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Post by Leroy on Apr 1, 2010 4:16:13 GMT -5
"You probably shouldn't worry too much about fitting in around here," Leroy said conversationally. "It is kind of difficult to fit in when you are constantly changing shape." He gave a semi-goofy smile to show he wasn't serious. "Or actually, maybe changing shape would make it easier to fit in..." He decided he would think on that question some more later, when he had some free time.
"Anyway, if you are used to working on a ranch then maybe we could check there first. There are a few around. They might even be hiring. But those are outside of the city, obviously, so we would have to take a cab. Unless..." Leroy gave Emily a sideways look, as if he were trying to decide wether or not he should ask his next question.
"You said you can turn into your dog, right? Want to have some fun and play stray? I have a doberman morph for just such an occasion."
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 1, 2010 11:42:50 GMT -5
Emily laughed. "Or I could take my mare form and you could just ride me out there..." she froze as she realized how that would have sounded. Her cheeks turned a tad red but kept her mouth shut. She had learned the hard way that if you tried to dig yourself, you just kept getting deeper.
"Or we could just become dogs," she looked away, careful not to meet his gaze. She didn't want to make the wrong impression, or give the wrong idea about herself. She wasn't that kind of girl. She waited for his response. She was really interested in finding out about these ranches.
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Post by Leroy on Apr 7, 2010 7:22:29 GMT -5
At first Leroy didn't understand why Emily froze up and blushed when she did. But then he figured it out and had to try hard to keep himself from bursting out laughing. He mostly succeeded. When he could finally keep a straight face again, he replied to what Emily was saying.
"The horse would be fun and all, but unless I find a saddle and maybe a cop uniform, we would probably stand out too much in the middle of the city. You don't see many horses in downtown Mariposa. But once we get out into the country, we can switch modes of transportation. How does that sound?"
Before waiting for an answer, Leroy added, "Come on. I'll show you a handy dumpster I use for morphing behind. It's only about a block away."
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 7, 2010 10:03:40 GMT -5
Emily caught sight of his struggle not to laugh, and was grateful. At least he was trying. But the dumpster caught her off guard. Morph behind a dumpster? Disgusting! Then again she was used to not having so little space. This it was more obvious. Then she had a question to ask. "Why do we have to hide our abilities?" she asked, ready to follow him. Shadow seemed to have the same question as his head tilted to look at Leroy with a believably yet deceiving expression of "dumb dog". He was smarter than he portrayed, which is why he could get away with pretty much anything, since nobody would believe he was smart enough to.
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Post by Leroy on Apr 7, 2010 15:49:47 GMT -5
"Because SPECTER says so," Leroy half joked. But he knew he probably wouldn't be able to get away with just that for an answer, so he thought about it for a moment. It didn't take him long to come up with what he was pretty sure was the answer. Or at least part of the answer.
"That is a pretty good question, actually. I'm guessing it is because the origin of our morphing abilities originate from an organization that isn't supposed to exist." Leroy suddenly felt paranoid and stopped to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. Of corse nobody was and so he continued walking.
"Sure, everyone knows about morphing by now, but it still isn't a common sight. If someone were to see us, it would draw attention. Even if they didn't find out who we were, it would still raise suspicions. Just imagine all of the media the city would attract. The newspaper headlines would probably be something like, 'Uncatalogued Animorph Migrates to Mariposa.'" Leroy smiled, but it wasn't really that funny.
"Besides the original six, the only known morphers were andalites or former controllers. So if someone is found out to be able to morph who wasn't previously known to be able to, it would either look like the andalites were behind it, or maybe even look like some controllers escaped after the war. Neither of which would bring us positive attention."
Leroy shrugged. He wasn't sure if his long-winded explanation was right, but it was the best he could come up with. "Either way, we have a power that we aren't actually supposed to have, so lets keep it on the down low." Leroy cracked a genuine smile this time and gave Emily a wink.
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 7, 2010 16:40:07 GMT -5
Emily laughed at the idea of migrating to Meriposa. If she was going to migrate anywhere with her abilities, she would stick to the wild. Prairie, jungle, forest, etc. Maybe even ocean. It would be cool to pick up some water animal DNA. She felt she could trust Leroy, and looked at him with a smile. "I didn't have much experience with SPECTER, but that they offered me a job here."
She reached down and patted Shadow. "And growing up in the country, my special abilities, well, they were somewhat ignored. My parents were accepting and taught me how to use them, though I picked up Shadow's DNA instantly. My parents decided that Shadow would be the good way to start. Though my parents never exactly told me how they knew how to be an animorph, or how they knew I was one."
After that, she frowned slightly. "Who is SPECTER that they create and/or collect animorphs for their own purpose? Isn't that wrong? It's almost like ...." she paused to speculate for a minute on what she was trying to say, "like drafting back in the first world war." She knew it sounded cold, but there was no nice way to say it.
