True to his word, he's there in under a handful of minutes, waiting at the door for her. He looks tired -- but who doesn't, these days? It's practically in fashion. ]
[ claire is two minutes late at least according to her watch. in contrast, she almost looks like normal. dressed in a soft sweater and long pants for once, makeup quickly touched up. nothing a little ( or a lot of ) concealer won't fix.
her phone, as usual, comes with her. aside from that, she is very much alone. ripley can fend for herself for an hour.
her stomach does an odd flip at peter's staggering familiarity. but it is only the once, which claire takes as a good sign. a weird case of separated twins. that can happen. easy to rationalize. as soon as she is within earshot, she smiles. ]
Hey. I hope you weren't waiting long. [ she rolls her eyes as she comes to a stop. ] Ripley woke up as I was leaving.
I left her with another toy. A lion. With any luck, she'll leave my couch alone.
[ casually knocking all other apex predators from their perch.
inside the bakery, there are only a couple other patrons and no line. claire slides to the register to order a tall cup of coffee. she looks to peter. ]
[ Peter ends up ordering the same, and swoops in to pay for it, too. He's good on cash, since he's been swiping wallets from assholes to keep himself busy.
~super heroes~
Drinks and table claimed, Peter leans back in his seat. ]
[ He continues to carefully twirl the cup on the table. He knows it's too hot to drink just now, and he frowns at her when she takes not one pull but two. ]
... I'm guessin' this story doesn't have a happy ending, huh? Your test tube dino didn't bring in all the happy visitors you wanted.
It broke out. [ she is surprised at how easily she can sum up that day. "it broke out." easy. accurate. yet it says nothing. it fails to come close to encompassing everything that happened.
to her credit, she maintains an even tone. ] Turned out it was capable of masking its thermal signature. Fooled our sensors.
[ -- that, perhaps, was not the best response, and Peter has the decency to look sheepish at the exclamation. Still, that's impressive, if scary as hell. Very Predator-ish. ]
What ended up happening to it? Can't imagine you got it to trudge back into its cage willingly.
No. The moment we could not subdue it, we had to terminate it. It was a risk to our guests and personnel, and all of our animals.
[ no regret comes from or will come from her for the decision to kill it. only that it had taken her so long. if she had given the order sooner. if they had raised it differently. if they had known what it was made of. a hundred ifs, none of which will change what happened. ]
[ or three quarters. claire leaves a lot unsaid. for one, she does not feel comfortable doing so. for another, it is too damn gruesome especially after what happened at the university. ]
Hey. [ His voice gentles, and he dips down a little to get into her line of sight. ] You're gonna be alright. Maybe not right now, since it's so fresh, but you'll be alright.
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You-- sure you're good? [ A touch of concern bleeds into his voice. ] It was a pretty rough night for everyone.
If you-- [ he pauses, clears his throat. ] If you needed to talk or-- whatever...
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There's a bakery near my place. Not that big, but the coffee is decent and it's open until one.
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[ and address goes here! ]
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[ Oh, the perks of being a teleporter.
True to his word, he's there in under a handful of minutes, waiting at the door for her. He looks tired -- but who doesn't, these days? It's practically in fashion. ]
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her phone, as usual, comes with her. aside from that, she is very much alone. ripley can fend for herself for an hour.
her stomach does an odd flip at peter's staggering familiarity. but it is only the once, which claire takes as a good sign. a weird case of separated twins. that can happen. easy to rationalize. as soon as she is within earshot, she smiles. ]
Hey. I hope you weren't waiting long. [ she rolls her eyes as she comes to a stop. ] Ripley woke up as I was leaving.
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You sure she's not gonna trash the place while you're gone? I hear pets can get real anxious when their owners aren't around.
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[ casually knocking all other apex predators from their perch.
inside the bakery, there are only a couple other patrons and no line. claire slides to the register to order a tall cup of coffee. she looks to peter. ]
What do you want?
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~super heroes~
Drinks and table claimed, Peter leans back in his seat. ]
Guessin' you wanted to talk, then?
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[ claire makes an apologetic moue. hands wrapped around the cup, she lets it warm her fingers. her nail polish has been picked at in nervous bursts. ]
It's just — [ claire sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. ] I know it wasn't real, but I — I keep hearing it.
[ she drops her hand on the table. her eyes fall on the coffee. the surface remains still. claire drags her eyes away. ]
It's driving me crazy.
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Peter spins the cup idly by its lip, head tilted to one side as he watches her. ]
It was some kind of dinosaur, right? Sounded like it must've been scary as hell.
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[ she smiles without humor. ]
We wanted something to scare the kids.
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[ He whistles, caught saying something between, That's impressive and That's suicidal.
It's Peter instinct to keep things light, which is why he goes for the joke: ]
If you really wanted to scare kids, just tell them the park's out of candy.
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[ her wry tone vanishes. ] We had the costs of both a zoo and a theme park. If we didn't innovate, we'd stagnate.
[ the coffee burns her tongue, but claire takes another swallow. her mouth twists. ]
It was a mistake.
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... I'm guessin' this story doesn't have a happy ending, huh? Your test tube dino didn't bring in all the happy visitors you wanted.
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to her credit, she maintains an even tone. ] Turned out it was capable of masking its thermal signature. Fooled our sensors.
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[ -- that, perhaps, was not the best response, and Peter has the decency to look sheepish at the exclamation. Still, that's impressive, if scary as hell. Very Predator-ish. ]
What ended up happening to it? Can't imagine you got it to trudge back into its cage willingly.
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... Except Godzilla? That one's an outlier. ]
Sounds like it might've been for the best. If you don't mind my saying.
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[ no regret comes from or will come from her for the decision to kill it. only that it had taken her so long. if she had given the order sooner. if they had raised it differently. if they had known what it was made of. a hundred ifs, none of which will change what happened. ]
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At least you guys managed to rein it in. That must've been a hell of a day.
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[ or three quarters. claire leaves a lot unsaid. for one, she does not feel comfortable doing so. for another, it is too damn gruesome especially after what happened at the university. ]
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[ He sets his mug down, hesitating, then leans forward on the table, resting on his elbows. ]
I know enough to figure out it scared the shit outta you, though.
So I'll ask again: you alright?
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No. I guess not.
[ claire drops her head into her palm. ] God, I'm a world away and I'm still scared.
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