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Today's story is another doozy and contains more sexually explicit content. There are two _ _whole scenes this time. One starts at _ *Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 2:01 AM * _and ends at _ *Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 5:55 PM * _as a warning it ** ** contains F/F content. The other is M/F and starts at _ *Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 10:12 PM * _and ends at _ *Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 10:42 PM. * _As before, I'd like to thank Mythril Silver for proof reading and general editing. Enjoy!

_ Strain Of The Heart _

Wednesday, June 6th, 739 BSO; 10:21 PM

Ayo Feralheart had a bad feeling about everything from the moment she walked into the male's tent. From the moment she had been instructed inside with the satchels of poison, she somehow knew that everything was going to make a turn for the worst and when the sheet that was covering a portion of male's tent was pulled back, Ayo quickly had her fears realized. She rapidly maneuvered her way between her brother, Amadi, and the prone figure that was upon the table. There was little doubt that she was unconscious, either by way of drugs or brute force - without properly inspecting her, Ayo wouldn't truly know, but she guessed upon a powerful narcotic.

Lying upon the table was Yeva Goldheart, who was Ayo's friend, and confidant. The one person in the world, aside from her mate, that Ayo didn't have to pretend to be anything or anyone other than who she was.

It seemed that his sister's defensive nature was what Amadi was looking for, as he smacked her across the cheek, leaving three long gashes on her blue-purple hide. The force and unexpectedness of the impact sent her sideways; stumbling to regain her balance as her brother casually walked over to the unconscious form of Yeva and pried her snout open.

Even as Ayo rushed to stop him, Amadi finished what he desired: keeping Yeva's snout open with two digits and pouring the contents of the vial straight down her throat. When Ayo smashed into Amadi's side, the vial toppled down, bouncing its way onto the tent's floor where it shattered. More than half of it had gone down Yeva's throat and the gold-feathered raptor started to cough as she swallowed as much of it as she spat up.

But that dose was too powerful. It wasn't meant to be applied to one creature, and Ayo all but forgot about her smirking brother as she rushed around the tent. "Look at you, sister. You care more for them now than you do your own kind." Ayo turned to hiss at her brother, only to receive a face full of phlegm and saliva as her brother spat at her.

Ayo wiped her cheek clear and found streaks of tears there, too; part of her couldn't believe her brother could be this cruel. Another part of her, of course, always silently realized he was always capable of such cruelty.

"See if you can save her, Ayo. You're practically one of them now anyway, raptor-fucker," Amadi commented, nodding at an unseen guard outside the tent upon his departure.

Ayo stood, gritting her teeth before turning toward Yeva, "I won't let you die, Yeva. I promise."

Friday, May 18th, 739 BSO; 11:48 AM

Ayo nearly had a panic attack as the usually calm Allosaurus in front of her snarled, "You were followed."

Ayo looked around rapidly, attempting to find her follower. She saw no spear or cloak that denoted a guard, nor any snouts or feather-colours she recognized. She was about to turn around and call Broth a liar when she saw who was following and watching.

Yeva Goldheart.

The fact that Ayo didn't recognize her was easily apparent, considering the normally gold-coloured feathers were instead a muddy, common brown. The poor female raptor no longer had the one feature that made her stand out in a crowd, dyed another colour entirely to blend in. Ayo thought it worked out a little too well, and instantly felt bad for the raptoress. She looked sidelong at Broth, who looked ready to blow a gasket at the fact that Ayo couldn't so much as get away without being followed before Ayo stood up and nonchalantly made her way toward Yeva. She had an idea and she just hoped _all_parties would play their part.

"Yeva! I didn't recognize you - what are you doing out here?" the better question, of course, was why was she dyed? But Ayo refrained from such a question, worried about the answer. Yeva would tell her in her own time, no doubt.

"I was... um... shopping. And I didn't want anyone to recognize me!" It was a lie. Both of them knew that Ayo recognized it for one, but Ayo didn't pressure her for the truth just yet.

"I see. Well, since you're here, can I introduce you to my friend? He's normally shy around raptors, but I figure since you're here, you may as well meet him. Maybe you can change his mind?"

"I.. I don't know," Yeva hesitated, even as the shorter Dilophosaurus female guided her friend toward the restaurant. "I really should probably just get back to-," she stopped once she was in close proximity to Broth.

Thankfully, the male allo looked more curious than furious, and Ayo took that as a good sign. Ayo placed a paw on Yeva's chest, "This is Yeva. Yeva, meet my friend B-,"

"I'm Dejen," the allo spoke, cutting off Ayo and giving either a more believable codename or his true name. Ayo arched her brow ridge at that but Broth - Dejen - ignored her. "It's a pleasure to meet any friend of Ayo here. We were just talking about how far she's gotten in the world."

"It's a pl-pleasure to meet you, Dejen," Yeva stammered, after which Ayo turned her head toward her friend, curious as to when she started to stutter. That was a new thing, but Ayo kept her mouth shut. She instead opted for watching the two for the time being.

Dejen seemed more relaxed after a few moments, opening up and laughing in earnest for the first time that Ayo had met him. Yeva herself was opening up as well, smudging her feathers to reveal that she was a gold-feather at one point during the conversation. A point that Dejen waved away, practically ignoring it, "I don't care what your feathers look like. I'd like to know more about the woman behind them."

Either Dejen was digging for more information, Ayo mused, or he is flirting. Ayo had less wonder about her friend, sitting close enough to pick up on contextual things such as scent and posture. Splaying out to talk, Yeva was sitting upon one hip and her tail was curled ever so slightly. Her scent as well was slightly aroused - interested. Ayo watched in stunned silence for the next hour as the two spoke animatedly.

"Oh! Kibwe wanted you back once the council came back from lunch!" Yeva spoke suddenly, breaking Ayo out of her contented silence and answering one question outright - Kibwe did send Yeva.

Ayo took a deep breath and bobbed her head, keeping silent. She wasn't sure if she'd keep her tone even at that information. She wasn't some hatchling that needed someone to watch out for her at all times of the day!

"Where do you work, Dejen?" Yeva asked as Ayo stood up and she herself did the same, dusting off her hasty dye job partially in the process, revealing more streaks of gold under the applied brown.

"Nowhere interesting, I assure you," Dejen spoke, and Ayo was certain that he'd stop there - surprisingly, he went further, "I work with one of the lumber teams for the Claw clan. I've been out of work, technically, since the war," he added with a chuckle.

After all, it was hard to get logging contracts out when the bottom two floors of your pyramid were occupied by an invading force. It also explained, to Ayo, how he got into the city so easily despite being a member of the Bitah'ta - his job sent him out regularly.

"So... you'll be around in other words?" Yeva asked, before quickly opening the pouch at her hip and producing a sheet of paper. She quickly plucked one of her own feathers and dipped it in some half-finished dish or another, using that to write something quickly upon it before passing it to Dejen.

Ayo didn't even bother to ask what she wrote on it, but her anger at Kibwe was briefly forgotten and replaced by an upturned smirk at her friend's behavior.

** Friday, May 18th, 739 BSO; 3:58 PM**

Ayo didn't forget forever, however, and after returning to the temple complex she gave Kibwe the silent treatment.

During the Council meeting, she gave him the silent treatment as well. She had been with the feathered ones, and Kibwe specifically, long enough to know that he was worried. Good,_Ayo thought, _he should be.

The Council meeting, as always, brought new information and this time it concerned the war - the Tuk had claimed another level of the Claw pyramid. Now they were virtually cut off from the rest of the world and there were rumors that the Talon was leading surrender talks. The Claw, Ayo imagined, wouldn't suffer too badly if they did surrender - after all, they merely tossed their feathers into the ring, they didn't start it like the Seer's did.

