Work Text:
On this new planet, new to the eyes of humans, there is heat, and plants, and a body of water.
Chloe finds herself by the water, wondering if it would be alright to take a dip in, T.J. and Camile by her side.
'Do you think there's something... I don't know, something that lives in there?' Camile asks. 'In the water?'
'Why not?' Chloe replies whilst T.J. is pondering, still.
'It's likely,' T.J. finally says. 'The water is clear, like it's filtered somehow.'
'By plants?' Camile poses. Then, 'Or the rocks or soil it's seeping through?'
'Maybe it's both of those things.'
Chloe frowns. 'Well, so what? What if there is something in there? It's not going to hurt us, necessarily. Why should we be frightened of it, and it be frightened of us, if we've no intention of hurting one another. I mean, it's just alive, and we are, too. We don't have to be out to get each other.'
'"Out to get each other"?' Camile repeats.
'How would it know?' T.J. wonders aloud.
Camile's eyes get wider. 'Yes! How would it know? It could think we're trying to hurt it by the mere act of being here! We're not exactly going to be able to tell it that we're not here for it! It could be a mean, territorial thing!'
'Why is territorial mean?' Chloe asks. 'We are. I mean, people are territorial. It's a thing groups of animals do. Just a thing. Not mean, or nice. Sort of.'
Camile shrugs. 'We should have someone check it out, anyway.'
'Maybe the water's not like regular Earth water, or it's unsafe,' T.J. agrees.
Chloe nods. 'I just think the plants are great, don't you?'
'They're plants,' T.J. replies.
'I missed them, you know.'
Camile smiles. 'I miss my bonsai.'
'That's so awful!' Chloe cries.
'I don't think so,' Camile responds. 'I let it live, and I don't... well... it has a good home. It may still... have a good home...' She frowns. 'We grow animals to kill them later, and eat them, or make other things out of them. Most people accept that. It's the same with plants.'
'They grow by themselves, actually,' Chloe points out.
Camile shakes her head. 'But we let them, and... we encourage them. We get them together, and we even get specific individuals together. We manipulate them... or their lives... for our own means. It's an accepted thing. I actually don't finds zoos or circuses cruel, I find them like botanical gardens, or arboretums,' she adds.
'Why should we have to "let" them?' Chloe disputes. 'I mean, why should we be allowed to decide that? Why us?'
'Not what I said; at least, not what I meant,' Camile replies. 'I merely meant to point out that it's what people do.'
'I accept that, then,' Chloe says, though she knows that Camile won't be swayed either way if she believes something; she's kind of known for being stubborn, she's heard.
'If the people do the right thing,' T.J. inserts. 'With the zoos and circuses,' she adds, in explanation.
'Right,' Camile agrees. 'We should ask!' She nods; T.J. nods, too; Chloe smiles, and the three women head back toward where the others are.