Java

Raptor Name: Java
Raptor Pack: Slickstone Pack
Gender: AFAB
Age: 8 years

--- PERSONALITY

• With no fear of getting down and dirty in the pursuit of prey, Java is among the best hunters in the Slickstone pack despite her young age. She is always trying out new ways to camouflage her scales and scent in order to take down more impressive dinos! While you'd think this would make her an attractive prospective mate, the fact that she never seems to be able to completely wash whatever her newest experiment was off, leaves a lingering sense of wrong that often alienates romantic interests. This doesn't seem to bother this upbeat raptor, however! She's popular instead with the pack's hatchlings, who love to hear her crazy tales and call her the 'Hide and Hunt' master.
• When she was a hatchling herself, Java was an absolute terror to her nursery caretakers, often disappearing in pursuit of adventure. Adults would often sit her down and tell her warning stories of hatchlings lost to the hazardous mountains to the north, the sucking swamps to the east, or the ravenous deepwater serpents in the oceans to the west... None of which deterred this fearless little raptor! Several times, she tried to sneak along when Tok went on diplomatic trips to other packs, only to be dragged back by the bemused older raptor to her exasperated nursemaids.

--- HISTORY

In her birth pack, Java was one of four siblings. The pack was small and nomadic but otherwise prosperous, having traversed the same path for generations they knew which areas were the territories of larger predators and avoided them accordingly. They were confident, rotating quickly from hunting ground to hunting ground, never staying long enough to encroach on other raptor territories nearby.

Perhaps that confidence was why the carnotaurus pair was able to take them by surprise.

The attack came as they slept. This patch of forest had been neutral for the duration of their living memory, and they had felt safe enough to drop for the night with only a single Watcher; barely out of their eggtooth and inexperienced, the larger predators were on them before they even had time to shriek a warning. Java, still only a yearling herself, fled with her mother and siblings but was separated in the chaos. By the time the attack was over, less than a handful of raptors remained... And her family was not among them.

As the youngest raptor left and with their ragtag group splintering, the decision was made to leave her in the care of a nearby pack. Java barely remembers her time before Slickstone now, but Tok will never forget the sight of the tiny raptor, wide-eyed and confused, that he led back to the den that night; nor her night-terrors for many weeks after.