[Gift] Bad Omens (+ Karma)

                The feather that Kallista had brought back to Apocrypha had proven to be of some use. How, exactly, Kallista had zero idea. The Albertosaur had taken the feather and put it with others that belonged to various species, trying to feel for where it apparently belonged. But none spoke to Apocrypha, none called out that the oddly colored yellow and blue feather was their sister or brother.

                The feather was alone.

                There was not enough of a scent to follow anywhere. And Apocrypha had said that the feather was lost, it did not know where it needed to go, only that it needed to ‘wander’.

                Kallista never knew what to think whenever her friend got her mind caught up in the realm of the spirits. Kallista had never understood and never would, and had long since given up trying to understand. So when Apocrypha had said that they should take the feather and leave their farm, Kallista had simply given a quick nod and got onto the back of the Albertosaurus.

                They left at night, Apocrypha going wherever the wind seemed to bring her. Occasionally she would stop, lift her head up, and take in a deep breath of the cool night air. She would close her eyes, feel the wind and relax, before starting off again. The whole thing was oddly relaxing for Kallista, and after a few hours of this she had started to doze off. Her eyes became heavier and heavier, harder to keep open.

                She tried to stay awake. The island was abuzz with tales of these new dinosaurs that were being spotted, as well as sightings of less than friendly known dinosaurs. But everything felt safe as they wandered. The steady breaths of Apocrypha, the breeze that gently moved through the trees and made the leaves rattle softly. It was a cool summer night, not uncomfortably hot or cold, but just right. And before she could stop it, Kallista had actually passed out.

                When she finally woke up, they were no longer moving. Kallista’s eyes shot open as she looked around, smelling morning dew on the wind as well as what smelled like berries of some sort. Instead of berries, the first thing that Kalli saw was the dark hide of a Cryolophosaur laying beside Apocrypha. Apocrypha herself was laying on her stomach, comfortable and calm. Kalli blinked quickly, her eyes adjusting to the darkness and she spotted the lighter blue-white blotches on the hide of the Cryo beside them.

                “Tobias?” Kallista asked, sitting up from where she’d been laying between Apocrypha’s shoulder blades and looked down at the male beside them.

                Tobias looked back at her, tilting his head carefully to study her with a careful eye. There was no fear there that Kalli could see, only curiosity. He gave a small nod as he looked back ahead of them, making Kallista just furrow her own brows in confusion. The Cryo seemed…confused? Like he didn’t quite know how she knew his name but wasn’t going to ask questions. Kallista turned her head to look back at Apocrypha and then saw the source of the berry smell. In front of the three, laid out on three massive leaves, were a variety of berries that had been gathered.

                Some of them were smashed open, placed in front of the small piles of whole berries so that they would have their scent carry in the wind. Held in front of Apocrypha safely in her small fingers was the feather, moving here and there from the breeze as well.

                Kallista kept her brows furrowed, looking at Apocrypha and then at Tobias and then back down at the berries on display in front of them.

                “We’re waiting.” Apocrypha said quietly, feeling Kalli shifting around as she woke up and started to wonder what was going on.

                “When did he get here?” Kalli asked.

                “I was here before you got here.” Tobias said, his tone calm. Simply stating the facts.

                “I saw him here, laying in the clearing and felt I should come over. I told him about the feather, showed him the paint on it and how it smelled of berries. So we decided to put some offerings out. This place feels right, like we will find our answer here.” Apocrypha added and smiled.

                Kallista looked around again, her eyes having adjusted enough to now see that they were in the middle of an odd clearing. The trees around them were completely overgrown. There were vines that should’ve been suffocating the trees, but they looked healthy. The vines themselves had multitudes of leaves on them, flowers sprouting out at odd places. The ground around the trees were lush, soft green grass growing everywhere they possibly could while more flowers grew from the ground. Even in the darkness, the place they were in was beautiful. There were bushes nearby that had been where the pair had gathered the berries of all the various types. It was incredible, and Kallista had never seen such a place before.

                “What were you doing here?” Kallista asked, her attention returning to Tobias beside them.

                “I came for the same reason you both came here. I needed to be here. We needed to be here.” Tobias replied.

                Kalli closed her eyes, rolling her eyes up as she sighed and then opened her eyes again. Tobias was lost to the spirits, didn’t seem to know who they were. And Apocrypha was listening to them. The result was that both dinosaurs were giving responses that Kallista couldn’t quite understand. They knew exactly what they were talking about, and their words were simple enough to understand. But there was meaning behind them that she didn’t get.

                “Do you guys remember the last time we did something like this? The island became irradiated. It’s never good when you both are just…talking to the wind.” Kalli snorted and looked back between the pair.

                “We’ve met before now?”

                “Yeah?” Kalli said, tilting her head a bit as she looked at Tobias.

                He looked back over at the two, staring hard at the pair before smiling a bit and returned his gaze to the patch of trees ahead of them, “It would explain why I did not feel apprehensive about you both. I knew you could be trusted.” Tobias said and smiled.

                Before any of them could say anything more, movement ahead of them made them all fall silent. From the trees came a small creature that Kallista instantly recognized. What their two kids had said had been correct. What the dinos around the island had been saying had all been correct.

                It was an oviraptor that came forward slowly. A brother or sister to Magpie? It looked nothing like Mag, but that was the only explanation that Kallista had. She had never seen another on the isles before.

                Apocrypha and Tobias focused in on the yellow and green Oviraptor that stopped some yards from them. He lowered his head, tilting it from side to side so that he could watch the three with both of his eyes. Tobias extended his arms to motion towards the assortment of berries in front of them while Apocrypha bowed her head in greeting to the male.

