[ 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.
Let her have some fun. [While Nike and Bellamy get acquainted with the place, Raven's popped the trunk open and taken out the two blankets and back of doggie treats. (The adult treats can come later.)
It's chilly up here, so she zips up her jacket, before throwing the blanket down. She looks for the spot where the trees clear out the best, giving her the perfect view of the sky if she looks above. That's where she makes the nest, and sits down before lying on her back.]
[ bellamy has a tough time letting anyone have fun, let alone himself. he doesn't heed raven's advice, but he does look over his shoulder, distracted by her. nike takes that opportunity to pounce on the grass and even rip at it with her teeth. when he turns back to look at her, a grass blade is stuck to her lip. ]
[ instead of picking his puppy up, bellamy sighs and stands. she follows belatedly, pouncing in the grass before pressing her nose to the dirt once more. despite his long strides, nike beats him to raven, where she stands beside her head and sniffs her temple. ]
[ he sits beside her, arms resting behind him, and watches nike with a small smile as she decides to trace one side of raven's face with her nose. ] You might want to watch out. She eats Zero G's like you for breakfast.
[It tickles. That soft, tiny snout, it tickles and it's cute, and she ends up laughing and closing her eyes, letting Nike do whatever Nike wants to do. Which is sniff her face and probably lick it.
It's adorable. She's on a shortage of adorable, and maybe right now -- with Anya here, and Murphy, and Grounders perhaps coming in -- she needs something good to hang on to.]
Oh no -- save me. [And then she rolls over and picks Nike up, holding her above her face, far enough that she doesn't get to touch her wet little nose to it, far enough to whine a little bit too.]
[ bellamy doesn't look out at the city or even the stars as he watches raven with nike. he can't help but laugh — it isn't quiet, nor is it loud, but it sounds less restrained than it usually is. his smile is wider than usual, but he doesn't think about it. sometimes he does, and he finds his mind drifts elsewhere, to the inside of mountains or even the outside of a drop ship where skeletons and bodies had laid out before it. ]
Guess you better be nice to me or she'll devour you. [ he leans over to touch the pad of one of her back feet. nike doesn't seem too concerned with noticing him as she leans forward, trying to sniff raven's face, before she turns her head to smell the side of her hand before licking it. ] She's been learning from Cerberus how to be a guard dog.
I can see that, she's terrifying. [In the end, victory wins Raven over. She sets the dog down on her chest, much close to the spot where Jem's cat napped on her, curious to see if she will sit still or keep trying to kiss her.
Once again, getting a lot of action from animals.]
[ nike tries to lean forward to follow a scent, sniffing raven all over, before she seems to remember bellamy being about. splayed against raven's chest, she looks to him before she seems to readjust herself, wanting to slide off of her since he thinks she's determined she can't dig her paws into her like she can the earth. ]
[ bellamy lowers himself so he can lie on his back, arms folded beneath his head as a pillow. he may look up at the sky, but he doesn't see the stars. he doesn't see anything but the three hundred who had floated amongst them, making the night seem almost ethereal. ]
She is. Doesn't need three heads to be scary. [ he turns his head to look over at raven before he glances toward nike. she stares at him, but he doesn't reach over to take her. as overprotective as he is, he thinks nike to be safe. she's not biting or scratching at raven, nor is she whimpering for him. he thinks her to have a good judge of character, if her refusal to properly slide from raven is anything to go by. ] You like her?
[She lifts one hand to cup it under the puppy's butt so Nike doesn't fall off her, and lets her settle, full of amusement.] Yeah. Yeah, she's cute.
[She turns her head then, turns her gaze away from the stars and away from the dog and looks at him to find him watching her. Her heart does a little jump, jitters down her spine, and she forces herself to swallow.]
[ once she looks at him and asks that, his eyes drift to nike who seems content to settle. she stretches, paws out in front of her, and remains on her stomach as she looks around. maybe she can hear what they can't, as her ears remain perked up slightly as nothing seems to keep her attention. ]
Roxy. [ his smile fades for a moment. despite how short-lived their friendship had felt, bellamy had liked her. from greeting him on his first day with a trip to the museum and her dog quickly teaching him not all animals were wild and dangerous to her simply not thinking him strange for being from space, he knows he misses her at times. ] Before she left, she gave me her. [ he looks to nike, who remains oblivious to her being the topic of their conversation. ] She had a dog, so I guess she figured I should have one before they left.
