#like he was with Jara...pretty much everyone else knows that he likes her but it's v funny to watch their little routine | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thenixart · 5 years

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Chapter 5: Book 23--The Rescue

Hork-bajir centric rewrite book Animorphs book 23

Toby Hamee is a ‘seer’, literally: the one who sees far into what is and what may be. One thing she likes about the language of her people is the ability to say a lot using very little breath. Something that she reasoned was an adaption to her ancestors living in high-density groups and the necessity to communicate ideas efficiently as they needed to use the rest of the oxygen in their lungs to power their muscles to flee from the monsters from the deep. Quirks of the language that don’t translate well and actively fight with the standards of grammar in Galard and English.

This was why the humans and the yeerks looked down their beaks at her people. They took it as a sign that they were unintelligent and of less worth. Such strange things aliens placed value on as intelligent. Yet how many languages did the average human speak? The average yeerk? She knew almost as many languages as fingers she possessed: Tree of course and then Galard from her parents and tribemates. The basics of English from them as well polished to fluency from watching television. Conversational Tax and claw-sign from teacher Sssirin. Enough Spanish from Dora la exploradora and Telemundo that she was confident enough to use. Naharan dialect skikar and desbadeen balong from teacher Grath Sha. Were there humans that knew as many different languages? Maybe, but they were likely rare meanwhile pretty much every hork-bajir in the tribe knew just as many even if they skipped the redundant grammar rules.

It understandably made her very angry along with many other things.

Unfortunately, that same anger is what made the council uncertain of her ability to lead.

Which was why after the excitement of her first trial run of leadership had worn off, she was secretly listening to their meeting. Not spying, listening.

The meeting was being held in the big community lodge, a large circular platform built around the upper third of four huge pines. Support beams of living oak formed a loose cage connecting to a ring of eight trees outside of the first circle supported the weight of the platform. The whole thing was roofed and camouflaged from above by a woven mat of more living branches and vines. According to her father, Jara Hamee, this was the kind of structure that new tribes built when they settled into a valley. Over time (and with due diligence) as the trees grow, they would merge together into a proper Tribe tree with the expanded hall as the main community center. Toby had no idea if they could grow these alien trees into such a structure or even if they would have that much time on this world. But her father insisted that they should practice their cultural skills if only to keep them fresh in the mind. And besides, getting everyone to work on a project together was good for building bonds especially when they were effectively the tribal equivalent of a chop-toss salad.

And because she’d been involved in the building process (even if all she did was pass things to her dad as she clung to his back) she knew the best place to eavesdrop that wasn’t in the latrine. Been there, done that, learned from it. Or the eaves either for that matter.

Toby was thankful that she hadn’t yet hit her next growth spurt when she nestled into the nice little crook in the support cage next to the gap in the floorboards under the south room. As it was she could just barely fit in the cavity formed by the moss and wood. Her tail had to dangle out and she had to sit with her legs crossed to avoid jabbing her belly with her knee blades. If she stayed very still the only other people who’d notice her would also be eavesdroppers and they couldn’t snitch without snitching on themselves as well.

“...needs only a z-space transponder.”

“Jara Hamee know part. Cannon have?”

“This one knows not. A likely eventuality.”

“Ket Halpak say let yeerk work more. Get radio part. Get hork-bajir. Make big boom.”

“Aad Wanlo agree with Ket Halpak.”

“Aad Wanlo, Ket Halpak, want know how Toby Hamee do?”

“Aad Wanlo think--”

The sudden shout combined with the knowledge that she was doing something that she shouldn’t activated Toby Hamee’s flight reflex and she’d lept twenty feet away from her perch before her mind clamped down on her instincts. Looking around she spotted her spooker, Bek, hanging by his tail and snickering at her. Frowning she stuck out her tongue at him and shouted SHORT in her head, knowing that he was listening.

Bek, in turn, projected an image of her own bugged out fear face back at her with a smirk.

Then she noticed her dad, her mom, and about half of the other people at the meeting sticking their heads out of the door of the south room. Looking directly at her. Toby could feel her head blades flush dark. Quickly she pretended to be interested in picking pine cones. One by one the adults went back to their meeting, Jara being the last and still most suspicious of her.

She did not need to move her head to see Bek thump against the tree a tail length above her. He climbed down to her level face first, his bloodshot black eyes gleaming with mirth. < Toby Hamee is blushing. >

When he opened his beak to laugh she shoved a pinecone in his mouth. This did not phase Bek who thoughtfully crunched and swallowed the treat. Toby dropped down the length of the tree to the ground and headed for the river. This kept Bek too busy trying to keep up with her to send his thoughts, his short legs meant he had to hop twice as much to match her pace.

By the lake was one of the new recruits and one of Toby’s few new friends, Fal Tagut, experimenting with his bows. Fal’s mother-mother lived in a very steep valley practically on the other side of the world from Toby’s own ancestors. In that narrow valley, a seer spent her life inventing what humans would call archery. Not as a weapon or hunting tool, this was back before Dak shared the discovery of violence, but as a way to get ripe gooba fruit from the trees that were too close to the deep to forage under. These bows and arrows that Fal was making now would be weapons to use against the yeerks because the tribe needed long-distance weapons that didn’t need to be charged with nuclear power like their stolen dracon beams.

