Post by Infinity Blade on Jun 21, 2020 9:06:42 GMT 5
Pliocene chapter's up. Tell me what you think. I'm not sure if I failed or succeeded on the whole "one chapter where nothing tries to kill the main characters" promise I made to myself.
creature386
creature386
A New Actor Every Scene
Chapter 7
Ethiopia, 3.2 million years ago (Piacenzian)
Waking up to the sound of sniffing, Hem’yoc and Flurr’dkick opened their eyes and saw yet another beast’s face close to them. It was a Dinofelis, and she was checking them for any signs of life. When Hem’yoc’s body still ached and stung with pain from her fight with the Oligocene rodent, plus her run-in with the Andalgalornis pack “yesterday”, she looked at herself. No wonder this thing was checking up on them: she really was quite extensively injured. Hem’yoc also saw a rather long cut across Flurr’dkick’s thigh that she never noticed before. Unbeknownst to the small mammal, Flurr’dkick had been one of the ones to go out and find Hem’yoc during their previous day in the Miocene. The cause of this injury was unknown, but it was most likely from the Andalgalornis.
It seemed that they were inside some sort of small cave system, where there were plenty of both shaded and sunlit areas. Hem’yoc turned on her side and buried her face in her paws to cover herself from the sunlight behind the large cat (and from the large cat’s stare). Flurr’dkick just continued staring at the Dinofelis, not even blinking once.
The Dinofelis began to speak: “You two do not seem to be in good health, especially you”, looking at Hem’yoc. “But, uhh, I have brought some water you might want to drink”. She grabbed an empty turtle shell filled with water with her incisors and brought them over to the two small creatures. As the Dinofelis spoke, Hem’yoc and Flurr’dkick couldn’t help but notice the rather large, sharp fangs in this mammal’s mouth. The Dinofelis could sense their unease.
“Please, relax. I do not want to hurt you two. I just had a big meal anyway”, the cat pointed out, turning her head towards the partially defleshed carcass of some kind of horned animal.
“If you’re here to help us…give us a piece of meat from that dead beast”, said Hem’yoc. To her shock, the Dinofelis immediately grabbed the carcass by her mouth and brought it over to the two.
“Take as much as you need. I am no good at eating everything from a carcass”. As Flurr’dkick began picking off bits of flesh from the bones, Hem’yoc attempted to bite off one of the first ribs of the carcass with her incisors. Her teeth make deep furrow marks through the bone and stripped off flesh. As she was eating, she took note of the skull of the creature. It looked so…alien.
“Hey, uhh…err…”, Hem’yoc struggled thinking of what to call this beast.
“It is Diana”, the Dinofelis replied back. Diana? Names just keep getting weirder and weirder as time goes by.
“Right. Umm…what is this thing, that you’re letting us eat?”, asked the little mammal.
“Must have been one really freaking looking creature, looking at his noggin here”, her bird companion commented.
“Why, it is an antelope, of course. Surely you have seen them around? They do not look very fearsome in the flesh, and they mostly run away from their predators”. Hem’yoc could only continue staring at the bones, while Flurr’dkick pecked at the skull a few times for the sake of it. Needless to say, neither had seen antelope before. Diana was becoming confused by their reactions towards the skeleton.
“Weeelll…I was planning to go find my friends. I would ask you to come, but I think it will be best to put you up on that tree out of harm’s way, given your condition. It should not take long to find them anyway”.
After Diana left, Flurr’dkick peeked outside. An injured Hem’yoc shuffled over slowly to join him. In stark contrast to the dense forests seen “yesterday” and on the first day after the Hell Creek disaster, the landscape was relatively clear of trees. In fact, it seemed more open than any other point in time they had visited. The whole place felt drier too. This world was inhabited by a variety of unfamiliar creatures. The fact that the days would be filled with alien beasts was no longer surprising to the two. It was simply a matter of how weird life could get.
