeping an unhurried pace as they walked down to the bull pin and to a clustered of agents that had stopped talking and typing, standing up at their respective desks to acknowledge their team leader and new team-mate. The bear stopped right behind the newcomer. Ven, who knew nothing about proper etiquette, was already waddling up to the giant white lion that gave a warning growl at the smaller mammal to move on. But the long-eared hedgehog was just as nosy as the panda as she poked a wiggling nose down from a desk at him.
The hedgehog's human smirked but kept silent from behind her desk as her leader introduced Tracey to each of the four agents. The one with the white lion was a giant of man who wore a loose blue Henley with light blue jeans. His hair was dark blonde cut closed to the scalped with piecing honey-amber eyes. He just gave a clipped jilt of the head at “SSA Agent Mortimer Kurtland.” The man with an small barn owl perched at his side was SSA Agent Justin Angel and was bit more nicer as he held out a hand which Tracey took gladly. He was of same height as Tracey with matching caramel hair and eyes. The hair had a streak of gray in the front but his eyes still looked like those of a man still in his primed. He was bit more formal then his co-walker in his blue with thin stripes of red work shirt and pressed dark blue trousers. He wore no tie with the collar unbutton to show a golden chain that hid under a white undershirt.
The only woman at the cluster of desk didn't wait to be introduced but quickly walked around two of the desks and offered her hand. “I'm Christine Kline, you may call me Tina though. I was the new kid on the block two years ago.” Her silver blonde hair was piled up high upon her head with little curls loose around her ears and neck. She wore black dress slacks and tight-fitted red shirt with matching earring studs that went from big to small up the lobes of her ears.
“All right, pick a desk and I'll have some forms that you can help out on sent over.” Maxwell spoke before both man and bear walked away, leaving Tracey to further bond with his new co-workers. Kurtland just rolled his eyes and sat back down, clearly ignoring the shorter man and went back to typing. The lion huffed as he laid his massive head upon equally massive paws, tail twitching at his side ever few minutes.
“Don't mind the grump. He's usually nice once he figures that you're not dead weight.” Tina waved off the poor attitude of her follow agent and guided her newest co-worker to an empty desk off to the left of said grump. Just lovely. Angel flicked at Kurtland's ear before joining new and fellow agents at the new guy's desk. His little owl hopped over the desks and landed on the surface of the one that Tina chosen. The little hedgehog scampered over to follow after the owl. Ven reached up on his back paws, leaning on the desk to look up as the owl looked down.
“Oh, you an Marvel fan?” Angel asked, looking at the Ironman shirt and belt buckle. “Careful, our tech guy is a firm follower of the DC Universe. He banned all things Marvel and calls Stark a parody of Bruce Wayne.” His thin lips turned up slow in a soft smirk as he leaned against the desk, arms folded at his chest.
“Told you that the batman harness would have been fine.” Ven hissed at his human then twittered in anger at the swift kicked under his furry bum. “See how he treats me!” He gave the hedgehog and owl the 'pity me' eyes. The dramatic spirit even started to softly whimper when the hedgehog and owl looked like they were buying into the act.
“Oh you little bastard.” Tracey sneered, picking him up from under the armpits. “Don't cause a mess till at least month six.” The older agents laughed as Ven was stuffed in the drawer highest off the floor. “If you be good today, I'll remember to bring your pillow tomorrow.”
The red panda twittered a bit as he rolled around in the empty drawer desk, getting comfy as the other spirits left with their own humans back to their desk to finish the morning work. A redhead woman clicked and clacked over with some forms in her hands. A pair of pearl-frames hanged off of the thin tilt of the nose as hazel eyes peered down at the new agent. She introduced herself as Team Liaison and Agent Cassandra Andros. She wore a black dress shirt, open to reveal a white vest shirt underneath that didn't quite hid the large bust line nor the lacy teal bra underneath that and black and white polka-dotted pencil skirt with white heels that put her even with Tracey and Angel.
Her spirit was a pygmy hippo that wore a bejeweled collar around her thick neck. Both woman and hippo snubbed him after the greeting and handing over of the files then she clicked clacked over to where Kurtland was getting a cup of coffee and took on a schoolgirl persona that the man answered with a smile and a flirt of his own. The distance to the little food and drink station wasn't that far so the massive lion stayed behind and looked dead to the world.
“Bet they had fun overnights.” Ven muttered at his elbow, glaring at the pair as Tracey get to work. “Think they do it all over the office or wait till they get home?” He gave an surprised yelp when the drawer was forced closed on him. Clearly his human wasn't in the mood to gossip.
*~*
It was an early day at the office since they weren't allowed to take on cases till tomorrow. So they all kicked off around 4:30, well those not Team Leader or Team Liaison. Tina and Angel asked Tracey for 'welcome aboard' drinks but the rusty-haired man declined and let them go on ahead as he packed up to leave. Earlier in the day, he lose the work shirt and folded it into his bag. His Ironman shirt had sleeves that ran over his hands and a hole for his thumbs to poke through. It was mostly to hide his tattoo sleeve on the left arm since most workplaces frown on such things. He clicked his tongue at the lazy creature that had spilled his limbs over the desk drawer as he was still sleeping from his evening nap.
“I don't really think real pandas are as lazy as you are.” He sighed as he picked up the spirit animal. The head bumped onto his shoulder but the lazy thing didn't wake up, not much would. He powered down his office computer with one hand, cradling Ven like a child against his chest with the other. He looked up to see Kurtland staring at him with a disinterest in his honey eyes. The lion was waiting at his side, staring up at the pair as well. “Um..later then.” He smiled awkwardly before leaving the bull pin for the elevators.
