"I guess they can, then," Barry shrugged giving a smile and both Zach and Gray rejoiced. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Barry, the head caretaker of the raptors." He did a two-fingered salute at her introduction, making Gray giggle.
Kate was already peeking at the resting shade, "But, Barry, where's Owen? I don't see him anywhere..."
"He's still with Ms. Operations manager... apparently she had asked him to have a look at some new dinosaur they cooked up," he nonchalantly replied; he, too, had the hint of the history between the mentioned two adults. Around here, both Owen and Barry used to call her by that nickname which, once, Owen had come up with.
"How can an inspection take this long? Are they dating again or what?" She casually clapped her hands, hitting a joke absent-mindedly and Barry could not help but chuckle. "Bummer..." She sighed, "He could have shown you two a special trick or two with the raptors!"
"You can show them something, too," Barry suggested from the top.
"Wait, who is Owen?" asked Zach curiously.
"My big brother," she replied, "Both me and my brother are the trainers." With a pause, she added, "He's the real guy here. He knows his ways while I'm still learning from him...."
"But you can do it, too, right? You're a trainer yourself! Please?" Gray hopped excitedly, then looked at his brother and nudged him, "Come on, Zach, you tell her, too!" Since Zach did not feel so convenient to make a verbal request, he just gave a appealing smile hoping she would agree.
"Okay, I'll do this favour, too," she winked before taking the ladder to the catwalks but sharply turned stopping halfway to eye Gray and Zach, and it was the first time they had seen her a little serious. "But! You guys are staying here, only I go up, and you stay at a safe distance. If you fall over from the catwalks into the paddock.... There's no saying how the situation can deteriorate." Yesterday's events was still vivid in her memories and she was not going to let such things repeat.
"Come on, Gray," said Zach seeking his attention as he himself backed away few steps. He actually might have liked to go up on there, too, unless she had warned against it. Gray sighed giving in.
"Catch," and like a smooth reflex, Kate's hand shot up in the air to grab a clicker which Barry had just tossed at her. He was walking towards her.
"So, pig chase routine?"
She nodded, "Yeah, was thinking about that one..."
"Okay, I'm right here if ya need any a hand," he patted her back as she headed toward the paddock side along the catwalk and leant over to see if she could catch sight of the raptors, then looked down at the Mitchells waiting down there. Zach who was watching her slowly averted his eyes to look around, fidgeting with a hand in the pocket. On the other hand, Gray was waving his hands at her excitedly and so she waved her hand with a smile.
Barry picked a whistler and blew it. The sound was way more screeching than the usual ones; in fact, it was especially made to create higher frequency when blown, so it would easily seek the attention of the velociraptors. The whistle was a command to come and present themselves into the clearing inside used for training and the raptors were very familiar with it. Soon the raptor squad were spotted hurrying out of the forest side. They squealed and dashed, shuffling positions among themselves, outrunning one another until they stopped right below the catwalk where Barry and Kate stood. And the squad stood still maintaining a position, with Blue ahead of the squad and in the centre.
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