trans_9 | Nothing Untoward Going on Here [Open]

"Heya Clown Nose. What's up?"

Red Snout's head snapped over. Great, the annoying werewolf. He hissed in annoyance, flicking his console off.

"Nothing. What do you want?"

"Really? Nothing? Because methinks my fancy werewolf ears did detect the utterance of certain letters in sequential order."

"You heard nothing. Go away!"

"...What does this say?" Wags asked, flipping the pad around the screen to show Red Snout the screen, which had the first page of War of The Worlds showing on it.

Red Snout snarled, torn between his desire to show up Wags and his desire for secrecy. After a moment, his pride won out. He screwed his snout up in concentration for a moment.

"No..one...wold...heyve...be...be-lie-ved..."

"You can't read!"

"Be silent! I have never had need for it until I got...here." The raptor snarled at Wags.

"That's the lamest excuse ever. If everyone thought that there weren't be a written language in the first place."

"It really depends on a being's lifestyle. Not all saurians read as easily as humans where I come from. Those of us who live in more rural areas may noy learn as much as city dwellers, although most know a bit. Of course, that is partly why we developed the Footprint Alphabet. That, and claws don't hold writing instruments as easily as hands, even for those who have flexible forelimbs." She looked down at her own flat, fairly rigid feet."

"I do wish there were a few more scrolls about. Codexes are awkward for quadrapeds."

The library here would pale to the Great Library in Waterfall City, but it was a place she felt at least a bit at home.

Red Snout looked briefly relieved that another being had come to his defense (even if it was a herbivore) but quickly composed himself. He resumed his glare.

"Raptors have no need of a written language. Otherwise I would not bother trying to learn yours, fool." He snarled at the werewolf, before turning his attention to Bix, cocking his head to one side curiously.

"Who are you?"

"Oh I figured, but I do so enjoy having something to hold over Clown Nose's head. Course, I really don't need it, what with having kicked his scaly butt already, but it's always nice to have more things to taunt him with."

"I am Bix, ambassador and translator from Waterfall City." she replied.

"I have known raptors who knew our land's Footprint Alphabet quite well, but I have also encountered some who choose to reject some or all of the things of civilization. Personally,I respect both lifestyle choices. We each choose the path that best suits us."

Bella's considering archive binging on words again. She doesn't have a huge vocabulary, and interrogating the library computer helps some. She doesn't have great recall, but if one or two words stick each time that's something.

Then she notices that one of her team members is here.

Bella walks over, poking her muzzle over the edge of the console.

"What are you doing?"

Red Snout hisses in annoyance. More disturbances! He glances down at Bella and grumbles, reaching out to flick the console off again.

"Nothing. I am doing nothing." He didn't need everyone on the ship knowing what he was doing. Besides. keeping it secret would mean a greater advantage in the future. Of course, Bella has probably seen the console already, so it's a bit of a futile effort.

"Nothing with a console-thing on?" she asks, clearly dubious. Bella steps backward again.

"You are not a very good liar, scaled-thing," she informs Red Snout. She remembers he has a name, but she's not sure whether or not she'll use it for him yet. He'll have to prove he deserves it. He's not Alpha of her team-pack-thing.

"Hn. Whether I am a good liar or not is not important. I am not here to be a good liar. I am a warrior!" He hisses at the wolf, clearly annoyed. Stupid wolf-humans kept giving him trouble. Especially the one with the goggles.

"Is there something you want?" Direct and to the point. That's Red Snout for you.

"I want," Bella replies, "to know what you were doing." Really, she doesn't care. It's just that it seems to bother him a lot, so that's made her insatiably curious.

"I am a warrior too, you know," she adds, puffing up a little and holding her head higher. No Get of Fenris is going to be pushed around by a noisy lizard!

"Are you now?" He seizes on this to try and change the subject, deflecting her away from his purpose.

"I do not see any warrior markings." He gives a nasty little raptor grin, indicating the painted symbols across his body that show his status.

And she falls for it, completely distracted away from a nugget of information she didn't really want anyway by her stinging pride.

"I am so a warrior!" she growls, bristling. "I do not need to draw marks on myself to show my honor!" Not only that, but they'd be a give away. Bella's sept weren't the sort to cover themselves with tattoos and ritual scars, it sticks out too much in a crowd.

