savetheearth | [ACTION/OPEN] Making my way downtown

Entry tags:

[ACTION/OPEN] Making my way downtown

Who: Doyle

umbrael, Torin

radiantchicken, AND YOU
Where: All around Locke, eventually to Davin's place
When: April 12th, as if we didn't have enough weird things that day
What: A big black dinosaur is walking around the city with a parrot resting on his head, translating for him.

There may or may not be shenanigans with a shapeshifting compact mirror and other fun items while we've got the chance.

---

Okay, Doyle may have been way larger than a horse at the moment, but there was something very nervewracking about the idea of just walking around around down town where everyone could see him. And while yeah he was technically naked, he was also pretty sure that wasn't the only issue.

But Locke had seen some pretty weird shit by now. Talking horses among them, and magical girls, giant robots and uh, people, from what he understood. So hey, a dinosaur just walking around town ought to be nothing, right? Of course! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Nope, he can't shake the feeling that something's going to go wrong. Hopefully it's just stage-fright, or something.

Doyle does feel a little better when Torin, his translation buddy and new best friend drops by. Because - hah, if he gets lost, he could just ask them for directions.

Plus - he may be a massive dinosaur plodding down the street, but he's got a colourful parrot sitting on his head! That's got to take some of the intimidation factor down, right?

[[SO yes, here we are: Doyle is a big black and red dinosaur, Torin is a blue and red parrot with arms and eyebrows and a deep voice, and together they ~~fight crime~~ go house-hunting! They'll be meeting up with Davin

dorkytracksuit eventually but in the meantime, feel free to point and stare or strike up a conversation!]]

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Doyle's waiting on the outskirts, and is a bit visibly relieved to see the bird.

His ears perk up and he nods in greeting.

"Hey, ready to roll?" he says, also in greeting.

Torin was, for his part, rather excited. This was a fine adventure, and a new living space would be welcome! "I am quite ready, yes! Is it far from here?"

Doyle thinks about it, tries to calculate driving time, realizes that might be a little pointless since they're not taking a car, and shrugs. Or does the dino-equivalent, which is tilting his head and bobbing it slightly.

"I guess, technically? But I managed to jog out here fast enough before, it can't be too long to get back."

Especially now that he had larger strides, he guessed.

"That's good! I would hate for us to need to stop somewhere for the night in the middle of the city just because the journey was taking so long!" Torin remained cheerful as he perched on a tree nearby.

He actually laughs, and it sounds uncomfortably close to barking.

"Ha, no, it won't take that long. Maybe if I was a p-human again."

But hey, here's a good question:

"Are you going to fly back, or do you need to rest up?"

It couldn't have been a short trip out.

"It was a bit of a long flight, but I thought I might take the bus if I had to go back...but I was wondering, would you mind terribly if I were to take a room with you? You see, the person I was living with lost his numbers, and I would hate to bring him any trouble with the network business." Torin preened a few feathers after asking, which looks a little odd with those arms.

"A bus?" Doyle nearly laughs.

It's probably not how Torin rides a bus, but he's just picturing this little parrot commuting like an ordinary human.

As for the rest of what Torin said: Doyle thinks about it. Despite what he said about not wanting to need to rely on the bird... It would be pretty convenient to have him around, anyway. And he - well, he was a parrot. And he didn't grate Doyle's nerves like the majority of the network. And unless he figured out how to speak english or any human language with a dino-mouth, it looked like Torin was going to be the only person he could hold a conversation with.

So, Doyle nods.

"Yeah - sure. Seems like a good idea, actually."

"That's right! I've got to be quick and fly inside while they're stopped, but I think a couple of the drivers have gotten used to it."

He perks up and hops up and down a little at Doyle's agreement. "Excellent! Should make for a bit of an adventure, don't you think?"

Okay apparently that's exactly how Torin rides a bus. Doyle almost can't believe it. He does shake his head, and while he tries to keep the motion small, he's not entirely successful, given how long his head is now.

He holds back on any comment like 'well gee I've always wanted a parrot', and just smiles. Well, he tries. There's no teeth, thankfully.

"Beats being a lonely dinosaur, at least."

Torin nods in agreement, and there is at least a sort of parroty smile in his eyes. "It also beats being a lonely parrot."

Despite the species difference - even if Doyle was trying to think of himself as a person in a dinosaur's body - he still recognizes the smile.

"Heh. Yeah."

He kind of shrugs, a little.

"Uh - You don't have to fly back to the city now, if you want - I uh. Give you a ride."

... It's different when he's offering it to a parrot, okay?

"A ride would be excellent, my friend!" He flitted over to land on Doyle's back. "Like this?" It didn't seem to be the best place for the parrot to ride; he couldn't see anything ahead of them.

[And after a series of no-doubt hilarious shenanigans, they reach the address.

There is now a dinosaur parked in your driveway.

What do you do?
~~===>___~~]

"Good lord."

That sure is the dinosaur coming down the street. John just stares for a moment, but he can't resist approaching and so he does, if cautiously. It is a dinosaur, after all. Can't help but be worried about a dinosaur.

