Dennis
Bjorn probably hadn’t expected different either, but he was busily apologizing to the volunteer coordinator even though they’d been on time. “I’m so sorry about this. We did tell them to be here at twelve. Maybe, uh, there was…traffic?”
Ted looked remarkably unperturbed by this delay, his smile never slipping.
Instead of complaining, he clapped his hands together lightly.
“That gives us just enough time to finish this paperwork and for you to give me a quick rundown of what to expect from these folks. Your parents?” he asked Bjorn, who nodded.
“Yeah, my parents. And I feel like I need to apologize in advance for them.”
Ted shrugged. “Not our first community service visitors.” He nodded to the papers Bjorn was holding but hadn’t read. “Go ahead and sign off on those while you tell me about them.”
Obediently, Bjorn set the papers on the information desk in front of them and started reading. “They’re…” he began thoughtfully, as if not quite sure how to describe his parents. “They’re snobbish. They don’t know a lot of humans.”
Dennis couldn’t hold back his snort at that. “They’re bigots, and they purposely know no humans, because they think we’re a lesser form of life.” He was choosing not to think too much about the parallels of that to his attitude toward shifters before he'd met Bjorn.
Ted raised his eyebrows and hummed his understanding. “So they’ll be tough nuts to crack?”
“The toughest,” Dennis agreed. “We’ll do our best to keep them in line, though. We don’t want to make any of the kids uncomfortable just because Bjorn’s parents don’t want to be here.”
“That would be appreciated,” Ted said, “though I’ll stick with you all this first day, as well, to ease them into things. The kids are pretty resilient, overall, but you’re right that we don’t want to make things harder for them.”
As Bjorn was opening his mouth to reply, the front door flew open and his parents blew into the room, looking like they’d been invited to a dinner party rather than told to hang out with teenagers.
Ronald was wearing his usual three-piece suit, pinstriped this time, while his wife was in a burgundy knit sweater dress and heeled boots.
Dennis facepalmed. Ted whistled under his breath. Bjorn just sighed. “Mom. Papa. Hello.”
“Mmm,” Rowena said, managing to make the single note sound disapproving. “Good afternoon. We’re here. Let’s get this over with.” Ronald nodded his agreement with that sentiment.
Ted cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. Hello, I’m Ted, the volunteer coordinator here at the center. I’m going to be in charge of your assignments and supervising your work.”
Ronald, despite being a few inches shorter than Ted, looked down his nose at the other man. “You will supervise us?”
Ted gave him an unperturbed smile. “Yup. Now, I believe you were asked to sign and bring some paperwork today?”
Rowena produced the forms from her handbag and shoved them at Ted wordlessly.
Ted scanned them quickly and nodded. “Ok, great. We can get started, then. I know starting out at a new place can be intimidating, so I’m going to ease you in.
Today’s task is taking inventory of the kitchenette, maybe giving it a light clean if it needs it.
We go through paper cups, plates, and plastic silverware pretty quick, and snacks even more quickly, because our teenagers are always hungry, so the goal is to know whether we need to restock and, if so, how much.
I’ve got a couple of kids who signed up to help you; they know what they’re doing. ”
“Kids,” Rowena echoed faintly, looking extremely doubtful of this whole thing.
Ted just nodded again. “Kitchen’s this way.
Let’s move out.” He led them down a hallway and into a kitchenette with a large table, a microwave, a fridge, a sink, and white-painted cabinetry.
It was a fairly small room, and Dennis suspected that five of them for this one task was a bit overkill.
“Supplies are mostly in the cabinets,” he explained, gesturing.
“Though if you can inventory the fridge and freezer too, that would be -”
“Hey, Ted!” Two teenagers wandered into the room, a boy and girl.
Both were wearing ratty clothes but had smiles on their faces.
“Inventory day, huh?” said the boy. “Ooh, new people! Hi, I’m Randy.
” He waved at their quartet, either not noticing or not caring that Bjorn’s parents looked like they’d smelled something bad.
“Juliette,” said the girl, a bit less enthusiastically than Randy.
Bjorn immediately stuck his hand out to each for a shake. “Nice to meet you, Juliette and Randy. I’m Bjorn. This is my, uh, friend Dennis.” He stumbled slightly on friend, obviously not quite sure what to call him. “And these are my parents, Rowena and Ronald.”
“Charmed,” Rowena said with not a hint of actual charm in her voice.
Dennis, trying to make up for the coldness, gave the teens a smile. “Hi, guys. We’re here to be put to work, and since Ted tells us you know what you’re doing already, you just give us orders and we’ll do what you say.”
