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"Really? Huh." Marlon pondered as he stood there, hoping he could do something else useful instead of standing there watching, On the other hand, he couldn't really be disastrous if he just stood there and didn't touch anything. He really didn't want to mess anything up in the kitchen, not with Eolande standing there. "If I put it that way to Herick, he just might get some then; heaven forbid that my mother show one sign of wrinkly stress."

He smiled as he thought of a nice camping trip up in the mountains; lots of solitude and all the water he could swim in. Hopefully there'd be enough moonlight out so that he would have at least a little bit of light, and the thought of Eolande following him around like a shadow sounded really fun. "That sounds like a great idea; I can swim a little in the daytime, and then at night we can both swim and not have to worry; after all, people see the strangest things at night, when there are a lot of shadows and hardly any light."

"Probably." Marlon shrugged, hands shoved into his pockets regardless of whether or not they still contained traces of oil and flour. "I'll have to make it sound like it comes from a source that can't be questioned. Not that I would question you, but my.....Herick wouldn't want to expose my mother to anything he could think would potentially do her harm."

Smiling sheepishly, he walked back out to the living room and the awaiting game. "That obvious, huh? Sure, I'd love to play another game. What other ones do you have?" At the sound of Eolande's planning, he gulped and fidgeted once he had sat down. "Well, the thing is.......I never really got the chance to tell them.....they think you're a boy. And I know sooner or later I'll have to tell them otherwise, and I'm not entirely sure then that they'd let me go off into the woods with you. Though.....I guess I can just up and go anyway; it isn't as though I'll come home to a beating or anything."

"That's a possibility," Marlon pondered aloud as he wiped his hands on his jeans and picked up the controller. "Goodness knows my Mom can't get enough of the health food store. Honestly, to me those people already look half-sick when they're shuffling around in there. I mean come on, one candy bar's not going to end your life, unless some sicko put arsenic on it or something."

He chuckled and sent a wink Eolande's way. "Hey, racing doesn't require as much balance, so look out; I might actually be good at this one." He suddenly turned to her, his face brightening. "That's a great idea! Lord knows all the times I've gone up and asked him for something, and they're in the middle of some modeling review or getting Mom ready for a shoot, and he just waves his hand and says 'yes of course, just go away, boy.' That's be an ideal time to ask him. Especially with Mom around; that way if he denies saying it, she'll have heard it too." Suddenly in a terrific mood, he focused his attention back to the screen. "I'm going to pick the fastest car in this game."

Marlon shrugged as he focused on the screen, watching the cars parade past him so that he could determine which one he wanted. "I don't mind people eating different either, only when they insist that everyone else eat the same way. You know, like the vegetarians insisting that you must be an animal hater if you eat meat. Did they ever stop to think that the animals might not mind if they knew their bodies were put to good use? I hear that's how the Indians put it."

He turned and poked out his tongue at Eolande. "Well then I'll be sure to be next to you when we round a corner so I can bump into you and use you as a springboard to keep me from going off the road." He chuckled and nodded. "We can do that then; it'll be so much fun. I can hardly wait."

"Hey!" Marlon laughed as he righted himself, his usual balance kicking in and almost sending him off of his seat. Apparently he wasn't doing much better; the game-controlled cars kept bashing into him and running him off of the road. "Is there a way I can blow these other cars up or something? They keep getting in my way."

"Well, the way I look at it, the Indians had a special way of doing it; before they killed an animal, they would apologize for talking its life and explain why they needed to do it. That way the animal would know that it was dying serving a greater purpose. Of course, the way they mass-produce meat nowadays, it would be impossible to do that to 'em all. No love anymore, you know?" He beamed at Eolande, squashing the urge to tease her for hitting a cow after such a subject. "That sounds like a great weekend. It'll be great getting away from my house and my Dad."

He wrinkled his nose at her, only slightly annoyed at being made fun of, but well aware that Eolande wasn't doing it to be mean. He just had to remind himself that even friends made fun of each other, and they always took it in stride. Was he so uptight about a harmless little jab that he had to think like this? Of course, he was always picked on in a mean way at school, and he had come to expect it. He just needed some time to get used to friendly jabs and recognize the difference. He just hoped that his friend understood and didn't think that she was making him angry.

At the mention of the....things, he pushed pause on his own controller and set it aside. He too was worried some about the things that seemed to materialize in front of them as soon as that mysterious lady had shown up and given them their......gifts. Granted, he loved what the shell did for him; how it turned his big, clumsy body into that if a graceful fish that could dance through the water like a ballet dancer through air. And the speed! He could cut through the waves as though they were nothing; he found himself imagining himself out to sea, cutting through monster waves and then swimming up to their crests, riding them at their peak and reaching up to touch the sky.

"Hey Eolande....." he leaned forward a little, fixing her with an intense stare. "Do you think.....she might have had something to do with that.....thing? I mean, it seemed odd that right when it showed up in the middle of a CROWDED MALL, she should appear and give us the means to kill it? I'm not saying that she directly put it there, but......I can't help but wondering at the coincidence, you know? Maybe we should try seeking he out again, see if she can tell us more about these things."

Marlon was still thinking of the times he had transformed. He always had to seek out beaches where there was no one around to see him, so he had to either find the most inhospitable, unattractive beaches around or he had to get up really early to swim. He could always try in the dark, but despite his new form and all it's ample poison, he was still a little nervous about sharks that tended to swim close to the beach, in search of dumb teenagers who ventured a midnight swim. He knew better than to try in the bathtub, but seeing as he had trandformed in the fountain at the mall, he knew that it didn't matter whether or not the water was salty or fresh. Chlorinated though, he wasn't so sure about; fish couldn't live in chlorinated water, but he wasn't sure whether or not he should risk that.

He clenched his fists at the thought of the two of them playing at battles for the amusement of some lady. Try as he might, he seemed to be having trouble remembering those warm feelings she had instilled in him when she had appeared and given them the gifts. Now she seemed almost menacing, a strange being that found amusement at the struggles and tribulations of others. "If that's what her plan is, then all the more reason we should try to find her; to try and see what her plans are. If she really is letting these things loose, then we have to stop her before more people get hurt. And who knows; she may just be trying to recruit people to help combat them. Either way though, she knows more about them than we do, and I think we should know what she knows." He scowled at the thought of dozens of those little furry things swarming his house, creeping in through the windows..... He couldn't care less if they tore his father to pieces, but he would NOT let them touch his mother.

"I have to admit, I'm worried too. If these things can sense us being who we are, then I'm afraid they might follow us around, and then when they show up and start messing around, we'll have to transform, and that'll cause a panic, and then it won't matter if we kill off every single one of those little bastards; we'll get taken down by the government and locked away to be looked at as some kind of weapon or something. At the very least, if they realize that it's all from our items, then they'll take them away and we'll never see them again." He swallowed nervously, but put a smile on his face as he nodded at Eolande. "I think that together, we definitely stand a chance. Even if there are others like us out there, with special powers, how many of them can work together right from the get-go? That's an advantage right there."