Pity Party of One

(ooc: the date is March 11th and open to any and all heroes who want to interact with Arlo!)

Who knew that the smell of dirt could be so comforting?

It had been a few weeks since the lanky dinosaur had accidently found his way to the pridelands and he had to admit that the familiar grip of homesickness had found its way around his heart. This time it seemed stronger, almost unbearable, since he had no one to relate to, or to even talk to. The heroes were nice and all, but they had their own problems to worry about. The pitiful homesickness of a young Apatosaurus was definitely not on the priority list. Some would talk with him out in the little field he had set up on the outskirts, some bringing him water and wilted leaves, but it would never suffice for the interaction he missed the most.

Spot was his best friend by far, and Arlo supposed that no one else would even come close to establishing what those two had. There was something about the way the little human looked up at him, big hazel eyes just a'glowin', that made everything seem alright. Things, now, were definitely not alright and Arlo needed a little pick-me-up more than ever. He still couldn't believe that he managed to find him the other day, but Spot had new people to talk to Arlo supposed. It wasn't that Arlo wasn't friendly, he really was! But people seemed pretty weary of the giant reptile, thus Arlo kept his distance.

Arlo didn't have the biggest or widest head, but his snout was perfect for creating rows to place the seeds in. His green snout dragged the earth as he moved forward, leaving a small trench behind him. The occasional nostrilful of dirt made its way inside, leaving him to stand up and snort it out. "Ugh, this isn't fun. Why did Libby like doin' this so much?" he grumbled to himself, reaching up with a wide foot to rub his nose. While he was grumbling to himself, Arlo failed to notice the garter snake that had made its way into the well where his foot was. The young dinosaur went to place his foot down but instantly retracted it once the reptilian cousin was felt beneath him, letting out a squeaking hiss. "AHHHHH!!!! A SNAKE! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF! IT'S GONNA EAT MEEEEEEE!" Arlo cried, jumping and thrashing around. Comically enough, Arlo sent the little snake flying through the air, luckily it landed in a nearby tree, but not without an annoyed hiss. In his little fit, Arlo had successfully managed to level out every single trench he'd dug since yesterday. Once he settled down, Arlo surveyed the mess and sighed.

His eyes burned as the onslaught of tears started, some even threatening to fall as they welled up. Why did he always mess everything up? He always tried so hard to be normal, to be perfect in every way, but he should know better. The green dinosaur hung his head low, kicked a nearby rock, sniffled, and plopped his hind end down unceremoniously. "I'm sucha mess up. I miss momma and poppa and Libby and Buck. I don't wanna be lonely no more," he sniffled to himself, "or looked at funny. I just wanna fit in."

With all the strange creatures Angel had seen during the war, Arlo wasn't all that odd to her. In fact, she was quite intrigued by what exactly he was. Dinosaurs weren't that commonplace in the hero camp, after all. This one seemed nice enough. A bit skittish, sure, but nice. Angel found herself watching Arlo as he went about his work and got scared by the snake he had accidentally stepped on. The poor dinosaur seemed so... Well, she didn't know how to describe it. The Experiment didn't care, though. She wanted to offer Arlo some company while she had the chance. After all, it was better that someone reach out to him than him not having anyone. Nobody deserved to be left behind like this, so to speak. So Angel crept a bit closer to Arlo and considered resting her paw against his leg. However, she realized that the sudden touch might startle the young dinosaur. It probably was better to voice that she was there first before actually doing anything to try and comfort him. Right?

"Naga be sad," Angel purred. The poor thing sounded homesick, if nothing else. Angel could understand that much. Missing one's home was only natural when they were so far away from what they knew. She hoped that maybe her soft, soothing voice would help Arlo somehow. Then maybe he would be a lot happier. Maybe. Angel didn't know how certain that was, but that was okay. She would try regardless.

"You not alone here. At least... Not while meega here. Angel can stay with you," she said. She offered a soft smile after she finished speaking. Of course, she didn't realize that maybe Arlo would be confused about what she even was. That was okay, though, wasn't it? Maybe they could be a couple of odd creatures just trying to comfort one another. Angel herself had felt a bit lonely and hadn't had a lot to do as a medic in the camp. Maybe that was a blessing, though. Angel never would have wished for harm to come to anyone just so she'd have something to do. If anything, she was hoping that this was a sign that things would remain peaceful. But for now, she didn't mention any of that. She would just focus on Arlo.

