Post by Aubrey on Sept 20, 2009 22:55:05 GMT -5
Fin
Fin stared at the glowing red numbers of his bed side alarm clock that was suspiciously in the kitchen. The numbers on it were the blocky kind so that the eights looked deceptively like zeros but they weren't zeros and the twos looked like fives except in reverse but they weren't fives damn twos.
It was 11:52-No wait! It was now 11:53 pm on a normal Dallas evening. There was nothing extraordinary about this night or this clock or this time. In fact Fin was breathlessly awaiting a different time altogether, the magical hour of midnight. For when the clock struck 12 Fin would officially be eighteen and he was going to celebrate it with a bang...literally.
His fingers itched as they ran over the handles to the pot lids he was holding. His faction mates would not appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night if they were in fact sleeping but they would forgive him...hopefully.
Seven minutes to midnight and Fin couldn't wait.
Sophie
Sophie sat silently, her black body coiled against one of the kitchen walls. Since getting here, she'd been using the kitchen as a place to sleep. People usually headed into here during the mornings, and she was a heavy sleeper. So, she was using them as alarm clocks to wake her up. Some might have assumed that she would be in the same room as Aubrey, but since she had arrived, Aubrey had been avoiding her like she was diseased. She'd decided not to push the matter and found her own place to go at night.
So here she was; She couldn't sleep. Sophie hadn't gotten a good night's rest since being trapped, and tonight was no different. Except that her keen senses had picked up somebody else entering the room. In the darkness it wasn't exactly easy to see, but the cobra's sense of 'smell' was excellent. With each flick of her tongue, she tasted the individual air molecules. The cobra also had another sense; it could detect minute changes in temperature. One of the other Animorphs was in here.
At first she hadn't planned on saying anything, thinking he'd eventually go away. But once he picked up the pot lids and started staring at the clock, Sophie decided to speak. <<Up a little late tonight?>>
Fin
The muscles in Fin's back and the way his grip tightened on the handles of the pot lids were the only signs that Sophie had frightened him with her unexpected arrival.
He looked around trying to find the snake since thoughtspeak didn't have a direction and spotted the glimmer of black as her body briefly fell into a patch of moonlight coming in through the kitchen window.
The window cast the picture of an angel with wings outstretched and hands reaching to help the sick. The stain glass creation would have been full of bright reds and yellows in the sunlight but the moon turned the colors to blood red and a light green. He felt like it should look sinister but it just looked beautiful. He wondered if the creators had thought about what it would look like in both sun and moon light and planned for both.
"Depends on where you come from," he said turning back to look at the clock. "I don't think twelve is all that late for someone of our generation, especially one who grew up so near a big city. Why are you up so late and why are you in the kitchen?"
Sophie
Sophie sat still as Fin tried to spot her. The snake's instincts were cold beneath her own thoughts, lazily evaluating the threat level that the big human posed. It was wary of his presence, but at the same time unafraid. Of course Sophie knew there was no danger, but the cobra's instincts were almost a constant presence in her mind now. It was something she had to get used to.
As Fin looked back to the clock, Sophie glanced over at the time as well. <<Right. It seems to be a late time for this faction. Nobody else is up, as far as I know.>> Or maybe there were a few Animorphs creeping around the hallway, and Sophie just didn't know it. She couldn't tell in here. It felt late, but then again time had a way of dragging on endlessly when you didn't want it to--like when you were waiting for the morning to come.
<<I've been using the kitchen as my impromptu bedroom.>> She said, her voice mild. <<As for being up, I was sleeping before. Ah, well. Trying to sleep. You know.>> Shifting her scaled head sideways, she tried to see exactly what he was holding. From what she could make out in the dim moonlight it was something flat, with handles. He looked about ready to bang them together. Ahh. <<What's with the pot lids?>>
Fin
He looked down at the potlids and then hid them behind his back and put on a very big, cheesy grin. "What potlids?" He asked doing his best to look innocent. But then he put them down on the counter and got up off the stool he was on. "There are to ring in my birthday in style and, not to offend you are anything, but it is a little weird to be speaking down to you this way. You know with you on the ground and all."
He walked over to the snake and crouched down so that he could see her better. He offered up his arm, "Do you want to sit on the counter or something so you're closer to head height?"
Sophie
If Sophie had eyebrows, both would have been lifted at the moment. Instead, all she could do was stare at Fin with unblinking eyes as he hid the pot lids and grinned. It was kind of amusing. <<Oh, you're having a birthday? Haven't heard people talking about a party. Or anything.>> The first thing that came to mind was the LA leader Matt's birthday party awhile back. Sophie had had as much fun as someone-who-didn't-like-parties could have at a party. The thought of another one, especially like this, was not very exciting.
At first, she wanted brush Fin's comment off with some kind of joke or something that made it sound like being on the floor didn't matter to her. Instead she said, <<No offense taken.>> Truthfully it did bother her a little that people were large colossi with bodies that went up far into the sky.
Fin moved over to her, bending down to offer his arm. The snake's mind had stirred again, unnerved by the closeness of a possible predator. Sophie lifted her head from her body, eyes glittering in the dim light. <<Hm.>> If there had been a way, she probably would have found her own path onto the counter long ago. However, the kitchen's counters might as be a range of unreachable mountains.
<<Yeah, sure. Couldn't hurt anything,>> She said. Yet she didn't move right away, eyeing Fin's arm. The snake wanted to hiss at Fin's closeness. Sophie just felt strange. Swallowing her discomfort she slid forward, her slender body curling around his arm.
Fin
Fin tried not to shudder when the smooth, dry scales slid over his arm. It would have been impolite and he wasn't really creeped out by snakes, it was just a little weird to feel one crawling on you. It was scenes like these that he'd stopped watching Fear Factor to avoid. And here he was in a kitchen in a Dallas church living his own version of it.
He held his arm out a bit from his body so that he didn't crowd the nothlit animorph and set her down on the kitchen table. It had to really suck to be stuck as a snake and he decided that he should bring it. He had a feeling no one had asked her about it but that is what humor was for, to help broach difficult subjects.
"So, it must suck to be stuck as a snake, uh?" Or he could be wrong and he could be about to get poison spit in his face.
Sophie
Sophie's whole body tightened around Fin's arm as he lifted her up. The snake wasn't particularly happy about floating in the air, arm or not. Sophie was relieved to slither off of him and onto the kitchen table. <<Thanks.>> Her body coiled up neatly in the center, tongue flicking out into the dark air.
<<By the way. We have a rat infestation. I saw a couple of them hopping back and forth about an hour ago on the floor.>> It had been her entertainment earlier on (where was TV when you needed it?); She had watched their dark forms darting back and forth, carrying blobs of food or small treasures. The snake's mind had been intrigued by the prey, but Sophie had pushed that instinct down. Way down.
Sophie looked out across the kitchen table. She hadn't seen the kitchen from up here yet, and was taking it in. The kitchen looked big from her viewpoint. The open door that led out into the rest of the Temple was a gaping square hole, that led into more darkness. As she was checking out the kitchen from the table, Fin asked the question.