This is a bit of a sore spot with her, though. "I will one day have scars," she adds sharply. "I am young yet. I have not yet seen enough battles."

Heh. So easily manipulated, humans. Even wolf humans, it seemed. He smirks (or the raptor equivalent) and taps a claw against his console idly.

"Oh, I believe you. Don't worry." His tone suggests anything but. "It is perhaps just that your people do not take as much pride in their accomplishments as mine do. Understandable. Few peoples can measure up against Scravis' chosen."

"Have your Galliards sung of you, scaled one?" Bella replies with a cold harshness. "Until they have you may not talk of pride in accomplishments."

It's only happened once. It was after her Rite of Passage, and it may well be the proudest moment of Bella's life. But she doesn't think Red Snout needs the particulars.

"My accomplishments have been told to the tribe! I have proven myself in battle many times over. I have slain enemies of our tribe and I have taken trophies from their bodies!" He rattled his bandolier, the scalps and claws clattering faintly.

"I am Red Snout, warrior of the Swiftclaw Tribe and none may doubt my bravery and skill in war!" He almost puffs up, trying to make himself louder and bigger. It's how challenges are usually decided if no one actually wants to fight. Lots and lots of yelling and posturing.

Bella snuffs at the scalps. "You kill humans? That is no challenge. They are small and soft and slow."

She literally puffs up now, rising to Hispo form in order to be more impressive.

"I have killed Fomori."

He snorts, tilting his snout upwards imperiously.

"Humans may be easy to kill, but they are tricky. Besides, they fought well and it would be a disgrace to them not to take a trophy." Red Snout snorts again. Now she was just making up words.

"What are Fomori?"

"Humans are small and soft and break easily," Bella replies. But the Fomori thing drags her out of making that point. Here she has something to brag about!

"Fomori," she says, eyes flashing a little with a vicious, feral sort of excitement, "are enemies. They are things of the Wyrm. They grow strange under its power and their bodies twist. They have powers from it. And they must be destroyed."

While she wasn't exactly in the best of moods, Katara also knew what was preferrable to staying and sulking in her little chamber: going to the media library and learning more about things she didn't know. There was a lot going on in the ship, and despite her new dislike of stacy, that didn't mean she should stay ignorant. So she started to make her way to archives when she heard shuffling nearby.

She turned the corner and found a creature (there weren't any like them at home) typing at the console. Now this was definitely new: while she'd seen animals that knew how to talk, there were definitely not any that she knew that could actually type. What was more, she wanted to know what he was.

"Hello," Katara said, books in hand. "If you don't mind me asking...what are you?"

Red Snout turned his steely gaze on Katara, switching his console off with an annoyed huff. He would get nowhere if he was constantly disturbed in this fashion! He preened a bit, then puffed himself up.

"I am a raptor. What do you want, human?"

Katara watched his reaction. Well, no wonder he was so flustered- he was just learning how to type, wasn't he? What was more, considering the tone of voice, this probably wasn't the first time that he'd been interrupted.

"A raptor. Huh. Well, there aren't any of you in my world, but then thaht's different universes for you," she said. "I'm just learning a little more about this technolgy since none of it is in my word either. You starting to learn to read?"

Red Snout hissed angrily and turned, tail lashing in agitation.

"Why? Do you wish to mock me as well? Come to laugh at the raptor for attempting to learn?" He's not going to take this sort of disrespect laying down! Stupid humans thought they were so superior, just because they had stupid symbols they could write with. He snarled in annoyance, starting to pace back and forth as he eyed Katara.

Katara raised her eyebrows. "It would be pretty ignorant for me to do that when I have an armful of books to read about all this technology. My people haven't progressed anywhere near as far as the people on this ship...as some of them still remind me." She rolled her eyes. "Humans don't exactly look at each other as equal, in case you haven't noticed.

"Besides, no one should be mocking you for doing that in the first place. Where I'm from animals don't write human language. Anyone who'd actually do that would have to be the biggest jerk ever."

He was aggressive, that was for sure. But then again, she'd met people with a worse temperment.

"Hn! I had no ndeed of human writing symbols and 'alphabets' and such before I came here. But now I find myself compelled, in order to gather more status in this sorry excuse for a human tribe." He cocked his head to the side, a bit confused.

"Why should they see each other as equal. Humans are not equal to raptors, and not all raptors are equal to each other. I cannot imagine that all humans would be equal. Such a silly idea."

