You Need All the Help You Can Get [Open]

[Nineteen]

OOC: Set a few days before Reanimation.

A special class was in session. It was open to everyone, and it was completely optional. Nineteen had made sure it didn't conflict with any of the other teacher's schedules, so she thought the turn out probably wouldn't be so bad. Not that she would ever have been caught dead going to a non-mandatory class, but it wasn't exactly like there was much else to do. You could only visit the Mess Hall so many times and take so many naps.

Besides, she'd promised -- on the note that had appeared in every one of the room's terminals -- that this class wouldn't be anything like her others. After all the beatings they'd suffered in her class (mostly at each other's hands), she thought that might at least grab their interest. They'd made a lot of progress as a whole since they'd gotten here. Nineteen knew better than to take too much credit for that. She could play dumb all she wanted, but the combination of her class, Jullian's, and Seiya's was more effective than the sum of their individual efforts. These kids were definitely becoming the Animorphs Nineteen was always reminded they'd have to be. Some faster than others, but hey, that had to be expected.

Nineteen lounged in the Combat Training room. A large space had been cleared in the center, and she was sitting on a fold out chair at the head, one leg curling under her. She balanced it on its back legs, occasionally tapping the ground with her free foot to keep from teetering over, and waited.

[Alain]

Alain walked into the Combat Room and saw Nineteen sitting there. He knew, intellectually, that Nineteen existed in other areas of this ship when he was not around. But it was hard to imagine her anywhere else besides surrounded by gym equipment and looking ready to beat them up on a moment's notice.

When he'd gotten her invite to this class he'd considered not coming. Nineteen had made a good sparring partner over the past few weeks and he'd started to get along pretty well with her. But he also knew how seriously she took her classes and he couldn't imagine anything but more pain being involved in this one.

Eventually he'd decided to come anyway. Not because he thought he was wrong but because he'd come here to get trained. If he was ever out in the field he didn't want to have to worry about what training he'd passed up because he hadn't wanted to pick up a few more bruises. Especially when he could morph those bruises away.

[Adrian]

Adrian walked through the hallway with a deck of cards he'd brought with him from France. It had served him well so far. He'd made poker buddies out of the scientists and had even attracted the eye of some of the female personnel with the few magic tricks he knew. Since he now saw the deck as a vital part of his flirtation routine he practiced flipping a card with nimble finger movements as walked down the hall.

He'd heard about some special class going on today and while he knew sitting on the sidelines wasn't exactly kosher here he hoped to get away with it. There wasn't much to do around the ship for the next hour or two and he could always find a bit of amusement watching his fellow recruits get run into the ground by their teachers, especially Nineteen, a person Adrian found slightly fascinating in a hands off sort of way.

He walked into the gym and smiled at the occupants. He had seen the lanky Alain around enough to be familiar with him though he tried not to stand next to the guy. Adrian had found that height didn't much matter until you were compared to someone else and Alain was all too easy to be compared to. The man was almost an entire foot taller than him.

Nineteen, who existed in a more normal atmospheric level, was much easier to stand next to so he did. "How's everyone today?" Adrian asked, holding out a fan of cards towards Nineteen, his eyes offering her the pick of the deck.

[Simplicity]

Simplicity skipped through the ship with her hands clasped behind her back. There had been a note on her terminal and a break in her schedule that desperately needed filled. Nineteen was one of the teachers she liked, even if the woman did give her the chills at times. Still her code of conduct also meant that as females, they needed to stick together. Even if that meant she got chased with weapons as a result. Deep down she really hoped that would never come to that.

As she stepped through the door she smiled and waved at those in the room. She didn’t know Nineteen or Alain very well, they both seemed distant in their own special way. Perhaps there was some sort of hazing she still needed to go through. If there was she hoped it didn’t involve lighting her hair on fire. Adrian, she wasn’t exactly sure how much she knew about him. They had met in France and both went with the animorphs, after that all she could say for sure about him was he was a good teammate.