Actually, one of the creatures, though certainly not the same as any animal from Hell Creek, made the two feel a little bit more at home. It was a large bird, with black feathers covering its body (and white tips on its wings), a largely bare neck and head that was grey, and long grey legs. The beak was flat and rounded, and the bird was rather pencil-necked. It was reminiscent of the ornithomimids that once inhabited Hell Creek, but without a long tail or clawed hands. One other thing was weird about this bird: its feet only had two toes each. And only the inner toe was capped with a large claw. This bird was currently feasting upon the grass that now dominated the ground. Flurr’dkick decided to try and get this bird’s attention by chirping at it a few times, followed by a “Hey!”. The bird lifted its head up from the ground, but said nothing and eventually continued feeding.
Soon after, two large mammals appeared. They were stocky, short-legged, and had two large horns on their noses. One had a square-shaped lip (Ceratotherium mauritanicum), while the other had a hook-shaped lip (Diceros praecox). They were talking to each other, when they noticed the large bird. The Ceratotherium, spoke up, “Stuart, hey! Say hi to the other ostriches for me!”. Stuart made a barely audible growl in response and went back to eating.
“What kind of name is Stuart…?”, Flurr’dkick said a little too out loud. This earned an immediate hiss from Stuart, and caught the two beasts’ attention.
Just then, Diana had returned with two friends. One was a rosette-covered cat roughly comparable in size to her (actually somewhat smaller), but with less muscular forelimbs and smaller canines that weren’t serrated. The left lower canine was actually fractured. This was a leopard, or at least a close relative thereof. The other did have large upper canines like Diana, but his were larger. This was Megantereon.
Flurr’dkick felt a little uneasy around three large carnivores, but he appeared as outwardly collected and chipper as he could and asked the leopard about his broken canine.
“So, uhhh…what happened to your tooth?”.
“The australopiths happened”, the leopard bluntly replied. A faint snigger from Stuart was only heard by one of the rhinos, who only gave a quick, blank glance at the ostrich.
“Theeeeeee…….what?”.
The leopard cocked his head back. This bird must have at least heard about the australopiths, no?
Diana butted in. “The australopiths are these two-legged apes who sometimes steal meat from us carnivores. With their dexterous front feet they can grab sticks and stones and hurl them at us”.
“And one of those got this poor sucker’s lower canine”, chuckled the Megantereon, as he simultaneously wrapped an arm around the leopard’s neck. The leopard promptly freed himself out in annoyance.
“Too bad I’m not a crocodile. Would be really handy to be able to regrow teeth right now”, lamented the leopard.
“That’s why we birds don’t have teeth, ain’t none of us got time for that”, Flurr’dkick said, nudging at Hem’yoc’s side with his wing.
“That’s fine if you don’t plan on being a big scary predator”, said the Megantereon. “Otherwise you end up like Stuart over there”. The rest of the cats and the rhinos laughed for a little while in response. Stuart was not amused and made a low-pitched grumble while staring at the sabertooth. He wasn’t in the mood to be mocked by some stupid mammals, the Megantereon telling him to lighten up and that it was merely a joke notwithstanding. Hem’yoc, on the other hand, thought of telling the cat about the big predatory birds she saw “yesterday”, but chose not to, knowing that she lacked the ability, energy, and inclination to convincingly explain that such…”terror birds” were a thing.
Suddenly the Megantereon was hit in the head by a flying stick. Everyone’s attention then turned to a group of strange-looking bipedal mammals screeching, hooting, and howling at them, wielding sticks and stones in their hands. These must be the australopiths, Hem’yoc thought. She and Flurr’dkick paused to stare at them, noting how bizarre they looked.
The Australopithecus hurled stones and sticks at the motley group of animals before them, taking extra care not to anger the two rhinos much. In response, the animals snarled, growled, hissed, snorted, and bellowed back at the apes, making whatever threat displays they had at their disposal, whether they were mock paw swipes or lowering horned heads. Hem’yoc and Flurr’dkick, however, decided to stay close underneath the much larger animals. But this didn’t avert the apes’ attention from them. Pretty soon, one of the apes took particular note of the two.
“Hey, wait a minute…I’ve never seen two creatures quite like you. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of birds, but none like you. And no small beasts like you either”, referring, of course, to Flurr’dkick and Hem’yoc, respectively.
