emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 13, 2010 8:52:17 GMT -5
Suddenly the tears were gone and her temper dried them up. She stood up and turned to face Leroy. <Just what kind of consequences?> she demanded. The loneliness inside was only conquered by the temper built up over time.
She almost wished there was trouble... she could use some action. Then she pondered that. Maybe she wanted to gather better forms, stronger forms. Ones built for battle. She started to smile as the clouds washed past.
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Post by Leroy on Jul 17, 2010 7:04:15 GMT -5
<<What kind of- What kind of consequences?>> Leroy was a bit stunned that she sounded serious when she asked that question. Did she really not know? Leroy thought that maybe she was pulling his leg, but if she really didn't know what consequences might arise from someone seeing her morphing, he figured he had better tell her.
<<Well, first and foremost I suppose is the gross-out factor. I hate to break it to you, but when you morph, it ain't pretty. And if someone were to suddenly see you mid morph, they probably wouldn't know what to do.>> That was a relatively minor consequence, but it was the first one that came to mind. As a sort of demonstration of his point, Leroy began to demorph.
<<Secondly,>> Leroy continued as he changed shape, <<while the world may know that some people can morph, thanks to andalite technology, the people who can morph are already known and relatively few in number. You and I are not officially supposed to belong in that exclusive group. In fact, most of us are legally dead. You are the only animorph I've heard of who hasn't had their death faked.>>
<<Which brings up a third point. We were hired->> Leroy had to pause for a moment be cause he was far enough along in his morph that his thought speech cut out, but his human mouth had not yet reformed. "We were hired SPECTER in secret, so if our identities become known, it is safe to bet that our secret will become known. And I have a feeling SPECTER won't take too kindly to that." Leroy shuddered to think of what might happen if it came down to that.
"Anyway, at the very least, our lives will be a whole lot easier if random strangers don't know that we can turn into animals. Just think of the paparazzi," Leroy said with a wink.
Now fully human, he began climbing down the prickly slope of hay bales. "I hope that answered your question well enough. There are probably some worse consequences too that I didn't think of, but oh well. What do you say we go get you one of those big kitty morphs?"
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 18, 2010 22:58:28 GMT -5
Emily speculated on that thought. Paparazzi? She didn't even like the sound of the word. From the sounds of it they didn't sound very pleasant. She watched complacently as Leroy changed form. Frankly she saw no problem with it. But then, she didn't get out much. Actually, she was never allowed off the ranch, not that she really wanted to... she just thought about it a lot. And here she was, with all these rules.
But in the end it seemed to make sense. She moved on to the faked deaths. Faked deaths? Why would they have to, she had just been invited along for the ride. She stood up, dusting off and nodded. Time to get the big kitties.
"Yes, I'm ready to go. But maybe you should teach me more of dealing with humans. There are way too many rules, I'm tempted to just stay in animal form." She left the stall, Shadow sulking at having to stay back, Sky Song nuzzling him in comfort, and the squirrel remained perched on her shoulder, tail wrapped around her neck for balance.
"And what are paparazzi?" She felt like suck a hick for asking.. but what could she say? Her parents refused to get technology, though they had lights, running water and what not. Just nothing that would make her desire to see the world. She was beginning to understand why, and at the same time...
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Post by Leroy on Jul 20, 2010 3:59:01 GMT -5
Leroy smiled when Emily suggested he teacher more about dealing with humans, but then frowned when she mentioned staying in animal form. He just hoped she was kidding about that part. The possibility of being stuck in animal form was all too real. Any animorph who stayed in an animal form for more than two hours at one time would be stuck in that form permanently. But since Emily wouldn't be able to switch to different animal forms if that happened, Leroy assumed she was just kidding.
"Paparazzi?" Leroy ask with a chuckle. "They are a secret organization that kidnap people who can morph and do bizarre medical experiments on them. So be careful."
Leroy took two steps toward the doorway of the barn and then burst into laughter. He had to lean against the wall he was laughing so hard. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself," he said between gasps. "Paparazzi are the people who follow celebrities around and take their picture. And a celebrity is what you would be if people know you can morph, wether you want to be one or not."
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 20, 2010 9:46:57 GMT -5
Emily glanced at Leroy with amusement, a slender eyebrow raised as she watched him lean again, watching him laughing. She wasn't sure whether or not to be insulted, but watching him... she settled for assuming he was nuts. But from the sounds of it, she prefered the experiments. She hated cameras. Not that her parents had taken many of the whole family, she was the one who held the camera. Maybe this "SPECTRE" Leroy spoke of knew that, which is why she didn't have/need a faked death.
Emily smiled slowly, edging nonchalantly towards the wall. Then she grabbed the water hose and cranked the water, thumb over the opening to give spray power as she hosed Leroy down. It was her turn to laugh, keeping a firm grip on the hose. She was too smart to abandon post until there was plenty of time to get to safety.
