Lalli’s moose was staring at Emil again.
This wasn’t a “Die beneath my massive dinosaur claws, mammal scum!” look like the ravens tended to direct at Emil, but more of a “Whatcha doin’?” look. The moose was friendly like that.
In fact, the moose was the friendliest of all of Lalli’s menagerie, possibly excepting the penguin, when it wasn’t trying to be all standoffishly feline at Emil.
Most of the menagerie tended to act feline, no matter their actual species, which were many and varied. The moose, however, tended to act more like a big, curious dog as it trailed along after Lalli. You could never tell what it would stick its nose into next, which was Emil’s current problem, as he was trying to set up some minor but potentially harmful pyrotechnics.
“Lalli!”
There was no answer. With a sigh, Emil went over to the moose and grabbed its reins gently but firmly. “C’mon, moose. We need to find your Daddy.”
The moose nodded and guided Emil off in one particular direction.
Lalli was napping beneath one of the Viking Inferno mock-up bits waiting to be put into place on the “battlefield”. Though most of the Giant/Jaeger battle was going to be achieved through computer animation, several key bits would be practical, with full-sized mock-ups of (for example) the control pod and large-scale miniatures of both the Viking Inferno and its Giant opponent.
“Lalli?” Still no response. “Lalli, you need to keep your moose away from my explosives.”
Lalli sat up and sang some Finnish at Emil, who wished Tuuri was there to translate.
“Your moose,” Emil said, gesturing at the animal behind him, “away.” He brought his hands together, and then out, miming an explosion. “My boom-booms.”
Lalli snorted in amusement, but seemed to understand. Grabbing the moose’s halter, he gestured for Emil to get back to work.
“Thank you.” Emil turned and almost plowed into Mikkel, already in costume.
“‘Boom-booms’. Such a complex and technical term to use on our little Finn friend there.”
Emil rolled his eyes. “It’s what he understands.”
“Like you understand ‘sotkuinen ruotsalainen’?”
Emil blushed. Trust Mikkel to remember that. “I need to get back to my explosives now,” he said, much on his dignity, “before any of Lalli’s other little friends decide to investigate.”
“Speaking of which...” Mikkel gestured to the rapidly approaching figure of Sigrun. An obviously smitten badger hurried in her wake.
“LALLI!” she bellowed once she spotted the thin Finn and his moose. “Tell this thing I’m not available, so it should keep AWAY!” Her gesticulations did nothing to discourage the badger, but some sparrows perched near Lalli took fright readily enough.
Lalli snapped his fingers, and the badger slinked over to him, climbing onto the moose’s back. Another snap of Lalli’s fingers brought the birds back, carrying Lalli’s helmet between them.
Emil was most impressed, as he’d had no idea sparrows could carry so much weight. But he had his own job to do, so he couldn’t stick around to watch the impending musical number.
A pair of rabbits passed by, pausing to lift their tails at Emil in a “Nice to see you!” as they did. Emil shook his head and went back to his squibs.
