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Cassie ([info]freakgirl) wrote in [info]colligo_threads,
@ 2009-08-08 04:19:00

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WHO: Cassie and Marco
WHAT: Standard Three-Day Watch Routine to make sure Marco's not a Yeerk!
WHEN: After their conversation
WHERE: Cassie's apartment
RATING: To Be Determined
STATUS: In Progress

Cassie had looked at the directions to her apartment carefully.  After figuring out which way to go, she headed there, warily keeping an eye out for people following her.  She made it to her apartment easily enough without any suspicious people stalking her.  That she could tell, anyway.  Carefully, Cassie checked her apartment for bugs, even stripping off her top layer of clothing into just her morphing suit so that she could morph into a fly to check the tiny places.  Unless these bugs were state of the art, Cassie couldn't find any.  So, after re-dressing, she took Marco's advice and got the 100 dollars from the bank.  If she was going to be here for a while, she'd have to either use this wisely or get a job.  Hopefully she wouldn't be here long enough to have to do the latter.  She got the cheapest and most sturdy set of ropes that she could find.  On the way back to her apartment she passed a clothing store.  It wouldn't do to just have one set of clothes.  So Cassie hunted around inside, getting a nice comfortable set of overalls, and a few other essentials, before returning back to the unfamiliar apartment. Laying out the rope, Cassie took a long shower before changing into her new clothes.

After she'd settled in, as much as one can in such circumstances, Cassie sat down and looked through the PDA while she was waiting for Marco to show up.  She wasn't sure if she wanted him to turn out to be a Yeerk or not.  If he was, she would manage to get Marco freed.  If he wasn't...Cassie wasn't sure what she'd do.  He certainly sounded like Marco, but that was the problem with Yeerks.  Cassie let out a sigh as she replied to the Adam kid who seemed to have averted an apocalypse or something.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-08 03:05 pm UTC (link)
Marco knew that he only had so long before Cassie started thinking he was trying to dodge her. So while he didn't really rush his meal with Kate, he didn't let it go on for two long after the meal itself. He did make sure to post a warning on the way over to Cassie's, so that people didn't come looking for him or get worried. In truth, he found the whole thing sort of funny. He hadn't had to do anything like this in years, and it brought back memories. Plus, he knew there wasn't a Yeerk in his head, so he had no real concern here.

Plus, it was Cassie. He knew this wouldn't be too bad. Now if it were Rachel, or mid-war himself, he'd have been a little more worried. Neither of them were famous for being tolerant when they thought they'd found a Yeerk. Cassie, on the other hand, was the heart of the group. She kept Marco's plans from being absolutely, coldly ruthless and he was pretty sure Cassie was part of the reason Rachel hadn't completely lost her marbles. Cassie and Tobias, the two Animorphs that were closest to their fallen warrior princess.

That sobered his mood somewhat. Nothing like three days tied to a chair followed by telling someone their best friend died in a suicide mission killing your crushes brother and the slug in his head. And then, on top of that, he would also have to tell Cassie about The One assimilating Ax and the fact that ultimately it seemed like she was the only one of them left alive, seeing as how she didn't come with them to space.

So by the time he reached Cassie's apartment, much of the amusement had drained out of him. Outwardly it still looked like he was completely calm and collected, both because hiding behind facades was just his way and because he didn't want to look nervous when showing up to prove to Cassie he wasn't a Yeerk. Strategically unsound was what that was.

He fixed the hem of his Spawn t-shirt and stuck one hand in the pocket of his jeans. The other wrapped against the door of Cassie's apartment. "Potential alien slug reporting for duty, ma'am," he called out jovially, not really caring who heard. Yeerks were really not going to be a huge issue here, what with the lack of Kandrona. Plus, it had been several years since Yeerks had been an issue for him. Not counting the creepy ones that decided to worship The One, but that was an issue he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to deal with yet. Save that for the brief once he got Cassie and Tobias in the same room.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-08 08:24 pm UTC (link)
Cassie got up and went to the door. Marco sounded the same, albeit with a slightly deeper voice. 16 to 20 was a decent bit of time to go without knowing someone. When she opened the door, it was as if someone had put Marco through one of those computer aging programs. He was definitely Marco. Whether or not he had a Yeerk in him was a different story entirely. It was at least Marco's body.