                “You…Can I…What do you want?” The Oviraptor asked, keeping his distance as he pointed to the berries.

                “To see the newcomers to the isles.” Apocrypha said and smiled as he lifted her head.

                “And to give you a proper welcome. Your brothers and sisters have been hounded since showing up.” Tobias added.

                The Oviraptor listened carefully, finally standing up and lifted his head up and seemed to relax a bit. He sniffed the air for any other potential threats but found none, only smelling the three creatures in front of him. He took a few careful steps towards the group and stopped, expecting any of the three to get up and start to chase him. But none of them did.

                “You are all predators. You don’t eat berries. This is a trap, so you make me into an easy meal!” Paradise said, jumping into the air in alarm, flaring his wings out as if trying to seem bigger and more threatening.

                Apocrypha and Tobias just stared at him, amusement clear on their features. Kallista, however, actually laughed and shook her head, making the oviraptor stop in his tracks as he’d started to back up and just stared at her.

                “He doesn’t eat meat as far as I know. Dunno what he eats, but I’ve never seen him eat another dinosaur. And her. She only eats the animals in the fields. No dinosaur as ever fallen prey to her. And me? I like fish more than odd looking roadrunners.” Kalli said and sat back on her hind legs, keeping her spot on Apocrypha’s back.       

                Paradise narrowed his eyes, lowering his arms back to his sides as Kalli spoke and pointed to Tobias and then to Apocrypha. He looked at the Cryo, and then at the Alberto, and finally to the Trope. As far as he could tell, the three were telling the truth. Carefully, he continued closer to the berries and finally came to a stop right in front of the piles. When none of them moved, he started to pick at the berries, popping a few into his mouth.

                After a short while, he finally sat down in front of the three, hurriedly eating as many of the berries as he could as if he hadn’t had anything to eat in ages.

                “What is your name?” Tobias asked, breaking the silence after a short while and tilted his head.

                Paradise stopped stuffing his face but quickly chewed up the mouthful he had and swallowed, nearly choking on the berries he’d been trying to inhale, “Oh, sorry. Wrong tube.” Paradise said and pointed to his throat as he coughed and spluttered.

                Kallista had no idea how the creature had managed to survive for so long if he was choking on food and air.

                “I’m Paradise. What about you guys? You seem nice enough! I haven’t met very many nice people around here just yet. This has been a nice change of pace.” Paradise replied and smiled.

                “I’m Apocrypha. And the Tropeo on my back is Kallista.” Apocrypha said and smiled, pointing at herself and then up at Kallista.

                “Tobias.”

                “Ah! Well. It’s nice to meet you, Tobias, Kallista, and Apocrypha. Would you be alright if I took some of these berries for the road? I gotta get going. Lots of places to see, people to visit!” Paradise asked, already shoveling up as many berries as he could into his arms, dropping half of them as he quickly grabbed up whatever he could.

                “Please, feel free. We have no use of them. Maybe next time we meet up, you’ll have enough berries to make us some of that stuff you have on you?” Apocrypha asked, pointing at the blue floral designs on the neck of the Oviraptor.

                “Oh! Yeah! Well, maybe! I’ll see if I can get what I need. You guys live around here?” Paradise asked and watched as all three shook their heads.

                “Get what you need for your paint. And then when the time comes, we will see you again. This place is just a place of new beginnings. We will find you when it’s appropriate.” Tobias said and gave a nod.

                Kallista smirked, suppressing a laugh at the look of complete confusion on Paradise’s face at the reply, “Don’t think too hard on it. Just remember where this place is, so that you can come back here and rest when you need to. Sounds like you need it with all the running around you’ve been doing.” Kallista said.

                “Oh yeah. It’s been a mess. I nearly died like six times today!” Paradise replied and looked up, seeing the moon had started to go down, the sun already threatening to lighten the sky up. “I gotta go! I’ve been here too long! Thank you, guys. All of you! You’re the best people I’ve met so far!” He said, dropping more berries he’d gathered up in his arms in surprise when he saw the time.

                Before anyone could say another word, Paradise was gone. Running out of the clearing and vanishing into the darkness of the forest surrounding them. Apocrypha finally yawned, curling up to rest her head on the ground and flicked her tail up around so she was making a semi-circle around Tobias.

                “You should rest here, too. It’s safe here. The forest loves us being here.” Apocrypha said as she closed her eyes.

                “I would like to. But there is more that needs to be done. I am not meant to sleep here tonight. There is another place. Goodnight, Apocrypha and Kallista. May the stars guide your path.” Tobias replied as he got up, stretching out his legs from how long he’d been laying still and started off as well.

                Kallista watched as Tobias left the clearing as well before looking down at Apocrypha. “The last time you two met up, we got Acros. What are we going to get now, hm? Some sort of Mega Cows? Angry Mega Cows that are hellbent on the destruction of the islands?” Kallista snorted down at her Albertosaurus.

                “Oh hush. I don’t feel anything bad. There’s no bad feelings yet. But we need to help these Oviraptors. So many people are terrorizing them. When we get up in the morning, go find the kids. Tell them to leave out berries, show them how we had these spread out.” Apocrypha said and smiled, closing her eyes and within a few moments she was fast asleep.

                Kalli sighed. Apocrypha had laughed her off. But there were so many questions that were left unanswered, and so many more that had popped up simply from what all Paradise had said. Why had he been in such a hurry? She settled down beside Apocrypha, getting warm as she closed her eyes and attempted to quiet her mind.

                If they came across Tobias again, she’d know for sure something bad was going to happen. It was always a bad omen whenever he and Apocrypha crossed paths.