Post by Admin on Aug 9, 2009 18:09:26 GMT -5
Drake:
Drake turned off the kitchen faucet, then lifted the large pan of water out of the sink and set it on the floor. He was pretty sure that the his makeshift water dish was normally used for cooking turkeys or something, but it had a different use today. It was going to be used for a fish instead of a bird. A koi fish to be exact.
Recently Drake had been starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by how complex his life had become. For this reason, he tried to think of a way to simplify it. He figured that one of the most basic thing that an animorph did was to morph, so that is where he decided to start.
He noticed that quite a few of his faction members 'practiced' their morphs from time to time, but Drake had never indulged in that activity before. He only ever morphed when he had some sort of reason to. At least, that was true before right now.
Drake stood barefoot in the cool water and concentrated on the colorful fish. He decided to start with the animal that he morphed least often because he figured it would be the one he needed the most practice with. As he shrank and changed color next to all of the kitchen appliances, he kept having visions of his faction mates sticking him on the stove for supper. He laughed inwardly.
Suji:
Suji stretched as she walked into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She'd crashed something fierce after ingesting a great deal of sugar yesterday, and her stomach wasn't happy with her. She figured that a warm glass of water would probably go down well.
She noticed a pan on the floor, and frowned for a moment. Who had left that there? What had they needed it for anyway? With a sigh she walked over to it, and picked it up. It was somewhat heavy--filled with water. She'd managed to half lift the pot before she saw the colorful fish in it. Letting out a sharp noise of surprise, she almost lost her grip on the thing--water slopped up over the side, and she quickly struggled to right it. Thankfully the koi fish didn't slip out too.
Heart racing, Suji carefully set the pot down on the counter. If Drake--she had a certain memory of that koi morph that wasn't altogether pleasant--wanted to demorph, the counter would support his weight (she wasn't sure their rickety table would). And it would prevent someone stepping in the pot by accident, or knocking it over like she almost had.
Looking around for some rags, Suji went to wipe the water up.
Drake:
<<Whoa!>> was all Drake could manage to say as he got sloshed about. The fish's instincts got all riled up because of it. It likes calm waters, not turbulent sloshy seas. <<Who is that?>> Drake was having trouble seeing or hearing anything outside of hiss little pool.
Drake was not sure if he should demorph since he did not know where he had been moved to, but he figured he would not be anywhere deadly so he went for it. As his body rose up out of the water, he lost his balance. He toppled into the sing, halfway demorphed, causing even more of the water from the pan to splash all over the place as it crashed to the floor. When he finished changing he found out that he had effectively gotten himself stuck in the sink. "Um. A little help?"
Suji:
Suji didn't know if she should respond--didn't know if the fish would be able to hear her and recognize her, and she didn't have any brilliant ideas. She had just finished wiping up the water on the floor when she heard a crash--and then she was promplty soaked as the pan hit the floor and sent what felt like a small tidal wave of water splashing up at her. She stood there, soaking wet towel in one hand, jaw ajar in surprise. Then she groaned. She was going to need more towels.
"Sorry," she said, and offered him both her hands, tossing the useless rag on the counter. "I thought that you'd be more out of the way on the counter..." Well, at least they still had a table. The sight of a fish turning into a boy in the sink was something she could have spent a lifetime never experiencing, however.
Aubrey:
Lately, there hadn't been much to do around the Temple. Aubrey was the high-energy type, and sitting around doing nothing bothered her to no end. Instead of working on her drawing this afternoon, she'd decided to take a jog around the outside of the Temple in her wetsuit.
After about an hour or so of running, Aubrey made her way inside the Temple doors, humming to herself. She was heading towards the kitchen to grab some water to drink, and maybe take a short break. As it happened, there was already water in the kitchen--except it was on the floor. Instead of noticing this, she noticed Suji and Drake. Why was he in the sink?
"Hey guys--Ahh!" Some of the water had seeped quickly across the floor from the pan, and one of Aubrey's bare feet slid underneath her body. Flailing her arms, she fell backwards and landed hard on her butt, letting out a squeak of pain. "Owwwwwww!"
Drake:
Just as Drake was managing to wiggle free, he heard someone else go down. After he landed on his feet, steadying himself against the counter, he saw Aubrey on the floor. "I guess fish are not meant to swim in kitchens," he said in defeat.
He held out his hand to help Aubrey up since it was at least indirectly his fault that she had fallen. "How come you guys never seem to have so much trouble when you practice your morphs? Maybe I am just not meant to practice or something." He did not really believe that, but it fit the situation.
Suji:
"I haven't got any fish morphs, so that helps," Suji said after helping to pull Drake free. He offered a hand to Aubrey, and Suji picked up the (now much lighter) pan and put it in the sink. She began rummaging in one of the cabinets, where the dish towels were stowed away. After pulling them out, she tossing one each to Drake and Aubrey, and began soaping up some of the water on the floor.
"How did you get in the pot, anyway?" She asked, doing her best to slosh all the water into one area so she could soak it up better.
Aubrey:
Aubrey groaned a little, her eyes squeezed shut as the pain of falling slowly ebbed away. "Ah, ya." As Drake walked over, Aubrey rubbed her ankle. The bony part of it had been hit against the floor when she fell. She looked up at Drake as he offered his hand, and pulled herself up with his help. "Thanks, Drake."
She was pulling her hair back from her face with one hand when he mentioned practicing morphs. Over in Los Angeles, she'd never practiced morphing. Most of her time had been spent patrolling, or finding something to do between missions. When she had come to Dallas, she'd carried over the habit of not doing it. "Um, practice? Oh I, uh, I don't really have much trouble. Practicing. I don't know." She paused, then admitted, "I don't really practice morphing. Are we supposed to?"
Suji tossed her a towel, and she caught it. As Suji asked her question, Aubrey knelt down and began mopping up the water on the floor.
Drake:
"I do not think we are supposed to practice morphing. At least not outside of group training. But still, I guess it is a good idea in theory." Drake began mopping up the floor with his towel too.
"And I think I ended up in the pot the first time around just by the luck of the morph. I was pretty small by the time my feet turned into a fish fin, so I managed to stay inside. Oh, and I was standing in it as I morphed, if that is what you were asking." This floor-drying seemed like it would take all day. Every couple seconds he had to ring out his towel into the pot.
"So how about it? Do you guys want to practice morphing with me? Maybe we can find a way to make it more exciting at the same time." Drake thought for a moment in order to come up with an idea. "Maybe we could morph while holding our breath underwater. Or me and Aubrey could try to morph while Suji chases us as a crocodile. That is all I got so far"
Suji:
Suji blinked. It must have taken a good deal of foresight to fill of bucket of water to practice morphing a fish. But if that was the case, why leave the bucket in the middle of the floor?
Apparently she was the only one among them that practiced morphing. She didn't think it was wrong that they didn't practice, and she also didn't think it was surprising. Neither of them were really soldier types, at least as far as she'd seen. They dealt with the war in doses, and seemed ready to leave it at the door. Nothing condemnable about that.
Drake was offering ideas about practicing morphing, and Suji smirked, until he mentioned the crocodile bit. Immediately her body stiffened, though she resisted the urge to go stock still--she kept wiping. "I'll practice with you two, but I'm not doing that. Chasing you as a crocodile." She wrung out her towel, jaw set, though she tried to hide just how deep of a chord it had struck. She remembered killing that baby boar in an instant, uncontrollable. She also remembered having to control those jaws to defend against Hork Bajir.
"That morph..." She licked her lips, trying to find the right words. "You don't point a loaded gun at anyone you don't plan to shoot," she said lamely, shoulders slumping. Not that she hadn't done that before--Luce was in her mind now--but then the stakes had been different, had been incredibly high. That was nothing she would have done for fun, or for any kind of practice. "...sorry.."
Aubrey:
"Ooh, alright." The sort-of guilty look on her face had disappeared. "Yeah, you're probably right." As she spoke, she twisted the towel and floor-water dribbled down her hands into the pot. Then she flopped in back onto the floor, mopping up more of the water. She knew other people practiced sometimes, she just never thought to do it herself.
Wringing out the towel again, Aubrey glanced up at Drake. "Sure, I'm up for practicing, I guess." She had noticed Suji's stiffening at Drake's suggestion. Even so, being chased by a crocodile--Suji or not--didn't seem like a pleasant experience. Sweeping the towel across the floor, she looked down again. "I've got a bird, monkey, sea lion, and dog morph, if that is any help for ideas. And the moth."
Drake:
Drake had no idea that Suji felt so strongly about her crocodile morph. He knew it was viscous but... If she was not comfortable with that morph, then there was no way he would be comfortable being chased by it. There were bound to be other possibilities anyway.
As Drake listened to Aubrey tell them her morphs, he was thinking of some new options. By the time they were done cleaning the floor he had thought of several. "Okay, how about these ideas. One. We can race each other around the Temple while we morph and the first one to reach the finish line in morph wins. Two. We practice morphing while climbing. Or at least while on a ladder or tree or something. Three. The breath holding thing. But we would probably have to find a lake for that one. And four. We try to morph while distracted. I am not sure exactly how we would distract each other yet though. Like any of those options?"
Suji:
No one pressed her about the crocodile, and Suji felt herself slowly relax. They were finally done with the floor at least. "Let's not do bugs again," Suji hastened to say after Aubrey mentioned her moth. "I think we got enough practice last time."
