2009-11-25: Go Home

Starring:

Dee_V4icon.pngLaurel_V4icon.png

Guest Starring: Heroeskats

Date: November 25, 2009

Summary:

Laurel tries to talk Dee into leaving, with little success.


"Go Home"

Somewhere In Africa

The thing about photography missions in the wild, there's always a lot of extra time allotted for shots. Little did they know she'd have access to a certain person who could get the animals to stay still. Not many photographers can claim to be able to have wild animals pose. Or at least move into better lighting. Or stay in the burrow a little longer. There's always something. Laurel's knelt down, with one of her better cameras out and focused on a certain group of meerkats. "Can you get the two big ones to back up a little? The picture's clustered and they're casting a shadow on the … what do they call baby Meerkats again? Kits? Pups?"

It starts with shop talk, the job. "I've almost got all the shots I need to get— with your help I could have had them a ew days in, I know, but… they did pay for two weeks in Africa, so I might as well use up as close to those two weeks as possible." And she's been saving them on hotel room costs. Staying in Pride Rock, as she will always call it, saves on many things. Gas back and forth, the hotel room, the restraunts. Though the food isn't always as she would like it.

"Have you given any thoght to going back with us?"

Dee is sitting nearby as Laurel takes pictures. There's one particular perched on her shoulder - the same one that stayed near her in the cave where she makes her home. It's a young male born without claws. He'd probably make it if he really wanted to, but the liklihood of something like that having a happy ending is extremely rare. It's a fairly common birth defect among meerkats, in that it happens once every few years. Random, but usually tragic.

"Pups," Dee replies, voice flat, though she manages to pose the hyperactive critters as Laurel's asked. She's glad someone's out here taking shots with a camera instead of with a gun. In the weeks they've been here, other poachers have come through.

The ones that die end up as food for the lions.

This isn't easy for her. She dislikes civilised life. It hurts to know that where she's from, there's anyone who could possibly consider her and her sister dangerous, without them having acted. When Laurel asks her question, Dee stands, the meerkat transfering itself to her other shoulder. "Do they go after people they think might commit a crime?" she asks. "Like, high-risk kids that they think might hold up a liquor store or something? Do they arrest people who drink before they get themselves in a car and go kill someone else? Why would I go back, knowing that they're waiting for me because I have the potentialy to hurt someone?"

"I don't know what they're doing, Daphne," Laurel says, slipping back to the name she'd known her by in the past. A long friendship makes it difficult to change the name in her head so quickly. The slip is recognized, though, causing her to wince somewhat. "Dee, I don't know what they're doing, or why. I just… I don't want to face it alone." The selfishness of what she's asking is known to her, and the camera lowers a bit. Shooting pictures of the meerkats is certainly better than what others might be doing to animals out here. Even if there'd been warnings against it, and even if the pictures are grotesque, she's taken pictures of what people have been doing here.

It might be usable later on. Not now, but…

"I don't want revenge. I'm not really good at revenge. But I do want to… try to make myself safe. And you. And… I dunno. Other people like us. Shouldn't we want to help them? You want to help the animals here. I feel that way about… you. Rudy. People like us. I— maybe if people had pictures of what they're doing, they could be forced to stop, you know?"

She looks at Laurel for a long time before her eyes glance toward the sky. There's a vulture circling that hadn't been there before. "That's an Egyptian vulture," she says. "It's being shot, it's being poisoned, chemicals from pesticides are seeping into its eggs even if DDT is supposed to be illegal. No one knows how many are left, really, but there's a hell of a lot less than there were yesterday, and last week, and the week before. You know, honestly, I don't give a damn if human beings decide to kill each other. I'll never see them— " She points up to the sky, to the meerkats, " —killing each other just because they feel like it. And I think that's worth protecting more than whatever I had back in New York."

She starts to walk away, as if the discussion is over. The meerkats start losing interest in Laurel. "Elephants. They kill elephants, cut off their tusks and feet, and leave them to rot. Is that fair? They only have babies every few years because they're not supposed to have any predators. They don't have to reproduce to keep up with demand. And because of that, they'll be extinct in a decade." She laughs. "At least if they come for me here, I have prides of lions to attack them.

"And the best part is, they'd do it because they love me… And the local tribes? They wouldn't want me gone. I help them. I've spend months cultivating this whole…" Dee waves her hands as she tries to come up with the right word, "…mythology about myself. They think I'm some spirit. And I'm fine with that… I'm happy here. Just go back, let everyone keep believing I'm dead, and leave it alone."