Fal Tagut did not stop his carving of arrows from leftover building planks as Toby and Bek approached. He did turn so as to see them with his good eye. The other eye having been put out by her namesake, a human named Tobias who happened to have the body of a bird and was also fighting in the battle against the yeerk slavers.

“Hello, Fal Tagut. How is?”

“Why Toby Hamee dark?”

< Toby Hamee get caught spying. >

She snorted at Bek and flicked his stubby horns that would grow properly if he stopped picking at them. “Bek got Toby Hamee caught!”

To Toby’s annoyance, Fal started laughing at her too. He said smiling, “Toby Hamee need play more hiding/seeking.”

She huffed and gestured at the entirety of Bek’s currently three-foot-tall being, “Bek hears thoughts! How Toby Hamee hide from?!”

Fal and Bek glanced at each other no doubt sharing some joke between them and then turned back to her.

“Easy.” Fal Tagut said.

< Hide thoughts. > Bek finished.

Toby Hamee rolled her eyes at them in the human expression of exasperation that was quickly picking up among both free and enslaved hork-bajir on Father Earth.

Some days she really hated the concept of friendship. Other days she was glad that there were people in the valley who treated her as a peer worthy of ridicule and not just as a kid or as a seer with a great responsibility. And after a while, her embarrassment cooled off as she and Bek helped Fal craft and test different designs of bows and arrows. It was near sundown when her mother found her and both chided her for spying on their meeting and congratulated her on passing Aad Wanlo’s assessment. She would be allowed to lead solo in the next mission.

Toby Hamee celebrated this with a maple syrup mead toast to all of her teachers and her friends and everyone else she learned from.

////

Fal Tagut was the first to notice that Bek is missing.

He’d woken in the middle of the night with the screams from the Yeerk Pool cavern in his head. Brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and cousins all terror and anger. Sadness and calls for vengeance ringing for a forever in his ears. He could still feel something slithering into his ear. His body would not respond. It scared him. His heart pounded in his chest and slowly he was able to make his body be awake as well.

Still, Fal Tagut was scared.

His mother was not here. His father not here. No mother-brothers. No mother-sisters. No father-brothers. No father-sisters. No cousins. None of the people he’d shared the cages with. Fal Tagut cried from loneliness.

After a bit, he leaped from his perch and sought out his friends.

Bek was not in his favorite tree. Curiosity beat out loneliness in Fal’s head. He was somewhat aware that Bek did not tend to sleep at night. When Bek did sleep he liked to sleep in the mornings far away from everyone in this hollow in this exact big oak.

What did Bek do at night? Fal Tagut had no answer.

Toby Hamee slept closer to where Fal Tagut did than Bek’s tree. But it was easier to go from start to far away to back to near than start to near to far. At least it was as far as Fal was concerned. Toby and her parents had a house in the second-best place in the Ellimist valley (the best place is where the community hall is). There were several houses in the valley, most clustered together in the same area. Jara’s house was the biggest of these and the door faced east to catch sunlight in the morning.

If Bek was here, Bek would whisper to Toby to let her know they were there. So Fal hesitated at the door with indecision. He did not want to wake Toby’s parents.

“Hear you. Smell you. Who is?” Jara Hamee’s voice was quiet. Fal’s horns flushed dark in embarrassment at his lack of stealth.

“Am Fal Tagut.” Fal Tagut answered in a matching whisper.

“Is time for sleep, Fal tagut.”

“Yes.”

A silence stretched out long enough that Fal’s crop started to feel slippery.

“Jara Hamee?”

“Yes, Fal Tagut?”

“Bek is not in tree.”

“Bek wanders when should be sleeping. Will look for when is bright.”

“Ok.”

In the darkness, Fal heard someone shifting on a bed. And then one person’s claws on floorboards. The sound of swallowing.

“Jara Hamee?”

“Yes, Fal Tagut?”

“Fal Tagut has sleep demons. Fal Tagut is alone.”

“Jara Hamee has big house and big bed. Fal Tagut is not alone.”

/////

Bek is lost.

Bek is not surprised by that. He almost never left the Ellimist valley alone. His sense of direction is bad, the rock in his head that should know where North is doesn’t work at all. It was too dark to see clearly and if not for the round moon he would see nothing at all. Bek did not sleep good around other people, especially sleeping ones. Their dreams were loud and kept him awake. Usually, he ended up falling asleep around sunup when everyone else was waking.

When Bek couldn’t sleep he went jumping.

Unfortunately, there were yeerks tied up to die at his favorite place to jump. He did not want to listen to their screaming and feel their fear and hate or the suffering of the yeerks’ prisoners. So he went west to one of the smaller valleys. Except, he miss counted a leap and lost track of Ket Halpak’s directions.

Jara Hamee tells everyone, if not know where is make mark as go. If find mark, then has been before. So Bek made nicks in the bark of the trees as he passed by them. When Bek ran into his marks again, he made new ones and went in a different direction.

