avalononline | text; un: signorvespa

Entry tags:

text; un: signorvespa

i hate this

the sky has been leaking for DAYs... WEEKS??

it's so cold my eyes are frozen!

i hate this weird white water

i want to go outside...

[ A photo of a colored pencil drawing is attached... depicting Alberto "(in a blanket)" beside his familiar Carlo and his pet compsognathus Sofia, trapped inside his home "(forever?)," labeled "cold, alone... and fed up!" beneath falling snow — AKA "weird white water??? (every day...!!!)" — outside the window... All of them clearly "very unhappy" — the sheer image of misery itself. ]

SO!
let's trade!!!
anyone who can help me find or make something like this, i'll cook you food or something, whatever, we'll talk......
but as soon as possible,
i need one of THESE:

[ Another image is attached of Alberto wearing what... seems to be a diver's suit? Or something??? Holding a "giant umbrella" in one hand and Sofia on a leash in a harness in the other, Carlo floating above, all "dry, safe, warm, and NOT at home..." There's still plenty of ~~snow~~ white water around them, "but not on Alberto!" Most importantly, though, in this drawing, they're all happy! — as... baffling as it is to anyone else, surely... No thanks, no niceties, just complaints and demands, urgent, desperate, and maybe a little, um, bizarre? Un po. The kid's gone mad with cabin fever, possibly? This is... well... th-this is something. Definitely something. Ahem. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The coaxing works, and the compsognathus emerges at last, scrambling with her little arms and claws to get out from under the bed frame. Alberto is there at the ready, sitting up as soon as she starts making her way out, and once she's out, scoops her up in his arms, pulling her close to his chest. He holds her to himself with one arm as she wriggles and writhes, using his other arm to wrap the blanket around her and him both. She relaxes then and stops squirming, resigning to being held tight. He's clearly become well-practiced at restraining her by now, which is... telling, maybe for better or worse.

He shoots Amy a bright smile, though, successful, turning Sofia to face Amy better. The dinosaur sniffs at the fish, craning her neck to go for it, baring her teeth and biting gently at the air, locking her intense brown eyes with Amy's. It's a little... unnerving. Just a little. ]

Sofia, say ciao~ Look! Fishy, fishy~!

[ Far too doting of this dangerous animal... she's spoiled. All she's missing really is clothes, oy va voy. ]

Edited 2021-12-12 18:24 (UTC)

[ It is a bit disconcerting, but Amy keeps calm as Sofia comes closer. ]

There we go. Good girl.

[ She places the fish down on the floor, still with enough space for Sofia to have to come out and get it, and reaches into her pocket with her other hand to pull out a roll of measuring tape. ]

[ As Sofia starts wriggling to get to the fish, Alberto shoots Amy a look to silently communicate he's about to let her go... whatever happens. And as she's released, Sofia crawls out of his lap posthaste to get to work on her snack. Once Amy begins measuring her, Sofia will glance at her, pause in eating for a brief second, but then return her attention to the fish, thankfully. Alberto sighs and sits back, propping himself up with his arms behind him, palms pressed flat to the floor. Relief. ]

[ Amy braces herself for a struggle, just in case, both when Alberto lets go and as she carefully measures Sofia, especially around her neck and head. But when the dinosaur barely reacts, she breathes her own sigh and finishes up as quickly as she can. ]

There we go, all finished. That's a good girl.

[ Making a mental note of all the measurements, she then moves over to the pile of bags she'd left and grabs the biggest one. Opening it up, she then begins to pull out a few things; what looks to be a large blanket, a sewing kit, and some velcro straps.

As she opens up the sewing kit, she turns to glance at Alberto. ] This might take a while, but in the meantime, I brought some stuff for you to try. [ She gestures to the remaining bags, filled with various winter gear that he might need. ] I wasn't sure of your size, so I just grabbed a bunch of things. You can try them on and find something that fits, and I'll take back the rest.

Ooh! Nice!

[ His face lights up as she points to the bags, crawling over on his hands and knees toward them to start digging through what she's brought. Sofia finishes her fish and gives Amy a strange, lingering look for a short moment, intense hazel eyes locked expectantly on the girl, but when Alberto notices her staring at Amy, he shoos her away, gently tapping her on her rump. ]

Shhhh, Sofia, no more, finiti!

[ The dinosaur cranes her neck to stare at Alberto instead, hopping forward a little when he touches her, but with one final look back at Amy, turns around and slinks off to the sofa, where she jumps up and stands, staring out the window. It's hard to read a dinosaur's facial expressions, but Alberto seems to be getting better at reading the creature's moods... Still not the best dinosaur-dad, but no one can say he's not trying.

