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Post by Orca on Apr 30, 2007 14:27:43 GMT -5
For details, see this topic. "A Prehistoric Drama" RP Player/Characters:player character name (clan)-OrcaAzra (Makena) Neonis (Zeburi) Seleysha (Zeburi) Noah (Zeburi) Kaliska (n/a) -Razor AzuraKan-Kov (Zeburi) Lauosa (Makena) Jabali (n/a) -ElizarSarena (Zeburi) -EbonyViperZubrini (Makena*) -Kamui.EXEMaui (n/a*) * = pending Total: 10 (8 'raptors, 2 Acros)
Early summer was misery. At least, for a certain male Utahraptor named Azra it was. He sighed quietly to himself, swatting irritably at a passing bug, listening to the current and trying to ignore the oppressive heat. At midday, he was stuck in his usual guardpost - several feet up a tree, perched on one of the branches. Few trees along the river could support his thirteen-hundred pounds without toppling over. Still, it had to be done. Rain had been as scarce as food lately, and the river was shallower than it usually was. It was his turn to watch for invaders, by order of the Alphas. His turn to suffer several hours of boredom, watching the golden grasses on the other bank, straining to see if anything was slinking through them. The breeze through this particular part of the territory was a welcome relief. And if it got him out of chicksitting duty, he was glad for it. Azra momentarily took his eyes off the opposite bank, scratching fitfully at his crest of feathers. One of the females up at the pack's nesting grounds had been nice enough to preen them... a few days ago. By now they were a bonafide tussle of unkemptness. He had already been here a while. After a while, another sentry would show up to relieve him of this burden. The best he could hope for was that time came quickly. * Not a cloud in the sky, and no one was eager to make the trek to the river. Neonis lay in the shade beside his dozing mate, thankful for the grove of trees. Most of the Zeburi were doing likewise, if they weren't busy trying to keep the latest batch of chicks in line. Even the yearlings were taking the time to rest. The pack was due to visit the river late this evening, a few hours from now. After the Alphas summoned enough energy to lead the rest of them on a hunt. Eyes half open, Seleysha looked up sharply at hearing a particularly loud squawk. Nearby, three chicks wrestled and hissed, shattering the peace and quiet. A low growl was enough to send them darting back to their nearest relative. A few minutes passed, and she set her head back down. "Bored?" Neo hazarded. "Completely," she sighed, "It's just the matter of waiting until my parents feel up enough to lead on that's bugging me." He nuzzled the back of Sel's neck in a consoling gesture. "Not much longer now."
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Post by ebonyviper on Apr 30, 2007 14:42:32 GMT -5
She was quick, limber, and was just now darting across the plains in search of shelter from the noonday sun and perhaps one more Iguanadon for food. The last Iguanadon she took down was only just a baby and it really wasn't enough food for Zubrini.
Finally, she slowed, catching a strange scent in the air and determined that it was probably better to be cautious than to get into another tussle with another dinosaur. This land she barely knew and this was the first time she set foot on it. She didn't know what kinds of predators such as herself lived here and wasn't keen on meeting one, whether they would be mean or friendly.
Zubrini perched on a slanted rock and sniffed the air again. She figured that there was a pack of raptors nearby, but something in the scent told her that they weren't likely to be too friendly to her if they saw her. This was probably their territory that she was crossing and she was very wary about that.
Slow and quiet, she remembered her father's words to her while he was teaching her to hunt, Don't startle the plant-eaters and avoid all confrontations with any predators, if possible.
"I will, Father," Zubrini said quietly to herself and continued on in a more careful manner.
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Post by Orca on Apr 30, 2007 15:05:50 GMT -5
Annoying as they could be sometimes, the new chicks were something of an early warning system. They noticed little sounds and smells far better than the adults.
That's what Neo supposed anyway. He first heard Sel yelp and stand up, followed by tiny, sharp claws digging into his own back. Shouting in surprise, he stood quickly, backpeddling, causing the chick that had hopped onto his back to subsequently fall off.
Sel started to growl at the chicks, but stopped short. She stood taller on her hindlegs, scanning the horizon. The other adults stirred, picking themselves up, suddenly on the alert.
"Smell that?" Sel asked openly.
"What?" Neo asked, not understanding just yet.
Sel seemed to listen to the wind, eyes fixed, looking at something distant. The Zeburi were close to their territory, and even the faintest of strange smells never escaped them. "A problem," she growled finally, before taking off in a sudden sprint through the grass.