The Council, as such, continued to beg that Kibwe get them involved. And Kibwe, distracted though he was by Ayo's behavior, continued his staunch non-war policy. He merely wanted to change the laws and traditions of his people; he didn't want a war.

The Council came to a close with the many voices within discussing among themselves the state of the war and, more importantly, the state of Kibwe. He was acting different and they were trying to figure out why, even if Ayo knew the exact reason. As they stepped out of the chambers, she ignored him again, making her way toward the exit with an equally silent Kibwe following behind.

At least, until they were out of hearing range of the other raptors, "I'm sorry." He spoke.

"Sorry? Sorry?! I told you not to have me followed! I'm not some hatchling, Kibwe Feralheart," she lifted her paw up, making Kibwe flinch away as she brandished the band upon her wrist like a weapon. "This feather denotes me as an adult in your culture, doesn't it?"

"Not...I," he wisely bit his lip, keeping himself silent again as Ayo continued her tirade.

"I'm not even really angry about that - you're a raptor. You're protective. I get that," she did to some extent. Even when she had been in control under the effects of the narcotic, he still acted possessive and jealous of her to any others. "I'm angry that you got poor Yeva to spy on me! She's my one friend here, Kibwe."

"She came to me," Kibwe commented silently, making Ayo pause and frown, staying silent to let Kibwe continue.

"She heard you were sneaking out to the lower city. I don't know how - maybe she saw, as I have, that you leave every Friday? She asked if I knew where you went, and that she was curious. I admit I used that curiosity, directed it. But she came to me first."

To Ayo, that hardly made it better. It nearly made it worse and she hissed faintly at Kibwe in her frustration. She didn't know how to react, torn between understanding and raw anger. Her friend's curiosity she understood, but Kibwe's underclawed way of getting her involved almost made her stomach turn. She looked the black-feathered male up and down and felt anger rather than lust or affection. "I need to go. I need... I just need space," less than a day since she was invited to live with him, and she needed to get away. She almost laughed at the bitter irony.

Kibwe opened his snout to speak and then wisely closed it again. Whatever he said no doubt would have made the situation worse, so he gritted his teeth and set his jaw, bobbing his head in understanding before letting Ayo turn away and leave; effectively and literally giving her the last word for the time being.

Friday, May 18th, 739 BSO; 7:02 PM

Ayo decided to distract herself with work and was in the process of crunching a few flowers in her paw that she would add to a vial for a raptor's indigestion, just to try and get her mind away from the fact that she only lasted a singular day in Kibwe's harem before their spat. She was still part of it, of course, and even now a part of her wanted to leave and travel up to the top of the pyramid, but she steeled herself and stayed right where she was. She'd let Kibwe stew for a bit and give herself time to calm down, lest they fight once again.

She crumbled the flowers into the fluid within and proceeded to put a capper on the vial, shaking it to mix the properties within just as she heard the beaded tapestry behind her move aside. She expected Kibwe and her talons dug partially at the glass container in her paw as a result, but the voice calmed her almost instantly.

"I'm sorry," spoke Yeva. "It was my idea, you know... sort of. You shouldn't get angry at Kibwe for it."

Ayo sighed softly and rested the cool glass against her forehead for a moment before turning around on her perch, swiveling the chair with a push of her tail. "I'm not angry at either of you, not really. I just want him to see me as a raptor, not as a dilo," she frowned.

"Not to treat me any different, that is," she corrected. She knew that Kibwe didn't care about her species, his affection and desire for her spoke that much, but he still saw her as weaker than he. While technically accurate, she thought she had proven herself and then some, at least in her mind.

"He doesn't. Not really. I think he'd be just as protective of a raptor as he is as you. It's who he is, Ayo. Why do you think he is trying so hard to keep us out the war? If it had been war declared on him, I'm sure he would have stepped down and surrendered automatically," she frowned.

"I wonder if that is why the Seers declared war first," Yeva mused aloud after.

Ayo slowly stood up and moved over to her bed, and Yeva followed out of pure habit. Any time the pair had spent there, they had spent together on the bed - talking and reminiscing together about everything they had done during the day. Now, it seemed would be no different. And while Ayo wanted to forget about her day, Yeva brought her back to the earliest part of it, asking Ayo a question that made her pause, "How did you meet Dejen?"

Ayo opened her mouth and closed it again, thinking. What if she asked him the same question? She decided to go with an innocent answer, one that was as true as it was false, "My brother introduced us. They used to work together."

"You have a brother?"

"I did. The jungle has taken him," Ayo commented, something as true as much as it was a lie.

"I see... I'm sorry. My brother died in the jungle, too. On his Hunt," she clarified as Ayo passed her a mystified gaze. She knew survival rates for the Hunt weren't perfect, and in fact, she had been told that everything could go wrong. But it was the first time that she had heard of someone actually dying to it, rather than cryptic warnings or numbers.

Yeva, thankfully, was always one to rapidly turn a sour conversation around, and she did just that, talking more about Dejen and then asking Ayo more about her life before coming to live with the Heart clan. It was almost flattering to have a raptor take an interest in who she was, rather than just what she was. Kibwe had, of course, but even he had never bothered to ask about her life in the lower city. Not truly.

Darkness had well and truly seized control of the jungle by the time that their talking tapered off, the candle on Ayo's bedside long since having flickered out which caused the pair to rely on night vision to see. All good things had to come to an end, and Ayo declared that they should try and sleep. Yeva, with a slow nod of her head, agreed and moved to stand. Ayo reached over and grabbed her wrist gently.

"I admit, though it has only been a few days - I've gotten used to sleeping with another warm body. Would you mind staying tonight?"

Yeva hesitated before she answered, biting her bottom lip and looking between the tapestry and her friend; the harem could potentially miss her, and she was worried about what would happen if her leader wanted to breed her and she wasn't around. She wasn't quite at the peak of her egg-cycle like Ayo was, but she was on the verge of it and it was around the time that she got noticed more than once a day by the harem leader.

Eventually, however, she decided and slowly moved her way back in against Ayo, tucking her frame against hers much to Ayo's delight. It took them some time, but after a while, they found a comfortable position that worked for both of them - one that, oddly, had Ayo with her arms around Yeva's waist and her thighs spread to either side of her hips. It was different, but at the same time it was appealing; appealing to know that she was the one in control for a change.

Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 2:01 AM

Ayo found herself restless and woke for what seemed the fifth time. Any time she'd get near to sleeping, she'd be startled awake by brief nightmares, or by a movement from Yeva. She didn't blame the raptor since Kibwe's motions woke her once or twice as well, but she still frowned. She was a nervous ball of energy, worried about what Kibwe would do upon seeing her and, even more damning, what her brother was up to.

Her fitful motions seemingly stirred Yeva from her dreams, making the raptoress stretch her frame against Ayo's and press back before she slowly came awake, "Ayo?"

"It's still me."

"I thought sleeping here was a dream, for some reason..." she murmured in a drunken, half-asleep sort of way. She slowly turned around in Ayo's grip, and the dilo had to spread her legs to let the wider-hipped female turn around. When they were snout to snout, Yeva's own snout tip brushed Ayo's.

"You're lucky, you know?" Yeva spoke, giving a faint yawn before moving herself closer and tucking her head in under Ayo's, "You have a mate who sees you for who you are, not what you are."

"He might not, Yeva, but I see you for who you are," Ayo spoke softly, moving her teeth and tongue down to preen a few ruffled feathers. Odd that she knew how to do that correctly, considering she herself was featherless, covered instead in smooth, blue-purple hide that, to her, was marred by a large, green splotch on one hip.

