[Trade] Risky Eggs

"It's pretty high up," Kisse stated, her eyes on the canopy of the forest, trying to locate the nest of eggs that her sister had promised she had found.

"It's not that high," Roswell argued, already annoyed at her plan being shot down.

"Yeah, it's pretty high," Bandit broke the stalemate. It had become her speciality of sorts, being the tie-breaker between the twins. Roswell huffed but she knew she would get over it, her grudges lasted about as long as her attention span.

"It's still easier than actually chasing something down to eat," the dappled twin continued her argument. "Are you aiming to get kicked in the head by a deer? Or gored by a boar?" The others didn't respond, still searching for the nest. "Well?" she demanded.

"If we could actually see it that'd be a good start," Bandit remarked drily. Roswell grumbled something under her breath and squeezed herself between them both.

"Not on the trees, on the rock wall behind them, that kind of yellowish branch with the dead leaves on it? Follow that back to the wall," she said, lining herself up with their eyelines and pointing to where she was looking. Nestled in the slightest indent of the rock, was a tightly woven nest of mud and sticks, somewhat sheltered by the overhang of the cliff above it.

"Oh! I see it!" Kisse exclaimed

"I saw it from above the other day but there’s no way down from the top, we have to climb up," Roswell said confidently.

"And who's guarding the nest?" Bandit asked, the only one with enough presence of mind to do so.

"No one," Roswell frowned, "I've been scouting this place out for a couple of days now and I haven't seen anyone come to check on it."

"So we could be doing all this work for rotten eggs?" Bandit theorised.

"Bandit you're such a stick in the mud," Roswell complained. Bandit simply grinned at her.

"'Least I'm not stuck in a tree," she retorted.

"Not yet," Roswell shot back. "Come on, we have to at least check it out, we can go fishing after if you want?" Bandit grumbled performatively but the promise of fishing after their inevitable failure had won her over. 

"Fine, let's go."

The sheer grey face of the cliff offered no footholds for climbing, so the trio circled the nearby trees until they found one with a lattice of woody ivy stems to grab onto. With a considerable amount of huffing and puffing, they scrambled their way up to a solid branch that could support all three of them as they contemplated their next move. 

"Even if we climb up higher we won't reach the nest from here," Kisse observed. "We'd have to jump to another tree first."

"That one over there isn't too far, we could make it easy," Bandit pointed at a tree that loomed over even the top of the cliff, leading right up to the nest. 

"We'll do that one then," Roswell agreed. "I can go first." She shuffled sideways back to the trunk of the tree and used the ivy to shimmy around to a branch that pointed towards their target. She crawled out along the branch to the end, feeling it bend under her weight as she moved outward. Perfect, she had been planning to use it to bounce into her jump and this would work well in that regard. She pulled herself up and balanced herself as the tree swayed under her, relying on her sharp claws to keep her on. She started flapping her arms, crouching to start shaking the branch. When she reached the apex of its bounce for about the third time, she threw herself at the new tree and grabbed the bark, sinking her teeth and claws into it to stop from sliding down. With a brief struggle, she managed to reach the closest branch and hook her claws into it. Panting heavily, she scrambled up, her muscles in her legs and arms were aching and so was her jaw from hitting the tree smack on but she made it to the most sturdy limb and stood up. She looked back at the solemn faces of her friends and called over; "See? Easy as that!"

Bandit decided to go next, as Kisse slung and trembled to their current tree. Maybe seeing a slightly more competent crossing would encourage her. If not, they could just leave her there and ask one of the adults to come get her down. Maybe a passing Tapejara would take pity on them and lift her down. She was still only small, staying scrawny and lightweight like all raptor juveniles, she'd be easy enough to carry for anything that wasn't also a juvenile raptor. Bandit crouched and shook the branch, using its momentum even more so than Roswell since she didn't have pseudo wings to glide with like the overly-fluffy twin did. She still managed to make full body contact with the trunk and shimmied her way up, Roswell pulling her the rest of the way. Kisse was the only one left, standing and shivering in anticipation of the jump. 

"It's easy, Kisse," Bandit called back over, "Just like Roswell said, just jump and glide a little." Kisse didn't spend as long as the others did preparing for fear of freaking herself out and simply jumped once on the branch and used it like a springboard to catapult herself to the tree. She landed lower, immediately missing the grooves the others had left and sliding down with a panicked shriek. Bandit hurried to jump down to the next branch, hanging her tail over the side to intercept Kisse's fall. In her panic, the patchy raptor grabbed on with her teeth and Bandit yelped. She fought her instinct to kick the other raptor off and held tight to the tree while Roswell hopped down to them. She reached over and grabbed Kisse by the head, dragging her up to their semi-solid platform and prying her jaws open to give Bandit some relief. The three lay panting for a moment, Bandit's tail dripping steady drops of blood onto the forest floor below. 

"The eggs," Roswell wheezed, "They're going to be so worth it." She stood up and began to climb back up, ascending even higher with her friends both following close. With a good height advantage, it was a short hop to land in the nest. There was a decent chance they would break the eggs but considering they were about to devour them it probably wouldn't matter in the long run. Kisse and Roswell linked hands with Bandit, hoping their combined wingspan would offer them a softer landing than if they just fell solo.

"This has to be in sync, get ready," Bandit warned the others, who nodded, "Three, two, one, jump!" The trio leaped from the branch, aiming for the heart of the nest and overshooting it by  a decent margin. They collided with the cliff face, scrabbling at the stone to try and slow their descent. Bandit landed flat on her back on the ledge hosting the nest, staring at the sky with stars in her eyes. Through the ringing in her ears she could hear the others standing up and climbing into the nest to retrieve their prize. She tried to stay still and catch her breath but an egg was shoved in her face before she had the chance.

"Egg," Roswell said through a full mouth, "'s good!" Bandit took the egg and held it to her chest, looking down at its smooth surface, oblong and leathery in her sharp grip. She sat upright and cracked the egg over the side of the nest. The golden yolk and clear fluid dripped out through the crack and she hurried to catch it in her mouth. Thankfully, it was still good and the taste of rot didn't immediately assail her tastebuds. She rested against the side of the nest to leisurely enjoy the spoils of their efforts. She wouldn't admit it under the threat of death, but Roswell might have had a good idea for the first time in her life. Though she imagined she would immediately ruin this moment by suggesting some kind of mythological hunt now their bellies were full. Bandit tried to shake her cynicism, knowing it was better to simply enjoy the moment rather than dread what was to come.