Texas Blues

[emilyorion]

Emily laughed good naturedly, her eyes dancing with amusement at his sudden paranoia. "I love music, though I'm better at writing and I do love racing with my animals. There's a beautiful freedom to it." She smiled dreamily at the thought of racing the fields both on and next to Sky Song, with Shadow close behind or beside. How she could have left that... but this was a new life she had to move on.

She glanced back at Jimmy. "Don't worry, I don't mind you talking. It helps carry on a conversation, instead of me having to think of something to say all the time. Strange coming from a woman huh?" She smiled wrily. Her Father had used to tease her about it being un-natural for a female to not want to talk a lot, though it was more to get a rise out of her Mother than to get at her. And it worked every time.

[jimmyblack]

"Yeah, I think everyone like music, whether they realize or not," said Jimmy. He looked around the corridor. The apartment is nice, actually, compared to the motels he'd been roaming around when Limelight is still a newbie band crawling from gig to gig. That was after his mother died. "I thought whenever someone is feeling blue, that's the time they need music very much. And that's how the root of all music, Blues, was born. Music is a way to cheer up. And to me, that's definitely true."

He stared at Emily and her loyal Shadow. (Now he know the meaning of 'Shadow') "So you really love animals? Was that the reason you agreed to become an... animorph?"

[emilyorion]

"Actually...." Emily blushed slightly... "I was born one." She fell silent for a moment, looking at her feet. Then looked up again. "I suppose I've always loved animals because of that, but also because I grew up on a ranch. I was home schooled and learned by animals when my parents noticed my connection to them." She reached down and rubbed Shadow's head and headed out of the building, tilting her head to bask in the beautiful sunlight.

"And music comes from nature. The song of the river as it passes over the rocks, the wind as it whispers through the trees," her voice grew softer as she spoke, taking on an almost dream-like quality. She missed that, so much. She blinked quickly to get rid of the tears that were starting to well up. "I suppose music wells from the heart. It comes from joy, pain, sadness, anger, love, happiness."

She looked at Jimmy. "Where do you play from? I'm guessing pain, since there seems to be a special connection between you and the blues."

[jimmyblack]

Jimmy thought he has misheard the first words. But the next sentences were clear for him. Her description remembered him of Cassie, but she's different. Her next question suddenly erased his thoughts.

"Pain is small thing. But hatred is formidable," said Jimmy in an instant. "Pain made blues, but it doesn't give much energy. I need energy. I need to unleash this feeling. And only rock could provide it. Only rock could turn an outcast like me into a superstar. And now, I don't have it anymore."

They've been walking for some minutes and with no direction. Now Jimmy realized that they've arrived at the stairs. And he could see the gang below, and felt the breeze that brushed on his skin.

He turned his head to see Shadow's reaction of the wind --- for no special reason particularly --- but something he saw at a flash made his heart throbbed. He looked again at the gang.

It was the woman who recruited him. The woman with dark eyes that seemed to cast darkness. Agent Noelle.

She was staring at him. Then, after he found out her existence, the woman walked quickly to the apartment. She wanted to meet him, Jimmy was sure, and it's not a good thing.

"Oh, d**n," he muttered. An idea flashed in his mind. Emily probably could help him to do that. But he must be quick.

[emilyorion]

Emily frowned at his comment. An outcast into a rockstar? How shallow! "Embrace your individuality, play because you want to.. not to fit in. Don't lose yourself," her annoyance was evident, she could not hide her emotions to save her soul. No, she had no experience with others. Maybe if she had she would understand what drove people to want to fit in.

Then she stopped her lecture, sensing Jimmy's sudden fear and seeing Shadow's hair stand on end as he began to growl, sniffing around. Something bad was around, what, she wasn't sure. She frowned slowly. "Jimmy, what's going on?"

[jimmyblack]

There's no more time. He glanced at Emily, and saw Shadow felt the same thing as him. "Emily, could you help me? That woman is walking toward here. She was the agent who recruited me." He stopped a moment to organize his words. "And I felt a bad thing about her. I mean..."

He didn't want to involve Emily in his problem, but he had no one else to help him now. And the time is right NOW. "She'll come here. She has saw us. When she arrived, would you tell her that I've been gone to... 7-Eleven maybe?"

He checked under his shirt. The morphing outfit, given by the woman that he's trying to deceive now, was ready for the kick start. For the first time in Texas, he smiled. "A black cat is a good animal for spying, isn't it?"

[emilyorion]

Emily looked at him for a moment strangely, then at the woman. Frowning slightly, she rubbed her jaw. She hated lying, not to mention, she was bad at it. She looked at him for a moment and shifted. It was a strange feeling, shapeshifting. But she had perfected the art. She tilted her head, sniffing at the air. As a black lab now, she could smell that cat on Jimmy.

<Jimmy, change, Shadow and I will get you out of here. Don't worry, he's not a cat hunter> She looked up at Jimmy, her dark eyes assuring. She couldn't lie for him, but she could get him out of there, but then she hesitated. He had said something about spying. <a black cat, while agile, would still be noticeable in a place of shapeshifters. Wait for something smaller, like a snake or a mouse. Easier to go un-noticed. In the meantime, let's get out of here> she turned and started heading back down the hall, glancing back at Jimmy, waiting.

[jimmyblack]

It was not exactly his plan, but he didn't want to tell people about what they should do. If anyone want to help, that's been a good blessing. He calculated. Strange seeing two identical black labradors around. Now is the time for his first morph.

