Lawrence Lacson will appear in the San Diego DRT coordination site with the telltale glow of a Min Woo-young teleport. He's wearing a dust mask, helmet with face shield, and body armor.
He's assuming someone will approach to talk to him. He's previously announced his intention to contribute to containing and capturing the Menagerie monsters and will teleport in cages for this purpose (though not right this second).
It takes a few seconds of whispering and nudging before someone walks over, but he's greeted by a very tired-looking DRT operative. "Sergeant Steven Smith, DRT. Can I get your name, sir?" Clearly an esper, he 'ported in and he's too damn pretty to be human. Hope this one's got a good power for this fuckin' fiasco.
Scan, scan...huh. Okay. "Gotcha. Here for Menagerie containment, it says? What local support do you need?"
"Yes. If there is a place where I could teleport in cages for the monsters, that would be very good.
My power is movement control and my backlash is difficulty moving. So, I would really want one, maybe two operatives to help me manage the cages. My plan is to have the monsters go inside the cage and the others close it and carry it back. And to prop me up if I overuse my power and become incapable of walking."
"We have a staging ground near Miramar we can use for the monsters, we can shake loose a few operatives for you, that shouldn't be a problem. Are you okay with being given a wheelchair?"
"The typical way my backlash manifests is that, at moderate levels, I can still stand but need to be pushed or pulled to help me walk, and I have trouble speaking. That's typically when I stop using my power and get guided. But if it's easier for you for me to get into a wheelchair now and get pushed around, that's fine too. I will be as useful with my power on the wheelchair as off it."
Right, he's still pretending that his backlash is physical rather than mental. So maybe he should be less resistant to using a wheelchair.
"We have enough wheelchairs that we can spare one, no problem." Although if it'd be useful, maybe he should have brought it. He scrolls through his tablet for about thirty seconds. "Okay, this should be doable. I got the sizes on the cages, we'll work under the assumption you'll be wanting space for ten cages. And you've got the paperwork for the armed guards taken care of...this is workable. I'll get you two operatives, and that should be everything on our side? Or are there other considerations we need to be aware of?"
"I might need to bring in more cages if I'm unusually efficient in my power use. But I'll tell you if this is likely to occur beforehand. No other considerations. I can meet with the operatives now."
He nods. "Happy hunting." I really hope he knows what he's doing for this one. Those critters look cute and harmless, and then they rip your fuckin' heart out and bite it.
Lawrence hopes he knows what he's doing! He teleports ten of the cages through and meets up with operatives Sofia Soto and Noah Miller. He instructs them on how to open and close the cages, and how to handle him in case he gets backlashed. Since Lawrence doesn't need the wheelchair right now, some of the cages have been put on it.
Right. Do they have a map of Menagerie monster sightings or sensor reports?
Some people do in fact responsibly report it if they see, say, a teacup piglet with teacup-like floral patterning on it trotting down the sidewalk. Somewhat more of them will do this if they tried to catch the teacup piglet themselves - a civilian can technically stuff a Menagerie monster in a dog crate or a hamster ball no problem as long as they're quick and steady - and then regretted it. (The ones who don't regret it might also report it but they don't want Lawrence there, they want Several Million Dollars or their teacup piglet.)
If he wants up-to-date reports of loose monsters (as opposed to reports of caught monsters or reports hours old where the critter could be anywhere by now) the most promising cluster is over there. Several independent reports of a bat monster; a report of a mammalian nigh-spherical creature; a report and a photo of a sort of Art Deco shiny lizard.
Lawrence and team will go to the most promising cluster. He's not bothering to use his psychic sensor power since between the three of them, they have enough coverage to avoid getting surprised by a monster appearing in their blind spots.
The bat monster seems like it would be the hardest for others to catch. Because it can fly. He'll try looking for it over the other ones.
The bat monster was reported in a mall. It's amusing the children in the play are by doing flips in the air. None of the children have run yet. Their parents are hovering, very tense.