So far so good so far so-- Oh there's someone, and he's heading towards them, cautiously.

Doyle slows his own pace, but keeps walking, kind of hoping this guy will move along if he doesn't stop.

He glances up, but it's a little hard to look at the top of your own head, even when you're a dinosaur.

"Should we say something?" he asks Torin, as a weird hollow noise at the back of his mouth.

Yes, Doyle, a grown man (or grown dinosaur), is deferring to a parrot. A magical talking parrot, but still something in the back of his mind tells him to feel embarrassed about that. Well, whatever, back of his mind, let's see you do better.

"Well," Torin said reasonably, "it never hurts to be polite." He raised his voice and waved at John. "Hello, there!"

Nothing at all weird about a ten-inch-tall blue and red parrot with scaly blue arms and fluffy white eyebrows waving from atop a dinosaur, right?

This is possibly the most absurd thing he has ever seen.

He slows to a stop, and waves back, an eyebrow raised.

"Hello. You two all right there?"

Well, uh, benign response so far. No screaming, yelling, running, anything like that. One of Doyle's ears swivels forward, and he blinks.

There's kind of a bump in pace, as he shrugs. Yep, that's his response - what do you have, Torin?

"We're doing quite well today, thank you!" Why, Torin is just going to be relentlessly polite about everything, that's what he's going to do. "And yourself?"

"I'm fine ..." What is this conversation. "Still a dinosaur, then."

Ah- Doyle's ears perk up.

"Oh, someone from my network post," he said quietly, for Torin's sake.

And for this guy - he nodded, slowly so Torin wouldn't lose his balance.

"Ah, from the network!" Torin seemed pleased with this. "Makes sense." And to John, he adds, "I am at least capable of translating for him, when he does not have anything available to write with."

"Well, that's good." Pause. "How do you do that?"

This is utterly ridiculous, but also very fascinating.

How quickly this sort of thing became almost normal.

Aside from staring straight at the Wise Snake in the middle of chaos, Arthur had never felt the ultimate desire to wet himself before. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a bag of groceries in one hand as a dinosaur walked down the street, right towards him.

He wasn't running, for some reason. That would have been the smart decision, he thought.

Okay, there had been a lot of stares today, but this guy looked pretty terrified and they were kind of heading his way, so Doyle thought he'd try to defuse the situation early. He was getting a little more comfortable walking around, so he didn't slow down too much when he hissed/growled out the corner of his mouth:

"Hey, say 'hi' or something to that guy, he looks nervous. Let 'im know we're okay."

"Ah, of course!" Torin flapped his wings and waved his scaly blue arms around a bit in order to get the human's attention. "Hello there! Do not be alarmed! We are very peaceful, I assure you!"

The fact that he was staring at a giant dinosaur was one thing, but the addition of a parrot that had arms told Arthur that nothing was fine. Nothing in the world would ever be good again.

His jaw was dropped and he couldn't think to pick it up. So, he spoke with a bit of a wide open mouth.

No, talking made it worse. So much worse.

"I'm. I'm really sick. It's the meds. I shouldn't run. I'll look real crazy if I run."

If Arthur squints, he can see one of the ridged brows of the dinosaur's eyes is arched higher than the other. Or, more obviously, one ear is turned to the side, while the other is still upright.

"Really? A giant snake rampages through town and whatever else happened that day, but we're drawing the line at a dinosaur and a parrot?" he rumbles, and then adds as a quick snort: "Don't translate that."

Uh, what should they say, though? Probably something about this guy not seeing things. Got any ideas, Torin?

Torin nods at the request not to translate--he's already thinking that might be the best plan, and he tries again to communicate with the human. "I assure you, sir, you are not sick, nor are you crazy! My friend and I are merely taking a walk."

The parrot was making its own sort of point, showing plenty of proficiency in public speaking. It obviously wasn't just repeating after somebody else, which would have been ridiculous. Arthur wasn't sure if the creature took a communications class or whatever, but it was still unnerving to the utmost to witness that kind of thing.

"You--goddamn it, I nearly pissed myself!" He pointed an accusatory finger towards the two. At that point, there was no denial. "What are you guys--numbered?"

And just like that, Doyle looks unimpressed, his ears flipping back against his head.

"Don't see why we can't tell him," he says, which unfortunately, like most of his words nowadays, sounds like a growl. It's a breathier growl this time, at least.

"Better than him thinking we're aliens or monsters or something."

Torin gives Doyle another nod and continues on speaking with Arthur. "Actually, we are numbered! And I do apologize for any alarm we may have caused--we cannot control how we look, and we are only out for a walk."

Huffing, Arthur stood up straight to look the two over. It became clesr right away that this kind of thing could probably happen to him and it made him worry. Looking guilty, Arthur looked to Torin and Doyle before gesturing to the street.

"Sorry, guys. Is there somethin' I could do for ya'? I imagine it's tough gettin things done when this sorts thing happens to ya," he replied slowly with ease that startled himself. "I'm Arthur, by the way. I got uh, one of those Echoes, too. Mine isn't that obvious, though."