"Come in," she said, opening the door a bit more widely to allow Marco through. She wasn't going to be inhumane about this. All she wanted was to make sure Marco was not being controlled by a Yeerk. When she figured that one out, she'd open up a bit more. But she'd picked a reasonably comfortable looking chair that would be easy to tie him up to and hard for him to escape from.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-08 08:48 pm UTC (link)
Marco couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at how young Cassie looked. Yeah, he'd seen her in the little pictures on the PDA, but seeing it in person was a completely different story. It really drove home the point that right now, he was the most experienced one of them here. Which brought with it the frightening thought that if Jake didn't show up and some Yeerks did... But he put that thought off. We'll cross that bridge if it happens.

He entered, not bothering to glance around. The apartments were mostly the same until the residents started decorating themselves, and since Cassie had just gotten here, there wouldn't really be much in the way of that to look at. He did spot the chair, and cheerfully headed over and plopped down into it. "Now remember, Cassie," he told her, smirking, "our safe word is 'Hubert'."

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-08 08:59 pm UTC (link)
Cassie wasn't that young. Sixteen, yes, but at the very end of the war. Right before the very end, little did Cassie know. But she certainly didn't feel young at all. Except when Marco was looking so much older.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Hubert." Cassie started tying the ropes around Marco, tightly enough that he wouldn't be able to get loose, but not tightly enough to cause any permanent damage or marks.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-08 09:41 pm UTC (link)
Marco watched her tying him up. This absolutely brought back memories. He couldn't help a nostalgic little smile. "So." There was no reason he couldn't find out a little information while they went through this process. "What was the last thing you remember? While we wait, I might as well figure out the best way to word what I have to say." Which meant he had to know if Cassie remembered her best friend's death, or if it hadn't happened for her yet. She most likely didn't, based on her comments about the war, but he wanted to be absolutely sure on this. No assumptions.

"Well, I was gonna say it could be 'help help I'm bleeding from the wrists' but that didn't sound as funny." He'd also had a PETA joke loaded and ready, but that one he knew was not a good one to use with Cassie.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-08 09:58 pm UTC (link)
She finished tying the ropes and sat down across from Marco. "The last thing I remember was Rachel killing Tom." Cassie didn't remember her best friend's death. She was still in her morph when Cassie had blinked and arrived here.

"It's too long, too." Cassie cracked a small smile.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-08 11:28 pm UTC (link)
Marco's reaction probably told Cassie all she needed to know. Normally Marco was great at keeping his mind and body in check, but this particular occasion wasn't normal. He sighed, his whole body slumping about as much as the ropes would let it. His eyes closed and his head bowed. Why couldn't she have been from after that? Why the hell do I have to tell the two people Rachel was closest to that she's dead? Is this what feeling responsible for people is like, Jake? Jesus, dude. How did you not get tired of this real quick? "Yeah," he said flatly. "I remember that."

"Right." He shook his head and forced himself to regain his composure. "Right, it is! Plus Hubert sounds nice and innocuous. Totally not a safe word." Okay, maybe he hadn't completely regained his composure.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-09 04:48 am UTC (link)
Cassie looked at Marco, noting the fact that he seemed to deflate. That wasn't good. "That bad," she responded. Marco tried to regain his composure but Cassie saw through that. He wasn't bad at concealing his emotions normally, so this must be a whopper. Cassie still wasn't sure how much of the future it was safe to know, but if it was something that fundamental, she needed to know. Cassie was becoming more and more certain that this was actually Marco, but it wasn't a risk she could afford taking.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-09 08:52 pm UTC (link)
Marco sighed, defeated. Cassie didn't seem to be overly worried about the Yeerk thing, so maybe it wouldn't matter. "...She didn't make it off the Blade Ship." He shrugged his shoulders as much as he was able. "Tobias only knows two things about the future, so far. That we win, and that it costs us Rachel's life." He leaned his head back against the backing of the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "I had to tell him. I didn't want him to find out from someone that recognized us casually mentioning it, or while screwing around on the internet. I still don't know if that was the right call."

He leaned his head forward to look at her. "I'm sorry, Cassie." He sighed, shaking his head somewhat sadly. "Believe me, telling the two people she was closest to about this doesn't make me happy. But you two deserve to find out from an Animorph, not some careless internet search."

