Welcome to a Jurassic Lark [Open]

[halfdarkened]

Characters: Riku, Sora, Kaldur, Kotetsu, anyone else...
Content: DINOSAUR SAFARI!!!!!
Location: North America near the Jurassic Period inland sea.
Time of Day: Mid-day
Warnings: Dinosaurs, antics, people with restored powers...
Notes: I have dinosaur books! I don’t expect this to be scientifically accurate, but I can answer questions! This will be done party-style with no posting order required. Don't feel required to tag every sub-thread, and feel free to create your own or take control of what's happening!


The group was immediately greeted with the scent of pine. Conifers created a sweet-smelling forest, ferns poking up where one might've expected grass. An occasional ginkgo tree dotted the woods as well. However, there was also the feeling of humidity and the smell of fish and salt, what Riku knew meant there was a nearby coast. Metallic blue dragonflies slipped effortlessly through the air, sometimes dancing with each other.

With a smirk, Riku looked back at the rest of the party. It wasn't the same time period, but there was plenty to be seen, regardless. This was going to be fun.

Comments

Re: A nest of eggs!

[acceptedburden]

It had been some time since Kaldur had been on anything remotely like a mission. Still, he had prepared as best he could. Riku said they had their abilities back when they traveled and, so, he had planned accordingly: converting a backpack into a make-shift water backpack to hold water just in case, along with putting a few provisions in the pockets...just in case. Unfortunately he had neither the skill nor the tech to configure substitute water bearers and would have to do without. He just hoped he could channel the water properly without them since it had been some time since he had tried to do so.

Kaldur was cautious, so sue him.

He turned his head at the sound of the noise. Without a word he silently followed Riku over to investigate. "It appears to be a nest," he looked around, "Eggs of this size indicate that the parents will be quiet large...and nearby if they are this close to hatching."

[optimistickey]

Upon first arriving in the distant past, Sora had been pretty excited to be able to use his Keyblade again...it came back to him naturally, as if it'd never left. And after months aboard the same sterile look of the satellite, getting out for a breath of fresh air (literally) was worth any danger they may find themselves in.

Even if that danger was finding a nest of eggs that appeared to be hatching now. While Sora felt that he, Riku, Kaldur and the rest of the party could take on any dinos that attacked them, it was a bit of a different manner if a mommy dino attacked them because it mistakenly thought they were threatening its babies.

"Yeah...do you think it's eggs from a plant-eater or a meat-eater?" A meat-eater, they may have even more problems.

[eyeofwildtiger]

Kotetsu was thrilled to be back on land. He was eager to try out his powers again. Maybe the time without them had improved matters? It was unlikely, but a nice thought. He didn't want to blow his cover unless absolutely necessary, though, and kept close to the others. Even though the group seemed older and responsible, he still had an instinct to be The Adult.

Kotetsu arched an eyebrow at the questions. "No idea, but maybe we outta clear out. Just in case they do eat meat. I dunno about you guys, but I don't wanna be a baby dino's first meal."

It's not as big as the pic. Also, TOUCHSTONE FILM, AKA DISNEY

[halfdarkened]

"I don't know, don't turtles just leave their eggs? I know sea turtles do." He sounded like he spoke from experience. "But you've got a good point, Kaldur."

At Sora's question, Riku looked back and shrugged, giving him a look as if to say, "How should I know?" He took a step back before turning and giving Kotetsu an odd look. "It's not that big. They'd be ankle-biters. Literally. I'd be more worried about Mom and Dad."

And not too far from Riku's ankle was a little crack. Out popped a little gray head with yellow eyes atop a long neck. It squeaked at the baggy blue jeans and yellow-laced sneakers not far away.

Re: It's not as big as the pic. Also, TOUCHSTONE FILM, AKA DISNEY

[acceptedburden]

"They are eggs...we will not be able to know until they hatch...or the parents return," Kaldur replied, watching as the eggs continued to wiggle around. He looked back at Kotetsu. "It has been some time since I studied about dinosaurs, but I believe the young would be fed from their mothers scraps from what they had...the babies would be unlikely to harm us. However, herbivore or carnivore, an angry mother of an animal is not something to be messed with."

And then there was a squeak. Kaldur knelt down to examine the creature and smiled, "The good news, at least, is that it is indeed a herbivore."

[eyeofwildtiger]

"Hey, you never know," Kotetu said with a shrug, "They could wait until you're down at their level, saying how cute they are, then AARGH! They're on your throat!"

Once he got a better look at the newborn, though, he smiled. "...okay, that's pretty cute." He took a couple of steps back, letting the others investigate. Someone had to keep an eye and ear out for mama.

[optimistickey]

It looked like they didn't have much time to worry about the parents, as one of the eggs hatched right in front of Riku. It didn't look like one of the meat-eaters at all...just like one of the easygoing long-necked ones.

