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Who: Tobias and you!
What: Arrival tiiiime
When: 11/19 (During Alternately You event. Because the boy knows how to make an entrance, I guess.)
Where: Info Booth, around town.
Warnings: None yet, but given that Tobias is from the early 2000's so you can expect some, uh. Language that is no longer acceptable in polite conversation.

Arrival

Tobias was in a meadow, perched on a tree one minute, and the next he'd found himself outside an information booth. After a (very short) conversation, he'd tucked himself into some bushes and made the change from hawk to boy, accepting the information and money from Jerry. But once he'd been dismissed, he wasn't exactly sure what to do with himself.

He was alone. No animorphs. No Hork-Bajir. No obvious threat. No clear objectives. The alone part wasn't so bad, but the rest was just confusing. No one plucked him out of his world without a purpose. He looked over the pamphlet with a sigh, and turned towards the park exit. He looked more like he was leaving an exercise class than a fresh arrival, in tight shorts, shirt, and bare feet.

Around Town

Tobias is wandering around town in some new flip flops and a jacket, if only so he would have pockets to stick his money, pamphlets, and phone in. Under it, he was still wearing tight shorts and a shirt at least a size too small, but he didn't seem bothered by the fact that he was a fashion disaster, sticking out like a stone-faced sore thumb.

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<Honestly? No idea. It comes with the morphing,> and if there was any doubt about whether or not he was really the bird standing in front of Adam, the shrug of his wings should've dispelled it. <Andalites -- aliens like my dad -- don't have mouths that they can speak with. So this is how they always talk and I guess it got built into their tech somehow.>

"Huh." He wasn't sure that was how tech worked, but he was talking to an alien-bird-boy, so who was he to really argue about what was and wasn't possible? Especially when he was a dreamer. "It saves us a whole lot of trouble, either way."

Except he had one concern. Just one. "Can you read my thoughts or do you just project what you want to say?"

<Sure as hell does,> he agreed, waddling over to stand near Adam. <No, this is strictly one-way. Mind reading would be both great and terrible,> and he'd rather not, thanks.

That was a relief, to be perfectly honest--and Adam usually was. Crouching down, he reached out to gently smooth his fingers over the top of Tobias's head. He hoped Tobias didn't mind.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Personally, I don't want to see into anyone's head." Well, that wasn't strictly true, but generally speaking he didn't want to know what people were thinking.

<The ethics alone would give me a headache for years,> he agreed, holding still while Adam touched his head. <This is the body I'm usually in, but I've got all kinds of morphs. Human, alien, animals. Pretty much whatever I need.>

Right. The ethics. Of course, Adam had been thinking how easy it would be to blackmail people if you could read their minds, which wasn't exactly ethical to start with.

Pulling back, he rested his hands on his knees. "What other kinds of aliens are out there?"

It would've made the war much more difficult -- if it wouldn't have prevented it entirely. For a moment, Tobias was left to wonder what it would be like, if the Andalites had been able to read minds. Would Seerow's Kindness even be a thing?

The question had him shaking his head to dismiss the thoughts. <There'd the taxxons, they look like these great big, yellow worms. They're always hungry, to the point that they'll eat each other if someone gets injured. There's the Hork-Bajir, who look really scary, but they evolved to take care of trees. Most of them are pretty low-intelligence, but they're some of the nicest people I've ever met. There are the Kree, but I don't know if they really count. They're androids, total pacifists, and look kind of like humans with dog heads. Like, I'm pretty sure Anubis was a Kree.> He hesitates for a moment.

<Then there are the Yeerks. The aliens we fought off. They don't look like much, little gray slugs, but if they reach your brain, they can hijack all your motor functions. You're a prisoner in your own body. Wide awake, walking, talking. But completely unable to control anything.> It's pretty obvious why he might want to kill them all.

He listened quietly, making a face at the description of Taxxons. Hork-Bajir, on the other hand, sounded like someone he knew, and the corners of his mouth quirked upwards in a small smile. It was a shame there was no one around who would get the joke if he made it.