"Mm... I hope Dejen does," she murmured sleepily, even as she brushed her tongue against Ayo's neck, making the smaller female shiver faintly and press her front closer in against Yeva's. Their positioning made the space under both of their tails touch and Ayo and Yeva gave a faint gasp at that warm contact. They were both sensitive and sported swollen lips to their cloacas, Ayo more than Yeva.

Yeva moved in closer and wrapped her legs loosely around the back of Ayo's own, pulling them together as she spoke, "I'm happy you do, too," she was still sleep-drunk, but she was awake enough to know what she was doing, Ayo determined. So Yeva was fully aware of when their slits met once more and started to grind on one another in a slow, gentle rocking motion.

Ayo gasped, claws finding Yeva's shoulders and biting into them as her mind wrestled with itself. Her first instinct, as a dilo, was to separate herself from Yeva's embrace. It wasn't even that Yeva was a female that made her flinch away at first, but rather that she was a dilo and they only took one lover at a time. But she wasn't living in a world of dilos any longer, was she? She was living among raptors, and the feather upon her wrist denoted that she was just as worthy of being one as they were.

She bit her bottom lip and went against years of ingrained tradition, pushing her slit back upon Yeva's after those moments of hesitation, and started up a slow grind. Yeva trembled in the grasp of her frame and the two females moved in closer to one another.

Ayo felt dampness that certainly wasn't her own coating the lips of her slit, and Ayo reacted to the press of that body against her by way of biting onto Yeva's neck, muffling her moans of pleasure but also piercing the skin under the feathers with those twin, serpentine-like fangs.

Dilophosaurus were venomous, but their venom wasn't anything harmful by itself. It would take an extremely large dose of it to see any kind of negative effect, but it did do one thing to raptors (and allos) that it couldn't do to her kind, due to their natural resilience to poisons: it aroused. It served as a kind of aphrodisiac, and Yeva gasped as the bite went from pain to warmly pleasant. Not to mention the way that warmth spread in a tingling sensation through her body, and then specifically seemed to linger under her tail.

Ayo, shortly after the toxin started to truly spread in her friend, felt a spurt of fluid across her belly, her body tensing and the raptor's slit doing the same, contracting on its own from the sharp spike of desire that flooded Yeva. She started to grind with a new insistence, rolling her hips greedily and constantly against Ayo and practically whining as she couldn't find release.

Ayo couldn't either, but for the time being she focused on her friend as a devious concept entered her mind, one that she knew Yeva herself couldn't repeat. She wrestled her way free of her friend's iron grasp, placing a claw against her lips to keep her from complaining as she adjusted. She didn't move far, turning herself around and away from Yeva, much to her confusion. That confusion faded rapidly as Ayo's tail started to rub at one of Yeva's thighs.

Yeva wiggled in place before rolling onto her hip, using that pose to spread one leg skyward with a needy chirp toward Ayo, and Ayo relented to her friend's need - pushing her tail backward and up, into Yeva. Her tail was instantly surrounded by clenching heat, a dampness surrounding it that clung to the hide of her body. Instead of simply rolling down it as fluid normally did, this seemed to bead and stick to it, drooling off in long lines as Ayo started to move.

Due to the way their tails worked, she had to do more full-body motions than she would have expected, rolling her hips to withdraw that tail several inches before pushing her hips back to bury it into her friend, who screeched in delight. Ayo also used the experience as a learning tool, feeling the way that Yeva clenched and rippled in a much more controlled state than Ayo ever thought to.

Yeva, unlike Ayo, was very much not a virgin and had plenty more sexual experience. Ayo? She had only had Kibwe, and while they had rutted more times in a week than she had thought possible for two living creatures to be able to, she instantly saw that Yeva had vastly more technique than she did.

Whereas Ayo just thrust herself greedily back, Yeva adapted to the tempo of her motions, making her move less in the process and yet somehow hilt even more. Her own body was screaming for sexual satisfaction, and yet she paid close attention to every detail her friend brought to the table. Of everything she herself could use with Kibwe, next time they rutted.

Ayo thought that Yeva had good timing when she finally came, as the dilo wasn't sure how much longer she could keep the motion up. The awkward angle and the way she had to move was exhausting her, making some of her muscles throb in protest, but it was all worth it to see her friend lose control. Yeva screeched out, writhing in place and squirming from her side, onto her back, and back over again, unable to stay in place as her walls lost all of her previous control. And if _she_squeezed anything like Yeva did? She wondered how Kibwe managed to stay hilted, as Ayo had to withdraw her tail after a few powerful contractions, afraid she might have a bruise or a broken bone.

But Ayo herself remained unsatisfied and after such a stressful day and a night of no-release, she practically pounced upon Yeva. The raptor couldn't return the favor of the tail-trick, considering the raptor's whole tail was covered in feathers, but she had another body part that very much could work. A body part that Ayo knew from experience felt good, and she grasped the mantle above her bed and stood with her legs spread over Yeva's snout before she squatted down as much as her body allowed her to.

Yeva's almost immediate reaction showed that she was quite familiar with it, and if Ayo had been thinking clearer, she would have anticipated that fact. Harems weren't made up of entirely one gender underneath the most powerful raptor. Sexual relations among underlings was common-place in harems, so long as the leader permitted it. Even more so where same-sex relationships were concerned, as those could be pursued even without the harem leader's permission: after all, no offspring could come of it.

So if a female ever needed stress relief, this would be the way to obtain it - and Yeva proved that she had given that relief several times over, her tongue probing and touching with much more skilled control than Kibwe's had. It wasn't as large as the male raptor's tongue; but the female knew exactly how to twitch and squirm her tongue, where to rub and press and it wasn't long until Ayo was biting her lower lip, hissing faintly as she rubbed down on Yeva's snout.

She wasn't as urgent in the motions as she had been in the jungle, but the pleasure that built up inside of her was a different sort than the pleasure she felt from the jungle. This was a slow, gradual rise - coasting toward the surface, rather than an urgent dash toward release. She didn't know if it was Kibwe himself that caused that urge or the narcotic she had been under the influence of, but the release she experienced when Yeva's tongue traced the outer lips of her cloaca and then suddenly plunged back in was different, too.

She didn't greedily buck down onto Yeva's snout, or snarl her release, but rather she gave a breathy shudder as her body trembled above the raptoress. Her powerful tail pumped up and down, helping to counterbalance the rolling of her hips as she pressed down repeatedly on that lapping snout, only to slowly stand up upon shaking legs afterward. She toppled sideways and flushed deeply upon seeing the streaks of dampness that Yeva was licking away, for the moment saturating that pebbly snout.

Now exhaustion did find her and she felt her eyes drifting shut, scooting herself closer to Yeva who returned the favor, the pair of them finding solace in each other's arms while they drifted to sleep together, thoroughly exhausted and mostly satisfied.

Only mostly, she assumed, because it wasn't Kibwe.

Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 5:55 PM

Ayo was bored.

She was before the Council yet again and listening to the exact same complaints of the day before. She now understood, entirely, why Kibwe seemed to become detached from the meetings, and she felt a sort of pity for the male. He wasn't made to sit through long debates, and even if he wanted to get something done, the only course that action could lead toward was war.

She still hadn't spoken to Kibwe aside from addressing him during the meeting or otherwise when her role alongside him forced her to, and to his credit, Kibwe kept himself composed in front of his Council, unlike the day before. There had no doubt been hushed whispers that the two were sleeping apart after just one night together, but if there were any, they were smart enough to keep it well out of any discussion where Kibwe may overhear.

