Rogtuk's Musings: Socializing the Raptors

Prompt 4- Seyndi

 

Word Count: 1223

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Azkol trotted along at Rogtuk’s side, panting with his drooling tongue flopping in the wind. The world the orc and the wolf came from was currently in its wet season, providing a boggy and humid environment. So despite the higher temperature, the dry air whisked away Rogtuk’s sweat and Azkol’s drool and allowed them to cool. 

But the lack of shade forced Rogtuk into sandals, since every step of the sunbaked sand scorched his feet. The orc wrapped bandages around Azkol’s paws to offer him some protection as well. The wolf gnawed away at first and Rogtuk had to swat him several times before Azkol learned he would have to tolerate them. So instead, the wolf stepped high and awkwardly, making a scene that caused chuckles from passing audiences until he got used to them. 

Rogtuk approached a building with acres he couldn’t count fenced off. He couldn’t quite read the name on the sign, but he recognized the letters. A good start to his learning. Thankfully, Seyndi had the foresight to consider those coming from places who hadn’t invented the written word and her sign included the silhouette of a raptor. It was in an artstyle new to the orc and he found himself admiring the technique.

Usually his people focused primarily on the gesture. Large swooping lines and little in the way of showing detail of muscle- except when to draw attention to the motion. And if color was involved, they opted for muted tones and natural or simple patterns. The raptor was drawn with straight lines, creating a ridgid look as if it was carved in stone. Beyond that, the raptor was colored with vibrant hues and patterns that simply didn’t exist in nature. It made it far more unique than anything Rogtuk had seen before and was quite pleasing to the orc.

“Are you gonna stare at the sign outside the ranch all day, or do you have business here?” a woman interrupted his thoughts. She was a black skinned woman with her hair done in locks, long enough to be pulled back and tied together to keep it out of her face. She was leaning against a post of the fence on the inside of the property.

“Are you Seyndi?” Rogtuk asked.

“Sure am. Here for dust raptor rentals?” she nodded. She seemed exhausted, mildly fed up with something that had nothing to do with Rogtuk. 

“Ah, sort of. Someone in town told me that you had some juveniles that need socializing?” some of the words felt weird on his tongue, and probably came out odd. But Seyndi didn’t comment on it, if they were said weird or wrong.

“Oh! I’m surprised at how many people have responded to that lately. I have a couple people helping out now.” she pushed herself off the fence and opened the gate for him. Azkol cheerily walked through and if Seyndi was startled by him, she didn’t allow herself to react to it. “Though I won’t lie, one of them seems to be having difficulties with the dinosaurs-” she leaned in a little closer to him and held a hand to hide her mouth from imaginary people “-and it’s not the one you’d think.”

Rogtuk kept that in mind as she lead him into the ranch, approaching the pens where she kept the nearly-adult raptors away from the babies. She explained to him why they needed to be separated. Allegedly they’re rather dangerous to the raptor chicks and to themselves around adults if they’re not being supervised. Often playing too rough with the chicks or annoying a stronger, less patient adult enough to get attacked. 

There were four dust raptors, each standing to Rogtuk’s chest. Big enough to be ridden, but not quite as big as they would get. On the back of one, riding with general ease was a ginger cat he had not seen before. She wore a large brimmed hat that had a decorative wasp the size of her forearm. 

Another raptor lazed on a rock, its feathers sprawled out. The two remaining raptors had been running around, avoiding a human that struggled to get control of either one of them. Rogtuk held back a groan as he recognized the face of the fellow moon-worshiping man. Seifer made an attempt to slowly approach a raptor and pet it, but it scurried off when he got within a few feet of it. 

“You need to be a little more assertive.” the cat advised, as she led the raptor to jog past the human.

“I am certain you just happened to pick out an agreeable raptor.” Seifer pushed away the advice. “Or maybe it’s scared of your wasp. I would be.”

Rogtuk squinted at the wasp on Ginger’s hat and realized that it had moved position. Going from the brim to the top of her hat. And it was buzzing its wings in a fashion that was off putting to the orc. It didn’t seem hostile at least, but it still made him feel wary.

“Maybe you’ll have some better luck,” Seyndi gestured to the scene before them. “Just spend some time with the raptors, get them used to you. And we’ll see about riding them out of the ranch. Holler if you need me, I have other business.”

It was the cat that noticed Rogtuk and his wolf first. She waved to him, which brought Seifer’s attention over. There was a look of disgust on the human’s face that Rogtuk was unsure if it was real or jesting. Nonetheless, it caused him to roll his own eyes.

“Did I not throw the stick far enough?” Seifer jabbed when the orc was in earshot. 

“Azkol got it first.”

Azkol barked and wagged his tail. He paced in a circle and did an excited tappy dance with his front paws. The wolf looked between Seifer and Rogtuk, and then Ginger when neither of them were throwing sticks. Rogtuk frowned at him, wondering why this wolf seemed so much dumber than Zeda had ever been. 

“Do I need to get Spicy to break up a fight?” the cat threatened. The wasp on her hat took an offensive posture.

“Don’t even joke, Ginger.” Seifer winced.

“Ginger?” 

“Yeah, that’s me.” the cat waved again. “Spicy wanted to see dinosaurs, so I took him out here. I was lucky that Seyndi needed help so I’m basically riding for free.”

“I still don’t get how you managed to get it to like you so fast.” Seifer sighed. “You have experience with dinosaurs, Rogtuk? You look old enough.”

“I helped a friend on my… home-world out with dinosaur rearing.” Rogtuk shrugged. He reached out to one of the raptors, holding his hand out, palm up. The raptor withdrew for a moment, cocking its head suspiciously at it. Curiosity got the better of it and it reached out to sniff Rogtuk’s hand. Not smelling anything beyond wolf on his hand, the raptor snorted. 

Slowly, Rogtuk raised his hand to the raptor’s chin. It threw its head back once his hand touched its cheek. Sniffed his hand again. But this time, when it was done with the check, leaned its cheek into the orc’s hand.

“Ugh, of course it likes you.” Seifer threw his hands up in defeat and left to sit on the rock with the sunbathing raptor.