[Pulse]

They were traveling from Nabias to the Great Plains. Three beings, a tiny caravan, was trekking through the desert  because of what was supposed to be a 'shortcut to the plains.' Why had they been traveling through the desert? Well, according to Levi, who was translating for Deuce, the oversized Gallizar that 'knew this area.'

Luckily, the Gallizar was their pachyderm, carrying the specialized medicine made from ingredients found in the Tengel rain forest they needed for a fever traveling through their ranch. Everyone of them carried their own food and water supply, something they'd picked up on a town on the outskirts of the Wilt'no desert once Deuce managed to talk the other two into taking this 'short cut,' however, these provisions were running slow since they'd been trekking through this god-forsaken desert for who knew how long.

"Levi..does he even know where he's going?" She was riding bare-back just behind the Gallizar's shoulders, holding onto him with her knees as she let him guide the way. Given he was much larger than usual, and she was only twelve and very light, it wasn't much of a big deal. Deuce didn't much like it, but she talked him into it since he got them in this mess.

Levi/Deuce
12 / 1

[Pulse]

"...." Levi was faring well-enough. His thick pelt kept hot air from penetrating the coarse overcoat and circulating in his soft undercoat while the blood vessels in his wings and ears helped keep him cool, much like an elephant. He turned to talk to Deuce, to translate.

Deuce let out a variety of whistles, chirps and clicks, he seemed to be doing fine, thriving in hotter climates because of his reptilian blood. As long as he had a supply of water.

"He says we should just keep heading due north." Levi's english accent, cool and smooth, sounded sarcastic, compared to Deuce's hesitance.

"Sure.." Klaus, the human and overseer of the ranch they were heading back to, was faring the worst. She had no insulation, couldn't tolerate extremes..the list could go on. But, she was smart for a young girl, and kept her peace of mind. "Well, the desert can not go on forever, and people will come looking eventually, since I left a note for her to get help.

Deuce/Levi
2 / 13

[Pulse]

Klaus sighed and leaned forwards against the Gallizar's neck, staring across the rising and falling dunes with an exasperated sound. She had, earlier, shifted the contents of the bags over the gallizar's shoulders so that she could cover her self as best as she possibly could with the large pouch and flap to keep from getting sunburnt. So far it was doing well enough, and the shade was nice, but the blasts of hot air wasn't helping.

"Not even Desert Runners or Sundancers would reside here, and are they not built for such terrain?" Mint green eyes glanced down to Leviathan, who was sticking the Deuc's shadow. He lived the life of a nomad and a dashing pirate..he wasn't one to complain. Between him and Klaus, they had done their best to prepare for the wost, but they had lost their compass a while back, so they had no way to tell where they were going.

Deuce started up with his raptorine sounds. "He says that there should be a timeless village centered around an oasis out here nearby, then it'll be a straight shot due southwest to home." Levi rolled his eyes with a flick of his twin tails. This was preposterous..how they had even been conned into doing this in the first place was ridiculous.

"I have seen no traces of such a thing the entire time we have been out here." One would think some kind of footprints would be out here..

Levi / Deuce
14 / 3

[Pulse]

Deuce, of his own accord, had to stop. His legs folded neatly under him after finding a place of refuge in the shade of a massive mountain of sand. Luckily, the sun was starting to set, so shadows were starting to creep up. Klaus, more than grateful, slid off of the oversized Gallizar to stretch her legs as Deuce got himself some water to drink from a sling on his side.

"Levi, might you make it to the top of the dune and see if you see anything?" Klaus glanced down to the Trickuhna who was resting in the shade, sucking from his own pouch of water as if he were a nursing kit again. It was the only way they could think for him to get his own water without the rest stopping, so he endured the awkwardness.

"Mm? Ah..give me a few minute's rest and I'll go see." He understood that Klaus asked him because Deuce was tired as it were, and she was starting to turn into a raisin from trying to conserve her water.

Klaus nodded with a sigh and flopped over in the sand with a grunt. How in the world they both let Deuce talk them into this was stupid..Well, it was the opportunity to bond that she wanted, at least. She was surprised he let her ride on his back this far, but she didn't complain. She'd have to try to walk on her own more often, but humans are such fragile things..

