The Anticipation

[savannah]

Savannah adjusted the strap of her backpack nervously as she stepped off the bus. She took a few steps forward and the bus took off with a deafening roar. She crossed the road quickly to avoid getting hit by a car; Her first impression of Mariposa was that people drove like maniacs. She stopped in front of the apartment building's door, trying to settle her nerves. Being extremely shy annoyed her -especially when she was meeting someone new- but she could never help it, which usually caused her to babble endlessly and get frustrated with herself.

She pushed open the door with her empty hand and stepped inside. From what she could see of the lobby, it was a pleasant place, nothing too fancy or too shabby. She looked around for an elevator and hurried toward it when she spotted it. She pushed the up arrow and waited for the elevator to come. Her heart sank after she had pressed the button for two more times when she realized the elevator had no intention of coming to this floor. She looked down to the suitcase she was carrying and felt like bursting to tears right there. The anticipation of moving into a new home with people whom she didn't even know names of, not knowing if her mother would even cope, thinking her daughter was 'dead' and now finding out she would have to drag this small-but-heavy suitcase up the stairs felt like too much to her.

She sighed and started climbing the stairs, only one at a time, stopping to rest every five seconds. As she got to the floor where the apartment was supposed to be, she began checking the numbers on the doors. She stopped in front of a door. She stood there for about thirty seconds, wondering if she should just open the door with the key she had been given or knock first.

Deciding to knock, she raised her fist and rapped on the door, getting more nervous by second.

[belnoah]

"Paid for by a government agency, you'd think we'd be exempt from junk mail," Jeremy muttered to himself as he climbed the stairs, sifting through a pile of credit card offers. He stopped short. There was a girl knocking at the door. She had a suitcase with her and a backpack on her back. She also looked like an understudy who hadn't been learning the lines and was told the actress she was covering for had died. She also looked out of breath, like she'd lugged the suitcase up the stairs. All in all, she looked like she was having a bad day.

"Hello?" said Jeremy. "Looking for someone?" He was almost certain she was a new Animorph, but she'd been knocking, instead of just opening the door. So he wasn't completely sure. But then, who else would be knocking at the Animorphs' door with a suitcase?

[savannah]

Savannah whirled around around to see who had spoken. "Hi. Uhm, hi," she said nervously. "I'm... going to be living here," she answered after a moment of hesitation. She supposed it would be okay to tell him she lived here. "I'm moving in." she continued. "I have a key, but I didn't want to, you know, just walk right in." she finished and looked down as she felt her face flushing slightly.

She began fishing around in her pockets for the key she had received through mail. She had wondered if the SPECTER agents -or who else who was in charge of mail- weren't worried about the mail getting lost or falling into wrong hands.

She came up with the key when she had emptied all her pockets, along with a few coins, a piece of paper which the address had been written on and a hair clip. Just as she was about the open the door, she looked up.
"Do you live here too?" she asked slowly.

[Jamilan]

Jamilan had been resting, when he'd heard a rapping on the door. Jeremy, an Animorph of Mariposa the Andalite had recently been introduced to, and got the door. Jamilan walked to the door, and listened to the exchange of conversation. He didn't yet reveal himself; it might be too fearsome. He was happy to be in a place where he could show his full Andalite self; he hadn't yet gotten a job. He was still searching. He walked to the door, and opened it slowly, peering through the crack with his stalk-eyes.

He noticed the suitcase, and the way the girl spoke; he guessed she'd been hired by SPECTER as well. He leaned his torso forward through the opening of the open door, placing his tailblade between his back legs. <Hello,> he said. <Do not be alarmed; I am a friend.> He noticed she looked nervous; he sent, telepathically, a feeling of confidence, to her; it was a capability of the Andalite kind, though he was in no way an expert.

By projecting his confidence to her, the Andalite had less worries that her first alien encounter, if it was thus, would be a nerve-wracking one; at least, less...fearsome, than the first real alien he saw. The first alien encounter in Jamilan's life had been with a Hork-Bajir, and it, of course, had a Yeerk slug wrapped in its brain, controlling its movements, as it had tried to kill Jamilan. The Andalite had fought voraciously with his tail, ending the battle with his victory. If there had been one more Hork-Bajir there, though...he would have lost.

