The Start of Something New [Open for new people]

[Maya]

"Well we've already cleaned the floors pretty good in the first two rooms," Maya motioned towards the living room and kitchen. "They were pretty grimy. But there's still some dusting to do."

"I don't know what kind of progress the girls have done upstairs, so I dunno if you want to pick a room up there and start tidying," she grabbed the broom again. "Or you can help us finish up in here if you want." Then she frowned for a moment. "Oh! I'm so sorry... I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Maya." She stuck out her hand for a handshake.

[embergryphon]

Keith did want to meet the other people sharing the house with him, but as long as there was only dusting left to do here, he saw no real reason to go looking for harder work. "I'll hang around here, I think," he answered, scanning the room for a rag to dust off the furniture with. After a second, he spotted one laid carelessly out on a small table.

He'd almost forgotten that he didn't know the girl's name, and so he was glad she was the one to remember to introduce herself. "Awesome, good to meet you," he answered, taking her up on the handshake.

[chance]

Jake noticed that she had answered and had not gone any further. He wasn't going to pry; he did understand what they were going through, after all. He looked up at the door when someone knocked and then Maya said she'd get it. He simply went back to cleaning and a male voice. Sweet! So I'm not the only guy living in this house. He felt relieved, and then wondered if he had to share a room. He shrugged, before going back for his rag.

It wasn't there. He blinked and then saw the new guy had it. "Oh, there it is," he said. Instead of making a fuss, he went and found a new one. It took him a minute, but then he got it. Maya and whats-his-face were talking to each other so he didn't bother stopping.

[Nancy]

Nancy stuck her head out of a bedroom. She cocked it, and quickly verified that she had indeed heard knocking on the door. She stepped out of the room and quickly told Christina, who was in another room, "Hey, I'm going to go down to see what that was. I'll be up in a bit." Then she smacked her hands together to clear off some of the dust. The rooms were covered in it!

At the top of the stairs, she yelled down, "Hey! Who was at the door?" She sneezed twice and then began descending the stairs. Half-way down, she answered her own question. "Ohhhh," was all she said. Then she sneezed. She finished walking down the stairs and strolled across the floor until she was right in fron of the guy. After a quick swipe against her skirt, she stuck out a hand, smiling broadly. "Hi, I'm Nancy. Who are you?"

[embergryphon]

Another female voice- and a small chorus of sneezes- attracted Keith's attention; he let go of Maya's hand and turned a little towards the stairs. The small young woman coming down from the first floor wasn't, he noticed, as eye-catching as Maya, but she was definitely cute and seemed cheerful; his initial impressions were good.

He glanced over at Jake as she continued down the stairs; if he had said anything, Keith hadn't been paying enough attention to catch the words. He was just sort of... doing his own thing; that was cool.

Meanwhile, Nancy had crossed the room to stand in front of her, introducing herself in her cutely forward way. He took her hand as it was offered, unable to suppress a grin. "I'm Keith. I guess I'm the new guy here."

[Leopold]

Suffice to say, Leopold really didn’t miss his old life. But really, he wished he could have told his mother and stepfather that he was alive and alright...of course, he didn’t know how they’d react to that anyway.

Leopold didn’t really have any stuff of importance to take with him, so he decided it might be easier to find the place from the skies. That would make this all the better. After leaving the Raptor Centre, he found a nice patch of grass, and sat down with the note, memorising it, before he tore it apart and tossed it into a trashcan. Then, hiding behind a large tree, he removed his clothing, revealing the morphing outfit SPECTER had suggested he wear: a tight, black tanktop and plain black bike shorts. He put his clothing in the hole in the tree.

Closing his eyes, Leopold focused on the bird within him as they’d taught him to, and the changes began. First, and this was rather eerie, lines began to form on his arms and legs. It was as though someone had an Etch-a-Sketch, and was drawing lines on him. They were red on his back, arms, and rear; those elsewhere were white lines, and the skin was becoming whiter under them. He nearly cried out as he felt himself shrinking. It was as though he was falling, but his feet remained rooted to the ground, which was rushing up at him. He could hear bones cracking within his body, and the sloshing of organs as they reasserted themselves.

WHOAH! His vision intensified! It was far beyond what a normal human could ever hope to have. He could see from miles away. He could see a grasshopper, perched on a blade of grass. As this was happening, he felt his arms becoming thinner, different. He could feel his feet becoming...different. He looked down and saw talons. Oh, that was creepy. He was glad he didn’t have a mirror. And then everything started to itch, as the feathers burst to life: the dark brown feathers on his wings and back, the red tail, the white feathers.

Finally, his hair was sucked into his head, as his lips hardened, becoming the hawk’s deadly, curved beak. The transition was complete; he was the hawk. And then, the moment he’d been waiting for: the bird mind surfaced.

He’d expected it to be something he couldn’t control. But, in truth, he didn’t expect it to be something as simple as what it was right now. The bird simply wanted to fly. Now, Leopold was both excited and nervous. He could do what he always wanted to...but heights were pretty scary. What if he chickened out while flying? Well, there was only one way to find out. Leopold spread his wings, and let the wind pick him up. He, or rather, the bird, circled up, flapping a bit, then caught a pillar of warm air, a thermal, and let himself glide upon it. This is so cool, he thought confidently, staring at the world beneath him. He could see it all. He was on top of the world.

He had a mission in mind. He had to stick to it, and find that safehouse. Once he did, he’d land in the tree, and go from there. He turned his feathers, looking for street signs, glancing at a clock occasionally to check morphing time. It was about forty-six minutes into having morphed that he found the street, and the number, and then instructed the bird to land. His first flight hadn’t been bad...but landing was a different story. Suffice to say, he crashed, right into a tree, in the backyard. But he wasn’t upset with himself. Instead, he thought-laughed, to himself. Oops...