There's always something. Laurel can't help but feel like she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or even worse, her best friend really wanting something that's different from what she wants. And worst of all…

Her best friend makes sense.

It might be safer for all of them to stay there. The animals know where to find edible foods. They don't have all the lifestyle things they've become used to, like air conditioning and running water and flushing toilets, but it's safe and they could live off the land and the animals for months, years even. And the mythology could grow to protect them. Or it could…

"What if the poachers send word about what's going on here? How will the animals protect you from stuff like… helicopters with guns, and Navy Seals and… I dunno. Nukes."

Laurel also makes sense. There's nothing that would stop someone determined enough from catching her, especially out in the open like this. "I'm hoping … if they see that I'm doing something good, they'll just let me go," she says, voice finally showing some emotion. And when it does, it's almost defeated. She hasn't cried - hasn't let herself cry - except when the pain in her leg got to her enough to really hurt. It's still bandaged, and she still puts her weight on the other leg, but it's getting better.

The meerkat on her shoulder crawls down her arm. Daphne sets him on the ground, and he goes to check out the other wild meerkats. He was born with them. He's a brother. They're guarded, but they don't chase him off.

"I'm scared. What if I go back, and what happened to Jasmine happens to me? You should have seen her, Laur. Her eyes - my eyes - just… Staring. It was hard enough thinking I could die, but… Seeing what I'd look like dead? I bet her parents never even got a funeral. They're probably still… Looking for her."

Oh no. Laurel hadn't meant to defeat her with her paranoid logic. It makes her look around a little, eyes following the poor deformed meerkat who would never be able to make it among his own… kind. Sometimes she can't help but think of animals that her friend has spoken to quite a bit as people. They seem to have their own personality, their own way of living. They can communicate, which seems to be one of the things that make people people. If something happened to Dee, that link to the animal world might be broken.

At the same time, even after spending all that time with Al, Laurel can't really claim that bugs are people. They can communicate with him, but they're bugs and they have… buggy things.

Animals tend to be so much better. Except the ones that look really gross and creepy looking.

Instead, she moves forward and puts her hand on her friend's shoulder and squeezes. The pictures are fotgotten about for the moment. "Daph— Dee, it's… I don't know, but at least if we're all together, in the same place… we can try to protect each other. And… you won't be alone. If— if something does happen." Because then… she wouldn't get a funeral either.

Dee allows Laurel's hand to rest on her shoulder for awhile before she shrugs it away. "I didn't even like Jasmine at first. But no one deserves… What she got. Hey. Yossarian." She calls back over her shoulder to the meerkat. Yes, she definitely has watched Meerkat Manor.

Yossarian scurries to catch up as Dee keeps walking. "I can't get over that first step. And it's even knowing that … You know, lightning doesn't strike twice, and whatever else you want to say. Jasmine's death just hurt like I didn't think anything could." Kicking a stone, Dee sends it rolling along the ground, and the meerkat chases it. "It's all about me, too. I don't care— " This is hard for her to say, mostly because it's not true at all. "I don't care about anyone else. I just want to keep myself alive. Alive, and somewhere I'm needed. It's not like I can keep a lion in my garage to protect me when I need it."

Sometimes she gets lonely. Animals are excellent conversationalists, but they're just not people, like Laurel and Rudyard. "I wish I could just… be part of a pride, or a group of meerkats, or a … hell, a flock of pigeons. I wouldn't have to worry about this anymore."

That stings a bit. The last picture taken had been perfect, the way to cap off what she was assigned to do out here, but Laurel hadn't really come to take pictures. She'd come to retrieve her friend, pick her up from this scrub land and take her home. It's because of Rudy and his message from… someone. But it's not going to matter, by the looks of it. Daphne— Dee doesn't want to come back with them. "Are you really happy here? Really?" she asks, looking down at the meerkat male and following him with her eyes for a moment.

Born with no claws. Set aside from the rest of his kind. In a way that would always make him weaker than the others.

It's not like them. They're born with something, as far as she's seen, that makes them stronger. If they can find a way to use that strength. If.

"I don't want to leave you out here by yourself…" she says quietly, looking down at the ground in front of her as she walks, shoulders slumping. By herself. Surrounded by animals who she can actually speak to. "I guess you won't really be by yourself…"

"Mmhm," is the answer to whether or not she's happy here. She's not unhappy, but her being completely content isn't true, either. There's companionship that you just can't get from animals. "Go home, Laurel. Take Rudyard and go. I'm doing better things here than I could ever do back in New York. Really. I've been here for quarter of a year — or more. I lose count sometimes. I have an Australian accent even though I was born in Quebec. My leg— " She pauses, leaning down to unwrap it. "How am I gonna explain this?"

