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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Dec 22, 2012 18:06:34 GMT -5
The sun rose on the dusty town of Gwangi as it always had. The day was hot and stagnant, leaving no cool air to freshen the inhabitants’ day. One man that felt the wind’s absence the worst was a scientist of small stature. Hindrick fiddled with his darkened glasses as the sun glared. He should have stayed in Boston; at least the wind had enough sense to blow. The Russian walked the streets, Xiongguanlong trailing behind him like a lost puppy. The man and his dinosaurs were feeling the bite of hunger. Though it was cheaper in this western town to buy food, it didn’t mean he had any to spend. Rospev cursed his lack of foresight when it came to money. He had spent it all coming out here. Well, the best he could do now was go hunting to feed his mount and fluffy microraptor. Maybe the heat would let up soon.
There was nothing new about the Western heat for a chalk mine resident. The dehydrated air, the nearly violent intensity of the sun, the clear sky, it wasn't so different from his part of the south. His part-- no, that part. Reinhardt shook his head to shake off the thought, home was a transient concept for him and it was best to keep it that way. It was difficult to nudge away nostalgia today, though, what with the familiar environment and the feeling of dust on his palms and between his fingers, similar to the fine film of calcite that had covered everything in Demopolis. For all the 'obvious' comparisons he drew between Demopolis and Gwangi, his brother didn't seem to find anything endearing about the place. "If it's too hot fer 'ya, take the coat off, ain't nobody here t' judge 'ya fer informality," he suggested to his smaller traveling partner. Gwangi was inundated with louts, whores, robbers, all the sort of people who wouldn't give a tree-rat's ass what you were dressed like. Despite the logic of the suggestion, all he got a glower in response, which was more or less all that was required to end a conversation between the two of them anyways. Approaching the actual town meant sighting a resident or two, none of which standing out particularly save for a rather sorry looking fellow in eyeglasses. He probably wouldn't have stopped if it weren't for vague look about him that suggested the man might have been slowly dying of exposure, or else didn't find the heat especially palatable. “Oy,” Reinhardt called from halfway down the road, raising his good hand to wave out of habit. From behind him, his sibling rapped a knuckle against the back of his head in a 'why on earth would you attract attention to us, god I hate you' sort of way. “Do 'ya...” for a minute, words failed him. Socialization wasn't his strong point, nor was observance. “....need help?” he finished rather lamely, wincing slightly.
Pru had been wandering the town for about half the day in search for a job, needless to say she hadn’t found one yet. It usually didn’t take more than a minute for her to trip over her own feet and wreck havoc. She wiped her forehead in an attempt to clear it from sweat, only to comb her fringe back into place the second after. The heat was near unbearable, but the Ginger didn’t much care for it. Weeks of painfully slow riding through the desert had taught her not to rid herself of her coat no matter the heat, it was enough of a pain that her face was constantly burned. She stopped dead in her tracks to muster her surroundings, all doors were closed, as were shops and other possible workplaces. She sighed when she realized that she probably wouldn’t be getting a job anywhere today, and decided to look for her old man.
She would have to search for him somewhere in the outskirts of the town, and only after half the way she made a memo to herself, that next time she would leave Ruckus somewhere she would remember instead of telling him to “go and have fun”.
It wasn’t very long until she noticed a small group of people, three men to be exact. She recognized Reinhardt from the day before, his face had looked terrible, he had her scared to death with that eyepatch. Guiltily she decided she was going to make up for her former behavior and see how he was today. Maybe she could help him with something, seeing with only one eye must be quite a bother after all.
It was hot. It was always hot. Hot and dry. Today though, it seemed hotter than usual. He needed a drink. With a strange sort of sigh, Dean raised the brim of hit hat and wiped his forehead, glancing up the streets with lazy eyes. He needed a drink. Where was that damn saloon, anyway? He needed somewhere to go --and get out of the heat-- while he waited for her to arrive. It should be any day now.
