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[cratecrasher]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, DEATH_TORNADO. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 010.02.202.04

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action, backdated to some time after the wasteland

[ibalsamina]

[Considering her complete lack of experience with dinosaurs (even the word is new to her), Lusamine had done a remarkable job keeping the T-rex that stumbled into her possession healthy and well-fed in his true owner's absence. Training him, on the other hand, had proven impossible—and today, when the creature suddenly runs off for the umpteenth time while out on their walk, she can do little but call feebly after him as she gives chase.]

Oh—now where are you off to, you silly thing? To me! For goodness' sake, to me!

[Alas, Baby T seems to have no intention of returning to her, as he's spotted a familiar face in the crowd...]

[cratecrasher]

[Stubborn 'little' guy isn't he? While humans give a wide berth to the charging dino, there's one monster that despite declines to move out of the way and actually perks up excitedly at the sight of it.]

Baby T...!

[The T-Rex bellowed out as if fully acknowledging the call and immediately bumped their snout into Crash's face like an oversized puppy. And in response, the dino's furry surrogate mama bust out laughing aloud, with even his eyes getting wet with happy tears as he petted and nuzzled his giant scaly baby back.

Gosh. He'd almost forgotten all about the poor thing back in that wasteland, with how much had been going on.]

[ibalsamina]

[Lusamine gives a small cry of alarm, fully prepared to rush to the monster's rescue... only to pause, taken aback, when he calls out what sounds like a nickname. Sure enough, no violence unfolds, and Lusamine hangs back to observe their apparent reunion.]

Why... This creature knows you...

[And, to her further surprise, so does she.]

[cratecrasher]

[Crash flicked his ears, his hearing suffering from still being a little out of it, but Baby T is helpful enough to briefly peer back in Lusamine's direction, which gives the minotaur a hint to look and have his gaze catch onto her.

Then the dinosaur unceremoniously stepped around to stand closer at Crash's side and demanded more scritches, which he obliges while trying to stop the wetness in his eyes with his other hand for a moment.]

You found Baby T?


[Oh hey, he kind of... hm. Crash tilted his head, trying to recognize Lusamine because only a monster wouldn't seem very scared about a pet T-Rex running around. It's been a long time and a lot of changes. Nevertheless, he's happy above all else while scratching the scaly jaw. Who's a good boy?]

Fed him?

[ibalsamina]

[The trust and love between the two is obvious, even palpable. Lusamine watches them in quiet fascination, at once moved and just a bit disappointed. Despite his misbehavior and resistance to training, Baby T had found some way to endear himself to her, and she had hoped to keep him for herself. Alas, that hope has now been all but dashed.

When Crash addresses her, she puts on a smile.]

Yes, that's right... [Fed him? Lusamine laughs.] Why, yes! Of course...

[Of course she had fed him—to the best of her ability, at least. It had been immediately clear to her that the creature was a carnivore and required meat (which she had no qualms with supplying), and yet he seemed determined to try eating grass all the same, heedless to her discouragements.]

I had assumed he was among the zoo animals that were displaced by those tremors we had recently, but the staff refused to take him... So he was yours all along...

[It strikes her as delightfully bizarre. Though their one encounter had been quite a long time ago now (so long ago that she had still been human, come to think of it), she remembers that Crash had claimed to be an animal before becoming a monster. Considering that, this seems much akin to a Pokémon training another Pokémon.]

What a funny coincidence this is... I believe you and I have actually met once before. You are... Crush? No—Crash, wasn't it?

[cratecrasher]

[Quite vigorously, Crash nodded his head once Lusamine landed correctly on his name. While his throat felt too tight to get any verbal gratitude out properly, it was probably just because he was crying too much out of relief. Totally.

The fact that the minotaur was happily crying likely says a lot, however. After a few more pats, he huffed in a certain way that his dinosaur seemed to understand as some sort of command, making Baby T pull back and stand there like a semi-obedient puppy. Even when something else milling about snapped up the T-Rex's attention, the dinosaur didn't move at all to lumber after it.

Maybe a collar would be worth getting?]

[ibalsamina]

My... the two of you are quite the close pair, aren't you? I'm so glad that you've been reunited now...

[Then Crash withdraws from his pet, making an odd, animalistic sound—a command, it seems, that Baby T obeys without issue. Again, Lusamine is taken aback. It seems that the creature has been trained after all, just not in any way she could have imagined.

Perhaps she should leave them to their reunion, but she has too many questions now to leave them be just yet.]

I hope you don't mind my asking, but I've been quite curious all this time... [She looks Baby T over.] What, ah... is he? Does his species have a name? I believed him to be a lizard of some sort, but...

[cratecrasher]

Tyrannosaurus Rex! Or just T-Rex!

[Yes, his naming scheme for pets tends to be very on the nose.]

Is a dinosaur.

[ibalsamina]

T-Rex... Oh! Hence, Baby T, I presume?

[How cute. And a T-Rex is a sort of dinosaur, just as Spike had told her.]

So it's true... And how did you come by such a creature? I've certainly never seen another of his kind on the peninsula before...

[cratecrasher]

Time travel at home.

[Implying that he used the coins to buy them from Mana. But also that the tale comes from a longer story.]

Happy accident with egg.

[Implying a case of imprinting if his sheepish expression is anything to go by.]

[ibalsamina]

[She's not able to grasp what he means by time travel, but the at home bit explains a great deal. She laughs.]

Oh my! So he really is like your baby, hm? No wonder he listens to you so well...