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Post by Leroy on Jul 24, 2010 5:31:01 GMT -5
"Ah. Hey. Cut it out," Leroy said while laughing. He tried to block the stream of water with his hands, but didn't have much luck. "If you don't quit, I may have to morph elephant and spray some water back," he joked.
Finally, Leroy decided he would be better off retreating. He moved backward as quickly as possible with his hands still trying to block the water. Once outside he moved around a corner to safety. "Ha. Nice try, but it will take more than a hose to defeat me," he said from his side of the wall.
After a quick check to make sure nobody was looking, Leroy ducked behind a straw bale and began to morph. Emily wouldn't be able to spray him if she couldn't find him.
Now, the straw bale didn't give him much cover as a human, but as soon as he started morphing it might as well have been a mountain. He was soon half the size he used to be and he still had a lot more shrinking to go.
Unfortunately shrinking wasn't the only change that was happening. There were other, much more disgusting, things happening at the same time. First of all, Leroy's eyes began to bulge outward, getting bigger and bigger. Just when he thought they would pop, the hardened and became compound so that it was like looking at a thousand television screen all tuned in to a slightly different channel.
Bummer, Leroy thought to himself, now I won't even be able to see when Emily finds me. The consolation was that he wouldn't be forced to watch the rest of his own morph.
The next change was four large ugly flaps of skin erupting from his shoulder blades. Two of these hardened and became opposite halves of a brilliant green dome. The other two became thinner than paper and transparent.
Now Leroy's hip joints were migrating up his torso to meet his armpits, and the rest of his torso was pinched tight behind them to form an abdomen. Just when he figured it couldn't get any weirder, two more limbs burst out from between his arms and legs.
As he continued to shrink, Leroy could feel and hear his organs sloshing around inside his own body. Some of them were just rearranging, but many of them were dissolving altogether. He almost panicked when his lungs disappeared and he stopped breathing, but then he could feel air entering and exiting through holes on the sides of his body. On the sides of his body!
After his ears shriveled and antennae sprouted, the morph was complete. Leroy was now a green weevil.
<<Wow,>> Leroy said in thought speech now that he was in a morph, <<I suddenly remembered why I try not to use this morph very often. I apologize if you saw any of that. If not, then good luck finding me now!>>
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 24, 2010 7:50:13 GMT -5
Emily grinned as she turned off the water and nodded to Shadow, who immediately followed his nose into the hay, unafraid to plunge right in. Grinning, she decided not to let him have all the fun and shifted into squirrel form, and joined her new squirrel friend into a cannon ball into the hay. <Taunt all you want, pretty boy, I grew up in a barn> she was laughing as she "said" this. Even Sky Song joined in the fun, grabbing mouthfuls of hay and tossing it in the air, moving it from one side to the other.
She had never had this much fun. Emily shuffled through the hay, searching for her comrade. <Ohhhhh Leroy> she called sniffing with amusement. <If you can't see me, you can't dodge me> She spotted the green easily against the hay, and sent the other squirrel close. <Come here lover boy> the other squirrel snuggled closed and licked Leroy's cheek. Hehehehe. She wondered if he would know it wasn't her.
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Post by Leroy on Jul 26, 2010 5:51:35 GMT -5
With Leroy's blurry vision, he saw a monstrous shape approaching. But before he could react, a giant wall of moisture larger than his entire body rubbed against him. For a moment Leroy was afraid he was about to meet his end.
<<Did- did you just lick me?>> Leroy asked once the shock had worn off. Leroy checked his body. Nothing seemed to be broken. <<That was not pleasant,>> he commented flatly. Then he spread his four wings and flew up, up and away. He doubted he would be able to be licked if he was in the rafters.
<<We can go whenever you are ready, unless you want to spend all night cleaning a helpless little weevil with your tongue.>>
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 26, 2010 9:24:14 GMT -5
<awwwwwwwwwww sorry> She disappeared out of the hay and started running, the squirrel hot on her tail. Shadow followed as well, easily keeping up with the two squirrels.
Upon reaching the circus, Emily slowed down and looked at Shadow. <Don't get yourself caught> She carried on, sniffing the air. A lot of the animals were resting comfortably, even the feline creatures. But then... when you have to deal with a wild crowd... she couldn't blame them. All that noise, in animal form especially, would be draining.
She approached a white tiger's cage and she sat outside the cage, balanced with her bushy tail. Such a magnificent creature, her heart bled for him. He did not deserve to be caged up. Shadow and the other squirrel were sitting close together, looking at her pleadingly. They didn't want her to get herself hurt. She took a deep breath. She couldn't let herself be afraid or she'd only be soft and cuddily animals.