Despite his doubts, Neo followed her lead, along with a couple other lesser adult males. As the Betas, Neo and Sel were often the first to investigate disturbances like this.
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Post by ebonyviper on Apr 30, 2007 15:27:34 GMT -5
(((((OOC: Sorry, I'm slow. I'm doing house chores.)))))
Zubrini paused again, catching that scent again. Not good. Definately not good. She really didn't want a confrontation now, but she had to remain alert. Whatever was going to happen she had to be prepared for. If at all possible, she must try to avoid any serious injuries that might be inflicted upon her.
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Post by Orca on Apr 30, 2007 15:37:01 GMT -5
"Sel, what is it?" Neo asked. The four had trotted to a stop not far from the grove.
Seleysha stood up straight, arms down against her body, nose high in the air, eyes on the plains before them. "You don't smell that?" she countered, not bothering to look at him.
Deciding it couldn't hurt, Neo slowly did likewise. A more thorough sniff made his eyes widen slightly in alarm. The scent was different, not any known Zeburi, but clearly a 'raptor.
An interloper.
He could be a little slow on the uptake sometimes. Growling, a low, gutteral sound, he turned to the two subordinates that had followed them. "Let's go." As one, the four Zeburi dashed toward the southwest, heading upwind, abandoning all stealth in favor of speed.
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Post by Razor Azura on Apr 30, 2007 16:01:24 GMT -5
((Not quite sure what to do =3, i'll just improve for now))
Trying hard to keep her little ones together, Lauosa longed for a good nap and a break from the squealing chicks scampering around her feet. She nudged one that had fallen over and it gripped her nose to help lift itself up and she smlied. Though slightly troublesome, the little ones were still bundles of joy she indded loved.
But this heat, she just wanted to lie down and rest, take a swim in the river...or what was left of it. But she knew what little rain fed it had to be saved for those neccessitites.
---
KanKov looked over from his perch to see Neonis, Seleysha and a few others dart off after some unknown smell. His eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he caught the scent only moments later as well, another raptor nearby, not a Zeburi.
He sighed in defeat and shrugged it off, "Let them take care of it."
He continued to observe from his post for any sight of game, if there was, he'd be the first to know and would take appropriate actions.
(be introducing Jabali later =3)
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Post by ebonyviper on Apr 30, 2007 16:06:43 GMT -5
It was inevitable. Zubrini was sure of it. There was going to be a confrontation between her and whoever owned this territory very soon and she really couldn't avoid something like that. She knew from the lessons that her father had given her was that if she was trapped, she only had two choices. Fight or Die. And she really didn't want to die right now. Just when she was so close to what she percieved as a new home.
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Post by Orca on Apr 30, 2007 16:17:17 GMT -5
In all, the run took them at least a few miles from the nesting ground. To plains-roaming 'raptors, it was no big effort.
Seleysha hopped onto a stray boulder, checking their position. To the west, the foot of the forested mountain range was visible. Enemy territory.
Neonis paused and stood straight, sniffing intently. The scent was very strong now, and he easily saw the bipedal figure running through the grass. Toward the west.
The two younger males saw the same sight. He nodded to them, and they sprinted ahead, splitting off to either side. Sel sprang off the rock, and together the Beta pair moved in for the final leg of the pursuit, and the kill.
No warning, no offered opportunity to get away. The Zeburi were ruthless this way.
*
From his post in the tree, Azra was almost snoozing, leaning against the trunk. New movement woke him back up, and he stood to see what was going on. He could make out a few distinct figures in the distance.
Zeburi. At least two, moving at a fair clip.
The pattern in which they were deployed confused him, though. An attack vector? He didn't see any large prey animals to hone in on.
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Post by ebonyviper on Apr 30, 2007 16:26:14 GMT -5
Zubrini didn't know it, but she was about to be surrounded by the Zeburi pack in a few minutes. Right now, she had decided to take what she thought was a safe route around the scents that she had caught to the where she could also smell water... or at least what was left of it. If she could get to that unhindered and, she hoped, unharmed, then she'd be free and she'd keep her life.
But things didn't exactly go well for this young raptor...
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Post by Razor Azura on Apr 30, 2007 16:29:44 GMT -5
After a moment KanKov twitched as he caught smell of something that he really wasn't expecting.
