E dared not move. Not when the large, onyx and gold hued beast looked upon her-passed the leaves of her hiding spot-passed the protection of the shadows-and directly at her. A guttural hiss escaped the Indoraptor's jagged jaws with heated breath, his nares flaring. The large beast skulked and crawled and creeped upon the ground, golden eyes glimmering within intelligence, yet contained excitement as his serpentine pupils narrowed into twin knives. The Indoraptor moved slowly, black arms stretching lazily, carefully to prolong the ever building terror of his prey-E's breath increasing into shrill squeaks against her will.
The red raptor could not move-did not dare to move-in the sanctity of her hidden dwelling. Her blue eyes failed to blink, scaled eyelids peeled back wide, circular pupils large and dilated. Her white cream belly was smeared with dry leaves and brown dirt as she sought to further press herself into the ground.
To become small.
To become hidden.
To become unnoticeable.
The encroaching horror that slowly approached-flexing its black talons and flashing its jagged, broken teeth-made E freeze.
She had never seen such a creature before.
A creature that looked like her kind, but not.
She could hear the heavy, guttural breathing of the dark beast, powerful muscles rippling under his black scales. She saw the sheen in its predatory gaze, glazed over in a haze.
As the beast neared her hiding spot-just outside the sanctuary of her tiny thicket-E also noticed the wounds the creature had. She saw what looked like teeth and claw marks upon its hide, and saw other wounds that she was not sure what beasts made them. Where the scales were scarred and rippled, as if burned with fire, or something hot.
Briefly, E wondered if this creature was like her.
A social pariah-attacked by its own kind and left to wonder alone.
But that thought was broken when E saw the creature-looking right at her.
Through the shadows.
Through the twigs and the leaves.
It's head was massive, and she could see scraps of flesh still wedged between its jutting teeth, glistening under a film of saliva.
Sharp, jagged teeth, ready to crush and harm.
The Indoraptor's nares flared, his muscular chest expanding as he inhaled the scent of the small creature.
Inhaling the scent of prey.
She saw his eyes-golden like the sun, pupils sharp and narrowed into thin slits. Beautiful, in all its predatory horror.
Eyes looking upon weakened prey.
The Indoraptor's eyes looked upon the little red raptor.
This red one was like the blue one.
But the blue one was different.
The blue one attacked right after seeing him.
This red one cowers.
This red one does not try to fight.
This red one does not try to flee.
This red one just cowers, as if prey accepting its miserable fate.
It was a mix of stimuli to the larger raptor.
It was an action of curiosity, but also one of sadism.
Curiosity, because the red and white colored raptor was not acting the same as others before have acted.
Sadism, because she was submitting in fear, terror, and dread.
He had control.
He had complete control.
Through the leaves, and the branches, and the shadows, the male raptor could see her muscles shaking and trembling under her scales, black claws tilling into the earth. Digging into the foundation that his terrified quarry could control.
Something that E could take power in, shaping the earth and upturning the earth, attempting to relieve her nervous energy that was building. The tightness of her throat remained, causing the noisy, whistling of breath to remain, rapid and unsteady.
The Indoraptor cocked his head in confusion, a quiet chitter escaping his vivid throat, killing claws twitching and flicking, tail swaying. He never heard his smaller counterparts make such noises. The blue one made loud, shrill shrieks. Perhaps she was attempting to communicate?
A new form of curiosity grew within the savage predator, and it was something that E barely registered amidst her horror.
She was not being attacked.
Yet.
Perhaps the strange creature had no intent of attacking?
Still, E did not want to move, to make herself seem more assertive or challenging to the creature.
She recognized the noise he made-the series of soft, flittering clicks that her kind often used.
A noise E could not make easily.
Perhaps he was attempting to communicate?
E's eyes refocused upon the larger predator, just outside of her hiding place.
Her head warbled in confusion, as if attempting to better understand this strange animal. A quiet rasp escaped her throat, which ended with a whistling squeak.
The Indoraptor only further cocked his head to the side, before tilting his head opposite. Once more, a confused chitter escaped him, and his neck craned backwards slightly, head rising, golden eyes flicking and inspecting.