But then they got to Yeerks, and the smile faded from his face. "Yeerks and Taxxons sound pretty awful," he said quietly. "Do all Yeerks want world domination?"

<No,> he replied quietly. <But most of them do. They're not... they weren't trying to do it out of hate,> he's hesitant to defend them, but. <In their natural state, they can't perceive very much. There are a lot of them and on their home world, there weren't a lot of host bodies available, and those that were didn't have great vision or dexterity, either. Then Seerow, an Andalite, found them and gave them advanced technology.> A clear violation of the Prime Directive. <Once they got off-world, they started enslaving whole races. Earth was a perfect target. No similar species, less advanced technology, no contact with any alien races that they could tell,> he shrugged his wings. <We were a perfect target.>

He had the impression that giving them advanced technology had been the start of everything going wrong. While it was a shame they lived poor lives in their natural state, it didn't excuse enslaving other races.

"So, they wanted to better their own lives at the expense of others," he summed up. "That's still really shitty."

<Pretty much. That's why I don't have sympathy for any of the ones we killed.> He shrugged his wings again. <But it's also why I live alone in the mountains now. We did what we had to do, but we're not heroes. It was war.> It had been brutal.

"War is hell," he agreed quietly. "But you stopped a really massive threat. That makes you something." If not a hero, then something similar. "You saved countless lives, I'm sure." Even if a lot of lives were lost in the process.

<Yeah,> he replied softly. <It makes me alone.> It came out more bitter than he'd meant it to, but less bitter than he really felt, even though being alone had been his choice. It felt like the only time he'd had one.

"You don't have to be alone here, unless you want to be." Adam would be his friend. Adam would visit him and do things with him. But he also wouldn't force Tobias to do anything he didn't want to. Not unless it was good for him.

<I know,> he replied quietly. Here, at least, it would be easier. People wouldn't look at him and know. He wasn't an object lesson in the dangers of morphing. <I'm... used to it now, but at least people here won't pity me.>

Adam wouldn't pity him, that was for sure. "You were given a phone, right? There's a directory with everyone here in it, just look for my name and give me a call or a text if you ever need anything." Even if that anything was just to talk or hang out.

<Yeah. It's got the internet on it, somehow. It's pretty cool.> He agreed, shifting his feet along on the branch a little. <Your name's Adam, right?>

He nodded, to both things. "Are you not used to phones having internet?" he asked. "And yes, it's Adam. Adam Parrish."

<No?> he shakes his head. <Phones are for calling people. This thing doesn't even have buttons. It's weird.> In a good way, but still weird. <Parrish the thought, huh? I'll remember it,> he promises. <And I promise to pick up if I notice when you're calling. Which I probably will, unless I'm up in the air.>

"If you need help with it, let me know." He'd be glad to lend a hand. Also that pun was bad. So bad that Tobias should feel bad, even if Adam smiled as he shook his head.

"And I promise not to be offended if you don't pick up." He was more than used to people with phone issues.

<I'm sure it'll be fine. If I can figure out alien tech, how hard can a fancy phone be?> He's trying for a joke, his wings fluttering a little before settling against his sides again. <Thanks for driving me home.>

Adam smiled. "In case anything does come up, the offer stands." He didn't want to just leave Tobias high and dry if he had an issue. "And you're welcome."

<You'll be the first one I drop in on if I run into trouble,> he promised. Probably in the literal sense, too, because if he couldn't get the phone to work he probably wouldn't be using it to call Adam. He'd probably just show up in the poor kid's window and scare the crap out of him.

It would probably be an accident, too. Probably.

"Sounds good," he said, nodding. "Is there anything else I can do to help?" Before he headed on his way. Tobias seemed to be pretty settled in here now, but Adam didn't want to just ditch him.

Tobias shook his head. <Unless you've got some mice in your pockets, the best way you can help now is to head home so I can grab a meal.> Literally. In his talons.

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forleaving - 2020-12-27 01:18 (UTC) - Expand

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