Mud Puddle

Nightingale always had a curiosity to her life. Now that she was an adult, she felt more confident and comfortable with her life. She was able to do things her own way and figure out things that worked best for herself.

One of Nightingale’s favorite things to do was be near the water, or even in the water. There was just something about water she was drawn to. Quite strange, really. Being a Cryolophosaurus, water was the least of their interests. At least, from how her parents raised her. As for siblings, she had no clue as to if they even existed.

It was a gorgeous day. The sun shone above as Nightingale was trekking through the outer parts of the islands. Always on an adventure for what’s at sea. She was always interested in it since she was a hatchling.

A soft sigh of contentment escaped her maw as her red orbs would blink. Pausing her gait, she gazed around her surroundings.

There was a light breeze; it was warm and felt amazing with the glowing sun overhead.

The Cryolophosaurus spotted some various crabs doing their own thing as well as a cluster of rocks. She tilted her head curiously and watched the tide roll in and out of the rocks. They would shift slightly whenever the tide pulled away from the shoreline. Perhaps there was something hidden or even some sort of rocks that were smaller than the ones she could see.

Deciding that was going to be her journey today, she pushed herself slowly forward. Not really in a cautious position but in a way for her to feel the sand curl around her toes. She loved how it gave a light tickle to the bottoms of them. A soft smile would dance across her mouth at the feeling.

The waters continued to dance with the shoreline. The shoreline was not quite like the Shimmering Cove’s, but it still had some variety of hues of pebbles. Some of the pebbles would glisten within the sunlight like diamonds.  

Once Nightingale reached the pile of medium-sized rocks, she lowered her upper body to inspect it more closely.

Her fingers curled then expanded as they lowered closer to the rocks. She shifted them over. Surprisingly, they were not too heavy for her. That was greatly appreciated, she would think to herself with a soft giggle.

Looking underneath where the medium rocks were, there was a lot mud.

“Oh, how interesting,” Nightingale would speak softly to herself.

Mud. Mud was something she had not really tampered with. She did not know if it was good or bad for her body to be exposed to it.

Now that she was an adult though, she would think to herself, now she was able to try anything without repercussions!

She smiled bigger.

Nightingale’s fingers dove into the mud. It was so… wet and the thickness was… interesting. It intrigued her greatly. She slowly moved her fingers back and forth through the mud, feeling the wet sand. It felt pleasantly smooth, unlike the roughness of the dry sand. This discovery was rather refreshing for her.

Quickly, she shifted her body, stepping her toes to be closer into the dirt. Letting her toes sink in as her fingers held a thickness of the dirt.

The female Cryolophosaurus giggled in amusement.

It was cool and stimulating. The sand particles hardened into a grime of sorts. The light tan sand turned dark brown. Covering her own navy blue and grey colorings, it would almost be a good camouflage. But for what? She had no idea, at least, for now. She was enjoying the feeling.

The tide was still dancing in a calm way, the weather was always the indicator as to how or if the tides were going to become aggressive and cause a storm. Quite literally.

The loose dirt that was around the edges of her ankles would grip onto the water and pull off her body. Tilting her head inquisitively, she realized the dirt was from the water. It was mud.

“How neat!”, Nightingale exclaimed to herself, her eyes glowing with excitement.

She wiggled her toes, so the bottoms were still sunken into the dirt, but the tops of her toes had dirt. However, when the water came by to touch her toes, the dirt would wash away. It was clearing it up.

“Hmm….” She thought to herself, with the low hum vibrating throughout her entire body, and pondering about where she could create her own hole to create a mud puddle.

She glanced around, scanning the beach, and took note that a few feet behind her, there was an open area.

The beach itself had more sand than grass or even other spots with rocks or pebbles. The colorful pebbles were closer to the water and mostly into the water than out of the water on the sand itself. It was like a blanket of hues that gave a fuzzy appearance because of the liquid.

“Perhaps I can dig a hole, then add water, to make this… dirt?” Nightingale spoke out loud with her thoughts and process.

Shifting herself, Nightingale moved away from the puddle of mud. The heat of the day dried the sand onto her body, specifically her fingers and toes, quite quickly. It nearly gave her trouble walking. The sensation was icky to her. She shivered at the feeling then was able to distract herself by digging a small hole. It would be a little smaller than the spot she was just at. It was further away from the water.

Without realizing it, she paused her digging, getting a mixture of moist and dry sand types on her fingers and toes. The smell of dry sand filled her nostrils as it made her sneeze. A soft ‘achoo’ followed as she would wrinkle her nose.

Once the Cryolophosaurus was satisfied with the hole, she looked around. Her underside, along with her fingers up to her arms and toes covered in dried dirt and fresh sand. The dirt that was now dry created creases and cracks whenever her body would maneuver in different ways.  Nightingale shivered. The feeling of the dirt was getting overwhelming for her.

Nightingale double checked with herself at the hole and its size; she gave herself a nod then shifted her feet away from the hole. She turned to walk toward the water. She let herself stride into the liquid. The sand and dirt washing from her body the further she would walk into the water. The relief she felt was like a blanket, similarly to how the water danced back and forth with the wave to the shoreline.

She smiled at the water and the feeling of the sand and dirt slipping off. Focusing on her toes, she wiggled them. They dug into the dirt beneath the water, getting clean but part of her wanted to mess with the dirt more.

After a short time, Nightingale stepped out of the water, but her toes, stepping on the light tan sand, would stick to her like Velcro. She had no choice at this point but to continue playing with the mud.

She giggled softly then spoke to herself again, “Now, let me see.. How can I put water in that hole?”

Looking around at the shoreline more thoroughly this time, she spotted some very large leaves. She was unsure as to where they came from or what type of source they came from. If it was a tree or bush, respectively.

“Aha!” She yelled with excitement at the ‘aha moment’ for her idea.

She decided to go over to the leaf and pick it up carefully so she would not damage it. The leaf was moist but not too bad for her.

Her idea was to use it like a scooper. Or what humans would call a spoon or shovel. In this case a makeshift one she was able to find within the wilderness.

Turning around, she walked between her hole and the dirt closest to the water with the rocks from the start of her adventure with the mud.

The Cryolophosaurus lowered the leaf into the water, curving it carefully before pulling it out of the water. Moving very carefully back to the hole she dug up. The leaf allowed a few droplets of the water to spit out of the curved shape, but she managed to reach the hole. She tipped the leaf upright to allow the liquid to pour into the hole. The ‘woosh’ of the water was soft to her ears as the leaf emptied fairly quickly.

A smile peered across her entire muzzle. Her eyes glistening with happiness at her young adult trial of learning more about mud.

The water shifted within the hole and luckily, did not get soaked up right away. The heat was the perfect temperature so she could continue to experiment with the mud.

Now Nightingale did not have to worry about the shoreline trying to wash away the dirt in an instant. This time, she could enjoy getting dirty and playing in the sands.