dear_mun | (no subject)

What?!

That's what I said! She said the Yeerk's getting saved!

What? Why?! [ He sounds somewhere between horrified and enraged. ]

[ And this answer will totally make sense (not): ]

Because of Miles!

[ He tries to take a calming breath. It doesn't really work. ]

I am going to need you to explain this in a way that makes sense.

At the moment I am, as I hope you will understand - duh - confused.

[ And suspicious. ]

[ Okay. Back up, Collette. Breathe. Communicate the story. She loves doing that, usually from a removed standpoint, usually because she makes a story into a grand retelling, but -- this isn't grand. It's not an adventure, not yet.

It's just sucky and scary and she feels so guilty she doesn't know what to do with herself. ]

Um... Something happened so that a friend of mine ended up on the Yeerk homeworld on accident. He got infested there, then came back to where we all are, only I figured out some of what had happened. Not that it's hard when you have your souls all out there to see and suddenly Nick's soul has a hanger-on who is so not attached to anyone holding on to Nick or near-by and the whole Yeerk thing and just the world...

Okay, so that happened, and then I was -- I -- okay I'm the only one of us in this place? And it -- for reasons it's easier to have at least two people to handle a Controller. Nick's bigger than I am, and... you know. The Yeerk's got to be decades older on top of surviving the war. I haven't told a lot of people about who I am, if they do know who the Animorphs are, because it's weird that way, so when I saw Nick and Nick knew which meant the Yeerk knew I had to find someone else who already knew to help me out in making sure Erram didn't get away with Nick and -- that's Miles. I trust Miles!

And Miles is why the Yeerk won't be dying when we finally have him starving out. He's... really big on justice and law and doing things right, so I think he's going to insist we put the Yeerk on trial, which isn't bad, is it? We're doing that for Visser, right? But -- I don't know!

[ The world's longest, most awkward silence starts... NOW. Give him a century or two to take all of that in, Collette, because he's going to need it. And maybe a few decades to think of a response. Because, seriously. What does he say to that? ]

You-- traveled to the Yeerk planet somehow. And your friend was infested. All right.

[ It says a lot of things about their lives that he can just shrug that off with an "all right". ]

What I don't understand is why you are putting so much faith in someone who doesn't understand the situation. This Miles... his dedication to behaving in a just manner is very admirable. Bull. And a trial would be the ideal way to handle the Yeerks, but rarely do they ever give us an opportunity to...

[ Wait. What? ]

What did you say about the Visser?

Visser One is going on trial in about half a year?

[ She glosses over the rest. Miles might not understand the way any of the people from her world could, how any of the Animorphs did, but she trusted him. And she needed him, so she had to trust him. Jake couldn't make a double world hop, he wasn't even in reach right now. And Lirem?

Lirem was the only Andalite around, and he was harder for her to gauge than anyone else so far. ]

... Maybe I'm missing something. See, I thought I heard you say something about not killing a Yeerk.

I'm guessing you have a good reason to leave it alive, otherwise that'd be really awkward.

[ She's not okay with this and... so... CROSSES HER ARMS MIGHTILY AND LOOKS PARTICULARLY GRUMPY! ]

No. Not really. Except she's telling me part of why and I know I'm going to agree and it's not because I even think it's the best or most right thing to do, but --

[ She tosses her hands up in frustration. ]

It totally sucks!

[Why do you do this to him, Collette? He is so out of his element.]

Okay, okay... how about slowing down and telling me what's going on?

[That awkward moment when you realize you're having a normal conversation with an Animorph.]

I mean, don't get me wrong, if you've got a good reason to keep it alive, you've got a good reason to keep it alive. I'm not a fanatic like the others. But I still think the only good slug's a dead slug.

So what happened?

[ She breathes in, armed crossed again, then breathes out. Rinse, wash, repeat, before looking up to David and pursing her lips together. Slowing down is sensible. Collette can understand and go along with that request, if she's clearly bothered by whatever's going down. ]

A friend of mine got infested when something went wrong and the Window to my Earth suddenly wasn't on Earth, it was on the Yeerk homeworld. Only now I have that window closed, but the Yeerk in my friend's head has managed to be more than I can handle on my own. I've asked someone else to help, his name is Miles? Except that he's going to be the guy who helps make sure the Yeerk lives.

[ By now she's uncrossed her arms and is tapping her fingers against her wheel rim with some semblance of rhythm. ]

And I can't say why he's doing it won't make sense because justice is a really, really important thing for him and he'd want to put the Yeerk on trial and not just execute it, and we're doing that for the Visser, and it's not war-time anymore, and... I don't know! How am I supposed to handle all of this?

[He sits down, propping his elbows up on his knees and resting his chin on his hands as he listens. Surprisingly, David can be fairly levelheaded when he's not being a contrary little shit or trying to prove himself. Who'd have thunk it?]

Okay, so... your friend got infested by a Yeerk, and he wants to keep it alive so he can have it tried in a courtroom? That doesn't make sense. Yeerks aren't humans. Do Yeerks even have a court system?

[He finds the whole idea kind of baffling. But then, he's always believed in the quick and direct route to justice.]

Anyway, I bet Jake would give you permission to kill it, he's always alright with that and-- wait. Back up. Did you just say you captured the Visser? As in, Visser Three? Or some other Visser?

[ His listening helps. Having someone to listen tends to, let alone when they have an idea of what she's talking about. Him not freaking out over any of it helps as well. ]

Miles is thinking more a human trial than... sticking Yeerk. I don't know what Yeerk trials look like, if they have them.

[ She doesn't care to find out. ]

Which is weird anyway, because whose laws do we hold a Yeerk to when we're not on any one planet or in any one government with a set body of laws? I'm not even half sure what I said makes any sense, but that's about as much sense as it makes to me. I know it has to be clear to Miles, but... it's a lot to take on faith.

[ Which apparently is what she's doing. ]

Visser Three? Visser One by the time I met him, and the time he was caught. That jerk.

Maybe they have an important slug appointment and have to reschedule.

"Hello, may I take a rain-check to my ultimate demise?" I wish. The only way it's getting out of there alive is with help from someone else.