Randy grinned. “I love giving orders to old people!” He looked around the room, then at Ted. “Master clipboard?”
Ted pointed. “Hanging on the side of the pantry.”
Juliette scampered over and retrieved the clipboard.
“This is the main inventory sheet,” she explained in their general direction, waving it demonstratively.
“The fridge and cabinets each have their own hanging on them, too, but we record on this clipboard all the numbers of what’s here and write down anything that needs to be replenished.
Then the center’s staff will put in an order for what we need. ”
Randy considered the group, looking like he was calculating something. After a moment, he pointed to Rowena. “How about you start on the fridge? Ted, are you staying?”
“For a little bit.”
“Ok so, Ted, you do the pantry with -” He paused, thinking.
“Ronald, right?” he asked Bjorn’s father, who nodded tightly.
“Yeah, you two do the pantry. Jules,” he added to the girl, “you and I will do the paper goods. And Bjorn and Dennis…” He winced slightly, looking around. “Uh, how do you feel about cleaning?”
“We can do that,” Bjorn said agreeably, and Dennis nodded. Not his favorite activity, but he’d known going in that this afternoon wasn’t going to be the best time ever.
“Ok, so you two give the counters and sink a scrub. We might have to do the inside of the fridge too – it gets gross with spills and stuff – but we’ll hold off on that until we finish the inventory and see how much time we have. What time are y’all here until?”
“You’ve got them for two hours,” Ted told him. “But Ronald and Rowena will be back tomorrow, too.”
Randy nodded. “‘Kay. Ok team, break!” He clapped loudly, signaling they could split to do their assigned tasks, which they mostly did, though both Ronald and Rowena looked hesitant to say the least.
Rowena wrinkled her nose, looking from the teenagers to the fridge she’d been assigned to inventory. “Young man, I don’t think you understand -”
“- how excited she is to work with you!” Bjorn cut in before she could get out whatever complaint she’d been about to. “Right, Mom?”
She sniffed wordlessly.
Ted tugged on Ronald’s arm. “Pantry is this way.”
Ronald yanked his arm away. “Don’t touch me!” he bellowed.
Everyone froze at the loud exclamation, the teenagers looking at Ted with wide eyes. Ted, for his part, ducked his head apologetically. “I apologize for touching you without asking for permission. We practice consent in all things here.”
“Well,” Ronald shot back, “I did not consent to…this!” He waved a hand as if indicating the entire center and the people inside it.
They hadn’t even started inventorying and already these people were on Dennis’s last nerve. “Yes, you did,” he snapped. “I distinctly recall you being given a choice of whether to come here or not, and you agreed in exchange for keeping your den status.”
“Den?” Randy interrupted. “Oh, wait, are you some of the bears who live outside town? That’s awesome!
” Either not noticing or not caring that he’d broken into the middle of what was shaping up to be a rather heated discussion, he grinned.
“I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a shifter.
And bears, in particular, are so badass! ”
“Is it ok for us to ask you questions?” Juliette asked tentatively.
“Absolutely,” Bjorn said with a nod. “There’s no bear state secrets we can’t tell or anything.”
Ronald frowned. “We do not discuss den business outside the den,” he told his son repressively.
Bjorn waved that away. “I doubt they’re going to be asking for our tax ID number. It’s fine.”
“Yay,” Juliette exclaimed with a little clap, “question and answer time as we work! Ok so…” She turned to the cabinets above the sink and started shuffling through their contents. “What does it feel like to shift?”
“It is entirely natural,” Rowena answered, surprising Dennis. “We simply think about being a human or a bear and…we are.” She eyed Juliette. “I doubt a human could understand.”
Randy squinted at Rowena. “Why not?”
“Work while you talk, y’all,” Ted reminded everyone. He waved encouragingly at Ronald. “C’mon, pantry’s this way.”
Figuring cleaning products would be in the usual place, Dennis bent to look in the cabinet under the sink and was pleased to find sponges, brushes, and a spray bottle of cleaner. He retrieved the items and set them on the counter.
Rowena reluctantly picked up the fridge’s clipboard and opened the fridge, then made a disgusted face at its contents.
Dennis wondered what could be that bad, but didn’t ask. Instead, he sprayed down the sink’s faucet and wetted a sponge in silence. Bjorn grabbed a roll of paper towels and pitched in.
Dennis had almost forgotten a question had been asked when Rowena piped up from the fridge. “Humans have…limited comprehension of self-control,” she announced. “And control is paramount to shifting.”