Drake started listing a few ideas, and Suji rolled them around in her mind. "I like the ideas of practicing morphing while we're moving, especially running--seems really applicable. We might have to go somewhere a good distance from the city though--unless you wanna try that in the hallway around here, but that isn't much space. I don't know enough about geography here to know where a lake would be, though."
Aubrey:
Wringing out the last of the water in the pot, Aubrey folded up the towel. "Are there even any lakes around here?" As far as Texas geography went, Aubrey had no clue. All she knew was dusty, hot, and desert. Maybe lake fit in there, somewhere. It was nothing like L.A.--which, to some degree, bothered her. But she had known that when she had asked to go.
"Yeah, no bugs. But I think the racing idea is pretty good idea." She'd never been graceful with the whole walk-as-you-morph thing, and practicing might just help that. Aubrey wiped her hands together. "Oh! And for the 'morphing while distracted' one. What if we did a sort of wrestling thing while one person morphs? Two people try to bring one person to the ground as the person is trying to morph and try to keep upright. Or maybe they try not be pinned down."
Drake:
"I think I have seen a couple lakes around here. Other than the yeerk pool, that is. We definitely want to stay away from that one." Drake was glad that they were both willing to help him practice. I actually sounded like it might be fun. Although he did not really understand why they seemed to not want to morph bugs again. It was not like the events in the vent would track them down or anything.
"That wrestling idea sounds pretty interesting. I think we could start with that since we would not need to go anywhere to do it. We could clear out an area in the fellowship hall, I suppose. Although I am up for any of those ideas." Drake gave them a questioning look, ready to follow anyone who took charge.
Suji:
"We could set down mats or something in the Fellowship Hall--" Then Suji smirked and cut herself off. "Well I guess we don't really need mats. Morphing heals bruises and all. And maybe it's more distracting if the falls aren't cushioned." Suji tossed her soaked rag in the pan which was now sitting on the counter. At least the floor was cleaner.
"You two wanna grab anyone else for this? Or figure that our makeshift wrestling will attract a crowd all on its own?" Suji wasn't overly confident in her ability to tackle well, but that's what practice was for.
Aubrey:
"Too right." Aubrey smiled a little at Drake. "I've never even seen one before... a Yeerk pool. Only the Kandrona thing in some room. That's cool that there's lakes around here, though." Aubrey hadn't spent a ton of time flying around Dallas yet, but was happy to hear the city had some water lying around. She'd grown up around beaches and water all her life, and being disconnected from it felt odd to her.
"Hmm, anyone else? I don't know. I suppose if somebody hears us and wants to join in." The Temple was quiet today, and Aubrey wasn't sure who was around even. Getting up, she threw the towel where Suji had and glanced to the two of them.
"Cool, then. Ready to head into the Fellowship Hall?" Even if she had been jogging around the outside for the last hour, Aubrey still had a lot of pent-up energy to get rid of. Back in Australia, she and her brother's friends had always rough-housed and fought with each other, so wrestling-while-morphing sounded like some fun.
Drake:
Letting people just show up sounded like a good plan to Drake. It was less work for them. Once he got into the fellowship hall, he cleared a nice open space to maneuver in. Once everything got situated, they could begin.
"So, who is first? I suppose we should not morph anything too small though. Otherwise it would be too easy to tackle the person. Not that it would really be too hard no mater what we morph seeing as how it is hard to do much of anything mid-morph. I will morph my secretary bird on my turn, I think. Just a heads up."
Suji:
Suji considered her morphs. "I'll do my jackrabbit on my turn. I figure if I need to get out of a squeeze, it's one of the best for putting distance between me and a bad situation." She shifted her weight, considering what this was going to end up looking like. Either it'd be a laughable failure, or they might get some good training out of it. Too early to tell.
"Does anyone want to go first?" Though she didn't mind taking charge in most situations, Suji wasn't too ready to put herself on the line. Better to watch and gauge the maneuvers that worked and didn't work for her teammates first.
Aubrey:
Aubrey glanced from Drake to Suji. They didn't seem ready to jump in and do it, and Aubrey didn't mind either way. "I'll do it first then, I s'pose. Do you guys want to do it until I get pinned for a certain amount of time or if I'm knocked over?" She'd probably fail on the first try--she couldn't really even walk and morph at the same time--but she didn't mind. It'd be fun to try out.
Walking into the middle of the Fellowship Hall, she started stretching her limbs. Then she bent her knees, looking to them both. "You guys ready?" Without waiting for an answer, she began concentrating on her morph. Thick black and white fur spread across her body, and her face began melting into a snout. At the same time, her bones and organs began shifting, plume tail sprouting out of her spine. She was morphing into her Alaskan Malamute, ninety pounds of a dog used to pulling sleds and heavy loads.
Drake:
"I suppose you should just keep trying to get away until you are fully morphed. The object of this is to distract you, right? So you should still be distracted as long as you are still trying to get away." Drake gave a questioning look since he was just making up what he was saying as he spoke.
It took Drake's brain a moment to register the fact that Aubrey had already started morphing. "Oh, we are starting?" Drake held up his hands as if he was going to grab for her at any moment. Suddenly he wondered, what is the right way to try and tackle a girl? Drake was not sure if it really mattered, but still, he had no idea what the answer was.
Suji:
"Yeah, what Drake said. Just go until your done I guess. Um--do you guys think we need a safeword? I guess 'stop' is okay, this is only pra-" Aubrey was suddenly looking a bit more werewolf-ish, and Suji shut her mouth. Drake seemed to be contemplating just what he'd gotten himself into, and Suji's first thought was Go for her knees, they're going to be unstable enough when they bend backwards.
But she didn't. It felt... underhanded. Of course pulling punches might not represent ideal training techniques, but this was the first round. So instead, she spread out from Drake and went to tackle Aubrey, mid-region. She was intentionally a bit slower than she could have been, though not that much--she tried to tackle from Aubrey's side.
Aubrey:
Aubrey tried responding to Drake, but her mouth was already in the midst of changing and it came out as "Yemmf." She wasn't exactly sure how this was going to turn out, since there were obvious times during morphing where she'd be pretty vulnerable to be tackled or wrestled down. Warily, she watched Drake holding up his hands like he was going to attack her. <<'Stop' is good.>> Her ears started crawling up the sides of her head, becoming more pointed and dog-like.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Suji move to tackle her. At the same time, her feet and hands began melting into dog paws. She reeled sideways to try and avoid Suji's tackle, but still managed to get caught in part of it. Suji's weight sent her off balance, and she went stumbling and falling backwards to try to get away from her.
Her morphing had stopped briefly--it was hard concentrating on it while trying to stay upright. With her legs getting tangled underfoot, she was about ready to run into Drake if he didn't move.
Drake:
Drake watched and tried to stay out of the way as Suji tried to tackle Aubrey. He thought tackling might have been a little extreme since they were just trying to distract her, but he had to admit that it seemed to be effective. Besides, something like grabbing her arm probably would not have done the trick. Drake changed his tactics. He would try to tackle her too.
At least that was his plan until Aubrey looked like she was going to run into him. He did not move out of the way. He opened up his arms and wrapped her werewolf-like body into a bear hug. Unfortunately her momentum caused Drake to lose balance and fall backwards. He landed hard, causing him to lose his grip on the target.
Suji:
Aubrey had managed to avoid the majority of Suji's tackle, and Suji found herself working to maintain her footing. Her instinct was to reach out to Aubrey as she was stumbling backwards, but she curbed the desire--it wouldn't be very good training if they were busy helping each other up all the time.
Suji watched as the blonde girl bowled into Drake and they fell into a mass of tangled limbs. It looked pretty painful. Aubrey seemed to be somewhere around the halfway point (hard to tell, really), so Suji went for a target that she figured would be less powerful on a dog than a human--the back legs. Suji dove, trying to hug Aubrey's hind legs to her chest; close enough that she absorb any kicks with her body so as not to take the full brunt.
Aubrey:
Aubrey hadn't realized Drake was behind her into she crashed into him. He wrapped her arms around her and as he lost balanced, pulled her down with him. <<Oomph!>> The breath was knocked from her as they landed hard, and her tail was crushed painfully between them. Her mouth, fully dog now, let out a short yelp. Before she could wiggle away from Drake's loosening grip, Suji had pitched forward and trapped Aubrey's legs against her chest. Drake's body was also still beneath her own, and he'd feel that she was getting heavier by the second.
Need to concentrate, come on come on. Suji's grip was strong around Aubrey's legs, and squirming or kicking didn't seem to help her get free at all. As she tried to continue her morphing, the bones in her back legs began to warp backwards into dog legs. It wasn't fast, and Aubrey twisted her upper body to try and pull her way out of Suji's grip. Her hands, now dog paws, were scratching and slipping against the Temple's floors.
Drake:
Drake waited for a moment for Aubrey to move. He expected her to roll off of him and try to get away, but apparently Suji had other plans. Now he was stuck underneath a heavy flailing weredog without much room to move.
Drake did not much like his current situation, so he gave Aubrey a shove. Not a violent shove, but a hard shove just the same. He figured it would be just as effective for distraction as grabbing would be, plus then he would be able to move around and reposition himself once again. Drake had to admit that he was not trying his hardest to catch Aubrey, (certainly not as hard as Suji) but he was not much of a physical sports kind of guy either, and this was not exactly a situation where trying your hardest really mattered.
