Where The Magic Happens

[Suzy May]

The bug fighter landed. Suzanna was pretty impressed at how smooth and gentle it was. She remembered flights on airplanes to Disney World that tended to be bumpy and not so gentle on landing. It was pretty neat. If the ship happened to inspire any bad memories, Suzy ignored them with a smile. It was all dust in the wind. What didn’t kill you made you stronger, and Suzy wasn’t planning on dying yet. She stepped off the fighter, clutching the strap of her single bag of possessions tightly.

Again, she was impressed. She had been told that the Animorphs had a base in Antarctica, but she had been expecting an igloo or something. Isn’t that what all people in cold places lived in? Suzy May smiled to herself and visibly shrugged it off. It didn’t matter, the giant hangar bay she was in was pretty cool in itself, even if it wasn’t made of ice. While awkwardly standing there, because she didn’t know what to do or where to go, she glanced around the big room, noticing some random crates scattered here and there. She also noticed something that looked like an obstacle course, but she wasn’t sure. It looked an awful lot like a child’s playground. In fact, it looked fun to play on. But that’s not what I’m here for.

Although, if nothing happened sooner or later, she was going to have fun instead of wasting the day standing in one spot. Win-win situation.

[Sawyer]

"I grew up in Chicago aka the windy city for part of my life" Sawyer grumbled to her self. "I should be use to the cold." Then again Antarctica is significantly colder than any state in the US which made it practically uninhabitable up until this point. In fact no humans except scientists ever set up camp in Antarctica before the war so it would make sense that no one would be immune to the cold. Sawyer was just lucky that she had the proper attire to even go out in this bitter cold.

Sawyer checked her watch and realized it was the time that the the new recruit was scheduled to arrive. Sawyer was told to show her around the base a bit although Sawyer didn't know if she was qualified to do that seeing as she was relatively new herself. However, they had all drawn straws and Sawyer got the short one so she was stuck as tour guide. Sawyer put a sweatshirt on knowing the hanger was cold compared to other areas of the base and headed there. She saw a girl there and assumed this was the new recruit. "Hi you must be Susanna. I'm Sawyer and I'm here to show you around a bit"

[Suzy May]

With a swishing noise, Suzanna heard somebody enter the hangar. She guessed it must be someone sent to greet her, so she put on her Stranger Face. This consisted of her smiling quite widely and looking as sincere and warm in greeting that anyone would’ve thought they were best friends seeing each other after a long time apart. “Hello, Sawyer!” she said cheerily. “You can call me Suzy or Suzy May if you’d prefer.” She let the offer hang. She wasn’t going to force anyone to use a nickname for her. It just normally made people feel more comfortable instead of using a big, fancy-sounding name.

Suzy May closed the distance between the, still radiating joy and simple happiness. This was where the magic of the Animorphs happened. This was where she could actually help a lot of people. She couldn’t wait to get started, never worrying about how evident her emotions were displayed on her face and in her body language. She looked up at Sawyer expectantly, yet still giving a soft smile. Whenever Sawyer was ready to go, she’d follow. But she didn’t really mind just standing around either. Her jacket was decent enough from the cold for the time being, and there was still so much to see in the vast chamber! Suzanna is often contented with the simplest of things.

[Sawyer]

"Ok Suzy it is then" Sawyer smirked. "So um I guess lets get out of this cold hanger and begin the tour. So I guess you already know that this is the hanger where our ships arrive and take off and where they are stored I guess too. So I guess we'll head to the next room over from here and we'll end our tour at the dormitories so I can show you to your room.

She started to walk towards the door that lead inside to the main area. "So we're coming up on the lobby here and next we'll head to the training gyms. So tell me a little bit about yourself. That way I can quell all the rumors about the new girl." Sawyer chuckled. "Don't worry they never say anything bad just asking where you came from and what you're like. They did the same thing to me when I arrived but most everyone here is nice and accepting."

[Suzy May]

Suzy was liking this girl already. Such a nice attitude and she seemed so friendly. It was a delightful change of pace. She smiled at Sawyer’s little joke and soon answered. “Well, let’s see. I grew up in Minnesota, lovely place by the way, but then I ended up living in Los Angeles in an underground city, which was an experience in itself.” She stopped for a few seconds, trying to think up what else to say. This wasn’t exactly the sort of interview she had been expecting. But she wasn’t complaining.

Suzy May went along with Sawyer, following her out the hangar. By then, she’d come up with other tidbits about herself. “I love pink and yellow,” she continued. “And I prefer chocolate chip cookies over Oreos.” By then she felt that she had answered the older girl’s question enough and so maneuvered the conversation away from herself. “So what about you?” She glanced toward Sawyer with a friendly and questioning smile.

