the cut off - crab contest

[fulzanin]

<the fiercest storm only hardened my resolve>

Tanteri often struggled with crabs. They were somewhat hard to open. His beak could easily puncture through their hardened shells, yes. That didn't make it any easier for the pteranodon to actually access the delectable meat that was sheltered within. He could pry with his fingers and peck with his beak, but really Tanteri felt as if it was a fruitless venture. He felt as if when he finally got to eat the meat of the crab, he'd expelled all the energy that he was about to gain. It mostly was why he kept to fishing. Fish weren't hard to eat. Most of the time after a swift swing of his head he could gulp the aquatic creature down whole. He liked that. It was easy for him to do, unlike getting a crab's shell open so he could peck at the flesh within.

There was an idea to be had, though. Pteranodon was a scavenger. They took the hard work of other's and pecked at the scraps, tearing away what larger predators did not want. Tanteri's mentality was taken up by such a thing. There was an idea that loosely formed in his mind. He was incredibly hungry, really wanted crab, and he really did not want to invest all the time in cracking them open. A solution was within the idea. It formed as an idea, but refused to come forth in a well-constructed manner. His wings flapped and he lifted off. Catching crabs was harder than catching fish as well. Instead of freely swimming in the water, crabs were on the bottom. He couldn't continue diving past them unless he wanted to get stuck or slam into something. He had to slow down, lose all the momentum, and then snag the crabs. It was difficult. Tanteri could manage.

After gathering up a pile of crabs - and breathing hard from the work - the pterosaur sat back. He felt incredibly hungry. He struggled to fight against the urge to begin struggling against the pile of somewhat still squirming crabs. Once Tanteri finally regained his breath, he decided to announce his idea. "I have caught a lot of crabs here! Whoever can, oh my lungs, whoever can crack open the most crabs gets.. er, a prize! Yes, a prize!" Some form of incentive was needed, right? He didn't have to say what the prize was. The pteranodon liked the idea of being vague with the prize. Perhaps he could have it be some nice seashells. That would do, wouldn't it? Or more food, fish. He was sick of the taste of fish, and the craving for the crab's meat grew stronger. That didn't mean he missed the thrill of catching the aquatic creatures. He merely didn't want to eat them for a day. A day was all Tanteri assumed he needed. He impatiently shifted, clawing at the sand with his talons.

TAGS 9/27/19:

GENERAL.
✧ Tanteri
✧ physically medium, mentally medium
✧ cis male| he/him
✧ the typhoon

APPEARANCE.
✧ pteranodon {ref} | health: 100%
— a dull grey pteranodon with a blue crest, which has a jagged cut in the front-center. He has a reddish brown stripe that goes down his spine and jags out in triangles onto his shoulders. His beak is yellow, but turns blue as it goes closer to his face. His wings are a deeper grey, with blue dots surrounding the section that connects the webbing to his torso. He has three talons on each wing which are used for picking up objects and slashing. His feet are small and connected to his wings by his ankles. His tail is long and mutated. Six prongs stick off of the tail, with the same dark grey webbing as his wings connecting them. These prongs have spikes on the end. The webbing on his tail also has navy blue dots where the webbing connects to his tail. His eyes are a light blue, with a deeper blue pupil.

PERSONALITY.
✧ loyal, hardworking, self-efficient, group-hunter
✧ sensitive, cautious, inquisitive
✧ loud and noisy, self preservationist, survival based, easily angered

RELATIONSHIPS.
✧ markoa x tokak | npc x npc [first gen]
✧ upoa
✧ polyromantic demisexual | looking

INTERACTIONS.
✧ physically medium | mentally medium | mutated tail | beak and talons are preferred fighting methods | enhanced senses
✧ hard provoke | will kill
✧ allowed to powerplay peaceful actions in bolded #68D3A4 | attack in #900C3F | mention [member=7490]Tanteri[/member] when attacking

MISC.
✧ his crest wound came from a crash landing- Tanteri would like for everyone to think that he had gained such in a fight.

[MERGED]

[align=center][div style="text-align:justify;width:55%;font-family:verdana"]"is the prize a tasty crab dinner?" came the cackle of kilius as he made his way over to the prehistoric bird. a nice crab dinner did sound very nice, but he wasn't sure that his jaws were strong enough to crack a crab shell. maybe hush could cut one open with that sword of his, he thought a slight grin appearing on his face. "im sure the crabs are quite.. crabby about being caught! heh heh!"

[hushsound.]

HUSH SOUND

"Link... it's time to wake up."