It was a rotten flesh smell, the kind he was too well familiar with. An Acro was nearby, or at least it was, he could only hoped the beast had passed by.
Looking back at the pack, they were scattered around but plenty far away from him. He decided he'd investigate, jumping off the rock he had been resting on, he ducked low into the yellow grass and sprinted to the edge of the rocky outcrop, one of the few that were this big in their territory.
Sliding through small crevaces the smell suddenly got a whole lot stronger and peaking around a corner he jumped back a bit.
The Acro was there, at least twice as tall as KanKov himself and probably weighed twice as much. It leaned over the remains of what was a raptor, which didn't smell like a Zeburi to KanKov so he didn't feel as worried, it was probably an ousider who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The acro was oblivious to KanKov's presence and continued to tear at the body of the deceased raptor, watching this, KanKov realized he probably ought to warn his clan of the possible danger. He was there to find this sort of thing, that's what his tracking skills were for.
Slipping away as silently as he could, he darted out of the rocks and sprinted back the distance to his clan.
---
Jabali, finishing off a bite of his meal looked up and smelled the air, he could have sworn he had smelt more raptor looming by, but the rotting smell of his current meal in the hot sun disguised any more hints.
He cursed inwardly at have letting another prey get away, at least they were smarter than this one had been.
He kicked at the remains and sneered, "This be not so bad anymore my friend, because of your filthy hide, you save another like unto you...now your carcass can be fed on those scavengers."
Wandering off, he left the rest of the corpse for the scavenging dinosaurs he knew were waiting nearby.
((yes, he has weird speach he does xD))
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Post by elizar on Apr 30, 2007 16:34:46 GMT -5
Sarena had been by the river bank, gulping down water. She had been quiet enough to not wake up the raptor hiding in the tree few hundred yards away. It was then she heard something moving just outside of her visible range. She quickly smelled the air, finding the scents of Zaburi clan mates, and one outsider. She turned around, feet spread, hands spread out with claws outstretched, her jaw agape and hissing to the unknown raptor.
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Post by Orca on Apr 30, 2007 16:37:06 GMT -5
The two males that had joined the Betas were experts in approaching unnoticed, even at such speeds. The only warning the first gave just before he pounced was a loud howl, a mix of threat and anger.
He struck Zubrini broadside, sending both of them into a roll.
*
Azra snapped to attention at hearing the scream. It had a distinct note to it: that of a Zeburi about to strike. And now he had a pretty clear idea of what was happening.
The Makena dropped from the tree, absorbing the shock of landing with his knees, before darting down the muddy bank, through the water, to the other side. Whoever this stranger was, they wouldn't last long against a Zeburi strike-team.
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Post by elizar on Apr 30, 2007 16:44:30 GMT -5
Sarena saw the Makena raptor crossing the river, ignoring all scent marks and heading to where the others were taking down the intruters. She hissed in anger of the raptor's boldness, and ran straight towards him.
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Post by Razor Azura on Apr 30, 2007 16:45:01 GMT -5
Lauosa heard a shrieking sound and stood higher on her hind legs to catch the scent, she did, which meant there were more than one Zeburi if her very un-sharp nose could catch that. Hushing her little ones, she moved in more toward the clan so as not to be a lone mother out there with little ones, she could not protect them all if they were attacked.
---
KanKov finally made it to the encampment of the clan, searching out one of the dominant or alpha males (no idea who they are) besides himself (he's more dominant, than alpha since he's not the most trustworthy there xD) and finally found one.
He quickly laid out all he had seen and told the direction that the Acro had moved off to.
It wasn't known if it was looking for more prey, but it was nearby, obviously in any 20 yds within the perimiter of the rocky area since he wouldn't be able to get far with his size very quickly with no way but to find the big gaps.
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Post by Orca on Apr 30, 2007 16:50:39 GMT -5
((I had this idea that the Alphas were nameless, at least to those lower than them, and are refered to by title as a sign of respect.))
By the time he reached the top of the bank, Azra heard the hiss, and turned to confront it. He stopped, opened his mouth to expose his fangs, and screeched back at the Zeburi female in defiance. He didn't allow her to get close, briskly sidestepping her charge and lashing out with a clawed hand. A clean miss, but a warning nonetheless.
Unlike their cousins, the Makena fought with honor and tried to treat any opposition with a fair fight.
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