When the earth bit him in the foot, causing him to trip and scream, Bek decided that he was going to follow Ket Halpak’s advice. The lost should stay put . As he didn’t know why the ground was biting him, he decided to stay put. Maybe it would get tired of biting and let go? It didn’t seem to be trying to eat him like that bear did.

By morning his wounds were dry and didn’t hurt. He could see what was holding him better, some metal mouth on a chain nailed into the ground. It would be pretty easy to free himself if not for the humans rolling up in their car-thing.

Very loud humans.

Only humans, no yeerks. Bek was good at hearing thoughts and people held hostage by yeerks were very easy for him to tell. The yeerks felt one way and the captives always another. But just because they were not controlled by yeerks did not mean they weren’t scary. Especially not with those weapons pointed at him. Bek was very careful. He’d seen the kinds of wounds guns made, he did not want to be shot.

So he complied when they brought out the cage.

////

Toby would be much much more excited about her first real solo leadership job if the mission wasn’t searching for her missing friend. As it was she put on a brave face and got together a search party. Out of a tribe of twenty-three hork-bajir, nine taxxons, and four humans she had nine of her people, a third of the taxxons, and half of the humans to work with. That meant making about three teams with one taxxon each to track Bek’s scent. The one team without humans could cover a lot more ground especially if she assigned them the smallest of the taxxons. Every team member got a talkie and one map and at least one map reader to a team.

She felt confident about the mission.

That confidence shrunk by the end of that day. It shrank some more at the end of the second day. It withered entirely on the morning of the third day when the taxxon of team two called in.

[“Find blood of the one who is Bek,”] Ssskartaa’s voice clicked calmly over the walkie talkie. [“Days old. Not enough for hork-bajir death. No panic in the dirt, one who is Bek was not scared. In dirt is human shoe prints, smell of gasoline, car prints. Car was heavier leaving than coming.”]

“Did the humans take the one who is Bek?”

[“It is strongly possible.”]

Toby radioed everyone to call off the search and regroup back in the Ellimist valley. She was very very tired and it was up to her to come up with the plan moving forward.

How exactly would they go about it? This wasn’t a mall raid, the humans couldn’t just drive them in the vans to a building in the middle of the night. They had no leads whatsoever about where to start looking. Frankly, Bek could be on the other side of the continent by now. They needed cloaking tech! They needed morphing tech! They needed a miracle!

Toby felt a heavy hand land on her shoulder. Her father bumped his horns against hers.

“Breathe deep.” Jara said calmly.

She did. Inhaling to the bottom of her lungs and after a few seconds, letting that air back out.

“Is good?”

“Is good.” She replied. “Toby Hamee got this.”

And then the “Goooaaahahahah” of the suspicious bird alarm call rang out over the valley. The taxxons vanished into the earth and the humans put on their masks and moved under tree cover. All of the hork-bajir aside from the lookouts filled out into the clearing to greet their visitor.

The timing of it niggled under Toby’s scales, what was the last time any of the morphers visited? Had to be almost a year ago when she’d just started hopping around on her own. The timing was suspiciously good for the current crisis, still she put on a pleasant face for Tobias as he circled on raggedy brown wings.

“Hello, friend Tobias!” Her father shouted at the human trapped in the shape of a bird.

“Good seeing you!” Her mother said as Tobias perched on an overhanging tree branch not more than a ska from where human Darnell was hiding. Ket was practically puffing with pride at how well her hiding lessons were working.

“Your timing couldn’t be better Tobias.” Toby said formally. The entire mood of clearing shifted. Yes, there was still work that needed to be done. Tobias himself seemed to deflate as well.

“One of our young males, Bek, went missing a few days ago. We have reason to believe that he was captured by humans while wandering outside of the valley.” Toby said. “We could use some help in finding him.”

<How do you know that? You’ve left the valley looking for him?> Tobias’ thought voice was surprisingly demanding.

“Yes?” Confusion at the odd question was evident on her father’s face. “Search? Look and look and look.”

“Cry, ‘Bek! Bek!’” Grath Sha added sarcastically. Toby remembered that the teenage hork-bajir once told her to never trust a human that asked very obvious questions. Grath has said something along the lines of, either they think you’re dumb or they’re terrible listeners .

“Find footprint. Find carprint. Find smell.” Her mother, Ket, continued.

“Bek is not in the valley,” Toby repeated incase the human was still confused. “We looked for him. We found his trail. We know that he was captured and taken elsewhere by humans.”

Tobias then said several words that could be nothing else but curses. Several they knew from the cages (or taught by those who’d been in the cages to those who’d not) or from the television movies that only came on late at night. There were a few new ones in there that caught their curiosity but Tobias didn’t want to explain them.

“About three days,” Toby replied.

<Oh, man. I have to get back to the others. We'll start a search. But I don't think our chances are very good.> Then the bird-shaped human stopped still, <Do you think Bek could lead people back here? Would he be able to find his way back? The Ellimist has laid some kind of weird spell on this place.>

“Bek is not good with directions. He’d return to the woods if he were able and if he did we would be able to find him,” Toby said. “But he would have very little reason to lead others here.”