Okay. Here we go. If you mess up then people will Literally Die.
Who knew that PR training would turn out to be materially useful?
"Hi everyone. Playtime's over. Mister Bat needs to go to sleep now, because it's daytime. Come on, Mister Bat, it's time to go." He wants to approach sufficiently closely that he can get it with one short application of his power.
Miller picks up one of the cages, opens it in Mister Bat's direction, and walks closer.
"I don't WANT Mister Bat to go to sleep. Mister Bat should drink coffee like Daddy!"
"His name is NOT MISTER BAT. His name is CHEESE CRACKER."
"It's a GIRL and HER name is Fluffy."
Oh dear. This is already turning out poorly.
He doesn't think bats can drink coffee...there's a smarter way to handle this.
"They need to go home to their cousins," he says, summoning a commscreen and setting it to display the Ontario Monster Park's exhibits, then flipping it so they can see. "You could visit in the future. They live in Ontario, in Canada."
Is Mx. Fluffy Cheese Cracker approaching Lawrence's group or are they staying near the kids?
Mx. Fluffy Cheese Cracker was taking a brief break from aerobatics, hanging from a garland strung between the upper story of the mall, but it lets go to swoop down and do a barrel roll, chittering.
There are two ways Lawrence can use his power. He can give a command with a set time, and the entity will try to fulfill it as best it can within that set time. He pays the cost upfront. But if the time is too short, it will break before the task is finished; and if it's too long, he wastes backlash. He has the option of giving the command with no time limit, producing backlash at a set rate until the task is finished, but the cost will always be more than if he did it with a set time. Though he has the option of aborting the command early.
He should probably have practiced this maneuver on an easier monster first. Oh well.
At the lowest point of Mx. Fluffy Cheese Cracker's dive, he commands it. Go into the cage.
He gives the command with no time limit, but he'll abort if it takes more than ten seconds. Hopefully it will take five or less.
The cage is not far away and the bat monster is nimble, though a couple kids try to catch it as it goes by. It goes into the cage.
Thank goodness none of the kids were able to catch it. Miller closes the cage promptly and labels the cage with the appropriate information, and sets it on the wheelchair.
"The bat has decided to take a nap, now! Sorry everyone."
Meanwhile, Soto will ask the parents if they've seen any other 'unusual animals' and also if anyone needs to go see a doctor.
One parent saw a slightly off-looking pigeon but it flew away and the power is out at her house so her phone was dead and she didn't call it in.
Soto will get the parent's address and put that into the sightings database although since it can fly and it's been a while, it's of very little value. Still, she thanks the parent.
Lawrence and team will now go to the lizard or the mammal, whichever is closest, unless something more pressing occurs.
The mammalsphere is bobbing in the water in a fountain over thataway, the lizard is a bit farther and at the edge of a parking lot.
They'll take a picture of the mammalsphere before approaching. They really ought to have done this for the bat too, for the purposes of Collecting Data™.
Is there anyone around?
Yup, a teenager is trying to hit it with nickels he's throwing into the fountain and someone else is filming it.
You are throwing nickels at Lawrence's several million dollars, how dare you Lawrence and Miller will approach wordlessly, Miller holding the open empty cage in front of him.
Yeah, they're not answering this question right now. The cages that Lawrence ordered are made of sheet metal with pencil-sized holes poked into them. Can Miller will scoop the monster up, water and all? They plan to just let the water drain out.
The monster does not really want to be colandered but it has very stubby limbs and can't swim away in time.
Scoop! Once Miller has closed the lid, he sets it on the side of the fountain so the water can drain.
Now that the monster is safely contained, Lawrence says, cheerfully, "It's a dungeon monster! We're seeing whether it's possible to keep them in a zoo, like the Ontario Monster Park."
"A lot of monsters are dangerous, but a lot aren't, just like how the average dungeon isn't that dangerous. There really should be a more neutral term for them, but, well, 'monster' is what stuck. Have you seen any other weird animals like this near here?"