She watched as he held the deck of cards out to Nineteen. Quickly she covered her mouth as a few possible scenarios ran through her head. The amount of amusement she got from it was a sure sign Simplicity had too much time on her hands.

“I’m good,” she chirped as she moved closer to the group. Sim waved to them all again then grasped her hands behind her back again.

“What’s on today’s agenda Prof?” she turned to Nineteen. If fire was involved best to find out early.

[Nineteen]

Nineteen nodded towards Alain when he came in. It wasn't surprising that he'd come, or even that he was the first one here. He was probably the most serious student here. Sure, everyone else wanted to learn, wanted to do something important. But Alain pursued new knowledge and new training with a vengeance. She was guessing that he was just trying to make up for lost time; he was almost a decade older than some of the folks here.

It was less predictable that Adrian would be second. Adrian reminded Nineteen a bit of her "graduating class" as far as spunk went, and if some kind of teacher-student barrier wasn't in effect, she'd had given him a run for his money, without doubt. As it was, she knew better (if only slightly) than to involve herself in any of the usual antics. Or to show him how poker had been played back where she'd picked up the game.

Adrian splayed the cards in front of her, and Nineteen plucked one out without a thought. Simplicity came in as she was drawing, and Nineteen smiled to the girl. It was nice to have a girl to teach, or another girl in the Academy at all. There were plenty of female Animorphs -- hell, their Commander was Cassie after all -- but they hardly seemed to start at the Academy. Nineteen remembered being in Simplicity's shoes.

"It's a secret," Nineteen replied to Simplicity. "Well, for a few more minutes at least. In case we have any stragglers." Her eyes flicked back to Adrian. "Am I supposed to look at my card?"

[Adrian]

"Yes ma'am," Adrian said as he flicked the fan of cards together and started shuffling them with practiced skill. "You can even show everyone else your card, just don't show me." Adrian finished shuffling and fanned out the cards once more. "And when you're ready just put it back somewhere in the deck."

He'd looked up this trick in a book but he wasn't a magician or even had serious aspirations to be one. He just liked playing around and learning something new. If he managed to pull the trick off he'd be happy but he wouldn't sweat it if it went awry either.

[Nineteen]

Nineteen went for it. After all, they had a few minutes to kill, and a card trick seemed like a decent enough way to do it. She looked down at her card -- a two of diamonds -- and then held it up for Alain and Simplicity to see. Simplicity seemed the more entertained of the two.

When that was finished, she inserted the card back in the deck. She didn't pick any particular spot, but she doubted that mattered. "All right, show us what you got." Nineteen gestured for Adrian to continue the trick. She wasn't prepared to be blown away, but she wasn't dead set on being unimpressed, either. If anyone among them could pull this off, it was probably Adrian.

[Alain]

Alain nodded solemnly when Nineteen showed him her card. He was standing with his arms crossed between Nineteen and Simplicity, and he kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He wasn't impatient, he just didn't want to sit down. But then he decided there was no harm in sitting and he dropped down to the matts below as Nineteen put the card back in the deck.

Like all the other recruits here, Adrian was young and looked it. But he handled himself with a self depreciating maturity that Alain found easy to get along with. Alain watched with interest as he attempted his trick. He'd never really been interested in magic tricks but it was something to pass the time.

He looked over at Simplicity to see how she was taking all of this. He didn't know her well outside of class, he didn't know many people well outside of class he was now realizing. Of all the people here he'd spent the most time with Nineteen, their teacher. True, the line between teacher and student was only strictly enforced in the classroom, or at least, it seemed that way to him. But he should probably still be making more of an effort to befriend his fellow recruits. They would be his future team mates and he had no way of knowing who he'd be assigned with.

[Adrian]

Adrian nodded and then shuffled the deck once again. He made a bit of a show out of shuffling it thoroughly before he fanned the deck back out. "Was it this one?" Adrian asked, picking out the jack of clubs. Everyone around him shook their heads no and he frowned and folded the deck back up.