Sophie was silent at first. Nobody had really brought it up, not even in Los Angeles. People were always full of pity and always looking at her with sad eyes, but too flaky to really talk to her. Aubrey had been the worst of it. For some reason Sophie felt like... less when Aubrey looked at her. It was awful. <<Yeah. It... does.>> Another flick of her tongue. The snake could taste the smell of rats again, scurrying somewhere far below. <<I just. You know, deal with it. Everything's so big now, and people...>> She paused. <<Just, everything's big. And you have this animal in the back of your head, all the time. You have that, when you morph of course. But it's constant now.>> Sophie was trying her hardest not to complain. This had been her decision, hadn't it?
Fin
Fin was only half listening. Well that wasn't true. He was perfectly capable of doing two things at once and even believed, like most of his generation, that if you weren't doing two things at once you were wasting time. And right now Fin was listening but he was also on hand and knees looking for rats.
Fin had been obsessed with getting a rat morph for the longest time now. He had a bat morph and a cat morph and all he needed was a rat morph and he'd have three morphs that rhymed. Three! He had to find one but he kept missing the little buggers. Other people got to see rats but it was like the rat community had filed some sort of restraining order against him. It almost hurt, especially because all he wanted was to join their ranks.
So when he responded to Sophie he did so from his position on the ground and talking to the floor as he put his cheek against the cold tiles and looked under a cabinet. "Rats you say? Rats?" He squinted his eyes against the dusty darkness under the cabinet and briefly considered going bat or cat just to try to get behind the thing but it was too late to do something that stupid. Maybe tomorrow.
He stood back up as Sophie began to answer his actual question. Even now he was looking down at her though the difference was not as great as it had been before. Still it was really weird to look at the snake and know that it was a human. Not as weird as it would have been before he'd been an animorph but it was still weird.
Back in Vancouver Mitch had always gone around in some morph or another because his human body was deaf and he didn't want to give up hearing. So Fin had sort of gotten used to it. But Mitch hadn't been trapped and Sophie was and for some reason it made a big difference. It was like looking at someone who was sleeping vs looking at someone who was dead.
He didn't care how many romantic idiots talked about how, "she looked like she was only sleeping," or "he looked like he would wake up any minute," death had a certain feel to it that was unmistakable. Maybe it was the lack of movement. Maybe people just didn't notice how much someone moved until they were still. The chest that didn't rise with each breath, the spot in the neck that didn't pulse with each heart beat, the eyelids that didn't flicker with each dream. Or maybe it was something else. A wrongness, and emptiness where something should be. Whatever it was there was a difference.
And seeing Sophie was a bit like that. Like seeing something irrevocable.
"How did you get trapped if you don't mind me asking?"
Sophie
Fin had disappeared when she was placed on the table. <<Yep. Probably a group of them running around in here. I think.>> Sophie said. She hadn't minded their company, she wasn't one of those people who got freaked out at snakes or rats. Although, when it came down to them eating the Animorph's food storage, it might become a problem. Fin popped back up from below the table, and Sophie turned her head in his direction.
"How did you get trapped if you don't mind me asking?"
It was all Aubrey's fault. She caused it all. It almost felt childish to want to spout the first thing that had come to mind. She didn't, though. Even if Aubrey wouldn't speak to her anymore or look at her, she still considered her a friend. However, the sentiment didn't feel mutual anymore.
<<Back in Los Angeles, we were trying to rescue a faction mate's parent, a controller. We ended up getting caught by a Sub-Visser and held as bait for the other Animorphs.>> She wasn't sure whether or not Aubrey had blabbed about the whole incident yet to the Dallas faction; It seemed like something she'd do. Or maybe that was just the pissed-off part of Sophie speaking.
Thinking about what happened, Sophie could remember all the fear, anger, the frustration that had gone through her. The panic when Aubrey had started demorphing. Then the final moments, when she had known the time-limit was up and she was stuck like this forever. Forever. She didn't even know how long snakes lived. Sophie let her head rest against her coiled up body, staring out into the open space of the dark kitchen. The moon was casting it soft glow through the stained glass window.
<<The other Animorphs came in too late to rescue, and I got trapped.>> Then after a pause she added, <<Would rather be trapped then have a slug shoved in my head.>>
Fin
"I would rather have neither at all," Fin said after a moment as if coming to this conclusion was especially difficult. He often seemed incapable of respecting somber moods when they showed up in conversations and this was one of those times. It was way too easy to start feeling sorry for Sophie and he had a feeling it was easy for her to feel sorry for herself too. He wasn't going to make the situation worse with pity. Better to laugh about it anyway since there wasn't much that could be done now.
"So now you live your life as a snake in a kitchen. Man, if I got turned into a snake I would ask for a palace. I mean, it is the ultimate guilt trip. 'Guys, I'm a snake, you should give me all your stuff, look how much I gave up for you.' You should try it. Make Ray give you the master bedroom. Make Drake give up his spin chairs, turn one into a throne and make someone push you around all the time. Anyone objects just say, 'dude, I'm a snake.' It is like better than being handicapped."
He sat down on a stool pulled up to the kitchen table and put his chin in his hands, his elbows on the table. "You could get away with so much stuff. Suji would walk into her bedroom and find you curled up in her covers. You can just be like, 'what, I needed the extra warmth, I'm cold blooded.' Or you could eat all of Lizzie's oreos that she doesn't let us eat and what could she say? 'Those were mine.'? 'I'm a snake Lizzie, I would need to catch my own food. You really can't share?' I don't know Sophie. This living on the floor thing. I think you aren't seeing the possibilities here."
Sophie
"I would rather have neither at all."
<<Well. Yeah. I don't think anybody would want either choice.>> Sophie said. At the time it had happened, there hadn't been any choice in Sophie's mind. It had been be infested or get trapped, and being infested had never been an option for her. Maybe for Aubrey it had, but Sophie? No. She hadn't even been sure that she would survive the incident. She had done it because she had believed it would protect the Los Angeles Animorphs. Leave it up to Aubrey to fuck that up.
Sophie was quiet during the little speech Fin launched into. There was no way for it to show on her expressionless face, but a part of her felt relieved at Fin's changing of the mood. There wasn't a real point on dwelling on what couldn't be changed--right?--and Sophie wasn't really interested in wallowing in self-pity all the time. Or having people pity her. It made her feel useless when people were constantly acting like that around her. It was her problem, she'd deal with it.
Fin pulled up a stool. Sophie's facial expressions couldn't change, but the snake's fixed, constant smirk was enough. She figured he was trying to be funny. Her thought-speak came out as a light chuckle. <<A palace, huh? Yes, I think you're onto something here. I could demand that people follow me, then rule with an iron fist. Or, well. Iron bite, seeing as how I have no fists. Sounds perfect.>> As she spoke, there was a bit of humor in the tone of her voice.