In that case, Lawrence will say goodbye, still having his Professional Smiling Esper Face on, and move on to the lizard. Is it still there?
It's moved on a bit and someone is throwing it Cheerios. It chases them with a comical gait and little yarking noises.
That's a very creative and smart idea. He should get some snacks to throw at the monsters to get their attention.
They'll try what they did earlier, and Miller will walk over to try and get between the lizard and the person. Does the lizard or the person become upset at this?
They want to forestall all conversation until the monster has been successfully contained. What is the lizard doing? Miller will set the open cage on the floor in the case the lizard wants to helpfully and conveniently walk right into it.
The lizard doesn't want that. There aren't any Cheerios there. The guy with the Cheerios throws some a bit closer to his feet so that his view of it won't be blocked any more.
This is so annoying. He can't say that this is a Dangerous Dungeon Monster because that will alarm him and risk his life. He could use his power now — the lizard is very close. But that would incur backlash, and he wants to be as efficient as possible with it so he can capture as many monsters as possible.
Living in the Philippines means having to deal with very spotty cashless payment infrastructure, so you carry cash everywhere you go. He still does it, even in Korea. He converted some Korean won into US dollars before he teleported here. Lawrence takes out his wallet and holds out a bill. "I'll pay you fifty dollars for your Cheerios. And if you go somewhere else."
That is a massively sus thing to say. "I don't know what your problem is, man, I'm not bothering you."
People should respond better to economic incentives.
He'll look at the other two. Is this a cultural thing?? Help?????
Soto will venture, "We're doing research on dungeon monsters, which involves capturing them." Look at their super official DRT uniforms with the seal of the City of San Diego on them!
"You can put in your research paper that I am literally just sitting here giving the lizard treats and not in your way at all." Toss. The lizard scrambles for the bouncing snack.
Lawrence doesn't really see a way out of this aside from waiting for the lizard to eat all the Cheerios. Or forcefully removing the guy from the situation. So power use it will have to be.
Go into the cage.
Close!
"Oh, it turns out the lizard wanted to go into the cage after all." Is Lawrence being petty and unprofessional? Absolutely not. He's just prohibited from explaining the Menagerie situation because it would cause panic.
"Psychic powers." And then Miller will put the cage on the wheelchair and leave.
They have three cages full and three cages empty on the wheelchair. Lawrence only had to use his power for two of them and he's still good on backlash. At this rate he thinks he can use his power maybe...five to ten more times before he'd want to stop and wait for Lachlan to get here for guiding. Though perhaps he'll find that there's an esper operating here who he's compatible with he could get some guiding from.
Are there any shops open? He wants to buy treats to entice monsters with.
Some stores are open, yeah, though a lot of them are out of things and have instituted per-customer limits on how many things they can buy or other temporary austerity measures since trucks can't get in as easily as usual to re-up their stock.
He'll get...Cheerios, obviously, if they have it, and some beef jerky, crackers, dried fruit and nuts, canned fish...
He'll pay with cash. They can all go on the wheelchair.
They're out of the trail mix and tuna but he can have sardines and dried cranberries and a 50% peanut nut mix.
Sad. Well, he'll get those instead.
Are there updates on the nearest monsters?
Another report of the weird pigeon - someone saw a mention on their birding forum and put two and two together.
The weird pigeon is legit, apparently. Let's try to catch it!
He'll go to the place where there was a last sighting and wander aimlessly, looking up to see if there are any birds.
There are Normal Pigeons. There are Normal Seagulls. There are Finches, House and Lesser Gold. There are Mourning Doves. Are those Doves all Mourning...?
His psychic sensor power lets him detect not just the presence of minds but their shape and state. He'd be able to identify regular animals from Menagerie monsters using it. Except its range is so-so. The birds are a bit too far away. He doesn't know enough about birding to know whether a weird bird is just a weird bird or a Menagerie monster.
Are there any pictures of the Menagerie pigeon, or any descriptions of what it looks like?