“I highly doubt that the yeerks could get one of their inside him, let alone control him.”

<What?>

“Bek is different. In head.” Jara said sagely. “Not seer, but strange.”

<Sure,> Tobias sighed as he took off. <I’ll tell Jake and the others. To think I came here to get away from my problems...>

The tribe waved goodbye as he flew away.

/////

Bek did not like this place. The wood of the building was clearly rotting. There was dirt and grime building up in the corners and crevices. Terrible smells. All around many animals. And all around was the feeling of sadness. Scribbling thoughts of creatures so bored they were rotting inside. Dripping feelings of lasting pains. Except for the humans that came and went, excited and frightened and happy.

He did not like this cage. There were no perches and the humans hit his fingers and toes when he tried to hang from the top. The dirty dry grass on the floor was too thin to be a good bed. Standing on it long made his joints hurt. The metal bowl of water he had to drink from was slimy. Gross. Looking around the animals in the other cages were in the same situation.

Bek was angry.

He was not big enough or strong enough to cut the metal bars of the cages. And he did not know what to do with the animals but he could tell Toby and their humans who would know more. And he could listen to the lock on his cage, there were lots of small parts he could not see. The humans opened and closed the door after sticking in a small metal twig. The twig made the little parts move. He could make the little parts move by thinking about it. But it was not easy, a puzzle! He needed to move them in the right order!

Days passed.

The humans figured out that he did not eat meat. Bek ate their bad bread crumbles because he was hungry. Bread made of grass and seed, yuck! Bek ate to stay strong. He ate, he slept, he tinkered with tiny metal things, and he watched.

A lesson from the Storyteller, Hruthin, yeerk, human. Similar. All think people who do not speak same or look same is stupid. Very silly. Tell secrets. Pay no attention. Is useful, no?

Bek paid very close attention to the yeerk talking to the human who owned the building. Something was wrong with the yeerk’s host. There was no human thought in the human body.

Strange.

The yeerk was thinking, yes tonight we will take this hork-bajir and make him bait for the tribe . The human was thinking, this strange one with bring me many materials . And further away, out of sight but not range of his thoughts or hearing were people spying.

////

The Tribe’s humans had gone out looking for Bek and came back with pulp leaves dyed with bad-smelling colors. Fal Tagut was told that the scribbles on the ‘paper’ said where to find his friend Bek. Fal believe them.

His other friend Toby decided that they would not wait for the Animorph humans to find Bek. She and he and humans Darnell and Jade would go rescue Bek themselves. With them, they took a few dracon beams and left in the van-type car. The others wished them luck and safety and they gave wishes in return, Ket Halpak and Jara Hamee were leading an attack on the hidden yeerk cannon at nightfall.

Fal Tagut did not like riding in the van. When the van was moving it felt like he was trapped at the top of a leap with the earth below pulling on his insides. Except instead of below the earth pulled him forward, back, side to side. He spent most of the trip trying not to vomit up the good bread that Loro Lok had made for them.

It took some time to get to the place where Bek was. The sun went from four hands until dark to settled under the earth by the time they arrived. There were already sounds of fighting and big animals in one of the buildings.

Toby Hamee said, “Darnell, your our driver. Keep the motor running. Fal Tagut! Jade! Give me cover fire. I’m going to get Bek.”

Toby burst from the back of the van like a seed from an exploding pod. Windows down, he and Jade used stunning dracon shots to clear her path as she flowed like water across the battlefield. Darnell kept pace with her, maneuvering the van around other cars and downed bodies.

Toby leaped onto the building and rounded to the other side. They rounded through the car lot to see Bek! And some strange many-legged creature and a wounded Ket Halpak. Fal Tagut was confused for a bit until he remembered that some of the Animorphs humans had shapes of Ket Halpak and Jara Hamee from when they helped them flee from the yeerks. From the booming voice in his head, Fal guessed that the strange monster was Visser Three.

None of this stumbled Toby as she dropped from the roof, cutting off the Visser’s muzzle in the process. She turned on the spot and cut across the monster’s throat with an elbow blade and chopped the legs from one side of the Visser’s body causing it the flop to the ground. From there she lept for Bek and Fal shot the yeerk-in-human that tried to take aim at her back.

With a mighty triumphant honk, Toby bounded for the van with Bek clinging to her back. The van swung around open back to the fight as the two tumbled in. Using his feet he helped Toby close the van doors.

The ride back was three times as long to avoid leading anyone back to the valley and twice as bouncy with a shot out tire from the fight.

////

Toby Hamee did not relax until she set foot back into the Ellimist valley.

Her plans worked. Her friends were safe. She faced Visser Three in morph in battle and lived to tell of it.

And tell she did. In the light of the bonfire surrounded by her friends and family and tribe. Everyone that had gone out that day taking turns to tell their personal stories about their missions. She spoke of Visser Three’s fear and surprise when she cut into their host’s morphed flesh. Bek talked about his captivity and the minds of the humans and yeerks he encountered. Her mother pantomimed the size and beauty of the yeerk cannon and base exploding. And her father outdid them all with a funny story about how he got the parts for his deep-space radio that involved weaponizing a bunch of bananas of all things.

