&& old lace

The training session had been exhausting, leaving Karolina and Nico upstairs to take a nap. Eyes flickered open as she could hear the loud stomping, presumably coming from Old Lace. Paying no attention to it, she tried to ignore her. Noticing that she was hovering over Nico’s bedside, mind fixed on something. Noticing as Old Lace was about to take it, Nico fingers quickly grabbed hold of the staff. Eyes narrowing at the dinosaur. ❝ What exactly do you think you’re doing? ❞ What an ignorant question, like she could actually answer her.

her smile brightened considerably as the dinosaur’s tail thumped against the ground, head pressing against her hand. she rubbed over her head gently, thumb grazing over the scales. “you’re a good girl, aren’t you?” she smiled, nodding her head. she was definitely going to come back tomrrow with more food. 

“if you’re still here tomorrow, i can bring you some more food if you’re still hungry.” delanie said quietly, moving in a little closer to the dinosaur. she continued to pet over her scales lightly, fingers tracing over them. it was a strange feeling but she liked it, it was still the same as petting a very scaly dog. 

her hand moves slowly to rest on the dino’s head, lightly stroking over the scales. it was certainly… something, wasn’t it? to come face to face with an actual living breathing dinosaur when they weren’t even supposed to exist in that point in time. “how’s that, huh? did that fill the hole in your belly?” she asks fondly, lightly rubbing behind the dino’s ears. 

delanie watches as the dino stomps over to her backpack and nudges it so gently that it surprises delanie for a moment. she runs over and undoes the zip, pulling the fabric back to show off the chicken pieces she has in there. she’s come prepared this time, she’s seen this dinosaur before but never made contact — now she has food, she’s prepared. “here you go, girl. enjoy.” 

delanie’s smile becomes impossibly brighter when the dinosaurs’ head presses into her hand, snout against her palm. she’s practically shaking with the happiness in her tiny little body, toes wriggling and tapping in her shoes. she strokes the dino’s head lightly then leans back at the tail swishing. “i’ve got some more food, if you want it. it’s in the backpack over there.”

delanie smiles warmly, stepping forward again until she’s a little closer to the dinosaur. she holds out her free hand, fingers wriggling slightly. she wants to pet the dinosaur but she also doesn’t want to risk losing her fingers. they’re important and she needs them. but she really wants to pet the dinosaur. “are you still hungry, girl?” 

their connection is strong, and even if lace doesn’t know it, she just gets it. gert’s tired, another side effect of going off the sertraline, and she really doesn’t have the injury to play or find her food. it’s nice that she can just lay there, a girl with her dinosaur, happy and comfortable. in fact, she’s probably close to falling asleep.   “ naptime, lacy. “   she informs with a smile, pressing a kiss to her face.   “ wake me up if something happens, okay? “   she asks. it’s still odd how the deinonychus understands even when she certainly doesn’t speak english. but she does and gert is thankful. old lace was a life saver, quite literally, and she’d be even more broken without her. maybe that’s why their connection was formed. she just picked up on the need.

“that’s it. good girl.” delanie can only imagine how hungry she is, which is no surprise really. she smiles warmly and walks in a little closer, holding out the tray of chicken for her. “c’mon. eat up. there’s plenty more where that came from if you’re still hungry.” if needed, she’d go back out and get more. 

that’s good enough of an answer for her; gert was relieved she didn’t have to get up. it relaxing, hanging out, just a girl and her dinosaur. but, she’d have to keep an eye on it. if lace got too hungry, that could be a bad thing for anyone other than the runaways they would come across. she couldn’t hurt one of them, their emotional connection keeps that from happening, but for someone that gert wasn’t close to? that could be a bad story, one that she may not even get to tell.   “ i’m proud of you, girl. we’ll find a way to make this better, soon. i promise. “

she likes watching lace happy, not only because of their connection, but because the science that runs in her veins is curious. half of the stuff she did gert wouldn’t imagine a dinosaur finding joy in, but then again, old lace just wasn’t any dino.    “ you hungry? “    gert asks, wanting to make sure she was okay. it’s hard to take care of an animal when you’re homeless.

they had joked about it, but old lace really did make her happier. she was more at ease knowing that she was happy and taken care of. gert loves having a connection that deep to her. at least her parents did one thing right. eyes flutter closed as gert remains there, stroking softly over scaly skin.    “ that’s my girl. “

It had been a while since Gert had seen Old Lace today, leaving her unnerved. She wasn’t used to spending so much time apart from her, sensing her presence being nearby. Taking a few steps towards the dining hall, she watched as the rat tail dangled from her mouth. Disgust evident on her face.  ❝ Ew, Old Lace! I thought we agreed to go vegetarian, ❞ she grimaced. Looks like it just wasn’t her lifestyle after all.