Levi / Deuce
15 / 4

[Pulse]

Levi had given himself ample time to rest, and was now making his way carefully up to the dune's crest to scan the area. There was, in the waning sunlight, little to be seen across this treacherous sea of sand, but then again, he'd gotten use to the bleak outlook by now. It really was a shame his wings weren't large enough to let him fly. Scouting would be so much easier that way.

To conserve energy the best he could, he slid down the dune and shook his head at the hopeful Klaus. In return to the bad news, she sucked her teeth and went back to leaning against the Gallizar. "Right. Well then, tonight, we shall rest. In the morning, we will travel again.." to this she heard a few grunts of disdain.

"Now, now, if you would let me finish..I was going to say that we will find a place to rest during mid-day, seeing as we're getting nowhere. If we can not find any stones, cacti patches or other shrubbery to hide among, then we'll simply have to burrow into the sand. Our supplies are, luckily, are sealed or canned, so they'll be fine." Klaus got little complaint from the others..that meant they got ample rest and traveled only during the cooler hours now. The look on Levi's face as he looked from the sandy dune to his pelt with a groan was priceless. It provided a bit of entertainment for the night, at least.

Deuce / Leviathan
16 / 5

[Pulse]

The Gallizar kept his head up, looking around the deadlands in the middle of the night with an alert, intuitive eye. Klaus slept, curled up between him and Levi for warmth. The later of which was still awake with him. Deuce watched a smaller lizard, lured into a false sense of security by their stillness, scramble by, eyeballing a passing bug. Deuce waited until just the right moment to snap it up, breaking the fragile neck with a crunch of his raptor-teeth, and toss his head a few times, snapping at the length of the body to help throw it down his throat without even chewing.

Levi watched this exchange with a grimace. Levi had no qualms with raw meat when the situation was severe, but the way Deuce just inhaled food was..different. But he hand to keep in mind that Deuce wasn't a mamal..Deuce's mouth wasn't built to shred and tear like his mouth, a Lucain's, humans, Cavallian's, etcetera. It was built to pierce and kill and Deuce's stomach was strong enough to digest it whole. Besides, it probably tasted better and retained more nutrients that way.

"For heaven's sake, Deuce. Could you at least turn your head? I'm still not used to watching raptors eat.." Levi's accented voice came out hardly above a whisper, despite the fact that when Klaus was fast asleep. He was a newer resident, and stayed, typically, with other mammals. He spoke to the raptors occasionally, but it was feeding time, he stayed well away. They just shredded meat from the bone and threw it down their throats..it made him feel like he was choking. Not gagging, but choking on something, even if he wasn't.

"Look, it's not like I do it on purpose, it's just how I eat." Deuce didn't have an attitude, but he didn't say in in an apologetic way. He wasn't sorry for how he was made, he was rather proud of it, actually, and he wasn't going to apologize for it. He at least wasn't going to be rude about it, though, since he was the one that got them into this mess.

"And it's better than nothing..I'm starved since she didn't make anything and I'm not about to wake her up." It was commonly known that she was NOT a morning person. She had obliterated quite a few alarm clocks, no matter how early she went to bed, and would snipe anyone's ego and/or self-confidence in a heartbeat. If you needed her in the morning, you had to get a ten foot pole and still know where the door was.

"True..It's a shame the sorry thing was too small to split at all. I'm sure you're still feeling starved." Levi sighed and crossed one paw over another, looking up to the sky a minute, watching the stars. At least it was beautiful out here..no civilization to ruin the glorious view of the heavens. Levi kept his head up and tails still, despite the urge to let them move, so there would be a higher chance of something coming along again. "Well, reguardless. I call the next thing that passes by.." Despite their exhaustion, food..food, oh god, glorious food, they had to eat..poor Klaus was denying herself even, to preserve it.

"We'll see if we can't stock things up..mice, lizards, even snakes. Maybe we'll find a Fenling out here, at that..IF we're lucky." Levi looked up to the mighty Gallizar.

"I dunno, but I'm going to sleep..in the morning, we'll just start heading east towards the plains." He as even starting to give up on the idea..but at least he'd have an exciting Indiana Jones-esque story to tell his pack at home? Deffinately. Give Harbinger a run for his keystones.