“Well yeah, we’re…we’re not from here”, Hem’yoc admitted in an increasingly sad tone.
“You must be almost extinct”, said another Australopithecus. “Well, some species are inferior, I guess. I guess not everyone’s built well for survival”, he added.
That last comment made the two Hell Creek denizens, especially Hem’yoc, even more visibly upset. “I guess not”, the multituberculate thought. She no longer knew why she and Flurr’dkick were persisting for so long. Flurr’dkick wasn’t sure what to think. He didn’t see any of his kind ever since their first day in the future. But that didn’t matter, since the birds still thrive, right?
But that comment ticked the Dinofelis off in an unexpected way. “Ignorance. Just because a kind goes extinct does not mean it is “inferior”. Every living thing is best suited to survive under special conditions. When the land changes, everything will eventually die off”.
“Yeah, now why don’t you go back to picking fruits and leaves like good little monkeys and leave the meat to the predators?”, said the Megantereon.
The bit about “monkeys” seems to have struck a nerve for the australopithecines. They continued to pelt stones, this time with greater fervor, until one ended up hitting the hook-lipped rhinoceros in the eye. The second he began to charge, the apes realized the mistake they made and instantly booked it. The Diceros charged with such speed and anger that none of the Australopithecus dared to look back even once. After the primates were out of sight, the rhinoceros turned towards the group and proudly said “They don’t call me “Hyperhorn” for nothing!”.
“Sure thing, Nate”, deadpanned the Ceratotherium. “Also, I thought “Hyper” was some old family name for us rhinos”.
“It is…but I like to think of myself as going into “hyperdrive” when I get angry and charge”.
“You…you don’t think we’re inferior if we find ourselves going extinct…?”, Hem’yoc asked a little timidly to Diana.
The Dinofelis turned to her. “Of course not. Everything dies over time. I have heard tales of a few creatures disappearing entirely from the land long ago. But surely nothing that is so poorly suited to live can last for such a prolonged period with so many individuals, can it?”. Hem’yoc thought to herself about this. “But if you two really are the last of your kind, and the lands no longer work to your favor, I still encourage you, with every fiber of my being, to keep going. Every living creature struggles to survive; know that you are not alone in your struggles”.
Afterwards, all the animals traveled to a watering hole to lounge in for the rest of the day; Stuart seemed to begrudgingly follow. Most of the animals seemed to be enjoying themselves, except maybe Stuart who eventually decided to retreat from the watering hole; Diana went to follow him to see what was up with him. Flurr’dkick seemed to be enjoying himself, and even Hem’yoc had to admit that she was feeling somewhat better. Though she was still feeling uncertain of whatever the future held…maybe her kind weren’t total failures after all.
As the sun was setting, the rhinos and the rest of the cats decided to sleep at the watering hole for the night, while Hem’yoc decided to go out for a brief walk, with Flurr’dkick following. But before long, the two stumbled across a horrifying sight.
Before them was the corpse of Diana the Dinofelis, lying in a slowly growing pool of her own blood.
Hem’yoc could only stare in shock, while Flurr’dkick bolted back to go get the rhinos and the cats. When they arrived, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Who could have done this?”, asked Hem’yoc.
The killing blow was obvious. It was a relatively wide, but surprisingly deep puncture wound into Diana’s throat, from which blood oozed out.
“Stuart”, the Megantereon said blankly. “I always felt that there was something off about him, being really quiet, passive aggressive, seeming like he hated everyone. Of course. When you have someone like Diana, who’d go see what was wrong with animals, perhaps too much for her own good, something like this would happen”, the sabertooth came to realize.
“Did…did he kick her?”, asked Hem’yoc.
“Eeyup”, the Ceratotherium replied. He revealed some two-toed footprints leading away from Diana’s body. The first few prints made by the right foot had blood at their front tips, where the claw would be.
“Well, guess we’re going to hunt down an ostrich first thing tomorrow morning. ’Til then, we have to build up our strength and get some rest. I guess Diana belongs to the scavengers now”.
Flurr’dkick and Hem’yoc followed the rest of the animals back to the watering hole, where they slept for the rest of the night.