His tail was not in sight. He had made certain of this. People, regardless of the situation, tended to become nervous or scared when they saw that blade that could slice a human to ribbons in mere moments.

[belnoah]

Once again, Jeremy had forgotten that he was living with an andalite. His heart nearly stopped when he heard the clip-clop of Jamilan coming to the door. "Yes, I live here too," Jeremy said, calming himself. A new Animorph, just as I thought. Finally, a bit of seniority. "Come on in," he said. He hoped she wouldn't be too freaked by Jamilan's tail, but at least he seemed to be doing the best he could to hide it. Jeremy picked up her suitcase and brought it in for her, dumping the mail on the kitchen table as he passed it. He flashed Jamilan a grin as he passed.

She seems a little on edge, Jeremy thought to himself. I couldn't have scared her that much, could I? She's probably just having trouble with the new situation... Not every day secret government agencies uproot your life and fling it across the US. "You want some water or something?"

[savannah]

Savannah took a step back when the door opened. When she saw who -or what- had opened the door, the remaining color drained from her face. She stood gaping like an idiot for a few seconds, until she heard the voice, that wasn't exactly a voice. She had heard it in her head.
She suddenly began feeling more at ease. Relaxed, even. Then she realized this was an Andalite. It fit the description she had heard perfectly; the stalk eyes, 'thought-speak', blue fur, too many fingered hands. She couldn't see the tail, but was perfectly thankful that she couldn't.

She smiled weakly at the guy and stepped inside, stuffing the key back inside in her jacket's pocket. She smiled wobbly at the Andalite as she passed by him, following the guy.

She placed her suitcase and backpack on the floor and nodded at him. "Yes, please," she said, glad to hear that her voice was back to normal and she wasn't squeaking anymore. "I'm Savannah." she said, addressing both the Andalite and the guy. She tried smiling again and this time it was more realistic.

[Jamilan]

Himuran wondered why she'd seemed so anxious prior to his arrival; he'd understand, though, if after he'd appeared, it had been caused by his appearance. However, the boost of confidence seemed to work, as the Andalite eye-smiled warmly at the newcomer, and stepped back swiftly to allow entrance. She appeared rather young - younger than most of the youth here. Jamilan didn't have much of an eye for non-Andalite women, but by appearances, the girl was aesthetically pleasing.

She gave her name - Savannah; it almost sounded Andalite to him, because there was a similar name: Savana - smiling, looking more confident. Jamilan returned that smile with one of his own, using his main-eyes, seeing as he lacked a mouth. A stalk-eyed remained on the other, Jeremy; another swiveled around, covering what area the others did not. The deadly scythe-blade tail remained out of their way, and in a non-threatening position. The Andalite was sure to be gentle around these humans, to reassure them he was a friend, despite being so different.

<I am Aristh and Pilot Jamilan-Misheil-Chulain,> he said, his introduction as formal as his manners. <I welcome you to Mariposa.> He reached his hand out, to shake hers; it was a human custom he had grown fond of, in his quest for friendship.

[belnoah]

Jeremy was a little worried when he saw the face she made upon first seeing Jamilan, but she seemed to get over the shock pretty quickly. Savannah, that was an interesting name. He brought her the water. "Nice to meet you. I'm Jeremy." I wonder where she's from... On the other hand, if she has a story that's anything like mine, where she's from is probably the last thing she wants to be thinking about right now. I'll let her tell if she wants to.

At least she was talking in more natural tones. She'd sounded pretty high-pitched before. She seemed to be adjusting to her new life pretty well. Which was good, since this was a life that you had to be on your feet for. Danger, weirdness, grossness, and more weirdness were far too common.

[savannah]

Savannah reached out and shook Jamilan's hand; too many fingered Andalite hand felt strange to her five-fingered human hand. She was feeling slightly better, seeing his attempt at making friendship.

She took the glass of water from the guy. "Thank you," she said, and realized she was slowly getting over her shyness. However, when she heard his name she felt like her guts were churning; her deceased father's name had been Jeremy. He hadn't been on her mind recently for the few past days and guilt washed over her.
School counsellors whom she had been forced to see had told her that she would get over the fact that her father was dead with time and she felt like she would never get over him. Now that it was happening, she felt guilty, but also relieved in a way.

