Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Clans

Chapter 5

Finch and Tail talked a bit more as they sat at the edge of the dropoff, before going back by late sunhigh. Leaves fell around them, making the ground crunch under their claws and giving an almost bouncy feel to the earth.

Finch smiled and jumped on them. Crisp leaves were sent flying all around. Tail smiled back playfully, taking it as a challenge as she kicked some at Finch.

They continued to run through the forest, laughing and throwing leaves behind them as they went. A breeze picked up a bit in the forest; the days were definitely getting cooler, and were bound to get even more so soon, though Finch wouldn’t mind. She enjoyed the cold, and especially snow, which she looked forward to seeing nearly every cold season.

They trotted smoothly along the leaf and pine-needle covered ground, weaving through thin and thick trees and foliage. After a few moments, however, Finch slowed down, noticing that they were nearing the part of the territory that had quicksand. Tail noticed as well and they walked on quietly, stopping as they spotted the pit. The area, despite appearing flat, was soggy with sand and mud, the rain from this past moon making it more dangerous than usual, if a creature weren’t paying attention. Finch sniffed quietly and went forward, making sure she kept well away from the quicksands damp border. They maneuvered in a long arc around it before carrying on.

As they approached the camp, Finch saw her father’s dark figure disappear through the entrance with prey in his jaws. She smiled and went over to greet him, Tail following close behind.

“Hi, father!” Finch trilled. Dusk glanced back at her as she called, dropping his kill beside the split hollow they kept the prey pile in.

“Hey there, small bird,” He said kindly, his orange eyes lit.

“Hello Dusk,” Tail greeted with a wave of one talon, her tail swaying happily.

“Hey, Tail!” He always spoke to her in such a kind, respectful voice, as if Tail were a good friend of his that he’d known for a long time. Finch always found it interesting and somewhat sweet of him to be nice to her best friend, despite the two not actually interacting often, as he usually had his claws full with the rest of the Clan to actually get to talk with her. (Like all the raptors in the pack, however, he made sure to get to know them from the others insight and see to it that everyone was getting along and things were going well. Finch had no idea how he did it. She wished she were even half as skilled and confident as he was.)

“Say, have you seen your mother anywhere?” Dusk continued after a moment, glancing at the monochrome raptor. “I actually brought this prey for her.”

Finch listened as Dusk brought up Tail’s mother, Peppermint. Typically known as Pepper, Finch knew and loved the older raptor very much. She was raised by her, alongside Tail, afterall. After her own mother disappeared when Finch was only a new hatchling, Peppermint had taken her in.

Tail answered, and the two talked for a moment, Finch zoning out a bit and glancing around the clearing before Dusk poked her with his tail and began to instruct her.

“Would you two be so kind as to bring it to her? I’m going back out again. I’ll be back by sunset.”

“Got it,” Tail said with a grin, gently picking it up. “C’mon, Finch!” She mumbled.

“Again?” Finch asked in surprise, and Dusk nodded. “Fresh air is something I always like to enjoy,” he said, smiling slightly as he ruffled Finch’s feathered head and nudged his tail against hers, the two tails wrapping together a bit. “I’m just a little under the weather, that's all. Tell you what though, you want to go hunting with me, tomorrow maybe? Whatever time is best.”

“Of course!” Finch said, forcing a small fanged smile despite feeling a crushing wave of anxiousness. Another chance to fail in front of him. She saw Tail waiting for her a ways away and hurried off to her. Dusk turned to leave camp with a small farewell.

She finally caught up with Tail, and the two took their time heading to the other side of camp. “So, what’s up with Dusk?” Tail asked Finch curiously, tilting her head with the prey still in her mouth.

“What do you mean?” Finch asked.

As she walked, she had to pause as Rift’s two growing hatchlings ran past her. Sand was sitting down by the fallen log close by, gnawing on some food as the hatchlings both came up to him, pointing at the claw marks on his feathered arm and asking him questions in excited voices. Finch smiled and walked slowly by, picking up on their conversation.

“You listen to mother, remember,” Sand said to them. “And I’m older, I can get into fights when I need to.” Sand had been from Rift’s single litter seven years ago, and Rift hadn’t had any more hatchlings till’ now. ‘He’s needed siblings,’ Finch thought to herself.

