the circle

[instar]

Trouble and Charlie fly to Las Vegas to get their collections of drunks. Ax, newly empigeoned, and Ethan loosely follow Renée's car back to Phoenix, so that Ax will not be stranded in an unfamiliar city obliged to demorph into Andalite form with no garage to hide in.

Renée makes a very large grocery trip. Ax deems alfalfa hay intended for consumption by guinea pigs and rabbits to be the hoof-eating equivalent of palatable; it also turns out he can eat a few other things, like carrot tops and turnip greens. He still doesn't like living in the garage, even though it's a different one. Andi finds him a little planetarium gadget that throws star-patterns onto the ceiling.

Renée installs a cot in the basement for Charlie. (His generic human morph is a man about ten years younger than him, plausibly Latino but just as plausibly not, plain and unremarkable. He also picks up a Renée morph. He will be able to drive the girls places, publicly know their names. They can tell he appreciates the opportunity, however weird it is.) Trouble is allowed to sleep on the couch, when Renée learns that he would prefer not to share the basement with Charlie.

Bella sews weights onto all the curtain hems so they won't be easily nudged aside.

The twins also collect generic-human-morphs. Both of theirs are college-age women, samples collected from going on premature college tours and shaking a lot of hands - Bella's looks maybe half Asian when she's done tweaking it, Andi winds up with a complexion much like her usual one but a surprisingly Hawaiian set of features.

Renée never asks to be enabled to morph. Bella eventually offers, "for emergencies", and Renée aggregates a number of her co-workers into the most stereotypical teacher-lady it is possible to Frolis into without requiring vision correction.

Renée makes the arrangements well in advance to homeschool the twins.

Bella quizzes Ax about all sorts of things, for large parts of each day.

Comments

[megale]

"The Sharing is involved in your missing person investigation?"

[aeskhyne]

The purring trails off.

<Yeah, my stepdad's a member. But he's been evil since way before then.>

[megale]

"Evil stepparents and talking animals and my life is such a fairy tale right now." She scoops him in her arms for comforting snugs.

[aeskhyne]

He curls up and nuzzles her and purrs a little more.

[megale]

Snuzz. She flops onto her side, still holding him.

"What happens if the evil cult gets me? Or gets you?"

[aeskhyne]

<Well, depends. Sometimes they just kill somebody who knows too much. But most of the time they send in an evil cultist to take over your mind and walk you around pretending to still be you while you sit there in the back of your own head and watch. They wanna do that to everybody someday. That's what the Sharing is for - recruiting fresh puppets.>

[megale]

"Ew, that sounds like a horror movie plot. A bad horror movie plot."

But she has a fuzzy kitty to snuggle.

[aeskhyne]

Fuzzy kitty! Fuzzy purring kitty.

<It's happened to me,> he says. <I was lucky enough to get away. If they found out I'd showed up again this close to home, they'd want to drag me back in for sure. And if they found out I was connected to any kind of talking animal they'd get really serious about it. There's kind of a feud going on there.>

[megale]

"Evil cult versus talking animals. No talking ravens, huh?"

[aeskhyne]

<Not as far as I know.>

[megale]

Rhea snuggles him.

"Why're you telling me? I'm nobody special."

[aeskhyne]

<Yeah, but I like you,> he says. <I wanna be your snuggly talking animal buddy. And you asked.>

[megale]

"I mean any of it, why did you say hi at all."

[aeskhyne]

<...Because I like you and I wanna be your snuggly talking animal buddy?>

[megale]

"Why?"

[aeskhyne]

He rubs his fuzzy face against her arm and purrs. <Because you're really great.>

[megale]

"I'm just a random person, though, I don't get it."

[aeskhyne]

<What's there not to get? I heard you talking to pigeons and I kinda fell in love a little and now I wanna be your friend.>

[megale]

"That is not normal. But I guess neither is turning into animals."

[aeskhyne]

<Oh, I've never been normal,> he says, purring contentedly.

[megale]

Pet snuggle pet pet he is the snuggliest kitty. "There you go, then, that's probably why you get to magically turn into animals and I don't."

[aeskhyne]

Purr snuggle snuggle purr.

[megale]

Snugs. "What do talking animal buddies do? Do I present you to Mom and Dad and say you followed me home, can I keep you?"

[aeskhyne]

He giggles. <Nah. I have to sleep as a human, so that could get awkward. But we can hang out and you can pet me, that seems to be working out really well.>

[megale]

"You are super soft, you are the softest cat, talking or otherwise."