After Tanteri's last little incident with catching a ton of fish that they didn't really need, he immediately winced upon hearing the dinosaur calling for people about another underwater creature. Thankfully, it seemed as though Tanteri hadn't caught nearly as many crabs as he had fish, and it was actually a pretty manageable pile that was laying on the ground before Hush as the feline came padding over to investigate. Quickly and silently, Hush came up to Kilius's side, pressing up against the larging animal so that their pelts brushed together, a silent gesture of warmth and affection from the stoic little feline. He hadn't exactly broadcasted to everyone that he and Kilius were... involved, but that didn't mean he was completely cold to the other, and he felt a faint smile form on his face – until Kilius decided to make a joke. Hushsound groaned at the sheer cheesiness of it, and he mumbled softly to the blind male as he stood beside him, shaking his head, "That one... that one was really, really bad." He didn't sound legitimately annoyed, just fondly exasperated, having grown far too pleased with Kilius thus far to actually be pissed off.

After admonishing his boyfriend for his absolutely awful joke, Hush turned his attention toward Kilius and the crabs, the sword against his waist definitely seeming like a tantalizing candidate for cracking the aquatic creatures right down the middle. Clearing his throat, Hush mumbled in his soft and rough voice to the dinosaur, tail flicking back and forth behind him, "Tanteri...? Is there some sort of limit on what tools we can uses to crack open the crabs?" Hush seriously doubted there was, since he could see through to the actual purpose of this little challenge extremely easily, but he didn't want to break any rules. Hush had personally never tried crab before – having always just eaten whatever the hell he could find while he was out in the wilds as Link – so he hoped that perhaps if he won the competition, Tanteri would be willing to share some with him. He highly doubted that there was any other kind of actual reward in mind, considering the way that the other pirate had hesitated before saying there would be one – it had probably just been a last minute addition to get people to actually participate.

tags - penned by @stilly

[color=transparent]template by orion

[AMUNET]

[sup]HIDDEN SCOLLING[/sup]

ancient beasts, ament had seen great prehistoric dragons with wings and fangs and the from big enough to block out the sky. Had the honor to call one mother, but it was time to come out of the shadow of memory. Lucifer's shadow, the vernadi's shadow. ament was his own, for the moment - packless and the thought hurt, it was a horrendous and painful - a need burning under his feathered hide that couldn't be itched because he was alone.

but he wasn't was he?

he had the golden one- arurum - who was far away and across the sea, he had his home, tied to memories of his long lost pack, his long lost mother - he had a duty, to watch it. To guard what was his- his home, his clan. Until his bones returned to the ground to join the rest of his brethren that have been there for eons at a time.
his clan, the typhoon - will be safe. From the Pitt, from the rage- static in his bones, from any other thing that could do it harm-

crabs

Crabs were the enemy, the raptor knew. From a young hatching - the raptor remembers the feeling of a crustaceans's claws piercing his noes- his sister's piercing scream; a battle cry. A declaration to the world that the venandi- and in return him - had tied to the fate - of a war with the crabs.

ament was older, he was alone - without his pack. But here between hushedsound and the open sands of the typhoon, the beast - the sole omegan verandi remembered his oath, his war with the true enemy; crabs. And he was ready.

/ament hates crabs, so much.

[fulzanin]

<the fiercest storm only hardened my resolve>

Puns, Tanteri wasn’t familiar with. They were odd. Hearing the word repeated in a way that sounded like a joke confused him. His beak clicked as he shuffled, not quite sure how to take the response of the first to arrive. It was odd. “Er. No. That’s not the prize. The prize is, uh, secret. Until all the crabs are cracked. All of them.” Tanteri elaborated after a moment. A little bit of a hoarder, but the pterosaur was incredibly hungry. He didn’t think he could be blamed for thinking with his gut. His tail slowly flicked behind him. He had made sure to gather a reasonable amount of crab this time. Hunting crabs was harder than fishing and far less pleasurable. If anything, Tanteri had begun to loath his task shortly after beginning it.

Then Hushsound arrived. The deliberate action of intimacy that was presented.. pretty much went over his head. The pteranodon had little relationship experience, and certainly there had never been any physical ways of showing affection for someone. Not that Tanteri knew of. So he paid it no mind, none in the slightest. There was a question being presented to the primitive avian. His beak clicked. What even was a tool? It was a foreign concept to him. If it would help him obtain the flesh of the crab faster, though, then he had no denial. “Sure. I guess.” Tanteri answered with a shrug.

