Our Summer Vacation...

[radgeek]

"Sorry but people don't start going in to trances for no reason," Jo said.  "That might be a problem."

 "Can't I sleep in for one day," a cranky Olivia said coming out of the guest room.

[warren_bearclaw]

"But didn't Brian do something like that though? I mean, he morphed a complete stranger. And heck, you did it too with Olivia. And she didn't know what was going on then, either. Oh hi Olivia! Don't worry, we're saying good things about you." He said with a smile.

Brian had actually made it through town to the apartment without yelling at anyone. Probably that was due to the fact it was Sunday morning, and most churches hadn't let out yet. He reached the gate, but couldn't remember the code. He buzzed for Sean.

"Who could... Oh. Well speak of the devil." Sean says. At the buzzer, he peeked out the window at the complex gate, seeing Brian waiting for him to respond. He went to the speaker by the door and pushed the button. "What a surprise seeing you here this morning." he said as he gave the password to Brian.

[radgeek]

"I musta missed something," Olivia said reaching for coffee.

"When I acquired you did you notice?" Jo asked.

"If I knew what to look for I might have." said Olivia taking a long drag of coffee.  "I'm going back to the bedroom before even more people see my morning face."

[Josh (J)]

"If we acquired strangers, they'd just...faze out, and then not know what happened. Especially if we came from the back. Then they wouldn't know what we'd done, and we'd still be safe."
Brian came inside, and Sean gave him the password. "No offense, Brian, but you look tired still...what happened yesterday?"

[warren_bearclaw]

Brian walked in, covering his mouth as he yawned. He sorta glared at Chad. "Oh nothing really. I was nearly eaten by wolves, almost got shot at by the zoo's night guards - that was while there was a bear sniffing me like a nice meal - and oh, I nearly got run over by a drunken truck driver. Other than that, nothing happened." He was a little grouchy from being tired. He'd slept for a while, but he still wanted to just lay down. Maybe on the couch there.... He saw Sean's look and answered him before he could say anything. "I really should have waited for some other time when y'all were there, but I found the keys, and... well. I really wanted something better than a fly morph and a couch potato morph."

Sean was worried about this. We can't be drawing so much attention to ourselves! he thought. "Do you think they could identify you?" he asked, hoping against hope they hadn't.

"I don't think so, It was pretty dark. And uh, the bear probably kept him kinda distracted." He smiled. And then he noticed Jo. "Oh thank goodness you're alright. I heard you'd gone missing last night from your brother, and I didn't know what the heck was going on. There was going to be this big search later today, and I was just coming here to tell everyone about it, see if you were okay."

[radgeek]

"I am missing," Jo said.  "I have to stay that way.  My stepfamily was already infested and they tried to get me and my dad last night.  I couldn't save him and they saw me morph.  I'm pretty high on the Yeerk's most wanted list."

[warren_bearclaw]

Idiot! Brian scolded himself. Not that he would have known, but still... "Oh wow." He didn't know what to say. He realized that he still didn't understand the full weight of this war when another twenty metaphorical pounds got added to the load. Her whole family.... "I'm so sorry, Jo. We'll get them back." He felt lame making promises he probably wouldn't be able to keep. She had to be hurting so bad right now, yet she was staying strong. He would too.

"We're not going to give up on them." Sean said. It was so simple, yet it's exactly what he should have said last night. To Brian, he said, "You'll still have to go to that search today, Brian. If you miss it, what will they think?"

Brian looked up. It was Jo's brother who'd invited her. No, it was the Yeerk in his head. Even if it was just a guess or something, Merlin had made a connection between him and Josefina. He was kinda nervous now. "I'll uh, have to be really careful." He looked at the clock. Shoot, he had to go soon if he was going to get there in time.

[radgeek]

"I can go with you Brian," Jo offered.  "My dog Samantha lives on the farm.  I could kinda hang around you.  She always did like strangers."  This might be hard.  But I'm not letting him go alone.

[gorillaman16]

Shaun woke up, got ready and headed out to his car to go to the search for Jo. He heard about the search party and kinda hoped to do some good and maybe in the process find Brian again so they can search together.

[warren_bearclaw]

"Mmmmmm...." Sean was a little apprehensive about that plan. "It sounds a little too risky to me. Okay, I mean way too risky. Jo, that..."

"You can't as her to sit here all day, Mr. Black." Brian pleaded. He was thinking more about how this could be one of the last times she would have the opportunity to go home. Even if she was a dog at the time...

Oh yes I can, Sean wanted to say. He looked for a long time at them. He then spoke his mind, " Just call me Sean. We're going to be a little too close now for that formality all the time. Unless we're in public, of course..." He then looked at Jo. He was so nervous about this. "Don't get caught." was all he said.

[Josh (J)]

Chad raised an eyebrow. Calling Dad Sean? Interesting..but he wasn't certain if that would happen. He'd wanted to volunteer to go along with Brian, but decided it'd be best anyways that Jo would go. And he remembered that--"Dad, I, uh, didn't go home last night, so Mom'll be worried..you wouldn't mind dropping me there, would you?"

[radgeek]

"I might be able to get Olivia to watch the real Sam," Jo said starting to plan.  "We can't have to of the same dog around."

[warren_bearclaw]

Sean sighed slightly... "Oh. That. Well, I guess I kinda have to. But what are you going to tell her? I mean, I really don't want your mom thinking I'm letting you run over here all the time without her permission. Even if I am...." He said. This couldn't become a normal thing.

Brian agreed with Jo. "That sounds like a good idea. And then it won't just be the two of us there." Brian felt guilty about running around the zoo by himself last night.

"I bet Olivia would agree. How about you go ask her, Jo? She didn't seem quite awake yet..." Sean said.

[radgeek]

Olivia knew she couldn't look her best all the time but was going to try her best.  Her face was washed and her dirty blond hair was pulled into a half pony tail.  If only she could think of a way to hid the dark circles under her eyes.  Jo came in with her hair still a dark brown colour.  "You must be a morning person," Olivia commented.

"Comes from getting up early to milk the cows," explained Josefina as she sat and the end of the bed to talk to Olivia.  "I need to ask a favour of you."

"Ok," Olivia responded hesitantly.

"The Yeerks in my family are planning a search for me," she said.  "Brian was invited and Mr. Black thinks that he should go.  But I want to go with him.  I have a morph of my dog ,Samantha, so I was wondering if you could watch the real Sam so I would not be detected."

Olivia couldn't believe want she had just hear.  Was Jo ready for seeing her family emotionally?  What if something went wrong?  At Jo's age Olivia thought she could handle anything life dished out, but found herself quickly humbled after graduation.  "I think Brian should have company but why you aren't you too close the people there?"

[Josh (J)]

Chad gave a sigh and said, "I can't just tell her the whole truth because, well-you know. What am I supposed to let her think? All because of this stupid war. And besides, it's not like this'll happen again. I think. Ohh.." Chad rubbed his arms and sighed. "This whole thing sucks."