xp_logs | Lockheed gets his 'revenge' on Alison for the destruction of the kitchen.

Revenge had taken a while. For one thing, Lockheed was not completely unaware of the moods of the general mansion populace. From the way Kitty and everyone had been walking around busier than all get out and really too fretful for their own good, Lockheed had known that it would be bad to punish the Shiny One just yet. After all, she had her uses.

But now... Now people were cheerful and things were moving along. There were still repairs to be made, but that was for the best. If he had waited until the evidence of her heinous crime had been removed, well, it would have seemed an unprovoked attack. And that, Lockheed suspected, was the sort of thing which would set strange girls to screaming and throwing pillows, which he was loathe to go through again now that Crazy Pillow Girl had finally stopped.

Perched on the edge of the porch roof, Lockheed waited. He knew the Shiny One went on regular morning runs and had decided that this would be the best place to launch his attack from. Crouched down low Lockheed watched the path back to mansion, waiting for his prey to appear.

It didn't take long for Alison to emerge into sight, jogging down the path at a fair decent clip though she started to slow down, enough so that she ended up walking up to the mansion, using the distance left as a cooldown phase. Pausing a short distance away from the steps, she turned to look around, eyeing the boathouse and surrounding area. There were nearly no visible signs left outside of the nighttime visit they'd had, by now. The air was cool and crisp, the sun shining above as it had been wont to do lately, a tribute to Ororo's good mood of late, though the outer perimeter of the estate still showed the full effects of winter.

The target was in sight... Coming up the drive... So slow... Slower yet... Stopped? And now turning around? What was this! The Shiny One was not a coward! Did not run from fights! And Lockheed coud Not attack from behind for that is Not How Dragons Behave. Ever since the firebreathing incident, Lockheed had been giving a lot of thought to what being a Dragon was all about, and he had some very definite Ideas.

At least the Shiny One did not seem to be leaving. If that had been the case Lockheed might have had to put aside his inhibitions. But no, she was simply looking about, and soon she would... Yes, there she went, turning to head inside.

At that moment, Lockheed acted.

Launching off the roof, Lockheed dived straight down, backwinging at the last second to land with a solid THUMP. Feet firmly on the ground, Lockheed opened his mouth and launched into a scathing description of Al's manners, behavior, appearence and possible ancestry, all carried out in a series of growls, chirps and scathing looks. Claw pointing straight at her, he ended with a sharp, "MEH!"

Blinking, Alison stared through the tirade, eventually starting to suspect that she was indeed being scolded for, well... something. Though for what she was at a complete loss to sort out from the various sounds being emitted by Lockheed, the gesticulations accomopanying them being of no use at all.

"Aaah..." She closed her mouth and considered her options, then finally crouched down to be level with the small dragon and hoped that didn't mean her nose would get bitten off or something. "Lockheed, sweetie? ...I have no clue what you're trying to tell me. Are you okay? Did I do something to hurt you?" She gazed at him worriedly, though he did seem to be in perfect shape. "Isn't it cold for you out here?" Light glimmered around her and soon Alison was radiating slow and steady heat, hoping that would be enough to fend off the chill, for the baby dragon's sake.

Lockheed started to nod his thanks, then caught himself. Ohh... She was tricksy. Trowing his paw off in the direction of the kitchen, sort of, Lockheed started again, acting out what he assumed must have happened for the kitchen to end up in the shape it was in. This involved much hopping around in the snow, pretending to shoot things with a gun and with a 'laser' (and it was remarkably difficult to tell the difference between the two) and endingup clutching at his brest and crying over the death of the 'fridge'. The Shiny One was smart, and Lockheed had no doubt she'd figure it out.

Probably.

A polite, slightly concerned blink greeted him as he finally looked at Alison, who had crouched down to give his show all the attention it deserved. "Well... Kitty's okay. Or else you'd be waaay more upset than this. No one's hurt and needing help, cause you're a smart baby dragon and you'd just drag me there if that were the case. And well... you look okay." She reached out lightly and pressed a finger to his nose, then beamed at him. "I'm just being stupid and not getting what you're trying to tell me, aren't I? I'm sorry."

He jerked his snout away from her finger, pouting at the Shiny One. He couldn't tell if she really didn't understand or was disembling to get out of the scolding she so richly deserved. Sighing, he tried again. Only, this time he would be very simple. He rubbed his tummy as though he were very hungry (and now, come to think of it, he was a bit peckish... no, later.) Then he mimed looking about for food, and shock. Then he scowled at the Shiny One and shook his finger and growled.

