video; un: signorvespa

[prontissimo]

[ On the feed is a young boy, probably a preteen, with a mess of sun-bleached golden brown curls, tanned, freckled skin, sun-burnt cheeks, and a rather worried expression on his face... apprehensive to be making this post at all. But, for what it's worth, he puts on some airs, just a hint of bravado, in a vain attempt to save face. With the camera apparently propped up in front of him, in the background are a lot of strange trinkets strung over an old fishing net hanging in front of a sunny window, crystals dangling from a dead tree branch he brought inside for some reason, refracting colorful light from the sun vaguely, if one looks closely. Very lovely, if not a little odd. But his news to deliver today is much less charming than this homey scene... ]

Uhhh— Ciaaaooo... Everyone...

[ Oh, man, just that tone is not a promising start. ]

So, um, I'm looking for my pet... She's missing. She ran away. By accident, not on purpose, because I can totally take care of her and I'm a great pet-dad — just for the record! [ A-Also not instilling confidence here... ]

Her name's Sofia and she's a, uh— comp— compinagthus—? Compnagsathus. [ Nailed it. ]

She has beautiful eyes and she looks like this:

[ He holds up a very impressive drawing (minus the stickers and other dinosaurs, Sofia is the star here!) to the camera for all to see, leaving it in the frame for a few seconds while he continues. ]

If anyone sees a big lizard monster thing running around town, that's probably my Sofia. Lemme know if you do, will ya? Oh, and she's, uh— kiiinda shy, so, if you try to catch her— maybe... don't? Just a heads up.

[ He... clearly means she's gonna try to bite you. Yeah, that's right: Alberto's released a small but apparently potentially vicious dinosaur on the town. Whoops...? ]

And! And! If anyone out there knows a lot about compsagnathisuses, tell me everything you know, okay?! [ A hint of more urgency, as he lowers the drawing and points at the camera with his free hand, brows raised, meaning business! But ends the feed pretty awkwardly, shifting his eyes away before meeting the camera's eye straight-on again with a look of forced resolve. ]

Sooo, yeah— Bye?

[ And leans forward to shut the video off clumsily. This was... Not. a comforting post. ]

(( ooc: If anyone wants to hand wave they've seen her, that she's bothered them or caused some chaos, anything at all, just wing it and I'll roll with it, feel free! If you wanna transition to logs to look for her or encounter her by chance, let's go for it! THERE'S A ROGUE DINOSAUR IN TOWN, sky's the limit! ☆ ))

Comments

[pricklybloom]

Of course she didn't like it, and of course she didn't follow you. You have to train pets for stuff like that first!

[ Wait wait...breathe, Amy. ]

Okay, okay...so you said you were on your way to the beach, right? Where was it that you lost her exactly?

[prontissimo]

Uhhh... [ He's hesitant to admit just how quickly Sofia ran away... which was... preeetttttttyyy much as soon as he took the lead off... ]

Outside the inn. A ways. Ahem.

[pricklybloom]

[ Of course. ]

All right...are you still by the inn? I can meet you and we can look for her.

video -> action;

[prontissimo]

Yeah, I live there. I'll come outside. See ya...

[ And she'll find him waiting outside, sprawled out comfortably lying on a bench, leg crossed over his knee, futzing on his phone with one hand, absentmindedly picking at his toes with the other. He's barefoot, wearing rather worn brown shorts held up by some old rope like a belt, with a sky blue T-shirt on. Beside him on the ground is a lumpy canvas tote bag, and curled up on the end of the bench is a winged yellow tabby cat, its iridescent, translucent, fairy-like wings folded against itself, eyes squinting in the sun. Alberto, himself, is quite a bit more languid than the day Amy had first met him, a little bleary-eyed, even. He's absorbed in his phone as he waits, having headed outside from his room almost immediately after she asked to meet, and doesn't notice her come up until he's approached. Undoubtedly responding to other people on his post asking about poor Sofia... ]

[pricklybloom]

[ Luckily she's still at the inn herself, so she's able to meet him quickly enough. At first as she approaches, she has a lecture just on the tip of her tongue about being responsible and the kind of danger that he could have put himself, others, and even Sofia the small dinosaur in.

