Listening to the fish

[the_dawnster]

She had been told not to explore without her sister. Of course, Buffy was overly protective of Dawn in this place where they knew very little about their surroundings. And maybe since overly protective was her sister's default in regards to her, Dawn should change that to supremely protective. But Dawn had a habit of not listening to her sister and doing her own thing. She was older now, a college student even, and didn't really think most people here even knew what 'the key' was or how they could try to use it.

This is what has her standing at an open door, peeking inside in excited wonderment. She hasn't quite stepped in yet. Mostly, she's just looking in and marvelling at the sight of the Brontosauruses drinking from the lake, their long necks curving and dipping down or rising high up over the ground.

“This is so freakin' cool...” She murmurs to herself, on the edge of stepping in, but also something holding her back from fully doing so. She saw Jurrasic Park. Plus, there's that little voice of her sister in her ear telling her to be careful, not to go off on her own, not to speak to strangers, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah and so forth.

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[whattingawhat]

Or that little voice in her ear might literally be her sister, who noticed Dawn's absence several minutes ago. She doesn't want to smother Dawn. She knows that her sister is older, that she has to start giving her some space, even if she doesn't want to admit it. However, she also knows that this place can be dangerous, particularly the doors, and she knows how her sister attracts danger. Buffy is not leaving much to chance.

Cue one big sister popping up behind Dawn. "Seriously? Do you know how many levels of 'go wrong' that is?"

[the_dawnster]

Dawn almost literally jumps out of her skin at the sound of Buffy's voice. Her heart leaps to life in her chest and she startles. She presses her lips together and looks back at her sister. Sometimes Buffy's slayer prowess does not work in her favor. "Bell around neck, much?"

She gestures back to the open door. "But look! Buffy look how pretty!" Yes, she thinks the giants are pretty. "They're herbivores anyway."

[whattingawhat]

She doesn't have to sneak up on Dawn, but sometimes, like now, it seems the wiser course of action. Buffy frowns at Dawn's comment, then follows her gesture with her eyes, looking through the door. Yes, it's beautiful. Buffy can't deny that and it's even kind of breath taking. She doesn't really even bother to hide that.

"And dangerous. At least until you know that everything in that door is an herbivore. Besides, they could step on you and never realize they'd done it. You would be Dawn Jam."

[the_dawnster]

"Dawn jam?" She glances back at her sister and laughs before giving her a haughty, daring look. One that says she would be a wimp to say no. "You could go in with me, you know." The sisterly 'I dare you' is implied in every way possible.

[whattingawhat]

Buffy frowns, but she catches the 'I dare you' and even if it weren't for that, she would follow Dawn through the door simply because she doesn't want her sister to get hurt and she knows that Dawn has a profiency for that.

"Stay close," she orders, taking a step over the threshold, looking back to make sure Dawn is coming.

[the_dawnster]

Dawn practically bounces with excitement that Buffy is going in to look at the dinosaurs with her. Her smile is bright and huge and honestly, she's so easy to please. Just put the both of them in imminent danger and ta-da!

She follows closely behind Buffy. "Maybe we can find a tiny one and take it back as a pet."

[whattingawhat]

It's amazing how that works. Although, to be honest, Buffy isn't much better. She starts to feel hinky if there's not some danger. The Summers girls are irrevocably wrong in some genetic way.

At her comment, Buffy glares over her shoulder at her sister. "We are not going to have a dinosaur as a pet. Besides, I think tiny is relative when it comes to dinosaurs."

[the_dawnster]

Dawn would be very glad if she knew that Buffy saw the inherent attraction for trouble as genetic rather than just a her thing. As it is, she's way too excited to even notice the glare cast her way by her sister. "I bet we could find a grown up about the size of a Gret Dane or a Mastiff! Come on, Buffy. We could feed it grass and tomatoes!"

[whattingawhat]

"Okay, dinosaur expert, you're gonna be able to tell the difference between carnivores and grass and tomato eaters?"

It's a dinosaur, Dawn! Not a puppy!

[the_dawnster]

"You know, I actually paid attention in school and read outside of it." She tosses back with a sardonic smile as they trek closer to the lake.

[whattingawhat]

Buffy gives her a doubtful look. It's on the tip of her tongue to remind Dawn that she had slaying to worry about while she was going to school. She bites her tongue though and opts for the lighter side of things.

"Good. You can give me the Dino Tour."

[the_dawnster]

Dawn links her arm with Buffy's as they skirt around the perimeter of the lake. "First, question about the doors. Do they stay in the same place or not? If they stay in the same place, we shouldn't go too far from the lake." See? She could be reasonable occasionally.

