Pretty In Pink [Maya, Bruno]

[Nancy]

Nancy tapped her foot impatiently as she leaned against a young maple tree. She was behind the set of public bathrooms that were situated a dozen yards from the entrance of the zoo. Normally, Nancy didn't hang out back there, but there was no chance for anyone to overhear the conversation that she had arranged.

It was her lunch break, and she knew that Maya's would begin in minutes. So she had sent a quick text message to inform her friend that she wanted a meeting behind the bathrooms. In her hands were the reasons why. Firmly clutched in her fingers was a printed e-mail from one of her college friends, talking about two break-ins at zoos in the north. The thieves had stolen the tusks right off the elephants. She also had a newspaper article that she had cut out. It reported a similar occurrence between the other cities and Hemington. And there was only one other zoo that followed that chain.

Hemington's Zoo. Nancy had a gut feeling that the thieves would strike, in fact, that night. It fit in with the pattern of eight days between thefts. She wasn't 100% sure that it would happen that night, but she'd rather be safe than sorry. So she had arranged a conversation with Maya to explain the situation to the other girl and see if Maya had anything else to say before she took it to the rest of the Animorphs.

[Maya]

((OOC: That graphic totally made me laugh like you have no idea ;D))

Her lunch break was beginning, so Maya closed up the concession stand and set out the "back in half an hour" sign. She retrieved her things from the back of the room where she had stored her lunch and out of habit, she decided to check her cellphone for any messages.

She was surprised to find one from Nancy. It was short and to the point, and there weren't any smiley faces like there usually were from her. Right away, Maya could tell something was up. She quickly grabbed her bag and her lunch and headed for the bathrooms where the text had said to meet. She'd have to eat her lunch while she met with Nancy. It was only a sandwich after all.

She rounded the corner and finally found Nancy standing right where she said she'd be. "What's going on??" Maya asked between chews of her sandwich.

[Nancy]

((Glad you liked it. XD I think Bruno makes the picture.))

The sparrow Nancy had been watching for several minutes flew off as footsteps came around the corner. Then Maya appeared, eating a sandwich and asking what was going on. Nancy said, "First off, I'm not certain of what's going to happen, but I believe that ivory thieves will come here tonight." Nancy kept her voice low and glanced past Maya, making sure that nobody was around that could hear them.

She handed the papers, paper-clipped together, to Maya. "Those are things I've gotten from people and the newspaper that tell of a chain of elephant tusk thefts up north and even in Canada. If the pattern continues, we should be the next target and it should happen tonight since there's always been eight days between break-ins." She paused to take a breathe before plunging on.

"So I was thinking that maybe tonight, you, me, and the others could do a stake-out and, I guess stop the thieves somehow. What do you think?" Nancy suddenly realized that she hadn't thought her plan totally through. How were they going to be able to stop the thieves, if they even struck that night?

[Maya]

((Bruno totally makes it! XD ))

Nancy was straight to business. No friendly greetings or silly jokes as per usual. It meant something was seriously up, Maya realized. She took the papers and scanned them over as Nancy explained about the tusk thieves. She couldn't help but wonder who these friends were that had sent her the information, but she decided not to ask. The facts were the important part for now.

"Tonight? Wow..." Maya noted the eight-day trend on the pages of information. She was right: if they were going to hit their zoo, it would be tonight by the looks of this. "Boy it would have been nice if they'd sent us this stuff, you know... eight days ago. A few hours warning is so tricky. I hope everyone doesn't have plans. But you're right, we should move on this."

She quickly took another bite of her sandwich, trying to think of a plan. "We'd probably need to pick up new morphs," she suggested as quietly as possible, "to blend in with the zoo environment."

[Nancy]

"I know, eight days ago would've been convenient, but Joe, a college friend, probably wasn't expecting me to be able to do anything about it." Nancy smiled. She had had a pretty good idea going ahead and telling Maya about the thing. It was already paying off when Maya thought up part of a plan. "Yeah, what animals around around the elephants at night?"

Then she thought of something else. She palmed her forehead and said, "Wait, we'll have to get here before the zoo closes. Well, we'll only have to do that if Jake or Bruno come. I don't think there's another non-flight way into the zoo." Nancy's brow furrowed as she tried thinking of anything else. There was how they were going to capture the thieves. But they didn't necessarily have to do that. All they had to do was track them to their hideout and then phone an anonymous tip to the police.

[Maya]

"I don't know," Maya pondered, finishing off her lunch and dusting the crumbs off her hands. "Most of the animals are locked up at night, aren't they? You would know better than me... I'm never here at night and never allowed behind the scenes."

She glanced at her watch quickly, just to see how much time she had left on her break. Plenty of time. "Let's wander over there quickly and see what's in the same area as the elephants."

[Nancy]

"I agree and no, I don't have much more idea what's there. I've been behind the scenes at the petting zoo and that's it. I'm in the lab for the rest of the day." Nancy grinned a bit at Maya's suggestion. Nancy didn't go to the elphants often. She spent more time arounds the tigers in the Asia section of the zoo. At elast, that was when she had time and didn't have to study or go to college.

