This came while binge-playing Lego: Jurassic World on my 2DS. I simply couldn't resist!

The basic gist is that Lal decides to be a Raptor Trainer rather than babysit Iemitsu. Enjoy!

The job offer

Lal Mirch had no idea what to do with her life now that Luce was gone. Everyone else had moved on, but she was somewhat stuck in a rut and rather reluctant to join CEDEF, regardless of how annoying Iemitsu Sawada was being about trying to recruit her.

So when she hears about a rather unique job opportunity from an old friend in the military, she's open to anything so long as it isn't too demeaning.

"Let me get this straight... they're reopening that park, except this time they're planning to train one of the more dangerous species to see if it can be done. And they want someone with experience to do it," said Lal slowly.

"Yup. Figured you could use something to shake off the rust, what with your condition and all," said Greg.

"...What's the pay again?"

"Fairly high, and you get a free place to live on the island along with a major discount on the restaurants. If it wasn't for the whole 'screw up and you will almost certainly be eaten' thing, a lot of the younger guys would go for it."

Lal thought over her options. On one hand, the job was really dangerous, ridiculous on the same level as her idiot student, and was a very rare and unique job opportunity even at the almost certain risk of being eaten if you screwed up and they decided to quit listening at the wrong time.

On the other hand, being offered a job as CEDEF was safe, boring and would most likely entail having to babysit the idiot who ran the organization since he apparently didn't have the common sense god gave a mule.

Who was she kidding, she already knew what she wanted the second she found out it there was even a remote chance of something interesting that was certain to keep her well occupied for the next couple of years if she played her cards right. She would be bored out of her mind if she went to CEDEF without at least giving it a shot.

Besides, if she was hired then the looks on the faces of the others would be totally worth most of the headaches that were almost certain to come her way. She could see it now, and she really, really wanted this job just for that reason.

Reborn alone would be hilarious, to say nothing of Colonello when he found out.

A few weeks later...

"Aren't you a bit young to be applying?"

"I have a rare condition, but not one that will affect my ability to handle these animals if hired. I may look small but I can still do the job and I have prior experience as a trainer," said Lal, biting back her first response.

"Would you mind undergoing a test to prove that?" her potential employer asked.

"I would be more worried if you didn't put me through some sort of insane test to prove it," she countered.

Proving she could handle the work load was a pain in the ass, but totally worth it when she ended on the short list of applicants. In the end it came down to one simple thing.

Lal could pay for the cost to replace her animals if something happened to them. Considering the way the greedy idiots were eyeing the eggs, she wouldn't trust anyone from InGen if her life depended on it.

Even if it meant having to crash with one of the others, since paying for them would completely wipe out her savings if this worked out. The comfort of knowing that the pack would be hers and not belonging to some greedy moron who would only use them as weapons was not to scoffed at.

Besides, it would be worth every coin just to see the look on the faces of the Cosa Nostra realizing Lal had trained dinosaurs at her command and there was quite literally nothing the Vindice could do about it because there were no Flames involved. Just a known aspect of science that was being dusted off and given a new look.

The Pack

The second Lal laid eyes on her new pack, she knew she had made the right choice paying in full for all four eggs. She briefly wondered if this was what being a mother was like, because she felt an indescribable bond between her and the eye staring right back at her from the opening in the egg.

Well if nothing else she'd have the entertainment of watching Colonello try to handle her new "children" when he came to visit. The expression alone would be worth introducing her idiot student to her 'babies'.

Okay, so maybe she was weird for being all maternal on four vicious little bastards that were just barely bigger than she was when she wasn't cursed when fully grown and fully capable of eating her if she screwed up. But they were so cute!

Of course it took less than a week for them to figure out that she was the "Pack Mother" on top of being the unequivocal Alpha Bitch. Blue in particular perked up when she saw Lal toss Hoskins clear across the room, despite being several times smaller than him and then displaying her natural dominance over the lesser male who was entirely unworthy of being considered pack.

The fact that the Alpha also puts other lesser males in their place despite the size difference earns the respect of the raptors. That she's also female and treats them like her offspring by feeding them meat that she has hunted herself helps greatly. Though that doesn't stop her from sneaking little treats like the oddly flavored dry meat.

Seeing the Alpha hunt using her brain, rather than just her oddly shaped claw made the pack rather eager for when they were big enough to join in.

The Mate

"Holy shit, Kora! I thought you said you took a job as an animal trainer?!"

Lal smirks and is very glad that she brought Colonello to the observation area where there are cameras. Like hell is she letting him live this down.

"I did," she said smugly.

"You didn't say anything about it being raptors," said Colonello.

He had heard things about this particular breed of dinosaur from the last time they tried to make a park with genetically bred animals that had gone extinct.

Lal openly cackled.

"How do you like my kids?" she asked. "Only took them a few months to pick up how to do Morse code with those claws of theirs. Should have seen my boss' expression when I had them answering simple questions using their claws."

Masrani had looked somewhat horrified at the revelation the raptors were much, much smarter than he had accounted for. So had quite a few others.

After all, if they were capable of learning Morse code at seven months old and answering questions in actual sentences, then that made them exceedingly dangerous.

Anything that could think like a human was automatically a threat.

"For the love of god, why?" asked Colonello with a pained look.

"Because it was either raptor trainer or babysitting a Sky who has absolutely no common sense to speak of," she deadpanned. "Besides, the girls grow on you and I fully intend to take them home with me if things don't work out... can you imagine the Cosa Nostra's reaction to them being around?"

Colonello blinked, thought that one over before grinning wildly.

Yeah, once they got over the shock of trained raptors the sheer WTF look was sure to be hilarious.