"Aww! He doesn't look mean at all!" Sora said with a smile. He didn't much heed Kotetsu's warning of how these babies could lure you in and then go for the throat, and carefully reached a hand out to try and pet its head.

[halfdarkened]

At the squeak, Riku turned, spotting the little dinosaur looking right at him. His first thought was to look around, checking for the parents. Still nothing. Why?

"Yeah, I remember those," he replied to Kaldur. "Brontosaurus, right? Or... Whatever they're really called." He remembered hearing that wasn't the correct name for the species in school, but he couldn't recall why, and under normal circumstances wouldn't care enough. Now he certainly did.

And then the little dinosaur stumbled out of its egg. It sniffed at Sora's hand curiously and completely unafraid... And then waddled over to Riku, head up and chirping. He backed up, if for no other reason than he thought he was in its way of wherever it was going, only to find it was moving towards him. ...Hey, wait, I'm not your mom!

[acceptedburden]

Kaldur decided not to mention that the dinosaurs would have a difficult time piercing his dense Atlantean skin. Still, the worry was pointless, these creatures would not attempt to eat them.

He shrugged at Riku's question, "That sounds right, I am not much of an expert on dinosaur identification though." Probably something he should have looked into before coming, but it seemed enough to be able to tell whether they were meat or plant eaters.

A small smirk spread over Kaldur's features, "It seems to like you, Riku."

[eyeofwildtiger]

Kotetsu squinted at the creature, trying to determine if it was a boy or a girl. Well, at least they didn't have to worry about being eaten. Now it was a matter of if mama was going to come back and accidentally step on them.

Even so... he had to admit that the whole situation was pretty damn adorable.

"Maybe it's hungry."

[optimistickey]

"Brontosaurus sounds right..." Sora said. It probably was a different name, but he was even worse than Riku at remembering those kinds of things. The dinosaur sniffed at his hand, but didn't bite. And there was still no sign of the parents anywhere...

Sora snickered a bit under his breath when the baby dino went up to follow Riku. "He thinks you're his mommy! You should give it some leaves to eat or something!"

[halfdarkened]

Riku inched backwards, still crouching, but managed to stumble over the foliage and fall on his rump. Before he knew it, he has a lap full of baby dinosaur, which, much to his dismay, wasn't particularly picky where it put its feet. He grunted in pain, cutting short a brief whimper as he moved the offending foot aside.

"D-do I look like a reptile?" His attempts to hide the ebbing pain weren't as successful as he'd have liked. "I don't know what kind of leaves to feed it. We don't even know if it's hungry!" The little dinosaur nuzzled his neck.

[acceptedburden]

Kaldur attempted to hide his smile as the baby dinosaur continued to pursue Riku. It was difficult, but the amusement ended a little and turned to a sympathetic wince when the dinosaur mis-stepped on Riku's lap.
He smiled slightly at Sora, "It would be unwise to attempt to feed them if we do not know the correct diet. Just because it is a herbivore does not mean that all leaves are viable for it to digest. Some plants could be poison to it and we have no way of knowing."

He crossed his arms, "Still. This might be a bad idea after all. If the dinosaur thinks Riku is it's parent then we will have to separate them eventually. And the parents have yet to return." He was starting to wonder if this nest had been abandoned.

[eyeofwildtiger]

"So, what're we gonna do about it, then?" Kotetsu asked. "Can't just leave it here or it'll be another dino's snack. Can't take it back to the satellite 'cos it'll grow up to be huge."

[optimistickey]

...Owww. Sora winced a little at that...he was now kind of glad the baby dinosaur hadn't spotted him first. But that still left them with what to do with the dinosaur.

Sora thought for a moment...this was a tricky situation. "Maybe we can try to find its parents, and send it back to them? If we stay far enough away, they won't notice us." Sora figured that since they were herbivores, the parents had less chance of going after them anyway.

[halfdarkened]

"The raptors smelled me, so who knows? Hard to guess how these guys will react." He slowly grew thoughtful. "Or how connected they are to smell." Riku slowly looked down at himself. ...And pulled his legs up to keep history from repeating itself.

Riku had tried to keep his vest after his encounter with the raptors, and while he was wearing it, it wasn't in the greatest shape anymore. Despite his efforts, there were still stains from foliage and blood on the white fabric. It'd been stretched out in a few odd ways, making it look odd at a few angles. It was torn from attacks, and claws had torn one side of the zipper half off. While he liked that vest, it was time for it to go.

"Think if we run fast enough, it'd stick around something that smelled like me?" Riku had to smack away the little sauropod's head when it tried to eat his hair. "NO."

[acceptedburden]

Kotetsu's words made him think of one of his friends. Size would certainly not have stopped Superboy from trying to adopt such a creature, he thought with amusement.

"Most animals tend to have a far better sense of smell than humans, regardless. I would think they would smell us unless we managed to get downwind. But this is a nest...one would think the parents would return eventually." The problem then being how to get the little one to stay.