Tail then answered her question. “What I mean is: I’ve noticed before that he acts differently every late fall, each year,” she said. “He doesn’t talk as much, he’s always isolating.”

“...Isolating…?” Finch repeated quietly, her gaze flickering down and ahead for a moment as she walked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the adults know, but they don’t ever say anything.” Tail said. “Even my mom. They’ve been speaking with one another a lot, especially recently, more than they usually do. You’ve seen that, right?”

“Well, of course they talk,” Finch replied. “They’re friends. She helped raise me…”

“I’m just saying, he seems different. You should ask him.” Tail said. “He’s our leader, but you’re his daughter, he’s your parent…”

“I could try,” Finch said with a nervous look.

She didn’t admit it, but she actually hadn’t noticed that about her father. He was distant from time to time, but she hadn’t seen a pattern… He was just her dad, he didn’t exactly change. She wondered what was going on, or if Tail was just seeing things that weren’t there, and the new thoughts that had now been planted in her mind were nothing but a waste of a dead seed.

The camp was speckled with shadows and sunlight as the sun lowered, the trees around the camp slowly losing the last of their leaves. They made it to where some of the dens were and Tail tossed the prey on the ground, calling for Peppermint.

“Mother! Dusk asked us to bring this to you!”

“Pepper?” Finch asked, stepping forward and peeking into the small den. She glanced in and didn’t see anyone, which was unusual, she thought she had last been in here. She was then startled by a voice from her side as Peppermint appeared from the shadows with her claws out. “Boo!”

“Pepper!” Finch yelped in indignation as she leapt back with her black pupils slitting.

“I couldn’t help myself,” Peppermint said in a soft and humorous voice. Despite being quite the loveable and gentle type, she always had time to play around. She bumped her snout happily against Tails’ as her daughter laughed and stepped over to her. “That’s for you,” Tail said as she nodded in the direction of the prey.

Pepper blinked once, her yellow gaze gentle. “That’s kind of Dusk… he always brings prey for me. I’m gonna have to get him back for that! You two could help me. Have you been able to catch anything as of yet, Finch?” She asked, walking out of the den towards the prey, the two trailing by her.

Finch shook her head. Tail smiled and said, “she’s going to eventually, though! She’s being silly about the whole thing.”

“I just need to try harder,” Finch said, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Tail’s brought prey back several times already.”

“It’s blind luck, trust me,” Tail said to Finch. “You need to relax, it’s not that big a deal! You’ll get it.”

Finch sighed quietly through her nose before Pepper spoke. “She has a point, it’ll be ok, Finch, you know no one here doubts you!” She sat down with a long yawn, stretching her arms out in front of her on the ground before folding them close to her chest. “You wanna share?” She asked them with a tip of her head towards the prey.

They glanced at each other, the two hadn’t eaten since early this morning, after all, and Finch was definitely hungry. Her stomach was quite irritable now that she thought about it.

“Yes,” she answered with appreciation.

The day went by slowly as they ate outside the dens, Finch watching the far side of camp as she waited for Dusk to come back. The sun was near its setting point. Tail was crouched by her, blinking fast as Finch stood up slowly. Tail put her claws on her tail to stop her. “Where are you going?”

“I think I should look for Dusk,” Finch said.

“He said he’d be back by sundown, right?” Tail said. “It’s not that time yet, he’ll come! Don’t leave me, c’mon,” she said with a smile, pulling Finch back down with a small happy scoff. Finch rolled her eyes lightheartedly. Tail had always been a pretty clingy friend, to everyone she was attached to.

“Finch! Tail! Tail!” A small voice called, a small ruffled Raptor running up to the three and skidding in front of Tail with big round eyes, colored a dark orange that was almost red. The little hatchling was known as Salmon.

“Hide me!” He demanded as he scrambled around Tail with an alert look. “My sister and Thunder are after me!”

Finch snorted, as Peppermint lifted her head high and glanced around the camp bathed in dying sunlight. They could hear Thunder’s voice, sounding slightly nervous as he searched around from another edge of camp by the prey pile.

“Gnat, come back!” He yelled.

“I’M GONNA FIND YOU, SALMON!”