Eventually, the fire died down and exhaustion snaked into everyone and the party ended. Folks said their goodnights and left for their homes to rest and recover. Bek, of course, stayed the night at her house. And so did Fal Tagut.

The peace of the next morning’s breakfast was broken by the ‘many odd birds’ alarm call.

No one actually dropped what they were doing per se, yesterday had been a long day and people wanted to eat their breakfasts. Her father, in particular, was busy tinkering with the radio at the table. The metaphorical cat was already out of the bag about their human tribemates, who only put on their masks as they continued eating their cooked eggs and soft bread. And the taxxons had discussed it the other night that they might as well reveal themselves before some accident happened and the Animorphs attacked them as enemies. Besides, if she left her oak and maple porridge at the table Bek would absolutely steal it.

Tobias arrived first fluttering around overhead before landing in a nearby tree. The hruthin following soon after on swift legs. And then came the humans with the taller ones easily outpacing the shorter ones.

“Ok, so that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” Rachel said with excitement. She brushed her long yellow mane out of her face and her eyes seemed to be sparkling.

“Where did you guys get a car!” Marco puffed breathlessly. Then his eyes wandered warily to the taxxons who waved greetings with a few of their forelimbs.

“You do know there’s cars everywhere in the city right?” Darnell responded.

Cassie gave him a very long and strange look that Toby did not yet know how to decipher, “You didn’t… steal that van did you?”

“Of course not,” Darnell lied through his teeth with notes of sarcasm, “My uncle Reese let me borrow it.”

“Didn’t know you guys had so many other friends,” Jake said. His mouth a stern frown. “Seems like you didn’t need our help at all.”

“By luck, our own investigation turned up the location of Bek’s imprisonment. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a way to contact you to alert you of recent developments.”

That seemed to placate the Animorphs. And frankly there was no way that Toby was going to tell them about the walkie talkies and the radio project, her parents hadn’t and the humans didn’t ask. The andalite noticed that Jara was building something but didn’t seem fit to ask what. They left soon after anyway, to some other mission and the tribe wished them luck.

The rest of the day went as planned.

Cooks cooked. The doctor made his rounds and taught his students. Parents cared for their children. Workers put their blades to use on building new houses. Everyone keeping busy while waiting for the main show.

Her father finished the deep space radio not one hand from sundown and she and a decent chunk of the adults and taxxons went to another valley (specifically chosen for the caves and signal strength with the regular radios) to use it try to contact other rebel groups out in space. It was a funny sight, chitin and scales effectively crammed together as everyone crowded to watch Jara Hamee hunched over a tiny desk. Everyone waiting with bated breath while he switched stations as he played -here-happy-whole- dozens of times on a small wooden hand drum.

-here-happy-whole-

-here-hap- [-heard-received-welcome-freedom-comrades-]

#thenixkat #animorphs #hork-bajir #taxxons #fanfiction #episode rewrite

15 notes · View notes

pirateisabela · 7 years

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INQUISITOR ASK THING!! For Ven, Jaras and Miri: 5, 6, 11, 16, 23, 24, 25, 36, 38, 39, 40 You're welcome

Thanks for all the asks, as usual x)

5. What are their religious beliefs, if they have any?

Jaras believed in the gods as a child, but as he grew older and shit happened, he started to lose faith in them. Now, he has developed an Agnosticism view because he’s not even sure if any god or gods exist, let alone if he believes in them.

Miri wholeheartedly believes in the Dalish gods and goddesses. Her faith is a bit shaken after the Temple of Mythal, but it doesn’t take long for her to realize something and for it to be reaffirmed.

Venowen believes in the Maker. She grew up in the Denerim alienage so she was taught about the Maker as a child, but even after she learned about the Dalish gods, she didn’t feel any connection to them.

6. What is their opinion on the mage/templar war?

Jaras and Venowen both lean towards mages, but they aren’t major advocates of mage rights or anything. Miri, on the other hand, hates the human Circles and how mages are treated by the Chantry.

11. How do they feel about the dalish?

Miri, of course, loves the dalish. She accepts that her people have faults, but she’s a very fierce defender of them.

Jaras used to care a lot about his people, but he doesn’t feel the same about them anymore. He was happy to leave his clan and go to the Conclave, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to go back (he ended up visiting, but never for long).

Venowen heard stories about the dalish as a child. She was fascinated by them and heard stories about people leaving the alienage and finding a home with them in the forest, but it was always just a fairy tale to her. Even after she met a dalish clan, Venowen had no desire to reconnect with “her people.” She acknowledged that she and they were all elves, but she didn’t really care especially for them beyond that.

16. when are they the happiest?

It’s cheesy and a bit cliche, but Miri loves being in the forest with the trees and all the green. It reminds her of her clan and home. She feels safe there. It’s even better when she can convince Cassandra to come with her and just enjoy the fresh air and the silence around them.

