Hello there, friend! Come on in, make yourself comfortable.
It has been a long journey for you, so I guess you must be tired.
I know you and your kind… You’ve been looking down at my
feet when you thought that I wouldn’t notice it from the first second you’ve
seen me.
Hehehe… oh, don’t worry. I’m not mad at you. In fact, I
might allow you to get a closer look at them, if you like.
Well, seeing your expression I guess that’s a yes. Settle
down in front of me, while I take a seat on this chair here.
There we go. Now you will see the foot of a raptor from a
distance that’s normally reserved for my prey.
Rrr… leave your hands down, friend… I haven’t allowed you
to touch it yet! For now, just take a look at it.
You’ve certainly noticed that I’m digitigrade, standing
and walking on my toes. If you know other raptors, you might wonder, why I have
only three toes on each paw. Yes, I’m missing the small one on the inside of my
feet. Blame evolution for that or the fact that I’m an anthroraptor, but rest
assured, so far I never had a need for them. I’m as fast and deadly like my
brothers and sisters if I have to be.
So take a close look at the smooth emerald-green scales
on top of my paw and how they are getting smaller on the toe-sections. There,
now it’s right in front of your face. That makes it easier for you to see the
little grooves between the scales. Ooooh, you should see them, when I’m wet,
because then there is water flowing down between the scales. I’m sure to the
insects on the ground it must look like little mountain streams, hehe.
Let’s take a look at some other spaces on my foot, shall
we? Between my toes for example… I’m going to splay them for you. The scales in
my toecrotches are extremely soft, almost skinlike what makes it a very
sensitive spot for me. Hell, I’m even ticklish down there, hehe. Normally that’s
the place where most of the dirt gets stuck when I’m walking, even more than on
my sole. Right now though, they are clean as you have certainly noticed. You can
take a deep breath, if you don’t believe me, I’m sure you will like it. Smells
fresh, doesn’t it?
People told me that it has a very unique odour. They
mentioned the smell of a fresh green apple once: Seductive and mouth-watering,
even when my feet are dirty. Hehe, personally I think it was just their
imagination though.
Hey, are you even listening? I guess you should stop
smelling them, you have that dreamy look on your face, that I’ve seen on my prey
so often before…
Anyways I’m going to turn my foot now and show you my
sole. Oh, I know that you’ve been burning to see this last spot that has been
hidden from your view until now, simply because I was standing on it. Well… here
is your chance!
It’s fully scaled and there are no pads, as you can see.
After all these years of walking on rocky grounds, through muddy swampland and
grassy plains, the scales have become really hard and rough down there and of
course they are slightly darker than the ones on the rest of my body.
You wanna hear a little secret? You probably thought that
I would catch my prey with my claws, impaling it or tearing it apart with them,
hmm? Well, if it’s small enough I rather like to catch it under my soles, alive
and squirming, completely unhurt. Just pinning it and feeling its movements
under me. Yes, my scales down there might be hard, still it’s one of my most
sensitive spots.
Well, I see that really got your attention. I guess it
would be cruel if I keep you away from my foot any longer, so put your hands on
it and test out how it feels yourself.
Yes, rub over them with both of your hands and you will
notice how soft the scales on top of my foot are, compared to the ones on my
sole. If you like, move your hands up from the ball to the lower section of my
leg. You seem to like the fact that it is so slender, hmm? You can easily
embrace it with both hands!
If you are brave enough, you can touch my claws too, but
be careful and don’t hurt yourself in all your excitement. They are really
sharp! The curves are perfect and give them a quite graceful appearance, don’t
you think so? I’m especially proud of my sickle-claws, which I polish and treat
with great care. Rub over it and you will notice how smooth and immaculate its
surface is. After all, they are the status-symbol of every raptor! A damaged
sickle-claw is a tragedy, I tell ya! They are ivory-white, what makes them
rather hard to clean but there are always volunteers who help me out with that.
Oh, you’re giving me a massage already... well, that
feels nice. Don’t forget my toes, please! Ooooh, and between them too of course!
Have you noticed how strong they are? Well, let me demonstrate this for you,
hehe.
Take a look at that, I even caught your finger between
them. Oh, don’t worry, I’m just joking. Of course I’ll allow you to continue.
There we go…
Mmmh, very good! A raptors leg is full of muscles after
all, strong and powerful, made for running. But of course they can get sore too.
Rub over my leg while I flex my muscles and you can feel it. Ah… this is very
relaxing. You know, I think I might lie back a bit and get some rest, while I
let you rub them to your heart’s desire. Of course, you are also free to go, my
friend, if you really like…
But you know, somehow I think that you will still be
here, when I wake up tomorrow…