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-09 09:05 pm UTC (link)
It was a good thing that Cassie was sitting down. Her eyes widened slightly and she didn't say anything. A tiny part of her mind thought that perhaps it was a Yeerk trick. But the bigger part of her knew it to be true. Rachel didn't make it. Cassie looked down at her feet, taking slow deep breaths. She closed her eyes. "How?" she asked quietly, not meeting Marco's eyes. "How did it happen?"

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-09 09:25 pm UTC (link)
"You saw her kill Tom, so you know how injured she was." An agitated look passed over his face briefly. "We could've subdued the crew by threatening to fire the Dracon beams if Erek hadn't drained them. Moron." He never did get over his disdain for that move. He'd always respected Cassie's more pacifistic leanings because she had the intelligence to see when sometimes you had to fight, but Erek he just couldn't bring himself to respect, not after that. Clearing his throat, he continued, "She demorphed. The polar bear didn't. It was no contest."

He hesitated before continuing. "Even if we'd had a firing solution, chances were pretty high that she wasn't going to make it out of that alive. I'm pretty sure she knew that." At last, he said, "It was a warrior's death. She'd have wanted it that way, if it had to happen."

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-10 04:08 am UTC (link)
Cassie quickly wiped away a few tears. Rachel was injured, but Cassie must've been more optimistic than she'd given herself credit for. She really thought that if anyone could make it out of that, Rachel would. "The polar bear? That's horrible." Cassie shook her head slightly. How was she supposed to deal with this news. Her best friend was killed in the war. Yes, they'd grown apart slightly throughout the war because of how it changed them, but it did not change them that much. They were still best friends. Cassie sat in silence for a few moments.

"She would have wanted it that way," she added finally.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-11 12:49 am UTC (link)
"Gotta warn you, Cassie." Marco sounded surprisingly morose. "Erek shows up here, I might tell him to get bent. You'll have to take care of him." Adulthood hadn't necessarily served to make Marco more mature in some aspects. Grudges, for instance, were still a big part of his being. Pacifistic or not, you didn't remove the only option available to your allies for retrieving one of their own alive. It just didn't work that way.

"Yeah," he agreed. "She would have." He sighed, drooping his head slightly. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news." And he genuinely was. He and Rachel may not have been superawesomebestfriends, but they got along more than they argued and Marco respected her as a soldier. He'd been the only one not really disturbed by her descent into what the others considered "darkness", partially because he knew one of them needed to get dark and partially because he saw the other extreme as foolish.

"But." He made sure to lock eyes with Cassie for this. "She died so that the war could end. So that we could stop sacrificing our own blood. So that the Yeerks could be completely defeated, beyond all hope of recovery. And so that the self-righteous idiots that ran the Andalite military wouldn't waste the entire planet." He smiled, just a little. "It was a good death. I actually kind of admire her for it..." And then he smirked. "But if she shows up here, don't you dare tell her that. I'll never hear the end of it."

Marco was still pretty good with words.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-11 01:06 am UTC (link)
Cassie smiled slightly. "I don't think I'll be much better with him. I will make sure he stays far away." Cassie understood pacifism. She agreed with it, for the most part. Violence wasn't her way, but sometimes it was the only thing that worked against the Yeerks.

She shook her head. "I'm glad it was you and not someone I didn't know. Not the internet." It meant a lot to Cassie that Marco told her in person. He wasn't Rachel's best friend the way Cassie was, or her boyfriend the way Tobias was. But he was an Animorph.

When Marco locked eyes with her, she nodded. "She ended the war." Cassie let out a hollow laugh. "No, you wouldn't."

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-11 01:35 am UTC (link)
"Good." It was all he said. All he really should say. Considering Marco, if alone in a room with Erek, would probably have disassembled him, or at least tried.

"It's the right thing to do." He grinned at her. "See? I did learn something from all those morality speeches!" He adjusted himself slightly in the chair, trying to get a little more comfortable. Or as comfortable as he could tied up, anyway.

"She could, y'know," he told her. "Show up here, I mean. I'm a perfect example." He kind of rolled his hands in a circular motion, looking more than a little comical with them being tied at his sides. "No burns anywhere on this oh-so-cute face, right? But I know I died in a spaceship collision." He shrugged a little. "So. I'm just saying, it's possible. Don't ask me how, but it is."

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-11 01:40 am UTC (link)
"Color me shocked. Something I said actually sunk in. Maybe you have grown up, Marco." Cassie smiled. It wasn't that she thought Marco was going to be immature forever, or not retain anything. She knew Marco would grow up and knew that she wasn't lecturing her friends for nothing.