Venowen is happiest in her home or tavern or wherever, surrounded by the people (and dog) she cares about most.

Jaras is happiest sitting around a campfire with his friends (usually Sera, Dorian, and Iron Bull), laughing and drinking after a long day of adventuring.

23. Are there any creatures in the wild that they refuse to/are reluctant to kill? Why?

Miri absolutely refuses to kill any animal but especially halla. As long as the animal doesn’t attack her, she doesn’t see why it is fair for her to attack it (in other words she has absolutely no problem killing bears, spiders, dragons, etc). Halla are important to her people, though, so she especially doesn’t like to harm them.

Venowen doesn’t like killing nugs because they are harmless and cute. If anything, she’d smuggle one into her bag and bring it to Leliana.

Jaras prefers not to kill halla because again they are important to his people and he just doesn’t see a point in killing them tbh, but everything else is pretty much fair game. He was a hunter with his clan, so it’s not really a big deal for him.

24. What is their opinion on blood magic? Would they ever use it, if given the chance?

Miri practices blood magic, though that causes some tension between her and several people close to her. She only ever uses her own blood and doesn’t believe in using the life force of other people, though. Miri tends not to use blood magic until she absolutely needs it because of how tired it can make her, but she doesn’t think blood magic is bad or anything. Just like any magic, it’s how you use it that decides if it’s “bad” or not.

Jaras also doesn’t believe that blood magic is “bad,” though he isn’t a mage so he doesn’t use it. He does believe that using sacrifices is despicable, but his Keeper taught Miri and the Hahren taught the rest of the clan that blood magic is beneficial as long as it’s used right.

Venowen grew up being taught the Chantry’s way of things, so she’s distrustful of blood magic and anyone who uses it. She was taught it was always terrible and bad, no exceptions, and even if someone explained to her why it wasn’t, she’d still have a hard time accepting it.

25. What is their favourite place within playable regions?

Miri probably likes the Emerald Graves because of all the trees. She’d probably like the Forbidden Oasis, too, because she likes solving puzzles and mysteries.

Jaras would probably like Val Royeaux the best because he could look at all the shops, and then he would also have a large variety of people to prank for calling him “knife-ear.”

Venowen (without memories) would probably the Hissing Wastes the most. There’s few enough enemies there that she could travel there for missions and be by herself and just…think.

Venowen (with memories) would like the Hinterlands the best. It includes Redcliffe village and her house actually isn’t far from there.

36. Are they especially protective of certain inquisition members, even those capable of defending themselves?

Miri would literally die for Cole. He’s too good for this world, too pure. She’s also particularly protective of Dorian and Cass, but she doesn’t worry about them as much as she does her tiny spirit child.

Jaras can’t help but worry about Dorian because he’s a mage and how is that stick supposed to protect Dorian and what would Jaras do if Dorian died too? He also cringes watching Iron Bull fight because the man could take a sword to the chest, with the blade fully sheathed up to the hilt, and it would probably just make him angrier.

Venowen is also protective of Iron Bull because he’s reckless (even though he really doesn’t need it), but she also keeps an eye on Varric because he’s just so short. She’s glad that he doesn’t move around a lot, but there’s such a contrast between him and Iron Bull. She fears.

38. Are there any insults they find to be especially offensive? (i.e. “knife ear”/”rabbit” for elves, “oxmen” for qunari, ect.)

Miri hates her or her people being called “savages.”

Jaras particularly hates “halla-rider” because some people pretend that it is actually a compliment when he knows they meant it as an insult.

Venowen dislikes “rabbit” more than any other elven slurs because while she doesn’t like being compared to a rabbit in the first place, there some terrible implications with it among nobility, especially Orlesian ones.

39. If Varric gave them a nickname, what would it be?

Jaras: Trouble (Cassandra was making disgusted noises at him all the time, even before Sera)

Miri: Swan (basically the “looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you” thing)

Venowen: probably just Your Inquisitorialness (because she has a lot of titles which is kind of daunting but without her memories she’s more chill and relatable so “Inquisitorialness” is basically the normal seriousness but with a bit more chill to it)

40. Do they enjoy being the inquisitor?

No, I’d say none of them do x) Venowen is used to being the one expected to save everyone, but that doesn’t mean she likes it. Miri doesn’t like the pressure she’s put under, especially to help a bunch of humans who hate literally everything about her lol. Jaras doesn’t like being in a position of power nor does he like making big decisions. He has cried at least once to trick Cass into deciding something for him.

#venowen tabris #miri lavellan #jaras lavellan #my ocs #asks #ask the slayer

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 4 years

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OK, after spending WAY too much of the past week reading all of Eleutherophobia and also your various AUs, a prompt/question (unless you've already answered this one!): what happens if the Animorphs actually DO successfully rescue Tom during that mission in book 1?

Nonny, I have noodled on this one, and I cannot make it work. The biggest problem I foresee: What the frick do they do with Tom once they’ve got him?

