aric
demi-admin
I drink your milkshake!
Posts: 989
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Post by aric on Jun 24, 2005 22:11:34 GMT -5
DJ sputtered as he tried to compose himself after he ran into someone. Dizzy from the impact and slightly dazed by the heat of the day, he clumsily tried to apologize.
He reached his hand out and smiled. Then he gazed upon the figure and saw his appearance. The man wore a long coat and a grey kepi cap. DJ choked on the apology that was at his lips. Then the man apologized first, a hint of a drawl tinting his words.
DJ's right hand dropped to his side where he had usually kept his father's revolver. Upon meeting empty air, DJ snapped back from his rage and stood staring at the Rebel. Weapons weren't allowed here. Nor was violence. His father's pistol was lost to the sea, just as his persistant hatred of the South should be... Why won't it go away?
DJ closed his eyes and drew in deep breaths. He opened them and looked at the man anew. The man didn't seem to know what was going through DJ's head. He did look uncomfortable just standing there. DJ promptly returned the apology. "Oh, the fault lies entirely with me. I shouldn't have been such a scatter-brain."
Then he began slowly. "I haven't met too many other Americans before today. Nice to see a fellow countryman from the States here in Dinotopia. If it's not too much of trouble, I was wondering if you could tell me how long you've been here."
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Post by Christopher on Jun 24, 2005 22:36:23 GMT -5
The soldier raised an eyebrow, when he saw the kid/man reach for an imaginary pistol. He also recognized the malice the boy held in his eyes. Then the boy before him closed his eyes, and drew took in a deep breath. It was apparent to the veteran, that the boy in front of him was from the outside, and lived through the war, whether he fought or not. The confederate said nothing about it, however. Bringing outside fights onto this peacful island would have done neither one of them a lick of good. Finally the boy opened his eyes, and the hatred was gone.
He then said, "Oh, the fault lies entirely with me. I shouldn't have been such a scatter-brain. I haven't met too many other Americans before today. Nice to see a fellow countryman from the States here in Dinotopia. If it's not too much of trouble, I was wondering if you could tell me how long you've been here."
The young man smiled, and said "It's no trouble at all. It was hard to keep track of it, while I was in the basin, but I think I've been on the island for about three or four months. How about you?"
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aric
demi-admin
I drink your milkshake!
Posts: 989
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Post by aric on Jun 24, 2005 23:39:44 GMT -5
Hmm. A few months. And DJ hadn't heard of this particular dolphinback. Not too surprising since he's claiming to be from around the Basin. No matter.
DJ replied, "I've been here for almost a year. Just starting to get my Dinotopian legs. Say, why are we standing around out in the sun for? Perhaps we should find some cover. Better yet, I think we should go to the local inn. Perhaps you can tell me why you've been in the Basin of all the God-forsaken places."
It would also be interesting to know how the heck he survived, assuming he's talking about the Rainy Basin proper rather than its edges. Not to mention the opportunity for DJ to disabuse himself of his animosity towards Southerners.
He gestured with his arms in a sweeping motion the way to the inn and began to walk in the general direction.
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Post by Christopher on Jun 24, 2005 23:46:19 GMT -5
"The inn sounds just fine, I was just heading out to find one, anyway."
The southroner followed his guide to the inn. After all a guide was much better than wandering blindly until he found it.
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SilvanoshiS
Apprentice
flightless and loving it
Posts: 143
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Post by SilvanoshiS on Jun 26, 2005 10:22:42 GMT -5
It was a quiet day in Waterfall City's library,naught to do but finish restacking the shelves and catching up on some reading. No one had even come into the library until a pair of yourng humans came in.They went up to the desk and werepointed in the direction of a skybax, who was shelving books.
"Sir, do you speak common?" asked the girl. "Yesh I do. Not well mind yoush, but well enoughs." said the skybax, "What can I do for you?" "Well," replied the girl, "we're looking for a book on egg hatching." "Well, you'se in the right section, but it'sh a big section. What kind of book are you looking fors?"
The young girl seemed reluctant to say anything, it seemed like she knew something that no one was supposed to know. Finally she spoke "You have to swear that you won't tell anyone. ANYONE, ok? please?" "I will do my besht young lasss. What is going on?" "The eggs in Bonnaba, they aren't hatching. The numbers sharply declined a short time ago. We came here to try and find something out. Please, can you help us?"
The skybax looked at the children and pondered their story for a moment. He could tell that they were indeed from Bonnabas, and if they were telling the truth, this was very serious. He decided to help. "Please, come with me, I know where some booksh are on this subject."
The chidren looked relieved at this and followed the skybax and helped cary books to a table. "Put these in there, We besht be off before nightfall," said the skybax. "What?" exclaimed the children, "You can't go with us!" "I can, and I will. Thish ish serioush." the skybax stampped it's foot with this remark, and the kids knew that they couldn't stop him.
On the way out of the labrary, the younglings asked, "So, are we going to fly back to Bonnabas?" The skybax simply said, "no, we're going to walk, jusht like everyone elshe," and began the journey to Bonnabas.
