Shifting Worlds

The Meeting

Chris opened the back of his SUV and tossed in his backpack and hiking boots, then closed it again. Being a nice, late summer, day, he was wearing only his comfortable sandals for the drive to his favorite camping spot on Mt Hood, to spend a week relaxing before coming back to setup the network for the media to cover the Hood to Coast Shift Relay Race that was happening in a month.

The Hood to Coast Shift Relay Race was a race where participants alternated between human and shifted forms on the various legs of the route and was challenging because it happened at the beginning of fall when it could be rather chilly at the start on Mt Hood, and at the summit of the Coast Range - they might actually want to put clothes on, though most didn't bother because it was only for a short time and they didn't want to have to deal with them when they shifted, or even when they weren't, for that matter. Most put up with the hassle of shoes, though some intrepid souls actually ran the race completely naked, putting up with the pain of blistered feet, depending on the fact that shifting restored the body to its genetic form when they shifted, so they started each human race leg with fresh feet - each member of the relay ran 4 legs: human/shifted/human/shifted before handing off to the next member. Bird shifters had an alternate route to take when shifted in order to balance the advantage they had in that form. Electronic badges were recorded as they passed the checkpoints, ensuring every one covered the route they were supposed to.

Chris was a grizzly bear shifter, and his human body reflected that with a stocky build for his 1.7m, coming in around 100kg and a moderate amount of hair covering his body (but not so much that he still looked like a grizzly bear in his human form!). He hummed Somewhere Over the Rainbow as he got into the SUV and drove off.

When he got to the end of the road, where the trail to Hickman Lake started, he parked and switched from his comfortable sandals to his hiking boots and stashed the sandals in his backpack, which he then put on, locked up the SUV, and started up the trail, which followed Hickman Creek up to the lake.

At the end of the trail, he came out on a small meadow, about 20m across, that was the only flat spot in the bowl that Hickman Lake was formed in. He relaxed a moment, taking in the view, before pulling out his tent and setting up camp. That done, he ditched the boots and waded into the lake for a swim, shifting into bear form fairly quickly to cavort in the water.

Meanwhile, Xander, a small, cute, smooth, short twink, about 65kg and 1.6m in his human form, was flying in his osprey form, which was a bit of a distorted version of an osprey, needing large wings with a 6m wingspan to carry his 65kg, plus whatever he managed to catch or carry (in this case, a small bag with a one person tent, light sleeping bag, and a bit of dry food). He was in Portland as the IT support for Shifting Streams, one of the many media outfits covering the Hood to Coast race, and had decided to enjoy the local scenery before the work started in earnest.

As Xander flew around Mt Hood, he saw a small lake that looked like a good spot to camp and headed down to it. As he approached the lake, he was disappointed to see that someone had already setup camp on one side of the only decent camping meadow the lake had, but thought if he setup his small camp on the far side, they shouldn't disturb each other much. There was a small bearish creature cavorting in the lake, which he assumed was the owner of the other tent.

As Xander descended to land, Chris noticed him, with dismay, and headed for shore, trying to figure out how to suggest the intruder find someplace else to camp without coming off as an asshole. He got out of the lake in time to see Xander drop the bag he was carrying so he could land semi-gracefully (with those large wings, there was no way to actually *be* graceful) and quickly shift into a more manageable human form. Holy bird feathers - what a cutie! Drop dead gorgeous and small enough to properly get ones arms around to cuddle and make out with!

Xander looked over just in time to see Chris shift into *his* human form and froze as his eyes took in this gorgeous hunk of a bear, who looked like a perfect teddy bear to snuggle up with on a cold winter night in front of a fire. Or any night. Or any time, for that matter.

It didn't take long for the male parts of the anatomy to express their mutual attraction as they walked towards each other for introductions.

Xander spoke first, "Hi, I'm Xander - sorry to drop in, but this is the only real spot for camping here"

Chris replied, "Hi, I'm Chris, and there's plenty of room for the two of us, do you need any help setting up?"

Xander shook his head, "no, I can't carry much flying, so it's a pretty simple setup." He opened the bag and pulled out the small tent bag and sleeping bag. "Fortunately," he said, "it's still pretty warm so I don't need much of a sleeping bag." He started unpacking the tent as Chris said, "It can still get pretty chilly at night..." Xander flirted, "Well, if I get cold, maybe a nice teddy bear will keep me warm." "You never know," Chris flirted back, "he just might!"

Xander set up his tent as they continued chatting. Chris asked "Do you do much camping?"

"As much as I can, but I've not had a chance to do much in Oregon - I live in the Bay Area and usually go up into the redwoods, and Lazy Bear in Guernville, of course!"

"You do like bears then!"

"Definitely, love to cuddle up with them!"

Chris decided to get a little less flirty and find out more about Xander, "what else to you do for fun - out of bed! - besides camping?"

"I love traveling to new places; I'd actually camp in them if it weren't such a hassle to bring along the camping gear. I like to read, mostly scifi, fantasy, and mystery, especially if there's a gay romance involved. I also like do some amateur filmmaking, especially editing."

"That's cool, I know what you mean about the camping gear, but I do enjoy regional road trips where I can bring it along. I'm a bit of a computer geek, playing with networks and data analysis."

By this time, Xander had his tent setup and stuff tossed inside - the small tent really didn't take long to setup! He said "After the flight up here, I need a swim!", kicking off his shoes and heading to the lake, Chris following him.

They cavort in the lake, dunking each other, and all the usual antics in water, before coming to a stop in shallower water, where Xander stands in water up to his neck and Chris pulled him in for a passionate kiss. They make out for a while, as hands disappear under the water and they jack each other off, then cuddle for the recovery period.

Xander said, "Wow, I needed that, thanks!" Chris replied, "yeah, me too! How about we go fix dinner?" "Sounds good to me!"

They wade back to shore, each heading for their own tent. Xander looked back at Chris and yelled, "Mind if I get my stuff and join you?" Chris yells back, "I was hoping you would!"

Xander grabbed his bag, which, now devoid of the tent and sleeping bag, was much lighter, and joined Chris. They both had small 3-legged chairs and small folding tables to work on and quickly fixed their meals and ate them. After, they went to the lake and rinsed off the dishes. On the way back, Xander said "You know, it is starting to get a little chilly. How would you feel about actually being a teddy bear to keep me warm tonight?"

"Sounds like a great idea to me! I doubt our sleeping bags will zip together, but we can use one underneath us and the other one on top."

"I'll run over and get mine."

Xander does, and they crawled into Chris' tent, arranged the sleeping bags, and cuddled up in them for the night.

Over the next week, they spent a lot of time cavorting in the water or cuddled up, snoozing or reading in the sun, and of course, having sex. At times, they were shifted, with Xander trying to bomb Chris with sticks or rocks, and other times, Xander, being an osprey, was able to fetch fish for dinner. Eventually, however, it was time to head home.

As they packed up, Chris said, "It's not a far hike to my car - I can give you a ride back to town if you like." Xander responded, "Sure - I even brought hiking shoes in case I wanted to do some hiking here, and let's exchange contact info too - I'd like to keep in touch with you." Chris agreed, and, after packing up, headed down the trail back to the car.

At the car, they did exchange their info on their phones and made plans to meet for dinner the next night after work.