Finally, the Council's roundabout conversation ended at roughly six in the evening, with Kibwe standing and announcing the closure for the day. The members, as usual, filtered out while talking to each other about how little was accomplished and Ayo had to resist the urge to snap at them - they were the cause of so little advancement! What a bunch of fossils, Ayo thought while following after Kibwe.

She could have detoured away from him at any time; could have slipped down a side chamber and then back outside to head toward her personal room. Instead, she followed him in silence and he seemed just as comfortable with that. She figured it was better than the yelling of the previous day, at any rate.

The two traveled together, in one another's company, in comfortable silence for quite some time. As Kibwe made his way into various storehouses and took stock of their resources, ensuring that everything was in place - including large supplies of throwing spears and solid, reliable timber. He didn't want to get involved in the war, that much was obvious, but Ayo also knew that he was starting to take into consideration that he couldn't avoid it forever. While the Claw Clan had yet to lose any more ground, they certainly hadn't gained any either - and the Seer seemed content to merely stand their ground as if waiting for the right moment to commit everything they had.

What that moment was, Ayo had little doubt, only the Sightseer knew.

Kibwe eventually turned back to Ayo and exhaled out of his nose, looking down at the smaller female who, until now, kept her snout shut. "I said it yesterday, and I will say it again - I'm sorry." Kibwe finally spoke, breaking at least fifteen-to-twenty minutes of silence.

"I've come to... understand, Kibwe. Perhaps I don't like it," and she really didn't, "but I understand it. But you? You need to have a little faith," she placed a claw in against the black feathers of his chest, poking at the pebbly hide that was hiding underneath.

"I'm your lover, your mate, and your leader - unless you've entirely forgotten the Hunt," Kibwe flushed at that, clearly remembering some things about it, but he stayed silent, allowing Ayo to finish. "Trust me like I trust you."

Kibwe was silent for a moment, not replying as he sat still in the stone frame of the storeroom. He eventually replied by way of stepping closer and then sweeping Ayo's frame off the ground, making her feet dangle somewhat as his snout crashed to hers in a firm, possessive and wanting kiss. Thankfully, he broke away without holding it too long, as memories and still-unfulfilled desires rushed heat throughout her frame.

_That could come later,_Ayo thought as she was set down and once more stood before Kibwe, though she noticed she wasn't the only one out of breath.

"I need to check that everything is ready," Kibwe spoke, declaring aloud what Ayo had figured out some time ago, "Will you keep me company?" Ayo just nodded her head and the pair returned to comfortable silence.

Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 10:12 PM

Ayo felt mentally exhausted, following after Kibwe and entering his chamber once more. The pair had gone through every storehouse of the Heart Clan and had inspected them against the listed resources. The vast majority of it was accounted for, though there were a few oddities here and there - a spear put back while broken, or a guard's cloak torn to ribbons.

There were, of course, more mundane things such as food to track as well, but aside from spoilage, the vast amount of it was accounted for and ready to last a long time. While they had no form of refrigeration, they had found multiple deposits of salt in their subterranean world. They had, as such, quickly perfected the art of food preservation. A good thing if the complex ever fell under siege.

Now she had followed Kibwe up to the tenth floor of the pyramid and stood once more before his room.Their room. And she felt like a stranger once again, despite having spent time within just a scant 48 hours ago. Despite the passion she still felt for Kibwe, she was unsure if he would invite her in.

Of course, when Kibwe opened the door with the key within the pouch on his side and then held it open for her, she felt silly for worrying.

Once again she felt awed by the size of the room she walked into, something so vast for just the two of them. While she knew that raptor politics revolved around harems, thus the room should have belonged to Kibwe and a much larger harem than just her, fate drove it in such a way that she was the only one privileged enough to share the space with him. She didn't think it would last forever, but for now, she could be content with the dream of it.

Kibwe closed the door behind her and she soon found herself standing right before him, frozen for a moment and closing her eyes to enjoy the rush that surged down her spine. Kibwe stepped in closer and she felt his frame as it pushed up against her own, his chest against her back and his paw slowly tracing claws along her hide. She took a step forward.

Kibwe followed with a step of his own. She stayed still, pressing back against him as he rubbed along her hide, tracing nonsensical patterns with the tip of his claws while roaming over her body. She could smell him quite clearly now, a powerful mixture of masculinity and need. While she couldn't feel his need yet, she knew it would only be a matter of time. She took another step forward, deeper into the room.

He stepped partially overtop of her, his size allowing him to totally encompass her smaller frame, feetpaws to either side of her own and his thighs surrounding her hips. She felt the warmth of his body against her own and soon felt the warmth of his tongue tracing up along her throat. She groaned, pressing herself back in against him with her thick tail brushed off to the side due to his weight and curled somewhat upward with her desire.

He stepped further over her, and now she could feel a bit of him up against her hip, making her tremble before she placed a paw upon his chest and carefully, lightly, pushed. Kibwe paused after a second, similar push, stepping back and to the side while looking at Ayo with a confused expression painted upon his snout.

Ayo was afraid that speaking could ruin the moment, let alone anything else, so she was quiet as she lured Kibwe forward. Her body language, she knew, screamed 'fuck me' - because that was exactly how she felt: tail coiled up partially to keep everything visible, hips swaying somewhat with each step, and her scent filling the air thoroughly.

The bed that dominated one section of the room was circular in shape and far too large for the both of them to occupy in full. Their first time in the room had been snuggled together among the blankets and pillows that were scattered over a section of the floor, where the majority of the harem would sleep. Those favorited by, or chosen for the night, would accompany their leader - Kibwe, in this case - to the bed, where he could take his pick of them for his pleasure.

With Kibwe close behind, she crawled up upon that bed and splayed herself out on one hip. Kibwe approached with a curious tilt to his head, stepping over and starting to crawl up onto the bed when Ayo lifted a leg and pushed him back. He tilted his head the other way, perplexed before he attempted again - but from the other side of her. Once more he met her leg and a gentle shove backward. He stood in front of her, silent and unsure, and it was - in a way - empowering to watch the large male look upon her smaller frame and be entirely unsure of what to do.

So she rolled over onto her back, splaying her legs out and revealing her cloaca to him in full. He thought he knew what to do then and started to crawl over top of her, only for that leg to lift once more and push him back again. Perhaps another approach was required, and Kibwe slowly lowered his snout - before that was playfully pushed away with her footpaw as well. He frowned at her and was truly confused now, almost squirming in place as Ayo soaked in the ego rush of having such a large, powerful raptor curled around her claw.

She eventually lifted a leg up while scooting closer to the edge of the bed, and placed it upon his shoulder, and then she pushed down. He eventually got the idea and slowly moved until he was kneel-squatting in front of her, and she licked her lips at seeing him displayed as such before her. She finally relaxed again and beckoned him with a claw. He took that, initially, as a sign to rise again - but a quick reapplication of her leg once more settled him down. The second, beckoning claw finally got him to do the right thing: push his snout 'tween her spread thighs.

He went at it with gusto, eager to finally have something to vent his uncertainty upon, and not to mention that at first, she gasped out in pleasure. But while every moment of his tongue squirming and ravishing her inside was a pleasure, Ayo eventually placed her footpaw on his shoulder and brought him to a stop. He nearly growled in frustration - what now? But rather than being shoved back entirely, she started to direct his head and his tongue, licking differently or catching along her inner walls in a way he hadn't before. He calmed down as he realized she was trying to educate him.