“Poor Diana, you didn't deserve this” was Hem’yoc’s last thought before drifting off into sleep.
Chapter 7
Ethiopia, 3.2 million years ago (Piacenzian)
Waking up to the sound of sniffing, Hem’yoc and Flurr’dkick opened their eyes and saw yet another beast’s face close to them. It was a Dinofelis, and she was checking them for any signs of life. When Hem’yoc’s body still ached and stung with pain from her fight with the Oligocene rodent, plus her run-in with the Andalgalornis pack “yesterday”, she looked at herself. No wonder this thing was checking up on them: she really was quite extensively injured. Hem’yoc also saw a rather long cut across Flurr’dkick’s thigh that she never noticed before. Unbeknownst to the small mammal, Flurr’dkick had been one of the ones to go out and find Hem’yoc during their previous day in the Miocene. The cause of this injury was unknown, but it was most likely from the Andalgalornis.
It seemed that they were inside some sort of small cave system, where there were plenty of both shaded and sunlit areas. Hem’yoc turned on her side and buried her face in her paws to cover herself from the sunlight behind the large cat (and from the large cat’s stare). Flurr’dkick just continued staring at the Dinofelis, not even blinking once.
The Dinofelis began to speak: “You two do not seem to be in good health, especially you”, looking at Hem’yoc. “But, uhh, I have brought some water you might want to drink”. She grabbed an empty turtle shell filled with water with her incisors and brought them over to the two small creatures. As the Dinofelis spoke, Hem’yoc and Flurr’dkick couldn’t help but notice the rather large, sharp fangs in this mammal’s mouth. The Dinofelis could sense their unease.
“Please, relax. I do not want to hurt you two. I just had a big meal anyway”, the cat pointed out, turning her head towards the partially defleshed carcass of some kind of horned animal.
“If you’re here to help us…give us a piece of meat from that dead beast”, said Hem’yoc. To her shock, the Dinofelis immediately grabbed the carcass by her mouth and brought it over to the two.
“Take as much as you need. I am no good at eating everything from a carcass”. As Flurr’dkick began picking off bits of flesh from the bones, Hem’yoc attempted to bite off one of the first ribs of the carcass with her incisors. Her teeth make deep furrow marks through the bone and stripped off flesh. As she was eating, she took note of the skull of the creature. It looked so…alien.
“Hey, uhh…err…”, Hem’yoc struggled thinking of what to call this beast.
“It is Diana”, the Dinofelis replied back. Diana? Names just keep getting weirder and weirder as time goes by.
“Right. Umm…what is this thing, that you’re letting us eat?”, asked the little mammal.
“Must have been one really freaking looking creature, looking at his noggin here”, her bird companion commented.
“Why, it is an antelope, of course. Surely you have seen them around? They do not look very fearsome in the flesh, and they mostly run away from their predators”. Hem’yoc could only continue staring at the bones, while Flurr’dkick pecked at the skull a few times for the sake of it. Needless to say, neither had seen antelope before. Diana was becoming confused by their reactions towards the skeleton.
“Weeelll…I was planning to go find my friends. I would ask you to come, but I think it will be best to put you up on that tree out of harm’s way, given your condition. It should not take long to find them anyway”.
After Diana left, Flurr’dkick peeked outside. An injured Hem’yoc shuffled over slowly to join him. In stark contrast to the dense forests seen “yesterday” and on the first day after the Hell Creek disaster, the landscape was relatively clear of trees. In fact, it seemed more open than any other point in time they had visited. The whole place felt drier too. This world was inhabited by a variety of unfamiliar creatures. The fact that the days would be filled with alien beasts was no longer surprising to the two. It was simply a matter of how weird life could get.
