Robert Muldoon (
allbedestroyed) wrote2023-07-20 12:20 am
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Private tour for
asorceress
There's no better sign that a date went well than organising another before it's even finished. Generally that's the theory, anyway. Given that this could just be Yennefer's way of getting onto the island to see dinosaurs with a private tour, maybe she's just able to put up with the head warden. He doubts it though. He's seen what Yennefer can do. If she wanted to wander around the island she wouldn't need him to do it. Besides, he really had enjoyed their time together, and it seemed like Yennefer had as well.
This seems like a natural progression. Not only did she get to see him in his natural environment (work), but there's the thrill of infiltration along with this, too. Luckily the park isn't fully set up yet, and Muldoon knows the island like the back of his hand. He's spent plenty of time looking at their security blind spots, because he has to cover them manually, so she has no better guide around the island than him. Between his knowledge and her spells, they should manage to have a thoroughly successful trip.
Just like last time, Muldoon is waiting by a jeep. He'd given her instructions on where to meet him. It was a nice, secluded spot not too far from the docks. It helps with his backup story in case Yennefer's presence is noticed. This time he's wearing his uniform, full khaki and not dissimilar from what he wore on their last date. The most notable differences are the pistol on his hip and the ID badge on his pocket. At least nobody could mistake him for someone else.
This seems like a natural progression. Not only did she get to see him in his natural environment (work), but there's the thrill of infiltration along with this, too. Luckily the park isn't fully set up yet, and Muldoon knows the island like the back of his hand. He's spent plenty of time looking at their security blind spots, because he has to cover them manually, so she has no better guide around the island than him. Between his knowledge and her spells, they should manage to have a thoroughly successful trip.
Just like last time, Muldoon is waiting by a jeep. He'd given her instructions on where to meet him. It was a nice, secluded spot not too far from the docks. It helps with his backup story in case Yennefer's presence is noticed. This time he's wearing his uniform, full khaki and not dissimilar from what he wore on their last date. The most notable differences are the pistol on his hip and the ID badge on his pocket. At least nobody could mistake him for someone else.
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As eager as she was for that, and for the added excitement of exploring a place she technically shouldn't be in (she did like the thrill of it); she was just as eager to spend more time with him.
Needing to blend in, and knowing the climate better now; she wears a similar outfit to their last date. Except this time it's in a more Yennefer suitable color scheme of black and white - black khaki shorts and a white sleeveless shirt. It should keep her cool enough, and if not, she can always utilize a spell provided none but Muldoon would witness her casting it. She wears boots for good measure as well, as she imagines there'll likely be some trekking through the wilderness involved during the tour.
She portals to the location he's given, stepping through it and glancing around before her gaze settles on him, a smile spreading across her face as she approaches. "How very official," she remarks with a teasing tap of his ID badge. "I hope I don't need one of those. No surname and all, could seem a bit suspicious," she grins up at him, and, given they have a bit of privacy decides to greet him with a kiss.
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For many people the ID badge is the only proof that the warden smiles. The photographer had coaxed one out of him and Hammond always prefers to keep a joyful veneer on everything. But none of that is important when she presses her lips to his. He kisses back for that brief moment and quickly has to focus his thoughts again.
"I'll avoid it if I can. Otherwise we can get you a temporary badge. You might have Vengerberg as your surname." As before, he opens the passenger side door for her, closing it behind her before heading into the jeep himself. "Have you never chosen a fake name in all your time travelling other worlds?"
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She's looking over at him while she's talking, but once she finishes she takes a moment to glance at their surroundings - trying to get a sense of where they might be, and if there are any security cameras nearby.
"It's quite beautiful," she comments, impressed by the green and lush environment. "Why this particular island though?" she asks, turning to look at him once more. "Does the climate suit the animals best?"
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In case she needs to cast some spell as they get underway, which is what he focuses on doing as he starts up the jeep. He has a fondness for these vehicles. Unlike the tour cars, these were sturdy 4x4s, which allows him to do things like park in awkward spots for portaling guests.
