Crossing the Boarder

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Crossing the Boarder

Rian:
Rian stepped out of the school bus. They had picked the vehicle up shortly after rescuing the kids from the Philippines. It was more eye catching than he'd like but short of flying them out of here in the transport vehicle they'd stolen he didn't know anything else that would be big enough.

He had realized shortly after they'd gotten back that they couldn't stay in Vegas. The base had the room with all the empty barracks but it wasn't safe. And that feeling was only confirmed by recent events. Children didn't belong in a war zone.

He stepped aside as the forty or so kids began filing quietly onto the bus. It was still eery to see them some times. They didn't act like any kids Rian had interacted with. They were too quiet, too subdued, to broken. Seeing them like that angered him and he could only hope that living with free humans would help them recover.

He walked over to where Luce, Suji and Nadia were standing. There wasn't really much to say, they knew the deal. They knew their contact in Mexico and how to get to the camp, at least in theory. So instead of going over details they had already spoken of last night Rian just held up the keys to the bus.

"Who's driving first?"


Suji:
"Nose goes!" Nadia chirped, and Suji stared at her. She had the feeling Luce was doing the same. "See you around Rian," Suji said. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to have more of a goodbye for him than that, but she found she didn't really want one. Vegas had been a mixed blessing for Suji, and right now it was mixed enough that it seemed less like a blessing and more like a curse she couldn't quite shake. If she never had to come back to this city, she wouldn't mind.

With that she went to where the bike was parked, and slipped on the helmet. There were two now, the original black one and a red one. Suji put on the black one, and held the red one out to Luce. "Unless you'd rather take the kiddie mobile."


Luce:
Luce was standing behind Nadia. She thought noes goes was ridiculous but the emotion didn't reach her face. She was hardly on good terms with Rian at the moment let alone the rest of the faction. No one knew what she had done but they knew she'd done something. People don't often get barred from missions.

Then with everything that had just gone down...she was grateful Rian wasn't blaming her but she didn't feel at all confident enough to be making fun of anyone else. Gods, how had life gotten so complicated? What the hell was she supposed to feel now?

When Suji walked away leaving Nadia with the keys Luce considered taking them. The alternative was riding with Suji and that was sure to prove uncomfortable. But in the end her choice was made for practical reasons. She didn't have experience in driving large vehicles and Nadia did.

"Sorry," she said simply and walked away and over to where Suji was standing near the motorcycle she had ridden in. Luce took the helmet from her with a muttered "thanks" and slipped it on. It would probably have been more comfortable if she had morphed something small and ridden that way but they were supposed to be serving as guards and cats couldn't shoot guns.

Luce had left her beloved shotgun in her new room and had only taken her pistol and a dracon beam. She had finally given in to the pressure to start carrying one despite her strong dislike of the things.


Rian:
Rian handed Nadia the keys. He might have looked slightly apologetic in other circumstances but right now his default facial expression was a grim one. Ember was...he was worried. And he wanted to get back to her to make sure she would be ok. There was a distracted look in his eyes and worry lines on his brow. But he wouldn't send Luce, Nadia and Suji off on a mission without saying anything. Especially because Suji and Nadia wouldn't be coming back.

"Good luck in Mexico Nadia. I know they need good people down there and...just, it has been good to have you here. I know you'll do well there." Nadia didn't respond to this right away. He had never gotten close to this particular faction member and he didn't know how she'd react but in the end she just took the keys and nodded. He was about to walk away when she surprised him by giving him a quick hug before bouncing off to the bus. The hug was unexpected and slightly uncomfortable but Rian endured it well enough and even managed to hug her back a little.

He walked over to Luce and Suji. "Um, Suji..." he paused. What exactly did he want to say here? Thanks for coming? Hope you had a nice stay? "Good luck, wherever you end up."

It was the best he could do at the moment. She was a good animorph and had been an asset to his team. He'd told Cassie as much and he hoped that it would be enough to clear her name with the far away leader. But he didn't feel like Vegas was the new start that Suji might need to really show what she could do. He envied Ray though, Rian could have used her here.

He looked at Luce but her face was covered by the helmet making her look inhuman so he just turned away and headed back into the officer's quarters with a last nod to the both.


Suji:
"You too, amigo." Suji flipped up the visor on the front of the helmet. "You know. Because we're going to Mexico." She smiled wryly, though it was probably covered by the rest of the helmet. She pushed the visor back down and swung one leg over the side of the bike. "Two hours and we can switch off," she said to Luce, the helmet slightly muffling her voice.

She waited for Luce to get on behind her, and revved the bike. It came alive like a great cat, and Suji had never been too into automobiles, but riding this thing made the obsession all that much easier to understand. It would be a bit different driving with Luce's added weight, but this motorcycle was slick, and Suji had no doubt that it would handle smoothly.

When it was time, she fell in line behind the bus.


Luce:
Luce swung her leg over the bike and for a moment considered how best to hold on. She didn't really feel comfortable basically hugging Suji to hold on but there didn't seem any other way to make sure that she would stay on the bike. She had never ridden one of these but she had seen them on the roads enough to know how fast they went and she didn't want to fall and split her head open because she felt awkward about holding on properly.

She slipped one arm around Suji's waist and kept the other on the holster she'd rigged for the dracon beam that rested on her right hip, right above the hilt of her knife. She was just grateful they were in real clothes and not their morphing suits. God forbid they did take a bad spill the tough denim of her jeans and leather of her jacket would protect her a lot more than nothing.

She just worried a bit about the boots. If they did have to morph the things weren't easy to get off and the paws of the new caracal morph (the last new weapon she'd acquired for this trip) would definitely not fit within them.

The bike pulled off after the bus and once they were out of the base Luce felt awfully exposed. They had to drive through nearly all of Vegas since the base was located on the northeast end of town. They stuck to the back roads as much as possible but Luce didn't really relax the hand on her dracon until they had passed the city's limits and were out on the highway.

Her other arm joined her first then and she settled in for a long ride. The drive down would take maybe 6 hours if they didn't run into trouble that is, and Luce would probably spend two thirds of it right here unless she took a turn driving the bus.

Her mind naturally tried to wander but she didn't let it. She didn't want to think too deeply about the past couple of days because that would mean remembering Aolani and how close she had come to making a mistake. But now she had to wonder if it was a mistake. Could betraying the trust of a controller be the worst thing ever, especially after what that controller had just done to one of her best friends?

And you're back to calling her The Controller now I see, a voice in her head began, her own. She didn't want to listen to it so she tried to find something to distract herself. But there was just really nothing out there. They didn't have music, or conversation, or other cars to play road games with like there would be on any other long car trip. There was just the steady hum of the bike underneath them and the seemingly endless miles of road passing beneath its wheels.

The only thing that could really take Luce's attention away from her own problems was the view. There were passing through some pretty spectacular geography. Large towers of red sandstone rose around them and the road was still in their shadow because the sun wasn't high enough to reach them yet. It felt like walking through a hall built for gods and Luce tried to keep her mind on that. The desert always gave her a certain sense of serenity that she tried to let in now to calm her confusion.

She focused on a point in infinity and proceeded to zone out. She only started taking notice of things again when she felt the bike slowing down. She looked up and saw the bus pulling over up ahead of them. Had it been two hours already? It didn't feel like it.

"What's going on?" she asked Suji, the first words she'd spoken to her the whole time.


Suji:
Suji zoned out as best she could: the purring engine underneath her, the scenery, the bus they were escorting. She could lock out other thoughts when she wanted--even if it was nothing more than the 'meditation' techniques often practiced by quack pseudo-psychologists who wrote self-help books. It was a necessary ability, when you wanted to be able to focus on one thing clearly, and it required practice. And what better time to bone up on the skill?

But she couldn't completely shut down. Driving a motorcycle, especially one like this, meant that she couldn't utterly tune out of the world. It didn't take all her facilities to drive, but it took more than driving a car would. And thoughts leaked in that way.

Vegas.

Vegas, Vegas, Vegas.

She'd help orchestrate the single biggest attack on the Yeerks since the all-out invasion started. She'd seen her friend save a Controller who was, almost impossibly so, dangerous. She'd helped rescue some psychologically battered kids from a remote place in the world. One part of that mission had involved watching another Animorph get swallowed whole by a 20-foot long monster. Another part had involved turning into that monster.

Vegas was supposed to be a fresh start: in a way it was. She'd seen more missions--important missions--in that faction in a few weeks than she ever could have expected in Chicago, that much was sure. They were more action intensive than the more saboteur-level stuff she'd done in NYC, too. But why didn't it feel right? It probably didn't help that she'd been ushered in on the tails of the Toby crisis, something she knew for certain Raven had tagged her with before she came here.

And now someplace new, again: Dallas. At least she'd know a couple people--Drake and Ray. Ray had seemed like he'd be an active leader, and one that would treat her like counsel. Drake was... a surprisingly (well, it surprised her) good mission-mate. As far as Suji knew, they both respected her, even if they didn't exactly like her. Maybe they liked her. She wasn't sure. In any case, it would be better than being completely new, something she wouldn't have said leaving out of Chicago.

Suji managed to keep her thoughts as a low, methodical hum, even if she couldn't completely shut them out. Some time later (long enough for her butt to start getting sore) the bus put on its turn signal and flashers to show that it was going to be taking a stop further up the road. Suji slowed the bike to follow suit, when she heard Luce behind her; the engine was quiet enough that she could make out the words at least, even with the helmets.

"Kids have to pee, is my guess." There was a tiny building up a path on the right, probably the bathroom destination. "If you have to go, I suggest getting in there before they do." Suji dismounted, and began stretching her legs.


Luce:
Luce pulled the helmet off her head with two hands and her hair fell down around her face and neck. She set the helmet down on the seat in front of her and pulled her hair up off her neck. She twisted it into a knot to momentarily hold it. It didn't help cool her down that much but it helped a little.

"I don't have to," Luce said as she finished with her hair and looked up at Suji. She stared for a minute, trying to think of something to say. The silence felt wrong, it felt uncomfortable but it just also felt...wrong. They had been friends for a long time, was all of that just over because of he events of one day? It didn't feel like it should.

She still felt like she should be able to talk to her and the awkwardness annoyed her though annoyance was often the first emotion she felt. Normally it was a cover for something else but she didn't let it get past the annoyance stage.

She looked away, concentrating on nothing in particular, just taking in the scenery as some of the kids began filing off the bus. "So," she finally began, looking back at Suji, "I think I have an answer for your question. Maybe not a good one, but an answer. Still want to hear it?"


Suji:
Suji looked at Luce. The highly reflective surface of her visor betrayed less than a Halloween mask, though there was little guarantee that her face underneath gave away much emotion itself. Then she looked back at the line of kids coming out of the bus. There weren't that many of them, but a potty break for children didn't exactly sound like it'd be over all that soon. Suji tugged off her helmet.

A few pieces of hair stuck out at odd angles, and she could feel locks of it plastered to the back of her neck where the helmet had trapped heat there. It didn't help that she was in her leather outfit, the one she'd stolen sometime before her road trip to Vegas. Coupled with the morphing suit under it, she was beginning to regret the choice of black clothing.

"Yes," she answered, neutral. "Let's get a couple bottled waters from those coolers in the back of the bus. Then you can tell me." With that she went off to the bus. The kids had all filed out now, and she walked straight to the back. There were granola bar wrappers littered every few seats, and Suji even saw a couple cereal boxes propped here and there. Once she got back to one of the coolers, she was glad to find that all the ice hadn't melted, even if it had turned into a sloshy pool. She dug out two waters, and handed on to Luce. The bus was empty for the moment--Nadia must have slipped off to stretch her legs or try her luck getting into a bathroom stall before their cargo.

