xp_logs | Doreen & Julian: New Comic Book Day II- The Squirreling

Doreen seeks Julian out to head down to Uncle Stan's Comics in town over lunch- but the pair are waylaid by a most unusual set of circumstances.

Doreen was ready to go. Julian had promised to drive her to the store until she got her license so she was here with Monkey Joe and ready to go. She knocked on Julian’s door, so excited she was bouncing up and down almost. Her tail stood straight up and she was grinning ear from ear. She couldn’t wait.

Monkey Joe was even excited, but he tended to be when she was.

“Julian! Can I come in?” she knocked again

The sudden knock disrupted his concentration and sent Julian falling face forward toward the couch. Levitation practice was consuming and left him drained, but he was up to three inches now- but since he'd hit that mark, there hadn't been improvement. Now, laying with his face planted between the cushions noticing a rather questionable looking corn chip near his left eye, Julian opened the suite door with a gentle Tee-Kay nudge.

Doreen took a step back as the door opened itself and she and Monkey Joe peaked in. She raised her eyebrow at the sight that greeted her, “Why are you sitting like that? There’s easier ways to look for change in the couch.”

With a push, Julian fell back into a standing position, then pivoted around to face Doreen, "Oh, you haven't heard? It's totes comfortable." He held up hand before she could ask, "No, I'm being sarcastic...I, um, tripped." Taking a seat in one of the sofa chairs, Julian smiled at his friends, "What brings my favorite feral by?"

“You tripped on to the couch?” she asked, Monkey Joe giving her friend a very obvious ‘you’re a crazy human’ look. “And it’s Wednesday. Remember? You promised. Until I got my license.”

"Oh yeah! I even reserved a car yesterday night- I think I need to just get one of my own." Julian grabbed his wallet and watch before downing a glass of water quickly. "Ready?" he asked, heading for the door.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Doreen said, falling in to step next to her friend, smiling wide. “And maybe next month I’ll have my own car.” You never knew. If things had been the way they always had been before Dad left it wouldn’t even have been a fools’ hope. Cars were the most common sixteenth birthday present in Beverly Hills.

"Maybe you, wait-what? Your birthday is in a month? Good to know." The gears started turning in Julian's head, thinking of what to get Doreen. "Hey, what are you planning on doing over the summer? Think you'll get to go home?"

“I don’t know if I will or not. I mean, I don’t know if Mom can afford it and I won’t make her pay for a ticket so I guess it’s kinda riding on Dad,” Doreen said, “And yep, May 14th!”

"Awesome, we'll have to do something awesome. My parents sent me a letter a month ago or something," they quickened their pace down the stairs. "They said maybe." The keys were waiting in the lock box next to the garage. With them in hand the pair made their way past the various vehicles until they found the appropriately numbered one. "Have you been learning to drive?"

“Cool!” Doreen said to Julian’s letter, “And yeah. I mean, it’s not really legal to keep me from getting my permit and everything. Mom was teaching me when she had time. She really hasn’t had that much lately.”

He hadn't meant the letter to be cool, but the fact that it was a conditional return wasn't something Doreen needed to know. "You should see if someone can take you out driving around here. I'd say Scott, but, he's a little banged up right now and I don't think Nathan has a car. Jean-Paul is dealing with his stuff...maybe Kyle? Or Jan? Ask around, I guess."

“I’ll ask around,” Doreen said with a nod, “I don’t want to be a bother if anyone else has something to do,” she said, as they made their way into the garage. It was open to the outside and she took a deep breath. Even though a lot of it smelled like car parts and oil Doreen could smell the outside air and… she smelled it before she heard it, but the little gray squirrel that had been one of the few to talk to her came running towards her, squeaking desperately the tone high pitched.

Not anticipating the visitor, Julian recoiled at the tiny, chattering creature. "Whoa, hey! What's up with that squirrel?"

“I dunno,” Doreen said, “Gimme a moment,” to her right now it was just squeaking too. She didn’t always have her squirrel speaking on. If she did she’d never be able to understand people. Doreen switched over and listened and caught the gray squirrel mid-sentence. [-come quick, help help! He fell wrong, quick quick!]

[Slow down,] Doreen returned, in the clicking and squeaking speech, [What’s going on?]

Intellectually, Julian knew Doreen could talk to squirrels- but he'd never seen it done. As his friend clicked and squeaked at the tiny creature, Julian waited, still against the grill of one of the vans, for her to finish.

After a couple minutes she got the info and switched back to human thinking just so she could let Julian know what’s going on, “I gotta go for a couple minutes. I’ll be back but one of her friends is hurt.”

"Do you need any help?" Keller asked without thinking. The truth was that he had a soft spot for Doreen, after watching her be tormented for a year and even taking part in some of it, he owed her.