A look of confusion came on his face as he began messing around with the deck. He fanned it back out and in a few times before shuffling it again. He held up another card, the ten of diamonds this time but again he'd gotten it wrong. Simplicity was kind enough to tell him he at least got the right suite.

He sighed and went to put the deck between his waistband and his hip where the spandex would hold it well enough. "Guess I need to practice some more," he said, scratching his head. A 'eureka' expression came over his face and he snapped his fingers before reaching down behind Alain's ear. He pulled out the two of diamonds and held it out to Nineteen. "Got to cut your hair mate," Adrian said with a mock pitying expression.

[Richard]

Yes, Richard was late for this class that someone had placed a note in his room about. He had been taking a nap and didn't wake up until a few minutes ago, so he was running through the ship trying to get there before it started. He really needed to fix his internal alarm clock, so that it would wake him up at the appropriate time. Richard had known a few kids who could do it, but he had never tried to make himself do it. He thought it seemed stupid at the time.

"I am so going to be late for this thing." Why hadn't he picked a rabbit morph for his first morph. Then, he could have pulled a whole Alice in Wonderland thing while going to class. He bounded around the corner barely missing some tech person before shooting past. Richard was coming up on the gym, and he was hoping that the door wasn't closed as it would make things a little more embarassing to interrupt a class that was in session.

Richard slowly walked into the room to find them doing something with cards. "I am guessing that I am not late then." He probably misread the note or something. He put names to three out of the four faces in the room, which meant that he hadn't met the other girl or his memory was really bad today.

[Simplicity]

Sim tilted her head in acknowledgment when she was shown the card. It was a nice moment, given how little tension there seemed to be in the room. She crossed her arms as Adrian preformed his trick. The longer he messed with the deck the louder her chuckle got. It seemed Adrian had a talent for a painful sort of humor, the longer he went the worse she felt for him and yet she kept laughing. By the time he was putting the cards away she was watching it unfold between her fingers.

Still laughing she went to touch Adrian’s shoulder as the semi-pocketed the cards. Before she could get a chance the boy was on the move with a funny look on his face. She pulled back in confusion, then he pulled the card out from behind Alain’s hair.

After a brief golf clap to Adrian she nodded. Simplicity punched him lightly in the arm saying, “Nice set up and delivery, give you that.”

She turned her attention to the tall recruit and kneeled next to him. “Ya know I could take care of that for ya,” Sim stuck out her tongue and flicked the end of his hair with her finger tips.

Standing back up she waved at the other guy who had walked in. She glanced back around the group and exhaled. Very interesting collection of people, including her, for what she gathered but before she could wonder to much about them her mind was back on Nineteen’s mystery class.

[Nineteen]

Adrian showed off, "pulling" a card from behind Alain's ear. Nineteen smiled broadly, appreciating the joke. Alain did have something of a mop of hair. Richard showed up, and Nineteen waved him in. "No worries, it's not a mandatory class." Besides, the more the merrier. Now they had an even number of students, too.

"All right," Nineteen started, looking over them. They seemed to settle easy enough, and she wondered when she'd actually become anything like a real teacher. If a few months ago someone had told her that new recruits would ever listen to what she had to say, much less be willing to learn from her, she probably would have laughed. It still didn't feel like she was much of a teacher when compared with Jullian or Seiya, but people really did come to her class to learn things. And, from the large improvements in their basic hand to hand and marksmanship abilities overall, maybe she wasn't the worst. Probably not the best either, but that's happened when you chose instructors from leftover failed recruits, or whatever she was.