Aubrey:
As more muscle grew beneath her fur, Aubrey was feeling more and more tired. The morphing was wearing her out, and concentrating at the same time as escaping was hard. Especially considering that Aubrey hadn't had much experience doing this type of stuff. She was beginning to consider stopping. As she grew, her kicking and wiggling was gaining her only small bits of ground on Suji. At the same time, she could feel the dog's mind slowly bubbling up beneath her own.
Then Drake shoved her. Distracted, Aubrey had lost control for a moment. The dog didn't like the situation it was in at all. The only thing it could think of doing was to bite--and the nearest thing to bite was Drake. Without thinking, the half-dog twisted around sharply and tried to sink her canines into Drake. The bite was quick and Aubrey would let go immediately, rolling off of Drake. At the same time she realized what she'd just done. <<Oh god--sorry Drake!>>
Suji:
It was harder to hold on to the dog legs than the human ones--less mass to grip to her chest. Suji felt her grasp slipping, though she still managed to keep a fair hold. Aubrey's bushy tail was slapping her in the face every time she wriggled, and Suji was preparing to let go. She was nearly finished with the morph, if she wasn't already finished.
Suji loosened her grip in time to see Aubrey snap and bite Drake. Suji grimaced--that certainly wouldn't tickle, and she was somewhat glad she'd been further away from Aubrey's teeth. Blood was coming from the wound, though Suji couldn't tell exactly where Aubrey's teeth had punctured--they were all in a tangled mess.
Doing her best to regain composure, Suji stood, side stepping the dog.
Aubrey:
<<Okay, okay.>> Aubrey felt Suji's grip loosen and disappear as the morph finished. Immediately she bounced off the ground and away from Drake, tongue lolling out of her mouth. She glanced to the two of them with bright brown eyes, furry ears perked forward. It looked like she had bitten Drake hard enough to make him bleed, which was making her feel really bad. Her sensitive nose picked up the scent of the blood, intriguing the dog's mind.
<<I'm sorry again, Drake. Got caught up in the moment.>> Aubrey said, apologetic. She didn't know if he would be mad about it or not. <<I think I'm definitely done.>> Her fluffy tail swished against the ground as she started concentrating on her human form.
Drake:
When Drake got bit, he immediately withdrew from the brunt of 'fight' and held his hand. Aubrey's quick apology told him that she had not meant to do it, but that still did not stop it from hurting. Drake winced as blood started to flow from the wound.
"You sure got me good," Drake said between clenched teeth, trying not to let his pain show. He held up his arm and tried to keep it at an angle where the blood would not drip to the floor. Then he concentrated on his secretary bird morph in an effort to heal the wound. Drake was not exactly mad, but you could not really be happy with someone who just bit you. Drake kept further comments to himself.
Aubrey:
Aubrey's ears began melting, losing hair as it shrank. At the same time her muzzle started squishing back, mouth forming back into full human lips. Bones and organs began grinding and shifting inside her, and she winced at the sound. Then, after a few more minutes, she was fully human. Immediately she sat down, rubbing her eyes. "Aghh. Yeah, I'm sorry, Drake, again."
All her muscles felt burnt out. Glancing up, she noticed Drake beginning to morph into his secretary bird. Apparently he was going next. After a few more seconds of resting Aubrey pushed herself off the ground with a small huff. Running her fingers through her thick hair, she pulled it back from her face. She needed to catch her breath, so she wasn't ready to go tackling just yet.
Suji:
Drake was going next, presumably to heal his hand. His bird morph--the funny looking bird that he'd used back in Vegas. Suji wasn't sure how to go about this. A person turning into a dog was fairly easy to handle, especially a dog the size of an Alaskan Malamute. Dogs like that could take being tackled and rough-housed. Could a bird?
She was afraid that being too rough would result in a broken wing (or worse). Birds were generally more delicate.
He's still mostly human, she reminded herself, and moved to try to restrain his arm (the one with the non-injured hand) behind his back. If she succeeded he was going to have to get away in order to morph properly, once that arm started to turn into a wing.
Drake:
Drake was morphing merely to heal the wound Aubrey had caused. So obviously he was taken by surprise when his arm was suddenly twisted behind his back. "What the- " Drake turned his neck to look at Suji just as he realized what was going on. They thought he was taking his turn.
Well, at the very least, Suji had succeeded in distracting him, causing his morphing to stop. "Oh, I see how it is. Picking on the guy doing first aid. I guess I better warn you then that I will not go easy on you two just because you are girls."
Drake refocused on his secretary bird form and immediately the changes resumed. Feathers covered his skin, taking care of his injury, and hopefully they would help get his arm free too. Drake did not know how to get out of a hold like that so he decided to try something unexpected. He sat down, letting gravity help him out.
Aubrey:
Aubrey was trying to figure out a way to distract him, especially seeing as how he was going bird. After a moment's hesitation, she looked like she was about to something--when he spoke. He had seemed surprised by Suji. Oh. She hadn't realized he was just healing the wound. A little bit of guilt bubbled back up, but it didn't linger.
A smile twitched on Aubrey's lips at what he said. "Right-o, Drake." As she said this, Drake dropped down to the ground. Unsure what exactly to do, Aubrey moved forward to grab his legs.
Suji:
Suji laughed a little, though now she felt sort of embarassed. Just because he was morphing to heal the wound hadn't meant that he was taking his turn, but she'd assumed that would be most efficient, and therefore though Drake would come to the same conclusion.
"I thought-" She started, after beginning to loosen her grip, when Drake dropped to the ground. Suji fell awkwardly to the side, spending more time bracing herself for the fall than worrying about distracting Drake for the moment. Aubrey went for his legs though; it looked like what she'd tried to do when it was Aubrey's turn. Suji pushed herself forward and tried to regain a hold on Drake, though grabbing feathers wasn't going to be as easy as grabbing fur had been.
Drake:
Drake felt a small surge of victory as his sitting plan worked. It did not last, however, as Aubrey grabbed his legs. He tried kick and squirm his legs free, but stopped trying once his knees changed direction. Suddenly sitting felt very awkward. A new tactic was needed.
Suddenly Suji was trying to get a hold on him. He could not let that happen if he could avoid it. He tried rolling under the tables in the room, although it was difficult in his changing body and with Aubrey holding onto his legs. But his legs were thinning too, making them harder (or easier?) to hold.
Aubrey:
Drake's kicking and squirming was making it hard for Aubrey to keep a hold of his legs. He managed to land a kick at her gut, and she let out a sharp breath of air. Once his knees started changing directions, Aubrey started squeezing her hands around his legs. They were getting smaller and harder to keep a hold of.
His rolling under the table tactic seemed to work, and his thinning legs slipped out of Aubrey's grasp. "Ah!" Using her elbows, she tried to wiggle after him, her belly scraping against the Temple's floors.
Drake:
Drake escaped under the tables! But that victory was short-lived. The tables were pushed against the wall, so his other escape was blocked. He would either have to face the girls again or try to escape out the side, between the legs. Now that his torso had shrunk and his arms had become more wing-like, he would not really be able to use his rolling tactic effectively again.
<<Not good,>> Drake commented as he tried to squeeze between some table legs. He got somewhat stuck. He was still too bulky to fit easily through the opening, and he was half-morphed so any time of movement was awkward at best. Drake tried to squirm his way through, knowing he was a sitting duck.
Suji:
Suji's head smacked into the edge of the table as Drake scurried under and she tried to follow before looking. For a moment she saw stars, blinking and wincing. By the time her vision cleared Aubrey was half-under the table, and Suji doubted she'd fit too. At least, she wouldn't fit in any effective way, that was sure.
So she backed off, standing up as she did, waiting for Drake to come out of the other side. Maybe by the point he'd be all bird--if not, she'd resume the distraction. Only she didn't see him coming. She heard the thoughtspeech and bent over so she could look under the table, and laughed in spite of herself when she saw that he was stuck.
Aubrey:
Aubrey paused, her elbows propped against the floor. It looked like Drake had gotten himself stuck, and Aubrey was attempting to stifle a giggle. It didn't look like he needed any help being distracted--he was doing a good enough job of it himself. Pulling her long hair back and across her shoulder, Aubrey smiled a tiny bit.
"Need some help, mate?" She asked, laughing, then wiggled forward. With one hand she tried softly pushing Drake's feathery back, helping him so that he'd squeeze through faster. At the same time, she was trying not to hurt him. He couldn't go back and he couldn't go through walls. This way, he'd land right in Suji's way.
Drake:
Drake was glad to see that Suji and Aubrey were not trying to tackle him while he was stuck. Although he did not appreciate Suji's laughs. This was a serious situation! He was stuck! Okay, so maybe it was not life-threatening or anything, but at least Aubrey tried to help.
Drake tried to continue his morph to help make himself smaller. It did not help much since he was morphing such a big bird. Even when he became a complete secretary bird, he would still be four feet tall, although he would weigh less than ten pounds.
Just as tail feathers erupted from his rear and into Aubrey's face, Drake got free. He spilled out onto the floor in front of Suji, now three quarters of the way through his morph. He attempted to stand up on his thin bird legs, looking up at her with his human eyes.