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Post by Vorchia on Jun 28, 2005 15:34:18 GMT -5
((OOC Wow, we’re at the second page… I’m impressed!! I’m sorry about my slowness, its just that I keep finding some work to do every time I login and well, duty goes before fun, to an extent anyway. Like, right now I’ve done enough work.))
Recognising Bonabba´s most recent dolphinbacks Vorchia, walked over to the two humans. “Hi DJ, who is your friend, is he new here?” she looked the new human over “Breathe Deep Seek Peace, welcome to Bonabba, I’m Vorchia. I heard you make some music at the Gardens earlier, you play nicely. The village usually has more music and a more relaxed and happy atmosphere but DJ might have already told you there are a few problems and thats why its kind of quiet.” “How is the water project coming anyway? It might just be interesting to have a look at the water used at the hatchery, if you have any suggestion as to how to check the water quality of make it cleaner, it´d be most welcome. The water used in the vapor bowls is usually from the rain tanks or when those are dry, it is hauled up from the river in the ravine but it looks and smells always fresh..." Vorchia explained. "Noble here doesn´t know what it could be either” Vorchia indicated Noble with a smile, gesturing for her to come join at the table. "Have you met Noble yet? She just arrived from the Rainy basin, she works at a hatchery too and wants to help solve the poblem." "Oh and did you hear that in Sauropolis they've discovered a new way of doing archeology? They're sure original over there. Now they accidentally discovered a secret chamber under a floor mosaic becasue the mosaic cracked under the weight of a pose dancing sauropod..."
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Post by Christopher on Jun 28, 2005 16:01:56 GMT -5
The soldier returned the hand gesture (that comes with breath deep, seek peace), when the raptor that approached them greeted him.
"Howdy, Vorchia" He returned in English
Vorchia did not recieve anymore words from him, as he lost what she was saying after: "Breathe Deep Seek Peace, welcome __ Bonabba, I__ Vorchia."
He sat quietly, and let DJ talk with the raptor. Now that he was sitting at a table, the soldier reached up, and removed his cap, which he placed on the table.
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aric
demi-admin
I drink your milkshake!
Posts: 989
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Post by aric on Jun 28, 2005 23:43:13 GMT -5
(OOC: I thought Vorchia was speaking english. Sort of makes it easier for everybody to understand each other. Unless, of course, she was speaking mangled english. Anyway...) After waiting for the two to go through their greetings, DJ raised his right hand, facing his palm to Vorchia. "Breathe deep, seek peace, my friend." DJ loved this part of Dinotopian culture. It reminded him of the old Roman greeting between citizens. DJ continued. "This is..." DJ stopped to think. "Say, I don't think we caught each others' names. I guess that run-in was so abrupt! Let's make this official." DJ turned to the Southerner. "My name is DJ Applejack, and this my friend, Vorchia. And you would be...."
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Post by Christopher on Jun 28, 2005 23:57:25 GMT -5
(OOC: According to her character intro, she doesn't know English. And I hope you don't think it self-centered of me to use my real name, I'm just horrible with names, so I use my own.(Besides, it helps put me in the mind of my character ;D) )
The southern soldier clicked his heels together, and raised his right arm, palm out, and fingers where the bill of his cap would be; a salute.
"Cavalier, and Major General Christopher McFerrin, at your service, DJ and Vorchia."
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Post by nobledreamhome on Jun 29, 2005 0:49:10 GMT -5
Noble nodded at Vorchia and the others as she came up to them slowly (she was very slow about coming, having been talking to someone else really quick about a young human baby that needed someone to care for it. She had offered to do so and would pick up the child later, or send a Rhamphorhynchus to one of her hatchery workers to do so. So when she arrived where they were grouped, they had already begun other introductions). She bowed slightly to them and then leaned lightly into her staff. She had never told anyone why she really carried the staff around, not even those who worked with her all the time at her hatchery. Her right leg was slightly bent at an angle. She didn't think anyone could tell when she ran and she tried her best to keep the limp out when she walked. However, whenever she was standing still, it was easy to tell there was something wrong with her leg unless she leaned on something and sometimes there was still pain. But there was a large scar visible on the inside of her right leg. When she had been younger and was first out on her own, she had been running around Waterfall City rather carelessly and had tripped over a kids toy that had bounced right into her path. Before she'd had a chance to react, her right foot caught the toy and she was falling. She had attempted twisting mid-fall to try and balance herself, but had only wound up doing more damage and her leg bone had snapped, piercing right through the skin, tearing muscle. Her thrashing around in pain hadn't helped either. Eventually, the healers had been able to get her to calm down and they had fixed her leg to the best of their ability. A few years after that incident her newly-started hatchery had caught on fire. No one knew what had started it or how, but Noble had rushed in foolishly to rescue some eggs which were already cooked beyond saving and when she had opened the door, fire had burst out and enveloped her head. The upper half of her face was beyond saving, but the lower half, around her snout, had not been burned really that bad at all. That was her reason for wearing the mask. The pain from the burns had kept her from going into the hatchery any further, but that day had been a devastating one. Luckily, the fire had finally been put out and Noble had started a second one hatchery. "Bweed deep seek pees," Noble said, as well as she could, to everyone there in the basic human language. She raised her right hand after shifting her weight off the staff. "Nubull Dweemhum." She introduced herself to the others, even though Vorchia had already introduced her. It was simply instinct. Then she leaned against the staff again self-consciously. (OOC: For those of you who can't understand what she said, it is: Breathe deep, seek peace. And the second thing she said was her name. She just just can't pronounce anything right in the human tongue. And she won't always speak in the human tongue either. But when she's not speaking in the human tongue, I'll have what she says in italics, so you know that she's speaking the basic carnivorous language).