But the words fades as she spots him sitting on the bench. He is definitely quieter than he'd been when she'd first met him, and she could recognize the signs of someone upset. So she manages to curb her anger, releasing a breath to calm herself as she slows her approach. ]

Hey...How're you holding up?

[prontissimo]

[ He eyes her upside-down once she approaches, before sitting up and swinging his legs over the bench as he lowers his phone, a little wide-eyed in vague surprise. But not because she startled him walking up. No, because she asked how he's doing. No one so far has asked him how he's feeling about losing his pet. Everyone's just scolded him and made him feel stupid and inept and reckless. Even people who agreed to help... Without exception, everyone has told him he shouldn't own this pet in the first place, because he's too young to care for it properly. Which... in reality, is all true. But he's been trying, he really has been.

And whether or not the sentiments are reciprocated, Alberto does really care for the little dinosaur. It has been upsetting, and he's been worried sick about her over the past three days, searching the whole town for her all day long, even into the early nighttimes. It's actually really occupied most of his time. He's trying. It's been even more aggravating that no one seems interested in that part, though, only interested in insulting him over being reckless and incapable, which strikes a very tender chord deep down with Alberto. For once, he's been doing his best to be responsible, caring for someone other than himself, even if it lasted for less than a week... But the fact of the matter, regardless of whatever nerves all this is rubbing raw, he's a boy who just lost his pet; even if he was the best pet owner ever, that's still an upsetting loss.

So he pauses before replying, looking to Amy with a strange, indiscernibly emotional look, before closing his eyes and sighing, standing with a little wave of both hands, a light shrug of his shoulders. He'll still make light of how much this has upset him, in defense of wanting to still seem totally capable, afraid that what people are saying is true. So even if he's touched to have his feelings considered for once, he still feels he has a lot to prove. ]

...I'm fine. I'll feel better when I find her. Dai, Carlo. Avanti.

[ He collects his bag as he talks, strapping it across his chest, and lightly pats at the cat's butt to usher it along and hurry it to get up. It looks disgruntled to be made to move, giving a raspy meow at him, but it stands, stretches itself fully out, wiggling its wings to stretch those too, it seems... Then takes flight?! The cat hovers in the air about eye level with its master, and takes off floating behind him slightly as Alberto starts to strut off, waving Amy along with him now. ]

Let's try the market first.

[pricklybloom]

[ Honestly, the flying cat isn't even that weird to her. But she'd seen a lot of emotions pass over his face, though she couldn't discern too many of them, before she's sure that he's trying to mask them. And she doesn't know him well enough to know if pushing is a good idea, so for now she lets it drop as she moves to walk with him. ]

Okay...do you know if she has any favorite food, or anything?

[prontissimo]

Yeah. I brought stuff.

[ He pats the canvas bag on his side, which he's strapped over his chest comfortably as they set off. ]

I've got a fish... Some salami... Oh, and—

[ He slings the thing round and digs through a bit, before producing a sealed glass jar... full of, uh. Live. Lizards... Three or four little anoles or geckos of some kind. ]

These guys.

[ He holds it up to examine from below that they're all doing okay in there, then gently places them back in his bag. At least he poked holes in the lid, but, still, whipping out a jar of lizards from his tote bag is, um, unexpected? ]

[pricklybloom]

[ A bit unexpected, but Amy doesn't think too much of it. From what she remembered hearing about the dinosaurs, they did hunt little lizards so it's probably their best bet to have some fresh ones.

As they're making their way towards the market, Amy notices some tracks in the ground. Pausing a moment, she crouches down to get a better look at them, trying to remember how the dinosaurs' feet looked like. ]

Looks like she's been by here...