Would Rachel be older than Tobias?

[yunyun]

Wait, when did they say that morphs don't age? I dun remember that part...

[Stephquiem]

Wait... oh bugger. -_- Nevermind, now I can't find it. But I'm pretty sure KA/Michael said something about it.

Someone tell me I didn't imagine that.

[RYTX]

I don't know if it's ever said, but it's heavily indicated

Example:
Marco morphs an ant in book 5, near the beginning
He morphs it again in book 45, some weeks/months before the war ends
I think this is save to say this is over 2 years.

Your average worker ant, even well kept will not last 2 years

[DinosaurNothlit]

I don't know if it's ever said, but it's heavily indicated

Example:
Marco morphs an ant in book 5, near the beginning
He morphs it again in book 45, some weeks/months before the war ends
I think this is say to say this is over 2 years.

Your average worker ant, even well kept will not last 2 years

Okay, that just shoots my argument right down, since Marco would never ever have re-acquired that ant.  So . . . nevermind. 

[RYTX]

I think it's... implied? Maybe I just think this is implied because this is what I assumed happens. -_- At any rate, I think it's implied that morphs only age if you're a nothlit--that is, it stops being a morph, effectively, and starts being your proper body. Tobias says his hawk body's getting old in #54, KA and Michaels said morphs don't age... and yeah. That's all I have to work off of. XD

What I'm about to I think supports that argument, but I'm not sure:
book 19 Cassie morphs caterpillar is trapped, grows into a butterfly.

My conundrum is that she said it was already set to enter it's pupal stage (seems like as good an indicator as any of aging) as soon as she morphed.


My thought has always been they age as soon as they morph, but when they morph out it resets to age of acquisition-so the next time they morphs it's the same age as last time they started, not two hours more each time.

[Darth Zakryn]

Morphing Ages: I guess the question is if their morphs can physically age while in Z-space or whether they go into stasis, since they're not really the actual bodies. I suppose while you're in your morph it might age with you, then it might go back into Z-space two hours older, but I don't know about that...

Legal Issues: When I originally wrote this, I was thinking of what the court's view would be of a 18-something girl having relations with an under-18 boy. I didn't want to come out and actually say it since I didn't want to seem like a pervert, but I guess it's too late now. The state considers that statuatory rape, no matter if the other party is consenting. And this is why I never hated Rachel dying; their problems would have not ended if she survived, they would have only just begun. Four or three years is a long time to go without, especially if you're really in love with that person. Could they have worked it out, though? I guess we'll never know...

[Noelle]

I don't think they would have a legal leg to stand on if they tried to sue.  According to legal documents, like his birth certificate, he is as old as Rachel (at least I assume around that age of course, I don't know the exact ages of the animorphs).  They cannot prove it any other way in the court of law.

Even if he looked massively younger than Rachel (and I really don't think he would), it wouldn't hold any bearing in court.  I have a teacher that looks 13, and he's 26.  (Literally, he does, he sounds like it too, lol.)  I'm pretty sure he's legally allowed to have a relationship.

[Darth Zakryn]

This is not a case of they LOOK those ages; they ARE those ages, physically.

BTW, I really have some gret new ideas I need to bounce off you. Any idea when you'll have more time?

[Ash]

I don't think three years is much of a gap, even if those three years difference is just how it looks. I'm sure different people have different opinions on what an acceptable age range is, but I don't think Rachel would be considered a MILF next to Tobias. Besides, anyone stupid enough to say "Wow, she looks so much older than you." wouldn't be saying it again.

Fully agree with your last sentence

[Darth Zakryn]

As an aside, what's MILF mean? I hear it used ALL the time.

[RYTX]

[spoiler]Mother I'd Like to F***[/spoiler]

And I'm going to support that it wouldn't be a legal thing.
The courts aren't going to say, well physically his 13. He's not a tree, no one's going to cut off his arm and count the rings.
(joke)
Legally he is the same age
Mentally he is the same age
He has been on this earth the same number of years, even if his body hasn't changed.



Now this does pose an interesting question as to what would happen if a consenting adult morphed a child, to fulfill the appetites of another who lust after a younger partner
Mostly likely laws would be rewritten to address such things

But I still think Tobias and Rachel wouldn't run into any trouble

[Darth Zakryn]

Oh, wow.

Well, let's just say Rachel's mother was upset for some reason, and she IS a lawyer, so she definitely knows her legal mumbo jumbo. Or someone else just wants to create trouble for them. I know Tobias and Rachel aged mentally, as well as physically in Rachel's case, but let's say in this hypothetical situation, Rachel survived the war. Now, you guys all seem to be skirting around the main issue: Whether her having relations with someone younger than her, who's 18, would be considered rape, even if he's 18 on the inside? I mean, technically it isn't, but the state would consider it so, even if Tobias is 18 mentally like her, and mental states don't really count; I'm 24 and I still have the mindset I did when I was 12. Those don't matter.

[Stephquiem]

Once again, the state would not consider him a child. All of his personal records would clearly state when his birthday is. His birth certificate, any of his school records... They'd all say his birth year, which is not affected by anything that happened to him during the war, including acquiring a younger version of himself.

[RYTX]

I don't think we're skirting it, I think your missing our point

Hypothetical
War is over, Tobias is still living as a hawk, but can morph his 13 yro body.
2.5 years later, Rachel is over 18, and they've been bonking
Tobias is also over 18.
His body is not, true.
But really there is no way to contest in court that he is 13.

His papers say he is 18
He can recount events over his life as an 18 yro would
And presently, if your arguing a person age in court, it's not a biological thing-it's a document thing.
They don't draw blood, assess it and say, he's 13, 18, whatever.
He's birth certificate says he's over 18. That's all they have.
You can legally have sex with someone over 18, even if for some biological reason their body is underdeveloped.

Courts would have to decide how morphing and aging is an issue, and draw up news ways to address it, but under current law I really don't see how this is a problem. Tobias is an 18 yro with a body of 13 yro- but he's still 18. If you want to look at it a certain way that's a bit kinky, but it's still legal

[Darth Zakryn]

Just so you guys know, I don't believe half of what I'm saying; I'm just doing so for debate's sake, because people really would go to this extreme and think this, and to debate them you have to have a logical and well planned line of reasoning. That said, document and paperwork isn't everything, you can't just whip it out and say, "He was born 18 years ago! He's 18!" Mentally, a person can be 7 years old when they're 60, so obviously mentally aging doesn't matter. Now, like I said, I'm saying this for conversation's sake, since they're so close to the same age it doesn't matter. But it's interesting to think about and to ponder.