Now, the slight jump backwards upon seeing the raptor approach was instinctive. The pterosaur was not used to seeing another reptile - especially not one that was likely from an era either of or near his own. Familiar, but startling. He was used to seeing raptors from the skies above, where he was safe and absolutely never had to interact. Yes, sometimes his flock of the time would toss down their excess food to keep larger predators at bay. Being so close was a little starling, and Tanteri nervously shuffled. “If, if no one else shows up. Um. You can start.” Tanteri shrieked nervously, although opened his wings a little to allow him a far more maneuverable position to rest and watch in.

//mobile

TAGS 9/27/19:

GENERAL.
✧ Tanteri
✧ physically medium, mentally medium
✧ cis male| he/him
✧ the typhoon

APPEARANCE.
✧ pteranodon {ref} | health: 100%
— a dull grey pteranodon with a blue crest, which has a jagged cut in the front-center. He has a reddish brown stripe that goes down his spine and jags out in triangles onto his shoulders. His beak is yellow, but turns blue as it goes closer to his face. His wings are a deeper grey, with blue dots surrounding the section that connects the webbing to his torso. He has three talons on each wing which are used for picking up objects and slashing. His feet are small and connected to his wings by his ankles. His tail is long and mutated. Six prongs stick off of the tail, with the same dark grey webbing as his wings connecting them. These prongs have spikes on the end. The webbing on his tail also has navy blue dots where the webbing connects to his tail. His eyes are a light blue, with a deeper blue pupil.

PERSONALITY.
✧ loyal, hardworking, self-efficient, group-hunter
✧ sensitive, cautious, inquisitive
✧ loud and noisy, self preservationist, survival based, easily angered

RELATIONSHIPS.
✧ markoa x tokak | npc x npc [first gen]
✧ upoa
✧ polyromantic demisexual | looking

INTERACTIONS.
✧ physically medium | mentally medium | mutated tail | beak and talons are preferred fighting methods | enhanced senses
✧ hard provoke | will kill
✧ allowed to powerplay peaceful actions in bolded #68D3A4 | attack in #900C3F | mention [member=7490]Tanteri[/member] when attacking

MISC.
✧ his crest wound came from a crash landing- Tanteri would like for everyone to think that he had gained such in a fight.

[Keona.]

[align=center]— if I fall, get knocked down, pick myself up off the ground —

A vague memory rests in the privateer's mind.  When she looked more accurate to her true age... Early days in the Typhoon.  The snap of claws.  Later, a similar occurrence but the victim another.  Outright war on the crabs.  Good ol' raptor pack mentality and protection.

The petite fae made an effort to steer clear of crabs.  She could never see whether or not she was about to step on one and end up attacked again... Annoying.  When Tanteri's voice rang out, the tiny feline flicked her ears back.  Pale, sea-green hues flickered.  Crab contest?  Why in the seas...?

With a confused frown, the privateer sat in the sand, ears perked.  Kilius.  Hushsound.  Ament.  A part of her sank inside.  Missing Maisie.  Heavens, if the entire pack were still here.  No crab would remain unscathed long.  Their hatred ran deep the second of the first attack.  Keona shook her head lightly to herself, sitting back a little behind the raptor.

Her tiny size made her unfortunately easy-to-harm by those piercing claws.  I could try freezing them... Maybe later.  Under the watchful eyes of her father, who she inherited that ability from.  Since that sounded like a more intelligent move, Keona opted to remain behind Ament, fully trusting the raptor to rip those crabs to shreds.

✯ — keona sibéal ní faoláin. female. privateer of the typhoon. blind. rusty spotted cat.  ref. bio.

[hushsound.]

HUSH SOUND

"Link... it's time to wake up."

All of them. Tanteri wanted all of the crabs cracked, something that wasn't especially surprising to Hushsound, considering the suspicions that he had about why Tanteri was hosting this little competition. Still, he didn't mind. It gave him a chance to test out his newly strengthened sword, as well as get some exercise. Plus, a small part of him – just a tiny insignificant part – sort of wanted to impress Kilius with his skills. When Tanteri confirmed that they could use tools if they wanted, the feline immediately grinned, pressing against Kilius lovingly for a moment before padding forward, pulling his sword out to clench it in his jaws. Carefully raising it up high, the golden male brought it down in one clean slice, watching as it cracked cleanly through the crab's body, the tough shell splitting in half and the delicious meat inside looking tantalizing easy to get. Hush's mouth watered immediately at the scent of the meat inside, but he took a deep breath in through his nose, moving to repeat the process with several more of the creatures, his blade producing satisfying results nearly every time. It pleased him, both because he was winning and because it proved that he had done a good job when reforging the blade, at least this time. Once several of the creatures were cracked in half, Hush glanced over at Kilius and purred teasingly, "Looks like I'll probably win, Kili! Are you even gonna try to help out~? I know that you can smell out where the crabs are." Kilius technically hadn't said that he was participating, instead electing to just make a joke, but Hush had wanted to tease his boyfriend, and tease he would.