“Yeah, get a shoe box, and cotton. Monkey Joe will be able to bring you to wherever I am,” he’d be able to smell her and follow her that way. She looked at Monkey Joe, [You’re going to bring Julian to wherever we are after he gets the stuff, okay?] she asked her friend. He looked rather miffed, but jumped from her shoulder to Julian’s with ease.

[Quick, quick, quick!] the gray squirrel kept saying as she ran around Doreen in circles.

[Okay, okay, we’ll get going,] she said, following the gray as she dashed out of the garage.

Slightly startled, never having had a squirrel ride on his shoulder before. He looked at Doreen's friend with a nervous smile and headed back into the mansion. "Where am I going to get a shoe box?"

Monkey Joe gave this human a look. Quite frankly he wasn’t sure why Big Sister kept all these humans around. Well, there was that dark furred one who always fed him he could tolerate. With a click he jumped from the shoulder and started trotting towards the girl’s dorm.

The tiny creature was faster than he thought he'd be, but it made sense, given how fast squirrels in the wild moved- why he hadn't guessed that he'd have to run to keep up was a mystery. Julian hurried through the hallways, following Monkey Joe as he darted toward the girl's dorm. He followed him inside and was quickly led to the materials that Doreen had requested. "Good job, um, dude?" Shaking his head, "Okay, which way do we go?"

This look said, ‘out, obviously.’ Monkey Joe started back down, using the railing instead of the stairs and back outside. He followed the scent in the direction of his Big Sister. He didn’t think much of the other squirrels, but the one girl had been really upset. Maybe it was her mate or something that had been dumb enough to fall. There was Big Sister, bent over a squirrel who looked like he had managed to break one of his back legs.

Only slightly out of breath, Julian carefully approached Doreen and the other squirrels gathered around- not wanting to spook them off. "Dori, I've..." he realized she was speaking in clicks still, so it was possible she wouldn't hear him. "Monkey Joe, you'd better tell her." The injured squirrel was making the nature of its injuries quite well known and even someone who only a little bit about animals could tell, from the way it was laying, that one of its legs was injured.

Monkey Joe ran over clicking and Doreen turned to look at him and almost jumped back when she saw Julian before the scent reminded her it was a friend. Humans, the more she let herself slip into this mode, looked all alike. He had the box and she gestured for him to put it down. After more than a minute of trying to figure out how.

Monkey Joe walked over and looked at the squirrel with the twitching leg and then at the gray female. [Your mate is stupid.] he clicked.

[Shut up! He’s not my mate, he’s my food-friend. And you try running from a hawk! You’re so fat you’d get eaten in a minute!] the gray chirped in return.

[At least I’m no-] he started and then Big Sister interjected.

[Both of you knock it off… we’re going to have to take him to a vet – a healing human,] she said to the gray. The other squirrels around were curious by standers and a couple witnesses, everyone was chattering about something. [Is that okay?]

[They’ll make him better?]

[The best they can. Trust me? It will be okay,] Doreen said, her optimism not failing here.

Meanwhile, Julian waited a few feet away, watching with a raised brow and a confused look on his face. This was...weird.

Doreen seemed to be discussing something with the little gray creatures while the injured one kept screaming. A flutter of wings above them signaled the arrival of a bird of prey, attracted by the cries, perched on a branch and ready to swoop down to catch an easy meal. As the raptor readied itself, Julian tossed a small push of tee-kay energy at it, ruffling its tail feathers and spooking it off. His attention turned back to his friend and her...not pets, but something akin to it at least.

She worked it out with the gray girl and carefully put the injured one in the shoe box while Monkey Joe and gray chattered back and forth. After she had the injured squirrel calmed down and everything working right she looked over and Julian and forced herself back into English.

“We have to go to a vet,” she said, standing up with the box. “He needs help.”

Keys in hand, Julian nodded his head toward the garage and set off at a quick pace, not needing to know anything else beyond the expression of worry on Doreen's face. Except, "Do you know where the vet is?"

“No, but can’t you find one using your phone?” Doreen asked, holding the box carefully.

"Oh, duh," the neared the car and he unlocked it with his remote. Pulling out his phone, Julian called 411 and quickly asked for directions to the vet. "Okay, here we go...we should be there in a couple minutes. Will he hold on that long?"

“Yeah, his hind legs are broken but he’s not bleeding or anything,” she said, cradling the box. Monkey Joe looked down at the squirrel in there now with a bit of a worried expression on his squirrel-face.

Now understanding the situation clearly, Julian sped out of the driveway, leaving some marks on the blacktop as the foursome sped toward the gate. This distraction meant they were likely not going to make it to the comic store, but at this point the only thing that mattered was getting the injured animal to the vet. "Buckle up, this might get bumpy."