The little Velociraptor stared up at her trainer, chittering and squeaking. She swished her tail, rocking on the balls of her feet, as she watched her caretaker in front of her, large amber eyes bright in excitement and happiness.
Owen was here, and that made her happy.
"Here I am with Blue," Owen stated, someone videotaping them nearby. "She's a theropod from the new group."
Blue heard this statement many times. She flexed her paws, blinking at the animal behaviorist with large, intelligent eyes.
"If I show signs of weakness..." Owen crouched down, faking crying and whimpering noises.
A look of concern spread across the dinosaur's face. She chirped softly, stepping closer to the animal behaviorist. The infant dinosaur pressed her nose to Owen's cheek, whimpering and squeaking, hoping he wasn't injured or sad. He was her caretaker, her Alpha. She didn't want him to be sad or hurt.
She was worried about him.
A look of surprise and astonishment spread across Owen's face when he drew back. "Hey...I'm okay." He smiled when she gave a happy squeal, tail starting to whip back and forth.
Owen was very surprised to see how happy Blue looked when he dropped his weakened act.
Unlike her packmates, who attempted to attack him—Charlie was too nervous to attack him, and instead circled around him, screeching and making mock attacks rather than biting the hawk wrist guard around his arm—Blue merely approached him with concerned whimpers and squeaks, hoping he would feel happy by the comfort she showed him.
"Blue's...displaying levels of interest, concern, hyperintelligence, cognitive bonding..."
Owen tilted his head to one side.
The tiny dinosaur instantly copied his movement.
"See that? Tilting her head, she's playing for us... " Owen said thoughtfully. "Increased eye movement, she's curious. She's showing empathy. "
The baby squeaked, blinking. She didn't understand much of the words Owen spoke to her, but she was very happy to see him ok and smiling again.
The man signaled for the cameras to shut off.
The man holding the camera walked out, leaving Blue alone with her Alpha.
The little baby spun around in a circle, squeaking. She took off running, and ran to a corner of the room. She rifled through a pile of dog and cat toys Owen had shipped out to him by his mother, who very much liked to see how her "granddaughters" were doing, despite Owen's objections that they weren't even human.
It was, however, still amusing when she attempted to send him little pieces of clothing or dresses to put on Blue or one of her packmates.
Of course, the dresses or clothing she sent were shredded by their little claws and teeth, and then turned into nests. All he could say was that he took that as a definition of them liking whatever clothing she bought them.
Blue trotted back towards Owen, holding an old, torn up baggie with beef jerky inside it, as if she were a cat with a dead bird in between its jaws.
Owen furrowed his brow in wonder. How did she remember she had taken those from him?
She dropped the baggie in front of him, looking up at him with hopeful eyes. She was hoping he'd be happy with her if he saw the bag she had stolen. Besides, she left him a treat,
Instead, Owen merely smiled, gently stretching his hand out, and rubbing the dinosaur under her jaw, causing her to purr and wag her tail, eyes focused onto the man the entire time.
