Why Texas?

[belnoah]

Jeremy was still bitter. He wasn't usually the angry type, and certainly he wanted to find the people who set the bomb, but he'd received no explanation and no information. That made his job so much harder, and being stuck in some small town in Texas made things even worse, not to mention his mood. He had half a mind to just call up a bunch of his friends, borrow some money from them and escape back to Washington. The problem was, he was completely certain that the "specter" people would know five seconds before he hung up what he was planning. He would have to accept his life as was.

The least they could have done was help him get his stuff up to his room. This was almost all his stuff, or at least as much as he could gather in the amount of time they gave him, and it was heavy. He dragged his bags into the building's lobby and glanced around for an elevator. He suddenly felt loneliness sweeping over his mind. It really struck him for the first time that Mom, Dad, Derek, and Malcom were dead. Gone forever. Just because they'd gone to one dinner party. He fought tears. He couldn't cry here, there could be people watching.

He bit his lip.

[Allie]

Allie approached the elevator wearing her work clothes. She was on a return trip from the ranch. Checklist for upon arrival in the apartment. Shower, change clothes, find something fun to do. Definitely in that order too. She smelled like a barn, then again that made sense with where she worked.

She came to a stop by the elevator where a guy was waiting with bags. New neighbor, or new arrival from SPECTER? she wondered as she approached. Either way, he was going up so it seemed they'd be sharing an elevator.

"Hi," she said as she stopped. She glanced up at the light on the elevator creeping closer to the lobby floor before looking back at him. "You new here?"

[belnoah]

The smell of farm animals made him glance up and momentarily forget his pain. There was a girl walking up to him, and she asked if he was new. Did the SPECTER agent say everyone in this building was an Animorph? I can't remember. Better play it safe. "Yeah," he replied. I guess my name is ok. They didn't tell me to get a code name.

"I'm Jeremy," he said. He put down his bag and offered his hand to shake. I wish they'd given me some kind of code so I could tell who I could talk to. Or maybe some kind of directory... that'd be useful. I guess I'll just play it by ear. She certainly didn't look like someone who would be an Animorph... but then how could he tell?

[Allie]

She held out her hand to shake his when he introduced himself. "I'm Allie. Nice to meet you." Just as she finished the elevator bell dinged and the doors opened to let Jeremy and Allie on. So.... new to the building. The floor he's on will tell me Animorph or not.... well, sort of. Each floor of the building had eight apartments. Even if he did go up to her floor, since all the Animorphs shared an apartment there was a seven in eight chance he wasn't from SPECTER.

"So, what floor do you need to go to?," she asked as she stepped into the elevator. If he said second that was one step closer to him being an Animorph. God.... it's going to be odd to ride up the elevator with him if it's only to discover we're going to be living together from now on.

[belnoah]

You introduced yourself, you may as well say what floor you'll be living on. It can't hurt. Besides, didn't the SPECTER people say that all the Animorphs lived in one apartment or are you making that up? Jeremy strained his memory. "The... second. Second floor." I think.

Well, even if he didn't end up finding the Animorphs, he'd at least found someone friendly. And from how she smelled like a barnyard, maybe he could get some morphs from hanging out with her. The question was, how to approach his suspicion of where she hung out in a more tactful way than asking why she smelled like cow pies. Yeah, that would endear him real quick.

"So... what... interesting places are there around here?" he asked. Well, I could have done better, but oh well. At least I didn't ask when the last time she showered was.

[Jamilan]

((OOC: Hope you don't mind me joining in this one. ^.^ Since Jeremy and Jamilan had already met by Anticipation, I'd like to have them first meet in this thread. Plus, it's fun, surprising people with an alien. Hm...just read the bio. Poor Jeremy. Hm...I wonder if somehow, you could get Jeremy, at some point, to tell Jamilan about his parents working on an Andalite languague project.))

An oddly beautiful boy dashed into the elevator just before the doors closed. The odour in here was not pleasant. The awkward youth raised his gaze to them, as the doors shut behind him. "Second floor," he said, glancing at the number-pad. "Ah, I suppose that is additionally your destination." Despite having used this morph for quite a while, the Andalite stilled loved the sounds made by his mouth. He tried to keep it to a minimum, but at times, he just couldn't resist.