The birder on the birding forum said it looked "like a cross between a bronzewing and a fruit dove".
These bird names sound like dungeon monsters in and of themselves. Uh...well they can look up what a bronzewing and fruit dove individually looks like and then try to smush them together in their heads.
They'll wait for ten more minutes in the nearest open area that has birds in the hopes that it shows up, and Lawrence will throw some of the 50% peanut nut mix on the ground to entice birds to come. Is it so enticed? They'll stand a ways away from where the nuts are and Lawrence will use his psychic sensor power to detect if any bronzewing-and-fruit-dove-looking birds are the monster they're looking for.
The normal doves have no interest, or else are scared of him, but the bronzewing fruit dove with its soulful dark eyes and shimmering colors flutters down fearlessly.
This is the prettiest one of the Menagerie monsters he's seen, in his opinion. He gets why people would want to approach them. And they will approach it too. They'll sprinkle a bunch of the nuts in the cage and leave it close to the bronzewing fruit dove in the hopes that it will enter of its own accord.
The bird pecks at the nuts but it's shaped like a granivore and has a kind of hard time with them. It doesn't make enough progress on the ones it starts with to seek more in the cage.
Hm. What about the Cheerios? He'll sprinkle a few in front of the dove and a bit more in the box.
It pecks a Cheerio into tiny bits and eats up the bits. Then it starts on another one. At three minutes per Cheerio if it doesn't slow down, this might eventually work!
They're willing to wait! Lawrence will offer some water to the DRT operatives, which he bought from the grocery store. They can have a little break. Not opening or eating any of the other food though, for fear that the dove might want to fly up to them to get a piece.
PR training!!!! PR training!!!!
Lawrence will panic and immediately get the dove to fly into the cage.
Close!! That's four, two more to go. The team breathes a sigh of relief. That was a use of his power, but the bird was already very close to the cage so the power use was brief.
Any more near their area? If not, they'll cart everything back to HQ so they can drop off the cages and get fresh ones. And also get a break. Lachlan isn't done with his swamp dungeon yet but Lawrence is still doing good on backlash and could do several more cages if they're all as successful as this.
Then they'll return to base. The last thing they want is to get hit by one of the speeding cars and let their captured monsters free.
That does give Lawrence the idea of using his power on the cars. Hm...would it work? Maybe he'll test it later. Maybe he could capture one of the cars for himself...the idea of having a dungeon car to drive around in sounds really cool. He has no idea how to drive, but. He could learn!
Do they have any encounters on the way back?
Well, as they're crossing a street, there's definitely an encounter. It takes the sound of a shrieking electric convertible careening around the corner, pursued by an OTTO! and an SUV.
(The convertible's passengers are no longer screaming. At this point, they're almost looking bored. And a bit carsick. Humans can get used to almost anything.)
The team will run across as fast as possible!
He kind of jinxed it thinking that, didn't he? Does it count as a jinxing if you only thought it? He will attempt to order the car. Turn away from us.
It just about barely pulls off a left at the intersection instead of a right. Its two compatriots follow, nipping at its heels.
Hurry! Hurry!
Lawrence's true backlash is the loss of the ability to take meaningful action. Fortunately, having two cars bear down on you at super speed lowers the threshold for action. He orders the two cars to likewise turn away.
He's starting to feel his backlash significantly, now. He still has enough wherewithal to walk away from the road.
It takes a minute for him to speak.
"That was bad."
The other two nod wordlessly.
"We should go back. I can still walk and still have a few more in me... but I feel like I want to take a break...that was very surprising. And we should drop this off. I learned that my power can work on the cars, though!"
"We should report this to the coordinator."
"Yeah." They do that, and send advance notice that they're bringing back some of the monsters. He wonders how Traceless and Kuroko are doing...
Are they accosted by any other things on their way back?
This time, there's a diesel-powered firetruck doing its level best to keep up with a rather sporty-looking sedan. It's keeping the DRT van behind it from passing with its bulk. Needless to say, the sight of a fire engine doing its level best to take up 3 lanes worth of traffic inspires terror in the heart of anyone who's ever driven a car.
