'It has not eaten me?' What? This one threw Rex for a bit of a loop, and he studied Brother quizzically. He was trying to think of how the hell to question that; did it imply Brother would... eat a sibling, and the sibling was different because it hadn't... tried to eat him in turn? Or-... Or had the sentence just been cut off?

He turned his attention to the sounds, and when he thought about it, it worried him. "...That sounds big," he observed, voice hushed now. Bigger than him, even. Like, Kihan big. Rex hesitated. "I don't know the noises," he realized. He lived here, and he didn't think he'd ever heard a sound like that. He glanced at Brother. "Want to try and find out what that was, or are you still hungry?"

Rex was clearly treating this as an either/or situation, not an and the way Brother might be thinking of it. He wasn't really the sort to try and tackle enormous prey, not when there was far easier things about to hunt. Even a single Scythorn was potentially deadly for him; a whole herd of Pugnas or an Ogler could mean things got ugly fast. And this... This sounded larger. Rex was hesitant, too, about taking what was probably a kid on an unknown venture out to find the... whatever-it-was. What if it was dangerous?

...Maybe it was just another Gembound?

In any case, at least he pointed in the right direction. Heading totally the wrong way, again, would've been so embarrassing.

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@Brother

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Big? He liked big things. Brother wouldn't admit that he'd ended up in this sorry state trying to observe both a deinocornus and a scythorn. No, that was shameful, but he did enjoy watching the lessers of the isle. It gave him ideas about how he could improve, ways he could adapt to be a better hunter. So, the idea of this big thing certainly did have its appeal.

Perhaps, if he was extra lucky, they could kill it. Or it could kill the Rex-thing (which would be a shame, he quite liked the Rex-thing), and he'd get an extra meal. Something to curb this hunger he didn't understand.

He felt himself drift, backwards into his own head. Watching himself from inside his own eye sockets as the magic heightened his hearing. Then, he heard it, clear as day. The sounds of blood roaring through veins, the beating of a heart. The steady rhythm he remembered. He hadn't been rendered null by his death. Brother had risen and he was still the great hunter! It just took time to wake up, yes! That had to be it.

Hungry enough to be driven, focused enough to be alert, now was the perfect time to observe this big-thing. Brother grunted at Rex in lieu of using his big boy words, and lowered himself as he stalked towards the beating heart: his sail still sticking out of the bushes like a neon 'I'm here, kill me' sign.

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@Rex

The heartbeat in question was alone, but...

But.

To note, it was extremely distant. So maybe... the magic was wrong?

There was no way something thirty feet tall was hiding in the trees.

Right?

To his credit, Rex did notice the whole "giant bright sail" thing. But he figured the trees were tall enough and thick enough that it'd hardly matter.

So he didn't say anything, instead vanishing into the undergrowth alongside Brother. He stayed a little low, stepping carefully and quietly, his voice soft. "I haven't heard that sound before." He realized he was sort of repeating himself, and did his best impression of a tyrannosaur's shrug. That is to say, a slight roll of an immensely muscled, barrel-shaped torso. "...I mean, I've lived here a really long time and never heard that. Which is strange. Might just be someone else. -We don't eat people who talk. That's not food, yeah?" and his tone, while good-natured, was just a little worried as he glanced Brother's way. Sometimes, Gembounds needed to be told explicitly not to eat other Gembounds, he knew. Maybe nobody'd taught this one that. But just in case...

"Anyway, I'm kinda excited to see what this is!" There it was, his own 'big brother' energy back, his attention swinging forward along with his hefty head as he peered hopefully into the foliage. It didn't really occur to him to be any more careful or to push protectively in front of Brother, at least not yet. For now, this was an adventure.

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@Brother

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Despite not showing any signs that he knew better, Brother gave Rex an odd look when he mentioned not eating people who talk. Of course, Brother knew that. Did the Rex-thing think he was born just then? He happened to quite like the talking-things, especially the cat ones; the cat ones always had the best games.

Yet, he continued not to communicate any of this, and continued to give Rex a dirty look; as if the larger dinosaur had just offered him roadkill.

There was something they both agreed on, however, that this was exciting to see. Or would be if he could get close to it. Why was it so far away? His magic usually didn't work this well that he could sense something so far. Did it? He didn't remember a time that'd happened. Usually the things he heard were close...

