fandomhigh | BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday Morning

Well. As it turned out, traveling across the country with a seven-foot dinosaur in tow was an experience very similar to hell on earth. Not only had Gert been checked by TSA agents roughly forty times throughout the journey, not to mention flight attendants on the plane itself, and not only had she incurred all kinds of additional pet fees (paid for by Captain America and whoever was paying him, but still), but she also had a seriously antsy ~~velociraptor~~ deionychus to deal with. Between that and the expected grouchiness from having been traveling all day, by the time Gert reached the Portalocity lounge in the airport where she was supposed to wait for the Fandom High shuttle, she was not in the best of moods.

The one good thing was that she at least didn't have very much luggage. She stuffed her single backpack under a chair and then flopped down in it, patting the seat beside her for Old Lace to follow suit. Now she just had to hope that whoever was driving this bus showed up punctually, because she was rapidly getting tired of this airport and was about ready to take a nap.

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And, in reply to that, Jack had to tilt his head right back at the dinosaur and grin.

"Hey there," he said, really having no reason to feel silly about talking aloud to a dinosaur in a room full of people. Unlike the teenagers in the room, after all, the dinosaur was most likely to hear him. "Are you a friendly dinosaur?"

Considering the way she was cuddled up to that purple-haired girl, it seemed like a safe assumption. And so Jack was on his feet and making his way over to inspect Old Lace a little more closely. Because even beings of legend and myth didn't see prehistoric reptiles every day of the week.

Old Lace didn't have much of a response to that -- she was an emotive dinosaur, certainly, but not an especially chatty one -- but she did slip her head out from under Gert's hand in order to sniff at Jack's.

Gert didn't notice anything going on, because, well, Gert was exhausted, and it wasn't like Old Lace had never just sniffed at thin air before. It happened.

Clearly it was a dinosaur thing!

Jack was grinning at the sniffing, completely used to people not noticing him. Really, if Gert had realized something weird was going on, he'd be far more surprised. And so he sat in the empty seat on the other side of the dinosaur, content to let her sniff at his hand for a moment.

"So, you aren't going to try to eat me," he mused. "That's good to know. Do you like being petted?"

His hand was as cold as ice, naturally, so the attempt at giving her a pat on the top of her snout was tentative, at best. He really didn't want to startle the dinosaur with the huge claws and the wicked teeth.

Old Lace gave a happy pant at the question, and though she started somewhat at the ice-cold touch to her head, after a moment she leaned into Jack's hand, pleased with the attention.

She basically was exactly like a puppy sometimes, yes.

A big, scaly puppy that could eviscerate a person with her toes if she wanted to!

Jack was really choosing to focus on the puppy part, though, smiling as he ran his fingers over the scaly skin of her nose, and then reached back to scratch behind her ear.

"You are a good dino," he murmured, clearly pleased with the attention, himself. "Aren't you?"

Cue another happy pant -- although this time, Gert actually looked up, spotted Old Lace panting at nothing, and hooked her arm around her dinosaur's neck before bringing Old Lace in close for scritches.

What? It wasn't like there was anyone there who'd been appreciating quality dino time, right?

...Sorry, Jack.

"C'mere, girl," Gert murmured, petting Old Lace's head. "I know this airport's gross. We'll be somewhere even grosser soon, but it should at least be better-heated."

"Hey!" Gert was now getting a sour look from Jack, complete with furrowed brow and wrinkled nose. "It's not that cold, is it?"

... Well, it could get colder. If Jack really wanted it to be. He refrained from bringing the temperature in the room down a few degrees just to show how put-out he was by that comment, instead leaning a little closer, so that he could scratch behind Old Lace's ear again.

Because that's just what she needed, right? Affection in stereo?

Gert was from L.A.! Everything was cold to her.

Old Lace, on the other hand, was just happy to be popular, so while Gert looked pretty satisfied with the almost purr-like noises coming from the dinosaur, Jack could take at least partial credit for some of those himself.

Old Lace was officially Jack's favorite dinosaur. Granted, she was the only dinosaur that Jack knew... but still? Totally his favorite.

"There's a good girl," he murmured, settling down in the seat and contenting himself to keep petting and scratching. "Who's the best dinosaur I've ever known?"

Considering she was the only one he'd met in 300 years, that was probably a trick question.

BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday Morning

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