Suji:
Drake wobbled onto the floor in front of her and he was a strange mix of bird and human. And it wasn't even a normal bird, either. At least Aubrey turning into a dog had seemed like a (entertainingly enough, cheap and hokey) scene from a werewolf movie. This was just... weird.
"No offense Drake but that is beyond strange looking." She stood there and continued to stare for a moment; she'd seen plenty of morphing, but if you paid attention to it, there was something freshly disturbing each time. Shaking her head and refocusing, she walked quickly towards Drake. And, because he already seemed unstable on those weird legs, she just gave him a resolute push.
Drake:
Drake toppled like a pyramid of grapefruits at a grocery store. <<That was a cheap shot,>> Drake remarked dryly as he lay sprawled on the floor. <<Just remember, you are next.>> If he had a normal mouth, he would have smirked.
Drake attempted to stand up again. At least that shove had given him enough time to finish his morph. Now Drake stood, with his wings outstretched and flapping, and gave a squawk. Daring one of them to challenge him again.
Aubrey:
"Ahh!" Suddenly, there were a bunch of tail feathers sticking into her face. Aubrey turned her head sideways, blinking several times. "Nice butt feathers, Drake." As he finally escaped from the table's clutches, Aubrey began wiggling her way out from underneath them.
By the time she was out, Drake had already finished his morph. And had been pushed over. Stifling a smile, Aubrey pushed herself off the ground. Dusting her hands down her suit, she glanced to Suji. "Kay, next."
Suji:
Suji smiled at Drake. "That's a rather terrifying squawk you've got there Drake." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aubrey climb up from under the table. 'Kay, next.' Suji smirked. She'd wanted to wait until Aubrey was up. But should she wait for Drake to finish up demorphing? Well, she'd give him a head start.
He kept promising retribution though, and Suji wasn't above cheating. Besides, Aubrey could probably nail her pretty good on her own.
So she waited until Drake was (mostly) done demorphing, before closing her eyes. As soon as she'd gotten the image of the jackrabbit down, she opened them again, and began morphing.
SLOOP! Her ears shot upward, massive and covered in brown fur (which was migrating over her face now). "Oh, damn it," Suji said, exasperated: she'd wanted the start to be subtle so that it wouldn't be too obvious right off the bat. Well there went that plan.
Drake:
Drake was nearly done morphing by the time the ears appeared. Nearly, but definitely not completely. "You little cheat," Drake said, poking fun at her. He hurried the remainder of his demorphing.
What is she turning into, he wondered. Although, those ears were hard to mistake. He just could not figure out why she would choose to become a rabbit. Drake just shrugged, then charged straight for her, full speed.
Suji:
Suji tried to smirk and shrug at Drake--'What can you do?'--but the eruption of whiskers from around her mouth took away from the gesture. She was shrinking, but not quickly enough; instead she found herself focusing on how she was going to brace against the attacks that were sure to come.
Drake charged for her, and she planned on moving at the last second to dodge, but her knees suddenly reversed with a sickening crunching noise. "Ah!" She yelled out of surprise, not pain, and then Drake collided with her. Already off-balance, she shuffled sideways but not far enough, getting hit almost full force. Her back hit the floor hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs, and her morphing halted.
Keep going! She urged herself, pulling up her backwards-knee-legs. The muscle structure changed to suit them, but it was slow going while she regained her bearings.
Aubrey:
Aubrey was watching Suji as they waited for Drake, and so immediately saw the rabbit ears shoot up and out of Suji's head. A laugh escaped Aubrey's lips. "Looks like the Easter Bunny." Morphing--although most of the time disgusting--could sometimes turn up with some crazy stuff. But most of the time it looked pretty gross.
Drake tackled Suji, and she went down almost right away. It looked like he'd been pretty successful in stopping her for the time being. Since Suji was already on the ground, the only thing Aubrey could think to do was pin help her. Moving forward, Aubrey slid down and braced her hands against Suji's shrinking shoulders.
Suji:
Suji squirmed. This was harder than it had looked--but out of the two of them, she was the only one that apparently practiced morphing. She refocused, and suddenly her eyes changed; the vision was different and disorienting with the struggling. What's more, her eyes had grown apart, one on each side of her increasingly bunny-like face rather than both in the front like a primate's.
She still hadn't shrunk enough--it was like her mind was trying to process the feature changes rather than deal with the size issue. Which make her legs almost kangaroo-like: they were still nearly human sized, but furry, and bent backwards. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing...
Suji tried to plant a foot on Drake, and gave him an experimental shove. It wasn't a kick, and it was only moderate strength, but she was surprised to find the relative power behind it. Then again, jackrabbits could travel at something like 50 mph when they wanted to, and leap pretty big distances. Ideally she'd chosen this morph to test out because if she needed to get away from someone it could be her best bet.
At the same time, she shook her head, ears flopping against Aubrey. A fluffy tail erupted from her back, and her spine was realigning: she'd have to try to twist out of the girl's grip soon.
Drake:
Drake was a bit surprised that he had managed to tackle Suji as they both went down. He had expected a dodge or something, which it looked like she had tried. Still, he was not going to waste this opportunity to get back at Suji for cheating.
Just as Drake was about to pin down both her arms, he felt a strong pressure against his stomach. The next thing he knew, he was moving backwards and land hard on the floor. "What n the world was that?" he asked just before noticing her legs. "Watch the legs, Aubrey!" Hopefully she would have better luck.
Suji:
Well at least that had bought her some distance; she didn't think she'd be able to try it again though. Suji was shrinking now, and Aubrey would have to grip tighter to hold her. Suji began thrashing to the side--her shoulders realigned, meaning that Aubrey needed to find another place to grab. Not the ears, Suji thought inwardly, not so much out because she thought it would be uncomfortable, but rather because she knew they were probably decent targets.
After a particularly strong twist, Suji felt herself come loose. She was probably some two-thirds or so through the morphing process. With an awkward half-bounding leap she managed to cover ten feet easily... only to land rather imperfectly, and tumble another couple of feet. Her heart was beating rapidly, not only from the game but also because it was turning into the rabbit's heart.
She closed her eyes, threw caution to the wind--instead of worrying about the their next moves, Suji focused solely on morphing as quickly as possible while she had the moment.
Aubrey:
Suji's large ears whacked against Aubrey, and she had to stop herself from pulling away from the annoyance. She glanced up quickly to see Drake falling back at a push from Suji's foot, and then call out to avoid her feet. "Right-o!" She wasn't anywhere near the large feet yet, but it was nice to be wary.
After a few seconds Suji's shoulders were beginning to shrink, and Aubrey's grip squeezed in response. However, that tactic was quickly not working as her twisting around tore Aubrey's hands away. Frantically she tried to get another hold on Suji, fingernails scraping the soft fur of her ears. By this time Suji had gotten free from Aubrey's hands and sprung away from them.
Since Aubrey had only been kneeling, it was easy to pull herself back to her feet. Once she managed that, she moved to close the distance between them. Suji was quickly becoming too small of a target to just outright tackle, so Aubrey bent down a little to try and grab her.
Suji:
Almost, almost--damn, Aubrey was fast! Suji heard the girl coming from her (with ears that big, you heard a lot of things), and she forced herself to ignore it and try to finish morphing. She was just about finished now, and she felt Aubrey's hands closing on her.
Just as they did, the rabbit's mind burbled up. With the rush of trying to finish morphing, Suji wasn't in a mind set to control the morph once she did finish. The rabbit immediately panicked, beginning to kick and roll furiously under Aubrey's grasp. <<Whoa, whoa,>> Suji said, thought more to herself than anyone else. She regained control as quickly as possible, reducing the heavy kicks to a moderate wriggling, and then finally to stillness.
Drake:
By the time Drake got back to his feet, Aubrey was already going back after Suji. And by the time he thought of a way to help her without crushing the rabbit, Suji was done morphing. Unless her insides were still morphing, that is.
Suji struggled for a little while, but eventually seemed to calm down. He was not sure if it was due to rabbit instincts or competitive instincts, but it did not really matter. "Well, that was fun. Now what? Break time?" Drake was not really that tired, but a break was always welcome.
Aubrey:
Aubrey was able to grab Suji just as the morph finished, and suddenly she was holding a very squirmy, kicking rabbit. After a few seconds Suji seemed to have gotten control, just as Aubrey was already in the process of setting her down, feeling the dull sting of scratches welling across her hands. "Ahh, ahhh." There was a bit of laugh in her voice, and she backed away. Back before the invasion Aubrey had owned rabbits, so she was aware of how delicate they could be at times.
She glanced first over to Drake, then back to Suji. "You guys want a break? I'm a tiny bit tired." Morphing while being tackled, then trying to distract the two of them had taken a good amount of energy out of her. But it had been fun, and there was a light smile on her lips. "I think I need a drink of water first if you guys are wanting to go again."
Suji:
Suji felt her paws touch the floor again, and took a couple of small hops away from Aubrey. She felt a bit bad for scratching her, and Aubrey was always so understanding. Probably a good thing that she'd gone with the rabbit rather than the vulture, or worse, the croc or cobra.
Now though, she could hear everything! It was like having x-ray... hearing! All the creaks and groans of the tiny well-worn building seemed to speak to her, and her large ears flicked back and forth. She wished the floor was grass though. <<A break probably isn't a bad idea.>> With that Suji began to demorph. She was somewhat winded, but that might have been because she'd just had her turn. It was more tiring than she'd expected, but she wasn't exhausted.
