Laura (retractable) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2018-03-06 15:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *hannah, *maxi, cat chandler, laura howlett |
April - December 2017
Laura Howlett ✦ Cat Chandler
Snapshots: April-December 2017 PG - mentions of violence/death Complete |
Cat got home a little bit early to make dinner and she wanted to be there when Laura got back from school. The whole guardianship thing was new to her and she wanted to make sure she was doing the best she could. As she was cutting up some carrots she heard the door open she glanced up to see Laura, truthfully Cat had ordered dinner in and was just making a salad to go with the pizza she’d ordered. “Hey, heard you went to the zoo today, how was it?” Cat had gotten word from one of the teachers that Laura had found her way to the zoo during the day. Even though school wasn’t like the training she’d been forced into at Transigen, Laura still didn’t like it. The subjects were unlike anything she’d ever had to learn causing her to grow easily agitated and frustrated, and the other kids all thought she was weird. So, when she decided to go over to the zoo sometimes during the school days, it was a relief to be able to be around the animals instead of actual people. She related to animals so much easier than most regular people. Probably because she was far from regular. At Cat’s question, she stared for a few seconds then shrugged. Talking wasn’t one of her strong suits. Laura sat down at the breakfast table and watched her as she did whatever she was doing with the food. After a few seconds, she finally spoke up, “It was better than school.” Nodding she glanced up at Laura to see if the young girl had an expression she could actually read. “What’d you see?” She asked turning to go to the fridge to grab two drinks, she placed one in front of Laura and opened the other for herself. A lot, Laura thought at first. There were so many animals that she’d never seen before throughout her fairly short life, and some of them had such big personalities. “Seals?” She asked, unsure if that was the right word. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t taught a lot about the different types of animals while at Transigen. She liked them though because they swam through the water so easily and played with their toys just like people. “And the lions.” So far, those were her favorites. Cat nodded when Laura asked about the word seals. “I’ve always been partial to seals too, they just always look like they’re having so much fun.” She also wasn’t surprised that Laura brought up lions, that just seemed like a natural fit for the young girl. “Maybe you could show them to me someday?” Laura nodded. She wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about the people she was staying with, but she realized that she wouldn’t mind having Cat come along with her when she was at the zoo again sometime. It might even be kinda nice to have her explain things about them that the zookeepers didn’t. Laura didn’t always ask a lot of questions, but she was still curious and paid close attention whenever she was there. Maybe this guardian thing wouldn’t be so bad after all. Early May (Pre-Divergent): Talking about New Friends “Heading out to meet Bella?” Cat asked as she rounded the corner from the bedroom she and Dyson shared. Things had been easier with Laura, although the species swap had been a little bit difficult to handle, truthfully Cat was just happy that Laura seemed to have made a friend with an older girl, but from what Cat could tell Bella seemed like a good girl. “Where are you two headed?” She asked casually. Laura nodded silently as she got together a couple of things for her meet-up with Bella. The girl was a little older than she was, but she was easily one of the only people she’d really connected with other than her guardians and Jean. And the animals. She always connected with the animals. “Food, I think. Somewhere.” She wasn’t sure what Bella had in mind or if they’d do anything after eating, but she was just glad to have someone she could spend time with that weren’t just Dyson or Cat even if they were starting to grow on her - slowly. “Food, well, hopefully it’s good food.” Cat noded unsure if she should push anything else or ask when Laura would be back, she knew on one hand she should, but on the other she figured Bella was responsible so everything would be okay. Laura nodded. There was all sorts of food here that she’d never tried before, so usually whenever she went out with Bella they would try something new. So far, there wasn’t much out there in the world of food that Laura didn’t like. She paused briefly before heading out the door, unsure if there was something she was supposed to say before she left. “I can let you know if it’s good.” Cat smiled, it felt like really good progress. “I look forward to hearing about it,” she told her. Now, go have fun!” Cat chuckled softly as she watched Laura head out to meet her friend. Late May (Post-Divergent) - Heading to Dinner The who factions things and how that