Sophie
"I'm glad you think so because I expect you to take me with you into glory. I mean, you'll be the queen of course, but I can be your prince or something. I will take things and just say that you need them. No more oreo hogging for Lizzie or extra shower time for Suji. Pay back shall be very satisfying. I'm glad we are in agreement," he said winking at her in an exaggerated fashion though he was finding it hard to play to an audience whose emotions he couldn't read.
At this point with anyone else he would have been spotting signs of them trying not to laugh whether because they "weren't the laughing type" (everyone was the laughing type to him) or because they didn't know he was joking and didn't want to hurt his feelings.
And Fin lived for that glint of weary amusement in the eyes of those around him. But Sophie's eyes were small, black and cold. The eyes of an animal and he couldn't read them. It disturbed him though he went to lengths to hide how much.
Thinking about her as an animal made him wonder what Sophie ate. Fin had wanted a snake a while back and he knew that some of them ate bugs and others ate mice. The really big ones ate people, at least they did in horror movies.
None of those options sounding appetizing so he decided to turn the convo away from food. "So why did you come here? I mean, were you just ordered or did you choose to come?"
Sophie
<<Heh, yeah. Just as long as you don't plan any coups.>> Sophie said with fake seriousness. She did find Fin's attempt at humor amusing, if even if his joking nagged at her a bit. Since being trapped, Sophie hadn't had the time to really think about her situation. Of course, mourning was easy and almost expected of her. Being serious and taking offense was easy too. Finding a bit of light in what had happened, however, was not something Sophie was an expert at. She was better at ignoring problems, and just dealing with things as they came. Yet it felt better than moping. Besides, Sophie was just glad to have somebody actually talking to her.
Her tongue flicked out, tasting the air. The rats had disappeared back into their hiding spots in the kitchen, but Sophie could still sense that they had been here. The reminder was bothering the snake's mind, since it was hungry. Sophie had yet to actually eat what her snake body would usually eat. Eating a live rat or mouse felt like stepping over some kind of invisible border. It was a step she didn't want to take.
She was still human, she could still get her food packaged or canned. Added to that, Sophie was vegetarian and had been one for many years. The thought of actually killing something and swallowing it whole made her sick. That didn't stop the snake's mind from feeling excitement over the possibility of eating, and it was affecting her own thoughts involuntarily. Despite herself, she kept imaging how it would feel to sink her fangs into the soft, warm flesh of a rat. To feel it twitching and kicking, then slowly dying. Then unhinging her jaw--
No, no, no. Think about something else. Fin's question helped distract her, and drag her back. The question was something Sophie had been asking herself since coming here. Before it had been easy, not something she had thought about much. Now that she realized it, maybe it was a mistake being here. Aubrey didn't want her here. The edge of humor was gone from her voice, now, and replaced by her usual mild tone.
<<I was offered to go stay in Union for awhile.>> He probably didn't know what Union was, and she realized this after a few seconds. <<Union is a free colony of humans in Los Angeles. But, I didn't really want to be taken out of the fight. Just because I'm stuck doesn't mean I'm useless. So they suggested heading to a climate that was more suited for this morph. I agreed. I thought it would be a good idea, since Aubrey was here. Thought she would... you know. Help me. Or something.>> Help? If she'd been human, Sophie would have shook her head. That's not what she meant, was it? <<Well, not help. Just make things easier.>>
Fin
Fin's eyes narrowed the slightest in pity but he quickly wiped even that hint of the expression off his face before it could be noticed. It was odd, he didn't pity Sophie because she was a nothlit now. That would have been easy and probably normal. But hearing that slight note of...maybe loneliness, maybe something else, did pull at Fin's emotional control center. Snake nothlit or not there was still a human girl buried somewhere in there and she missed her friend. He missed a lot of people himself.
"Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. I came here because Ray and I were friends back when we were faction mates in Vancouver. But since I got here," Fin shrugged. "Nothing really. I guess I thought, I thought things would be like they were before and that would be ok you know? I got into some bad stuff back in Vancouver and I just wanted to start over. I think a lot of the people who came to Dallas were looking for a fresh start one way or the other."
Fin's gaze had wandered over to the clock again and he now noticed it was 12:02. He was 18, but he didn't mention it to Sophie. It didn't seem like such a big deal now. He could celebrate tomorrow. He looked back down at the snake. "So who have you met since getting here? Like who do you hang with? How do you spend your days? What are the great secrets of Sophie-Kaa?" he asked adding the snake's name from Jungle Book onto her name though after he said it he realized it sounded almost Jamaican, like jah or something. Either way it sounded cool to him, a guy whose thoughts were always half in Disney songs.
Sophie
Sophie listened to Fin, her eyes naturally impassive. It seemed like a few of the people around the Dallas faction knew each other from previous factions, so she wasn't surprised that Fin had known Ray before. <<I think you're right. You know. I guess a new faction is the best place to just forget what's happened elsewhere.>> Or forget someone. <<I know I wasn't happy back in Los Angeles. Too much.. stuff there.>>
It almost felt unfair. But that was a silly thought. Sophie hadn't been in the fight long enough to really do any damage, under Matt's leadership. She had joined the Animorphs--with the very real intention of fighting--and after a couple outings had gotten trapped. Even then, it hadn't really felt like she had joined a band of freedom fighters. More like a loosely bound group of people-who-could-morph, stumbling in and out of messes. Sophie hadn't realized how much of an uphill battle this was before. The Yeerks were not only invading the human race--they practically were the human race now. And what could Sophie do? Blind someone? I couldn't even do that to the Sub-Visser.
She chuckled a little at Fin's words. <<Meet people? Hm. Not many people, I guess. Met Ray. And I met a few people on my way up here.>> Sophie was used to being honest, and she wasn't going to pretend that she'd been talking to people here. <<And I just spend my days trying to figure out how to do things around here. Like sleep or find entertaining stuff. I'd go on patrol if I could. But this place has some interesting places to explore, if you're small enough.>> She lifted her head, eyes resting on Fin. Her expression was the same, fixed.
<<Although, I've got some rat buddies. Well, not as much buddies. They kind of avoid me. But there's this black rat, he's got a little white mark under his belly. I call him Jack. He's got a friend called Paris, plain gray rat. The two of them have been stealing little things from people's rooms and hiding them behind the fridge for a couple days. Saw them dragging a twinkie that was still in the package one day.>>
Fin
Fin looked shocked as Sophie began to talk about her rat friends. After a couple of minutes of shocked silence he finally burst out, "those rat bastards. Think they can steal my twinkies with impunity do they. I'll show them! We'll see how Jack likes kitty Fin!" Fin's voice was full of self righteous anger.
He looked down at Sophie, "I hope I can count on your support in this endeavor. This transgression of the rat people's against our sovereignty and self determination, including our right to be junk food eaters, can not go unpunished. If it does the other kingdoms shall soon hear of it and none shall respect us. We will be walked all over in our conference talks with the cockroach king next month. And the flies are sure to get all uppity now."
