Crossing

The world was foggy and misty when Cosmos and Verdant trudged their way through the island. Spring had arrived, and the world was foggy after the latest rainfall. The world was still silent from the recent downpour, the only sound being water dripping onto the soft ground, and footsteps echoing from each step the cryolophosaurus pair took. 

Leaves crunched under their feet as Cosmos and Verdant made their way up a long abandoned hiking trail. They had been caught out in the rain the first time, and had just barely made their way to a rocky shelter in time to avoid the worst of the downpour. While Cosmos had already fully recovered, Verdant was much more sulky. Even now the green cryolophosaurus was still waterlogged, a grumpy expression clear on his face even to a stranger.

“Ah, cheer up Verdant.” Cosmos nudged his featherless head against his mate, quickie dodging out of the way of an ireful nip. “The water will dry out soon! The sun will be out later, I'm sure.” 

Verdant huffed, snapping at the air in slight irritation. His green feathers were soaked on his body, adding pounds of extra weight for him to drag around. It made sense, then, why he was so cranky. “The sun better be out soon. I'm tired of all this water.” Cosmos let out a sympathetic hum. He had not a single inch of feathers across his whole body, so he lacked the same experiences of his mate in this lane.

The pair had arrived at the bottom of a nearby valley, where water from the nearby rain had caused a small river to flood and overflow its banks. Verdant made sure to stay away from the water, promoting a small laugh from Cosmos that he quickly hid behind a cough. 

Their enjoyment of the spring weather was quickly cut short by the sound of frantic shrieking and splashing. The pair raised their heads instantly, scanning the surrounding area with confusion and fear. Verdant was the one to spot it first. A flash of pink tinted feathers from the muddy river water, shrieking cut off with the occasional sputter and splash. Without a second thought Verdant dove forward, ignoring the confused cries of Cosmos as he jumped into the river.

Thankfully, the river was not deep enough for Verdant to have to swim. Coming up to his neck, the intense water pushed and pulled against his feathers. Despite the water doing its best to sweep him off his feet, Verdant pushed on. Just behind him in the current, the pink lump of feathers slipped past. With a desperate lunge Verdant surged forward, managing to just latch his teeth into the small figure and yank them upwards. While the figure was small enough to hold in his jaws, Verdant instantly felt a painful burn. It was too much- he wasn’t going to be able to carry them to shore.

Suddenly a warmth pressed against his side and the weight abated a bit- looking up, Verdant caught a glimpse of brown scales. Comos was by his side, the larger male taking a large amount of the weight. Verdant felt a wave of appreciation for his charming, loyal mate as they made their way to the bank with their unexpected passenger. Together they collapsed in the sand, both of them covered in dirt and sand and mud and soaking wet- but uncaring. The pair gently brushed their snouts together, before turning to the third.

Laying in the mud between the pair of them was a young cryolophosaurus. Small, barely a juvenile if even that. Peach colored feathers with tints of pink and white, covered in large, uniform blotches and unsteady stripes. Feathers covered their body, but they were so soaked in mud and dirt the pair could barely see the hatchlings' true colors.

Gently Cosmos reached his head forward, nudging the younglings body. After all that, he hoped it was alive. However those fears were quickly put to rest as the juvenile sputtered and coughed, jutting awake as soon as it was touched. “Where- who.” Sputtering and coughing the other cryolophosaurus leaned over, water flying out of its mouth. Sympathetic, Cosmos used his claws to gently pat the others back a few times as he hauled himself to his feet.

“You're alright.” Verdant rumbled, pulling himself up as well. Shaking himself out, Verdant ignored the betrayed cries from Cosmos as he splattered his mate with a bucketload of muddy water. “We pulled you out of the water- are you hurt anywhere?”

The young cryolophosaurus had finally caught his breath, looking up with a wary but not outright aggressive look. Under their gaze the youngling shook himself out, splatting mud from his feathers over the grass. “No.” He finally responded. “Sore, but not hurt.” Blue eyes landed on Verdant and Cosmos again, appraising.

“Im Cosmos.” The brown scaled cryolophosaurus stepped forward with a rumble, slowly stretching his snout out for the youngling. After a moment of pause the other slowly reached back out, pressing their snouts together as a greeting. Verdant almost cooed from how adorable it was. “And this is Verdant- my mate.”

“Katydid.” The juvenile introduced himself, slowly moving closer to Verdant, touching his snout to Verdant next. “Thank you for saving me… I was traveling over a river and slipped… the stones were too slippery.” Katydid dipped his head in embarrassment, shame clear on his features.

“Hey, don’t worry about that.” Verdant soothed. “Everyone slips at some point- it was just bad luck it happened to you over a river. Speaking of- where did you fall in? Did you leave anyone behind when you fell?”

This had Katydid pause for a moment, before looking down at the ground and idly bushing at some of the mud caught in his feathers. “Don’t got anyone.” He finally answered, npt meeting their gaze. “Ive been alone since I was an egg. Never had anyone.” 

Verdant caught Cosmos’s eye from over the juveniles head, and a look passed between the two of them. They had always wanted kids, in some way or another, but had never had the chance. But now, one had practically fallen out in front of them from the sky! Suddenly seeming nervous, Cosmos gestured at Verdant to proceed. Seems like he thought he wasn’t too good at touchy feely things. Verdant disagreed, but went with it for now. Something to bring up later.

“Why don’t you stick with us for a bit?” Verdant suggested, watching the way Katydid finally met his gaze with widened eyes and a nervous face. “Would be easier to find food… and I can teach you how to groom your feathers.” Verdant eyed the messy and tangled feathers on the others back. It seemed like Katydid wasnt quite able to reach the feathers on their back/

“We travel a lot.” Cosmos cut in, tail wagging behind him. “Never stay in place for too long. You’ll be able to explore the islands a bit more safely- for however long you stay, that is.”

After a moment, Katydid nodded in a stoic manner- but nothing could hide the slow back and forth of his tail. With a loud purring sound Verdant turned back to the path. “We should keep going then- after all, I bet your hungry after that.” A small nod from Katydid was all they needed- they were back on the hunt.