Luci's POV
The trailer of the truck was hot and stuffy, the slight whistle of cold night air through the cracks barely making a difference. The trailer was packed full of other crates containing auctioned off shifters destined to be pets.
The light was dim, dull lights on the ceiling bathed everything in a yellow glow and I could see flashes of eyes in the darkness and shadows of the other shifters moving around in their own crates.
At first, the smell wasn't too bad, but as the journey wained on it got progressively worse. The smell of other shifters was overwhelming and the growing smell of excrement and urine made my nose burn.
The trailer rocked randomly and I could feel the pull of the accelerator and the drag of the breaks, each turn tugging me either left or right. The motions were unable to predict and left me feeling drowsy and quite nauseous, I was grateful that I'd missed my dinner. My empty stomach rolled uneasily, worsened by the growing stench of the other shifters' vomit, the sound of their retching encouraging my own.
I swallowed down the growing bile, refusing to be sick, knowing I'd be trapped with it for the remainder of the journey. For once I would have welcomed the sharp sting of a tranquillizer dart.
The sweet-smelling straw was a comfort at least, I was thankful Vet Marshal had insured my crate was lined with it but my water bowl was already bone dry, a larger one filled with more water would have been much better, my dry yet over salivating mouth only making me feel more queasy.
I couldn't sleep through the journey, I'd tried to but to no avail. Aside from the smell, motion of the truck and my nausea, the noise level was almost unbearable. A pounding headache had settled behind my eyes from the loud roaring of the truck, the complaining shifters and the bang and thuds of them trying to escape from our less than pleasant transport.
It got so loud I let out a bellowing roar and they all froze, going quiet. After a blissful few minutes of just the truck's sounds, the volume crept back up cautiously, the other shifters taking care to not make so much noise and I snorted quietly to myself, burrowing into the straw nose first and finally drifting off, just wishing for the journey to end.
When the truck finally stopped we all went quiet and listened carefully, hearing voices outside the trailer doors. Clanks and bangs followed before the doors opened and I closed my eyes and leaned into the gust of fresh cool air that blew through the gaps in my crate, blowing away the old and foul air I'd been made to breathe in for hours.
A low groan left me and forced my eyes open, feeling horrible from the journey. I looked through the thin gaps between the slats of my crate, not able to see much but soon many footsteps echoed on the trailer's floor, pairs of legs going past and concerned murmurs following soon after.
A pair of eyes peeked through the gaps in my crate, shards of light hitting me as they directed a torch my way to illuminate the inside of my crate.
I blinked blearily against the sudden increase in brightness, my eyes feeling heavy and sore, my head almost numb, like it had been stuffed full of cotton. A dull headache spanned the surface of my scalp and my mouth and throat felt incredibly dry, my tongue feeling swollen and much too big for my mouth. I chomped on air to try and get rid of the feeling, only succeeding in making my mouth feel even drier.
"Where did this shipment come from?" A woman's angry voice snapped by the doors of the trailer.
"Don't know but none of these shifters are going to pass their health inspection. This one looks quite dehydrated." The human by my cage shone his torch over me again and I caught the glimpse of a frown. "Say, I thought this was a pet shipment, but this is clearly a panther of some sort, a fully grown one too."
"A what?!" The woman shrieked, fast steps quickly approaching.
I blinked languidly as I heard cracks coming from the front of my crate, it quickly, getting pried off and I squinted my eyes at the sudden change in light, the beams of torches sweeping through the trailer, but a more distant light illuminated the two figures standing in front of my now open crate, bathing them in a warm orange glow.
One was noticeably a woman from her long hair and swollen chest, the other a man holding a torch, although he took care not to point it directly at me. Their clothing was somewhat similar to what the keepers wore back at the auction, although the woman had on a long white coat, which looked quite odd over the large boots, cargo trousers and high-necked t-shirt.
I was stunned when she brazenly entered the crate, having to crouch so she wouldn't hit her head. "Hello sweetheart." she cooed softly, her hands cupping my head and lifting it up, slipping her thumbs under my upper lip with the ease of someone who's done it many times, leaning closer and running her thumbs over my upper gums with affirming noises.
I came abruptly out of my frozen state of shock and pulled my head away with a low growl to warn her to back off.
Thankfully she did until she stood outside with the male human again. "His gums are a little pale, and he seems a little agitated from the journey, he'll be good to go in a few hours."
"Good, we haven't exactly got the facilities to house a jaguar shift, even temporarily."
One of my front paws knocked the dry water bowl, causing it to clatter over the small patch of bare wood by the entrance of the crate. I felt annoyed that they'd acknowledged what I needed but had made no moves to give it to me, and of course, I was agitated, I'd just spent hours in this trailer listening to the other pet's scared whimpers, smelling their vomit and other bodily fluids on an empty stomach and not enough water, and that wasn't even the half of it.
"Are you thirsty?" the woman asked sweetly, bending down to pick up the bowl.
Am I thirsty? Woman, you literally just said I'm dehydrated, and I didn't just bat the bowl for fun.
She disappeared for a few moments, holding the bowl with two hands on her way back and setting it down just inside the crate.
I practicality dumped my face into the blissfully cool water and lapped up mouthfuls of the fresh and soothing liquid.
The boss was so lucky I'd never see him again because I knew if I did I'd make what I did to Rico look like a love nip.