He turns his attention back to the clothes and supplies Amy's brought him, and his face is lighting up with each garment he sees in the bag. ]

Woooah~ This is great! I don't have anything like these clothes— hah! This changes everything, wow~

[ He hasn't even tried anything on yet, but looks up to Amy with a wide grin and intense, warm eye contact, a rather rare sincerity heavy in his voice. ]

Thank you! This is so nice of you!

[ Taking a moment to watch Alberto interact with Sofia, Amy can't help a smile. No one could say that he didn't care about his dinosaur friend, that was for sure.

She'd just have to keep a look out for both of them, just in case.

When he turns to her, she returns the smile and nods. ] You're welcome. But not all of that is for you. Like I said, find stuff that fits you first. [ She can't help feeling that that bears repeating. ] Whatever doesn't fit you I'm giving to some of the refugees.

Oooh, good idea!

[ Alberto's on board with that. He likes helping people. And it does bear repeating, because Amy has probably scarcely (if ever) seen Alberto wearing clothes that all properly fit him, in the few times they've met before this... I mean, the kid holds his pants up with a rope.

So that said, he's going to be extra discerning about what does and does not fit, even though he has a... pretty poor sense of that. He collects the bag and brings it over to the foot of his bed, where he flings open the bathroom door to reveal a full-length mirror hanging on the inside. This came with the room. But he's glad he has it. ~~Though he mostly uses it to flex and make muscles in it like a dork.~~

He starts trying on clothes right away, separating things into Yes, No, and Maybe piles, surprisingly methodical here, making light chitchat as he does. ]

Heh, y'know— I don't really have a lot of clothes. I-I mean, hah, I didn't even have shoes until the weather started getting really bad and the sky was leaking all the time last month! I got, ehh— [ what's the word ] boots! But back in Portorosso, it was sunny most of the time. Even the huuu— err, even the other human kids didn't wear shoes sometimes! Didn't need 'em, heh, y'know?

[ Nice save, Alberto. ~~No, it wasn't.~~ He'll play it off like he's being specific because Amy obviously isn't human. But he's been so preoccupied in their meetings to ask, uh, what she is exactly... Today will probably be the day, finally in a more relaxed moment together. But first, yeah, he's gotta admire himself in the mirror, okay. Spinning around in each coat and smirking at himself. ~~Seriously. A secret dork. Or maybe not-so-secret... Just a regular dork.~~ ]

[ While Amy works, she keeps an eye on him and gives him some instruction on how things should fit. Still, she can't watch him the whole time, as she carefully measures something out on the blanket before cutting a hole in the middle. Then taking a needle and thread from the sewing kit, she carefully sews the edges of the hole she made to keep the stitches from fraying. ]

Really? [ She's not entirely surprised by this statement, because of course she'd seen the rope he uses to hold up his pants, and it only took a few guesses from there. There's something else about his words though that has her pretty curious, but decides not to comment on it for now. Especially since he seems to trying to cover it up.

But she also starts to wonder if she should get additional clothes for him when spring rolls around... ]

Edited 2021-12-23 00:00 (UTC)

[ Alberto is perfectly fine with holding up his end of the conversation as she works. Something about the way he talks, sometimes, it's like... either he's had no lack of company ever, or... a marked lack of company for a long time. Hard to say, when he's not even willing to reveal basic facts. But that doesn't dampen his cheerful chatter as he continues his little fashion show by himself in the mirror behind her. ]

Yeah~ It was a little fishing village. All the kids just hung out in the plaza playing ball all afternoon, heh. As long as you could kick a ball, you didn't need shoes, or, heh— y'know— anything fancy! Iii was pretty much the best at it, anyway~ I mean, when I wasn't working.

[ He holds up the next garment in the bag with an enthusiastic reaction, eyes lighting up as he hurries to take the last coat off and try on this one, attention divided. ]

Oooh~! Nice!

[ She divides her attention between keeping an eye on him and her work, though the coat he grabs next has her watching a bit more closely. She'd pick this one based on what she could remember of his frame, so she hopes it'll fit him well enough.

Though she is glad that he is behind her, so she's able to turn around and hide the light roll of her eyes as he keeps talking. Still, she's used to people with egos, so she's still smiling as she finishes up her sewing and ties the thread off, before grabbing some of the velcro straps and some fabric glue. ]

I didn't really mark you down as the working type. What kind of work did you do?

Eh?!

[ He spins around from his latest costume change at that remark, insulted and taken aback. ]

I'm a very hard worker, thank you very much...! I worked in my friend's dad's pescheria. I'm a fisherman. Pretty much the best — next to my boss, of course.