Nancy grabbed Maya's wrist and began pulling the other girl along behind her as Nancy set out towards the elephants. She let go of Maya's wrist soon because she knew Maya could follow her. Nancy side-stepped a family taking a picture of a statue and hurried over the stone paths. She kind of wanted this to be quick, since she still wanted enough time for a decent lunch.

When they got there, Nancy began looking around for an animal of some sort, like a chipmunk or pigeon.

((Are you okay with the slight god-mod and timeskip? If not I can modify this.))

[Maya]

((that's fine!))

Maya glanced around the area with interest. While Nancy was scanning the tree tops for something, she began inspecting the animal cages themselves. Maybe, just maybe there was something in one of there that would allow them to stake out the area without having to use so much fake animal cover. A sitting still chipmunk would eventually look strange.

She started at the elephant area, working her way slowly along the cages and peering in, making sure to check what the vantage points might look like from the hiding spots. Eventually she came upon the one habitat almost nearly right across the way from the elephants. She smirked a little.

"Hey Nancy!" she called, pointing at the flamingos.

[Nancy]

"Hey Nancy!" Maya's exclamation got Nancy's attention. "Hmmm?" she asked before turning her head to follow Maya's finger. It was aimed at a flock of flamingos. "What about--hey, that's a good idea!" Nancy said as what Maya must've been thinking dawned on her. Morph the flamingos! It would be perfect! From the flamingo's swamp, you could see the entire outdoor elephant exhibit!

"I like you're thinking," Nancy said. "And the pink would go great with my outfit!" By outfit, she meant her morphing suit of course. "But one problem. Here we going to get close to one?" She lowered her voice and glanced around. It would be quite inconvenient for someone to overhear what she had said. It would've sounded like she wanted to steal an animal.

[Maya]

"I have... absolutely no idea," Maya confessed.

She glanced around, wondering if there was somewhere they could inconspicuously sneak in. There was so much water, and not enough cover that she could see. At least not in the front, that is. There were lots of tropical bushes in the back...

"Is there anywhere we can get through the back way," she wondered quietly.

[Nancy]

"Ummm," Nancy bit her lip as she thought. The back way into the flamingo exhibit. There was a false wall that made up the fourth boundary on the cage. That was how the zookeepers and vets and janitors got in. Through the door there, of course. But Nancy didn't really have access back there. She could pretty much only go in and out of the labs. At least, she was only supposed to go to the labs.

"I, uh. I'm not really sure we can go through the back door... I'm only allowed through when my boss goes into an exhibit. But y'know, we don't have to...um, get in there until right after it closes." Nancy wasn't sure how they were going to acquire a flamingo. If they did it after the zoo closed, they'd have a really small window of time before the thieves could strike. In fact, Nancy didn't even know how much time they had!

"Maybe we should meet up with the others when we get off work, okay?" Maybe then they could think up a plan together.

((We can do a time-skip anytime within the next few posts))

[Maya]

"Yeah, that's true," she nodded. "But it's handy to start thinking about it now. Especially since we have to remember anyone involved needs to be around here before the zoo closes, so depending on their schedules, it could be a rush to discuss."

She paused, thinking for a moment. "Do we all have small morphs?" She really needed to come up with another word for morph so the others would know what she was talking about without her needing to lower her voice so quietly. "Small birds even? Could just... fly into the cage later... right?"

((Good idea))

[Nancy]

"Oh you're right. I didn't think about how busy everyone else would be." Nancy said as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. But they couldn't do anything about that now. Maya's thinking sounded pretty good to her. She began mentally compiling a list of everything that they would need to tell Rue, Jake, and everyone and she almost missed what Maya said.

"Huh, what'd you say? Oh, yeah." Nancy figured out what Maya had said. "I honestly never thought about it. Can we get, you know, DNA while we've...changed?" If Nancy would've been a random person walking by and overheard the conversation, she would've laughed at the sound. Two girls tlaking about taking DNA from something after they changed clothes? But not much of a smile was on Nancy's face now.

She glanced down at her watch and then said, "I guess we'll find out later. Is there anything else we need? Shopping list or need to know stuff?" Her lunch break was going to end in a half hour and she wanted to be able to grab at least a hot dog. She stared out over the elephant exhibit again.

[Maya]

"Well, I was thinking more of just the way to get in. And then... hide and... well whatever, we'll figure it out," Maya shrugged. She hadn't really thought it through... they'd still need to acquire the birds without being seen.

"Shopping list? I dunno... what are you thinking we'll need besides us?" she wondered afterward. "Like, stake out snacks or superhero costumes or something?" she smirked.

[Nancy]

"Well, I was thinking more like rope or black costumes. You know, so we can tie people up or be harder to see, I guess. And snakes would be great!" Nancy added with a smile. "But we're going to get here somewhere around closing time, sneak over to the flamingoes and get in the cage somehow, then we'll, um, change and be on alert. After that we'll think up a way to take down the thieves."

Nancy looked down at her watch and said, "Well, we can't really do anything else right now. I'm going to grab a quick lunch and I'll meet you back at the house later, ok?" She paused for a moment to get Maya's response and to wave good-bye. She twirled around, causing her skirt to flare out, before she marched off in the direction of a chinese food shack. Her stomach was beginning to get mad at her so she had to appease it before going back to work.

((Time-skip in next post?))