Raptor at Heart - Unfamiliar World

[BeanDip]

Hoff listens to Lauren and nods his understanding. He didn't appreciate Lauren begging but could understand her reasoning; Fire and Brimstone was for boot camp, in the field you needed respect and understanding. This wasn't about the Army; this was about how he felt about Brigitte. And he felt plenty watching her walk away, followed by her lackeys. Mostly he felt anger.
He thought, "Good riddance. Go die," but kept that to himself.

"Sorry, Alpha. Can't apologize to someone's ass-end," He said to Lauren as Brigitte leaves.

[GathersIngredients]

"That wasn't begging, that was a respectful request. It is part of a little thing called 'diplomacy'. You should try it sometimes." Lauren rectifies with dignity and snaps her teeth at Brigitte's tail as she is passing Lauren, but not in earnest, just chomping the air to make a point.
"I hope you enjoy getting raped. Because if Baik's real alpha didn't care about him getting enough food, they probably won't give shit about whether or not you want to mate with the male they chose for you, just because you're fertile and ready to procreate at that moment. And judging by the way Zaki almost got his snout up your cloaca all the time, you'll find out about this pretty soon." Lauren calls after Brigitte, turning on her heels and scratching the ground once or twice, kicking up bits of dirt as if to say "good riddance", too.


When the three leaving raptors are out of earshot, Lauren pulls herself up her full height and addresses "her" pack. "I want everyone to take a good whiff and memorize the distinct smells of those three, because the next time we smell them, it is most likely going to spell trouble for us. Big trouble. I don't think Baik will hesitate one second to tell his pack about us 'egg-addled' hatchlings, as he thinks of us, especially if he has to prove his worth to his alpha all the time. We're easy prey, we're potential competition and we'll get more dangerous to them the longer we would be left alone, to our own devices. Therefore I expect the other pack to come here and do something - probably annihilation - about us soon. I don't care if you want me as your leader right now, because all that matters now is that we get some distance between us and them. We can sort out the leader thing later, if we're still alive.

This is my plan: We move back a little ways, see if we can find Jorge and the other guy without risking to run into whatever carnivore is digging its teeth into the three-horn now. If we do find them, we tell them quickly what happened and offer them to come with us. Then we'll move out eastwards, which should be away from Baik's pack's territory, with or without them.
Hoff, I want you to take point, you are smaller so you should be able to see without being seen most of the time and as a soldier, you ought to have some experience how to move in hostile terrain.
Brock, I want you to keep an eye out for flints on our way, if you can spot any, take at least two of them with you.
John, don't forget to take that meat you brought from the trike here with you.
Sam, you'll probably have some trouble with your wounded tail now, so it'll be best if you just concentrate mainly on relearning how to walk in a balanced way with it.
You," Lauren clearly addresses Terrence, "I still don't know your name." she waits for a small amount of time for him to tell her, then continues, "You're on surveillance duty. Each and every last one of us has to keep on scanning the immediate surroundings for signs of danger, like the absences of noise the little critters make, like tracks from other meat-eaters or even - if we missed those other signs - the eyes or tails or whatever other body part of the unknown dinosaurs we can spot, but you [Terrence] I want you to look for other things, too. Like scratch-marks on the trees that could mark someone's territory, or distinct odor marks, that could very well mean the same. You will also look out for water and signs of easy prey, as sooner or later we will have to drink and eat again.
Anoki, I want you to bring up the rear, make sure everyone keeps up the pace. If we pass on dry or rocky ground, where we don't leave deep footprints, I want you to take some branches and try to cover our tracks the best you can with them by scratching over them.

We walk in a single line, treading in each others tracks as much as we can, so we obscure our numbers to potential pursuers. We stay together as close as we can, so we can address any situation as a team. If we find a river or other body of water, we will wade along it's course for a little distance, this will help throw them off our tracks, too. If anyone of you spots something interesting, click your tongue once, like this," Lauren clicks her tongue to demonstrate the sound, "if it's something dangerous, click twice." Lauren does this, too.
"If anyone has any bright ideas or suggestions to add to this undertaking, please speak up now. Keep it to the point, I don't want to spend more time than necessary chatting idly." Lauren says and waits for short, constructive input, ready to adjust the plan accordingly. "If not, let's move out."

