Koi Pond #1

After wandering through the overgrown tunnels, full of exotic plants, vines and moss, the narrow path opened up to what looked like a long forgotten garden. It was lush but wild seeing as it had not been well tended to in who knows how many years. In the absolute middle of the garden was a large tree bearing fruit, red apples to be precise. Somehow, they seemed perfectly healthy, which hinted to there being at least some sort of automated system for water, and the local residents probably harvested and cleaned up fallen fruit to hinder any rot. Around the tree there was a pond in a crescent shape, in it were lots of lily pads and lotuses covering a lot of the surface, but below and among their stems, Koi fish were swimming around, thriving, even. 

The vibrant purple pachy with lighter ripple and darker pinstripe was cautiously entering the large room, almost stumbling on thick, thorny vines in the process. She looked around to observe her surroundings, but there was not much to take note of at the time besides the very alluring ripe fruit of the apple tree. 

She walked over to the tree on the little land bridge between the rips of the crest shaped pond and charged the tree, hitting it hard with her thick purple dome, and down fell a couple of apples for her to feast on. Happily, the pachy grabbed one of them in her little hands, and she started eating with an expression of joy all over her face. 

Suddenly, she was interrupted by a sound behind her. She turned around and spotted a dark styracosaurus in the doorway she herself had just passed through to get in there. 

The styracosaurus had a cold, harsh gaze, the nocturnal pachy almost felt as if her gaze pierced through her as their eyes connected.

“Who are you?” the pachy asked as the styra entered the room with her without asking for permission. Not that she owned the place, but it felt rather intrusive, she thought. 

“Mara.” the gray styracosaurus replied, she had little interest in conversing with the fellow herbivore. 

Mara’s only interest was the food this room had to offer, so she quickly pushed past the purple pachy to grab some of the fallen apples for herself. This caused the two legged herbivore to back off and lose her balance, which ended up in her falling into the pond and splashing water over the intrusive styra. 

“Watch it.” Mara hissed angrily. 

“You are the reason I fell in here, Mara..” that pachy snorted. “I'm Ymsa, by the way.”

“No one asked, move along, cupcake.” Mara replied, further showing that she had no interest in being friendly with anyone. 

Ymsa was definitely not impressed with the styra’s behaviour, but just as she was about to reply and tell her off for being disrespectful, a large suchomimus entered the room from the opposite side of where they had found their way in. While Ymsa knew it posed no threat in terms of wanting to eat the two of them, she was still apprehensive. 

“What business do you have here?” Mara snarled at the sucho before Ymsa even had the chance to open her mouth. The sucho looked slightly shocked at the question. 

“Business? I don't know about you herbivores but I do not necessarily count spa days as business. I'm sure we can all get along just fine in the embrace of the pond, would you not agree?” the dark sucho replied and looked over at Ymsa rather than Mara, since the pachy was the one currently in the water. 

She had not thought about it, seeing as the reason she got in here in the first place was due to Mara basically pushing her in, but the water did feel oddly comforting. The temperature was just right, and letting go of her anger towards Mara, Ymsa realised just how relaxing a good bath could be. 

Mara looked down at Ymsa with a judgemental expression on her face, then proceeded to move away from the pond to explore the rest of the garden, perhaps there was even more food to find? 

“Do as you wish, the two of you, but I am not here to make friends. I am here to find food and other useful things.” Mara snorted. 

The sucho seemed pleased with her moving away, so she ended up entering the room and approached the pond where Ymsa was now happily relaxing in peace. 

“Mind if I join in?” the sucho asked gently as she sat down next to the pond briefly, hoping for permission from the purple herbivore. 

“Be my guest, it's nice seeing a friendly face.” Ymsa replied. “My name is Ymsa by the way. What should I call you?”

“Oh, my name is Lucille! But you may call me Lucy, if you prefer.” the suchomimus happily replied as she entered the water. Some Koi near her started swimming off in panic, but she had no interest in eating any of them. 

“I appreciate you letting me join, I found this place a few days ago and I have been returning here daily ever since. The atmosphere in this place is so cozy and calming, it makes me forget about all the chaos in the world.” Lucille said with a smile.

“I do enjoy some good company.” Ymsa giggled, also with a smile on her face. “I can definitely see why you enjoy this place, I'm really thrilled I found it too. Not only is there delicious fruit here, but as you said yourself, it's very calming.”

Mara kept occasionally glaring back at the two having a bath with the koi fish as she was rummaging around the plants to see what they were hiding. She was also interested in relaxing there, but seeing as she had been rather rude, she knew she wasn't welcome. Hostility was sadly her greatest trait, if one even could call it that. 

She kept looking around the lush garden, perhaps she would be able to find clues about the mysterious plants that had spread all over the island among the flora here? 

After looking for some time, she ended up finding nothing and decided to leave, but before she left the room, Lucille called out to her. 

“You're free to join us too. No hard feelings.”

Mara hesitated for a second and looked over at Ymsa, who was nodding in approval. Reluctantly, the styracosaurus joined the other two in the pond to finally relax some as well. It was pleasant, both the water and the company, she thought. But she refrained from partaking in any conversation. She was too much of a lone wolf to casually make friends like this, but perhaps if they kept meeting, it could be different. 

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