The Park, Tuesday Afternoon

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Sure, the T-Rexaur was a mighty monster, but it was no match for a high-level SeeD. Well, a little bit of a match, maybe. Squall was glad for the exercise -- it was fun.

When it was almost dead, Squall stepped back and lifted his hand to his forehead. He was surrounded by a green glow, and then the T-Rexaur was surrounded by a glow, and then... nothing. It should have been turned into a Triple Triad card, but instead it just lay there. He tried again, with the same result. Maybe its health wasn't low enough? Squall jumped forward and slashed at it with his gunblade, but he hit too hard and it died. Damn.

Even stranger, it left a corpse, instead of disappearing into the air and leaving a few Dino Bones behind.

"..."

Out of all the strange things that Fandom had thrown at him, the idea that something which should have been a monster was just a normal animal instead might just be the most jarring.

[Open park for dino-battling]

Comments

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor hadn't had this much fun in weeks. The dinosaurs may not be all that clever, but they were still weighty enough that it really felt like an accomplishment, taking one down.

This was far more entertaining than anything she did in class. Well, most classes. Verbal sparring with that psychiatrist had a zing to it.

She frowned at the man when she spotted him. "What are you doing to that corpse?"

Other than staring at it, like he'd never seen one before. He wasn't going to get all weepy, was he?

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall watched the corpse a few seconds longer. Nope, nothing. He felt even less like doing a victory pose than usual.

"I was expecting it to drop loot," he grumbled. "But it's apparently just an animal, not a monster."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"What sort of loot?" asked Eleanor, now glancing over at the body herself. "They don't have any ADAM, and they're not carrying cash."

Splicers were so much more fun. Murder them, take their weapons, take their money, and then drain them dry.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Dino Bones, usually," Squall told her grumpily. "But instead, there's just a corpse. I couldn't turn it into a card, either."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor wasn't sure why he was trying to make some sort of a card out of the dinosaur's skin. That sounded needlessly complicated.

"If you cut it open, I'm sure you can take a few bones."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"..."

Squall gave her a confused look, then snorted and shook his head. "Completely different thing," he explained. "Nothing drops anything interesting, in this world."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

"It's not as though dinosaurs have pockets," she said, mainly because Red Raven (http://fandomtownies.livejournal.com/7193730.html?thread=267658626#t267658626) had used that same line on her earlier and turnabout was fair play. "It is frustrating, not getting any loot. At least they're fun to kill."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"No, they don't," Squall agreed. Was she making fun of him? "But monsters -- real monsters, the kind that come from the moon -- drop loot."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Monsters ... from the moon? Maybe he was crazy. Or maybe the surface had all sorts of interesting things Eleanor didn't know about yet. She really couldn't say with any certainty that monsters didn't fall from the moon.

"Splicers generally have bullets and cash," she shared. "Sometimes a pack of cigarettes."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged. "I don't smoke. I like my lungs working at peak efficiency."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course," she said. "The grand conspiracy about smoking being harmful for you." No one tell her, it was kind of cute. "Is this where you lecture me about taking care of my body? It's so tedious."

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"No," Squall told her. "Why would I care about what you do?"

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Eleanor burst out laughing.

"There's no reason you should," she agreed. "Much like I don't give a damn about you."

There was nothing personal in it, either. She'd have to care for there to be.

If anything, she felt a small flicker of approval. At least he had some sense.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Good," Squall told her. "You've got some sense. Now, help me kill some more of these things, before any students get hurt."

[nobloodymessiah.livejournal.com]

Just when she was starting to like him.

"So?" she asked. "Why does it matter who gets hurt?"

Heroics were for stupid people who faked altruism to make themselves feel morally superior. Like her mother.

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"I don't care whether it matters to you," Squall insisted. "You enjoy killing these animals, don't you? And I have a job to do. Arguing ethics is boring."