[Currently in M01, from hereKurt exhaled loudly and suddenly when Kon sat on him. Jeez, way to knock the wind out of someone! Kurt was barely half Kon's weight, he would be crushed
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The first thing Tobias thought was Snoring? What kind of evil doctor mastermind--
The second thing Tobias thought was Ack, my arms itch.
The third thing Tobias thought is not fit for print, as he looked down at his arms and realized they were popping out in spontaneous feather tattoos that really did itch, way worse than they usually did, in front of his roommate, and--
Then Tobias stopped thinking and started screaming, because he could feel his bones melting and hollowing out-- not the faraway familiar feeling of shifting, but like every cell in his body was on fire, and every growing pain and pulled muscle he'd ever had was every single inch of him all at once, everything changing and he could feel it and oh man oh man oh God his teeth were tearing out of his face as they merged and hooked into a beak, and his high keening human scream was the harsh sharp cry of a hawk now, and he plummeted to the ground, writhing in pain as he shrank (was crushed, he felt like he was being crushed by agony), and then...
Cross was on his feet instantly as the transformation began, hand pulled back at his side as he momentarily forgot that his rings weren't going to do him any good. He watched with wide eyes, readying himself for any danger but not expecting what actually happened.
His roommate had just changed forms - painfully, it appeared. He didn't move for a few moments, as he wasn't sure what would happen. Then, slowly, he took a couple steps toward the bird and knelt down. Should he dare touch him? Was this a normal occurrence come nightfall? The boy hadn't seemed especially prepared for it.
And could the bird still speak? "Ah..." He began moving as if he was going to pick it up, paused, then reached for it again. "What did... That is... Are you all right?"
Hawk instincts kicked in as enemy danger reached for Tobias, and he flapped suddenly to his talons-- except he didn't, because there was furniture in the way, trapped, and the bird in him went kinda crazy, struggling against the floor.
But the boy knew what was going on, and it was just a moment before he had control again, his chest rising and falling in great gasping breaths. < Back up a little, > he said, voice dizzy and strained. < Gimme some space. Oh, jeeze. Did I really morph in front of you? Oh, jeeze. What's wrong with this place? >
Moving back as directed, Cross half sat, half leaned on his bed as he continued to watch his roommate closely. He was being spoken to in some form or other, which was very interesting.
"Morph?" The way he spoke of it made it sound like this was something he'd done before. In that case, which form was the boy's true form? The board had mentioned some patients having been turned human from something else, but the boy must have been used to being human at least somewhat to be moving around in that shape as well as he was.
Tobias didn't answer for a moment, fluttering to his feet-- curved predator talons-- with some effort. The room was obviously not built to hawk scale, and it was making him way more nervous now than it had when he was human; he hunkered down a little, bright golden hawk stare steady and piercing on Cross.
< Yeah. Morph. The thing I just did. Involuntarily, and painfully, which is so not normal. > He paused, then added, < You not freaking out is also not normal. >
Laughing lightly, Cross rubbed at the back of his neck in an embarrassed manner. "No? I guess I may have seen stranger things." Granted, he'd never seen a person turn into a bird, but he'd seen people taken over by demons, use all sorts of strange living O-Parts, and was himself an angel. 'Freaking out' was reserved for issues on a larger scale, which hopefully weren't common here.
He became serious again, maintaining his distance so that his roommate felt safer. "Do you know if you can change back?" he asked carefully.
Well, Dairine had said that there were a lot of strange people here...
Awkwardly hop-fluttering along the floor until he was in the widest part of the room, between the two beds, Tobias peered up at Cross and answered, < I'm not eager to try. That really, really really hurt. > He'd had worse (Taylor), but not by much. Still... he couldn't go meet Dairine as a hawk. Hell, he shouldn't have been a hawk in front of Cross, it totally blew the illusion of "normal kid" he'd been trying to build up, and if there were any Yeerks here-- well.
< ... hey, Cross, could you never tell anyone about this whole transforming thing? > he asked. < It's kind of a secret. The kind of secret lives depend on. >
"You have my word." Cross smiled and nodded. He got back to his feet, then, still allowing the hawk room. "Will you be all right like that? I was going to head outside and try something of my own... If you can fly we might be able to do it together."
His angel abilities were probably hampered as much as his O-Parts were, but it couldn't hurt to try, could it? If he and his roommate could get out and search ahead, they might be able to secure an escape for the others here. At least they'd get a good idea of what was around them.
< No. No, I promised to go meet someone. I should... probably try morphing back to human, actually. > He didn't sound like he was looking forward to the attempt. < But thanks for offering. > He bowed his head in a very human gesture of gratitude, then closed his eyes and focused on his human body
( ... )
Cross even winced a bit at the second transformation. He had no idea how something like that would feel, but it couldn't be pleasant. The fact that his roommate wasn't screaming in pain, if he even could while going through that, said something.
At the question, the angel moved up near the head of his bed and felt under his pillow. As there had been the night before, he found the flashlight. "Unless those eyes of yours can see in the dark, you might want one of these." He flipped it on and off to demonstrate. "I found it last night, so you might have one too."