Drake turned off the kitchen faucet, then lifted the large pan of water out of the sink and set it on the floor. He was pretty sure that the his makeshift water dish was normally used for cooking turkeys or something, but it had a different use today. It was going to be used for a fish instead of a bird. A koi fish to be exact.
Recently Drake had been starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by how complex his life had become. For this reason, he tried to think of a way to simplify it. He figured that one of the most basic thing that an animorph did was to morph, so that is where he decided to start.
He noticed that quite a few of his faction members 'practiced' their morphs from time to time, but Drake had never indulged in that activity before. He only ever morphed when he had some sort of reason to. At least, that was true before right now.
Drake stood barefoot in the cool water and concentrated on the colorful fish. He decided to start with the animal that he morphed least often because he figured it would be the one he needed the most practice with. As he shrank and changed color next to all of the kitchen appliances, he kept having visions of his faction mates sticking him on the stove for supper. He laughed inwardly.
Suji:
Suji stretched as she walked into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She'd crashed something fierce after ingesting a great deal of sugar yesterday, and her stomach wasn't happy with her. She figured that a warm glass of water would probably go down well.
She noticed a pan on the floor, and frowned for a moment. Who had left that there? What had they needed it for anyway? With a sigh she walked over to it, and picked it up. It was somewhat heavy--filled with water. She'd managed to half lift the pot before she saw the colorful fish in it. Letting out a sharp noise of surprise, she almost lost her grip on the thing--water slopped up over the side, and she quickly struggled to right it. Thankfully the koi fish didn't slip out too.
Heart racing, Suji carefully set the pot down on the counter. If Drake--she had a certain memory of that koi morph that wasn't altogether pleasant--wanted to demorph, the counter would support his weight (she wasn't sure their rickety table would). And it would prevent someone stepping in the pot by accident, or knocking it over like she almost had.
Looking around for some rags, Suji went to wipe the water up.
Drake:
<<Whoa!>> was all Drake could manage to say as he got sloshed about. The fish's instincts got all riled up because of it. It likes calm waters, not turbulent sloshy seas. <<Who is that?>> Drake was having trouble seeing or hearing anything outside of hiss little pool.
Drake was not sure if he should demorph since he did not know where he had been moved to, but he figured he would not be anywhere deadly so he went for it. As his body rose up out of the water, he lost his balance. He toppled into the sing, halfway demorphed, causing even more of the water from the pan to splash all over the place as it crashed to the floor. When he finished changing he found out that he had effectively gotten himself stuck in the sink. "Um. A little help?"
Suji:
Suji didn't know if she should respond--didn't know if the fish would be able to hear her and recognize her, and she didn't have any brilliant ideas. She had just finished wiping up the water on the floor when she heard a crash--and then she was promplty soaked as the pan hit the floor and sent what felt like a small tidal wave of water splashing up at her. She stood there, soaking wet towel in one hand, jaw ajar in surprise. Then she groaned. She was going to need more towels.
"Sorry," she said, and offered him both her hands, tossing the useless rag on the counter. "I thought that you'd be more out of the way on the counter..." Well, at least they still had a table. The sight of a fish turning into a boy in the sink was something she could have spent a lifetime never experiencing, however.
Aubrey:
Lately, there hadn't been much to do around the Temple. Aubrey was the high-energy type, and sitting around doing nothing bothered her to no end. Instead of working on her drawing this afternoon, she'd decided to take a jog around the outside of the Temple in her wetsuit.
After about an hour or so of running, Aubrey made her way inside the Temple doors, humming to herself. She was heading towards the kitchen to grab some water to drink, and maybe take a short break. As it happened, there was already water in the kitchen--except it was on the floor. Instead of noticing this, she noticed Suji and Drake. Why was he in the sink?
"Hey guys--Ahh!" Some of the water had seeped quickly across the floor from the pan, and one of Aubrey's bare feet slid underneath her body. Flailing her arms, she fell backwards and landed hard on her butt, letting out a squeak of pain. "Owwwwwww!"
Drake:
Just as Drake was managing to wiggle free, he heard someone else go down. After he landed on his feet, steadying himself against the counter, he saw Aubrey on the floor. "I guess fish are not meant to swim in kitchens," he said in defeat.
He held out his hand to help Aubrey up since it was at least indirectly his fault that she had fallen. "How come you guys never seem to have so much trouble when you practice your morphs? Maybe I am just not meant to practice or something." He did not really believe that, but it fit the situation.
Suji:
"I haven't got any fish morphs, so that helps," Suji said after helping to pull Drake free. He offered a hand to Aubrey, and Suji picked up the (now much lighter) pan and put it in the sink. She began rummaging in one of the cabinets, where the dish towels were stowed away. After pulling them out, she tossing one each to Drake and Aubrey, and began soaping up some of the water on the floor.
"How did you get in the pot, anyway?" She asked, doing her best to slosh all the water into one area so she could soak it up better.
Aubrey:
Aubrey groaned a little, her eyes squeezed shut as the pain of falling slowly ebbed away. "Ah, ya." As Drake walked over, Aubrey rubbed her ankle. The bony part of it had been hit against the floor when she fell. She looked up at Drake as he offered his hand, and pulled herself up with his help. "Thanks, Drake."
She was pulling her hair back from her face with one hand when he mentioned practicing morphs. Over in Los Angeles, she'd never practiced morphing. Most of her time had been spent patrolling, or finding something to do between missions. When she had come to Dallas, she'd carried over the habit of not doing it. "Um, practice? Oh I, uh, I don't really have much trouble. Practicing. I don't know." She paused, then admitted, "I don't really practice morphing. Are we supposed to?"
Suji tossed her a towel, and she caught it. As Suji asked her question, Aubrey knelt down and began mopping up the water on the floor.
Drake:
"I do not think we are supposed to practice morphing. At least not outside of group training. But still, I guess it is a good idea in theory." Drake began mopping up the floor with his towel too.
"And I think I ended up in the pot the first time around just by the luck of the morph. I was pretty small by the time my feet turned into a fish fin, so I managed to stay inside. Oh, and I was standing in it as I morphed, if that is what you were asking." This floor-drying seemed like it would take all day. Every couple seconds he had to ring out his towel into the pot.
"So how about it? Do you guys want to practice morphing with me? Maybe we can find a way to make it more exciting at the same time." Drake thought for a moment in order to come up with an idea. "Maybe we could morph while holding our breath underwater. Or me and Aubrey could try to morph while Suji chases us as a crocodile. That is all I got so far"
Suji:
Suji blinked. It must have taken a good deal of foresight to fill of bucket of water to practice morphing a fish. But if that was the case, why leave the bucket in the middle of the floor?
Apparently she was the only one among them that practiced morphing. She didn't think it was wrong that they didn't practice, and she also didn't think it was surprising. Neither of them were really soldier types, at least as far as she'd seen. They dealt with the war in doses, and seemed ready to leave it at the door. Nothing condemnable about that.
Drake was offering ideas about practicing morphing, and Suji smirked, until he mentioned the crocodile bit. Immediately her body stiffened, though she resisted the urge to go stock still--she kept wiping. "I'll practice with you two, but I'm not doing that. Chasing you as a crocodile." She wrung out her towel, jaw set, though she tried to hide just how deep of a chord it had struck. She remembered killing that baby boar in an instant, uncontrollable. She also remembered having to control those jaws to defend against Hork Bajir.
"That morph..." She licked her lips, trying to find the right words. "You don't point a loaded gun at anyone you don't plan to shoot," she said lamely, shoulders slumping. Not that she hadn't done that before--Luce was in her mind now--but then the stakes had been different, had been incredibly high. That was nothing she would have done for fun, or for any kind of practice. "...sorry.."
Aubrey:
"Ooh, alright." The sort-of guilty look on her face had disappeared. "Yeah, you're probably right." As she spoke, she twisted the towel and floor-water dribbled down her hands into the pot. Then she flopped in back onto the floor, mopping up more of the water. She knew other people practiced sometimes, she just never thought to do it herself.
Wringing out the towel again, Aubrey glanced up at Drake. "Sure, I'm up for practicing, I guess." She had noticed Suji's stiffening at Drake's suggestion. Even so, being chased by a crocodile--Suji or not--didn't seem like a pleasant experience. Sweeping the towel across the floor, she looked down again. "I've got a bird, monkey, sea lion, and dog morph, if that is any help for ideas. And the moth."
Drake:
Drake had no idea that Suji felt so strongly about her crocodile morph. He knew it was viscous but... If she was not comfortable with that morph, then there was no way he would be comfortable being chased by it. There were bound to be other possibilities anyway.
As Drake listened to Aubrey tell them her morphs, he was thinking of some new options. By the time they were done cleaning the floor he had thought of several. "Okay, how about these ideas. One. We can race each other around the Temple while we morph and the first one to reach the finish line in morph wins. Two. We practice morphing while climbing. Or at least while on a ladder or tree or something. Three. The breath holding thing. But we would probably have to find a lake for that one. And four. We try to morph while distracted. I am not sure exactly how we would distract each other yet though. Like any of those options?"
Suji:
No one pressed her about the crocodile, and Suji felt herself slowly relax. They were finally done with the floor at least. "Let's not do bugs again," Suji hastened to say after Aubrey mentioned her moth. "I think we got enough practice last time."
