[Closed to the animorphs cast]

[livestoannoy]

Marco couldn't quite remember how he got back home.

Did he morph? He must have morphed. Or maybe he walked, so that Samson couldn't have looked out the window and gotten a glimpse. But what would have been the point in hiding? He knew. He knew. Sure, not about the morphing. Not yet. But it was only a matter of time. Already he knew way to much, and Marco didn't have a clue how to stop him from finding out anymore. Not without setting the entire Council on his tail. On all their tails.

Marco ran straight up to the attic without even stopping to talk to anyone, and tried to think of how the hell he was going to explain this to Jake.

[[ooc: bendytimed to just after Marco's psych eval. Also guys, timelinewise I'm going to assume that all the threads with anyone except for Jake happen after Jake's talked to the others / they've had a meeting / whatever, and thus know about the eval and whatnot. Also Marco's pretty much going to be holed up in the attic all day]]

Comments

[livestoannoy]

"You have no pity for my pain," Marco said, straight-faced. "Here I am, suffering from a debilitating Lego-related incident, and you tell me it wasn't that traumatic. Heartless."

Unfortunately, Marco didn't feel particularly capable of giving out advice on passing the evals. Considering that he had yet to actually pass his, he wasn't exactly an expert. He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "Well there's no couch, no pictures with lots of squiggly lines, he'll spend a lot of time asking questions, the usual."

Apparently it's physically impossible for me to go to bed without checking my e-mail.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"I didn't say it wasn't traumatic for you. I just said your dad cried about it more. And see, your tears would have been age-appropriate. His were just discomforting."

She raises an eyebrow and twists her mouth a little, saying nothing for a moment. As much as she'd like to know more about what she's going to head up against, she knows all is not well with Marco, and that takes precedent by far. The general lack of detail he's just given her only reinforces that.

If they were another family, one that wasn't ripped apart by war and paranoia and slavery, one that didn't spend more time worrying about each other than themselves, maybe she could hug him. "You know, guagua, you might think you're doing me a big favor by putting on the brave face, but I'm going to worry about you no matter what you tell me or don't tell me."

/spams you with emails all night

[livestoannoy]

"Don't remind me," Marco said, rolling his eyes.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Mom, I'm fine. Really. I don't need you hovering over me like a helicopter." And even if she was going to worry anyway, if he told her what had really happened? He knew that she would just worry more.

*never sleeps. ever.*

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Normally you don't rush up here to play Gameboy for hours. And I'd obviously know that since I hover over you like a helicopter." She's not angry or hurt, so she states it plainly. She's not blind enough to miss the deflection. "You don't have to talk to me, but I'll have you know if you don't, I'm going to assume the worst possible scenario. Like he infected you with a virus that'll turn you into a vampire that only drinks the blood of dangerous mutants or something like that. I can be creative about it."

[livestoannoy]

"What, I need to beat this level!" Marco protested. Although the excuse was weak, he knew.

But right now, the last thing he wanted was another person forcing information out of him. "Right, so you're going to make me, is that it?" he snapped, immediately feeling guilty the moment he the words left his mouth.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

Ah. She should have clued into that sooner. She puts a hand up. "No, no. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried."

Maybe this is what all mothers go through when their kids grow up, only instead of 'the fate of all my friends and family' it's just whether or not to go to college or move out of state or break up with a girlfriend. It just feels all sorts of wrong. She knows fully well he has every reason to feel protective of her, but that doesn't make it feel any less like she's gone wrong somewhere along the way, like things are all out of order. It should be the other way around.

And she doesn't know how to negotiate this scenario and makes things better. As much as she seems to be making it worse, she can't stand aside and not try to comfort either.

"What level are you on, on the Gameboy?"

[livestoannoy]

Great, now Marco felt even worse about snapping at her.

He had the bizarre feeling that if Samson could see this right now, he'd be scribbling down a whole page full of notes in that book of his.

"Twenty-seven," he said instead, twisting the alien gameboy so that she could see the screen.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Is that a level that uses a lot of mechabytes? Or does this technology even do that?" she asks, playing up the tech illiteracy in a hope to repair the mood a bit. Even if she's not doing any good it seems like leaving it here would be worse.

[livestoannoy]

See that look Marco's giving you, Eva? That's the look that wants to know what planet you're from. "Megabytes, Mom. Megabytes. And you don't measure them by level."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Why, are megabytes bigger than mechabytes? And what do you measure them by? Pixels?"

She knows that that can't be right, but it's easier to exaggerate harmless faults and laugh at them than to try to clumsily talk about actual issues to each other.

[livestoannoy]

Oh, Marco was perfectly happy to avoid the issues. He could avoid the issues all day long.

"There are no mechabytes! And you don't measure them by pixels, geez. They measure data, Mom. Data."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"What do, the megabytes or the pixels?" Actually, now they are veering into unfamiliar territory.

[livestoannoy]

"Hello, megabytes?" Marco said. He was sure his dad had explained this a million times. How the hell could she not get this after all this time? It's obvious. "Pixels are only for pictures."

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"Is that why we call pictures 'pix'?" Hey, just because Peter explained it doesn't mean she was listening. Most of Peter's technobabble finds a nice home in Eva's mental 'never going to care' box.

She gets serious after that, though. "So, and not trying to poke and prod here, should I get a gameplan ready for my evaluation? Since I hear playing hooky is an automatic failure."

[livestoannoy]

"Mom. It's short for 'pictures'. Come on, even you should be able to figure that out!"

For once though, he'd rather deal with his mother's stupid technology questions. "Might help," he said with a vague shrug.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"And that does nothing to explain to me why it's spelled with an 'x' half the time." She shakes her head. She'd be happier just asking stupid technology questions too, but the Animorphs don't tend to keep her horribly informed and she's already guessed that she won't be able to hide as much from Samson as she wants to. Marco's non-answer doesn't ease her any. "I'm thinking it might be a better idea to be upfront about certain roommates I've had in my headspace, since it's the worst-kept secret on the ship, but I need to know if that would endanger you."

[livestoannoy]

Marco shrugged again. "I guess," he said, sounding uncomfortable. "I think if he knows, we'll survive."

It was Marco's second eval session that he wasn't so sure they could get through.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"We'll survive anyway." After all, he survived a secret war and aliens and gunfire and spaceships. Her throat tightens a bit as she considers the fact that this might not be be the case in her part of the timeline. She feels suddenly compelled more than ever to hug him, but they don't really do that anymore, so instead she just gingerly places a hand on his knee. "Should I go downstairs and give you your privacy back now?"

[livestoannoy]

"Well you could stay. But then you'd have to sit around and do nothing while I kick ass on the alien game boy," Marco said dryly.

[vissernone.livejournal.com]

"I like watching the mechabytes move on a screen almost as much as I like watching paint dry, so I guess that makes that decision," she says, getting up and cracking her neck. "Alright. I love you, sweetheart."

[livestoannoy]

"Megabytes!" Marco corrected, rolling his eyes. As Eva got up to leave, Marco paused. He wasn't usually the type to go around saying 'love you' to anyone. But he still felt guilty for snapping at her, especially when he knew this week had been had for her. "Love you," he said back, finally.