Maya
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Posts: 53
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Post by Maya on Sept 21, 2009 1:15:11 GMT -5
((kay!))
Hours later, they were back hovering around the flamingos with maybe a half an hour before closing time. Maya felt tired, hating that she was back at work after spending a whole long shift there already, but knowing that the safety of the elephants was more important than her rest for one day she did her best to shove those feelings aside.
"So, guys," she asked, trying not to pace as she thought out loud. "Any further ideas on this plan? I got nothing, to be honest..."
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Bruno
Experienced
Animorph of Hemington
I'm more lackadaisical than cantankerous, but mostly just farouche.
Posts: 104
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Post by Bruno on Sept 21, 2009 15:48:12 GMT -5
Bruno was unsure of this idea. Was it really their job to be worrying about these elephants? It seemed like they should be worrying about more important things. But then again, it wasn't as if they had anything more pressing to worry about at the moment anyway. And they were supposed to help the community... At least that's how Bruno was remembering his instructions from SPECTER. Although he may have gotten a few of the details confused.
"If we need to get in there, I could probably hoist you over the fence. We would just have to make sure nobody saw us. Or I suppose we could morph animals and go in, or something..." Bruno still hadn't morphed anything even though he had acquired a peacock a while back. So he was a bit nervous about the morphing idea. But it seemed as if he would be morphing something by the end of this night regardless, so he might as well get it over with.
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Nancy
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Just a nice girl.
Posts: 58
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Post by Nancy on Sept 22, 2009 15:36:45 GMT -5
"Well, first we'll need to wait until the zoo closes. I mean, people will start to wonder why three people are climbing into the flamingo exhibit." Nancy's nervous chatter showed her anxiety. What they were planning on doing was breaking and entering, or at least entering. Wasn't there a law against that somewhere?
Nancy shrugged and shifted her shoulder bag. In it were the basic necessities that every girl needed: a good book, some granola bars, hand sanitizer, a coil of rope, pack of Band-Aids, a pack of matches, and some pepper spray. Basic, everyday stuff. Some of it might come in handy on the mission. Then a thought came to her. "Hey guys, how do we hide? Wait, I have an idea! We can go in the bathrooms and stand on the toilets. I'm pretty sure employees only check under the sides."
Nancy said that in a low whisper, feeling like everyone within site was able to hear her and would expose them. Her nerves were on edge.
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Maya
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Posts: 53
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Post by Maya on Sept 23, 2009 10:51:42 GMT -5
"Why don't we just hide in morph?" Maya whispered back. "We'd still have to stash our stuff, but at least they only find that instead of us. Then we get into the habitat and acquire our pink friends, and then stake out from there?"
Then again, Maya didn't know what sort of morph selection Bruno had, but she was pretty sure both Nancy and herself had animals that could blend into the trees quite easily for a little bit as the zoo closed. On the other hand, she wasn't quite sure how easily Bruno could hide in general. The guy kinda stood out in a crowd, that was for sure.
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Bruno
Experienced
Animorph of Hemington
I'm more lackadaisical than cantankerous, but mostly just farouche.
Posts: 104
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Post by Bruno on Sept 23, 2009 12:16:11 GMT -5
Bruno didn't much care for the idea of morphing to hide, but he couldn't imagine being able to hide by standing n a toilet. He was too big! Not to mention he wouldn't know how long he would have to stand there, crouched down, before the coast was clear. Besides, a peacock would fit in at a zoo anyway, right? He had seen peacocks at zoos before... "It... it would probably make more sense to, you know. Do that thing we were recruited to do," Bruno finally said, a bit reluctantly. "Should we find a place to store our stuff? I wore a wrestling suit under these clothes. That should... stay with me, right?" Bruno was doing his best to talk about morphing without actually talking about morphing, but he wasn't sure how good of a job he was doing.
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Nancy
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Just a nice girl.