The presence of Ament was a bit worrying, especially since the male had yet to see any sign of Ament actually being sentient, but... Keona appeared to trust the raptor, so that put Hush slightly at ease. Perhaps she knew something that he didn't... or at least, he desperately hoped that she did, since he didn't really want her to get scooped up and devoured by the raptor or anything like that. A shiver went down his spine at that unpleasant thought, and he let his blade drop for his mouth for a moment, mumbling to Keona, "You gonna try participating, Keona?" Normally the amount of others around would make Hush feel anxious – which they still sort of did – and prevent him from speaking out loud, but since Kili was here – along with now Keona – he didn't want to leave his blind clanmates completely in the dark by starting to write his words rather than speaking them. It did fill him with a faint sense of anxiety, speaking in front of several others like this, but he could deal with it... had to deal with it. Had to overcome it. Who would respect a hero who didn't speak?

tags - penned by @stilly

[color=transparent]template by orion

[AMUNET]

[sup]HIDDEN SCOLLING[/sup]

Nervousness was not new to ament. Between excitement, curiosity, greed; it was almost welcome – almost. Nervousness when approaching a predator, especially one so instinctual to the predation upon others – was a mistake. One that was mostly fatal to anyone who faced the raptor. It made the other prey, in the eyes of ament. Excitement bubbled within the raptor, tension fleeing from being next to so many other animals – and replaced with the excitement of the hunt.

Many tried to hide their nerves behind blundering arrogance, with chittering words and bravo. Like predators would hide their claws and teeth with gentle soothing croons and fill his mind with static-

Ament knew exactly, the kind of damage wrought by his own claws. Alone, he was mighty – but he was alone. There was a reason that ament was the omega of his group – of his pack. He needed to be commanded, needed to be grounded and without it he was without direction, he was unleashed violence waiting to happen to the typhoon – to any clan. There was no holding back him beside his hunger.

Brilliant blue eyes stared down the bird. Curiosity- hunger – instinct pulling at him to destroy it, watch it wither and scream. His history told him that if he caught it – he could eat it, and this thing – who allied itself with crabs – a glance at the skittering crustaceans at the prehistoric creature’s feat told the raptor so-

Keona was a welcome distraction, ament remembers the little one. curious and frail and so so powerful. even as a child, unseeing the world, Keona would walk towards ament and his sister's without fear - with curiosity. ament admired them, still did. watching them walk closer and closer to the gathered group- a small purr settled in their throat, and even at the slight it was to watch the other’s nerves flourish into fear under ament’s provocation – Keona not only moved towards the group but in their direction.

It couldn’t be helped, the bout of pride in being remembered. It comforted them to at least see someone familiar, in a place like this – without his sisters, his pack. Some things were still the same. The raptor turned around to face the petite feline – so frail, still so tiny. Ament has grown in his time. Standing five feet on his feet, bright blue eyes and briliant feathers – ament reached down and let out a low chuff in greeting, letting out the huff of air just above keona. Kind, gentle in comparison to the hunter he was seconds ago jittering for a chance to hunt down a crewmate.

The sound was unfamiliar, and caught the raptor’s attention away from the newcomer – the familiar face of better times – and the nervous ticking of the strange bird that reeked of prey. For a moment longer ament watched hushedsound, the one who was nervous and writing into the sands and ignoring him – slashing throuch crabs with a sword – ament took it as a challenge. – and also , an ally.

It was different than what he expected, this crew – this clan was his, but to find allies – to help him in his war when he was now alone- it was monumental. And with a shriek – partial joy, partial hunting cry – ament lept into the fray.

Dark brown feathers were quick to dirty, the first pounce landed in blue blood splashing the sands, and in quick succession the raptor went to snap at another. The enemy grapping onto the side of his jaw and pinching - twisting painfully into it’s death grip as ament crunched down. Blood brilliant blue dripping from his jaws as he dropped the body – launching to the other with vigor.

It was a game; this war. Crabs were nothing, they were not even fit to be prey. Just sand under the lone vernadi’s heel. Ament treated them as such, their bodies nothing, left twitching in the sands or simply broken pieces. The trail of blue leading to ament – who was crunching a few between his jaw, shaking their death grips along his face or wings free with a whole body shake.