But the noise of the screaming diesel engine should provide enough warning that they can get out of the road first. Right?
Hopefully! They're moving as fast as possible, with Miller pushing the wheelchair with the four full cages and Soto carrying the empty ones. Lawrence does not carry any of them because carrying anything heavy makes it harder for him to will himself to move.
They can't run with the whelchair, though. Lawrence has to turn away the both the sedan and the firetruck with his power. His power is agnostic about size, but the fact that the firetruck is bigger means it takes longer for it to turn. Lawrence feels the strength leave him. Soto has to pull him onto the sidewalk once she realizes Lawrence has stopped moving.
"Can you still walk?"
"Yes, but I need someone to guide me. Uh...push me."
Soto will put back the empty cages on the wheelchair and support Lawrence walking.
They make it back successfully and Soto peels off to handle the temporary storage of the monsters.
Is Sergeant Smith available to be talked to?
It takes eight minutes for someone to peel him out of Organizational Purgatory, but yes. "Hullo again, sir. Any luck?" I hope so. I heard there was one that got loose in a school... He shudders a little at the thought.
"Yes. We were able to capture four." He lists the locations and circumstances of each capture.
"On the way back, we had cars come after us. However, I was able to make them turn with my power, letting us cross the street safely. I had to do it several times and I want to take a guiding break before continuing — I'm at the stage where I can stand but can't walk without assistance.
I had the idea that my power might work on the cars but wasn't sure. Now that it's confirmed, I don't know if I'd be better placed to deal with the Menagerie monsters or the cars, or what my comparative advantage would be. My expectation is that I would incur much more backlash — probably two to four times more — per car compared to per monster.
There are many factors that tie into how much backlash I incur, but the main one is time. The backlash rises superlinearly. If victim casualties weren't an issue, I could order the cars to crash into a nearby wall or building. That would take as much as a Menagerie monster in backlash, I estimate. My partner, Suburb, could put out any fires that result. He is planned to arrive after he deals with his current dungeon in Singapore.
I could instead order the cars to slow down but it would take way longer to do so in a way that left the passengers alive. I generally keep my power on for around five seconds at a time, ten rarely, more than ten basically never, because it incurs too much backlash.
I remain at your disposal."
Capturing the Menagerie monsters has higher upside in terms of his bank account, but it's not guaranteed that he'd get the zoo payout if the dungeon core isn't found and killed. And dealing with the car monsters is higher priority because it's blocking everything else.
Hmmmmm. "I'd want to check the database, but I don't think five seconds is really enough to tip the scale on a car capture. Definitely don't crash these things, though, that'd be a nightmare." And also murder. Or manslaughter? An esper'd get off, I bet. "You think you could make one of them let go?"
"Ah, shoot. Sorry, let lemme just..." He pulls up a ruggedized tablet and points it at a report. "Pinion and uh, another esper grabbed a few of these. The little carnapper fellas attach themselves to the bottom of the cars, weld themselves in place. If you can make a monster let go of the car, that might be a worthwhile use of your power. Otherwise, I think Menagerie duty would be best."
"Thank you. I will try this after I get guided — I don't want to venture out to try it and risk becoming immobile."
Is there anything else from Smith? Otherwise, Lawrence will wait for Lachlan to teleport over.
Nossir, Smith's all set. He's happy willing to go back to inventorying forty tire irons.
In half an hour, Lachlan will appear by teleport and the two of them will enter a tent and do what espers do.
They're very compatible and neither of them are severely backlashed. It will only take a couple of hours of cuddling to get Lawrence to zero and Lachlan to mild backlash. They're going to leave the tent before Lachlan gets zeroed so Lawrence can try getting the carnappers to release.
Lachlan will report that to the coordinators and also say that he is available for firefighting if it is necessary, given that firetrucks cannot operate within the city at this time. Do they have a map of where the cars are or do they just stand on the side of the road waiting for one?