He got eager as he started to see what that education was doing. He stopped ravishing her with his tongue - at least, the entire time; rather he broke in with a slathering slurp without warning, eliciting delight from her snout before he returned to the more controlled motions, led by her leg against his snout or the cries of pleasure she made. Whenever her body stopped clamping down in pleasure around him, he adjusted - getting her into that vice-like tightness once more before he'd move on and repeat the process.

It wasn't perfect and he stumbled many times; not to mention his snout was a damp, soaked mess by the time he had to come up to breathe. He needed no second lesson when he dove back down upon her, dragging his tongue along the puffy outer lips of her cloaca and then diving back in, driving himself at different angles and coiling his tongue differently with each prod deep inside. She could feel that electric warmth sparking inside of her, setting her every nerve on fire, and it was only then - on the verge of release - that she stopped him again.

He did growl then, but she soothed him by rolling over onto her belly, presenting herself. It was a trick, yes, but one she knew Kibwe wouldn't mind in the least. He growled again, differently this time, and leapt upon the bed, attempting to use it as leverage for mounting her. It was exactly what she wanted, and she found herself deftly moving to one side, leaving Kibwe to flounder at the unexpected empty space below him and plant himself chest-down on the bed.

He hissed in a frustrated manner, clearly not taking her tease well - but she quickly calmed him by nudging him over, showing she wasn't done with him by any means. Instead, she had her head between _his_thighs once he rolled partially over to look beside himself, and she didn't keep him waiting at all: her maw parting and quickly taking his flesh onto her tongue. He gave a chirp of surprise, his hips bucking slightly and causing Ayo to momentarily gag as she found herself with over six inches of eager raptor flesh shoved into her mouth all at once.

After she recovered from the initial reaction, she looked up and saw a sheepish, but very much horny, Kibwe looking down at her. She pulled up until she could kiss the head of his cock, lips wrapped loosely around the taper of it while she finally got a true, up-close look at the black spire.

It was a slight bit lighter in colour than his feathers, though she knew it was hard to see in pitch black conditions. She was in the middle of looking at his cock when she felt Kibwe's talons grab hold of her hips and adjust her as he rolled over into the same splayed-out position she had been, with his large, muscular thighs spread apart to either side of her head. She wiggled on his chest and shifted in her new position until she could coil her tail up slightly, showcasing the desire of her own body just out of reach of Kibwe's snout.

Then she started to bob. She wasn't skillful by any means and she was nearly overwhelmed by the powerful flavor on her tongue, finding it extremely salty though neither good or bad. It was just very potent and masculine, just like everything else of Kibwe's.

Soon she started to experiment, bobbing down part way with a coil of her tongue in one direction, then uncoiling it in the other as she bobbed back up. She tested how effective each motion was by the bucking of his hips, the rasp of his breath, or the groaning hisses and chirps of pleasure he emitted. The better the reaction, the more frequently she tried it as she moved her snout up and down on him.

All she knew was that, before long, her jaw was started to hurt. Kibwe was big and she had problems keeping him securely in her maw while also keeping his sensitive flesh away from any teeth. While she had learned that he seemed to shudder and thrust hard up into her mouth whenever she playfully scraped them against him, she also found that it wasn't a frequent thing: too soon and he gave a whimper of pain instead.

But it seemed to be paying off, as the more she worked at it (sore jaw or not), the less control he had. Even when she pushed down as hard as she could manage upon his midsection, his raw strength and desire caused him to buck his hips up and his cock down her throat. Her shining achievement was fitting more than half of that monster in her maw while she learned that her paws could be used to work the rest. He responded really well to her paws, truth be told, and she filed that away for a later use.

But the frantic pumping of his hips forced her to come up for air, not to mention that she thought he was soon to cum. So she slowly rolled off of him, giving a shake of her hips at the wanton raptor who couldn't quite reach those needy, pouty lips of her cloaca.

Before Kibwe had too many ideas, however, she swiftly moved herself overtop of him after turning herself about. It was a good thing, too, as he was half rolled over and ready to mount. No, instead she was mounting him, taking into account how she had mounted Yeva's snout the night before. This wasn't just about them reuniting and showing their still-burning desire for one another, although that was important to her, rather it was about her asserting herself over this much larger raptor. To show him that despite her more delicate frame and smaller stature, she could be on top. She knew full well that power for raptors was based on harem position after all.

For tonight, at least, she was on top of the harem and Kibwe firmly under her.

She straddled his groin as best as she could, thankful that Kibwe was as large as he was as that meant she had less work to do as she spread her legs apart and squatted down. It took several attempts and Kibwe's paws eventually settling upon her hips, but she found her mark and swiftly sat backward and down, hilting herself on him with a groan. His size there also helped, as she didn't have as far down to go as she 'sat' upon his groin.

Her tail was above his own and her frame soon resting overtop of his. She was hilted entirely, their slits meeting but now perfectly aligned due to their positions. She bumped her head in against his chest and then found the strength to lift herself up an inch only to seat herself firmly with a gasp of delight. The only other times she had had him inside of her had been when both of them were drunk out of their gourd on some hallucinogenic drink.

She thought it was even better now.

Ayo adjusted herself, planting those powerful legs on the bed and digging the talons on top of her digits into the sheets below as she started to lower and raise herself. The position only let her move a few inches of his cock in and out of herself at a time, but it was all either of them needed. Kibwe was practically squirming underneath her in his desire and need to buck, and the maddening fact that he couldn't - not really - seemed to drive him to higher states of need.

She was fully in control and it was almost as if a part of him was trying to rebel against that idea, his hips rapidly bucking and accomplishing little more than jabbing himself an inch deeper. Though in truth she could feel how much of that was a front, a cover for the fact that he seemed to enjoy her current position. He was as stiff as stone and faster-flowing than any river. She had been slippery before she took him inside of her, but now because of him she was positively soaked, her motions made that much easier as she rolled her hips up and down.

She also knew it wouldn't be much longer until either of them reached their peak. While Kibwe had shown he had the stamina of an allo, Ayo knew he would need a breather. That was, for the moment at least, fine with Ayo as she felt that she'd need one herself after this, her body screaming at her due to the fact she wasn't used to using the muscles she was using.

Her legs were starting to get sore, the muscles complaining as she rocked up and down upon him, rolling her hips as her claws dug furrows into the feathers on his chest. He gripped her all the tighter to him, gasping out as her walls snuggly gripped and clenched, contracting around him and helping him get closer and closer with heat thudding beat of his heart.

Eventually, he reached his peak and his hips gave a forceful if ineffective shove upward, to which Ayo responded rapidly, shoving her hips backward and rolling down until their slits met once more and he was buried as deep as he possibly could be within her. She felt his muscles tense, his whole body going rigid just before that final spark of pleasure set him off with a snarl, the pressure of it enough that she could physically feel it.

She squeezed down, tightening like a vice around her lover as she reached her own peak from that sensation. Her climax made her tighten inside, gripping firmly to the point of pain: but one spot in particular relaxed, allowing that flow of virile sperm to splash upward and into her egg chamber once again. The entrance to her oviduct opened wide in response to her climax, and if Kibwe's sperm hadn't found their mark the first time, Ayo had just given him another chance to accomplish it.

Finally, the strength in her legs failed her entirely and she slumped even further upon his chest, sliding off to one side and causing his cock to slip free of her with several splatters of cum coating not only the bed but also her belly and side.

Saturday, May 19th, 739 BSO; 10:42 PM

The pair lay side-by-side, panting out hotly to vent the excess heat that had built in their bodies during their coupling. Ayo eventually shifted, moving her taloned paw onto Kibwe's chest to slowly fix the way she had ruffled his feathers during her passions, having sent them all askew as her body was overtop of his. Now, she pressed her form up against his side and ruffled those feathers instead.