Sophie
For a moment Fin seemed like he was truly angry, and she just stared at him silently. Then he started talking about 'rat peoples' and kingdoms. Sophie would have smirked, if she could. <<Oh. But... they're my friends. My rat buddies.>> She turned her gaze away from him, looking to where the table ended. The scrabbling rat feet below had stopped awhile back, which probably meant they were hiding out in their holes. Or that they were off in somebody's room raiding. <<Well. Actually. They're stealing twinkies. I don't know if that's a forgivable offense.>>
Sophie paused, as if she was considering what he said. <<Hm. Wouldn't want to have that happen. I don't know. Last I knew, they had a few legions of rat minions with them. It might be a hard undertaking. Perhaps an alliance would be better. They stop stealing and we... uh. No, wait. All out war is better. I'm with you.>>
Fin
Fin nodded curtly. "Glad to have you with me Sophie-Kaa. Always need good comrades in a war." The sentence could apply to the joke or to real life and he meant it both ways. "Besides, I think you need to get out more. Since we have to put our royalty plan into effect we can do both at once. The rat kingdom shall rue the day it took us on."
At this point he would have held out his hand to shake on it but he couldn't exactly do that. There was one thing he could do though.
He held out his hand but stopped before it touched her scales. "May I?" he asked, "I figure if I'm going to help with the rat thieves I'll need a morph that can get to them. My cat can't go places you can." Normally he didn't ask when he acquired his faction mate's DNA. He figured being able to impersonate his faction mates might come in handy some day and found ways to quietly...well he didn't like to think of it as stealing since they didn't lose anything in the process.
He had almost all of his faction mates back in Vancouver including Matthias (that had been awkward) and since coming here he'd gotten a hold of Suji, Aubrey, Drake, Andre and Ray though he didn't have Lizzie yet. But for some reason he felt like he should ask this time.
Sophie
<<Heh. I need to get out more, do I.>> Sophie said, her tone tinged with a little dry humor. <<Ahh yeah. The rats won't know what's coming.>> For good reasons she hadn't tried chasing after them before. She knew from watching them that even if they were fat, they were good at jumping high and getting away. And even--believe it or not--squeezing through very small spaces. It was kind of amazing to watch a rat fit underneath the doorway when it was closed.
Looking up, she realized Fin was holding his hand out. The snake's instincts were under control--there wasn't any danger of him being bitten--but she still felt a small flare of wariness from the snake's mind. She was also a little surprised, but there was no way for him to tell. <<Oh, uhm. Sure. Why not.>>
Fin
Fin reached out and placed his fingers along her dry scales. He didn't need to close his eyes or concentrate especially hard, if he had he probably would have been caught at it by now.
He felt the familiar tingling feeling as if water was running down his skin except all over as he absorbed the snake's dna. When he was done he took his hand away and looked down at Sophie. "Sooooooo," he said with mock awkwardness. "What do you want to do now?"
He looked shy and twirled a piece of his hair around one finger. It was a bit to short to work properly but it looked good enough because his hair was naturally curly anyway. "This whole acquiring you thing, it feels like a big step in our relationship. Do you want to talk about it? What does this mean?"
Sophie
Fin's hand touched to her body, and she began feeling drowsy. She assumed she was getting tired for some reason--what time was it anyways? When his hand disappeared, she turned her head towards the clock. It was past midnight. Already?
<<Ah. Happy birthday, by the way.>> The drowsiness seemed to vanish slowly, and she realized it might have been from the acquiring. This alien technology was weird, and it was kind of scary that they put so much blind trust in something they knew very little about.
Sophie glanced back up to him, not exactly sure what to say to him. <<Oh. Hah. Umm. No clue. I suppose you could try the morph out. I could give you a few tips and everything. This snake is the kind of snake that has venom, except you can actually shoot it out into people's face.>>
Fin
Fin yawned. As he did he wondered if Monkey-See, Monkey-Do still held true when you were living inside the body of a snake since yawning was normally really infectious. "While I would love to hang with you all night Sophie-Kaa," he said, the nickname had a nice ring to his own ears so it was now hers forever as far as Fin was concerned, "I'm a bit beat. Perhaps tomorrow and thank you for the birthday wishes."
He got up to head back to his room and looked back at the spot where he had seen Sophie when he'd first come in. "Um, listen, do you want to come? I mean, you don't have to sleep in the kitchen. I know snake's get cold easily. I have extra blankets and all that," he said standing in the doorway that led to the hall looking at the moonlight glint of the black scales. "I mean a separate thing, like I would set up a separate thing," he continued quickly.
It was odd, even though she was a snake he still felt like he had to make clear what he was offering as if he was talking to any other young woman his age. Or anyone else his age for that matter since you never knew how an offer might be received.
Sophie
<<You're welcome.>> The drowsiness from the acquiring had disappeared. It was replaced by the familiar restlessness that had been plaguing Sophie since being trapped. She was probably good to stay up for another few hours because of it. Of course Sophie was always fine by herself, but it didn't stop her from feeling a little disappointed that he was too sleepy to stay. Fin leaving meant that Sophie would be left alone again, watching the rats scamper across the kitchen floor until the morning sun hit the windows.
As Fin stood to leave, Sophie rested her scaled head against the coiled muscle of her body. She was getting ready to zone out like she had been doing before. Then he spoke, asking if she wanted her come with. She was glad that the snake's face was able to hide emotions, as she was a little taken aback. It was a kind offer, especially since Sophie had been feeling alienated since getting here.
After a bit of thought she said, <<Really?>> It sounded much nicer than sitting in the cold kitchen waiting for sleep to find her. Her black eyes glanced across the table, into the empty space behind Fin leading into the hallway. Was it pathetic that someone she had just met recently was being more considerate to her than her best friend of many years? <<Alright, sure. Although I'll probably make Jack and Paris sad. But oh well, huh?>>
Fin
Fin smiled. Now that his offer was accepted he was back on familiar ground. "Aww, forget about Jack and Paris. Between you and me those guys are rats anyway," he said in a stage whisper that carried easily to the kitchen counter. He walked back over the counter and held out his arm for Sophie to curl around again. For some reason it seemed more courteous than picking her up. He felt like doing so would have crossed a line. When someone needed to be picked up that said something about their state of mind.
As she curled around his arm he again had the strong desire to shiver and shake her off. But it was more of an instinctual reaction to a snake than to Sophie herself and he guessed it would probably pass in time. "You know Sophie, I'm glad your here. This place was kind of boring before. But now I have someone who will have to listen to my jokes. Everyone else could just walk away," he said letting her know what she was in for.
Sophie
There was a smirk in her small dark eyes; the expression couldn't actually reach her lips. <<Not sure how bad of a thing that is to them. Get to be lazy. Run around. Steal people's stuff. If anything's ever missing, you'll know who has it.>> She watched Fin walk over to her, offering his arm.
She wasn't sure that she could get used to riding around on somebody's arm. It was like admitting she couldn't do everything for herself anymore. That was hard enough to do with Aubrey, who had pretty much rejected her presence for whatever reason. Along with that, floating above the air was dizzying and upset the snake in the back of her mind. So, of course it made her feel a little uneasy. But it was be by herself or take what help she could get. She curled around Fin's arm, smiling inwardly at his last comment.