"Do you think she will? What about Jake or Ax?" Cassie wasn't unhappy with Marco and Tobias being here. She just...was curious. That's right. Curious.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-11 02:13 am UTC (link)
He laughed. "I was listening, y'know." Just selectively shelving her morality lessons for later. Marco was good like that. "But don't think I grew up too much. I routinely mock Tara Reid." He'd liked those shoes.

"I don't know. Sometimes it seems like arrivals follow patterns, other times..." He shrugged again. "It seems like the more people from a given universe are here, the more likely more are to show up, but that's nowhere near a definite rule."

"Well..." He sighed, again looking down at his lap. "Jake was in the ship with me and Tobias, so maybe. And Ax..." He shook his head, face hardening. "If Ax shows up, we might have a serious problem." Well, no point holding back now. "We got Rachel's body back, but we couldn't catch the Blade Ship. We had other things - namely, the Andalites - to deal with, so we let them go. What harm could they be, really? Their leader was gone, they couldn't really go back to their home planet...seemed kind of unimportant when weighed against the Andalites coming to wipe out the planet, y'know?"

He bit his lip, then just went for it. "Ax went off to become a War Prince. A damn good one, too. Jake...after a while, he ended up at West Point. Which is where an Andalite ship came to an emergency landing one day in 2001." He paused a moment to make sure he had the facts straight. "All this time, we thought the major players were the Andalites and the Yeerks? Nuh-uh. There were these other guys...the name escapes me right now, but they were powerful enough that their truce with the Andalites was basically this: You do not fuck with us, we will not fuck with you. That's it. One and only one provision." He gestured idly with his hands the entire time he was talking. "Ax found the Blade Ship. But there was something in there. One of the two Andalites that showed up at West Point was a survivor. The problem was the ship was in these other guys' space, so Andalites couldn't go up there. They needed Jake to get up there and find Ax, and he needed a guide. So, and this should tell you how serious this was, the surviving Andalite morphed human and willingly became a nothlit. Then they got me and Tobias, and with a couple of Jake's students, we went off on a ship to find Ax."

Marco's face looked grim. "We found him. He'd been assimilated by a being called The One, that the surviving Blade Ship Yeerks were worshiping like a god. Worst part?" Marco swallowed a little, not really liking what he was about to say. "I am not entirely sure they were totally off-base. That's the enemy we were crashing into when we died, Cassie. So, if Ax shows up here, that could be a bad thing."

Then he just leaned his head back and waited for her to absorb the information. Even though he was only just now thinking of it, he already had a few ideas on how to begin handling the situation. Talking to the Starfleet personnel would be a big priority, considering they were the closest to "community leaders" this place had. Plus, they had knowledge of advanced tech, which could come in handy. First priority, though, was getting Cassie and, eventually, Tobias on board.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-11 03:44 am UTC (link)
"Yeah, yeah," Cassie smirked. Marco had grown up a bit, even if he didn't think he did. Cassie hoped that Rachel showed up. And Jake. She listened quietly to Marco's story, taking all the information in. Ax became a War Prince? She was somehow not surprised that he was good at it. "They scared the Andalites that much?" Cassie frowned. She didn't like that. When Marco said that he willingly became a nothlit, Cassie's jaw dropped. It must have been very serious.

"Assimilated into a being called the One? What kind of being? How did Ax get assimilated?" Cassie wasn't liking this. She thought after the war, their intergalactic troubles would be over. "Why wasn't I on the ship?"

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-11 04:09 am UTC (link)
"I don't know what kind of being it was," Marco replied, going over his memories very carefully. "It could switch forms pretty much whenever it wanted. Think much more Mystique than what we do. It was very...godlike," he sighed, the word godlike coming out hesitantly, like pulling a tooth. "How Ax got assimilated, I don't know. It all happened before we even found out about it. We don't even know for sure what the thing is. Our confrontation lasted minutes. It wasn't like the Borg, not some technological thing. It just...was."

And then he looked away. He'd been hoping Cassie would not notice the fact that he didn't add her to the list of people on the ship. "You were getting married...to a good guy named Ronnie. I introduced you two, actually. You were in the president's sub-cabinet, advisor for the Hork-Bajir and other resident aliens. You were happier down here. And realistically..." Marco sighed. "And realistically, if we died, we needed an Animorph on the surface who could pick up where we left off." Marco was pretty sure the only reason Jake even told her about it all was because he knew that Cassie would know where Tobias was. He didn't tell her that, of course. "Considering we died, I'd say that probably wasn't a bad idea."