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Post by Leroy on Apr 14, 2010 14:11:44 GMT -5
"Wait, wait, wait," Leroy said, completely ignoring Emily's questions. "You knew how to morph before SPECTER showed up? But... how is that possible?" Apparently Leroy also hadn't payed attention to the part where she said she didn't know. Now that he thought about it, Emily also said the cookies they ate were from her parents, which probably meant Emily's death wasn't faked like everyone else's had been. Which sort of made sense if her parents already knew that Emily could morph. "So you are saying you could morph ever since you can remember? You have no memory of touching a blue morphing cube that gave you your powers like the rest of us?" Leroy knew that it was probably possible, but wasn't sure exactly how it was possible. ((OOC: I'm interested in seeing where this will go ))
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 14, 2010 21:05:25 GMT -5
Emily looked at Leroy, the corner of her lips quirking up in amusement. "A blue morphing cube?" She tried to keep a straight face but couldn't help herself. She started laughing, the full belly laugh full of humor. Even Shadow was rolling around, barking in dog laughter, which caused her to laugh even harder. A blue morphing cube? She'd heard of some strange things, but this was priceless.
Once she got herself under control, she straightened up, but she was still grinning. "No, there was no blue cubes, and yes I've done it for as long as I can remember. How, I'm not sure. It's no different than any other genetic gene I suppose. Maybe it skipped a generation and it goes back into my family's history. They don't talk about it much, but they have always been supportive of my abilities."
She pushed a lock of hair out of her face, this time the flush in her face from the laughing. She felt kind of bad for laughing at him, but the question was so funny. Then she looked at Leroy again, realizing he must have touched this blue morphing cube. It sounded a bit matrix for her. With that in mind, she thanked God for being born with the gift instead of having to go through whatever Leroy had to go through.
"What happened to you? How were you chosen?" Something by the way he had mentioned the blue cube, looking back, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Shadow was immediately next to her, pressed against her leg supportively. She was looking at Leroy intently, serious, all trace of humor gone.
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Post by Leroy on Apr 19, 2010 2:28:02 GMT -5
Leroy raised an eyebrow when she said her morphing abilities might be genetic. He doubted it, but didn't comment. Even if it were possible, then she still probably wouldn't follow the exact same morphing rules as everyone else. But he was no expert on any type of science, much less morphing technology, so again, he didn't comment.
"How was I chosen? Not a clue. When I was first recruited by SPECTER, I asked the lady who came to my house but she said that information was classified and that she didn't even know why I was picked." Leroy checked over his shoulder once again to make sure they still weren't being eavesdropped on. The coast was clear and they were nearing their destination.
"I guess SPECTER probably looked into my records from school and the doctor and college and stuff. Then for some reason I met their mysterious qualifications. But I really don't know. Maybe they drew my name out of a hat. But whatever the case, SPECTER kind of makes me feel uneasy. They are way too secretive, don't you think so?"
Leroy looked both ways and then started crossing the street. "Come on. The dumpster is behind that laundromat over there."
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 20, 2010 17:43:10 GMT -5
Emily still wasn't too keen on the idea of changing at a dumpster, but couldn't argue with his logic. Well she could... but doubted it would reach any end but delay the inevitable. For whatever reason, he wasn't comfortable with the ability. But then, the way he had gotten his powers... who knew?
She followed him, silent for a moment as she pondered the question. "They are too secretive," she agreed, "and they have access to too much information." She fell silent again, her mind spinning. They chose people for some reason, without any real explanation... but then the reason for her made a lot more sense since she was already an animorph. But Leroy? She glanced at him looking him over. What made him special?
And obviously he didn't know. And if SPECTRE was as secretive as he said... they certainly wouldn't go for a specific trait, since it would bring forth unwanted attention. Shadow nudged her leg and she patted his head. There was so much to think about. Maybe this trip with Leroy would help clear her head.
