*(The Story So Far: On an alternate Earth populated by human-dinosaur hybrids, raptorgirl cousins Jirollo and Pirollo visit a major human outpost.)*
“I don’t see him yet,” Jirollo said excitedly, standing in the back bay of the cramped wagon just behind the driver’s bench. She stood up on her clawed toes to peer over her cousin’s scaly shoulder. “Do you see him?”
Pirollo snapped her pointed teeth in irritation. “No more than the last five times you asked. And keep lifting your tail like that, and even the dumber humans are going to guess what’s on your mind.”
The tan and mahogany-striped raptor abashedly lowered her long tail, making sure it covered everything between her legs. Their light shifts allowed them more than enough modesty, even by more dowdy human standards. But a tail lifting its hem too much could expose more than just impure thoughts.
The multi-ton ankylosaurus pulling the cart trudged up to the outskirts of the human archaeological camp next to the ruins of the ancient settlement of Talaa-Guska, following the barely-there dirt road. The city-sized stone ruins were apparent from miles off, even if most were choked over with moss and plant life. When they wound around the last curve in the trail, they more easily spotted the large, cleared field off to the side of the outermost ruins containing the many tents and composite laminate walls of the humans’ modular buildings.