worked for everyone was strange, and Cat was worried about how Laura was feeling about it now that it was all over, Cat also didn’t really know how to bring it up with her. “It’s good things are back to normal,” she said as they rounded the corner heading to the restaurant they were planning to meet Dyson at. As weird as the factions had been, Laura honestly had been able to deal with it better than probably a lot of people. She’d been in Dauntless, a faction celebrated for its bravery and strength. Even if she wasn’t able to compete in everything thanks to her age, she still took pride in watching the others fight and show off. “Yeah, I guess.” It was the memories thing that was harder to grasp for Laura. Having memories of people taken away or changed only to come back all over again. “It was weird, but not that bad.” Nodding, Cat watched her for a second before looking away again. “It had it’s good moments,” Cat thought it was a little uncomfortable personally, but she’d been separated from the people she cared about most. “What parts did you like?” “The fighting,” she said without much thought but then figured that it probably wasn’t the right answer. If there was a right answer. “The competitions,” she clarified. “I was good at them.” Given that she wasn’t old enough to even be considered for missions yet in normal Atlantis, the competitions was something she was able to do herself and show that she was strong no matter how young and small she was. Sure, sometimes she managed to convince someone to spar with her, but she didn’t think that they ever really went at her full strength. Nodding Cat thought for a moment before speaking. “Maybe we could get you into some of the training they’ve got here, something for you to work on your skills and learn fighting styles, is that something you might be interested?” Cat never in a million years thought she’d be so pro having a young girl learn that much fighting but Laura was special, she thought it’d be good for her. Perking up at the mention of training, Laura nodded. “Yes. It’s funny to see their faces when they find out what I can do.” She always had to be careful not to get super competitive or let her true instincts get the better of her during a fight, but more training in a way that wasn’t brutal or cruel would probably help with that too. “I can imagine it’s a really big surprise,” she had no doubt given what she knew about what Laura could do she even worried a little bit about it, not in the sense that she was scared of Laura, she was scared what other people might do if they got scared of her. “How about we look into getting you into training tomorrow?” Laura nodded again. “I’d like that.” She wasn’t interested in training to the extent as she had at Transigen or using her abilities to hurt people, but the release of energy and work out would probably be good for her. As they rounded the corner and found themselves at the restaurant where they were meeting Dyson, Laura smiled a little up at Cat as she walked through the door. Early June: Jean’s gone “Damnit!” Cat breathed out angry that someone that Laura trusted was now gone and off somewhere else in the world. She knew Laura would be upset and she gave her time over the few days trying not to be pushy about getting her to talk. Eventually one day she found Laura sitting on the couch watching some kind of cartoon. Without saying a word she sat down on the couch next to her. Other than her initial volatile reaction to Jean’s departure, Laura had barely spoken to anyone over the last couple of days. She’d been basically impossible to handle during school, and she’d even left the campus once or twice on her own. Most of the time, she just wanted to be alone. Today, though, she was at home watching some cartoon with talking babies. The one with the glasses and red hair was her favorite. When Cat sat down next to her, Laura’s eyes glanced her way briefly, but she didn’t really look over. Instead, she just stared forward at the screen. She’d probably been acting unfair to both her and Dyson since Jean had left, but dealing with strong emotion of any kind wasn’t one of Laura’s strengths. When she’d been trained most of her life to let out her anger through violence, she wasn’t always very sure how to communicate in a healthy way. So, she usually just stayed quiet. Reaching forward she picked up a stray magazine from the coffee table, pulling her feet up she turned enough so she was facing Laura but instead of saying anything she started to flip through the magazine occasionally making faces at what she was looking at. “Ew,” she eventually said to a dress that looked like it was held together by a carabiner and had nearly see through bright yellow fabric, Cat turned the magazine to Laura if she wanted to look. Fashion was a completely new concept for Laura, so when she glanced over at the magazine, she saw people wearing weird clothes that made no sense. What was even weirder was realizing that people wanted to pay - a lot - to look like that. She made a face at the picture. “That’s stupid,” she said and moved her