"I... don't know what came over you, Ayo..." Kibwe rumbled, still panting as his chest rapidly rose and fell, "But Sun above if it wasn't hot."

Ayo couldn't help but smirk at her lover's compliment, even as she suddenly felt a mess. While she didn't have feathers to fix, she felt damp stickiness cover her hide, making her have the sudden desire to crawl off the bed and into the large pool of water that was within the chamber. Though the urge to stay next to her lover, for the moment, won out and she didn't bother to move despite the mixed fluids starting to dry upon her hide.

Kibwe adjusted himself afterward, rolling onto his side so the pair were snout-to-snout and he could idly trace his talon along her side. When it came down to her hip she fidgeted it away for a moment, making Kibwe tilt his head in a concerned fashion while Ayo looked away from him. He didn't quite know what triggered the response, but he got a good inkling and he once more placed his paw upon the green splotch that covered a portion of her hip and thigh.

He started to slowly trace the outline of it with the tip of his claw, making her shiver in a combination of desire and disgust. "I like how this stands out on you," Kibwe spoke after a moment, tracing it downward and inward as the splotch moved closer toward her inner thigh. "Just like your crest," he mumbled while lightly tracing the edge of one with his tongue.

She closed her eyes, letting herself bask in the attention of her mate as he touched parts of her that she was never comfortable with. She always found them unappealing. The crest, perhaps, less than her hip - the different colours there were common among her kind, but the green on her leg? That was far from common, and it was a part of herself she wished she could get rid of.

At least until Kibwe started to pay attention to it in a positive light. Perhaps she would never truly like it, but she came to the conclusion that she could live with it. As Kibwe growled against her snout and his talon got playful as it dipped between her legs, she squeezed them closed and smacked her lover with her tail. Indeed, she might just manage to no longer hate that splotch of mismatched colour as, after all, it seemed to attract Kibwe's attention. Though thinking about it, she started to humour the idea that all of her did.

As she lay there, basking in the slow attention of the raptor (and smacking him in a playful way whenever he tried to lead that attention toward more lewd things once again) she realized a lot about their lovemaking had been finding out about herself. Her brother had always made her into something meek and subservient, and while she had slowly broken out of that image herself as time passed and her brother left for the jungles, having him come back into her life brought back several of the habits.

Making her, for instance, silently accept being an agent of the Bitah'ta.

But she had also stood up for herself before creatures that were 'superior' to her. With a huff, her eyes drifted shut and she ended up with her head resting upon Kibwe's neck, slowly letting sleep encompass her. Perhaps, she thought, being around these raptors has actually helped me. Fancy that.

Monday, May 21st, 739 BSO; 1:12 PM

Sunday passed in relative peace, thankfully, with the pair able to make up for their previous spat without the added stress of attending the Council or any form of diplomacy. It gave them time to patch things up, and for Ayo to learn more about herself and just what being around these raptors was doing for her. She no longer saw herself as they once had, destined to be ruled over by a 'superior' creature, but rather as her own being.

She realized that part of that self-image had been placed upon her by Amadi and that she had just come to accept it as the norm when he had. That his hatred and prejudice against the raptors washed back upon her, because he painted her exactly how he expected all of them to see her: meek, easy to control, and without a backbone.

Funny, she thought as she shuffled into the Council chambers on that Monday alongside Kibwe, if this black-feathered monster of a male I've fallen for hadn't made me lose myself, I might just have kept with that narrow view.

Rather, she was now bumping shoulders and arguing as an equal with raptors at the head of the Heart Clan. And while, without a doubt, part of that had to do with the fact that she was officially Kibwe's mate in the eyes of all but the Tuk, a large part of it had to do with her. She still ran her alchemical shop from within the Heart complex, and the number of customers she received just kept increasing, drawn in by stories of her. And she had made a good impression in other Clans, too, she knew.

How much of an impression, though, was something she didn't know. Every Clan but the Heart still kept slaves, both of Dilophosaurus and Allosaurus, and it wasn't even Kibwe that kept the Heart from holding them - that came several generations before when the Heart had sold them all off as a show of self-superiority. She found it amusing that a Clan that had, just a scant few generations before, been about racial supremacy was now silently leading the path for racial equality - intentionally or not.

It wasn't long before Ayo and much of the Council were jarred out of their conversation (or daydreaming) by a guard entering the chamber and bowing his head low before Kibwe. After Kibwe shuffled to attention in his seat next to Ayo, the guard cleared his throat, "We have two diplomats here to see you, leader. Both of them have been waiting since this morning and are... not pleased with that circumstance."

Kibwe frowned at that last sentence and Ayo instantly knew why - neither of them had been informed of a diplomatic arrival. Whoever had met them had decided to stall them, or to try and slander Kibwe by way of ignoring their arrival. Overall, it pointed to the fact that another member of the Heart had negotiated the wait on their own behalf, though whoever that might have been had enough self-preservation to keep himself quiet as the room exchanged hushed murmurs.

"Send them in one at a time," Kibwe spoke once he had recovered from the momentary setback.

"Leader, they have... requested an audience together."

"Together? Are they of the same Clan?" when the guard shook his head, Kibwe frowned even further, leaning back before giving a bob of his head to approve of the arrival.

Whenever he finds out what underling tried a power play, they'll regret it, Ayo thought while her eyes roamed over the room. She didn't see one snout in the bunch that screamed 'I'm guilty', sadly, so her eyes returned to the two envoys that entered the room.

She expected to see two members of Clans from the same side, perhaps with the news that the Claw Clan had somehow retaken the floors of their complex. However, what entered the room were two members of opposing Clans: the Seers and the Tuk.

The pair of them eyed each other with distaste, but that distaste paled in comparison by the disgust the Tuk envoy wore clearly on his snout when he looked upon Ayo. She flinched from the raw hatred in those eyes and for a moment she recalled everything Amadi taught her. At least, until she felt Kibwe's paw rest upon her leg, giving it an encouraging squeeze. She used that, and him, to center herself, breathing deeply for a moment before staring down the envoy. She was the single most powerful female in the Heart Clan and it was time that she behaved as such.

"Noble dignitaries of the Seer and Tuk, I apologize for not greeting you both properly and separately earlier. I was uninformed of your arrival until just a few moments ago," Kibwe spoke, bowing his head humbly for a moment before looking upon the pair of them.

The Tuk representative stepped forward first and if Ayo hadn't already guessed who they were by their behavior alone, she would have quickly identified him from the sickly-green that his hide sported and the patchiness of his brown feathers. Further proof of the same sickness they all seem to share, Ayo thought.

"Leader Kibwe Feralheart, I am here on behalf of the Great Prophet," the envoy bowed his head and then stood up straight again, "He approves of your staying neutral against the rebellious Clans but he tires of this war. He has, in all of his wisdom, decided to approach you again with terms to join the war."

The male tossed a look at Ayo with the edge of his snout turned up, as if on the verge of telling a great joke, then turned his attention fully back upon Kibwe, "His terms are simple: you will commit the entirety of your Clan to an attack on the Seers, null your harem of the Dilophosaurus female named Ayo, and pay a small tribute over the next ten years for supplying the rebels in the early phases of this war."

Kibwe listened for a moment in total silence before laughing, causing a round of nervous laughter to peel through the Council chamber as if they were all following an awkwardly told joke. "Is that all I have to do? Oh, such generous terms they are."

He waved a paw silently at the Seer who stepped forward with a bow of her head. She looked sidelong at the Tuk and grinned a toothy grin at him before clearing her throat. "Subira Sightseer appreciates everything you've done to help the cause, but... we, too, can no longer abide by your Clans neutrality."

