the capture

[instar]

Bella is, uncharacteristically, home alone; Andi is over at Robin's, and Renée is visiting a friend of hers in the hospital, though she could be home relatively soon depending on how much the two get caught up in conversation.

Bella is memorizing the map of Phoenix.

Comments

[aeskhyne]

He screams.

And then his whole face twitches, and relaxes abruptly.

[pandion]

"Forty-five seconds," says Bella, "I will not be satisfied until I see a slug, and how things go for that slug depends on its speed." Other elbow.

[aeskhyne]

"She's going, she's going," Trouble mumbles groggily.

And indeed, there is something greenish-grey and slimy starting to emerge from his left ear.

[pandion]

Bella puts down the hammer.

When the slug has emerged, she picks it up, puts it in a mixing bowl, and fills it with water.

Only when she has done this does she slump against the counter and -

[instar]

- demorph, and start rubbing her eyes.

[aeskhyne]

"Gonna morph Robin for a sec," Trouble sighs, and he does that.

[instar]

Bella slides against the cabinets behind her until she's crumpled up on the floor.

"Wh-" She chokes before she finishes the sentence. "What do the other Yeerks know? Do we have to run? Is there time to get Andi and Robin and Ethan?"

[hold_infinity]

"They don't know shit," says Trouble. "They put her in me 'cause she fucked something up and Visser Three decided to make her sit through what Reggie does to me, as punishment. I'm not sure how much she knows, but she hasn't said a word to anybody."

[instar]

Bella practically melts with relief.

"Oh."

[aeskhyne]

He demorphs.

"Her name's Aspret," he adds. "I actually kind of feel sorry for her. The only way I could think of not to spill anything to her early was to think about something really distracting, and I've got a head full of really distracting shit, and not all of it is cake recipes." He waves vaguely at the baked goods all over Bella's kitchen. "So she's been baking for like a day straight, because that's the only way she knows how to shut me up on the rest of it. I'm not even sure why she hauled it all over here, except I guess she saw in my memories that I do that a lot."

[instar]

"And she didn't tell any other Yeerks - anything. She didn't say that - that you can morph, that you've met an Andalite, that you've seen Visser Three, that - anything. Is she a she? I hadn't been assuming Yeerks had genders..."

[aeskhyne]

"Well, I've seen Visser Three again now. But no, nothing, she hasn't said a word. I mean, nobody's looking to her to spy on me, you know? And - I don't know, she feels like a she to me."

[instar]

Bella rubs at her eyes. "Okay."

She swallows.

"You okay?"

[aeskhyne]

"...It hasn't been my favourite couple of days," he says. "But I'm - I'll be fine. Are you okay?"

[instar]

"I'll live." She swallows. "I don't know what to do with her - Renée could be home any minute."

[aeskhyne]

"...Me neither," says Trouble. "I'd rather not kill her, but hell, even if we do, where do we stash the body? And if we don't, what do we do with her instead?"

[instar]

"She's little, I don't think body-stashing is a huge issue, bury her in someone's backyard," shrugs Bella. "If she - we also - you can't go home, not without her."

[aeskhyne]

"...yeah," he says. "Unless - I don't know. Her only job was to do whatever Reggie tells her and not break cover the rest of the time. I'd be screwed when her feeding cycle came up - she's due tomorrow evening - but I could fake it, until then, it wouldn't be hard. And if I'm gonna disappear, I shouldn't disappear out of your house if we can avoid it, right?"

[instar]

"Right. If you're gonna disappear, you should ask a gossipy acquaintance for fifty bucks and be seen at the bus station."

[aeskhyne]

"And they'll figure Aspret picked starving over another day of Reggie. Which I wouldn't blame her for. Actually I'm pretty sure somebody was taking bets on that when they hauled us out of the pool."

[instar]

"Is there a way to talk to her when she's like this? And - let's go down to the basement at least -" She puts the hammer back where it belongs, checks the floor for blood, there isn't any. "Renée won't notice the mixing bowl gone, we're all going to Olive Garden tonight." She picks up Aspret's bowl.

[aeskhyne]

"Well... somebody could morph and thought-speak to her," he says. "But she couldn't talk back."

[instar]

"How do they even communicate, in-pool?" Down to the basement they go.

[aeskhyne]

"I dunno."

He follows her down.

[instar]

Bella puts the bowl in a box and the box on a shelf, accessible in a hurry but not obtrusive. "I suppose we could tell her to swim counterclockwise for no and clockwise for yes."