The red one did not sound like the blue one.
A low, short bellow escaped the onyx and gold raptor, more akin a to bark than an actual roar.
The noise made E cock her head in confusion.
The raptor sounded like her kin, but at the same time, it didn't.
Its noise was different.
Its calls were different.
It was like her.
He was like her.
But even if E felt some sense of companionship with this odd raptor, she did not bother to move.
Did not bother to challenge.
Did not bother to break her posture.
Did not bother to risk the all too familiar treatment of teeth and claw.
Perhaps it may have been better to simply attempt to flee?
To flee back to her armored companion?
But the larger raptor was already upon her.
E did not think she would be able to outrun the beast.
And she was also sure that the creature would have attacked by now.
If it-he still planned to attack her, why did he not?
Perhaps the slightest posture of challenge would trigger him?
If so, E did not want to risk it.
She would rather try to avoid being a threat, than risk running and being seen as prey.
It was then that the larger head of the male broke through the safety of the thicket, lean neck stretching forward. A low rumble escaped his gullet, golden eyes once more focusing upon E. The black quills upon his head rose and stood erect ever so slightly.
His large head neared E's more slender, smaller snout. She could feel his predatory eyes rove and inspect, more of her trembling body exposed as the leaves and branches gave way to the male's larger form.
The swift, high pitched breathing of the smaller female returned, and she could smell the scent of a recent kill wafting upon his heated, forceful breath.
Her blue eyes, pupils large and shining with terror, were solely focused upon the black male's jagged, broken teeth and gaping jaws.
His menacing teeth, and then a black talon upon a muscular and quilled arm, which rose and slowly neared.
Nearer.
Nearer, ever nearer.
E could almost see her own reflection in the blackness of the claws, the Indoraptor's fingers curling and flexing, moving to touch.
Or moving to harm.
E's red scaled eye lids closed tight as the precise tips of the claws neared her snout.
The muscular arm reached, up and over, passed her snout and up towards the crown of her scaled head.
The claws touched the crown of her head, inspecting and feeling, pulling backwards and running along her smooth scales, her scars and jagged, dried scabs.
E opened her eyes, a squeak of a chirp escaping her, blue eyes flicking to the investigating animal.
She didn't understand.
What was happening?
Why were the claws gentle?
Why were they not digging into her scales and causing pain?
As swiftly as the claws came, they were retracted.
The Indoraptor's nares flared, killing claws twitching. A low rumble escaped him, and his neck craned sideways to get a better view upon her healing wounds.
He felt them with his claws.
She had wounds and scars upon her body that were not made from other predators-not made to kill.
Her wounds were made to harm, yet keep alive.
To bring pain, but not kill.
To scare.
To keep down.
To control.
The Indoraptor now knew, that she was just like him.
A thing, to poke and prod and scare.
A thing that knew pain.
A thing that knew fear.
The only difference was, this little red one was broken.
Made weak by pain.
He was made strong by pain.
She avoided pain.
He made pain.
The onyx and gold beast produced a low hiss, and then slowly began to back away, curiosity sated.
As the large beast began to skulk away, and return towards the kill, E began to calm-somewhat.
E was unsure as to what happened, but she was alive.
And being alive was better than nothing.
For now, she decided to remain within her obvious hiding spot, and scavenge when the male was done feeding.
When I wrote this, I excepted a bit more violent encounter. Instead this happened. :D
Yay for more parallels!
I do plan to have Blue come in at some point, but I'm not sure when. It may end up that the Indoraptor may have to choose which female raptor would be his mate, but at this point, it seems like he just doesn't like Blue. At all. I put up a poll for fun in that regard.
Now, reviews!
Cat Lover: I like Ank the Tank, too! He'll probably stick around and might play a larger roll later. I like him because he's simple to write, and the raptors are fairly complex for animals. Thanks for reviewing! :D
Thank you all for reading and supporting.
Stay safe, and hopefully I'll update soon again!
P.S.
Error: Code Catholicon is like 90% done. So hopefully I'll update that, too. The chapter went a 180 to what I planned. Oh, well. Everything does.