CHAPTER 20: Trust of the T-Rex
Michael found himself waking up on the ground. He hadn't remembered falling asleep at all, just a mere blackout. After all of the emotions and panic from the brief chase Momma Dino gave when he got too close to Shelly, Eggbert and Yoko, his tiredness simply engulfed his body and as a result he shut his eyes for a few minutes, only for it to have turned into a nap. He'd only been asleep for about 10 minutes.
As he opened his eyes, the first thing that struck him were the chirping crickets from all corners of the jungle, the mild breeze circling his body from the tropical climate and the scent of burning, again from the sheer warmth of this world. He didn't feel comfortable at all on the uneven terrain where heaps of palm trees had collapsed and resembled a wasteland, due to the collision between Rudy and Momma Dino earlier.
Michael opened his eyes further, initially struggling. He placed his palms on his forehead and rubbed them against his head slowly. He slowly ascended himself into a sitting position, realizing just how dangerous it was to have fallen asleep out here in the open with no protection. He at least felt dried up from all the tears and gut gripping emotions from all that'd happened today.
"My god," Michael whispered to himself, flailing his arms over to his bag which was coincidentally besides him.
He unzipped the bag and opted for a bottle of water, feeling quite dehydrated even though he was asleep for a mere 10 minutes. The night was still very young. He raised his head back and allowed the water bottle to unload its contents, taking a big gulp of water.
He held the water in his hand afterwards and blankly stared at the scenery around him. The few ponds that were around here had tons of lily pads, some of them with pink and white flowers coating over the surface of the water like decorations. The overall terrain was like a ground that couldn't decide if it was flat or a hill. The jungle bushes, moss, palm trees and such all coated the unsure terrain, their colours not blossoming from the eyesight given the night was blocking such colours from showing up. The dinosaur world was a beautiful place scenery wise, but at night it was hard to really appreciate it due to the faint blue environment.
Michael stood on his feet and grabbed his bag. He felt a lot more refreshed and his eyes were dry of any tears at this point. He approached the cave within the rocky wall ahead, getting to the open space in front of it where heaps of trees surrounded his every direction. He'd stepped on a medium sized twig and slowly knelt down to pick it up.
Feeling both tired, bored and surprisingly not as panicky about being out in the open, Michael looked at the twig then studied the ground. He couldn't quite go back to sleep yet, he just felt like he wouldn't be able to do it, and given he was isolated and trapped down here, but also bored, he felt like doing something with the twig.
He placed his bag down to the floor once again, much closer to the rocky wall where the cave was, and he sat down halfway on his bag. Michael held up the twig in his palm and scraped the other end of it against the ground, he was starting to draw using the scratch marks from the twig on the ground. It was a very sturdy twig, it felt like even trying to break it in half wouldn't make it budge into two pieces.
As he continued 'drawing' on the ground with the twig, totally unaware of his surroundings in the distant jungle, one pair of blue eyes and two other pairs of brown eyes watched him from within the bushes. These three pairs of eyes had golden scaled bodies with big snouts and a surprising number of teeth aligned perfectly across their jaws for such little babies. Eggbert, Shelly and Yoko were all curiously studying Michael unbeknownst to him.
Momma Dino was right behind them. They'd stealthily sneaked back here during the 10 minutes that Michael had slept. For Momma, her utter bewilderment at the presence of such a strange creature was one she couldn't run away from. Even as a giant T-Rex who could devour any living being the size of Sid, she'd never ever seen anything like Michael before.
She herself had descended her neck and overall body to hide within the damaged jungle, as to not let Michael see neither her or her babies. The croons that continued rippling their way out of their throats spelled curiosity on a level they hadn't ever felt before, not even with Sid.
Their eyes were laser locked onto Michael's motions with the twig, seemingly drawing in the ground with it. Curiosity oozed out of the three babies in particular. Shelly looked back at her two brothers as the baby T-Rex opted to move out of the bushes to get a closer look. Momma Dino figured this strange creature out - a threat? not at all. But he was foreign, a never before seen creature. She wouldn't ever allow her babies to get close to him, and she'd already put him in his place before when she gave chase to him.