Twisting off the cap, Suji drank for a long time. The water chilled her inside, and she knew it was better to drink warm water when you were really thirsty, but it still felt damn good. All the actions were periphery, though: underneath she was steeling herself, bracing. "Whenever you're ready."


Luce:
Luce accepted the bottle of water gratefully. It was worse inside the bus than it had been outside. At least the air had been moving outside. Here, it just hung in the air and enveloped you like a blanket. An 80ª blanket. There was something uncomfortable and disturbing about breathing air that was almost as warm on the way in as the way out. Maybe because the body was just used to dealing with the temperature difference and when it was removed it felt wrong.

Luce sat down in one of the bus seats and collected her thoughts as she took a swig of the water. She had come to many conclusions over the past couple of days but it felt like each conclusion only led to more questions that she didn't have answers for. And each time she thought she had the world fit into a nice little box something would happen that would make a mockery of that idea. It was the way of the world.

So she tried to just go back to the moment at the dam and tried to feel what she had felt then. Putting it into words was difficult but she was determined to do her best because Suji was right, she deserved an explanation. But even more than that whatever she had felt on that dam had felt true to her. And she thought it was a feeling that needed to be shared.

"Do you ever...you know when, when you have those days that are just terrible. Those days where you are so tired and you can't believe a person can go so long without sleep? Or those days when you just want to get a cheeseburger or go to the movies or...or even just...just kick back and watch TV, surf the internet, see what stupid thing some celebrity did that day? Just moments you know, that used to be so common that are gone now. And you think, it must happen ten times a day, I wish this hadn't happened to me, to the world. I wish things can go back to the way they were?"

Luce looked up to see if Suji understood what she was talking about.


Suji:
Suji sat in the seat across the narrow aisle from Luce. She leaned her shoulder against the seat, and drank from her own water bottle. One foot was planted on the floor, and the other was curled up under her. Did she understand? Of course she did. Who didn't? The last time she'd been on a public school bus had been for a field trip in the beginning of high school. Just that memory along brought back pangs of longing.

But you don't miss it THAT much, do you? Or do you miss it because you're supposed to?

Suji didn't want to think about that. She'd recognized pretty quickly that she had a different relationship with the past than just about everyone else. She understood wanting it back but did she really, really want to go back to who she was before? Quickly she shook off the thought before it could settle.

"I understand," she said, and drank some more water.


Luce:
"Well I have those days all the time. But you know what I never hear about? I never hear other people talking about the moments when they think....when you're glad that the world is like this now. And sometimes I think I'm the only one and sometimes I think I'm crazy. I mean, I don't like what has happened to us, what has happened to people, but...when would I have ever gotten the chance to become what I've become you know? When would I have ever gotten to morph but even more than that just to fight. To fight for a cause that, at the end of the day, is right. I mean, shades of gray exist everywhere. But I feel like the gray is all in the means as opposed to the ends in this case. We fight to free people. What can be more right than that?"

She took another drink from the bottle and looked away for a minute. "I just wanted to say that because I wanted you to understand, before I go on, that I don't hate this war. I am not looking for a way out, I'm not a coward or, worse, a pacifist. I think anyone that will just sit this one out, sit it out when our species is on the line and claim it is the right thing to do...Whatever. I'm just saying I don't hate the war and I don't hate fighting it. Sometimes I feel like I should but I don't."


Suji:
Suji arched an eyebrow as she listened, and then nodded. "I know what you mean. Before the war... before the war I was in the ultra-popular clique at my school. I wasn't necessarily the one that would tear a kid down for wearing the same pants two days in a row, but I contributed a lot of... 'material' to the people who did." Suji snickered lightly.

"Now I wear the same damn body leotard thing just about every moment. Funny how things change." While she didn't sink into the topic as much as Luce seemed to have, it was more because it felt far too vulnerable. And she wasn't the one that was supposed to be showcasing here: Luce was. "I wouldn't want to go back to the person I was. I don't think the war is good, and I'd end it if I could, but... I think it was good for me. It's real. At least I never have to wake up wondering if what I'm doing is important."


Luce:
"Real is a good word," Luce said nodding as she drank more water. "It works better than what I said anyway." She sat back, slightly more at ease that at least Suji was with her up until now and was letting her talk.

"So, the dam. I guess it is not exactly hard to figure out that I lo-" she hadn't even said that to Sedra and she wasn't even sure what that word meant so she avoided using it. "That I have history with that controller. She was my yeerk's lover and...I guess...I don't know. I'm not going to claim that my feelings are completely its feelings. It might be easier because then I could just disavow them. But they aren't. I have feeling for her in my own right. For the yeerk I mean though the human is my friend." She didn't even know how she could say those two things in the same sentence and she didn't want Suji to question her on it so she just plowed on instead of stopping as she had been doing.

"And when I saw her I realized I couldn't let her die. We fight, we're warriors, soldiers. And this war has been good for me, helped me become what I am. But I don't live for it. I used to and I used to think that I would die in it and could hope for nothing better. But even more than that I thought war was all there was. As if I was fighting the war for the sake of the war itself instead of for something. And it was easy to do that when I had nothing to look forward to. But I realized that I want a life after the war, Suji. That I am fighting for the ability to sit back and watch TV again or go to the mall again or just do normal things. That I have to have something to fight for or it is just too easy to throw my life away for no purpose and it is too easy to commit- to just do things that are wrong. And not by someone else's definition but by my own. When I can't envision a world where things are sane again and where I'll be held accountable for my actions then it is way too easy to explain away doing horrible things."

She realized that she had been speaking for a while and she'd stopped looking at Suji while she talked. She wanted to get it all out without being distracted by Suji's reactions or swayed in any way. But she turned to look at her best friend now. "Sedra represented, represents a life to me, a chance at a life anyway, a normal one where I'm not constantly killing or fighting. I know that sounds weird and it doesn't make much sense but there it is. And that's why I couldn't let her die. Because then everything I was fighting for in the first place would have died with her."


Suji:
Suji listened, and while she didn't like what she was hearing, the constant analyzing and weighing process in the back of her mind found it to be genuine. At it struck something in her: disgust, anger, confusion, sure, but she'd had some time to work past that. Underneath that she just felt sympathetic for Luce. Not pity, or empathy--the former would require that Suji didn't think Luce realized the hell she was in, and the latter would mean Suji could relate, and she couldn't.

The worst thing about Vegas was that it has opened her mind to the possibility of a gray area when it came to Yeerks. Would she still kill them and maim them and terrorize them until they left her planet? Yes. Certainly. And of course she'd never believed that they were all the same, just some insect like hive mind. But she'd still never really entertained the thought that it could matter. But if it mattered to Luce, and Suji trusted Luce to be someone who saw clearly, then there had to be something to it.

"The term for that is Stockholm Syndrome," Suji said. It could have been a biting accusation, trying to invalidate everything Luce had told her, but it wasn't. The tone was merciful in its dryness; she didn't think that was all of it. And even if it started as some kind of strange dependency where fear and hate and love converged, did that make the stakes any less great now? Or Luce's feelings any less honest?

"Sedra is still the enemy. I think she more than proved that." Though her voice was firm, her words weren't vindictive. "But she reacted when you were shot. It... unsettles me to know even that. Still. She is the enemy. And this war is only going to get more and more painful if you're fighting for a dream of sharing the future with... someone like her."

Probably nothing Luce didn't know. But maybe Luce needed to hear that Suji realized it wasn't an easy situation to be in, or one Luce chose. Maybe Suji needed to say it.

"I haven't got some ideal future I'm fighting for, much less something concrete. All I know is that I have to do it... I never would have joined the military before, probably wouldn't have even gone into politics. I might have become a litigator. But part of me still feels like I was meant to do this, even if otherwise I'd be living a comfy life in some greater metropolitan area. And that's all I've got to go on for now. I'm glad you found something. I just hope it doesn't leave you ruined."

Suji drank the rest of the water bottle, and was surprised to find it dry.

"I told you I didn't shoot her because I trusted you. That was mostly it. I also didn't shoot her because I couldn't handle it. I was tired of being the clean-up crew. I had to handle a... mess in Chicago, and then all those close calls on the dam, and then watched you do that. I just didn't want to have to do it again." Suji looked down, bit her lip for moment. "In... in Chicago-"

But suddenly the bus was filling with high-pitched voices. The potty break was over.


Luce:
Luce looked at the children slightly annoyed. For a moment she and Suji had actually been talking again and even if she wasn't sure she believed everything Suji said or if she wanted to believe everything Suji said just the act of talking to her again made her feel like something that had been broken too long was finally being fixed. And Suji's last sentence almost made her think that she may not have been the only one carrying around some weight these past couple of weeks, some secret. But...the kids had come back before Suji had finished.

She stood up and looked down the aisle almost irritiated enough to ask Nadia to get all the children off the bus again when she saw one of the young boys, maybe 9, draw back from her and flinch. All she'd done was stand up but it was enough to scare him and he wasn't the only one. All of the children were like that, walking around like someone was about to hurt them any minute, flinching away and jumping at shadows. And the reaction reminded her what they were here for. These kids had to get some place where they didn't have to be afraid anymore.

A look of tenderness briefly crossed Luce's face and she kneeled down so that she was on the same eye level as the boy. "Hey," she said quietly, "what's your name?" He looked at her with wide eyes for a moment before jumping into one of the seats. Luce's eyes narrowed in disapproval, though not of him but the people who had done this to him.

"His name is Jared and mine's Tobin," said the boy who was standing behind him. Tobin was slightly older and he looked angry instead of scared.

Luce nodded and looked at the back of the seat that Jared had disappeared behind. The other kids behind Tobin were slowly or quickly finding their seats according to their natures. A few were crowding up behind him to look over his shoulder at one of the people who was supposed to be taking care of them. How many of them had actually talked to these kids since they had been here Luce began to wonder. She knew she hadn't.

"My name is Luce. This is Suji," she said standing up. Now that her head was above the level of the seats she could see Jared again. He looked up at her and then looked away but at least he didn't flinch this time. Luce lapsed into silence after that. She didn't know what to say to kids on a good day and she had no idea what to say to these kids, who had been through so much. Tobin and a few behind him looked up at her expectantly. Luce looked at Suji.


Suji:
Suji stood up as Luce looked over to her, and Tobin's gaze followed. His body language had already been tense, as if defensive of his little pack, but now his face changed to match it--his jaw tightened, and his eyes in narrowed slightly. "I remember you," he said, and it didn't exactly sound like a fond recollection. Suji felt many young eyes on her, and fought the urge to stare this kid down. She made her body be relaxed, her stance even. It was a natural reaction for her to meet a hard gaze with a harder one of her own, but it wouldn't do any good here.

"I remember you too." What did he want? An apology? Probably. Or probably just someone to focus his anger on. She had helped hold him down so they could put a Yeerk in his head, whether that Yeerk was an Animorph nothlit or not. But Suji didn't give out apologies; she didn't apologize for what was necessary. She was forced into this war just as much as this kid had been--the only difference was that it'd given her the power to fight back. The world and the Yeerks might owe him an apology, but not her. Mmm. Indignant and proud even before the eyes of children. Remarkable, Suji. Sighing a little, she added: "You helped all of us get out of there alive."

"I didn't have a choice," he quipped back, and the rest of the bus was silent. Pairs of eyes peeked over the backs of seats. Suji looked him up and down, regarded him. His back was straight and his chest was inflated, undoubtedly burning with fury that was only barely contained. But it was contained. And that was admirable.

