"What's that?" MacLaren asks, gazing over towards Philip's computers in confusion.
Philip follows his boss' stare. He doesn't see anything out of the ordinary – just his tech. Yeah, sure, his desk might be a bit messy but- Oh. Right.
"That's Poppy," he says halfheartedly, knowing it's no answer at all. He'd never thought about having to explain away his pet turtle to the others (though Trevor had accepted Poppy easily enough).
"Poppy," MacLaren repeats, tone flat and slightly astonished. The silence that falls among the group for a moment is almost oppressive. "And Poppy is here because...?"
Philip knows what MacLaren is thinking – if they get into trouble, if something goes wrong, then any pet becomes a liability, an attachment they might have to give up at a moment's notice. It's not like he disagrees with the sentiment either, so what can he say to him?
My friend suggested it? (Does Ray even count as a friend?) I was lonely? It might have been true, but Philip wasn't about to point out that all of them had a life outside of Travelers business – all of them except for him.
He shrugs. "I've never seen a turtle before," he says plainly, though it's no explanation at all. He looks over at Trevor a little desperately, thinking that maybe the old man can give a better one.
Trevor is currently next to the tank, looking into it intently and studying Poppy's slow movements. "I know we're in the middle of the sixth mass extinction right now," he says slowly, not looking up, "but the biodiversity that still exists is amazing. I was actually thinking about visiting the zoo maybe, if I ever had the time."
He speaks simply and plainly, watching Poppy with fascination in his eyes. Whether he was responding to Philip's silent unspoken plea, or just being himself, Philip is grateful for the statement.
MacLaren, on the other hand, still seems confused. "The zoo?" he repeats, as if he can't fathom why anyone would want to go there.
Trevor finally looks up, and meets the older-younger man (to him, anyway) in the eyes. "Have you ever seen an elephant?" he asks, and his smile is both young and enthusiastic as well as old and nostalgic.
(Philip wonders what the world was like when Trevor was born).
MacLaren just shakes his head, seemingly bemused and looking like he regretted bringing up the topic in the first place. They move onto other things, and Philip figures that will be the last of that conversation.
.
(Over the course of the next few days, he catches each of his fellow Travelers studying Poppy in her tank – everyone but Trevor doing it when they think no one is looking.)
.
Despite Philip's conviction that the topic is over and done with, Marcy comes in a week later and slaps down five tickets to the zoo on the table.
"We're going to the zoo," she declares confidently, in a tone that leaves no room for argument.
MacLaren and Carly, of course, argue anyway.
"I'm your doctor – and not just for physical injuries," Marcy argues back. "Rest and relaxation is important for mental health. If we work too hard we'll lose focus and not be able to do our jobs effectively."
MacLaren argues for a while longer, but the conversation ends with the five of them making sure their schedules are clear and trooping out to the van together.
Philip hangs back with Marcy. "Why are we really going?" he asks under his breath.
She looks over at him, slightly sheepish but also quite pleased with herself. "David and I watched a nature documentary a couple days ago. It was..."
She trails off, but she doesn't need to say any more. Philip has seen enough twenty-first century television to know what she means.
Enlightening, awe-inspiring, breathtaking. Like nothing they'd ever seen before, and everything they wished for in the future. To have grown up in a world like this… Philip can't even begin to guess how different his life would have been.
(He wouldn't be addicted to cocaine, he thinks to himself, but is that really true? Or, like most of the people who live in the twenty-first century, unaware of where the future is headed, would he too take life for granted?)
.
The zoo is everything he'd hoped for, and more. Carly picks up her son on the way, so they get a few odd looks at their strange gathering of individuals, but they barely notice them. Even MacLaren relaxes when he sees the sights the zoo has to offer.
Philip knows the zoo only offers imitations of these animal's natural habits, but that matters little compared to the chance to see each species with his own eyes. Rhinos and tigers, which go extinct even before the human world completely gives over to chaos. Monkeys and eagles, zebras and polar bears – animals that don't survive the destruction. Even the wolves and deer, the foxes and snakes, animals which manner to linger on, are fascinating to the group.
MacLaren favors the primates and wolves, similar but different from their human and canine relatives. Carly is fascinated by the birds of prey with their speed and ferocity, the bears and elephants with their strength and power; Marcy the sleek cats, lazing in the sun, the fleet-footed antelope, always alert for predators even in their sanctuaries. Philip likes the giant tortoises, slow and steady. He thinks he'd like to see a dolphin one day, wild and free, frolicking through sun-lit waves.
Trevor lingers at each exhibit, marveling in the beings beyond the fences and pits, through the glass enclosures. To say he drags them to each and every nook and cranny in the zoo would be incorrect – instead he speaks hypnotically about the wonders to be found and they follow him like lost children, engulfed by his enthusiasm.
It is a day so different, so separate from their daily lives, from their histories in the future, from their missions in the present, that it almost doesn't feel real. But it is real, and it passes quickly, and then it ends.
They drive off in Carly's minivan, her son sleeping in his car seat next to Trevor in the back. MacLaren sits up front, Marcy and Philip have the middle. There is a silent, unspoken thing between them all, and no one speaks.
They are five Travelers from a distant terrible future, bonded by their mission, their training, the truth they keep secret and things they've been through together (both here and in their future pasts) but this, this is something different. This wasn't the same as going on a mission together, as risking their lives and combining their skills.
This was wonder and opportunity, a glimpse at the riches the world has to offer, a reminder of everything that they're fighting for.
Philip glances out the window as they speed down the clear, unbroken highway. His glances move quickly across the trees that line the road, up to the birds flapping through the air, down to the houses they pass by, quaint and peaceful. Though the sun is setting the sky is still a deep, rich blue, spotted with clouds of fluffy white.
Not for the first time, Philip sits there and muses on the fact that all of the people around him have no idea what is coming, no idea of how much of their lives they take for granted. But for the first time, Philip knows all of his team members are thinking the same thing, at the same time.
How much this is worth protecting. That for all humanity's faults, there is no question that the Earth is worth saving.
With just the five of them in this car together, Philip feels like they can take on the world.
.
Philip gets dropped off last, given that MacLaren and Marcy and Trevor have people to go home to, people waiting for them to return, and in all that time, no one speaks. No one wants to seem to want to breach the delicate balance between them, the mental connection, the shared experience that has bound them together.
The experience, minor and trivial as it is, has changed something within the group. Bound them together in a way their missions could never do. Not in a way any less important than risking their lives for each other, and the future of the world, but different, in an unmentionable, indescribable way.
Philip wonders if they'll ever speak about it, or if the memory of it will live on in silence, an unspoken bond.
.
(Over the course of the next few days, he catches each of his fellow Travelers studying Poppy in her tank – and this time no one bothers to hide their actions. There is wonder in their gazes, wonder and fondness and a deep-seated need to protect. Somehow, Poppy's presence has become a symbol, a reminder of what they're fighting for.
They might be trying to save the world, but there is wonder in the smallest things, and they too are worth saving.)
AN: This would never, ever, be canon, but eh, oh well. I liked it, I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it! Please let me know what you think!