Our Summer Vacation...

[radgeek]

Josefina wanted to find some way to signal Brian since he had gotten through safely.  But could not think of anything that would draw his attention without others noticing.

Olivia looked over her shoulder to take another drag of coffee, when she saw her look-alike working at another table.  After the line is under control I'll go over there, she vowed.

[Hawkgirl]

Kristin watched as the woman took up position at a customs counter.  Since she had already been through herself, Kristin stayed on her side and continued observing the woman's behavior.  She started scanning the area when she noticed what looked to be the woman's twin at a customs counter a few rows over.  What is going on? Kristin thought.

Kristin noticed that the woman she had been following kept glancing at another teenage boy who had made it past customs.  He looked very nervous, almost as if he was hiding something.  Is he in on whatever this is too?  Kristin decided to keep an eye on the strange woman and the nervous looking kid.

Suddenly, Kristin saw a parrot flying overhead and people pointing and yelling for someone to catch it. What is a parrot doing in here?  It could get seriously hurt! she thought.  While she wanted to keep following the suspicious people, she decided that she should go try to get the bird instead.  Kristin had helped handle the exotic birds at the Houston Zoo and knew she could subdue the bird without hurting it.  So forgetting her spying mission, Kristin ran after the parrot.

[radgeek]

It took Jo bitting her lip to keep from shouting as a girl with short dark hair caught Tarry.  She saw Chad next in line.  "Welcome to the United States," she said cheerfully to the current person she was checking.  In a last desperate attempt to bring Chad over to her counter, she pretended to sneeze.  "AAAACHAAAAADDD!!!!"  Well that was subtle, she thought sarcastically.  But even with her hint dropping she saw Chad approach Ms. Rush's desk.

[Hawkgirl]

The parrot was acting very strange.  Instead of being spooked by the humans all around him trying to catch him, the parrot just ignored them and seemed determine to fly on.  That's strange.  Birds don't normally ignore this much commotion, Kristin thought.  Suddenly, the bird landed on a sign.  In a soothing voice, Kristin began talking to it.  "Don't be afraid.  I won't hurt you, I promise.  You can trust me."  The parrot stared straight at her.  It appearred to be deep in thought which was strange because it was a bird and not a human being.  Kristin inched closer to the parrot and held out her arm.  The bird stared at her arm as if debating whether to walk onto it or fly away.  A normal wild parrot would have flown away but this parrot hopped onto Kristin's arm.  An intelligence shone in its eyes.  You are one strange bird, Kristin thought.

[warren_bearclaw]

Just as Brian was able to slow down his heartbeat, he saw the a girl from his school's group manage to get a hold Tarry. "Wait!" He shouted. "Uh... I'll help you!" Brian ran over to try and 'help' the girl hold the bird, even though it seemed that she knew what she was doing with the 'wild' parrot.

Sean tapped his foot impatiently as the scene grew from annoying to distracting. Lots of people were watching now... Oh man!. He'd made it through without any issue... other than the agent asking him about his quick glances. He couldn't believe he was letting his anxiety show. He'd said that he was going to be late checking into his hotel, and the guy said, "I know how that goes... not a minute's grace....". He found his way to a coffee shop and stood in line, trying to look more casual than he had.

[Hawkgirl]

The parrot seemed quite content to perch on Kristin's arm.  She didn't even have to "hold" the bird for he stayed clam on her arm.  Suddenly, the nervous looking boy she had been watch ran over and tried to remove the parrot from her.  While this would have upset any normal bird, the parrot stayed calm throughout the entire encounter.  Despite the boy's attempt to take the parrot from her, he remained on her arm. 

"Uh, what do you think you are doing?  This parrot has obviously gone through enough.  Just step away from the parrot now before you scare him away!" Kristin said, even though the parrot seemed quite content in the boy's presence.

[radgeek]

Their were too many people looking at Tarry for her to walk over without being noticed by Ms. Rush.  This was a fairly useless morph, she sighed.  She would stay a little longer to see if she could help but after that she would be out of that uniform and out of that morph.

[warren_bearclaw]

"I'm uh.... I own, OWN a parrot! Yeah, uh, I thought you might need some help with the, uh, parrot. Yeah. You know what you're doing? You look like you know what you're doing...." Brian felt like an idiot. Instinctively, he held out his hand. "I'm uh... Davey."

[Hawkgirl]

Kristin shook the hand that Davey offered.  He didn't seem like a Davey and was still noticeably nervous but Kristin decided to trust him...for the moment. 

"Hi.  I'm Kristin.  And yeah, I sorta do know what I'm doing.  I volunteer at the Houston Zoo and have handled a few exotic birds in my lifetime."  Kristin attempted a smile.  "This parrot seems pretty comfortable here on my arm so I think I'll just take care of him.  I'll see if I can release him back into the wild.  Or take him back to the zoo, or something."

Upon finishing speaking, the parrot turned his head to look directly at Kristin.  It seemed to be trying to communicate with her.  Kristin thought she heard something speak, but decided it was just her imagination.

[Josh (J)]

Chad grimaced at all that was going around. There was the other Olivia, who was really Jo, and this one. Tarry was in trouble. Brian was over there, but who knew what was going on? He turned to the customs lady and gave a fake smile. "Hi," he said.

[radgeek]

Olivia started scanning the boy's bag.  She saw her look-alike shift apprehensively.  Better take a good look at this one, she though.  Then she saw something in his bag that made her smile.  This has gone to be the worst bunch of smugglers I ever caught.  "Could you please open your backpack?" she said with great satiation.

[Unknown User]

<Sean You must tell this woman to leave me alone, I am not a parrot, and have no wish to be in a 'zoo' whatever that is.> Tarry flapped his wings but didn't fly away, as long as kristin didn't try to cage him, he had no problem with sitting on her arm. "Not in a zoo! Good boy! I am a parrot!" A moment later Tarry noticed Chads predicament! Tarry suddenly flew right at Olivia screeching and flapping his wings widely. <She must not get the cube,> Tarry told chad in private thought <speak you must get Escape. Foolish humans, can't even escape the esntezill .>

[radgeek]

Olivia ducked as she was dive bombed by the parrot.  "Is this crazy bird yours?" she asked Chad.

[Josh (J)]

Chad frowned, sweat forming on his forehead. "Uhm...no, not really, I mean, we've had a few run-ins...but, I mean, haven't we all?" He was slipping. "Uh, can we get on with the inspection, you know?"

[Hawkgirl]

Kristin definitely heard the parrot speak, but not out loud.  It was as if he was talking in her head.  Then the bird talked out loud, but it was strange.  A normal, wild parrot would not know how to string together a coherent sentence.  What this parrot said was a complete sentence that was made using thought. This was definitely no ordinary parrot.  The kid "Davey" appeared to react to the invisible voice as well.  There is definietly not an ordinary bird.  Suddenly, the parrot took off and dive bombed the customs lady who was the twin of the strange woman who Kristin had been following earlier.  There was a boy at the customs counter who looked nervous.  There seemed to be something blue in his bag.  Concerned for the strange parrot, Kristin ran after it, hoping to protect it from the woman.