"Neither did we," Suji replied softly, gently even. His lips pursed and she saw his hands go to fists at his sides. "You stay in the business of saving people, and you'll find that happens a lot." Though she kept her tone very tempered, it was clear that her words were only making him angrier. He wanted to yell and shout at her, to curse her and all the Animorphs, that much she was sure of. But he didn't want to sound like a child throwing a temper tantrum, because what he felt--what they had done wrong by making him a slave, if only for a few moments--had been real and important. Suji watched the struggle as he bit down his words and shoved himself into a seat.

"Doesn't make it right," he all but growled, refusing to look back at them now.

Very true, Suji thought inwardly, but didn't say anything. She'd taken part in stealing away his freedom back on that mission: she could afford to let him have the last word. Suji walked down the aisle and out of the bus, back to the bike. Luce's turn to drive.


Luce:
Luce followed Suji out of the bus. She had stayed silent through out the whole exchange. That was because she didn't know what was going on. No one had ever bothered to fill her in on the details of the mission to Indonesia and she didn't know why this particular child was so angry. What had he not had a choice in? What had Suji done exactly? In fact what had Suji done in general? She was beginning to wonder just who had more secrets between the two of them. But it wasn't her place to ask what Suji didn't want to tell.

As she thought that she remembered the night after the dam and Suji's words, "You WILL explain it to me." She still felt that Suji had been right to ask for an explanation. So why did she not feel the same incentive? Maybe she just didn't need to know. Suji had needed to know, to understand. But Luce had given up on trying to understand and the search for ultimate moral truth had never seemed worth while to her in the first place. She didn't think it existed and if it did it was beyond human grasp. She wondered if that was a copt out but she didn't know how else to live, how else to be so she let the concern slip away.

She got back to the bike and pulled her helmet on, the black visor hiding her pensive expression after the scene on the bus. She swung her leg over the bike and started the engine. When the machine began to hum under her she put thoughts of the bus and the children out of her mind. She truly loved motorcycles and this was a very good one.

The bus pulled back on to the road in front of them and Luce turned to look at Suji, the sun bouncing off the blank, black of the visor's plastic.

"Ready?"


Suji:
"Yeah," Suji responded. She sunk into the seat behind Luce, pulling her legs up as she wrapped her arms around her best friend's stomach. It was an awkwardly intimate position, and Suji was more aware of it back here than she had been while driving. It required depending on the driver, not only to know where they were going, but also to keep from making them a smear across the pavement. Luckily they wouldn't be going too fast.

The motorcycle came to life, and they began to follow the bus. It was less stressful now, away from the city. Before Suji had been able to escape into the road, into driving. Now, as a passenger, she found that it was more difficult to keep her mind focused. Tobin was fresh in her mind, not just the scene from the bus, but the one from before, when she'd pressed him into the ground. It wasn't her fault the world was what it was. It wasn't her fault. So why should everyone expect an apology when she did what had to be done? Why did she increasingly feel like she needed to give them one?

"Fuck you and whatever high horse you rode in on. Play Little Miss Tin Soldier with someone else's life." Suji remembered saying that to Luce the first night they met. And Suji had hated her for it. Just like Tobin hated her now. Just like Sophia had hated her. Raven. At least Luce was just playing soldier then. Suji was worse. Suji was always trying to play General.

The road stretched on before them, and Suji both wanted it to end and to never take them to their destination. If it ended then she might find something else to preoccupy her thoughts. But here in the open expanse, it was almost possible to imagine that where they were going the war hadn't happened.


Luce:
"We have to change roads," Luce said for what felt like the millionth time. She was really sick of arguing with someone who didn't know how to read a map.

"How can going east help us? We need to go south. Mexico is south Luce," Nadia said as if she was talking to a dumb child. Luce's hands tightened into fists and she seriously considered punching the girl.

"Listen you little-" she cut herself off. This was nothing new, not since the dam. The nicer ones and the one who didn't know what had happened in the power plant hadn't really treated her differently except to give her odd looks now and again. And they were giving her odd looks because Rian, Ember and Suji had been treating her like a pariah. But Nadia, Nadia had to be the worst about it. She didn't know what had happened but she had picked up on the mood around the faction and had started dropping snide comments whenever Luce was around. Luce didn't know why, she hadn't done anything to piss the girl off. She had to wonder if it was just a stupid status thing, if Nadia just sensed that Luce was at the bottom of the pecking order and was taking advantage of it.

But Luce had taken it long enough and she wasn't going to let Nadia take them hours out of their way because she wanted to play power games. "We are going east. We are taking the damn left and going east one way or another. You can drive or you can make your way back home on foot, but that bus," Luce said pointing to the school bus and the scattered groups of children standing around waiting for them to make up their minds, "is going east on the," Luce looked around for a road sign, "Interstate 10." Luce stalked back to the bike past Suji. "Your turn to drive since I might be driving a bus," but Nadia had gotten the point. She got back on the bus and took the left.


Suji:
Suji watched the exchange between Luce and Nadia. Behind the glossy helmet, her mouth twitched in irritation. Suji might have been giving Luce a hard time, but Suji had a right to. She'd been drawn into the Sedra thing just like Ember and Rian. And it sparked her anger to see someone else treating Luce poorly. She didn't really know Nadia, and didn't care too. All Suji cared about was that she was driving the damn bus.

"Right," Suji said, and remounted the bike from where she'd been standing and leaning against it. Luce got on behind her, and luckily Nadia followed the outlined directions. She wasn't used to riding a motorcycle for long periods of time, and her ass was getting rather sore--not as bad as when she'd come from Chicago, but still.

The rest of the trip seemed to go without a hitch. The bus rolled into a settlement on the bank of a harbor. Stationed further into the bay was a colony of barges that were linked with chains, ropes, and an assortment of floating walkways. As the bus stopped, a few people seemed to materialize from the buildings. In the distance Suji could see the outline of the island they were going to, and nearer to them, the ferry that would take them there.

As the kids unloaded off of the bus, they were greeted by patronly looking adults and a few free human children. It was awkward to watch--the kids they'd rescued were so timid--but even as Suji stared she could see some of the barriers coming down. Not as quickly for the older kids, but the younger ones seemed ready to accept "real" adults back into their lives. They had taken being rescued to heart, and weren't all so jaded as the few who were more like Tobin--she noticed him warily eyeing each new person. Two young children (a boy and a girl) were handing out a flower to each of the rescued kids. Suji felt a sharp pang shoot through her chest, and she took the time to pull of her helmet.

"Here, I'm going to park the bike over there into that building. It looks pretty sound." It was a garage that looked like it might have been meant to hold a small boat. Suji waited for Luce to step away from the bike and hand her the red helmet before she slowly pulled into the garage. She left the bike as far back in it as she could, not so much afraid of someone stealing it as the elements reaching it though they wouldn't be staying long, and set both helmets beside it.

As she came back out she saw a man who looked like he was in his forties--with a deep tan and some bright sunburn which was an odd combination--turn to greet her. "You're th' third one! Allo!" Suji didn't have much time to react before she was pulled into a bear hug. It was alarming but also strangely comforting, even for someone who wasn't big on physical affection. "Name's Greg! I'm the jefe 'round here." The man grinned widely at her. "C'mon, I bet you all are starvin'. We've got some serious eats on the fort, and some seriouser drinks for you gals." He clapped her on the back before setting off towards the ferry at a jaunt, shouting instructions all the way down.

Suji looked over at Luce, and she could tell by the shared expression that she'd also been privy to a hug from the leader of the refugee camp. Shrugging, Suji set off at a jog to catch up to the rest of the group.


Luce:
Luce shared a look with Suji after receiving her bear hug but just silently headed towards the dock. A girl was standing next to a small motorboat looking half pissed off and half bored.

She looked at the boat and hesitated before stepping into it. Luce was afraid of a lot of things. Snakes and the ocean were two of them. She really didn't like getting on boats. But at least this wasn't the real ocean and she could see the island they were going to right over there.

"How are all the kids getting the island? Just this one boat?" She looked back at the forty or so kids just standing around.

"Yeah, we normally don't get this many at one time actually so we don't have a bigger boat." The girl looked past Luce at the kids too. "They ok?"

"Hopefully," Luce answered following her gaze. "I think," she said slowly, "I will stay with them until the last one leaves." She walked back towards the kids on the shore who were starting to sit down on the ground as kids were wont to do. Luce looked around for a moment and then sat down next to them. A young girl looked up at her. There was a moment of awkward silence as Luce tried to avoid her gaze. She didn't want to engage in conversation with a kid. But the girl kept looking at her. She was too young to feel awkward or abashed at her blatant staring. Finally Luce looked down at her. "Hi," she said dryly.


Suji:
They were loading the kids onto the tiny boat, and Suji watched Luce go sit down with the bunch of kids on the bank. Suji stayed on the dock, helping load them on. For the most part Greg and this other girl had the operation under control, but Suji would pick up one of the really young kids and get them on the boat every once in a while. The water looked warm, and Suji had the most bizarre (Was it Freudian? Some kind of subconscious desire?) yearning to slip into it. A few times she thought about offering to run escort to the boat as her crocodile. But they weren't under attack, and the enormous reptile would probably frighten more people than it would reassure.

Mostly she figured that she just wanted the big creature's calm reassurance. Morphing the crocodile had felt like nothing she'd morphed before. Then again, that was likely because none of her other morphs were predators--not in the way the crocodile was. There was no fear. There was no anxiety. There was only perfect serenity.

After passing off a very young boy to the girl standing in the motorboat, Suji turned to see the next kid that would be getting on. She saw a familiar face, and recognized quickly, and awkwardly, that she had let her daydream blot out her observation. Tobin was next. He looked up at her stonily, angrily. Tentatively, Suji held out her hand to help him steady himself as he boarded. Suji had never felt truly intimidated by anyone in her life, but she still felt somehow vulnerable in that gesture.

With a sneer of disgust, Tobin brushed past her hand. She had expected as much. However, his shoe most have caught in the small gap between the planks on the dock. He stumbled forward, cartwheeling to the side for a brief second, about to take a fall into the water of the bay--probably hitting the side of the boat none-too-gently on the way down. Instinctively, Suji shot out her already extended hand and grabbed his arm. With a tug she righted him.

As soon as he regained his balance, he shrugged off her hand and sent her a glare of pure loathing. His cheeks where flushed red with embarrassment. Suji retracted her hand. This time, Tobin stepped cleanly onto the motorboat. Suji sighed, and turned to the next kid, offering her hand once again.

- - -

The sun wasn't setting just yet, but it would be lighting the sky on fire within the next hour. They'd finally gotten all the kids across, and now it was the trip for the adults. The motorboat was cramped, but they all fit. Suji chose one of the seats on the side, close to the front. Everything in her head was a mess, like someone had tossed her three different bags of puzzle pieces and told her they all made one picture. She wanted relief, and this place might have been her only hope for a bit of that. Free humans. Free children.

Suji closed her eyes and felt the late afternoon sun turn into earning evening sun on her face. She ran one hand along the lip of the boat's siding. The paint was flaking, and rust dusted her fingertips from places where it had completely cracked off. Gently, she allowed her hand to dip into the water. It was still warm from the day, and it rushed up into her palm in small turrets.

Like catching sunshine.


Luce:
Luce's hand gripped the side of the boat and her knuckles were white and she was holding on tighter than she'd like though everything else about her looked normal. She was glad when the boat docked and she was able to step off it. She stood on slightly shaky legs and nearly got knocked off them as Greg's hand landed on her shoulder. "You kids are doin' good up there," he said watching the last of the children get off the ship. "We'll take care o these young uns now so take a load off. Adult cabin is over there," he said winking and walking away to help get the last of the kids settled.

Luce shaded her eyes against the setting sun and looked over at Suji. She figured Suji had heard Greg's implied invitation. She nodded her head towards the building Greg had indicated. You want to go? the look on her face said. Some others were drifting towards the building. She wondered if the people of the refugee camp partied every night or was it just tonight? And what exactly did a party in a refugee camp mean?


