[Fic] Metamorphoses (Animorphs)
Title: Metamorphoses
Fandom: Animorphs
Pairing: Tobias/Rachel
Rating: PG
Summary: Rachel and Tobias find a quiet moment on a mission to do some homework.
Author's Note: Quotes from Ovid's Metamorphoses courtesy of the Oxford Word Classics edition, translated by A.D. Melville.
I get a lot of credit for being the Strong Animorph. The Brave Animorph. Maybe, even, the Slightly-Crazy Animorph. I can live with that.
But I think what everyone forgets to acknowledge that I am also the Only Animorph Making Straight A's. I like to think it's because of my superior sense of time management. Do homework on a mission? Sure, no problem. I can find time.
< I don't know, I think you're more of a Niobe, > Tobias said thoughtfully.
Or it could just be that my boyfriend genuinely loves doing homework.
We were on the Bug Ship headed for the Hork-Bajir planet after Aldrea picked Cassie over me. I could say some stuff about how I was clearly a better choice, but Cassie was my best friend for life, so I was practicing restraint. Well, trying to.
Not that she and I were really interacting much this voyage. At the start of it, Jake took me and Ax aside and explained that he'd been studying 18th century navies or whatever boring military Jake stuff, and the best way to keep a 24-hour watch on a ship was to separate people into three groups, shifts of four hours on-duty, eight hours off. Jake was going to take Cassie/Aldrea and Toby in his group. Ax and Marco would get the Arn. And then the third shift was me and Tobias, with three relatively simple instructions.
"If Aldrea or Quafijinion try anything, wake me up immediately," Jake said. "If there's a navigation problem, wake Ax up and don't touch anything." He paused, shades of awkward Jake showing through. "And I'm giving you Tobias because you and Marco would be a disaster, but you two aren't allowed to make out on duty."
Which I thought was kind of bullshit. Mostly because that was exactly how I was planning to spend our four hours shifts, but whatever.
Which led to Tobias and I brainstorming for my English paper about which character from Ovid's Metamorphoses I identified with most.
"You think Niobe over Arachne?" I asked. "Arachne is nervous when Pallas reveals herself, but she's so set on victory that she puts her fears aside and charges ahead. It's stupid, but it's brave and I kind of admire it."
< Yeah, > he replied. < That's a really good point. But I think you should give Niobe a thought, too. They both have hubris as a central flaw-- >
"You know, most guys wouldn't just outright tell their girlfriend her central flaw is hubris," I teased.
< Most guys haven't nearly been strangled by their girlfriend's literal evil half, > he countered. < Anyway, Arachne's hubris is really self-centered. It's all about herself. Whereas Niobe...can you turn the page?...Ah, here we go. Yet her husband's skill, the high birth of them both, their kingdom's wealth, though all indeed gave pleasure, none could give such pleasure as her children. Niobe must have been thought the happiest of mothers, had she not thought so too. Niobe doesn't care about superficial things. She's got too much pride, but at the root of it is love for her family. Like, you'll go charging into battle after Yeerks, but you really fight when one of us is in danger. >
"It's so weirdly touching that that's how you see me that I feel bad arguing it, but..."
< Go for it, > he said.
"I don't know. Niobe's fate terrifies me. I'd rather be trapped as a spider than be forced to watch you guys die and then sit around as a statue weeping for all eternity."
< The gods don't give the punishments people want, they give them the punishments they fear most. >
"Yeah, but if it looks like we're all going down, I'm going to go in swinging, and I'll be the first. Even the Greek gods couldn't stop that."
< Yeah, > he said. < I'd like to see them try. >
I picked up the pen. "Dear Mrs. Laton. I am most like Arachne because I'm really, really proud of how good I am at killing Yeerks."
He laughed. < Probably shouldn't lead with that. >
"Probably not."
For the next hour or so we were mostly silent as I worked on the paper, minus a few content suggestions or spelling corrections from Tobias here or there. When I finished, I tossed the book up on the console where the others would see it. Maybe Cassie or Jake could get some homework done, and Marco probably had no idea what our English assignment was, but he'd get a kick out of seeing one of us brought a book about transformations aboard.