"The climate is good for the animals, it's naturally isolated, and the local government were willing to rent it out," he explains. Hammond would know better why he chose the island in particular, but those are the obvious reasons. "There are also other islands nearby for potential expansion. One of them is already in use for trialling new species, but they've moved some production over here."
As much as he loathes talking about animals like they're products, that's the nature of InGen's business. More pleasantly he adds, "It's actually not the worst setup I've worked with."
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"Ah, I see. So it's about profit as much as anything else," she remarks; quite familiar with the type of minds that operated as such. It wasn't just in his world, the allure of power and money was fairly universal.
At his last comment however she grins with some amusment, wondering at what would constitute as the worst setup he's worked with. He seemed fairly capable of dealing with just about anything when it came to environments. "Well, as I've said before, they are lucky to have you."
Spotting the first camera at a distance, she lifts her hand; disrupting the feed temporarily. Now that she knows the particular electronic frequency of what the cameras emit; it will be easy for her to feel and tap into their location even if she can't see them.
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The reiteration of her compliment gets a tug of his lips into a brief smile. It's nice to hear. While Hammond prides himself on getting the best people in, it can often feel like he forgets they're supposed to be the best whenever they make a suggestion or raise an issue.
"Being an island helps a lot. It means we don't have to worry about any escaped animals getting very far. There aren't many native animals that can interfere, either. It makes it difficult for any unwanted visitors, too. All of which helps me keep everyone safe."
The path evens out a bit, even becoming a proper road before they come up to the Visitor's Center. He parks them around the side, rather than in the limelight of the front of the building. Being a member of staff who was here from the start, he knows all the side routes, and Yennefer is going to get a bit of a backstage tour.
"I thought we'd start by showing you the main centre. It's not finished yet, but that just makes it easier to show you without getting questioned."
After giving her a moment to prepare, he opens the side door and brings her into the main hall. Two giant skeletons are posed, locked in an eternal battle. Scaffolding blocks some of the skylights, and the decorative walls around the bottom floor. Muldoon starts explaining some of the features of the building, the command centre, the labs, the restaurant, and the educational ride that's in the middle of being built.
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But that train of thought is interrupted as they arrive at the Visitor's Center; from the outside it looks fairly innocuous, almost inviting; in a sense. She nods at his mention of exploring here first, and follows him through the main doors; stopping in her tracks to gaze up at the massive skeletons before her - far larger and taller than anything she's encountered before and it gives her some sense of the scale of these animals.
Listening while he explains, her gaze eventually shifts from the figures before her to take in the rest of the half finished interior. "I'm rendered somewhat speechless already and we've barely begun," she remarks with a slight chuckle. This isn't anything like any of the parks she's heard of back on their mainlands; and she has no shortage of questions already.
"It's difficult to fathom this one day becoming a place for people to visit..." she trails off, eyes wandering back to the massive jaw bones of the larger skeleton. "And even more difficult to comprehend how such an animal can safely be kept behind a fence. How are you certain the voltage is enough?" Of her many questions, this one is at the forefront of her thoughts.
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"We used various calculations based on body mass, and then adjusted several times after trial and error." It sounds pretty clinical, but Muldoon's been trained on the party line. Throwing in official language sounds better than 'we guessed and corrected after we discovered we were wrong', which is essentially what it boiled down to. Hammond wasn't too happy with him phrasing it like that, though, and he's been scolded enough to tweak what he says.
Having answered her, he tilts his head slightly and asks a question of his own. "How much do you know about dinosaurs?"
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"My information is gathered largely from what is available in common text books. They inhabited your world prior to humans and other mammalian species, and they were driven to extinction after an asteroid hit." She hadn't studied extensively, so certain species were likely to be foreign to her awareness; but just about every text book had a special section on the Tyrannosaur.
She nods toward the skeleton. "I hadn't factored in exactly what the scale would feel like, just in standing in front of a skeleton of a Tyrannosaur." She drops her tone and leans in a bit, just to ensure none might overhear if they were to walk by. "It would take quite a bit of magic to combat with a creature of such size, it's larger than some of the dragons we have."