Shelly slightly elevated her head towards her mother, emitting a rumble from her throat with a high pitched tone accommodating it. The baby T-Rex was extremely eager to get a closer look, but before Momma could croon back and promptly bring her back to the mix, further away from exposing herself to the sight of the strange creature on the open ground ahead, Shelly had already done it.
Michael's knees were two inches from the stone ground as an elbow sat on his left knee, his chin planted like a flower onto his palm as he focused on whatever he was drawing. The lines seemed to be drawing themselves. He seemed to be drawing some sort of dinosaur, but not a dinosaur he'd ever seen before. Nonetheless, he continued scraping the twig across the ground, using the scratch lines to create a 'drawing' of sorts.
Suddenly, a hint of movement came up within the short distance out the jungle. Michael's eyes caught on to the source of the movements - it was one of the baby T-Rexes. Michael was stunned, incredibly taken aback as the surprise of the emergence sent a practical shockwave to his heart. But rather than standing up or running off, Michael simply remained where he was put.
He'd noticed that whichever baby it was - it was hard to tell due to the distance and the night whether it was Shelly, Eggbert or Yoko, the tyrannosaurus' eyes were fixated like they were glued to the twig. He picked up on the baby watching him draw, so much so that he continued drawing whilst warily keeping his eye on it.
The other two tyrannosaurus babies broke out from the bushes and all three were stood in a straight vertical line. They'd all closed the distance between themselves and Michael as they got a better look at what he was doing.
Michael continued drawing, deliberately moving backwards in his stance to show the babies his scraping of the twig against the ground and the resulting lines, and the second outline of a dinosaur's body he'd drawn. The three babies looked at each other and exchanged elevated high pitches. They got even closer to Michael, who remained calm and didn't budge a single inch.
He took in a good amount of air through his throat and released it as the clutches felt in his throat were those of a nervous nature, realizing the significance of what was happening right now. This was good. He wanted this to happen, because it meant he'd get the chance to show he was neither a threat nor intending to do harm. He knew for sure if the babies were here then Momma Dino was somewhere.
Michael looked up and made direct eye contact with Eggbert, Shelly and Yoko, continuing to scrape the twig against the ground. They were about twelve meters or so away from him but they were close enough to study his motions with the twig. Their nostrils followed the movements of the twig as they locked their eyes onto it.
Michael kept his chin planted on his palm, but inside his body was like a frantic out of control machine. The nerves sprinting through his chest as he realized the babies were actually watching him and thus saw an opportunity to build trust made his lower chest hurt.
The three babies looked at one another, exchanging purrs and croons before looking right at Michael. Suddenly, they all sprinted towards opposing directions, which prompted Michael to halt his motions with the twig and watch what the babies were doing. And as they sprinted off, Momma Dino stood up and revealed herself from within the jungle, slowly approaching the open space as her eyes kept a firm sight on Michael.
Again, Michael kept his calm and didn't move. But this time, he'd stood up to his feet as his head turned back and forth slowly to the different directions Eggbert Shelly and Yoko sprinted to. Momma Dino was doing the same as she remained put in a spot that was adjacent to the cave hole in the rock wall. Michael kept his eye contact with her as she did the same.
There was an aura of calm that roamed the air for Michael, whilst also having to contend with cramps of nerves that met his chest every few seconds. He couldn't believe what was happening. Externally he looked like he was just standing calmly, but internally he couldn't have felt more like a direct spotlight was hanging over him. He had this feeling that he needed to somehow impress Momma and the babies to gain her trust.
Emerging back from the damaged jungles as the faint blue of the night skies coated the environment were the three babies, carrying decently sized branches in their mouths. They'd all diverted from each other into their own paths. The branches they were gripping with their sharp rows of teeth they'd directed downwards directly to the stone terrain, dragging them around across the ground.
