Prologue: Origins

[Brad the Brit]

<Well i dont know about Rihnos. There probably to big to be useful at close quaters.> He thought about it for a few minutes. <Im going to get a bear morph. Big, powerful, claws, teeth and there cool.>

Brit looked around but all he could she were dark blurry shapes. < Hey Christina is there a gift shop or stall around here? i want to morph back but i want to steal some clothes so im not running around starkers..>

[Breekan1]

Reece remains pointed towards the sign so that his friends can demorph with dignity. "I don't know about that- would you want to be trapped in a closet with an angry rhinoceros? Even if they can't charge, they can probably press you to death. Or shishkebob your intestines."

[Seryna]

Or to get killed by them. Um... hm

The blonde made a face at that. "Well... they go into a trance, right? Maybe we could tag team so we don't get a horn up the bet while we're petting one."

"To each their own," Christina tried to keep the peace.  "Oh yeah, here's a gift shop. I'll drop you off by the door."

Christina did just that, setting him on the mat in front of the door. Testing the door, she found it locked.
"Hm. How bad would it be if I broke the window a little and set you inside?"

[FuBar]

Alice:

I nimbly followed Reece and Christina over into The Gardens while in the 'morph' of my mid-twenties alter-ego. I was beginning to realize I'd probably be re-using this form a lot around my new friends. As such, I decided to make it quite clear that this body had certain 'desirable properties' so far as 'morphs' are concerned...

If asked, I would say that the original woman I 'acquired' this form from had died long ago and had expressed her wish that I keep her form alive, after her death, in any cause that freed people from tyranny of any kind. I would say this woman had a background in monastic martial-art forms to explain her acrobatic abilities, her impressive physical strength, and her wish that in return for her blessing to use her form, I had promised her to never use it to kill nor cause long-term harm to any living creature.

In actuality, I had been this woman a few millenia ago in Egypt where my role had been that of a lower-priestess; All of whom had indeed been trained in martial-arts though it was forbidden to use the skills on an opponent outside of mutually-consentual sparring for training or display purposes. To do so held the death penalty, even if it was for a good reason. This penalty would be carried out as a ritual-suicide: Choosing not to commit suicide in such a situation was indoctrinated to result in that Priestess' spirit being barred from entering the afterlife.

It was because of the strict traditional rules that went along with the training that my fellow Chee allowed me to assume this role - I would never be called on to commit violence with these skills, so my Pemalite programming did not prevent me playing this role either.

I stayed with this half of the group, though I was tempted to go after the group Eddie was with. I, of course, would not need to 'acquire' any 'new morphs' today... Although I might pretend to if I saw a good reason...

Eddie

I'd boarded Torrence when her hand was extended toward me and stayed pretty-much silent after that while I concentrated on keeping the Salamander's instincts and pain in check.

When I was placed on the seat of a complimentary-wheelchair, I immediately started to demorph:

My size doubled, trippled, quadrupled. My skin faded from Red and Black gradually back to my usual human skin-tone. As my human limbs started to develop, I adjusted my position on the chair so I'd be sat correctly when I was done.

While I demorphed, I watched the other salamanders to see if any of them displayed a similar control over the morphing process as I apparantly had...

As the last of the changes progressed to their conclusion, a slight breeze brought something to my attention; Something both wonderous and at the same time rather embarassing...

Due to the blush I now had in my cheeks, along with wide eyes as various realizations dawned on me, not a word could I utter to forewarn my friends of the impending embarassment that awaited them when they demorphed, yet at the same time I could not tear my eyes away from them either.

[Breekan1]

Reece nods as Christina speaks. "Might work. Maybe we could work our way up- morph something docile, like an elephant, knock the rhinos unconscious and then get ahold of them. But, I think rhinos are endangered? It might be bad to break one..." He follows her over to the gift shop. "Think maybe they could squeeze under the door frame, salamander style? Though I guess then it'd be difficult to get the clothes out." Reece grins. "I've got boxers on under my jeans if you'd like them, Brit. Unless, of course, life as a salamander has convinced you to embrace the natural order."

[Seryna]

"I don't know if I'm down with beating an animal unconscious."  Christina stated. "Lets just see how it works out."

She found a rock and smashed a side window a little bit.
"I'm going to be donating my allowance here for a month to pay for this..." she worried as she lifted Brit and placed him through the window to the other side.

"You go ahead and demorph. I'm going to check out the Savannah."

She started to walk off, gesturing impatiently to Reece.
"Are you coming?"