<<Oh boy.>>
Fin stared at the glowing red numbers of his bed side alarm clock that was suspiciously in the kitchen. The numbers on it were the blocky kind so that the eights looked deceptively like zeros but they weren't zeros and the twos looked like fives except in reverse but they weren't fives damn twos.
It was 11:52-No wait! It was now 11:53 pm on a normal Dallas evening. There was nothing extraordinary about this night or this clock or this time. In fact Fin was breathlessly awaiting a different time altogether, the magical hour of midnight. For when the clock struck 12 Fin would officially be eighteen and he was going to celebrate it with a bang...literally.
His fingers itched as they ran over the handles to the pot lids he was holding. His faction mates would not appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night if they were in fact sleeping but they would forgive him...hopefully.
Seven minutes to midnight and Fin couldn't wait.
Sophie
Sophie sat silently, her black body coiled against one of the kitchen walls. Since getting here, she'd been using the kitchen as a place to sleep. People usually headed into here during the mornings, and she was a heavy sleeper. So, she was using them as alarm clocks to wake her up. Some might have assumed that she would be in the same room as Aubrey, but since she had arrived, Aubrey had been avoiding her like she was diseased. She'd decided not to push the matter and found her own place to go at night.
So here she was; She couldn't sleep. Sophie hadn't gotten a good night's rest since being trapped, and tonight was no different. Except that her keen senses had picked up somebody else entering the room. In the darkness it wasn't exactly easy to see, but the cobra's sense of 'smell' was excellent. With each flick of her tongue, she tasted the individual air molecules. The cobra also had another sense; it could detect minute changes in temperature. One of the other Animorphs was in here.
At first she hadn't planned on saying anything, thinking he'd eventually go away. But once he picked up the pot lids and started staring at the clock, Sophie decided to speak. <<Up a little late tonight?>>
Fin
The muscles in Fin's back and the way his grip tightened on the handles of the pot lids were the only signs that Sophie had frightened him with her unexpected arrival.
He looked around trying to find the snake since thoughtspeak didn't have a direction and spotted the glimmer of black as her body briefly fell into a patch of moonlight coming in through the kitchen window.
The window cast the picture of an angel with wings outstretched and hands reaching to help the sick. The stain glass creation would have been full of bright reds and yellows in the sunlight but the moon turned the colors to blood red and a light green. He felt like it should look sinister but it just looked beautiful. He wondered if the creators had thought about what it would look like in both sun and moon light and planned for both.
"Depends on where you come from," he said turning back to look at the clock. "I don't think twelve is all that late for someone of our generation, especially one who grew up so near a big city. Why are you up so late and why are you in the kitchen?"
Sophie
Sophie sat still as Fin tried to spot her. The snake's instincts were cold beneath her own thoughts, lazily evaluating the threat level that the big human posed. It was wary of his presence, but at the same time unafraid. Of course Sophie knew there was no danger, but the cobra's instincts were almost a constant presence in her mind now. It was something she had to get used to.
As Fin looked back to the clock, Sophie glanced over at the time as well. <<Right. It seems to be a late time for this faction. Nobody else is up, as far as I know.>> Or maybe there were a few Animorphs creeping around the hallway, and Sophie just didn't know it. She couldn't tell in here. It felt late, but then again time had a way of dragging on endlessly when you didn't want it to--like when you were waiting for the morning to come.
<<I've been using the kitchen as my impromptu bedroom.>> She said, her voice mild. <<As for being up, I was sleeping before. Ah, well. Trying to sleep. You know.>> Shifting her scaled head sideways, she tried to see exactly what he was holding. From what she could make out in the dim moonlight it was something flat, with handles. He looked about ready to bang them together. Ahh. <<What's with the pot lids?>>
Fin
He looked down at the potlids and then hid them behind his back and put on a very big, cheesy grin. "What potlids?" He asked doing his best to look innocent. But then he put them down on the counter and got up off the stool he was on. "There are to ring in my birthday in style and, not to offend you are anything, but it is a little weird to be speaking down to you this way. You know with you on the ground and all."
He walked over to the snake and crouched down so that he could see her better. He offered up his arm, "Do you want to sit on the counter or something so you're closer to head height?"
Sophie
If Sophie had eyebrows, both would have been lifted at the moment. Instead, all she could do was stare at Fin with unblinking eyes as he hid the pot lids and grinned. It was kind of amusing. <<Oh, you're having a birthday? Haven't heard people talking about a party. Or anything.>> The first thing that came to mind was the LA leader Matt's birthday party awhile back. Sophie had had as much fun as someone-who-didn't-like-parties could have at a party. The thought of another one, especially like this, was not very exciting.
At first, she wanted brush Fin's comment off with some kind of joke or something that made it sound like being on the floor didn't matter to her. Instead she said, <<No offense taken.>> Truthfully it did bother her a little that people were large colossi with bodies that went up far into the sky.
Fin moved over to her, bending down to offer his arm. The snake's mind had stirred again, unnerved by the closeness of a possible predator. Sophie lifted her head from her body, eyes glittering in the dim light. <<Hm.>> If there had been a way, she probably would have found her own path onto the counter long ago. However, the kitchen's counters might as be a range of unreachable mountains.
<<Yeah, sure. Couldn't hurt anything,>> She said. Yet she didn't move right away, eyeing Fin's arm. The snake wanted to hiss at Fin's closeness. Sophie just felt strange. Swallowing her discomfort she slid forward, her slender body curling around his arm.
Fin
Fin tried not to shudder when the smooth, dry scales slid over his arm. It would have been impolite and he wasn't really creeped out by snakes, it was just a little weird to feel one crawling on you. It was scenes like these that he'd stopped watching Fear Factor to avoid. And here he was in a kitchen in a Dallas church living his own version of it.
He held his arm out a bit from his body so that he didn't crowd the nothlit animorph and set her down on the kitchen table. It had to really suck to be stuck as a snake and he decided that he should bring it. He had a feeling no one had asked her about it but that is what humor was for, to help broach difficult subjects.
"So, it must suck to be stuck as a snake, uh?" Or he could be wrong and he could be about to get poison spit in his face.
Sophie
Sophie's whole body tightened around Fin's arm as he lifted her up. The snake wasn't particularly happy about floating in the air, arm or not. Sophie was relieved to slither off of him and onto the kitchen table. <<Thanks.>> Her body coiled up neatly in the center, tongue flicking out into the dark air.
<<By the way. We have a rat infestation. I saw a couple of them hopping back and forth about an hour ago on the floor.>> It had been her entertainment earlier on (where was TV when you needed it?); She had watched their dark forms darting back and forth, carrying blobs of food or small treasures. The snake's mind had been intrigued by the prey, but Sophie had pushed that instinct down. Way down.
Sophie looked out across the kitchen table. She hadn't seen the kitchen from up here yet, and was taking it in. The kitchen looked big from her viewpoint. The open door that led out into the rest of the Temple was a gaping square hole, that led into more darkness. As she was checking out the kitchen from the table, Fin asked the question.