[Maya]

When Keith let go of her hand to greet Nancy, Maya turned quietly back to her sweeping. This house was filling up fast, she thought to herself. They had a lot to do. She started going through a list of things in her head. Finish cleaning... pick rooms...--Here she realized she hadn't even been upstairs yet--grocery shop? probably... figure out what SPECTER wants us to do next...

She finished up the sweeping and glanced around the room as the others spoke. It was looking a hundred times better already. Maybe it was time to take a break and get to know everyone instead. They would have time to worry about the rest later. Well... she hoped.

[zero]

Rukia supposed she should be fortunate that SPECTER was only sending her to Maine and not California-- at least she was used to the area and it wasn't incredibly far to travel. After taking a quick nap on the bus, it stopped abruptly in front of a house that she didn't recognize. Though, by looking at the piece of paper she was given, it was the right place. She thanked the bus driver, stepping off the bus and starting her walk toward the house.

She was still spiteful toward SPECTER for uprooting her from her life and making her start a new one. Her 'death' hadn't been pretty and she thought it was too dramatic-- a car accident with the car exploding. Though, she had no choice about going back to her old life-- that was done. She had to start this new one in this house-- did she hear voices?

She knocked on the door three times, as per her custom, and waited patiently for someone to answer it.

[chance]

Jake had gone back to cleaning and was focusing on getting that done. However, someone else decided that he should stop what he was doing. That someone was a bird. "What in the-?!" He looked out and saw the hawk and blinked. "Well, that's just...terrrific.."

He went to the front door and opened it, ready to run around to the back and he stopped and blinked. "Well, well. Are you here for business or for pleasure? I'm sure I could give you a good time," he smiled, forgetting momentarily about the bird, and focusing on the girl at the door in front of him.

[zero]

She didn't have to wait too long for an answer, for the door opened and she was face to face with a slightly shorter male who seemed rather... interested in her. She gave him a slight glare, then removed it and smiled.

"Sorry, I don't date shorter men," she told him in her nicest voice possible-- unfortunately a bit of sarcasm got into that. She then decided to sneak a peak at the interior of the house-- it looked quite messy and dusty, making her wonder why SPECTER sent her here without cleaning it up first... if this was even the right place. "Is this the right place? I was sent to come here." She showed the man the piece of paper that she had gotten.

[chance]

Jake had to admit, what the girl said was pretty funny, but he couldn't let her have the satisfaction of being sarcastic. "Ouch. What's a guy to do then, huh? Wear heels all day?" He chuckled though. Growing serious, he looked at the paper for a moment. "Welcome to our humble home." He opened the door for her.

Then Jake blinked. "The bird!" he exclaimed, racing to the backyard. Carefully, he picked the bird up to see if it was all right. "Hey, Bird, are you okay? I think you need landing practice."

[zero]

"I guess so-- I'll let you borrow my shoes," she replied with a smille-- this guy had a good sense of humor, she could tell. She stepped in after he opened the door, now able to fully see how dirty it was. She also noted they weren't the only people in the house-- others were around doing some cleaning as well.

The man then exclaimed something about a bird, running off outside to something. Okay, this was definitely where the Animorphs were-- no other person would be that worried about a bird. Not knowing what else to do, she went to talk to someone else around the house to see if she could lend a hand. She looked to one of the shorter girls there, one that was facing another guy-- perhaps she would know.

"Hey," she said shortly, a gently smile still on her face, "Sorry for interrupting here-- I'm new. Is there anything I can do to help clean up?"

[embergryphon]

Keith hadn't even heard the crash-landing outside, so he was a little bemused by Jake's concern. Eavesdropping on his and the new girls' conversation at the door distracted him from paying too much attention to his dusting duties, and so he was doing a sort of sloppy job.

He glanced up at the cute brunette who walked in through the door, smiling to himself. "Hey there. Welcome to our humble abode. I just got here, myself." When she asked what she could do to help, he held out the rag he'd be using for the past minute with a somewhat childish smile. "You could help dust, if you want. I think, if no one minds, I'm going to go see what shape the other rooms are in. I don't know if this many people are really necessary for one room, and I kind of want to check this place out." Really, he was already a little antsy from cleaning and wanted to explore, but he did have the best of intentions; he even intended to see if the one girl left upstairs needed a big strong man for anything. He glanced from Maya to Nancy to the newcomer Rukia, one eyebrow raised, not really paying attention to what was going on just outside. "Does anyone want to come with me?"

[zero]

Oh, so he was new too. She still had no names yet, which she didn't fret about too much-- she knew she would get those in time. She took the rag from him, noticing that there was a lot of dusting needing to be done-- almost every room was coated in it.

"All right, I'll do that," she said to him, using the rag to start in the kitchen. If they wanted to eat tonight, this room had better be spotless. Speaking of which, she wondered if they had any food... something she would have to figure out later. She didn't know how to cook much either except for basics, so she wasn't sure how much help she could be besides cleaning.

[Maya]

Maya was setting the broom aside when Keith asked if anyone wanted to explore. She dusted off her hands on her jeans and glanced up at him. "Sure, I haven't been upstairs yet, I'll go." She headed for the stairs, waving him after her.

"I don't even know how many rooms they've given us. And there's what like... five of us now?" she spoke as she started climbing the stairs. She quickly pulled her hand off the banister, scrunching up her nose at the layer of dust that came away from it. "Oh dear, this place..."