dominance | ( eudio inbox )

Don't say that too loud. She already has a big head.

[ fortunately, his little dog cannot read his phone, despite trying to eat it at times. but he figures he might as well ask another question, just in case ... ]

You allergic to dogs?

only allergic to idiot people, so you're good
your cute little puppy can come with, and you'll clean the car if she pees on the seat.

[ bellamy has a feeling he's going to regret introducing nike to raven, but he can't leave her alone in his apartment with the snowgie. raven's the lesser of two evils — she's less destructive than the snowgie, even if she, too, doesn't listen to him. ]

So, I'm not an idiot. Good to know.

You coming before Christmas hits?

don't be rude to your driver
i'm stopping to get snacks

[ it sounds familiar, her picking up something along the way. a part of him wants to tell her to forget about it, that she doesn't need to — he even begins to type it before he erases it — but it's something he's done before. he doesn't think she's doing it to pay him back, as it's simply raven being raven. ]

If you pick up anything for her, I'm going to pay you back.

Dog food's expensive and you don't have to get her anything.

[The snacks are for her and for the dog. If Bellamy wants any, he can ask for it. With his paw. She expects him to protest, and lets it fall on deaf ears. She doesn't know how long they'll be gone, but her shift is over and the car is gassed up, and she just wants to get away from the city a while.

So maybe she carries blankets downstairs and puts them in the trunks, and maybe the snacks she buys are enough to constitute a dinner and a breakfast, but there's no obligation.

It's not the first time she runs away, but it is the first time she asks for company. Makes her think, or it should make her think.]

okay, i'm downstairs, come on

[ bellamy isn't as quick as he'd like to be. before chion and nike, he would've been waiting for her outside, but with an energetic snowball and a lively puppy in his apartment, he finds himself losing track of time trying to coax the snowball into the bathroom. he knows it'll merely destroy everything in there, and maybe even open the door, but it's better than hearing it's escaped from his place on the news. ]

[ he's thankful the snowgie had worn nike out, even if it's going to last for a short while. ]

[ wearing a jacket he knows he'll shed for the dog cradled in one of his arms, bellamy brings raven nothing but the company of himself and nike. she's quiet in his arm, lying long the length of it as he holds it against his chest. she only moves slightly, trying to press her face further into the crook of his elbow, but otherwise remains undisturbed during their walk outside of his building. ]

[ spotting her car is easy; he walks over to the passenger side without looking for an invitation and opens the door with his spare hand. he slides in with the dog lifting her head as she looks around, her paws pressing against his arm as she surveys the interior of the car. he looks to raven and tries to buckle himself in with one hand. ] Hey.

[She has to wait a while for him to move his ass downstairs, but what does Raven know about owning a pet? Can't be easy to coerce them to come with you. Still.

Eventually, Bellamy emerges with a tiny bundle of fluff in his arm, and she watches him approach her car while feeling her doubts dissipate. Of course she would ask him to come with. A getaway, some time out from Eudio, they probably need it. She's going to find the highest point and watch the stars with him, she decides, and then he gets in the car.] Hi.

Hi there, [is aimed at the puppy, who she holds her hand out for sniffing. If agreeable, she'll take the dog out of Bellamy's hands just so he can buckle up properly.] I'm Raven.

[ at the sound of another voice, nike looks over to her, ears perking up slightly as she watches her hand. she leans forward to sniff at it as bellamy gives up on his seatbelt. he knows raven won't take off without him buckling up, but he thinks to watch nike instead, knowing that dogs can sometimes bite. she doesn't, though, which isn't surprising. sometimes he wonders if she had sensed he knew nothing about dogs before roxy had turned up with her in her arms, but he supposes nike's the type of puppy to take pity on people who know nothing about her. ]

[ nike begins to fidget in his grip. he leans forward to give her to raven to hold so he can abide by her rules and buckle up. he watches with a smile as nike's tail wags as she sniffs every part of raven she can arch herself toward. even with the click of his seatbelt, his dog's more enamoured by her than the car. ] She's Nike. [ with a smile, ] A golden pain in my ass.

[She's adorable, thinks Raven. As tiny as Lady Di, only instead of snuggling up on top of her boobs while she's trying to watch a movie with Jem, Nike sniffs her face and her hands and everything reachable and sniffable. She can probably sniff the dog treats on her, since that makes more sense than all tiny creatures finding Raven somehow safe and cuddlable.

She's going to end up with the goofiest smile, she just knows it -- and then it's her own fault, for bringing Nike up close to her, really -- and there is is, her nose gets licked. Goofiest smile.]