"Oh." Looking sheepish right now was the only alternative, really. Still crouched down, Alison looked down and sighed heavily - laughing would be very horribly bad. "Yeah, the kitchen thing, huh?" Still looking down, Alison sighed again. Obviously, looking downcast about it was the way to go. "See - I had to do something to stop the bad men from invading the place." Looking up cautiously, Alison considered her options - Lockheed was a dragon, after all. Defending one's territory he would understand.

Oh, good. Now she knew what he was talking about. Catching her looking back up he raised his claw again and took a deep breath before launching back into his rant. The assorted growls, grrs, chrps and grunts would only have made sense to Doug, so it into was a very good thing he wasn't there, for a number of reasons. Within a minute Lockheed was pacing back and forth, shaking his claw at her and, although she had no way of knowing this, lecturing her on her reckless and heretical behaviour.

Waiting for the dragon to pause, if only because eventually taking a breath was required, Alison finally spoke. "Lockheed?" She shifted a bit, realizing from the way water was starting to seep in her running shoes that a fair deal of snow was starting to melt around her, but still she kept up the heat for the sake of the dragonet. "They were going to go after the kids. The kitchen was the closest place to draw them into so we could ambush them, and give the kids time to get to the evacuation tunnels."

Oh, now that was insidious. She was using Logic on him. Clever, clever Shiny One. He sat back on his haunches, arms crossed over his chest, and gave her the dragon equivelent of a pout. "Mer," he said sadly.

Alison reached out at that with a soft 'aw' sort of sound, picking up Lockheed and cuddling him close, before straightening up. A few strides brought her to the steps and after some deft maneouvering they were inside, the door closing behind them. "There, now we're inside at least and I won't worry about you being sick because of the cold." Or water getting into her running shoes. "It was a good way to go, if that matters any?" She offered that tentatively. "Really. Kitchen won the fight and sent them off packing - and now we're going to fix it up better than ever. It'll be all brand new and remade to Lorna's specifications... kinda like rebirth, you know? Phoenix from the ashes and all that."

But Lockheed didn't want it to be new, and how could it be better than ever? The kitchen had had All the Food in the WORLD, and that was not the sort of thing that happened twice in a lifetime. He sniffled again, only very slightly mollified by the idea that the kitchen had died an honerable death in combat. He sniffled again, but was determined not to cry over the kitchen again, and certainly not while in the arms of its destroyer.

If the dragon started crying in her arms, Alison was going to feel like the most horribly creature in the whole wide world. And then some. "And it'll be bigger now, if the plans I saw Lorna looking at are right?" she ventured hesitantly, cuddling Lockheed a bit closer, as one might a small child. Reaching the stairs leading upstairs, Alison sat down in the steps instead, and added in a conspiratorial tone of voice. "And not only that... the refrigerator will be bigger." She paused for dramatic effect. "More. Food. Than ever before."

Lockheed's eyes widened, his impending tears forgotten enitrely. More than All the Food in the World? How could that BE? And what a miraculous thing it would be. If it were true... His eyes narrowed in suspicion. The Shiny One had to be lying - surely such a thing was not possible.

Well, that look was easy to interpret. "Hey, I'll show you the catalogue, if you want. You can even compar the sizes listed and all. It'll be bigger. And better!" Alison nodded wisely at that. "Lorna was going on about something involve independant area temperature settings and cooing over the picture in the catalogue. I think she was going to give it a name too." A pause. "Er, I snuck out at that point."

Ah. Lockheed nodded knowingly. The Green-haired Queen was indeed as wise as he had always thought, to realize that the 'fridge needed a name. Naming treasure made it more powerful - everyone knew that. Although maybe the 'fridge was a horde.. But no, surely the Green-haired Queen would not be so foolish as to let people like The Boy and the Shiny One get at her horde. Thoroughly distracted at this point, Lockheed began to wonder how he could get the Shiny One to feed him. Experimentally, he rubbed his belly and gave another small sniffle.

"Aw," Alison cooed, cradling him closer and tickling his chin. "You're hungry, aren't you?" There were Thigns Alison knew how to do. Lavishing someone with attention was one of them, and she hid a grin as she rose to her feet and turned around to go up the steps. "Well, it's only fair I do something to set that right then, isn't it? I'm sure I have something you might like." The mini-fridge, as all of those in the upper level suits, was stocked full to bursting. "I think I might have some cold cuts, for one thing..." She continued listing options, all the while making a mental note to email Kitty and let her know what the voracious creature had consumed.

Lockheed cooed, quite happy to be cossetted and fed and very please with himself at how well his plan had worked. When the email showed up in her inbox, Kitty would not be terribly surprised either by the amount or by the fact that he would undoubtedly already be wanting more. She was beginning to suspect that his metabolism wouldn't let him really get fat, although she was not particularly willing to test this theory, just in case it was wrong. A fat pet dragon would probably be too strange, even for Xavier's.