[ There's pride in his voice at both his own fishing prowess and Massimo's. He pauses, narrowing his eyes, but tugs at the lapel of this coat huffily, turning his attention back to the mirror with a haughty look at himself and a tone of airy indignation in his voice. ]

Anyway, I've tried getting fishing jobs here, but no one will hire me. I met this guy with a seafood restaurant who referred me to a pescheria or two where he buys his fish from, plus I've talked to every fish monger I see in the market, and they all told me no. Everyone says I'm too young. Too young to do the thing I already know how to do...!

[ Suddenly all the weird nets and shells and all this random nautical crap in his room starts to make sense, maybe... Certainly explains the fucking perch he slapped in Amy's hand earlier. And the vague, faintly fishy smell that's almost always about him if you stand close enough, ahem. He is a pretty tall, strong kid, athletic build and freckled tan pointing indeed to a lot of working and playing outside back home... So even if he's still a bit of a gangly noodle with some muscle tone, it's not so hard to believe he's strong enough to man a fishing boat. It's more his personality that makes it hard to believe he hasn't, like... set the boat on fire or something. ~~Spoiler: he has.~~ ]

Edited 2021-12-29 05:48 (UTC)

[ She held up a hand, the other still holding her work together. ] Okay, sorry. [ She hadn't really thought about it, but she's actually not too surprised by...anything he says. Not just his strong reaction, but the fact that he's a fisherman makes a lot of sense. And even just from what she knows of him, she could see him being incredibly focused and dedicated to something that interested him, so that makes sense too.

As he keeps talking, though, she can't help an annoyed frown, but it's not directed at him really. ]

Too young? I hate when people say that. How is it that we're old enough to learn magic and try to save different worlds, but we're still too young to work certain jobs?

[ Granted, some jobs were probably better left for older people. But if he already knows how to do it, being told he's too young just doesn't seem fair. ]

[ Alberto rolls his eyes and shrugs, turning back to the mirror, switching into another coat to model. ]

Right...?! It's fine, though — I still catch all my own fish for myself, at least. I met this talking cat once— he thinks I should try to sell the fish I catch in the market myself. I mean, I can't open up a pescheria or anything, but— I dunno, when the weather gets better, maybe I'll try it... The water's too cold now. My friends and I wanna build a boat soon, though, so — maybe then!

[ He's keen to chatter on, clearly, recovers quickly, which is good to see. But... h-how has he been fishing without a boat til now? Um? ]

[ She puts the finishing touches on what she's working on, looking it over one more time to make sure it was all fine. ] Selling fish you catch yourself might be a good idea. [ It might show those other fishers that he's just as good as they are.

His words do catch her attention, as she finally gets back to her feet and drapes her project over her arm. ] But how do you catch fish if you don't have a boat?

Uhh— I jump in and catch them.

[ Duh.

Wait, wait, hold on, humans don't do that well, right, oops— ]

...And I have nets.

[ He points to the old barrel by the front door boasting both a couple hand nets and a folded up casting net hanging over the barrel's side, cork floaters and conch shells by the base of it on the floor. There are also a couple fishing poles. But he doesn't use those nearly as much. ]

[ She follows his direction, mostly to keep herself from rolling her eyes and just managing. He's definitely got an attitude, but she can't help a small smile to herself, because it certainly is a familiar one. ]

You must be a pretty good swimmer then if you can catch fish like that.

[ The only one she knows who can fish is Big the Cat, and even though he's actually a really good swimmer too, even he prefers using his fishing pole.

Sliding the modified blanket off her arm, Amy spreads it out a little and holds it up. ] Anyway, I'm all finished all done. Now we just need Sofia to try it on and make sure it fits.

Oh, I'm an amazing swimmer~ I'm even better at swimming than I am at walking, hah!

[ That's... a really weird thing to brag about. But. Okaaay...

He jumps to attention when hears it's time for Sofia to try her new outfit on, though, spinning around from the mirror with a more genuine grin. ]

Ooh~! Benissimo! Sofia, your turn~!

[ He all but scurries over to the sofa where Sofia's still staring out the window, gracelessly scooping the creature up in his arms all of a sudden. She... obviously does not like that, and starts immediately thrashing and whipping and clawing in his arms. Uh, oops. He hugs her close to his chest as she writhes and makes strange noises of protest, and walks her over to plop down crosslegged in front of Amy, doing his very best to restrain the obviously objecting beast. He's still getting the hang of, uh, manners in general, let alone dinosaur manners... ]

[ It is a rather strange thing to say, but she doesn't entirely get a chance to ask before Alberto jumps up to get Sofia. She jumps a little when the dinosaur starts struggling in his grip, more worried that the boy would get scratched up. ]

H-Hey, Sofia, it's okay...! [ She reaches out with her free hand, though knows better than to try and touch the dino while she's struggling. ] We're just going to have you try this on, it'll be over really quick.