Yes. They have routes the cars seem to prefer, but unless you can teleport it's pretty hard to catch a car going 120. You're better off waiting for one to come around the corner at you.
They will wait at a safe place — Lawrence's power range is so-so, but enough to be tens of meters from the road — and lock arms. Lawrence would prefer to find a car that is alone. He doesn't want to risk having the carnapper disengage and for them to pick it up only for their companions to try and rescue them by running the two of them over. Are there any who are alone?
There's one 'orphaned' car. Looks like it was racing with one of its kin, but another esper team took its kin down. At the risk of anthropomorphizing a dungeon monster, it looks like it's hunting for fellow vehicles to join?
Sorry lone car!
Lawrence will order the carnapper to disengage from the car.
Huh. That's very odd. Lawrence definitely felt the order come through, and he certainly felt the backlash hit from it, but it just. Can't? His power makes it so the controlled entities will still Try Their Best to do the thing they were so ordered but if it really can't...what's up with that? Maybe it's like a male anglerfish and it's physically incapable of removing itself once it has connected.
Part of Lawrence wants to try to see how much it would cost to get it to slow down enough and stop, but he thinks it would cost a large amount and he'd rather save it for Menagerie. They will return and report this sad news. At this point, Lachlan has been fully guided, but he isn't being called to any dungeons yet so he's just going to stay here and accompany Lawrence for now.
Well, en route to the DRT HQ, there's a DRT operative standing in the middle of the road. She stands out like a sore thumb.
...why is she standing in the middle of the road???????
"Hello, Lawrence Lacson from Quasar Guild here, with Suburb. Is there something wrong?"
"Miss girl, you cannot be standing in the middle of the road like that. You will literally fucking die."
Is she high? Working in the DRT during a confluence must be hell. Especially with two dungeon breaks in the same city.
His words look like they reached her, at least a little? She's looking at him now.
Is this like. An awakening with a psych backlash? He should test that... Also they need to get out of here. He will grab her hand and drag her away. Does she at least follow?
She stumbles. She doesn't, actually, go all the way down. But it might go easier if she were carried.
(She's also not an esper.)
Yeah, okay, in that case he's just going to carry her. There is no time for negotiation or talking.
Lawrence will let Lachlan carry her to safety — he's way stronger. And he wants to be ready in the case a car suddenly appears and he has to turn it away like last time.
Their hair gets ruffled by the wake of a classic gas-guzzler roaring down the road, seemingly taunting a plumber's van.
And the DRT operative is shaking her head a little, as though trying to clear out the cobwebs.
Lachlan will offer her water and wait a few minutes for her to speak. Some kind of stress or panic reaction?
It does, actually, take a few minutes for her to respond that way. "What...happened..?"
"We found you standing in the middle of the road, not moving. We didn't see or know what you were doing before that."
"I don't know." That's what they're trying to figure out! Anyway, it doesn't seem like this is getting anywhere...
"We're going to take you back to HQ, okay?" And get her checked by someone with actual medical skills.
"Okay." This doesn't, actually, require her to do much of anything, except perhaps be carried? Being carried is within her current skillset.
They can do that! Lawrence will help this time since it's a bit of a walk.
They'll report that Lawrence thinks the carjackers can't remove themselves from the cars once they've attached, and also the circumstances regarding the DRT operative they rescued. Probably a good idea to have someone check on her.
Well, she's got a bodycam. They'll review the footage and figure out if she's high on duty or something like that. Smith's heard rumors of a gas leak, but he's mostly doing logistics, not keeping abreast of reports. The operative is whisked off to medical, after being relieved of her equipment and body camera.
Right, bodycams exist. Lawrence just realized he forgot to put on his own. That was a very stupid mistake. Lachlan did come with his, though, which is good.
Hopefully, she recovers.