Christina walked over to the Savannah, which was relatively close. The sign depicted some large horned animals, some lions, a white Rhino (endangered), Rhinos that weren't endangered, Giraffes, Zebras and small gazelles that could jump and run incredibly fast to get away from Cheetahs, their primary predator.  Off to the side, there were Cheetahs.

Christina wandered around the path that led around the Savannah, noticing the hidden fences.  She turned and headed for the Cheetah exhibit.

[Breekan1]

Reece jogged after Christina. "We should probably use the buddy system when we're in the animal exhibits, what with the high likelihood of being gored, eaten, or dissolved." He stifled a yawn. Had it really only been a few hours ago that they even signed up for that damned party?

[Seryna]

"Thanks." Christina grinned to Reece. "Makes me feel better that theres a big strong man to protect me. Okay, lets do this."

She walked over to the hidden door and crouched, checking out the exhibit.  There were two cheetahs laying five feet from the door, apparently sleeping.

"I'll get the one on the right..." She stated. "The small one. Probably the girl. Are they dimorphic? Anywas, lets get it on."

Before I lose my nerve.

Christina carefully pulled the door open.  The cheetahs didn't move.  She shot Reece an excited/terrified expression and stepped into the exhibit, arm outstretched.

[FuBar]

Alice:

I tagged along with the members of our little grouplet, wondering what I could be doing other than keeping watch for security cameras/patrols etc with my scanners.

When Brit was dropped-off in the souvenir shop's window, I stayed nearby. He'd mentioned something about wanting a Bear morph, and they could be quite unpredictable when approached.

"Hey Brit; I'll help you catch yourself a Bear if you like? - I don't need any more morphs myself here tonight, so I may as well make myself useful and help where I can." I offered through the broken window, then I politely turned my face outward so he could demorph without an audience.

[Kit Cloudkicker]

Kasey, still standing near the leopard exhibit begins to de-morph. Her tail is the first to go, followed by the lizard's red skin being replaced with her own tanned skin. Her hair begins to grow at the same time her torso and arms begin to extend. As she reaches her full human form, she realizes how...exposed she is. Her face flushes a deep crimson as she realizes, much to her chagrin, she's not the only one. She crosses her arms, and averts her eyes away from Eddie, but not before staring a moment too long. She mumbles under her breath, "...just couldn't be bothered to carry the clothes."


She takes a deep breath and turns toward Torrence, and announces in a rather constrained, "Let's get this over with. I say we both go at it at the same time. First one there acquires it, then the other acquires while the first beats it out of the cage. What do you say?" She begins to move towards the cage where Torrence is standing, overly-aware of what she's not wearing.

[Breekan1]

Reece chortled. "It's nice to know that my personal buffness still holds relevance in a world where we can all transform into gorillas and elm trees.... Er-" Reece was about to wonder whether or not he had the power to turn into a tree when the cage door swung open and he thought better of his volume. He mounts his hands on his hips, somewhere between trying to seem big and threatening if the Cheetahs wake up, and he follows Christina into the room. He keeps his eyes locked on the male cheetah.

[Brad the Brit]

Brit scuttled off Christina's hand and dropped into the room beyond he broken window. <Cheers, I’ll see you to later>. Now how do I turn back…

Five minutes later Brit stood up and looked around the gift shop. Now his not-quite-so-dasterdly-but-still-quite-smart plan. He walked up to the counter and looked at the shirt stall. "Now do i want a red ' I the Garden's t-shirt or should i go for blue".
Once he had changed into a blue t-shirt and a pair of shorts he shoved a another couple of shirts and shorts into a bag. Now the group could morph without walking around naked. Brit nearly jumped out of his skin as Alice shouted into the shop.

“Thanks Alice but this is something I want to do alone." Brit climbed through the broken window, being carefull of the shards of glass. "Or maybe I need to do it alone I don't know it feels weird.” Brit took the bag of clothes off his back and threw it to her. “If you want to help give these to the others for me“.

He turned and followed the sign for the Bear Cave's

[Seryna]

Torrence

"You know in hindsight, I probably could have put them on the wheel chair..."  The other girl winced.  "Sorry, Kas. Here."  She removed her hoodie and handed it to the other girl.

"It's sort of long enough to cover the er... well, Eddie, you're a gentleman, right?  Nice and safe and .. secure.. in your chair?"

Torrence winced, waves of guilt emitting from her. 

"Are you ready to get the leopard?"