eyes back to the tv screen. Talking cartoon babies made more sense than the pictures of real people she saw in the magazines. “It’s really stupid,” Cat agreed. Probably not something a guardian was supposed to say, but come on, some fashion was just horrific. “What do you think about getting you some new clothing?” Cat asked. “Not ugly see through yellow clothing, but a few new shirts and things?” Laura thought about the clothing proposition. Most of her clothes were pretty simple, but she did have a couple shirts she liked that had fun designs on them. She liked the different colors. Maybe she could get a few more of those. “Can I get some fuzzy socks?” She asked. She remembered one of the girls at school having a pair of them that looked really soft. “Only if I can get some too!” Cat said after a moment of trying to figure out where fuzzy socks came from, but fuzzy socks sounded like fun to her. Smiling just a little for the first time in days, Laura nodded in reply. “We can get the same ones, if you want.” She was still upset about Jean, but she was slowly starting to realize that she had more than one person she could depend on here. Someone other than herself. She was still worried that they’d up and disappear too, but it was at least a start. Early July: Logan’s Here “It’s not him!” Laura screamed at Dyson, pulling from his grasp, and ran down the hallway to her room, slamming the door behind her. He kept telling her that the man on the network was her father and that he’d already met with him. No matter how much she knew he wouldn’t have lied to her, not about this, Laura couldn’t make herself believe that Logan was here and that he was alive. Not after he’d died right in front of her after coming back to save her and her friends. It was the clone, X-24. Not Logan. Despite not believing him, Laura wanted him to be right even if she couldn’t really admit it to herself. This Logan had no idea who she was, and she didn’t want to go through that again. He’d barely acknowledged her as his own until the very end, and she wasn’t sure she could do that again. She’d buried herself under the covers on her bed and shut her eyes tight, whispering to herself in Spanish that this person wasn’t Logan. It couldn’t be. She concentrated on the words so hard that she didn’t hear the soft knock on the door. Cat came home not long after Laura ran off from Dyson, she said she’d try to talk to her. Cat knew this wasn’t an easy situation, especially for such a young girl who had seen her father die in front of her. Cat had seen her mother die as a young adult and that was hard enough, she couldn’t imagine it from Laura’s age. Knocking softly she didn’t hear anything, waiting a few moments she opened the door slowly and frowned as she saw Laura hiding in her bed. It broke her heart. Sitting on the edge of the bed she spoke softly. “Mind if I lay down with you for a bit?” The moment Laura sensed someone else in the room, her body froze underneath the covers. She knew neither Dyson or Cat would ever try to do anything to her, but her mind was on high alert ever since she saw the alert that Logan had shown up. Not Logan. She laid there for a few moments still trying to decide what to do but finally pulled back the covers from her head. She didn’t really turn to look at Cat or even give a verbal answer, but she wasn’t hiding anymore and that was close enough to a real answer as she could give. It was something at least. Cat moved to get comfortable on Laura’s bed as she looked at the ceiling she tried to think about what she could say, but she wasn’t really sure what she could say. This whole people from different times thing was really confusing for her, she couldn’t imagine how it was for Laura. “What do you think about putting some stars on your ceiling?” Stars? Laura looked up at the bare ceiling and thought about what it would be like to see stars up there. Ones that reminded her of the nights she fell asleep after Logan had taken her to Eden to be with her friends. Friends that she missed more than anyone. She turned to face Cat and nodded silently. After a short moment, she scooted over and snuggled up to her and rested her head on Cat’s arm. She might have been a normal human, but Laura still felt safe with her. She felt that with Dyson too most of the time even if they tended to butt heads a little more. It was a completely different kind of safe than how she felt when she defended herself or training, and in a way that she’d never, ever felt before now. Cat smiled moving just enough so Laura could snuggle in more. Running her fingers through Laura’s hair she didn’t say anything else, she was just happy that Laura seemed to be leaning on her a little bit. Mid July: The Cow! “Can he stay in my room?” Laura asked. Yes, she’d already asked Dyson the same question and had gotten a definite no, but Cat could tell him he was wrong. Sebastian needed a good place to stay, and her room was a good of a place as any, right? He’d feel right at home there with them. She petted the cow’s head and smiled a little. He was a good pet, and pets