Sophie was silent at first. Nobody had really brought it up, not even in Los Angeles. People were always full of pity and always looking at her with sad eyes, but too flaky to really talk to her. Aubrey had been the worst of it. For some reason Sophie felt like... less when Aubrey looked at her. It was awful. <<Yeah. It... does.>> Another flick of her tongue. The snake could taste the smell of rats again, scurrying somewhere far below. <<I just. You know, deal with it. Everything's so big now, and people...>> She paused. <<Just, everything's big. And you have this animal in the back of your head, all the time. You have that, when you morph of course. But it's constant now.>> Sophie was trying her hardest not to complain. This had been her decision, hadn't it?
Fin
Fin was only half listening. Well that wasn't true. He was perfectly capable of doing two things at once and even believed, like most of his generation, that if you weren't doing two things at once you were wasting time. And right now Fin was listening but he was also on hand and knees looking for rats.
Fin had been obsessed with getting a rat morph for the longest time now. He had a bat morph and a cat morph and all he needed was a rat morph and he'd have three morphs that rhymed. Three! He had to find one but he kept missing the little buggers. Other people got to see rats but it was like the rat community had filed some sort of restraining order against him. It almost hurt, especially because all he wanted was to join their ranks.
So when he responded to Sophie he did so from his position on the ground and talking to the floor as he put his cheek against the cold tiles and looked under a cabinet. "Rats you say? Rats?" He squinted his eyes against the dusty darkness under the cabinet and briefly considered going bat or cat just to try to get behind the thing but it was too late to do something that stupid. Maybe tomorrow.
He stood back up as Sophie began to answer his actual question. Even now he was looking down at her though the difference was not as great as it had been before. Still it was really weird to look at the snake and know that it was a human. Not as weird as it would have been before he'd been an animorph but it was still weird.
Back in Vancouver Mitch had always gone around in some morph or another because his human body was deaf and he didn't want to give up hearing. So Fin had sort of gotten used to it. But Mitch hadn't been trapped and Sophie was and for some reason it made a big difference. It was like looking at someone who was sleeping vs looking at someone who was dead.
He didn't care how many romantic idiots talked about how, "she looked like she was only sleeping," or "he looked like he would wake up any minute," death had a certain feel to it that was unmistakable. Maybe it was the lack of movement. Maybe people just didn't notice how much someone moved until they were still. The chest that didn't rise with each breath, the spot in the neck that didn't pulse with each heart beat, the eyelids that didn't flicker with each dream. Or maybe it was something else. A wrongness, and emptiness where something should be. Whatever it was there was a difference.
And seeing Sophie was a bit like that. Like seeing something irrevocable.
"How did you get trapped if you don't mind me asking?"
Sophie
Fin had disappeared when she was placed on the table. <<Yep. Probably a group of them running around in here. I think.>> Sophie said. She hadn't minded their company, she wasn't one of those people who got freaked out at snakes or rats. Although, when it came down to them eating the Animorph's food storage, it might become a problem. Fin popped back up from below the table, and Sophie turned her head in his direction.
"How did you get trapped if you don't mind me asking?"
It was all Aubrey's fault. She caused it all. It almost felt childish to want to spout the first thing that had come to mind. She didn't, though. Even if Aubrey wouldn't speak to her anymore or look at her, she still considered her a friend. However, the sentiment didn't feel mutual anymore.
<<Back in Los Angeles, we were trying to rescue a faction mate's parent, a controller. We ended up getting caught by a Sub-Visser and held as bait for the other Animorphs.>> She wasn't sure whether or not Aubrey had blabbed about the whole incident yet to the Dallas faction; It seemed like something she'd do. Or maybe that was just the pissed-off part of Sophie speaking.
Thinking about what happened, Sophie could remember all the fear, anger, the frustration that had gone through her. The panic when Aubrey had started demorphing. Then the final moments, when she had known the time-limit was up and she was stuck like this forever. Forever. She didn't even know how long snakes lived. Sophie let her head rest against her coiled up body, staring out into the open space of the dark kitchen. The moon was casting it soft glow through the stained glass window.
<<The other Animorphs came in too late to rescue, and I got trapped.>> Then after a pause she added, <<Would rather be trapped then have a slug shoved in my head.>>
Fin
"I would rather have neither at all," Fin said after a moment as if coming to this conclusion was especially difficult. He often seemed incapable of respecting somber moods when they showed up in conversations and this was one of those times. It was way too easy to start feeling sorry for Sophie and he had a feeling it was easy for her to feel sorry for herself too. He wasn't going to make the situation worse with pity. Better to laugh about it anyway since there wasn't much that could be done now.
"So now you live your life as a snake in a kitchen. Man, if I got turned into a snake I would ask for a palace. I mean, it is the ultimate guilt trip. 'Guys, I'm a snake, you should give me all your stuff, look how much I gave up for you.' You should try it. Make Ray give you the master bedroom. Make Drake give up his spin chairs, turn one into a throne and make someone push you around all the time. Anyone objects just say, 'dude, I'm a snake.' It is like better than being handicapped."
He sat down on a stool pulled up to the kitchen table and put his chin in his hands, his elbows on the table. "You could get away with so much stuff. Suji would walk into her bedroom and find you curled up in her covers. You can just be like, 'what, I needed the extra warmth, I'm cold blooded.' Or you could eat all of Lizzie's oreos that she doesn't let us eat and what could she say? 'Those were mine.'? 'I'm a snake Lizzie, I would need to catch my own food. You really can't share?' I don't know Sophie. This living on the floor thing. I think you aren't seeing the possibilities here."
Sophie
"I would rather have neither at all."
<<Well. Yeah. I don't think anybody would want either choice.>> Sophie said. At the time it had happened, there hadn't been any choice in Sophie's mind. It had been be infested or get trapped, and being infested had never been an option for her. Maybe for Aubrey it had, but Sophie? No. She hadn't even been sure that she would survive the incident. She had done it because she had believed it would protect the Los Angeles Animorphs. Leave it up to Aubrey to fuck that up.
Sophie was quiet during the little speech Fin launched into. There was no way for it to show on her expressionless face, but a part of her felt relieved at Fin's changing of the mood. There wasn't a real point on dwelling on what couldn't be changed--right?--and Sophie wasn't really interested in wallowing in self-pity all the time. Or having people pity her. It made her feel useless when people were constantly acting like that around her. It was her problem, she'd deal with it.
Fin pulled up a stool. Sophie's facial expressions couldn't change, but the snake's fixed, constant smirk was enough. She figured he was trying to be funny. Her thought-speak came out as a light chuckle. <<A palace, huh? Yes, I think you're onto something here. I could demand that people follow me, then rule with an iron fist. Or, well. Iron bite, seeing as how I have no fists. Sounds perfect.>> As she spoke, there was a bit of humor in the tone of her voice.
Sophie
"I'm glad you think so because I expect you to take me with you into glory. I mean, you'll be the queen of course, but I can be your prince or something. I will take things and just say that you need them. No more oreo hogging for Lizzie or extra shower time for Suji. Pay back shall be very satisfying. I'm glad we are in agreement," he said winking at her in an exaggerated fashion though he was finding it hard to play to an audience whose emotions he couldn't read.