[Sawyer]

"That's nice," Sawyer smiled lightly. "So about me huh? Well let's see I was born in Chicago but then I moved with my adoptive father when I was ten cause he got offered a better position at this big time company. He's a rocket scientist or was seeing as I haven't seen him in seven years. I found out when I was around thirteen that the company he worked at was just a front for Yeerks to build their ships and weapons and they hired my father so that they could make him a controller and use his smarts to build ships. I decided that I had to leave or else they might infect me and well I could save my father from the Yeerk in his head I had a Yeerk in my head."

"I'm sorry," Sawyer sighed, "I'm burdening you with my woes." Then again it seemed every human nowadays whether a survivor or being controlled by the Yeerk. "Um let's see what can I tell you about me that isn't so depressing? Oh um well I like to write and I love chocolate. Then again, what woman doesn't love chocolate right? Let's see what else? Oh um well my favorite color is blue and I love Shakespeare. My favorite comedy of his is Twelfth Night."

[Suzy May]

“Nah, that’s okay,” Suzy May said. “We survivors need to stick together, don’t we?” Really, it did kind of depress her a bit, listening to Sawyer, but she could push through it. She refused to let her smile fade. “So, Twelfth Night, eh? I liked that one myself but I prefer A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Fairies always made things better. “What kind of stuff do ya write?” she asked, genuinely interested. She didn’t have much skill in writing out stories and such, but poetry could flow from her pen for hours upon end. Not that she would ever risk anyone reading it, of course.

Suzanna’s chocolate hues slid over the bright and shiny stainless-steel-looking walls and ceiling of the hallway. She unconsciously shivered. It wasn’t that she was actually cold, the ship was much too warm for that, but the stark metal and artificial lighting just made everything seem like it should be freezing. But she couldn’t complain. Even if it felt like the temperature should be different, it would still be warmer than it was outside. Also, they actually had lighting. It was a luxury that she had not always possessed on the way to Union station.

The place was turning out to be pretty cool, pun intended.

[Sawyer]

"Fiction mostly," Sawyer said, "Sometimes fantasy with magic and stuff but usually modern stories. I haven't written anything in a long time though cause of the war." If this war ever did end and Sawyer survived she would have to start writing again. "Actually that's not completely true. I do keep a diary. Maybe one day it will get published, you know like Anne Frank." Sawyer had certainly been through enough experiences to write a rather interesting and packed diary.

Finally they came to the gyms. "Um so yeah these are the training areas. There are places to exercise and keep in shape and there are places were combat training is held. There are also areas around here for morphing class. You'll probably be scheduled to take both classes pretty soon. The morphing instructor Julian put some free morphing textbooks at various stations on the base if you want to read more about the ability. It was a bit freaky for me to comprehend but you'll probably be fine with it. Next we move onto the lounge area."

[Suzy May]

“Yeah, just like Anne Frank. Except you’re going to survive,” Suzanna said with a surprising amount of sincerity. And then she skipped topics, cutting off any chance for her prediction to be countered. “Morphing class, huh? What’s that like?” Suzy May had heard stories of morphing before. Union had been quite abuzz with them, considering how the local faction of Animorphs tended to go there a lot. And if she wasn’t mistaken and her informer had proven accurate, than there had been some sort of battle near the ceiling of the vast station involving some birds, monkeys, and robots.

But it sounded simple to her. Shapeshifting. Why would they need a class for it? “Like, do you sit in little circles and try yoga or meditation and stuff?” Suzy asked, a glimmer in her eye. The combat areas and gyms seemed self-explanatory and boring. The morphing class sounded interesting. Suddenly her thoughts flew ahead into an imaginary room where a bunch of animals and such were sitting on pillows with their legs crossed and forelegs touching their knees, muttering some mantra. And a Dalai Lama/Yoda amalgam sat before them, being all wise and peaceful.

But of course that couldn’t be it, could it? Suzy May shook her head in a visible gesture to dispel her fantasy. She looked forward to the lounge area. It sounded so relaxing.

[Sawyer]

"Morphing is a bit weird the first time." Sawyer replied. "I mean well you aren't use to your body shifting and changing form. I chose to acquire a deer morph first cause I thought bigger morphs would be easier than small ones and deer are powerful. At least until I get more morphs I want at least one I know I can use to defend myself well just in case. You won't have to morph into anything to complicated on your first class. Heck I only was given an option to choose one out of four simpler morphs."

Sawyer chuckled at the yoga comment. "No we don't do yoga or at least I haven't in any of my morphing classes. I did stretch a little before the Julian came. I'm not sure if that helps any but I doubt it could hurt. I guess one of the weirdest thing when in a morph is trying to fight some on the animal instincts. Like deer are really temperamental when it comes to noise and that whole 'deer in the headlights thing'. Although Julian said the closer the animal is to a human the weaker those animal instincts become. Plus even as an animal your human self is still conscious so we have at least some will power."

