Early the next morning, I rose only to realize I was still caged. The human came and opened the cage, leading me outside. But a problem remained. It was hailing out. The lawn was littered with hailstones, and most were large enough to kill me if it hit me correctly.

The King gave in, and had a pen constructed in the main hall temporarily for the day or until it stopped hailing.

Mitch walked over to me, looking slightly upset.

"Why exactly did you have J leave the castle?"

"So he did not injure himself or injure someone else. Why?"

"He's acting really weird."

"How so, Mitchell?"

He flinched when I said his name, but answered. "He growled at me this morning. Like, wolfishly."

"Well, that would be the instincts of his age. He suppressed them being in here, but in doing that, he screwed up his nature and fitness."

"Fitness? He climbs the freakin' trees everyday!"

"No. Mitchell, have you ever heard of the phrase, 'Survival of the Fittest'?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, that is what fitness is. It is the neccessary will to survive and reproduce. But being in here, being waited on and given everything messed his up. Given time, mine shall do the same."

"Oh... Yikes."

"What?"

"Well, if it messed with that, then why now?"

"Now what, Mitchell?"

"Um... I'm not sure what happened this morning, but- he- like, nevermind."

"No, Mitchell. I can help. I know these things. What happened?"

Mitch lowered his voice to a whisper, and leaned closer to me. "He kinda seemed... I don't know... 'over happy'?"

He sat back, blushing and ignorantly confused. "I- I don't know what to do."

"Oh. Well, I would keep away for now, let him alone for a while. If you want to take serious precautions, put him in here with me. He will learn quickly to leave me alone."

"I'll go get him."

Mitch returned, dragging a confused Jerome over to my pen.

"Mitch, what are you doing?"

"You're gonna stay here today. Deal with it."

Mitch got the human watching me to pick Jerome up and put him in the pen. Jerome sat there, dumbfounded that Mitch had just caged him. He turned on me.

"This was your fault. Was it not?" He growled.

"It was."

"I am in here, all because of you?! Why?"

"Ask Mitchell when you are allowed out. Which is in the hands of Mitchell himself. He can let you out, or keep you in here. It is his decision."

Jerome was getting angry. "You let him cage me? What- ?"

Without a second thought, he pounced on me. He retreated fatefully, crying and screaming a bacca wail. His skin was burned slightly from the heat of my skin. He yelped repeatedly as he tried to crawl away, having to use his burned hands to crawl.

I sat back, letting my skin cool down a tiny bit. It was still freezing inside, which hurt- slowly cooling my lava to stone, and the magic barrier, which hurt more.

But no pain beat the next day. It was clear and sunny all day- I enjoyed the pen in the sun, when clouds started to form, and it rained on me and Jerome- who was still confined to the cage. The rain was cold and it stung my skin. Every drop stung and burned, making my movements sluggish as my lava turned to obsidian quickly.

I cried out, and limped under a tree. I shivered a little, cold not being a feeling I am used to. Jerome leaped around in the rain, soaked and surprisingly happy.

Rob ran out with a barrier to the rain, and covered me with it. Sections of my yellow-orange hair had turned black to show obsidian. It was patchy, but the patches were large, and I knew it could take a long time to go away.

When it was time to go to bed that night, I was so sluggish and ill that the my human supervisor had to carry me inside. Jerome was given his own cage, because Mitch had not released him yet, and disappeared under his blanket pile.

I was gravely ill the fourth day, the obsidian having clogged up some of my organs and such. It rained all day, and I lay in the corner of the inside pen- sick and tired. Jerome was bored, managing to half entertain himself with rolling a plastic bottle back and forth along the tile floor.

Rob and Mitch visited in the afternoon, and Jerome was cross the entire time with Mitch. Rob seemed concerned for me, and I felt touched that he cared. The obsidian fell away as my skin began to heat up again that night, making me feel much better. The black patches in my hair disappeared to symbolize that the obsidian was gone.

Day five. Jerome escaped the pen, and ran back outside the gates. Bones shifted and cracked, reframing the body of a 32 year old bacca. He dropped to all fours, and sat patiently, like a dog, at the front gate.

"Jerome, you may be waiting a few days." I called.

He tilted his head, and growled at Rob and Mitch. He was large for a normal bacca, I realized. He was much bigger than the kin I had seen as a younger child. He was the same age, yet, he was twice the size.

"Jerome, are you..."

I did not even finish, but he got the idea and dipped his head in a quick, 'yes'.

I drew a breath, and do not remember letting it out. 'This is going to get interesting...'

~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~+~~
-A/N-
Wanna guess what the rest of Preston's question is? It's quite different, not one that most would use. But hey, what the hell. I'm unique and original! Haha. Love you guys!
                         ~Percabeth1Jackson