With the Raptors

Blue looked at her sisters with confusion. They were surprised that their Alpha Mother had a mate, but one that didn't stay with the pack full time.

So when Alpha came down with her mate, Blue elected to ask 'why'.

(Which was one of the reasons why people were very alarmed by the raptors. Anything with a brain enough to ask questions like why were far more sentient than a simple animal should be.)

Alpha blinked for a moment when Blue asked why.

Why what, she tapped with her own claw against the shiny barrier.

Why does mate stay away from pack?

The mate choked for a moment.

"Did your 'children' seriously just call me your mate?" he asked in that funny language that their Alpha used to speak to the lesser animals.

"I told you I taught them how to speak in Morse. I plan to move on to simple commands with a whistle and hand signals later."

Then it hit Alpha what they just called the one beside her.

Did you just call him my mate? She tapped rather baffled. Blue tilted her head.

He smells interested in Alpha. Is he not mate?

The male began to cackle.

"See? Even your own pack thinks we're perfect for each other!"

"Idiot student! DON'T GIVE THEM IDEAS!" barked Lal, slapping him around a bit.

Blue and the others watched with interest. Alpha clearly liked her mate and made a point to remind him who lead the pack with that display. That he allowed her to establish dominance spoke well of the fact that he understood his place among the Pack.

They memorized his scent as "Pack/Potential Secondary Alpha" and left to chase the prey that the Alpha had sent in for them to practice their hunting skills with.

Colonello was too busy poking the Tsundere that was Lal, before he asked another question since the Pack had clearly accepted him to an extent.

"So have you told the others yet?"

"And ruin the fun of being able to capture their expressions when they find out I'm a raptor trainer personally?" she said incredulous. "I really, really want to see Reborn or Fon's expressions when they find out. Though if things go south I am so crashing on your couch...paying for the pack wiped out my savings like you wouldn't believe."

Colonello blinked.

"You know you could always share my bed with me, and what do you mean 'paying for the pack'? I thought the park paid for them."

"There's this one idiot who wants to use the raptors as a replacement for soldiers or technology. He actually thinks they can be turned into something akin to trained attack dogs, and he wouldn't hesitate to set them loose on the park if he could get away with it. So I made a deal with my boss and he agreed to let me 'buy' the raptors from the park...officially I'm being paid to prove it is possible to train the raptors, but if things go south I can legally remove them from the island so long as they don't attack humans. Plus since they're not mafia-bred or use any Flames, the Vindice won't bother me if I do use them to scare the living hell out of people," said Lal smugly.

"...Is that why you taught them how to speak in Morse code?" asked Colonello.

"Actually that was part boredom and partly to shut up the morons who think the pack is little more than brainless animals. I've heard stories about the original raptors and those things were able to open up doors without having prior experience with them. By the way, did you know the T-Rex we have is the original one from the first park?"

Colonello could tell Lal was thoroughly enjoying herself. She was alive in a way that had been missing since their old days in COMSUBIN.

"So how exactly have you been training them?"

"I'm using falconry techniques on top of treating them like green recruits that have retractable claws and an inability to speak normally," she replied.

"You mean you put a hood on them?"

"No, I mean I basically treat them like bigger, deadlier versions of Falco and make sure to establish my dominance whenever it looks like the girls are trying to get catty around me," Lal replied.

Colonello looked at the 'girls', then at his animal partner.

"I can see it. You look really happy here."

"I enjoy the challenge, and raptors are smarter than half the recruits I've had to suffer through. Only takes a few repetitions before they catch on so I'm really eager to see what they can do with military hand signs."

"Wouldn't that make them more appealing as weapons?"

Lal shook her head.

"I went over Hoskins' head and showed the board exactly how much time, effort and training would be required just for one raptor/human pair. It takes a certain skill set to be able to handle the girls and not get eaten if you enter the cage with them and most people wouldn't have it. Those that could do it would generally think twice, have the wrong mind set or are either employed already or retired."

Seeing Lal interact with her girls inside the cage, with Colonello cautiously joining her (much to the horror of those watching outside), he could see the appeal. They really were bigger versions of Falco, and it didn't take much for him to start treating them accordingly.

Nuvolo (officially anyway, but everyone called her Blue), Tempesta, Fulmina, and Nebbio looked at the blond curiously, sniffing him thoroughly without attempting to bite or attack. Considering he was right next to Lal and their scent clearly indicated he was her 'mate' (even if she tried so very hard to deny mutual interest), the girls quickly accepted him as part of the pack.

Especially when he was quick to take out his own oddly shaped claw and 'talk' with them with quite some enthusiasm.

And if the girls happened to accept Falco as "pack, not prey" upon meeting them, well Colonello could only feel relief.

Later, at dinner...

"So you named them after their behavior when it came to Flame types?"

"Blue is her nickname because of her blue streak, but the others remind me a lot of the average Flame user that I couldn't resist. Made naming them easier anyway. Nebbio is such a typical sneaky Mist that I almost can't wait for Viper to meet her, and Tempesta is certainly going to amuse Fon," said Lal with amusement.

"So if Blue is a nickname what's her original one?"

"Nuvolo," she replied.

Colonello started cracking up.

"No wonder you made her the beta! What's her territory?" joked Colonello.

"The Pack and the Pack mother of course. I'm surprised they took to you so fast, because normally they don't like humans much."

"Considering they immediately thought 'mate' rather than 'lesser male', I'm taking that as a massive compliment," said Colonello cheekily.

"So...do you want me to give you the video and blackmail when the others find out what my new job is?"

"God yes. Especially Reborn!" cackled Colonello.

He couldn't wait for the others to get curious as to why Lal was gone for so long and come sniffing about. They were worse than cats sometimes!