At this point with anyone else he would have been spotting signs of them trying not to laugh whether because they "weren't the laughing type" (everyone was the laughing type to him) or because they didn't know he was joking and didn't want to hurt his feelings.
And Fin lived for that glint of weary amusement in the eyes of those around him. But Sophie's eyes were small, black and cold. The eyes of an animal and he couldn't read them. It disturbed him though he went to lengths to hide how much.
Thinking about her as an animal made him wonder what Sophie ate. Fin had wanted a snake a while back and he knew that some of them ate bugs and others ate mice. The really big ones ate people, at least they did in horror movies.
None of those options sounding appetizing so he decided to turn the convo away from food. "So why did you come here? I mean, were you just ordered or did you choose to come?"
Sophie
<<Heh, yeah. Just as long as you don't plan any coups.>> Sophie said with fake seriousness. She did find Fin's attempt at humor amusing, if even if his joking nagged at her a bit. Since being trapped, Sophie hadn't had the time to really think about her situation. Of course, mourning was easy and almost expected of her. Being serious and taking offense was easy too. Finding a bit of light in what had happened, however, was not something Sophie was an expert at. She was better at ignoring problems, and just dealing with things as they came. Yet it felt better than moping. Besides, Sophie was just glad to have somebody actually talking to her.
Her tongue flicked out, tasting the air. The rats had disappeared back into their hiding spots in the kitchen, but Sophie could still sense that they had been here. The reminder was bothering the snake's mind, since it was hungry. Sophie had yet to actually eat what her snake body would usually eat. Eating a live rat or mouse felt like stepping over some kind of invisible border. It was a step she didn't want to take.
She was still human, she could still get her food packaged or canned. Added to that, Sophie was vegetarian and had been one for many years. The thought of actually killing something and swallowing it whole made her sick. That didn't stop the snake's mind from feeling excitement over the possibility of eating, and it was affecting her own thoughts involuntarily. Despite herself, she kept imaging how it would feel to sink her fangs into the soft, warm flesh of a rat. To feel it twitching and kicking, then slowly dying. Then unhinging her jaw--
No, no, no. Think about something else. Fin's question helped distract her, and drag her back. The question was something Sophie had been asking herself since coming here. Before it had been easy, not something she had thought about much. Now that she realized it, maybe it was a mistake being here. Aubrey didn't want her here. The edge of humor was gone from her voice, now, and replaced by her usual mild tone.
<<I was offered to go stay in Union for awhile.>> He probably didn't know what Union was, and she realized this after a few seconds. <<Union is a free colony of humans in Los Angeles. But, I didn't really want to be taken out of the fight. Just because I'm stuck doesn't mean I'm useless. So they suggested heading to a climate that was more suited for this morph. I agreed. I thought it would be a good idea, since Aubrey was here. Thought she would... you know. Help me. Or something.>> Help? If she'd been human, Sophie would have shook her head. That's not what she meant, was it? <<Well, not help. Just make things easier.>>
Fin
Fin's eyes narrowed the slightest in pity but he quickly wiped even that hint of the expression off his face before it could be noticed. It was odd, he didn't pity Sophie because she was a nothlit now. That would have been easy and probably normal. But hearing that slight note of...maybe loneliness, maybe something else, did pull at Fin's emotional control center. Snake nothlit or not there was still a human girl buried somewhere in there and she missed her friend. He missed a lot of people himself.
"Yeah, I guess I know what you mean. I came here because Ray and I were friends back when we were faction mates in Vancouver. But since I got here," Fin shrugged. "Nothing really. I guess I thought, I thought things would be like they were before and that would be ok you know? I got into some bad stuff back in Vancouver and I just wanted to start over. I think a lot of the people who came to Dallas were looking for a fresh start one way or the other."
Fin's gaze had wandered over to the clock again and he now noticed it was 12:02. He was 18, but he didn't mention it to Sophie. It didn't seem like such a big deal now. He could celebrate tomorrow. He looked back down at the snake. "So who have you met since getting here? Like who do you hang with? How do you spend your days? What are the great secrets of Sophie-Kaa?" he asked adding the snake's name from Jungle Book onto her name though after he said it he realized it sounded almost Jamaican, like jah or something. Either way it sounded cool to him, a guy whose thoughts were always half in Disney songs.
Sophie
Sophie listened to Fin, her eyes naturally impassive. It seemed like a few of the people around the Dallas faction knew each other from previous factions, so she wasn't surprised that Fin had known Ray before. <<I think you're right. You know. I guess a new faction is the best place to just forget what's happened elsewhere.>> Or forget someone. <<I know I wasn't happy back in Los Angeles. Too much.. stuff there.>>
It almost felt unfair. But that was a silly thought. Sophie hadn't been in the fight long enough to really do any damage, under Matt's leadership. She had joined the Animorphs--with the very real intention of fighting--and after a couple outings had gotten trapped. Even then, it hadn't really felt like she had joined a band of freedom fighters. More like a loosely bound group of people-who-could-morph, stumbling in and out of messes. Sophie hadn't realized how much of an uphill battle this was before. The Yeerks were not only invading the human race--they practically were the human race now. And what could Sophie do? Blind someone? I couldn't even do that to the Sub-Visser.
She chuckled a little at Fin's words. <<Meet people? Hm. Not many people, I guess. Met Ray. And I met a few people on my way up here.>> Sophie was used to being honest, and she wasn't going to pretend that she'd been talking to people here. <<And I just spend my days trying to figure out how to do things around here. Like sleep or find entertaining stuff. I'd go on patrol if I could. But this place has some interesting places to explore, if you're small enough.>> She lifted her head, eyes resting on Fin. Her expression was the same, fixed.
<<Although, I've got some rat buddies. Well, not as much buddies. They kind of avoid me. But there's this black rat, he's got a little white mark under his belly. I call him Jack. He's got a friend called Paris, plain gray rat. The two of them have been stealing little things from people's rooms and hiding them behind the fridge for a couple days. Saw them dragging a twinkie that was still in the package one day.>>
Fin
Fin looked shocked as Sophie began to talk about her rat friends. After a couple of minutes of shocked silence he finally burst out, "those rat bastards. Think they can steal my twinkies with impunity do they. I'll show them! We'll see how Jack likes kitty Fin!" Fin's voice was full of self righteous anger.
He looked down at Sophie, "I hope I can count on your support in this endeavor. This transgression of the rat people's against our sovereignty and self determination, including our right to be junk food eaters, can not go unpunished. If it does the other kingdoms shall soon hear of it and none shall respect us. We will be walked all over in our conference talks with the cockroach king next month. And the flies are sure to get all uppity now."