[whattingawhat]

"I think it's a door thing," Buffy answers. "I mean, a thing with the doors where they sometimes are there and they sometimes aren't. I left it open so...," she pauses and looks back. There's a narrow rectangle of hotel visible through the greenery. "Yup. Still open. I think it depends on the door though."

[oneguyinaunitard]

Guess who's already exploring? This guy right here. In fact, Peter has explored this door before. It's one of his favorite doors, in fact. Who doesn't love dinosaurs? And yes, it's dangerous, but he's been careful thus far and only had one minor run in with the T-Rex.

Currently, Peter is sitting in one of the trees hanging over the lake. He drops to the ground in a crouch in front of the door then rises to his feet with a grin.

"So are you coming in or are you gonna watch from there all day?"

[the_dawnster]

She's surprised to find Peter there. Her lips curve into a smile as he drops down from the tree and she recognizes him. If he's in there then it has to be safe, right? Right. And no one has to know except the two of them. Sure, Dawn. Keep telling yourself that."

She takes a step inside, looking back and then once more to Peter. "No skateboarding run ins in dinosaur land?"

[oneguyinaunitard]

Safe is one of those relative terms, Dawn. However, he's got no intention of letting something hurt her, even if he has to pull some superhuman moves to make it happen. At least here, he's aware he's not the weirdest thing in the hotel.

When she steps through the door, he reaches out to take her upper arm. "Stay close." It's a murmured warning. "Oddly, they're lacking sidewalks and wood floors."

[the_dawnster]

Stay close? He better keep a good hold on her because she's busy look up and around her and at everything and everywhere except for where she's going. "This is so cool though, right? Like who ever thought we'd be living Jurrasic Park??"

[oneguyinaunitard]

Well he had a good hold on her, but decided it was probably rude, so he lets go once they're moving through the jungle.

"No. Yeah--it's--" he bobbles his head, looking up at the dinosaurs as they make their way past them, "it's awesome and I mean that in every possible way. You've gotta--you've gotta be careful though," he warns.

"There's an angry T-Rex around here and I'm pretty sure I heard some raptors."

[the_dawnster]

"Ohmigosh, you sound like my sister. Minus the awesome part. And sure, I can be a trouble magnet but I've also seen Jurrasic Park like gazillion times." Her hands are on her hips and she's stopped walking, casting Peter a glance and then looking up at the Brontosauruses.

"They're pretty, right? I think they're the prettiest dinosaur... kind of graceful and aloof even in their massiveness."

[oneguyinaunitard]

"Ouch," Peter responds, his hand going to rest over his heart. "You wound me. I swear I didn't mean to be minus the awesome part. Wait, what part was minus the awesome part? And which part is...awesome?"

At her comment, he looks up, a look of awe coming over his face. "Dude, their massiveness is what makes them gorgeous. They've got that neck and they're huge. Yeah, I think they're the prettiest."

[the_dawnster]

"You're missing the point. I don't need a babysitter anymore. I grew out of that..." Never. Okay, so she always needed a baby sitter. She shrugs and rolls her eyes. "Fine. Maybe I need a baby sitter."

She pauses and thoughtfully looks back up. "I wish I had a camera."

[oneguyinaunitard]

Peter's hands go up in a surrender sort of position. "Hey! No. I didn't mean that. I was just--just talking about being careful in...you know...a dangerous place."

His eyes light up at her comment. He slips the backpack on his shoulders off one shoulder so he can rummage in it, pulling his digital camera out. He holds it out to her. "Will that do?"

[the_dawnster]

She smiles at the sight of the camera and nods. But she doesn't take it. Instead, she steps backward closer to the lake. "You take a picture. Will you? There has to be proof that this happened!"

[oneguyinaunitard]

A goofy grin lopes across his face and he nods, stepping forward to take the camera from her. Now that he's got permission, he'll take a slew of pictures on this outing. "Yeah, sure," he nods and steps back a little further. He puts the camera up to his face, looking through the viewfinder.

"Okay. Say Cheese."

Unfortunately the flash attracts the dinosaurs attention.

"Uhm...Dawn...maybe we should..." he nods toward the restless dinosaurs.

[the_dawnster]

Dawn primps and preens, paying little head to the massive creatures in the lake. Sure, they're vegetarians, but one chomp of their blunt teeth or stomp of their tree trunk sized feet could crack her open like a pistacio."

"Monterrey jack, Colby, provolone and mozzarella." She says with a smile. Then pauses when he says her name. "What?"