“Gnat, come on, ow… Side-ache…” Thunder said, slowing down as the little female raptor Gnat, Salmon’s sister, ran at a fast pace to find her sibling.

“You’re seven years old, Thunder, you don’t get side-aches!” A voice from nearby called.

“This seven-year-old does,” Thunder said breathlessly.

“He doesn’t do enough running,” Tail said humorously. “That’s the reason. Raptor’s should do lots of running to keep themselves healthy!” She said to him.

“I am healthy…” He called back. “I think…”

“Just a tad bit lazy.” Peppermint added. “He’s stronger than most of us, though, I can assure that. Nothing but gut and muscle in him.”

“Thankyou,” Thunder said slowly with a pleased, wholesome look. Tail began to laugh boisterously.

There was a high-pitched shrieking of hatchlings as Gnat appeared from nearby and leapt on Salmon from behind Tail. The two screeched and tussled, Salmon yelling desperately for his life to be saved from the creature of pure evil attacking him. The sun slowly went underneath the trees.

Tail had joined the skirmish of the two hatchlings, Thunder coming over to try and help Tail pry them away from each other, grabbing Gnat’s tail in his mouth as she let out a loud squeak. Can’t have hatchlings getting too heated and accidentally ripping out an eye or tearing a claw.

“Rift, come get your children, they’re fighting again!” The voice of Dusk called suddenly. He came into view and walked over from behind Finch and Pepper.

Finch turned around with a small trill of surprise, her expression lifting. “Hey!” Dusk smiled and stepped in between them, glancing at Finch and then Pepper.

“Hi again,” Pepper said.

“Hey, Pepper.” He said in a low tone.

“Dusk.” She continued, almost teasingly.

“Pepper,” he replied with a rebellious smile.

“Dusk!” She retorted as she hit him softly with one talon. “Thankyou for having them bring me that prey earlier. I didn’t need it, but I can never argue with you, so thank you.”

“You’re actually a very good arguer, especially when you want to make a point,” he said thoughtfully, scratching a couple of his feathers quickly with his claws. “She’s quite scary when she wants to be, despite being soft-spoken, freaks me out sometimes—” He said to Finch. Finch rolled her eyes, and at the sound of little Salmon screeching in slight over-dramatic pain, Dusk looked gruffly over at them. “You two! Stop it already,” he said.

Gnat instantly let go, while Salmon just stared at him in foolish embarrassment. Gnat huffed and kicked at the ground irritably. Rift began calling them from not far away as she finally began to run over.

“Sorry, Alpha…!” Salmon yelped in a soft voice.

“His name is Dusk, by the way!” Gnat said to him, and they began to argue before Dusk smacked his tail against the ground and caught their attention again. “Go to your mother, she’s wanting you both.” He said. The two fluffy raptors scurried off to Rift without any more words and she pulled them towards her strictly to lecture them about staying with Thunder when he was kind enough to watch them. Thunder walked over and apologized to Rift sheepishly as he explained what happened.

“Great work, Dusk,” Peppermint said with a small sigh, setting her head on the ground with her eyes closed.

“Young Raptors like to fight, and I’m all but unaccustomed to it by now,” he said in a tired voice.

“Don’t I know it,” Pepper replied quietly.

He glanced at her, and she opened one eye to look at him at the same time. The two did that a lot, it was like they could hear what the other was thinking just by reading their expression, and they seemed to talk to each other with their minds all the time. Finch wished she could do that.

Pepper pressed her mouth in a thin line, her tail sliding over to Dusk’s side.

“Tail’s been doing amazing at hunting so far, I’ve heard,” Dusk said after a moment to her.

Finch made a tense expression, turning away slightly as she sat and pretended to begin fixing her feathers the moment they mentioned hunting. She stretched out an arm and started to pull the disheveled feathers back straight and into place, not wanting to engage in this but still willing to listen. Peppermint spoke right after Dusk with a lift of her head.

“She’s way too much like her father,” The Raptor laughed with a smile. “Remember how good at hunting he was when we were young?”

Dusk’s tail twitched. He made an unreadable, almost strained and hidden expression as he stared sideways at her. “Yeah. Tail’s sure to grow up a great hunter and Raptor.” He said after a moment.