"So what about you?" I asked.
< What about me? > Tobias countered.
"Who do you most identify with?"
< Easy. Can you open the book back up? >
"You could do it yourself," I suggested.
That didn't always work, but it did this time. When he was finished morphing human, he picked the book up with his human hands, flipping through the pages like he knew what he was looking for. He cleared his throat. "He fixed the strange new wings on his son's shoulders and instructed him how he should fly; and, as he worked and warned, the old man's cheeks were wet, the father's hands trembled."
"Icarus?" I asked.
"Icarus," he repeated.
"That's really depressing," I said.
"Think about it," he replied. "Icarus' father gave him wings, with one warning: fly in moderation. But Icarus saw an opportunity to escape his shitty life for the first time ever, and he flew too high."
He sounded so serious. Too serious, really. "How long have you been working out exactly how you'd say that?" I teased, and despite himself, he laughed.
"Since you told me what your assignment was," he replied.
"I like it when you read to me. Will you read the whole thing?" I asked.
"Okay," he said. "Daedalus and Icarus: Hating the isle of Crete and the long years of exile..."
When Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, I leaned against Tobias, my head on his shoulder. He glanced down at me, entwined the fingers of his empty hand with mine, and kept going. After Icarus fell, and Daedalus found the feathers, burying his son on an island he named after him, I raised myself up and kissed Tobias softly on the lips.
Which, of course, was exactly when Jake cleared his throat behind us.
We separated hastily. "I already woke up Cassie and Toby for our shift," Jake said. "You two are relieved." The look on his face was clear disapproval.
"The weird thing is," I said to Tobias but also loud enough for Jake to hear, "two people on this team have made out on a mission, and it wasn't you or me."
Jake turned red as Tobias laughed. < What happened while Jake was dead in Bizarro 1934, stays in Bizarro 1934, > Tobias joked privately.
I took Tobias' hand again and pulled him out of the navigation room. "You know," I said as the door closed behind us, "Cassie and Toby being on-duty means the girls' room is empty."
Fandom: Animorphs
Pairing: Tobias/Rachel
Rating: PG
Summary: Rachel and Tobias find a quiet moment on a mission to do some homework.
Author's Note: Quotes from Ovid's Metamorphoses courtesy of the Oxford Word Classics edition, translated by A.D. Melville.
I get a lot of credit for being the Strong Animorph. The Brave Animorph. Maybe, even, the Slightly-Crazy Animorph. I can live with that.
But I think what everyone forgets to acknowledge that I am also the Only Animorph Making Straight A's. I like to think it's because of my superior sense of time management. Do homework on a mission? Sure, no problem. I can find time.
< I don't know, I think you're more of a Niobe, > Tobias said thoughtfully.
Or it could just be that my boyfriend genuinely loves doing homework.
We were on the Bug Ship headed for the Hork-Bajir planet after Aldrea picked Cassie over me. I could say some stuff about how I was clearly a better choice, but Cassie was my best friend for life, so I was practicing restraint. Well, trying to.
Not that she and I were really interacting much this voyage. At the start of it, Jake took me and Ax aside and explained that he'd been studying 18th century navies or whatever boring military Jake stuff, and the best way to keep a 24-hour watch on a ship was to separate people into three groups, shifts of four hours on-duty, eight hours off. Jake was going to take Cassie/Aldrea and Toby in his group. Ax and Marco would get the Arn. And then the third shift was me and Tobias, with three relatively simple instructions.
"If Aldrea or Quafijinion try anything, wake me up immediately," Jake said. "If there's a navigation problem, wake Ax up and don't touch anything." He paused, shades of awkward Jake showing through. "And I'm giving you Tobias because you and Marco would be a disaster, but you two aren't allowed to make out on duty."
Which I thought was kind of bullshit. Mostly because that was exactly how I was planning to spend our four hours shifts, but whatever.
Which led to Tobias and I brainstorming for my English paper about which character from Ovid's Metamorphoses I identified with most.