needed to stay at home. Her mouth was open as she looked at the cow. “I’m not sure he’d be happy in your room, he might need a little more room.” Cat finally managed to say, she was pretty sure Dyson would have said no too, but this was a little overwhelming, a cow? “He doesn’t have to stay just in my room. He can use yours too,” Laura said, her wide eyes lighting a bit when she looked up at Cat. “Please? He’s only a little cow.” Manipulative and cheating? Maybe. But she really did want him to stay with her. Other people had dogs and cats stay with them. Why not a cow? “I’m not sure he’d be comfortable inside, cow’s usually like to graze, and need more space than an apartment.” Telling Laura that they were messy and often smelled bad was something Cat knew would be a bad plan. “I think he’d be happier with other cows? We can go every morning to feed him and visit and after school though.” Laura petted Sebastian on his fluffy head, and tried to think up another good reason that he could stay in the apartment with them. All of the reasons they’d given her were actual good reasons that made sense, so that made it a lot harder to come up with counter reasons. Stupid reasons. “Okay,” she finally said with a sigh. “But only because he needs his cow friends. And he might not like Dyson, and that would probably hurt his feelings if Sebastian didn’t like him..” Cows and wolves didn’t always get along, after all. Cat had to stop herself from laughing but she made a mental not to tell Dyson about how worried Laura was about his feelings. “I think that’s a very good idea.” August: Harry Potter Takes Over Atlantis Atlantis was never boring, that was for sure. Cat had been hearing a lot more truth than she was really expecting from pretty much everyone lately, and it was giving her a headache. “How was Quidditch?” Cat asked as she grabbed a beer and plopped down next to Laura, she placed the beer on her head to cool it down a bit. Laura’s face lit up the second Cat mentioned Quidditch. She’d never ridden on a broom before, but she’d caught onto it pretty easily so far. “It’s fun. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” It was a lot different than the regular sports she’d seen on tv, and she was mostly just glad that they’d let her play. She already couldn’t go on missions despite being basically invincible, so being able to play Quidditch was a nice treat. “It’s a very interesting sport, maybe it’ll stick around and you can play as much as you’d like, or we could look into some of the other sports around to see if there is anything else you’d like to try.” Cat offered smiling. “You think so?” She asked, hopeful. Laura really hoped that it would decide to stick around or that Atlantis could figure out a way to make it stay. She’d discovered a few other sports since being here, but flying on a broom was a whole new level of fun that she’d never experienced until now. “Do you want to to try it?” “Anything is possible here,” Cat sure believed that, and if it was something that helped Laura and gave her something she liked doing, Cat was all for it. “I would love to try.” She answered. “Do you maybe want to teach me?” “I can try,” Laura said with a small smile. She didn’t know how good of a teacher she would be, but she could use what her own teachers had said during the practices. It couldn’t be that hard, right? “It’s a plan!” Cat said nodding towards the kitchen. “Come help me with dinner!” September: You have to go back to school. “I know you don’t want to go back to school, but you have to go back to school,” Cat said from the other side of the door to Laura’s room. She knew school wasn’t something that Laura liked, but it was important. “You get to work at the zoo some, but do to that, you have to go to school.” She called. From inside her room, Laura made a face. It was one that she often made anytime she thought about having to go back to school. “Why can’t I just do stuff at the zoo and not go to school?” She asked and opened up the door. “I’m not good at it, and the other kids don’t like me.” “School is important, there are a lot of things you need to learn that’ll just make you better at working at the zoo.” Cat tried to reason with her. “I’m sure not all the kids dislike you! There have to be a couple you get along with.” “Maybe a couple,” Laura mumbled, not really happy about the concession. “I still think it’s dumb.” She wasn’t thinking about the big picture, but just her picture. Some people could say she could be a little stubborn from time to time. “Do I have to go every day?” “Monday through Friday, yes, you have to go to school, it’s important for your future, and think about all the stuff you’ll be able to learn to help you in the future!” Cat tried to make it sound exciting but she wasn’t sure she was doing a very good job. It really wasn’t as exciting as Cat was trying to make it sound. Laura knew that just from the limited amount of schooling she’d already had last year. There was the small hope that maybe she wouldn’t be as confused about things this time, but she wasn’t counting on it. But at least