Don't ask me about my morning. (Open)

[Mark]

A dark shape in the darkness of the pre-dawn lumbered slowly down the hall. Without light or awareness, driven by instinct, it found its way to a door before pushing it open with a creak. It took one step in, another before finding what it sought. Here's the shower, and I'll actually have hot water for once.

Still mostly asleep Mark shut the bathroom door and hung his robe, a souvenir from a motel, on the back. It had been a few days since he'd moved in and he had yet to get a warm shower. He scratched unconciously at a trio of raised welts on his arm as he turned on the water. Aquiring the little wasp on his lunch break hadn't gone so well, it had decided it wanted to fight back and the stings hurt!

His shower was over quickly and he turned off the water and reached out along the wall to get a towel. There wasn't one. He checked the other side of the shower and found nothing there either. Rolling his eyes, and still half asleep, he decided to try morphing the yellow jacket. Small... hard... water will drip right off...

Without thinking further, his body began to change. His arms split into legs as he shrunk, his legs joined and bulged to become the bug's abdomen. Soon he was nothing more than a small yellow spot on the dark wall of the shower. Still only half concious he wasn't prepared for when the insect's instincts kicked in. Fortunately, the bug's programming for the situation was simple and inline with Mark's. It was dark, it was warm, and there wasn't anything interesting around. It needed to go dormant. He fell asleep there, without realizing it, human mind and instinct in complete accord.

[Leopold]

Leopold liked to be clean every morning, because he sweat a lot when he slept, and his hair was generally a mess. He could wash and wear, which was why he liked the water in the morning. Plus, it woke him up enough to go make coffee. But, when he got to the shower area, it seemed someone was already in there.

He knocked on the door. Once, twice, a third time...Leopold frowned. He decided to chance it, and stepped inside. He hoped he wouldn’t be walking in on someone making a huge dump...

He was glad to know that the toilet remained unmanned. But, as he looked around, he saw the signs that someone had entered a shower...but there was no-one here. There was a bug, however, on the wall of the shower, he saw. He walked towards it, and noticed it was asleep. It seemed so out-of-place in the shower. He walked towards it.

[embergryphon]

Keith woke up that morning.

Usually, waking up early enough that it still qualified as 'morning' when his feet hit the ground was accomplishment enough for Keith, but since getting to Hemington, he couldn't really help himself. This place still felt strange, like a vacation or something, and he couldn't help but feel like he wasn't in his own bed when he woke up. It was a little disorienting.

He shoved the heavy covers off his lap and swung off the mattress, raking his mass of curly hair out of his eyes with his fingers as he blinked blearily at the blank wall of his bedroom. He slept in his boxers, and didn't really like to get changed until after his shower- there was just something intrinsically satisfying about changing into clean clothes after a morning shower.

But that wouldn't happen until after coffee. And he couldn't really waltz down into the kitchen in his underwear.

So he grabbed the dirty jeans from the night before off the floor and pulled them on, then the shirt, still inside-out. Nothing fancy. Just enough to get him downstairs, inject caffiene into the bloodstream and get out of everyone's way without offending the ladies. Or the easily offended guys.

So, properly equipped, he strode out into the hallway.

[Mark]

Wings fluttered for a second at the unfamiliar vibrations of sound that the yellow jacket felt. A few more seconds later the door opened, rocking the insect with an inrush of air. Antennae twitched at the sudden familiar scent/taste of mildew, salt(sweat), and from farther away the sweet allure of sugar.

Across the mirrored landscape of compound eyes rushed a shadowed figure in the darkness. Large and of unfamiliar taste, instincts registered as unknown which usually means... Danger!

The sudden jump start threw Mark completely awake with little effort. Wings waved out and caught the air in a succession of wingbeats and the wasp was flying up and out trying to make its way to the sugar scent before he knew it. It made it about two and a half feet before flight reflexes were overthrown by an unbending human will. The bug fell like a stone and bounced off the floor.

<Where am I? Am I still sleep?> The fall had barely fazed the wasp. Feeling his vision still blurry, he tried to wipe his eyes with his hand. He didn't have a hand, just a spiky clawed leg... Oh my god... <WHERE ARE MY ARMS!> He shouted demandingly at the menacing shape, scuttling across the floor awkwardly on unfamiliar limbs.

[Leopold]

Leopold jumped, as he heard thought-speech in his head. He stepped back, realising it must be someone in morph. He was freaking out, it seemed. Leopold did not want to get stung...and getting stung might be even worse, for the person in morph. Didn't these bugs, after they stung you, die? He didn't want one of them to die! Well...it was a yellow jacket, and they usually pulled their stingers out, but still.

Backing up, he said, unaware that they would merely be vibrations to the insect (if that was so), "You're in morph," he said. He thought about the two-hour rule, then he said, "And...I think it'd be a good idea if you demorph soon..." He couldn't imagine someone being trapped in the body of a yellow jacket.