Maybe, if all else failed, she could try singing a little. Backwards, of course. She didn't want any of her cousins that might have been in earshot to accidentally get turned bad by her songs being song as it was meant to be. So, if Arlo wanted, she would do that. But for the moment, Angel was content to just talk.

Angel wasn't scary, not in the least bit. But Arlo's nature made everyone seem scary, even the most kind-hearted and fluffiest of creatures. So naturally, he jumped slightly and gasped, his muscles tensing up and his stomach turning into knots. Once he realized that this pink creature meant no harm, the dinosaur settled down and a shy smile pulled across his face. She was really sweet and tried her best to make him feel better, which didn't take much. Arlo was the kind of dinosaur that didn't need much to make him feel better. Just a simple recognition or touch usually did the trick, much like it did right here.

Arlo sniffled again and nodded his head. He understood what she meant for the most part, although some parts of her speech was unlike anything he'd heard before! Heck, the way Ramsay and her family talked was a little difficult to understand as well. Language was a funny thing and the only real way of conveying meanings was by body language and touch. That's how he learned how to understand Spot after all. The Apatosaurus turned his pitiful green gaze to look at her, and then the ground again. "Okay...I-I-I'll try not ta be," he murmured with his shoulders shaking lightly with the occasional sniffle.

Like most of the critters he'd met before, Arlo half expected her to just pat him on the back and continue on her way. Surely she would have better things to do than participate in his pity party of one, right? It seems like everyone else did, but what she said next took him by surprise. She'd offered to stay? Well that was unexpected, but not unwelcomed! Actually, he would like it very much if she stayed with him, at least for a little while. Maybe she was different just like him, or maybe even lonely! Although he would never wish that on anybody, but sometimes that's what brought people together. 

Bringing his surprised emerald gaze to meet her's, Arlo craned his head and smiled again. "You...you'd really stay with me, Miss Angel?" he asked, taking that her name was Angel since she sort of introduced herself. "Gee...I'd like that an awful lot! Thank you!" he laughed softly and sniffled one last, hard time, before shaking them off. Now having a possible new friend, the dinosaur's walls were starting to fall down, and with that he knew that once he started to talk there was a good chance that he might not stop. "My name's Arlo," he introduced, situating himself to face her more, "I-I-I don't mean to be rude, but I reckon I haven't seen a critter like you before! Are you like, a special kind of possum or fox?" He took another good, hard look at her. She looked like a conglomoration of things, but that didn't mean she was any less special, or pretty for that matter!

Aladar walked toward the duo, meaning Arlo and the little pink alien experiment.

“Hi there,” Aladar greeted them. His massive tail was swishing side to side lazily which was a habit he had gotten from his adopted Lemur family. “I’m Aladar. We met a few days ago, but didn’t get a chance to chat.” He flashed a friendly grin at the small green Apatosaurus. “You seem upset. Is everything ok?”

He frowned, lowering his head so that he was eye-level with Arlo. After the hatching of his eggs, Aladar had taken father-hood more seriously. Even now, his thoughts drifted back to his children and his lovely wife, Neera.

"Angel?"

Dainty paws padded on the hard ground, carrying their owner towards the small group. Not that Vixey had realised quite yet that there was a group gathering; at present other priorities, other thoughts were on her mind. The sight of Aladar was one she had grown somewhat accustomed to around the camp, although the lithe fox was certain she was beneath the giant's notice, so she didn't give him much thought. Rather than seeking to join any gathering, no matter how small, Vixey had simply been looking for her fellow medic.

Things were going remarkably smoothy in the med-tent ever since Baymax had joined their little crew. The giant marshmallow of a creature - Vixey didn't know how else to describe him - seemed always to know exactly what to do, and more than once she had willingly defered to his suggestions when it came to caring for a patient. He might not be a leader amongst them, per se, but he was certainly the most knowledgeable of them all.

Even so, Vixey figured, it didn't hurt to have the rest of the medic team do things now and again. She'd not purposefully been seeking out Angel, just looking for the first fellow medic she could find to help her with a few chores around the med-tent, when she'd happened upon the familiar pink creature. Padding over to her friend, Vixey opened her mouth to speak.

