the divulgence

[instar]

Bella assembles everyone (in the garage, out of politeness to Ax, who is standing in grass clippings that Andi took from two houses down for him) after she has organized her notes on Yeerking.

"I have tentatively concluded that the benefits of telling Renée outweigh the risks. We already use her house as a base of operations, and not having to work around her would be much easier, especially now that we have three people who don't officially exist to hide. She exists - and her official existence is an adult; she can drive us places and so on. She can excuse me and Andi from school, if Charlie morphs her he can be out in public as long as they coordinate and not have to pretend he's not our parent, she can make sure we have enough food in the house - and I guess for Ax we experiment with commercially available forms of hay, there aren't going to be grass clippings in Phoenix so readily available - to sustain extra people. She's flighty but not terrible with secrets. I do think we might want to avoid teaching her specialized vocabulary like 'Yeerk' or 'Escafil' or whatever, because that seems like the easier slip for her to make, but I think we should tell her what's going on. Charlie will be able to convince her that we can't just turn over the issue to the authorities."

Comments

[kindestgarden]

"Where is Charlie, then?" demands Renée.

[morphbox]

<Hey Dad!> says Andi. <C'mere in the living room, Mom is here.>

[sundayfish]

And here is Charlie. "'Lo, Renée. Girls told you about the aliens and all that?"

[kindestgarden]

"They told me something - look, did you know they called me and told me you were dead - that you can all turn into animals -"

[sundayfish]

"Didn't have much choice. Aliens in the NSA, aliens in the phone companies, don't want to say too much over the phone. I am sorry," he adds. "Just - didn't have a better idea."

[kindestgarden]

"How long has this been going on?"

[sundayfish]

"Aliens've been on Earth in numbers for 'bout ten years. I only got sucked in last August myself."

[hold_infinity]

Robin nods corroboratively. (She has her thinking-about-Hork-Bajir face on, but since Ethan is not present, no one is likely to notice.)

[sundayfish]

"It's a bit much, isn't it," Charlie sighs.

[kindestgarden]

"More than a bit," exclaims Renée. "I want to see the - the friendly garage alien."

[instar]

"Sure. Be nice to him. He's helping us," says Bella, getting to her feet.

[kindestgarden]

"I've never been impolite to a garage alien in my life."

[instar]

Bella snorts, and opens the garage door. "Ax," she says, "this is my mother, Renée."

[morphbox]

<Hello, Renée,> says Ax the garage alien, holding up a hand in greeting.

[kindestgarden]

"Hello, I - how are you doing that?"

[instar]

"Same way Andi did when she turned into an owl," says Bella. "Friendly garage aliens can do it, and so can we if we turn into anything but ourselves."

[kindestgarden]

"...Okay. Hi, Ax."

[instar]

"Do you need to sit back down?"

[pandion]

Andi, now demorphed except for some feathers on her cheeks and amongst her hair, adds, "Or see anybody else turn into anything? But it's grosser when they do it, and slower, I'm really good at it."

[kindestgarden]

"I think I'm fine, girls, thank you. Did you say Trouble was here?"

[instar]

"Downstairs, with Ethan. They will probably reemerge sometime in the next fifteen to twenty minutes."

[kindestgarden]

"Well. Okay."

[hold_infinity]

Robin snorts.

[instar]

"Questions?" Bella asks Renée. "Further evidential requirements?"

[kindestgarden]

"I think I'm, er, convinced. But what are you doing - why can you turn into owls and such?"