<Focus!> she scolded herself. Looking into the cage at the sleeping tiger, she edged closer. There would be no room for mistakes.
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Post by Leroy on Jul 28, 2010 7:36:14 GMT -5
Since he was up in the rafters and had bug vision, Emily was gone before Leroy even knew that she was leaving. <<Oops. I should have thought that one through.>> Leroy quickly flew down to the hay bales and started demorphing. There was no way he could catch up to them in bug morph. Even worse, if he had tried to follow them, he probably would have ended up getting lost.
As soon as he was human again, Leroy focused on his duck morph again. He tried to rush the process along as fast as possible, but he wasn't very good at speed morphing yet. Not to mention he was getting tired from all the morphing he was doing in a short time period. He had gone from duck to human to bug to human to duck, all in less than a half hour's time. It was somewhat exhausting.
But when he did get back into his duck morph, Leroy rushed to catch up to Emily in the fading daylight. Before he knew it he was back at the now-closed circus. It seemed he had caught up just in time see Emily approaching the big cats.
<<Careful,>> he warned her as he landed on the ground. <<I bet they would eat you if you give them half a chance. I don't think they get access to too much live meat.>>
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 28, 2010 18:17:31 GMT -5
<Duh> Emily gestured for the squirrel and Shadow to stay, and moved slowly around the cage. Felines were known for quick reflexes... but on the other hand, they were in cages. It would be hard for them to attack her. She edged closer to the cage and sniffed. Asleep. She slipped into the cage, approaching on light feet. Ah the joys of being petite.
Now for the fun part. She shifted form to human and rested her hand on the tiger's hand, concentrating. The tiger woke up, but was instantly in a form of trance, lucky for her. Once the DNA transfer was complete, she shifted back into squirrel form to get out before the tiger came out of it. What a relief.
She sat outside the cage, watching as the tiger came out of the trance. She had enjoyed the circus, but hated seeing animals caged up... even if it made it easier for her to pick up DNA. She still wanted an elephant though. And maybe a python. And of course her original purpose for being here. And a giraffe. None of which were practical but fun none the less. She looked for Leroy and spotted him.
<Leroy, is there a limit to animal DNA?> She wanted to know if she could be extravagant.
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Post by Leroy on Jul 30, 2010 4:12:50 GMT -5
<<A limit to animal DNA? You mean like a limit to how many animals you can acquire?>> Leroy preened his feathers with his beak while he thought about it. <<I don't think so. At least if there is a limit, it is probably so high that it isn't practical for us to be worrying about it.>>
Then Leroy heard footsteps approaching. <<We may not have a limit to acquiring DNA, but we do have a limit to our luck. If we get caught by night security, we could be in trouble. We probably shouldn't stay much longer.>>
Leroy started stretching his wings nervously. He figured it probably wasn't normal for ducks and squirrels and dogs to be hanging out by the tigers.
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Jul 30, 2010 15:04:11 GMT -5
Emily had to agree with that. It wouldn't be natural for predator and prey to hang out together. She tilted her head to get the scratch behind the ear. Hard to do with short arms. <What kind of sense of humor do you have?> she asked, looking towards where the footsteps were coming from. Shadow growled low in warning to her, but she shook her head. She gestured for Shadow to leave. He vanished obediantly though reluctantly. She looked to the squirrel who nodded at her. There must be something to the connection of the DNA. It seemed to know her thoughts. Now for Leroy.
She glanced at Leroy. What if he refused? Would she still carry out her plan? What about the consequences of her plan, and how it would affect the other non-circus creatures that dwelled there. She bowed her head.
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Post by Leroy on Aug 1, 2010 4:27:04 GMT -5
<<Why, what do you have in mind?>> Leroy asked nervously. It sounded like Emily was up to something, but he had no idea what. But when someone suggest you leave so you don't get caught, then the other person asks what kind of sense of humor you have, the end result is usually something that someone will regret.
Leroy flapped his wings a bit more, then started to pace. Why were they still sitting here? Why hadn't they left yet? Because Emily has something up her sleeve and your curiosity is getting the better of you, Leroy told himself. <<Fine, lets hear it,>> he finally said while still having no clue what he was asking to hear.
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emilyorion
Experienced
Animorph of Mariposa
Posts: 74
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Post by emilyorion on Aug 1, 2010 9:04:43 GMT -5
<Maybe it's better to try it tomorrow night. I still haven't decided whether the pros outweigh the cons> She gestured at the squirrel and they both proceeded to push at Leroy, she wished he had left... it would've been so much easier to just dash. But she couldn't leave him alone.
<Come on buddy we need to get out of here> she could hear the security guard coming closer. They didn't have much time left. And she had some planning to do. But if he couldn't get moving and away, she would double back and distract the security guard.
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