Actually, one of the creatures, though certainly not the same as any animal from Hell Creek, made the two feel a little bit more at home. It was a large bird, with black feathers covering its body (and white tips on its wings), a largely bare neck and head that was grey, and long grey legs. The beak was flat and rounded, and the bird was rather pencil-necked. It was reminiscent of the ornithomimids that once inhabited Hell Creek, but without a long tail or clawed hands. One other thing was weird about this bird: its feet only had two toes each. And only the inner toe was capped with a large claw. This bird was currently feasting upon the grass that now dominated the ground. Flurr’dkick decided to try and get this bird’s attention by chirping at it a few times, followed by a “Hey!”. The bird lifted its head up from the ground, but said nothing and eventually continued feeding.
Soon after, two large mammals appeared. They were stocky, short-legged, and had two large horns on their noses. One had a square-shaped lip (Ceratotherium mauritanicum), while the other had a hook-shaped lip (Diceros praecox). They were talking to each other, when they noticed the large bird. The Ceratotherium, spoke up, “Stuart, hey! Say hi to the other ostriches for me!”. Stuart made a barely audible growl in response and went back to eating.
“What kind of name is Stuart…?”, Flurr’dkick said a little too out loud. This earned an immediate hiss from Stuart, and caught the two beasts’ attention.
Just then, Diana had returned with two friends. One was a rosette-covered cat roughly comparable in size to her (actually somewhat smaller), but with less muscular forelimbs and smaller canines that weren’t serrated. The left lower canine was actually fractured. This was a leopard, or at least a close relative thereof. The other did have large upper canines like Diana, but his were larger. This was Megantereon.
Flurr’dkick felt a little uneasy around three large carnivores, but he appeared as outwardly collected and chipper as he could and asked the leopard about his broken canine.
“So, uhhh…what happened to your tooth?”.
“The australopiths happened”, the leopard bluntly replied. A faint snigger from Stuart was only heard by one of the rhinos, who only gave a quick, blank glance at the ostrich.
“Theeeeeee…….what?”.
The leopard cocked his head back. This bird must have at least heard about the australopiths, no?
Diana butted in. “The australopiths are these two-legged apes who sometimes steal meat from us carnivores. With their dexterous front feet they can grab sticks and stones and hurl them at us”.
“And one of those got this poor sucker’s lower canine”, chuckled the Megantereon, as he simultaneously wrapped an arm around the leopard’s neck. The leopard promptly freed himself out in annoyance.
“Too bad I’m not a crocodile. Would be really handy to be able to regrow teeth right now”, lamented the leopard.
“That’s why we birds don’t have teeth, ain’t none of us got time for that”, Flurr’dkick said, nudging at Hem’yoc’s side with his wing.
“That’s fine if you don’t plan on being a big scary predator”, said the Megantereon. “Otherwise you end up like Stuart over there”. The rest of the cats and the rhinos laughed for a little while in response. Stuart was not amused and made a low-pitched grumble while staring at the sabertooth. He wasn’t in the mood to be mocked by some stupid mammals, the Megantereon telling him to lighten up and that it was merely a joke notwithstanding. Hem’yoc, on the other hand, thought of telling the cat about the big predatory birds she saw “yesterday”, but chose not to, knowing that she lacked the ability, energy, and inclination to convincingly explain that such…”terror birds” were a thing.
Suddenly the Megantereon was hit in the head by a flying stick. Everyone’s attention then turned to a group of strange-looking bipedal mammals screeching, hooting, and howling at them, wielding sticks and stones in their hands. These must be the australopiths, Hem’yoc thought. She and Flurr’dkick paused to stare at them, noting how bizarre they looked.
The Australopithecus hurled stones and sticks at the motley group of animals before them, taking extra care not to anger the two rhinos much. In response, the animals snarled, growled, hissed, snorted, and bellowed back at the apes, making whatever threat displays they had at their disposal, whether they were mock paw swipes or lowering horned heads. Hem’yoc and Flurr’dkick, however, decided to stay close underneath the much larger animals. But this didn’t avert the apes’ attention from them. Pretty soon, one of the apes took particular note of the two.
“Hey, wait a minute…I’ve never seen two creatures quite like you. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of birds, but none like you. And no small beasts like you either”, referring, of course, to Flurr’dkick and Hem’yoc, respectively.
“Well yeah, we’re…we’re not from here”, Hem’yoc admitted in an increasingly sad tone.
