Tango's Perspective-

I groaned as I sat up.

"Woah, woah, careful. Take it slow."

I blinked and I saw a girl sitting in front of me.

She had curly ginger hair and deer antlers, along with flowers woven into her hair and her outfit.

She smiled at me.

"Wha- where am I?" I looked around and saw that I was in a tent.

"My home. Are you okay? You passed out in the forest." She said, rubbing a wet cloth over my forehead.

"Ugh- yeah, I just..." I rubbed my neck and closed my eyes, trying to remember what happened.

My parents screams and the sounds of my house collapsing rang in my head and I sighed, tears forming in my eyes.

"Why were you in the forest?" The girl asked.

"I...ran." I said, propping myself up on my elbows.

She hummed and nodded.

I looked her up and down and saw she had a deer tail and hoofs. She seemed friendly. I mean, she did save me.

"So what's your name?" I asked.

"Gem." She smiled brightly, "What's yours?"

"Tango. And uh- if you mind me asking...what are you?"

"I'm a deer hybrid!! Everyone in this forest is a hybrid."

I blinked, confused.

"Wha- what? That doesn't make any- "

"Actually, it does. You're one too." Gem said, interrupting me.

"What? No, I'm not. I would know if I...was..." I trailed off, thinking of my fiery power.

Gem smiled encouragingly at me.

"Huh..." I whispered.

"Well- well are there more hybrids?" I asked, curious.

"Yep!! Many. Some of them are- "

Gem cut herself off with a yelp as two creatures flew in.

I jumped and backed up against the edge of the tent.

There were two guys, each with a pair of wings.

One had very colorful parrot wings and the other had a pair of golden yellow wings.

They each had dirty blonde hair and mischievous smiles.

Gem sighs, "Grian, Tim, what do you want?? I'm trying to help out the newcomer." She motioned to me.

The two guys looked over at me and I smiled nervously.

"H-hi."

The two guys blinked.

"I don't understand, he looks just like a normal human." The one with colorful parrot wings said.

"Yeah- but like...he can make fire."

"Oh?"

Gem nodded, "I found him in the woods. His hair was dimly lit."

"How do you know it wasn't just on fire from something else?" The guy with yellow wings asked.

Gem sighed and rolled her eyes, "Because, Tim, he would've been rolling around and screaming."

"Fair point." The guy shrugged.

"Er- wha- who are you two?"

"Oh- this is Grian and Jimmy. Grian's the one with colorful parrot wings and Jimmy's the other one." Gem said and the two guys waved.

"So you're a fire hybrid, huh?" Grian asked, walking towards me and looking me up and down.

"U-uh, I guess."

"What do you mean you guess?" Grian asked, smirking a bit as he saw how scared I was.

"I- I don't know- I mean, aren't hybrids- they- my parents are both human."

"Well, clearly not, if you can create fire." Grian said, folding his arms.

"W-well, my parents are normal. They can't create fire."

"Then how can you?" Gem asked.

I shrugged, "I don't know, I'm just...like this."

Grian, Jimmy, and Gem exchanged looks.

"Hey, just...can I stay here?" I asked nervously.

"Hm? Oh- sure. We'll have to get you your own tent, but it should be fine. Jimmy, can you show Tango around?" Gem asked and Jimmy nodded.

We both walked out of Gem's tent, and I saw some other tents around a campfire.

There was a house in the trees, and a path that led to a tiny cave.

"Is there a bear in the cave?" I asked, a bit worried.

"Hm? Oh, that's just Ren. But when you wake him up, he's basically a bear." Grian said, laughing at his own joke.

I blinked and tilted my head.

Grian waved me off, "Don't worry about it. He's pretty chill. Just don't set him off and you should be fine."

We passed by a lake, and someone jumped out of it, a long siren tail and coral and seaweed all over them. They shook the water off and smiled at us.

"Hey Grian! Who's the new one?" He asked, his voice having a hint of a scottish accent.

"Hey Scott. This is Tango; Gem asked me to show him around."

"Nice. I think Davien is working on a tent for any newcomers."

"Yep, we're headed there now. See you."

"Later!"

Grian led me down a path, whistling (well, more like chirping) a little tune.

We came up to the end of the path were there were two people.

One guy was setting up a tent. They had red and orange scales on their cheeks and legs, as well as on a pair of wings and a tail with little fins. Up in a tree, there was a girl watching him work. She looked very similar to him, except her scales were just red, and she was eating an apple while hanging in the tree.

They looked over at us and smiled.

"Hey Grian!" The guy said, waving.

I noticed that there were little twigs and leaves in his hair, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Who's this?" The girl asked, hopping off the tree and swooping down towards me.

My eyes widened and I stepped back, watching as she looked me up and down.

"This is Tango, he needs a place to stay." Grian said, and the guy smiled.

"That's great! I just finished setting up this tent. And uh- what hybrid are you?" The guy asked, glancing at me.

"Uh- "

"He's a fire hybrid." Grian interrupted me and I smiled nervously.

The guy hummed, narrowing his eyes as he looked at me and then the tent.

"Can you control your anger?" He asked.

No. "Yes." I said, my mind screaming at me.

"Great! This should be fine. Alright, what's your name again? Top?"

"Er- it's actually Tango- "

The guy had already written 'Top' on a sign, and I sighed.

"You know what, fine."

"Heh, sorry." The guy apologized, looking shy.

I shrugged, "It's fine, it's whatever. What's your name?"

"I'm Davien. This is my sister Peg." He motioned to the girl next to him and she nodded.

I waved and Davien then clapped his hands.

"Right, we'll be leaving now, welcome to our little forest."

Davien grabbed his stuff and, he and Peg started to walk off on the path, still eating her apple.

I watched them leave before turning to Grian.

"Well, they seem nice." I said and Grian shrugged.

"Most of us are. Welp, let Gem know if you need anything."

"Oh- okay. Bye- "

I cut myself off as Grian flew off.

I blinked and sighed, feeling a bit confused at everything that had just happened in such a short amount of time.

I turned to the tent that had a sign labeled 'Top' outside of it and chuckled.

"Welcome home." I said grimly, walking into my tent.

Props to @PiperInTheInternet for coming up with Peg's character! Here's their description of them.

Name: Peg Leavewood

Pronouns: She/they

Sexuality: Pan

Appearance: Dragon hybrid, red scales on their cheeks and patches on their legs. Tail with spikes that seems to have a mind of its own. Also is resistant (but not immune) to fire. Brown hair that has red highlights and is almost always tied into a high ponytail.

Personality: Snappy, rebellious, does her own thing and normally only does stuff for other people if she gets something out of it. A lot nicer to her brother than she seems. They've looked out for each other.

Name- Davien Leavewood

Pronouns: He/him

Sexuality: Aeromantic

Appearance: Dragon hybrid, red/orange scales on their cheeks and legs. Tail with no spike and instead little fins. Light brown hair that's normally messy and just does it's own thing

Personality: Kind, helpful, nice, keeps his sister in check, shy, basically N from drones lol