[embergryphon]

((I wasn't sure whether or not Mark's yelling at Leopold was in public thought-speech or just aimed at Leopold... so I went with the former, assuming Mark wouldn't be in the correct state-of-mind to be careful with his brainwaves~))

Keith still wasn't used to this house, and walked right past the stairwell in his bleary mid-morning haze. Without the signature caffiene shot to his bloodstream that was his morning coffee, he was unfortunately useless before noon.

Which was one reason why, walking past the open bathroom door, hearing a panicked voice in his head screaming about his missing arms caught him so off-guard. Not that most people wouldn't be caught off-guard by such a thing, especially first thing in the morning, but the mental image of a man flopping around on the bathroom tile, searching for his missing limbs, stopped Keith in his tracks.

A supremely logical-sounding voice broke him out of that reverie, saying, "You're in morph. And... I think it'd be a good idea if you demorph soon."

He looked down at his hands, mumbled, "'M not in morph," and only then looked into the bathroom, seeing Leopold standing, seemingly alone, on the tile floor. Oh. Duh. I bet the guy talking in thought-speak is the one in morph, huh? Which would explain where, exactly, his arms are. Somewhat louder and much more coherent, Keith asked, "What's going on?"

[Leopold]

Leopold turned, seeing the other guy, who looked really, really exhausted. What was his name? Leo wasn't good with names. "Um...this guy morphed a yellow jacket, apparently, and he was sleeping, but now he's really scared. I don't know if he heard me...can bugs hear?"

Leopold wondered about this, looking back at the yellow jacket. It was amazing to think that he was a person in the form of a bug. Leopold, prior, had morphed the Krider's hawk that he held so dear. He loved morphing power, and loved this task that had been set before him.

[Mark]

((Wasps/hornets don't have barbed stingers and almost never lose their stingers, they hunt with them after all. Bees are herbivore and have a barbed stinger as they are a last line of defense type thing. They always die.))

It took a few seconds for Mark to learn how to translate the vibrations shook the numerous hairs that covered his body into sound. He still couldn't make sense of the muzzled vision his for allowed him He didn't know if the giant was before or behind him, especially with the colours screwed up and throwing off his frame of reference.

<Morph?! What nonsense is this Elser? Some new tidbit of torturous hope to dangle in front of me? A new trick to try and break me? Even now I can feel you pulling at my mind to act the way you want,> He referred, in fact to the wasp's instincts that new he was a target and wanted to flee. <to run and be trapped in this new nightmare of yours for months.>

He wanted to cry but bugs lacked tears, he wanted to scream but he had no voice. The anguish and anger found a new outlet though as his will bent enough to tap into the very instincts he had been determined to ignore. Wings flapped once, twice, a hundred times in the still air making a slight roar as of a prop plane's engines. Slight membranes caught wind and gave him lift as he tucked his tiny legs into his body.

His eyes fixed on the target before him, the broad expanse of the threatening giant and he felt his abdomen lean forward to bring his most powerful weaponry to bear. <No more... I may leave this body a hollow shell but I will take you with me.> His mandibles clicked into an approximation of a grin as he attempted to alight on its face. <Memento Mori, Elser. Only the heroic live forever.>

((Yay for waking nightmare psycho bee?))

[embergryphon]

Keith honestly didn't know if bugs could hear. They didn't have ears, did they?

He considered morphing something and talking to the bug in thought-speak, but just then it started speaking again.

Of course, the fact that it was, indeed, speaking did not mean that it was saying anything that Keith could understand. He did, however, know enough to back away when the little yellow-and-black insect began rising through the air- and flying towards Leopold. Sure, there were worse things than a beesting- or, whatever kind of bug that was; Keith sort of grouped all black-and-white, stinging insects in with bees- but that didn't mean he wanted to get attacked, too.

"I'm going to morph," he told Leopold, already focusing on the change- maybe the bug couldn't properly understand what they were saying, or maybe they sounded threatening to the poor tiny little thing. Maybe Keith could be more convincing talking in thought-speak. Mostly, though, Keith figured as a ferret, he'd be a smaller target than his big, clunky human self. And so he focused on his old pet, Duce, and felt his skin starting to itch as fur sprouted down his arms and neck, and felt the ground rising to meet him as he shrank.

[Leopold]

((OOC: Didn't know that, thanks! ^.^ Leopold won't know it either.))

Elser? Who the heck was that? This guy was crazy! He didn't understand what he was saying to him, at all. But he did, in fact, know when a bug was going to sting him, and he was unsure what effect that would have on it. He began to back up, hearing Keith behind him announce he was going to morph. He nodded to acknowledge.

Memento Mori? Elser? Again, what the heck was the guy talking about? He knew of Memento Mori from his art class, but what reason did the wasp have from saying it here? "Hurry, Keith..." he said, grimacing at the idea of being stung, and worse, the idea of whoever this was getting killed. He wished he knew more about whatever he was. Yellow jacket? He still couldn't be sure.

Should I morph? he thought. No; I don't know how a hawk would react to a bug like that..

[Mark]

((Memento Mori - Remember your mortality))

It has to be Elser 1183... No normal dream would leave me so helpless and confused and yet so angry and in control... He was having trouble narrowing in on his target. By aiming with the centermost of the oddly coloured 'images' that made up his new vision he managed to weave back and forth like a drunk in flight. Hard to fly if you're sights are in opposite reaction.

