Paying Tribute 1

The large, white and brown Dacentrurus was certainly not amused by this whole Iguanodon situation. He found the stubborn Euoplocephalus bad enough, but the Iguanodons were something else entirely. They had severely inflated egos, bossed around the stocky Euoplocephalus as well as the scrawny Oviraptors without wasting a breath. They were rude, disrespectful and condescending. The only reason Calamity had not been executed on the spot was because he was forced to serve them, then maybe if they felt generous they would release him to be on his way. At least that's what they told him. 

This time, once again against his wishes, he had been paired up with another carnivore, an exo bio Carnotaurus even brighter white than him. Her name was Drift. Her curse marking stood out very clearly against her pale base coat, as did her pink and yellow bioluminescent stripes. 

Along with the two of them there was also a dark, brick coloured Oviraptor by the name of Larry. His pale face with a dark tear stripe made his yellow eye stand out, and his quills had dark turquoise tips on them. 

This odd group of dinosaurs had been ordered to bring back human trinkets, and were hence temporarily allowed outside their prison complex, but under strict supervision and still within the walls of Atlantis. 

They were never informed of the name of their supervisor, but he had quills just like Larry. It was a large, pale Iguanodon with much darker back and midsection,except for one little break where the midline teared up and some roan could be better seen and the white lacing adorning his dark back. His tail and mouth had a bright blue dimorph which made him instantly rather recognisable. 

While he wasn't necessarily as cruel as many other Iguanodons they had met, he definitely was not friendly to these three outsiders, as per orders. 

The unnamed supervisor was leading the group through some corridors where lost and abandoned human gear had been frequently found by previous captives and even some locals themselves before the trespassers had started to flood the place. 

The large Iguanodon nodded in towards the dimly lit corridor. The lights were flickering on and off at times, so it felt way more dangerous than it likely was. 

“You all know the drill.” the Iguanodon bellowed with a deep, stern voice. “Go find us some trinkets and you might just live to see another day.” 

The harsh reminder of their bitter situation made the three of them kick into gear rather fast. 

Larry was of course the fastest of the three and he could get into places the others could not. He started climbing through ventilation shafts and into rooms that the doors had stopped working for. Well crawled into the rooms, he scavenged for anything the giant herbivores might find interesting. He knew they wanted tools but what kind of tools? 

He managed to scramble together a whole bag of things such as tongs, screwdrivers, crowbars and even an axe. He hoped that at least a few of them would satisfy the Iguanodons. 

While Larry was searching through the otherwise inaccessible rooms, Calamity looked through the much more open areas. He was already sick of being down here and regretted exploring where all these Oviraptors came from. He wasn't sure why they would treat Larry just as bad as himself, but he figured there had to be some kind of hierarchy around and that the Oviraptors were simple pawns. 

Pondering aside, Calamity had little interest in scrounging for tools and trinkets, so he resorted to tearing off metal sheets and the like. He also decided to bring along some miscellaneous electronic apparatuses, including a microwave and mixer, though he of course had no idea what any of it was. 

Drift had the luxury of her bioluminescence glowing up her surroundings enough for her to more easily find objects even when the lights sometimes went out. She was on the hunt for treasure, such as gemstones or unrefined crystals, jewelry and the like. She wasn't able to find a lot of it at first, but then she somehow stumbled upon a large room dedicated to a bunch of different types of rocks and gemstones, even some fancy geodes that had been cracked open to reveal the gorgeous insides. She also managed to find some shiny watches and bracelets, and just assumed they were of interest or value to the court. 

The three captives eventually all made their way back to their supervisor, who looked just as stern as before. Upon seeing the bags Larry and Drift carried in their mouths as well as the stuff Calamity was balancing between his plates, he was pleased, but still kept his expression neutral. It was not up to him to decide what was enough, it was up to the high court. 

“Let us return to see if your efforts shall be rewarded.” he said and nodded towards the direction they first arrived from. “I'll watch you from behind.”

Calamity took the lead as the four of them made their way back through the narrow corridors. He was nervous but tried his best to suppress it. Larry was close behind him at first but then pushed past him to hold a quiet conversation, while Drift stayed behind to act as a barrier between them and their looming supervisor. 

“Do you think they will let us go?” Larry whispered as quietly as he could. 

“I hope so. They don't seem reasonable, but we did what they asked.” Calamity responded, talking as quietly as he could. 

They could hear the Iguanodon snort quite loudly from behind but he said nothing, so they were unsure if he had heard them and chose to say nothing, or if he hadn't heard them at all. 

They soon arrived back to where the court was seated and their supervisor barged past them to enter the room ahead of the three captives. As always, the court stood ready to hand out judgement once they had all entered the room. The loud bang of the door closing almost felt threatening. 

“Present your offerings.” their quilled supervisor demanded, so they started to put down all their things to present to the court members.

The court seemed satisfied enough with the findings the group presented, but they would not release them just yet. They still had uses for them, they had said. 

While that was not what the group had hoped for, at least they had not been executed or anything of the like, which was always a relief. 

Their supervisor for the day led them all back to their respective cells without uttering a single more word to them. It was anxiety inducing, but it wasn't like they could force him to talk. 

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