The gentle hand patted my head as I finished drinking as much water as I dared, looking up at the woman who was brave enough to touch me and snorting out the water that went up my nose, grateful for the water but hoping some of it hit her for her annoying way of speaking and the delay on refilling the water bowl.
"You look like such a sweet thing." I snorted again at her honeyed tone, did I look like a dog? I don't want to be talked to in a stupid voice.
"It's a big cat Gen, and considering its state I doubt it was well taken care of." The man remarked.
I felt a little offended for Juan and Vet Marshal. Juan had always taken care of me as best as he could with what was available and Vet Marshal kept me healthy. The boss had arranged our accommodation and if it wasn't for Vet Marshal I would have been without water for the whole journey and in a metal contraption with no straw.
The front of the crate was sealed back up and I dozed through the unloading of the trailer, stirring when the crate was rocked a little too much and I awoke briefly when it was set down a little harshly, too tired to do anything but growl softly before dropping back off.
...
Voices are what caused me to wake again, and I yawned and stretched with a low satisfied groan. I glanced through the gaps in the wooden crate but saw nothing but concrete walls painted white, so I gave up.
The voices grew progressively louder until I could identify them as two individual voices and I grumbled as I recognised the lady's cheery voice from before. Great. The other was a man's voice, each word was smoothly and softly spoken, and muscles I didn't even know were tensed relaxed at the calming sound of it and I sighed, settling my head back on the sweet-smelling straw.
"Now he was a little agitated from the journey, so I suggest letting him settle in for a couple of days before trying to interact too much." the saccharine voice advised and I snorted softly, whatever woman.
The front of my crate got pried off once again and I squinted at the bright light, when I was able to see again I could see the annoying woman smiling down at me. "How you feeling there Luci?" she cooed and reached out her hand towards me.
I leaned away from her hand, my ears pulling back and my tail lashing against the straw, a low warning growl rumbling in my chest when she ignored all my signals to back off, her hand just following my recoiling head.
"I don't think he wants to have his space encroached right now." the softly spoken male voice told the woman, stepping into view and gently lowering the woman's arm.
I stared up at the tall and thin man, his unruly looking hair shining a tarnished gold in the harsh lights and they made him look incredibly pale, only making his vivid green eyes appear more startling. His slender, expressive lips were pulled into an unimpressed frown as he stared at the woman, and I have to say, the expression doesn't suit him.
The woman cleared her throat awkwardly and straightened. "Yes, well, he's had a stressful day."
"And I would prefer it if he wasn't stressed out any further. So, if everything's in order I would like to get him home."
Home?
Wait...
This was to by my master?
I studied the man carefully this time, noticing his hair was particularly wild, like he ran his fingers through it often, or tugged at it, and his vibrant green eyes held sadness in them. The light might make him garishly pale but his skin looked worse than mine when I'd briefly shifted at the auction house and I haven't been outside for years. His slender lips were slightly turned down and pursed, like he was constantly frowning. He stood like the weight of the world was on his thin shoulders, stooped over with fingers fiddling with the lapels of his warm-looking, knee-length grey coat.
As I'd expected his clothes looked expensive but not as flashy as some I've seen. You could tell his clothing was of good quality, from his black trousers, and white button-down to his green knit sweatshirt and shiny black shoes.
He did seem nice enough, I mean I wouldn't mind listening to his voice, it was calming and smooth, I could probably be lulled to sleep by his soft voice if I allowed myself to. He'd stopped the annoying woman from touching me too, which I appreciated.
Maybe I would do what Juan said and give him a chance.
I wouldn't make it easy though, I'd never completely given my trust to anyone after I was taken away from my mother, after all the years I've spent with Vet Marshal and Juan I'd only trusted them a tiny amount.
I did want something good to come from this though, I wanted the next stage of my life to be better, so I had to be willing to put my trust in my master, incredibly gingerly maybe, and it would grow over a very long time, but I did hope that I could eventually put my trust in him.
As I'd said before it would also be up to him. If I felt cared for, trusted... even possibly loved, then I would consider giving all of that back.
I stood and shook myself off, slowly padding out of the crate, stretching out in the open air with a low groan, it felt wonderful to not be confined in such a small place.
I skirted around the annoying woman and looked up at the man who was to be my master, flicking my tail and snuffing in greeting.
His vivid green eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled, his whole face transforming and leaving me breathless, the expression suiting him so much better than a frown.
"Hello Luci," he said in his smooth and soft voice but made no move to touch me, instead letting his arms stay limp at his sides, his hands relaxed and open.
I leaned closer and sniffed him, his scent light and sweet, good, I hated it when humans doused themselves with perfume, the pungent scents burned my nose and gave me a headache.
I walked around him slowly, sniffing him all over. aside from the light and sweet scent coming from him he smelt like coffee, bitter chocolate and ink, the latter two most strongest on his hands that I got as close to as I could without touching them.
Once I'd finished my inspection I sat on my haunches in front of him, staring up and meeting his vivid green eyes.
I didn't know what awaited me at my master's home but It must be better than this, and it was away from that woman, so I was eager to go, but also a little excited.
He smiled down at me and tilted his head. "We'll be taking our leave then, Gennifer was it?" he asked the woman without looking her way, and although staring could be seen as a direct challenge for a cat, his withstanding gaze was gentle and searching, like he was trying to figure me out like I had been him.
"No problem, here is Luci's paperwork and his shifter handbook, I wish the both of you the best of luck."
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