He gave the uniformed man a wave as he walked past. The toad croaked in return as the man said nothing. He sighed as he pressed for the call button with Ven snoring in his ear.
“Seriously, I hate to see you in the field. I'm not going carry a bundle-o-joy just for your lazy ass.” He jostled the panda a bit before jumping in surprised at the sudden laugh at his right.
“I don't know we might could find one made of Kevlar for your two.” Kurtland grinned, clearly ignoring how Tracey nearly dropped his spirit to the floor. The lion snorted from behind. “I heard how one of the other teams have an otter and they have carry it around in a knapsack a few times while out on a case.” He didn't look at Tracey who was still €trying to get over his little scare.
“Heh, don't let Ven hear you. Almost failed at basic training cause he wanted to sit out most of the time. I think the trainer's eagle almost molted to nothing from Ven's determination to nap.” This time they shared a snort of a laugh as the cab doors open. Kurtland kept the 'door opened' button to give the large lion time to slowly wiggled into the cab with them.
The elevators were designed to take in the largest animals that could come indoors but Tracey was still a bit nervous as the elevator groaned a bit with the massive beast's weight. The beast himself sat on his bum, looking regal as the cab moved its slow descent to the ground floor.
They stood there silently with Ven muttering in his sleep for a few minutes. Tracey doesn't know what to talk about since he was given the cold shoulder all day till now. It took him a minute to realize that he was being spoken to. He blinked and looked at his co-worker with a raised eyebrow.
“His name is Arlo.” Kurtland repeated as he tilted his head down at his spirit, a hand rubbing into the majestic blonde mane. The eyes closed in pleasure and cub-like glee at the attention. Tracey smiled at the sight.
“I never seen a white lion before. He's very beautiful.” Tracye looked up from the beast to the human, cheeks redden at the way that the man was looking down at him. He jostled the load in his arms for an excuse to look away. “Though I seen some with blue eyes.” He bit the inside of his bottom lip as he kept his eyes forward.
“Not as unusual as you think. I know at least two other white lions. Though not with violet eyes like Arlo's here.” The blonde man kept rubbing his fingers through the mane. Then the cab doors open and the discussion just ended right there as they silently made their way out and to their own cars.
“You so gifted with people.” Ven decided to return to the living just as Tracey unlocked the beaten down ford truck with the keypad. He gave an 'oof' as he was tossed into the passenger seat. He twittered angry as he pawed at the old skull pillow that Tracey gave him to lay on as he drove. Tracey ignored him as he placed his bag on the floorboard in the back of the cab and slide into the driver's seat. Ven just curled up after setting the radio to a station that they both liked.
*~*
There was a muffled song playing but Tracey couldn't care more about it as he rolled onto his stomach, burrowing like a rabbit under the thin blankets. Ven sighed from overhead from the cat post stationed next to the bed. The song kept playing and his human kept ignoring it. With a put upon sigh, he emerged from the felt-covered box and climbed down enough to simply leap onto the bed. The rusty-haired man just kept on sleeping as the spirit waddled over legs to the night stand where the phone has been ringing and vibrating against the surface.
Gray-blue eyes blinked at it before carefully pressed a paw on the screen to answer the call, making sure the speaker was on. “Hello?” He was used to answering the phone, talking directly with people thanks to a certain lazy human of his.
“Is this Tracey Graham?” An unfamiliar voice answered, sounding unsure if he got the right person or not.
“This is he.” He might as well pretend to be human if the caller haven't met Tracey yet. “Whatta need?” He licked at claws and paw pads, already planning breakfast. Maybe Eggo waffles with cream and berries.
“This is Lindsey Lyefin, the tech guy over at the BAU. I'm just calling to inform that we have a case that needs to go underway right away and to make sure that you pack an overnight bag with a week worth of clothes. I'll send over Angel to pick you up since he's the closest. Then you two can go straight to the airport instead of coming to the office.” Then the call just ended.
Ven gave a grumpy sigh as the phone screen went to black. There goes his dream breakfast. The plane better have a breakfast bar or something. He crawled upon the still sleeping man's back. He snorted at the idea that out of the two of them that he was the lazy bastard. Tracey could sleep through a level seven earthquake and thought of it as a slight shake of the bed. He nosed through the mop of rust-colored hair and nipped at bare skin hard.
The man cried out in pain and smacked a hand on the welt now forming on the back of his neck. He rolled around to sit up, the blankets pooling around his bare stomach. Eyes glaring maliciously at the little fat fuzzball that was wiping his paws against his muzzle, grooming up a bit.
“Was that really necessary?!” He growled, flinging a blanket over the panda that squeaked at such treatment as the human moved out of bed to empty his full bladder in the adjacent small bathroom.
“Angel will be over to pick us up soon. You don't have time to get all pretty up. Just put on some stupid clothes and oh, pack up for a week. We got a case.” Ven climbed up his cat post to lay on top of the little sleep box, biting at at an itch on his back leg.
It took Tracey a few minutes to soak all that in. Then let out a 'What!? Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!” from inside the bathroom before making a mad dash around the small townhouse, picking up clean clothes to pack into a large gym bag while getting dress at the same time.
Ven gotta praise the man for only tripping twice while trying to pull on green and black plaid pants along with fresh briefs and locating at the same time five unmatched socks. They really need to clean the place up sometime soon.