Drake started listing a few ideas, and Suji rolled them around in her mind. "I like the ideas of practicing morphing while we're moving, especially running--seems really applicable. We might have to go somewhere a good distance from the city though--unless you wanna try that in the hallway around here, but that isn't much space. I don't know enough about geography here to know where a lake would be, though."
Aubrey:
Wringing out the last of the water in the pot, Aubrey folded up the towel. "Are there even any lakes around here?" As far as Texas geography went, Aubrey had no clue. All she knew was dusty, hot, and desert. Maybe lake fit in there, somewhere. It was nothing like L.A.--which, to some degree, bothered her. But she had known that when she had asked to go.
"Yeah, no bugs. But I think the racing idea is pretty good idea." She'd never been graceful with the whole walk-as-you-morph thing, and practicing might just help that. Aubrey wiped her hands together. "Oh! And for the 'morphing while distracted' one. What if we did a sort of wrestling thing while one person morphs? Two people try to bring one person to the ground as the person is trying to morph and try to keep upright. Or maybe they try not be pinned down."
Drake:
"I think I have seen a couple lakes around here. Other than the yeerk pool, that is. We definitely want to stay away from that one." Drake was glad that they were both willing to help him practice. I actually sounded like it might be fun. Although he did not really understand why they seemed to not want to morph bugs again. It was not like the events in the vent would track them down or anything.
"That wrestling idea sounds pretty interesting. I think we could start with that since we would not need to go anywhere to do it. We could clear out an area in the fellowship hall, I suppose. Although I am up for any of those ideas." Drake gave them a questioning look, ready to follow anyone who took charge.
Suji:
"We could set down mats or something in the Fellowship Hall--" Then Suji smirked and cut herself off. "Well I guess we don't really need mats. Morphing heals bruises and all. And maybe it's more distracting if the falls aren't cushioned." Suji tossed her soaked rag in the pan which was now sitting on the counter. At least the floor was cleaner.
"You two wanna grab anyone else for this? Or figure that our makeshift wrestling will attract a crowd all on its own?" Suji wasn't overly confident in her ability to tackle well, but that's what practice was for.
Aubrey:
"Too right." Aubrey smiled a little at Drake. "I've never even seen one before... a Yeerk pool. Only the Kandrona thing in some room. That's cool that there's lakes around here, though." Aubrey hadn't spent a ton of time flying around Dallas yet, but was happy to hear the city had some water lying around. She'd grown up around beaches and water all her life, and being disconnected from it felt odd to her.
"Hmm, anyone else? I don't know. I suppose if somebody hears us and wants to join in." The Temple was quiet today, and Aubrey wasn't sure who was around even. Getting up, she threw the towel where Suji had and glanced to the two of them.
"Cool, then. Ready to head into the Fellowship Hall?" Even if she had been jogging around the outside for the last hour, Aubrey still had a lot of pent-up energy to get rid of. Back in Australia, she and her brother's friends had always rough-housed and fought with each other, so wrestling-while-morphing sounded like some fun.
Drake:
Letting people just show up sounded like a good plan to Drake. It was less work for them. Once he got into the fellowship hall, he cleared a nice open space to maneuver in. Once everything got situated, they could begin.
"So, who is first? I suppose we should not morph anything too small though. Otherwise it would be too easy to tackle the person. Not that it would really be too hard no mater what we morph seeing as how it is hard to do much of anything mid-morph. I will morph my secretary bird on my turn, I think. Just a heads up."
Suji:
Suji considered her morphs. "I'll do my jackrabbit on my turn. I figure if I need to get out of a squeeze, it's one of the best for putting distance between me and a bad situation." She shifted her weight, considering what this was going to end up looking like. Either it'd be a laughable failure, or they might get some good training out of it. Too early to tell.
"Does anyone want to go first?" Though she didn't mind taking charge in most situations, Suji wasn't too ready to put herself on the line. Better to watch and gauge the maneuvers that worked and didn't work for her teammates first.
Aubrey:
Aubrey glanced from Drake to Suji. They didn't seem ready to jump in and do it, and Aubrey didn't mind either way. "I'll do it first then, I s'pose. Do you guys want to do it until I get pinned for a certain amount of time or if I'm knocked over?" She'd probably fail on the first try--she couldn't really even walk and morph at the same time--but she didn't mind. It'd be fun to try out.
Walking into the middle of the Fellowship Hall, she started stretching her limbs. Then she bent her knees, looking to them both. "You guys ready?" Without waiting for an answer, she began concentrating on her morph. Thick black and white fur spread across her body, and her face began melting into a snout. At the same time, her bones and organs began shifting, plume tail sprouting out of her spine. She was morphing into her Alaskan Malamute, ninety pounds of a dog used to pulling sleds and heavy loads.
Drake:
"I suppose you should just keep trying to get away until you are fully morphed. The object of this is to distract you, right? So you should still be distracted as long as you are still trying to get away." Drake gave a questioning look since he was just making up what he was saying as he spoke.
It took Drake's brain a moment to register the fact that Aubrey had already started morphing. "Oh, we are starting?" Drake held up his hands as if he was going to grab for her at any moment. Suddenly he wondered, what is the right way to try and tackle a girl? Drake was not sure if it really mattered, but still, he had no idea what the answer was.
Suji:
"Yeah, what Drake said. Just go until your done I guess. Um--do you guys think we need a safeword? I guess 'stop' is okay, this is only pra-" Aubrey was suddenly looking a bit more werewolf-ish, and Suji shut her mouth. Drake seemed to be contemplating just what he'd gotten himself into, and Suji's first thought was Go for her knees, they're going to be unstable enough when they bend backwards.
But she didn't. It felt... underhanded. Of course pulling punches might not represent ideal training techniques, but this was the first round. So instead, she spread out from Drake and went to tackle Aubrey, mid-region. She was intentionally a bit slower than she could have been, though not that much--she tried to tackle from Aubrey's side.
Aubrey:
Aubrey tried responding to Drake, but her mouth was already in the midst of changing and it came out as "Yemmf." She wasn't exactly sure how this was going to turn out, since there were obvious times during morphing where she'd be pretty vulnerable to be tackled or wrestled down. Warily, she watched Drake holding up his hands like he was going to attack her. <<'Stop' is good.>> Her ears started crawling up the sides of her head, becoming more pointed and dog-like.
Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Suji move to tackle her. At the same time, her feet and hands began melting into dog paws. She reeled sideways to try and avoid Suji's tackle, but still managed to get caught in part of it. Suji's weight sent her off balance, and she went stumbling and falling backwards to try to get away from her.
Her morphing had stopped briefly--it was hard concentrating on it while trying to stay upright. With her legs getting tangled underfoot, she was about ready to run into Drake if he didn't move.
Drake:
Drake watched and tried to stay out of the way as Suji tried to tackle Aubrey. He thought tackling might have been a little extreme since they were just trying to distract her, but he had to admit that it seemed to be effective. Besides, something like grabbing her arm probably would not have done the trick. Drake changed his tactics. He would try to tackle her too.
At least that was his plan until Aubrey looked like she was going to run into him. He did not move out of the way. He opened up his arms and wrapped her werewolf-like body into a bear hug. Unfortunately her momentum caused Drake to lose balance and fall backwards. He landed hard, causing him to lose his grip on the target.
Suji:
Aubrey had managed to avoid the majority of Suji's tackle, and Suji found herself working to maintain her footing. Her instinct was to reach out to Aubrey as she was stumbling backwards, but she curbed the desire--it wouldn't be very good training if they were busy helping each other up all the time.
Suji watched as the blonde girl bowled into Drake and they fell into a mass of tangled limbs. It looked pretty painful. Aubrey seemed to be somewhere around the halfway point (hard to tell, really), so Suji went for a target that she figured would be less powerful on a dog than a human--the back legs. Suji dove, trying to hug Aubrey's hind legs to her chest; close enough that she absorb any kicks with her body so as not to take the full brunt.
Aubrey:
Aubrey hadn't realized Drake was behind her into she crashed into him. He wrapped her arms around her and as he lost balanced, pulled her down with him. <<Oomph!>> The breath was knocked from her as they landed hard, and her tail was crushed painfully between them. Her mouth, fully dog now, let out a short yelp. Before she could wiggle away from Drake's loosening grip, Suji had pitched forward and trapped Aubrey's legs against her chest. Drake's body was also still beneath her own, and he'd feel that she was getting heavier by the second.
Need to concentrate, come on come on. Suji's grip was strong around Aubrey's legs, and squirming or kicking didn't seem to help her get free at all. As she tried to continue her morphing, the bones in her back legs began to warp backwards into dog legs. It wasn't fast, and Aubrey twisted her upper body to try and pull her way out of Suji's grip. Her hands, now dog paws, were scratching and slipping against the Temple's floors.
Drake:
Drake waited for a moment for Aubrey to move. He expected her to roll off of him and try to get away, but apparently Suji had other plans. Now he was stuck underneath a heavy flailing weredog without much room to move.
Drake did not much like his current situation, so he gave Aubrey a shove. Not a violent shove, but a hard shove just the same. He figured it would be just as effective for distraction as grabbing would be, plus then he would be able to move around and reposition himself once again. Drake had to admit that he was not trying his hardest to catch Aubrey, (certainly not as hard as Suji) but he was not much of a physical sports kind of guy either, and this was not exactly a situation where trying your hardest really mattered.
