Remember Who You Are

Of course. Perdita should have known better than to try and reach out to Dipstick when he was clearly confused by all around him. So, she took two steps back and maintained her eye contact with Dipstick as best she could. There was no hiding the hurt in her eyes, though. That was her son rejecting her in favor of Mooch. While she couldn't blame him for that much, it did still sting her heart more than she cared to admit.

"...All right," she finally said. Her voice was quiet, but whether or not Dipstick cared didn't matter. He had the one he wanted to help him, and that was what counted. Perdita wouldn't force him to come with her. All she could do was hope that, somehow, he might remember her in time. Until then, he was probably all right with Mooch. ...She'd just pray that was the case.

Raine and Freckles' presences were forgotten by that point. Perdita's mind was solely on Dipstick for the moment and she wasn't about to shake the thoughts she had. Could she have prevented this? Probably not; Dipstick had disappeared ages ago and only was just returning. Now he believed himself a human villain, and Perdita could do nothing to help with that much. He'd have to recover on his own.

While they we're far away enough, Freckles attention turned to Mooch. She had enough with his attitude towards her since day one they never got along and her siblings we're always pushed around, Her siblings might not have cared or minded it but she wasn't one who liked to be pushed around and she wasn't going to stand for it any longer.

She got up and made her way over to the dog." Mooch we need to have a nice little chat if you don't mind." She said not caring if her tone sounded a little bitter." I don't know what kind of dog you think you are but do refrain from telling me what to do, you may control my siblings well most of them but you don't tell me what to do cause I don't listen to the likes of you." She growled out at him." I can help my brother if I so choose to do so if you don't like it then go sit in a thorn bush." She snipped out at him before turning around and heading back towards her brother Raine.

"Uhhh I'll go with Mooch."

Mooch's chest swelled with pride. Dipstick trusted HIM. His eyes widened as he listened to Perdita' faltered voice and looked into her eyes. She was hurt and he saw it. It made Mooch wish...made him miss...that look from...

His head shook, tilting towards Dipstick as he winced at his wounds. He hadn't actually looked at the things in a bit. "Cmon, dude," he said, "Let's get-"

"Mooch we need to have a nice little chat if you don't mind." He snorted towards the Pepper clone. Pepper. He shook the thought from his mind. Eyes narrowed towards the female as she read him the riot act. He showed off two or three canines in annoyance as he flanked Dipstick closer. Sure he wasn't family as he was being for PAINFULLY reminded on a constant basis, but he still saw Dipstick as a best friend. One who needed his help.

"Listen here you little bi-errr." A sideways glance was tossed at Perdita before he continued. "I don't control jack. I'm just here to help because I care about Dipstick. He's hurt and you chewing me out isn't gonna help now, is it?" He rolled his eyes before tilting his nose to Dipstick.

"C'mon, dude, let's go into the MASH tent, okay?"

"Uhhh sure." Dipstick wasn't sure what Freckles' problem was but he'd curled his lips back at her a little too. Already he felt defensive over the first friend he remembered and why he couldn't say. It wasn't like Mooch treated him very well but.. he still felt a little defensive at Freckles' words. "Ahh shut up why don't you." He said rather indifferently, although there was a bit of snip in it. "Mooch never done nothin to you. ... Did you?" He suddenly looked doubtfully up at Mooch, a cute confused look registering in his dark pupils.

Freckles growled for a moment but ignored it when Dipstick stepped in." You really don't remember a lot do you, Well you will and then you'll see why I am being so mean to Mooch." She said slightly defensive but it wasn't towards Dipstick at all." When you remember the time at the farm you'll understand why I snapped but I am sorry I did it in front of you Dipstick." She responded softly.

"Uhh I don't know what you're talking about." Dipstick regarded Freckles with a sad confused look before turning away. "Uhh it's in here right?" He'd suddenly remembered where the medical tent was and why Mooch had thrown him in front of it. Slowly he padded inside, not sure if he knew how to take the medical staff. What would they do if they saw Mooch bringing in an enemy to be patched up by them? Surely they wouldn't act as weird as all those dalmatians out there would they? They'd surely report his presence to the Heroes' leaders and have him put in prison or something! Dipstick gulped nervously at these thoughts and stood still right inside the tents' flaps, legs shaking and biting his lips as he waited for someone to notice him.