[Suzy May]

Suzy May kept glancing back at the older girl as Sawyer talked. With each sentence she was learning things about her. She had intentionally picked a deer to become, and not for any of its more common and noble attributes such as speed or agility, but for its possible use in a fight? Well, that and its ease of use. The practicality and dual-nature of the reasoning behind the pick fairly surprised the teen. My God! she thought. This girl’s a warrior! But wasn’t that to be expected in a time like this? Suzanna made a mental note to expect more of such a thing in the people she would soon see.

As her mind had whirled around, her ears had stayed open, catching all that Sawyer had to say. And it was certainly quite a bit to take in. Not to mention confusing. “So wait. When you’re, let’s say a deer, the deer is there with you too?” At least, that’s what it sounded like Sawyer had meant. “And you’re not really in control?” How effective could such a transformation be, if the initiator was merely a backseat driver, so to speak? Suzy May’s extrapolations were starting to plant a tiny grain of doubt in her decision to join.

[Sawyer]

"I don't know if you would say the deer is there with you when you morph," Sawyer replied. "It's more like you but in the form of a deer and that gives you certain abilities. For example, in a bird morph you can fly or as a cheetah you can run really fast. In addition to those abilities you also sometimes gain the instinct those animals have like if you are a seagull you could come across trash and want to start eating it. However, you are the one in control not the animal itself or at least that's how I've come to understand it."

Sawyer thought she might have just given an even more confusing explanation so she decided to try something else. "It's kinda like Harry Potter. Have you any read any of those books? Well any way in the books there is a type of wizard in the book called an Animagus who can transform into an animal. It's them but in a new form. The only differences between them and us is that they can only change into one animal and they have to work really hard to unlock that animal Whereas we got our power from a glowing blue cube and then we just acquire morphs by touching the animals. Oh yeah and they can stay in that morph as long as they like and still go back to their human form."

Lucky jerks Sawyer thought to herself. "Does that help any?"

[Suzy May]

“Ok,” Suzanna said as Sawyer first started talking. “Ok….ok.” The mental resolution of that picture was slowly increasing. And then the brunette began talking about a type of wizard from Harry Potter and comparing and contrasting it to the Animorphs. Yeah, Suzy May had read the series, but right then it only served to confuse her further. “Ok. Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. You’re in control of the body of the animal, except for the times you’re not in control because the animal is there, except it’s not. And you can turn into anything you want but you can’t turn back into human.”

The blonde frowned. Yeah, it was clear as mud. “I think I’ll wait until I meet the instructor before I try understanding all of that.” Honestly, it made no sense to her. It was like a suicide weapon of major damage that had faulty control systems. No wonder they had a morphing class. To prepare you for the complexities and paradoxes of morphing. She decided to switch topics before her brain started hurting. “So, uh, where’s the lounge?”

[Sawyer]

Sawyer sighed internally. She either she was just bad at explaining the concept or the concept was just to confusing to be easily explain. "Well I mean you can go back to your human form as long as you demorph within the two hour time limit. If you are in a morph for more than two hours than you become what is called a nothlit and you will be in that form for the rest of your life. So for example if you were in the morph of a dog and it is past the two hour time limit you will remain a dog. But they try and teach you conscious of how long you stay in morph so you should be alright."

Sawyer sighed internally again. She was probably confusing the girl even more now. "But you're right you should probably just let the instructor explain everything. He's more knowledgeable about this stuff than I am. I'm probably just gonna end up psyching you out or something. Finally they came up to the lounge. "So this is the lounge where you can relax and chill with other trainees here. I like to come here and study."

[Suzy May]

Suzanna was still polite as Sawyer kept talking, filing the given information away in the back of her brain in case it ever made sense to her again. A chuckle of laughter escaped her lips at the “psyching out” comment. Sawyer was so much more right than she knew. But then they were at the lounge and the topic was officially switched to something of an easier-to-understand level. Suzy May glanced around the reasonably vast area, taking in the various sources of rest and entertainment scattered around. It certainly looked relaxing.

Something in what Sawyer said jumped out at her. “Study? What kinds of things do you study here? Like academics?” That had never quite occurred to Suzy that she made have to attend some form of school there. Not that she was against it or anything, but she just couldn’t help but wonder the importance of calculating angles and ratios or determining the rhythm of a poem while learning how to help fight a war effort. Well, she knew the place was called an academy, but she had thought it would be more along the lines of Basic Training or something.

These Animorphs were just chalk full of surprises!