Deuce / Levi
6 / 17

[Pulse]

Levi sat up early, just as the sun was breaking and yellow was blanketing the horizon, gray blues following after it as cotton-ball cloud floated along overhead on a brisk desert breeze. He had slept well, but not long. He was a nocturnal creature by nature, anyway.

Gold and Orange eyes flicked over to the other two before he got up, stretched, and padded a little ways out onto the flat, windblown surface of sand. His twin tails swayed slowly, nonchalantly as he looked around, searching for food. Hopefully some small lizards, scorpions, or maybe that Fenling he was talking about earlier. He saw a few lizards start to burrow underground, and the first thing he went to do was pounce on them, claws digging into the sand. He dug around, kicking up a bit of sand until he found the hiding lizards to shove down, stripping what little tough meat he could from the scraggly bodies with a grunt.

Deuce's head, having been curled around his body and Klaus's, was sprayed lightly with sand, but more than that, the smell of blood woke him up. His head lifted and the stiff feathers along the back of his neck perked up, curious as a raptorine purr escaped him.

"And what've you got there?"

Levi licked his chops and looked at the dinosaur. "Scraps. There's not much left I can eat. 'Interested?" He tore the last few shreds of ligaments and visceral skin from the body and gulped it down. The Gallizar, in turn, stood carefully and stalked over to the feline, sniffing and nosing at the leftovers from the scraps Leviathan caught.

"....Eh. Better than nothing, and she'll probably try to save that canned food again." With that, he bit into the pile of bones, gristle, and fat, and inhaled it, lifting his head up to it's full height again to look around. Which was, actually, quite impressive. He was a whole too feet taller than your average Gallizar at the shoulders.

"Do you see anything, Deuce?" The Tickuhna licked his lips again and sat back on his haunches.

Deuce / Leviathan
7 / 18

[Pulse]

"No, unfortunately." Deuce shook his head with a sigh and his legs folded under him as he laid down again with a grunt.

He shifted a bit where he sat, the Gallizar did, before he felt a shift in the sand. "Hm?" He craned his neck and lifted a bit to see if there was something alive under him. He hoped to the holy spirits that there was, but he didn't see anything, even after rooting around a bit.

"Mm? What is it, Deuce?" Leviathan trotted over, curiously, his ears pricked forwards. He still had that calm, leadership air about himself, though. It was just the 'pirate' in him that urged hum to come and investigate.

"I can't say, the sand just--" Deuce gasped and clawed at the ground as he suddenly started to sink.

"Quicksand! Deuce, sit still!" Leviathan jumped back as the sand started to pull at his limber paws, his light step and a flutter of wings easily keeping him out of harm's way. "I'll get Klaus." He didn't know Deuce very well, nor did he care very much, but the strapping gentleman in him couldn't leave a creature in distress to die like this. It just wasn't in his nature, thus he sprinted to the sleeping girl and shook her with his front paws. "Klaus!" He was much too small to be of any help to Deuce. They'd need Klaus. "Klaus!! Wake..UP! Deuce is caught in quicksand!"

Klaus jumped up and snapped at Levi before she came to her senses, immediately digging through her bag for some rope. "Argh..of course, of course, just our luck..!!"

Deuce / Levi
8 / 19

[Moofius]

Why? Why had he followed these guys out here? Well, if he really thought about it it was because he'd thought they'd been both headed in the same direction. Obviously not because if they had been going in the same direction he wouldn't be freakin' dying right now! His goal in life was to live (among other things) and this "fun time" in the desert really wasn't helping him. Thankfully the dumb serraptor with him was letting him ride.

The serraptor looked beat, head drooped low. She'd dash from one shaded spot to another. She couldn't speak well, and was hard headed enough to fight most of the kuhnas decisions, but the heat had gotten to her and he was a lot more subdued.

They had, this whole time, kept their distance. The serraptor, when she'd had more fight in her, had asked why. Dacre usually gave her some half concocted reason. The ashen kuhna himself wasn't too sure, but now that they were well on their way it seemed a bad idea to approach unless the need was great. What if these guys didn't like that they'd been followed? Chances were they'd probably freak and think of the two as a threat, maybe kill them. Maybe it was paranoid thinking, maybe it was the heat, either way Dacre wasn't about to risk it.