His infestor, the Yeerk Elser, had had a habit of creating new dream realities with which to torture his unwilling host. The dreams served both to break Mark's spirit and to entertain the Yeerk. The fact that they also kept Mark from fighting back effectively wasn't a small benefit either. A time or two what he'd been forced to do had left him all but comatose within his own mind. Closed off to such a degree that months went by without conscious realization. Over time, though, it had been harder and harder for the Yeerk to put him off. Harder to dodge the narrow dagger of anger and hatred that was Mark's only weapon and harder to breach the iron determination that formed a shield about the mind that had no body to focus on...

Yet he'd been freed nearly four years ago hadn't he? He had lived life by his own terms and survived by the work of his own hands. He shook his head, throwing the wasp off course to zip past the man's ear. Was that the lie, or was this the lie... Merely a dream or another attempt to break him. He didn't know, his mind was still fuzzy and only a nightmare could turn him into an insect. That was impossible, or so his logic said.

That settled it, until he had proof otherwise he was going to disbelieve this lie and- LIGHT!

Everything was washed away as the smell of the sugar from downstairs found a companion in a bright light that was shining through the window. The wasp's programming was simple and direct. Go to the light. Mark started trying to fly through the closed window like an idiot.

[embergryphon]

Keith had only morphed once before, and to be perfectly honest, he'd never had much talent with it. He suspected you got faster and smoother at the whole thing with practice, but as it was, he was kind of slow and clumsy.

And Leopold telling him to hurry it up wasn't helping much, either. He was going to point this out when his upper jawbone shoved rudely out of his face and his default grin became suddenly a lot creepier; his intended light-hearted comeback came out as "Rrrf kherrf," which wasn't entirely what he'd meant. He was also shrinking- not fast, but fast enough for it to be disconcerting, and he found himself not really able to pay much attention to what Leopold and the wasp were saying to one another, or what the insect was doing. Only after he was safely ferret-sized- although only partially furry and not really cute at all- did he start to pay more attention to the goings-on around him again. It took a second for him to climb out of the tent that had ballooned around him- his own outer clothing that hadn't made the change with him. Once free, he looked around for the lost Animorph.

The ferret's eyes, however, turned out to be not much sharper than his own, and from this new- much lower- vantage point, he couldn't find the insect. He could see the human towering over him- the ferret didn't like that, didn't like being out in the open like this, wanted to hide, but Keith had done this morph before and could control it- but not the much smaller bug he was looking for. It didn't help that the mustelid didn't see much in the way of color, and so he couldn't pick out the yellow splotch in the duller colors of the bathroom. <Hey, buddy,> he called, as the morph wrapped up and he hustled his way into the bathroom. <Are you alright?>

As he got closer to the far wall of the bathroom, he could finally catch the movement of a smaller animal, motoring towards the window. <What are you doing? You're going to run into the glass!>

[Mark]

Thunk! The bug hit the glass at something approaching full speed and bounced off. Unperturbed, it rammed into the window a further three times before settling for crawling on the glass. It hadn't really felt a thing.

Adrift in the sea of instinct, a thought reached the surface. <Either too much or too little control! What am I doing wrong?>

[embergryphon]

((Keith does not speak Latin. ^^()))

Keith wasn't sure how tough, exactly, that willowy little bug was, and so it alarmed him to see it running over and over into the glass. He hurried over on his tiny little ferret legs while the insect landed on the glass and crawled along the slick surface.

<Well, for one thing, I don't think you're entirely present, dude,> he pointed out, rising up onto his hind legs in a feeble attempt to get closer to the window. <Snap out of it. You're not a bug, you're an Animorph. Like us.> He made a little chirping ferret-sound out loud, to illustrate the point that he wasn't human anymore, either. <You were... God, I don't know. You were having a nightmare or something in morph. I don't know how long you've been like that, so you might wanna demorph now. And I don't know what a Momento Mori Elser is, either.>

At this, he glanced over at Leopold, not sure whether this was some SPECTER thing he should have been briefed on.

[Leopold]

Leopold was wondering who or what this Elser was, and what it had to do with that term he'd learned months back in art history. But he was suddenly wondering whether he should be grateful, or worried, that the yellow jacket was flying towards the window. Luckily, the window was closed, and the bug didn't hit it fast enough to hurt himself too much. He looked back at Keith and shuddered; if he wasn't a pretty sight in the early mornings, he sure as heck wasn't now.

Finally, Keith was morphed, and was able to call out to the wasp, which was still lost in instinct. He was working to get the wasp out of its...instinct, was it? This was good. When the ferret looked to Leopold, he shook his head. "I don't know what he means, either," he said, leaning down. "All I remember of 'memento mori' is a skull painted into pictures to remind us all that we are mortal." He leaned down, holding his hand out so that the ferret could climb up his arm. "And Elser? It sounds like the name of an airplane to me." Leopold loved aircraft!