Chapter Text
It was the year 2069. All around the world, technology has become so vastly-grown from the word 'digital' that artificial intelligence (A.I) and nanotech are the foundation of human life. Along with that also comes the normalisation of hybrids.
When the term was first introduced at the end of the digital age - a lab accident by an expert of GMO, or genetically-modified organisms - the idea was spread so widely that it brought on a whole new sense of lifestyle to society. Some welcomed the idea of hybrids, saying they would be assets of society, while some shunned the idea, saying they were liabilities, unnatural and that mankind should not play God. For me, I neither liked nor hated them. They were just part of the society I was born into.
Perhaps it had to do with my upbringing. My Pa was a retired businessman and history lover, who always saw good and bad in every kind of venture there was. My Ma, on the other hand, was a corporate branding trainer and art enthusiast, with good ears for classical music. Both of them loved to read, talk and eat.
Naturally, all of their children were given free rein to pursue whatever they wanted. My eldest brother tried all sorts of chances at showbiz, but he ended up finding his talent in continuing Pa's business. My sister after him loved luxury and money, and found comfort in finances and accounting though she dreads the end of every month. Her twin brother, younger by two minutes, loved sports, and found his place in swimming. Though he once won bronze and silver medals in an international league, he then continued his passion as a swimming coach after his time in the national team was due.
Then I came, somehow inheriting all the artsy interests from my parents: the visual and performing arts flooding my life so much that if I weren't painting or doing commissions for clients at home, I would be jamming on my guitar or ukulele, or even attending theatres or concert gigs from indie to fancy ones. After me came my bookish brother, with whom I was closest to mainly because he loved philosophy and literature, and even as he is currently pursuing his Masters in Southeast Asian Literature, we always found time to talk about intellectual topics at home. Lastly was our darling little sister, who by some kind of miracle of all things holy inherited all the goodness in the world and put it all in her heart, which suited her interest in her pursuit to become a medical nurse but she took a minor interest in classical music.
We were all so different, yet we could somehow still pursue our passion without being tainted by negative stereotypes we would typically find in society. Even the idea of having hybrids never really bothered us: we just never did because we were simply too preoccupied with becoming people of our own.
All that changed in the blink of an eye because of one fateful phone call.
We were having a family dinner after so long of not having everyone together - the eldest three lived away, and were also notorious workaholics - when our littlest, Agnes received a phone call that she left the dining room to answer.
She came back bursting in with tears on her face, "We need to help Kai!"
All of us stopped eating. Pa was the first to say, "Help Kai, the boy from next door...?"
"Didn't he have a crush on our Aggie?" my elder sister, Sumire quipped under her breath.
My bookish brother, Bowen whispered back, "He confessed, got rejected, and stayed friends with her."
"Help him with what? Is he in trouble?" Haider, my swimmer brother was already on his feet with his hands on his hips.
Aggie cried, "Not him! But the hybrids at the shelter he works at!"
My ears perked up at that. "You mean those big cats he's talked to you about for the last two weeks?"
She fiercely nodded, her hands hurriedly wiping away the tear streaks on her red face. "He says the shelter's biggest sponsor pulled out and the admin decided to put the older hybrids to- to sleep, and one of the big cats got wind of it and- and now Kai has to be the one to man the procedure, and he says he can't do it because they're his friends!"
I sighed. The world gets colder by the day.
My eldest, Ajay shared a meaningful look with my mother before he said, "How many big cats are we talking about here? Five? Six?"
"Seven," Agnes sniffled. "Seven hybrids in total. The oldest is younger than Sumire and Haider but older than Lei," she said while motioning to me, "and the youngest is around my age."
My mother nodded while grabbing her fork and spoon back. "Finish your dinner, quick. We need to head to the shelter before 9.00 p.m."
That was how our whole family ended up going over to the hybrid shelter while other people were still milling about looking for dinner.
The shelter that Aggie's friend worked at was not a shabby place, but it was not impressive either. The facility itself was a huge block building, looking clinical with the white walls and minimal additions of colour at the entrance and lobby. While my parents and older siblings were highkey quarreling with the front desk that they wanted to speak with Kai, whom the front desk kept saying was too busy and could not entertain guests, I slipped into the long hallway that led to the insides of the building.
It was my first time in a hybrid shelter and I could not help but feel like this particular shelter felt like a hospital, with the austere, dim lights and thick, glass walls that seemed like viewing rooms. I tried to walk as quietly as I could, away from directly being under the dim light bulbs as I passed different hallways with different labels. Infant Felines. Infant Canines. Infant Reptiles. Infant Exotics. Teen Felines. Teen Canines. Teen Exotics-
I was stopped by a door with a big sign in front of a big, closed door that says, VISITORS WITH SPECIAL PASSES ONLY.