Suji:
Suji watched Greg trot off, and then Luce look over at her. Nadia immediately headed for the 'adult cabin.' Rubbing the back of her neck, Suji looked up at the sky. Pinks and oranges were creeping in, and she sighed. "I could use some food," she replied, as if that settled it. Then she headed off--at a distance--in the direction Nadia was going. After a few turns around a couple narrow paths, they came to what must have been the adult hang out. There was buffet-style food laid out, along with a grill. Suji was momentarily stunned to see so much produce that didn't look like it'd come from a can. Obviously this was some sort of celebration and welcoming party so she doubted every meal was like this, but it was still a shock. She could only guess that the kids were eating just as well tonight.

"Christ," she muttered under her breath. Without checking to see Luce's reaction, she walked forward, almost as if thinking that the table laden with fruit and vegetables was going to disappear. There were also big pots of several types of beans, warmed tortillas, kabobs...

"Senorita." Suji turned to see a guy in his twenties, with brown skin and a wide smile. He held her out a plate--it was plastic, slightly battered, but in tact--with a freshly wrapped burrito on it. There was real meat inside of it. And the guy holding it wasn't so bad to look at, either. With a momentary blush, Suji accepted the plate. He gave her an up and down look, and then was summarily cuffed and chided by an older woman who had come over. Suji knew enough Spanish to know that there was a heated scolding about respecting the 'soldiers' going on, but the general tone (and the frequent pointing between both the guy and Suji) was probably enough to figure that much out. He quickly excused himself, though not without flashing Suji a last grin.

She was left standing there, holding her plate. The woman apologized. "No problema, no hay problema," Suji quickly tried to reassure her. "Gracias--muchos gracias--la comida es magnifica." The woman smiled broadly back at her (a smile very similar to that guy's--she must have been his mother) and then encouraged her to get more food. Suji looked back at Luce. "This is like a dream. Like I'm going to touch the food and it's going to disappear. Do you know how long it's been since I've even seen a mango?"

She piled food high on her plate, and then took a seat at one of the several benches which had been pulled in a circle. As the sky darkened further, several people where setting about making a bonfire.


Luce:
"Or been blathanthly check' out," Luce said with her food stuffed into her cheek to allow her tongue the freedom to talk as she carried her heavily laden plate over to the tables. She just couldn't wait to sit down to start eating and had stuffed pieces of her selections in her mouth as she browsed.

Luce sat down at the table and hunched over her food almost as if someone was going to come along and take it from her. She really was raised to have impeccable or at least passable table manners but they had disappeared awhile ago, thrown into the bin of useless and unwanted skills. She supposed she could always shake the dust off them and put them back into use if she ever needed to but why bother. She was among friends slash allies and she was hungry.

"I didn' know you spock Spanish," Luce said, managing to get the words out with an admirable lack of food spewing, which would have been wasteful. "Where'd ya learn?"


Suji:
Suji blanched when Luce mentioned being checked out, and quickly ate a few more bites of the food. It was hot enough to scald her mouth, but the cool fruit made up for that. Coffee with milk and sugar filled her cup, and Suji had to slow herself from burning her tongue and throat but gulping it down. Morphing would cure that!... but she wanted to savor this. "I'm sure it was just that he's never seen an Animorph before," she answered neutrally, and then popped another pineapple chunk into her mouth.

"We probably could have convinced Drake to wait up on his trip to Dallas and go with us, if he knew there was going to be food." Ray, on the other hand, had all but vanished a few weeks ago. Slowly, gingerly, she sipped at some more of the coffee. It rush of caffeine was divine, and quite noticeable after a diet devoid of it.

"My Spanish is pretty awful. It's just high school Spanish... I was in the AP level course for it when the world ended. Wasn't the best at it though," Suji clarified, as if admitting to not being the best was the same as admitting defeat. "I can rattle off a couple small sentences here and there, which I guess it all that's necessary here. I took French too. And Latin. My French was worse than my Spanish, but Latin was easy enough. Useless though."

The sky was streaked crimson now, and the group at their side had gotten the bonfire started. Suji watched them for a bit. "What was your favorite class, back in school?"


Luce:
Luce shrugged and let the animorph comment go. She hadn't realized that mentioning the young man's interest would cause any reaction at all.

"Um," Luce had to think about it. High school seemed like a very very long time ago to her. She had already had her foot half way out the door when she'd been captured. She had been mired firmly in senoritis and boredom was part of the reason she'd let Nicole drag her to a Sharing meeting in the first place.

"I really liked...." Luce said after swallowing a mouthful of mashed potatoes, "math, any sort of math. But I didn't really invest much in my classes. I never had to try very hard to get an A so I just didn't. I always felt like there should be something more challenging out there to do, something more...meaningful I guess, more exciting. Now I kinda wish I could just go to math class."

It was really odd to speak of the past and not feel that overwhelming sense of injustice and rage that normally came when she thought of what had been taken from her. But...it just wasn't there. She wondered if she was actually beginning to heal something or if enough time had passed, though she had always doubted that time actually healed anything.

Luce picked up a spoonful of some orange looking mush. She hadn't known what it was when she had put it on her plate, she had just hoped for the best. She gingerly put the spoon in her mouth and discovered that it was some sort of yams or something else sweet.

"So are you still set on going to Dallas after this?" Luce asked thinking of how Drake probably would have come with them for the food if he hadn't already headed off to catch up with Ray.


Suji:
Suji nodded when Luce talked about math classes. Slowly she cleared her plate, and then stood to get another. "Yeah," she called back from the buffet to Luce. Stopping by a cooler, she carried back two ice cold Cokes. They were in bottles, and the print was Spanish. Handing one to Luce, she sat down again, starting her second plate.

"Vegas was temporary for me. I mean, Dallas is just starting. I want to go somewhere new. Somewhere that doesn't already come with complications of its own." With a hiss and a pop she opened up her coke. The taste was extraordinary--she felt her toes curl inside her shoes. "And I didn't have any problems working with Ray or Drake. Not that I saw too much of Ray."

Suji stared at the now roaring bonfire for while before looking over at Luce. "Anything I should know about either of them? Stepping into the situation in Chicago was like walking blindfolded across a field rigged with bear-traps. I'd really rather not repeat the experience."


Luce:
Luce had to really think about it. She had interacted with Ray and Drake often enough but she hadn't really paid much attention to them. But Ray had kept her confidence when she's asked him too. And Drake had forgiven her when he had no reason too. Both counted for a lot in Luce's book.

"They are both pretty solid," Luce said after a while, "though Drake is a little..." she tried to think of a nice way to say it and finally settled on, "spacy. He seems like he's not all there all the time," Luce said frowning as she pictured Drake in her mind trying to come up with a more accurate description. She finally gave up, words were not her strong suit. "He's fine enough I guess, they both are, and Ray has been a second in Vegas and running some of the missions well enough so I imagine he'll be fine.

"What are your impressions of them?" She asked genuinely interested though a little warning bell went off in her mind letting her know she was nearing gossip territory. But she just wanted to make sure that Suji was choosing a faction she'd prosper in since Chicago had obviously been a bad fit. Luce was still angry at that idiot faction leader and that stupid phone call.


Suji:
Suji nodded. Luce's judgments would be sound, and really, Suji would have been fine if Luce had just given her a thumbs up about them. That was what she was truly looking for: a simple yes or no. More information was always good and she certainly wouldn't turn down any helpful hints about their personalities, but she trusted Luce's assessment either way.

"My impressions? Ray seemed like he'd be an active leader, which is good, because that would be a deal breaker. I don't want to be part of a babysitting faction again. Drake..." Suji suddenly felt a little tongue-tied. Luce didn't know anything about what had happened on the mission to Indonesia--or at least, she didn't know the details. A scene flashed in Suji's mind: seeing a teammate get swallowed, and then the pure, unadulterated relief at realizing he was alive. People had paid to take drugs that simulated that kind of endorphin rush, she was sure of it.

"Drake was a good partner. We got split up from the rest of the group back in Indonesia. He did really well. I thought... when I first met him I thought he was just going to be another kid. There were a lot of kids back in Chicago. Dumb. Panicky. He wasn't." And that could be the only reason he's alive right now, Suji thought, and looked away from Luce. She drank more of the carbonated beverage in her grasp.

"Y'ALL WANT BOOZE, YOU BETTER GET IN HERE WHILE THE GETTIN'S GOOD!" Someone bellowed behind them, from inside the cabin. Apparently it was serving as some sort of bar or tavern. The woman who called it out followed with a similar message in Spanish, and Suji watched as groups of people made for the bar: some more quickly than others.Suji watched them for a moment.

"Have a drink with me, and I'll tell you how that mission went. At least the parts I know."


Luce:
Luce looked up from her food when Suji asked her about drinking. Her immediate reaction was NO. Period. It wasn't anything against Suji or even the camp. It wasn't like she didn't trust the people here,well at least she trusted them enough to get drunk around them. She didn't exactly fear for her safety. But....she hadn't had a drink in a long time and she had once promised herself that she would never take any sort of drug into her body again.

When Jals had finally had the decency to die and shrivel it had left Luce with both a cocaine addiction and diminished lung capacity thanks to the various things it had spent its time inhaling. Alcohol had never been a big problem for either her or the yeerk but she had never wanted to touch another drug in her life, even one so mundane.

But she had been doing a lot of rethinking lately about Jals thanks to Sedra. She still hated the yeerk but...she didn't like to admit it but she was starting to understand the dead slave master a little better. And with understanding it was getting harder and harder to just hate her, him, it...whatever.

And Luce didn't want to feel like Jals had any control over her life still even if that control was just stopping her from doing something she wanted.

She looked up at Suji, considering her options. Maybe it was time to try to start getting back into a few things. She didn't have to drink much...."I...ok. But not a lot."


Suji:
They'd done two shots together, and Suji had gotten up to the point in the story where they realized there were biofilters on board. She called for another round. The guy from before, the guy with the big smile, was filling their shot glasses almost before she could raise her hand for his attention. He grinned at her, but not at Luce--he'd stopped that quickly when Luce hadn't seemed entertained.

They both knocked back the shots and Suji felt her head swim for a moment. They're only had three, right? And on full stomachs? That was when Suji saw someone lighting a row of shots on fire on the counter. Her jaw dropped open momentarily. "Oh god..." she groaned. "They can set this shit on fire?" She looked over at Luce, mildly alarmed. "This has to be at least twice as bad as most vodkas." She pushed her shot glass away, and took a long swig of coke.

So that was what, the equivalent of five shots, maybe six?? She'd have to go easy for a while. The effects hadn't fully hit her yet, but oh, they would. Should probably finish the story while it still makes sense... "Where was I?"


Luce:
Luce squinted her eyes and clenched her jaw to keep from making an embarrassing face as the liquid burned a hole through her esophagus and stomach. In the end she couldn't keep herself from sticking out her tongue and just let it hang there for a moment almost as if the air would put the imagined fire out.

"Somfthin 'bout wather," she said trying to look at her own tongue to see if it was red. She stuck her tongue back in her mouth, giving up, and looked at Suji. "Speaking of water shouldn't we be drinking some and are they supposed to be doing that?" She asked seeing the bar light on fire...oh wait no it was glasses of alcohol or something. She was finding it a little difficult to keep her mind focused on one subject. She wanted to talk about everything.

"So you guys got there and there were gleet bio filters, sorry about that btw, I did know that but I forgot to mention it. The damn things are so standard..." she stopped. It was past, and she couldn't go back and warn them about the filters now. "And had to hop off and demorphed near water or something. Did Drake finally find a use for that fish morph?" she asked laughing. When he'd gotten that thing she remembered thinking that he was an idiotic kid. It was one of the things that had given her such a low initial opinion of him. Who got a fish morph in the middle of the desert?