It’s pretty obviously not a question first-mission Jake has considered. #8 makes it clear that Jake thinks escaped yeerk hosts can just go back to their lives like nothing happened — and also makes it clear that there is no way in hell the yeerks would allow that. Worse, #13 establishes that escaped hosts will have everyone from state police to forest rangers to 100,000+ Sharing members hunting them. Add in taxxons’ ability to track by scent and hork-bajir’s to run down a human in about 10 seconds flat... And the only hope in hell a host has of escaping is if the Ellimist intervenes as he does in #13.

As of #1, the Animorphs don’t have the Ellimist’s “help.” Or the chee. Or the hork-bajir colony. Or Tobias’s expertise on the woods. Or any real knowledge of the yeerks. Or most of their useful morphs. Or Ax. In short: Tom’s fucked.

Faking his death wouldn’t work either. The shadow play like they use for Jara and Ket requires Tobias’s knowledge of the woods. Most other methods — drowning like Eva, exploding like Peter, simply disappearing like Tobias — rely on no one looking too hard for a body. And that’s before we get into how suspicious “lost at sea” or “conveniently immolated” would look in context.

And then there’s the question of how to keep him alive even if they do find somewhere for him to hide. No offense to Tom, but he’s a 16-year-old from a wealthy family whose skills start and end with jump shots, free throws, and the occasional alley-oop. He doesn’t exactly have Jara’s or Tobias’s ability to scrounge food. His situation is closer to David’s — he’d have to camp on people’s floors and hope for the best. Only the Animorphs barely managed to hide David for a week, and David could morph. At this point, Tom cannot.

So I can’t see a way out of a scenario like this:

They rescue Tom.

Jake immediately demorphs in front of Tom.

Tom, who at this point has a much better sense of the yeerks’ threat level, demands to know what the fuck Jake was thinking.

Marco probably stays in morph, but Tom's seen Cassie with the “andalite bandits,” and knows Rachel well enough to take a guess about her involvement.

Best-case scenario: within a week, Tom is dead. Either killed in the recapture effort, or got himself killed deliberately.

Worst-case scenario: within a week, Tom is recaptured. And now the yeerks have 3 - 5 Animorphs’ identities, and the Animorphs themselves have nowhere to run.

If anyone else has a solution that would actually work within the first-mission Animorphs’ super-limited skills and resources, do let me know.

#animorphs #animorphs au #animorphs meta #animorphs spoilers #the invasion #1 #tom berenson #tom my darling #pessimism #sorry nonny #i know this is not the answer you were hoping for #yeerks #unhappy endings #Anonymous #ask

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thenixart · 5 years

Text

Chapter 3: The Raid

Her Jara Hamee is smart and handsome and strong and good and handy. He was probably the best storyteller she’d ever heard. Ket Halpak loved him very much. And really there very were few of their people on this world who would probably make a better leader, regardless of his tendency to be too cautious.

But she was a much better fighter. A better sneaker as well. And that was why she was in charge of the raid.

She’d spent weeks scouting out yeerk bases. Half from memory and half from guessing based on what the two of them knew the yeerks needed. Some matching patterns that the adults discussed back when they young enough to cling to their mother’s backs.

Figuring out the best paths through these miniature forests was the fun part. As she flew she learned more about the thick Earth air and which branches could hold their weight. And which could hold thrice that which was a bit more important. How many times the alien trees could take hits at different angles before they broke or fell? She learned this. And hiding places were found. She left words on the important trees in Galard and numbers. Clawed phrases of hope for treefolk being ridden by yeerks into the bark. Deep in Mother Sky there was another tribe of free people who’d been sending messages out into the deep in the language singing trees. It took Jara many long days to work some borrowed radios to be able to listen in.

They borrowed many human things and stole some others. There were plenty of ground houses in less than a day’s travel and plenty of humans camping in the woods at any given time. Only things they’d seen used by the humans and yeerks in humans at the pools and in the ships. Metal tools, some electronics, survival gear, and a few weapons. Most valuable were things like sticky tape and sheep wool and dry straw. It was warm now, but this was an alien world who knew what the seasons were like.

The night of the raid was dark. If not for the notes etched into the path the two of them would be hopelessly lost. No moon and no electric lights. They flew as swiftly as birds, touching down only long enough to read the shapes of words with the scales. At the first spotted light they paused and nestled into the foliage, their spotted skins would hide them well. With a thwick of her tail against bark Jara took to the north.

And then Ket waited.

Soon enough the lights of yeerk nursery went out and like lightning she crossed the last band of trees. Talons on the ground she landed at the entrance of a Taxxon tunnel and slipped into it, blades folded close. Ket did not like crawling but it was useful and she thanked the people of the low tribes for teaching it. The one taxxon she encountered was not at the moment ridden by a yeerk as far as she could smell, and it was young enough that she could disarm it with a single hand.

“Little one,” She said in Tax, “Fight this day and die. Call warning and many die, maybe even you. Is understanding?”

The taxxon’s claws scrambled nervously and it deflated a bit. She released its face.

“Apologies! Apologies!” It said shrinking back. “This one grovels! This one submits!”

“Good.” She huffed. “Stay out of way.”