The brunette headed into the cage, very aware that the leopard was watching them.
 "Good...girl?"  Torrence attempted to say in a hopefully soothing voice. "Goood girl.  They don't eat their handlers... we should have grabbed some Gardens jumpsuits. Good cat..."

With shaking hands and feeling the sweat forming drops along her brow, Torrence reached out and touched the leopard's flank.  The cat tensed and the girl flinched.

Suddenly, the cat relaxed again as Torrence 'acquired her'.


"You know now that you mention it, a chimpanzee is stronger than us. Its how they can lock their elbows... do you want to get a chimpanzee after this?"
Christina said in a tense voice.  She suddenly picked up that Reece had fallen silent- and she probably should,too.  The cheetahs ears flicked in their direction...

The girl crept forward slowly, crouching down to touch the smaller cheetah.





 

[FuBar]

Eddie:

The 'something wonderous' that had been brought to my attention by the breeze was that I was receiving sensory input from below that point in my back where my spinal cord had been broken; for the very first time since the accident a good few years ago. I mean, I'd felt nothing below my waist for so long... Especially 'there', if you know what I mean. I figured at the time that I'd never feel that *ahem* 'pleasure' ever again, so what was 'happening' now should come as no surprise.

I probably could have suppressed or hidden the inevitable except for the fact that from out of a Salamander, a mere 3 feet in front of me, grew a fairly pretty girl around my age-group. And she was NAKED!!

My jaw dropped so far open I could have swallowed a Boeng 747. I saw Kasey blush when she realized she'd 'looked' at me naked a little too long before turning to avert her gaze. I knew the feeling - My face could give a tomato a run for its money - But it didn't bother me that she'd seen me naked, even in my 'current state', because it had been completely mutual in that we were both naked and looking at the other, which is nowhere near as bad as it only being one naked and one fully dressed.

In that respect, I was more miffed for the fully-clothed Torrence to see me naked than the naked Kasey seeing.

As Kasey turned away from me to talk to Torrence (allowing me to see her from the back too, though I doubt this was an intention on her part), I managed to regain some of myself; Enough to move my hands to cover my *ahem* 'growing embarrassment' anyway.

I failed miserably in my attempts to tear my gaze away from Kasey, but managed to find my voice:

"Um... I'd like to acquire that cat too... But my wheelchair won't fit through the door... Even if it did fit, I don't fancy my chances outrunning big-kitty there..." I tried my withered leg-muscles to see if they would do anything - There was movement, but only a little. I could tell it was going to take me a while to regain full use of my legs, and a lot of exercise too. But...

"Hmm... I suppose if two strong girls were holding me up, my legs might be strong enough to let me limp... But I guess I could always re-visit The Gardens when my legs work again, if you don't wanna risk that."

It was at this point I realized Torrence had asked me a question;

"Oh, um, I'm all fine-and-dandy here. Not the most comfortable wheelchair I've been in, and my skin will soon be stuck to the leather padding, but it's better than the alternative. Lucky about them doing complimentary chairs, really. Thanks for getting me one." When she mentioned my being a 'gentleman' I'd gotten an uncomfortable feeling again - Had I not been 'deprived' for such a long time, I would have been more of a 'gentleman' about this situation than I was currently capable of. I once-again tried to tear my eyes away from Kasey, but my gaze kept darting back to her even though I knew I shouldn't. - I just couldn't help it.

Deciding to wheel closer to the open gate to the Leopard enclosure, I first tucked 'myself' between my legs in such a way that my thighs hid it from view. - This was a very uncomfortable position, as it meant I had to lean forward slightly or be in pain from it. Nevertheless, at least it meant I could now use my hands to push my chair around without embarrassing the girls any further. I wheeled right up to the entrance, as far as the chair would let me go.

[Kit Cloudkicker]

Kasey notices Eddie staring, and mutters mockingly under her breath "...take a picture, it'll last longer", before quickly pulling the sweater over her head and as far down as it can go; it covers almost enough. She sighs and glances back at Eddie, irritated that he had seen her naked, and that he was still looking, yet feeling a equal mixture of amusement and flattery by his...reaction.

She follows Torrence silently into the cage, her body tense. She watches as the other girl begins to acquire the leopard, and stands ready for her own turn, while listening to Eddie. She mutters softly, "We'll have to get Eddie in here as soon as I'm done acquiring her. Hopefully the..." she struggles to find an appropriate word, "uh, the trance, won't wear off in the time it takes us to get him over to her."

As an afterthought, she hisses softly enough that Eddie can't hear, "...and you really should have brought my clothes! You managed to get him all... Yeah. Torrence, you so owe me. Big time."