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

[instar]

"I don't expect anyone else to follow suit."

[hold_infinity]

"I might just drop out," she snorts. "No, I'm kidding. Mostly kidding. Sixty percent kidding."

[instar]

"Would your mother be keener on that?"

[hold_infinity]

"At that point I'd hardly be her problem anymore."

[instar]

"...What, at all? Would you not still live at home?"

[hold_infinity]

"After dropping out of school? I'd better not!"

[instar]

"Where would you go?"

[hold_infinity]

She shrugs. "Well, that's why I'm not going to do it anytime soon."

[instar]

"May as well look into dropping out, anyway, I'm not sure we can do that before we're eighteen."

[hold_infinity]

"There are different levels of 'can'."

[instar]

"I feel like being hassled by or on the run from the police would be more of an impediment to our lives and projects than having to appear at school most days."

[hold_infinity]

"Maybe," says Robin. "I'm not itching to try it, anyway."

[instar]

Bella nods.

[pandion]

"Oh man," yawns Andi, "if I'm going to be this tired all the time I dunno how I'll do any drumming."

[instar]

"There will probably be a fair amount of downtime, at least until and unless we have a reliable source of intel or blow our cover," says Bella, in what is probably intended to be a reassuring voice.

[hold_infinity]

"At which point it'll get exciting?" says Robin.

[instar]

"Or something."

[hold_infinity]

"Well, what else?"

[instar]

"I don't know, maybe we find intel good enough that we can start recruiting without worrying that anyone we talk to is a Yeerk? Maybe our cover is blown bad enough that we all die? Lots of possibilities."

[hold_infinity]

"...I think both of those qualify as exciting," says Robin. "More exciting than sitting around practicing morphing underwear, anyway."

[instar]

"Okay," shrugs Bella, "different definitions of 'exciting', I guess."

[hold_infinity]

"How would we tell somebody's not a Yeerk without pinning them down somewhere and waiting three days?" she wonders.

[instar]

"Stalk them unobtrusively for three days instead," says Bella. "Convincingly threaten to trap them for three days. Thoughtspeak 'Andalite!' or 'Report to the Visser immediately!' or something at them from a good hiding place, see if they jump and go for weapons or scurry off instead of looking bewildered. If we're desperate enough and ever get the chance? Morph Yeerks, check manually."

[hold_infinity]

Robin shudders. "Ew."

[instar]

"Yeah, I know, ew, the idea of anybody, friendly or not, literally getting inside my head, makes me want to throw myself off a cliff. But a friend would be better than an enemy. Well - Andi would, anyway, I'm honestly unsure if I could ever work with anyone else who did it to me ever again even if I understood the decision intellectually unless they actually found and forced out a real Yeerk in so doing."