[ prp ] tiny little monsters ( kostya & evan )

[its me debz]

His duty partner would walk in to find Kostya pulling on a thick pair of rubber gloves with a resolute, despondent, and determined expression.

Konstantin Bashmet was not fond of minipets. They were perfectly fine to look at, coo at, and observe for experimental purposes (much like lab animals served similar purposes in the non-fantastical world)-- but they so very often insisted on touching him.

They were affectionate, prone to cuddling, and dribbled all sorts of bodily fluids everywhere. Which was fine, generally. Drool itself didn't bother him; Kostya was no neat freak. He just preferred to see it on inanimate objects or other people, and if those said people could just hold the critters themselves, that would be fine too.

"Ugh," is all he muttered, reaching into a cage to robotically pat the head of a kindly scareon. "Ugh."

inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Evan had never had minipet duty before--had never, in fact, even seen a minipet--but he had heard through the grapevine that it was either the best of all of the possible duties to pull on the island or the absolute worst. No one would tell him why, though; when asked, people only responded with cryptic smirks or consoling pats on the back. It had left Evan feeling just as curious as apprehensive.

He might have gotten lost a few times as he wandered through the labyrinthine corridors of the Life labs, and it might have made him a little late. Once he was pointed in the right direction, he rushed down the hall, narrowly avoiding other Hunters and other Life-related crap. "Hey, sorry I'm late," he started as he finally walked into the right lab. "I got turned around--what the hell is that thing?" Evan pointed at the container the other Hunter had his hand stuck in.

astrabot

 

[its me debz]

By the time Evan arrived, the Russian hunter had started.

"Is fine," Kostya replied without turning around, awkwardly patting a foxfire before cleaning out the creature's cage with a wince. If his hair had been any longer, he probably would have put it up in some sort of net. Until then, he merely wore a turtleneck, to cover as much skin as possible.

"Is a minipet." Grabbing it by the scruff of its neck, he hoisted the creature out of its cage, holding it at arms length. He turned on his heel and deposited it into the other hunter's arms. "It vants to be petted, and distracting me."

Clearly, he expected Evan to ...handle that part of the job.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Suddenly, Evan's arms were full of something furry and bright and wriggly, and he instinctively arranged his hands under it, supporting it so he didn't drop it--although a closer look at the thing kind of made him want to. It was fluffy and cute, okay, he could handle that. But for the unnaturally colored and patterned fur, it could have been any other breed of small, annoying dog.

Evan frowned dubiously down at it, wondering if at any second it might suddenly transform into some huge, hideous monster.

The foxfire stared back up at him with hope shining in its beady little eyes, its curly tail wagging.

/Awwwww lookit the widdle fluffy fluffums puppy, it's so cute canIeatit?/

No.

The foxfire grew impatient and reared up to plant its tiny little paws against Evan's chest, yapping insistently. Evan cautiously moved a hand out from under it to run a hand over its head. It seemed to like that, its ridiculous little tail wagging even faster.

Well. This was different. "Is this, uh. Is it safe to handle one of these things? Whose pets are these?"

astrabot

 

[its me debz]

Gritting his teeth and shaking his head, Konstantin glared at the firefox with a baleful eye over his shoulder. He renewed the scrubbing of the cage with vigor.

"They belong to labs. To Life Division."

With a yellow gloved hand, he gestured to the rest of the cages.

"All serve purpose, for one thing or another. Good test subjects. Made of fear, da? So can endure like Halloween can." He shrugged. "Is vhat Mimsy tell me, anyvay."

A few nearby minipets started to answer the foxfire's call, a cacophony of hissing, howls, and insistent meowing. He gave Evan a sad, long stare, as if this was somehow his problem to fix.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Life division. Well, that certainly explained a lot. Not everything, though. "What kind of tests?" Evan asked, taking a closer look at the ball of fluff in his arms. It seemed to be more fur than anything else, not much good for anything but tying to the end of a stick and running it around the floor to collect dust.

A glance at the rest of the cages showed Evan nothing that seemed much more useful than the little monster shoving Evan's hand around with its nose, trying to make him pet it between the ears. It was hard to believe that these were made up of the same stuff as the things they had fought in the desert. "And what's a Mimsy?"

astrabot

 

[its me debz]

Kostya merely shrugged in response to the question. "Vhat fear behaves like under pressure? Am not being sure." He gestured to the coat that hung over a nearby chair, and the moon sigil emblazoned upon its back. "Merely caretaker today."

This particular cage was clean, now. Onto the next one.

"Mimsy is hunter, she is Life." He cast the affectionate minipet nuzzling his hand a baleful stare. "Open cage, pet that. Very fuzzy. Distracting. Annoying."

Clearly, he was not fond of small, affectionate creatures. He held up his hands, and, with a roll of the eyes, put air quotes around the following statement: "They need their valkies."

inle-roo