[BadgeAddict]

The words that came out of the raptors mouth made Alex pause for a long second. "An MP3 of some sort the raptor had muttered and before it kept plodding slowly in the direction that it was going. All the thoughts and memories of the world that he had just left came flooding back in a torrent. Following on the memories footsteps were all of the questions that he had buried inside himself when he first woke up only a short time ago, but what felt like ages ago.

As the Queen nestled into his back feathers and started to doze off, Alex made a motion with his claw and whispered to the others that surrounded him. ÔÇ£All aboard if you would like a ride and a nap while I walk.ÔÇØ

As the little ones responded to his whispers, he looked back up at the raptor that continued to plod away from him in the direction of the others. ÔÇ£This is no time for war, I think IÔÇÖve seen enough death for one day,ÔÇØ Alex thought to himself. However, Alex didnÔÇÖt feel the need or desire to babysit this one as it slowly plodded through the forest, as he wasnÔÇÖt making very good time.

Ignoring the other raptor Alex began to focus all of his efforts on finding the others, after stopping for a moment to try and pick up the scent again, he jogged off in the direction that the smells led.

(Action: find the others)

[Mereneth]

Anoki snarled, frustration at Lauren's treatment of her friends eating at her gut. She had wanted one of them, beside her, to step up to be a leader, but not one who would be so... mean.

"You know, Lauren, I thought I would like you, but you're a bitch. Raped? What're you going to do for family then, huh? Things aren't all happy married bliss in this hellish jungle we're in now. You aren't going to get to pick and choose here."

She glared at Lauren, anger boiling to the surface at the emerald raptor trying to take charge. This wasn't what she meant with her speech moments before.

"Did you even hear me earlier? I said we should stick together, but all YOU have done so far is drive us apart. Your 'attempt at getting them to stay? Arnaaluk! You call that iquq trying? That only drove us apart. You just don't want anyone who might threaten your position here."

She bared her teeth, growling as she debated rushing off after Brigitte. It wasn't even that she was against someone else stepping up to be the leader she'd called for, so much as how she'd taken off her mask and gone from sweet and kind to acting like a imnakuluk.

---

Jorge looked up as Alex hurried past and heaved a sigh. He'd remember that, if he survived long enough to get back to the group. Self serving whelp. You don't abandon your own, especially when you're on new turf.

And what was with the little beasts that acted like they'd known him forever? Perhaps there was more to the raptor then he let on; that he had been here for a LOT longer than the rest of their group and was acting like he'd just gotten there like the rest of them. That could be dangerous, and definitely a suspicion he needed to get to the others.

He tipped an ear south as he walked, listening for what lay ahead. For the most part the way was silent; the flight of the creatures native to the land having cleared a path of anything that might make a lot of noise. Perhaps...

Taking a gamble, he faced forward again and yelped out a short call. With the sun slowly descending, he wasn't too eager to get caught alone in the woods.

"Anyone there? Guys?"

► Show Spoiler

You meet Alex first, but come to Jorge not long after when you hear his call. A post covering what has happened with Brigitte and co will come later. I've already worked out how we'll be covering that and when it'll be posted with Nikohl.

If you're wondering, the obvious curse words are from a search of 'native indian curse words.' For the sake of emphasis, feel free to use curse words from your character's modern day culture in place of english curse words if you know of or can find them.

As always, feel free to contact me on skype at

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[SamWiser]

"Did you even hear me earlier? I said we should stick together, but all YOU have done so far is drive us apart. Your 'attempt at getting them to stay? Arnaaluk! You call that iquq trying? That only drove us apart. You just don't want anyone who might threaten your position here."

Sam faces Anoki.

"I think we all know that we need to stay together. Nobody was trying to drive anybody off. If you don't like Lauren as a leader, then who would you like? Now is your chance. Anybody in this clearing is a candidate. Who do you think would be a good leader? Please, tell us."