Heavy footsteps took him forward while he searched absently for the saloon door, the little bambiraptor hopping along beside him, chasing shadows and bugs whenever he spotted them. Hex Renner, first class hunter, with the wit of a rock. Coins clinked and held heavy in his hand, waiting eagerly to be traded for whiskey or some other drink. Occasionally he would pass someone as he walked, and a coin would flash as it was thrown into the air and caught again, and again.
Upon coming into view of what appeared to be a growing group of people, Dean's expression soured slightly and he sniffed. He could probably ask where the saloon was. Then again, he couldn't speak. A pointless venture, all in all. Not worth a second thought, nor a second of his time.
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Dec 22, 2012 18:44:28 GMT -5
The scientist didn't notice someone was calling to him until he was a few feet away from the two brothers. He looked up and adjusted his glasses to see them properly in this glaring sun. Yet another person in this town was trying to get his attention. The Russian frowned. It would be impolite to avoid the brothers and it's not like he could ignore them now. Though on closer inspection he did find them interesting. The redhead had an interesting condition the scientific population had just named. Piebaldism. Though Hindrick had never seen it on a human being before. Did that other man have leeches? Curious.
Hindrick stopped, very interested for once in the pair in front of him. It took the grumble of his Xiongguanlong to realize he had been asked a question. "Oh, no. I am quite.. Eh, thank you though," The man quickly answered after his brief silence. Then Hindrick realized that the redhead had a few things about him that were interesting. Mostly his face. The man looked like he had been handling a very angry dinosaur. Rospev blinked and asked, "Do you? I-I mean the face."
The man was too involved to notice the others that had been walking past, but his dinosaurs noticed. Fion sniffed the girl as she walked past and Alaois fluffed up. He wasn't sure about all these new people.
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Post by vladimir on Dec 22, 2012 19:57:26 GMT -5
Only vaguely aware of those passing by, Reinhardt was immediately distracted (and very taken aback) by the sudden, odd look on Hindrick's face. He wondered for a moment if it was something he'd said, but then decided it was for the best not to bring it up lest he further the other man's obvious... was that distress, fascination or anxiety? He genuinely couldn't tell. His pokerface kept steady while he watched his conversational partner stammer a moment, fumble at some sort of thought and finish whatever thought he'd been trying to verbalize with some sort of uncertain remark about... "Th' face?" he asked. Again his eyes narrowed slightly, this time in an uncertain squint.
"Ah think he's talkin' about yer face," Ambrose whispered confidentially from over one of his shoulders. If he had been the type, Reinhardt might have pulled a face in response. Instead, he blinked and responded in the serene manner that was typical of him when locked in social interaction. "Ah was born like this. Ain't no disease, y' ain't gon' catch it, n' there no way it's gon' go away anytime soon." he offered up a vaguely sympathetic look as he spoke, though his presentation belied the fact that he'd had to say this many times before. It hadn't been uncommon for him as a child, when left in the care of relatives who hadn't been made aware of his defect, to be scrubbed vigorously until he was raw by a well intentioned individual bent on cleaning what was perceived as a fine film of dirt off of him. At this point, Reinhardt was actually quite surprised by the marked lack of questions; fewer people out west were interested in oddities. Perhaps it was because they were so constantly bombarded with them, what with every foreigner who could make it to a dock ending up somewhere nearby in pursuit of gold or a job or whatever it was they wanted.
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Post by Alex on Dec 22, 2012 20:33:36 GMT -5
Smiling brightly Pru tapped Reys shoulder causing him to turn slowly and a bit estranged, as if he did not know whom he was facing. She couldn't blame him. All she had done the day before was shouting a loud "OMIGOSH" after crashing into him. She tilted her head, seeing as the eyepatch had disappeared, she supposed it was a good thing. It was still reddened but at least it seemed to work.
"I'm sorry" she murmured shyly, "Wanted to know how your eye was doing, you had me quite scared with that."