[ he shifts, moving his shoulder, as it doesn't really matter anymore. he guesses roxy had wanted him to have some normalcy in eudio, given bellamy really wasn't going to go to a pet store or find a breeder to get himself a dog. he looks back at raven, ] Hades had a dog. She didn't know I had Cerberus.
[She takes a moment to observe him this close, since there's time and nothing else pressing on her mind right now, and he has long eyelashes and a pretty nose. Shit, no. Look at the stars.
She looks up at the stars, feels like she's sinking into the ground.]
Now you get the real deal. It's probably a better deal, right? [Not to sound like she's discrediting the value of her own gift, but if it's easy to shrug it off... Then it's all easy.]
[ maybe it's because of o, always feeling slightly inferior to who he supposedly had as friends on the ark and even on the ground, that he's able to really detect what she's saying. it may not even be because of his sister thinking he has other people he'd rather spend time with that he can hear what she doesn't say. ]
Neither of them have three heads. [ he looks to nike with a smile he can't help but allow to curve his mouth. ] If I can't have a dog with three heads, I think I need three dogs.
[ he looks at raven briefly, then returns his gaze to nike who looks around. ]
[That, apparently, helps. She snorts, and looks back up at her stars.]
Three dogs? That's a lot of chewed up furniture. [But also a lot of wet noses nudging at your chin and being adorable and cute, and probably cuddling you at night.]
You should get a cat. [ he reaches over to brush the back of his hand lightly against nike's head. she turns to look for the source of the touch, before she settles, licking at her paws. even though bellamy thinks himself more of a dog person, since he has two, cerberus and nike, he figures someone needs to acquire themselves a cat. given he's learned cats and dogs go as well together as oil and water, he figures maybe raven should be the one to take on an animal less rowdy than nike. ]
[ then again, he'd once thought they were water and oil. he's beginning to learn to not believe everything he reads and hears when it comes to this earth. ]
Hades had a dog with three heads. I don't know if Chion counts as the third, but I figure Cerberus may need some help. [ he watches nike as she tilts her head to clean her paw, engaged in her little task at hand. his gaze flitters to raven as he lifts a shoulder. ] Bastet never comes over and sees him.
[She laughs a little, imagining a small kitten like Lady Di, who'll sleep on her cleavage and purr and purr. Sure, her, get a cat. Cats are too curious and she has a lot of dangerous material at home.]
It's dangerous enough when you poke your nose into my projects, I imagine a pet would have catastrophic results. [Imagine it, explosions caused by cats.
But then, she thinks about what he's just said, looks through the lines of his nerdy stories, and looks back at him. Gaze held.] Does he want Bastet to visit?
[ does cerberus want bastet to visit? he's a stuffed animal. he remembers how raven had looked at him funny when he was playing with it like it was a dog that actually had feelings. but he isn't so oblivious to not know what it is she's saying. he hadn't meant to insert any message for her to read between the lines when he had initially said it, but he figures he had done so on purpose, anyway. ]
[ he turns to look up at the stars, seeing only dots that had once been close enough for him to reach out and touch. he's no longer wowed by them, not as he'd been as a kid. he shrugs his shoulder to play it down, ] Yeah.
[ it's awkward for him to even display any vulnerability, let alone expressing anything that he wants. he has gone above and beyond to ensure o gets what she wants and what she deserves, but when it comes to him, he locks his wrists together to prevent himself from reaching forward. ] They're friends, right? [ he's hesitant to call himself and clarke friends, even though he suspects that's what they are, despite everything. he looks at her from the corner of his eye, his tone casual, ] Friends visit and help the other clean up after a snowgie.
[Yeah, they're friends. (Izzy asked her, and Jem's asked her, and she keeps saying that's what they are. But it's new, given that they were so at odds when they first met, given everything they've been through. It's weird to have one friend who hasn't betrayed her in some way. Even Finn hadn't been clean of fault there.)
