[Trade] Crossing Paths: Fast friends

                The day had been on track to being one of the better ones, in Pink’s humble opinion. The sun had already reached its peak in the sky by the time she had wandered off from Riot. She and her father had gone to Isle Kela for the day, the older Cryolo wanting to show her how to hunt some of the local game there. But she had quickly lost interest, especially after she remembered just how close they had been to the beaches all day.

                “Don’t stray too far. Once the sun starts to go down, we’ll pick back up where we left off. But for now, it’s too hot to hunt in this heat.” Riot had said with a groan as he laid down in the shade of some trees and then flopped over onto his side to get a nap.

                Pink had quickly smiled and gave a nod, the little hatchling proceeding to run around the area to find everything she could that would be of interest. It certainly wasn’t hard as her attention had shifted to chasing around a few decently sized beetles that quickly flew away from her. Though the entire time she chased the bugs, she kept slowly making her way towards the beach.

                And before long, she had popped out of the treeline and bore witness to the ocean that was only maybe a hundred yards away. Her eyes widened at the sight, taking in how the sunlight sparkled off the waves as they crested, how the fish jumped from their massive schools that swamp close to shore, and how wonderful everything sounded.

                “No, you shut up!”

                “No! You shut up!”

                “Dad said you were adopted!”

                “That’s funny, because dad told me specifically that we found you by the trash!”

                Pink’s attention turned quickly to where the raised voices were coming from, lowering herself to the ground as she backstepped into the trees again so she wouldn’t be seen. That’s when she spotted the two Cryolophosaurus hatchlings. They looked no older than she was, both reminded her of the ocean though one had much more vivid coloration than his brother.

                The brothers argued with each other as they ran down the beach, starting to wrestle after a short while directly in front of her. Pink watched carefully from the shadows as the two boys tried to act as big and as ferocious as they could be before the blue and tan hatchling was pinned down.

                “That’s not fair, bro! Let me up! You’re being so mean! I’m going to tell dad, like, right now!” Waverunner yelled as Riptide pinned his brother down underfoot, reaching down to nip at Waverunner’s neck a few times to make sure his brother knew who had won.

                “You won’t do that, because then we’re both in trouble for wandering off this far! And do you want to be in trouble?” Riptide asked, taking his foot off his brother’s back.

                “No…But that that was still mean.” Waverunner grumbled as he got back up to his feet, starting to quickly follow after his brother as Riptide turned to make his way from the beach and up towards the trees nearby.

                Pink found herself panicking slightly. They didn’t look like the type to give her trouble, but if the pair of boys caught her spying on them, how would they react? Her cheeks flushed as she thought of the embarrassment of being caught and she quickly stood up to try and figure out somewhere to go. Which seemed to be the exact wrong move as the smaller blue and tan looking hatchling turned his head and caught sight of her.

                “Oh hey! You’re a new face! Your hide is like, suuuper pretty! Did you hatch already looking like a ruby?” Waverunner asked as soon as he saw Pink stand up and made his way over to her.

 He and Riptide hadn’t even been that far into the forest when he spotted her as she stood. For being as stupid as he was, Riptide was impressed with how quickly his brother saw things and how easily he seemed to make new friends. Much to the new ‘friends’ dismay most of the time. Rip just smiled as he listened to Waverunner already shooting off questions and comments to the little female they’d just found.

Pink just stared as the two didn’t even hesitate to turn and come over to her, Waverunner not skipping a beat as he started to ask her all sorts of questions. Where did she come from? Who were her parents? Did she know his parents? What was her home like? Pink felt her breathing increase slightly as she stared at Waverunner before his brother made his way forward and waved at Waverunner to quiet down.

“Sorry about him. He likes meeting people. And he does have a point, we’ve never seen you around here! I’m Riptide, and he’s Waverunner. We’ve lived around these parts our whole lives! Who are you?” Riptide asked, tilting his head.

“I..uh. Well, you can call me Pink. I’ve always looked like this, ever since I hatched. And my dad and I are just passing through. He was showing me some of the things to eat around here! It’s nice to meet you, Riptide and Waverunner. You both have very pretty hides yourselves.” Pink said awkwardly, forcing a smile.

Riptide watched her and smiled, chuckling a little bit with how she seemed nervous just to meet them. Waverunner, on the other hand, frowned and lowered his head as he looked at Pink.

“I promise we are nice! You don’t have anything to worry about with us! Thank you for the compliment, too! But don’t tell my brother that, it’ll go straight to his head and that’ll be the only thing he thinks or talks about for the next week!” Waverunner said, standing back up straight and smiled.

“Where were you guys going? Would it be alright if I come along with you?” Pink asked and tilted her head, smiling at the comment that Waverunner had said, seeing how quickly Riptide had gotten irritated at the comment.

“We were going to get some water! It’s hot out. We can show you around, too! That way whenever you come around here next, you know where to find water and all the good snacking spots! And then this way, if you ever need help, you can find us!” Waverunner said excitedly as Riptide started to walk again, leading the way for the three.

Pink smiled and gave a nod, quickly following after the two. “You both are very nice. Thank you for letting me come along. I was getting thirsty, too.” Pink replied and gave a nod.

The rest of the walk was an interesting one. She had determined that the brothers were, at the very least, amusing and trustworthy. Waverunner by far the more chatty of the pair but Riptide seemed to be the more serious of them. They made a good duo, and Pink did her best to commit their scent to memory for later. If ever she was back in the area, she would seek them out to spend more time with them.

Or at the very least, listen to one of the six billion stories that Waverunner seemed to have at the ready for any occasion.