Posts: 58
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Post by Nancy on Sept 26, 2009 11:07:27 GMT -5
"That might work, Maya." Nancy agreed with a nod of her head. "We can put our stuff in a tree or something." She turned to Bruno to answer his quesitons to the best of her knowledge. "Yeah, let's store our stuff. I guess it's unanimous then. And yeah, it should stay with you. I guess. I don't know how lose those things are since I don't watch WWE." Nancy glanced around them again.
"Okay guys, if we're gonna do this, we gotta do it now. I'm going to...change." Nancy turned away from the group and swiftly walked towards some vending machines. They were crammed tightly together and were in front of a brick wall, probably the back of some shack. There was enough room for a person to stand comfortabley back there, and it was out of view of everyone unless they walked beside it. Still, to be in the safe side, Nancy made sure nobody was around before starting to morph.
Her nose and mouth jutted out and her bones hollowed as she morphed.
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Maya
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Posts: 53
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Post by Maya on Sept 29, 2009 20:27:34 GMT -5
Maya tucked her bag behind the vending machines and then slipped behind them as well, thanking the stars she was thin. She quickly began focusing on her chickadee morph, feeling herself begin to shrink right away. Her outer clothes soon enveloped her as she felt feathers erupting from her skin, and her face melding into that of a bird's beak. Once she was done, she burrowed her way out of her clothing and quickly fluttered out of the way of the others as best she could.
<<Alright... should we wait in the tree?>> she wondered in thought speech to the other two. She hopped to the front of the vending machines and subsequently had to stop herself from pecking at some sunflower seed shells on the ground. She decided she'd probably focus better up in the tree, so she flapped her wings and flew up to the nearest one.
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Bruno
Experienced
Animorph of Hemington
I'm more lackadaisical than cantankerous, but mostly just farouche.
Posts: 104
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Post by Bruno on Sept 29, 2009 21:09:18 GMT -5
Bruno watched Maya and Nancy squeeze behind some vending machines, but bruno knew he would never be able to fit. He would have to find a different place to morph. He glanced around and eventually decided on a low-wide walking bridge. It spanned a muddy trench and had weeds growing on both ends. It didn't look very appealing, but he couldn't find a better place so he crawled in after checking to make sure he wasn't being watched.
Now in a cramped, dark, and muddy space on his stomach, Bruno concentrated on morphing for the first time in his life. He tried to remember how exactly he was supposed to do it, but wasn't sure he was remembering correctly. He brought up a mental image of the peacock he pet so many days ago at the place he worked. He remembered how it tried to peck at his hand and had only allowed Bruno to touch it at all because it was eating. He focussed on the bright blue head and the long green tail.
Slowly, the changes began. A slight gurgling sensation was the first clue that the morphing technology was working. At first Bruno was afraid something was wrong and he almost stopped morphing, but then he realized the feeling was his internal organs repositioning themselves. He found that fact to be a bit... unsettling.
But he pressed onward. The next thing he noticed was that there was a lot more space under the bridge now. He was shrinking. Bruno decided he had better take off his non-morphing outfit clothing off now, before it got too complicated. As he removed his pants, he noticed that his legs were getting scaly, like a bird's. Not only that, but there was a little toe starting to grow from his heal as well. Morphing was completely messed up.
However, that was only the beginning. Next his knees reversed direction, almost violently. His ears and hair shriveled up into his skull, all but disappearing. His arms twisted and contorted into featherless wing shapes, but he still had fingers. Small blue feathers sprouted from his elongated neck and spread down his chest. But still not out to his wings.
Bruno could feel his bones become lighter and his muscles shifting under his skin. The feeling sent shivers up his spine. His eyes changed abruptly and suddenly Bruno was seeing the world from a new perspective. Which was just as well since he would not have enjoyed seeing his nose and lips merge together with human vision. The last changes to take place were feathers sprouting out the top of his head, along his wings, and out by his tail.
The long, flowing, peacock tail. Looking back with his long and flexible neck, Bruno could see that his tail seemed to go on forever. And as soon as he took a step forward, he realized that it added a significant amount of weight as well. But nothing he couldn't handle.