At least until now.

They'd been sleeping a dune or so away, keeping far from view, out of the way when the trickuhna came back yelling about Deuce which was the gallizar, from what Dacre had gathered from the snippets of conversation. They needed rope. He had rope. But then he really didn't care. Unfortunately the "I-care" personality of the serraptor kicked in, and she was already running across the sand, rope in her mouth, their things (food, water) on her back, bouncing up and down violently.
"HEY!" and with that the ashen kuhna was after her, a streak of dusky brown against the dusty gold sand, "WAIT!"

The treasure serraptor stopped close to the group, bobbing her head before stating in a very simple English, accented to the point that it was almost impossible to understand, "Rope? Need rope? I has rope?" She paused, breathing hard before repeating what she'd said, slower.
"For a price!" gasped Dacre, following behind. Oh. Running in the desert sun? Bad idea.
He flopped down on the sand by the serraptors feet, desert sand puffing up around him. hey, if they'd been discovered, best to make, well, the best of it.

[Pulse]

Leviathan's head snapped up as he heard another set of whistles and chirps that made human speech. His twin tails flickered, and without a moment to lose, he started to dash up the hill, wings pumping to give him that extra boost. Klaus was staggering to her feet and running to the rim of the pit of sand, figuring out that their best bet would be to let his tail grab the rope and his arm from there. While Deuce's size was what got him in this mess in the first place, his size was what was saving him.

Levi just had the rope within a hair's breadth before an Ashen kuhna came running up, demanding payment. His bi-colored eyes rolled at the irony of the idea. This was no time for karma to come sneaking up and biting him in the rear end.

"Well then, I suppose I'll be owing you quite the favor, eh?" His tails gave a quick, impatient flick. From one pirate to another..Levi, while he plundered for his own gain, was actually a man of his word, but then again, out in the middle of the desert, he supposed the other was just as aware as he that words were cheap. "For the rope, a blank check." He knew exactly what he was saying, and he said it with a straight face, edging anxiously for the rope.

He in no way felt compelled to do this for Deuce, but because he was a gentleman..he couldn't let a comrade die. Not in such a way as to give them no honor. He was an odd pirate like that..not so much a pirate, one could say, as a noble thief. He watched the ashen and the tired serraptor with a worried, but composed expression on his face as they flopped over, exhausted. He was just as tired, wishing just as hard to get home..it couldn't be coincidence that they were out here with him..he felt bad that they had followed him, but at least he might be able to get a few bargaining chips out of this for later.

"Levi, hurry up!" Klaus let out a shrill yell, just as anxious and on edge as Levi. Poor Deuce was much too afraid to move. As a group, all three of them weren't in the least bit angry that they had been tailed. In fact, at this moment, they were quite happy, but after everything was said and done, that would be another matter to deal with.

"It'll be hard for the two of us to pull him out given his size..we'll need your help, as well as your rope." Digging himself deeper and deeper, oh my. Through what lengths was the leading man willing to go to save their ride and the raptor that carried a bulk of their supplies?

Deuce / Levi
9 / 20

[Moofius]

The serraptor huffed, "Dacre jerk, rope is free. We run now! We help!" Maybe it was just her but he felt a kinship with the trapped gallizar. She was the only reptile out here besides the gallizar. It would be nice to have a companion who thought the same as her. Serraptors were, by nature, a group. They hunted together, kept together in packs of sorts. Being so... isolated and having been following this gallizar for so long, she'd already placed the gallizar as a sort of... leader.

"Drot! It can't be fr-" but the ashen kuhna couldn't finish his selfish argument, grabbed by the scruff of his neck and dropped onto the back of the golden beast, the trikuhna plopped down in front of him soon after. Drot wasn't one for manners, she didn't understand them. If something needed to be done it needed to be done, right?
"Hold on! We run, we help!" the words were repeated as he passed the girl. Drot wasn't big enough to carry her supplies, two kuhna and a little girl. The gallizar, Deuce, could, maybe, but Drot was smaller then him. So, unfortunately, the girl would have to catch up.

The sand wasn't built for being easy to run in, if you were as heavy as Drot was, laden down with supplies and kuhnas. Each step had her sinking a good ways into the sand, but she kept up a rather quick run all things considered.