Lachlan plans to accompany Lawrence for more Menagerie monster hunting, but if they find the suspected gas leak, they should notify him so he can be there — he can suppress fires from starting while it's patched up.
Lawrence will check his commscreen to see the latest Menagerie monster sighting reports.
If he's traveling from here on foot and prioritizing proximity, there's a toy-sized stegosaurus closest. Someone kicked it into a swimming pool, but it turned out to be able to swim and it didn't drown, though it wasn't able to get out of the pool fast enough to catch them before they got their friends inside the house. They're not sure if it's still in the yard.
They are indeed traveling on foot and prioritizing proximity. Given that Suburb is here, Miller has been reassigned and it's Soto who is accompanying them, again with six empty cages on a wheelchair.
Is the yard with the swimming pool accessible without having to first go through the house?
Lawrence will sweep the area with his psychic sensor power. It's obstructed by significant barriers like walls, but it's capable of piercing through cloth or water, so it might be useful. It's cheap relative to his control power.
They're going to wait a few minutes near the edge of the yard in the hopes that it comes out — they don't want to walk into the middle and be surprised by it.
Then he might be surprised that it's under that bush at the edge of the yard right behind him.
Is he surprised enough?
Lawrence's sensor power isn't a sphere, but a cone. He's trained a few different routines for how to sweep the cone around to cover relevant angles most efficiently.
He's surprised and purses his lip about it. Does it count if he's facing away from it?
Pursing his lip doesn't do it. Whether that's because of where he was facing or for some other reason, the stegosaur doesn't say. It's just napping under this here bush in the shade.
"It's here." Lawrence points.
He has no idea what this kind of animal eats.
Yup, it blearily lifts its head and blinks big blue eyes at him. It's got a peacock-esque eyespot situation in blue and gold going on with the plates on its back, and gold filigree markings all over its skin and spiraling up the spikes of the thagomizer.
"It's so beautiful! I can totally see why OMP* would pay millions for them."
*Pronounced /ɑːmp/
"Are they safe to touch? They are, right?"
"Yeeeess...but can you try to like. Guide or push it into the cage?" Lawrence will throw the nut mix and Cheerios over for Lachlan to sprinkle into the cage.
Sprinkle! "We have food inside the cage for you, whatever you are! Nothing bad will happen to you if you go inside!" Lachlan will stroke the back of the stegosaurus and point at the food in the cage, where nothing bad will happen to it if it goes inside.
It purrs. He is now petting a purring stegosaurus that does not want to go in the cage where no more petting will occur.
He really ought to have expected that outcome.
Better not to use his power if he can, but at least like this, where the monster is already adjacent to the cage, the duration of use is very short. Please kindly go into the cage.
For the sake of safety, he maintains his power until Lachlan has closed the box and he can feel the connection between him and the monster be cut off.
After putting the cage on the wheelchair, he knocks on the front door of the house.
"We've dealt with the stegosaurus monster," he announces. "If you find any other monsters, please tell us or call them in."
They're about equidistant between a kookaburra in a birdbath (called in by a passerby just fifteen minutes ago) and a jerboa that was reported three hours back as having joined someone in her hammock, where it was discovered not to be her cat a while later when she put her book down, and which permitted her to put it on the ground and walk away without incident but now that she's had a minute to think about the incident she's wondering if she needs rabies shots or what.
They'll go to the kookaburra because Lawrence is feeling hubristic and wants to catch more aerial monsters. Of the other espers he knows who might be doing Menagerie monster captures, he thinks he's the best suited for their capture. Hm, although...they'll probably fetch a lower price, won't they? Because they take up more space, being fliers. But separately from that, if it would be cheaper for him to capture them, then it's his comparative advantage to do so and therefore Contribute.
Lachlan will hold Lawrence's hand while they walk over. He could use his power now to match his backlash level but generally he'd rather not do so unless they're in a silo.
The kookaburra is still in the birdbath when they get there, preening and rinsing its feathers. It's got a sort of bowling-alley-carpet color scheme and markings, black and neon and geometric.
