Humbling the Monster

There was said to be a monster living in the swamps of Isla Kela, something that looks like a Suchomimus. It sports spikes down its dorsal, concentrated in its head area, shoulder, rump and the tip of its tail. The monster is black, with bright green crossing bars down the length of its underside. There are grey sock markings on the legs with a black oryx wrapping around them, and digits tipped with pale green spots and black claws. Its eyes are red, the mouth is blue, a pale green stripe runs from its chin up its dorsal to its rump. There is red dimorphic markings looking like claw marks on its sides, indicating it is indeed a Suchomimus. A male. He is called Charon or so people say, and whether you cross this water or not is entirely up to him. It is unwise to trespass in his territory, make a mistake and he will catch you, and he will drown you. Some scars he sports from fights like those, other, more prominent ones, are from his own near undoing. Pavonala wasn’t really that impressed with what she had heard, according to these rumors the Suchomimus was just like any other brute of a male she had come across. Even if it were a seasonal time that softens others up, she wasn’t expecting much out of him. Pavonala herself was a massive, imposing Suchomimus. She is a deep blood red with bright red rosettes framed by black that makes the back half of her look like a deep, dark pool of burning lava. The front half of her is black like volcanic rock, a white stripe running down the middle of her neck and then checking up her shoulder to taper to an end towards her hip. She has deep red dimorphic markings on the top and underside of her neck. Her eyes are red, her mouth is blue, and she sports a dark red chin.

Pavonala does not actively court, instead she typically raises the offspring of others. Many of these offspring are abandoned orphans, and they come from all walks of life. Sometimes they aren’t even the same species as her. Many might value her as a good broodmother, she has very strong protective instincts over the young and she is a hard worker that maintains all supplies needed to care for those young seemingly effortlessly. Pavonala is an excellent builder of shelter and a very capable fisher. She is without a doubt a keeper for anyone who may be looking for someone to raise offspring with, yet she always seems out of reach.

Charon doesn’t seem to care one way or another. She can see him from where she is standing at the water’s edge as she drinks. He is looking at her from where he lays, almost dormant like a rock..bordered by reeds and tall grasses that make it seem as though he is one of the bog. The grasses and mud hide his bright underside, to those not paying attention as they traverse the wetlands… he’d have the element of surprise.

His eyes have drifted, focusing on something else and looking through her and not at her. She knows immediately what he is looking at, he’s looking at the stray hatchling between her feet. It was a small, fluffy little Cryolophosaurus hatchling that kind of looked like a pale pigeon. It was absolutely not built for this swamp, she was just trying to get the poor thing safely out of it.

The tension rose with the gaze, and she would speak quickly to the hatchling. “Little dear, I need you to hide in that tree behind us. “  The tree behind them had a hole in it, perfect for the little hatchling to go where the possible monster across the way couldn’t reach them.

With a little chirp the hatchling backed up and skittered over to the tree to curl up inside of it, trying to hide but also wanting to watch.

Seeing Charon was still watching and now looked flatly at the hatchling hiding, Pavonala straightened up and stood at her full height. She was puffing up, using her imposing size to try to look intimidating towards the other Suchomimus. She let out a low bellow, sounding like the monster he was trying to portray.

Letting out a hiss, Charon suddenly lunged from his spot towards Pavonala. He was able to stretch out his lunge further than she expected, and she pulled her head back as he snapped at her jaws. With the miss, she slammed her head down on his, practically dropping her weight on him as she bashed his skull into the soft land below. She was quick to tear into the other Suchomimus, not going to let there be any uncertainty at her willingness to defend herself or the hatchling with her. The red Suchomimus threw her right hand into him, raking her claws across his face before he could recover from the head slam. He was batted to the side and she followed it up immediately with a swing from her left hand, slapping him right across the cheek with those claws. He stumbled to the other side now and she charged into him, driving into him and bodily shoving him into the water with a crash.

There was a cry of protest as he fell into the water, and he thrashed around to right himself. She stayed on him, snapping at his thigh as he got himself rightside up again. He snarled and swung his tail into her, backing her off. The black and green Suchomimus pulled himself from the dark water, slinking up onto the land from which he had lunged from as he glared at the red female from across the way. He was hissing, sucking in air as blood drained from his face. Lacerations formed red stripes in several places on both sides, his ribs and his leg now ached. This could easily come across as any other territorial squabble or other disagreement…instead it now took an interesting turn.

Pavonala cocked her head some, eying the male suspiciously.

The green and black Suchomimus approached slowly but still maintained enough distance she wouldn’t easily be able to snap at him. He lowered himself to the ground, crouching low and making himself seem less imposing. He seemed to be submitting to her, if he didn’t follow things up with a bit of a head tilt himself. Head tilting back. The male made a sort of soft whopping noise, it was like a combination of a frog and a purr.

Was he?

Yeah, he was now trying to court her.

Apparently getting his tail handed to him made him realize that Pavonala was a female he wanted in his life, or at least for the night.

Or was this the plan from the beginning? Was Charon one of those types who tested others and valued them based on their ability to defend themselves and others? Was the scuffle just a part of his courtship from the beginning?

Perhaps.

The black and green Suchomimus would follow up his bellows, the creature scooping his head through the water in side-to-side swoops, filtering the water over his lower jaw. Creeping forward with each motion, soon he was resting his head on the ground near Pavonala’s feat, resting there. He was vulnerable, and his mouth was wide open. In his mouth was several trapped minnows. They were not even large enough to ever be a consideration for feeding himself or Pavonala, however, for a hatching? Now that was a nice little meal.

Was this his peace offering?

Was he showing he could actually provide and be a father in his hopes to court Pavonala?

Perhaps she was.

Maybe she’d stay around and see if he really meant his actions.