Sophie
For a moment Fin seemed like he was truly angry, and she just stared at him silently. Then he started talking about 'rat peoples' and kingdoms. Sophie would have smirked, if she could. <<Oh. But... they're my friends. My rat buddies.>> She turned her gaze away from him, looking to where the table ended. The scrabbling rat feet below had stopped awhile back, which probably meant they were hiding out in their holes. Or that they were off in somebody's room raiding. <<Well. Actually. They're stealing twinkies. I don't know if that's a forgivable offense.>>
Sophie paused, as if she was considering what he said. <<Hm. Wouldn't want to have that happen. I don't know. Last I knew, they had a few legions of rat minions with them. It might be a hard undertaking. Perhaps an alliance would be better. They stop stealing and we... uh. No, wait. All out war is better. I'm with you.>>
Fin
Fin nodded curtly. "Glad to have you with me Sophie-Kaa. Always need good comrades in a war." The sentence could apply to the joke or to real life and he meant it both ways. "Besides, I think you need to get out more. Since we have to put our royalty plan into effect we can do both at once. The rat kingdom shall rue the day it took us on."
At this point he would have held out his hand to shake on it but he couldn't exactly do that. There was one thing he could do though.
He held out his hand but stopped before it touched her scales. "May I?" he asked, "I figure if I'm going to help with the rat thieves I'll need a morph that can get to them. My cat can't go places you can." Normally he didn't ask when he acquired his faction mate's DNA. He figured being able to impersonate his faction mates might come in handy some day and found ways to quietly...well he didn't like to think of it as stealing since they didn't lose anything in the process.
He had almost all of his faction mates back in Vancouver including Matthias (that had been awkward) and since coming here he'd gotten a hold of Suji, Aubrey, Drake, Andre and Ray though he didn't have Lizzie yet. But for some reason he felt like he should ask this time.
Sophie
<<Heh. I need to get out more, do I.>> Sophie said, her tone tinged with a little dry humor. <<Ahh yeah. The rats won't know what's coming.>> For good reasons she hadn't tried chasing after them before. She knew from watching them that even if they were fat, they were good at jumping high and getting away. And even--believe it or not--squeezing through very small spaces. It was kind of amazing to watch a rat fit underneath the doorway when it was closed.
Looking up, she realized Fin was holding his hand out. The snake's instincts were under control--there wasn't any danger of him being bitten--but she still felt a small flare of wariness from the snake's mind. She was also a little surprised, but there was no way for him to tell. <<Oh, uhm. Sure. Why not.>>
Fin
Fin reached out and placed his fingers along her dry scales. He didn't need to close his eyes or concentrate especially hard, if he had he probably would have been caught at it by now.
He felt the familiar tingling feeling as if water was running down his skin except all over as he absorbed the snake's dna. When he was done he took his hand away and looked down at Sophie. "Sooooooo," he said with mock awkwardness. "What do you want to do now?"
He looked shy and twirled a piece of his hair around one finger. It was a bit to short to work properly but it looked good enough because his hair was naturally curly anyway. "This whole acquiring you thing, it feels like a big step in our relationship. Do you want to talk about it? What does this mean?"
Sophie
Fin's hand touched to her body, and she began feeling drowsy. She assumed she was getting tired for some reason--what time was it anyways? When his hand disappeared, she turned her head towards the clock. It was past midnight. Already?
<<Ah. Happy birthday, by the way.>> The drowsiness seemed to vanish slowly, and she realized it might have been from the acquiring. This alien technology was weird, and it was kind of scary that they put so much blind trust in something they knew very little about.
Sophie glanced back up to him, not exactly sure what to say to him. <<Oh. Hah. Umm. No clue. I suppose you could try the morph out. I could give you a few tips and everything. This snake is the kind of snake that has venom, except you can actually shoot it out into people's face.>>
Fin
Fin yawned. As he did he wondered if Monkey-See, Monkey-Do still held true when you were living inside the body of a snake since yawning was normally really infectious. "While I would love to hang with you all night Sophie-Kaa," he said, the nickname had a nice ring to his own ears so it was now hers forever as far as Fin was concerned, "I'm a bit beat. Perhaps tomorrow and thank you for the birthday wishes."
He got up to head back to his room and looked back at the spot where he had seen Sophie when he'd first come in. "Um, listen, do you want to come? I mean, you don't have to sleep in the kitchen. I know snake's get cold easily. I have extra blankets and all that," he said standing in the doorway that led to the hall looking at the moonlight glint of the black scales. "I mean a separate thing, like I would set up a separate thing," he continued quickly.
It was odd, even though she was a snake he still felt like he had to make clear what he was offering as if he was talking to any other young woman his age. Or anyone else his age for that matter since you never knew how an offer might be received.
Sophie
<<You're welcome.>> The drowsiness from the acquiring had disappeared. It was replaced by the familiar restlessness that had been plaguing Sophie since being trapped. She was probably good to stay up for another few hours because of it. Of course Sophie was always fine by herself, but it didn't stop her from feeling a little disappointed that he was too sleepy to stay. Fin leaving meant that Sophie would be left alone again, watching the rats scamper across the kitchen floor until the morning sun hit the windows.
As Fin stood to leave, Sophie rested her scaled head against the coiled muscle of her body. She was getting ready to zone out like she had been doing before. Then he spoke, asking if she wanted her come with. She was glad that the snake's face was able to hide emotions, as she was a little taken aback. It was a kind offer, especially since Sophie had been feeling alienated since getting here.
After a bit of thought she said, <<Really?>> It sounded much nicer than sitting in the cold kitchen waiting for sleep to find her. Her black eyes glanced across the table, into the empty space behind Fin leading into the hallway. Was it pathetic that someone she had just met recently was being more considerate to her than her best friend of many years? <<Alright, sure. Although I'll probably make Jack and Paris sad. But oh well, huh?>>
Fin
Fin smiled. Now that his offer was accepted he was back on familiar ground. "Aww, forget about Jack and Paris. Between you and me those guys are rats anyway," he said in a stage whisper that carried easily to the kitchen counter. He walked back over the counter and held out his arm for Sophie to curl around again. For some reason it seemed more courteous than picking her up. He felt like doing so would have crossed a line. When someone needed to be picked up that said something about their state of mind.
As she curled around his arm he again had the strong desire to shiver and shake her off. But it was more of an instinctual reaction to a snake than to Sophie herself and he guessed it would probably pass in time. "You know Sophie, I'm glad your here. This place was kind of boring before. But now I have someone who will have to listen to my jokes. Everyone else could just walk away," he said letting her know what she was in for.
Sophie
There was a smirk in her small dark eyes; the expression couldn't actually reach her lips. <<Not sure how bad of a thing that is to them. Get to be lazy. Run around. Steal people's stuff. If anything's ever missing, you'll know who has it.>> She watched Fin walk over to her, offering his arm.
She wasn't sure that she could get used to riding around on somebody's arm. It was like admitting she couldn't do everything for herself anymore. That was hard enough to do with Aubrey, who had pretty much rejected her presence for whatever reason. Along with that, floating above the air was dizzying and upset the snake in the back of her mind. So, of course it made her feel a little uneasy. But it was be by herself or take what help she could get. She curled around Fin's arm, smiling inwardly at his last comment.
<<Oh boy.>>