Dacre held back a cat like scream when he was grabbed, digging his claws into the stupid beasts scales. He was the most polite but he had more manners then Drot, no doubt. With the kuhna he was bargaining with he growled, "I'm holding you to that blank check, TRICK-kuhna..."

"OFF! Help Drot!" she said, stopping suddenly, kicking up sand once they were close to the gallizar, dropping the rope. She'd have to depend on the kuhnas for this, human tools were beyond her, the desert was beyond her. This place was barren, why did it even exist? She'd much rather be at home where she could hunt more easily, this desert was hard to walk in.
"Get off quick," the ashen was already on the ground, "Drot will force you off if you don't." he said, licking his dark paws. Ew, sand between his toes, he hated that feeling. He didn't much care what happened to the gallizar. Wasn't his problem.

(( Dacre is a jerk. P=;; He might get nicer later? XD;; Don't hold your breath for it though. XD Might be a long wait. X3;; Sorry if these posts aren't the best. XD;; I'm trying to figure out the characters. Drot just got his name and... yah. XD;; Making him up as I go along. XD;;;; ))

[Pulse]

That's totally okay. xD This rp's to see what happens and to see their dynamics together. I like him so far, cause that selfishness can be turned around into a positive attribute if Levi and Dacre do bond while here. You'll see Levi can be just as selfish on the outside, but he might warm up, depends on mostly loyalty factors. x3

And your posts are awesome! x3 I feel like mine was so lacking compared to this, no joke!! ))

Levi let out a snort of a grunt as the Syrraptor just picked him up and put him on his back. His hackles stood on end as his claws dug into the packs on the Syrraptor's back clinging for dear life to them as the golden raptor slid and bounced through the anti-traction sand. Through the clinging for dear life, lowering himself to cling to the curve of the raptor to have a better chance to stay on, he gave the Ashen kuhna an aloof grin, one hard to read. He would..he was a man of his word, but he didn't say WHEN he'd give him that blank check, or what kind of check it would be. It was hard to tell, outwardly, if his was a mocking grin, or a curiously playful one.

Deuce already had his tail reaching out to Klaus. The twin appendages at the end of his tail wrapped around her slender wrist the best it could, and it was actually slowing his descent, but Klaus was too light, thus she was starting to get pulled in.

She gritted her teeth as it felt like her shoulder would pop out of its joint at any moment from the strain, and let out a sigh of relief almost, only to get a mouthful of sand as they skidded by.

"Levi! I can't let go, you'll have to get the rope on Deuce!" She had to snarl through the pain..the little twelve year old red-head knew that neither of these creatures would willingly stick around in a tight situation like this..she didn't know them so well, but this was one of those moments where the unbreakable human spirit would shine.

"I..I can feel something under my foot! It's solid!" Deuce started squirming since he was now burried up to the crest of his arched back, much to the disdain of Klaus, who only heard a shrill series of hisses and chirps. Levi translated and the girl nodded, that anchor was perfect.

Levi grabbed the rope and took control of the situation. It was in his blood..he was born to lead. "Syrraptor turn away and dig your legs in as far as you can into the sand and let the kuhna loop the rope around your chest like a pulley." The neck was best, aside from the fact that it could break and wasn't as sturdy as the barrel of the chest. "Klaus, let go as soon as I jump, Deuce, when she lets go, push off the object with your tail and legs. Everyone else, grab the rope and prepare yourself!" He'd come back to help as best as he could.

Doing this, the load would seem like less when they all pulled. As he barked out orders, not even waiting, adrenaline coursed through him, letting his wings beat tirelessly, endlessly. He couldn't fly, but with the help of his wings, he could make larger jumps, and make it to Deuce to secure the rope. That all considered, he took a few steps back and ran, leaping at the rim of the pit. His ears were back, his tails aligned with his body and pressed together to reduce wind drag. He barely landed on Deuce, but he made it, and Klaus had let go and scampered immediately to grab any part of the rope she could, wrapping it around her arms to help secure it as she did as Levi said as the Gallizar grabbed the rope and twined it around his arms as well, starting to push off from the stone.

