InsaneJournal

Down by the Bay of the Hanky Panky (open!)
Hank was… getting used to his bear form. Starting to enjoy it, a little. As soon as he'd found he could shift back and forth the whole thing became much more tolerable. Well, that and rumors has spread that he was not the only one, so maybe it was just the City toying with them as Hannibal suggested it sometimes did.

At nights he went out to the park, strolling around in his bear form and exploring. He liked to sniff out things, then take them to a hiding spot and come back to investigate them when he was human. The comparison between the sets of senses were pleasing, if not a bit useless.

Tonight, though, Hank went to the docks in human form, slipping into and ally and changing out of his clothes, shifting quickly. It was getting easier, the more he did it, and soon a polar bear was sneaking guiltily down to the water.

When he got to the edge he blinked, staring at the water and sniffing it. He almost smiled, though he was a bit nervous. The bear wanted to go in, to see if there was food. The human part of him knew polar bears were great swimmers, he'd studied up on them when he'd first returned to human form, but he was still a bit apprehensive even after deciding to come here.

All it really took was a small frog jumping into the water to his side, and Hank's predatory instincts took over. He lurched forward into a semi-graceful dive into the water, plunging in and finding the water perfectly deep enough for a giant mammal to enter for a swim.

Hank human mind felt a flash of terror as he cannonballed and the water enveloped him; he'd never actually swam before and had never been in water deeper than the shallow baths his mother had given him as a child, but the bear kicked in and knew what to do, plunging down and down and looking around. The moonlight didn't allow for much light, but it was still very clear, and as Hank turned joyfully he felt the polar bear's full appreciation for the world under the surface where his weight and bulk didn't mean so much.

Hank surfaced, taking a deep breath of air before spotting his frog on a rope hanging down into the water, looking disinterested. He went still, then lunged for it, far too slow to catch the slimy creature as it hopped into the water and bolted away, but then again he wasn't really interested in catching it anyway. He couldn't imagine frogs tasted that good raw, whatever the French liked to do with them in the kitchen.

Yes, Hank was a happy polar bear, surfacing and diving and testing how long he could go underwater. As long as no boat ran over him he could see spending the night here.