The boy couldn't have been there much longer than he had if he didn't know about them, though he supposed they'd be easy enough to miss.
Tobias brightened slightly. "I'm just a normal human with normal nightvision," he said, wryly, "so a flashlight would be nice." He copied Cross, moving to the head of his bed and lifting up the pillow to find his own flashlight. Nice.
"Well, I'd better get going, then," he said, quietly, examining the flashlight for a moment before smiling at Cross, the expression almost natural. Anyone could be an enemy, but Cross hadn't tried to kill him mid-morph like a Yeerk would have, and seemed like a decent enough guy. Not trying To Kill Tobias scored him pretty high, actually... "Take care of yourself, okay?"
"I'll try." Cross smiled again. "You do the same."
That matter settled, as far as he was concerned, he took the opportunity to look through the dresser again. He was sure he wouldn't find anything he hadn't found already, but it couldn't hurt to do one last check before he left himself.
With an "I will" and a parting wave, Tobias stepped out into the hall, flicking his flashlight on and heading towards the place he'd agreed to meet with Dairine.
The second thing Tobias thought was Ack, my arms itch.
The third thing Tobias thought is not fit for print, as he looked down at his arms and realized they were popping out in spontaneous feather tattoos that really did itch, way worse than they usually did, in front of his roommate, and--
Then Tobias stopped thinking and started screaming, because he could feel his bones melting and hollowing out-- not the faraway familiar feeling of shifting, but like every cell in his body was on fire, and every growing pain and pulled muscle he'd ever had was every single inch of him all at once, everything changing and he could feel it and oh man oh man oh God his teeth were tearing out of his face as they merged and hooked into a beak, and his high keening human scream was the harsh sharp cry of a hawk now, and he plummeted to the ground, writhing in pain as he shrank (was crushed, he felt like he was being crushed by agony), and then...
It stopped.
< Oh. Oh ( ... )
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His roommate had just changed forms - painfully, it appeared. He didn't move for a few moments, as he wasn't sure what would happen. Then, slowly, he took a couple steps toward the bird and knelt down. Should he dare touch him? Was this a normal occurrence come nightfall? The boy hadn't seemed especially prepared for it.
And could the bird still speak? "Ah..." He began moving as if he was going to pick it up, paused, then reached for it again. "What did... That is... Are you all right?"
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But the boy knew what was going on, and it was just a moment before he had control again, his chest rising and falling in great gasping breaths. < Back up a little, > he said, voice dizzy and strained. < Gimme some space. Oh, jeeze. Did I really morph in front of you? Oh, jeeze. What's wrong with this place? >
Reply
"Morph?" The way he spoke of it made it sound like this was something he'd done before. In that case, which form was the boy's true form? The board had mentioned some patients having been turned human from something else, but the boy must have been used to being human at least somewhat to be moving around in that shape as well as he was.
This was very confusing.
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< Yeah. Morph. The thing I just did. Involuntarily, and painfully, which is so not normal. > He paused, then added, < You not freaking out is also not normal. >
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He became serious again, maintaining his distance so that his roommate felt safer. "Do you know if you can change back?" he asked carefully.
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Awkwardly hop-fluttering along the floor until he was in the widest part of the room, between the two beds, Tobias peered up at Cross and answered, < I'm not eager to try. That really, really really hurt. > He'd had worse (Taylor), but not by much. Still... he couldn't go meet Dairine as a hawk. Hell, he shouldn't have been a hawk in front of Cross, it totally blew the illusion of "normal kid" he'd been trying to build up, and if there were any Yeerks here-- well.
< ... hey, Cross, could you never tell anyone about this whole transforming thing? > he asked. < It's kind of a secret. The kind of secret lives depend on. >
Reply
His angel abilities were probably hampered as much as his O-Parts were, but it couldn't hurt to try, could it? If he and his roommate could get out and search ahead, they might be able to secure an escape for the others here. At least they'd get a good idea of what was around them.
Reply
< No. No, I promised to go meet someone. I should... probably try morphing back to human, actually. > He didn't sound like he was looking forward to the attempt. < But thanks for offering. > He bowed his head in a very human gesture of gratitude, then closed his eyes and focused on his human body ( ... )
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At the question, the angel moved up near the head of his bed and felt under his pillow. As there had been the night before, he found the flashlight. "Unless those eyes of yours can see in the dark, you might want one of these." He flipped it on and off to demonstrate. "I found it last night, so you might have one too."
The boy couldn't have been there much longer than he had if he didn't know about them, though he supposed they'd be easy enough to miss.
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"Well, I'd better get going, then," he said, quietly, examining the flashlight for a moment before smiling at Cross, the expression almost natural. Anyone could be an enemy, but Cross hadn't tried to kill him mid-morph like a Yeerk would have, and seemed like a decent enough guy. Not trying To Kill Tobias scored him pretty high, actually... "Take care of yourself, okay?"
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That matter settled, as far as he was concerned, he took the opportunity to look through the dresser again. He was sure he wouldn't find anything he hadn't found already, but it couldn't hurt to do one last check before he left himself.
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