[GathersIngredients]

"... Wait, what?" Lauren was completely taken aback by Anoki's accusations. "Why does me pointing out how things are probably going to be handled in Baik's pack make me a bitch? I wouldn't dream of telling anyone of you when or who with to mate. That was kind of the whole point I was trying to make, to show this difference between the two choices Brigitte has at this moment, in a way warn her of this possibility and trying to hopefully get her thinking about this, to reconsider.
And while I do begin to understand and accept the necessity of one of us being in charge when in immediate danger, as far as I am concerned, we are all equals with our own skills, ideas, dreams and goals in life and should all be treated as such.

If you think you can do better at convincing Brigitte to stay with us, please, by all means, be my guest. But the rest of us'd better follow you, though at a little distance, I don't want her to feel like we're pursuing them. But I really don't think splitting up our group any further would be a good idea." Lauren was too baffled at this moment to take much offense by Anoki's total misunderstanding of what she had meant, but even if she didn't manage to understand all the words Anoki had been using, she still felt hurt by it. Yet, if Brigitte was to be convinced not to try and go with Baik to his pack, the time to act was now, so Lauren pushed back any personal issues for the good of the pack, and stood ready to trail after Anoki, if she really wanted to go and try stopping Brigitte, making her change her mind.
Not that she has much of a chance. Judging by her reactions previously, Brigitte would only take any further request, any further attempt to make her reconsider as more weakness, something that she clearly despised, Lauren thought, a frown on her face.

[BadgeAddict]

As Alex was searching for the others and had stopped for a moment to get another fresh scent, he heard what sounded like a heated argument. He tilted his head to an angle until he could hear it better. Then, scents forgotten, he began to head in the direction of the voices. As he moved closer he could hear several different distinct voices.

As Alex moved closer, and realized that this was the dysfunctional pack that he had run from earlier he walked to the edge of the small clearing they were arguing in and after taking a small pause to make sure the minis were still aboard, stepped into the open.

Hoping that his entry would startle the others he snapped his mouth together a few times and then spoke sharply to the group as though they were a gaggle of school children playing loudly. ÔÇ£Are you trying to bring the entire jungle down on our heads? Silence your words until you find a place to speak without bringing destruction on us all.ÔÇØ

Alex squinted his eyes at all of the raptors in the group trying his best to do what humans would call ÔÇ£the GlareÔÇØ. Now that he had their attention, Alex looked up toward the sky, trying to get a sense for the time and then spoke again to the group. ÔÇ£We need to find a safe place to spend the evening, instead of standing around and chattering at each other like batty old ladies on a Sunday afternoon.ÔÇØ

After speaking, Alex turned to look into the jungle back in the direction he had come in. ÔÇ£Follow me, another one of our group is this way, and then we shall find a place to lay our heads safely in the night.ÔÇØ

[kurik]

At a loss for anything to say in this situation, Brock halfheartedly looks for flint in the immediate area while waiting for the pack to decide whether to move on. If this is the best we can get along, we're all gonna die. How can people who just met come to such a disagreement in such a short amount of time? Hmm, maybe I really AM dreaming.

[BeanDip]

Hoff takes a place next to Lauren as Anoki bared her teeth. What few feathers he had raised and twitched. "Like it or not, I think Lauren spoke the truth and damn good for her. A lot of times the truth isn't what people want to hear but let's be honest; Brigette is, as far as we know, like us. Out of place. She just lumped herself in with unfamiliar, possibly hostile, natives. She's a foreigner in unknown territory who only half-speaks the language and seems as green to this situation as we are. It doesn't seem like her odds are very good at this point and rape isn't the only thing that girl has to worry about.

Hoff then notices the new guy, the one snapping his teeth and barking orders. "Where the hell have you been?" Hoff asks, "You think that you can just come back into the middle of the situation and suddenly boss everyone around?"

[Theis2]

John have been keeping watch for a while and saw the familiar yet unknown raptor before he jumped out and started barking at the others.
John shortly wonders if he should do a witty comeback pointing out the irony of him drowning out the others words with his own when asking for silence, but decides against it. People seem to become hostile and defensive way to fast for their own good.. and his good if he triggered one of those episodes.