Michael found himself stumbling left right and centre as the three dinos all zigzagged their way around him, struggling to watch them all at once. He warily kept moving so as to keep his eyes on them but also to watch them as, stunningly, they seemed to be mimicking what he was just doing with the twig.
His chest once again had an everlasting ache as he turned and twirled left right and center like he was being pulled by puppet strings, warily and carefully switching his direction to watch the three dinos as they dragged their branches in the ground, and they were leaving their own markings as a result of the branches. Every few seconds he couldn't help but divert his eyes to their branches and the ground, watching them be dragged with little to no effort, realizing that they were copying him, but his eyes also kept diverting back up to the dinos themselves, keeping aware of the fact that he had to be careful here.
Michael was suddenly surrounded from all sides as Eggbert, Shelly and Yoko continued their not so direct zigzagging motions as they rapidly walked back and forth around the space surrounding him, 'drawing' their own lines into the ground so as to mimic what he was doing just now. Momma Dino watched on with pure curiosity as she crooned.
Another minute had passed and the three dinos finished and tossed their branches back towards the jungle. Michael, left standing in the middle of this maze of scraped lines from the branches, didn't know where to direct his eyes as he helplessly looked back and forth in amazement at what he saw on the ground. His eyes widened and his mouth was somewhat open, like a gasp, and a few chuckles unintentionally broke out from him out of amazement.
The three dinos looked at each other, yelped with high pitched croons, and stood up proudly over their work, to which they'd left Michael in a maze of their drawn lines. They were all stood right next to their mother as the four dinos charged their golden eyes over the maze of lines. It was the equivalent of a bunch of giant scribbles clustered over the ground.
Michael was flustered in amazement, so much so that he couldn't feel his head for a brief moment. The collision of amazement and uncertainty created a storm of pressure as he could feel the eyes of the dinosaurs watch over him like bullets, he had no idea where to go or take this next. His hand automatically made contact with his chin as he scratched his chin, looking briefly over to the dinosaurs before looking to the side.
He was overwhelmed. The maze of lines by the baby dinos was stunning and amazing to realize, but Michael had no idea where to take this next. All he could see from the corner of his eyes as he continued looking down at the ground were the eyes of the dinosaurs watching him. He'd decided the safest thing to do now was to create more distance between himself and them.
As he took one step over one of the lines created by Shelly with her branch, he heard yelps. His neck cracked briefly as he rapidly turned his face towards the babies. As soon as they noticed he'd taken a step back, they yelped and crooned out loud at him, their eyes locking sharply onto him.
Michael noticed this, and as he automatically walked forwards a bit more, the yelping from the babies stopped. He took another step back, just to test their reaction and they yelped again, as if they were on the verge of crying. He once again moved forwards.
Michael looked directly at them and Momma Dino and his face unleashed like a bullet the biggest smile he could have ever sent their way, nodding at them as he realized that they didn't want him to go further away. He dropped his bag and began carefully navigating his steps over the maze of lines.
This was it. He continued hopping and stepping over the lines, the outside surroundings completely out of his head as he hadn't the slightest idea of the wind of direction he was heading. It was like he was dancing in a back and forth twirl, stepping over the lines, as if they were barriers - barriers that had to be overcome to extract a curiosity and take it to the next level.
Michael continued spinning and 'dancing' over the lines, carefully avoiding them as the direction he was actually headed whilst overcoming the lines wasn't in his head. But deep within his heart a faint hint of heartbreak aches roamed around his chest as he continued making the steps over the drawings. Like something was shortly about to come to fruition after so much suspicion, curiosity, yet also hesitation, on both sides. His forehead shot up in temperature and his legs started quivering the closer he got to the end of the maze of lines.
Michael suddenly found himself at the end of the lines, right at the edge of the drawings, well out from the middle of where he started. With that came a gentle puff that bounced his short hair. He turned around and looked right up to Momma Dino and the three babies literally about a meter away from him. He'd nearly bumped into the dinosaurs from hopping over the scrapes and ending up right in front of them.
