Fun At The Circus (Nadia)

[Allie]

Allie strode through the area surrounding the circus. Nadia working here provided her with some free passes, and Allie had been so busy up until now with her job at the ranch that she hadn't had time for fun. The two roommates had determined they needed a little together time, just for fun, and the free circus passes had provided the perfect excuse.

"This is amazing," Allie said. "I haven't been to one of these in years. You're so lucky to work here and be around all the animals." All the animals also meant all the potential morphs, morphs that were more powerful than the ones Allie had access to at the ranch. The only really powerful animal there was the bull and Allie was usually kept a ways away from that pen during her work.

But being Animorphs was work in a way, thanks to being hired by SPECTER. This trip was about fun, though a morph might be a nice bonus if they got the chance.

[serena]

Nadia looked around the circus, next to Allie, with interest. Even if she worked there, she always had fun looking at everything. She was glad that she was able to retrieve free passes once in a while, so she could bring her friends here once in a while. She wanted to spend more time with Allie because work had taken Allie out of the house more times than Nadia could count.

Nadia giggled. "I guess you could call it that, but after a while it gets routine, I would think. I think you're the lucky one. You get to work at a ranch. She looked around and saw the ring master talking to someone. "Well, there's my boss." She looked some more and a thought occurred to her.

"Hey. Do you want to take a look at the lions?"

[Allie]

Allie smiled a little when Nadia said that she was the lucky one. "Maybe. I don't get a lot of morphs there though. There's animals that work for blending in there more than anything else. Not that that's a bad thing."

Blending in when in morph was not a bad thing at all. If you could look like you belonged wandering the city, people were less likely to pay attention to you. They wouldn't blow the whole SPECTER operation out of the water by getting discovered that way. There were several more morphs like her cat that she could get there too, so maybe she could specialize. She just needed one or two morphs that could fight, because she didn't want to always run away.

Allie almost squealed like a little child when Nadia asked if she wanted to see the lions. "We can do that? I mean, you can show me the animals without getting in trouble?" That would really give her a chance to get a morph. Ironically a big cat, seeing as Nadia had specified lions. Looks like I'm still an Allie-cat after all.

[serena]

Nadia thought about what Allie had said. "True, not a wide variety of morphs. Though I would think it neat if we were to try all types of horses and see how they react differently." It took her a minute to remember where her keys were before snatching them up again.

Nadia looked over at Allie. "As long as they don't get out, we're fine. I do feed them on a regular basis; they've never caused a problem before. I don't see why they would now." She led the way to the lions' den. "There we are."

[Allie]

Allie nodded. "I'm not sure if the different types of horses would be different or not. They've also got different types of dogs, cows, a bull, and even sheep and a sheep dog. Some of them would make interesting morphs. I've got the one cat now, and my horse morph too. I've been thinking about acquiring the bull, but I can't get close to him."

All the time Allie talked she didn't realize that they were getting close to where the lions were. She knew it when she heard them roar and looked up to see themselves outside the lion's den. "Wow.... now one of those would make a neat morph. I don't think I could be brave enough to pet a lion though." The bull scared her enough. The large lions were even more dangerous than that.

She glanced at Nadia. "How did you get a panther as your first morph? That had to take a hell of a lot of guts." Then again, this is coming from someone who couldn't fully comprehend the situation until she was in a barn petting a cat. I kind of went with what was available at the time.

[serena]

Nadia had to think about it for a couple of minutes as they finally reached the lion cage. "For some reason, the bull reminds me of that old old old television show....I don't remember the name, but the catch phrase was 'Now, hooooold on there, Bubba Lewie!' Random fact I know, but it just came to mind."

Nadia smiled at Allie. "Actually, they're pretty lazy after they've been fed. And I think, if everything's on time, they ate not too long ago. Unless it's that Jason guy. He's really new at all of this. He may be late." She gave it some thought.

Nadia was caught off guard about the question of getting the black panther as her first morph. "Well..that was accidental, really. It was my first day on the job. I went to feed them and I fell in. It was all I could do to not end up as their next batch of food." She found the lock at the gate and looked over at Allie. "So I think I just have the adrenaline to thank...but anyways, you want to try getting a lion morph?"

[Allie]

Allie laughed at the comment about the bull, but staring at the lions the laughter kind of died. They were just so big. And even if Nadia was right and they were calm right now..... well. Nadia had managed to acquire a not calm panther so maybe it wasn't that bad. Though, she was still kind of stunned when Nadia suggested Allie acquire one.

"Wow..... I don't know. They're just so...," her words trailed off as one of the lions roared. "Yeah, I don't know if I can do this."

But Nadia was at the lock and Allie really could use a morph like that. Her horse and lion were great morphs, and while the Animorphs of Mariposa hadn't needed to fight yet that didn't mean they never would. I must be insane. Then again, I faked my disappearance to work as part of a government task force that turns into animals. Sanity might not be a question anymore.

"Sure. I'll do it," she said looking at Nadia and making her way over to her friend and the opening. Once that lock was off there was no backing out. Yeah.... really beginning to wonder about that sanity issue.

[serena]

Nadia smiled as she fumbled with the lock. Once she got it to open slightly, she looked over her shoulder to be sure no one she worked with was around. "All right, I hope you're ready. I know you can do this, Allie."

Slowly, Nadia opened the door and got out of the way the best she could for Allie to reach in and touch one. She saw three of the four lions. Odd...where's the fourth? Then, a split second later, she saw him running at her. "Look out!" She was knocked backwards by the lion and she fell onto her rear. "Oof!" The other lions had seen what was happening and while Nadia was preoccupied by the other lion, they had run for the escape.

[Allie]

Allie wasn't sure what she was thinking as Nadia opened the door. She was even less sure after that because the lions made a break for it and while the one that had knocked Nadia over was distracted with Nadia, Allie darted up behind it.

"Please, please don't be hungry. That and don't get mad at me." All of that was muttered as she lay her hand on the lion's side and focused on acquiring the large animal. The lion turned it's head toward her, but after that it seemed to calm down some. Allie lifted her hand and glanced up with wide eyes at Nadia. "Get that one back into the cage while he's in the acquiring trance. We have to round the others up, and that probably means you morphing panther and me morphing...."

Her words trailed off as she glanced down at the lion. She had just acquired that. And we'll worry about how insane I am for doing that later. "Well," she said, "me morphing into him."