Ket hesitated at the exit just listening. There was a ruckus, all folks moving to where Jara was causing trouble on the other side of the compound. When she no one else near she bolted out the tunnel for the nearest door. The walls of the hall were close enough that she could scuffle up above the heads of any passing below without sinking her claws into the walls and making more noise. Then she followed her ears to find her target.

The yeerk standing guard was easy to defeat. She grabbed its human head with one of her feet and yanked it up faster than it could react. Then she snatched away its dracon beam and punched it in the chest hard enough for it to lose consciousness. With some careful maneuvering, she took a roll of sticky tape from one headblades and secured it to the wall. Then she dropped to the floor and with a good solid kick, she busted down the door.

If she and Jara had not escaped they would have been sent to this place. The nursery was for breeding more hosts for yeerks. When yeerks mate they fuse and die as they spawn grubs like glima fish. So most yeerks are not interested in forcing their hosts to mate. In fact, Ket often tormented her yeerk with memories of her matings with Jara.

It disgusted the yeerk greatly.

And also yeerks were not good at being dulas nor did they enjoy the downsides of pregnancy; the aches, the pains, the movement deep inside and the cravings. So the yeerks claimed that letting the hork-bajir have a taste of freedom was a good incentive for making of more hosts. To her knowledge, they were trying something similar for taxxons because importing ones from Hiveholm was costing them. But the yeerks could not meet the taxxon needs for baby making just like they could not figure out how to fix their hunger.

The room was the bare minimum. Bland and brutal metal. Several vertical climbing spaces and nooks like those of trees for climbing and balance all over. Some bare platforms for sleeping. Enough space to move and stay active to keep the baby healthy and give birth. It was currently occupied by a handful of females, a pretty male, and across the room may be a good solid leap away was a human body and another female guarding the other door. She tensed ready to spring as the yeerk-in-human reached for its weapon when the other female slammed her tail into it. Then the male threw a bucket at the yeerk’s stolen head as it tried to get back up and knocked it out.

“Visser 3 says Ket Halpak dead.” The guard female said in folk speak. Ket recognized the voice as Grath Sha. A nearly grown child who was one of the ‘voluntaries’, hosts that made deals with yeerks to avoid the cages. Grath who’d come from the free space tribe by way of the nahara who were allies of the yeerks. The nahara fang she wore around her neck glinted in the light of the yeerk’s flashlight and confirmed this.

Ket Halpak shrugged her blades. “Visser 3 should dig deeper graves.”

The grown females descended from the fake trees and watched tensely. Their blades quivering in agitation. Grath Sha was a very good fighter, she learned from the nahara and the nahara have clashed with the dust demons and won dodging deadly lightning-quick tail strikes. But Ket Halpak had more experience and the others would fight on her side if it came to it for their freedom. Grath Sha flattened her blades and bowed.

“Then we be ghosts soon too.”

They left the same way Ket had come in. Her people were quick learners. As they exited the tunnel the young taxxon followed them out. It was hesitant and still groveling so they did not attack it. No one much wanted to be killing children if it could be helped.

“May this one go with too?” It whispered. “This one is useful to the hive if wanted.”

They all looked to Ket for her decision. Well Deep, she and Jara came to free people. Taxxons are different people but they are people. They don’t suffer the same as her people but they suffer.

In Tax she said, “Little one will not bite or betray. No returning to yeerk hive.”

“This one flees a rotten hive that has bitten its own and refuses reason,” The taxxon swore. “To sanctuary does this one’s life and teeth belong.”

“Very well. We open hive to you.”

Grath Sha volunteered to carry the taxxon. They knew each other, not friends but friendly.

Ket led the way and the pretty male made the tail of the line. It was slow going, most of the group were not used to the pace and needed to stop frequently to catch their breath. Twice they had to hide from loud ships with searching lights. Eventually, their path lined up with her Jara Hamee. He’d been spotted and chased but he beat his chasers. And using sticky tape tied one, a big male hork-bajir, up and carried him away with him.

Everyone was brought to one of the minor valleys that Jara and Ket discovered together. In it trees packed tightly together and the walls were steeper but it was good enough for hiding. Later when everyone could be trusted and Ket became very fat with child they would all move to the morphers’ valley where it was safer.

Till then they came to know each other. The pretty male was Kit Naab who knew medicine. Then there was Tak Ran, who’s husband and sister were killed by the morphers and who’s grudge did not lessen after meeting them. Loro Lok who was Kit Naab’s wife and was friendly and made good candies from honey and worms that Ket craved as she got heavier. Sil Renya who thought that Ket’s Jara was nicer looking than Kit and asked to borrow him because she still wanted a child. And Mern Tron who was good at being sneaky and who figured out that they could use eggs to improve the poor bark of Earth trees. The taxxon’s call-name was Sssirin and Sssirin liked to dig and could help build with all of his many claws. Three days after the rescue they learned that the big male Jara caught was named Aad Wanlo and he was a good fighter and thinker.

And all of them became tribe.

#thenixkat #thenixart #animorphs #hork-bajir #taxxons #fanfiction

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