she still had the opportunity to go to the zoo and work there. Resigned to her fate, Laura let out a long sigh. “Alright, I’ll go. I won’t always like it, but I will go.” “Thank you,” Cat said with a soft smile. “And you don’t have to always like it.” October: Halloween costume shopping “I want to be this one,” Laura said and help up a youth lion costume complete with a fluffy mane. It wasn’t nearly as good as Augustus’ real one, but it looked good enough. Dyson had told her more than once that he wasn’t a fan of cats, but that hadn’t stopped her from making a beeline to the first lion costume she’d been able to find. “Can I get it? There aren’t many left.” Cat had to stop herself from laughing, of course Laura wanted to be a lion, that was something she should have expected. “A lion huh?” Cat asked deciding to see if she could talk her into anything else. “What about a wolf?” She knew they would be getting the lion costume but she thought she’d at least try. Laura looked confused at the mention of dressing up as a lion. “Why would I dress up as Dyson?” He was a wolf, after all. Or a shifter which was all the same as far as Laura was concerned. “I like this one,” she said and held up the lion again. “What about a panther?” Cat asked as she picked out a black panther outfit. Considering the panther costume for a moment, it was kind of cooler than the wolf one, she still shook her head and held up the lion. “Please? But you could be the panther if you were gonna dress up.” She paused. “Are you dressing up?” Cat couldn’t do it anymore, Laura looked too cute begging to be the lion. “Okay, you can be a lion.” She told her with a smile. “And I suppose I could be a panther, I hadn’t thought about what I would be.” Laura smile brightly when she got the go-ahead for her lion costume. It was no secret that she liked the big cats above most all other animals including actual wolverines. She thought those things either resembled a baby bear or a really big weasel. Lions were known as kings of the jungle for good reason. “I think you’d make a good panther,” she said. Two big cats Maybe they could find Dyson a puppy costume. December: Christmas Shopping! She’d been out looking at some of the stores herself a couple of days on her way home from school, but Laura was starting to get pretty overwhelmed with the city and how much Christmas stuff was around and how many people were going in and out of the shops with bags and various presents for their loved ones. This was Laura’s first Christmas, and she didn’t have a clue what to expect or what a good gift might be. Thankfully, Cat had offered to go shopping with her to find something for Dyson. She’d stopped and looked at a couple of different things in store windows that she thought were neat too, but she didn’t say much about them. Getting and buying presents was a little bit of a new concept for her. The nurses at Transigen had tried to celebrate the children’s birthdays, but they were usually interrupted and mostly just were a small gathering with a cake. No presents. “Do you think he would like this?” Laura asked, holding up a pair of bright green socks. She liked the color, and Dyson had to wear some kind of socks, right? Cat was hoping she and Dyson could show Laura what a really fun Christmas could be like. She watched Laura look at a couple of things but she wanted her to be able to make her own suggestions. Cat was looking at a few shirts when Laura asked her about socks. “I think those would be perfect for his stockings.” Cat was picturing Dyson walking around in bright green socks. “But I think we should also get him something else too.” “What kind of something?” She didn’t really know what he might have needed or wanted. Laura noticed Cat looking at some of the shirts and peered over at them. They sort of looked like something he would wear. During the shopping trip, Laura had also been trying to watch Cat closely enough to see what might have been catching her eye for herself. She was probably going to have to come back and do this again with Dyson for her, but it might be a good idea to see if there was something that she looked like she might have already wanted. “He might like something like,” Cat paused as she saw a picture frame. “This, with that picture we got of the two of you in it.” She suggested with a smile, she knew Dyson didn’t really needed much. Laura peered at the group of picture frames that were on display. She went back and forth from the one in Cat’s hand to one that was a group of three with two small ones at the top and a bigger one in the middle. “What about this one? One of the two of us, one for the two of you, and one of all of us?” Cat grinned, nodding. “I think that would be perfect, he’ll love it.” Cat knew anything Laura got him he’d love but this was a gift she knew they could all enjoy. “Really?” She asked and when Cat nodded at her, Laura smiled down at the picture frame. With this being the first Christmas present she’d ever bought, she didn’t want it to be a bad one. Now the trick was to find something for Cat when she wasn’t looking. |