He wasn't lying to her. He could have, it wouldn't even have really weighed on him...but he knew that Jake would never tell her any of this, if he showed up. And she deserved to know.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-11 04:35 am UTC (link)
Cassie frowned. "It has to have some sort of weakness. God-like. We just haven't figured out how to beat it yet," she said. Minutes? "Well, crap." There wasn't anything she could do since it was the future. And it sounded so damn powerful. There wasn't anything that big that Cassie could fathom except...well actually God.

"I was getting married?" To someone that wasn't Jake? That was even more mind-boggling than the fact that there was a seemingly all-powerful being that assimilated Ax. Or that she was in the President's sub-cabinet as an advisor for aliens. "And I let you guys leave me on Earth." Wow. Cassie must have gone through a lot in those years.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-11 04:55 am UTC (link)
Marco sighed, and the look on his face made it clear he'd be rubbing his temples if he could. "I'll speak to the Starfleet personnel." They were the closest thing to "community leaders" this place had. Plus their knowledge of advanced technology could come in handy. "They might be able to help, and if not, it would still be good to let them know the threat exists."

Marco couldn't help the slight smirk that passed over his face at her reaction to that. He knew what she was thinking, especially at this age, but didn't bring it up. "Yes, you were. And as for you letting us leave you here, well..." The smirk got slightly larger. "Jake was insisting. And you know how he can get when he insists."

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-11 05:04 am UTC (link)
"The Starfleet personnel? This place is so weird." Good thing Cassie lived through some pretty weird things. "What do you think they'll be able to do?"

Yes, Cassie was in love with Jake. They all had known it, even though the website said they had a casual, unofficial relationship. "Yeah, I know how Jake could be." Impossible to argue with. More stubborn than anyone that ever existed.

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-12 01:03 am UTC (link)
"The Starfleet personnel," Marco confirmed, chuckling. "Although I haven't really been paying attention to all those official titles, so this should be interesting." He hoped there hadn't been any promotions. "As for what they could do, I don't know, honestly. They may not have access to their fancy supertech, but they at least know the ins and outs of it, so if The One is just some guy using techno-gadgets maybe they'll recognize it. Plus, they're sort of the go-to people here for this sort of thing." Of course, he didn't really think The One was just a guy with gadgets. But he didn't think it was a god, either.

"So." He sat back as best he was able, adjusting his arm slightly so the rope didn't bite into it with his new position. "That's pretty much everything important that happened in the future." He knew Jake was probably not a great subject to discuss right now. A lot of those details were Jake's to discuss, not his, and Marco intended to leave it at that.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-12 01:15 am UTC (link)
"I guess it doesn't hurt to have trusted allies on your side. Even if they are people who were on TV shows. In our reality anyway." Cassie shrugged. Any sort of alliance was welcome so long as they were trusted people.

"Everything important? You all blew up in a spaceship, Ax got assimilated into the One, Rachel died, and I was going to get married to someone who," Cassie stopped short. The end of that sentence was going to be wasn't Jake. "Well, I hope that's all the important stuff."

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[info]pointatopointb
2009-08-12 01:25 am UTC (link)
"That actually helps our ability to judge," Marco chuckled. "I mean, seriously, we can just go look at what they're in and decide whether they're trustworthy." He grinned a little. "Trust the guy that was always, always worried about whether the people we were meeting were trustworthy, that is a good thing."

"Oh, I forgot to mention I dated many Hollywood hotties," Marco laughed, knowing damn well she didn't consider that important at all. "That much you can tell Rachel, so I can laugh at her predictions that I would never have a girlfriend." Of course, she was hardly the only one to have made such predictions, but still. She was the only one that really had any back-and-forth teasing with him about it.

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[info]freakgirl
2009-08-12 01:33 am UTC (link)
"Fair enough. I'll let you judge, you've been here longer than I have. How long have you been here, Marco?" Cassie smiled.

"Yeah. I'm sure she wouldn't believe you anyway." Cassie laughed. "Do you really think Rachel will show up?" She certainly hoped she would. And Jake. But mostly Rachel. Having her best friend here would make things perfect.

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