"Dest. In. Ay-shun. Shuh-un." He blinked. "Oh, I apologise. My tongue has been tied. I am James Michael McClain, by the way." Crookedly smiling, he held his hand out to them to shake. That was the identity SPECTER had given him - a false identity, complete with its own ID. He had just come from the Raptor Centre, after making a fool of himself during an interview.

Luckily, while he'd been waiting, he'd managed to acquire a creature: a Turkey Vulture. A volunteer had told them that they had magnificent senses. In addition, they were experts at navigating the skies. Jamilan was intrigued by the creature, as unattractive as it was. When no-one was looking, he'd walked into the cage, and acquired the creature. He had to be in his natural form to do so. Luckily, no-body had seen, and he'd made it out of the cage.

And then he'd had his disastrous interview. Now, Jamilan would make an excellent worker. He was loyal and hardworking. He was swift and efficient, even in the clumsy morph of a human. However, he had his...quirks, and tastes. The older woman who interviewed him looked like she cared nothing about the birds in the raptor centre, just about what she was doing, and her pay-check. The Andalite had gotten heatedly angry at her, and had called her a yaolin. She didn't know what that was, and in turn, called him a silly kid. The Andalite decided to leave then and there...though, he took note of her name. She had to be reported for her rudeness, and he did not want it to leave a stain on the raptor centre itself.

Thus, here he was, in an elevator, feeling a bit ill and closed in. He began to pant as he realised the small space he was in, then looked to the others. Next time, I will attempt to find a job that requires driving, he thought to himself.

[belnoah]

The guy was going to the second floor too. This, as well as his appearance, Jeremy took in instantly. His mind choked on the way he was talking. It seemed... odd. Who was the last person who Jeremy had heard talk like that? It seemed so familiar... Jeremy shrugged it off mentally, when he couldn't remember.

"Hi," said Jeremy, shaking the offered hand. "I'm Jeremy Dougall." He seemed nice enough. And who knew? Mybe he was one of the-

The andalites! That was who talked like that. Andalites in morph, Jeremy's dad had said, loved playing with words, since they had no mouths when they demorphed. Was this guy an andalite? Well, he couldn't ask here, with Allie listening. The andalite, if James was one, would probably want his presence kept a secret. There had to be some way of asking him without talking out loud.

[Allie]

Second floor. That was one step closer to being an ally. At the last minute a third passenger joined them on the elevator and introduced himself as James. "Alison Hanson, nice to meet you."

As it turned out, James too was destined for the second floor and he seemed to be more than meets the eye. He spoke like he wasn't used to verbalizing or something, the way he toyed with words and sounds. Allie had researched the Animorphs enough to have a guess at what that menat. He's an andalite. That has to be a new member for the group.

The question now was, was Jeremey? How could she find out. Well, answering his question worked. "Well, interesting places depends one what you like. There's the circus. There's the local horse ranch, which I work at and is where I just got back from. It really depends on what you're looking for." The hard part here was dropping a hint without making it obvious. She was kind of failing at that.

[belnoah]

Upon hearing that she worked with animals, Jeremy was struck with inspiration. He shrugged, and said, "I'm mostly looking to be around animals. I like animals." Maybe, if she was an animorph, she would take a hint. Maybe the andalite would take a hint. Though, with either of them, he wasn't sure. That was a pretty ambiguous sentence he'd said. If he was in the shoes of an animorph meeting a new person, he wouldn't say anything until he was absolutely certain. Still, it was better than nothing. And it didn't hurt.

As for how to show the andalite that he knew, Jeremy hit on another idea. "So, are you from around here?" he asked James. Again, ambiguous, but it hinted as to his true meaning. And if he kept talking, he could probably get the andalite to understand. "I'm not, and I guess... You know, far away from home, I"m feeling sort of... blue, you know?"