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"Really? The tyrannosaur's not even the biggest animal we have here." His surprise is genuine, but he's playful in the obvious brag. With Yennefer he won't attempt to be subtle. She'd see right through it. Better to be somewhat upfront. Yet he's completely honest when he adds, "I would have thought dragons were massive. As big as towns." His brow lifts and he looks at her. "We're lucky the dinosaurs aren't magical beasts as well."
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She scoffs playfully at his comment, followed by a smile at the brag; because as usual she enjoys it when he teases a bit, or lets a smile show through. "Well, some dragons are; but more commonly they are slightly less massive in scale. However they do still breathe fire, so I'd prefer running into one of your dinosaurs over that, if I had the choice."
"Which is the largest animal in the park, then? Or should that remain a surprise?" she asks; thinking she's starting to become rather fond of surprises since their first date, which is not a thing she would have ever expected.
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Admittedly that does make the warden mutter a wistful, "I think seeing a dragon would be rather nice."
He does not, by any measure, mean that as a hint. Only that he enjoys seeing new animals, and that just as she's excited to see his dinosaurs, so would he love to see a dragon. Among about a hundred other things, though a dragon would certainly be a memorable favourite.
"I'll let you find out for yourself," he tells her. Because trying to describe the size of these animals really doesn't do them any justice.
She gets a quick tour around some of the rooms in the centre. Those places he can risk taking her. Mainly the halls where the large windows allow them to catch a glimpse of the lab and the control room. While he has little to say on the lab, he is clearly fond of the control room, where he can get information on the park's goings on nice and quickly. He spends a lot of time there when he's not out in the park.
After this mini-tour he turns to her. "Shall we go out into the park?"
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She's careful to mind the cameras as he takes her on the brief tour of the interior, disrupting the signals as she goes so that even if one were to be carefully monitoring the feeds; all they would see would be a temporary interruption, or a looping effect. It doesn't take much of her concentration to do so, and she listens as he explains each room; finding the control room particularly interesting for how much it seems to be the central hub of operations, and how much of the park can be monitored.
When he turns to ask her if she's ready, her response is an enthusiastic - "Absolutely." She smiles wide in anticipation. "Are we heading out on foot or in the jeep?"
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"The jeep," he replies with equal certainty. Even with the kinder animals, there's a lot of ground to cover. "Come on."
Seeing Muldoon stride about the place with some poor soul in tow isn't exactly unusual, and nobody really takes much notice of the two as they head back to the vehicle. When they get back in the radio chatters away small updates, which Muldoon clearly listens to but doesn't seem concerned by. He just likes to make sure his team are doing their job.
This time they're soon turning off the beaten path to the rougher roads maintenance and wardens use. They pass through one of the gates of the high voltage fence and find themselves in one of the paddocks with no roads to follow at all. For a long stretch it looks like any other part of the island. Beautiful, lush plantlife and rolling green plains. While Muldoon did have a particular first-destination in mind, something on the radio catches his attention. He turns and heads down a different route.
They crest a ridge and Muldoon puts the jeep into park. From here they have a lovely view. A stream, thick bushes dotted around, and a herd of triceratops happily mulling around the quiet area, occasionally calling to each other in gravelly huffs and grunts.
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But, knowing the current inhabitants of said island; it's less of a vacation and more an adventure. Which, frankly; she appreciates both in equal measure, so she can understand the allure of why he'd want to work in such a place.
A realization that becomes very apparent once he parks the jeep and she gazes upon the view before them. Her eyes widen at the sight of the triceratops, gasping as she mutters a curse beneath her breath in the same language he's likely heard her swear in before; certainly not a language of his world. As she watches the animals move she's completely fascinated; and the unique sounds they make to communicate with each other are not quite like anything she's heard before. "They're beautiful," she utters, awe-struck; because they really were. "I didn't think they would move quite so fluidly, it's graceful, even." Particularly considering how large they were.