[Admin]

Suji:
It wasn't long before the guy brought out some water too--he must have heard Luce, and was eager to impress. Suji pushed their small plate of munching food (tortilla chips, salsa, beans and some fruit) towards her friend. "It's going to get worse before it gets better," she said knowingly, and then gulped down some of her own water. Suji shifted in her seat, some cheap plastic lawn chair.

Luce mentioned the fish morph and Suji smirked. "Yeah. We ended up near a river. There was a force field around the camp--bunch of dead birds lying in a perfect arc. But Drake asked if the river followed through the circle anyway, and it did. So we knew we could get in that way." Suji's speech was clear and clean. It didn't tend to get too affected by drinking... though what she said did. But she was doing good now. Just fine. "But I didn't have a water morph. So he had to check it out."

Suji was staring at her hands, which were clenched tightly together. Her knuckles were white. "He got eaten. By a crocodile. I swear to God, one fucking gulp. The thing was at least twenty feet long. I'm not exaggerating." It was a lot less terrifying when she told it now, because obviously Drake was alive. "It was... it was horrible," Suji said, voice suddenly softer. "I saw some bad stuff in Chicago, but that... I was powerless. I couldn't do anything. It happened so fast. So far and, a fucking, a fucking what, a lizard. We're fighting goddamn aliens and my teammate got swallowed by a lizard."

Her jaw clenched tight and she seemed unable to move past the memory for a moment, as if stuck there all over again.


Luce:
Luce snorted but kept the water she had been drinking firmly in her mouth when Suji said Drake had gotten eaten. But then she stopped laughing when Suji went on to describe what he had gotten eaten by. And the story just got less and less funny from there which was unfortunate because it had the potential to be very funny. Which was an odd thought and she should be paying attention anyway. She shook her head in some sort of attempt to clear it but then stopped.

Why was she acting quite so ridiculous. Maybe this had been a bad idea. More than anything Luce hated the thought of losing control of her actions and doing something embarrassing. She should probably stop.

"That sounds bad-" Luce began to say, keeping strict control of her speech when she was interrupted by the sound of someone coming over to them.


Summer (Aubrey):
"WOO!" Summer's loud shout could be heard from outside the cabin. Summer and a friend of hers had stolen a bottle of rum from the cabin earlier to drink. Instead of immediately drinking it all down, they had been coerced into helping build the bonfire. After that was out of the way, however, the two had snuck off and started drinking the rum. Once her friend had gotten distracted--and when Summer was affected a little by the alcohol already--she had grabbed the bottle and ran. Her friend had jokingly pursued for a few seconds before deciding to go and hang around the bonfire.

Finishing off the rest of the rum with a big swig, Summer pushed the door to the cabin open with her hip. Setting the bottle on one of the nearby tables, she dusted beach sand from her tank top and then mussed her short hair.

"'Ey! Summer!" One the guys tending to the bar called out to her as he noticed her, a big smile on his face. "Come have some shots!"

Summer glanced over, a smile on her face. The flaming shots on the counter flickered and danced, swimming around in her vision. She hadn't had that much, had she? Already? I mean.. one whole bottle. Well maybe half, if you didn't count the sips her friend had taken from it. Or how much had she had? She wasn't sure. "Yeahhhhh, why not."

The nearest open spot was near a couple of women, talking with each other. Ignoring this fact, she headed towards them. She wasn't sure she recognized them, but she was open to making new friends. Especially now that there was alcohol working through her system.

"Hey! Hope you guys don't mind I sit here," Summer said. She hadn't been near the ferry when it had arrived, so she probably wouldn't have immediately realized the two were the Animorphs that had traveled to get the newest batch of kids here. That's where Lily was, at the moment--hanging out with the other kids her age. That left Summer to have a little fun without worrying where her sister was all the time.


Suji:
Suji looked up at the newcomer, and smiled instinctively, though it wasn't a very strong one. Her hands were still tense, and it took her a moment to react. "Not at all," Suji replied customarily, gesturing to the seat. She and Luce had been talking, who cared if this woman heard them? It wasn't anything top secret. The mission was over. They'd won. They were celebrating.

When Summer sat, Suji looked back towards Luce. "Anyway-" She continued. She had to. She had to get the better part. Couldn't keep thinking about how horrible it had been. Because it did get better, and really, it was so rare that they got to see things get better... "I kept watching and the crocodile split in two. And then there was this fucking giraffe walking over to me." Suji mimed with her hands in a way that might, if you were drunk, signify a giraffe. "Then he demorphed."

And, as if slipping it in under the radar. "Then I kissed him. And acquired the fucking lizard. And we got in."

She looked back towards the new woman. "I'm Suji. This is Luce. What's your name?"


Luce:
"Hey wait a second," Luce said holding up her hands, the movement a bit too out of control. She began scolding herself for going overboard but that wasn't the important thing. "Sorry...um," she said looking at the new comer and then quickly turned back to Suji, "you kissed Drake? Really?" She had the feeling that Suji had tried to skip over that part by smooshing it in between an exploding crocodile and acquiring said crocodile but Luce had caught it anyway. She was mentally patting herself on the back but then she decided she really shouldn't be so proud of successfully exercising her sense of hearing.

"That is....that....why?" She finally arrived at. Then she turned to the new comer since she felt she was being just a bit rude now. "Yes, I'm Luce and that is Suji but you already heard that. Take a seat if you wish," she said motioning towards the empty one. "Do you guys do this every night? Also we should probably like....merge," she said bringing her hands together, "these two conversations at some point."


Ed (Drake):
"Who needs to merge?" Ed asked as he slid up behind a group of girls. "Maybe I could help." Ed was blatantly making a pass at all three of the girls at once. He was not promiscuous by any means, but he felt it was within the spirit of the party. Besides, he wouldn't consider any of them to be uncute. Kind of exotic compared to most people here, for that mater. At least in Ed's opinion.

Ed took a swig from the bottle he was holding and let the fluid flow down his throat. Now that he had a few minutes to think about it, he realized that he knew who two of the girls were. "Hey," he said, pointing with his hand that was holding the bottle. "You two are animorphs, aren't you?" He felt a quick wave of embarrassment about the way he was acting, but then it passed. He gave them a wink and a smile.


Summer:
"Mhm." Summer had already been on her way into the seat when the two of them assented. One of them continued the conversation, and Summer leaned forward on the counter to slide one of the flaming shots closer to herself. Taking the glass between her thumb and index finger, she blew the flame out and downed it in a quick gulp. Her face scrunched up for a moment as she felt the liquid burn down her throat. She shook her head and swallowed to try to clear the sensation away. "Wow-ee."

The room was buzzing with conversation, but Summer couldn't help overhear what the two women next to her were talking about. Even if she had drunk some before, the stuff they were saying didn't quite make fit together. Crocodiles and giraffes? Turning her head, she was about to ask when Suji looked back to her and introduced them both.

"Summer, nice to meet the both of ya." She flashed the both of them a friendly smile in greeting, her newest shot cupped in the palm of her hands. The cabin was dimly lit, and so the flaming shots stood out more. "Do what? Oh, party?" She blew out the shot, but didn't down it right away. "Every so often, yeah, just to kick back and have some fun. It's a great relief for everyone at the refugee camp to party once in awhile. Otherwise, we might all go crazy." At the last bit, she twirled her finger in a circle near her temple indicating craziness.

"And, I think I totally, absolutely agree with merging conversations. Unless we want to have split conversations." The way that her speech slurred and stuttered every so often would be a big clue to her level of inebriation. She paused for a moment, downing the shot. "You guys--" She stopped, wincing at the taste. "--You guys aren't from here, right? Are you new or something?" Just as she said this, Ed came walking up to them.

"Lammme Ed. Just lame. One point for trying, though." Summer knew Ed from around the refugee camp. He was part of their troupe that went out once in awhile to fight. She punched him on the arm lightly, smiling at him. The she motioned to the other two women. "These are my newest friends--Luce and Suji." Then she turned to them at Ed's comment. "The Animorphs, huh? Is that right?"


Suji:
Luce had caught that line. Fuck. But here! Here was another refugee interested in speaking with them! Suji leaned over to pluck up one of the shots, blew out the small well of flames in it, and then downed it in one go. It was less terrible tasting than before, and that was how she knew she was past tipsy and in the land of drunk. "Yes! Guilty as charged!" Suji was a little louder than she needed to be, and fought to rein in her voice. "We turn into kitties and puppies and all of that."

Luce was still eyeing her, as if to say that she wasn't getting off that easy. "Hey Luce, have you ever tried one of these? Here you go." She handed Luce a still-flaming shot. "Make sure you blow it out first. Or it'll set your throat on fire." Suji remarked this casually, like one might say that if you didn't take an umbrella in the rain, you'd get wet.

Suji grinned overwide at Eduardo. "Nice to meet you. I'm Suji. This is Luce. This is Summer." She realized a moment too late that obviously he and Summer knew each other. Oh well. "Tell us about yourselves! Otherwise me and Luce here, we'd be stuck with the dismal task of just talking about ourselves, and that, that is something that is not good for anyone involved." She made sure not to look in Luce's direction while she spoke. She even felt herself blushing, guilty. It was hard to control those reactions when you were running on strong alcohol.


Luce:
Luce accepted the shot glass without thinking and blew it out before downing it. Wait-she had decided to stop! God damnit! This drinking thing was spiraling out of control. And it tasted terrible. She couldn't keep herself from grimacing this time. "I'm-blah- not so bad even if your life isn't very interesting," she said after getting her breath back. "Also, Drake," she said grabbing a hold of Suji's arm and looking at her, "you are so telling me about that later, just saying, putting a book mark," she said letting go and making the motion of marking a page and then stopping half way through. She kept doing that. Starting to make some ridiculous motion and then realizing it was ridiculous and stopping. Except she was starting to think that stopping half way through just made it look more ridiculous, not less.

"Well, she's a lazy bum who totally left me to do patrol by myself just so she could get back before this party started," a female voice said coming up behind the group. Luce turned to see another young woman come onto the scene. There were really too many of those around here. God was trying to get her in trouble.

Adriel:
Adriel picked up one of the shots, quickly blew it out, and threw it back easily. She had a high tolerance for alcohol and she hadn't even started yet. She took a moment to let the burning go away before turning to the group. "Adriel," she said introducing herself.

Summer had innocently asked Adriel to switch patrols with her earlier today and once Adriel had agreed to it she couldn't exactly un-agree. What she hadn't known, that Summer had, was that the kids were coming in today and that a party was being planned.

They had gotten the call from Rian this morning though he had only spoken to Greg. Adriel thought about going up to Vegas sometimes, thought about joining the animorphs. She had wanted to once, back in Chicago after seeing what they could do. But she had made a life for herself here, a family. Greg, Summer, Lily, Sarah and now Nati. They couldn't replace the family she'd lost but they were a lot more than most people had. If there was a way to get the morphing tech delivered to them maybe she'd do it.

"So Ed, having any luck tonight?" she asked teasing him since he was known for flirting.


Seeley (Riley):
Seeley had been sitting in the back, silently watching and observing, two things he did out of habit now. It had been a while now since his skills as a Private Investigator were used...but that didn't mean he let them get rusty. Most of the time he barely realized he was doing it, but today it was fortunate he was. A large group of lovely ladies, several he recognized and knew were drinking, and who was he to sit here all alone when they clearly could use some male company? To even it out of course....he couldn't let Edward get all the glory.