Trying to keep her spirits up, she smiled at Jeremy and Jamilan. "Nice to meet you too, Jeremy, Jamilan." she said looking at Jamilan. "Can I call you Jamilan?" she asked. She was trying hard not to show how she was feeling but they were bound to notice the change in her voice.

She drank the water quickly and looked down at the glass she was holding. "So, um, where can I put my stuff?” she asked, still looking down.

[Nate]

At that moment, Nate wandered out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and headed straight for the kitchen. He buried his head into the fridge, looking for something suitable for consumption and only managing to produce a can of pop. He stood back up and cracked it open.

Then he paused, noticing them standing in the doorway. A girl?? Oops. The girls were all supposed to be at work. Ummm...

And finally he simply said: "...Sup?"

[Jamilan]

Her grip was strong upon his weak, nimble Andalite hand; it was always awkward, shaking hands in this form.

It was sometimes amusing to Jamilan, the sounds that human mouths made that formed words. In this case, it was the two "J" sounds of Jamilan and Jeremy. There had been a Johnny here once...it would have amused him as well were he here, but he had disappeared since the plane flight. <You may call me Jamilan; my 'human' name is James or Jamie. I do not mind which you use.> He knew that humans liked to shorten words or names, likely because of their manner of speaking.

She asked where she could put her stuff. <Once we figure out where you'll be staying in the apartment, we can worry about that,> he said. <Just set them on the floor out of the way for now.> He could see Nate with a can of soda, dressed in nothing but a towel, his pinkish human skin exposed which Jamilan honestly didn't find amusing nor had a problem with (unless of course said human was rolling in fat). He quite enjoyed the bubbly fluid (soda, that is) when in human-morph. But he didn't morph human now. He didn't like wasting their supplies, especially since he was currently unemployed.

[belnoah]

Jeremy was about to add his five cents, but then he saw the towel-clad form of Nate. Jeremy froze, with a mixture of horror and amusement on his face. When Nate finally spoke, Jeremy burst out laughing. There was nothing that Nate could have said to save face, so at least he went down with a bunch of laughs. Jeremy respected that.

"That's Nate," Jeremy chortled. "Nate, this is Savannah." He bit his lip to stop laughing, though he still had a huge goofy grin on his face. "By the way, your towel's slipping."

[Nate]

"Hello Savannah!" Nate announced in an overly put on and goofy "suave" voice. "How are you on this fine day?" He took another sip of soda and then cleared his throat and quickly pulled his towel at little closer at Jeremy's comment about it.

If there wasn't a girl in the room, he probably would have just whipped the towel off for the sheer glee of making Jeremy uncomfortable (and Jamilian didn't care about lack of clothing anyway. He was awesome in that way). But he figured running around naked was probably not a good first impression on a new girl who looked about ready to flee or have a heart attack or something. He was just that considerate, after all. Maybe.

[savannah]

Savannah took one look at Nate and started blushing to the roots of her hair. Slowly, she was beginning to look like a tomato with blonde hair. "Uh," was all she could get out. "Hi," she squeaked. She realized this was what being embarrassed was like. Really embarrassed. She would have started laughing the moment she had spotted a guy she didn't even know in just a towel, if she had known Jeremy and Jamilan more and she hadn't been feeling down.

She looked away quickly after she had recovered from the shock. Even then, a smile was beginning to spread across her face. She pressed her knuckles against her lips to stop smiling, which only made things worse. She snorted while trying to hold back the laughter which was building up. She started laughing and found out a few seconds later that she couldn't stop. She stood there, laughing like an idiot, looking like a tomato with a bright red face, sadness already long forgotten.

[belnoah]

It was amazing how quickly Savannah went from too embarrassed to speak, and redder than a stop light besides, straight to laughing without a care. Jeremy was impressed to say the least. But she looked like she was trying not to smile. Jeremy had seen that before. He'd seen it in himself, when he refused to let anything make him smile, just after the eventful party. This girl had something tragic, or negative in some other way, in her past. That was interesting. But then, he was fairly certain that people didn't come to SPECTER willingly.

It was good to see her happy, though. That meant she could get past whatever was holding her down. With some help, maybe she could even have fun.