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

[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.

[aeskhyne]

"C'mon, that barely hurt," he giggles.

[palmofyourhand]

So Ethan does it again. Several more times.

[aeskhyne]

At the point where giggling becomes markedly difficult, Trouble shoves the hammer away and starts to morph.

Definitely a little slow.

[instar]

Bella times him. When he's done, she says, "Distracted or actually slowed down by being hurt?"

[aeskhyne]

"Distracted," he says. "That's how it slows me down - it's hard to concentrate through it, you know?"

[instar]

"Do you think practice would affect it?"

[aeskhyne]

"Maybe. Probably. Let's see."

[palmofyourhand]

This round, Ethan puts the hammer down and breaks all of Trouble's fingers. And then picks it up again to finish the job, prodding carefully to verify that no bone in hand or wrist remains intact.

[aeskhyne]

By the time Ethan desists, Trouble is teary-eyed and grinning broadly.

His morph to Robin is noticeably slow; his morph back is about like average.

[instar]

Bella takes notes.

(Occasionally she flips forward a few pages and writes indecipherable things there, not with the rest of her timing chart and its annotations.)

[palmofyourhand]

"Are we inspiring you?"

[instar]

"Inspiring me? I don't think I'd describe it like that, what do you mean? Trouble, do of course say so if you need another break."

[palmofyourhand]

"Inspiring you to unscientific observations."