[Trade] Conjoined

The peace in their new home didn't last long for the twins. The next morning under a meagre sun, they had begun to redecorate the place and make it more comfortable. Frasil had put herself in charge of finding new bedding, the moss was nice but it grew damp in the chilly night air and she feared catching scale rot if she used it for too long. Fainel was arranging fronds of the highland forest plants into a cover for the entrance of the cave, taking great care in laying them across the stone and making it look like natural overgrowth. The birds in the trees were beginning to rouse themselves from their sleep and begin their morning chorus. The feathery twin paused in her task to shut her eyes and enjoy the music. Frasil rolled her eyes but enjoyed the break in her sister's incessant chatter, letting her focus more keenly on the woods around them. With this new awareness, she heard footsteps approaching them through the shrubs and her crest stood on end.

"Fainel," she hissed, "Something's coming." She backed up to the cave entrance and was joined quickly by her twin. Both stood to attention, watching the foliage rustle as the unknown creature came closer. With a final parting of the thick shrubbery, a small green Styracosaurus was revealed. It was a juvenile female, judging from how stubby the frill and horns still were, compared to the large bulls that used to pass through their mother’s territory. Fainel's body instantly relaxed but Frasil only seemed to get more worked up.The Styra looked startled at the sight of two juvenile Cryos looking back at her, looking especially nervous at Frasil's aggressive bearing of teeth. She began to reverse slowly into the woods but the featherless Cryo hissed at her and made her freeze in terror.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Frasil demanded, making the young herbivore wither under her sharp tone. With no way out, she cleared her throat and tried to reply.

"Um, this is my home," the Styracosaurus said softly. Frasil sneered at her, flashing her teeth.

"Well it was, now it's ours," she said smugly. Fainel glanced nervously at her sister before also stepping forward to address the other dinosaur.

"I'm sorry but we will fight you on this, we need somewhere to live," she said apologetically. Frasil shot her a brief glare before returning her attention to the nervous dinosaur.

"What my sister  means to say is; do you think you can take two of us? You're willing to die for this little hole in the wall?" She took a step forward which made the Styra stumble backwards.

"N-no, it's fine, I can go somewhere else," she stammered. She remained frozen to the spot until Frasil took another step forward.

"Well? Go on then!" the bald twin growled, breaking the herbivore's freeze response and sending her charging into the bushes. She watched until both the motions of the foliage and the noise faded and made a rumble of satisfaction when she was sure the interloper was gone.

"That was.. a little mean," Fainel said quietly, Frasil whirled around and snarled at her.

"We need to be mean to survive, do you want to be walked all over? We would've lost our home a day after finding it!"

"We could've shared for a while at least," Fainel argued, "She wasn't looking to cause us any harm and you just intimidated her back into the woods! It's not fair!"

"You need to stop looking for fairness out here," Frasil retorted, her frustration bubbling over, "The world isn't fair, it's a mean and harsh place and we have to be mean and harsh in it to survive!"

"Or we can make the world a little less mean and harsh," Fainel shot back, "We don't have to sink to that level, we can be better!"

"What's the point in that? We act all nicey-nice and then get our stuff stolen from us? Wake up, Fainel, there's no way to be kind out here, you're only going to get us both hurt,"she said with an air of finality that left Fainel at a loss for words. The feathery twin felt a sudden wave of dread as Frasil stomped away from her to continue rearranging their nest. The nest they had stolen from that poor Styracosaurus.

"Alright, I'm done for now. I'll go find us some food if you wanna keep going?" Frasil offered, not addressing their earlier blow up. It was common for their squabbles to pass by like water under the bridge but something about this was really sticking in Fainel’s mind.

"Uh, yeah, I'll stay here, I want to move some fallen trees I saw nearby and give us some more cover," Fainel lied, but her twin didn't catch it at all.

"I'll see you soon then, love you Fainel," Frasil called the second part over her shoulder as she left but paused in her stride to wait for the usual response.

"Eh, love you too Frasil," the feathered twin responded after a moment's pause. Satisfied with their usual farewell, the younger twin vanished into the woods. Fainel hoped she wouldn't try and track that poor herbivore down, they had done enough damage to her already. She felt a bit silly, prioritising the feelings of potential prey over the well-being of herself and her twin, but she couldn't bring herself to feel good about kicking someone out of their home. The twins had bickered in the past, but this was the first time it had really felt that their morals diverged from each other. She worried for her sister’s combative attitude, if she wanted to pick fights with everything they came across it would eventually end badly. There were things out there that not even two fully grown Cryos could tackle, let alone two juveniles. Fainel resolved to be kinder, like a foil to her twin, if she could try and balance her out perhaps it would save them some trouble in the future.