Careless Excursion

Perhaps spending her entire life in the Atlantis Dome would've clued her in towards the terrible plants that made up the jungles she called home. Adur wasn't ever known for her careful demeanor, however. Careless steps could spell doom for most creatures, but.. she was big and strong, wasn't she? There wasn't anything to be frightened of when you towered over your peers — those from the mainland included.

The jungle's floor crunched beneath heavy footfalls, the mare's attention solely on getting back to the Court after her excursion. It was getting dark, the beaming light from the ocean above filtering out to twilight, which would've been fine on the surface, but was quite a deal darker below the waves. It didn't help at all that Adur's eyesight wasn't made for the dark, pupils enlarged to catch as much light as they could in pitiful vain. She might as well have been blinded. How bothersome..

There was an eerie quiet in the jungle at this hour. The lemurs weren't quite as active as they normally were — not in this stretch, at least. Sometimes life seemed absent in areas that weren't quite as safe as they seemed. That should've been her first cue that she'd gone the wrong way. There was something about the quiet that had her feathers fluffing along her shoulders and spine, but ahead she trudged nevertheless. Her stubborn pride would be her undoing someday, and if she wasn't careful, it could very well be today. Unseen beneath her feet, tendrils stirred to life. The jungle hungered, and although she was much too big for most of the carnivorous plants that claimed the lush greenery, there were still some species that were bold enough to try. The plants here were.. different. They weren't like the Pitchers that existed on the surface. They were larger, more ravenous, and that made quite the threat for the younglings and the smaller species that inhabited the dome. A fully-grown Iguanodon like herself rarely had anything to worry about when came to the plants, but death wasn't the only pain they could bestow. Digestive enzymes burned and, in severe cases, can scar if one were to find themself in the plant's clutches for too long, so it was just best to avoid them at all costs.

The jungle's undergrowth was no better than a pressure plate, the disturbed vegetation sending signals to the predatory greenery that had been lying still, quiet in wait for something that it could possibly consume. For something that wasn't animal, something that lacked the brain needed to be considered intelligent, the precision in which they hunted was terrifying. There wasn't any calculations, they didn't have the mind for it, but their reactions to stimuli ensured that they were quite successful in their endeavors. Birds and the small mammals that resided here were common prey for these sweet smelling traps. They didn't need that foul odor those that hunted bugs did; most things that didn't eat carrion weren't too fond of those. For Adur, she'd learned to recognize the scent of these plants, which made locating and avoiding them fairly easy. Though, that was with the aid of her sight. It was dark right now, and the smells jumbled together with the evening. It was hard to detect the heart of these plants like this, especially not when one wasn't near it. The tendrils that had been creeping alongside here were supposed to be an early warning sign, a cue for the observant to step away, but that was utterly useless when she couldn't see it.

The strike happened so much faster than she could've anticipated. A wrong step had settled her front foot onto the sticky, barbed vine,and its reaction was nigh immediate. A startled bellow broke from the mare as the vine tightened itself around her forelimb, sap clinging to her feathers and constricting the skin beneath. Her panic, rightfully earned, sent her careening into the base of a thick tree, encouraging the slip that might've spelled her doom, had she been smaller. The earth met her in her downfall, large body landing with a thud against the forest floor as she scrambled to shake the first tendril from her limb. Her thumbspike on the opposing arm swung wildly, as if she was attempting to dislodge a predator, although there was no carnivore to sink that weapon into.

Her struggling limbs stuttered in their wild display as another vine hung heavy on her hindquarters, stilling the flailing tail and encouraging rougher kicks from those powerful back legs. Her calls rung through the canopy, startling out animals that had settled down for the night. Truthfully, this might've been considered an overreaction by her peers, but could one blame her? The plants stung, and although there were no visible wounds, the secretions on her skin and atop her feathers were terribly uncomfortable, and the weight of the vines was enough to send any unsuspecting prey animal into a frenzy! The almost-pain and the fact that there was something on her should've been enough reason to act as if she was being attacked, anyway. In her thrashing, her neck swung downwards, powerful jaws clamping shut on what she could've assumed was her 'attacker.' The plant matter crumpled in her imposing strength, crackling like bone in her teeth. The taste was horrendous, and it made her recoil before she realized it. Sticky and rotten, it clung to the insides of her mouth and invaded her nose from within, though she couldn't stop now. Another dive, Adur's teeth clamped onto the vegetation once more to tear it from her leg. The plant, having no sense of self-preservation for lack of a brain, refused to relinquish its grasp on her, only removed once it had been severed from the rest of its form. With her forelimb free, Adur scrambled back to her feet to buck the remaining claws from her body, turning and stomping at the ground in a short fit. At this point, it wasn't quite fear as it was rage that gripped her. The anger that came with being embarrassed, no doubt, despite the fact that there wasn't anyone around to witness her misfortune. Not that she knew about, at least.. that wasn't to say there weren't eyes on her at all.

Adur reared onto her hind legs, throwing her head forwards in the livid bellow that broke from her, rattling her chest on the way out, as if the plant was even capable of hearing and heeding her warning. For a moment, she remained upright like that, chest heaving and feathers puffed, forelimbs hanging in front of her in a defensive posture. Her nostrils flared, and it took her several seconds before she was able to relax enough to drop back down into her usual quadrupedal stance. In the dark, she remained, lowering her head to inspect the 'wound' along her forelimb. She wasn't hosting any burns, and the feathers were nothing more than rumpled. What was most concerning was the damage she had done to herself in her fit; a sore shoulder marked the bruising that would most certainly follow in the days to come. She was much too big to be throwing herself into things like that, and certainly much too big to be dropping all of her weight onto the ground.

A snort punctuated her inspection, satisfied enough with her findings to continue on her way, her pace settled at a trot. There was no way she was going to continue her brisk walk through this damned treeline, that's for certain. The sooner she made it back to her herd, the better, although not a single one would know about what took her so long to return. Her pride refused to allow her to admit that nothing more than a plant had startled her so badly..