Don't mind him, he says that about all the girls in his life. [And talking to a dog. She shakes her head and hands Nike over to Bellamy again with one last scratch behind her ears. (She wonders if dogs like that as much as Toothless does.) Since he's buckled up, she starts the car again, and gets them on the road.]

So, which famous person did you name her after?

[ bellamy rolls his eyes, knowing nike won't understand a word that she's saying. despite being a hunting dog, she won't be able to track the scent raven probably doesn't mean to leave, the one that tethers them together. he takes her back, pulling her away despite nike seemingly wanting to stay with someone who's new and he supposes to be exciting. he knows when he first met raven, he hadn't been excited by her arrival, but nike doesn't have anything to hide as she turns in his arms to lick his jaw. ]

[ trying to hold her still, one arm cradles her to him as his other hand brushes through her fur absently. he feels embarrassed by raven's question — and smiles sheepishly, grateful nike's in his arms to distract him while she remains slightly unsettled. she looks in raven's direction before he tries to adjust her so she can look out the window. ]

Uh, Nike. She's the goddess of victory. [ he looks down at his little goddess of annoyance, watching her as she reaches a paw up to snag it against his jacket. ] She's as fast as her. Kind of wish I had a bigger place for her to run about.

[She lets out a small little laugh, one that sounds like a soft nerd, and shakes her head. Of course, the goddess of something.] Let's go somewhere she can run, then. [Only, instead of the beach, Raven directs the car towards higher grounds. This late in the evening, there's little traffic, and barely any stop lights where they are headed, so it's smooth driving for most part.

She's getting good with practice, Jem was right.]

[ he thinks to protest the idea, but he looks down at nike and notes how she's watching eudio move by. he doesn't want to disturb her viewing, but he moves to roll down the window, leaning slightly to the side so she can feel the breeze through her fur. she seems frightened at first, recoiling away from it, but bellamy waits to see if she likes it or not, just like the dogs in those movies he's watched where they've stuck their heads out of the windows and their tongues from their mouths. ]

[ she doesn't copy them, but she moves a little closer toward it for a little while. in the end, though, nike falls asleep on his arm, perhaps a little too worn out from chion. ]

[ bellamy tries to keep still with her in his arms. he looks over to raven, then at the wheel, ] You mustn't be too bad if she's falling asleep.

[Her focus is on the road, not the dog, no matter how cute. She's responsible with more than her own life now, so of course Raven focuses on driving well. She also focuses on why it feels nice, to have him take up space in the passenger seat.

The breeze coming in isn't even bothersome, though she does turn the AC off just to minimize expenses.
You'd think with this mood, she'd have a tough time finding a smartass reply to his smartass compliment, but you'd be wrong.

Dry:] Stop, I'll swoon.

Can you pull over before you do? [ he looks down at the dog in his arms, wondering how she can stay awake when he's always awoken at the slightest sound. he supposes being in cars makes her as sleepy as watching the movies featuring them does him. he doesn't realise half the time he does fall asleep while watching long movies, but he doesn't particularly care if he misses a chunk of them. sleep these days isn't hard to come by, not in the way he thinks it may be back home. ]

[ he smiles as he looks over to raven before turning his gaze to the road ahead of them. ] They never had dogs in those Furious films you like. I don't think she'd like to be in a crash.

How would you know, you fell asleep watching it. [Never Forget.

She has no idea where she's going, other than the fact that she's going, driving, far from the city but not far enough for the pull back to get activated. Even here, everything reminds them of something. The beach is clearly Bellamy's brooding place. Anya picked up the forest to settle down. And the moutains...well, they have issues with mountains.

Maybe they shouldn't, not with this one. She drives them up towards it.]

[ he mutters, ] Whatever.

[ he thinks to form a defense in the shape of i was tired, but that hits a little too close to home if he uses it against her. he is tired — he refuses to let himself sleep much, and when he does, he wastes hours of his day just catching up on what the mountain often ruins for him. ]

[ he doesn't think of mount weather when he sees what they're approaching. that one had been shaped like some evil thing, but this one looks like the other hills from earth. as long as they don't drive through a tunnel or a trap door leading inside of the mountain, bellamy's content to remain inside the car and not roll out. ]

[ he sighs. ] Do you even know where you're going?

Nope. But I heard there's a map on our phones. [She shifts, and reaches for hers, handing it over to him. Sure enough, there should be a maps app that can clarify their surroundings.

Either way, she plans to drive only as far as the road will take them, up to where the city bus usually turns around in the morning.

There, in that parking lot or bus station or whatever it is, there she imagines they can sit for a while, where it's quiet.]

