avalononline | 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. ]

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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?

text; un: signorvespa

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