After a few moments of staring, her focus fixed on every small detail she can take in about their behavior as well as the unique appearance of the three horns; she manages to tear her gaze away momentarily to glance over at him. "Can we get any closer? Or would that disturb them?"
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These lovely animals are half the reason Muldoon has such wonderfully sturdy vehicles.
As some consolation he leans over and pops open the glove compartment. From there he pulls out a set of binoculars and offers them to her. "A younger generation was introduced and they get taken in as the herd's children. You can see them, they're a bit smaller, and not quite as weathered as the others, like the one drinking from the stream now."
He waits for her to take a good look before he continues speaking in that steady, informative way of his. "Every so often they have hierarchical disputes, especially as the newer additions reach maturity. We have to keep a close eye on them. They reach the size of an African elephant and they are incredibly strong. Of all the animals in the park, they have probably caused the most damage."
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She listens with interest as he describes the animals taking in the younger generation, focusing the binoculars on the youngest and noticing the differences. "Their hides look similarly as tough as that of some of the dragons I've seen," she comments.
"Really?" she lowers the binoculars and looks at him with disbelief when he mentions that of all the animals, they've been responsible for the most damage. "Not the raptors, or the massive tyrannosaur?" She finds this difficult to parse, but then again her world was filled with a variety of dangerous predatory species; all of which caused significant damage whenever they roamed.
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With a wave, he gestures to the animals below. "Trikes are built to gore, to charge and ram. They can deliver more blunt force damage because of how sturdy they are. Which does more damage to things like vehicles and structures."
She's got him on a bit of a spiel now, so hopefully she doesn't mind him being unusually talkative. "A lot of people immediately think of the carnivores when they ask about dangerous animals. But big herbivores are just as deadly. Hippos, elephants, and buffalo are some of the most dangerous animals in the world. In some cases they can be even more aggressive than predators who pick their battles more carefully."
"These ladies are big and strong, and they know it," he says with a nod their way.
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It's a different side to him she's seeing - talkative and highly knowledgeable on each question she asks; and she finds it an appealing side to witness. Particularly because she'll have a variety of questions, and is a naturally curious person at heart. It's clear he's in his element as a guide, and as someone who seems to know these once extinct animals incredibly well; as he'd have to, in order to keep everyone safe.
And as such, her mind can't help but go back to similar questions of safety when it comes to what he'd said before. "How would you stop them then? If they were to charge a car, or go after some unlucky employee who stumbled across them at the wrong moment?"
She's seen his skill with a rifle firsthand, but she assumes these animals were simply too valuable to be putting bullets into if something were to go wrong; assuming bullets could even puncture their thick hides.
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"That depends on their body language. Sometimes turning on the engine and revving or yelling works. Like elephants, simply reversing as fast as possible can be dangerous as it invites a charge. If I was rescuing someone else the key would be to draw their attention, to pull them back until I could get to whoever it is and give them an earful."
Since he's getting into an explanation, he shifts in his seat to turn towards her properly, a hand waving for emphasis as he talks. "With big game there's something we do when they're threatening to charge but we want to get away. We turn on the engine and reverse very slowly, but if at any point they go to charge, we stop. It's a risky move, but showing we're not engaging, and that we're standing our ground often works better. The trikes seem to respond to this if they're not too agitated."
"If they are?" He thins his lips and shakes his head. "You'd better hope someone good is behind the wheel."
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Thankfully, she was in good hands with Muldoon guiding them, and the explanation he gives has her expression shifting to a more pensive one; as if she's calculating what she would do if she were in such a position - facing down an agitated and charging triceratops. "Fortunately you and I both seem to have a fondness for driving fast," she teases. "Though in this circumstance it's far better with you behind the wheel." He knew the territory, and the animals best.
"There are certain creatures in my world that act similarly, where holding your ground is best. Unless you know you can outrun something, in general; it's best not to even try," she comments, glancing out toward the animals and thinking once again how remarkable they are. How peaceful they look, at this distance; with nothing to disturb them going about their day. "But, people are prone to panic; especially if their life is at risk." She looks back at him, pausing a moment as she wonders if bringing the topic up would be prying; she hopes not. "Have you ever had an encounter with these animals that resulted in more than just damage to a car?" Serious injuries, deaths; it goes without saying.
