Jitters

Neriya stayed flat to the ground as she watched the deer walk by her. Her bright feathers were stuck to her body with a layer of thick brown mud, leaving a mottled appearance that allowed her to blend in with her surroundings more than she typically could. The deer were upwind from her, leaving enough of a buffer to let her sit almost entirely under their migration path, a well worn divot in the grass that stretched from one end of the forest to the other. She knew their movements well at this point in her life, knowing they came back along this path every year to change grazing grounds from one side of the island to another. It fascinated her, the instinctual knowledge of these herbivores to avoid grazing their home into ruin. She had asked more sentient herbivores before how they knew when it was time and had been subjected to a list of warning signs, temperature changes, the length of the grass and how many green buds were left on the branches. It was beyond her, but it still impressed her. She always liked to say a soft apology when she pounced, knowing she was taking a life that was intelligent in ways she couldn't comprehend, but the act of predation was non-negotiable, especially when she had a mate to feed. Apologies meant nothing, of course, to the deer squirming in her jaws, her pulse thrumming against her tongue. Her body went limp after an extended struggle, leaving behind bruises under Neriya's feathers but little else. With a satisfied licking of her jaws, the crested Utahraptor readjusted her grip and began to drag the carcass home. 

Bandit had spent the majority of her day watching the horizon for her mate to return.  She was nestled in the corner of the marshes, within a green area of an old abandoned human settlement. It was smaller than the Dead City, by some margin too, at most a medium sized pack of humans could have lived here if Roswell was right in her theory about them living one to a building. Bandit scoffed at the thought of taking anything Roswell said seriously, but she had to admit she missed watching the braindead twins try and out-conspire each other. She looked back at the marsh, trying to distract herself with the waltzing of the fireflies instead of the restless itching in her bones. She hated the stationary life that homemaking had forced her into but nothing could pull her from incubating her eggs. At most she could allow Neriya to take over for a few hours while she stretched her legs but she would soon be back to hover over both her mate and the nest, eventually pushing the lighter coloured raptor out and taking her place. She had lost the urge to eat or drink, like these eggs had possessed her with some sickness of the mind. 

Neriya had told her it was normal, she would know after already having a clutch but Bandit still felt helpless. She was used to being independent, in charge and taking the lead in hunts and territory disputes. Now she was practically glued to her eggs, only able to think about them and how they were developing. She grabbed the flashlight Neriya had found for her and used her claws to turn the base around, making the light blink on. She held the light up to the shell of her eggs in turn and watched the orange glow emerge through the layers of the shell and fluid. If she squinted she could see veins and the vague lump of a developing Utahraptor in most of them. A few were uncertain, making Bandit stare until lights danced in her eyes and she had to blink to clear them.

As she looked up from the flashlight to clear her vision, she saw the wobbly outline of a pale raptor approaching her, dragging something brown alongside her.

“Doing your little light trick again?” Neriya asked after she dropped the deer carcass at the base of the nest. Bandit scowled at the implication that her careful egg monitoring was a ‘little trick’ but the growling of her stomach made her bite her tongue. “Let me on then,” she prodded the darker raptor until she reluctantly sidestepped out of the nest. Neriya fluffed her feathers and settled over the eggs with a practiced ease that Bandit envied. She tore her gaze away and began to eat, gutting the deer with her claw and taking the best organ meat for herself.

“You were quick today,” she grumbled through a mouthful of flesh.

“Lots of deer out,” Neriya said simply, “Don't forget the bones, you need to get your strength up after laying all these,” she reminded her gently. Bandit gave her a sidelong glare but obligingly cracked open a few of the bones against the hard concrete bollards and shook the marrow out into her mouth. Neriya looked satisfied and rested her head on the edge of the nest, shuffling slightly to ensure each egg was carefully cradled in her embrace. She looked up to the evening sky and the pale clouds that marched stoically across it, hiding the brief winking of stars emerging through the dark. It was a beautiful place to raise children, she thought, such a peaceful place out of the way of the main highways of migration, avoiding carnivores and herbivores alike. She looked back to Bandit, still wolfing down the meat like she was against the clock and sighed softly. She had found the perfect place for the nest, the ideal conditions, provided adequate food and guarded it fiercely. Still, Bandit's fears plagued her, having convinced herself that she needed to constantly be on alert for threats to their nest. She couldn't even trust Neriya, her own mate,the other parent of the eggs, to take care of it in her stead, it had to be her or she would start pulling her feathers out. Hopefully the hatching of the eggs would cause the hormone rush to end and grant her poor little tabby some peace.