At first glance, it would have looked like there was no one in the MASH tent. The only thing betraying that fact was how a little firefly was flitting around and attending to maintaining the order of the tent. It may have been silly, a firefly being a medic, but it was all Ray really could do to help other than offering morale support to the troops and his friends. At that very moment, though, he was focusing on getting things organized yet again. Somebody had to, and with Angel away and the other medics who knew where he had to keep himself occupied.

"A little help. Dat's all ah ask fer, an' what do ah get? Nothin'. Guess ah really shoulda said somethin' sooner instead'a waitin' 'til de last..."

Ray stopped speaking to himself as soon as he happened to catch a glimpse of Dipstick from his peripheral vision. His flitting around stopped short, leaving him hovering in one spot, and he glanced in the dalmatian's direction. Truth be told, Ray could hardly believe his eyes. Dipstick had disappeared one day and no one really knew why aside from guessing he'd been killed. What was he doing back? ...Did it really matter? He looked like he needed help.

"Well, ain't you a sight fer sore eyes. Ah'd heard you went an' disappeared..." Ray began, but he stopped when he got a bit closer. That was when he really got a good look at Dipstick's back. Green eyes grew wide and a gasp escaped the little firefly.

"What happened to ya??"

At first Dipstick just looked around stupidly, wondering where the voice had come from. It wasn't until the firefly was close up and almost in front of his face that he finally realized the bug was speaking to him. "Well uh...you're kinda small to be a medic aren't you? Uhh..." Right, the firefly had asked him a question. The...firefly...had asked him a question. Eyes widened and he stared up at the little glowing country bumpkin before he remembered yet again to answer him. "Uhh well I was in battle and suddenly there was this glop on my back and it burned my uh ..." He craned his neck to try to look at his own back. It was difficult but he did catch a glimpse of his own bare flesh. "It burned my hair off." He looked at Ray pitifully. "Can you fix me?"

Sympathy filled Ray's eyes as Dipstick explained what happened. It sounded as though whoever had attacked Dipstick had done so from a distance, for otherwise the dalmatian would have been able to identify what had caused the burn. 'Glop' was a good word for it, Ray supposed, and he wouldn't press for further details. When Dipstick asked if he could help, he nodded.

"Ah sure can try. First, we's gonna need ta get that collar offa ya. Just so we can clean it and yer back a bit better. Ah promise ah'll give it back as soon as we done dat," Ray said. Truthfully, Ray didn't know where the jeweled collar had come from and he wasn't about to ask. His job as a medic was to save lives and not to be concerned with accessories. Besides, it really would need to be washed. Who knew whether or not some of the gloopy mess that had attacked Dipstick was still sticking to the neck wear? It very well could have done more harm than good if there was still spit, or whatever it was, on it.

So, as Ray turned his attention briefly to Mooch, he flitted around to Dipstick's backside and moved in a little closer to the collar. He had some instructions for the shaggy teenage dog.

"Ah'm gonna need water ta clean off his back. If y'all could get me some from de waterin' hole, ah'd much appreciate it," he said.

Dipstick twisted his neck to follow the little bug's movements as he flitted around behind him. "Oh, um, sure, um..." Doubt crept through his tummy all of a sudden with a sensation like crawling fingers. "Um... you WILL give it back right?" Despite Ray's affirmation that he would, Dipstick wanted to be reassured again. He still didn't trust these Heroes completely and that collar had been given to him by Nasira. He didn't want to disappoint her by losing it again. Apparently he'd lost his other collar somehow and... the thought gave him pause. How DID he lose that collar? He tried to think back but it was all a blank. All he could really remember was waking up in a box with Jafar and Nasira on either side. The memory suddenly struck him as odd. Why would they be standing around waiting for him to wake up? Mozenrath had been there too. Why? Was he suddenly important to them? More important than he had been?

The half-grown pup assumed a troubled expression as he tried to sort these things out. It just didn't make sense. They never paid any attention to him before, except to yell at him for being underfoot or in the wrong place at the wrong time. So why would they all be waiting on him to take a nap?