<<Where are you guys?>> Bruno asked, trying out thought speech for the first time. He strutted out into the closing zoo grounds, trailing his magnificent tail behind him. But he had to make sure to keep it raised. If he let it get dragged through the mud, no females would be impressed.
A flash of movement and Bruno's head was immediately pointed in it's direction. Just a grasshopper. It might be tasty. More movement! Just a dandelion moving in the wind. Bruno strutted up onto the sidewalk. It was more dangerous to be out in the open, but no females would see him down in the ditch. He spread his tail open to try and catch some peahen attention.
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Nancy
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Just a nice girl.
Posts: 58
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Post by Nancy on Oct 4, 2009 14:17:17 GMT -5
Nancy chose not to wait in a tree. Instead, she had seen a very tasty looking piece of crust lying on the ground. She flited over the vending machines and swooped down on her delicacy for a few seconds before realizing where she was she was doing. Then Nancy remembered what had happened last time she tried restraining the raven this far into going along with the raven; it had led to almost exposing her identity.
That is what Nancy did for the next forty-five minutes.
Nancy drifted down out of the sky and landed on the top of the flamingo fence. <<Okay guys, let's get this party started! The last janitor just now left. Man those guys are fast. Let's go acquire some flamingos!>> Nancy hopped off her fence and floated down to land on one of the few dry pieces of land in the swamp. She began demorphing several yards from the nearest flamingo.
When she a girl wearing a skintight black leotard, Nancy found something out. "Guys!" she said in a stage whisper. "How are we going to catch them?" Nancy blew some hair of of her eyes as she watched the flamingos strut away from the patch of land in an unhurried manner that was just fast enough to keep away from her.
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Maya
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Posts: 53
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Post by Maya on Oct 4, 2009 19:46:13 GMT -5
Maya waited in the tree, picking at her feathers as she let her instinct take over a bit in order to look more natural. When Nancy called out to move in, she fluttered after the raven and landed in a bush. Then she hopped down to the ground and started demorphing behind it. She was really hoping there weren't any security cameras on during the night.
Once back to her human form, she stood up from her squatting position and peered around. Nancy had a good point... they now had the tough job of somehow catching one of the pink birds. "Hmmm... Bruno, do you think you can snatch one of those guys? ...carefully?"
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Bruno
Experienced
Animorph of Hemington
I'm more lackadaisical than cantankerous, but mostly just farouche.
Posts: 104
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Post by Bruno on Oct 6, 2009 1:38:49 GMT -5
Bruno was all too eager to demorph when Nancy gave the all clear. He had spent the majority of the last half hour to an hour learning how to control the peacock's instincts. It wasn't exactly difficult, but they caught him off-guard on multiple occasions and he swallowed several things that a human wouldn't ever want to swallow under normal conditions. So as soon as Bruno flitted his clumsy peacock body over the fence and out of view, he was demorphing.
The change back to human was just as disturbing as the transformation to animal, but at least he was becoming a familiar shape this time. He was extremely relived to find that his morphing suit was still with him too. He wasn't sure what he would have done had it not demorphed with him.
"Hmmm... Bruno, do you think you can snatch one of those guys? ...carefully?" he heard Maya ask. He looked across a small stretch of shallow water to where Maya and Nancy had demorphed. There were a couple nervous flamingos between them.
"Maybe. I'll try to corral them." Bruno spread his arms wide and began walking toward the pink birds. They started walking away from him until they saw the girls again. Then they walked off to the side, but Bruno was ready and lunged for one. His large hand closed around a spindly leg and he got a face full of flapping wing in return. The bird nipped and flapped for a few moments until Bruno remembered that he should acquire it. As he did, the flamingo calmed down and went into the acquiring trance.
"Hm," was all Bruno had to say about the whole experience.
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Nancy
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Just a nice girl.
Posts: 58
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Post by Nancy on Oct 6, 2009 15:51:23 GMT -5
"See Maya? Aren't you glad we brought him along? He's pretty handy!" Nancy laughed as Bruno captured a flamingo. Fortunately, the guy had brains as well as brawn and could figure out how to catch one. Nancy hadn't, and she was in college. Which reminded her that she still had some homework to do. "Hey guys, let's hurry this up. I've got a report due tomorrow."