Running a quick hand through his hair Seely waltzed over to them, a grin on his face as he pulled up a chair. "Ed doesn't need luck Adriel," he teased, "It's skill," he bowed his head humbly before downing a shot he had carried over with him. The burn was nice, it was familiar, and it hit his stomach, filling it with a warm feeling. Seeley was no where near drunk, it took him a while to get that far--not that he ever actually reached that state. "How are you ladies doing tonight?" he leaned back in his chair, smiling at them. "Best I introduce myself, names Seeley," he jerked his head up once as a brief greeting and then chuckled. "Enjoying yourselves I hope," he winked. There were two he didn't know by name, the two Animorphs--well he'd caught their names while watching...but he didn't let them know that.


Suji:
Luce took the shot from her and Suji smirked--she had had a feeling that just handing it to Luce would be enough. Ah, abusing the trust of friendship. But apparently it wasn't enough to make her forget about the 'oh hey I kissed one of your previous faction members' thing. Suji just had to hope that something dramatic would overshadow that comment. Wait... that probably wasn't a good idea. Shit. She'd just tempted fate. Suji looked around, as if expecting the roof to fall in on them.

Suji smiled at Adriel. "Man, there are a lot more able-bodied teenagers around here than I expected. We might as well give you guys a morphing cube and let you start your own faction."

...

Did she really just say that? Wait, was that classified information? ... Oh well, it was out now. She just wouldn't talk any more about that. Besides it wasn't like it wasn't true. At least Nadia would be staying down here with the kids. An Animorph around probably wouldn't be a bad thing. "Not that I'm saying you guys don't do well without being about to morph, I mean, clearly you are thriving--and doing a incredibly important job, more important than some of the stuff we do, def-"

Thankfully she was cut off by another guy joining them. He sidled up to them in much the same way that the other one--Ed--had, only without a terrible joke to back it up. Well actually, it had been a pretty funny joke. Just funny in that way that made you wince. ... She needed to not drink any more. Suji smiled at him. "If every night here was like this I'd consider staying full time," Suji smirked.


Ed:
Ed let out a short, involuntary laugh when Seeley said that Ed used skill instead of luck. Ed liked to think that that was true, but either he was unskilled tonight, or he was unlucky. Granted, Ed's joke was pretty lame, but in this instance Eduardo was going to go with unlucky because it sounded better in his head. He decided he wouldn't give up yet, though. It was all in that name of fun anyway, right?

"Well, If you decided to stay here, I'm sure every night would turn into a party like this. You seem to know how to have a good time." Ed looked around at all of the girls that were next to him at the moment. Summer, Suji, Luce, and Adriel. If Seeley would just leave, it would be the perfect group. "Hey, wanna go see if you can find us some better liquor por favor?" Ed asked him, making it obvious that he wanted to be alone with them, but still was not serious about him leaving.


Sarah (Matt):
Sarah, aka the friend who'd stolen the rum with Summer, was now making her way over to the bar where the others were. The collection of people here were ones she was more familiar with. That and she was running from an awkward situation. She came up behind the group with a grin as she called, "Now there's the people I was looking for. Adriel, Summer, don't ever leave me sitting by the bonfire with the brooding violinist again."

The violinist she spoke of was Kameron. The guy was very talented with his hands in which you would either find a gun or his violin depending on where he was. However, he also had a very depressed state of mind. Sarah sometimes thought that were it not for the fact that Kameron felt suicide was the weak man's way out of the war he would have committed it. That, and he said he stayed alive for the music, because while he played was the only time Sarah had ever seen a peaceful look on the man's face. As to why not to leave her with him..... she wasn't going to offer that information up willingly.

She noticed Suji and Luce as she finally merged into the group and said, "Hola chicas. I'm Sarah. You're two of the Animorphs that came down here with that busload of kids, aren't you?" She absently flipped some of her long hair over her shoulder as she spoke. It was somewhat wavier today as it had been washed recently. She had to admit she liked her hair this way, but showers weren't exactly a commodity that they could afford every day.


Seeley:
Seeley smiled at Suji, "Well I surely wouldn't complain if you decided to stay full time," he chuckled, holding her gaze for a moment before flickering over to Eduardo. He was a bit older than most of the others, but definitely not old enough to not know how to have a good time. Everyone here seemed to have that down pat anyway, and Seeley couldn't help but smile widely, the atmosphere was lively, and upbeat. This was probably due in part to how much alcohol they'd already consumed, he couldn't help but note all the empty glasses--things like this never escaped his meticulous eye.

"No gracias amigo," he replied shortly, though there was a friendly tone to his voice, "Think I'm gonna leave you here with the ladies all by your lonesome?" he laughed, rubbing his chin absently. "Anyway, I reckon' we got the best stuff there is to get anyway, all things considering." No one seemed to have the truly good stuff anymore, not the easiest to get your hands on, though Seeley made due with what they had. "Had quite a bit to drink already....though if you get a chance...." he paused, his dark eyes glancing up, catching the attention of someone behind the bar. Seeley made a strange motion with his hand, and then held up five fingers.

After this he was silent, simply grinning, a slightly mischievous glint in his eye. It was not long before a man appeared with five glasses , and Seeley took one and gestured his hand, "Four Horsemen, drink if you think you can hold your liquor," a slightly challenging tone to his deep voice. With that he downed his, letting out a satisfied sigh afterwords, still feeling the burn in his throat, radiating all the way up to his nostrils. Now THAT was a drink for men, though he'd be interested to see how the others handled his favorite alcoholic beverage.


Summer:
Summer tilted her head a little, looking at both of the Animorphs. The island already had a resident Animorph working with them--Cecily--and so some of the mystique that came with being around someone who possessed the morphing ability had dissipated over time. Yet, the presence of another couple Animorphs had brought back the same feelings Summer had felt when she had first been rescued by Matt and Rian. She had wanted to join them and fight along with the Animorph resistance, but Matt had reminded her about taking care of Lily. And it was true. Summer was the only family left in Lily's life now, she had to protect her.

At the sound of Adriel's voice, Summer turned her head. A mischievous smile flashed across her face, playful. "Whoa whoa whoa, hey! I happen--" The world spun for a moment, and her hand clamped onto the counter for balance. "--I happen to know that I'm not boring. Or lazy. Or a bum. Whichever, whatever, wherever." She turned to Luce and Suji, motioning to herself. The two shots she had just downed were already beginning to work along with the rum she'd drank earlier. "You guys know exactly what I'm talking about."

At this point, another guy had wandered over to join them. Summer recognized his face from around the camp, and the name sounded vaguely familiar. "I think we're all enjoying ourselves. Love the flaming shots, very good." Another shot was in front of her, but she hadn't downed it yet. She was trying to slow down the alcohol. "Would be great if you guys stayed. It's very nice down here in Mexico. Nice weather, nice beaches, nice people. Not so many aliens." Summer truly liked being here. Even if her real family was gone, she had a close-knit family right here in Mexico with her.

Tracing her fingers across the smooth glass of the shot, Summer noticed Sarah entering. The empty bottle of rum was still sitting on a table near the doorway, and Summer grinned guiltily. "Oh, no Sarah's here." As she said this, the sound of music began to drift in through one of the open windows in the cabin, coming from the bonfire area. Summer's eyes scanned over the group that was forming, thinking. "Hey, what do you guys think about heading outside? At least, whoever feels like coming out."


Suji:
"Nice to meet you, Sarah, and that we are," Suji nodded towards Sarah, before smiling over at Ed. Know how to have a good time? Oh, if only he knew what she was like the other 364 days of the year. There were more than a few people who would agree with that statement. But sure... why not? She wasn't on duty, this was the equivalent of R&R for her, shore leave for a naval recruit. Suji hadn't totally given up on ever having fun. She turned to see the other guy leave after say he wouldn't mind if she stayed.

I could get into trouble here, Suji thought absently. She knew what it must have felt like to come out of the jungles of Vietnam into the bright city of Saigon. The funny thing was that the physical discrepancy had shifted: they went into the 'wild' to be free, and the cities themselves were the battlegrounds of guerilla warfare. But freedom was freedom, and in this case freedom came with booze and other people to share the night with.

That thought held her over--she was even about to start expounding on it--when Seeley returned. There didn't seem to be enough drinks for all of them, though Suji didn't count closely. "I think I'm going to be sitting this round out," Suji said, priding herself for her own moment of self-restraint. With a grin, she took the shot that had been given to her, and turned to Ed, who already seemed to have one from Seeley. "Double or nothing!" she said with a laugh, and handed him the one that had been meant for her.

Then she leaned close to Luce, cupping her hand to the woman's ear and whispering, a devilish smirk on her face. It was cut short by Summer's suggestion. "Oh! We should play a game outside! Hmm..." Her grin widened after a moment of tapping her chin. "Hide and seek! It's dark enough, and we can set up boundaries. We'll use the bar as a base." Suji quickly looked over the assembled group.

Quickly standing from her chair (she swayed for a moment but didn't stagger), she used her arm to cut an imaginary line between them. On one side was Luce, Seeley, and Summer. On the other side was Sarah, Ed, and Adriel. "These are the teams!" It took her a moment to realize that she hadn't added herself to one. "Hm. Sorry to do this Luce, but..." She grinned and stepped to the opposite side. "...you're going down!"


Luce:
"Man, I think we're fucking famous and yep. Nice to meet you," Luce said waving weakly at Sarah. She had not drunk anything in a long time and now she was drinking alcohol that could burn. That was probably a bad idea. She put her head down on the bar and just stared at the pretty dancing lights for a while until Suji whispered something in her ear. Luce nodded and pushed the drink Seeley had put in front of her down the bar towards Sarah or Adriel or...or someone. Then Suji said something about going outside. She didn't catch it all but fresh air sounded like a very good idea.

"Yes!" she said too loudly, pushing herself up off the bar and stool at the same time and having to catch hold of...someone, Summer maybe, yeah Summer, in order to stop from falling over. Definitely needed some air. "Outside," she said motioning.

She turned back to look at Suji. "I," she paused because she had forgotten the exact words she'd been planning to use even though she remembered the gist... "right. You," she said pointing, "stuff to talk about. Not getting off so easy." Having exhausted her ability to speak she began heading out the bar.

Adriel:
Adriel calmly took the shot from Seeley and downed it and then took Luce's as well since the woman didn't look like she needed another one right now and Adriel was trying to make up for lost time. She threw an arm around Sarah's shoulders.

"I'm sorry you got left with Kameron. You can join me in blaming Summer for all our problems if you like," she said smiling impudently at Summer who was still standing by the bar.

She turned too look at the new animorph when she suggested going outside. "I'm good with that if we can bring some drinks with us. Hey!" she said calling over to Milo who was manning bar. "Can we get a bottle of something to share outside?"

Milo brought over a bottle of tequila and handed it to her with a smile. " Terminar el trabajo en una hora. ¿Se puede yo encontrar tu más adelante?" Adriel took the bottle of tequila a bit more forcefully than was necessary.

"As if you could. I'm a better hide and seek player than that." She kept herself from blushing by force of will. She really hated that Milo could do that. "Just...just serve. Outside? Yes, did someone say outside?" She didn't look at Sarah or Summer since they would know why she wanted to leave so quickly.


Summer:
"Oh! Hide and seek! Good idea." Summer said, nodding at Suji knowingly. As delicious as the alcohol was in here, it was also getting crowded and warm. And the lights were making her feel more dizzy. People were constantly filtering in and out of the cabin doorway. squishing into every available spot. Summer dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, swaying on her seat. When she opened them, Suji was dividing them into teams already. "Cool, cool," she mumbled.