She took a quick glance around to avoid his gaze, bobbing on her heels, then she looked back, "Also sorry for almost running you over, yesterday...I was in a bit of a hurry so-"
She averted her gaze again, only now realizing how all three men and a gorgeous dinosaur were staring at her with blank expressions. Her eyes went wide.
"That is one beautiful Dinosaur!", she shouted, way louder than she had intended to. With quick steps she scurried over to the tall creature carefully slowing down and holding out a hand.
"Deary me that is such a beautiful Dinosaur! I have never seen one of this kind, what race is it?" she kept on blabbering questions to no one in particular while her own attention was kept solely on the Dinosaur, which was seemingly warming up to her, letting her scratch it's chin, "Where is it from? Yesh that coloring is wonderful! Do all of it's kind have that color? And it's also so well built, strong muscles on the chest especially, do you make it train a lot? I bet it has a beautiful way of walking. Very elegant and smooth I suppose? And also so friendly! Hehe yes you are a pretty one aren't you? Yes you are!"
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Dec 22, 2012 20:58:16 GMT -5
Hindrick blinked when Reinhardt began to ramble on about his condition. He shook his head, realizing the younger man misunderstood him. He adjusted his glasses and shuffled his feet. "No. I'm sorry, I meant the broken nose and various other wounds," Hindrick looked uncomfortable as he spoke but he was far too interested in Reinhardt to make a quick escape,"I've done studies on piebladism before... so I know about it." He tried to smile, but it looked terribly forced. Then he frowned. Smiling wasn't his strong suit.
The scientist was about to open his mouth the say something about being busy but a loud girl suddenly appeared. The Russian looked at her, surprised that she suddenly 'showed up.' She spoke quickly and excitedly. The man couldn't even get a word in as she changed from Reinhardt to Fionuir. The Xiongguanlong grumbled pleasantly at the attention. Hindrick glanced quickly at the Reinhardt and Ambrose and then back to Pru. He had no clue how to handle this.
Fionuir on the other hand did. She stomped her feet and pushed her snout out to meet the girl's hand. Fion sniffed the hand and then proceed to nuzzle it. Hindrick blinked rapidly as the new girls spit out a new question without even taking a breath. He knew the answer to all of them, but was too shocked to actually reply. He wasn't the only one taken aback by Pru's excitement. Alaois peered at the girl from the opposite side of the saddle. his feather had been fluffed out to give the appearance of a larger size. But he was just a shrimp.
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Post by vladimir on Dec 22, 2012 21:20:54 GMT -5
Oh, that was right. He looked like he'd fallen out of a tree. It was easy to forget about fleshwounds when they came and went with such frequency. For a second, Reinhardt felt bad about jumping to conclusions, he had just figured that such a look of horror could only be brought about by something more fearsome than a couple of scratches. He was about to voice an apology when the man made some sort of... jesus christ, what kind of expression was that? For an extraordinarily long two seconds, Reinhardt trying to puzzle through every possible reason that Hindrick would make that kind of face, was he in pain? Had he just realized something of grave importance? Ambrose clearly suspected something similar, he could feel his brother take ahold of one of his sleeves and begin to pull him backwards in what could only be fear that Hindrick's facial muscles were contracting in the beginning symptoms of some nasty ail.
With such thoughts in mind, it was with great effort that he resisted the urge to flinch when something tapped against one of his shoulders. Surprised, but mildly relieved that it was not someone or something more ominous, he found himself looking down at Prudence. "Hello miss Robinson, thank 'y fer the concern-" Reinhardt tried responding, but he found that he could not hope to keep up or outpace her words, quickly giving up and simply watching her train of thought suddenly derail like a train over a cliff. Content to observe her suddenly turn the full force of her personality on Hindrick's dinosaur, he lifted one foot and stepped carefully, heavily backwards on what he knew to be the toe of Ambrose's boot as he heard the beginnings of a cruel chuckle. That silenced it quickly enough.
