i used to dream in the dark of palisades park.
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warning signs [mission]
POSTED ON Jun 2, 2020 23:54:18 GMT
So, like— there's this thing about deinos that no one seems to tell you when you pick one up, and that's kind of a big fucking mistake, if you ask Dante. Sure, yeah, they're all apparently blind, and a bit pushy, and they aren't afraid to get violent, which. Okay, fine. Dante can live with all that, because Beatrice seems to have a pretty mild temperament. You know, as much as a nightmare dinosaur can have one of those, at least. No, see, no, the big problem isn't the way his sweet little idiot occasionally bumps into things and then proceeds to try to beat the tar out of them. At the end of the day, she's a pokémon: they do what they do. Dante can respect that.
The problem is that she's always hungry. Starving, if you believed her pitiful wailing whenever he released her, which, no, he absolutely does not. Believe her, that is, not keep her in her pokéball all day, because while people say that it's perfectly nice in there, he's never actually met someone that tried it themselves, so. Yes, he lets her out. No, he isn't convinced that Beatrice is starving to death, no matter how much she yowls, keens, and cries at him.
And, sure, the whining is a bit annoying, but she almost always calms down after a ridiculous amount of petting and sweet-talking. Thing is, he can talk to her all day every day, and she's apparently still fucking hungry. To the point where she will try stuffing anything down her greedy little throat. Literally anything, not metaphorically— he's watched her try to eat her own damned tail before, okay? And he gets it, kind of. Sort of. He really does, be he also never wanted to invest energy into figuring out why nature would encourage such a trait in a living, breathing, thinking creature. It's pretty messed up, when you think about it.
Dante doesn't want to think about it. But the issue is that it's basically impossible for him to cuddle her from dawn till dusk, and that she always, always has a worse tantrum if he leaves her in her pokéball for too long. Wails and love-nips turn very quickly into roars and bites, and he absolutely cannot keeping taking days off because of it. He doesn't have time for that shit.
So basically, all that means is that once a day, every day, he has to let her out on the world's most disturbing walk. Like, she always manages to find something, and it's the most successful way he's found to keep her quiet long-term. The only successful way, actually. He's definitely fine with it, even though it constantly gets them into some sort of trouble with another trainer or the local wildlife. All because she won't stop being a little diva and just— shut up for a second and share ramen with him. God.
"Don't wander off," he calls out to her. Lazily, because he doesn't expect Bea to actually, like, listen to him. She almost never does, the little menace. It's the main reason he avoids letting her out in public areas, because she basically does whatever and there are some crazy fines associated with that.
So. Cave. Or tunnel, technically, but that's basically a cave, isn't it? It's dark and kind of creepy, and there's basically nothing here except dirt. Beatrice seems to enjoy the challenge, at least— so far she's tried rocks, sand, and what was probably some kind of precious gemstone? Eh. She spat it out. Dante's sure she's fine.
He catches up with her when he rounds the corner. And promptly stops moving, because, uh. There's something huge and metallic in the middle of the tunnel? And he'd think it's just a wall, or whatever. It basically looks like nothing. Except by the way it's moving it seems to be breathing, and his adorably stupid partner has stopped right in front of it, tilting her head in a way that he knows leads only to pain and madness.
Dante pales. "Uh, Bea, sweetie?" he tries, voice syrupy sweet. "You might want to come over here. Like. Right the fuck now."
And his deino, bless her little stupid heart, proceeds to ignore him and bite into the wall— hard.
And the wall, which actually is alive, proceeds to get up— loudly.
Apparently it was just... sleeping. And despite the fact that it is clearly made out of metal and, therefore, should be incapable of feeling much of anything at all, Beatrice's bite was just painful enough to return it to the world of the living.
The metallic beast takes exception to that, which. Yeah, no, fair, except it's shrieking so loudly that the tunnel begins to vibrate. That seems a bit excessive, honestly, doesn't it live here? He's pretty sure this could absolutely cause a cave in, and who would that help? Like, the only thing keeping Dante from falling straight on his ass is the fact that he's all ready on it— Beatrice had finally listened to him and came running back, and she did it by climbing on top of him and forcing him to the ground. Shit, if it keeps that up, Dante's going to go deaf— though Beatrice's fearful howling definitely isn't helping. Ouch.
He scrambles to his feet, cuddling the little deino close to his chest. "Calm down, sweetie," he tells her, which is definitely a mistake. Like, miraculously, it actually works— but only on Bea. The metal creature, on the other hand, is clearly still pissed off, and now it's looking at him like it wants to eat him. Which is terrifying. It's twice as big now as it was laying down, and even in the poor light of the tunnel, Dante can clearly see its sharp horns and powerful jaws.
"Oh, shi... bail! Bail, bail, bail, bail, fucking bail!" Dante barks, turning tail and bolting for the exit, Beatrice tucked safely in his arms.
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