He closed his eyes, and recalled the dying black cat. An animal who fought her own natives for survival. It was not only her shape that he wanted to acquire. But also her spirit.

Then he began to change. The first feeling was itch. There was horrible sounds inside his shifting body, more horrible than Hayley's drunk whining. He became smaller. Black fur grew all over his skin. His eyes changed.

He's become a black cat.

Then the spirit arisen. The street-survivor soul. Her soul was not really different with Jimmy's nature. But there is one thing : now awkward is not a word for him.

All his emotions found their way to spread around the air, creating confidence. The cat's confidence.

<I've got the feeling...> he said with the thought-speak. <This is going to be nice.>

It was already twilight. And darkness should come in not more than minutes. Then he will become a true ghost of night suburbia street, symbol of bad omen.

He wondered if Emily knows the difference between cats in ranch and cats in streets. Cats in streets are the thugs of their world.

The woman was just a few steps from their hiding. Now Jimmy realized one thing : Emily and Shadow were too big. And it would be strange, even for normal person, to see twins of labradors, together with a cat.

<OK, let's get out of here,> said Jimmy. <But not too far. We need to follow her.>

[emilyorion]

Emily caught wind of that thought of the difference between farm cats and city cats. <they are not much different. I would not hold city cats above farm cats. Farm cats have much to face, natural enemies, the environment... they may not have the city but they too have to be strong to survive> She glanced at Shadow and nodded. They would have to be careful. She began to wish she had chosen a smaller creature, but there was nothing safe to pass through these halls without suspicion. She started trotting down the hall, Shadow close to her side as they looked for a place to let the woman by without suspicion.

[jimmyblack]

Jimmy looked all around with his golden eyes. There was a place in the far corner where they can hide. But sliding out from the apartment is a nice option too. Emily walked behind him, with Shadow tailing. They can't be like this -- the woman will surely notice.

There were bookshelves fully loaded with abandoned books. Jimmy took no time to hesitate, and soundlessly jumped to the top of the shelves. Emily, of course, cannot do the same thing.

He started to realize that this is a wrong plan.

<Uh, Emily?> he spoke in private line. <I'm sorry. The plan's changed. I'll try to distract her, and you must slip out from this place... NOW!>

He sprung forward, from the top of the bookshelves, to the hanging chandelier at the middle of the hall. The chandelier shakes with terrible creaking sound, and swing around like it's gonna fall from its place.

Agent Noelle looked above in surprise --- even when surprised, her face was still like a graveyard!

Jimmy shot a quick look at Emily. Now she must go out!

[emilyorion]

<Not without you!> With the lady distracted, Emily and Shadow charged her, knocking her down then rolled her onto her stomach. With Shadow holding the lady down ((he was no light weight)) Emily shifted into Sky Song and looked up at Jimmy. <Jump down onto my back, don't worry, I'll knock her out before we leave. I've learned how to knock a person out, doing little damage other than to remove her memory from the moment she was talking to those others, til she landed on her face>

Ok so she had studied a lot of doctors books and listened in on her parents conversations about different forms of concussions and where to strike and how hard to strike to erase a memory. She looked up at Jimmy swinging around on the chandelier.

[jimmyblack]

What? "Little damage other than to remove" what? That was great! Jimmy looked at the defeated woman, who cannot move from the creature standing in top of her. Now, Jimmy could see faint emotions on her face. Jimmy smiled, if a cat could do. The dark mask has torn away from Agent Noelle's face.

"You!" shouted the woman. "What do you think you are doing? You cannot treat a SPECTER agent like this!"

<Can't you see the form I'm being right now?> Jimmy asked back, his thought-speak was cold. <I'm a stray cat. Nobody can control me, and nobody will ever do. And if someone like you want to control me, what you'll only get is the ill omen of the Black Cat.>

"You will never find out about your father!"

<I'll find it without you,> said Jimmy before he landed on Emily's back. <Knock her out.>

[emilyorion]

Emily looked at the woman pinned under Shadow. <You better get used to it lady, unless you start treating us better> and with that, she knocked the woman out and galloped down the hallway, shapeshifting into the black lab as they hit the stairs, Shadow hot on her tail and Jimmy still on her back. What that was about, she only knew it was about Jimmy's father. But something told her from now on... life was gonna be hell. They needed to get to Sky Song.

[jimmyblack]

<Wait,> said Jimmy. <No, no, Emily, wait a second.>

He jumped to the floor. This is getting further than he predicted. And the worst, Emily is now involved in his problem.

<I want to say... thank you so much for helping me,> Jimmy moved his tail. <Don't worry. The woman won't look after you. She doesn't know who you are. I am her target. And I will settle this with her next time. Thanks for your help. Now, it's getting dark, I suppose you'd better return to your room.>

[emilyorion]

Emily growled in annoyance, then sighed as she morphed back into human form. "Whether you like it or not, I am not going to abandon you until I know what's going on." She looked down for a moment and then glanced at Jimmy. "I know it's forward, but if you're going to get a good night's sleep... you'll have to sleep on my couch. Bring over your important things, because if things are as they appear to be, she's going to tear your place apart."

She frowned thoughtfully as she went to her room apartment and unlocked the door. "Strange how different our recruitment was." She walked into the apartment, Shadow on her tail, leaving the door open. It was up to him.