Happily Ever After... or Not.

[zero]

Rukia was in high spirits today. Being in the Animorphs faction had gotten her inspiration back, but not just any inspiration. This was to write a story not like any she had written before. She never based her stories on anything that happened in real life, often finding that to be too boring and full of cliches. However, that was never the case with the Animorphs-- morphing into animals was not boring at all.

After a while of being in the faction, she managed to hear about a short-story contest from a client in the vet's clinic. Their son would be entering it they had said, piquing Rukia's interest immediately. She asked about it and got the information that she needed-- apparently, it was being held not too far from here. Liking the idea, she started writing, changing names of the faction members and area to make things match and putting it under the genre of fiction. No one would believe this, right? She was sure no one would-- she almost didnt herself.

She sent it in today, now happily humming to herself as she sat on the couch with her notebook.

[Nancy]

Lightly singing to herself along with her MP3 player, Nancy did a little dance as she left the kitchen with her latest culinary delicacy. A plate of Oreos and a jar of peanut butter. What more could a girl ask for? She also had a napkin, just in case. When she entered the living room, she plopped down on the opposite end of the couch from Rue.

With a smile in her friend's direction, she turned her music down and pulled an ear bud out. She put the jar on the couch between them and held the paper plate out to Rukia. "What are you doing there, Rue?" She asked before taking a cookie. She curled her legs up underneath her as she got settled down and comfy.

[zero]

Nancy had come to join her not too long after she had sat down, offering her a plate. Oreos and peanut butter?! She hadn't had those in ages! They were one of her sneaky indulgences back when she was on the track team. She smiled back at her, eating an oreo and dunking it in the peanut butter. After swallowing, she answered Nancy.

"Oh, nothing much," she told her, "I just finished up at work and after that, I sent a short story to this contest that's going on around here. I could win us a little bit of money if I win. It probably won't be much, but it'd be cool. It was fun writing the story too."

[Nancy]

Nancy set the plate down between them. She grabbed another and swiped it through the peanut butter while Rukia was talking. Rue was a writer? Nancy didn't know that. She figured that she should've known, but she probably just didn't notice. It was cool to know."What was the story about?" she asked. "Dragons and unicorns? Or the adventures of Super Shopping Girl?"

Her curiosity had the better of her and a smile was on her face. Now that she knew Rukia was a writer, she wanted to know what she usually wrote about. Immediately, Nancy's head filled with images of Rue writing and writing about brave knights rescuing helpless maidens, or light romances between two people who had finally found their true love, or even a story about a group of friends. Or did Rue write non-fiction? Like, the history of Oreos? Nancy couldn't imagine that as well.

[Maya]

Maya wandered into the house, arms full of grocery bags. It was her duty to fill the fridge this week, and boy did she ever. Organized that she was, she had gotten everything on her quite extensive shopping list... and more. She lugged all the bags to the kitchen, plunking them on the table. "Someone else put these away!" she called towards the stairs. "I'm pooped!"

She poured herself a drink and then wandered into the living room to find the other two girls on the couch. "Hey guys! What's up?" She sank into the recliner, sighing in relief to be off her feet. Ahhh. that's better...

[zero]

Rukia smiled back at her-- it was so wonderful to have someone interested in your writing. It meant a good deal to her when she got that kind of support. "Nah, not this time," she replied, "The dragons belong in my other story that I've been writing for a while. I like the fantasy stuff a whole lot better than non-fiction, that's for sure-- I usually write it better. Except for this time."

It wasn't Rukia's fault she had a thing for suspsense, and it often got the best of her. "I used the stuff we do here as inspiration-- the missions we do and stuff like that. I changed all of the names and the situations and stuff so it would look like fiction. It was actually kind of fun and... different to write. I usually don't like writing from real life experience. It's just a short story though, so nothing big."

Maya came in as she was explaining, Rukia waiting until she had finished that part. "Just talking about this story I wrote and put into a contest," she explained shortly, "I wrote it about us, but I changed everything like names and the place and stuff to make it more unbelievable. Who would believe about people morphing into animals anyway?"

[Bruno]

Bruno flipped off his radio and sat up on his bed. He had been laying there listening to music and thinking about trying out the peacock morph he had acquired at work today when he heard Maya's voice. She wanted someone to put away the groceries? He could do that. Bruno stood up and headed toward the steps. He was thinking about trying out the morphing thing, but it looked like it would have to wait.

He got to the bottom of the steps just in time to catch the tail end of what Rukia was saying. "I wrote it about us, but I changed everything like names and the place and stuff to make it more unbelievable. Who would believe about people morphing into animals anyway?"

"Mhm," was all Bruno said to show he agreed with what Rukia had said. Who would believe that story. Although... Crazier things have happened. Take an invasion of body snatching slugs, for instance.

"Not sure you can count on people to not believe anything these days," Bruno said to no one in particular as he disappeared into the kitchen. Now where were those groceries?

[Nancy]

Nancy waved as Maya sat down and she continued listening to Rue. She bit into another peanut butter-smeared cookie and as she savored the chocolate, Bruno passed through. The big hulk of a guy vanished into the kitchen with only a comment. Then a thought passed through Nancy's mind and she stopped, mid-chew.

"Hold on, Rue," she said, holding up a finger, as she quickly swallowed the lump of food in her mouth. Once she could talk freely, she said, "Rue, you mean that you wrote stories about us? As in, people turning into animals to fight crime and stuff? No offense, but what were you thinking? All it takes is one person to believe the story and our whole cover's blown. I don't really want to know what SPECTER will do to us." Nancy's eyes were wide with ernest.