[ bellamy can't help but laugh, even if it's soft and doesn't last long. it's what he'd said to elsa, unsure of what the hell she was talking about when it came to the things that she could create. he still doesn't understand it. the snowgie refuses to talk to him, it refuses to listen to him, and it only riles nike into being a little spitfire who ends up locked in his bathroom for bad behaviour. ]
A snowball that's kind of alive. [ he looks to nike, who sniffs her paw, clueless to what they're even talking about. ] He's been destroying everything I own. Rips my books, unmakes my bed, tries to smash my television. [ he sighs; thinking about chion even exhausts him. ]
[ bellamy lifts himself, supporting his weight on his arms that rest behind him. looking at her incredulously, he can't help but smile. ] Did you not hear me when I said it's a pain in my ass?
[ chion had been a gift, meant to keep him company in the wake of o leaving. he still does, even if he's more of a menace than a kind companion. the sentiment behind him means more to bellamy than returning the annoying snowball back to its owner. he can handle a broken television, ripped books, and even his apartment going up in flames if the snowgie's meant to be a way of keeping him from being swallowed up by his loneliness. ]
[ it shouldn't surprise him raven wants to meet the creature that's been distracting him from feeling as melancholic as he should've been when octavia had originally left. he shakes his head, hanging his head back as he looks at the stars, before he gazes back at her. ] If you want to meet Chion, you can. It's not like he's really going anywhere.
Sure. I love meeting pains in your ass. We bond. [She nudges his leg with her right foot, and looks down on the current pain in his ass she's bonding with. The one she'll give some pets and ear scratches because she's adorable and keeping her chest warm.]
[ bellamy rolls his eyes. instead of returning to his back, he leans over on one arm, curling his other hand into a fist, save for his index, and tries to brush nike's tail lightly. he watches her, waiting for her to react, but she doesn't until he pokes her. she peers over her shoulder at her tail, shifting where she is, before he walks his fingers up her spine to scratch her hard behind the ear. ]
[ he doesn't look at raven as he focuses on nike, smiling when she tilts her head when he scratches beneath her chin. ] I'm starting to think you want to hang out with me for my friends. [ his friends who are not people, who stave away any loneliness he may have as all nike can do is bark and chion can crash into anything and everything. ]
[She keeps the hand she has holding Nike safely on top of her chest very still, waits to see if he'll brush his fingers against her, even on accident. He may keep playing with the dog, but he's making her oddly nervous, like she hasn't been in a long time.
Like she hasn't been around him, at least. (Come on, that's a lie. She may have taken her clothes off to break the ice, but she'd been a sack of nerves even then.)]
Well, your friends like me. [And make a nest of themselves on her body, and are soft.] And they're cuter.
[ when he pulls his hand away from nike's neck, she looks at him. though her default expression is always looking a little sad and a little cute, bellamy suspects she's annoyed at him for removing his hand. he touches her nose, feeling how moist it is, before he glides his finger up her snout and between her eyes, scratching at the top of her soft head. quietly, ] She is really cute.
[ where raven feels nervous, he's never felt more relaxed. he withdraws his hand to shift, lying diagonally across the blanket she's laid out. if he was to rest his head, it'd be right near her torso. with one arm beneath him, he extends his other to thread his fingers through nike's short fur. they fan along her back, almost spanning the entire width of her. ]
[ his fingers do brush against her own hand, nails blunt as he tries to scratch all of nike. she looks behind her, at his hand, before she yawns, facing raven again. he copies her without realising, looking to raven. he grins, wanting to tease her, ] So, you think I am cute. Good to know. I'll put that on my Cuddlr profile.
[Yeah, really cute. And then he keeps going, and he's very attentive in the way he plays with his dog, with Nike nearly falling asleep on top of her, those tiny Disney princess eyes closing slowly. I can sympathize, girl.
But his tease wakes Raven right out of her reverie, and maybe she flusters a little.]
You just hear what you wanna hear, don't you? So -- do you want to hear that I think you're cute? [She can play the game of teasing him back much better than she can sit still and wait for him to touch her like he touches Nike. So.] Is that it?