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Post by Alex on Dec 22, 2012 21:58:30 GMT -5
The excited Ginger went rambling for another minute until she returned her attention to the muted trio, looking into three deadpanned faces. Well two and a half, the blonde guy was doing strange grimaces with his mouth open as if he was desperately trying to keep from shouting something. She straightened and let go of the Dinosaur, which gave a displeased grunt and nudged her shoulder. She supposed it was more polite to introduce to the owner than the pet first though.
Assuming there was a reason to the man with the glasses holding the mounts' rein she addressed him.
"Is this your Dinosaur Sir?" The man gave a painfully court and slow nod, so that Pru was almost tempted to slowly nod along in order to encourage him. She quickly went for the man's gloved hand shaking it enthusiastically, "It is great to meet you Sir, my name is Prudence Sir, and you have indeed a very gorgeous Dinosaur."
Said was apparently still displeased with the lack of attention and started nudging her head, nuzzling her ginger her and blowing her fringe and loose strands of hair with it's breath until it was even more of a mess than before. She giggled, using one hand in a futile attempt to keep the Dino out of her face, the other still clutched around the mans hand.
"What is your name Sir?", she asked between to laughs, fairly oblivious to the disturbed look on his face.
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Dec 22, 2012 22:32:19 GMT -5
Thankfully Hindrick was just terrible at smiling and not really ill. He of course realize this and vowed to never smile again, until he learned to do it properly.
Hindrick blinked as the girl shook his hand. He had never met someone so excited and well... pushy before. It wasn't pushy like the rich snobs he grew up around, but pushy in a I want to get to know you way. He was quite surprised to find that a person like that existed. Maybe people in the west were different. He managed to give "thank you" to the girl as she viciously shook his hand. He had no clue how to feel about this whole thing. It was much too foreign.
Though Hindrick did notice Fion was being needy again and shot her a glance. She stopped mid-nuzzle and stared at her "father." A soft grumble questioned the look, but it stayed. So, rather reluctantly the Xiongguanlong backed off the young girl and bowed her head in disappointment. Alaois took this opportunity to craw from Fion's back to Rospev's shoulder. If he was going to be surrounded by strange people he might as well be on his master's shoulder. Hindrick also seeing that he was surrounded sighed. he was trapped. "I am Hindrick Rospev, Please call me Dr Rospev," He sounded defeated as he said this, but put an emphasis on the please. Far too many people pronouced his first name wrong, it was just easier for him to hear his father's surname butchered than his first name.
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Post by vladimir on Dec 22, 2012 23:26:00 GMT -5
With expert composure, the brothers watched as the ginger, the theropod and its owner all interacted. It was almost amusing to watch Hindrick try to figure out how to handle Pru, but his sympathies outweighed his humor. If he had known how, Reinhardt would have tried to help; an odd feeling of guilt overcame him as he saw the exact moment at which Hindrick gave up on escape and came to terms with the fact that socialization was the only way out. The exact emotion he felt reminded him of watching a boot come down on a very rare, very pleasant flower.
That negativity was quickly supplanted by amusement again however, and there was some useful information to be had while casually listening in on the conversation- for instance, names, which were always helpful. Any other choice information was lost on him due to the distraction his brother posed, the fellow beginning to slowly try to slip out from under the heel of his boot, as subtly as possible, unable to make any noises of objection lest the full wrath of the ginger's attention be suddenly directed at the both of them.
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Post by alexharvey on Dec 23, 2012 0:12:31 GMT -5
"Eh a doctor? Mighty fancy, it's an honor to meet you, Mister Doctor, Sir." Pru continued to shake the mans hand until she noticed what she was doing, causing her to let go mid movement and Hindrick almost slap himself. She noticed the little fluff of a saurus climb onto his master and give her a distrusting glare, almost arrogant mustering her. She grinned, she knew exactly how to handle this kind of pet. Shuffling through her coats right pocket she brought up a few leftover crumbs from the snack she had prepared for Ruckus. The fluffy saurus eyes went huge within the blink of an eye, following each and every of her movements with accurate twitching of his head.
