the animorphs

[instar]

Renée is gone in the morning, a pot of maple oatmeal for the girls and Trouble cooling on the stove and a note on the fridge, she's going to be gone all day on a day trip to Tucson with her friends.

Andi wakes up first. Bella's not far behind.

Comments

[hold_infinity]

"I - just do?" he says, in Trouble's accent from Robin's mouth. "It's not any different than doing it as an Andalite."

[instar]

"Huh." Bella turns into Andi -

[pandion]

"Tes"<ting?>

[hold_infinity]

<You got it!>

[pandion]

<Wow, we might have to spend a lot of time morphed as each other just to get this advantage.>

[instar]

She morphs back. She writes.

[hold_infinity]

Trouble-Robin giggles.

"Hey," she says to Ethan, "wanna break me some more before I turn back?"

[palmofyourhand]

"Mm, pass," he says.

[hold_infinity]

Shrug. "Suit yourself, buddy."

He demorphs noticeably faster than he morphed.

[aeskhyne]

And shows no sign of injury to that arm. He checks.

[instar]

"It could be different, injuries to morphs versus injuries to baseline shapes," Bella says, "is there some reason we can't do that experiment?"

[aeskhyne]

"We can if you wanna hold the hammer," says Trouble. "Ethan doesn't feel like fucking up his best friend even when she's actually me."

[instar]

"I'll think about it. You were faster demoprhing than morphing, any idea why?"

[aeskhyne]

"'Cause I wasn't trying to figure out when the pain stopped, I think."

[instar]

"Okay, can we repeat that or something effectively similar without the confounding factor in case the injury all by itself is affecting your speed?"

[aeskhyne]

"Sure," he says, holding his other arm out to Ethan.

[palmofyourhand]

Who cheerfully breaks it.

[aeskhyne]

This time the morph is much faster. A little slower than coming back from Robin the first time, maybe, but not as obviously so.

[instar]

Bella times it and writes down the times.

[aeskhyne]

And then Trouble is Trouble again.

"So, now is it time to get nasty?"

[instar]

"Incrementally nastier. Don't overdo it, and I don't think we should experiment with anything that could cause brain damage."

[aeskhyne]

He shrugs. "All right, so don't hit me in the head."

[palmofyourhand]

Ethan playfully taps the handle of the hammer against Trouble's forehead.

[instar]

[palmofyourhand]

He laughs.

And smashes the hammer into Trouble's ribs.