The banter continues again and John shifts his focus to his surroundings again. He notice how a few of the raptors have started to follow Anoki.
Wait what was that? It sounded like another raptor calling for others, but in a pretty human way.
John gather his courage before lowly muttering to the others
"Uhmm guys.. I think I heard, Uhm, what was his name again? the one we left..Maybe we should wait for him to catch up?"

John Quickly turns around in an attempt to spot Jorge

[BadgeAddict]

As Alex began to walk towards the raptor that he had passed earlier in an attempt to re-unite the pack, one of the batty old church-ladies began rambling at him. Alex slowly turned his head around to stare down the one who had spoken up. "I've been around the jungle, exploring and surviving, and making new friends" Alex said softly as he carefully scratched the chin of one of the minis that had nuzzled into his shoulder to catch a small nap. Alex crooned softly to the little one before turning his attention on the raptor again. My intent is not to boss you around, but lead you to another of us who is injured. One of the other raptors mumbled something about the one that was left behind being close. "Indeed, there is another in the jungle, come with me, I will lead you to him."

At this, Alex waits for a moment for the others to follow him to help a pack-member in need. When the others have decided (hopefully) to listen and follow, he will lead them back to the other raptor [Jorge]

[Mereneth]

Anoki snarled, raising her lips to expose her teeth and the anger brimming within.

"How do you know how their pack is going to act, hmm? Have you actually been here longer than the rest of us and got your tail turned up by one of them unwillingly? You going to start popping out eggs on us, miss know-it-all?

The arrival of Alex and his loud mouth drew her attention and the full brunt of how upset she was with Lauren; without thinking she redirected her fury at the obnoxious little raptor mouthing off at the rest of them.

"You can shut your hole before I vent you and give you something else to babble about. If anyone is a coward and responsible for Doug's death, it is you. Your little ticks aren't treating you lovingly; you're just a meal on wheels. Hell, I don't even know your name."

Anoki huffs, frustrated and angry, but gladly stomps off to wait at the back of the pack where Lauren had 'assigned' her. She needed to cool her head before her gut drove her to do something she'd regret. All of this was so infuriating and it didn't help that every fiber of her being was urging her to do something she'd not were she still human.

[BadgeAddict]

As Alex watched the others react to his words and then fall in to some sort of order behind one of the pack he realized that they were submitting themselves to this one as some sort of pack leader or Alpha. As these thoughts floated through his mind, Alex began to wonder what his part of this grand adventure would be, as he could see that clearly an Alpha had already been chosen.

Thinking back through his knowledge of herd and pack animals from his past life he remembered that once a pack leader was chosen, choosing a new one was a strenuous process normally involving blood and death. Although the thought of this blood and death awakened an inner yearning deep within, the shreds of humanity that he still struggled to balance alongside this new body resisted these urges. ÔÇ£I do not want to be a sheep, that follows the whims of others, I want to explore and be freeÔÇØ Alex mused to himself. ÔÇ£Perhaps there is a way for me to be both thoughÔÇØ.

Taking a step backwards away from the forest edge, Alex looked this declared Alpha up and down slowly, as if sizing her up. Then, cautiously, so as not to startle the others and raising his hand-claws in the human gesture of surrender and non-violence he approached the leader. Alex took a deep breathe in and then began to speak to the leader. [lauren]

ÔÇ£I see you Alpha, my name is Alex and I will acknowledge your position as Alpha and I would like to join your pack. I will help the pack as best as I am able and I will follow the general direction in which you walk, but I will not subvert myself to authority. I have found some little friends (Alex again scratches one of the minis lovingly) and I must watch out for them. I would like to offer my services as the scout for the pack."