The entire room filled with hushed whispers all at once and even Kibwe shifted uncomfortably in his seat at that, "The Seers," the diplomat continued, "have much simpler terms. Subira merely requests two things of you."

"One: that you commit your Clan to the war against the Tuk and their allies for the sake of freeing the Claw Clan, and two: that you accept the single term the Claw Clan gives you upon their freedom."

The last, of course, was vague and anything that wasn't straightforward was cause for unease in the Council, something that, for a change, Ayo agreed with. Something about it seemed to rub her the wrong way, though she couldn't quite place why. From the uncomfortable shifting beside it, it seemed Kibwe was much the same.

The two envoys from the warring Clans stood side-by-side and spoke with one voice, unified in their demands if nothing else at this point, "You have seventy-two hours to decide, Kibwe Feralheart, or we declare war on you." That got the Council's attention and made even Kibwe stiffen. While there was little chance that they'd actually attack the Heart Clan, a declaration of war meant that the Heart would be on the losing side regardless of who actually won.

His carefully maintained neutrality, it seemed, was no longer an option.

The pair turned tail and left swiftly afterward, leaving the Council chamber in hushed tones that rapidly raised into shouts of support for one side or another. The side that had the greatest support, at this late stage, was clearly the Seers. The voices on both left and right rallied to their cause, and any murmurings of the Tuk were drowned out. It was quite clear what the Council wanted, but thankfully Kibwe had time to decide.

Through the roar of the crowd, Ayo leaned in and whispered directly against Kibwe's snout, "Could we stay neutral, even still? You have the largest Clan in the city."

"I do - and no doubt that number has stretched even further with the casualties of war," he frowned as if contemplating the ability to tell both of them no, before he shook his head, "It won't end well. Even if I moved to attack the winning faction before their total conquest, we'd eventually be overwhelmed. Five Clans against one is no contest at all, no matter how valiantly we fight."

Ayo slowly saw everything that Kibwe had worked so hard for come undone with a single declaration and she was powerless to do anything more than affectionately and reassuringly bump her snout to his own. She would stand by him, regardless of his decision.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 739 BSO; 5:12 PM

Two days had passed since the ultimatum had been delivered and Kibwe was still weighing his choices. Numerically, the Tuk and their allies of the Talon and Feather had numbers over the Seers and their ally of the Claw Clan, but so far the Seers had yet to truly deploy and the Claw was on the verge of collapse.

Last Ayo heard, they only held the top three chambers of their step pyramid and even that was a fleeting thing. The Claw just didn't have the numbers to hold out for much longer, and if they fell, their members would be scattered among the lower ranks of the victors and a new Claw Clan set up in its place, one consisting of loyalists to the Tuk.

Yet the rallying cry was to join the Seers despite it all; despite the fact they could find themselves in a four-on-two situation with only the Seers as an ally. Ayo, as a result, decided to stay far away from the Council and its politics for the day, instead deciding to agree to the plans that Yeva had sent her the night before. She held the letter in front of herself curiously, rereading it for what had to be the fifth or sixth time.

Dear Matron Ayo,_Ayo had to smile at that bit, even though she had read it multiple times. Yeva was the only one in the entire Clan to give her the title of Matron, _This lowly raptor humbly requests that you accompany her through the lower city. You know it better than anyone else in this Clan, after all, and hopefully, you can teach me more about where you came from, as I have taught you some about where I have. Either way, I remain your constant, loyal friend.

Yeva.

She still wore that look of bemusement upon her snout when she found Yeva on the second floor of the pyramid, stopping before the ornate tapestry outside of her room. Ayo carefully moved it aside and stepped within, seeing a realm of the raptors she hadn't just yet.

It was a harem's quarters. Instantly, she saw that it was larger than the small bedroom she had been given at the start of her stay, though the chamber she now stayed in with Kibwe was much larger. She saw that the room was crowded with raptors, many of them making small talk with each other or discussing the events of their days, while others still were working on small projects in the corners of the room.

At the center of it all was a tight knot of raptors, four of them in total. In that group was Yeva, who flushed as she saw the dilo, and Ayo in turn flushed and looked away. Yeva was, for the moment, preoccupied beneath the body of a thrusting raptor. No doubt that was her harem leader, as around the currently-breeding pair was two other females that were awaiting their turn. Yeva, as she had told Ayo earlier, always got picked first due to her feathers.

About five minutes later, the male got off of Yeva, seemingly finished with her. Immediately he moved to one of the other females, and Ayo saw that he was far more affectionate with her than he had been with Yeva. Where he had been more than eager to finish the deed within the gold-feathered female, his affections and desires clearly lay elsewhere.

Yeva was a trophy, not a lover.

Yeva took an extra few minutes to stop by the communal bath and quickly washed herself off before she left, one of the other females that were lounging beside it helping her to reach spots that she herself could not. When Yeva finally stood sheepishly before Ayo, she smelled strongly of vanilla powder rather than a male raptor's passion.

"The lower city, then?"

Wednesday, May 23rd, 739 BSO; 6:07 PM

The pair had stopped momentarily at Ayo's shop to apply brown dye to Yeva's richly coloured feathers, enabling her to hide in plain view. She went from something that would catch every eye in the room to being yet another snout in the crowd, and Ayo didn't realize just how much she pitied her friend until she saw Yeva underneath her harem leader, and just how rapidly he forgot about her after filling her with his desire.

Not his desire for her, no, but rather his desire to sire more gold-feathered raptors.

Now the pair were making their way through the hustle and bustle of the lower city, and Ayo found that she felt out of sorts. Rather than meekly flowing around everything as she had in the past, she proudly strode past everyone. She wasn't arrogant and offensive if something didn't get out of her way rapidly, but she no longer felt it was her fault if she bumped into another either. Having Yeva by her side only added to that impression, as many lay eyes upon her curiously as she led the way rather than staying quietly at the raptor's side.

Eventually, Yeva did take the lead, but it was only because she seemed to have a goal in mind. They detoured away from the sections of the lower city that Ayo knew well and into areas that were even more run down and uncared for. Ayo was uncomfortable in these parts of town before she met Kibwe and even after she felt uneasy, staying close to Yeva as she seemingly navigated a route with apparent ease. Wherever they were going, Yeva had either been there before or had studied a map for a very, very long time.

Eventually, the pair came to an Allosaurus camp, a small enclave of about six males and two females. Allosaurus lived in smaller family units, usually having a tiny harem underneath the most powerful individual in that family. An old male with one eye was clearly the leader of that harem and the two females were his. One of the males, potentially, was too - as he didn't seem to fit the age group of the other four. Those four were much younger and roughly linear in age.

Ayo had no doubt that there had been more offspring, but those had either passed away or been sold to the Clans. But one of those four that remained, Ayo saw, was the reason that Yeva wanted to come. It made Ayo laugh softly and caused Yeva to flush for a moment before composing herself and stepping forward.

Ayo had never seen Broth - or Dejen, as his name actually was, away from their designated meeting place. And now she saw him chopping logs into halves with ease, a blade strapped along that well-muscled tail as it moved with an almost mechanical nature back and forth. He was looking over his shoulder, judging his work silently as he sawed through that log, at least until another allo approached and carefully caught his attention. When his attention was then guided over to Ayo and Yeva, he gave a half smile and turned slowly around, allowing one of his brothers to slowly undo the saw attached to his tail.

