Life in the Alpha Labs

something different for age-ups - a dual set, and all put together as a collection rather than posting individuals
not sure if i'll keep them together or separate to continue posting them to dA, but i do like seeing them together <:
tried to really push some variation on the perspectives on this one, pretty pleased with how the environments turned out! and the dinos,,,, acros beloved

 

Quests:

- Crossing Paths

- Memorable Moment

- An Accident

Life is no picnic to those that were born within the walls of the Alpha Labs, but the very young don't have to know that. Not yet. Basalt and Rime first encountered one another when Basalt took their tiny daughter to meet the equally tiny Gloam in the warm, humid, peaceful environment of the acro nesting grounds in Test Site C2. The hatchlings are hesitant at first - the only other acros that they'd met before were their parents. Rime was more cautious, but warmed up to the idea of a friend under Basalt's encouragement. Gloam accepted Rime more quickly - she was glad to see another acro her age, even if Rime was already bigger than her.
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There comes a time when young acros are old enough to make the trip down to Zone D and visit the Grave of the Ancients - if they survived long enough to make it to that age. They were to take a bone from the dead that were locked away where only juveniles could reach and bring it with them on the journey to this sacred place. Basalt guided them there, but waited at the door. Their first time in the Graveyard was for them to experience, alone.

Rime was in awe. She'd heard many stories of this place from Basalt, and was honoured to be able to pick up the torch and continue the care and maintenance of their ancestors and all those dead that had come before - even the humans, whose bones lay scattered amongst the giant remains.

Gloam was not as sure as Rime about her place here, feeling nothing but unease as she looked about the rows and rows of shelves packed with bones. Was this all that was to become of them? That they would all just one day turn to bone and their remains be brought here, placed in a pile and forgotten to accumulate dust?
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Surviving to adolescence was even more of a challenge. No longer small enough to be considered a meal by their kin, but large enough as well that they must learn to hunt for themselves. No one will simply give them food anymore, not when there's scarcely enough to go around for those that are in Zone C already. The dacen on Zone B make for a tantalising target to a young acro headstrong enough to hunt it - a prize that size could feed both Rime and Gloam for a long, long time.

Gloam wasn't going to wait around and starve to death. She wasn't going to turn into a pile of bones that her kin would walk down to the Graveyard in ceremony so that she could be forgotten. Hungry to the point of near-desperation, she asked Rime to join her on a hunt. Dacen are a dangerous game to have their eye on, though. Acros can hunt dacen - but dacen can also kill acros in kind. All it takes is one wrong move, one mistimed cue, for the hunt to be over.