The Care And Feeding Of Critter Monsters

Adventure 3, Origins. Jamie and Elwood.

Jamie Morrison was like a fish out of water in East Tennessee. His thick Scotts accent was a dead giveaway, and the ladies most certainly did adore him.

6'6", Black haired, eyes the dark blue of twilight skies. Fit, Lean, built like a gymnast or an Olympic swimmer.

Jamie held more than a passing resemblance to his name sake.

His Mother was a devout Doors fan. So, James Douglas Morrison he had been christened.

  Well, that's the best way to describe the ceremony when he had been formally presented to the clan at three years of age.

The Selkies of Skye had their own clannish ways. Jamie's mother Elspeth , the youngest daughter of the clan chief and the most rebellious of his sixteen daughters, had chosen not to take her own clannish name. Choosing instead to name her son after her rock god crush.

Besides, no one could figure out how to translate little Jamie's father's name Anyway. Orca names do not translate into human languages.  Nor could humans or Selkies reproduce the frequencies involved in the complicated tones of Orca speech. Which didn't matter to Jamie anyway.

He had never met his father, that he knew of. Nor could he speak in Orca, even though he happened to be a Were-Orca. Jamie's mother had been both rebellious and adventurous.

Seems rather than shedding his human skin to become a Seal, Jamie shape shifted into an orca.

Turning into a Killer Whale created interesting issues for him growing up. None of the Selkie children would play with him. That was why Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer had been his favorite Christmas show growing up.

As an adult, being a Were-Orca presented it's own complications.

Apparently it is considered bad form to eat green peace protesters that we're trying to stop oil production at the off shore platform where Jamie happened to be employed as a pipe fitter and rigger.

(Cue Jethro Tull, Storm watch album, the sound track for this story, https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=Storm+watch+jethro+tull )

Jamie , refused comment on the matter. Leaving his job in the North sea and home in the Orkney Isles for warmer, distant shores. Finding refuge working oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and partying in Mobile Alabama.

Jamie's refuge was short lived. There was another violent peaceful protest incident. Jamie's temper and appetite once again got the better of him. This time however, His shift supervisor, a Cajun Loupgarou from Louisiana was very sympathetic to Jamie's situation.

Elwood and Jamie had been fishing near Nawlins, ( New Orleans) when the Vegan animal rights protesters accosted them. Both men were annoyed, both transformed.

Elwood began throwing protesters off of the dock to Jamie prowling in the Marina. Most tossee’s Elwood had taken a bite out of, before spitting the bits out in disgust and tossing them to Jamie. Leftist vegans tend to leave a terrible aftertaste. Soy is nasty to a carnivore. Though, Elwood did make sure to only nip a few and release them. He thought it a great joke to turn vegans. Especially protesters.

The State police, officially, took a dim view of the events. Unofficial beliefs however ran to gratitude and relief. Political activists had been bussing in these protesters , from San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle on a regular basis.

Seizing on a P.R. opportunity the State police first, drove the men north to Memphis Tennessee. Then made multiple announcements, press interviews about a group of organized armed counter protesters and how they were still unidentified, thus the police couldn't guarantee the safety of protesters.

This dramatically affected the ability of organizers to recruit protesters. A win win for both local residents and law enforcement. 

Which is the why and how, Elwood and Jamie were sitting at the truck stop on I-40, feasting on steak, eggs, biscuits and gravy and hash browns when Thomas walked in.

Fate has her fun and games it seems. Thomas had just rescued a horde of Were-otters, which were being problematic in the transport back to the ranch. Being short handed after the orbital demise of William, Thomas had been attempting to wrangle the otter- spider monkey cross were-critters on his own.

Have you ever chased Were-Otters through a Truck Stops of America facility? Some were Otters that transformed to over sized spider monkeys, some were Spider Monkeys that morphed into Otters. All were morphed, all were 4ft tall mixes bent on havoc.

Challenging to say the least.

Funny as hell Jamie and Elwood thought. They couldn't resist, the chase looked fun, the chaos was amusing, and the challenge was impressive.

Jamie hit on the idea of using bananas as bait, though about half ignored the fruit. Elwood had a brainstorm and fetched The fried catfish from the buffet.

That worked sort of. It brought the buffet and salad bar to the attention of the Were-Otters. Which, with a bit of round and round and over the top all seventeen critter monsters were retrieved.

They were pulling onto I-40 east bound as the Memphis police were arriving at the truck stop.

Introductions and conversations ensued, Thomas offered Jamie and Elwood jobs, room and board, adventure, and a guaranteed exotic diet. It was match made in heaven.