[GathersIngredients]

Lauren, still struggling to deal with the resentment dripping from Anoki's words and gestures towards her, when all she was doing was employing her common sense, finds herself amazed to be addressed as Alpha by another raptor besides Hoff. She draws herself up to full height again, nods friendly at Alex, her immanent human reaction - a smile - revealing an unnerving amount of sharp, pointy teeth, uttering the words: "Welcome Alex, and your small friends, too. I'm Lauren. And this is not my pack, it is our pack," putting emphasis on the last part of the sentence, trying to once more make clear that she doesn't intend to boss everyone around all the time. "Now please, show me where we can find Jorge, so we can join up with him, too, and thereafter go after Brigitte, if you," she looks at Anoki, "still want to, else start to go looking for a place in this world we can claim for ourselves, a home, so to speak. I feel we're far to vulnerable without our own territory."

[BadgeAddict]

"Come, I will take you to this one you call Jorge. Also, I should mention that he found some sort of MP3 player in clearing, this should be looked into." Alex bobbed his head as he spoke remembering all of the details clearly, before taking one last look at Lauren before heading into the jungle back in the direction of the one that was left behind.

[SamWiser]

Sam turns to the newcomer. "He found an mp3 player? Here? Where did he find it? Also, does it have any good music on it?"

[Theis2]

John follows the others relieved that there isn't that much focus on him.

[kurik]

Brock follows the pack, wherever they decide to go, keeping an eye out for flint. He perks up when the MP3 player is brought out. "Wait, there's technology here? That's just... actually, that's no stranger than everything else that's happened, I guess. Does it have anything good on it " There was no was it could help them survive out here, but at least music might get people to stop fighting for a little bit. He hated listening to people fight, nothing good ever came out of it.

[BadgeAddict]

After Alex had told the group that he was willing to lead them back to the missing raptor named Jorge, he waited for a sign from the group that they would be willing to follow. A few moments and several nods later, Alex headed in the direction of Jorge. At first he thought he was going to have to drag each one of them along, but when he brought up the existence of the MP3 player, the pack nearly rushed in front of him to find their missing man. ÔÇ£InterestingÔÇØ Alex thought to himself ÔÇ£only a few hours away from this world of theirs and they are already so eager to find some semblance of home again.ÔÇØ

Alex walked for quite a ways through the jungle, stopping now and then to snuffle along the ground with his snout for the ÔÇ£specialÔÇØ scent of Jorge. He didnÔÇÖt have to walk much further until he heard (not saw) the annoying sounds of Jorge, grunting in pain while trying to hobble in the direction of the ÔÇ£groupÔÇØ that he was so desperately looking for.

As Alex led the group closer, he called out to the grunting lumbering raptor in the woods, still fiddling with the MP3 player. ÔÇ£Hey GIMP, I brought help for youÔÇØ. No sooner had Alex led the rest of the pack to Jorge but thousands of questions suddenly burst from some of the raptors about the MP3 player. At this point, seeing that his job here was done, Alex slunk back, away from the closeness of the pack and wandered to a point where he was still in ear-shot but not in the press of the group.

Remembering that the plains containing the plant eaters were somewhere to the North, Alex spoke up with an idea ÔÇ£For the purpose of food, we should try to stay near the plains, perhaps we could try to cross to the other side to find a place to call home. It isnÔÇÖt safe to go back to the clearing where we started; the minis told me that the thing that makes everything bleed is there.ÔÇØ No sooner had he mentioned this a thought sprang to the forefront of his mind. ÔÇ£Anyone of you who were from the group that found us in the clearing, how did you find us and where did you wake up?ÔÇØ

[GathersIngredients]

Lauren followed Alex to the raptor with the bad leg [Jorge] and is glad to see him to be at least not bleeding. The injury does seem to hamper his progressing speed considerably, though, which makes her frown. When Alex calls Jorge 'GIMP', Lauren is quickly reminded of a nuisance in this pack, that needs to be attended to as quickly as possible. "Guys, we need to learn each other's names, the sooner, the better, so we can call out to each other quickly and precisely, in times of need. Allow me to introduce everyone, as I think by now I know everyone's name."

Then she steps next to each and every raptor, and calls out their respective names. "Anoki, here, she is part of the group that found us. She's usually rather helpful." Lauren tries to overlook the hostile way Anoki has reacted to her recently and sends a shy little smile, replacing an extended human hand offering friendship, Anoki's way.

"Alex has managed to make a lot of little friends already and is willing to do scouting for the rest of us."