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Post by Vorchia on Jun 29, 2005 13:50:29 GMT -5
((OOC As far as I know its the common census that the common Dinotopian as used by its human inhabitants is a mix of various languages of the world. Dolphinbacks can learn the common Dinotopian tongue, we’ll assume its not very difficult and some other ex-dolphinbacks and their descendants probably can speak or at least understand english as well so the language doesn’t have to be too much of a problem. )) Vorchia smiled, or as close as an oviraptor can get to smiling, having a parrot like beak. “Nice to meet you too, what brings a Dolphinback to Bonabba? Most Dolphinbacks get sent to Waterfall City right away to sign registries and take those wonderful language classes at the great library.” Vorchia wasn’t one to enjoy language classes although her beak allowed for a near perfect ability to produce the sounds of the human languages and others altough she only spoke the most common Dinotopian and none of the outer world languages some humans still spoke. Still the most common human tongue on Dinotopia was a mix derived of many of the outerworld languages, adapted into becoming one generalised language as people from every corner of the world had washed up on Dinotopia’s shores over time. Some english words had been adopted too, some altered to a lesser or greater extend but still Vorchia could pick up a word here and there of the language if necessary. By now Noble had joined the table, her limp and the constant leaning on that staff were obvious but knowing it to be a touchy subject Vorchia ignored it completely and greeted her enthusiastically in a different tongue, which sounded like an unfriendly growling (though still with an accent some real carnosaurs might have found hillarious). “How’s your new hatchery? I trust it is still going well? How’s the HighJumperRedclaw Clan, did Vira find someone else to catch her spiders or did she flee the basin to avoid the big ones?” Vorchia laughed.
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Post by Christopher on Jun 29, 2005 14:57:34 GMT -5
The soldier sat in his seat, and slowly went over everything the raptor had said, until it made enough sense for him to reply.
"I was actually just on my way to Waterfall City, and have been for a couple of months. I keep getting sidetracked on the way, though."
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Post by nobledreamhome on Jun 29, 2005 17:04:10 GMT -5
"My hatchery is doing very well. We have no eggs, currently. But I'm seeing that as a good sign. I would begin to think that my hatchery is cursed." Noble replied in the carnosaur language. She was relieved; speaking in the human tongue was so hard. Then she chuckled. "The HighjumperRedclaw clan is doing better than it was. It's been split up though; the case of too many raptors of being in one large clan like that. It now consists of Vira, her partner and his adopted children and her family, a few friends from the old clan, including Whiptail, Brightsun and Twosocks. And Vira's two hatchlings. As for the spiders...." Noble's voice rumbled with laughter. "HighCrest had been scaring them away until Vira finally moved the clan to a wetter area of the basin in order to avoid the spiders. I actually haven't seen the clan in several months, but word is from Yellowblaze that Vira has two hatchlings of her own. And supposedly she's named the female after you and Azonthus. Something like Vorchazzy, if memory serves." Noble laughed.
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Post by Vorchia on Jun 30, 2005 4:38:04 GMT -5
"Well, Waterfall City will still be there next year, I heardyou already picked up a few words of the language. Wait much longer and you'll be the first Dolphinback tosign the registries when he already speaks the language fluently and know every square inch of the Island."
"Vira moving a clan for the sole reason of a fear of spiders... I'll have to tease her with that." Vorchia laughed, "And she named the hatchling WHAT?? I'm scared now. Suffice it say she's in for it if the hatchling is to develop as much hyperactive energy as the name suggests. We won't see much of Az as of lately as she is staying with her clan for a while and they happen to live on the other end of the Basin, near Treetown... I'm sure she'd be amused to know this though."
Vorchia stayed for an hour to two longer, chatting and catching up on the news before leaving again to have a look at the caravan preparations.
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SilvanoshiS
Apprentice
flightless and loving it
Posts: 143
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Post by SilvanoshiS on Jun 30, 2005 8:38:07 GMT -5
Two rather tired children clung to the back of a sprinting Skybax. "Don't worry younglingsh, we're almosht there," the skybax assured the children, who were getting ever sicker from the lurching and rocking of riding a flightless skybax in full run.
After a few more minutes the skybax came to a stop outside the hatchery and allowed the children to disembark a special-made riding saddle and cling to the ground for a minute. Silvano patiently waited and shifted the books back into the harness while the children gathered themselves.
"Ok, we're alright," panted the girl. "Come with us." "Miss Vorcha? Do you have a minute?" called the boy, "There's someone here to see you."
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