Alma Wade will not give up (its_my_nature) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-05-24 03:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alma wade, dani moonstar (mirage) |
"Why should I trust you?"
Who: Dani and Alma
What: Finding a lost girl. Dani shows her serious side.
Where: Natural park
When: Evening after this log.
Rating: PG-13 for doom squirrels.
Status: Complete
It was later that night at the natural park, and a whisp of smoke drifted up through the trees. Alma had pushed hard after her near miss with Scott. She'd finally gotten out of the city, but now she was lost, and beginning to think she was nowhere near the Ranch. She poked at her pathetic little fire.
Dani wanted to know what the big deal was today when it had to do with fires being lit in illegal places in her park. And why it was that every single time her partner on this shift saw a single puff of smoke she was sent to investigate.
It was almost like he had some kind of forest fire trauma. Dani figured, though, that it was more likely that he was allergic to doing his job. Which was just fine with her. After her afternoon, she needed to focus on doing something positive.
She pulled up a ways away from where the smoke had been reported and parked her truck, then quietly leaped out and headed through the woods to investigate.
The sun was finishing setting as Alma managed to get some life into her fire. The theoreticals of making a fire were pretty basic, but actually applying that in a real situation had been difficult, especially in her exhausted state. She looked forward to trying to sleep, and hoped it would be a dreamless one. It was becoming clear to her that any sort of useful, real world information had been deliberately held from her.
Closing in on the location of the fire and who lit it, Dani squinted a bit. She was pretty surprised to see that it was a struggling fire lit by what she felt was an even more struggling teenager.
This was all kinds of bad news. She squatted behind a tree as she thought through her next steps. If the girl was on the run, she didn't want to overly startle her. It was obvious that she needed help.
Alma didn't know who to trust any more. Her phone had run out of juice so she couldn't try to contact Kitty or Roy via the net. She might die out here. Maybe that was for the best.
That certainly wasn't an option in Dani's book.
She inched a little closer to the fire, slowly, then took a seat on the other side of it, "This is a pretty pathetic little fire."
Alma jumped to her feet, nearly bolting, but something made her stay put, "I..the mechanics are simple but execution proved difficult."
Dani held her hands up as the girl got to her feet, as if to try and tame a wild animal, or perhaps to prove that she had nothing in her hands and no tricks up her sleeve.
"If this is your first fire, then you've actually done a pretty good job."
Still, Alma looked like she was going to bolt. But she had no energy left. It was a matter if exhaustion or lack of trust was going to win, "Who are you?"
"I'm Dani Moonstar. Who are you?"
Her tone was calm, and as even as she could make it. She tried not to sound authoritative or angry over the illegal fire. She had this feeling in her gut like it probably wasn't a good idea to directly say she worked there, either.
"Alma," She replied, not wanting to give her last name. "Are you with the police?" Not are you a cop, but 'are you with the police.'
She studied the other woman, trying to figure out what tribe she was with. She had it narrowed down to somewhere in the midwest. Great plains most likely. It distracted her mind.
"Absolutely not," Dani laughed, "Not even remotely."
Park Rangers were probably the bottom feeders when it came to any kind of real law enforcement. Right under private security guards, she figured. And anyway, she certainly wasn't 'with' the police. She had odd ideas when it came to authority.
"What are you doing out in the park at this time of night?"
"Trying to sleep," Alma replied, truthfully. She sat back down and hugged her legs. "I'm need to find Urdnot Ranch." She should have taken Scott up on his offer. He didn't look like the sort of man to rape her and leave her for dead, but you never knew.
"Urdnot Ranch?" She'd heard of the place. The guy who ran it was Good People as far as she was aware, and that seemed like just the kind of place that Alma needed to be in. Especially if the woods in a national park was the only place she thought safe enough to sleep.
"You're pretty far off course. I could drive you there, if you like. You really shouldn't sleep out here by yourself. We've got bears and things."
If she couldn't fight off people, what chance did she have against a bear? "Why should I trust you?"
Dani thought about that for a few seconds, then held up a finger and coaxed Doom out of her pocket. She walked over to Alma's side of the campfire, and scattered some trail mix on her lap, then set Doom down on top of it.
"This is my squirrel, Doom. He's pretty much one of the most important things in my life. I'll trust you with him, if you trust me to take you someplace safe."
"Squirrels often have rabies or carry fleas that carry the bubonic plague."
"That's... an interesting factoid there. But this squirrel is clean. The vet takes care of him along with my cats."
"The cats do not try to eat him?" Alma looked puzzled. Why would predators not want to eat prey?
"The cats grew up with him, they consider him part of their pride." Dani grinned. The girl was charming in an interesting way. She almost wanted to take her in, herself. That was probably a lot more trouble than she was prepared for just now, though.
"Interesting." She regarded the squirrel, then scritched him, "He seems incredibly docile, for a squirrel. Why is he named Doom?"
"When he was a much younger squirrel he liked to chitter at me, like he was pronouncing doom. It just stuck."
That was her second recounting of the story today. She wondered if she should memorize it or just start printing the explanation on cards and handing them out.
"You should consider printing cards, it would be easier than explaining everything," Alma suggested, with a small smile. She was clearly relaxing.
"I was just thinking the same thing," Dani laughed a bit, "That's pretty funny."
"It is. You said you could take me to Urdnot?" Alma looked around the little clearing, "I am just afraid....they want me back."
Dani tilted her head to the side a bit, "They want you back, but you don't want to go with them? Did they hurt you?"
The plot was getting thicker and harder to navigate. She wondered how much trouble she'd get into if she did the wrong thing here. Then she remembered she was covering for a guy growing 3 acres of pot in his back yard.
She was pretty screwed anyway. Might as well keep trusting her gut.
"I cannot tell you too much, or they will hurt you too. I am valuable to them." She sounded bitter, her eyes darkening until they were black whirlpools, "All I am is a thing to them."
And with that, Dani's gut was pointing in a clear direction, and her resolve was set.
"Well you aren't a thing to me. And I'm not letting anyone hurt you or take you back to a place you're going to be used like that." She sounded extremely determined.
Alma whispered, "Thank you." She still thought she should get to Urdnot, but she felt like she could relax and close her eyes for the first time in a week.
Urdnot Ranch was a good half hour drive from there, but Dani was going to take her new friend there come hell or high water. And whoever 'they' were better keep their distance. She wasn't some defenseless young woman.
"You're welcome, sweetie."
She watched Alma closely for a bit after the girl's eyes closed. The whole process would probably be easier if she was sleeping, anyway.
Alma had fallen asleep, sitting on that log right there.
The girl weighed barely anything at all when Dani lifted her into her arms. That was a matter of huge concern to her - it was likely she hadn't been fed properly for most of her life.
Dani stamped the fire out with her boot and scuffed some dirt over the remains, then headed back to her truck. She gently loaded Alma into the passenger side, then pulled out of there quietly.
She wasn't sure if she should even let her partner know where she was headed. If everyone was after this girl, then there was a possibility that even radio communcations in the park were being eavesdropped on.
The trip to Urdnot Ranch went quietly, and she told Wrex everything she knew when she placed Alma in his care.
For the moment, the girl was safe.