Summer tried to hide a laugh at what Adriel said, mouth pressed into a smirk at both of them. She lifted her eyebrows up. "Yes, fine. Pile all your problems onto me. I'm sure Kameron was just terrible to be around." It wasn't completely clear, but Summer had this little tiny feeling that Sarah might have a crush on him--I mean, she had turned down a bottle of rum to go off and hang out with him. It was cute, and maybe the violin player would do Sarah some good.

The people wanting to play started to look like they were getting ready to head out, and Summer shifted upright on her seat. "Alllllright then! Let's do this!" Summer was about to stand up fully when Luce jumped up with a shout and caught hold of her for balance. Summer braced herself against the counter with her elbow, trying not to fall over. Then, with a smile, she said, "Outside it is!" Turning quickly, she downed the last shot that was waiting on the counter for her. Then she slung an arm around Luce's shoulders and started heading out the bar with her.

Before they reached the door she turned her head over her shoulder and called out to their other teammate. "Come on Seeley, man. You're on the awesome team. Hurry up!" Once they were outside, Summer took a deep breath of the island air. Some of the scents from the barbecue were drifting up towards the cabin, mingling with the smoky aroma of the bonfire burning not too far off. Summer could just barely make out the dark curl of smoke against the night's clear sky. When the rest of the group was outside she dropped her arm from Luce and asked, "Alright, who's going to be it first?"


Ed:
Ed was staring at the drink in his hand as the others were chatting. He was trying to decide if he wanted to drink it, and also wether or not he really wanted to play hide and seek. As the others started heading outside he sniffed the drink. Then promptly set it down on the bar and followed the group out the door. No sense humiliating himself by drinking the Four Horsemen if nobody was looking.

As he walked out into the pleasant outdoor air, he noticed a small group of kids coming towards their group. They looked excited and a little shy about something. "Looks like we have some more company," Ed commented. He suspected that they wanted to get a look at the new animorphs. Ed couldn't blame them. He probably would have been the same way if he were still in their tiny shoes.

The group finally got brave enough to walk up on Luce and Siji's clothes to get their attention. "Can you turn into my gato?" one of them asked. The kid held up the mangiest kitten Ed had ever seen. This ought to be good, Ed thought to himself. Admittedly, he was kind of excited for a possible demonstration himself.


Suji:
Suji looked down at the kitten. It looked like it'd seen better days: it's eyes were goopy and its fur was matted. Suji'd never been particularly gushy around animals, and she was more of a dog person than a cat person, but she certainly had a soft spot inside of her for kittens. She figured it was a pretty human quality. She felt bad for the kitten, which kicked a bit at being held out so.

Once upon a time not so long ago, Suji had told Rian that it was probably a bad idea to morph while intoxicated. However, no child holding a kitten had ever approached her then. She knelt down, smiling at the girl holding the small orange cat out. "Let me see your little gatito," she said gently, and the girl carefully handed over the animal. It had looked scrawny, but Suji could feel taut muscle under its fur. It had a good heft to it, wasn't all skin and bones. At least it was getting fed.

The kitten struggled for a moment and then settled against Suji's chest, where she cupped it. It calmed considerably as she acquired him, and even began to purr--loudly for his size. "Does he have a name?" She asked.

"His name is Senor Greggie!" One of the boys in the back of the group yelled triumphantly. Suji laughed, and wondered if Greg knew about the runt of some stray litter being named after him.

"Well all right, Senor Greggie." She gave the cat a tiny kiss between the ears--an affection she'd never have shown with people around if she'd been sober--and handed the cat back. It wasn't like she had to worry about diseases. "What about you Luce? I think kitten is a hell of a lot cuter than most of the sh-... most of the stuff I can turn into."

That said, Suji shrugged off the light jacket she'd been wearing, and wrenched off her boots. It wasn't long before she reached for the zipper of her jeans. Of course her morphing suit was on under it, but she didn't seem to realize that the rest of them might not be as used to the shedding of outer clothing as Animorphs were.


Seeley:
Hide and Seek? Were they like twelve? Seeley for one was getting up there in years, not too many behind 30, and the idea of playing a game that...well that quite frankly was for children didn't exactly appeal to him. He wasn't about to say no though, that would ruin the entire gathering, and he was sure he'd hear some whining about it too. With a reluctant sigh he heaved himself up, following after the others.

"Yeah, alright I'm coming," he replied, shaking his head slowly and laughing heartily. This would be...interesting to say the least, a man of his age and stature running around with a bunch of drunken females..playing hide and seek. Never thought I'd see the day... he laughed inwardly. Just as they were about to decide who was it however, a group of kids with the ugliest kitten he'd ever seen appeared.

Seeley fought to keep a grimace from his face as Suji picked up the little thing, even kissing it. The only reason he continued watching was because it sounded like she was going to morph...and that was definitely something he wanted to see. Back to his old habits Seeley began observing, taking mental notes, just as any ex-cop and ex-private investigator would. What he had not accounted for was all the clothing that would be shed, and he cocked up one eyebrow, a slightly devious smirk on his face, but he said nothing.


Sarah:
Sarah tried to pay attention to the conversation, honestly she did. Some of it went over her head though because she'd come in in the middle of it. She really only got two things. Number one, Adriel had decided to blame Summer for all of life's problems. Well that's fair enough. She is the one who left me sitting with Kameron. Then again, why was that so bad? Because alcohol and Kameron don't mix well. He stopped moping and started complimenting me and things just got awkward. Which wasn't to say she didn't like him complimenting her..... Hey, stop waffling. The guy is four years older than you anyways.

Shaking those thoughts out of her head she moved to thoughts of going outside to play hide and seek, which they were in the process of doing. Phase one, go outside, was already completed while she was distracted and she glanced around for the people on her team. Ed, Adril, and that Animorph..... Suji. That's right, and the other is Luce.

"Come on Seely! Their team already has less members. They need you." Sarah gave the guy one of her most charming smiles, but it didn't last long as she heard a familiar voice. Oh crap. I forgot about why I'd gone inside to begin with.

Kameron:
"Hey! If there's a game going on can we join?" Jason called it out while dragging Kameron along with him. Jason, Sarah is not playing hard to get. She isn't interested in me. Whether or not I have feelings for her. No self-assured girl would run away when you were complimenting her.

But Kameron suddenly found himself standing as part of the group containing Sarah Rivers, the very girl who'd run off on him only moments earlier. Yes, she was eighteen, four full years his junior, but did much of that matter anymore in this war. If he'd found a reason outside of music to live, then why shouldn't he try for it. I can't try for it if the reason to live doesn't seem to want to stick around me.

Still, they stood there now awaiting an answer as to whether the two young men could be included in the game, and no doubt Jason would try to get Kameron on Sarah's team. For now his eyes traveled around the group, but inevitably settled on Sarah, watching the light from the bar shimmer of her waving hair as it traveled down her back. He wasn't even sure if music could capture the beauty he saw in her, beauty he'd never even have noticed if she hadn't reached out to him in the first place. He'd come to Mexico alone, and Sarah had been the first to find him and bring him to the refugee camp. He'd have sworn she was an angel had it not been for the dracon beam she'd been carrying.

He shook those thoughts away. No sense dwelling on something that was out of his reach, not matter how much Jason thought pursuing it would help.


Adriel:
Adriel ran after Sarah and caught up to her, not wanting to be left in a bar with Milo, Seeley and Ed. They were all nice enough but being surrounded by them made her a bit nervous though she didn't like to admit it.

She came up beside Sarah as Jason and Kameron walked over. She really hated Jason and Kameron was just a weirdo as far as she could tell. And hadn't Sarah blown this guy off once already tonight?

"Sorry," she said with a smile on her face showing she wasn't sorry in the least. "Game is capped. Too many players and all that." She looked over at Sarah to make sure she was giving the appropriate back-off look only to see that she was resolutely looking at Suji and the kitten thing. WTF. This was her fight, not Adriel's. She could at least back her up or something.

Luce:
Once the cool night air hit Luce's face she immediately starting feeling a bit better and her head cleared slightly. She wandered off from the group a little and just took in some air. She heard Suji's voice calling to her and she turned around to find her friend shedding clothing as if it was hotter out here than in the bar. They had also somehow acquired two more guys somewhere. At least things were starting to balance out. She may not be in so much trouble after all.

She walked back towards the group and saw the kitten in question clutched in the hands of a little girl, one they hadn't brought down here. "What are you doing?" She asked Suji but it was the girl that answered. "Turning into my kitten! Can you do it too?"

Luce smiled. "I can do better," she said pulling off her leather jacket and letting it drop to the sand at her feet where Suji's clothes were also starting to accumulate. Underneath she was wearing a tight fitting cotton shirt that was certainly morphable but the jeans certainly weren't, nor the holster holding the dracon beam and the sheath holding the knife Rian had returned to her.

She unstrapped both and looked around wondering who to give them too. She saw Seeley standing and watching Suji a little too avidly and decided to do something about it. It seemed like a fun idea to her at the moment...but that may have been the alcohol talking.

"Hey," she said walking up to Seeley. She pulled out the knife and waited until she walked through some of the light from the bonfire to tilt it and make it flash in his eyes. It was a parlor trick but it had intimidated people in the past. "Would you mind holding onto these for me for a second? I put the dracon on stun so you don't have to worry about it and just keep the knife sheathed yeah?" she said as she reached him. "By the way," she said as she shoved the dracon beam and knife sheath into his arms, "I'd keep my eyes to myself," he voice turned cold as she said it and she shoved the knife back into the sheath, pushing him back slightly as she did so.

She turned and unbuttoned her own jeans and began pulling them off. She was wearing her normal, morphable bike shorts underneath and her jeans joined the small pile of clothing in the sand. "Ready?" she said looking at Suji.


Suji:
Standing in her morphing suit, Suji smirked at Luce. "I can do better than a kitten too, but I'm afraid my big gun isn't exactly warm and fuzzy." She shook her arms a little to loosen herself up. "This is going to look really gross, by the way. I mean. Just keep that in mind. We're about to werewolf... werecat... out." Feeling like she'd given the proper disclaimer, Suji focused on the kitten.

Being drunk meant she couldn't rely so much on cerebral processing of the the image of a kitten--couldn't just will herself to morph as she usually did. It was different. She had to feel it, had to imagine not just what it meant to be a kitten, but evoke the actual sense of it: the nervous excitement, the fluffy fur, the sandpapery tongue. Fur, oh yes, the orange fur, probably nice and wispy rather than matted.

Like some kind of ginger werewolf, fur raced along her body. She imagined the feel of a twitchy tail, and one quickly shot out. The ears, Suji thought with a smile that was still mostly human. The thin little triangle cuts- Her ears slid up her temples, covered in orange fur. Her nose creased and fleshed out, pink and black, as she began to get smaller. There was a startling pop as her knees switched backwards, and from there the ground rush even closer.

Some of the kids shrieked and ran. Some didn't. The girl holding the original kitten was still there.

Her fingers melded, becoming paws. She felt her strength dwindle, until she was nothing but impulses and adrenaline. Wiry whiskers pushed out of her lips, and the morph was finished. It'd taken her less time than usual, and the transition was perhaps one of the smoothest she'd ever had. That likely had something to do with feeling the morph, rather than just thinking it.

Now a tiny kitten, Suji looked up at those who were still standing around. Her fur was healthy and her eyes were clear. Whatever the original cat had, it hadn't been genetic. Sitting there with her tail curled to her body, Suji groaned inwardly. <<Oh God. I think I'm completely sober.>>


Seeley:
Seeley was watching Suji, closer than he should have perhaps, but not enough to not notice the other Animorph. She was pretty attractive too, kind of hard to miss, especially when she was walking towards you. He glanced over at her, the devious smile still on his face as she unsheathed her knife. He blinked a bit at the flash in his eyes, quickly taking in the details of the weapon, his mind instantly springing to 'what if' scenarios, most of which involved Luce lunging at him. Seeley of course didn't expect this from her, but it was his years of training talking.