"It far." Brother grunted. Then, turned his nose to the jungle floor, snuffling along the overgrowth. He had to angle his head onto its side, since his nostrils were positioned almost under his eyeballs rather than at the tip of his nose. "Where?" He grunted again at Rex, giving him a confused look.

"It fast?" Brother suggested; surely nothing was so tall that it sounded far away. Surely. It had just run really fast away; that must be it. Perhaps some sort of speedy pugna, yes.

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@Rex

Rex did a double-take. He's asking me? he thought, suddenly put on the spot. "Err."

The tyrannosaurus did his best not to squirm, instead lifting his head up and sniffing around. Mostly, he just picked up the scents of the jungle: trees, petrichor, earth, Azhdar shit. The usual. The sounds had stopped, too. So he cast out his other senses--his magic--and nodded abruptly. "This way," he said, took one confident step forward, and stopped dead.

"What?" he blurted. He stared, and then tipped his head... back. Up. "Err. Brother? I don't think-... I mean. We gotta be quiet going in. This thing's-... Bigger than anything in here. Maybe it's Kihan?" he hazarded, but unsure--it hadn't sounded like Kihan. "It's the biggest thing I've ever seen--well, heard--in here except him. It could probably swallow us whole." His voice was hushed, now, with awe--and maybe a little fear--but almost at once, some adventurous adrenaline kicked in.

Without another word he set off for the distant, massive signature, listening to the enormous thud of its heart in his ears.

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@Brother

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Brother pulled another face. What did Rex-thing mean by any of that? It wasn't big just far away. It had to be, otherwise how would it fit in the island? How could they not see it above the trees? No, it was simply a fast pugnas or sailfin, it had to be.

"What Kihan?" Brother asked, but remembered to keep his voice low as he scampered after Rex. None of this was making sense. Perhaps they'd both gotten confused. He'd just try again and clear up the muddled signals.

Yet as the rest of the world tuned out and his hearing strained, it was still the same. Brother huffed as he tried to keep pace with Rex. "Fly-thing?" He asks, he'd seen them above the trees, creatures with wings. He'd never figured out how to get them down, however. Which was a shame, they looked tasty.

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@Rex

It was not a fly-thing. It was no great bird, hovering above the trees; nor was it something hiding in the tops of one.

No, this heartbeat's thud echoed from the ground to the canopy, as though a tree itself had grown a heart.

And it was not too far ahead.

Rex's puzzled expression intensified. "I don't... think so," he half-murmured, loud enough to be heard but only barely. He lowered himself further, crouching as best a tyrannosaur could, creeping along with a new wariness to him.

"Kihan's... It might be him. He's a very big, erm. Guy?" Rex had no idea how to qualify Kihan. Species? Unknown. Color? He couldn't exactly remember. Shape? He was definitely shaped. "Very tall," he went on, nodding to himself wisely.

He then wound his way forward a bit, hesitating. His heart thrummed in his own chest. This was exciting! ...Scary! But fun!

"Do you hear it, too?" he nearly breathed, eyes wide as he slid even farther through the brush. The deafening heart, so enormous it was like the forest had come alive! ...More than a forest normally did!

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@Brother

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Why was it so loud? So encompassing? Had it been close? Brother was beginning to feel things he'd yet to feel before; apprehension rolled off of him in waves. He was never scared of the lessers of Lacerta, he knew to respect them, to stay away from their sights. To watch from a distance, to understand they surpassed him in sheer strength and size.

But he'd never feared them. Yet, as this great thudding heartbeat grew closer, he felt uneasy. What if... whatever this was.. had already seen them? What if it was watching? Why didn't it sound like the fly-things? Was it something worse? He'd once chanced a glimpse of the larger fly-things right as it'd snatched a devilbeak from the jungle floor. He'd only seen it as a blur, but even that was less concerning than whatever this was.

It was so loud he could almost feel it. What was making it so large?

Opting not to share any of these thoughts with his companion, Brother instead made a small nod in Rex's direction. So loud was it that he could no longer pick out a direction. It felt all encompassing, as if the noise was all around, but if he really focused, he was certain it was coming from somewhere ahead, wasn't it?

"Not good?" Brother whispers, lifting his head, just to speak into the side of Rex's head.

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@Rex