“You must be almost extinct”, said another Australopithecus. “Well, some species are inferior, I guess. I guess not everyone’s built well for survival”, he added.
That last comment made the two Hell Creek denizens, especially Hem’yoc, even more visibly upset. “I guess not”, the multituberculate thought. She no longer knew why she and Flurr’dkick were persisting for so long. Flurr’dkick wasn’t sure what to think. He didn’t see any of his kind ever since their first day in the future. But that didn’t matter, since the birds still thrive, right?
But that comment ticked the Dinofelis off in an unexpected way. “Ignorance. Just because a kind goes extinct does not mean it is “inferior”. Every living thing is best suited to survive under special conditions. When the land changes, everything will eventually die off”.
“Yeah, now why don’t you go back to picking fruits and leaves like good little monkeys and leave the meat to the predators?”, said the Megantereon.
The bit about “monkeys” seems to have struck a nerve for the australopithecines. They continued to pelt stones, this time with greater fervor, until one ended up hitting the hook-lipped rhinoceros in the eye. The second he began to charge, the apes realized the mistake they made and instantly booked it. The Diceros charged with such speed and anger that none of the Australopithecus dared to look back even once. After the primates were out of sight, the rhinoceros turned towards the group and proudly said “They don’t call me “Hyperhorn” for nothing!”.
“Sure thing, Nate”, deadpanned the Ceratotherium. “Also, I thought “Hyper” was some old family name for us rhinos”.
“It is…but I like to think of myself as going into “hyperdrive” when I get angry and charge”.
“You…you don’t think we’re inferior if we find ourselves going extinct…?”, Hem’yoc asked a little timidly to Diana.
The Dinofelis turned to her. “Of course not. Everything dies over time. I have heard tales of a few creatures disappearing entirely from the land long ago. But surely nothing that is so poorly suited to live can last for such a prolonged period with so many individuals, can it?”. Hem’yoc thought to herself about this. “But if you two really are the last of your kind, and the lands no longer work to your favor, I still encourage you, with every fiber of my being, to keep going. Every living creature struggles to survive; know that you are not alone in your struggles”.
Afterwards, all the animals traveled to a watering hole to lounge in for the rest of the day; Stuart seemed to begrudgingly follow. Most of the animals seemed to be enjoying themselves, except maybe Stuart who eventually decided to retreat from the watering hole; Diana went to follow him to see what was up with him. Flurr’dkick seemed to be enjoying himself, and even Hem’yoc had to admit that she was feeling somewhat better. Though she was still feeling uncertain of whatever the future held…maybe her kind weren’t total failures after all.
As the sun was setting, the rhinos and the rest of the cats decided to sleep at the watering hole for the night, while Hem’yoc decided to go out for a brief walk, with Flurr’dkick following. But before long, the two stumbled across a horrifying sight.
Before them was the corpse of Diana the Dinofelis, lying in a slowly growing pool of her own blood.
Hem’yoc could only stare in shock, while Flurr’dkick bolted back to go get the rhinos and the cats. When they arrived, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Who could have done this?”, asked Hem’yoc.
The killing blow was obvious. It was a relatively wide, but surprisingly deep puncture wound into Diana’s throat, from which blood oozed out.
“Stuart”, the Megantereon said blankly. “I always felt that there was something off about him, being really quiet, passive aggressive, seeming like he hated everyone. Of course. When you have someone like Diana, who’d go see what was wrong with animals, perhaps too much for her own good, something like this would happen”, the sabertooth came to realize.
“Did…did he kick her?”, asked Hem’yoc.
“Eeyup”, the Ceratotherium replied. He revealed some two-toed footprints leading away from Diana’s body. The first few prints made by the right foot had blood at their front tips, where the claw would be.
“Well, guess we’re going to hunt down an ostrich first thing tomorrow morning. ’Til then, we have to build up our strength and get some rest. I guess Diana belongs to the scavengers now”.
Flurr’dkick and Hem’yoc followed the rest of the animals back to the watering hole, where they slept for the rest of the night.
“Poor Diana, you didn't deserve this” was Hem’yoc’s last thought before drifting off into sleep.