She set off at a quick jog and was soon splashing through the water towards the flamingo and the guy holding the flamingo. Her goal to get there before the acquiring trance wore off almost didn't succeed because her bare foot caught on a root or something undder the water. With a short screech and a large splash, Nancy pitched forwards into the water, floating quickly towards Bruno and lightly body-slamming him.
Nancy struggled to get up. "I'm--PTHHU!--so sor--PTHUI!--ry! I ftripped and...yeah," Nancy said between spitting out the marsh water and mud. She snaked out a hand and placed her palm on the side of the flamingo. The trance continued as Nancy absorbed its DNA.
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Maya
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Posts: 53
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Post by Maya on Oct 6, 2009 18:08:11 GMT -5
Maya watched in surprise as Bruno corralled a flamingo and finally caught it. Ah, having a big guy on the team would definitely come in handy, because Maya was pretty sure she'd never have been able to do that. When Nancy ran over and promptly faceplanted, Maya realized in amusement that Nancy clearly wouldn't have been able to either.
Maya cracked up and hurried over to them to get in on the acquiring, waiting until Nancy was done and then putting her own hand on the pink bird. She never would have dreamed that she would be able to become an animal, let alone an animal as weird as this. But here she was, soaking in the DNA of a flamingo.
This was the weirdest day of her life, by far.
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Bruno
Experienced
Animorph of Hemington
I'm more lackadaisical than cantankerous, but mostly just farouche.
Posts: 104
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Post by Bruno on Oct 7, 2009 22:11:20 GMT -5
Bruno let go of the flamingo as soon as everyone acquired it. He felt kinda bad for the little guy, having to deal with all of this. Not that he would ever admit it. Besides, he felt at least as bad for Nancy, despite how badly he wanted to laugh when she took that nosedive.
He watched the bird walk away from them, seemingly confused. Then he scanned the area to make sure nobody had seen their little escapade. They were still safe as far as he could tell.
"I suppose we should hurry up and shapeshift then?" Bruno looked down at the girls with a questioning look on his face. He wouldn't admit it, but he was waiting for one of them to start first. He was still pretty nervous about the whole morphing thing.
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Nancy
Experienced
Former Animorph of Hemington
Just a nice girl.
Posts: 58
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Post by Nancy on Oct 8, 2009 15:18:35 GMT -5
Nancy stepped back from the quickly growing group and wiped her face with her hand. The process only served to smear the mud all over her. "At least I'm camoflauged now," she laughed. Once Maya acquired the bird and Bruno let it go, Bruno asked about the next course of action. "Yep. That's the next part of our daily routine. I'll go first since I've always wanted legs like that!"
Nancy chuckled a bit at her own lame joke. She took a good look at the flamingo that was getting away and concentrated on it. She looked at the scrawny legs supporting the pink body and the downward pointing bill. Nancy's perspective became altered as she suddenly realized she was getting taller. She looked down and stumbled back with an "Oh," as her neck stretched out. "I'll need a bigger collerghp--" Her light-hearted critique on herself was distorted as her mouth jutted out and began sloping down at a sharp rate. Her vocal chords vanished but now she could used thought-speak.
Nancy turned her attention back to the flamingo which had stopped several, several yards away. It was staring at her and Nancy stared back as her eyes changed and the world became sharper and way clearer. Nancy didn't look around at the others. She had started fisrt, and in case they were morphing, Nancy did not want to see the hideous combinations they could become. Morphing never looked pretty, especially when the animal was vastly different from the person, and the flamingo was way too...elongated to look good on a human. So Nancy kept her eyes on the other flamingos until she became one herself.
Then came the instincts and Nancy began sqwuaking and flapping her wings as she recognized the unknowns around her. Without even taking time to allow her brain to overcome the instincts, Nancy began running towards the flamingo flock.
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