Deuce / Levi
10 / 21

[Moofius]

"Okay!" Drot chirped, scratch and wiggling her way into the sand until she looked like a sort of scaled chicken sitting on her nest of sand, "Is good! Is really, will help!" Drot got the "I'm ready!" look on her face and waited. She waited again and then peeked one eye open, looking towards his kuhna companion.
"Dacre~" Drot growled, more her own natural tongue then English.

Still working on his sandy paws Dacre looked up, looking completely uninterested.
"What?" he asked, looking annoyed.
"Help!" Drot lifted her feathers along the ridge of his neck, shaking them threateningly.
"Oh yah? And what are you going to do if I do-" a surprised siren sort of sound jumped up and out the kuhnas throat when Drot took him in her strong jaws and shook the cat creature before being tossed down into the sand. Every hair was on end, adrenaline rushing through his body as well now.
"Help!" snapped Drot. She might not have been the smarter of the two, but she was stronger and more prone to reacting violently should she not get his own way.

Glaring savagely at Drot, fur still on end he grabbed the rope, positioning it around Drots' chest and taking the rope in his teeth.
"I'll geteh yew fore dat," it was hard for anybody to talk with their mouth full of rope. Ugh, and he had more sand in his paws then he had before he started cleaning, how annoying.
Claws tight around the rope, ready to pull Drot called over her shoulder.
"Gives us the the signal to pull and we will," friendly and willing to help the group, the ashen kuhna grumbled behind her.

[Pulse]

Klaus had scampered to grab the rope behind the ashen kuhna and was waiting along with them. She wasn't sure what they could do, or if this would work, but she had to try.

Levi was completley in his element: stakes were high, conditions were rough, and the odds were stacked high against them. It was do or die..He looked up with a determined scowl on his face. He didn't have the room to make the jump back to the others, so if this didn't work, he was going down with Deuce. It wasn't as glorious as he'd envisioned his death to be, but he'd go out with some kind of bang, at least.

"Deuce, when I say now, push off of your anchor." His accented voice came out in a powerfully low tone.

"Right. I'll owe ya if it works."

"I'll put it on your tab, love." He couldn't help but chuckle, wheels turning already on the matter of being 'owed.' However, there were more pressing manners. "Hail, travelers! When I say 'now,' Pull towards our Gallizar!"

"....Now!" Klaus lurched backwards as she began to pull and Deuce pushed off with all of his might from the anchor his feet and tail were touching. Levi could only brace himself.

"..! Crap!" Just as he uttered out the words, he lost his footing and slipped. In less than a second, him and Levi fell under the sand as if they were jerked, and were presently sliding down the face of a long-forgotten pillar, collapsed and laying at an angle against an old wall. As it were, anyone still attached to the rope would, unfortunately, face the same fate, jerked in with Deuce and Levi.

Deuce / Levi
11 / 22

[Moofius]

Both Drot and Dacre actually helped (the "actually" pointed more towards the ashen kuhna) pulling with all their might. But Lady Luck wasn't going to work with them, rather against them. The line jerked away from them, Drot trying to hold the line steady.
"Ugh! Burnssss!" She hissed, slipping into his own tongue as she tried to pull the gallizar back. She was quickly ripped out of her sand nest, kicking and grasping at the loose sand with her legs before she was pulled down into the sand letting out a panicked sort of chirp. Had she had an actual group of serraptors the chirp would have brought them to her aid in an instant. But, alas, they were alone in a sea of desert being pulled down swiftly.

"No, NO!" Dacre wasn't going down with a ship that wasn't even his! No way! He tried to let go of the rope, but was only swept in with the red headed girl behind him. Stupid human! Why didn't she let go of the rope?! Must be some foul "connection" of feelings to the creatures. That kuhna, the trickuhna, seemed rather... oddly noble as far as animals went. Most people liked that in a pet; noble, loyal, brave.

What did personality likes and dislikes get you if you were about to die, though?

But they weren't dead. No, they were sliding down a rather steep face of some sort, the rougher edges and bumps hurting something fierce.
"Get me off this crazy ride~" trying to find an anchor, a hold; claws trying to catch onto the surface. But Dacre was moving too much, too fast.

Not too much further down the slope was the treasure serraptor, scales dim in this place without light. Forgetting English for the time she hissed and chirped, also trying to stop and also failing. Where would they end up? Where were they? What was this?