Aubrey:
As more muscle grew beneath her fur, Aubrey was feeling more and more tired. The morphing was wearing her out, and concentrating at the same time as escaping was hard. Especially considering that Aubrey hadn't had much experience doing this type of stuff. She was beginning to consider stopping. As she grew, her kicking and wiggling was gaining her only small bits of ground on Suji. At the same time, she could feel the dog's mind slowly bubbling up beneath her own.
Then Drake shoved her. Distracted, Aubrey had lost control for a moment. The dog didn't like the situation it was in at all. The only thing it could think of doing was to bite--and the nearest thing to bite was Drake. Without thinking, the half-dog twisted around sharply and tried to sink her canines into Drake. The bite was quick and Aubrey would let go immediately, rolling off of Drake. At the same time she realized what she'd just done. <<Oh god--sorry Drake!>>
Suji:
It was harder to hold on to the dog legs than the human ones--less mass to grip to her chest. Suji felt her grasp slipping, though she still managed to keep a fair hold. Aubrey's bushy tail was slapping her in the face every time she wriggled, and Suji was preparing to let go. She was nearly finished with the morph, if she wasn't already finished.
Suji loosened her grip in time to see Aubrey snap and bite Drake. Suji grimaced--that certainly wouldn't tickle, and she was somewhat glad she'd been further away from Aubrey's teeth. Blood was coming from the wound, though Suji couldn't tell exactly where Aubrey's teeth had punctured--they were all in a tangled mess.
Doing her best to regain composure, Suji stood, side stepping the dog.
Aubrey:
<<Okay, okay.>> Aubrey felt Suji's grip loosen and disappear as the morph finished. Immediately she bounced off the ground and away from Drake, tongue lolling out of her mouth. She glanced to the two of them with bright brown eyes, furry ears perked forward. It looked like she had bitten Drake hard enough to make him bleed, which was making her feel really bad. Her sensitive nose picked up the scent of the blood, intriguing the dog's mind.
<<I'm sorry again, Drake. Got caught up in the moment.>> Aubrey said, apologetic. She didn't know if he would be mad about it or not. <<I think I'm definitely done.>> Her fluffy tail swished against the ground as she started concentrating on her human form.
Drake:
When Drake got bit, he immediately withdrew from the brunt of 'fight' and held his hand. Aubrey's quick apology told him that she had not meant to do it, but that still did not stop it from hurting. Drake winced as blood started to flow from the wound.
"You sure got me good," Drake said between clenched teeth, trying not to let his pain show. He held up his arm and tried to keep it at an angle where the blood would not drip to the floor. Then he concentrated on his secretary bird morph in an effort to heal the wound. Drake was not exactly mad, but you could not really be happy with someone who just bit you. Drake kept further comments to himself.
Aubrey:
Aubrey's ears began melting, losing hair as it shrank. At the same time her muzzle started squishing back, mouth forming back into full human lips. Bones and organs began grinding and shifting inside her, and she winced at the sound. Then, after a few more minutes, she was fully human. Immediately she sat down, rubbing her eyes. "Aghh. Yeah, I'm sorry, Drake, again."
All her muscles felt burnt out. Glancing up, she noticed Drake beginning to morph into his secretary bird. Apparently he was going next. After a few more seconds of resting Aubrey pushed herself off the ground with a small huff. Running her fingers through her thick hair, she pulled it back from her face. She needed to catch her breath, so she wasn't ready to go tackling just yet.
Suji:
Drake was going next, presumably to heal his hand. His bird morph--the funny looking bird that he'd used back in Vegas. Suji wasn't sure how to go about this. A person turning into a dog was fairly easy to handle, especially a dog the size of an Alaskan Malamute. Dogs like that could take being tackled and rough-housed. Could a bird?
She was afraid that being too rough would result in a broken wing (or worse). Birds were generally more delicate.
He's still mostly human, she reminded herself, and moved to try to restrain his arm (the one with the non-injured hand) behind his back. If she succeeded he was going to have to get away in order to morph properly, once that arm started to turn into a wing.
Drake:
Drake was morphing merely to heal the wound Aubrey had caused. So obviously he was taken by surprise when his arm was suddenly twisted behind his back. "What the- " Drake turned his neck to look at Suji just as he realized what was going on. They thought he was taking his turn.
Well, at the very least, Suji had succeeded in distracting him, causing his morphing to stop. "Oh, I see how it is. Picking on the guy doing first aid. I guess I better warn you then that I will not go easy on you two just because you are girls."
Drake refocused on his secretary bird form and immediately the changes resumed. Feathers covered his skin, taking care of his injury, and hopefully they would help get his arm free too. Drake did not know how to get out of a hold like that so he decided to try something unexpected. He sat down, letting gravity help him out.
Aubrey:
Aubrey was trying to figure out a way to distract him, especially seeing as how he was going bird. After a moment's hesitation, she looked like she was about to something--when he spoke. He had seemed surprised by Suji. Oh. She hadn't realized he was just healing the wound. A little bit of guilt bubbled back up, but it didn't linger.
A smile twitched on Aubrey's lips at what he said. "Right-o, Drake." As she said this, Drake dropped down to the ground. Unsure what exactly to do, Aubrey moved forward to grab his legs.
Suji:
Suji laughed a little, though now she felt sort of embarassed. Just because he was morphing to heal the wound hadn't meant that he was taking his turn, but she'd assumed that would be most efficient, and therefore though Drake would come to the same conclusion.
"I thought-" She started, after beginning to loosen her grip, when Drake dropped to the ground. Suji fell awkwardly to the side, spending more time bracing herself for the fall than worrying about distracting Drake for the moment. Aubrey went for his legs though; it looked like what she'd tried to do when it was Aubrey's turn. Suji pushed herself forward and tried to regain a hold on Drake, though grabbing feathers wasn't going to be as easy as grabbing fur had been.
Drake:
Drake felt a small surge of victory as his sitting plan worked. It did not last, however, as Aubrey grabbed his legs. He tried kick and squirm his legs free, but stopped trying once his knees changed direction. Suddenly sitting felt very awkward. A new tactic was needed.
Suddenly Suji was trying to get a hold on him. He could not let that happen if he could avoid it. He tried rolling under the tables in the room, although it was difficult in his changing body and with Aubrey holding onto his legs. But his legs were thinning too, making them harder (or easier?) to hold.
Aubrey:
Drake's kicking and squirming was making it hard for Aubrey to keep a hold of his legs. He managed to land a kick at her gut, and she let out a sharp breath of air. Once his knees started changing directions, Aubrey started squeezing her hands around his legs. They were getting smaller and harder to keep a hold of.
His rolling under the table tactic seemed to work, and his thinning legs slipped out of Aubrey's grasp. "Ah!" Using her elbows, she tried to wiggle after him, her belly scraping against the Temple's floors.
Drake:
Drake escaped under the tables! But that victory was short-lived. The tables were pushed against the wall, so his other escape was blocked. He would either have to face the girls again or try to escape out the side, between the legs. Now that his torso had shrunk and his arms had become more wing-like, he would not really be able to use his rolling tactic effectively again.
<<Not good,>> Drake commented as he tried to squeeze between some table legs. He got somewhat stuck. He was still too bulky to fit easily through the opening, and he was half-morphed so any time of movement was awkward at best. Drake tried to squirm his way through, knowing he was a sitting duck.
Suji:
Suji's head smacked into the edge of the table as Drake scurried under and she tried to follow before looking. For a moment she saw stars, blinking and wincing. By the time her vision cleared Aubrey was half-under the table, and Suji doubted she'd fit too. At least, she wouldn't fit in any effective way, that was sure.
So she backed off, standing up as she did, waiting for Drake to come out of the other side. Maybe by the point he'd be all bird--if not, she'd resume the distraction. Only she didn't see him coming. She heard the thoughtspeech and bent over so she could look under the table, and laughed in spite of herself when she saw that he was stuck.
Aubrey:
Aubrey paused, her elbows propped against the floor. It looked like Drake had gotten himself stuck, and Aubrey was attempting to stifle a giggle. It didn't look like he needed any help being distracted--he was doing a good enough job of it himself. Pulling her long hair back and across her shoulder, Aubrey smiled a tiny bit.
"Need some help, mate?" She asked, laughing, then wiggled forward. With one hand she tried softly pushing Drake's feathery back, helping him so that he'd squeeze through faster. At the same time, she was trying not to hurt him. He couldn't go back and he couldn't go through walls. This way, he'd land right in Suji's way.
Drake:
Drake was glad to see that Suji and Aubrey were not trying to tackle him while he was stuck. Although he did not appreciate Suji's laughs. This was a serious situation! He was stuck! Okay, so maybe it was not life-threatening or anything, but at least Aubrey tried to help.
Drake tried to continue his morph to help make himself smaller. It did not help much since he was morphing such a big bird. Even when he became a complete secretary bird, he would still be four feet tall, although he would weigh less than ten pounds.
Just as tail feathers erupted from his rear and into Aubrey's face, Drake got free. He spilled out onto the floor in front of Suji, now three quarters of the way through his morph. He attempted to stand up on his thin bird legs, looking up at her with his human eyes.
Suji:
Drake wobbled onto the floor in front of her and he was a strange mix of bird and human. And it wasn't even a normal bird, either. At least Aubrey turning into a dog had seemed like a (entertainingly enough, cheap and hokey) scene from a werewolf movie. This was just... weird.