Katara looked pointedly at the raptor. "Hmm. From the way you talk, you sound like you're from a pretty intense warrior tribe. I wouldn't exactly call ourselves a 'sorry excuse for a tribe' though. No offense, but while you're probably an excellent warrior, we're talking magical powers and superheroes and mutants with abilities you can't match and technology you've never even heard of. I'm a waterbender, and I'm still mistified by all of this. Learning to read is a good start though. You don't want people passing information you know nothing about."

Katara, far from being mean, was more on the practical side. "I don;t know about the humans on your world. Maybe they are inferior to raptors. Here, not so much."

Red Snout snorted and tapped a claw against the floor, head bobbing side to side slightly.

"It is not a poor tribe because of the abilities of it's individual parts, it is a poor tribe because they do not look out for one another! They do not work together as one whole, they do not obey their leader as a claw obeys it's toe." The metaphor loses something in translation, obviously.

"They bicker and squabble over the smallest matters. Raptors may fight but when it is important we pull together and let the leader lead, even if one wishes to challenge him. When there is an emergency we work together as one. When there is war, we fight and kill as one until the enemy is dead or defeated. You humans, bah! You are too busy with your personal fights to do even this. That is why humans are inferior." He sniffed and puffed up, looking as dignified as a barbarous raptor warrior can.

Katara smiled. "Well, you're definitely right about one thing: we don't exactly fight together as a team. We do fight a lot, and we do have differences of opinion. There's no point in disputing that. But there's a flaw in your argument too, and its basically this: what if the raptors you had to rally were from a completely different world? What if they believed an enemy must be talked out of its attack, not actually fought? And what if, when you face one of the most dangerous threats of an enemy, you had a raptor that wasn't able to kill them at he most opportune time? The enemy would get away, and you would have a threat to face at another time.

"Well that's the problem on the ship right now. You must have seen a few of these humans, and even a few non-humans. They're all from different worlds so there's hardly a way unity is going to happen swiftly. There's only two ways that can happen. One is working through differences, going through proper channels, and obeying a common law body on this ship. A very HARD thing to do for some people."

Katara closed her eyes. "And then there's the other way: a threat. A potent, dangerous life threatening situation where there's no choice but to fight and make your allies that way. I may look young, but I've seen intense war in my world, and I've fought in them too. There's nothing that brings people together quicker than a suituation in which you could be completely destroyed."

Katara shrugged. "Or you can just think humans are inferior. I guess its the easier, simpler choice. Still, a warrior has to be a little smarter than just taking an obvious choice like that if you're evaluating potential allies, right?"

"Raptors, even from different tribes, know to unite when there is a Tyrant loose in the area. Raptors, even from different tribes, know to unite when there is a larger problem that must be faced. And there would not be a problem of a 'common law' if you humans simply listened to your leader. Challenging him is one thing, but to ignore his orders because you do not like them is simply madness. You would never find a raptor doing such a thing." Another haughty sniff.

"I do not know how old you look, anyways. All humans look the same to me." That might be a lie, just to antagonize you, Katara.

"You are not potential allies. You are potential enemies and you are potential help. You are not allies. You have not proven yourselves worth that consideration."

Katara raised her eyebrows at this. It was esay to get angry, but also just as easy to simply understand that this was a taught mentality, that it was something humans did too. There was little here that could antagonize. A warrior mentality was only that: obey and obey, possibly challange but obey, and a forced challange was anarchy. It was Leon all over.

"Whatever you say," Katara finally replied. "Though it would be unfortunate if you have a leader that is swayed by something other than a pack's best interest. It might be that doesn't happen in your world. You're lucky then. A huamn world is quite possibly a more dangerous place to live."

And at his last comment, she shrugged. "True. Of course, with that comment, I can't really trust you either. If I were to rely on what I know from my world, I would say you were just a dumb animal that by a freak accident was able to talk, but not take you seriously. Arrogance isn't particular to any species."

"First, raptors do not have packs. Raptors have tribes." Red Snout snorted with mild indignation. Foolish humans and their not understanding his culture whatsoever. The next comment caught him by surprise. A foreign concept to Red Snout, there.

"Why would a leader ever be motivated by something that was not the tribe's best interest? Are humans so selfish?" A shake of his head.

"It is not arrogance when you are correct."