"So, back before the war, there was American football. Some of you I'm sure are familiar, but for those of you that came from over the pond, the players tended to be big. Like, built to smash other equally large guys flat big." Nineteen got up from her chair, but left it where it was at the front of the large, cleared space. "What they found, though, was that their regular training wasn't quite doing it any more." She talked as she walked over to one of the metal shelves on the side of the room. "What they found, was that training them in something completely different actually really helped with their dexterity, and their ability to think about the game from a different angle." From there she carried over what some of them might have recognized as a hologram device attached to an old-school VCR. The extension cord was already plugged in, and she unrolled it as she walked back. "So they made these huge dudes take ballet lessons."

She set the hologram plus VCR on the chair. After a few quick button presses, a hologram of the old dance instruction video came to life, playing into open air in a way that the tape was never meant to. "Fortunately, I'm not quite that cruel. And I don't know the first thing about ballet. So we're starting with some basic hip hop." Nineteen looked over at them, and smiled.

There was something at least a little sadistic about it.

[Alain]

Alain watched Adrian's failed trick with interest and a bit of pity even though it didn't seem like Adrian minded that much. When he managed to pull the card out of Alain's hair though Alain had to smile and he joined Simplicity in giving him a bit of a clap at the end.

"Yeah, maybe I'll do something about it," Alain said, running a hand through his hair. His hair had been long for the past couple of years. Diya had always been a bit too preoccupied to cut it and it hadn't been on the top of Alain's priorities since he'd been freed. But perhaps it was time for a change. Sweating in Nineteen's class hadn't been fun with hair this long.

He stood up when Richard entered the room since it seemed like a good enough reason to start the class. He wasn't wrong and Nineteen soon showed them what they'd be doing. An unsure expression crossed Alain's face. He didn't doubt that Nineteen knew what she was talking about and that dance classes may help with other things, but he had always had two left feet and backward knees. Or at least it had seemed that way to him. He'd never quite grown into his own size but perhaps that had a lot to do with the fact that he'd lost control of his body when he was still a teenager. He hadn't noticed if that had changed any but he was sure he still wasn't the most graceful person around.

But training was training so he just looked around at the other recruits and wondered how they were going to start.

[Richard]

Richard listened as Nineteen explained what they were going to be doing. He wasn't that big on dancing because he found that it always seemed to work out that he did movements from his mixed martial arts classes instead of hip hop steps. He could tell that this would probably end up the same way, but he decided that he would at least try to do this training before labeling it as a bad idea.

He noticed that Alain seemed to have the same feeling as he did about this type of exercise. Richard figured that Alain thought this would be some sort of special training like he had. His original assumption was that they were going to practice combative fighting with the morphs they already had or something. Richard even considered the possibility that Nineteen was going to ask them all to take her on at once to see how well they worked together or something that would fall in the lines of combat training.

"So I assume that you are going to demonstrate the proper hip hop technique since you are the instructor?" Richard was definitely not going to go first out of the group, and if they were expected to try doing this little routine at the same time then they might want to notify someone to come in to the room to check to make sure they were all still conscious.

[Adrian]

Adrian bowed a little at the applause and put the deck of cards in his waistband. When Nineteen decided to start the class he turned to her, more attentive than he'd expected himself to be. He honestly wasn't against classes now that he'd been here for a week or so. He'd expected the classes to be mostly bullshit but they actually taught him something useful and he was interested in that. Especially Nineteen's classes. He knew that morphing would be more important once he got into the field. But he also couldn't erase years of memories of times he'd wished he'd been a bit better at taking people down with only his human body to rely on.

Still, he hadn't expected to do more than watch, at least the first day. He didn't like to just jump into any training thrown at him and he'd been wary of taking on more than he could digest. He didn't want to leave here with barely passable skills in everything instead of being actually proficient in the things he would need.

So when Nineteen revealed they'd be dancing his reaction was much like every else's if for his own reasons. He wasn't phobic of the dance floor. He enjoyed dancing well enough but he'd never wanted to study it. To him dancing was something you did at a party or in a bar when the music was particularly good or the benefits (like getting closer to a desired partner) outweighed the bad points.

"Uh," was all he said, not quite disrespectful enough to go against her reasoning.