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Post by Leroy on Apr 28, 2010 1:54:52 GMT -5
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Leroy said in response to Emily's comment about SPECTER having too much information. "But at least we know that they don't have all the answers. Otherwise they wouldn't need us." Now that they had reached the dumpster, Leroy checked to make sure nobody was watching, then slid into the space behind the garbage container and the small wooden fence that halfway surrounded it. It wasn't exactly roomy, but there was a decent enough amount of space. Next Leroy began stripping off his outer layer of clothing. His button up shirt and jeans were too loose to be morphable, and his shoes... well those were practically impossible to morph. Too complex. Soon leroy stood there in an underarmor t-shirt and black bicycle shorts that he had on under his regular clothes. It was one of his morphing outfits. For some reason you needed to wear skin-tight clothing in order for it to be able to morph with you. Otherwise you would end up naked. Or at the very least as an animal wearing human clothing that didn't fit. He was going to ask Emily if she had some skin-tight clothes on too, but figured she would have thought about that already since she had been morphing for so long already. "I suppose I'll go first," Leroy said before concentrating on a mental image of a doberman. The first change he noticed was the protrusion of his mouth and nose. The melded into one long muzzle that seemed to stretch out ridiculously far from the rest of his face. "Gross," he said. Of course with his new mouth it sounded more like, "Rowwwff." Next was his tail. His tailbone extended and a long hairless appendage grew out from behind him, wagging all over the place. Then his hips decided to realign and he was bent forward at an awkward angle so that he had no choice but to go forward onto his hands and knees. Knees which decided to change changing direction shortly afterward. Finally some hair decided to grow in, but it was patchy. His arms grew fur first, then the hair on his head shrank and changed color, then black fur spread all along his back down to the tip of his tail. Leroy heard a grinding noise as his leg bones shortened, his skull shifted shape, and his ribs changed position. The sound was made all the worse because his ears had morphed shortly before hand. And dog hearing was extraordinarily good at picking up everything. Dog vision, on the other hand, was not so great. The colors were all wonky, most of them excluded entirely, and the images weren't quite as crisp as his human vision. But it could be worse. After about two minutes of morphing, and the last of the physical changes occurred, Leroy felt the familiar dog instincts surface up in his brain. But he had used this morph several times before and was ready to keep them under control. Yet the extreme sense of happiness and an urge to rummage through the garbage were still hard to ignore. <<Okay, your turn,>> Leroy said using thought speech. <<But be careful to control your instincts or else you may find yourself eating the moldy half-cheeseburger in that bag over there.>> Leroy laughed, but at the same time was fighting the urge to go eat it himself.
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 28, 2010 18:42:32 GMT -5
Emily watched Leroy, biting her lip to keep from making wise cracks about his stripping off his outter layer and the way he morphed. She had never seen anything so funny. It was rude to laugh but she couldn't keep it from her eyes. She turned her back to him so he couldn't see. <You forget, mate, that I have been doing this since I was a wee babe> she responded with amusement as she peeled off her jeans and t-shirt to leave her standing in a bikini with boy shorts. She glanced at Leroy and winked before she was on her knees and into dog form.
She had perfected the art into something quick and painless. She could smell the burger he was talking about and barked with laughter. That was why she never allowed herself to be hungry. <Have the urge to mark your territory?> she teased, tucking her clothes in a box and hiding it under the dumpster. Much as she didn't need the clothes, she didn't relish the idea of walking there barefoot. It was bad enough with bare paws.
She fidgeted in disgust. Yes she grew up on a ranch, but cities were so much dirtier. She wrinkled her nose, making it look like a snarl. Shadow nudged her shoulder and looked at Leroy with an almost jealous expression. Males. Emily shook her head and rolled her eyes. <Let's go>
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Post by Leroy on Apr 30, 2010 4:58:17 GMT -5
<<Ha ha ha,>> Leroy laughed sarcastically in response to Emily's comment about marking his territory. Though truth be told, there was a slight urge to do exactly that. But he ignored that thought. It wouldn't look good if he suddenly started reliving himself on a fire hydrant in front of the new girl.
Instead he focused on stashing his clothes under the dumpster like she had. You don't realize just how hand hands are until you have morphed them away. But his nose worked well enough to get the job done.
<<Alright, lead the way!>> Leroy said when he was ready. <<Or actually, maybe I should. You know, since I'm supposed to be giving you the tour. Just try to act like a dog.>> And with that, Leroy took of at what his dog brain determined to be "fun run" speed. He ran to the entrance of the alleyway and then turned the corner to head down the sidewalk.
Boy did dogs know how to have fun.
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Apr 30, 2010 17:16:02 GMT -5
Emily barked with laughter and took off after him, Shadow glued to her side protectively. Little did Leroy know how much she knew about being a dog. She considered teasing him about being a butt sniffer, but she resisted, knowing it could be turned around on her. It was a habit she had broken quickly, and quickly taught Shadow not to do it either. Or at least, not to her.
She loved being an animal, but the instincts sucked. Shaking her head, she followed Leroy's scent to know where he turned and followed quickly, picking up speed. d**n streets. Her paws hurt from the hard ground. Oh what she would give to feel the grass beneath her paws, the soft earth. <Can we go somewhere that doesn't stink of garbage and other things best not mentioned?> she asked of Leroy.
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Post by Leroy on May 5, 2010 5:49:52 GMT -5
<<Hmm,>> Leroy thought out loud in response to Emily's question. <<I suppose we could run over to the park, but that's in the middle of the city...>> Leroy didn't really want to head further into the city if he was going to eventually lead Emily to where the farms and ranches were.
<<Oh, I know! It's the perfect place for dogs to run free without having to worry about getting hit by a car.>> Leroy turned down a side road and headed toward the Golf of Mexico. Maybe they would even be able to sniff out a new morph or two where they were headed. <<To the beach!>>
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