It looks like a mass of scars, mostly, it seems, from electrocution. That's what Jasmine's power was. There's more between those criss-crossing lines, though… Deep cuts that look like embedded shrapnel was ripped out, given the ragged scars.

Tossing the bandage over her shoulder, she heads back to the cave. "I'll be moving, too, so you can't come back and find me. Or if anyone asks you where I am, you won't be able to tell them."

Go home. "Well, I have to go home, anyway…" Laurel says softly, keeping her eyes down as she says that. "I'd rather you come with me, but— we did have a schedule. The plane will be leaving soon, and me and Al have to be on it or they'll send a search party thinking we got accidentally killed by poachers." Which actually almost happened a few times but that's neither here not there!

Her eyes settle on the leg, before she grimaces and looks away.

There's something about her sunburned skin that seems paler for a moment. How did that happen? How much did it hurt? How did it look a few months ago?

"I— why do you have to… so when we leave we won't see you again? I don't— I don't think Rudy will agree with that… I mean he… he loves you! You know he does and— and…" she trails off for a moment. There's that shimmer in the air. It seems more visible for a moment. A barrier coming up. Though she has nothing to defend against. Except her best friend telling her to leave.

"You're my best friend…" A best friend who already went away for a while. Went away and didn't come back often. And now… "Now I'll never see you again, will I?"

She's not going to get through this by being sentimental, and she's not going to let Laurel convince her to go back. It's suicide. "You can stay, if you want," Dee says, her tone almost hopeful.

She doesn't expect Laurel to take her up on that. Probably for the better, though. If Dee just has to worry about herself, there's less of a chance someone will die. This sentimental moment is ruined when Daphne crashes into a solid wall that she hadn't seen. Laurel's forcefield. Hissing through her teeth and rubbing her forehead, she says, "At least we know no one will be able to touch you!"

Looking at her hand to see if she cracked her head open, Dee notes the lack of blood. Good. "Rudy doesn't love me. Okay, line from a movie, but it fits. He loves who I used to be. It's like someone took a can of black paint and dumped it all over my worldview. I can't take it anymore. People are awful to each other." Leaning back against the barrier - since she can't go through it - she adds, "The only way you'll see me again is if you don't let me out of here."

"Yeah… nothing can touch me," Laurel says softly, looking at the field. She can almost see it. Almost. But not so much that… The only way she can keep her friend is if she keeps her inside a field. And unfortunately, she can't move it around. That's one of the things she'd been working on, but found rather impossible. The forcefields don't move. Once in place, that's where they stay.

And it won't help her keep her friend.

"I'm sorry," she says after a moment, and then the field vanishes, consciously taken down. It might make her friend trip a bit, since she's now leaning on nothing, but it will no longer hold her back. And Laurel starts walking at a brisker pace than before, holding her camera closer. "I guess I'll just have to take care of myself."

Dee does, indeed, almost fall. She catches herself, though, grunting with annoyance. She can't laugh anymore, can't smile, can't even see the world in any light other than dark. It hurts, but that's what happens when your twin sister is murdered.

Other people would get past that.

Dee just don't give enough of a damn to want to go back. Let people kill themselves, let them hurt themselves, let them separate the strong from the weak and make civilisation a dismal place to exist.

Excessive? Yes. False? No.

"I wish this could have been a happy reunion." Just ask her one more time. Say something that will make her change her mind. One more thing to erode those walls around her so that she'll at least give New York a chance again!

She can see it coming, and can't take the guilt. Thundering across the savanna comes a lion - a beautiful female, golden eyes focusing on Laurel as she comes to a halt. Dee nods. "She'll take you back to the cave. Get your things and go. You have your pictures."

And she's not going to take the chance that Rudyard will try to reason with her again. She'll just have to collect her things in a few days.

"I can't promise that Rudyard won't try to come back and find you," Laurel says, frowning as she stuffs her camera back into the carrying bag and zips it all the way up. It allows her to walk more quickly with the camera and bag hanging together off her shoulder. She won't try to argue with her best friend anymore. Especially not when a lion is running up to her. A twinge of worry goes through her, along with curiousity, wondering if the picture would be worth taking while they walk.

She resists the compulsion to snap another picture, and just leaves it at that, moving to follow the lion back toward Pride Rock.

"Stay safe," she adds on, though her voice sounds sad, worried… She'll never see her best friend again. Unless destiny steps in.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License