"You want this, fluff?" she proposed holding it out, the fluff stretched as far as possible, sniffing "Come and get it!"
With that she snapped the crumb up, the fluff jolted after it like a dart. While Pru watched it happily chew on the crumb realization suddenly hit her like a train and she remembered why she originally had joined the group.
In one swift motion she stood up and walked over to the duo, stopping only inches before Reinhardt, who was leaning back a bit in anxiety about what was to come. Careful she brought a hand up and gently touched the bruise forming around his nose.
"That looks really terrible though, are you all right? It looks really painful, maybe you should see a doctor or-"
She stopped upon realizing that something was tugging her coat, her hand still resting on Reys cheek she scolded the exotic Dinosaur that was gnawing on her coat.
"Will you stop already you bloody show pony!"
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Dec 23, 2012 0:43:50 GMT -5
Hindrick nodded briefly and gave a sigh of relief when the girl finally released his hand. That was the longest handshake he had ever had, and he was pretty damn sure that it was the longest in the world. Also the girl let go at such a speed his hand nearly hit his face. Thankfully the man was rather good at controlling his own body and stopped the flailing appendage before it slapped him. A frown was plastered all over his face. If every time he left his room was going to be this he might never leave it.
Alaois had gone after the crumb, not out of character for the greedy little monster. But Hindrick couldn't let his dinosaurs act so unruly. Ever since they got to Gwangi they had been so distracted. The scientist bent down and grabbed his mircoraptor and held his squarely against his side and his arm. The little dinosaur knew he must behave at this point. The scientist saw that Fion was also misbehaving and clicked his tongue. The Xiongguanlong suddenly stood up to full height and stared at him. In the process she knocked the last barrier holding Pru's hair together and the dinosaur found herself snuffing hair from her face.
The scientist also too this time to notice that Prudence was distracted by the two brothers and decided to make his escape. If he got away quick enough Fionuir would follow after. The man took a quick side glance towards the middle of the town. He'll go hunting on that side them. Quietly and as discreetly as he could, the man tried to step away from the conversation, leaving his mount to sit there staring that the three in front of her. She'd be good now, though she gave some confused grumbles toward Hindrick as he tried to sneak away.
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Post by vladimir on Dec 23, 2012 11:15:27 GMT -5
'Don't laugh,' Reinhardt willed himself as Alaois suddenly appeared, and the whole situation went more downhill than it already was. For a moment he seriously considered just backing off and slinking back to the tavern room he split with his brother. Before he could begin his own escape, designed without the knowledge of Hindrick's parallel plans, the ginger tornado swung around and refocused on him.
Wincing as the bruised skin around his nose was prodded, he went stock-still and pokerfaced. It was all he could do to ease out a response that wasn't some form of rushed. "Thank 'y, miss, but ah'v already seen a... doctor," he uttered the word grudgingly, glancing witheringly over his shoulder at his traveling companion, who suddenly stopped their writhing attempts at freedom and put on an appropriately sheepish expression. Just as quickly as it'd arrived, Pru's attention evidently left as it in turn settled on Hindrick's dinosaur, and by virtue the man himself. Perhaps this would have boded well for Reinhardt if she'd not left her hand there, resting against his face in a manner of physical contact that he was neither accustomed to nor presently fond of. Well, that was fantastic. Escape was no longer as simple now as it was five seconds ago, and Reinhardt cursed himself for his indecision.
Glancing up, he managed to breach eye contact for just a second with Hindrick and immediately whipped out the most convincing 'don't abandon me' look he could manage, taking into account his native inexpression. If this in and of itself was not enough to stop the man from trying to make a break for freedom, his own stare would soon begin to bleed of 'why are you doing this? I was concerned for your health and this is how you repay me?' with (hopefully) better results.