"Terrence and John, who both don't seem to talk much."

"Hoff, who showed a lot of bravery, going for the Three-horn's throat and killing it in the end." she can't help but let her admiration for that act carry through a bit within her voice.

"Sam, who got their tail hurt in the fight, and will need a little more attention than the rest of us for a while, if we're all are going to make it. Same goes for Jorge here, who got his leg injured, and obviously found some technical device."

"Brock wants to make fire. If we can manage to do this, it would be a real boon to our group, I think."

"My name is Lauren, in case you didn't know already, and I am willing to do most anything I can to keep all of us safe from harm. I don't want to boss anyone around, and if any of you think they can do a better job at leading us, I'd be more than happy to follow them. It's not like I asked for this responsibility, you know?" with that she finished the introductions and brings something else to the attention of the assembled pack members.

"Brigitte and ... " she struggles a bit to remember his full first name, "... Niyazaki have decided to leave with Baik, who is a real raptor from around here, to join his pack. This will most likely mean trouble for us, and we should try to get out of here rather fast. While moving north to the plant eater plains might gain us easy food sources, we have learned by now at great cost that those can be dangerous to us, too." she frowns again, as she thinks of Alyssa and Doug. "If we go there, we should do so very cautiously. But, then again, this is probably true for any direction we choose."

[BadgeAddict]

As Lauren speaks Alex finds himself listening intently to her words, truly this one is wise he thought to himself as she spoke. After Lauren finished her speech and starting asking where to go Alex spoke up. "I suggest we move north to at least the edge of the plains, though the plant-eaters are a danger of their own we can see a long ways. Perhaps we can get a better lay of the land if we move to the edge of the plains and the forest."

[SamWiser]

Sam concentrates during the introductions, trying to memorize everybody's names. When Lauren is finished introducing people, she suggest we go north.

"Sure, north sounds good. I guess as good as any other direction." Sam starts muttering to himself. "The sun sets in the west, the sun is that way," he absentmindedly points to the direction of the sun, "so that must be north over there."

He points in a northwardly direction.

► Show Spoiler

I'm assuming it is sometime in the afternoon, right?

[BadgeAddict]

As the group started to discuss which direction to go one of the minis on Alex's shoulder suddenly peeped at him with an alarmed look on its face. The intense look of fear that flooded Alex sensed from the small dinosaur reminded him of the warning that they had given him earlier. Alex spoke up again to the group to make sure no one would die. "Although I suggest we go north, we must not go back to the clearing, the small ones told me that the one that makes all Bleed, which I'm assuming is a T-rex or other such monstrosity is apparently gobbling up the Tri-horn that the group of you killed earlier. Thus, I suggest that we steer well clear of the clearing that we woke up in."

[Theis2]

John looks down at the ground when Lauren goes through the introduction and mention how he isn't talking much. He attempts to scratch the back of his head as he did once in a while as a human. Following the same motions but in a new body must seem weird as his short arm attempt to go up, but at the same time the head went down making the "hand" miss the target and whirl about in the air above his neck. The other hand pressed the haunch of meat towards the throat to avoid dropping it Stupid! As it wasn't enough to have a subtle declaration to be an outsider for the group, I also had to make a fool out of my self by human habits that won't work in this body.. Stupid stupid stupid! I might be lucky and they already stopped paying attention to me right away..

John relax a bit again when they start discussing where to go, and north sounds just fine and dandy. Well maybe not.. It might only be the giant herbivores that's able to survive without being able to hide. But it is easier to find water this way and we are going to need it more than food.

[kurik]

Brock begins to relax now that the fighting seems to be over. He gives a small nod when he's mentioned in the introductions, but remains silent for now. This day has been long, stressful, and full of horrors, and honestly, he was getting tired. And now that things were calming down, he finally had time to process everything that was going on, and he didn't like it, not knowing how or why he became like this. He missed his home, his pets, his own body for godsakes. But everyone else seemed to be handling it okay, so he wasn't about to complain anymore.

"If we're going to move on, we should probably do it. I don't care where, I'll follow wherever you all go."