"No offense Drake but that is beyond strange looking." She stood there and continued to stare for a moment; she'd seen plenty of morphing, but if you paid attention to it, there was something freshly disturbing each time. Shaking her head and refocusing, she walked quickly towards Drake. And, because he already seemed unstable on those weird legs, she just gave him a resolute push.
Drake:
Drake toppled like a pyramid of grapefruits at a grocery store. <<That was a cheap shot,>> Drake remarked dryly as he lay sprawled on the floor. <<Just remember, you are next.>> If he had a normal mouth, he would have smirked.
Drake attempted to stand up again. At least that shove had given him enough time to finish his morph. Now Drake stood, with his wings outstretched and flapping, and gave a squawk. Daring one of them to challenge him again.
Aubrey:
"Ahh!" Suddenly, there were a bunch of tail feathers sticking into her face. Aubrey turned her head sideways, blinking several times. "Nice butt feathers, Drake." As he finally escaped from the table's clutches, Aubrey began wiggling her way out from underneath them.
By the time she was out, Drake had already finished his morph. And had been pushed over. Stifling a smile, Aubrey pushed herself off the ground. Dusting her hands down her suit, she glanced to Suji. "Kay, next."
Suji:
Suji smiled at Drake. "That's a rather terrifying squawk you've got there Drake." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aubrey climb up from under the table. 'Kay, next.' Suji smirked. She'd wanted to wait until Aubrey was up. But should she wait for Drake to finish up demorphing? Well, she'd give him a head start.
He kept promising retribution though, and Suji wasn't above cheating. Besides, Aubrey could probably nail her pretty good on her own.
So she waited until Drake was (mostly) done demorphing, before closing her eyes. As soon as she'd gotten the image of the jackrabbit down, she opened them again, and began morphing.
SLOOP! Her ears shot upward, massive and covered in brown fur (which was migrating over her face now). "Oh, damn it," Suji said, exasperated: she'd wanted the start to be subtle so that it wouldn't be too obvious right off the bat. Well there went that plan.
Drake:
Drake was nearly done morphing by the time the ears appeared. Nearly, but definitely not completely. "You little cheat," Drake said, poking fun at her. He hurried the remainder of his demorphing.
What is she turning into, he wondered. Although, those ears were hard to mistake. He just could not figure out why she would choose to become a rabbit. Drake just shrugged, then charged straight for her, full speed.
Suji:
Suji tried to smirk and shrug at Drake--'What can you do?'--but the eruption of whiskers from around her mouth took away from the gesture. She was shrinking, but not quickly enough; instead she found herself focusing on how she was going to brace against the attacks that were sure to come.
Drake charged for her, and she planned on moving at the last second to dodge, but her knees suddenly reversed with a sickening crunching noise. "Ah!" She yelled out of surprise, not pain, and then Drake collided with her. Already off-balance, she shuffled sideways but not far enough, getting hit almost full force. Her back hit the floor hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs, and her morphing halted.
Keep going! She urged herself, pulling up her backwards-knee-legs. The muscle structure changed to suit them, but it was slow going while she regained her bearings.
Aubrey:
Aubrey was watching Suji as they waited for Drake, and so immediately saw the rabbit ears shoot up and out of Suji's head. A laugh escaped Aubrey's lips. "Looks like the Easter Bunny." Morphing--although most of the time disgusting--could sometimes turn up with some crazy stuff. But most of the time it looked pretty gross.
Drake tackled Suji, and she went down almost right away. It looked like he'd been pretty successful in stopping her for the time being. Since Suji was already on the ground, the only thing Aubrey could think to do was pin help her. Moving forward, Aubrey slid down and braced her hands against Suji's shrinking shoulders.
Suji:
Suji squirmed. This was harder than it had looked--but out of the two of them, she was the only one that apparently practiced morphing. She refocused, and suddenly her eyes changed; the vision was different and disorienting with the struggling. What's more, her eyes had grown apart, one on each side of her increasingly bunny-like face rather than both in the front like a primate's.
She still hadn't shrunk enough--it was like her mind was trying to process the feature changes rather than deal with the size issue. Which make her legs almost kangaroo-like: they were still nearly human sized, but furry, and bent backwards. But maybe that wasn't a bad thing...
Suji tried to plant a foot on Drake, and gave him an experimental shove. It wasn't a kick, and it was only moderate strength, but she was surprised to find the relative power behind it. Then again, jackrabbits could travel at something like 50 mph when they wanted to, and leap pretty big distances. Ideally she'd chosen this morph to test out because if she needed to get away from someone it could be her best bet.
At the same time, she shook her head, ears flopping against Aubrey. A fluffy tail erupted from her back, and her spine was realigning: she'd have to try to twist out of the girl's grip soon.
Drake:
Drake was a bit surprised that he had managed to tackle Suji as they both went down. He had expected a dodge or something, which it looked like she had tried. Still, he was not going to waste this opportunity to get back at Suji for cheating.
Just as Drake was about to pin down both her arms, he felt a strong pressure against his stomach. The next thing he knew, he was moving backwards and land hard on the floor. "What n the world was that?" he asked just before noticing her legs. "Watch the legs, Aubrey!" Hopefully she would have better luck.
Suji:
Well at least that had bought her some distance; she didn't think she'd be able to try it again though. Suji was shrinking now, and Aubrey would have to grip tighter to hold her. Suji began thrashing to the side--her shoulders realigned, meaning that Aubrey needed to find another place to grab. Not the ears, Suji thought inwardly, not so much out because she thought it would be uncomfortable, but rather because she knew they were probably decent targets.
After a particularly strong twist, Suji felt herself come loose. She was probably some two-thirds or so through the morphing process. With an awkward half-bounding leap she managed to cover ten feet easily... only to land rather imperfectly, and tumble another couple of feet. Her heart was beating rapidly, not only from the game but also because it was turning into the rabbit's heart.
She closed her eyes, threw caution to the wind--instead of worrying about the their next moves, Suji focused solely on morphing as quickly as possible while she had the moment.
Aubrey:
Suji's large ears whacked against Aubrey, and she had to stop herself from pulling away from the annoyance. She glanced up quickly to see Drake falling back at a push from Suji's foot, and then call out to avoid her feet. "Right-o!" She wasn't anywhere near the large feet yet, but it was nice to be wary.
After a few seconds Suji's shoulders were beginning to shrink, and Aubrey's grip squeezed in response. However, that tactic was quickly not working as her twisting around tore Aubrey's hands away. Frantically she tried to get another hold on Suji, fingernails scraping the soft fur of her ears. By this time Suji had gotten free from Aubrey's hands and sprung away from them.
Since Aubrey had only been kneeling, it was easy to pull herself back to her feet. Once she managed that, she moved to close the distance between them. Suji was quickly becoming too small of a target to just outright tackle, so Aubrey bent down a little to try and grab her.
Suji:
Almost, almost--damn, Aubrey was fast! Suji heard the girl coming from her (with ears that big, you heard a lot of things), and she forced herself to ignore it and try to finish morphing. She was just about finished now, and she felt Aubrey's hands closing on her.
Just as they did, the rabbit's mind burbled up. With the rush of trying to finish morphing, Suji wasn't in a mind set to control the morph once she did finish. The rabbit immediately panicked, beginning to kick and roll furiously under Aubrey's grasp. <<Whoa, whoa,>> Suji said, thought more to herself than anyone else. She regained control as quickly as possible, reducing the heavy kicks to a moderate wriggling, and then finally to stillness.
Drake:
By the time Drake got back to his feet, Aubrey was already going back after Suji. And by the time he thought of a way to help her without crushing the rabbit, Suji was done morphing. Unless her insides were still morphing, that is.
Suji struggled for a little while, but eventually seemed to calm down. He was not sure if it was due to rabbit instincts or competitive instincts, but it did not really matter. "Well, that was fun. Now what? Break time?" Drake was not really that tired, but a break was always welcome.
Aubrey:
Aubrey was able to grab Suji just as the morph finished, and suddenly she was holding a very squirmy, kicking rabbit. After a few seconds Suji seemed to have gotten control, just as Aubrey was already in the process of setting her down, feeling the dull sting of scratches welling across her hands. "Ahh, ahhh." There was a bit of laugh in her voice, and she backed away. Back before the invasion Aubrey had owned rabbits, so she was aware of how delicate they could be at times.
She glanced first over to Drake, then back to Suji. "You guys want a break? I'm a tiny bit tired." Morphing while being tackled, then trying to distract the two of them had taken a good amount of energy out of her. But it had been fun, and there was a light smile on her lips. "I think I need a drink of water first if you guys are wanting to go again."
Suji:
Suji felt her paws touch the floor again, and took a couple of small hops away from Aubrey. She felt a bit bad for scratching her, and Aubrey was always so understanding. Probably a good thing that she'd gone with the rabbit rather than the vulture, or worse, the croc or cobra.
Now though, she could hear everything! It was like having x-ray... hearing! All the creaks and groans of the tiny well-worn building seemed to speak to her, and her large ears flicked back and forth. She wished the floor was grass though. <<A break probably isn't a bad idea.>> With that Suji began to demorph. She was somewhat winded, but that might have been because she'd just had her turn. It was more tiring than she'd expected, but she wasn't exhausted.