I blinked. I slipped through that door too. I was met with the biggest viewing room yet, with the whole wall on the hybrids' side being transparent glass. It was more of a big communal room, with huge wooden beds propped up at the corners and blankets and pillows piled up at the center of it all with what looked like-
Wait, those aren't just lumps of blankets. I blinked twice. Those are multiple adult hybrids wrapped up in blankets, in a small circle and chatting in their own little world. I simply stood in the shadowed corner I was in, away from the center of the viewing hallways and away from the dim lights, and studied them.
Aggie was right. There were seven of them. All males, all seeming to be around my age. They were snuggling up to each other in their makeshift bed, with their ears and tails lazily moving from time to time. True to their cat nature, after all. I noticed that the label at the hallway was removed, which confirmed what Aggie's friend was saying. The shelter was going to put the adult hybrids to sleep. The door separating this part of the hallway and the teens and infant hybrids seemed newly-installed too. I took a deep breath before I stepped into the light and made myself visible.
All seven heads immediately turned to me when my sneakers let out a squeak. They all seemed tense and wary.
I waved a little. "Hi."
One of them, the one with black, rounded ears and a long black tail leapt up to me. There was a slight frown on his face as he studied my being, but it was not him that addressed me first.
Another one, one with brown rounded ears who let out a small growl under his breath, talked first. "Hello. I'm sorry, visitors are not allowed in this area. You ought to go back before the staff catches you here."
I blinked. "I think the staff working tonight are too busy handling my family's wrath at the front desk."
Another hybrid, one with white and black-tipped ears, black and white striped tail, and wide shoulders appeared in front of me with a courteous smile and icy-blue eyes. “Well miss, it might be safer if you return to your family and save our staff from their wrath then.”
I shrugged. “They have a reason.”
The one who spoke to me first cocked an eyebrow, his brown tail with some tufts of hair at the end - lion? - slowly moving. “And that would be…?”
“To adopt you all.”
There was a long stretch of silence after that. I could only hear my steady breathing and the hum of the dim lights in the hallway.
Another new face emerged closer to the glass wall. This time it was a shorter male, one closer to my height, with brown, rounded ears and a patterned tail like a leopard - or jaguar? - that stepped up to the glass and looked at me with hopeful eyes. “Is that true? You’re not ly- You’re going to adopt us… all?”
I gave him a curt nod. Immediately his eyes started welling up, along with a few of the others whose faces were close to the glass wall.
Before any of them could say anything, the one with the long black tail finally spoke up. “Why?”
I turned to him. He has a deeper and scratchier voice than I imagined him to have.
He went on, “Why would your family suddenly want to adopt seven, adult hybrids? If you think this is a form of charity, then you can just shove it up your-”
One hybrid with a lithe body slammed his palm over that hybrid’s mouth with alarming speed. This one looked at me with a wide, wide smile and his little round ears perked. “Don’t listen to him! Yoongi’s just being careful, you see. All of us have had our fair share of being adopted and then returned to the shelter at least once. You can see why he’s anxious when it comes to this!”
I nodded. Yoongi: black ears and tail, probably one of the older ones, wary of strangers or humans in general, protective of his brothers. Since his name sounded like he came from Korea, might as well- I gave them a short bow. “Hello. My name is Lei. I wanted to greet you first before you join the family. I hope we’ll get along well.”
My action seemed to fluster them. All of them, including Yoongi, sported blushes on their faces. The one with wide shoulders, that was now relaxed, bowed back to me and said, “You’re familiar with our… culture… That’s nice. If what you’re saying is true, then I hope we’ll get along with your family too.”
The vulnerability on his wobbly smile made my heart ache. I felt my lips moving into a small, reassuring smile on their own. They must’ve been through hell; not being able to find a home. My eyes scanned the other faces and I could see two more heads that were peeking from the shoulders of the older ones. I smiled when I caught their gazes, and they blushed and hid their faces again. Cute.
I heard the quarreling outside filtering through the hallways, and I stepped away from the glass wall. I motioned to them that I had to go, with a sorry smile. I then knocked on the glass wall near Yoongi, and he turned to me.
I placed my palm on the cool glass. “See you in a bit, Yoongi.”
Contrary to my expectations, the hybrid lifted his palm to match mine on the other side of the glass wall. “See you.”