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Post by alexharvey on Dec 23, 2012 18:41:05 GMT -5
The Ginger was more than embarrassed for the shriek that escaped her lips when her mass of hair slipped out from it's firm hold and flopped all over her shoulders and face. Yet what was even more embarrassing was the fact that her hair was open at all. Removing her hand from a seemingly relieved yet also estranged Reinhardt, she frantically tried to reassemble it in futile attempts, only making it messier. She swung around in desperate search for the tie, finding it hanging from Fions canines. The Dinosaur gave her an odd look, before taking up the nibbling and breathing again, not even noticing the black tie in it's teeth. Pru was trying to grab the tie while holding her mess of hair and shoving the Mount, which was now all over her, out of her face. As she wasn't much successful, she very suddenly and to her own surprise snapped at the saurus.
"Give that BACK already!"
Fion released a startled puff into her face, then raised her head, away from the suddenly angry girl, staring confused. Pru made a jump for the tie, but missed. The sudden movement caused the Dinosaur to jolt it's head up even further, leaving an exasperated Ginger to jump for the tie one handedly, which was by now far out of her reach. When she realized she wouldn't reach it and had by now scared the poor Mount off, she looked around for help. Mostly for the owner. She found him several feet ahead, back facing towards here and slowly creeping away.
"HEY!" she shouted. Hindrick flinched but continued to ignore her and creep away further. Her cheeks were by now flushed in deep red and she could tell there were upcoming tears of frustration blurring her vision.
"Wait a minute, you're leaving you're mount!" she continued, "You cannot just leave it!"
The Doctor continued to ignore her, leaving Pru again to jump for her tie in rather pathetic attempts. She couldn't even graze the lower end.
"Come onnnn!" she whined, "I just...I just want that tie, please.....I need it back!"
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Post by GingerMetuchenPI on Dec 23, 2012 19:24:14 GMT -5
The doctor realized that h couldn't get away now. Even though he was desperately hungry, tired and thirsty, that girl would still demand his attention. He sighed and looked back to see her jumping for something in Fionuir's mouth. Alaois chirped angrily as he stomped back to the trio and the dinosaur. He was stuck no matter what he did. "Give it 'ere," He mumbled and easily snatched the hair tie from Fionuir's mouth. The Xiongguanlong gave a gentle grumble and bent down in an attempt to hide her face. She has accidentally done something wrong again.
Hindrick held out the tie to the girl with his free hand. He wasn't looking at the girl but the shop opposite of him. The scientist did not want to look the frustrated girl int he face. "Here," he grumbled and waited for her to take the black tie from his hands. Fionuir grumbled and bent lower to the ground, awaiting some sort of punishment for her current doings. Though Hindrick was too frustrated to dish out any or to realize she really had done anything wrong.
After the tie had been taken the man looked back at the trio, a frown squarely upon his face. If you had any sense you could tell he was getting near the end of his patience. Which was terribly thin today, but for good reasons.
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Post by vladimir on Dec 23, 2012 20:37:51 GMT -5
This time, not flinching as a lot harder. Reinhardt's 'something's flying at your face' instinct kicked in as Pru's curls were suddenly freed and went fluffed out in every direction-- and at his eyes as a result. He took a step back at the same time that she pulled that hand away (and thank god for that, too) without any sort of warning to get Ambrose out of the way. For a few seconds the two were a tangle of legs and quiet curses, death threats thrown around with varying degrees of seriousness as they both struggled to avoid falling into the dust. It was with great relief that he realized Pru and Hindrick were distracted with the hairband business to the point of not noticing the incredible effort it was taking the brothers to regain their footing.
By the time the hair tie was recovered, the brothers' balance had returned and they had both found nonchalant positions nearby-- though a good three feet from one another this time, with neither stepping on the other's foot. Staring up at a gutter as if it was of the greatest interest to himself, Ambrose crossed on leg over the other and leaned against the wall on one hand, Reinhardt dusting off his shirt and picking at a loose thread. Together, their combined efforts to cover for their dignities probably did more to bring them under the suspicion of passerby and conversational partner alike, but that wasn't something which occurred to either at the time.
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