Momma Dino lowered her head closer to the ground as her eyes and Michael's made direct contact, as the three babies watched Michael with equal curiosity.
This was the closest Momma Dino had let Michael get to her babies and herself, and for Michael it was like the second coming. To be this close to them had made him feel like he was at a funeral of sorts, eagerly wanting to cry an emotional waterfall of tears as the trust that was clearly being allowed to thrive was evident in the short distance he had between himself and the dinosaurs. He'd ended up nearly walking into them and Momma Dino didn't bat an eye - that was a feeling of acceptance and trust to Michael's heart.
Michael's arm had calmly and gently ascended upwards so his palm was directly facing Momma Dino's head. At that gentle movement, the three babies had been very gently coaxed backwards by her tail and she emitted not a growl, but a gentle croon as if to gently remind the strange creature to keep his distance. Michael upon hearing that through his ears took a few subtle steps back, but he could see it in Momma Dino's eye contact that she wasn't going to hurt him.
He could see the fact that she no longer considered him to be a threat of sorts. The relaxed stance, the calming aura of her eye contact, the gentle rumblings emitting from her throat. It prompted Michael to take the biggest risk he'd ever taken for a third time in regards to Momma Dino, arguably the most dangerous one out of the three.
Whilst she watched him with an extremely solemn yet peaceful expression, Michael moved his left leg backwards and kept his right leg forwards. His arm had once again slowly and gently ascended upwards towards her head as if gravity had been forgotten by the arm. He lowered his head directly in front of her and directed his eyes to the stone cold terrain whilst the babies watched on beneath her, holding his palm out to her.
Momma Dino was stunned, looking at the small yet obvious palm. This strange creature wanted to show that he wasn't a threat - her curiosity had prompted her to return here with her babies precisely to solve that curiosity. But at this moment in time, it'd surprised Momma Dino that he'd take such a risk as to simply put his palm out. It'd dawned on the T-Rex that this creature really wanted to be protected, to be kept safe, but not just wanted it, he desperately wanted it. The sheer boldness, in such a calming environment, didn't go unnoticed by Momma Dino.
Her babies seemed to be as drastically curious about him as she was, and likewise from him to them. He remained still, his head down facing the ground, his legs backwards and the other forwards, with his palm aimed right up towards her nostrils.
Momma Dino's head ever so slowly descended and descended. The gap between the palm and her nostrils continued closing. The three babies watched on from near her tail.
Michael could only see nothing but blackness as he gritted his teeth. He couldn't see anything but could only feel aches of sheer apprehension rush through his body like a tsunami. He knew at any moment now his palm could be fully bitten off, he could be killed, and he knew he was putting himself at risk. But the emotional fact for him that he was allowed to be this close to the dinos and Momma herself after the clear bonding established via the drawings on the ground prompted him to do this. He wanted that protection, that security, that warmth - this was his last chance.
He felt a very warm, sandpaper-like feel that engulfed the entire width beyond his palm make contact. Michael leaned his head much lower and his teeth gritted a lot more sharply and openly - his closed eyes crunched as he felt a scaly sandpaper-like touch made with his palms. He ever so slowly turned his head from the side and his eyes hesitantly opened themselves.
Momma Dino's head was at the cusp of his palm, her own eyes closed as she rested her nostrils on his palm. Michael gasped, his eyes widened, and an aura of security broke all around his body as he was in complete awe at the feel and sight of Momma Dino allowing him to touch her.
The moon suddenly broke out from the clouds above to send its pure white colouration shading above the skies, allowing the night to be a little lighter. The open space near the cave became the biggest beneficiary from the cleared night clouds as the area became much more noticeable with the crystal-like moonlight.
And the moonlight shone a spotlight over the grounds where contact was being made between a human's palm and a dinosaur's nostril. A cohesive force of trust, emotion and curiosity coming together to forge a ground-shattering conclusive bond.