"Oh, my apologies, TRIBES," Katara said, not bothering to hide the sarcasm. Did he really think the distinction would make it special? Then again, the Fire Nation thought it was important.

"If you think that selfishness is only a human trait, you are underestimating a system you think is closely followed. Where I am from, that falls to whoever has the upper hand. I'm sure you can ask people on this ship and they'll tell you the same thing. I've talked with a few of them."

Katara smiled. "You are very sure of yourself, aren't you? Bet a good warrior has to be."

"Thank you for correcting yourself. You have already proven smarter than other humans by admitting your mistakes." Either he had ignored the sarcasm or simply didn't pick up on it.

"Where I am from, the only selfish ambition a raptor might have is to have more food, or to gain more respect and power within the tribe. Never would a raptor do something to harm his own kin. It is unthinkable." It really was. Betrayal from within was a foreign concept to Red Snout.

"I am one of the best in my tribe. I have many trophies and victories." He puffed his chest out, showing off the raptor talons and human scalps that hung from his bandolier.

Katara couldn't help but be a little amused and surprised. Was it really hard for people to admit they were wrong to this...raptor? Then again, considering the attitude, maybe they simply wanted to never admit a weakness to one that judged in such a biased fashion. To Katara, it was really understanding someone else's way of thinking.

"I have a lot to learn about other worlds," Katara said. "That doesn't meant I'm only limiting myself to human places. If you say raptors only fight for more food or power and respect and don't harm others, I have to believe you. It sounds...well, honestly like a place even someone like me can respect. A true warrior code."

And she meant it too. No deceptions, no lies, no faked wars? Truth in the face of war was often a strange concept. "Can you tell me about your victories? I want to know all I can."

"We do have our fights and disagreements. But a raptor of one tribe would never kill a tribemate over something silly like winning a mate or who gets a better piece of meat or anything like that. Killing a member of your tribe only weakens it so that outsiders can take advantage of you." He paused for a moment, then continued.

"Of course we do harm. We must kill to live. That is our greatest joy, the hunt and the kill. We are Scarvis' Chosen and he has made us very effective at the hunt."

He puffed up a little bit more, happy that at least one human seemed to recognize how worthwhile he was. Even if he didn't care what they thought, really. He unslung the rifle from his back, the weapon bedecked with beads, feathers and a crude tally clawed into the stock.

"I won this from a human who infringed upon our hunting ground. They came with their buildings and tame prey and machines. They thought that the land was empty, but when they discovered us there, they tried to drive us off. Their rifles were powerful, but we learned to deal with them. This one, I ambushed. He was careless while filling his water-pouch. I cut him open, then granted him a quick death. He was a worthy opponent." He holds the gun a bit higher, almost reverently.

"I took his weapon, to learn its power for myself. Humans are not good tribemates, but they are clever and make some good tools. I learned to shoot with it, and I have killed four humans with it and three raptors of the Mottlehide tribe, who tried to encroach on our hunting grounds last season."

Katara listened with rapt attention. The idea of considering the raptor only vaguely learning what humanity did was just silly. This was humanity in a nutshell, trying to conquer what they didn't know and injure severely what they didn't understand.

"Huamns do try to do that," Katara saud gingerly. "In my world, we have humans that try to understand their animal counterparts, learn what they're about. But most humans only learn a basis of what they think and try to rule over them. They do it with advanced weaponry and antagonizing. But really, I think they like the idea of making something different weaker to them."

She paused. "May I see that pouch?"

"Humans are foolish. They think they can conquer our people. Raptors are smarter than humans, trickier than humans. They can tramp through our grasslands and forest and not see the obvious, not find the raptors waiting for them. We are better." He nodded sagely. Raptors were always better.

"I do not have it. I left it next to the body. I only took his bullets and rifle, so that I could learn to use them."

Katara smiled. It was arrogant, but necessary too. She could see that. Huamns were innovators, she'd seen it happen. At the same time, she also knew that they were all too pleased with the direction, that they were satisfied in knowing they could triumph over the "dumb animals."

"Never underestimate the enemy," Katara said. "We learned that in our tribe. They took everything we had, so we had nothing. That's why we aren't like them. When people seek power only to dominate, to conquer, you fight them. And you WIN. That's all that's expected."

Katara nodded, thenm produced her own pouch. "This is my weapon," she said, bending the water into a whip, lashing it into the air.

Nothing Untoward Going on Here [Open]

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