[Gift] Dinner and a show

        Zeylen waits, quietly, patiently. Her breath barely disturbs the ferns draped across her dark snout as her icy eyes gaze out at the small clearing before her. Her body is stiff, it aches from the time she has spent here waiting for something, anything to arrive. The day has grown long, hot and bothersome. She wanted to curl up in her cave and rest already, but a hungry stomach demanded an attempt at real food, not just scraps left by those more skilled than her. So here, she waits. This clearing, with its patches of fresh young grasses and colorful berries should entice any prey to wander in- at least she hopes. Her hopes have begun dwindling the longer she waits. Luckily for her though, as the day stretches on and lengthens closer to the night so do the shadows. The ripples of greys and blacks cause her own grey scales to blend in nicely with her surroundings as she reins in her impatience.
        Fate smiles upon her today as her patience is rewarded. Just when Zeylen was about to give up, about to snap at the annoying ferns in frustration and stop off, a deer tentatively takes a foot out of the shadows. Zeylen holds her breath, the cryolophosaurus body tensing up instinctively and her jaws already salivating at the thought of getting them around that deer. “Patience, patience,” she warbles softly low in her throat watching the deer’s ears flick this way and that. Another step… and another… dusk brings confidence to this young buck as he unveils himself from the safety of the forest and into the sparse opening of the clearing. Velvet antlers sprout from the deer’s head, newly grown small things aren’t as impressive as they would be if he was older, larger. A young buck, mildly more dangerous than a young doe, is perfect for Zeylen. Not only would he offer a good meal for now, but maybe for later too if she can manage to hide the carcass. Something flicks in the peripheral of her vision and Zeylen’s muscles lock, slitted pupils shooting up to the canopy to locate the source. Was she imagining it? Uncertainty creeps into her mind but she shoves it away, the hunger is more pressing.
        With cautious, careful steps, Zeylen creeps forward. Ferns and other low lying vegetation parts silently for her, she’s careful not to step on any debris as her claws flex at her sides. Closer she creeps, the young buck has lowered his head, munching on the plants as his ears remain on high alert. Closer as she opens her jaws, tenses her thighs, the buck’s head shoots up and Zeylen freezes. Did it see her? No it was looking up… part of her cautions to wonder but Zeylen shoves aside with annoyed aggression. She will take advantage of its distraction. Zeylen lunges from the shadows and ferns the buck screeching in surprise as he scrabbles on the dewey grass to flee from the danger. Zeylen might not be skilled, but she’s fast and wastes no time throwing her weight onto the beast forcing it to the side and off balance. Following her momentum her hooked talons sink into his flank and her jaws snap, missing the first time but following through the second as they sink into the struggling buck’s throat. Whimpers and cries fill the evening air as the buck trashes, Zeylen at first putting her weight into keeping the beast held down before his strength begins to swiftly flow away with his life blood. A hard wrench of her head and a thick snap follows, silence fills the small clearing.
        Zeylen sits there for a long moment, panting, heart still racing, but the adrenaline is leaving her already and she can feel her shaky muscles begging for reprieve. This isn’t the most comfortable position to be laying in, half sprawled over the buck’s body. Slowly Zeylen untangles herself from the corpse and drops it at her feet, taking deep swallowing breaths to help settle her heart and body. It works and she finds herself relaxing, pride now filling her chest and lungs. She did, it took a lot longer than she wanted but she did it a successful kill. Zeylen sways her tail smugly as she circles her hard earned meal, trying to decide where to tackle it first. In the end, she decides the stomach is the easiest place and with her talons unzips its belly, allowing the guts and blood to spill out. She licks her jaws hungrily and digs in with a ravenous appetite.
        Unbeknownst to her something lurks high in the trees, its beady eyes watching, calculating… Zeylen’s instincts scream as a shadow casts above her. Nimbly she jumps back, bloody teeth bared and hissing as something comes swooping out of the trees from above and snaps up a long line of intestines from the revealed pile of organs. “Hey!” Zeylen shouts in rage leaping at the thief but they were already out of reach. The flying rat lands in a nearby tree, not caring to hide their presence anymore as they drop the intestines over the branch and hum merrily to himself. “You dirty thief, give that back.” Zeylen growls low stalking towards the tree, pacing beneath the still branches. The ballsy dinosaur is in fact a tapejara, and while Zeylen has never had a personal interaction with one before now she is very familiar with many of the annoying antics some get up to. Looks like this is one of the annoying ones. The tapejara is green and brown, gradients on the wings and spots on his shoulders with a crest of feathers poking up along the bone ridge on his beak. His beady green eyes glance at Zeylen but hold only amusement and contentment, they quickly flick away and onto his stolen meal.
        Zeylen snaps her jaws together loudly to garner his attention. “Hmm? What do you want?” The tapejara demands and that only sets Zeylen’s teeth even more on edge. “Get out of here you overgrown sky rat this is my kill, you didn’t do shit.” Zeylen demands glaring up at the tapejara who just watches her with slow, methodical blinks. “Mmmm no.” He declares as he picks at the intestine. “Why you little-” Zeylen snarls and jumps at him, snapping short of the branch and only managing to scratch up the trunk of the tree as her hind legs scrabble on it. That warrants a laugh from the tapejara who appears to be enjoying this scene a lot. That angers Zeylen more. “Who even are you?” Zeylen asks in frustration, her ire causing her blood to practically boil. The tapejara gobbles down some of the intestine before answering. “Aerodynamic.”
        “Aero… what?” Zeylan stumbles over the odd word, confusion creasing her features.
        “Aero-dy-nam-ic.” The tapejara enunciates every syllable clacking his beak purposefully and talking slowly. More anger rises in Zeylen. “Ok Aeronamic or whatever you got your little treat now begone or so help me I’ll climb up there and-”
        “Ha! You have quite the temper, little cryolo, quite the temper. I think I’ll come visit you more often.” Aerodynamic croons as he devours the remainder of the intestine. “Oh hell no,” Zeylen bristles. “I swear if you leave that perch I’ll-” Her threat goes unfinished as within that moment Aerodynamic swoops down and snatches a piece of torn flesh from the ground pumping his wings as he dodges Zeylen’s claws as she lunges at him. He crows and cackles at her miss and lands safely in another branch tossing and swallowing his stolen meal as he chokes it down his throat. Zeylen tries to take a deep breath. He is baiting her, she needs to calm down, what’s a little piece here and there anyway? She’ll eat as much as she can and when the little shit gets too confident then she’ll catch him.
        Confident, trying to enact the patience she had before during her hunt, Zeylen began digging into her kill. Perhaps a bit too ferociously as she tries to scarf down every morsel she could, even as she feels her stomach begin reaching its limit. During this time, she watches and waits for the tapejara to mess up, to try again and to catch him but to her dismay her trap never works. Not because he doesn’t try to steal more food, oh no Aerodynamic seems to enjoy tormenting Zeylen not only going after scoops of food but also shoving her head into gore and yanking at her tail. Time and time again Zeylen snaps at him, lunges, claws, and hisses but the annoying sky rat is too fast, too agile and so she misses. From this day on, Zeylen vows one day to catch him and turn him into a nice wall decoration.