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The albino atrociraptor purred as a hand stroked the side of it’s jaw, letting out chirps and whirs of relaxation. The Handler continued to caress it’s scales, the siblings of the raptor running aimlessly around the yard, playfully screeching as they chased each other around the large grass field. The white raptor laid down on the grass on it’s back, signaling for it’s owner to pet it’s stomach. The woman let out quiet chuckles as she ran her fingers along the smooth underbelly of the raptor, watching in amusement as it kicked it’s leg when she’d scratch a specific spot. It was a quiet afternoon with nothing but the sound of trees blowing with the wind, or her raptors trilling and barking here and there. The Handler sat criss cross in the grass, basking in the much needed sunlight. It’s been a while since she’s relaxed like this. She’s never really had the time to appreciate the outdoors when she was conducting business , so to finally have some time to herself was certainly refreshing.
However her me-time was soon interrupted by the sound of movement behind her.
She whipped her head around, finding that nothing was there. She assumed it was probably her two other raptors, so she brushed it off, but the two raptors were ahead of her, so what could have possibly been behind her? The sounds continued, and yet she sat still, her body facing forward, but her eyes locked to the side, as if she was preparing to pounce on who or whatever lurked behind her the second it got close enough. She sat there, waiting, listening…until she heard the steps draw closer. She spun around, her eyes gazing up at the familiar figure ahead of her. She let out a quiet breath, her expression softening as she registered it was just Eliza, her “co-worker.”
She stood over her, looking down at The Handler with a curious expression. “Did I scare you?” She tilted her head to the side, noticing how tense the other woman was.
The Handler simply turned away, unamused.
Eliza sat down criss-cross on the grass beside her, leaning in closer. “Don’t lie to me, I know I did.” She dramatically flipped her hair watching as The Handler dismissed her with one of her signature looks, paying no mind to Eliza as she continued to focus all her attention to the raptor laying in front of them.
She let out a scoff as her own “boss” continued to ignore her. She reached into her purse, searching for something…The Handler very discreetly looked at Eliza shuffling through her purse, eventually pulling a small dino stuffie out, specifically a Carnotaurus.
Eliza shoved it into The Handler’s face, making little growl noises as she continued smothering The Handler’s face with the stuffie. She eventually stopped as the other woman pushed the plush away, a bit annoyed.
Eliza chuckled, watching the confused expression on The Handler’s face. She turned her body towards her, holding the stuffie near her chest. “Do you like it? I got it from the carnival me and Carlos went to last night! I would’ve shown you it yesterday, but I was sooooo tired…those lines for the rides were so longggg”
The Handler listened as Eliza rambled on and on about how long the waits for the rides were, and how she “almost died on The Zipper,” whatever that ride was…
“...So then Carlos was like; ‘Yo, these lines are not worth it, lets just play some of the games.’ And I was like; ‘Ya, so true.’ So THEN, we played this one game that was basically like basketball, right? And yknow how I like, suck at everything sport related? Well, guess what? I ended up getting some shots! It wasn’t enough to win one of the big stuffies, like Carlos did…but It was enough for this little Carno! Isn’t he sooooo cute?” She held out the plushie in front of The Handler’s face for her to observe.
She scanned the plush up and down, looking back up at Eliza, with her usual unamused face. She pushed the plush back slowly with her index finger, watching as Eliza let out an offended scoff, hugging the Carno plush close to her, petting the top of its head. “If it was any kind of raptor, you’d be ecstatic.”
The Handler tilted her head as Eliza covered the plush’s ears, as if it could hear their conversation. The albino raptor who was still laying in front of them stood up, leaning its snout in to sniff the plush in Eliza’s arms, curiously.
She laughed as the raptor continued to shove its snout into her arms. “Seeee? Ghost likes him, don’t you girl? Yes you doooo!” She held out the plush for Ghost to further examine, however, the raptor’s jaw soon sprung open, clamping down on the plushie, trying to pull it out of Eliza’s grasp.
Eliza let out a yelp of shock as she struggled to hold onto the plushie, she pulled, and pulled, and pulled, but she was clearly no match for the 5ft, 200 pound dinosaur.
“Ghost! No-bad girl! Leave it! Drop it!” Eliza continued to pull back, but Ghost’s jaws just clamped down even harder.
The Handler watched as Eliza and Ghost yanked and pushed back and forth in a heated game of Tug-of-War. A small smile cracking at the corner of her lips, her smile eventually turning into quiet chuckles of amusement at the current situation. She lifted her hand to her mouth to conceal her laughs, Eliza turned to face The Handler.
“Are you..are you laughing at me?!”
The Handler turned her face away as her chuckles soon turned into bursts of muffled laughter. Eliza immediately turned her attention towards the other woman, listening to her quiet laughs. She let go of the plush, letting Ghost run away with it, chucking it and throwing it all around the lawn, barking and growling at the other curious raptors who also wanted a turn playing with it. Eliza couldn’t care less about the plushie now, her full attention was on the woman in front of her. “Are you actually laughing right now??” Her tone was less surprised, but more so amused, curious, in awe even. She watched as The Handler continued to laugh uncontrollably, her hand still covering her mouth. Eliza reached her own hand out, trying to pry The Handler’s hand off her mouth. The taller woman didn’t budge, she turned away, still giggling. Eliza continued to reach over and grab her hand, desperate to fully hear The Handler’s real laugh.
“Come on please! Your laugh is so cute, I wanna hear it!” She was practically begging the other woman to remove her mouth so she could hear her fully. The Handler continued to fight back, pushing Eliza away with her free hand, her laughs beginning to die down. “Please! I won’t make fun of you I promise!”
The Handler stepped back, removing her hand from her mouth, but it was too late, she was back to her usual demeanor.
Eliza let out a groan. “Come on dudeee…” She crossed her arms in defeat. To Eliza, this was like a once in a lifetime experience, to see, and hear this woman lose the stoic and aloof act she always put on. To see her actually be “human” for once.
The Handler tilted her head, clearing her throat to fully gain her composure.
Eliza stepped closer to The Handler, lightly pinching her arm through the sleeves of her uniform.
“I’ll get you to laugh again someday.”