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It's not surprising to hear there are similarities in animals she knows. At a certain point, as long as you follow the general trend of Earth-like animals, there is inevitably going to be some overlap. Predators will learn how to play the odds, herbivores will be skittish until they reach a certain size and then all bets are off... The warden can't help but wish he could do a proper comparison, though.
As for her question, Muldoon nods, props a leg up to tug down one of his long socks and outlines a few scars dotted along his calf. "Dilophosaur bite. I got caught while trying to get a member of my team to safety. We both had to take the antivenin that day."
"We've had a few broken bones, lacerations, bites and infections. Thankfully the only deaths we've had so far were freak accidents with the builders, not the animals." Pulling his sock back up, he looks at her pointedly. "I'm very serious about safety. We've been extremely cautious. Too cautious, according to my boss, but that's why he hired me."
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When he shows her the scar left behind by the bite, she reaches out to outline the border of said scar with her fingertips; curious at the shape left behind by it's teeth - not a massive animal by the size of it, but not small either; and at the mention of venom she glances up at him with surprise. "It's bite is poisonous? I've not heard of a Dilophosaur before, or if it was mentioned in the texts; not much was said of it for me to recall." Poison was a well known and very serious risk among a variety of creatures from her world. "From what I've experienced in my own world, if a poisonous creature bites you; rarely is there enough time to do anything about it, much less reverse the effects. You're quite lucky." It's not the first time she's had such a thought.
"I think when dealing with animals who would have normally remained extinct, there is no such thing as too much caution. Considering how unpredictable their behavior could be in what is a new environment to them." She's glad he's the one dealing with safety, rather than his boss. Too often it was the person with the 'vision' that got caught up in the idea of it all, swept away by it; only to forget the very real consequences that could occur if caution was not applied thoroughly and patiently.
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The light touch tickles a little. He'd meant it to be demonstrative, but he hadn't expected her to touch him. Thankfully it's easier not to get too distracted by that when he has something else to focus on. Like being a good guide and providing all the information he has on the animals they're discussing.
He nods at her question. "As well as a venomous bite, it can also spit venom up to six meters. We didn't know it was venomous until it was already made. It made for quite a nasty surprise. Often the younger ones will prefer to spit and blind their prey, which is what I was trying to save the other warden from. The bite is more deadly, but it takes a little time to work. If we didn't have the antivenin it would have been a very different story."
One he wouldn't be telling, but that isn't anything new. At this rate he's going to convince her that he just goes from one near-death experience to the next. It's probably a lot scarier to imagine dealing with when you're used to having magic to help get you out of a difficult situation.
"You're right, but in a way it's not a new thing. Throughout history people have taken animals they know nothing about and put them in environments entirely unsuited for them." It's sort of refreshing, talking to Yennefer about this. She gets it. All of it. Not just from a romanticised perspective, but a grounded one. One who knows the dangers of it all, but also why things are the way they are. Even though it's not her world "As an old teacher of mine said: The mistakes of the past are there, if we're willing to look at them."
Muldoon gives the trikes another long look before he looks at Yennefer. "Shall I show you something else then?"
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However, if she was without her magic; that would be a different story. And it gives her an even deeper respect for just how much skill his role here requires, how on top of things he would need to be at all times to ensure everyone's safety, including his own. If she didn't know him to be incredibly capable already, she'd worry about him more; but as it stands he has the scars and experience to prove he can handle himself.
"Your teacher had it right," she agrees wholeheartedly, glancing toward the triceratops as she absorbs that bit of history he'd given. They were such remarkable creatures, that was undeniable; yet she couldn't really understand the motivation or desire to bring them back from extinction and place them in an entirely unfamiliar environment - isolated here in this island. Questions she was curious about, but would ponder on as they went.
Her focus is brought back to Muldoon with the question and she responds with a smile, enthusiastic to continue exploring. "Yes, please. Where to next?"
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