See if I'm going well, okay?

[ he takes her phone before she even informs him she wants him as her navigator. he looks at it, clicking some buttons, hoping he's not going to uncover some deep, dark secret of her own by accidentally opening an app he hadn't meant to press. his voice is quiet and slightly incredulous, ] You really want me to navigate?

[ he's never really thought of himself to be much of a guide. she'd been that for him in the mountain, and she'd been damn good at ensuring he kept his head on straight when he really wanted to give up or get mad at the worst time imaginable. ]

[ he glances up, then down at the phone. it isn't hard to figure it out, given he's checked out google maps. ] Seem to be going okay. [ nike remains undisturbed; he tries not to move his other arm as he uses his other to hold her phone and try and ensure he doesn't let her drive them off a cliff. ] No cliffs in sight.

Yeah, you be the voice in my ear for a change. [The joke is out before the weight of it settles, and after it, silence from her part. She doesn't want to bring back ugly memories, but the saddest truth is that she doesn't look back on any of the times they worked well as a team with sadness, or bitterness.

Idly, she brings her left arm down and scratches her thigh just above the brace, then rolls her window down too, to let the forest air circulate through the car.]

So we drive until there's no more road left, and then we walk around a bit. It's quiet here.

[ nike twitches in his arms, as though raven rolling down her window is disturbing her from dreaming about whatever the hell puppies dream about. he suspects it's getting up to mischief with the snowgie — something he envies her a little for, as that's not the worst thing in the world, not even for him — while he remains quiet, trying to not think of those times inside of the mountain he'd had her yammering away, speaking her raven speak and trying to encourage him to put one foot in front of the other. ]

[ he keeps his eye on the phone, glancing up occasionally to look ahead of them. ] What about the wild animals? No two-headed deer? Panther thing that doesn't want to eat me? [ he only knows the animals in the films and those that roam the streets with their owners. it's still difficult to comprehend he's one of them now, with a soft little being in his arms. he suspects every animal to be as wild and dangerous as the ones they've come across back home. the earth here isn't poisoned with radiation, not like he expects it to be, but it's still a thought that crosses his mind time and time again. ] How do we even know what's out there?

[That...he has a point there, and they have no guns here, for lack of need. (Though, there's Grounders now, so maybe...She needs to get better at protecting herself, for sure.)]

We don't know. So we can choose to stay in the car, or near it, or we can choose to explore and get a little lost from the world.

[The road looks like it's running out of asphalt soon, their ride turning more bumpy the higher up into the mountain they get. And then she sees it, one lookout to the right, Eudio spreading fairly tiny below and the stars above looking closer. She pulls over.]

[ as the road becomes bumpier, bellamy's attention drifts from the phone in his hand to the puppy who begins to stir in his arms. he forgoes navigating as he tries to make sure he's supporting nike, who yawns widely and peers around, ears twitching as though she requires a moment to remember where she is. ]

[ when raven pulls over, nike's still in his arms, before she stretches herself upward and presses her paws against his shoulder. her nails catch onto his jacket, and that's when bellamy looks out the window. ]

Guess we better find out. [ he spares raven a glance before he unbuckles himself after he moves forward, forgetting he's strapped in, and opens the door to push himself out with nike looking every which way in his arms. ]

[She stifles her grin when he almost gets yanked back into his seat via seat belt, then kills the engine and unbuckles her seatbelt, getting out of the car after him. Up here, the air is fresher, a little colder than near the water, but quiet. Nice.

The stars, she likes the best.]

[ nike grows restless and excited by the new sights and sounds. she isn't an excitable mess in his arms, but he knows she's looking around, trying to catch all the scents and sounds she can as she tries to discern if it's friendly or enemy territory. it's how bellamy knows he's reacted to the ground before, despite having been smiling when they'd dropped to earth as he had been swept up in ensuring o is remembered for being the girl who had first touched their old home. ]

[ it's when nike seems to try and leap from his arms that he lowers himself, letting her jump from where he holds her to sniff the ground. with her tail pointed up, she presses her head so far into the blades and the dirt he isn't surprised to see her black nose is sprinkled a light brown. he remains squatting, watching her in case she thinks to run. ]

[ she ventures a little further than he'd like, prompting him to clap his hands to try and gain her attention. ] Hey. [ she doesn't even lift her head. bellamy sighs, a little defeated. but nike eventually makes her way back to him, even if she doesn't follow a straight line as she curves in and out, getting distracted by the grass around her. ] Doubt there's anything bad out here if she's going nuts. But I wouldn't trust Nike.

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