When she reached him he shrugged lightly, "Sure thing," he replied confidently, not even explaining to her how he knew his way around a weapon, even one that was Alien-made. Seeley took them as she shoved them a bit too roughly into his arms, instantly fighting back a smirk that threatened to spread across his face. "Sure thing," he replied coolly again, ignoring the icy tone in her voice. Even as she gave him that last little push while sheathing her knife he couldn't help but smile now, admiring her form as she walked away from him.

Eyes were made for looking sweetheart... he thought absently, though his thoughts quickly turned as Suji began morphing. Seeley watched, his face growing impassive now, despite how deeply interested he was in it. To be honest it was pretty damn disgusting, but at the same time....fascinating. It was the popping sounds, the grinding that was the oddest part though, and while in an earlier point in his life he might of been more disgusted, now he was simply....apathetic almost. By the end he had seen more than enough, though Luce was next to morph, and Seeley couldn't seem to force himself to look away.


Luce:
Luce nodded and began her own morph. Her mind was floating and closing her eyes only divorced her even more from the reality of the beach and the island's warm night. Instead she was floating in the velvety darkness behind her eyes and she had a moment to think that this was probably a bad idea before the wispy form of a caracl that looked like it was half made of wind flitted around in the darkness between her eyes and eyelids.

She had a moment to think, ooooo, pretty before she felt the changes begin. She had no idea what she looked like and didn't notice that she was proving the whole, werecat thing true just a little too much.

Tawny, orange fur spread across her arms and down her legs. It probably should have looked disgusting but something about imagining that wispy, flowing form was actually making the morph turn out smoother than normal. The fur was short and neat and probably soft to the touch.

Short, black claws sprung from the ends of her fingers and the tips of her ears extended out, making her look like some type of elf out of legend for a moment before they began to move up. The black fur around the caracal's eyes grew out of her own eyelashes, looking like heavy eyeliner and some of it spread down her face like tear drops.

Her muscles began to bunch under the fur and skin and she actually grew taller and her knees reversed with a sickening crack. Whiskers sprung out the sides of her face that was shifting to take on the cat's form, yellow slit pupiled eyes glinting in the firelight.

She smiled as she began to feel a bit of the cat's liquid grace and strength, unaware that her mouth was full of pointed teeth and long canines. Children ran away at this point.

Luce fell forward onto hands that were quickly becoming paws, her muscles just absorbing the shock so that the fall wasn't a jarring one. A tail sprung out from the base of her spine. Thankfully skin and fur were wrapped firmly around it.

Her body compacted a bit as the final changes took place and Luce felt the quiet mind of the cat come alive under her own, which was feeling much clearer than it had in what felt like hours. Luce wondered why when Suji's thoughtspeak came into her head and she looked over at the little kitten curled up on the ground. If she was human she would have smiled, both because Suji was now a kitten and because she was honestly happy at the return of a clear head. <<Thank God I think I'm completely sober.>>

She padded over to the girl and the real kitten in her arms began to hiss and tried to get away. Luce stopped, the movement easy, and tilted her head, an funny position of confusion. She sat back on her haunches instead. <<You like?>> she asked the people around her, turning to regard the group of young people, her gaze stopping on Seeley a little longer than the others, trying to see if he was showing more interest than was seemly again.


Sarah:
The night air was still and the words of everyone floated around Sarah's head. For a moment she watched Suji and Luce's reaction to the little girl, but then Adriel's response to Kameron and Jason caught her. She turned to look at them, and saw that while Jason was disappointed Kameron looked like he was almost relieved. He didn't want to come here?

A part of her wasn't sure whether to be put off by that or feel bad. Then she realized that Adriel had been looking for her support on this. "Y-yeah," she stuttered out, blushing at her own mental distraction. "Teams are capped, and besides, Jason, it doesn't really look like Kameron wanted to play."

Her words might as well have fallen on deaf ears though. Everyone was watching Luce and Suji. When Sarah turned to look the two women were halfway between human and cat forms. She'd seen Cecily morph before, but every time it just kind of left her in awe.

Kameron:
Kameron wasn't too disappointed at the rebuttal from Adriel. He'd been hoping someone would get Jason off this. I've been turned down once tonight, that's enough for one night. Yes, I want to pursue my feelings for Sarah, but I'm not going to stalk her or pester her.

Still, during the whole morphing demonstration he was surprised at how his eyes kept wandering back to the girl. So close and yet out of his reach. Physically near him, but untouchable. And for now that is how she shall stay.

As soon as the demonstration was over, he pulled his arm out of Jason's hand and turned to leave. "That's fine. If there's no room I'll go get my violin. Maybe when people are drunk enough they'll want a little live music." Sarah wasn't making any moves to stop him, so this was probably best for both of them.


Ed:
Ed had seen Cecily morph twice before, but even that couldn't have prepared him for this. Or so he thought. Neither of their morphs were too creepy to watch, which was good since Ed couldn't take his eyes off of them. A lot of the kids scattered from the sight, but that was to be expected. Sure, it wasn't pretty, but at least it wasn't gut-wrenchingly disgusting, like when Cecily turned into a dog. Or changed back from being a pigeon. Ed shuddered even at the thought.

"You guys must have had a lot of practice. You do that better than our resident animorph does. Too bad you two sobered up, though. I was kind of hoping to see what a drunk cat looked like." Ed chuckled lightly at his own joke. At the moment he was mostly talking out of nervousness. What were you supposed to say to people that just turned into felines right before your very eyes?


Suji:
<<Well, that's because we're professionals,>> Suji replied to Ed, practically smirking with her voice. She was very sober, and very tiny, and very... excited! Every sound was acute, curious but also threatening. Suji leaped forward, pouncing on a cricket. It chirped frantically under her little orange paws. Very professional indeed. One of the newcomers mentioned live music, and Suji let up one paw. The cricket, panicky though undamaged, jumped away.

<<Music might be nice. Though I think I'm going to need to play catch up on the drinking again. Who wants to count first?>> Suji launched herself at one of Luce's ankles. The kitten had so much energy! All her other morphs had only perhaps had nervous, prey-like fear, or they were relatively relaxed. This might be a good thing though: she was going to be ready for the game! Relishing the kitten buzz, and after giving Luce a few quick nips, she darted away. The little girl holding the real Mr. Greggi laughed.

<<Oh wow, did I->> ...really take off my clothes? Suji finished in her head. Thank God for morphing suits. She'd just stood there and stripped down? That must have been pretty weird. And Luce had let her! <<Anyway. The ride back is probably gonna be even more bumpy, so I'm going to go do that... privately.>> Suji bound off to find some secluded place to demorph. <<Someone tell that little girl it's past her bedtime!>>


Nati:
"You can tell her that, but she probably won't listen." The warm voice that floated over now had the hints of a Spanish accent to it, as if English wasn't the native language of the speaker despite how fluent she was. Clad in an off-white, cast-off top and a patterned skirt, very similar to the outfit she'd worn the day Summer, Sarah, and Adriel had found her, Nathali stepped toward the crowd. Whispers of a morphing demonstration had reached those at the campfire from those who'd run away during the process. Nati had been very interested in the presence of the Animorphs from Las Vegas and had come to investigate things herself.

There wasn't much to see now unfortunately. Luce had finished morphing and so had Suji, so there were just two mind speaking cats. She'd seen Cecily morph, but every time it fascinated her. She hadn't even heard of the Animorphs before being found by the refugees, and they were something of an anomaly to the girl. Yes, they fought for good, but they used alien technology. The yeerks were bad, and they were aliens. Yet the andalites were, at least in this small way, helping the humans. What did that make them?

"Hola all. I see I just missed the demonstration. That's a pity really. However I also heard tell of a game of hide and seek. Is there still room for me?" Nati hadn't had much to drink yet, but she'd been a little later getting back here than some of the others. Then again, with Luce and Suji planning to drink some more before the game it looked like she could probably just join them and make up for the lost time.


Summer:
The rest of the group in the cabin was filtering out, attracting others from the bonfire. Summer took a deep breath of the clear night air, swaying uneasily on her feet. One of the approaching kids brought over at cat, and Summer felt a bit of her interest spark at the suggestion. She was about to move closer when the world shifted. Suddenly, Summer found herself half-stumbling, half-falling down to the ground.

"Shit! Ah!" She fell, her hand connecting with the sand as she threw it out to catch herself. A small twinge of pain shot up her wrist. "Whoa. Shit. Too much alcohol."

Regaining her composure--and deciding it was probably better to sit for now--Summer sat up cross-legged, and wiped the sand from her hands. When she looked up, she was faced with the two Animorphs stripping down to their suits in front of everyone. "Wow, alright." She said, laughing. Then she noticed, through her hazy vision, the first Animorph beginning to morph. Propping her elbows up against her knees and cupping her chin against her palm, she watched, fascinated. Even if she had seen Cecily morph before, it was still interesting to see it happen. Especially since each odd twist and crunch of bone or limb looked exaggerated and strange through her drunkenness.

Once the both of them finished, Summer sat up straighter and gave a short clap. "That was great." Shoving her palm against the sand, she twisted and tried to get up again. Bent close to the ground, she was able to make it a few tiny steps forward before falling again. Sand kicked up from her heel, and she ended up on her ass. "Gah. I--" She sighed. "--need help from someone." Glancing over, she could make out Nati's face as the girl headed over. With perhaps too much enthusiasm--she probably was the most drunk out of the group--Summer greeted her. "Hey Nati!! Sure, sure! There's room for ya. Join us!"


Adriel:
Adriel shook her head and went over to help Summer. "Way to go," she hissed under her breath. "Now Kameron is going to think he can stick around too." Adriel wouldn't have considered herself a mean person but others probably would have disagreed with her. In this case however she was just being protective. Sarah had left him on the beach for a reason. She didn't want his attention and he shouldn't be coming over here and forcing it on her. She was starting to think it bothered her more than it bothered Sarah but that didn't mean she wasn't right.

She helped Summer to her feet, putting the bottle of tequila down to do so. "How are you going to run and hide if you can't even walk?" She asked, working hard and failing to keep the amusement out of her voice.

Luce:
Luce sat and watched the kitten run around. Only her tail twitched as it came over and nipped at her legs. Her calm eyes watched it and saw nothing but food. It was small, it was warm, it was food! But she didn't move. Eating Suji would probably have made a very bad impression on their hosts.

Her long ears twitched and turned, taking in every sound for miles. The ears almost felt like they weren't attatched to her body. She wasn't used to having so much control over a body part before but the 40 or so muscles in her ears made it easy to turn and tilt them every which way. And what she could hear!

Everyone's words sounded like they were screaming at the top of their lungs and then having their voices amplified through speakers as large as a wall. And she could hear their hearts beating. She swore that that rushing sound she was hearing might even be their blood flowing in their veins. Or maybe she was exaggerating. Maybe it was just the ocean.

She walked around in a circle, enjoying the feel of the cat's fluid movements. <<I like this. I've never used it before,>> she remarked to the watching group. <<I have this small cat morph but this is so much different.>> Her ears turned to easily overhear the quiet words of Adriel and she turned to look at the young man being talked about. It was odd to hear that whispered conversation, to realize that a whole world, a whole other life existed down here for these people. For a while they had just been a place on a map, an almost legend mentioned in passing conversation. Even Cecily had passed out of her thoughts, relegated to the status of someone-she-had-known-once. It was good to realize life still went on somewhere else, to get out of the war for a little bit and feel normal again.

<<Sooooooooo.....would it be cheating if I played like this?>>