“Alright, Bob, who should we adopt?” I whispered as my eyes roamed over the pack. Most of the females crept closer to the male as we approached, and I realized this might be a bit harder riding on Bob than on Hope. The other parasaurs hadn’t seemed to care that a small female was in their midst, but the larger male was causing them some concern.
I ordered Bob to move a little closer to the group, so that I was about thirty feet from the closest female, and the guardian male let out a low throaty toot that was most definitely a warning.
“Ahh shit,” I said as I stopped Bob from moving any closer. “I think we are gonna be in trouble if we go any closer. Maybe it would be worth fighting if you were bigger than that other guy, but I think you might lose in a brawl. What do you think?”
Bob let out a toot that sounded pretty concerned, and I puzzled through our different options. It might be better to come back on Hope, and I would have to make another trip for water, but I’d just want to bring Bob for that anyway since he could carry more jugs. I could also just make a play for one of the closer females. The male might get mad and charge, but I could then try to tame him. I had only planned on bringing back one more parasaur, but two would be fine. It was just more risky, especially since I didn’t really understand how my Tame ability worked. Was there a reset on it? Could I only use it so many times a day, or week, or month? Would it not work on a male that was angry with me because I took one of his females? I thought about another man trying to take Trel, Galmine, or Sheela away from me by force, and the hypothetical scenario made my stomach clench.
Yeah, this fucker was going to get mad if I took away one of his women, but then I got an idea that struck me as all sorts of genius.
“Hey girl,” I said to one of the closest females. “Why don’t you come over here and say hi? I’m not gonna hurt you. The parasaur I was talking to had moved away from us a bit, but she got curious when I spoke and took a few steps toward us. Now she was about thirty feet away, and I made some soft cooing sounds in an effort to calm her.
“That’s okay girl, you are so beautiful. I love your black dots and brown streaks. Did you just take a bath today? Your scales look fabulous.” She stepped a bit closer with every sentence I carefully whispered, and I started to feel a bit more confidence in my plan.
“Do you like getting scratched?” I asked as I turned Bob to the side so I could reach her. “I’ll be happy to scratch your chin. Come on over here.” I wiggled my fingers and remembered Trel’s giggles.
The female stared at me for a few dozen seconds as if she was pondering my sincerity. She had light brown eyes with swirls of green in them. Her coloring was a little darker than Hope’s and she was about fifty percent larger.
I wanted to say something to coax her forward, but I held my tongue and just kept contact with her eyes. Just as I was about to whisper something to her, she crept forward with her head down a bit, and she nuzzled her massive head under my outstretched hand.
“Awww. What a good girl,” I whispered as I petted her. My Eye-Q gave me an update that she was tamed, and I felt a sigh of relief escape my lips.
She let out a happy toot as I continued to pet her, and then I scratched more up above her eyes. This girl was definitely a lover, and she actually closed her eyes when I moved my other hand around so I could pet her neck.
“I’m going to climb on your back now,” I said after I’d touched her for almost a minute. “Then you are gonna show me your man, okay?” I stood up from Bob’s saddle and imagined the female moving a bit closer to me. The distant male let out a warning toot, but I quickly scurried onto the back of the female and then commanded her to step away from Bob. She did so, and then I lay over her spine while I ordered her to move back toward her male.
The bigger male let out another toot as we approached, but this one sounded a bit less hostile than the first two he had issued. He’d actually turned away from the female I tamed, so I urged her to continue approaching. Soon we were right up against his left flank, and I reached out my hand to touch him.
“Hey, buddy. How’s it going?” I whispered as I patted his side. He was standing knee deep in the water, and I saw a fish as big as a crocodile from my world swim between his massive tree trunk legs.
The male didn’t answer, of course, but I just kept petting him. “Listen, buddy, I could really use your help. Can you come back to my camp? I’ll bring your girlfriend with us, but we also have Bob and Hope that you can play with. What do you say?”
The male let out a low toot, but it was a tenor to Bob’s baritone voice.
“Is that a yes?” I asked. “I’ll make sure you get plenty of food and water. What do you say?”
He didn’t move while I petted him, and I counted the seconds while my heart slammed in my chest. I felt a lot more confident with my taming ability after Hope, Bob, and the new female, but this guy could just shake his torso and fling me off his girl as if I was a gnat.
I’d been petting him nonstop as I spoke, but the tame message hadn’t appeared in my Eye-Q after a few minutes. I realized that my attempt hadn’t worked, so I let out a soft sigh and stopped petting his side.
“Well, I still wanted to offer, thanks for not attacking me--” The male surprised me by shifting his weight a bit so that he leaned into the female. He let out a long saxophone sounding note, and I reached my hand up to stroke his side again. My action made him huff with pleasure, and then the notice that I had tamed him flashed on my Eye-Q.
“Yessss!” I whispered as I patted him with a bit more gusto. “You aren’t going to--”
TAME: LEVEL 3 has been reached.
The words scrolled across my vision with a flashing brilliance. I didn’t feel any different from the level up, but I had to clench my jaw to keep from shouting out my joy. Would I be able to tame trikes with level 3? I couldn’t wait to find out, and I wished I’d thought about taming the two parasaurs when I had been at the lake this morning.
“Alright,” I said as I patted the male a few more times. “I need names for you two. I’ve got Bob and Hope. Maybe I need someone else in the entertainment business.” I tried to think of any married couples that sang or acted together and then let loose with a belt of laughter when I thought of one.
“You’re Sonny,” I said as I patted the male, “and you are Cher. This is awesome.” The two parasaurs let out toots that actually seemed to harmonize, and I chuckled some more.
“Alright, Cher, take me back over to Bob. His saddle makes him a bit easier to ride, so I’ll sit on him while you two follow me home.”
Cher followed my orders, and I jumped back on the saddle Trel had made. The three parasaurs sniffed each other for a few seconds to get to know each other, and then I twisted Bob back around so we could all walk out of the lake. Sonny and Cher followed me and felt unbridled excitement course through my body.
I was eventually going to have a dinosaur army.
My imagination filled with thoughts of me controlling dinosaurs like some sort of real-time strategy game. I’d be able to ride them into battle or command them from the back of a massive brontosaurus. Hell, maybe I’d get some sort of massive flying bird that I could sit upon while it hovered in the air above my minions. I’d be able to organize them into squads based on their speed, armor, and attacking style. No one would be able to conquer us because I’d control this entire planet.
My world domination thoughts came to a screeching halt when my eyes saw something moving in the jungle back near Kacerie.
The pink-haired woman was still kneeling on the shore of the lake with her face in her hands. The sight made my heart a bit heavy, and I’d planned on taking my three parasaurs out of the valley through another route, so I didn’t have to give her the cold shoulder again, but the movement in the jungle beside her made me reconsider my choice.