[Allie]

This guy, Jeremy, was really starting to interest and confuse Allie. His comment about looking to be around animals as well as what he said to James.... well, she already suspected James was an andalite and Jeremy almost seemed to be hinting at suspecting the same thing. If he was doing that, then he either knew a lot about andalites or he was a new recruit. I want to figure this out before the elevator ride ends. I don't want a really ironic ending to this trip.

But even as she thought that the light reached the second floor and the elevator dinged, signaling the doors would open and let them off. Deciding to make a last ditch effort Allie tried to give a hint to Jeremy that would reveal herself if he was an Animorph. "Well, some of the people in this town, myself included, work so closely with animals you'd almost say they know what it's like to be one."

At that the doors open, and all Allie could think as she stepped off was, If that wasn't enough of a hint, nothing will be.

[belnoah]

Jeremy grinned wryly. "I was kinda hoping you'd say that," he said. "I was almost afraid the world had become overrun with specters, but you seem normal enough." He dragged his suitcase out of the elevator. "Our kind all got lumped into one room, right?"

He glanced around the hallway. He wasn't sure what he'd expected, given all the cloak-and-dagger-ness of SPECTER, but the hallway looked normal enough. Though, he supposed, the suits probably wanted it that way. Maybe if he tapped the right parts of the wall, it would slide away and reveal a hidden alley of stores related to morphing. Maybe when he walked into his room, it would turnout to be an elevator that went down to the basement.

[Jamilan]

Hm...so Allie worked with animals? Then Jeremy mentioned being far away from home, and feeling blue; Jamilan raised an eye-brow. Allie spoke of how she and other people worked so closely with animals, that it was like being one of them. The Andalite relaxed. But...Jeremy was a puzzle. He knew a bit about Andalites, it seemed. As he stepped somewhat clumsily from the elevator, he spoke again.

"I hope that is a metaphorical term and that we are not literally lumped together," he said. "I am highly claustrophobic and the situation would prove to be highly uncomfortable for all." He smirked with his eyes, then added, "That was an attempt at humour."

[belnoah]

Yup. This guy was an andalite. His attempt at a joke was so horrible, Jeremy half expected eye stalks to sprout from his head. He'd been around enough andalites to know that their planet either had no humor or had horrible standards towards jokes. That and his claustrophobia were enough for Jeremy.

Well, if the andalite wants a lesson in bad humor, I'll see what I can do, Jeremy thought. He strained his mind; usually he wasn't the one that made the jokes. "Well, you seem a decent fellow," he said. "I'm, uh, shorm we'll get along." Normally Jeremy wouldn't have made a joke like that, or any joke at all, but he wanted to show a bit of knowledge about the andalite language, and he was too impatient to do so to wait until they got to... wherever it was the animorphs lived.

[Jamilan]

Jamilan raised an eyebrow at Jeremy. Was that a joke? Actually, he believed it to be rather clever. The shorm was a term for an Andalite’s closest friend; it was said that shorms could place their blades at each other’s throats, and neither would worry. It was obvious that they would get along. Jamilan started laughing – unused to the sensation, the Andalite sounded like he was hiccupping – until he thought of what the human had just said.

He was, by now, certain that both of them were morphers. “Perhaps we should discuss this further in the hotel room.” Unless he was mistaken, Leroy or Nate would be there too. Johnny had left, but Jamilan really didn’t miss the trouble-maker (OOC: No offense to Johnny, of course; <3 him. XD). The Andalite began to walk towards the room. “Follow myself and Allie,” Jamilan said. “If I am correct, this will be where you will stay as well.”

[Allie]

Allie noded to the two, by now she was sure they were part of the team and James was more than he seemed to be. She wasn't too sure about the jokes, but tried to smile all the same. She was pretty sure they'd get to know each other better soon, and that might make her feel a little less awkward about those jokes.... and a little more capable of understanding why they were supposed to be funny.

"Right. Well, the place actually has a lot of space, so no worries about claustrophobia. I'll let you two get settled when we get there and change into something that doesn't smell like where I work and what I work with. Then we can see about getting to know each other."

((Felt like I should say something.... Allie had been a bit too silent there.))