Paused, taking in the alien's unusual companion.

"Say, um, gosh, you must be new around here?"

She tilted her head as she addressed Arlo. He was still big, kind of; but compared to a giant like Aladar, the newcomer seemed like a much more managable size. At the very least, not so big as to be completely oblivious to a much smaller animal such as herself.

And he seemed, well... pretty down-hearted, if truth be told. It looked as though Angel might already be doing her bit to help with that, but still, Vixey wasn't someone who liked seeing a soul in distress. Not sure if she could really help or not, the vixen nonetheless wanted to try and add her part, too. Maybe cheer him up a bit?

In the weeks since Tod had been taken from her, Vixey had slowly come to realise that she enjoyed helping others to feel happy. It felt good, doing even something so small for others; not to mention how seeing them cheering up took a bit of the edge off the ache that still clung to her heart whenever she thought of the husband she had lost.

She padded a couple more steps closer.

"Gee, are you doing okay?"

"Uh! Uh uh!"

The dog to the boy and dog story bounded towards Arlo. Spot's tongue lolled out of his mouth as he bounded towards his best friend. He jumped up on a rock, scaled Arlo's back and sat in the area between his shoulder blades and neck. He gave the neck a big squeeze before rubbing his face against it. He loved his Arlo. He often wondered why he left him. Though with his people was where he belonged, Arlo was where he wanted to be. So the choice was easy.

Spotting the group that had gathered around his jumpy friend, his curious green orbs flashed over them. Who were these mysterious creatures? His eyes narrowed but he softened them. They didn't seem like they were trying to hurt Arlo...so...they were okay in his book!

"Unf unf unf!" He barked down at the pink thing. He liked her. She was a pretty color.

With the new company of Angel, Arlo found himself feeling much better. Granted, she didn't say much, but sometimes nothing needs to be said at all. He was content just sitting with the strange experiment, wallowing in his own little pity party. Even though he went on some pretty big adventures, and fought off plenty of bigger dinosaurs, he still had some growing up to do for at the end of the day he was just a kid. A kid who, almost, lost it all and deserves to have himself a pity-party every now and then. Now, however, he had no excuse for one! When it rains, it pours! Right now it was starting to pour new friends, both large and small. 

First was Aladar. Arlo's eyes widened with shock, and surprise, at the sudden appearance of another dinosaur. He thought that surely he would be the only one. Of course, he did see him around the other day, but he was too happy to have found Spot to really process it. Aladar seemed nice enough, much nicer than Bubbha, and looked like a fellow herbivore as well. The young dino dipped his head in welcome, a smile tugging on his mouth. "Yeah...hehe sorry 'bout that! I was just too darn happy ta've found m'friend Spot!" he explained, "I was a lil' sad earlier, not really knowin' nobody but Spot, missin' my family, but now I think Imma feelin' better." Arlo reassured the Iguanadon with a smile and motioned to Angel. "Now that you and Miss Angel here are keepin' me comp'ny."

Just as he was looking downwards, yet another creature found themselves joining his pity party! This time it was a very pretty fox, who was just as sweet as she looked. Arlo knew right away that she was different than some of the other foxes they had around the farm, stealing things and killing the birds. Surely she wouldn't be like that, asking how he was and if he was new around here. Just before he could answer Vixey, and all-too familiar weight appeared in the curve between his shoulders and neck. Arlo's grin nearly broke his face in half with a laugh that could echo for miles. It was high-pitched and full of happiness, now that he was surrounded by people who took an interest in him and, possibly, genuinely cared for him. "Spot! There ya are! I was startin' t'miss ya!" he grinned as Spot nuzzled his neck and went on hooting at Angel. 

Arlo's deep eyes went to Vixey and he nodded his head. "Yessum, I'm the new guy 'round here. Me and this little guy must've wandered too far away from home and ended up here," he said as he craned his neck downwards to get to eye-level with the fox medic. "Like I was tellin'...uh....mister over there, I was havin' my own pity party. Missin' my family somethin' fierce, ya know? But now that there's so many kind folk around me, gosh, I feel like I could've found a new home. My name's Arlo, by the way," he smiled.