The large male stepped away and toward the two females, towering over them with his scaled body glistening faintly with moisture. Like most of the creatures in their underground world, he couldn't sweat - but the humidity clung to him like he had, leaving his hide streaked in moisture. Ayo noticed that Yeva seemed to approve of that look quite a lot, the raptor having to look away for a moment to compose herself once more.

"I found where you live," it was a simple comment, though Ayo thought it could stand to sound less... creepy. Nevertheless, she stayed silent. This wasn't about her - it was about them. She was merely there to give Yeva the strength she needed to go through with her plans.

"So I see that, little lady. I'm surprised - there are a lot of Allosaurus camps here."

"I looked at several maps, around the area of where you met Ayo. I remember you mentioning you work - worked for the Claw during more peaceful times, so I put it all together and found this camp on the map," Ayo was impressed with two things - one that this Allosaurus family was on a map at all, meaning they had held this land for a very long time indeed. Two was that Yeva had been right in the first place. Luck, it seemed, did favor the bold.

"It's nice to see you again, too, Ayo," Dejen spoke, giving a respectful bob of his head in her direction. Ayo returned it but was happy to see that Yeva once more stole the spotlight. Ayo, frankly, saw enough of the allo as it was. She didn't hate him, not by a long shot, but her life would be much less complicated if she hadn't been forced to meet him by her brother.

Ayo took the time to watch the pair and she noticed that Dejen seemed enthralled by this raptor that had an interest in him. No doubt he'd never been sought out by a raptor before, at least not one without a complaint about his labour. And yet here was a female raptor, one who was part of a harem, that not only sought him out but seemed to enjoy his company. He was equal parts mystified and ecstatic to talk with her and was fully animated.

Equally, Yeva seemed to shine for a change. Even though her golden feathers were hidden by bland, brown dye, she captured the allo's attention entirely. His gaze never once slid off of her, even when one of his brothers - or what Ayo assumed was his brother - started to call for him. It took a solid three, very loud, 'Dejen!'s before he would wince and start to wrap up the conversation.

"I need to get back to work. Wood doesn't cut itself," Dejen hesitated even still, before looking down at Yeva with a lopsided, nervous grin. The look seemed strange upon the normally self-confident male, and yet Ayo had seen the same expression on another self-confident male when she thought upon. Specifically, she had seen it on Kibwe's snout when he looked at her.

"Can I see you again? Maybe at that little restaurant that I first met you at?" Yeva asked, making Ayo snort. If she ever came back down to the lower city, she was going to have to find another place to eat - her favorite little spot was becoming quite popular for clandestine meetings, it seemed.

"That'd work," he winced as now the older male growled his name, making him hesitate a second, "How 'bout the 5th? I'll be free then."

"DEJEN! I won't call again, boy!" called the older male, making Dejen wince again. Yeva merely grinned wider and then bobbed her head.

"The fifth works wonderfully." With the acknowledgment of their next meeting sealed, Dejen turned around and rapidly made his way over to his father, but not before he stopped halfway and tossed a grin at Yeva.

He really looks happy,_Ayo thought. _Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch for the two of them next time they meet. 'cause I'm definitely not being the third tail.

Wednesday, May 23rd, 739 BSO; 7:12 PM

The brown-dyed Yeva and Ayo both made their way through the lower city, and while they were, they passed by Ayo's old shop. She still owned the land and was happy to see no squatters had made themselves at home within, as the door was still quite closed. It had acquired a thin layer of dust and some spiderwebs along the edges, further showing how many weeks it had been since she last stepped foot within.

"Can you find your way home from here?" Ayo asked, turning toward Yeva after inspecting the front of her shop, "I have a few things I still need to grab."

Yeva nodded and smiled, seemingly still riding on the high of her brief meeting with Dejen. She started to head toward the Heart compound with a bounce in her step and a sway in that thick tail of hers, soon becoming another snout in the crowd.

Ayo then turned back to her shop and moved her paw to the pouch on her hip, producing the iron key to the front door. She unlocked it with a satisfying click that almost reminded her of coming home.

Almost.

It seemed all wasn't quite as it appeared from the front, however, as once she swung the door wide she saw a window broken in, shattered. She also saw scraps of food and dried, days old streaks of blood. Good, Ayo thought with a glare at the mess on her floor, I hope the squatter was cut deep.

In hindsight, it made sense as the door was sturdy while the windows were not. She saw the vials of murky liquid that she had left behind right where they had been, at least, and she quickly moved over to them, pausing only for a heartbeat to check under the countertop of her old shop. She was glad to see her old satchel there, one of the few comforts of the past she had accidentally left behind.

She had just started to move the last of the vials into the satchel when the current occupant of her home made their way downstairs. At first, Ayo didn't recognize who it was in the dim light, beyond recognizing it was a fellow Dilophosaurus. The other dilo grunted at her and started to approach her, making Ayo instantly react by lunging forward, expecting the squatter to try and attack her for breaking in to, ironically, her own home.

The tackle knocked the pair of them to the ground and Ayo grasped firmly at the other dilo's shoulders, slamming him firmly into the wood below. It was only then that she noticed he wasn't fighting back. She momentarily wondered if that singular bash had killed them, but no. No, they were smiling up at her and in a moment she recognized who it was, the bastard.

"Amadi? What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you, too, sister. Do you attack every male you meet this way or just the ones you really like?"

Ayo flushed even as she glared daggers down at her brother, slowly getting off of him and dusting herself off. She had little doubt that Amadi had been the one squatting here from the start, as he sported a cloth around his arm, showing where the glass had cut him.

"As for why I am here... I came here to see you. I thought my sister would be living it up in her shop, but it seems her aspirations were even bigger than I thought! Living with the raptors, are you?" he spoke that one key term with venom.

"I didn't believe Dejen when he told me. I didn't even believe the rumors when I snuck into town - my own sister, fucking a featherbrain? But I see you've basically become one, haven't you?" he pointed at her wrist and the feather that dangled there, a sign that she had survived her Hunt.

"I'm helping my people the same way you are, Amadi."

"Oh? Because it really smells like you've just become a cock-warmer for one of them. Maybe more than one?" he probed, trying to get a reaction out of his sister. He seemed almost disappointed when he didn't get one.

"Whatever," Amadi continued, hissing faintly before trying to calm himself. "I didn't come here to pick a fight, believe it or not. I came here instead to place an order," with that, he reached into the pouch at his own hip and produced more silver that Ayo had ever seen in one place before.

He let the coins fall onto the counter and Ayo eyed him warily, "What do you want, brother?"

"Well, we've come across a large monster in that jungle. It's big, it's reptilian, it's blue. It's also not happy with us being camped so near to where it nests."

Ayo figured her brother was lying. What were the chances that the very same kind of creature she and Kibwe had bested was also plaguing her brother? More than likely, he had heard the tales of what she had hunted and was merely using that as a scapegoat. Ayo decided she really didn't want to know what the true purpose for Amadi's visit was, what his actual prey was.

"Just four vials of toxin and we'll leave you alone. I already told Dejen he doesn't have to meet with you anymore. The war has given us more information than we'd ever need."

Ayo was on the verge of saying no, but she hesitated. She suddenly wished for the loose bonds of family that the Raptors had. They had fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters certainly - but very rarely was it blood and rarer still was it ingrained as much as it was for dilos. For a dilo, the family was everything; their whole identity came from it and their culture stemmed out of it.

It was that fact that made her hesitantly nod, "That's it, though. This final order and we're done."

"Of course, sister. Now, it needs to be strong - we're hunting a big beast, after all," Ayo half-listened as her brother went on, further cementing his lie. She wasn't sure exactly what she had agreed to, but she knew one thing.

It wouldn't be good.