[ he shrugs a shoulder, keeping his gaze on nike as he watches her drop her head against raven. he doesn't think to argue the assumption he hears what he wants. he knows he does — he hears the bad all the time, barely listening when someone has something good to say about him. but he doesn't let that weigh him down as he treads blindly, thinking, maybe, this is a good path to walk along. it's easy and it requires no thinking, even if teasing raven is just a little new. she's always been teasing him with a boom to try and scare him. ]
Do you? [ nike's entire body begins to shift until she's lying on her side, tail moving slowly as he scratches her stomach. he watches her move one of her back legs, but, otherwise, she remains on her side, loving the attention. ]
[ his fingers glide down nike's front leg to press his thumb against her paw. if bellamy's about to step on a landmine, he doesn't notice. that's the downside to being around raven, he gets too comfortable that he doesn't exactly peer down and watch where he steps, forgetting to take note of any upturned earth or uproots ready to trip him. ]
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[ 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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It's chilly up here, so she zips up her jacket, before throwing the blanket down. She looks for the spot where the trees clear out the best, giving her the perfect view of the sky if she looks above. That's where she makes the nest, and sits down before lying on her back.]
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[ instead of picking his puppy up, bellamy sighs and stands. she follows belatedly, pouncing in the grass before pressing her nose to the dirt once more. despite his long strides, nike beats him to raven, where she stands beside her head and sniffs her temple. ]
[ he sits beside her, arms resting behind him, and watches nike with a small smile as she decides to trace one side of raven's face with her nose. ] You might want to watch out. She eats Zero G's like you for breakfast.
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It's adorable. She's on a shortage of adorable, and maybe right now -- with Anya here, and Murphy, and Grounders perhaps coming in -- she needs something good to hang on to.]
Oh no -- save me. [And then she rolls over and picks Nike up, holding her above her face, far enough that she doesn't get to touch her wet little nose to it, far enough to whine a little bit too.]
I'm too young to be eaten up for breakfast.
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Guess you better be nice to me or she'll devour you. [ he leans over to touch the pad of one of her back feet. nike doesn't seem too concerned with noticing him as she leans forward, trying to sniff raven's face, before she turns her head to smell the side of her hand before licking it. ] She's been learning from Cerberus how to be a guard dog.
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Once again, getting a lot of action from animals.]
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[ bellamy lowers himself so he can lie on his back, arms folded beneath his head as a pillow. he may look up at the sky, but he doesn't see the stars. he doesn't see anything but the three hundred who had floated amongst them, making the night seem almost ethereal. ]
She is. Doesn't need three heads to be scary. [ he turns his head to look over at raven before he glances toward nike. she stares at him, but he doesn't reach over to take her. as overprotective as he is, he thinks nike to be safe. she's not biting or scratching at raven, nor is she whimpering for him. he thinks her to have a good judge of character, if her refusal to properly slide from raven is anything to go by. ] You like her?
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[She turns her head then, turns her gaze away from the stars and away from the dog and looks at him to find him watching her. Her heart does a little jump, jitters down her spine, and she forces herself to swallow.]
How'd you get a dog?
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Roxy. [ his smile fades for a moment. despite how short-lived their friendship had felt, bellamy had liked her. from greeting him on his first day with a trip to the museum and her dog quickly teaching him not all animals were wild and dangerous to her simply not thinking him strange for being from space, he knows he misses her at times. ] Before she left, she gave me her. [ he looks to nike, who remains oblivious to her being the topic of their conversation. ] She had a dog, so I guess she figured I should have one before they left.
[ he shifts, moving his shoulder, as it doesn't really matter anymore. he guesses roxy had wanted him to have some normalcy in eudio, given bellamy really wasn't going to go to a pet store or find a breeder to get himself a dog. he looks back at raven, ] Hades had a dog. She didn't know I had Cerberus.
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She looks up at the stars, feels like she's sinking into the ground.]
Now you get the real deal. It's probably a better deal, right? [Not to sound like she's discrediting the value of her own gift, but if it's easy to shrug it off... Then it's all easy.]
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Neither of them have three heads. [ he looks to nike with a smile he can't help but allow to curve his mouth. ] If I can't have a dog with three heads, I think I need three dogs.
[ he looks at raven briefly, then returns his gaze to nike who looks around. ]
Besides, Nike likes him.
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Three dogs? That's a lot of chewed up furniture. [But also a lot of wet noses nudging at your chin and being adorable and cute, and probably cuddling you at night.]
Maybe I should get a pet.
