Morphing Time

[Sawyer]

So it had finally arrived. It was Sawyer's first morphing class or at least it would be the first time she would attempt to morph. Needless to Sawyer was a bit nervous. She had overheard what it was like to change into an animal and how your body changed during the process. Then there were always the jokers that tried to psych you out by telling you have growing extra limbs and how you can be stuck in a morph if you don't demorph within two hours.

Then again there were always the good things to look forward to. It would probably be cool to be able to fly once she got a bird or flying insect morph. Also, the improved senses like sight, sent, and hearing would be cool too. Sawyer also knew that the power was the only chance that humans had of defeating the Yeerks. "Maybe I ought to stretch a bit considering my body may shrink or grow." Sawyer said to herself and she began to stretch her legs.

[Jullian]

Jullian walked into his classroom chewing on a half eaten apple. He was dressed in a pair of tight, acid wash jeans, good clothing was a luxury these days which was why he made an effort to find and keep anything he found in his size, and a loose, stripped shirt. Horizontal stripes of course, and medium sized. Too thin and he was a television screen gone wrong, too thick and he would look like an eight year old, and at that, one raised in the 90's. He had no particular desire to give either impression.

He stopped when he saw the new recruit stretching in the middle of the class. He almost laughed, not at her actions, but at the studious and serious expression on her face while she performed them. He had yet to meet anyone that needed to stretch before morphing, or had even thought to try. He wondered if it would have any effect.

"Hi," Jullian said brightly with his usual friendliness threaded through his voice. In his free hand he had a case that he brought over to his desk, one of the few pieces of furniture in the room. He set it down before turning back to the young woman.

"Welcome to morphing," he said with an enthusiasm that made him seem even younger than his sixteen years. It was hard not to. He loved what he taught and he was learning to, if not love, then accept the life it led him too. Or maybe he was just fooling himself and he'd locked his discontent behind so many layers of determination and forced cheer that he could ignore it on most days. Today was one of those days so it didn't cross his mind for more than a moment.

"I'm Jullian," he said, holding out his hand. "And you must be Sawyer. Sorry that we all know your name and all. I would feel a bit awkward if everyone knew who I was and I didn't know who they were. I assure you, it's just the teachers. Everyone else is still wondering who the new girl is."

((Can you put your three starting morphs in your signature Sawyer so I know what we're going to be morphing?))

[Sawyer]

"It's quite alright" Sawyer replied. "Actually I'm use to everyone talking about me. I was the new kid at school once before and even before that I kinda had a lot of rumors that circulated around me." Even if she was getting talked about since she was a new recruit at least most of them had the decency to talk to her directly and ask her questions rather than just talking about her behind her back like the kids at school did. "Um no offense but you seem a bit young to be a teacher"

Sawyer couldn't quite place his age. He seemed like he was in his teens maybe five or six years younger than she was. Plus he seemed incredibly perky for some odd reason. None the less she figured old age does not an excellent teacher make. Maybe he was just some sort of child morphing prodigy or something. After all he wouldn't have been assigned to teach her to morph if he wasn't skill at it right?

[Jullian]

Jullian laughed and, thankfully, there wasn't any nervousness or doubt in the sound. He grown more comfortable with his role and his belief that he was fit to hold it, even when the men and women he taught were older than him. "You could say that," Jullian said. "I'm sixteen but I'm one of the most experienced morphers in the force and the best at the Academy." It wasn't a boast though, coming from many other teenage boys, it might have been. It was just an acknowledgment of skill. He had yet to have a student who matched him though Dustin seemed like he may be on his way there.

"So," he said, clapping his hands and pushing off of the desk he'd been leaning on, "let's get started. Have you read any of the textbook?" Jullian asked. A copy of the text book he'd written to go along with the class was available at the terminals located in every room but it wasn't unknown for the new recruits not to have read them. The first few days were always devoted to settling in and Jullian liked to have the text book as a background item anyway. Something to supplement what he was teaching, not define it.

[Sawyer]

"Well I started to read it" Sawyer sighed, "But I got a little freaked out what with all the talk of growing extra limbs on some morphs and having your body structure change and stuff. Oh yeah and that whole being careful to not stay in a morph for more than two hours thing. I mean people had been telling me that stuff before I read the book but I was hoping they were just making up lies to freak out the new girl but I guess not. So I stopped reading a couple chapters in, sorry. You probably think I'm being ridiculous right?"

Here she was given an opportunity of a lifetime and a gift many would die to have and she was freaked out by it just because she may have to grow and extra limb! She bet everyone else couldn't wait to learn how to morph. Plus this gift was their only leverage in this war and she was practically dismissing it. She should have been eager to learn this skill so she could use it to help save humanity and eventually her adoptive father. She took a deep breath which helped her feel a little better.

[Jullian]

"Oh, not at all," Jullian said, waving a hand of dismissal. "I mean, we're all used to it because we've been doing it for so long but turning into animals is definitely not the most normal thing to do. And," Jullian said, walking around the desk, "to be honest there are times some morphs still freak me out. Every animal is different, every morph is different for that matter but that's also what I like about it, morphing never gets old."

"Ok, so we'll cover lesson one and then we'll get to morphing. As you've already said, you got the big bit of information that's important. Don't stay in morph longer than two hours. That limit has a to do with a lot of morph energy technical stuff that we'll get into later. The important thing to know for today are the broad strokes. When you morph you become the animal and you have to deal with its instincts. The farther down the evolutionary chain something is the stronger its instincts are, approximately anyway. So, for instance, an ant or any bug for that matter has really strong instincts but so do alligators and sharks because they haven't changed much. Mammals are a bit easier to control because they are more like us but still difficult."

Jullian opened the container he'd brought. It held the morphing cube that stayed at the Academy and a few vials of blood, animals he'd determined would make a good first morph. None of them were bugs because that was an entire lesson and would make a poor first choice.

"Ok, so when you morph it takes about three minutes. It doesn't hurt but you can feel your body changing and that can be disturbing so you should prepare yourself. For your first morph I was thinking a mammal would be decent to try. Do any of these appeal to you?"

Inside the container were vials labeled HOUSE CAT, HOUSE DOG, DEER and CAPUCHIN MONKEY.

[Sawyer]

Sawyer nodded as she listened to everything that Julian was saying. His explanation seemed to calm her down a bit or maybe it was just his amiable demeanor. Either way she felt slightly less anxious about morphing. She looked over the vials he presented her and read each one. She was glad that they would be doing mammals first because those seemed less scary and less likely to have extra limbs.

She looked over each vial carefully as she tried to rationalize a decision. Dog's and Cat's while having good senses like seeing, smelling, and hearing seemed a bit too small and vunerable. The money she didn't know enough about the animal to know it would have instincts that would suit her. The deer she knew was pretty powerful seeing as she had seen an accident one time where a guy hit a deer and it totally wrecked his car. Not to mention the deer was bigger so she wouldn't have to shrink so much "I think I'll go with the deer" Sawyer finally stated.