"You think Niobe over Arachne?" I asked. "Arachne is nervous when Pallas reveals herself, but she's so set on victory that she puts her fears aside and charges ahead. It's stupid, but it's brave and I kind of admire it."
< Yeah, > he replied. < That's a really good point. But I think you should give Niobe a thought, too. They both have hubris as a central flaw-- >
"You know, most guys wouldn't just outright tell their girlfriend her central flaw is hubris," I teased.
< Most guys haven't nearly been strangled by their girlfriend's literal evil half, > he countered. < Anyway, Arachne's hubris is really self-centered. It's all about herself. Whereas Niobe...can you turn the page?...Ah, here we go. Yet her husband's skill, the high birth of them both, their kingdom's wealth, though all indeed gave pleasure, none could give such pleasure as her children. Niobe must have been thought the happiest of mothers, had she not thought so too. Niobe doesn't care about superficial things. She's got too much pride, but at the root of it is love for her family. Like, you'll go charging into battle after Yeerks, but you really fight when one of us is in danger. >
"It's so weirdly touching that that's how you see me that I feel bad arguing it, but..."
< Go for it, > he said.
"I don't know. Niobe's fate terrifies me. I'd rather be trapped as a spider than be forced to watch you guys die and then sit around as a statue weeping for all eternity."
< The gods don't give the punishments people want, they give them the punishments they fear most. >
"Yeah, but if it looks like we're all going down, I'm going to go in swinging, and I'll be the first. Even the Greek gods couldn't stop that."
< Yeah, > he said. < I'd like to see them try. >
I picked up the pen. "Dear Mrs. Laton. I am most like Arachne because I'm really, really proud of how good I am at killing Yeerks."
He laughed. < Probably shouldn't lead with that. >
"Probably not."
For the next hour or so we were mostly silent as I worked on the paper, minus a few content suggestions or spelling corrections from Tobias here or there. When I finished, I tossed the book up on the console where the others would see it. Maybe Cassie or Jake could get some homework done, and Marco probably had no idea what our English assignment was, but he'd get a kick out of seeing one of us brought a book about transformations aboard.
"So what about you?" I asked.
< What about me? > Tobias countered.
"Who do you most identify with?"
< Easy. Can you open the book back up? >
"You could do it yourself," I suggested.
That didn't always work, but it did this time. When he was finished morphing human, he picked the book up with his human hands, flipping through the pages like he knew what he was looking for. He cleared his throat. "He fixed the strange new wings on his son's shoulders and instructed him how he should fly; and, as he worked and warned, the old man's cheeks were wet, the father's hands trembled."
"Icarus?" I asked.
"Icarus," he repeated.
"That's really depressing," I said.
"Think about it," he replied. "Icarus' father gave him wings, with one warning: fly in moderation. But Icarus saw an opportunity to escape his shitty life for the first time ever, and he flew too high."
He sounded so serious. Too serious, really. "How long have you been working out exactly how you'd say that?" I teased, and despite himself, he laughed.
"Since you told me what your assignment was," he replied.
"I like it when you read to me. Will you read the whole thing?" I asked.
"Okay," he said. "Daedalus and Icarus: Hating the isle of Crete and the long years of exile..."
When Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high, I leaned against Tobias, my head on his shoulder. He glanced down at me, entwined the fingers of his empty hand with mine, and kept going. After Icarus fell, and Daedalus found the feathers, burying his son on an island he named after him, I raised myself up and kissed Tobias softly on the lips.
Which, of course, was exactly when Jake cleared his throat behind us.
We separated hastily. "I already woke up Cassie and Toby for our shift," Jake said. "You two are relieved." The look on his face was clear disapproval.
"The weird thing is," I said to Tobias but also loud enough for Jake to hear, "two people on this team have made out on a mission, and it wasn't you or me."
Jake turned red as Tobias laughed. < What happened while Jake was dead in Bizarro 1934, stays in Bizarro 1934, > Tobias joked privately.
I took Tobias' hand again and pulled him out of the navigation room. "You know," I said as the door closed behind us, "Cassie and Toby being on-duty means the girls' room is empty."