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[ then again, he'd once thought they were water and oil. he's beginning to learn to not believe everything he reads and hears when it comes to this earth. ]
Hades had a dog with three heads. I don't know if Chion counts as the third, but I figure Cerberus may need some help. [ he watches nike as she tilts her head to clean her paw, engaged in her little task at hand. his gaze flitters to raven as he lifts a shoulder. ] Bastet never comes over and sees him.
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It's dangerous enough when you poke your nose into my projects, I imagine a pet would have catastrophic results. [Imagine it, explosions caused by cats.
But then, she thinks about what he's just said, looks through the lines of his nerdy stories, and looks back at him. Gaze held.] Does he want Bastet to visit?
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[ he turns to look up at the stars, seeing only dots that had once been close enough for him to reach out and touch. he's no longer wowed by them, not as he'd been as a kid. he shrugs his shoulder to play it down, ] Yeah.
[ it's awkward for him to even display any vulnerability, let alone expressing anything that he wants. he has gone above and beyond to ensure o gets what she wants and what she deserves, but when it comes to him, he locks his wrists together to prevent himself from reaching forward. ] They're friends, right? [ he's hesitant to call himself and clarke friends, even though he suspects that's what they are, despite everything. he looks at her from the corner of his eye, his tone casual, ] Friends visit and help the other clean up after a snowgie.
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Still.] What the fuck's a snowgie?
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A snowball that's kind of alive. [ he looks to nike, who sniffs her paw, clueless to what they're even talking about. ] He's been destroying everything I own. Rips my books, unmakes my bed, tries to smash my television. [ he sighs; thinking about chion even exhausts him. ]
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I showed you a dragon, and you've been hiding a living snowball from me? Betrayal, Bellamy. Betrayal.
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[ chion had been a gift, meant to keep him company in the wake of o leaving. he still does, even if he's more of a menace than a kind companion. the sentiment behind him means more to bellamy than returning the annoying snowball back to its owner. he can handle a broken television, ripped books, and even his apartment going up in flames if the snowgie's meant to be a way of keeping him from being swallowed up by his loneliness. ]
[ it shouldn't surprise him raven wants to meet the creature that's been distracting him from feeling as melancholic as he should've been when octavia had originally left. he shakes his head, hanging his head back as he looks at the stars, before he gazes back at her. ] If you want to meet Chion, you can. It's not like he's really going anywhere.
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[ he doesn't look at raven as he focuses on nike, smiling when she tilts her head when he scratches beneath her chin. ] I'm starting to think you want to hang out with me for my friends. [ his friends who are not people, who stave away any loneliness he may have as all nike can do is bark and chion can crash into anything and everything. ]
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Like she hasn't been around him, at least. (Come on, that's a lie. She may have taken her clothes off to break the ice, but she'd been a sack of nerves even then.)]
Well, your friends like me. [And make a nest of themselves on her body, and are soft.] And they're cuter.
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[ where raven feels nervous, he's never felt more relaxed. he withdraws his hand to shift, lying diagonally across the blanket she's laid out. if he was to rest his head, it'd be right near her torso. with one arm beneath him, he extends his other to thread his fingers through nike's short fur. they fan along her back, almost spanning the entire width of her. ]
[ his fingers do brush against her own hand, nails blunt as he tries to scratch all of nike. she looks behind her, at his hand, before she yawns, facing raven again. he copies her without realising, looking to raven. he grins, wanting to tease her, ] So, you think I am cute. Good to know. I'll put that on my Cuddlr profile.
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But his tease wakes Raven right out of her reverie, and maybe she flusters a little.]
You just hear what you wanna hear, don't you? So -- do you want to hear that I think you're cute? [She can play the game of teasing him back much better than she can sit still and wait for him to touch her like he touches Nike. So.] Is that it?
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Do you? [ nike's entire body begins to shift until she's lying on her side, tail moving slowly as he scratches her stomach. he watches her move one of her back legs, but, otherwise, she remains on her side, loving the attention. ]
[ his fingers glide down nike's front leg to press his thumb against her paw. if bellamy's about to step on a landmine, he doesn't notice. that's the downside to being around raven, he gets too comfortable that he doesn't exactly peer down and watch where he steps, forgetting to take note of any upturned earth or uproots ready to trip him. ]
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