It had started off as such a normal day, even by the strange standards that his life had taken on. Get up, have breakfast, hit the gym, and now he was making his way to work to get some overtime in, and... now there was a dinosaur. That just wasn't right, damn it. And now there was this awful urge rising within him to try and attack it, because if he had blown up giant snakes, then he could totally take a dinosaur...

"...hey!" Wait, was that... that was Torin up there, wasn't it? What an excellent distraction from making bad decisions. "HEY!" He waved and shouted louder, hoping to get the parrot's attention.

That this would probably also get the dinosaur's attention, too, hadn't occurred to him.

"Oh, Doyle, slow down..." Torin started waving cheerfully at Jack. "Jack! Good morning!" He didn't seem to think that there was anything at all odd about this, certainly not. Just a parrot and his dinosaur friend, going out for a nice walk...

Somewhere, in the self aware part of Doyle's conscious, he thinks: 'I don't believe it. The parrot has more friends than I do.'

Outwardly, he twitches his ears and does slow down. He stops, actually, because if this is someone Torin wants to talk to, he might as well let the little guy talk for himself for a bit. It's only fair, right?

Jack is surprised when the dinosaur seems to listen to Torin. Dinosaurs listen to talking parrots? But he suddenly remembered that Torin was familiar with dinosaurs... maybe this was his... thing.

"...good morning." And then there was a pregnant pause. "Er, he a friend of yours?"

Yes. Let's just act like this is normal.

"Yes, this is my friend, Doyle! And Doyle, this is my friend, Jack!" Torin seemed quite satisfied with these normal introductions.

"Doyle turned into a dinosaur as one of these echoes, you see," Torin explained to Jack. "He is currently having some difficulty communicating, but I seem to be able to speak dinosaur. I have been translating!"

It's really good that Torin gets that out of the way first thing, because Doyle wasn't sure if he could take someone else treating him like an animal.

Doyle lowers his head closer to the other guy's level, and tilts it a little (not nearly enough to dislodge Torin, of course) as something of a greeting. He makes eye-contact, or at least as best as he can when he only had one of them facing towards the person.

"Ohhh!" Knowing that this dinosaur was someone as opposed to... well... just some random dinosaur, wherever one might get a random dinosaur... reduced Jack's anxiety a little. Just a little. Because there was still that part of him that was perceiving Doyle as a threat and kind of wanted to try and fight him. He made an effort to ignore that part as he nodded in greeting and made eye contact with that one big eye.

"..Good to meet you, Doyle." He found himself reflexively trying to offer a hand forward, but stopped himself and then shoved it into his jacket pocket instead. Then he looked back up to Torin, his expression strained. "Should you two really be doing this? Out in the open?"

"But how else are we supposed to move?" Torin asked. "It's very difficult for Doyle to find a place to live, and this seemed like the easiest, most direct way there."

Doyle tilts his head just a little further, and flicks his ear again in acknowledgement. He's getting better at that!

As for the rest... Well, Doyle had been worried about just walking out in the open, yes, but...

"Plus, we can't be the weirdest thing Locke's seen lately," he adds, in a rolling growl.

"There's... got to be a truck or a trailer big enough to hold him." He wasn't entirely sure of this, but he was going to make the suggestion anyway. And in the name of being polite he looked back to Doyle, kind of curious as to if either of them had considered this. "It might not be cheap, but.. well..."

But that did bring up another question. "Where are you going?"

"But getting a truck or trailer would cost money, would it not?" Torin asked. "And besides, I am not sure Doyle would enjoy a ride like that..." He looked down at Doyle, as though to get the dinosaur's input on the idea.

"Someone else on the network has offered Doyle a place to stay," Torin explained, "and I am going with him! It will be easier to translate that way, and I don't take up much room."

Doyle sort of shrugs his head slightly.

"Well, you'd need to rent a pretty big truck, and we don't exactly have the cash on hand to..."

Doyle's growl trails off, his ears go straight, and for a second he gets that distant look in his eyes of someone remembering something very important that they forgot.

Which, for Doyle, is that he kind of never got his personal belongings back when he suddenly turned into a dinosaur. Like, he knew he didn't pick his wallet and phone and stuff back up on Wise Snake Day, but in his attempts not to dwell too much about what things used to be like, he kind of kept... Forgetting... to do something about it.

... Well, uh, that could be something to settle when they have somewhere to sleep. In the meantime: Doyle blinks and goes right back to how he looked before, and clears his throat.

"Uh. No pockets, I mean. Ah - forget it."

"Yes, it would..." Money is probably a consideration for a parrot and... possibly whoever Doyle was before he was a dinosaur? He would ask, but it seems rude. And it's too late now, they're already walking to their destination. Jack sighs.

"I'd hope that the place you're going is big enough, too?" He frowns and looks away briefly. "...what would be big enough?"

"I'm told a large garage is involved," Torin says cheerfully. "It should be big enough to fit, I would hope." What if the garage was not big enough? Torin guessed they'd be heading back to the forest if that were the case.

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[ACTION/OPEN] Making my way downtown

For Torin!

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And for Davin!

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