[ Sofia makes a strange, squeaky hissing noise, glancing from between the two kids. Lizards can't show much emotion on their faces, lacking the muscle structure to do so, but man, a lot can be read from body language regardless. Alberto is practically wrapping his whole body around her now, zero regards to whether he gets scratched or not. Won't be the first or last time.

However, he feels like he has something to prove to Amy in particular about his pet ownership capabilities here, since she was the one he found Sofia with, and it, uh, wasn't a great first impression, let's be real. He strokes Sofia's back hurriedly, progressively more gently, shushing her quietly until her writhing softens into mere wriggling. She's calming down a bit, and Alberto gets another bright idea. ]

Shhh... H-Hey, can you get her a fish from the fridge? There's another perch in there... Sh-sh-sh-shhh, Sofia...

[ This is. Not making the great impression that he'd hoped his parenting skills would. Does he just placate her with fish all the time? ~~Also lizards!~~ ]

[ Though he might not care that he's getting scratched up, Amy still is. She also feels bad that she can't do much to help, as Alberto hangs on to her, but she's worried about making the situation worse.

And perhaps not a great impression, but Amy does notice that he does manage to calm Sofia down even a little bit, which is still something. She does still wonder about whether it's good for him to own a dinosaur, but she'd be lying if she said that he hasn't had some affect on her already.

When Alberto asks her to get her another fish, she nods and quickly makes her way to the fridge, grabbing the fish that looks similar to the one he'd given her earlier. ]

Here, Sofia! [ She comes back over, fish in hand, and holds it out to the dinosaur. ] Who's a good girl? Is this what you want?

[ He shouldn't own a dinosaur. He shouldn't. He shouldn't own almost anything — even a pet fish, probably, ironically. But he's doing his best. That much can't be denied. Even if it's... maybe not enough.

Once Amy returns with Sofia's "treat," it's not clear if that... really was the solution or not, because in the dinosaur's eagerness to get at the fish, she starts writhing and thrashing in Alberto's arms again. He does not know what he's doing at all, trying to train an animal. Is this just his go-to solution, whether it works or not? Can dinosaurs get fat?

He lets her go, though, and she all but jumps at Amy to snatch the fish out of her hand with her many sharp little teeth, but bends over to eat it there on the floor in front of them immediately. So... at least she's still... Alberto's eyes look a little wild, a taut expression of uncharacteristic caution on his face, but he holds out his hands to take the garments from Amy, nodding his head toward them and making sharp eye contact to silently communicate for her to hand them to him. He's gonna dress her himself, evidently. If he gets bit, it's no big deal to him. But he can't have Sofia attacking other people... ...and he doesn't even really need to explain that, probably. It's just kind of obvious. ]

[ While she isn't afraid of Sofia necessarily, she is surprised when the dinosaur charges at her, and ends up dropping the fish to protect herself. It seems to be a good enough move, though, as Sofia swoops down to snap up the fish.

Taking a breath, she catches Alberto's look and returns the nod, taking a moment to unfold the blanket and show the hole she'd made in the center of it, where Sofia's head would come through, as well as indicating the velcro straps she'd sewn on to secure the sides. Then she carefully hands it over to him. ]

[ Alberto takes the garment and waits a second, watching the dinosaur eat, then swoops in to slide her head through the whole between bites. She snaps at him, suddenly at attention, but he narrowly dodges her bite, and wraps himself around her to immobilize her, fumbling to strap the velcro together as he wraps it under her. She is not happy about this, going back to thrashing and curling in on herself to try and get him, which is part of why he's having such difficulty...

But after a moment, he gets it, and reels back, scrambling backwards on the floor. She wiggles around, trying to bite at the straps on the garment, but she can't reach them, and all that ends up happening is some shifting around... but whatever the accidental adjustment was, it must not be too bad, because after a moment of fidgeting, she just goes right back to eating, intent once more on finishing her fish. She was more aggravated being interrupted than being dressed, apparently.

Alberto lets out a dramatic sigh of relief, his whole form deflating. ]

Phew...! She likes it, look!

[ Alberto, I wouldn't go that far, but... she's not trying to remove it. So mission accomplished? ]

[ Amy takes a few breaths herself, and can't help giving him a skeptical look. "Like" is a stronger word than she would have used, but the fact Sofia isn't trying to claw it off is a victory in itself, and she's totally willing to take it. ]

Good, I'm glad. It should at least help keep her warm. [ It is, though, still a blanket, but hopefully it'll still work well enough. Letting Sofia enjoy her snack again, she then glances towards Alberto, worry crossing her expression as she spots the cuts and scratches. ] You okay?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

text; un: signorvespa

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject