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

[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."

[aeskhyne]

"I am fiiiiiiiiine," says Trouble. "If I take a break it'll be to drag Ethan behind some boxes and fuck him."

[instar]

"Well, say so if you need to do that, so I can leave."

[aeskhyne]

"Trust me," he laughs, "it's not gonna sneak up on you."

[instar]

"Right then. Carry on."

[aeskhyne]

"'Kay."

[palmofyourhand]

Ethan puts a steadying hand on Trouble's shoulder and punches him in the stomach.

Then he starts breaking bones again.

He goes on for a while; eventually he has to lay Trouble out on the floor to keep working on him. Hands, arms, collarbones, ribs, hips, kneecaps.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble spends most of this time whimpering ecstatically.

[instar]

Bella scribbles. Her expression is very, very neutral.

[palmofyourhand]

Ethan pauses to inquire, "Are we making you uncomfortable?"

[instar]

"I'm fine."

[palmofyourhand]

"All right."

He goes back to turning Trouble into Trouble-shaped mush.