Peppermint was smiling sweetly. “She’s just as friendly and social as him. I bet he’d be so unbelievably excited to get to meet her. I would love to see that so much.”

“…I would love that too.”

“I wonder who they’re talking about. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Tail’s father.’

“Wouldn’t that be great?” Pepper asked.

Dusk stood up as she spoke with a big yawn, his sharp teeth and tongue showing. “Are you getting tired?” Pepper questioned.

“Nah. I’m gonna stay up a bit more tonight.” He said. “Gonna go eat some food. Make sure everyone’s in camp by now,” he said, walking off and yawning again.

Pepper nodded, and Tail ran back to them from a small ways away, not long after the Clan leader had left for another part of the clearing.

“The day was so short today,” Tail said thoughtfully. “Feels really weird.”

Finch glanced up as she came over, skidding to a stop. Peppermint spoke in agreement. The moon glittered overhead, not a star was seen from behind the pretty, illuminated gray clouds and ink black sky.

Finch nodded. “Cold season seems to like to do that,” she said. “Making everything harder, and relishing in the chaos that follows, just when things seemed nice for once.”

~

“And then they said something about you getting to meet him, but Dusk had to go afterwards.” Finch finished.

It was incredibly late at night, Finch and Tail had been nowhere near tired after such a short-lived amount of daytime. The moon was as thin as it could be, meaning the next time they would see it, it would be full and round again, and the nights would be much brighter.

“Huh…” Tail said. Finch was sitting on her side, rolled slightly on her back in an oddly comfortable position. Tail was sitting atop the split log the freshly caught prey was always kept in. It was empty now. “That’s really weird. Peppermint has never mentioned my father before to me. I don’t think anyone has.”

“That’s what I thought,” Finch said.

“I wonder who it could be,” Tail said, deep in thought as she glanced down. “Or if he’s even living in our territory anymore. He could have been a loner, but that doesn’t sound like mom.” It was a female’s right to have the choice of whether or not to share who the father of her offspring was unless two mates made it official, and so most never questioned it, and Tail and Finch had never thought once about who Peppermints mate might have been.

There was a moment of silence and pondering.

“How come Dusk seemed to avoid Pepper when she talked about him…” Finch thought out loud.

‘He doesn’t talk about my mother, either.’

“I don’t know,” Tail replied. “All I know is I want to meet him so badly now. I’ve never got to know who he is!”

She had clasped both of her talons together as she sat up straight on the hollow, looking up at the sky. “I’m sure he’s awesome and the best Raptor out there.”

Finch continued to listen. She could feel pieces in her brain that seemed so close to fitting. ‘C’mon, Finch, be smart for once. This is totally such a waste of your time to think about, but…’

‘Maybe he had to do with my mother?’

‘I wish I knew her. At least I had Peppermint, though. I’m thankful for her.’

Some nightly wind picked up, flying across the mottled dirt and grass ground and past them, shifting through Finch’s feathers and making her scales cold. She was beginning to get somewhat tired and longing to curl up in a warm den for the night.

“You can go if you like.” Tail said to her, a smile still on her face. “I’ll be right behind you. Just give me a minute or two. I need to keep thinking about this.”

Finch made a slightly worrisome look. “OK,” she replied, a bit quietly.

She went off to the dens and padded inside her and Tail’s once again. Thunder was in there, too, sleeping until she walked in, in which he slowly flickered open tired eyes and carefully scooted to the side to make a spot for her, his orange eyes glancing up at her with a gaze like warm fire.

She blinked gratefully at him and plopped down beside him, a shiver going through her before eventually settling down and getting comfortable, as the cold air was shut out by the dens’ walls. Sand was kicking at nothing slightly with one back leg as he slept nearby, and she noticed the shape of a raptor slipping into the den, her pupils flicking over to see who it was in the dull light. There was a color of pale sandy yellow and white specks alongside three crooked, antenna-looking feathers on their head. The Raptor sat down robustly at the other end of the small den with a scoffing, tired sigh.

Finch closed her eyes as the den went quiet again. Her head laid on the ground and her talons tucked under her, and she let her tail slip over close to her body. Her mind buzzed like it usually did, with thoughts and anxieties of this season and everything possible to happen, followed by the worry for the possible hunting tomorrow. She cleared them away in a haze before finally going to sleep.